Ganon

Ganon, also known as Ganondorf, is the principal antagonist in The Legend of Zelda series. After Link and Princess Zelda, Ganon is the third most famous and most frequently appearing character from the series. Ganon possesses the Triforce of Power, marking him as the greatest threat to Hyrule throughout history; only the Goddesses' chosen hero can defeat him.
==Canon background==
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*Ocarina of Time (1998) - Ocarina of Time introduced Ganondorf, a humanoid Gerudo king known for his political might and crafty schemes. From this point forward, Ganondorf is portrayed as a more complex, intelligent mastermind—while his beastly form Ganon tends to be an unspeaking, mindless monster that only appears as a desperate last resort in his final battle.
*Wind Waker (2002) - Many fans consider the Wind Waker incarnation of Ganondorf to have the deepest and most sympathetic characterization as a villain, without so much of the the unprovoked cruelty and malice of past incarnations. 
*Twilight Princess -
*Skyward Sword (2011) - Ganon himself doesn't properly appear in this installment; however, the extremely powerful demon known as Demise, the principal antagonist of the game, is all but stated to be the primordial incarnation of Ganon, in the same way that the goddess Hylia reincarnates as the mortal Zelda.
*Breath of the Wild (2017)
*Tears of the Kingdom (2023) - Ganondorf appears in this direct sequel to BotW. All the fans are thirsty for this guy.
===Non-canon appearances===
*Super Smash Bros. - Ganondorf is a playable character in the Super Smash Bros. crossover fighting game series.
==Reception and discussion==
==Fanon and tropes==
*Dragmire - The English-lanuage manual for A Link to the Past indicates that Dragmire is Ganondorf's last name or epithet."The name of this king of thieves is Ganondorf Dragmire, but he is known by his alias, Mandrag Ganon, which means Ganon of the Enchanted Thieves." (A Link to the Past manual, pg. 5-6) Such supplementary material—especially only present in a regional localization—usually isn't considered canon, but fans have continued using Dragmire as Ganondorf's surname for their purposes such as Modern AU fan fiction. The Dragmire last name/epithet appeared again on an official website in 2017."Once known as the King of Thieves, Ganondorf Dragmire used the power of the Triforce to become the beast, Ganon." — Nintendo, Online Guide - The Legend of Zelda: The official home of the Nintendo game series, The Legend of Zelda series for Nintendo systems, published 2017, retrieved April 21, 2017.
*Good Ganondorf and his Triforce friends - Given that Ganondorf has increasingly shown glimmers of respectable motivations and other redeemable traits, combined with the cyclical lore that repeatedly condemns him to a predetermined fate—many fans have become interested in the prospect of a story that would break the tragic cycle, and allow Ganondorf to subvert the usual story. It is a fairly popular fan fiction plot for a new incarnation of Ganondorf to struggle with the shadows of his past lives, while seeking to be a hero himself. Occasionally this plot might be a Role Reversal AU in which Link and/or Zelda are the villains—but much more commonly his Triforce fellows are cast as his dear friends, who are more than eager to help him.
**A wave of good/sympathetic Ganondorf AUs was sparked by fans' speculation that the Link in the "Zelda U" trailer (2014) seemed to have Gerudo-like designs in his clothing, leading to excited fan theories that this Link would be the first to have been raised among the Gerudo, and perhaps as a close associate to Ganondorf.https://naomiskyeart.com/post/89290377436/i-wanted-to-draw-a-quick-doodle-that-suddenlyWBMhttps://ferishenanigans.tumblr.com/post/90865424875/flanoirbunny-flanoirbunny-ngl-as-cool-as-the
*Dehydrated and Rehydrated Ganondorf - The trailer for Tears of the Kingdom revealed a corpse-like husk bearing a strong resemblance to Ganondorf; fans joked that this Ganondorf had been "dehydrated", and the joke soon elaborated that he would be extremely attractive once he was "rehydrated". The thirsty fans were vindicated when the revived Ganondorf did indeed turn out to be a major hottie.https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/30117
==Relationships==
Enemies to Lovers pairings are very popular for Ganondorf.
*Ganondorf/Link (GanLink)
*Ganondorf/Zelda (ZelGan) 
*Ganondorf/Palutena
==Fan works==
===Meta===
*https://goombastomp.com/wind-waker-ganondorf-analysis/ / https://old.reddit.com/r/truezelda/comments/zpqr0n/a_coveted_wind_how_the_wind_waker_gave_ganondorf/
===Fan art===
Image:2008-10-28 Vestergaard Ganon.jpg|Ganonical by Vestergaard (2008-10-28)
*https://web.archive.org/web/20151208074930/http://thetrollmother.tumblr.com/post/125804477459/sticking-to-the-similar-concept-i-had-going-on (2015)
*"Ganon from Windwaker for funsies since I FINALLY finished the game this year - I actually felt bad for him after all that. Guy grew up in a desert and just… wanted water. I wondered if he realized he’d always become corrupted by the Triforce of Power, no matter what incarnation he became. That he would be forever tied to that role in the story."WBM by kimherbst (2017-07-11)
*https://naimly.tumblr.com/post/159452869664
*Ganondorf in Breath of the Wild 2WBM by scribbly-z-raid (2019-06-11)
*https://s-kinnaly.tumblr.com/post/185607465017/ever-since-seeing-the-new-trailer-with-botw2-i
*https://s-kinnaly.tumblr.com/post/134919198052/i-honestly-didnt-think-to-get-this-far-at-first
*https://truffeart.tumblr.com/post/631680710298779648
===Fan fiction===
===Fan comics===
*The Legend of Zelda: The Demon Road by deerlordhunter (2010) - An incomplete comic.
*A Tale of Two Rulers WBM by figmentforms (2015) - A ZelGan political marriage comic.
*Triforce of Power WBM by M.C. Aquila (2015)
*"from now on we are enemies"WBM by coloursfalllikesnow (2014-02-09)
*"Let's Be Friends AU"WBM (DeviantArt mirror) by lightsintheskye (2015)
*https://kinphyre.tumblr.com/post/611067667101696000/more-triforce-childhood-friends-au-ganondorf-never
*"(one last) breath of the wild", or "a tale of three friends, 10000 years ago"WBM by surfacage (2019-07-09)
*"I worked in a preschool class today and I’ve been playing through Wind Waker a lot, and the two things combined in my head."WBM by nansmenagerie (2019-10-05)
*"Where is my DLC Nintendo. Where." by naomiskyeart - Hyrule Warriors
*https://pocketseizure.tumblr.com/post/661166236063989760
===Zines and collaborative projects===
*https://ganzine2020.tumblr.com/post/185797108785
===Cosplay===
===Memes===
*https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/44957
*https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/30117
*https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/45261
==External links==
===Fan communities and archives===
*The Legend of Zelda [ stories] and [ crossovers] featuring Ganon on FanFiction.Net (FFN)
*on DeviantArt (DA)
*on Tumblr
*on Archive of Our Own (AO3)
*on Pixiv
===Resources===
*Ganon on Zelda Dungeon
==Notes==
==References==
Category:The Legend of Zelda Characters
Category:Super Smash Bros.