While Ganon's show of force in Ocarina of Time would seemingly have him ruling over the kingdom's ruins.
At first glance, Ganondorf's plan in Tears of the Kingdom is similar, challenging the armies of Hyrule with a horde of monsters after transforming into the Demon King. But more easily overlooked details from Ganondorf always being a Gerudo has long been an important part of his characterization, but TOTK shows that he's willing to betray his own people if it means ascending to power over Hyrule.
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Review - Building Excellence
Tears of the Kingdom takes Legend of Zelda into mostly familiar ground, but it remains an excellent, must-play title with plenty of innovation.
Ganondorf Betrays The Gerudo After Becoming The Demon King In TOTK
The Gerudo Initially Fight For Their King
The memory cutscenes in Tears of the Kingdom largely center around Ganondorf's rise to power from Zelda's perspective after she's sent back in time at the beginning of the game. As Reddit HawkeGaming points out, an overlooked detail in Ganondorf's backstory is how he apparently crushed the Gerudo population after claiming Queen Sonia's Secret Stone. It's a wonderfully villainous turn, showing how the Gerudo king ushered his people into war, then used them for a clever ruse to seize a powerful artifact.
Some of the earlier memories, Memory 6 and Memory 7, show Ganondorf leading the Gerudo into battle and then swearing fealty to King Rauru, respectively. The cutscenes show the Gerudo assaulting the Great Plateau, eventually being rebuffed by Rauru's powers. Ganondorf then accepts an invitation to Raur's court, and pledges the Gerudo's loyalty to Hyrule. Memory 9 and Memory 10 would later show that this was likely a tactic to get closer to the royal family so that Ganondorf could assassinate Sonia and claim her Secret Stone.
The Gerudo Fall In Battle Against The Demon King
Ganondorf Leads A Monstrous Invasion Of Hyrule
In Memory 12, the Sage of Water steps forward and tells King Rauru, "We just received word that the last free village in the Gerudo Desert has fallen." This implies that, following Ganondorf's transformation into the Demon King and the summoning of his monsters, he became at odds with the armies he once led. Without any more information, there seems to be two options for how this happened: Ganondorf betrayed the Gerudo because he felt they were unnecessary with his newfound power, or the Gerudo abandoned their king because he embraced such a sinister method of conquest and assassinated the queen he'd sworn fealty to.
A Gerudo male is born every 100 years and becomes their king. However, there has not been a male Gerudo born since the one that turned into Calamity Ganon.
Either way, it's a grim outcome for the Gerudo. As a warrior tribe, they'd be a significant threat to Ganondorf once brought into the fold under Rauru's rule. The fact that the Gerudo took the brunt of Ganondorf's invasion lends some explanation to how their exclusion of males in Gerudo Town has persisted for untold millennia. Ganondorf's method of attempted conquest in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom isn't especially novel, but the details help show the Demon King being an especially violent threat.
Source: HawkeGaming/Reddit
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom
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- Top Critic Avg: 96/100 Critics Rec: 97%
- Released
- May 12, 2023
- ESRB
- Rated E for Everyone 10+ for Fantasy Violence and Mild Suggestive Themes
- Developer(s)
- Nintendo
- Publisher(s)
- Nintendo
- Engine
- Havok
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is the anticipated follow-up to Breath of the Wild, released in 2017. A rare occurrence in Zelda titles, Tears of the Kingdom is a direct sequel instead of loosely connected. In Tears of the Kingdom, Link will take to the skies and learn about a mysterious kingdom in the clouds.
- Franchise
- The Legend of Zelda
- Platform(s)
- Nintendo Switch
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