#ganondorf

[ovegakart]

bullying ganondorf in all timelines

[good-advice-ganondorf]

[aikoiya]

Oh, that's cute!

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.

[coffebits]

ALTTS Link, Ganondorf, and Zelda ordering drinks be like:

[battyccino]

Cleaning the demon dragon’s teeth (insp)

[bluetooththereptile]

I CAN'T STOP FAWNING OVER TALL MAGICAL RED HAIRED TRAGIC MEN! AAAAAAAA

[iffondrels-library]

Been working a while on this one. I don't do many art projects like this, but November by Sparkbird to me is synonymous with the Hero of Time and his inherent tragedy. His legacy across three different timelines and how that impacted his successors lives in my mind, so take this.

[barbwalken]

Ganondorf in 1 👀

Here you go ;)

[tonbane]

I saw @pumpkinsouppe 's tags on @super-nova5045 's post an hour ago and I was compelled. Also yes that's like the squidward - spongebob window meme.

Reblog for a blonde motherfucker to come along ⚔️

[hinadraws]

Some quick Tetra studies plus a bonus ganondorf! |Instagram| |Cara| |Blue Sky| |TikTok|

[appleimps]

₍ᐢ.⚇.ᐢ₎☆♡☆♡

[clawlrus]

Old fan art of Link and Ganondorf in the midst of battle (TotK). Very messy with the painting and effects, but it was something I'm proud of.

Remember to reblog to support artists!

~(=^‥^)

[rawliverandgoronspice]

I'm thinking about going back to my old Zelda WIPs and continuing writing them. Since Ganondorf is a huge part of them, and you have a PHD in Gerudo, I was hoping you could help me with some tips. How do I avoid orientalism as much as possible while still keeping him morally grey and/or a villain? (Different incarnations are different degrees of morality in my fics).

It's ok if you just forward links from your blog where you already discussed it. I'd just like directions on how to find them, hehe.

Hellooo I'm sorry it took me so long to get to your ask, I wanted to make sure I had good refs for it (and was very busy ;;)

So I do not think I can claim to have a PhD in Gerudo when tumblr users @bloobluebloo and @blackautmedia share this website with me (among others), but I can recommand Bloo's thoughts overall, their blog is a great resource; and Blackautmedia has done an amazing and super thorough breakdown of the Gerudo situation (and TotK) in this Youtube video.

(and of course, Edward Saïd's body of work for a more precise breakdown of Orientalism, where it comes from, why it exists, and the countless ways in which it manifests in culture and geopolitics)

To give my own two cents on the matter, I think there's several things to take into account:

the very framework being proposed by Nintendo is born out of orientalist sensitivities, and so a lot of the very fundamental ideas that led to the gerudos and Ganondorf existing as they do will never be neutral. That doesn't mean we can't do anything with them or that they are inherently corrupted (tho some people think the subject is messy enough to make them unwilling to engage with it in any way, which is fair enough), but any narrative decision being taken will probably carry on that weight, that framework. Some parts (like the very harem-like logic of the one guy many girls --even if it's not how gerudos are interacting within canon, we know where the inspiration came from) are kind of very deeply baked in. We can recontextualize it and make it interesting or human or complicated or just not really deal with it (or break the rules entirely, some people decide they don't want to deal with the one guy many girls situation and more power to them honestly), but there's only so much anyone can do about the framework. There's going to be some authorial intent happening no matter what.

Speaking of authorial intent, I guess my (general tbh) advice is: know what interests you, be sensitive to your own internal motivations, be informed of other people's perspectives, and figure out what you are comfortable with, and why. It's a combination of what drives you and being aware of the choices you're making. You can even disagree with other perspectives of course, but it's about making sure you understand your own reasoning and can stand by it within your own art.

Then I guess my main take is: Ganondorf can be as brutal and as selfish as he wants (as a treat) and that will never erase the fact that he lives in a feudal world where the main neighboring kingdom has arbitrarily decided his people (and by extension himself) is considered lesser than a hylian, and that his only path to being considered good is to accept that reality for himself, and kneel and happily become a vassal with zero resentment towards anything. That is kind of the fundamental Zelda game situation: Ganondorf being dissatisfied at his own status leads to him reaching for the biggest source of power available, at any cost. Then, you can complicate him in ways as extreme as him saying he went on to this quest for the sake of his people and was vilified in extreme ways as punishment for this, or in less extreme ways, by deciding he did throw his entire people under the bus with complete disregard --but that it doesn't change the fundamental injustice that pushed him to pursue this path of domination for his own selfish sake. And then, there's entire worlds of nuance between these two extremes, and many, many ways to sidestep what I just outlined and decide this is an AU and Ganondorf's story is about something else entirely.

Honestly, my biggest suggestion is just: give this dude an internal world. It doesn't have to be a sensitive and tearful one, but just some internal reasoning, a sense of purpose, and weave in some of the qualities we see in the games in which he appears, and you have a guy who can cause a big mess and still be terrifying and still be a person.

And then of course I could start to wax poetry about all the angles I see one could pursue with him, all of his relationship to the gods, to fate, to agency and control, to violence and strife and resistance and madness and humanity and and and --yeah there's a lot to find in that thick red hair of his in my opinion, and it's just about... kind of, being interested in that. It doesn't have to be the main focus of course, and you can just have a Ganondorf who's there to provide conflict and be a big guy who's really into having the fight of his life, but there's always this risk of forgetting why he's angry, what shaped him, and therefore falling into tropes of... I don't know, he's a rapist for no reason just because it felt logical that he would be one 🙃 (not saying it can never ever be a take, but to refuse to give him any room for introspection on why he ever would be one given both his very... "I never showed even a hint of sexual interest towards anyone in canon" + "I grew up among a group of ostracized-yet-fetishized women" circumstances might just be the orientalism speaking unfortunately )

So yee!! Those are my perspective!! I hope it's helpful in any way!!!

[midnightsartcorner]

dorf

[demonsreverie]

My first pin bought specifically for my pin bag has arrived‼️ BEHOLD GANONDORF‼️✨ And the little thank you drawing IM SO GIDDY‼️

[A gorgeous pin of Ganondorf accentuated with gold metalwork. He’s posed, grinning triumphantly, holding a Secret Stone. Behind him is the framework of a triangle represents the Triforce and in the foreground is a vibrant blood moon with a red miasma wafting off it.]

[Bag update! The pin in the prior page now adorning it as well as a printed sticker of a feisty Ganondorf (by @zdrawstvyite THANK YOUUUUUUU‼️) pinned up on the other side~]