#ganondorf charm

[myebi]

i'm so happy to announce i'll be reopening my sh0p this coming Friday, Oct 20th!! i made 6 new TOTK-related products and i really hope you'll like them 💛

have an acrylic charm of the demon king himself on his giant horse ❤️‍🔥 🐴

[kagoutiss]

pays for his therapy

[iliterallydecepticanteven]

Tbh I just can't simp for TOTK Ganondorf. I thought I would, but he's just too much of the wrong kinda evil and not charming enough :/

That being said, if Sonia and Rauru were to see me across a bar and dig my vibes, I'd say yes in a heartbeat

[fragmentedlegends]

Tags—

[villainvillain]

oooh im so sad. i want to crawl on top of ganondorf. i wish they kept him as an crusty dried out beef jerky man so i wouldnt feel carnal lust

[s-kinnaly]

I like the idea that Ganondorf can be charming when he wants to in order to reach his goal. 

[yourplayersaidwhat]

Charm Ball Tennis

Context: The temporary character I was playing for this session wouldn't be introduced until the end of the big combat at the start, so I was playing one of the bad guys (Half-Elf Archfey Warlock, not that the party knows that) instead.

Me: Okay, so, yeah, I'm gonna cast Dominate Person on Barbarian

[He just barely makes the save]

Fey Wanderer Ranger: Wait, wait! Oh, I finally get to use this! I have Beguiling Twist, and since he made the save, now you have to make a save or be charmed! Uno reverse, motherfucker.

[Rest of the table laughs a little. I am just barely holding back an evil cackle]

Me: Yeah, well, you see, I have this thing called Beguiling Defenses-

[All of us erupt into hysterical laughter]

Me, barely able to speak through giggles: Which means that 1) I am immune to being charmed, and 2) now you have to make a saving throw or be charmed.

Changeling Warlock: (slams hands on table) UNO REVERSE, MOTHERFUCKER!

[We all lose our shit again]

DM: So you all watch as this tragedy, this comedy of errors, Warlock tries to charm Barbarian, fails, then Ranger tries to charm Warlock, and Warlock just throws it right back. You know how in Legend of Zelda, there are those boss fights that are just you and Ganondorf hitting energy balls at each other? Yeah, this is that.

Me: Charm Ball Tennis!

[pocketseizure]

The Two Kings in Tears of the Kingdom

Tears of the Kingdom unearths the roots of Calamity Ganon in an ancient conflict between Rauru, the first king of Hyrule, and Ganondorf, a rival king who attempted to usurp him. In many ways, Rauru is characterized as a good king. He is noble, kind, and self-sacrificing, and he acts for the long-term benefit of the various groups of people living in Hyrule. In contrast to Rauru, the antagonist Ganondorf is an evil king who started a war because of his pride, ego, and greed.

Rauru and Ganondorf represent different styles of authority, both of which are grounded in Japanese fantasies of cultural identity. I’d argue that, in the end, neither king is fit to rule present-day Hyrule, which is why it’s appropriate that the game ends without any call to rebuild Hyrule Castle or the centralized government it symbolizes.

Rauru represents a golden age in Japanese culture when many arts now seen as “traditional” originated. This golden age is closely tied to Nintendo’s home city of Kyoto, which is associated with the culture of the imperial court before it moved to Tokyo in 1868. Because Tears of the Kingdom is a fantasy, the visual metaphors of Rauru’s character design are mixed, but his connection to a bygone golden age is tied to two symbols: the magatama jewels referred to as “secret stones,” and the kare-sansui dry landscape gardens of the Shrines of Light and the Temple of Time.   

The “secret stones” that Rauru gives to the six sages have the distinctive comma shape of a magatama jewel, one of the three sacred symbols of Shinto. These three symbols are as follows: a mirror represents clarity of heart, a sword represents the power to protect the weak, and a jewel represents the materiality of divine blessings. These three objects also serve as the regalia of the Japanese emperor, whose role was historically to perform ritual prayers and thereby serve as a symbolic bridge between the world of humans and the world of gods.

There is nothing sacrosanct about magatama jewels; at various street fairs and tourist areas throughout Japan, you can buy inexpensive polished quartz and jade magatama to attach to phone charms or friendship bracelets. As a result of its relative ubiquity, this particular shape of gem has both a historical and a pop culture association with being a magical stone bestowed by the gods on special and worthy individuals such as, most famously, the first Japanese emperor.

Along with his magatama “secret stones,” Rauru is associated with kare-sansui dry landscape gardens of the old imperial capital. Note, for instance, the front courtyard of the Temple of Time that Link visits at the beginning of the game:

The visual motif of raked white gravel punctuated by standing rocks also appears in various permutations within the Shrines of Light established by Rauru and Sonia. To give an example, this is what the player will see if they circle back behind the entrance of the “Rauru’s Blessing” shrines:

This style of dry landscape garden is frequently referred to as a “Zen garden” because of its association with large Buddhist temples in and around Kyoto. The most famous example of this style can be found at Ryōanji, in northwest Kyoto:

The philosophy of these gardens meshes well with the philosophy behind the Zelda series, which Shigeru Miyamoto has described as his attempt to create a tsuboniwa miniature garden for the player to explore. In the same way, dry landscape gardens represent a larger landscape portrayed on a much smaller scale. The rocks in the gravel are meant to represent islands on the ocean, or perhaps mountaintops rising above the clouds. Another common interpretation of these gardens – and one especially pertinent to Tears of the Kingdom – is that the rocks are the dorsal spines of a dragon swimming through the sky.   

Although dry landscape gardens have strong ties to Buddhist thought, they were primarily created by wealthy lords residing in Kyoto during the fifteenth century. This was a politically unstable era, and these lords needed to make a show of their wealth and cultural legitimacy. Unlike in China, where Chan Buddhism was largely anti-establishment, Zen Buddhism was the domain of the wealthy educated elite in Japan. Many of the rocks used in Zen-style gardens were imported from China and Korea at great expense, and lords competed to secure the services of celebrity landscape designers. Even today, the late medieval culture represented by dry landscape gardens is associated with the prestige of Japan’s former imperial capital of Kyoto.

Rauru is therefore associated with nobility and a certain air of sophistication. In the original Japanese script, he is unflaggingly polite and addresses everyone – Zelda, Ganondorf, and Link alike – with the sort of “clean” language associated with people of high social standing. To put it simply, Rauru is a perfect gentleman. He is the personification of the aristocratic virtues of the “traditional Japan” of the late fifteenth century, during which the wealthy filled the capital city with gardens while countless wars ravaged the countryside.    

In contrast, Ganondorf is a personification of the warrior culture of eastern Japan, especially as it was exemplified by the warlords who competed for territory outside the capital before the establishment of the Tokugawa shogunate at the beginning of the seventeenth century.

Oda Nobunaga was the most notorious of these warlords. He was infamous for being aggressive but effective, and his military prowess and ruthless tactics have been memorialized in a wealth of stories whose lineage stretches to the video games of the present day. I believe that Nobunaga (or, at least, a commonly fictionalized version of him) served as a model for Ganondorf, who seeks to take advantage of the instability of the newly established kingdom of Hyrule in order to expand his own territory.

Like Rauru, Ganondorf’s character design contains mixed visual metaphors, but I think it’s fair to say that his topknot and costume are meant to evoke a samurai who has thrown off the kimono sleeve covering his sword arm as an indication of his readiness for battle. This is a style still worn by practitioners of Japanese fencing and archery, which are common extracurricular activities in many high schools. Appropriately, Ganondorf fights with a tachi katana, a naginata spear, and the body-length longbow used in kyūdō archery – all weapons associated with the martial arts of Japan’s medieval military elite.

As if to cement his connection to Nobunaga, Ganondorf speaks in period-drama “samurai Japanese” that demonstrates neither the elegance nor the poetry of his incarnations in previous games. He seems to lack both regret and awareness of the consequences of his actions, and he is concerned primarily with hierarchy, conquest, and the thrill of battle.  

As was arguably the case for Nobunaga himself, there is no endgame for Ganondorf, only scorched earth. Ganondorf has absolute faith in his own power, and he views other people only as subordinates or enemies. According to his value system, there is no merit in compromise; he simply takes it for granted that he will win.

It makes sense that the aggressively bloodthirsty Ganondorf is a villain, but it’s important to understand that Rauru is not a hero. With all his magic and culture and imperial splendor, Rauru failed to understand that the system of power he created could easily be turned against him. A nation politically defined by a central authority whose rule is justified through military conquest and the cultural chauvinism of “ancient tradition” is not sustainable, and the legacy of such a kingdom can only be tears.

This is why Hyrule Castle remains in ruins at the end of Tears of the Kingdom, and this is why the game’s central hub is a research station populated with people from all over the world. This is why Zelda doesn’t attempt to re-establish Hyrule as a kingdom, and this is why it’s so important to her to understand the reality behind the myth of the nation’s history. This is also why the grand mythology of Hyrule’s origin is far less important to the player’s experience of the game than individual acts of community building. The highlights of Tears of the Kingdom are Link’s work in facilitating a local election in Hateno, helping Lurelin recover from a disaster, and volunteering in towns facing environmental issues such as water pollution and climate change.

Both Rauru and Ganondorf are compelling in their own ways, but it’s thematically satisfying that both characters are gone at the end of the game. When Zelda meets with the regional leaders of Hyrule during the closing cutscene, they promise each other that they will work together to ensure a lasting peace that neither of the two kings made possible. The legacy of the past still affects Hyrule, but Tears of the Kingdom suggests that it’s the duty of the younger generation to understand where this legacy came from in order to avoid the mistakes of their ancestors and move forward in a more hopeful direction.

[spirit-tracks]

Okay SO. Theory Rush after finishing Tears of the Kingdom. Go.

The Zonai are said to have descended from the heavens to help found Hyrule. I can think of another race that descended from the heavens. Do you guys think the minish are native to the Zonai sky islands?

Does the Depths set look a little familiar to you? This along with Josha's theory that people once lived down there, I wonder if the interlopers were present in the Depths before being banished to the twilight realm.

The architecture and robot designs from Skyward Sword have a distinct Zonai look to them! So that leads me to believe the Zonai were the race that created the Lanayru Mining Facility.

It might even be that the Past from Skyward Sword is indeed the time period that Zelda was transported back to! Maybe the legacy of the kingdom of Hyrule goes back even further than the fight between Hylia and Demise: though I admit the early appearance of Demon King Ganondorf throws a wrench in this theory.

About secret stones and the amber relics in Skyward Sword: I want to say there's a connection between them, though amber relics don't seem to be as rare and important as secret stones, (we find them in abundance in Skyward Sword and they don't do much). Of course, i haven't played SS in a while so if they have any more significance it's escaping me at the moment. For the time being I'd like to think ancient hylians might have carried them around as good luck charms to emulate secret stones of their own.

The Legend of the Great Sky Island mini quest in has the construct telling us that the island was supposed to be where a hero will one day awaken to defeat the Demon King. I know our Link wakes up on this island, but there's definitely something eating at my brain about the Great Sky Island being related to (or perhaps even IS) Skyloft, and that the awakening of the hero is referring to Skyward Sword Link. (This potentially supports the theory that the Past in TOTK predates the war between Hylia and Demise)

There's a pretty good chance that Rauru and Sonia's child could have been named Zelda, after the sweet time traveling girl they practically adopted :) the first princess of Hyrule named after the last princess of Hyrule.

There is a giant dragon skeleton in the Gerudo Desert Depths, big as or even bigger than Farosh, Dinraal and Naydra. It is my belief that this mystery dragon became a dragon ala Secret Stone alongside the three aboveland, but was killed at some point in the Depths. I don't know what four people decided to become dragons, but my strongest theory is that Dinraal, Farosh and Naydra are the draconified forms of the oracles of the Golden Goddesses, Din, Farore and Nayru. So who is this?

Seeing as the Lightroots underground are activated via Zonai hand terminal and each Lightroot lies directly beneath a shrine on the surface, I think the Lightroots are extensions of these shrines, having grown straight downward to light up the underground. This is probably obvious but I just barely figured this out 😅

Since Rauru, sage of light, and a new Temple of Time are in this game, I want to think that this person and location are more than just Easter Eggs to Ocarina of Time. I think that the sage from Ocarina of Time was named after King Rauru, though I'm not sure whether him being the sage of light would have been a coincidence or a direct inspiration.

What I do think is that he indeed did put the triforce in that very same Temple of Time and all the sky islands went to the Sacred Realm until Tears of the Kingdom, when they came back to earth and appeared in the sky. That's just a theory but why else would the sky islands be reappearing as if from nowhere?

Speaking of which, there were floating masses in the sky in Minish Cap, namely great big stone temples and fortresses. Minish Cap takes place during the early days of Hyrule, which would be pretty much right after the Zonai descended. Perhaps the Zonai are the Wind Tribe mentioned, and the people we see in game are their descendants, who look much more hylian than Zonai due to being crossed with full hylian genetics over the generations?

Anyway I need to retouch up on my Zelda lore to make sure I'm getting the details right, (that, and i haven't yet 100% the game so i may be missing some totk context), but I HAD to post my thoughts and get them out there! I'll add on later if I think of any more, in the meantime feel free to brainstorm!

[ixtaek]

Today’s rambling thoughts about my specialest boy: Wind Waker Link

First off, at least in Wind Waker alone, the kid does not steal anything (barring swiping things off monsters but seeing as those drops would happen anyway…). Sure he definitely… receives some stolen property. But he does not rob anyone. He actually stops at least one burglary in the course of the game.

The worst he does is break some pots, which every Link does. Notably though, he PAYS FOR IT WHEN ASKED. By a guy who is a full floor away, whom he could easily outrun. But he pays!

Next, this kid was raised by his sweet old grandma, and clearly is very protective of his little sister. He’s such a sweet kid his grandma is worried literally sick about his welfare while he’s away with pirates. He stops dealing with the giant curse overwhelming the ocean to help her recover. We know he cares about Aryll. That’s literally what kicks off the whole plot.

Where am I going with this? Oh right.

Even though he sails, and he hangs out with pirates, Link just. Isn’t one. He isn’t the type to raid and pillage. He’s not going to kidnap or hold for ransom. If anything, it makes me love the dynamic with Tetra even more: she’s the one who would fight dirty and jumped Ganondorf while he was distracted in the Forsaken Fortress, while Link is so ridiculously honorable he doesn’t try to fight the guy who kidnapped his sister and his friend until the other guy initiates it.

Link may say he’s a pirate, but he’s a pirate like a little kid playing pirate. He’s acting tough. In the War of Eras he literally keeps his little sister on the phone (pirate charm) the whole time. He’s a ferocious fighter, but he’s still a sweet kid. He still cares about others. That’s part of why I think Linebeck eventually warms to him, because he’s just so sincere, so honest, actually the opposite of a real pirate.

I know “Wind Waker Link is a big swearing pirate swaggerer” is a popular characterization, but honestly this kid gives off the most wholesome vibes out of any Link. He’s the sunshine child that has a bunch of dangerous friends who will cut you if you try to hurt him. Yes he can kill you, I mean he shoved a sword into a man’s face, but to protect his home. And he didn’t care about Ganondorf after, he was too busy trying to reach the King. He was still the same kind kid.

[sidonisms]

The Yiga Architect, Kanzo

Aaaaa here he is!! I've been working on him for so long!! I started him back in February but I made his head too cunty that I was having a terrible time trying to find clothes that matched!!

Info about him under the cut!!

Kanzo was born in Kakariko village and raised with Sheikah ideals. His father worked as a merchant and when Kanzo was old enough to travel safely he and his mother Pitaya began to join him. During one trip the family was making to Kara Kara Bazaar they accidentally crossed into a molduga's territory and were then attacked.

Kanzo was separated from his parents, who he knew were almost certainly dead, and lost in the desert. It was after days of wandering and almost accepting that he was going to die out there that he crossed paths with Master Kohga, who took him in.

Despite being raised from then on by the Yiga Clan, he doesn't believe much of their dogma and has no interest in bringing about the end of the royal family or serving Ganondorf. This attitude, on top of generally being rather lazy and refusing to do any combat, has made him unliked and untrusted by the other members of the Yiga Clan. Kohga on the other hand, recognizes that Kanzo is fiercely loyal to him for having saved his life and even if he doesn't agree with the Yiga and their methods, he'll gladly lay his life on the line to repay his debt.

• Kanzo is an artist and when he isn't being lazy and sleeping, is often lying down on his stomach and drawing. He has a habit of recruiting footsoldiers to model for him - in ridiculous poses

• The reason the other Yiga go along with this despite how much they don't like him is because Kanzo makes the best Mighty Banana dishes in the entire clan

• Because of his artistic talent he was given the obligation to design and oversee the construction of the various Yiga Hideouts on the surface and in the Depths

• In response to how much time he's spent in the Depths his eyes have become incredibly light-sensitive and spending too long in the bright light will give him migraines. To combat this, he almost always has his parasol when on the surface

• The Sheikah charm on his waist was the only thing he managed to find of his mother. He refuses to throw it away or hide it. It's very precious to him

• Because of his lazy personality he slacks on dyeing his hair black - much to the annoyance of the other Yiga. It's gotten to a point where they'll dye it black while he naps since he won't do it himself

• Kanzo takes his life debt to Kohga very seriously. If it came down to it he would die for him. Something that severe hasn't happened yet so he usually ends up diverting/distracting anyone looking for him so that Kohga can nap and slack off uninterrupted

[pallisia]

so, final thoughts on totk? answer with spoilers please

sure.

first: i enjoyed totk a whole lot. even if its charm wore off quicker, it recaptured the joy of early botw for a bit. i've finished the story, but i'll probably continue idly checking off shrines and running around caves for a while longer. if the game had just been that, i'd probably have no significant complaints.

totk has the same problem as botw where all the main dungeons feel like homework. you might have seen me gripe about the fire temple early on, but the spirit temple was probably the most tedious stretch of the game. (like, the least they could have done was make mineru fun to use, surely??)

the story disappointed me most, not because i went in expecting much, but because it was actually engaging for a while. watching zelda aimlessly fly off after getting the master sword back was a devastating moment. but even as i was gushing about it with my friends, i knew they weren't going to commit.

and they didn't! you might call me a cynic, but zelda should have stayed a dragon. i didn't realistically expect her to, but i was at least hoping for a more convincing reason than "rauru and sonia suddenly appeared and blasted her with energy til she got better." also, why retroactively lessen the weight of her big sacrifice by clarifying that she didn't remember being a dragon at all? why give link his arm back instead of a cool new prosthetic from purah? why reset absolutely everything back to zero?

i also have to mention ganondorf. it's a shame that they (nintendo) made a big fuss about bringing him back, but neglected to make him interesting. isn't that why people missed him in botw? the geoglyph scenes made me expect some kind of fun backstory between him and rauru, but...no, he's just the evil desert man? that's it?

the fake zelda took the wind out of my sails too… there was a lot of potential for fun storytelling with her, but we didn't even get to wonder "could that really be zelda…?" for a moment because she acted like a cartoon villain from the beginning. and! i wanted to fight her!! it was a no-brainer!!!

anyway, i'm getting incoherent. good game overall in spite of my disappointments. i am simply fatigued by stories that pull their punches to avoid upsetting the audience. i don't want the happy ending if it's not the most interesting ending! let me have fun!

[doomed-era]

i actually really like headcanons of ganondorf as an animal lover for a few reasons. one is that if ganondorf is evil in the work where this hc is depicted it frames liking and taking care of animals as something that bad people can do which I think is important

and two, it's just charming either way? it adds a touch of humanity to him

[rosefinnapple]

Rauru & Ganondorf charms just arrived! These little guys are 3" across with an epoxy finish and a translucent bleed. Get your favorite, or get both and make them fight? 🤨 Up now on my shop!

[dnd-smash-pass-vs]

Fuck it, happy new year. We doing 3 today, exclusively so tomorrow we start off with round 2 of the main tournament. On the left, jackalwere! It can be a jackal, a person, or a jackal person! It can also force you to sleep with its gaze, which I know is a benefit for some. Honestly just sounds convenient.

On the right, the fire giant! 18-19 ft (5.5-5.8 m) tall and broad at the shoulder! This particular one might look like bootleg Ganondorf with a weapon twice the size of your body, but lets see how much of that suave charm carries over! Also, a reminder that we're talking about the whole species, even if giant is sometimes a gendered term. Fire giantesses definitely exist.

[bloobluebloo]

Ganondorf: ELIMINATE HYRULE AND HER ALLIES!!! LEAVE NO SURVIVORS!!! Us: Okay so like is there any plushies of him we can hug? Nice figurines we can place directly in our line of sight so that we can look up and watch him with a soft smile on our face? How about a cute little charm we can cup gently in our hands and give a little kiss to?