If you have ever played a Zelda game before (and we assume that you have since you've found yourself here), it is likely that you have come across Ganon. The big evil pig man has been a mainstay of the series ever since he was first introduced in The Legend of Zelda back on the NES. Even when it looks like there is another figure terrorising Hyrule, it’s regularly Ganon pulling the strings (with some notable exceptions, of course).
But then there’s also Ganondorf. It is likely that you will have seen this hulking green-skinned Gerudo pop up, too. He’s the big bad in the likes of Ocarina of Time, Wind Waker, and Twilight Princess, and he is regularly prone to transforming into the aforementioned giant pig at the game’s climax.
The question is, just how closely are these two baddies linked? In certain Zelda circles, they are almost interchangeable (the name similarities make their link explicit, of course), but are they technically one and the same?
Below, we tackle this question, breaking down how Ganon and Ganondorf are linked and whether we can really think of them as ‘the same person’.
Are Ganondorf And Ganon The Same Person?
The short answer is... yes, essentially. Ganondorf is the villain's human form and Ganon is his beast form.
According to the official timeline in the Zelda encyclopedia, Hyrule Historia (which is a slippery beast all of its own), the first appearance of Ganon, chronologically, is in Ocarina of Time. Of course, the Demon King had appeared in games before this all the way back to the original The Legend of Zelda, but it is in OOT's final battle that the Gerudo king Ganondorf (green-skinned man) first transforms into Ganon (pig).
Only to complicate things further, Ganondorf can occasionally go by "Ganon" as a nickname of sorts (as noted in the Historia), though the shortened title is generally reserved for the demonic form only.
The Historia contains the following note on the transformation:
Link was victorious in his one-on-one battle with Ganondorf. However, the thief used the last of his power to transform into a demonic, evil beast. The Demon King Ganon cornered Link and Princess Zelda.
For the most part, this is the 'true' connection between the two. Ganondorf is a Gerudo thief (or ruler, depending on which game you look at) who transforms into the demonic beast, Ganon, thanks to the power of the Triforce.
Ganon has frequently appeared without his human form in tow (as in the "true ending" of Oracle of Seasons / Ages and in the various Calamity forms seen in Breath of the Wild), and Ganondorf has appeared without transforming into the demon king (Wind Waker, for example), but for the most part, the two are pretty inseparable these days.
In simple terms, there's your answer, then. Ganon and Ganondorf may occasionally appear separately, but the latter is the human form of the former. Easy, right? Of course, it would be a bit of a stretch to really call Ganon a 'person' as such, but you get the picture.
If you're eager to go deeper and get into a Skyward Sword spoiler that brings another malevolent force into the picture, read on...
Ganon's Origin — Is Ganon The Same Person As Demise?
After being revealed as the big bad of Skyward Sword, Demise fights and is eventually defeated by Link. However, before fading away, Demise curses Link with the following statement:
My hate... never perishes. It is born anew in a cycle with no end. I will rise again. [...] An incarnation of my hatred shall ever follow your kind, dooming them to wander a blood-soaked sea of darkness for all time!
So does this mean that Ganon and Demise are one and the same?
Simply put, while Ganon and Demise are not the same person, it's likely Ganon is the reincarnation of this original Demon King.
As the first game in the timeline (at the time of writing), it's reasonable to assume that the incarnations to which Demise refers in Skyward Sword is Ganon/Ganondorf. This has never been officially confirmed in-game, but the hunger for the Triforce, general hatred of Link and Zelda, and the cyclical nature of his appearances certainly match up.
Furthermore, we know from a statement included in the Historia from one of the designers that worked on Demise that the Demon King was made with Ganondorf in mind, so as to emphasise the reincarnation resemblance even further: "To give him some resemblance to Ganondorf, we didn't just make his hair red, but set it on fire."
It stands to reason that Demise's curse could take on many different forms outside of just Ganon/Ganondorf, but the fractured timeline following the events of Ocarina of Time means that the Gerudo/Demon King/Thief has been able to pop up in a multitude of different places despite being trapped in other dimensions, sealed in swords, or stabbed through various vital organs. Dracula's got nothing on Ganon(dorf).
So there you have it. Ganon and Ganondorf are mostly two sides of the same coin, even if we occasionally see one without the other. The spirit of Ganon's hatred (Demise) may well be able to inhabit a different form, but it certainly looks like he's sticking closely to the Gerudo side of things for the time being.
Comments 5
I'm still confused if Agahnim and Ganon are the same person and have been for 30 years.
@RevrsblSedgewick Wasn't Agahnim just a priest/wizard trying to resurrect Ganon? Perhaps he was "possessed" by Ganon? Perhaps he was a chosen form of Ganon in the Light World. Zelda lore is rather tricky to figure out.
@RevrsblSedgewick In the Japanese version of A link to the past Ganondorf calls Ahahnim the priest of darkness his "bunshin" which means split soul/part of oneself/alter-ego/offshoot/clone/copy/other self. The word has been used to describe Meg the poe sister's copies, Ciela(who is a bunshin of Oshus the ocean king) and the blight Ganons(who are bunshins of Calamity Ganon who in turn is both a bunshin and a manifestation/incarnation of Ganondorf's desires and emotions, Phantom Ganons are also bunshins of Ganondorf). In Ancient stone tablets Agahnim is explained to have been someone who got possessed by a part of Ganondorf's soul(likely a soul piece that entered Hyrule's world together with Ganondorf's miasma/evil energy), AST is ambigiously canon however but it was developed by Nintendo and it introduced lore and things like rental shops and light arrows to the Zelda series.
On the topic of Demise, Ganondorf is not a literal reincarnation of Demise's soul as the soul/remaining thoughts/remaining essence is implied in the ending to have decayed within the Master sword and destroyed by a Triforce wish. Ganondorf is however an incarnation/manifestation of some of Demise's characteristics(but he is also more manipulative, less respectful towards those who defeat him or are stronger than him(often rants about how he can't be defeated or how his enemies can't be stronger than him or how they were only able to defeat him because of the Master sword or the Triforce etc.) and much more egotistical, selfish and sociopathic).
What Demise was talking about was a descriptive curse(not a prescriptive curse that was created during Demise's final moments, it's not sentient or something that decides when something happens, it's a cursed cycle that one can inflict upon oneself) that in Japanese is called the curse of the demon tribe. Demise described Samsara the buddhist cycle of birth, death and rebirth. He described the state of someone who is attached to Samsara because they embody one or all of the three Buddhist poisons(greed, hate and ignorance/delusion).
Demise described a concept that is intrinsic to the universe(evil will always exist in the world no matter what happens, no matter how many times good overcomes evil evil will always return. Where there is something to be desired there will also be jealousy, negative feelings, negative desires and hunger for power).
Those who defy the demon tribe are bound to the demon tribe's hatred because anyone who wants to protect the world from evil is attached to the world and will experience samsara and they and anyone from their bloodline will forever face evil unless they reach Nirvana. Before the blood of the goddess and the spirit of the hero were bound to the hatred of the demon tribe the gods' tribe was bound to it.
Anyone who has the same amount of malice in their hearts and the same amount of dark magical power as Demise can become a demon king if they so desire. A demon king is a pure embodiement/personification/incarnation/manifestation of the three poisons and the darknesss of the demon tribe and the original demon world/hell(demon worlds/dark worlds also refer to any world that is ruled or under the influence of a demon king/world filled with demons or worlds corrupted by evil). Fi in the Japanese version of Skyward sword talks two times about demons who unleash the curse of the demon tribe(dark keese, dark lizalfos, notably the effect that Link gets when he is hit by their dark attacks is the same effect as the blue bubble enemy). In Skyward sword , Ocarina of time and other Zelda games there are undead enemies who have returned to life after death because of their hatred for the world.
@Ganon_cultist_nr_7 Ganondorf was called an incarnation of darkness in OOT where he was also called a Daimaou(Great demon king/Great king of evil), in BOTW his manifestation was called an incarnation of hatred and grudge(the words Demise use in his final words).
Malladus in Spirit tracks is another incarnation of darkness and demon king who was sealed away during the events of TWW so he existed at the same time as Ganondorf, Malladus has some similarities to Demise and Ganondorf. Ganondorf and Malladus are both successors of Demise whose appearance and actions echo Demise's appearance and actions. Every Gerudo male isn't Ganondorf as in every Ganondorf backstory where both he and the Gerudo appear some Gerudo imply that previous males were not like Ganondorf. In A link to the past Ganondorf's demon beast form(boar form) is established to be a mirror reflection of his heart, entire character and soul(much like how other characters in the corrupted Sacred realm transformed into forms that reflect their soul/character/heart).
Vaati while not called an incarnation of any of the three buddhist poisons he does embody them too and he became a majin(demon being/sorcerer), tried to become a daimajin(Great demon god/Great devil) but failed and became a majin(demon god/devil, there are two different words written in kanji that are pronounced majin but mean different things). Bellum was called a phantom demon god/devil(another translation of his title is demon god/devil of dreams)
The name of the demon tribe first appeared in A link to the past's Japanese text where Agahnim calls himself a member of it(meaning Ganondorf is a leader), the localization translated the demon tribe as evil tribe/tribe of evil and have seemingly removed the name from the rest of the games even though it still appears in the orginial Japanese text. In Wind waker Ganondorf is again implied to be a leader of the demon tribe as he says the Master sword sealed his demon tribe and dark magic(Daphnes calls him the emperor of hell/the demon world and in PH he is again referred to as the Great demon king).
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