GAME CONCEPT: Legend of Zelda - A Path to Power "The Legend of Ganon"

This is a concept for a Zelda game where the player controls the character Ganondorf instead of Link. There is no set chronological position for this scenario. It is incomplete and sets up what i think is a believable basis or opening scenario for Ganondorf as the protagonist.

-----

Ganon is a Gerudo, one of the few males born to a century. He is a (potential) reincarnation of the demon Demise.The Gerudo are tribe are considered cursed by the bloodline of evil and Ganon’s spirit is infused with the Triforce of power (given to the most powerful people of mind and body in an era).

Princess Zelda, possessing the Triforcec of Wisdom experiences a premonition of Ganon’s rise to power and awakening to evil. In an attempt to prevent this from happening, she sends an army, lead by the Chosen Hero Link, head of the Royal Knights to capture the still very young Ganon, strip the triforce of power from him and shatter it, spreading its fragments across the land.

Link succeeds in his mission and delivers a decree, banishing the Gerudo to the desert for 100 years. Meanwhile the child Ganon is taken back to Hyrule castle by Link and raised by him to become a Royal Knight. He is raised by a hero in the hopes that he will grow into a hero of wisdom and courage rather than a villain governed by lust for ultimate power. A sheikah watcher named Impa is assigned to monitor him from the shadows, helping him if necessary and if he should turn, to assassinate him before he can obtain the Triforce of Power.

Ganon finally becomes a knight, and Link is a much older man, consort to Zelda. Before his knighting ceremony, where he would swear allegiance to Hyrule and the royal family, Link and Zelda remind him of the events that lead to him being at the castle, and the reasons for them. He is then presented with a choice; to continue with his knighting and continue with his duties, or to postpone/forget the ceremony and go out into the desert to find his people. If he chose to leave he would be able to decide for himself if the decisions that were made for him were just. He could then return as a friend or an enemy, starting a new war to claim his demonic birthright.

That night he is tormented by dreams of his capture, of monsters and witches and an invader clad in green.

He wanders the castle in the dark, his mind troubled. He overhears Link and Zelda talking about him, their plans and hopes for his future. He confronts Impa and asks her for her judgment as to his evil nature. All she says to him is that she sees evil everywhere, and in everyone, but that the ancient all consuming evil they fear is different and hasn’t been seen in an era, and that regardless of what he decides for himself, she will continue to guard against it, no matter what face it wears.

In the morning Ganon decides to go into the Gerudo desert, to see the face of his people for himself and what has become of them. He takes his new armor, but leaves the shield with the Hylian crest, and the sword Link had made for him behind. If he returns, he would claim them and his position as a knight.

He rides to the desert border, where a stone wall has been erected, barring entrance. He searches the area and takes a wind torn Hylian flag from the wall, wraps himself in it and leaps into the sand with a wooden post.

In the blowing sands he is ambused by monsters. At night he finds the light of a tent, where a merchant has set up shop next to an old well. The merchant offers him water and other items along with information about the desert and its inhabitants. He tells Ganon of the Garudo and their lives in the desert, previously as herders and miners, now more brigands and thieves. In the morning he leaves the tent and follows the merchants instructions. He discovers a colossal goddess carved in the stone at the top of a mountain overlooking a town built into the stone.

He is greeted by bandits popping from the sand. Upon defeating them he enters the village where the old women and children hide in their homes. He is confronted by the Gerudo queen Nabooru. He tells her his story and she summons her witches Koutake and Koume to test him. He cannot defeat their magic and is subdued. He is chained and imprisoned as a traitor to his tribe. He is then thrown into the great prison in the desert.

In the dark his emotions roil between confusion, anger, fear and betrayal. He crawls through sand and stone batting monsters and surviving traps to escape the dungeon. He picks his armor and weapons from the dead, hearing the voices of the ghosts and one other, an ominous and malevolent voice calling to him, awakening new strength and magical power.

He returns to the Gerudo village and again he is tested by the witches. This time his new power allows him to defeat them.

Nabooru then grants him an audience and tells him her story. She talks about their exile and struggle to survive. She also reveals the effect their demon cursed bloodline has had on them, their culture and their children. She also mentions a ancient desert race of people called the Kuso (Cactus people) who live much deeper in the desert, guarding secrets even older and darker than their own. He tells them that he has no interest in hearing anymore secrets and leaves the desert, promising to get much needed food and supplies into the desert. He stops by the merchants tent again to talk about establishing a supply line through the barricade. The discussion goes well until the merchant pushes him down the old well.

He awakes to find himself in an underground cavern, his immediate area is actually a fairy spring. There he encounters a great fairy, who identifies him as a vessel of great power and great potential. She explains to him about the neutral nature of the Triforce and tells him to seek the temple of Din to understand how his evil fate might be avoided.

He goes through miles of caverns and tunnels, swimming through chasms and crawling through the dark until he finds the ruins of an underground temple.  The temple was a water shrine built by the Kuso and upon exiting he finds himself in an oasis on the far side of the desert. Nearby he finds a pyramid sealed by powerful magic. He feels a dark power emanating from the pyramid, but dare not go near. He wanted nothing more to do with secrets or power or this ancient legacy of greed and destruction.

He goes to the river and finds Zora ferrymen who agree to take him downriver to lake Hylia. It is a long journey and he gets to see a new area of Hyrule, The river is dotted with boats of fishermen and river zora pools. Here, on the edge of the desert and miles from a supposed ocean is a wealth of food and water, so he wonders why the Gerudo continue to live so harshly.

He arrives at the lake and immediately heads for Hyrule Castle. The words of the Great Fairy echo in his head and he diverts to Death Mountain instead. The gorons great him and challenge the large man to a test of strength. With his success he is made friend of the Gorons and allowed passage to Din’s temple. He feels the overwhelming draw of power, of a shard of the triforce of power that had been sealed there. He is compelled forward but the shrine is sealed.

Impa appears, breaking him from his trance. She leads him away from the shrine and he tells her about what he found in the desert and his intention to reopen trade to the desert.

Impa brings him back to the castle where he speaks with Zelda about removing the blockade. He recounts the tale of his journey and the strange experiences. They find this troubling but agree to send a convoy of supplies out to the desert immediately. Depending on the success of that mission, they would consider opening the blockade.

Ganon finds a convoy of soldiers with wagons and crates loaded and ready for travel. He leads them with Link to the wall where they make camp as Ganon leaps back into the desert. He finds the merchant and after offering a useful gift as an apology for sending him down the well, agrees to help with the supplies. The merchant begins to pack his tent and head for the wall. Ganon continues on to the Gerudo village. He is again greeted by bandits which he defeats and goes on to see Nabooru. This time he is met by the witches and their new Iron Knuckle, which the set upon Ganon to test him yet again. After a hard battle he emerges victorious and sees the Queen, informing her of the waiting supplies. Nabooru sends a convoy out to receive the supplies and he asks why her people remain on this side of the desert.

Nabooru tells Ganon about the shifting sands and the powerful monsters that live there. There is a safe path but it ends in a great chasm none dare try to traverse, though there are remains of an ocient stone bridge. Ganon heads back to the wall to check on the supplies. Link has overseen their transport and all is going well. Ganon tells him he is going deep into the desert after delivering the supplies to investigate a path to the river.

While in transit the convoy is attacked by monsters en masse. Ganon successfully repels the beasts until a large worm creature appears. He grapples with the monster and drives it away but is wounded by it. He is taken with the supplies to the Gerudo village where he is healed. He later awakens in the care of the witches who fawn over him, calling him their soon-be-king. He doesn’t know what to make of them but is offended and leaves. He finds himself deep under the mountain, proving the Gerudo village and culture was much greater than it seemed. Naroobu showed him the desrt shrine under the colossal goddess and she tells him just what these events really mean for her and her people.

In the morning Ganon dresses for the desert and heads towards the Kuso Path. He imust slog through quicksand loaded with lurking monsters and must run to avoid the desert worm. Finally he finds the desert bridge, a large elaborate structure worn and broken from wind and time. He can’t cross the bridge as he is, but spanning it with some wood doesn’t look too difficult. Just a matter of getting the materials through the desert. He uses the rope he brought to scale down the cliff into the chasm. He enters another area of the aquifer he found earlier and explores further, looking for some way across. After another long slog through caves and creatures he finds an exposed wall that leads to the inside of the pyramid.

Inisde he finds a spear bound by chains and wards.  He feels it’s dark and intense energy as it bekons to him like a whisper in the breeze. He touches the weapon, which sends energy crackling through the room, burning the wards and smoldering the chains. He pulls hard on it and wrenches it free. While marveling at it he doesn’t notice a guardian golem coming to life from the wall. He battles the giant automaton in the confined space until he manages to escape it through a hole in the ceiling. He runs through corridors dodging traps and rubble as the guardian smashes through the building behind him until he reaches the sealed main door he found earlier. He desperately strikes it with his new weapon and shatters the magical lock just in time as the golem blasts him through the door and out into the sands.

He is awestruck at the changes to the area around him. Sand is swirling in a maelstrom around the pyramid and a pillar of light radiates from its apex. Apparently his claiming the spear or awakening of the guardian triggered some powerful magic. The guardian hoists itself from the ruins and lashes out at Ganon, now out in the open with blowing sand obscuring vision for both. Ganon avoids the shadow and glowing eyes as its large hands pulverize the stones Ganon tries to hide behind. He scurries through the sand until he gets behind the guardian and scales the pyramid. He uses the beacon at the top as a font and absorbes the magic, focusing it into a single large blast to smash the golem as it tries to climb the pyramid and knock him down. After several choice strikes the enemy is defeated and the beacon along with the winds slowly subside.

From his pearch he can see the river, the land beyond, the bridge ruins behind him and now, what looks like another pyramid deeper  in the desert.

How to proceed?

Good Ganon or evil ganon? Can a good ganon reassemble the Triforce of Power and not become evil?

If he can what is the great enemy he must face? And how does Link not swoop in and save the day? If we accept that the hero can fail as premise (in one time continuum) then it is feasible for it to happen again. But the Triforce of power would demand an immensely powerful foe, akin to Ganon himself, or his divine predecessor Demise.

Shadow Ganon?erade that marks Ganondorf as a traitor? An imposter created by twinrova to become the next Demon King? An embodiment of the evil will of Demise made manifest whenes it?

List for power / Desire for better conditions for his desert dwelling people / Will of Din / Wll of Demise

Does he encounter the monster races in the wild lands, learn something new about htem, and become their leader?

If the Gerudo are thieves then who do they rob? The Hylians and other tribes obviously but how do they do it if they are banished to the desert? Bypassing the blockade may be difficult but not impossible.

The thieves trail.

Would Ganondorf become a thief to aid his people when Zelda refuses to drop the blockade? If the desert people became hostile because of the blockade then it wouldn’t do to take it down and let a hostile force into their lands.

Could we explain or explore monster ganon’s pig/boar appearance and his trident?

The King of the Moblins and his army of hulking beast men assail Hyrule. Ganondorf takes the fight to the enemy but requires more power to defeat the giant and his powerful minions.

What about the power to turn men into monsters. This demonic power that persists through the ages as a way to reshape reality and manifest the heart of the target or of the wielder by reforming the body and/or mind.

If Ganondorf begins to collect the fragments of the triforce of power, then wouldn’t it be Link and Impa’s duty to stop him? How could he avoid this or how could he overcome the legendary Hero and a master assassin? If he became evil and had to fight Link and lost, then the game would be a bummer. If he defeated Link then he would rule Hyrule again and have to be sealed by the Sages again. If he gained the triforce of power then only the combined efforts of Zelda and Link with the Master Sword would be able to destroy him. Could he sacrifice himself to stop ultimate evil from taking over? Could he give his own life to cancel out his evil half/counterpart? If there was an evil to beset Hyrule that was even greater than Ganon, what would it be like?

Does Ganon explore a different land? Different parts of Hyrule heretofor not seen or previously left unexplored?

Hyrule + sacred Realm/Lorule + Lo Sacred Realm, Twilight Realm, Silent Realm, Shadow Realm

What would Ganon’s game look like and play like? God of War? Overlord?

The expectation is that the player experiences a fun narrative and gameplay elements that keep the Zelda feel, but make it clear that it is a different game, not just trading Link for Ganon. Good must always win in the end, Link and Zelda must always be good and Ganon must always be powerful and balance the evil side of the equation. Ganon may become good but cannot lead to the destruction of Demise’s will and he cannot become evil and rule the world. Player’s can handle a darker narrative but best not get too much darker than Twilight Princess or it may break the Zelda tone. Players can also handle dark or bummer endings, but it should not be one that they can see coming before the trailer finishes playing.