The Zelda series has existed for nearly twenty-four years and in those twenty-four years, Ganondorf has often stood as the prominent antagonist in the series. But one must ask the question: “Is Ganondorf really all that powerful”? To the left of this post you see the Beast Form of Malladus, the final boss in Spirit Tracks, a being who was so powerful that he was sealed away in the Dark Realm. Could Malladus’s strength rival that of Ganondorf? Or is it that Malladus is stronger than Ganon without the assistance of some powerful mystical item? Click on the Read more link to continue reading my thoughts on the matter.
Ganondorf first debuted in the first Legend of Zelda game, and has existed in most of the Zelda games aside from Majora’s Mask, Four Swords for the Gameboy Advance, The Minish Cap, and Spirit Tracks, although having cameos in Link’s Awakening as a form of the Final Nightmare and being shown in the opening story in Phantom Hourglass. Since his debut he’s been seen as the all-powerful villain in the series, easily being able to defeat the Hyrule’s armies and take the throne as his own. But does one know why Ganon is so powerful? It’s because he gathered two ancient relics we know as the Triforce (either whole or just the single piece of it) and the Trident of Power. Without either one of these, one may argue that Ganondorf would simply just be a stronger human-like being that alone could be defeated by a few near equal magicians or swordsmen.
That then brings me to Malladus, the final boss in the recently released Spirit Tracks. Malladus was a being of great evil and power that it took all the strength of the Spirits of Good to defeat Malladus by sealing him away in the Dark Realm, shackled to it by the Spirit Tracks and locked away by the Tower of Spirits. By the end of Spirit Tracks, you see that Malladus required nothing to become as powerful as he was. All he needed really in the game was a perfect vessel to use to destroy the world. He required no ancient relic to become as powerful as he was, unlike Ganondorf who needed the Triforce and Trident of Power, either of which was useless to stop Link from defeating him.
So as you can see, I think (and this is my opinion) that Malladus was the stronger of the two, even though he will only be in Spirit Tracks, unlike Ganon and Vaati, both of who could be revived again in the future. He needed nothing to become stronger, and by his own strength could destroy the world. Even in Cole’s body, Malladus was able to destroy the world if he wanted, but first he needed to get rid of Zelda and Link in order to carry out his plans, but was eventually killed, along with his follower Cole.
Perhaps Ganon should give up. He’s not honestly that powerful if he gets beaten by a kid or adult in green clothes, even with relics that contain vast amounts of power when others can destroy the world with their bare hands.
Article by Yusei.
And Ganon's title is "King of Evil" HA! That's a joke.
I never really thought about it, but the article's right. When you think about it Ganon's not all that powerful at all.
Comment by Glutexo — February 1, 2010 @ 8:12 pm
Hmmm Malladus is powerful, but remeber Ganon began as Ganonorf, a Gerudo. He was meagre and comparable only to a Dungeon Boss until he actually got hold of the Triforce of Power, whereas Malladus was created and lived entirely as a Monster of evil.
They say some are born great, others have greatness thrust upon them. I think this would be a case of one being born with great power to build and grow, whereas the other sought out a finite source of power, one that could not be strengthened or weakened. Malladus has the capacity to increase his power. Ganon used a relic of the Gods which would be a specific amount of power which would need the Gods to increase.
Now if I were a God I can tell you I wouldn't look to give him more power after he's already stolen my Triforce.
Comment by Tin_Man — February 1, 2010 @ 9:23 pm
Perhaps the Lokomo Sword is weaker than the Master Sword? Maybe the Sages of Hyrule are stronger than the Spirits of Light in Spirit Tracks? What I getting at is that I do not know the comparative strengths of the weapons used to defeat Ganondorf and Malladus. If the equipment used is of equal strength, then Malladus would be more powerful than Ganondorf. If not, things can go either way.
But I must admit, in terms of who has the better track record, Malladus wins over Ganondorf.
Comment by FlattenedJelly — February 2, 2010 @ 6:30 am
personaly ganon/dorf seems to be a reletively patient villain. he seems content with gainning power slowly because no matter how often he is defeated he wont actually be killed of for good. honestly look at how often link as defeated ganon/dorf , then compare it to how often link has killed ganon/dorf of for good.
yes malladus has a better track record compared to ganon/dorf, but it's taking link more than 6 games to kill ganon/dorf of for good, compared to the 1 game it takes link to kill malladus. if these two characters were to swap the number of games they've appeared in, the title of this article would be 'is Malladus really that powerful?'
Comment by anonymous — February 2, 2010 @ 10:14 am
I'm not talking about the Lokomo Sword here. I'm talking about before Malladus was sealed away. Before he was sealed away, he held no item of power and still could destroy.
Comment by ZTYusei — February 2, 2010 @ 3:43 pm
But Ganon constantly gets revived. That's not a term of power. Power is the ability to destroy, not the number of times he can be revived. You are thinking resilience.
Comment by ZTYusei — February 2, 2010 @ 3:45 pm
Of course Ganondorf is powerful, but he's also just an idiot, and idiocy and power make a bad mixture; namely, failure.
Comment by Cameron — February 2, 2010 @ 5:21 pm
Bellum isn't as strong as Malladus. Bellum needed Life Force in order to get stronger I think.
Comment by ZTYusei — February 2, 2010 @ 11:39 pm
boy you love malladus, dont ya? YOU HAVE NO PROOF that Malladus didn't use any items of power, or that he did. And you totally left out Majora, on of the coolest bosses ever.
Comment by storm — February 3, 2010 @ 12:40 am
I've never even played Spirit Tracks and I'm going through by what I've seen. A bit to me I think Majora does require the mask or something… I don't know.
Comment by ZTYusei — February 3, 2010 @ 12:46 am
i havent played spirit tracks, but I, based on what everyone has said, think malladus is pretty good. However, Ganondorf is not only persistent, but link usually had help when he beat ganon/dorf. For example, in Twilight Princess(loved that game) link had help from midna, and Zelda with light arrows. Link also needed the master sword and light arrows in most games to kill him. Also, link needed the lokomo sword to kill Malladus, and if the lokomo sword is weaker than the MASTER sword, it must be easier to kill malladus.
And besides, Ganondorf may not be as powerful, but he certainly is more dangerous because he will go through all that trouble and use all of that time to get the power he needs from the triforce or whatever. AND he just won't die, so what if ganon FINALLY finds a way to kill link. Who'll stop him, Zelda, midna, Green Lantern? Ganondorf all the way.
Comment by mastersword2 — February 3, 2010 @ 2:57 am
Keep in mind that there's multiple Links and multiple Ganons (at least two). Let's look at OoT Ganon. He fought Adult Link and lost, then fought WW Link (knowing perfectly well who he was) and died. He's only fought Link twice. Let's look at the CT's OoT Ganon, he never fought Link until TP, where he died. That's one fight with Link (unless aLttP Ganon is a resurrected TP Ganon). Now there's Ganon from FSA. He fought Link in FSA, then again in aLttP (if this Ganon ISN'T TP Ganon), where he dies, then he fights Link again in OoX. That's 3 times, but keep in mind that he was insane in OoX (or so I've heard). There's also LoZ Ganon, but that was just one fight with Link. So, the maximum possible amount of times that any Ganon has fought and lost to Link is 3.
Also, another thing. Think about all the times you've gotten a Game Over when fighting Ganon. The only reason we say that Ganon loses every time is because we're implying that the player didn't lose any time. If Ganon DID kill Link in a game, it wouldn't matter, because he'd just start from the last save point and kill him anyways!
Comment by STUFF2o — February 3, 2010 @ 3:36 am
Well if Malladus is more powerful then could the same thing be said about Bellum? Both of them had no relics to help them, but they are full fledged demons. Ganondorf was a man who was corrupted by power and sought to claim the Triforce and Trident and you know how it goes, greed and madness would led to his downfall.
Then again Link needs weapons of power to always counter Ganondorf. The Master Sword, Silver/Light arrows. Since those weapons have a holy element, Ganondorf is automatically at a disadvantage. (and of course this is Legend of Zelda we're talking about and the villain, no matter who it is, will be defeated by the protagonist)
Comment by Z-MAN7 — February 2, 2010 @ 11:07 pm
but the word power is too abiguos (think thats how it's spelt).
he has the triforce of power because he is powerful. but how is he powerful.
is it his physical strength?
is it his magical strength?
is it because he keeps coming back from the dead?
the most powerful person in the world would be the one who can't die, or atleast takes more than 1 attempt to kill in a fight.
Comment by anonymous — February 3, 2010 @ 5:11 am
Majora IS the mask…
Comment by Pastlink — February 3, 2010 @ 10:08 pm
Like I said before, I haven't played spirit tracks, so could someone please reply and tell me some details about malladus.
Comment by Mastersword2 — February 4, 2010 @ 12:57 am
good point, some ganons do die.
Comment by mastersword2 — February 4, 2010 @ 12:59 am
I would like to note that Ganondorf has not been beaten the same way every time. The first time he takes over he gets in good with the kig of Hyrule then betrays him. In Twilight Princess he gives Zant power and uses him to take over (also it took six sages, four light spirits, the princess of Hyrule, the Twilight princess, the chosen hero, and Zant to take Ganondorf down in Twilight Princess alone). In Wind Waker he stays in hiding and sends a bird out to find the triforce of wisdom. Ganondorf alone may not be the most powerful villain but the triforce is the ultimate power source in the Zelda universe hands down. That is also what makes the ingredients for the game so appetizing, the relationship between Ganondorf, the descendants of Zelda and the chosen hero. It's what makes Zelda games what they are. It's not about how powerful Ganon is, it's about the balance of the triforce.
Another point is that because of the split timeline theory Ganondorf has only been resurrected once. Link kills him in Wind Waker and another Link kills him in the alternate universe of Twilight Princess.
Comment by Bradley — February 6, 2010 @ 8:28 pm
Ganon's power is relative to what game we're talking about. IN OoT and TWW it appeared he planned most everything out, until he kinda gets beaten. His power is also based on his possessions, whereas Malladus/Majora/Bellum don't need anything. But, in ALttP, he was the Hyrulian equivalent to the King of Hell. Our confidence in Ganon has gone down because he always loses. He needs a new strategy, a game where he does get defeated (as these games dictate), but even THAT is part of the plot, leading all the way to say, the climax in TWW. What I mean is that Ganon would be very potent if he could play both sides of the chessboard and use the climax of this hypothetical game as a lead into a known game, and his plot already extends that far. Besides, Ganon really IS very powerful. In AoL, he's revived in the form of Link's shadow. HARDEST BOSS EVER!!!
Comment by GenoKID — February 6, 2010 @ 8:59 pm