The Evil That Flooded the World?

[spike6958]

Hey guys, I dunno if this has been thought of before but I was watching some old timeline videos on YouTube and something hit me...How sure are we that Ganon/Ganondorf was the reason Hyrule was flooded by the Goddesses in the intro to Wind Waker?

In the Wind Waker intro we are just shown a shadowy creature standing over Hyrule as it was almost destroyed, and yes it does look somewhat like Ganon, but if this was Ganon/Ganondorf how is it possible that he is sealed by the Master Sword in the Wind Waker, because the only time (that we know of) that he could have been sealed before this was in Ocarina of Time.

Now lets say for a moment it is Ganon and that he did escape, there is then no reason to flood the world, why you ask, because it's clear he must have been re-sealed, because he was sealed in Wind Waker, the only solution is that Ganon himself is not the Evil that almost destroyed Hyrule and caused the Goddesses to flood it.

Now the true question is...What did?

Now it is possible that it was Ganon's servants, from the pictures in the Legend they show the Pig-like Ganon, but it could also be a Moblin but are Moblin's really smart enough to do this by themselves, doubtful, so it looks likely that if Ganon is involved in any way that it is one of his higher ranked servants, but if Ganon had servants like that why did he never use them in OoT, because the ones he did use in OoT died, so unless he found them AFTER been sealed by the Sages it's seems unlikely that he would have anyone left on the other side at this time.

It is good however to note that Ganondorf does contact the Helmaroc King at some point before the start of Wind Waker to get it to search for "Young Girls with Pointy Ears", meaning that he does eventually find a way of communicating from within the Sacred Realm.

However I believe that the only real possibility that Ganon is related to the flood is that Ganon has the ability to create his alter-ego Agahnim (or another forum) either before been sealed, or he found out how to create one after been sealed, that he can send into Hyrule whilst his true form remains trapped.

But I still don't believe that Ganon/Ganondorf was involved at all, in my opinion it is most likely that the Evil wasn't Ganon but rather something completely unrelated, someone/thing else tried to destroy Hyrule (possibly to actually get the Master Sword but without knowing that Ganon was sealed by it), and so to stop them getting it and releasing Ganon by mistake the Goddesses answered the prayers of the Hylian's by flooding the land and stopping the new evil from taking over or releasing Ganon.

Anyway guy's this is just a theory on my part, but I think it's an interesting piece to think about and I am interested in what you guy's think caused the Goddesses to Flood Hyrule, I'm looking forward to reading your ideas, and your comments on mine.

 

[ComposerBrother]

Well that shadowy creature overlooking Hyrule in Wind Waker's prologue bears much resemblance to Ganon/Ganondorf. When the seal over Ganon was broken, he took control of Hyrule again and basically caused much destruction while doing so. The hero of time (Ocarina of Time Link) did not appear again because he traveled back and time and ceased to exist in that future, so the goddesses flooded Hyrule in panic and a vain attempt to stop Ganon. That is pretty much how I interpreted the prologue...

 

[spike6958]

Well that shadowy creature overlooking Hyrule in Wind Waker's prologue bears much resemblance to Ganon/Ganondorf. When the seal over Ganon was broken, he took control of Hyrule again and basically caused much destruction while doing so. The hero of time (Ocarina of Time Link) did not appear again because he traveled back and time and ceased to exist in that future, so the goddesses flooded Hyrule in panic and a vain attempt to stop Ganon. That is pretty much how I interpreted the prologue...

Which is what I thought at first, until I looked into it more, in Wind Waker Ganondorf is still sealed by the Master Sword, so if he did break out he must also have been sealed again, and if he was sealed again the Hylian's wouldn't have needed to panic and pray to the Goddesses and there would have been no reason to flood Hyrule, to me this makes it clear that Ganon/Ganondorf did not escape the original seal set by Link and the Sages in OoT until AFTER Link removed the Sword in Wind Waker, meaning he did not come back and try to destroy Hyrule.

 

[bradley]

There is nothing that really says he is sealed by the Master Sword. Anyway, I thought it was made quite clear in the intro that the evil that broke out of his seal in The Wind Waker was the same evil that was sealed by the Hero of Time, AKA Ganondorf.

 

[figthersword]

All of the evil in this world are ganondorf's seed.

 

[spike6958]

There is nothing that really says he is sealed by the Master Sword. Anyway, I thought it was made quite clear in the intro that the evil that broke out of his seal in The Wind Waker was the same evil that was sealed by the Hero of Time, AKA Ganondorf.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mtQ9zNXMyxE
Go and watch the scene in Wind Waker where Link and Ganondorf meet for the first time atop the Forsaken Fortress, it's clear from what Ganondorf says that he only Managed to escape because Link removed the Master Sword.

 

[figthersword]

So if link didn't manage to pull the master sword then zelda games/series wont exist.

 

[spike6958]

So if link didn't manage to pull the master sword then zelda games/series wont exist.

If the Master Sword had never been removed in Wind Waker Ganondorf couldn't have come back, Ganondorf admitted it himself, so the events of Wind Waker, Phantom Hourglass and Sprite Tracks wouldn't have taken place (nor any other game that you believe takes place after the events of Wind Waker), but the events before Wind Waker would still have taken place, and things on the Child Timeline (if you believe in the timeline split) would still have happened, but this isn't really relevant, the only things relevant to this is what Ganondorf says when he see's Link atop Forsaken Fortress, and the back Legend explaining the flood.

My main point though with this thread is if Ganondorf was the evil that destroyed Hyrule and caused the Goddesses to flood it how then could he still be sealed by the Master Sword, if it was him something must have happened to re-seal him, and if he was re-sealed why bother flooding Hyrule, because the flood itself couldn't have trapped him again, at least not the same way he was trapped, unless he trapped himself there so he wouldn't drown in the flood.

 

[knowlee]

Ganondorf is the reason why the goddesses flooded Hyrule. The intro to Wind Waker states this:

But then...a day came when a fell wind began to blow across the kingdom.
The great evil that all thought had been forever sealed away by the hero...once again crept forth from the depths of the earth, eager to resume it's dark designs.

It appears, and of course shows in WW, that Ganondorf had found a way out of his seal in the Sacred Realm. This thus leads into the events which cause the goddesses to flood Hyrule in order to prevent Ganondorf's conquest. It can't be anything else other than Ganondorf because the only evil that the HoT had sealed away (at least in this timeline) was him. Not to mention that the picture obviously shows Ganondorf (as Ganon) as being the great evil that was sealed away.

Go and watch the scene in Wind Waker where Link and Ganondorf meet for the first time atop the Forsaken Fortress, it's clear from what Ganondorf says that he only Managed to escape because Link removed the Master Sword.

Actually this cannot be true at least not in the sense that by Link removing the MS from the pedestal it lead to Ganondorf being able to get free of his seal in the Sacred Realm. As already stated by the intro to WW, he was able to get free of that seal (how, I'm not entirely sure) which is the reason why Hyrule was flooded. It wasn't because of Link removing the MS, because there was no Link there to remove it during that time. Now if you're talking about when Link removed the seal that Ganondorf was talking about being referred to as the "seal" being the waves that he was buried under then that could be a possibility.

 

[DuckNoises]

Well, first, we have to assume that the Seal is not entirely permanent, because the Seal of the Master Sword has been broken on several occasions, in several games. Either he was released by some insidious (yet unexplained plot), there is some way to break the seal internally because the seal may weaken over time. As to Wind Waker specifically, Ganondorf states that the sword resting in its pedestal in at least one point in either reality is essential for maintaining the seal. This, among the more obvious reasons regarding space and time, is why Link cannot pull the Master Sword out after he is sent back in time at the end of OoT.

Which is what I thought at first, until I looked into it more, in Wind Waker Ganondorf is still sealed by the Master Sword, so if he did break out he must also have been sealed again, and if he was sealed again the Hylian's wouldn't have needed to panic and pray to the Goddesses and there would have been no reason to flood Hyrule, to me this makes it clear that Ganon/Ganondorf did not escape the original seal set by Link and the Sages in OoT until AFTER Link removed the Sword in Wind Waker, meaning he did not come back and try to destroy Hyrule.

It sounds like you're saying that Ganondorf has to be sealed away again for him to escape in the first place; I don't understand your reasoning for that. Could you please elaborate further?

Now, as to what caused the flood:
Ganon escaped, and began to wreak havoc on Hyrule. Except this time, there was no Hero to stop Ganon, because Link had been sent back in time in an attempt to save the past from repeating itself, ultimately denying/evading fate. At any rate, there were no mortal means to stop Ganon, so the people of Hyrule prayed for help from the Goddesses. By divine intervention, the Goddesses flooded Hyrule in an attempt to destroy Ganon and appease the people's prayers. There were serious repercussions of the flood, as expressed by the people in Wind Waker. Unfortunately, Ganon survives the flood and later returns to the now-flooded Hyrule, as is indicated by his presence in Wind Waker.

I would also discuss the ending of the game and its relevance, but you haven't stated whether or not you've finished the game yet, so I won't risk spoiling it.

 

[Majora's Cat]

The great evil that flooded the world was most likely by Ganon, who caused the Gods to flood the world, scattering the seeds of hope... or something.

 

[PhantomTriforce]

Ganondorf escaped from the Sacred Realm with the Triforce of Power, but he couldn't do anything, just hide in creepy places. But in order to defeat Ganondorf again, you had to pull the Master Sword out, which would first give him his powers back.

 

[Locke]

Easy proof that it's Ganondorf:
"The great evil that all thought had been forever sealed away by the hero…"
Please don't try to claim that "the hero" isn't the HoT and/or "the great evil" isn't Ganondorf. Nintendo may not be going out of their way to make the timeline clear to us, but they certainly aren't trying to confuse us (i.e. referring to two different characters using the same title in the same monologue). Occam's razor, good story-telling, and common sense demand that we assume they're the same.



iirc, pulling the sword released his magic (english)/minions (japanese). He had already escaped before the sword was pulled, just not at his full power, which was still trapped in the SR or something. ...I'm running into some problems trying to explain this so I'll leave it to someone who's more familiar with the seals.


Instead, I'll just post the theory I had come up with a while ago:

Ganondorf escaped/broke the SW seal and killed all the sages with no one to stop him, so the flood seal was created using the power of the MS/PoT to freeze time. This is the seal that we see the moblins/darknuts trapped in inside the castle. Ganondorf somehow found a way to escape this seal as well (perhaps he was so far away from the MS that it merely slowed time for him, or his barrier may have offered some protection if constructed before the flood seal) by creating the portal seen in his tower. Now, while the english version says that the MS "kept the [flood] seal on me and my magic intact," the Japanese says that it "was sealing my Mazoku," which makes more sense in the context, in which he is describing how the monsters came to life when he pulled the sword (in both languages).

So in conclusion, Ganondorf was completely free of any seal by the start of WW, but his army was still trapped so he couldn't make his move. So he planned on finding and imprisoning the holder of the ToW in order to lure the hero into pulling the MS (sound familiar? He's done this before.) and release his army.

And I did say this is a theory; I think many (if not most) will state that the SW seal is still intact or something along those lines.

And just in case anyone is confused about the barrier between the castle and Ganon's Tower, that is not the flood seal. That is a magical barrier that Ganondorf put up himself, after he escaped the SW seal or the flood seal (it's not clear which -- anyone have any opinions/facts?).