Daily Debate: Should Ganondorf be the Villain of the Legend of Zelda Movie?

With the recent announcement of a live-action film of The Legend of Zelda, one question that should be on everyone’s mind is: Who the villain will be? The obvious answer is Ganondorf, right? He’s the series’ main protagonist. He’s the villain with whom Link and Zelda’s destinies are intertwined. He’s reliably been a thorn in Hyrule’s side almost as long as Hyrule has existed. So, why not use him? Well, assuming that this movie will bloom into a series, I want to use some examples from other films that may make you consider whether Ganondorf should be the primary antagonist in the upcoming Legend of Zelda movie or not.

First, let’s look at one of the greatest movie trilogies ever made, Star Wars. While Darth Vader is certainly the main villain for the heroes, it isn’t until the second movie, The Empire Strikes Back, that we meet the Emperor, who is a greater threat than even Darth Vader. Would it be out of line for Ganondorf to take on a similar role in the Zelda movie series?  The Zelda movie could start with one of the series’ lesser-known villains like Vaati, Zant, or General Onox being the antagonist. Our heroes are victorious at the end of the movie, similar to Star Wars‘ rebels destroying the Death Star. It is then — possibly in a post-credit scene — that we learn that this victory is only an inconvenience to a grander scheme, headed by a villain who has yet remained in the shadows, Ganondorf. From there, the series would proceed with Ganondorf being the big bad, with a two-movie arch to wrap up the overall story. This is just a classic format for movie trilogies, and I think it should be employed here.

So, what would be wrong with introducing Ganondorf too early? Would that really be such a bad thing? Let’s look at another popular movie series for inspiration, the Marvel Cinematic Universe. The current slate of films is building up a character, named Kang the Conqueror, to be this arch’s primary antagonist. Kang was first introduced in Loki, as He Who Remains, and he was quickly killed off. His next appearance was in Ant-Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, which promised to be the big introduction of the villain as a formidable foe, capable of destroying the entire Multiverse. That was until the end of the movie when he was killed again. So, what this movie series has done is created a villain that loses at every turn. How could the audience possibly believe that he will be a serious threat to our heroes collectively when he poses little threat to even one?

Contrast that with another villain in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, Thanos. He was briefly shown throughout the series but every victory our heroes had was against one of his minions. He remained a formidable foe that pulled the strings and faced no personal losses, so when he decided to finally step into the ring, you knew he was a real threat. In his first proper scene, he immediately killed multiple characters whom we had grown to love over the series and beat the Hulk in hand-to-hand combat. In his first full-length film, the heroes lost and most of them died. He was no joke.

I say all of this because Ganondorf needs to be more of a Thanos than a Kang. Ganondorf needs to be imposing. He needs to strike fear in the audience every time he appears on screen. I just don’t see that happening if he experiences defeat in his movie debut. For that reason, I suggest a smaller-scale villain take the reins this time around.

So, what do you think? Do you think Ganondorf should be the primary villain of the Zelda movie? What other villains would you like to see face off with Link on the big screen? Let us know in the comments.

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