If There Was No Tri-Force, Would Ganondorf Have Ever Been Evil?

[Castle]

If not the triforce, would Gannondorf have desired something else? Would he have committed treachery and betrayal and waged war to get it? Did the Triforce change Gannondorf? or is he greedy and ruthless by nature? Maybe the desert made him that way. Perhaps the lack of a Triforce would have done nothing to change his nature?

If Gannondorf had been born a ruthless and cunning king of thieves all the same, Triforce or no, surely he would have had some other reason to conquer Hyrule.

 

[OcarinistOfTime]

If the triforce hadn't existed SS still would have happened and Link would have still conquered demise just because of a natural war of good vs evil that cycles in hyrule. that goes deeper than just the triforce. And ganondorf would have still been evil, like everyone said he was raised by witches in a city of theives to be their king. I mean, he was a king of theives by the time he was born, he was to born to be evil from a hylian perspective nothing could have changed that.

 

[Beauts]

His power may have just been confined to the desert.

 

[Jirohnagi]

Throwing this into the shebang, Fi states that Demise appears differently to each individual who stares at it. So if we go on the basis that Ganondorf is the reincarnation of Demise then who is to say that if Demise was never defeated it could appear as Ganondorf and still take over Hyrule, his main ambition was to desecrate the goddess' in the end anywho, and to dominate life i think he would've still invaded Hyrule just for the sake of being evil and if he didn't die then he would rule for eons, but if one mortal stood up to him and killed him without the use of the Triforce then yea we would still have Ganondorf, i still feel that SS is paradoxical any way, so i don't really count Demise yet, because he dies as The Imprisoned and then as Demise afterwards, which leads to a major paradox.

 

[felipe970421]

Saying that Ganondorf wouldn't be evil without the Triforce is like saying Hitler wouldn't be evil without a Europe, If there wasn't a Triforce he would just go for the next powerful object in line

 

[Burning Beast]

Interesting question... I think he would but I'm not exactly sure... very interesting question. Like felipe said he'd probably go for the next most powerful item.

 

[Justac00lguy]

From Skyward Sword we found out that Demise's powere is reborn in a cycle of hate and we know that Ganondorf if a reincarnation of this cycle or curse set on Link by Demise...

However we know that Ganondorf wants to obtain the triforce as was Demise's wish so with the triforce completely gone out of the equation it would be unclear if Ganondorf would truly be evil. However we do know that Ganondorf comes from the Gerudo Tribe and even though this tribe is only featured ina select few Zelda games, they mostly have evil intentions. So in all I think that Ganon would be evil if the Triforce never existed but his intentions his evil plans would be different.

 

[TatlTails]

Am I the only one who thinks Ganondorf would not be evil? The way I see it is: If there was no Triforce, there'd be nothing for Demise to go after to have the ability to kill the godesses. Then Skyward Sword wouldn't happen, there'd be no curse, it would not go into/be born as Ganondorf, and he wouldn't be evil. I may be missing some things, most likely am, but I stand by the basic decision.

 

[Mido]

Am I the only one who thinks Ganondorf would not be evil? The way I see it is: If there was no Triforce, there'd be nothing for Demise to go after to have the ability to kill the godesses. Then Skyward Sword wouldn't happen, there'd be no curse, it would not go into/be born as Ganondorf, and he wouldn't be evil. I may be missing some things, most likely am, but I stand by the basic decision.

Your theory has a good conclusion. In my opinion, however, he would still be evil, but not nearly as evil as before. Since the Gerudo people tend to be hostile in the first place, I would assume that Ganondorf would be similar, as he is a Gerudo himself. But since you bring up Demise's case, with the curse and all, it seems as if Ganondorf would have never inherited the greedy desires, or would have existed at all.

 

[Wolf Sage]

The in-game context appears to suggest that Ganondorf was "evil" well before he even knew of the Triforce, and Kotake and Koume's influence may be partially to blame. Hearing news of Triforce's power (at some point in the past) simply might have served to fuel his evil intent and lust for power - or if his "iconic" quote from The Wind Waker is taken into account - a means of freeing himself and perhaps his people from the harsh conditions of the desert. This is a case of "chicken or the egg"...

So in other words... Yes. He'd have been as evil as Nintendo wanted him to be, regardless of the Triforce's absence...

 

[Locke]

Then Skyward Sword wouldn't happen, there'd be no curse, it would not go into/be born as Ganondorf, and he wouldn't be evil.

The curse existed before SS, so whether or not SS happened has no bearing on Ganondorf inheriting Demise's hatred. However, the curse may be tied to the Triforce, so your conclusion would remain the same.

 

[Ghirahimiscool]

He would still be evil, even without the Triforce.

 

[felipe970421]

It's like saying, if there was no Europe, would Hitler be evil?

If there was no Triforce, Ganon would have gone for the next best thing (such as the Light Force)

Edit: Well, it seems I posted pretty much the exact same thing before in this thread, excuse my dumb

 

[Fraxinus]

My interpretation of this topic has literally inverted due to certain analyses and comparisons of content in Skyward Sword and reviewing of elements in previous titles. Now, while I do not believe Demise placed a literal curse, something struck me quite a while back, and the pieces began falling into place. I am talking about Nintendo re-working aspects of religion into the series.

So, this certain analogy wasn't the first in the series of them, but for the sake of this post, it would make most sense to mention first. The story of Adam and Eve—it is technically a parable, I know. But, a while back, I began viewing the Triforce as the fruit of the Tree of Knowledge. Its existence was the cause of imbalance of good and bad, and its shrine Eden—the Sacred Realm—envelops it. Anyways, there are obviously twists in this, as Demise is, in essence, Hyrule's embodiment of the devil. At least, that's what his role would be when looked at in this perspective.

Now, to Demise's so-called "curse"… I am amongst those of you who doubt there is an actual curse. But, if Demise is equivalent to the malevolence of the devil, then his "hatred" is fundamentally like Original Sin. And the temptation is what could essentially be what he was referring to when he said his hatred would never be extinguished. There would always be someone weak of heart to succumb to the temptation to seize the Golden Power—just as Eve did the fruit of knowledge.

Ganondorf...pitiful man... Without a strong, righteous mind, he could not control the power of the gods...

One of his character flaws. I don't think he necessarily had been evil if the Triforce was in existence; however, I also still hold the belief that Kotake and Koume had some role in his diversion, therefore he may have still ended up with twisted beliefs and a lust for power—just not in the same manner he had gone about it.

Hyrule's philosophy has been backed with religion before. It has been done in the past. Other than the fact that the notion of deities is present, little things that allude towards it—especially toward Christianity. Take this piece of official artwork from A Link to the Past for example:

source

But, a recapitulation: if Demise's intentions of the "curse" was truly his hatred acting as a way of temptation, then it does not explain Ganon's existence—just his actions. The Triforce was the driving force behind his aspirations that warped his mind. Just like how the serpent in the fable "tempted" Eve to take a bite of the fruit—he was very likely "tempted" to take the Triforce as he lacked the judgment to resist. And as they said God put the Tree of Knowledge in Eden as a test, the Golden Goddesses perhaps left the Triforce behind for the same reason.

But, that's just one way to interpret it. My onion. nion:

 

[linkypete]

I think that ganondorf would not even exist without a triforce, for the whole reason he existed was out of demise's hatred. Demise hated Link and the gods because he wanted the triforce. If there was no triforce to want, there is no hatred, making ganondorf non-existent.