Perception of Evil

[Spiritual Mask Salesman]

Look at this from an in-universe perspective. Just like in reality I think people who seem evil don't feel like their actions really are evil. Those they target are the real evil ones. Now apply that to Zelda games, say Ganondorf. Does he really feel like he is evil, or does he think his actions are justifiable? Maybe in his mind Hylians are evil?

Maybe Link can even be percieved negatively for some of his actions? He enters homes sometimes when residents aren't present. He breaks pots in those houses and takes the money inside them, which can be seen as stealing. He messes with gravestones in graveyards, disturbs the dead by entering the underground tombs.

I'm just wondering if maybe everyone in the Zelda Universe, regardless of how they are commonly percieved by others, feels as if their causes are just?

 

[AncientPoe]

Well, I know there have been games that paint Ganondorf in a different light. His monologue at the end of Wind Waker is a good example. From what he says there, it almost just sounds like he wanted his people to live somewhere that didn't kill them constantly. But in other games he's just straight up evil for the sake of it. Or rather, his conquest is based solely on lust for power and control.

 

[Dio]

Ganondorf is one who I feel knows he is evil and he loves it. He says to WW Link how the blade no longer sparkles with the power to repel evil which is why it is useless against him. Despite what some interpret from his last speech in the game. I think WW shows him to be just as evil and manipulative as in all the other games. Never does he claim he wanted to help his people. He just wanted Hyrule for himself.
There was some artwork released for ALTTP about a year ago and it featured character descriptions. The one for Ganon said how he would steal from infants and snort with laughter as he did it. This is clearly a sadistic man who is not out to help people. Look at OoT for more proof. Where do his people still live after 7 years of his rule...the desert.

There is Nabooru who I think feels she is a good person just because she is comparably less evil with the most evil man in the series. The fact is she is still a thief who takes things that don't belong to her and that she didn't earn. The people probably worked hard for the items that she stole from them, it likely caused devastation when she stole precious items of sentimental value and when she pushed people under the poverty line by taking money they needed for food.

Tingle is one who is very evil. Everyone sees him for what he is except Zunari and of course Tingle himself. He enslaves his own brother and a shipwrecked man to perform hard labour without rest, turning his tower. He lies about why his tower spins, claiming it is fairy magic when it is actually slaves. He is also an extortionist even to those who are his friends as he is completely obsessed with his goal of living with fairies, and will go through any means to achieve it.

 

[Spiritual Mask Salesman]

Tingle is one who is very evil. Everyone sees him for what he is except Zuko and of course Tingle himself. He enslaves his own brother and a shipwrecked man to perform hard labour without rest, turning his tower. He lies about why his tower spins, claiming it is fairy magic when it is actually slaves. He is also an extortionist even to those who are his friends as he is completely obsessed with his goal of living with fairies, and will go through any means to achieve it.

Yeah, Tingle is definitely pretty evil. He literally charges an arm and a leg for deciphering those Triforce Charts.

 

[HeroOfTime]

To quote Nabooru, "With his followers, he stole from women and children, and he even killed people!" Apparently, this was totally unacceptable for him and his people, the Gerudo. Even as the king, breaking his people's law was unacceptable.

 

[Christopher Oates]

Well, I think it depends on the villain. Demise, for example, clearly knows that he's evil personified and he loves it. Basically, Demise is The Legend of Zelda's Satan. He's the Devil, so of course he's completely evil. Other villains like Majora and Malladus are more like demons. These two are also thoroughly evil (practically as evil as Demise), I just think they lack the overall presence of Demise, who I think exists everywhere even after his death (wherever there is evil, there is Demise). Ganondorf is a curious one, because in the beginning, he's completely human, not an evil demon like Majora, Malladus, etc. He is, though, the incarnation of Demise's hatred, too, so of course he's evil...and he knows it. Perhaps at first (in Ocarnia of Time), he believed his actions were justified (as he alludes to in Wind Waker), but by the time of his transformation into Ganon, I think he's fully aware of his destiny, he's accepted his role as the ultimate bad guy and he enjoys it... So, even though Ganondorf is ultimately just as evil as Majora and Malladus, I don't believe he was always that evil (at least not in his own mind).

 

[QueenZora]

I feel like one of the best examples of evil not being aware it's evil is the characters Majora and the Fierce Deity, and these are characters that have been up for interpretation of the gamer. But the line of text spoken by Majora when the player acquires the Fierce Deity's mask certainly confirms that Majora is not aware that it's evil. It thinks that it's just defending its people. Same goes for the Fierce Deity, Link takes on this form without given any background about it. And by looking at the power of this form, it would make sense that Majora would latch onto other beings in hopes that they could help it overcome the Fierce Deity because it was a threat to its tribe. In this situation, I believe that neither Majora or Fierce Deity Link understand that they are evil, but both contain evil.