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Villain with Good Intentions: What Do You Think?

Sir Quaffler

May we meet again
I've been wondering this for some time now: What if we had a Zelda villain that wasn't just trying to get more power or rule Hurule or any of that other stuff, but instead he (she?) wanted to bring about a change in the land and legitimately wanted to do good, but has some very warped ideas about what is good. Ganondorf from WW gave me this idea, he didn't really strike me as much of a truly evil character, just someone who wanted to bring about good but got carried away with it, got too attached to his ideals, and snapped at the very end. N from Pokemon Black is also a really good example of this, he wanted what was best for Pokemon and legitimately though he was doing the right thing, but his ideals were skewed and he was instead causing harm.

I think this will be a really cool thing to see in a future Zelda game. What do you guys think?
 
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ihateghirahim

The Fierce Deity
Joined
Jan 16, 2013
Location
Inside the Moon
Finally someone else gets it.

Zelda needs a complex and deep villain. That, not voice acting, will make the stories deeper and more complex. I want a villain I can sympathize with and maybe even relate to. What about a villain who tries to take over Hyrule, but it's later reveal he made a pact with Ganon; who will bring his dead family back to life. A nice story like that would make for a deeper and maybe even darker Zelda game. I want it.
 
Joined
Apr 6, 2011
Depends on how it's used. There are some villains that work great with good intentions and some that don't. For the Legend of Zelda, I can see a lot of well-intentional villains Nintendo could come up with. But we have good intentional villains, then I personally we need a pure evil villain that contrast with the anti-villain to show the highlight between grey and black, much like N and Ghetsis. Who knows? It can work for a Zelda game, that is for sure. Vaati from the Minish Cap Manga and Shadow Link from the Four Swords Manga are proof of that.
 

Ventus

Mad haters lmao
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Akkala
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Hylian Champion
It obviously depends on how the concept is used, but for me, the underlying thing is who it is used on. A villain with good intentions, to me, sounds like a ruler who inadvertently leads their nation to its own demise. And who is the perfect candidate for this? Why, Zelda of course.

Recall in Twilight Princess that Zelda was the young matriarch of Hyrule. She had youth beneath her wisdom, and she made a pretty hardcore decision: let her people live while succumbing to shadow. I'd like to see a person of power take their decisions to all new heights, and while that decision be big, I'd want the power-holding person to continue making holes in the land despite having the notion that their doings are nothing but good.

Would be a nice tale of irony, what good is and what it really isn't, and many other things. :)
 
Joined
Aug 25, 2012
Location
Indiana, USA
Villains with good intentions are at least a step up from generic bad guys who want to dominate things and destroy stuff. It could definitely work in Zelda's setting, since we now actually care what happens to the villain beyond planting a sword between its eyes. There are other ways to convey interesting villains, but misguided souls we can sympathize with definitely engage players.

The only other thought or suggestion I could offer here is that I'd like to see a Zelda game with either multiple villains working against each other or a group of centralized villains with wildly different personalities. That way there's always a different bone to pick with someone, and their personalities can blend and contrast with one another to highlight them for the better.
 

Justac00lguy

BooBoo
Joined
Jul 1, 2012
Gender
Shewhale
I think the general idea is good!

However for this truely to work it would have to be done with a Sub-Villain like Zant or Ghirahim! I nearly saw Twilight Princess going for that route when we defeated Zant but it turns out he was just crazy :/ Saying that tjough there was a scene were it seems Zant took revenge on Ganondorf and this made me think...maybe Zant was just took over by jealousy and a craving for power.

I would love to see good characters development like this in maybe a sub villain where actually the Villain turns out to be good hearted! It would certainly make for a good pot twist and a good narrative!
 
its a nice idea and would make for a very interesting showdown, WW Ganondorf reminded me of it too as did Veran a little bit. Any characterisation or a break form the norm in Zelda is very much welcome and i'd like to see nintendo tackle this idea, it might fall flat on its face but its a pretty noble ideal to want to portray and i'd give anyone who genuinely tries the well deserved credit for doing so.

so yeah i'd like to see this and think it could fly quite well as WW's ending did
 

Draymorath

Destroyer of Destruction
Joined
Sep 28, 2011
Location
Probably in my room.
Sounds like as good an idea as any. It would definitely make the plot much deeper and more complex. You would have to try to put yourself in their shoes and make you feel legitamitely sorry for taking them down.
 

DarkestLink

Darkest of all Dark Links
Joined
Oct 28, 2012
Maybe as a support villain. But I'd rather keep an epic badass as the main villain.
 
Joined
Feb 5, 2011
It's an interesting idea.
If this villain were... say it with me, HIJACKED BY GANON, then maybe the rest of the game will have him make amends for his actions.
 
Joined
Mar 8, 2010
Totally down. I'm not sure why they keep the writing so primitive in Zelda games. Most every Zelda fan I've talked to is very interested and emotionally attached to the game and the characters in the game. I understand that the creators are obsessed with gameplay, but gameplay only makes it interesting once. Emotional attachment aids in replay value, which is what makes a game great.
 

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