Zelda Versus: Best Ocarina of Time Sage Tournament — Round 1 — Darunia Vs. Nabooru

Our best Ocarina of Time sage tournament continues with two new characters. As Ruto and Impa duke it out in Monday’s poll, Darunia and Nabooru enter the fray.

Darunia Vs. Nabooru

Darunia, the Goron chief, is a primary mentor character throughout Ocarina of Time. We see him soften as the game progresses, growing from gruff and standoffish to kind and gentle as Link continues to forge a friendship with him and his people. The quest to rid Dodongo’s Cavern of evil and save Darunia’s people from starvation is the perfect example of a great character arc. By the time Link travels through time and returns to Death Mountain as an adult, our hero considers Darunia a true brother and a source of security during such troubling times. And we mustn’t forget the Goron leader’s appreciation for up-beat music; I spent hours just watching him flail about to “Saria’s Song” as a kid.

Link meets Nabooru late in his journey in Ocarina of Time, but she no less leaves an impact on our hero’s quest. A highly respected Gerudo warrior and second-in-command to Ganondorf, Nabooru is introduced as a clever and smooth talking thief. She coaxes young Link into helping her find a lost treasure in the Spirit Temple, revealing her intentions to overthrow Ganondorf in the process. She earns our respect with her goal, for sure. Nabooru does eventually get captured by the dreaded Twinrova, but the tragedy is ultimately used to set up a super tense Iron Knuckle fight at the end of the Spirit Temple. As the only eventual sage to engage Link in combat, Nabooru stands out as extremely noteworthy.

So, it’s time to decide which Ocarina of Time sage is the best: Darunia or Nabooru

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Here’s some important tournament information:

• If you receive a “Failed to Verify Referrer” message and you are logged into a version of WordPress, try logging out.
• We will post a new Round 1 voting page on Wednesday and Friday.
• Voting for each game will be open for exactly one week.
• On Sunday, we will post a wrap-up article explaining the results of the prior week.
• Once voting pages for all Round 1 bouts have been posted, there will be a one-week break before Round 2 begins.

See you Friday!

Rod Lloyd

Rod Lloyd is the Editor-In-Chief at Zelda Dungeon, overseeing the news and feature content for the site. Rod is considered the veteran of the writing team, having started writing for Zelda Informer in 2014 as a Junior Editor. After ZD and ZI officially merged in 2017, he stepped into the Managing Editor role and has helped steer the ship ever since. He stepped up to lead the writing team as Editor-In-Chief in 2023.
You can reach Rod at: rod.lloyd@zeldadungeon.net