It took seven years. It took seven long years for Ganondorf to truly have his chance at taking complete control of the Triforce. When he first took hold of the Triforce, it split into three pieces, leaving him with only the Triforce of Power, and the other pieces vanished. Ganondorf knew of the Triforce, but he did not know how it worked. All it left him with was the Triforce of Power. And while the Triforce of Power does grant him limitless might, it is simply not enough. Power is not his only desire.
Ganondorf wants everything. There are two people out there with the remaining pieces, and he has an idea of who had the Triforce of Wisdom, but as for the last piece, the Triforce of Courage, its owner remains a mystery.
This mystery has finally come to an end. While watching from his evil throne, Ganondorf bears witness to the defeat of his ghastly minion, Phantom Ganon, at the hands of a strange and unbelievably brave young man. He watched this youth as he braved the Forest Temple to save the Forest Sage, whom Ganondorf had captured alongside the other sages. This kid, apparently named Link, is clearly the child he had manipulated seven long years ago. As far as Ganondorf can tell, Link’s goal is to free all of the sages, he is being helped by someone named Sheik, and he is also looking for Zelda.
Ganondorf prefers that the sages would not be freed, but he sees an opportunity. Ganondorf has failed so far in finding the princess. He will let Link try. Let the kid play hero for a bit. Either Link would fail and die, removing a challenger from the equation, or Link was going to draw Zelda out of hiding. Ganondorf has been gifted the chance to use the same strategy he used seven years ago. All he needs to do have a little patience.
Patience is a virtue, even if it is used by a villain. Link proves his valor and rescues all of the sages, and he has grown in confidence and bravery, and that’s all Ganondorf needed. In the Temple of Time, Sheik met Link once more, but this time to reveal a shocking truth, even to Ganondorf: Sheik is Zelda in disguise.
He can commend Zelda for her cunning, but that’s all the curtsy he will extend to her. Once she makes herself known, Ganondorf capitalizes and exerts his evil to capture her, teleporting her away to his dark tower stronghold while taunting Link in the process.
By this point in the story, Ganondorf was nearly untouchable and unstoppable. The world was his to command, and no one could stand against him. The confidence was warranted, but not the arrogance. And he would soon learn this harsh fact.
After some more time and many felled minions, Ganondorf again finds the impetuous boy standing before him. He admires Link’s fortitude, but the time for childish games is over. It is time for Link to give what is due to the king.
And Link does, much to Ganondorf’s horror. The hero and the tyrant clash, and whether by his arrogance, his recklessness, or a combination of them both, Ganondorf finds himself both covered in the fresh wounds of a brutal fight and choking on his last breath. How did this happen? Ganondorf cannot conceive of it. All he can do is utter his enemy’s name before collapsing to the ground.
Yet, even while fading into the afterlife, the King of Evil refuses to accept his fate. As Link and Zelda reunite and look to leave, the castle fills the two with terror as it begins to tremble. With the last of his draining strength, Ganondorf will use his magic to destroy the castle and bring it down on top of the duo. Link and Zelda are too quick though and too well trained by their hardships, and are able to escape the castle before it is being buried alive. The only one being crushed underneath the rubble is the very man who brought it all down in the first place.
Now on solid ground, Link and Zelda feel the weight of Ganondorf’s evil finally lifting. But as a loud rumble comes from the center of what was once a mighty castle, they quickly realize that his evil has simply been replaced by an even worse one that sleeps deep with him. Ganondorf, still refusing to die, burst from the stone and timber and rises from the ground, his hate-filled eyes fixed on Link.
With all of his fury and malice conjured in one final effort, Ganondorf lifts his fist in defiance to summon the full might of the Triforce of Power. Ganondorf begins to glow and his body detorts and changes, his voice groaning and moaning while sounding increasingly more bestial. After a few seconds that carried on like countless nightmares, Ganondorf has at last forsaken his humanity and falls to the ground as the massive and unrestrained ultimate incarnation of evil: Ganon. Ganondorf’s hate has taken control and warped his mind and body into something beyond redemption. He is now a beast — a beast with a singular desire to slay the hero that stands before him.
The battle between light and dark is a fierce one, but Link is simply too much for the embodiment of darkness. Link lands a decisive blow, and the beast lets out a horrific scream, the wound from the Master Sword being too much to bear. Zelda, calling upon the power of the rescued sages, takes this time to combine their magic to cast a spell on Ganon, drawing him into the Sacred Realm and trapping him inside. Finally, and truly, the threat to Hyrule is gone.
Gone, but not dead. The sages sealed Ganon in the Sacred Realm, effectively locking him in a supernatural void and prison, but he has returned to his human form. He has his rationale again, and he still carries his hatred of Zelda, the sages, and Link. But worse of all, he still has his piece of the Triforce. He can never truly be defeated while it dwells within him, and he knows that. This prison will not hold him forever. The spell will break eventually, and vengeance will come swiftly. All Ganondorf needs to do is have a little patience.
Ganondorf thought he was a god and the rightful master of the world. All of his ambition, all of his obsessions, had consumed his rationale and left him blind to how much trouble Link could cause. He cost himself everything. He would eventually get another chance to unleash his evil on Hyrule, but the sting of failure would follow him forever. And he would also know that the Hero would always be a looming nightmare that would threaten his desires.
