Ever since his first appearance, Ganon has been terrifying. From his original appearance where he attacked you while invisible to the nightmare fuel of his sinister laughter in The Adventure of Link’s game over screen, the porcine perpetrator is constantly there to haunt the gamer’s waking hours. Even the sight of the spectral Dark Beast Ganon of Breath of the Wild inspired fear, though the ease of that fight may have made it undeserved. In this piece titled “Legend of Zelda: Ganon,” the artist Inklev channels the fury and darkness that have always made Ganon such a fearsome foe.
One of the most powerful artistic choices made by Inklev in this piece is the contrast between the bright light in the background and the shadows of the dark beast. The choice to make the background white helps to frame the boarish boss and draws our eyes to his dark body. This same choice in colors becomes even more striking when we look at where else the bright white shows up. The two other instances of its use that I find interesting are in the creature’s eyes and in the wound he received from the Sage of Water’s failed execution attempt. It’s as if the Sage’s luminescent blade poisoned Ganondorf with its light. Despite all that he has done to blacken his heart and darken the land of Hyrule, he cannot escape the light of this wound, even to the point where his eyes shine with it rather than a cold blood-red or amber that he’d probably prefer.
In addition to Inklev’s use of light and shadow, my eyes were also drawn to all the methods used to reveal the demon pig’s fury. The elements that do the majority of the heavy lifting when it comes to conveying Ganon’s demonic anger are his snout and maw. The snout is crinkled up in anger and lined with rows of tiny, razor-sharp teeth that are surely great for gobbling up Ordon youths. The black-blue color of his tongue, as well as its length, also contribute to the sense of fury in the piece both because of its unnatural inky color and the way it looks as if the beast is bellowing so loud hard spit is seconds away from flying out of its mouth. The final element of anger is Ganon’s tusks, which are huge but also curve downwards wickedly at the tips. Getting stabbed by any tusk would surely be excruciating, but the curved tips of the dark beast’s tusks almost imply a conscious design to be as torturous to his foes as possible.
I love Ganondorf. The twisted logic and cunning of the Gerudo king make him a compelling villain to watch as his plans within plans bring ruin to Hyrule. At times though, I prefer the raw, unbridled rage of Ganon. He reminds me of the anger and frustration that we all feel at times where we just want to boar out and wreck those things that are ruining our day. In those moments, we can look at this piece of Inklev’s and vicariously let the dark beast loose.
