Bosses with backstories: Ocarina of Time and The Wind Waker edition

Who doesn’t love the thrill of a classic Legend of Zelda boss fight? Few things compare to the adrenaline rushing through you the moment Link sets foot in a spacious chamber. The door locks behind bars, and suddenly, it gets real. Everything falls eerily quiet. Link surveys the area, then — BAM! A gargantuan boss bursts forth into the scene, along with a large text of its name appearing front and center on the screen. It’s now your job to take up enough courage to slay this boss, bringing Link and Hyrule one step closer toward peace in the war.

But what if the boss isn’t just some random baddie in your way? What if this boss does, in fact, have a story of their own to tell? Would it compel you to be more mindful in the boss room? Believe it or not, there are lots of Zelda bosses who have a backstory in some way or another. In fact, there are enough of them that one simply cannot cover them all in a single article!

Thus, I present to you the beginning of an all-new article mini-series — “Bosses with Backstories.” To kick things off, let’s cover the dynamic duo of Zelda titles: Ocarina of Time and The Wind Waker.

Gohma

Let’s begin with everyone’s favorite not-so-friendly neighborhood anthropoid. With a big eye and meaty claws, Gohma is the epitome role model of what a good ol’ classic Zelda boss looks like. She is historically one of the first, after all. Part crab and, later on, part spider, she’s lurked in dingy dungeons to stop our little green hero in his tracks ever since the first title hit the shelves in 1986.

Sounds like a simple monster life, right? Well, there’s a subtle but important detail that hangs around Gohma whether you have realized it or not: Gohma always, always, always shows up in the same stories as the King of Evil himself. This can mean one thing, and one thing only. Gohma is more than simply Ganon’s minion. She is undoubtedly his favorite monster pet.

And why not? Villains can have pets, too. Both spiders and crabs are legit companions these days. Don’t believe me? Check it out yourself. I guarantee you that 99%of the time Ganon pops up in a game, his loyal pet Gohma is scurrying behind doing a dirty deed for him in some way or another. She infested the Deku Tree in Ocarina of Time. She vexed Valoo in The Wind Waker for Ganondorf when the poor dragon didn’t even know it. She unleashes chaos in Hyrule Warriors. Heck, Gohma even does her master’s bidding in the cartoons. The cartoons! Now that’s what I call dedication.

The only time Ganon appears in canon without his beloved little arachnid is in Breath of the Wild. This is fair, since by that point he’s corrupted beyond comprehension and not acting quite like his usual self. Then again, you never know. There is a sequel right around the corner of a spider’s web, after all.

Phantom Ganon

This is another boss who consistently appears alongside Ganon for one glaringly obvious reason. Link’s archnemesis is clearly in love with himself. Why else would he keep summoning copies after the hero that he later deems to be inferior? To conjure up an avatar flash dance? Of course not. Selfish obsession is the only logical explanation for this recurring boss. In Breath of the Wild, said obsession apparently goes into overdrive when combined with malice. How lovely.

Despite the narcissism, Phantom Ganon has a more interesting backstory from the developer side of things. In case you were wondering, Ocarina of Time‘s Phantom Ganon boss battle is indeed inspired by Super Mario 64. Both games were developed around the same time, and it’s only natural for creativity to crossbreed. Sooner or later the Zelda developers began to muse. What if Ganondorf could pop in and out of paintings to taunt Link? And just like that, Phantom Ganon was born. The idea stuck, and Ganon’s spooky doppelganger has stuck around in the series ever since.

Volvagia

In Ocarina of Time, Volvagia is an ancient dragon with an insatiable appetite for Gorons. Ganondorf revives him after rising to power in the Adult Timeline to secure a stronghold in the Fire Temple. He even feeds some of the poor Gorons to the beast to quell the faintest thought of rebellion. Eventually, Link comes to the rescue and frees the surviving Gorons from their doom. He descends to the depths of Death Mountain, slays Volvagia, nabs the next Heart Container, and that’s that.

At first blush, it seems Volvagia is little more than a dragon for Link to contend with, but there’s much more than meets the eye. According to an old Goron myth, Volvagia had already terrorized these rock-dwelling people a long time ago. This means that Volvagia was snaking around long before Ganon ever got his clutches on the creature. Back then, a Goron hero emerged and defeated it for the first time with the Megaton Hammer.

This myth is what helps Link understand the secret to beating the boss once again. Darunia is even said to be descended from this hero. It makes one wonder what it was like on Death Mountain the first time around. How did this Goron become a hero, and where does Volvagia come from, anyway? Unfortunately, we can only guess. He could be related to one of the dragons in Breath of the Wild for all we know.

Read the Ocarina of Time manga, however, and you get a very different backstory for this boss. Volvagia’s tale begins not as an ancient monster of doom, but as a pet rescued by Link as a child. The two form a powerful bond that, thanks to the seven-year time jump, gets tragically cut short. By the time Link sees him again as an adult, Ganondorf’s evil influence had already taken over the poor creature. All Link could do was put Volvagia out of its misery (seems rather unfair now that you know his nemesis has a pet too, hm? Double boo.) This heart-wrenching story is probably one of the most developed backstories for a Zelda boss you might ever see. It makes one think: are there other Zelda monsters that were once docile?

Twinrova

This pair of Gerudo witches are just as mysterious as they are intriguing. Twinrova is the combined name for Koume and Kotake, twin witches with fire and ice powers, respectively. They’re approximately 400 years old, and yet they have figured out how to hijack the fountain of youth with their magic. They can combine into the form of a young-looking, alluring Gerudo woman. Weirdest of all, Twinrova is introduced in Ocarina of Time as Ganondorf’s surrogate mother. Excuse me, but what in tarnation is that about?

It’s not really a lot of information to go on for a boss with a backstory, but it sure is one heck of a tease to lure the strongest curiosity out of any Zelda fan. Was Twinrova responsible for raising Ganondorf in the dark arts of evil magic? Or did they lurk in the background, secretly calling the shots of Gerudo politics? And what happened to his real parents, anyway? Did Twinrova brainwash or even kill them? Is he an orphan? Does Ganondorf have any parents? Does he know? Do we even want to know?

Never mind. My brain hurts just thinking about the whole mess. Instead, let’s cut to the quick and go straight to the horse’s mouth.

Ganondorf / Ganon

We all knew it was going to mount up to this point. Being the only male Gerudo we have seen to date, Ganondorf single-handedly carries more backstory than any Zelda boss could ever ask for. That’s because Ganondorf is more than the final boss of Ocarina of Time and The Wind Waker. He’s the outright main character next to Link and Zelda for the entire series.

In fact, I would go as far as to say that Ganondorf in Ocarina of Time and The Wind Waker sums up the core of his 30-plus-year history of character development. To spare you the long-winded explanation, this concept is explained in greater detail in another article. Both games display a beautiful (albeit foreboding) continuity of backstory for Ganondorf that is yet to be outdone. If you haven’t played these games back-to-back before, you are definitely missing out. It’s one of the finest gems in Zelda storytelling that even rivals Star Wars. Fun fact: did you know there are more sketches of Link and Ganondorf revealed than any other characters in Ocarina of Time‘s concept art? That says something, no? Oh well. Perhaps I’m a little biased.

But, what if I’m right? After all, there’s a good reason why the internet blew up in reaction to that first trailer of the Breath of the Wild sequel. Deep down, we knew by sheer instinct that Breath of the Wild‘s backstory needed something more. More character. More spice. More Master Sword drama. And, perhaps, more male Gerudo. Clearly, this boss takes the cake in having one of the greatest backstories we have ever known.