Webcomic / Growing Up Gerudo

Growing Up Gerudo is a Fan Webcomic for The Legend of Zelda which is set in an Alternate Universe where Ganon found a baby Hylian in the middle of the desert and adopted him. The baby’s name? Link. The comic is dedicated to the life of Link and Ganon, as they go through the troubles of being part of enemy races and their unexpected meeting.

Can be read Tumblr and WebToon and has a patreon here.

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Growing Up Gerudo includes examples of:

• Abusive Parents: King Daphnes is a very overbearing king towards both his subjects and his own child, to the point where Zel has to largely stay silent in order to appease their father and use an alter ego to express themselves and do good for the kingdom behind his back. Later, he not only publicly smacks Zel after they tearfully beg him to stop attacking Link and Ganondorf, but it's harsh enough to leave a pretty nasty mark on their face.
• Adaptation Dye-Job: Zel has brown hair instead of the usual gold similar to the Zelda in Twilight Princess, though it tends to appear darker in the comic due to it being colored in greyscale.
• Adaptational Explanation:
  • The possible connections between the Gerudo, Sheikah, and Twili. Basically, it's unknown what the Twili people looked like before they were banished to the Twilight Realm and why the other two races were largely absent in Twilight Princess, with theories usually arguing that the Gerudo or the Sheikah are actually the Twili. In the comic, Impa explains that they were all once the same people but split into three groups after the Sheikah allied with Hylians after they came down from Skyloft, with the Twili exiled by the Hylians while the Gerudo migrated into the desert.
  • The line between Demise the Demon King and Ganondorf the Gerudo King. While it's very strongly hinted that Ganondorf is the reincarnation of Demise and his hatred in canon, it doesn't quite line up with his genuine sympathy over the poor living conditions of the Gerudo in The Wind Waker. Here, Ganondorf and Demise are presented as completely different characters, where the former actively fights against his destiny to become Demise's human vessel.
  • How the Kokiri and Koroks are connected. Unlike Laruto and Medli, who are biologically related, it's unexplained how Fado and Mekar are connected due to the obvious Never Grew Up problem of the Kokiri and the plant-like nature of Koroks. The comic explains that Koroks are Kokiri but at a younger life stage, where they grow up from the ground like plants but become more humanoid over time.
• Adaptational Gender Identity: Zelda/Sheik. In the original game, the Sheik identity was merely a Sweet Polly Oliver disguise used to evade Ganondorf. In the comic, Zel is genderfluid, going by they/them pronouns as Zel, he/him as Sheik, and she/her as Zelda. In the comic, while still used as a disguise to keep Link and Ganondorf out of danger during their heists, it's one of the only ways where Sheik can fully express himself and it's also used to reveal his true colors to his father before jumping in to help Link save a transformed Ganondorf. Plus, the name Sheik itself is actually a self-appointed Meaningful Rename long before the Sheikah outfit was even worn. During the adult arc, it's clear that Hylians disapprove of it, calling it "crossdressing" in a letter. Therefore, Sheik is very much a core part of Zel, not just a mask.
• Adaptational Heroism:
  • The Helmaroc and Kargarok are Bond Creatures to the Gerudo, so naturally in a story that is from the Gerudo perspective, these birds are just as heroic as their respective masters and each Kargarok functions as an Instant Messenger Pigeon for the tribe.
  • Iron Knuckles are no longer possessed Gerudo, but willing warriors with strength-enhancing armor that act as heavy-hitters in their forces. The armor is rarely used against other races, particularly Hylians, because it would be an unfair fight.
• Adaptation Relationship Overhaul: Ganondorf and Nabooru. Ocarina of Time had them as king and second-in-command respectively, with Nabooru secretly rebelling against Ganondorf up until she was caught and brainwashed by Twinrova. Here, they barely start out as a couple and then husband and wife in later arcs.
• Adaptational Villainy: King Daphnes. In The Wind Waker, he was the spirit of a king who felt like he failed to protect Hyrule from Ganon and generally acted as a grandfatherly figure towards Link and Zelda. The comic has him as a very vengeful king who's out to kill Ganondorf and the rest of the Gerudo, and generally acts controlling and even antagonistic towards the two heroes.
• Alternate Universe: Of The Legend of Zelda games. It resembles The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time the most, but characters from other games in the series (e.g. Midna) have also appeared.
• Amazon Brigade: The Gerudo warriors, natch. They once again function as a (mostly) One-Gender Race of warrior women led by a Gerudo King, though this time there are more males beyond Ganondorf with the inclusion of Vridi and Link.
• Animal Motifs:
  • Wolves for Fenrir, a man who wears a wolf pelt and bears the same name as a certain giant wolf in Norse Mythology. It's also a fairly solid connection to his son, Link, a hero associated with wolves in the franchise.
  • A mix between wolves and foxes for Link since his wolf form is yellow-colored this time around to match his desert upbringing and the Keaton mask that he wears as the Caped Keaton bandit.
• Asian Fox Spirit: Similar to Majora's Mask, Keatons are foxes with multiple tails although their traits are more heavily influenced by kitsune folklore where the number of tails they have matches their age, where youngsters have three tails and adults have nine. Only the adult Keaton, parent of the rescued Keaton kit, is able to talk and boasts a large size. It's explained by Ganondorf and Nabooru that Keatons are messengers of the Sand Goddess and a Keaton choosing to talk to someone is a sign of a good omen. Little do they know that the Keaton that spoke with Link, Falume, and Umas delivered a very foreboding warning that if Link truly wants peace and unity, he would have to prepare himself for a war between gods.
• An Arm and a Leg:
  • Type 2: Ganondorf's sister, Oska, lost her leg during her time as a priestess and went into blacksmithing sometime before the events of the story.
  • Type 3: After an attempted surgery with Saria, it's made apparent that the only way to remove the piece of Demise's sword from Ganondorf is amputation. After he transforms into a demonic beast, Link and Nabooru team up to cut off said arm with the Master Sword or else lose him forever to Demise's curse.
• Badass Adorable: Young Link is no less badass here than he is normally, though his rounder face and tiny body in the Child Arc can make you forget his destiny as a swordsman even when he's holding a weapon.
• Big Eater: Link has a pretty big appetite despite living in a society that has to scrape for food. It actually gets him into some minor trouble with Nabooru when, as a small child, he takes too much from the communal table during a time when they have to ration food.
• Call-Back: Nabooru wields a large battleaxe as part of her Iron Knuckle getup, which also serves as a reference to the miniboss fight in Ocarina of Time.
• The Call Knows Where You Live: Subverted. Both Impa and Nabooru fear the violent ramifications that could happen if Hylians find out that the incarnation of the hero is with the Gerudo tribe. They're correct that there would a violent reaction, though by the time King Daphnes even finds out, Link is already inside the castle dressed up as the legendary hero in order to prevent future attacks on the Gerudo, though he didn't know that the attack that led to the discovery of his identity was actually part of an unrelated genocide attempt by Fenrir and Daphnes.
• Cannot Keep a Secret: After meeting a talking Keaton who cryptically warns them of an upcoming war between gods, Link has his little sisters promise him that they wouldn't speak of it to their parents, Ganondorf and Nabooru. What happens as soon as they get home and eat dinner? Umas and Falume eagerly blurt it out to their parents and tell them that it's a secret. Justified since they're little kids and even refer to the Keaton's warning as "big words".
• Captain Obvious: When a bird's head mutates into some kind of alien maw during Link's training, Nabooru comments that it's "not normal".
• Catapult Nightmare: Happens to both Zel and Ganon when they dream of Link battling, and falling, to the latter. Both practically shoot straight-up in bed, though Zel takes it a step further by waking up screaming, much to the concern of some nearby guards.
• Co-Dragons: Ghirahim and Zant to Demise, and very arguably also to Ganondorf but only to a small extent, which is a bit of a Call-Back to the roles they had in Hyrule Warriors but not nearly as loyal since they are largely just waiting for Demise to take over Ganondorf's body rather than listen to Ganondorf himself.
• Composite Character:
  • King Daphnes with the unnamed king of Hyrule from Ocarina of Time. On the surface, the King of Hyrule from that game was largely The Good King who was too trusting of Ganondorf and dismissive of his daughter's warnings. However, many background details has brought the "good" part into question with Hyrule's civil war, the Royal Family's connections to the Shadow Temple, and his own people's hostile attitudes towards the Gerudo, especially when combined with Ganondorf's own recounting of the tribe's struggles in The Wind Waker. He's combined with King Daphnes, who was a monarch who lived during a time when there was no hero to defend the kingdom from Ganon's return sometime after Ocarina of Time. Put the worst theories about these two kings together and naturally you'd get the racist Manipulative Bastard we see in the comic.
  • Dragon Knight Volga with Volvagia. Technically, the connections were already there in Hyrule Warriors with Volga's helmet design resembling Volvagia's head, though they're separate characters. Similar to Volvagia's role as a Goron-eating dragon, the comic has Volga dwell within Death Mountain and unintentionally striking fear into the Gorons with his movements, but not actually hunting them down and it takes Ganondorf to convince him to move somewhere else in order to keep the peace.
• Curse Cut Short: Some swears are occasionally dropped in the comic, though sometimes stronger ones are cut off for comedic effect, such as when Link is saved by Sheik from some guards:
  Link: "Thanks Sheik, you really saved my-ACK!!!"
• Darker and Edgier: Than the games it's based on, which have a lot of battle but never show actual blood and gore. Not so much in this comic which even has on-panel child murder, though it turns out to be just a dream.
• Deadpan Snarker: Ghirahim is already the king of Double Entendre in his dialogue, so it's not surprising that he can be a little sarcastic or even scathing at times whenever he's being a little more catty.
  Zant: "Is that a rat I smell?"
  Ghirahim: "Funny... I thought most animals were oblivious to their own scent."
• Deliberately Cute Child: Link gives Nabooru the biggest puppy eyes he can manage in order to get an extra bread roll. Needless to say, it doesn't work, or at least not on her specifically. He still gets a piece from Ganondorf.
• Demonic Possession: Ganondorf is not a reincarnation of Demise, but rather his human vessel. With one piece of Demise's sword in his arm, it's slowly infecting his body from the entry point in his arm and outward. While the process can be expedited by allowing Ghirahim to sacrifice the Gerudo King to Demise, Ganondorf actively resists its influence but it can seep through during a high emotional state like anger.
• Devil's Pitchfork: While most games depict Ganondorf's human form wielding a sword or two, this time he uses a trident similar to his traditional demon pig appearance.
• Didn't Think This Through: An injured Fenrir charges straight into battle with an experienced Gerudo warrior while a giant demon is rampaging nearby. Not only does a swift kick to his torso easily ground him, he can't readily move after he gets pinned down by a halberd, which causes him to get accidentally squashed by Beast Ganon's hand.
• Don't Tell Mama: Nabooru manages to interrupt the young, bratty Sika in the middle of her "The Reason You Suck" Speech towards Link by openly considering on telling her mother about her misbehavior. Sika changes her attitude pretty quickly and starts begging Nabooru not say anything to her mother, Aveil.
• The Dragon: Fenrir to King Daphnes. While initially an advisor, he oversees the Hylian forces and carries out the king's orders with extreme prejudice, both literally and figuratively. Even a teenage Link finds him intimidating as the leader of the guards, and that's long before his actual violent streak comes into focus when he starts to openly slaughter Gerudo.
• Dual Wielding: Link fights with two blades during his initiation test and later as the Caped Keaton in his teen years.
• Dream-Crushing Handicap: One of the Gerudo children has to give up on his training to become a warrior because of his asthma making it impossible. However, he ends up learning magic by Koume and Kotake as part of his training to become the future king of the Gerudo.
• Elective Mute: Oska stopped speaking after her mother died from giving birth to Ganondorf, though is still able to communicate using body language and gestures.
• Embarrassingly Painful Sunburn: Going out in the desert at midday gives the pale-skinned Link a bad sunburn, something he didn't have to worry about in the games.
• Fantastic Racism:
  • Hylians and Gerudo, it goes both ways. Much like in the games, the Hylians view the Gerudo race as nothing but thieves, though it's taken up to eleven with their king wanting to wipe them out. Meanwhile, the Gerudo seem to view Hylians as weaker, dishonorable cowards who fight dirty. Even a young child like Sika calls out Link for being a weak, dumb Hylian several times before their initiation and doesn't think he belongs in their tribe up until he wins her over during training. The Gerudo-raised Link also accuses Zel of being a "stuck-up Hylian brat" after the latter insults the tribe. They both learn to drop their attitudes after Zel apologizes to Vridi over a transphobic and racist comment, and also after a close call inside Death Mountain since Link was the one who goaded Zel into proving that Hylians aren't "pansies" in the first place.
  • While Impa explains that the Gerudo and Twili were exiled from Hyrule because they didn't welcome the Hylians after their return from Skyloft, it's pretty clear that Sheikah loyalty isn't enough to win much trust or respect as they were largely treated as a Servant Race by the royal family. At one point, a Hylian in a crowd screams "I should've known the Sheikah were behind this!" when King Daphnes is brought to the town square to expose him for his crimes.
  • Given how Rauru has to remind the same crowd about the selfless feats of the Zora and Gorons right after a a rude remark is thrown at Princess Ruto, it turns out that not even they are safe from xenophobia.
• Friendship Trinket: Link gives his doll to Princess Midna as a display of friendship. It's later seen again as a comfort toy after a teenage Midna gets locked up her room by Zant.
• Friend to All Children: Ganondorf. He has a knack for giving as much care to children as possible, and even the standoffish Midna warms up to him pretty quickly once she's fed food.
• Fusion Dance: Subverted. Gerudo twin sisters Falume and Umas try to fuse together like their grandmother Twinrova but they come out as a botched fusion instead, looking like one being with two heads and multiple limbs.
• God Save Us from the Queen!: King Daphnes is not only a danger to other nations, but also to his own countrymen since he deliberately causes Ganondorf to transform into a dangerous demon in front of a crowd of Hylians, directly attacks Link in order to trigger the transformation, and brutally slaps Zel in front of them. Needless to say, it's not too surprising that when Rauru points all of this out, Daphnes' own people turn on him pretty quickly.
• The Good Kingdom: Subverted. Much like in the games, Hyrule still functions as the better-off society compared to the Gerudo, though it's clear that Hylians are very xenophobic and untrusting of other races, and were also responsible for the exile of the Gerudo and Twili in the first place. Surprisingly, Gerudo society fit this trope better as they are the most egalitarian and even almost utopian save for the food insecurity issues and tendency to steal another country's resources.

• Happily Adopted: Link and Ganon are very close and treat each other as family members. Even after Link realizes the truth about both his background and destiny as the legendary hero, he still considers Ganondorf and Nabooru as his real family.
• Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Nabooru only makes up about a quarter of Ganon's massive bulk.
• Identical Twin Mistake: Fenrir is strongly hinted to have dumped the wrong twin in the desert under the belief that "females in royalty bring nothing but bad luck" but accidentally abandoned his own son and didn't realize it until years later. Coupled with the fact that Linkle mentioned her father dressing her up in a green tunic before she ran away, and her uncanny resemblance to Link, it doesn't take long for anyone to realize that not only are Link and Linkle twins, but Fenrir tried to kill off his own child.
• Identity Impersonator: Nabooru deliberately dresses up as Link's alter ego, Keaton, when she goes into Hyrule to bring Link back to the tribe. When she gets captured, the Hylians are none the wiser that she's not the real Keaton.
• It's Personal: The reason why Daphnes is so obsessed with killing the Gerudo is because his wife was killed by a Gerudo.
• Interspecies Adoption: Ganon, a Gerudo, adopts Link, a Hylian.
• Jaw Drop: Mighty King of the Gerudo drops a pretty good-sized one when Impa shows up with an unexpected supply of food to assist the Gerudo when they were starving from waiting on falsely-promised supplies from King Daphnes.
• King Incognito: Ganondorf dresses up as a bandit known as The Phantom whenever he and Link go into Hyrule to steal goods for the tribe. It also doubles as a reference to Phantom Ganon from Ocarina of Time.
• La Résistance: The six sages all work together to protect all of Hyrule's peoples without King Daphnes' knowledge. Their members include the six sages of Ocarina of Time with Rauru, Impa, Ruto, Saria, Darunia, and Nabooru.
• Long-Lived: While they retain a child-like appearance throughout most of their lifespans, the Kokiri live far longer than Hylians. Saria is implied to be at least 60 or older based on how she counted on her fingers.
• Love Across Battlelines: Sheik and Vridi. Both are heirs to the throne to the Hylian and Gerudo kingdoms, but King Daphnes is out to kill all Gerudo. While they haven't quite become a couple yet, it's clear that the romantic feelings are mutual but things are too complicated to start anything.
• Manipulative Bastard:
  • King Daphnes, of course. While he is otherwise brazen with his motives, he turns the Gerudo's trust in him against them by falsely promising food assistance to deliberately cause them to starve.
  • Surprisingly, Fenrir takes the cake for this trope a lot more than King Daphnes. He manages to successfully guilt-trip Ganondorf despite being chained to a wall, purposefully spill the beans to a bewildered Link about his true heritage and purpose in life, needlessly lies to King Daphnes about how the Gerudo treated him while in their captivity, and even tries to psych out Nabooru with a Hannibal Lecture mid-battle. All attempts actually work out for him except for the last one.
• Mistaken for Gay: Link mistakes Ganondorf and Ghirahim sharing a spa together for being boyfriends, and says that he's okay with having a "another dad" but doesn't want it to be Ghirahim specifically since he considers the guy to be creepy due to their weird meeting before his initiation.
• My Beloved Smother:
  • Downplayed with Saria. She frets over trying to preserve Linkle's child-like innocence as much as possible, as the Kokiri tend to hold onto it far longer than Hylians due to lifespan differences. This also causes her to shield Linkle and warns Sika not to reveal too much about things like where babies come from.
  • Meanwhile, Played Straight with Nabooru since she has a lot more to lose since Impa explicitly warned her that trouble will come to the Gerudo if a Hylian discovered that the incarnation of the legendary hero is amongst them, which inevitably leads Nabooru getting into a big argument with Link over about how he should never go into Hyrule.
• Non-Heteronormative Society: In contrast to the homophobic, highly-patriarchal Hylian society, the Gerudo tribe hold a high regard for women despite their worship of a male king, and remain highly accepting and respectful towards people of other gender identities and sexualities. The difference causes a very brief moment of ignorance from Zel when they mistake Vridi for a girl, though it quickly sways into genuine curiosity and self-reflection once the young royal realizes how restraining life in Hyrule can be and how disrespectful they came across to Vridi.
• Oblivious Adoption:
  • Link is convinced he's a Gerudo and gets pretty offended when Zel points out he's obviously Hylian.
  • Subverted with Linkle. She's aware of her Hylian heritage but also sees herself as a honorary member of the Kokiri despite looking older than her own adoptive mother.
• Papa Wolf: Ganon is very protective of Link and, even though he's much chiller and kinder in this AU, one surefire way to make him lose his temper very quickly is to threaten said little Hylian. Sometimes it goes into Berserk Button territory, where even the idea of Link being in danger is enough to set him off and nearly strangles Ghirahim for (correctly) assuming that he endangered the child during the Gerudo initiation test. This bond is later taken advantage of by King Daphnes, who deliberately uses a blast from the Triforce of Power against Link in order to force Ganondorf to transform into a demonic beast.
• Politically Incorrect Villain: King Daphnes. He's not subtle with his views on things like proper code of dress, discouraging Zel from taking on astrology because it's a "men's field", and that's not even getting into the horrid racism he has against the Gerudo even long before the genocide attempts start occurring.
• Real Men Wear Pink: Link's main outfit is pink. The acceptance of men wearing pink and other feminine colors seems to differ between races, as King Daphnes shows shades of Pink Is for Sissies when he complains about Link wearing a color that's "too effeminate" for the legendary hero to wear.
• Redemption Rejection: Eventually, Ghirahim confesses that if he uses Ganondorf as a vessel for Demise, then there's a chance that he will win his freedom. Unfortunately, when Ganondorf tries to convince him that they can work together to be free, Ghirahim seems to be too stricken with fear of even the thought of rebelling against his master and declines his offer with a pretty horrified Rapid-Fire "No!" before teleporting away.
• Related in the Adaptation: Link and Linkle. They're unrelated in Hyrule Warriors, but in the comic, they're implied to be twins that were separated at a young age.
• Resigned to the Call: Ultimately what happens to Link after his true heritage and destiny is revealed after a particularly gruesome attack on the Gerudo. While the Hylians didn't know who or where the hero was until Fenrir was released back into Hyrule, Link blames himself and resigns to his destiny under the belief that carrying it out will prevent further attacks on the Gerudo.
• Rite of Passage: All Gerudo children are supposed to enter an initiation in order to become fully-fledged warriors, which requires them to defeat a giant Helmaroc in a coliseum. Nabooru trains Vridi, Link, and Sika to build up their strength and cunning but it's clear that only two of them are eligible to take the test due to Vridi's asthma.
• Shrinking Violet: Vridi, a very bashful Gerudo who's prone to shyness and getting easily embarrassed. The bashfulness is cranked up to eleven whenever he sees his crush, Sheik.
• Training from Hell: Gerudo's training of their children involves putting them in armor and making them run through a gauntlet of lethal traps and deadly monsters. And this is hardly the only dangerous situation the children are forced into.
• Warrior Monk: Priestesses of the Gerudo tribe actively clean out the monsters inside the Desert colossus every morning in order to make it a safe place of worship.
• Weakened by the Light: Midna. Direct sunlight can burn her and presumably other Twili, so she opts to stay out of it as much as possible. It's first seen when Sika accidentally shines the morning light on her when barging into Link's and Ganondorf's tent, and she recoils in pain before hiding as a Living Shadow.

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