"Peace? Prosperity? How utterly dull!! Labrynna how it stands is a frightful bore. When I'm through, it will be a wonderful place, filled with hate, where the fighting never stops!"
"And when you do fall, know that your world and everything in it is mine to dominate...Mine to subjugate...Mine to rule! When I finish with you, you can take solace in knowing your friends and kin will soon follow, as I wipe all who oppose me from the face of this world! ...It won't be long now. At last, the almighty power I've sought for millennia... I will take the Triforce for my own... And the world shall be under my foot for eternity!"
— Demon King Demise to Link before the final battle, Skyward Sword
Hyrule has faced many threats. Here are the worst that Link, Princess Zelda, and their allies have had to deal with.
Due to Continuity Snarl, even after Hyrule Historia, works in each group are by the game's release date, with the exception of Skyward Sword.
All spoilers are unmarked. You Have Been Warned!
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Main games
Examples
- Skyward Sword:
- Demon King Demise is the vengeful ruler of monsters and the progenitor of all evil in the franchise. Long ago, Demise attempted to steal the Triforce and Take Over the World, exterminating most of humanity in the process before finally being sealed away by the Goddess Hylia as the Imprisoned. Freed by Ghirahim much later after consuming the soul of Zelda, Hylia's reincarnation, Demise repays his servant by forcibly converting him back into a sword. Amused by Link's courage, Demise challenges him to a duel, promising that his friends, loved ones, and any opposition will soon follow him in death. Upon defeat, Demise spitefully curses Link, Zelda, and the rest of their people with a reincarnation of his hatred, "dooming them to wander a blood-soaked sea of darkness for all time".
- Demon Lord Ghirahim is the sadistic, self-proclaimed ruler of the Surface, who seeks to free the Demon King and wipe out humanity. On his quest to capture Zelda, Ghirahim unleashes monsters across the Surface to further his goals and repeatedly encounters Link, attempting to torture him to death each time for his own amusement. After successfully kidnapping Zelda, Ghirahim agonizingly feeds her soul to the Imprisoned, reveals his true nature as the spirit of Demise's sword, and summons an army of monsters to buy time, saying they can die by Link's blade or his own. Upon Demise's release, Ghirahim gleefully gives up his life to return to his sword form, content with the knowledge that Link and the rest of the world are doomed to his master's destructive ambitions.
- Oracle of Ages: Veran, the Sorceress of Shadows, is a particularly sadistic minion of Twinrova. Tasked with spreading suffering through the land of Labrynna to resurrect Ganon, Veran chooses to do so by possessing Nayru, the Oracle of Ages, and going back in time 400 years. After worming her way into Queen Ambi's court, Veran uses her position as her advisor to convert a well-intentioned construction project into a symbol of oppression by having the healthy, able-bodied men of Labrynna forcibly conscripted into performing nonstop back-breaking labor to create the gargantuan Black Tower. While she helps oversee construction, Veran causes chaos around the kingdom with effects that can be felt in the present day, such as turning people to stone or eliminating them entirely; killing the friendly, sapient Maku Tree as a helpless sapling; destroying Symmetry City and its inhabitants with a volcanic eruption; and threatening the lives of all ocean-dwelling beings by poisoning the sea. Both times Link confronts her, Veran is more than happy to use the bodies of those she possesses as human shields, and cheerfully taunts him with the knowledge that killing Link will kill her hosts as well.
- Twilight Princess: Zant is a maniacal member of the Twili who aligns himself with Ganondorf in exchange for power, before overthrowing Midna and conquering the Twilight Realm, earning the title of "Usurper King". After transforming Midna into an imp and turning the rest of their kind into mindless Shadow Beasts, Zant begins extending his tyrannical reign into Hyrule. There, he executes the Zora queen in front of her people and freezes them all, leaving them to die; invades Hyrule Castle and forces Princess Zelda to surrender in exchange for the lives of her people; envelops Castle Town in Twilight, turning all of its citizens into terrified spirits; and attempts to permanently trap Link in a wolf form and kill Midna by forcing her into the light. When confronted in his palace, Zant calls the duo "traitors", ranting about how he alone deserves the throne before viciously attacking Link in a final battle. Despite being a mere pawn in Ganondorf's scheme, Zant stands out due to his sheer depravity and treacherous nature.
- A Link Between Worlds: Yuga is the Sorcerer of Lorule, bent on kidnapping Princess Zelda and the Seven Sages—some of whom are children—in order to resurrect Ganon. Arriving in Hyrule, Yuga turns numerous soldiers into paintings that are fully conscious, yet unable to move or speak, and does the same to Link, intending to leave him to rot on a wall for the rest of eternity. After successfully capturing the Sages, completing his ritual, and merging with Ganon himself to obtain the Triforce of Power, Yuga is temporarily subdued by Princess Hilda of Lorule. Eventually revealed to be a servant of Hilda in her conspiracy to steal Hyrule's Triforce and save the dying land of Lorule, Yuga gleefully betrays her, steals the Triforce of Wisdom, and reveals his true plan: to use the completed Triforce to destroy Lorule and recreate it in his own image, while also dooming Hyrule in the process. A treacherous fiend obsessed with his own desires over the needs of his people, Yuga engages Link in a merciless final battle to gain the full power of the Triforce and condemn both worlds to oblivion.
- Tears of the Kingdom: Demon King Ganondorf was once a brutal Gerudo warlord who sought to conquer Hyrule during the kingdom's founding days. Desiring the power of the Zonai Secret Stones, Ganondorf murders Queen Sonia after swearing false fealty to King Rauru, and steals her Secret Stone to transform himself into the Demon King. With his newfound powers, Ganondorf creates an army of demons and monsters to sweep over Hyrule and kill all who would oppose him, including his own people, in the cataclysmic Imprisoning War until he is sealed away for eons by Rauru. In that timespan, Ganondorf's malice manages to leak through the seal, creating Calamity Ganon, a primal force of evil that brought destruction upon Hyrule for countless generations, with the last one bringing the kingdom's collapse. After freeing himself in the present day, Ganondorf resumes his destructive campaign by unleashing monsters, saboteurs, and natural disasters upon the races of Hyrule, promising to finish what he had started. Faced with defeat by Link and the Sages, Ganondorf swallows his Secret Stone to become the Demon Dragon, sacrificing his mind and body for the power to destroy Link and plunge Hyrule into the "eternal night" of destruction and despair. A narcissistic, sociopathic monster of a man, lacking the redeeming or tragic qualities his incarnations often have, Ganondorf believes himself to be superior to everyone else and thus deserves to rule Hyrule as he sees fit.
Spinoff Games
- Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity: Astor, aka the Prophet of Doom, was born in a Hyrulean village and became obsessed with the power of Ganon. Becoming a self-styled prophet of Ganon and allying with the Yiga Clan, Astor plots to unleash the monstrous Calamity Ganon on the world so it would either submit to his own twisted will or be destroyed. Astor makes several attempts on Princess Zelda's life to prevent her from unlocking the power that would seal Ganon away; rips the souls out of his own Yiga allies to empower his Blight Ganons; and even orders Ganon to devour the heroes in the final battle at Hyrule Castle to fulfill his destiny as the man who brought forth this age of Calamity.
Manga (all by Akira Himekawa unless noted)
Examples
- Skyward Sword: Demon King Demise rises from beneath the Surface to Take Over the World. Seeking the Triforce, Demise leads his army of monsters across the land, slaughtering as many humans as possible and burning entire villages to the ground, even killing Link himself in the process while mocking the hero's courage. After facing the Goddess Hylia in a final battle and being defeated, Demise spitefully vows to return as he is sealed away.
- The Legend of Zelda & Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, both by Yuu Mishouzaki: Ganon, ruler of the Demon Tribe, is one of the earliest and most monstrous depictions of the Demon King in the franchise. A borderline Eldritch Abomination who seeks to consume all life, Ganon tries to reduce Hyrule to Hell on Earth by allowing his man-eating demons to run rampant on the land and slaughter everything in sight. Ganon personally killed the mother of Zelda and the father of Link in this adaptation, a fact he's only too happy to mock them about. Come The Adventure of Link, Ganon attempts to rejuvenate his strength by literally devouring the flesh and blood of Zelda, after which he intends to drag all of Hyrule into the Underworld to feed on the suffering and death of its population.
- A Link to the Past: Ganon was once the fearsome bandit lord Ganondorf, who betrayed and slaughtered his followers and allies to claim the Tri-Force for himself. Using its power to transform the Sacred Realm into the Dark World, Ganon corrupts all life in the Realm into mutated monstrosities of suffering and destruction. Though sealed away, Ganon contacts and corrupts the scholar Agahnim into becoming his servant, sowing chaos through Hyrule to pave the way for Ganon to subsume it into his Dark World of pain. When Agahnim accomplishes his goal, Ganon repays him by murdering him and mocking that he never planned to share his power as promised.
- Ocarina of Time: Ganondorf is presented here as a selfish and sociopathic king who wishes to conquer Hyrule. He transforms a harmless spider into the monstrous Gomha which kills the Great Deku Tree; almost starves the Gorons to death; and takes power by murdering Zelda's father and nearly killing a young Link. As ruler of Hyrule, Ganondorf brainwashes the Gerudo tribe, kills the guardians of Kokiri Forrest so it will be overrun with monsters, and freezes Zora's Domain. In his most monstrous act, Ganondorf transforms Volvagia, a sapient dragon who was Link's friend, into a mindless beast that threatens to destroy Hyrule with a volcanic eruption, forcing Link to kill it.
- The Oracle manga have The Heavy of each, working for Twinrova to resurrect Ganon himself:
- Oracle of Seasons: General Onox is a madman who corrupts the very land around him and holds a brutal philosophy of the strong crushing the weak. After running across Link, Onox tries to have him eaten by monsters out of irritation and tries to drain him to death before hunting for Din. Sinking the Temple of Seasons, causing mass havoc, Onox, gloating that the seasonal chaos will lead to the extermination of all life in the world, spends the rest of the time attempting to kill everything in his way.
- Oracle of Ages: Veran is an evil, body-hopping witch who possesses Nayru to leap into the past. Corrupting a noble dream, Veran callously enslaves the men of Labrynna, having them tormented, whipped and beaten to craft a black tower as a symbol of oppression and cruelty, even intending to do the same to women and children. Against Sir Raven, Veran tries to kill him, even attempting to have him publicly executed to shatter her victims' spirits and trying to have the village wiped out. Even in defeat, she attempts to allow her energy to be used to set Ganon upon the world in sheer spite.
- Twilight Princess:
- Ganondorf is a "Demon King" and former thief who was banished to the Twilight Realm after his attempted bloody conquest of Hyrule was prematurely halted by Zelda's time-travelling. Not to be deterred from his goals, Ganondorf seduced the ambitious Zant to become his emissary, and used Zant to stage a murderous coup against the Twilight Realm royalty, murdering the elders and unleashing hordes of beasts onto the land. Ganondorf schemes to merge Hyrule and the Twilight Realm into one world that he can plunge into an eternal nightmare of death and decay, and when Link tries to stop him, Ganondorf sadistically uses Zelda as a puppet and tries to kill Link in a torturous way. Even when beaten and offered peace by Link, Ganondorf chooses to kill himself out of spite, knowing he will reincarnate and continue to plague Hyrule for ages to come.
- Zant is presented in the manga as a power-hungry, lecherous creep who is driven by a lust for Midna. Despite having served as the seemingly-loyal advisor to the Twilight Realm's king, during which time he raised Midna from youth, Zant developed a perverse desire to marry Midna and become ruler of the land. When he was rejected by Midna, Zant turned to Ganondorf, using the Demon King's powers to begin transforming swathes of people into hideous monsters in agonizing enslavement. Zant would use these beasts to massacre entire towns across the Twilight Realm while staging an invasion of Hyrule, trying to turn all life into his obedient, mutated slaves. When Midna teams with Link to stop him, Zant tries to kill them both while mocking them over the fates of their loved ones. Though revealing a deep self-hatred and proclaiming a desire to just protect the Realm, Zant puts his own desire for power above all else, and is revealed as nothing but a selfish, petty monster.
- Phantom Hourglass: Bellum is a vile being who, unlike his original game counterpart, displays full sapience. Devouring the life force of those in the Ocean King's world for many years after losing interest in just the Ocean King and sealing the three spirits, Bellum cursed the Ocean King's temple, killing anyone who enters it, and used the Ghost Ship to lure in unknowing prey, including Tetra and Linebeck's crew, with those who die within suffering after death. Soon after ordering a failed attempt on Ciela's life, Bellum possesses Linebeck and gleefully forces the latter—who is still aware—and Link to fight to the death, knowing that either way he can freely reap their life force, not caring when Linebeck gets so traumatized by this that he attempts to take his own life. When Linebeck gets freed from his possession, the unrepentant Bellum makes one final attempt on the Ocean King's life.
