Ganondorf

"Both of you, faithless fools who would dare to take up arms against the king of light and shadow... So you choose! And so you shall feel my wrath!"

- Ganondorf possessing Zelda. "He was the leader of a band of thieves who invaded Hyrule in the hopes of establishing dominion over the Sacred Realm. He was known as a demon thief, an evil-magic wielder renowned for his ruthlessness..."

- The Ancient Sage talking about Ganondorf. "Ganon... this beast was once of the Gerudo... Once human. He was called Ganondorf! King of Darkness, ancient demon reborn."

- Zelda talking about Ganon.

Ganondorf Dragmire, also known as Ganon in his beast incarnation, is the main antagonist of The Legend of Zelda franchise of action-adventure games, in which he either appears under his humanoid form or his mightier transformation, sometimes under both. He is the oppressive king of the mostly female thieves known as the Gerudos, the reincarnation and successor of Demise as the King of Evil of the Zelda world, the holder of the Triforce of Power and the archenemy of the series protagonists Link and Zelda.

Ganondorf constantly tries to steal the other two Triforce pieces, Wisdom and Courage, to obtain the power of the Golden Goddesses and make the world his own and is locked in permanent conflict with the main protagonists Link and Princess Zelda throughout history.

Alter-Egos
Over the years, Ganondorf has had multiple different copies and counterparts who have made appearances. The first of these to appear was Agahnim - who was created by Ganon as a means to escape the Dark World - Agahnim only exists in the Decline Timeline.

The second was Phantom Ganon - who was created as a powerful minion in the Unified Timeline - but then banished, causing a second Phantom Ganon to appear in both the Child and Adult timelines, and a third Phantom Ganon to appear on the Child Timeline.

Ganon's resentment and evil thoughts also manifest as Shadow Link in both the Split and Decline Timelines. In the Adult timeline, a Puppet Ganon was also created.

Ganondorf himself is a reincarnation of Demise.

After all timelines, supposedly unify he is incarnated as Calamity Ganon.

Hyrule Warriors
Long ago, Ganondorf attempted to take over Hyrule, but a past Link fought and defeated him, Link broke Ganondorf's spirit into four pieces - sending three into the depths of time and space, and the fourth piece at the entrance to the temple containing the Master Sword.

Eventually, the Triforce guardian witch Cia's infatuation with Link caused her to grow corrupted, and allowed Ganondorf to corrupt Cia, and have him as his figurehead leader of the Dark Forces.

In the end, Ganondorf was revived through three of his spirit fragments. Now working separately from Cia, he attacked Link and Zelda at the Temple of Souls, but Link defeated Ganondorf, destroying him. However, Ganondorf was revived through his fourth and final spirit fragment, resurrecting Zant and Ghirahim (who had been destroyed and imprisoned in a Portal of Souls, respectively). The evil trio took control of Gerudo Desert, and Ganondorf took the Triforce pieces from Link, Zelda, and Lana.

Believing the battle to be won, Ganondorf disappeared. This gave Link and his allies the opportunity to defeat Ghirahim and Zant, destroying them once and for all. Then they attacked Ganon's Castle, which he had turned Hyrule Castle into. Once defeated again, Ganondorf transformed into Ganon. Link defeated Ganondorf, then he, Zelda, and Lana used the Triforce to destroy him. What remained of his darkness was either sealed or destroyed when Link and Zelda returned the Master Sword.

Cadence of Hyrule
In the The Legend of Zelda and Crypt of the Necrodancer crossover Cadence of Hyrule, Ganon appears as the main antagonist.

Ancient Stone Tablets
The BS exclusive Ancient Stone Tablets is a sequel to A Link to the Past, taking place 6 years after. After his defeat by Link in the previous game, Ganondorf's spirit survived and managed to call the Hero of Light to Hyrule, planning to steal his power. Finally after being resurrected as Ganon the two battle, with the Hero of Light defeating the demon king.

The Legend of Zelda (comic series)
In the Zelda comic series, Ganondorf is resurrected after the events of The Legend of Zelda and The Adventure of Link. Ganondorf appears in both his regular Ganondorf form and in his Ganon form.

Ganondorf's primary goal on the series is to reunite the Triforce in order to become the supreme ruler of the Light World. Also, despite his previous defeats, Ganondorf managed to regain his forces and even gather new generals, such as The Shadow and the Thunderbird. He is also semi-successful, as he manages to capture both Link and Zelda multiple times.

Zelda CD-I
In the infamous Zelda CD-I games, Ganon serves as the main antagonist.

Powers and Abilities
Even without the Triforce, Ganondorf possesses incredible fighting skills, enough to fight both Link and Zelda at the same time using twin blades. He also possesses dark magic abilities, such as energy blasts, and super strength. Ganondorf also has control over monsters. Just before gaining the full Triforce, Ganondorf fought and killed all of his followers that he did not trust at the same time, and single-handedly defeated them. Several of these abilities were gifted to Ganondorf due to him formerly being Demise and retaining these powers from his past life.

With the Triforce of Power, Ganondorf becomes godly in power, invincible to all but the most powerful sacred weapons: the only things which can destroy his body being the Master Sword and the Silver Arrows. Ganondorf is immortal and possesses the ability to fly, teleport, possess others, empower other beings, utilize powerful magic, create powerful monsters, and also possess superhuman traits: such as enhanced reflexes and unlimited strength. All of the powers utilized by Zant are through Ganondorf's power, meaning that Ganon also possesses the ability to rapid fire small blasts, grow to a giant size; and shrink to a miniature state, breath underwater, and create constructs.

Even when in danger, Ganondorf can tap into his true demonic powers, adding it to the power he has as Ganondorf and with the Triforce of Power, becoming Ganon.

While possessing Zelda, Ganondorf utilized the Triforce of Wisdom to create massive Golden Triangles with damaging qualities.

While controlling Vaati and draining his power, he is also able to utilize Vaati's powers: such as his wind magic.

The Legend of Zelda: Battle Quest
Ganondorf appears as Ganon as the final boss of The Legend of Zelda: Battle Quest attraction from Nintendo Land.

Super Smash Bros. Melee
In Super Smash Bros. Melee, Ganondorf appears as a playable character; unlocked through successfully completing event mode #29 (Triforce Gathering) or, alternatively, playing 600 versus mode matches. His design is based on his appearance in the Space World 2000 Demo with a moveset almost identical to that of Captain Falcon, the prime difference being that Ganondorf lacks Captain Falcon's speed but makes up for it by dealing greater damage to his opponents. His moves also differ in that they utilize dark magic in place of fire.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl
Ganondorf returns in Super Smash Bros. Brawl with an upgraded design based on his appearance in Twilight Princess.

In the game's adventure mode, Ganondorf has been resurrected by Master Hand (though with only his warlock powers and no Triforce of Power) and serves as one of the two secondary antagonists (alongside Bowser), commanding the Subspace Army whose goal is to bring the world into Subspace for their leader, Master Hand. However, Ganondorf's true intention is to betray Master Hand and seize his power for himself.

He leads a team of several villains such as Ridley, Porky, Petey Piranha, and Wario, in addition to Bowser, who acts as his second in command, he is also given command over the Subspace army and its commanders: Galleom and Duon. After commanding the R.O.B Squad to set off Multiple Subspace Bombs, Ganondorf orders them to betray the Ancient Minister, their former master, who in return joins the heroes in his true form - R.O.B. Soon after Ganondorf and Bowser emerge from Subspace in a Massive Subspace Gunship, and engage in battle with the heroes, however, they fail and abandon the exploding ship and head back to Subspace.

Afterwards the two travel to Master Hand, however, Ganondorf betrays Bowser and turns him into a trophy using a Dark Cannon. Master Hand himself is seen to be controlled by Tabuu, the embodiment of Subspace. Ganondorf, surprised at this revelation, leaps to attack the dark being with a Warlock Punch, only to be turned into a trophy himself due to his lack of the Triforce of Power. When Bowser is revived by King Dedede, he furiously attacks Ganondorf's trophy in an act of vengeance. Link and Zelda come across the trophy and revive him, forming a temporary alliance as all of the characters prepare for the final battle against Tabuu. After every fighter is returned to normal, all of them, including Ganondorf, battle Tabuu, eventually defeat him and returning the world from subspace.

While presumably non-canon, the events of the game would take place a short while after Twilight Princess in the Child Timeline.

Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS/Wii U
Ganondorf returns as a playable character in the video game Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS/Wii U. He retains his physical appearance in Twilight Princess, which includes the hole on his chest, as well as maintaining moveset from Brawl. He even has a palette swap that resembles Yuga's colour scheme. He is an unlockable character in the 3DS version, but he is available from the start in the Wii U version.

Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
Ganondorf returns in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate as an unlockable character. His physical appearance this time is based on his Ocarina of Time look, who also transforms into the Ocarina of Time version of Ganon as his Final Smash. Unlike the last game where he uses it in a custom move, Ganondorf now utilizes his sword based on the Melee artwork as part of his smash attacks, making him a much more unique fighter.

Ganon also appears as a fightable boss, also appearing in his Ocarina of Time design. He is able to be fought at the end of Link's, Zelda's, Toon Link's, and Young Link's Classic Mode campaign. Ganon takes next to no damage if the player attacks him from the front. Instead, they must attack Ganon's glowing tail, which serves as a weak point.

Ganondorf also appears in the game as four Spirits. As Ganon, a Neutral Primary, he can be obtained after defeating Ganon in "World of Light", with the ability to increase the fighter's weight. Ganondorf from Twilight Princess appears as an Attack type Primary, with his Spirit Battle being a Stamina battle against Ganondorf whose attack power increases when at high damage. At level 99, he can be enhanced to become Beast Ganon with the ability to damage opponents by running into them. Calamity Ganon from Breath of the Wild appears as an Attack type Primary, with its Spirit Battle being a Stamina battle against a giant Ganondorf with Zelda as the player's ally. The player takes sudden damage after a little while, and will automatically lose if Zelda is defeated.

Friends/Allies

 * Bowser
 * Bowser Jr.
 * Vaati
 * Ghirahim
 * Zant
 * King Boo
 * Ridley
 * Dracula

Enemies

 * Link (arch-enemy)
 * Princes Zelda (second arch-enemy)
 * Shiek
 * Mario
 * Luigi
 * R.O.B.
 * Princess Peach
 * Fi
 * Sonic the Hedgehog
 * Tabuu

The Legend of Zelda (TV series)
Ganondorf appeared as Ganon, he was the main antagonist of The Legend of Zelda TV series.

Captain N: The Game Master
Ganondorf appears again as Ganon in Captain N: The Game Master, the events took place after the Zelda TV series. He was a major antagonist and even was a more major villain than Mother Brain (the shows main antagonist) at one point.

The Legend of Zelda (April Fools movie)
Ganondorf appeared as the main antagonist in The Legend of Zelda, an April Fools joke by Nintendo and IGN to trick people into thinking there was a Legend of Zelda movie in the making. He was played by Gregory Lee Kenyon.

Ganondorf fought Link with a flaming sword in the movie's climax and had many minions, such as Armogohma and King Dodongo.

The Legend of Zelda (Pre-rendered 3D Movie)
Ganondorf would have appeared as the main antagonist of the cancelled The Legend of Movie movie.

In the only revealed scene, Ganondorf sends his Shadow Knights to kidnap Zelda. After Link reveals himself and defeats three of the Knights, Ganon appears and prepares for a showdown with Link and Zelda.

Trivia

 * In the English dubbed versions, he was voiced by the late Len Carlson in The Legend of Zelda TV series and Captain N: The Game Master, and Mark Berry in Link: The Faces of Evil and Zelda: The Wand of Gamelon.
 * In the Japanese versions, he was voiced by the late Seizō Katō in BS Zelda no Densetsu, Takashi Nagasako in the years from 1998 to 2003, Hironori Miyata in the years of 2006, 2008, and 2014, and Taiten Kusunoki in 2014.
 * Ganon of Four Swords Adventures is the only main antagonist in the Zelda series to not die, as he ends up sealed inside the Four Sword while the previous Ganondorfs (in both timelines), Demise, Majora, Bellum, Chancellor Cole, Malladus, Zant, and Vaati did not survive their final battles. Ghirahim's final fate is a subject for debate however.
 * Super Smash Bros. for Wii U marks the first time Ganondorf is available from the start.
 * Although Super Smash Bros. Melee and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate depicts him with a sword, Ganondorf is never actually seen wielding a sword at any point in Ocarina of Time (with the exception of the dual swords he wields as Ganon). The sword that he uses is based on the blade that he used in the Space World 2000 Demo.
 * Also, the only time that he uses a sword in his moveset before Super Smash Bros. Ultimate is where he performs the Warlock Blade custom Standard Special attack from Super Smash Bros. for Wii U.
 * Ganondorf has made two appearances on the popular internet show DEATH BATTLE; fighting against Bowser and winning in his first, and then fighting against Dracula and losing for his second.