| “ | I assume you caught sight of that atrocity enshrouding the castle. That... is Calamity Ganon. One hundred years ago, that vile entity brought the kingdom of Hyrule to ruin. It appeared suddenly and destroyed everything in its path. So many innocent lives were lost in its wake. For a century, the very symbol of our kingdom, Hyrule Castle, has managed to contain that evil. But just barely. There it festers, building its strength for the moment it will unleash its blight upon the land once again. It would appear that moment is fast approaching... | „ |
| ~ King Rhoam to Link on Calamity Ganon. |
| “ | Ganon was born out of a dark past. He is a pure embodiment of the ancient evil that is reborn time and time again... | „ |
| ~ Princess Zelda describing Dark Beast Ganon. |
Calamity Ganon (also known simply as Ganon) is the secondary antagonist of the "Era of the Wilds" saga within Nintendo's The Legend of Zelda franchise, serving as the main antagonist of the 2017 action-adventure game The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild and its 2020 hack-and-slash spin-off Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity.
It is the manifestation of the Demon King Ganondorf's hatred and malice, taking on the form of a demonic boar. Having been defeated and sealed away 10,000 years ago by the Ancient Hero, Calamity Ganon re-emerges, corrupts the Divine Beasts and the Guardians, and creates the Blight Ganons to lay waste to the kingdom of Hyrule. Using its army, Ganon takes over Hyrule, kills King Rhoam and the Champions, and mortally wounds Link, causing the latter to fall into a coma. After being trapped in Hyrule Castle for 100 years by Princess Zelda, Calamity Ganon begins forming a new body to break free from its imprisonment, with only the newly awakened Link standing in its way. In Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, while it fails to fully take over the Divine Beasts and kill the Champions, it still manages to be a serious threat to the kingdom.
It was voiced by Tsuguo Mogami.
Its Evil Ranking[]
What Makes it Heinous?[]
In General[]
- It being created through Ganondorf's Hatred and Malice, it was for the most part independent from Ganondorf since the latter is still sealed deep below Hyrule Castle in stasis and could not communicate with it.
- It attempted omnicide multiple times.
- It has absolutely no redeeming qualities.
Past[]
- 10,000 years before the events of Breath of the Wild, Calamity Ganon attempted to destroy the entire world before the princess and hero during that time managed to seal it away for a very long time.
- Calamity Ganon, from behind the scenes, had spawned large numbers of monsters which was a warning to its would-be foes of its impending return. It was especially stressful for Zelda since she still has yet to awaken her power that was needed to keep Ganon at bay.
Great Calamity[]
- During the Great Calamity, Ganon displayed some level of cunning since it suspected that the Hyruleans would be using the Divine Beasts and the Guardians against it again.
- After being defeated once by the Divine Beasts and Guardians, Ganon would respond 10,000 years later by taking control of the Guardians and Divine Beasts. Using them, it does the following:
- Has the Guardians slaughter everyone in Hyrule Castle, killing thousands, including King Rhoam, Zelda's father.
- Summoned the Blight Ganons and sends them to the Divine Beasts, which would kill the Champions Revali, Mipha, Daruk and Urbosa.
- The case for Mipha's death has soured the elderly Zoras' view on Hylians and caused them to distrust them (with Muzu, who already had a distaste for them to worsen even further), while Sidon is forced to grow up without his sister, which left him to mourn her for most of his life, to the point of becoming overprotective of his fiancée, Yona.
- The Guardians would also rampage throughout the kingdom, destroying many villages and ruining the land, and even by the time of Tears of the Kingdom, the villages are still in dire need of rebuilding. This would also result in Link being mortally wounded by a Guardian, which forced him to be put in the Shrine of Resurrection.
- Zelda would also be forced to hold off Ganon for 100 years, making him responsible for her suffering.
- When it saw Terrako creating the Gate of Time, it sensed its intentions and tried to destroy it through a Guardian Stalker. When it failed, his Malice would then pursue it into the past. Upon arrival, it possessed Terrako in the new timeline to become Harbinger Ganon.
- After 100 years, his power would grow once again, summoning monsters and having the Yiga Clan stir trouble throughout the land.
Breath of the Wild[]
- After Link's reawakening, Calamity Ganon reactivates the Divine Beasts, resulting in:
- Divine Beast Van Medoh shooting down any Rito that flies too close it.
- Divine Beast Vah Ruta nearly flooding all of Hyrule.
- Divine Beast Vah Rudania causing constant eruptions on Death Mountain, nearly wiping out Goron City.
- Divine Beast Vah Naboris causing lightning storms that endanger everyone in the desert.
- When confronted at Hyrule Castle, Ganon attempts to use his incomplete physical form to destroy Link.
- Refusing to give up on revival, it then takes the form of Dark Beast Ganon and attempts to destroy the world once again.
- Given the lore that Tears of the Kingdom added, Hyrule Castle was built to help maintain King Rauru's seal on Ganondorf which managed to last for several millennia and it didn't receive too much damage until Calamity Ganon appeared and damaged the castle which over time weakened the seal on Ganondorf which would eventually start the events of the sequel.
Age of Calamity[]
- Upon arrival to the events before the Great Calamity begins, Ganon's Malice possessed the Terrako from another timeline becoming Harbinger Ganon, and in the Guardian of Remembrance DLC, it engages in battle with Terrako and tried again to take it down, which it does but it only caused Terrako to be deactivated for a while.
- When it meets Astor, it reveals the dark future to him during a ritual with the rest of his cult members. During the ritual, Ganon killed all cult members, save for Astor (who isn't fazed by this) whom it chose as its prophet as well as its pawn.
- While Link, Zelda, Impa and the Hylian soldiers are traversing the Breach of Demise to meet with Purah and Robbie, Ganon used some of its Malice to take control of a Guardian and tried to kill them.
- With Astor's alliance, they have led attacks against four major regions of Hyrule, which are the homes of the four Champions:
- It has its dark forces, specifically electric foes, attack Zora's Domain, knowing that electricity is too dangerous for the Zoras to withstand.
- It has its forces attack Goron City and attempts to take over the Southern Mines.
- It led attacks against Rito Village, which would lead the Rito to fear further attacks. According to Revali's testimony, Terrako's presence with Link had them believe that they are going to raid the village again, hence why he had his soldiers attack him purely by mistake, meaning that Harbinger Ganon framed Terrako for the crime.
- When Link, Impa and Terrako came to clear up the confusion, it summoned various monsters along the path to Rito Village.
- It and Astor have Master Kohga impersonate Urbosa while she was away and tricked the Gerudo into turning them against the heroes.
- When that failed, it sent its forces to support the Yiga Clan.
- It and Astor sent Sooga, the Yiga Clan and their forces to assault various Hyrule outposts.
- When it encounters Terrako again, it tried to destroy it and again caused it to deactivate prompting Link and the others to collect balls of energy to get it working again.
- When the Great Calamity commences, Ganon already takes control of the Guardians and attempted to do the same to the Divine Beasts by sending the Blight Ganons to kill the Champions.
- However, the latter was thwarted when Terrako, through Zelda's despair, sends time portals to bring the future warriors to save the Champions from meeting their horrific ends.
- Sometime after the Champions were rescued by the warriors of the future from the Blight Ganons, despite the fact that the Yiga Clan were loyal to it, it did nothing to help them when Astor betrayed them, demonstrating it never really cared for them at all and only saw them as its pawns, leading the Yiga Clan to realize this and defect to the Hyrulean Army.
- Despite the tides turning against it, Calamity Ganon's forces would continue to attack the Hyrulean forces at Akkala Citadel, Fort Hateno and the Great Plateau.
- It revives the monsters at the Blood Moon's peak, increasing its power in an attempt to defeat the united forces.
- When the united forces arrived at Hyrule Castle, it activated several Guardians in an attempt to kill them yet again.
- When the united forces reached the second gatehouse, it tried to kill them all personally.
- When Astor hits his breaking point at Hyrule Castle and orders it to kill the Champions, Ganon painfully consumes him while staring him down to take on a reincarnated form (although Astor deserves it), and it also possesses Terrako to force Link and Zelda to battle the very Guardian responsible for turning things around for Hyrule and Princess Zelda's childhood creation, whom she regarded as her friend.
- After Terrako used its last ounce of strength to destroy itself in order to shatter Ganon's invincibility, Ganon makes one last attempt at killing Zelda and the Champions, present and future, before it was sealed by the princess for good.
What Makes it Inconsistent?[]
- Calamity Ganon has extreme moral agency issues that stem from it being made of evil, as it is ultimately formed from Ganondorf's hatred for the world leaking from his seal, so his apocalyptic desires for the world stem from this origin.
- On top of that, it also lacks proper characterization. Rhoam does say it has some intelligence, but they are rudimentary and Calamity Ganon had been primarily portrayed as just a shrieking beast that just destroys for the sake of destroying.
External Links[]
- Calamity Ganon on the Villains Wiki
- Calamity Ganon on the Zelda Wiki
Trivia[]
- It is one of two canon Zelda villains (alongside Malladus) to be Inconsistently Heinous.
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 Inconsistently Heinous
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 Inconsistently Heinous
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