I think Ganondorf certainly needs to END absolutely corrupted and evil to stay a Zelda story. But I love the idea of Ganondorf starting being a good king. Even a very good person looking from the outside in. But seeing a slow decent into madness would be so much more interesting. Even seeing it directly through Zelda, who no doubt would be even more sympathetic than Rauru, if Ganondorf starts honest. Maybe even acting against Rauru in little ways initially to help Ganondorf. Slowly seeing his decent, tortured and corrupted by the same malice we saw Link cursed with, would create parallels between him and Link. Our triumph over Malice in the present day making Ganon's fall all the more tragic, but underscoring how his fall WAS avoidable.
@@JoriamRamos If you're being serious about studying Zelda lore, go the the actual source that PRECEDES these Ghibli films but not the Zelda franchise, like The Flight of Dragons. The credit has been totally drained and shifted to Miyazaki because that's the most surface-level connection to make. So now that the films have actually been CREATED and Nintendo got around to poaching story beats from them, people act all surprised that "TotK took even more inspiration from Miyazaki". Yeah, NOW, when they reached the end of that barrel. They didn't took things so much from Miyazaki because they had OTHER THINGS to tell, not to be reductive like the fans who only RECOGNIZE Miyazaki.
It's a good idea. You just have to see WW's Ganondorf, the best one in terms of personality. He is evil, but there is a sense of melancholy about him, alongside his original desire and his envy of Hyrule's prosperity compared to the Gerudo desert.
I'd love to play a game with that kind of story. It's unfortunate that Zelda games which are undeniably beautiful and have good gameplay always just have such surface level stories without any real depth. There is just enough to keep people interested but nothing more.
Sometimes there is a certain ammount of depths Because of fucking Translation Errors. Did you know that there is a Demon Tribe and a Gods Tribe? No? Guess what, they only get mentioned in Skyward Sword's Japanese Version Did you know that Demise isnt actually named Demise Because he is a nameless being with the title "Bringer of Demise"? No? Guess what, this also got errased from Translation, and to make matters worse: There are actually Translations out there who actually stay more acurate to the Japanese than the English Version Demise is called "Todbringer" in German For example which means "Bringer of Death" which basically means the same as "Bringer of Demise" Conclusion: If you want to go deeper in the lore then try to look in your local Language (Assuming it isnt english) and compare it with the English Versions AND the Japanese, because this shows you how acurate your Translation is compared to English
Majora's Mask and Twillight Princess have great stories, SS story is interesting and OOT has a good adventure story. Unfortunately TOTK's story was very weak except for Zelda's sacrifice.
I mean, credit when credit's due: Zelda has been particularly well written since BOTW. I understand that they chose to work on one character at the time, instead of changing everything all at once. But I'm with you! As we grow up with this game franchise, I also long for the maturity of the writing to grow with me. Hope we get a more nuanced Zelda in a few years :)
Heavily disagree. The story is definitely there, at least for most of the best ones, but a lot of it is subtext because they want you to keep playing instead of watching cutscenes.
Heavily disagree with this. Just because a story isn’t particularly deep doesn’t mean it isn’t meaningful. I haven’t played totk yet but both that and botw rely heavily on environmental storytelling, which makes sense for a game about exploration where you want the player to remain constantly immersed. People love these games, they clearly struck a chord with people, and I think that can only really be done in the intersection of story and gameplay, or at least themes and gameplay. To me, botw is about finding hope and beauty in the face of tragedy and failure, which can be seen on one hand through the players progression of the game: you’d think that for the story to work, there would have to be a sense of urgency and fate because the fate of Hyrule rests on your shoulders, but there isn’t, because link lost his memories so why should there be? The little moments in the game and everything you do outside of the main story is just as important as you build an emotional connection to the world so rich and carefully detailed. This, along with the gradual recollection of memories, where Zelda learns to overcome her failures by putting someone else first, is what makes it work. For me at least
This is the best reinterpretation of Zelda I’ve seen. I felt absolutely sucked in and I really wasn’t ready or in the mindset to be sucked in by a story. You definitely captured the melancholy and wonder of Miyazaki stories. Thanks for putting the work in!
This video was actually a great example of how much a story can lead to amazing gameplay mechanics, the biggest shame about the current game design philosophy for the Zelda franchise in the present day is Nintendo’s blind spot to storytelling and failure to integrate it into the game design process. When they leave story as an afterthought to tack on after designing the game in its entirety, they’re robbing themselves of an amazing source of game design ideas! I absolutely loved the idea of having to deal with a gloom curse and the moral weight it’d leave on a player when passing by villages; something that would’ve had significance due to spending all of BotW being so familiar with those locations. That would have been such a unique way to reuse the map of BotW while completely changing the gameplay we’d experience within it! I also loved your motivation/backstory for Ganondorf as well. Even if the Zelda series will never permit him to have any moral complexities, they could at least do better even when writing him as the big bad villain. TotK Ganondorf has to be the most disappointing iteration of this character specifically because his actions in the story continuously imply the existence of a motivation and goal, but he isn’t actually given either so he’s only ever doing something because it’s what the story arbitrarily needs him to be doing. The secret stones had no mythology like the Triforce where mortals are corrupted by a desire to seize it and would start wars with each other just to acquire it (hence it being sealed away out of their reach) but TotK Ganondorf just sees a secret stone used to defeat his army (with no explanation for why he was at war to begin with) then feigns submission to get the chance to steal one and eventually in the final showdown gives the player a vague villain speech about recreating the world because everyone is too weak. I genuinely think the writers failed to realise that by changing the magical source of power he coveted to something other than the Triforce, they had a big goal/motivation void in his character that needed to be filled. The most frustrating part is there’s so many aspects of their story that could easily be used to create a compelling motivation and goal. Your idea from this video showed perfectly how just the world these characters exist within is enough to draw out organic and compelling goals and motivations, so it’s a real shame that the one time the Zelda team has no triforce to limit what Ganondorf’s motivation/goal could be, they wasted the opportunity entirely!
As much as i like this, but i still think it misses a huge point of LoZ, which is, Zelda. In fact, another great aspect of Totk is also about union, and "strength in numbers". What if, during the whole journey on the spirit world, Link/player also encounter numerous spirits from each region such as the old Sages from each region, and he learned more about how to push the spiritual power along with the malice power (and so he has both Spiritual and Malice as his tools). And we also learned that Zelda missing was actually in fact she was being transfered into the spirit world by Raruu and Sonia, where she learned more knowledge from the Zonai perspective. And so while Ganon=Gerudo's survival+Malice; Link=Hyrule+Spiritual+Malice & Zelda=Zonai+Spritual, that would re-introduce a new kind of Triforce, a more narrative heavy Triforce story
yeeeeea a Zelda game would be PERFECT if Miyazaki wrote it. My dream Zelda game would have Yoshiaki Koizumi back, along with Hayao Miyazaki and Yoshihiro Togashi as co-writers (I know im being greedy but i dont care).
I think you've captured exactly the that a morally uncomplicated game like LoZ didn't and really couldn't effectively steal from MiYazaki's source material. I'm not at all saying that a game couldn't be made with this villain. But in doing so some of Zelda's core fantastical identity would also be abandoned. I'm expecting that the film adaptation can't help but make this same tonal shift. I'd love to see the screenplay take this type of direction with Gannondorf even if it doesn't feel like Zelda anymore as a result.
That's a good point - I wonder what they'll do with the movie. Between a very simple villain and a silent protagonist (I mean HUUAH, HEEY, HWAAH), I think they'll have to work something out. I'm as curious as you :) and hoping for a more flavourful story!
Your little snippets with Ganondorf is so compelling, like those added details, about why Ganondorf ended up doing what he did, like I was kind of mad at the king at that moment, made me understand why Ganondorf would turn to what he did. Such a great story! Even in parts.
Thank you for the encouragement! Of course I couldn't really build the whole plotline in such a small video, but I was hoping I could at least build it enough in a couple of minutes - seems like it worked for you! :D
For years before ToTK, I had this vivid cutscene in my head of ~10,000yr Gerudo Town, where an older teenage Ganondorf, still being bossed around by his regents Twinrova, meets a 3 year old Zelda and her mother. Ganondorf’s theme in a major key plays peacefully on a zither in the BGM because he’s still unawakened to the allure of his demonic predecessor. While Twinrova are distracting the Queen with boring trade negotiations and building permits for Sheikah railways through the desert, Ganondorf bonds with Baby Z over their dislike of being ignored and asks her if he can take her somewhere fun. We all expect the worst when the three older women notice the young’uns are gone, but then we pan to the desert outside a window, where Zelda’s giggling on top of a baby sand seal. The OoT Twinrova theme plays while they scold Ganondorf but Queen Zelda smiles kindly at him. Flashback fades out. Of course, now we know that Ganondorf has been sealed for every single cycle of Demise in this Hyrule’s entire history except the first one and only met a proper Zelda as a time-displaced adult. So it’s impossible. Oh well.
I haven’t played Tears of the Kingdom, to say nothing of Breath of the Wild, and it makes me sad that I won’t be able to play your story. This gives me pause to reconsider how I’m writing my villain. Well done!
Thank you! And hey, if you have the chance - do play those games. I longed for some changes in TOTK, but I still found it a really captivating story. Ganondorf was kinda basic, but Zelda was exquisitely well written :D
Man I would LOVE to see a complicated Ganondorf with more complex motivations than just wanting power and doom. TOTK was sorely lacking in that regard. I like your version much better. ❤
Very nice ideas!! i been always admire the fact that in miyazaki's movies almost all characters are ambivalent, they debate themselves bethween what we consider good or bad (i just talked about this at work this week! what a coincidence... or is google ear me? hahaha). Anyways, nice job! i like a lots your videos man! i will waiting for the next one :)
It's a nice characteristic, right? I love partially agreeing with all characters and having to make up my own mind. It adds to the enjoyment of those stories :) Thank you! Hope to see you around :D
My idea was that there couldve been memories/geoglyphs located in the depths for Ganondorfs story, giving a chance to flesh his backstory out and giving more incentive to explore there. In the sky, the couldve been general zonai history giving us more worldbuilding
That would have been sick! It would have completely changed the Depths experience - what if the 'geoglyphs' where actually on the roof?? And you had to get all the way up there to relive the memory?
Never played any Zelda but morally ambivalent villain is always good food for thought ❤ Thanks! Nice vid for the end of the year. Take care and pls make more videos ;) Or, I don't know, write a book about your view on storytelling, or make a course... I don't know man. All I know is that I want more 😅
Thank you! I really appreciate it! I'm planning on posting a short video soon with my 2024 plans for the channel :) and hopefully working with a new editor (just started in November) will help me make more vids! Also, one day my books will be out - not sure when, but it shall happen!
Youd probably enjoy The Legend of Zelda Wind Waket then because that Ganondorf is the most relatible to why he did what he did since he explains himself a little bit during the final fight.
Honestly i love this version of Ganondorf, since this incarnation just had no motives or personality, and he's just overall a boring character. But this is actually an interesting concept that woukd make him so much cooler and more likable.
They don't need to to do that. All Nintendo needs to do is have the guy who wrote A Link to the Past, Link's Awakening, Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask, back on the team. The story element of Zelda would greatly improve if they only just did that. His name was Koizumi
I love Koizumi and what he has done with games such as Mario Galaxy, but I personlly dont think we should idolize one writer as the only right person to write the story. It is very narrow way of think about stories.
I’d love to see the Zelda characters made more three dimensional compared to what we got in ToTK. What would you do with Zelda as a character? Would she have the same fate as the game, or something more?
Honestly, I think they did a terrific job with the new Zelda, since botw. I guess too good of a job - between a simplistic villain (Ganondorf) and mentor (Rauru), and a silent protagonist - Zelda gets all the good writing. I think for this story to work, Zelda would have to be a less interesting character, so the others could rise in importance!
Fantastic story idea! I feel like ganondorf is true pure evil, but perhaps an ancestor of his could take on that role. It’d be interesting to see how Zelda could play a role in this sort of story as well if it were to be expanded
Honestly, the current Zelda is the best Zelda we've ever got! I get that they wanted to focus on her character instead of the others. But if everybody was more fleshed out, she'd also have to change to adapt to the new narrative environment - and not necessarily for the better. Still, I'd love a Zelda story with a stronger overall cast! Even if some characters had to be changed for it :)
thank you! Honestly, I'm also not sure. Think about it, I'm drawing inspirations from movies to alter a game's narrative, but using my own artistic strength... and that's prose! It's a bit of a remix here, but as far as you enjoyed the video, it's all good :)
That really interesting with ganondolf but i think it drifts too much towards the iron lady. What id do is keep the part about his desire to save his tribe but also make it so that his younger years was filled with struggle both to be accepted into his tribe and prove his strength. He desires power so he will never be looked down, never be stopped in achieving what he desired, never be under anyones power. eventual he claims his throne and leads with strength till one day something beyond him forces his hands. When his people begins to suffer from draught he goes to Raru for aid and it wounds his pride. Why should his people surrender their pride and power to interlopers who believe themselves gods that should be worshiped under heel. It is not Gerudo. He then falls on old habits, dark whispers and tries to take what he desires by force. soon he succumbs more and more to his own darkness till it consumes him and he becomes the demon king. His hatred now plagues the land that wronged him and the people who betrayed him through malice and gloom. in the future link has lost his arm and gains Rarus but he is still plagued by sickness, a constant debuff that gets worst around a blood moon. The gloom saps his strength and at the height of blood moons something whispers to him. whispers of his failings, his weakness. Even before he lost his arm he knew these whispers from when he emerged from the shrine of resurrection but they were mutterings. now they are screams. It promised him strength, power. just let it in. just take that sword, that solider wont miss it. kill that traveler, it could be yiga. take that flower in plum garden, you need it more then any of theses washed up ninjas. i wouldn't have him burst into gloom hands but he would be facing hallucinations and sickness. Id definitely keep him fleeing civilizations out of fear for the people around him. he'd have a similar battle of morals like ganondolf once faced but this time he turns it away, continues to do good despite the temptation to make his life easier
Honestly, I think you're up to something good! I enjoy this angle you took very much - you should try to write a short story about it :) would be super cool!
@@JoriamRamos well your in luck since i am writing a fanfic related to my ideas. its called the Enduring Soul on ao3. its slow going through but its ramping up soon.
I definitely think you jave an interesting angle but I do think Ganondorf as he is established in Zelda should be more driben by power than by noble persuits. The struggle of the desert can still be there but his goal is to take over Hyrule so that none can stand in the way of his prosperity rather than simply wanting to bring a river to the desert. I could see him view the abundance that everyone else has as an insult to him and his people because he believes that they are stronger and more driven than anyone else in Hyrule. Rauru offers peace and cooperation by suggesting Ganondorf serve beneath him, but Ganondorf finds that is offensive as he does not considee himself beneath anyone. Perhaps there's legend of this all mighty power and the Zonai are said to quard the path to this power. Ganondorf wants this power, so he wants to destroy the last of the Zonai to get it, but curiously there is a strange girl that seems to possess power beyond anyone's ability even compared to Rauru. Zelda is shown to have possession of the Triforce in BotW and TotK where you can see the full Triforce on the back of her hand. The Triforce appears in the memory where she is inside the dragon consciousness as she reforms the Master Sword. So I can imagine a situation where Ganondorf identifies the existence of this power and targets Zelda. Instead of Zelda turning into a Dragon after Ganondorf is sealed, she is trying to avoid Ganondorf to keep the power she possesses out of his hands. But Ganondorf is closing in on them. Sonia is dead and Rauru is unsure if he can hold Ganondorf back. If only they had the legendary blade to make a mark on the untouchable force that is Ganondorf. Rauru and the Sages are trying to hold back Ganondorf when the Master Sword suddenly manifests by Zelda having travelled through time to find her. The Sword of Evil's Bane has come to them! Yet it is useless in it's rotted state. This is when Zelda realizes that the legend of Dragonification that Minaru told her about is the only way for her to keep the Triforce out of Ganondorfs hands and reform the broken blade by using her power of light for centuries. She hears Fi speak to her through the blade and she understands that this is the only way. When the dragon ascends beyond the cloud barrier (the barrier we see the dragon break at the end of the Sky Island tutorial in TotK), Ganondorf has lost his chance at achieving the power he needs. Rauru takes the opportunity of Ganondorf's moment of distraction to place his seal upon him.
We've actually had that Ganon backstory sort of reflected in Windwaker. Where Ganon's kingdom was destroyed by natural forces. He wasn't bad initially, but got bitter and filled with resentment over time. I do love the idea of the gloom being a curse. That would have been amazing. But Nintendo favors gameplay over story, which is w real shame cause this one's story could have really been fantastic and they just never follow through.
I've played Wind Waker like a madman when it came out - I basically did nothing else until the game was done. I certainly came accross this storyline, but it was so long ago that I barely remember. I guess it might have been stuck in the back of my mind - and now subtly rekindled!
I think making Gannon sympathetic would be a misstep Zelda is a simple story of good vs evil, the whole lore is built around ultimate evil coming back again and again It’s like making Sauron sympathetic, he’s ment to be ultimate evil (or at least ultimate evils right hand man). It wouldn’t be the worst thing, but not every story needs to be nuanced in that way, we have those stories, we shouldn’t be changing stuff like Zelda to fit a sympathetic or understandable villain archetype
But what if it's the evil that comes back? Not necessarily the villain? What if evil, courage and wisdom always find a way to clash, despite what their current vessels believe or not? I enjoy those explorations (well, clearly hehe). It's just for good fun, though. I'm not saying totk's story was bad - I loved it!
Jorian, sorry for the question but are you Portuguese? Or your dad? O teu último nome, o apelido, é português, por isso é que estou a perguntar ( Ramos )
@@JoriamRamos ah ok. Eu também estranhei pelo apelido que é português (Ramos)😅 primeiro pensei que fosse filho de emigrantes portugueses mas também me lembrei que pudesses ser brasileiro porque no Brasil dão muitas vezes nomes estrangeiros como primeiro nome. Fala muito bem inglês! Mas estava com esperança que fosse alguém português escritor de fantasia no estrangeiro 🥲 Os portugueses raramente partilham estas coisas na Internet, por isso raramente se sabe. Haha, mas não faz mal. Fico contente por ver alguém nativo de português falar muito bem sobre um assunto. Os seus vídeos são excelentes! Olhe, desculpe a pergunta, mas gostaria de colocar uma questão se não fosse pedir muito. Eu só conheço uma escritora de fantasia portuguesa (Portugal não dá grande apoio a escritores nacionais) e ela escreveu uma saga inteira, mas só conseguiu arranjar tradução para espanhol. Eu li quando mais nova e na altura gostei muito. É sobre magia, vikings... Mas gostaria de saber a opinião de alguém experiente sobre esses livros. Se o senhor tivesse interesse (e tempo) em ler o primeiro livro: A saga das Pedras Mágicas, de Sandra Carvalho. dlivros.com/livro/ultima-feiticeira-saga-pedras-magicas-sandra-carvalho (Acho que dá para baixar gratuitamente) Ela também tem outra saga (crónicas da terra e do mar) mas nunca li. De qualquer forma obrigada por responder e bom trabalho👋
I thought the current Zelda was already very well written! Honestly, I think she'd have to lose importance if the other characters took more space. The new script is all Zelda! Link... is just... some vessel? She does all the emotional work :0
I think Ganondorf certainly needs to END absolutely corrupted and evil to stay a Zelda story. But I love the idea of Ganondorf starting being a good king. Even a very good person looking from the outside in. But seeing a slow decent into madness would be so much more interesting. Even seeing it directly through Zelda, who no doubt would be even more sympathetic than Rauru, if Ganondorf starts honest. Maybe even acting against Rauru in little ways initially to help Ganondorf.
Slowly seeing his decent, tortured and corrupted by the same malice we saw Link cursed with, would create parallels between him and Link. Our triumph over Malice in the present day making Ganon's fall all the more tragic, but underscoring how his fall WAS avoidable.
the idea of Zelda taking Ganondorf's side is really really on point! I wish I had had this idea to add as a story beat :)
@@JoriamRamos If you're being serious about studying Zelda lore, go the the actual source that PRECEDES these Ghibli films but not the Zelda franchise, like The Flight of Dragons.
The credit has been totally drained and shifted to Miyazaki because that's the most surface-level connection to make.
So now that the films have actually been CREATED and Nintendo got around to poaching story beats from them, people act all surprised that "TotK took even more inspiration from Miyazaki". Yeah, NOW, when they reached the end of that barrel. They didn't took things so much from Miyazaki because they had OTHER THINGS to tell, not to be reductive like the fans who only RECOGNIZE Miyazaki.
It's a good idea. You just have to see WW's Ganondorf, the best one in terms of personality. He is evil, but there is a sense of melancholy about him, alongside his original desire and his envy of Hyrule's prosperity compared to the Gerudo desert.
I'd love to play a game with that kind of story. It's unfortunate that Zelda games which are undeniably beautiful and have good gameplay always just have such surface level stories without any real depth. There is just enough to keep people interested but nothing more.
Sometimes there is a certain ammount of depths Because of fucking Translation Errors.
Did you know that there is a Demon Tribe and a Gods Tribe?
No?
Guess what, they only get mentioned in Skyward Sword's Japanese Version
Did you know that Demise isnt actually named Demise Because he is a nameless being with the title "Bringer of Demise"? No? Guess what, this also got errased from Translation, and to make matters worse:
There are actually Translations out there who actually stay more acurate to the Japanese than the English Version
Demise is called "Todbringer" in German For example which means "Bringer of Death" which basically means the same as "Bringer of Demise"
Conclusion:
If you want to go deeper in the lore then try to look in your local Language (Assuming it isnt english) and compare it with the English Versions AND the Japanese, because this shows you how acurate your Translation is compared to English
Majora's Mask and Twillight Princess have great stories, SS story is interesting and OOT has a good adventure story.
Unfortunately TOTK's story was very weak except for Zelda's sacrifice.
I mean, credit when credit's due: Zelda has been particularly well written since BOTW. I understand that they chose to work on one character at the time, instead of changing everything all at once.
But I'm with you! As we grow up with this game franchise, I also long for the maturity of the writing to grow with me. Hope we get a more nuanced Zelda in a few years :)
Heavily disagree. The story is definitely there, at least for most of the best ones, but a lot of it is subtext because they want you to keep playing instead of watching cutscenes.
Heavily disagree with this. Just because a story isn’t particularly deep doesn’t mean it isn’t meaningful. I haven’t played totk yet but both that and botw rely heavily on environmental storytelling, which makes sense for a game about exploration where you want the player to remain constantly immersed. People love these games, they clearly struck a chord with people, and I think that can only really be done in the intersection of story and gameplay, or at least themes and gameplay. To me, botw is about finding hope and beauty in the face of tragedy and failure, which can be seen on one hand through the players progression of the game: you’d think that for the story to work, there would have to be a sense of urgency and fate because the fate of Hyrule rests on your shoulders, but there isn’t, because link lost his memories so why should there be? The little moments in the game and everything you do outside of the main story is just as important as you build an emotional connection to the world so rich and carefully detailed. This, along with the gradual recollection of memories, where Zelda learns to overcome her failures by putting someone else first, is what makes it work. For me at least
This is the best reinterpretation of Zelda I’ve seen. I felt absolutely sucked in and I really wasn’t ready or in the mindset to be sucked in by a story. You definitely captured the melancholy and wonder of Miyazaki stories. Thanks for putting the work in!
Thank you for leaving this lovely comment - I really appreciate the kind words :)
This video was actually a great example of how much a story can lead to amazing gameplay mechanics, the biggest shame about the current game design philosophy for the Zelda franchise in the present day is Nintendo’s blind spot to storytelling and failure to integrate it into the game design process. When they leave story as an afterthought to tack on after designing the game in its entirety, they’re robbing themselves of an amazing source of game design ideas!
I absolutely loved the idea of having to deal with a gloom curse and the moral weight it’d leave on a player when passing by villages; something that would’ve had significance due to spending all of BotW being so familiar with those locations. That would have been such a unique way to reuse the map of BotW while completely changing the gameplay we’d experience within it!
I also loved your motivation/backstory for Ganondorf as well. Even if the Zelda series will never permit him to have any moral complexities, they could at least do better even when writing him as the big bad villain. TotK Ganondorf has to be the most disappointing iteration of this character specifically because his actions in the story continuously imply the existence of a motivation and goal, but he isn’t actually given either so he’s only ever doing something because it’s what the story arbitrarily needs him to be doing.
The secret stones had no mythology like the Triforce where mortals are corrupted by a desire to seize it and would start wars with each other just to acquire it (hence it being sealed away out of their reach) but TotK Ganondorf just sees a secret stone used to defeat his army (with no explanation for why he was at war to begin with) then feigns submission to get the chance to steal one and eventually in the final showdown gives the player a vague villain speech about recreating the world because everyone is too weak.
I genuinely think the writers failed to realise that by changing the magical source of power he coveted to something other than the Triforce, they had a big goal/motivation void in his character that needed to be filled. The most frustrating part is there’s so many aspects of their story that could easily be used to create a compelling motivation and goal. Your idea from this video showed perfectly how just the world these characters exist within is enough to draw out organic and compelling goals and motivations, so it’s a real shame that the one time the Zelda team has no triforce to limit what Ganondorf’s motivation/goal could be, they wasted the opportunity entirely!
As much as i like this, but i still think it misses a huge point of LoZ, which is, Zelda. In fact, another great aspect of Totk is also about union, and "strength in numbers". What if, during the whole journey on the spirit world, Link/player also encounter numerous spirits from each region such as the old Sages from each region, and he learned more about how to push the spiritual power along with the malice power (and so he has both Spiritual and Malice as his tools). And we also learned that Zelda missing was actually in fact she was being transfered into the spirit world by Raruu and Sonia, where she learned more knowledge from the Zonai perspective. And so while Ganon=Gerudo's survival+Malice; Link=Hyrule+Spiritual+Malice & Zelda=Zonai+Spritual, that would re-introduce a new kind of Triforce, a more narrative heavy Triforce story
Great video, the dialogues sound so amazing, I would love to see that one day
Thank you! I always get a bit self concious about recording those (I'm no voice actor, I'm aware), but it helps putting writing on screen hehe
This is so much better than what we got. I hope someday Nintendo will open there eyes and give us a good story again
Oh my gods, I want this story now.
yeeeeea a Zelda game would be PERFECT if Miyazaki wrote it. My dream Zelda game would have Yoshiaki Koizumi back, along with Hayao Miyazaki and Yoshihiro Togashi as co-writers (I know im being greedy but i dont care).
Wind Waker Flashbacks Intensify
I think you've captured exactly the that a morally uncomplicated game like LoZ didn't and really couldn't effectively steal from MiYazaki's source material.
I'm not at all saying that a game couldn't be made with this villain. But in doing so some of Zelda's core fantastical identity would also be abandoned.
I'm expecting that the film adaptation can't help but make this same tonal shift. I'd love to see the screenplay take this type of direction with Gannondorf even if it doesn't feel like Zelda anymore as a result.
That's a good point - I wonder what they'll do with the movie. Between a very simple villain and a silent protagonist (I mean HUUAH, HEEY, HWAAH), I think they'll have to work something out.
I'm as curious as you :) and hoping for a more flavourful story!
Your little snippets with Ganondorf is so compelling, like those added details, about why Ganondorf ended up doing what he did, like I was kind of mad at the king at that moment, made me understand why Ganondorf would turn to what he did. Such a great story! Even in parts.
Thank you for the encouragement!
Of course I couldn't really build the whole plotline in such a small video, but I was hoping I could at least build it enough in a couple of minutes - seems like it worked for you! :D
@JoriamRamos it definitely did lol. At least it made me consider Ganondorf as more than a simple villain
Heartwarming
For years before ToTK, I had this vivid cutscene in my head of ~10,000yr Gerudo Town, where an older teenage Ganondorf, still being bossed around by his regents Twinrova, meets a 3 year old Zelda and her mother. Ganondorf’s theme in a major key plays peacefully on a zither in the BGM because he’s still unawakened to the allure of his demonic predecessor.
While Twinrova are distracting the Queen with boring trade negotiations and building permits for Sheikah railways through the desert, Ganondorf bonds with Baby Z over their dislike of being ignored and asks her if he can take her somewhere fun. We all expect the worst when the three older women notice the young’uns are gone, but then we pan to the desert outside a window, where Zelda’s giggling on top of a baby sand seal.
The OoT Twinrova theme plays while they scold Ganondorf but Queen Zelda smiles kindly at him. Flashback fades out.
Of course, now we know that Ganondorf has been sealed for every single cycle of Demise in this Hyrule’s entire history except the first one and only met a proper Zelda as a time-displaced adult. So it’s impossible. Oh well.
yes yes yes! 100 times yes!
This is exactly the type of humanizing cutscene I'm talking about. You're hired 😂
I haven’t played Tears of the Kingdom, to say nothing of Breath of the Wild, and it makes me sad that I won’t be able to play your story.
This gives me pause to reconsider how I’m writing my villain. Well done!
Thank you! And hey, if you have the chance - do play those games. I longed for some changes in TOTK, but I still found it a really captivating story. Ganondorf was kinda basic, but Zelda was exquisitely well written :D
Man I would LOVE to see a complicated Ganondorf with more complex motivations than just wanting power and doom. TOTK was sorely lacking in that regard. I like your version much better. ❤
I'm not complaining! I really enjoyed the game, and the writers fulfilled their vision :) But yeah, I also long for stories more in that direction
Very nice ideas!! i been always admire the fact that in miyazaki's movies almost all characters are ambivalent, they debate themselves bethween what we consider good or bad (i just talked about this at work this week! what a coincidence... or is google ear me? hahaha). Anyways, nice job! i like a lots your videos man! i will waiting for the next one :)
It's a nice characteristic, right? I love partially agreeing with all characters and having to make up my own mind. It adds to the enjoyment of those stories :)
Thank you! Hope to see you around :D
Wow, I’m blown away. Your content is so rich and wholesome. I aspire one day to be as wise and articulate as you.
you flatter me! thank you so so much for the comment - and I hope I can keep fulfilling those high expectations 😂
Te has ganado una suscriptora, que bueno que haya subtitulos en español.
Que guay, muchas gracias :)
@@JoriamRamos De nada, tú vídeo fue muy interesante así que veré más de tu contenido.
My idea was that there couldve been memories/geoglyphs located in the depths for Ganondorfs story, giving a chance to flesh his backstory out and giving more incentive to explore there. In the sky, the couldve been general zonai history giving us more worldbuilding
That would have been sick! It would have completely changed the Depths experience - what if the 'geoglyphs' where actually on the roof?? And you had to get all the way up there to relive the memory?
Never played any Zelda but morally ambivalent villain is always good food for thought ❤
Thanks! Nice vid for the end of the year. Take care and pls make more videos ;) Or, I don't know, write a book about your view on storytelling, or make a course... I don't know man. All I know is that I want more 😅
Thank you! I really appreciate it!
I'm planning on posting a short video soon with my 2024 plans for the channel :) and hopefully working with a new editor (just started in November) will help me make more vids!
Also, one day my books will be out - not sure when, but it shall happen!
Youd probably enjoy The Legend of Zelda Wind Waket then because that Ganondorf is the most relatible to why he did what he did since he explains himself a little bit during the final fight.
Sir, how dare you? I need this now.
+ I’m so glad I found your channel
sorry 😂 but I'll do it again
and welcome to the channel, grab a seat, grab a coffee
Great video
Thank you!!! :)
Honestly i love this version of Ganondorf, since this incarnation just had no motives or personality, and he's just overall a boring character. But this is actually an interesting concept that woukd make him so much cooler and more likable.
I'm glad you liked it! Yeah, I also long for a Ganondorf that I could root for :)
They don't need to to do that. All Nintendo needs to do is have the guy who wrote A Link to the Past, Link's Awakening, Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask, back on the team. The story element of Zelda would greatly improve if they only just did that. His name was Koizumi
I love Koizumi and what he has done with games such as Mario Galaxy, but I personlly dont think we should idolize one writer as the only right person to write the story. It is very narrow way of think about stories.
Can we get this man a contract with a game studio, I need this game.
one day, one day 😂 I need to finish my book, but I do plan to write more games one day
Awesome!!!!! Love these merges of thought
thank you! :D
This was a lovely story
Great video Joriam! :)
Great to see you here! And thanks a million for the help :)
If only ganon was an actual character instead of just human-shaped calamity ganon
exactly!
I get why they do this, but still... meh!
I’d love to see the Zelda characters made more three dimensional compared to what we got in ToTK. What would you do with Zelda as a character? Would she have the same fate as the game, or something more?
Honestly, I think they did a terrific job with the new Zelda, since botw. I guess too good of a job - between a simplistic villain (Ganondorf) and mentor (Rauru), and a silent protagonist - Zelda gets all the good writing. I think for this story to work, Zelda would have to be a less interesting character, so the others could rise in importance!
Ghibli inspired story in a Zelda game with added Dune references? We need this.
If you ask me, we need even weather reports with Dune references 😂
Fantastic story idea! I feel like ganondorf is true pure evil, but perhaps an ancestor of his could take on that role. It’d be interesting to see how Zelda could play a role in this sort of story as well if it were to be expanded
Honestly, the current Zelda is the best Zelda we've ever got! I get that they wanted to focus on her character instead of the others. But if everybody was more fleshed out, she'd also have to change to adapt to the new narrative environment - and not necessarily for the better.
Still, I'd love a Zelda story with a stronger overall cast! Even if some characters had to be changed for it :)
God this would’ve been so cool 😭😭😭
Excellent writing, though I'm not certain what medium would best suit this story
thank you! Honestly, I'm also not sure. Think about it, I'm drawing inspirations from movies to alter a game's narrative, but using my own artistic strength... and that's prose! It's a bit of a remix here, but as far as you enjoyed the video, it's all good :)
What do you think about a zelda game written by square enix? Something inspired by final fantasy 7?
Uffff! As somebody who unfortunately grew up playstationless... I'm not the right person to answer this question!
That really interesting with ganondolf but i think it drifts too much towards the iron lady. What id do is keep the part about his desire to save his tribe but also make it so that his younger years was filled with struggle both to be accepted into his tribe and prove his strength. He desires power so he will never be looked down, never be stopped in achieving what he desired, never be under anyones power. eventual he claims his throne and leads with strength till one day something beyond him forces his hands. When his people begins to suffer from draught he goes to Raru for aid and it wounds his pride. Why should his people surrender their pride and power to interlopers who believe themselves gods that should be worshiped under heel. It is not Gerudo. He then falls on old habits, dark whispers and tries to take what he desires by force. soon he succumbs more and more to his own darkness till it consumes him and he becomes the demon king. His hatred now plagues the land that wronged him and the people who betrayed him through malice and gloom.
in the future link has lost his arm and gains Rarus but he is still plagued by sickness, a constant debuff that gets worst around a blood moon. The gloom saps his strength and at the height of blood moons something whispers to him. whispers of his failings, his weakness. Even before he lost his arm he knew these whispers from when he emerged from the shrine of resurrection but they were mutterings. now they are screams. It promised him strength, power. just let it in. just take that sword, that solider wont miss it. kill that traveler, it could be yiga. take that flower in plum garden, you need it more then any of theses washed up ninjas. i wouldn't have him burst into gloom hands but he would be facing hallucinations and sickness. Id definitely keep him fleeing civilizations out of fear for the people around him. he'd have a similar battle of morals like ganondolf once faced but this time he turns it away, continues to do good despite the temptation to make his life easier
Honestly, I think you're up to something good!
I enjoy this angle you took very much - you should try to write a short story about it :) would be super cool!
@@JoriamRamos well your in luck since i am writing a fanfic related to my ideas. its called the Enduring Soul on ao3. its slow going through but its ramping up soon.
Oh yeah, greetings to the algorythm, ur absolutely right!
Oh hi! Welcome back :)
Eu 100% jogaria essa versão
Essa ultima rodada de historias melhorou muito o personagem da Zelda - com sorte a proxima traz outras surpresas positivas :)
I definitely think you jave an interesting angle but I do think Ganondorf as he is established in Zelda should be more driben by power than by noble persuits. The struggle of the desert can still be there but his goal is to take over Hyrule so that none can stand in the way of his prosperity rather than simply wanting to bring a river to the desert. I could see him view the abundance that everyone else has as an insult to him and his people because he believes that they are stronger and more driven than anyone else in Hyrule.
Rauru offers peace and cooperation by suggesting Ganondorf serve beneath him, but Ganondorf finds that is offensive as he does not considee himself beneath anyone.
Perhaps there's legend of this all mighty power and the Zonai are said to quard the path to this power. Ganondorf wants this power, so he wants to destroy the last of the Zonai to get it, but curiously there is a strange girl that seems to possess power beyond anyone's ability even compared to Rauru.
Zelda is shown to have possession of the Triforce in BotW and TotK where you can see the full Triforce on the back of her hand. The Triforce appears in the memory where she is inside the dragon consciousness as she reforms the Master Sword. So I can imagine a situation where Ganondorf identifies the existence of this power and targets Zelda.
Instead of Zelda turning into a Dragon after Ganondorf is sealed, she is trying to avoid Ganondorf to keep the power she possesses out of his hands. But Ganondorf is closing in on them. Sonia is dead and Rauru is unsure if he can hold Ganondorf back. If only they had the legendary blade to make a mark on the untouchable force that is Ganondorf.
Rauru and the Sages are trying to hold back Ganondorf when the Master Sword suddenly manifests by Zelda having travelled through time to find her. The Sword of Evil's Bane has come to them! Yet it is useless in it's rotted state.
This is when Zelda realizes that the legend of Dragonification that Minaru told her about is the only way for her to keep the Triforce out of Ganondorfs hands and reform the broken blade by using her power of light for centuries. She hears Fi speak to her through the blade and she understands that this is the only way.
When the dragon ascends beyond the cloud barrier (the barrier we see the dragon break at the end of the Sky Island tutorial in TotK), Ganondorf has lost his chance at achieving the power he needs. Rauru takes the opportunity of Ganondorf's moment of distraction to place his seal upon him.
We've actually had that Ganon backstory sort of reflected in Windwaker. Where Ganon's kingdom was destroyed by natural forces. He wasn't bad initially, but got bitter and filled with resentment over time.
I do love the idea of the gloom being a curse. That would have been amazing. But Nintendo favors gameplay over story, which is w real shame cause this one's story could have really been fantastic and they just never follow through.
I've played Wind Waker like a madman when it came out - I basically did nothing else until the game was done. I certainly came accross this storyline, but it was so long ago that I barely remember.
I guess it might have been stuck in the back of my mind - and now subtly rekindled!
I think making Gannon sympathetic would be a misstep
Zelda is a simple story of good vs evil, the whole lore is built around ultimate evil coming back again and again
It’s like making Sauron sympathetic, he’s ment to be ultimate evil (or at least ultimate evils right hand man). It wouldn’t be the worst thing, but not every story needs to be nuanced in that way, we have those stories, we shouldn’t be changing stuff like Zelda to fit a sympathetic or understandable villain archetype
But what if it's the evil that comes back? Not necessarily the villain?
What if evil, courage and wisdom always find a way to clash, despite what their current vessels believe or not?
I enjoy those explorations (well, clearly hehe). It's just for good fun, though. I'm not saying totk's story was bad - I loved it!
The story would be good for once
Hopefully hehehe
Though I did enjoy both botw and totk :)
Jorian, sorry for the question but are you Portuguese?
Or your dad?
O teu último nome, o apelido, é português, por isso é que estou a perguntar ( Ramos )
Sou brasileiro :) Não moro mais lá, mas nasci e cresci no Rio de Janeiro
@@JoriamRamos ah ok. Eu também estranhei pelo apelido que é português (Ramos)😅 primeiro pensei que fosse filho de emigrantes portugueses mas também me lembrei que pudesses ser brasileiro porque no Brasil dão muitas vezes nomes estrangeiros como primeiro nome. Fala muito bem inglês!
Mas estava com esperança que fosse alguém português escritor de fantasia no estrangeiro 🥲
Os portugueses raramente partilham estas coisas na Internet, por isso raramente se sabe.
Haha, mas não faz mal. Fico contente por ver alguém nativo de português falar muito bem sobre um assunto. Os seus vídeos são excelentes!
Olhe, desculpe a pergunta, mas gostaria de colocar uma questão se não fosse pedir muito.
Eu só conheço uma escritora de fantasia portuguesa (Portugal não dá grande apoio a escritores nacionais) e ela escreveu uma saga inteira, mas só conseguiu arranjar tradução para espanhol.
Eu li quando mais nova e na altura gostei muito. É sobre magia, vikings...
Mas gostaria de saber a opinião de alguém experiente sobre esses livros. Se o senhor tivesse interesse (e tempo) em ler o primeiro livro:
A saga das Pedras Mágicas, de Sandra Carvalho.
dlivros.com/livro/ultima-feiticeira-saga-pedras-magicas-sandra-carvalho
(Acho que dá para baixar gratuitamente)
Ela também tem outra saga (crónicas da terra e do mar) mas nunca li.
De qualquer forma obrigada por responder e bom trabalho👋
Nintendo, contrata o cara ae, pf kkkk
Now. Where is Zelda in this story 😂
I thought the current Zelda was already very well written! Honestly, I think she'd have to lose importance if the other characters took more space. The new script is all Zelda! Link... is just... some vessel? She does all the emotional work :0
What if studio ghibli bought the rights to Disney?
The old Switcheroo!
gosh, wouldn't that be WILD? 😂
I'm a very imaginative person, but with this one I'm struggling hahaha
:)
With Miyamoto in Charge from the shadows, aonuma and his team Will never be able to do their Job well. Miyamoto is dark and manipulative.
Damn they should have got a better writter, TotK is such a waste of storytelling ....