Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom director on Ganondorf’s design

Hidemaro Fujibayashi, the director of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, has commented on Ganondorf’s new design in the game.

Speaking with The Verge, Fujibayashi said that Satoru Takizawa – who’s been working on the series since Twilight Princess – led the way on Ganondorf. Fujibayashi requested for him to be “a very cool, very awesome demon king.”

Fujibayashi stated:

“With Ganon, this design really started with Twilight Princess. There’s a staffer [Satoru Takizawa] who’s been in charge of Ganon’s design since Twilight Princess, and Ganon holds a really special place in this staffer’s heart. [laughing]

From my perspective, of course there’s the understanding that Ganondorf is, of course, the evil antagonist, but he also plays almost as important a role as the main hero who stand in contrast to each other as part of this legend. So my only request I made was that because he’s such an important character at the same level as the protagonist, was to really make him a very cool, very awesome demon king.

Because this staff’s a veteran to the franchise, he’s able to really think about the needs and the ones of the entire team. There’s a part of this person that really kind of sealed away the love they have for Ganondorf in the designs that they’ve done in the past. But when I made this request to really make Ganon the way he is – because the spotlight is on him this time around, and he really is a crucial, integral character – I vividly remember the sparkle in this person’s eyes as they heard this. Seeing that love, I was really confident that I could just leave it up to them, knowing something great would come out of it.”

Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma also recently commented on Ganondorf, stating that he could “see further character development and changes to his personality as the series continues.” Read more about that here.