Ganon (Total War)

King Ganon is the leader of the Moblins.

History


Rise of Ganon
Ganon was born in Demise. Both of his parents fell victim to roving bands of Hylian knights, who often launch raids into Blin territories and hunt them for sport. With her last words, Ganon's mother told him that the Hylians are barbaric monsters who don't know any better than slaughter. Moments later, the Blin god Demise appears before Ganon, takes him as his protégé and trains him to be a powerful general and warrior.

When Ganon grows up, he becomes the first Blin leader in five millennia to unite the warring tribes into one powerful state. He gathers the leaders of the Blin races and forms a plan to destroy the Hylians, by capturing Princess Nylin Zelda I, daughter of King Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule and forcing her to reveal the location of the Triforce, the divine power of the Golden Goddesses.

Ganon succeeds in capturing Zelda and occupying two Hylian towns, Lon Lon Ranch and Kakariko, but Zelda remains silent on the Triforce's location. Fortunately for him, a renegade Sheikah called Bongo agrees to help him discover the location of the Triforce from the Princess, if he helps her confront the source of her nightmares in the Shadow Temple. After delving into the temple, finding and defeating Bongo's quarry - the Druthulidi Dethl - she resolves to help him.

With the help of Bongo's Eye of Truth, Ganon discovers the location of the Triforce: under the King's throne in Hyrule Castle. Bongo advises him to seek allies in the Gerudo Desert, as Hyrule Castle is the most fortified location in the kingdom. Ganon first attempts to parlay with the Gerudo Circle of Warlords, who, in their pride, reject his offers; in return, Ganon curses them by poisoning the oases in the desert, preventing male Gerudo from being born.

Following Bongo's advice, Ganon then leads an army further west to the Gerudo Cliffs, land of the Darknut Legion and the Zuna, and challenges the Darknut God King Zalunbar in a tournament, for then he'll be compelled to accept Ganon's wish that Zalunbar and his army join the Moblins in their conquest. Even though Zalunbar tries his best to avoid this by first cheating and then suddenly 'changing' his mind when Ganon defeats his army, he eventually has to submit to Ganon when Ganon mentions the Triforce to Vaati, who tells him that it was the power left behind by the Wind Tribe seeked by Zalunbar five millennia past.

When the Moblin-Darknut-Sheikah alliance defeats the Hylian garrison, Ganon enters Hyrule Castle and confronts King Daphnes Nohansen Hyrule in his throne room. The King taunts Ganon and belittles the Moblins as simple monsters who only seek to destroy the world. Ganon, enraged, tosses the King away and overturns his throne, but cannot find the Triforce. Fortunately for him, Bongo is still able to extract the Triforce's new location - Spectacle Rock - from King Nohansen, with Dethl's Eye of Truth.

Before King Nohansen dies, Ganon allows his daughter to speak to him for a last time before having her executed as well. Unfortunately, just as he leaves the throne room and the executioner prepares to behead Zelda, Impa sneaks in, kills all the executioner and frees the Princess.

Ganon takes control of the Fire Temple from the Gorons and successfully wins Dakkon, the incumbent Sage of Fire and King of Death Mountain, to his side, but shortly after that, the Hylians, Gorons and loyal Sheikah under command of Zelda, Impa, Rauru and Darunia assault the Fire Temple. Ganon sends Ogalon and Dakkon to deal with the invaders while he extracts the Triforce from its cradle.

However, Ganon was not aware of Bongo's ulterior motives: the real Triforce is under Lake Hylia in the Water Temple, and Bongo lied to Ganon in order to covet the Triforce for herself and her followers, the Dark Interlopers. After realising that Bongo played him for a fool and lied about the Triforce's location, he is so filled with despair that he collapses into a sobbing fit. When Zelda arrives, Ganon does not even bother resisting and is easily cut down.

At this moment, the contents of the diary which he kept during the whole war is finally revealed: crude, childish drawings of Hylians and Moblins living together in peace. It turns out he wanted to use the power of the Triforce to end the enmity between Hylians and his people and to bring back everyone who had to die because of it. Zelda, Impa and Rauru never discover this, because they are too preoccupied with stopping Bongo and the Dark Interlopers from stealing the Triforce from the Water Temple.

After Ganon's death, Demise retrieves his body in the Fire Temple and buries him in the Arbiter's Grounds in the Gerudo Desert.

Ganon's invasion of Hyrule becomes an important mark in the calendar system of Hyrule, with the years after fall of Hyrule Castle being marked as AG (After Ganon), and the previous era as BG (Before Ganon).

A Tale of Two Swords
In 175 AG, the Gerudo warlord Ganondorf, learning about Demise's campaign against Hylia, who has recently returned to Hyrule, offers his services to Demise. Demise intends to use Ganondorf as a sacrifice to resurrect Ganon, since he needs a loyal servant who could command the Gerudo even after failing to cure their people. Ganon's ghost invades the unwilling Ganondorf's mind and attempts to take full control, but Ganondorf and Nabooru eventually convince Ganon that Demise has been responsible for all the ruin wrought upon the Moblins. Ganon relinquishes his hold over Ganondorf, leaving Demise at the mercy of the Gerudo army.

In-game
King Ganon appears at the start of the Freeform Campaign as the leader of the Moblins.

Hero Power
Inspire Hate: Ganon's presence may cause enemy units to blindly charge against orders.