Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom director explains Ganondorf's attractive new design

“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.”