Ganondorf’s Seal Explained - Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Lore 

Zelda: How do you know our names? Ganon: Well, let me bench press this castle first

It's unlikely that Ganondorf was aware of Calamity Ganon, or at least that he wasn't seeing Hyrule through Calamity Ganon's eyes. My evidence? At the very beginning, he seemingly recognizes Zelda by her face (only logical since he knew Zelda in the ancient past and may have even conversed with her while he was still feigning allegiance to King Rauru), but he only seems to recognize Link by the fact that he carries the Master Sword. He knows that the name of the one who wields the Master Sword is named Link, but doesn't seem to know what he looks like until that moment. Surely, if Calamity Ganon was acting as Ganondorf's eyes and ears, he would've been able to recognize Link by his face, rather than just the fact that he carries the Master Sword.

This was a great summary of Ganondorf’s seal. I find it really fascinating Ganondorf’s reaction to being defeated has him devolved to going to the pose he was sealed in. I wonder if Rauru’s seal was more than magic, but also psychological.

There is one addendum I'd like to make to this: even after Ganondorf breaks the seal, he never really seems to recover from it. Obviously for the majority of time he spends in Link's time, he looks really decayed and withered, but even during the final boss fight, where he rehydrates and turns hot again, there are hints (just one, really) that the seal may have some subtle, lingering effect on him yet. After you defeat his demon king form, he wails in agony and, seemingly inadvertently, returns to the pose Zelda and Link found him in beneath Hyrule castle, arched back and all. It only lasts for a moment before he snaps himself out of it and eats his secret stone, but he has to actively and arduously struggle against it, almost like it's some kind of reflex or muscle memory he's fighting. I doubt it's terribly meaningful in terms of lore, but it is an interesting observation and a fun tidbit.

We can NEVER have too much Zelda lore- if you feel the need to make another long form video about totk lore we'll happily listen!

The sad part is that we can assume from the verbiage of Demise's curse that if his reincarnation is defeated by the ones bearing the blood of the goddess and the soul of the hero, that he will return again, making the cycle begin anew. This means that if Rauru succeeded in draining and purifying all of Ganondorf's magic he might have broken Demise's curse of hatred.

A hint of Ganondorf's Conciousness actually being transfered into Calamity Ganon is one Dialogue we get when confronting the Fake-Zelda in Hyrule Castle's Throne Room... She completely restored that place with every single detail, even the Floor with the Triforce-Mark on it which became fragile after Laser came out of the Cocoon and collapsed when the Manifested Body of the Calamity crashed right onto it. This Fake Zelda is a Puppet of Ganondorf, there is no possible way that Ganondorf somehow could extract her Memories of everything she saw. And the Scentence she said afterwards is also very interesting: "Does it awaken memories? Memories of our Time here?" It could technically be that Ganondorf is Assuming Link and Zelda spent some time in the Throne Room, but... what if he is actually referring to the Time when he actually was somehow inside of the Calamity? Even if this Line isnt Solid proof enough, the Illusion he created has to proof that he remembers the exact look.

I love how the totk backstory is an exercise in determinism. Zelda told rauru about the future, and what happens exactly, absolutely guaranteeing the beginning of the cycle. Which in turn is why Rauru sealed him away like that. At the same time, Link in botw is completely unaware of the light dragon, and what waits below the castle. Things play out exactly as they are supposed to (as opposed to how ocarina of time for example changes things between multiple timelines)

Rauru: This seal is composed of an ancient magic forgotten to man, known as Sugondesse. Ganondorf: What is Sugondesse? Rauru: Heh...

That’s interesting that logically Rauru is still alive and whole in the Age of Calamity timeline. Also, the ‘purification unit’ all the way up to the castle and Sheika pillars were probably each installed after cycles of Calamities as well, each one trying to prevent future calamities.

It is kind of ironic that king Rauru may have been on the verge of finally defeating the demon king thru his seal and time, but that due to the calamity seizing control of the shiekah tech and hyrule castle falling to ruin caused Rauru to finally succumb to decay and eventually losing to the demon king in the end. And Ganondorf seemingly had no control or awareness of the calamity that his gloom/malice had released at all. If this all eventually gets tied back to Demise's hatred/curse somehow, maybe it turns out that demise was incontrol of the calamity thru Ganondorf's sealed power causing the eventually release of Ganondorf, and therefore the incarnation of his hatred to be revived once more. Maybe Demise sensed that Rauru was winning and that could have broken Demise's curse, which was what prompted demise to act thru the calamity in the first place. Gives you alot to think about.

"Imprisoning war? Demon king?"

When you think about it; the Age Of Calamity split of the story may have proven your point about Rauru being able to purify Ganondorf's darkness, if not win given that the Castle was still mostly intact unlike in Breath of the Wild where it was greatly damaged and decayed. Since in AOC the Calamity was defeated and Hyrule still stood united, preserved Rauru's hold on Ganondorf in where eventually he and his darkness would eventually be purified, ending the cycle. EDIT: Yes, I know AoC is non-canon, no need to be so rude about it. I just wanted to put this out there as a way to add to the conversation of the topic at hand.

Personally I like the longer formats more, like 20-30 minutes or even around 1 hour. Your videos are always entertaining so time flies by anyway!

Hyrule Castle itself being part of the seal and having the source of the Calamity at it's very bottom is such a cool concept, but it's explained super weirdly in the game. The castle's role in the seal is touched upon twice, one being in Ganondorf's character profile where it says the magic binding him weakened when the castle was damaged during the Calamity, and the other being on the tablet shown in this video where it says the castle was built to prevent the site from being disturbed. I took this to mean its purpose was blocking the entrance to the Imprisoning Chamber so no person or animal can walk in and accidentally screw up the seal, but that doesn't really make it sound like the castle itself being damaged would weaken it. I then went to read the tablet in French to see if that would clarify things, and it basically said that the castle was built as a way to sustain the seal rather than block the entrance. That makes much more sense and falls much more in line with what was said in the interview, and it's the kind of thing I would've read on my first playthrough and immediately had an epiphany on why the seal fell apart: because it lost its foundation. I really wanna do a full playthrough in French when I get the chance, cause the more I look into stuff like this, the more I realize the English translation really didn't do this game justice.

I think Ganondorf may have subconsciously knew what was going on outside the seal. He just was in so much pain that the shadow if his thought was acting purely on his animal instincts, thus creating Calamity Ganon's monstrous form.

Finally, I’ve been waiting for a Zeltik video diving into the lore of TotK! I loved the inclusion of Fujibayashi’s interview for more context!

Poor Rauru... He was so close to fully purifying Ganondorf's darkness on his own... 😢 If only King Rhoam had listened to his daughter and had more safeguards in case the Ancient Sheikah tech turned on them, Rauru would have won by the time the next Calamity was due to form.

I’ve analysied this so many times. It’s really fascinating the little details. How ganon is pushed back like rauro as he started losing power had to force more energy into keeping ganon imprisoned. How as his power ran out even rauro own body disintegrated. How you see ganon energy seeping out slowly but surly. Right until the end where rauro felt Zelda and Link presence…..and just let go. His arm flops down as if “finally. We are caught up. It’s all up to you now”.

This is a video game? I enjoy it so much but this information on the lore of Hyrule is fascinating. I'm still postponing conquering all the different parts so as to explore everything first. I have ignited all the lightroots. Got that emblem. It's too joyful to describe from this old man's perspective.

Love this format! A look into several strange occurrences throughout Zelda games would be awesome!! Stuff like the yeti in TP or the statue deku in MM… or the seven sisters in BotW or totk :)

Totk lore goes hard

I like the shorter, more focused videos. I'd love to see more of these!

Finally, the age of TOTK lore videos is rising. YESSIRR

I'm LOVING the short videos! They're a perfect appetizer to the big projects like your TotK Story explanations and I really like the topics. Ty Zeltik!!

I also believe that Evil Tree has a massive thing to do with Ganondorf as well. Its like a Yokai or something. And its all chi. while the Sheikah tech is like a form of Alchemy. And i even was making a video about Ganondorf, Kami and Shintoism and what that Tree is and how all of that life energy is also from the spirits of the dead which in a way is kinda dark. Along with Zelda and Mineru being the Fortune Teller and how the Anicent Hero is tied to it all. Even made a Gif of how the Castle was placed down on my twitter while workin on the script using a floating block, a zoani spike and ultrahand lmao Great Video! ngl im a bit demotivated to continue working on my Ganondorf video after seeing the thumbnail for this video lmao but like always you continue to make amazing stuff! Love your stuff man keep up the great work!

Loving these more rapid, shorter videos lately! Always delightful to see more videos by you.

Always happy to see a video from you, short or long! Always insightful and pleasant to watch. The shorter ones are probably quicker to complete, but whatever format you feel is best for the topic!

Great video. I knew all this information before but I loved seeing it all contextualized together.

this is an amazing video, I love your theories dude, oh yeah and one more thing I'd like add, upon sealing Ganondorf in the memories Rauru mentions Link who Zelda had told him about, and in the beginning of totk here he senses the presence of Zelda and Link (more likely the Master Sword bc he didn't necessarily meet link) and thats when he knew it would be ok to release the seal

You could say that Age of Calamity was the good timeline where the events played out like they were meant to.

I read "Ganondorf's seal" and first thing that came to my mind was Patricia.......

Please continue making longer videos. I truly enjoy the lore and in depth details in your videos.

Love the short video, but also love the long deep dives! Both make me learn so much more and love the series even more! ❤️ Happy Christmas!

Now I finally understand why only his arm was left. Thank you!

Would love to hear more about TotK’s lore! Loved the game so these insights are absolutely great.

This video was short but incredibly well done. Keep up the good work

Ow wow, you did great. Thanks for the great content, listening to ya tell us this makes me apprecate you & the channel and love this great game even more. The details/ lore u pointed out, i gotta say you did spot on in making this vid!

I remember hearing a theory a while ago involving the seal. (I forget which youtuber mentioned it) That being that the reason why we only see Rauru's hand at the start of the game compared to the full body, is that the Shiekah took the rest of the body and put it in the shrine of resurrection to create the Ancient Hero. This explains why we see that the ancient hero has both Zonai and Ganon-like elements like the red hair. It's because it's a Zonai body resurrected with a small amount of gloom. This also makes sense with why the king of Hyrule after the 1st great calamity would banish the Sheikah tech. It wasn't because of the Divine Beasts, but that the Shiekah resurrected and "defiled" the god-like Rauru.

The short videos are cool, but I love your longer format content personally. Short or long though it’s always a good day when I get a notification that Zeltik uploaded!

I'm glad you made this video, I saw so many people on twitter go mad with this new interview "why didn't they mention this lore of the shrines in the game??", "Why didn't they mention the seal on Ganondorf was like a Shrine??". But the answer WAS in the game, and the similarities between the seal and the Shrines are apparent visually. I swear people want anything to be mad at this game because it didn't fulfill their crazy unfounded expectations

That was really good and well edited, thank you!

Fujibayashi really did explain well on how the Calamity weakens Rauru’s seal. But what I have been wondering for awhile is how did Ganondorf mastered his magic (The Gloom) before acquiring the Sacred Stone. Did he learned that from the two masked Gerudo figures- Kotake and Koume? If so then it would make sense since they are his Surrogate mothers. And for those who remember playing The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, these two Gerudo fused into Twinrova. It would of been nice to have her in the game for a boss battle.

In my opinion I think they could make a sequel to age of calamity considering ganondorf is “still alive” in that timeline. I’m curious as to how differently the events will play out like introducing new characters & potentially new villains like koume and kotake the mothers of ganondorf. If a sequel ever gets made

I love your longer videos and your shorter ones. I am grateful for both!

This video was fantastic. There were tiny pieces of lore I didn't know about here. And having the whole laid out was really cool :-) I always wondered if the hand dropped at the end because it was finally depleted of energy, or if somehow Rauru knew to let go to release the secret stone so Zelda could pick it up ... since that time travel cycle would have always been.

Both short vids and longer deep dives are great

I'd say i like the short format videos aswell. to quickly jump into a topic. Keep it up!

I'm happy to see you focusing on this game still!

oh wow very nice video didnt expect there to be so much lore to be found around this moment well or i didnt think that much into it x3

I enjoyed this tidbit dive into one of the many detailed lore you can pluck out of this game. Sure does make me want to play it all over again.👍

Wait theres 152 monsters that needed a shrine? What if theres 152 bosses in all the pre-BOTW games put together 🤔 ... just a thought!

Great video! Short format is nice.

Love the short video format!

Finally! A TOTK video that isn't someone saying how "disappointing" the game was. Thank you

This was an excellent production!

yes! finally a video on ganondorf!

Yeah this was great! I love little bits like this! No one is making interesting lore videos and I had no idea that was the history of shrines of what the magic was doing. Thanks!

I'm a fan of this format, and I like the idea of you doing more!

Love the short content as much as the long content. I prefer the longer content though honestly, like the dungeon analysis videos for example.

Great video! I’d love to see something on the Typhlo ruins and the statues in the depths 🥰

This is great! I wonder how the Lightroots fit into the shrine lore of being built where monsters were killed by Rauru and Sonia

Rauru's decay over the last 100 years is a really interesting prospect. It means that in the AoC timeline, Ganondorf would never re-awaken.

Honestly i know its stuff we more or less already know but the way you tell everything makes it so much cooler, it makes me appreciate what totk offers even more. And rauru is such a badass fr

Wish they went into this more in the actual game. The details of this you dug up are pretty damn cool, but when your going through the game for the first time and aren't digging super deep it just seems like Rauru's ability to seal Ganondorf comes out of nowhere.

Please add the channel intro to the beginning of the video! I'm fond of hearing that sound and knowing I'm in for a good Zelda vid

Glad to be back watching Zeltik videos. After seven months of trying to avoid spoilers, I finally beat the main story this morning! I have a lot of catching up to do on these videos. 😊

Brilliant work on this one man

From that first teaser I knew this game was going to be great Edit: I think I caused a argument💀

man you never fil to impress me with t he script you have for these vids, thx for t the great content, beautiful as always.

I really loved this theory and the way you explained it 🫶🏻♥️

So, since the shrines were seals made by Rauru and Sonya, how do the light roots factor in? We’re the shrines specifically chosen due to their proximity to the light root, or did the light root grow downward from the shrine? I’d assume the shrines came first, and the roots grew down after (since the sky island shrines don’t have a corresponding light root). Separately, what about the shrines that are just crystals disconnected from their supposed location? I wonder what happened there.

I very like this video, the fact that the calamity would rise again and again makes much more sense since the source had never been destroyed. I like the idea that the calamity was only the reincarnation of Ganondorf's wrath and rage, letting nothing but a bodyless entity that feels and wants nothing

Thank you Zeltik, I thought you were done talking about this game

Definitely like short videos explaining smaller aspects of the games like this!

Nice and fast video to watch while eating thank you zeltik ❤

Amazing video, you need to make more.

His hatred seeps out every few generations to take on a new form. Building a body for itself to transfer Ganondorf into. It tried to with its own dark Shrine of Resurrection, using Sheikah tech as its base. We either interrupted the process or it was DOA and inhospitable for Ganondorf to be transferred into. The Dark Beast Ganon we fight in Hyrule Field was simply a solidified form of the spectral pig that swirled around the castle. The best thing I could compare the Calamity to is a Stand from JoJo. A manifestation of Ganondorf’s soul working independently, instinctively, to fulfill its user’s desire for freedom and destruction. It seems Ganondorf himself had no idea his power was leaking out this whole time. But that’s not really clear because the game itself is so obstinate in referring to the previous game. I get they want it to be a standalone story, but it’s a full on sequel, don’t be vague or hide references. But I digress. The Secret Stone seems to have allowed Ganon to access the latent power of Demise. As evidenced by his Oni form heavily resembling Demise. Power on a level that had not been seen since Demise himself. The Triforce gave him the pig form and powerful magic, but he never seemed as strong as he does in these games. When Demise was the Imprisoned, that dark power would periodically be released, even in a lesser state than when he was the full demon king. History repeats itself with Dorf and this seal. I personally don’t think there’s any reason to think of Malice and Gloom as separate things. The only reason they have different names is they introduced a game mechanic that wasn’t in the previous game. I think the Gloom is still Malice but now in its full power with Dorf’s unbinding. It was dangerous and corrupting before but now it thrives with darkness and affects the health of those who are near it. It also allows Dorf to summon Phantom Ganon across Hyrule. And it’s literally what he casts out of his body as magic. Rauru’s seal may have kept Dorf in place, but it couldn’t hold all of him.

I’m about to beat the game and I was wondering what exactly the swirling lights were. Thanks for this. They should stick this video directly into the game!

Yuhhhh love a Zeltik post

Wow great video Zeltik! I have played TOTK for about 700 hours and I had no idea that’s how Raru imprisoned Gannondorf or what the true purpose of the shrines were for in this game in regards to the lore. GG thanks!

Awesome as always zeltik! I wish we could explore the underground of the castle

The seal gives me strong Naruto vibes… then again Naruto takes a lot from Japanese Legends. So maybe the Sacrifice to seal a great evil formula is more than a troupe.

I'd like to see a video of comparing monsters that were added from previous games and the differences between past and present.

Honestly, I'll happily take whatever lore vids you want too make, short and sweet or long and grand. This one's an unexpected treat so soon after your last video.

As soon as I saw this title I knew it was going to be good video.

I love this! But i prefer the longer videos ❤

this was an amazing video cant wait to see more like

Amazing commentary!

I used to not be interested in Zelda lore because of Nintendo's "gameplay first" attitude, but this guy helped change my mind.

Makes me wonder about Age of Calamity. If the seal was disturbed by Calamity Ganon ravaging Hyrule Castle, and since Hyrule won in that timeline and rebuilt Hyrule Castle after the Calamity, does that mean either they stopped the seal on Ganondorf from breaking, or was it too late and the damage was done?

6:38 Actually, I think its a pretty big coincidence that rauru would just give up the moment zelda and link arrived, so I believe he let go of ganon on purpose, because he knew that link and zelda had finally arrived with the sword that seals the darkness, so he let go knowing that it was up to link now

I really don't like how this game flat out refused to tell us anything about the sheikah tech. We still don't know what happened to the guardians, the divine beasts, the old shrines, and the MASSIVE sheikah pillars that surrounded the castle in the last game

That is an incredibly amount of lore in that interview. And it is amazing how much of the lore has been predicted in theories. But how many years ago did Rauru live? It must have been more than 10000 years since 10000 years ago, the Sheikah fought Calamity Ganon and nothing was known about Ganondorf or Rauru. The battle 10000 years ago must have been a different one.

This interview has really solidified for me that gloom and malice are not directly connected. We assumed gloom was a more concentrated form of malice, but seeing that the seal wasn’t disturbed until after the calamity I’ve come to believe that malice emerged, and calamity Ganon was “born” more so out of desperation. As you point out, Raru was starting to win. Ganondorf was decaying. Botw mentions the demon king attempting to reincarnate, and indeed it seems the calamity was trying in a very haphazard way to create a new vessel for ganondorfs soul to inhabit. Essentially create a loophole for him to escape the seal. Was he doing this consciously? Based on the boar imagery and bestial nature of the calamity, I see it more so as a manifestation of his subconscious or “dreaming mind” doing what it could in the state it was trapped in.

Intro hooked me, however the graphics of the night sky around the outside of the screen was a little distracting and Felt like the whole video was just a memory that need not to be remembered. Still tho I love your adventureous content into Zelda lore espically when it is all tied up very nicely with a clear resolving piece of evidence, such as the video on the forgotten Temple and the tree growing in the wall. Thanks for the effort you put into these videos, I enjoy them all profusely.

This was actually brilliant! Short- or long-form doesn’t matter when the theories hold this quality :D.

Good summary of what we know about the seal, I noticed some (clickbait-y) websites treating Fujibayashi's interviews like they revealed something completely new, but the game actually did mention many of these things.

To me this is prime Zeltik content. The length only means more content at once, but is not top priority.

YEEEEESSS!!! I really want to see these Zeltik Classic videos covering TOTK :D BOTW videos is what made me fall in love with your channel man