Summary

• Ganon in the original Legend of Zelda isn't as tough as he seemed initially due to his defeat in defeat after defeat.
• Thunderbird in The Adventure of Link, while not the main villain, tests Link's courage to prove himself worthy.
• Vaati in Four Swords Adventures may not be the strongest, but his magical abilities make for challenging battles.

We’ve seen plenty of really powerful Zelda villains throughout 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:The Legend of Zelda in the almost 40 years of꧅ games and lore, but have you ever wondered which of the Big Bads was really the biggest and baddest? With so many games in the series and a timeline that tangles itself, it can be kind of tough to keep the several different versions of Ganon straight.

In our list, we’ve gone back through the fights we had against all The Legend of Zelda villa💜ins to rank all of its villains on their strength, difficulty, and overall implication for the lore.

Updated on January 15th, 2025 by Hilton Webster: Swiftly following Tears of the Kingdom was Zelda's first (official) solo outing in Echoes of Wisdom. To celebrate that, we've added the latest antagonist to this list, as well as a general tidying of this article for your viewing pleasure.

While it should go without saying, this list contains spoilers f🌜or just about every Legend of Zelda game there is.

29 Lady Maud

Tri-Force Heroes

While we definitely have respect for the series' original villains, going back to fight Lady Maud now is underwhelming. Of course, she can transform, but without ever turning in🗹to anything that made us feel truly threatened, she feels more like an old lady with a neat party trick.

The fight itself is fairly straightforward even outside her transformation powers, too, almost making her feel more like a filler villain than anythi💞ng.

28 Tꦡhunderbird

The Adventure Of Link

While not the primary villain of the game in which it's featured, Thunderbird sure did make for one hell of a penultimate boss in Zelda 2. Though the battle isn't one of malice - it's testing Link in order to deem him worthy of the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Triforce of Courage - it still makes for a fearsome fight.

However, if you arrive well-prepared for the fight, this legacy proving challenge is kind of a cakewalk - T🔥hunderbird is more intimidating than it is difficult.

27 Ganon

The Legend Of Zelda

Though he definitely terrified us at the time, in 🧜retrospect, the Ganon in the game that birthed the series w🎃asn't all that impressive. Given the game's place in the famously tangled Zelda timeline, it's possible this is the Ganon that goes on to become Calamity Ganon, but as he is in the original 1986 title, he's not too tough.

If you follow the timeline, though, it makes sense that this Ganon is at the end of his rope following defeat after defeat. He's dangerous, sure, but he's not the strongest Ga🌃non we get to see.

26 Sꩲhadow Lin💝k

The Adventure Of Link

In theory, this version of ourselves is terrifying, having taken out the same major enemies as us by the time we fight him, but the ambush he conducts on us right𒊎 after the Thunderbird fight. Without time 💧to heal or recover many lost resources, you're not fighting fit when Shadow Link takes you on himself.

The concept of Shadow Link was awesome, and we're glad it carried throughout the series, but in terms of overall series difficulty, Shadow Link from Zelda 2 is hardlღy the most memorable of them.

25 Agahnim

A Link To The Past

As an extension of Ganon himself, it's natural for Agahnim to have inherited some of his powers, taking just enough to make Hyrule crumble under him. But once Link gets his hands on the 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:Master Sword, that's pretty much all she wrote for Agahnim.

Although, by this point in the game, we had strong enemies who could only be taken down with Silver Arrows, Agahnimꦜ feels notably weaker for falling to just the Master Sword, which we use to lob his own magic right back at him. We didn't defeat Agahnim - Agahnim defeated himself trying to defeat us.

24 Malladus

Spirit Tracks

While he's technically being fueled by Cole, the Kingdom's chancellor, this incarnation of Ganon that we see take form in Malladus barely holds a candle to the other Ganon incarnations on our list. He does his best to take over Zelda's body f♏or total control, but he struggles to do even that for more than a little while.

Not to mention, by the time you fight Malladus in Spirit Tracks, you've been exposed to so many spirit Ganon i🎶ncarnations in the series that Malladus ♏feels pretty middle of the tracks.

23 Vaati

Four Swords Adventures

If you're following the Timeline, Vaati starts off pretty strong, but by the time you fight him in Four Swords Adventures, he isn't even the final big-bad of his game. On his own, this incarnation of♏ Vaati did prove a challenge when you actually fight him, sure, but compared to the other Vaati incarnations we've fought, he's not too bad.

Of course, we have to give an honorable mention to his bizarre magic, and the to๊rnado that knocked us down more times than we'd really like to admit.

22 Ganon

A Link To The Past

Despite that he's long been sealed away in the Sacred Realm, the iteration of Ganon in A Link to the Past manages to convert not only that Land of the Gods into a D♈ark World, h🥂e also created a proxy of himself to overtake Hyrule in the Light World, too - and that's no small feat.

Even after using the Master Sword and Silver Arrows to take him down, it still comes down ൩to a wish on the Triforce to restore Hyrule to its former glory.

21 Yuga

A Link Between Worlds

Yuga was Ganon's Lorule analog, and despite being one and the same, he's notably wittier than his Light World counterpart. Yuga uses his charm and smarts to trick Hilda into setting the events of the game in motion, and 168澳洲幸运5开奖网:were it not for Ravio hooking Link up with a bracelet, the game may not hav🌺e ended up in our favor.

And Yuga is so much above a regular Ganon iteration that he summons one himself to takeꦯ over as he fights you. We handled him, sure, b🍷ut barely.

20 Ganondorf

Four Swords Adventures

If nothing else, this iteration of Ganon proves that he's capable of putt😼ing his soul into another being to become a new Ganon, but we're still docking points for this not being the original Ganondorf. We're also pretty upset to have seen this be a one-off thing.

Ganondorf II was powerful enough to get Vaati under him, a villain who should technically be stronger than he in this form🥀, and it takes four Links to defeat him. He's not the strongest, but we'd be excited to see the idea brought back in future titles!