The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom Producer Teases Ganondorf's Future

The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is already a massive success for Nintendo, even proving more successful than the year's first big hit Hogwarts Legacy. There are, of course, several reasons why the game is doing so well, but one of them is certainly the full return of the franchise's main antagonist Ganondorf. The Demon King played a small part in Breath of the Wild as Calamity Ganon, but for Tears of the Kingdom, he's back in full force. A recent interview with series producer Eiji Aonuma and director Hidemaro Fujibayashi appears to suggest that the team will explore Ganondorf even further in whatever they do to follow up TotK.

The interview with The New York Times is wide-ranging, delving into world design, side quests, and everything in between. One small nugget comes from a question about the motivations for Ganondorf. Aonuma said, "It's very possible from here on out that we will be able to see further character development and changes to his personality as the series continues." Since the Zelda series has never been known for its dialogue and character development, this could be an intriguing direction to take the series. For the most part, Zelda games are relatively black and white; seeing the developers introduce a bit more gray into the mix over the last few games has been fun, and something that could continue if they plan to flesh out Ganondorf even more going forward.

That said, in the very next sentence Aonuma seems to assuage any concerns fans might have about the next Zelda straying too far from the exploration-heavy action-adventure series it's always been. He says, "Ganondorf is an ingredient that we use to supplement gameplay." Clearly, the focus for the team remains to make a game that is as fun to play as anything out there, and any character development we see from Ganondorf will be in the service of improved gameplay.

Regardless of what comes next, it's impossible to argue that Nintendo doesn't know exactly what it's doing with The Legend of Zelda. They were able to set the industry ablaze twice in one generation, delivering back-to-back Game of the Year contenders seemingly with ease. No pressure for the eventual sequel though.