Chapter 3: The Hand of Demise
By the time I was an adolescent, I had somehow had nearly forgotten about my life-changing dream.
That is, until my official coronation as chief of the Gerudo.
All of my people bowed in front of me. Koume cleared her throat with a declaration: “We now crown The Heir!”
The Gerudo all bowed, but my mind was somewhere else. By calling me “heir”, a memory resurfaced within me.
Power is not a blessing, but a curse.
I had just been given my first power. No, my second! I already had the ways of magic bestowed upon me! My descent to evil must have already started, but I hadn’t realized until now.
I left the ceremony as soon as possible. I wept in my room, trying all I could to dispel my magic from me. All I wanted was to help others, not be cursed!
Then, an idea came to me.
What if, because I was King, I could use my naturally powerful abilities for the entire Gerudo tribe! Maybe even the entirety of Hyrule one day! I resolved within myself to gain Hyrule for the benefit of everyone. Little did I know that this was Demise working within me, planting his own desires amongst my own.
By the time I was a young man, about 17, my dominance had been asserted throughout the whole gerudo region. I was scheduled to perform my first execution at Twinrova’s orders. I had been told that this Gerudo defied my power and my rule! The same power that had brought food, water, and reasonable structure to a once fractured tribe!
I prepared myself for the public execution. I had taken up the ax against my own, with cheers upholding my name as a relinquishing factor of the death. However, one young girl cried. She spat in the dirt and ran away. To this day, I do not know where she went. But that is beside the point of my tale.
After the execution, my hands were bloodied. I recalled my first dream, and this time had an unfathomable urge to crush the children, to end their music. To smash the fairy that danced around them.
I paused, realizing the terribleness of these desires. To kill children would be pure cruelty! Where did this desire come from? I should be protecting and helping others live another day, not destroying and ending their days. The shock of having just actually killed someone hit me hard.
I fell to the floor, cursing both Din and Demise, asking for someone to relive this burden of me! But no sanction came then, nor did it ever come. I am not free now, and the things I have done rest on my head forever. I think that moment was when Demise started gleaning my "useless" emotions.
Twinrova desired that I should find a wife. I thought otherwise. At this point in time, I was beginning to see the issue of giving power to the people. By taking to myself a wife, they would have a connected representative.
I told Twinrova of my decision, and I think they eventually understood. Besides, maybe my mind would change. I was only 20, after all.
And, by the time I was 20, I was starting to be less concerned with the feelings of my people (as well as my own). It was of utmost importance to me that the kingdom stayed controlled. The happiness would only be a side effect of stability. I had come to realize this fact not soon after suppressing the raids on our supplies.
The people were happier, but more importantly, the economic infrastructure was re-strengthened. Additionally, I should be unbiased as a leader. I need not have unnecessary opinions that would hinder the utopia of the Gerudo. They would see my complacence and follow.
By the time I was 25, my capacity for feeling seemed to have seeped away from me, besides feelings of power and ruthlessness. The Gerudo were now a fierce nation of loyal assassins. I had united them, but at what cost?
There was no cost. That's what I decided.
What a pitiful child I used to be. Powerless, caring about things like "friends" and “music”. I had moved on, carefully plotting moving forward to Hyrule next.
“Hear me out,” I said to the Gerudo in my council, “If I sparked a civil war, Hyrule would be in shambles, and we could establish our rule.”
“But Ganondorf, if I may…” one of them said.
“Ganondorf, how many of us will die in the process of building this perfect Gerudo nation?”
I swiftly replied, “Ah, you see, I have already thought up that part as well. We will slowly exert our influence in Hyrule over the course of a three-quarters century. I have cast a spell that prevents me from aging beyond 30 years. Through this plan, I can assure that the least casualties can happen and that we will guarantee the kingdom in our hands. Your grandchildren will be able to live in a perfect Gerudo kingdom not confined to the desert!”
The one who spoke out bowed. “My liege, I should have trusted you.”
“Nonsense. I would have revealed it anyways.”
And with that I dismissed the council. I had, however, failed to mention a weak “Link” in the plan. Great magic had the capacity to seal me away forever, keeping me from my rule. My power would be extinguished, and I would never again be able to walk the lands of Hyrule. As long as I destroyed that little Link and Zelda, I would be successful.
Near the endings of the civil war, when Hyrule was in greatest chaos, I targeted the home of the hero. I laughed to myself as his father died in battle, disregarding the role the mother might play. I simply cared that Link would not grow up and defeat me.
I was later informed, however, that the mother escaped. At the time, this did not concern me. A lot of Hyrule was in shreds, and the mother had nowhere to go.
She foolishly ran into the Forbidden Forest, where all who have entered have never returned.
Little Link would be finished.
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