KAT GIORDANO

it's moving again I just wrote 500 words

enough about taylor swift already. reblog and tag the smallest, least known artist you listen to

[RUINING THE LIVES OF PEOPLE WHO ARE NOT REAL] i am playing. With my touys

turn up that fucking hurdy gurdy

Ganondorf is the only sage whose physical appearance changes so dramatically by the use of his secret stone—and not immediately upon gaining it, it appears to be a deliberate use of power—which is interesting. What interests me even more though is the way in which his Demon King appearance takes on subtly more Zonai-like aspects. Specifically his fingernails and toenails grow to points, like we see on Rauru and Mineru (and Link), and his hair goes from half-bound in a topknot to loose and flowing, which I take for a cultural norm among the Zonai given Rauru’s long and barely contained locks and the fact that most (all?) of the clothes we get that originate with the Zonai (the dragon sets, the zonaite set, the archaic set (though we could debate whether that set is “Zonai” or specifically “founding-era Hyrulean” and pick apart which cultural signifiers are which in a post that’s not about Ganondorf), the glide set) feature Link with his hair down.

I’m walking a delicate and nearly contradictory tightrope here because I feel that the heavy Japanese-inspired elements of Ganondorf’s design and his weaponry are a reflection of his sense of alienation from his own Gerudo culture with its more fantasy-Middle-Eastern vibes, BUT it is not to be denied that there are Gerudo elements to what he wears—the gold of his jewelry, the Gerudo emblem on the underside of his robe and in the jewelry on his shoulder. And his hair, I think, combines both that Japanese vibe with the Gerudo look. He keeps his gold jewelry after his Demon King transformation—and this is an interesting contrast with the ancient sages who bedeck themselves in anonymizing zonaite masks even before becoming sages, hey game designers talk me through that choice please—but it’s elements of his own body that he changes to reflect grooming choices of the Zonai.

And I am just thinking about what he feels, exactly, about the Zonai. He scorns the fact that they are regarded as gods, but does not debate—and in fact openly states—that their power is godlike. He is covetous of it, to the extent that he perceives it as being lorded over him, which I don’t honestly feel is an accurate assessment of Rauru et al.’s attitude.

There’s something that makes me sad here. I think that Ganondorf believes, down to the depths of his soul, that not only the right to rule but personal worth is won by being powerful, by being the MOST powerful. And so Rauru’s kingdom, formed through friendship and goodwill, is illegitimate and a sign of weak minds and also how dare the Zonai come in and take over by vibes rather than by force and why won’t they meet him on the field of battle where he can prove himself. While at the same time, his own position in Gerudo society is not earned in the way that reflects his own personal values. What I guess I’m talking around is, I think there’s a part of Ganondorf that wants to be Zonai so that he can be better at using the power the Zonai have than the Zonai are. While also loathing them. While also bitter about the fact that he missed his chance to prove himself against their whole society. Part of him thinks if I were Zonai, I would have what I wanted. And when he gets what he wants, he makes himself just that little more like a Zonai.

I think it's a fundamental part of Ganondorf's character that he vehemently desires to be part of the people that are favored with great power while also having some form of attachment to his own heritage. He's a very strange character in that sense. For example, his Demon King form also sports the same sort of horns you see on Rauru. While Ganondorf is renowned for wearing a forehead gem, the placement of the Secret Stone in this case does almost evoke the sense of having a third eye like a Zonai. And, thinking back to his other appearances in the series where he starts with round ears and ends up with pointed ones, it also carries the sense of him wanting to be like those who had long ears who could hear the gods and had their favor. Yet, if we take his appearance in Twilight Princess for example, where he goes through the effort of creating a Gerudo-patterned sheath for the sword that he wields, that was the sword meant to kill him, it reveals that he somehow still has attachments to his heritage. I feel like TotK Ganondorf falls under this same category, his Demon King form having Zonai-like elements but still preserving the ornamentation that marks him as Gerudo. I've always considered Ganondorf to be someone who, born out of the favor of whatever gods are in control of Hyrule at that moment, wants to be recognized as a legitimate and favored person within the framework they created while still also being himself. For him to prove as such, he believes that he must be the most powerful man to walk the earth, because if no one can stand up to him, not even the so-called favored ones, how can he not be seen as legitimate and deserving of divine might? And, in pursuit of that legitimacy to rule, he is also willing to throw away every part of what makes him *him* to achieve it. It says something to me that rather than accept death, that Ganondorf was ready to give up his self-hood, live a life of immortality with no sense of who he is, to see that the world would be ruled as he saw it, where he was the most powerful being to grace Hyrule and could never be taken down.

the Japanese version of the Eighth Heroine story specifies that he was Hylian

:(

disregard that though. forget that. right now I am talking to you in English and the English version of totk says no such thing. take my hand. come with me. to a world where the first thing Ganondorf learns about the Zonai is that once long ago a Zonai voe saved the Gerudo when all the strongest heroines of the tribe could not prevail. and then that voe was cast aside, just for being a voe. he was cast aside SO hard that the connection between the Gerudo and these foreign, strange, powerful people was severed. that is how strongly voe means not Gerudo, (a) of all. (b) of all, here was lost an opportunity to ally with that power or to build a connection with it that one day might have meant owning it. and (c) of all here is a Zonai, now, who thinks he has a right to decide the future of the Gerudo tribe. just like that ancient Zonai hero did long ago. do you see my vision. do you see how chewy this is. I will gnaw on it until the end of time.

I was sooo scared they weren't gonna make him fat I'm so happy to see him like this 💘💘💘

i feel like high school/middle school sitcoms set the unrealistic expectation of being able to have lunch time outside

ok because apparently i'm wrong about this, reblog with where you live and whether you got to eat lunch outside during school or not

"why can't they just be friends" not in the homophobic way but in the "their platonic relationship in the source material is far more dynamic and complex than the sanitized personalities they gain as a result of shipping" way

"why can't they just be friends" not in the homophobic way but in the "this is a valuable exploration of intimacy and vulnerability that we’re conditioned to recognize only in romantic relationships but that can exist platonically as well" way