Calamity ganon is when ganondorf farted and his gas waged war with hyrule

The calamity is basically a more powerful and destrutive Phantom Ganon.

No one can tell me that this isnt the scariest version of Gannon we've had, considering that Gannons power was still able to attack and kill people despite being trapped, and suppressed by another great power and truly shows how big kf a threat he really is

This Ganondorf must be one of the most evil characters in all of videogames. The Calamity, a being who haunted Hyrule for thousands of years, culminating in it killing the champions, almost killing Link and almost wiping out the entire kingdom, on top of being strong enough to form another physical body at the end of Botw made of its own malice, was just a mere projection of the evil and hatred leaking out from Ganondorf's body while he was unconscious. You can't get more evil than that.

Another thing with the seal. In Hyrule Castle there’s writing on a stone saying that the castle was built to protect the seal on Ganon.

I love this. To add to it, it makes sense that the last version of the calamity was more cognisant/smart enough to take over the Divine Beasts etc. because Ganondorf closer to being "awake' than he was the previous times

I love the parallel to calamity Ganon before the final battle

With the new context of Tears of the Kingdom, we see how powerful Calamity Ganon really was. It's a simple fraction of Ganondorf's power, leaking not only through one seal - that made by Rauru - but also, after the hundred year skip, being sealed away by the Goddess' powers through Zelda. The Guardians are still possessed, there's the Blood Moon, the manifestation of Malice that's physically damaging when you touch it...

The answer doesn't need a theory. Calamity Ganon is the mist coming from Ganondorf's chest. Ganondorf himself is Sealed and is completely unaware that his own evil manifested as a Phantom beast.

Only theory I can come up with is that the Calamity did not care if Ganondorf was sealed up or not. It was just his pent up malice for being sealed. Even if it had the objective to reincarnate, it was really just a mindless beast born from Dorfs power. I think that if it fully achieved its reincarnation, or due to the original Japanese text, it still would only be a mindless beast amalgamation of the original. I mean there is the representation of Beast Ganon as we see him as a pig/boar at most times of BotW until the boss fight. Edit: I did not do too much of a deep dive into this. I only tried to go off of everyones elses comments to come up with my own theory. If anyone has a better theory, I would like to hear it.

King Rhoam in BotW actually refers to Calamity Ganon as the Demon King, and also hints that he was born into the Kingdom of Hyrule, like how Ganondorf was born into the Gerudo people. That’s what finally made me make the connection, after I started replaying BotW I came across that cutscene.

That makes so much sense too, in BOTW it was just a manifestation of his hatred so Malice just dealt damage, now Gloom is way stronger and causes damage that is harder to reverse

Ganon is the Eye of Sauron. “He cannot yet take physical form but his spirit has lost nine of its potency.”

The tears/wild Gannon is by far the strongest Gannon he devastated hyrule while being completely trapped

Ganondorf was denied death so his hatred and malice grew gradually, which took different forms over time.

"Hunched over and in constant agony". Everyone would become a calamity with 100k years of back pain.

I just kind of thought, Ganondorf is under the castle, no one knows he's there, he's in a kind of stasis, but every now and then he lets off this steam. It's like a kettle whistling.

I was amazed that ganondorf is the only enemy which can use link's attacks like parry and furry rush

The compendium entree for Calamity Gannon in Breath of the Wild states how it was working on manifesting a physical form in the cocoon but Link cause it to leave to soon which is why it’s so deformed and cobbled together hastily. My take away from that and Tears of the Kingdom is that Gannondorf got tired of being imprisoned the way his was so he created the ethereal Calamity Gannon out of his hatred with the goal of creating a physical form to either free himself or just to use as a new vessel. A plan that Link interrupted

A guess is that Malladus could be the first Calamity. The sealed Ganons hatred in a new Hyrule. It seems like the sages follow through time in reincarnations as well as the cursed trinity of Link, Hylia and Demise. If thinking of a timeline that has collapsed back into one, Yuga might bee another one espescially when he combines with the sealed beast Ganon From Lttp. Three sealed or defeated Ganon(dorf)s in three timelines combines into a hatred big enough to create pure malice. The design of Ganondorf in Totk looks like an amalgamation of WW, TP and OoT to me.

There's also a stone slab down in the foundations of Hyrule Castle, which you can find by going through the tunnel system from the Royal shelter in Lookout Landing, which states the castle itself is the thing keeping Ganondorf sealed away.

Awesome video. I really liked it. I had the theory of Calamity Ganon being a manifestation of Ganondorf’s hatred, and I’m glad to see that it is confirmed to be the case.

thanks so much for explaining this. this was something I was wondering for a while

Cool, so it was basically the main theory I believed but with some other things thrown in there. Great video, the editing was really good!

There's a note in the secret passage between the bunker and the castle that mentions how Hyrule Castle is like a magical cork holding Ganon back. It makes sense why the damage from the Calamity might have weakened the protection and why lifting the castle is the first thing he does upon reawakening.

Thank you so much for explaining this, I was smart enough to never even investigate the dragon tears until the literal last thing I did before beating the game so I didn't go back to talk to impa. Great vid man

This was a solid video, you definitely deserve more subscribers

i havent watched the vid yet but my theory is that calamity Ganon is kind of like phantom Ganon from totk

I figured this out the instant I saw the trailer with the mummified Ganondorf. Also, the big battle with the Sheikah, princess, and hero vs LInk was 10,000 years ago. The founding of Hyrule and the sealing of Ganondorf was MUCH longer ago than that. I'm going to say a minimum of another 10,000 years, but it's hard to say, it could be like you said and even be 100,000 years, the timeframe is left deliberately vague. A lot of people think Zelda was sent back 10,000 years because of the murals. But the murals do not depict the same war that the mural in Kakariko about Calamity Ganon did, and that's where their confusion results. I had another thought too. What if...when Ganondorf's seal was much more recent, before it started leaking out Calamity Ganon, he could actually physically reincarnate. If this is the case, then the other games could've taken place in between, and there would've been 2 Ganondorf's at times, one sealed under the castle, one operating on the surface, probably unaware of the original. Ganondorf is a reincarnation of Demise after all. If this is true, this means that TOTK doesn't contradict/reboot the Zelda timeline after all. Since the past scenes are implied to be set not too long (probably a few generations) after Skyward Sword...this would mean that the original sealed Ganondorf exists in ALL timelines, and BOTW may be a "timeline convergence" after all.

The part about the seal weakling can also be found under the Castle. There’s a tunnel under Lookout that leads to that part of the castle

In before the "It ain't that deep" comments but maybe the AoC devs were a bit more clued in than you're giving them credit for. -After Calamity Ganon is defeated, the gloom began to spread, AoC having this happen 100 years earlier may have had the same effect. -We could then assume the intro of ToTK could play out the same, with Zelda getting sent back to the past. -Zelda being in the past, telling the story of the forthcoming calamity is very likely what the sheikah based their mural off of all those years ago. (I have somewhat of a theory that Mineru would go onto start the sheikah after the Imprisoning War) So technically, yes. Since the mural was in Zelda's future in the timeline of events, it could have been changed given that the past was changed. Just a theory though. 👀

When it comes the mural in Age of Calamity, I have a feeling it was just a stylistic representation of what was happening, not that the mural itself literally changed. Afterall, that same art style is used all over the game including the loading screens. I mean, in BotW, when you ask Impa to tell you about the Calamity and that famous cutscene plays, we're not supposed to actually believe the mural is changing real time. It's just a visual representation of the story.

one of the best totk vids i have seen so far ong

Wait...let me see if I understand this: Calamity Ganon, a very powerful being that corrupted the all almighty Divine Beasts, killed the champions, almost killed Link, and was in a 100 year battle with Zelda...was just a fraction of the real Ganondorf's power??? 😮 Who was sealed all this time by Rauru??? 😱 Damm, he really must've been tired of losing every time against the Hero and the Princess/Goddess. What a monster, such power!

TOTK Ganondorf seemed powerful already, but the fact that he freed himself from Rauru's prison, on top of shattering the Master Sword means this iteration of Ganondorf might rival or even surpass Demise, the original Demon King. That's a scary thought.

Ganondorf was sealed when Hyrule kingdom was first founded. 10 000 years ago Hyrule was already a prosperous kingdom and sheikah monks developed their technology then Calamity Ganon appeared.

My theory was that blight ganon was Ganon’s requiring dream of his absolute hatred for the world and I’m happy to have it confirmed!

I looked at the Calmity Ganon we were seeing was the Demise curse manifesting in the only way it could since it was not allowed to reincarnate into a new body since Ganondorf was sealed below the castle and was thus still "that version of Demise's hatred." Basically that the Calmity Ganon was Demises hatred "leaking" from Ganondorf's body because it was being prevented from doing evil since Ganondorf was sealed. If that makes sense. Almost like the curse Demise cast was like a natural event that was being prevented from happening fully since Ganondorf, its current host, was neither dead or alive, and remined in that state for centuries, thus the curse was trapped in Ganondorf and not being allowed to do what it was supposed to do so the curse itself was manifesting in a semi-corporeal way as Calmity Ganon in a desperate attempt to escape and continue Demise's will, with or without Ganondorf himself.

Theory : Infinite years ago : goddess creates Tri-force 550k years ago : Fi meets the first Link (skyward sword) 500k years ago : The timeline spilits due to Ganon's destruction of Tri-force (Ocarina of time) Timeline 1 : OG Link is consoles Majora and hence hides the Mask ( Timeline 1) Timeline 2 : OG Link won but successor Link saw ganon is hiding in another dimension ( Twilight) Timeline 3 : Goddess upon anger flooded the hyrule (Wind waker) 10k years ago : All Timeline Joins Zonai descended from Twilight(Timeline 2 ), the depths are dried oceans (Timeline 3) and the Mask is hidden (Timeline 1) 9.9k years ago : Rauru seals Ganon which lost his power in the destruction of Tri-force (in Ocarina) 125 years ago : Divinebeasts were created to protect hyrule but Ganon's Malice took it 25 years ago : Final Link defeats Ganon's Malice 24 years ago : Link and Zelda finds the Ganon 0 years ago : Ganon got killed by Link I dont think there will be any Zelda game like botw or totk

0:49 I can’t be the only one who realized that the Mummified Corpse seen in the first trailer in 2019 was the source of Calamity Ganon. The Gloom pouring out (which we all thought was malice at the time) should have been a dead giveaway

This is the first video I've seen that acknowledges 10,000 years is the absolute bare minimum time between BotW and any other game. There was the calamity that takes place 100 years ago, one that took place 10,000 years ago, and presumably there was at least 1 more that prompted the creation of the Divine Beasts. There were likely more instances prior to that, and then probably a long initial period where calamity ganon was formed. It could easily be 100,000 years for sure.

Glad I watched this video! Now all I wanna know is where the heck is the Tri-Force! As far as I know there's only one new reference to it and its on Queen Sonia!

TLDR: calamity Ganon was the leaking power slash the projection of totk’s ganondorf

No cap, ive always thought of the 2 as seperate entities. One being the true curse of demise while the other is the body that the curse inhabits.

Calamity Ganon is basically a fragment of Ganondorf’s soul that is filled with malice

When you complete all of the shrines you are rewarded with an ancient hero outfit, this outfit looks very similar to the one in the mural (green body, red hair)

It really makes you wonder where this game fits into the rest of the Zelda timeline. If king rauru was hyrule's first king, then Ganondorf was sealed away before the events of ocarina. But honestly, I don't think Nintendo cares about continuity as much as making a fun game, and I can respect that.

Good vid 👍👍I just want to know how the lore works with why nobody tried to take the secret stone from Ganon's head once Rauru sealed him.

I think it’s also important to compare how similar Calamity Ganon’s form that circles Hyrule Castle is to the early stages of the Demon Dragon, Ganondorf’s final form. A form where he gives up everything to destroy Link. As the dragon is said to be mindless, Calamity Ganon is also mindless, but both are the embodiment of Ganondorf’s hatred. Since Zonai Secret Stones enhance the user’s power, and Ganondorf had his the entire time he was imprisoned, perhaps that is how Calamity Ganon was formed, as Rauru’s seal began to grow weaker. Ganondorf might’ve even revived much earlier, if it weren’t for Zelda using her light powers to seal Calamity Ganon for those 100 years.

@3:33 That's wrong.. this Ganondorf certainly did NOT come out of a 100 year slumber, he's been there since Hyrule's founding..and he hasn't woken up once.

great explanation, i was wondering how they were connnected

Canon or no, I like to think Calamity Ganon is the closest to Phantom Ganon without being directly called that Yes, i know Phantom Ganon is on TOTK, but the idea of Ganondorf's hatret and even "puppet" to try to revive itself and break the seal makes me think that it is what the Developers intended Hell, on the Official Artwork book, the Blights are called "The Phantom Ganons"

When you use the royal hidden passage from lookout landing to Hyrule castle you find a stone tablet at the end saying that the castle itself was sealing the demon king away.

Thank you, just finished TOTK about to start Master Mode BOTW

I love this game. Spoiler for the memories Especially the ninjago reference in the final memory.

the fact that a literal phantom ganon almost gained its own physical form

I just believed that Ganondorf knew people would want him to be stopped, so he created a calamity to keep the world his, and if calamity died, he’d make an appearance

Makes you wonder how insanely powerful SS Link was to single handedly battle Demise and beat him without any aids.

Calamity Ganon was just a manifestation of Demise's curse, Ganondorfs's malice was the best vessel since there wasn't any other male gerudo or people trying to revive ganon

Calamity Ganon is actually Puppet Ganon, made up of the cooled, coagulated Gloom (aka Malice) that had been slowly leaking out of Ganondorf for 10,000 years. If you've ever played Wind Waker, then you should be familiar with the 3 Forms of Puppet Ganon (i.e. the Boar, the Spider, and the Snake...with the cranium of the Boar).

Wait Calamity Ganon excisted 10'000 years ago and Ganondorf was sealed by Rauru 100'000 years ago? These numbers are crazy...

Thank you for the great explanation! Also, note that Zelda and Link did not show up “at the worst possible time.” As the strength of the seal weakened, Rauru had been holding out until Zelda and Link showed up. As they arrived, Rauru “let go.” In this act, he passed his stone to Zelda, so she could begin her journey to the past, where she would be safe.

My biggest question with Tears of the Kingdom is why didn't they just take the secret stone from his husk when Rauru sealed him?

Spoiler Allert: After Link helped the new sages to awake, you can confront the Fake Zelda in Hyrule Castle, in the throne room Ganondorf speaks to Link through this Fake Zelda. And "She" said two interesting lines after "she" restored the throneroom to its former glory: "Does it awaken memories? Memories of our time here?" This implies that, while Ganondorf was sealed and while Calamity Ganon went rampage, Ganondorf kinda had Calamity Ganon under his control - or maybe he even was Calamity Ganon, maybe his spirit managed to Escape his sealed body but he tried to recreate himself a new one Because he couldnt reincarnate into another human body.

NGL it's impressive that ford sheer hatred was basically as dangerous as him, like how is it possible to be THIS spiteful

I don't believe that this Ganon was aware, consciously, during the time he was imprisoned underneath Hyrule Castle. It all leaked out of him instead, minus most of his mind. He's not aware of time's passage; for him it was the blink of an eye. He's also unaware of Calamity Ganon. ("Gee, strange that Hyrule's already a wreck...oh well, time to regain my strength!")

yeah not sure if it was explained in botw or not since its been 6 years since i played it but among me and my friends i already made the theory that calamity was ganons hated taking form since ganon himself is acording to zelda lore demise hatred reicarneted

This explains so much.

The Calamity is an extension of Ganondorf, but not Ganondorf himself . He's not sentient or aware through it, it just acts like a mindless force of destruction that subconciously does Ganondorf's will - such as taking over the guardians, destroying Hyrule castle, and trying to make a new body for himself.

Ahhh this makes so much sense now thank you

Thanks bro i have been cofused in this point for such a long time😂😂😂😂 and you settled it great work🥰

I think the tapestry from AoC was supposed to be representing 100 years ago, not the one for 10,000 years ago. Those figures are literally the champions and champion descendents, its a remaking of the tapestry for their modern time

My theory: Since Rauru sealed Ganondorf by draining his power, his malice escapes through this “drainage” and arises as the Calamity Ganon we know from the events of BOTW. So not only was Rauru’s sealing method not enough to contain Ganondorf, but it inadvertently allowed him to roam and destroy Hyrule as the Calamity.

Great video, very informative, you earned a sub….

Basically Phantom Ganon at his peak.

Ganondorf projecting as Calamity Ganon could've just destroyed the castle to set himself free.

Answering the title: He's the runoff spillage.

This explains why ganon keeps coming back in the previous zelda games (oot, twilight...etc) and why he always have hatred, because the real him was sealed under the castle (Also i always thought Zelda built Hyrule). This is what i think of the story line, Demise (skyward sword) was sealed by Hylia(Zelda) for a long time, finally got out then was immediatly killed by link, then rebirth as Ganon then got sealed again by king Rauru, thats why he got alot of hatred, while he was sealed he hatred takes form of calamity ganon trying to destory hyrule to free himself but failed every time (oot, twilight...etc), and finally succeed in botw, then we faced the real him in totk.

This still doesn’t really makes sense to why there is no other male Gerudo in BOTW or TOTK. Unless we’re treating it like some sort of Avatar situation, that there could only be one male Gerudo at a time, which is never stated. And based on just timeline stuff, and I could be way off, it seems as TOTK Ganondorf is the earliest Ganondorf in the series, and would have existed at the bottom of Hyrule castle during OOT/TP Ganondorf events. So the one male Gerudo at a time doesn’t really make sense to me. But idk.

Nice video! Tears of the Kingdom is a game i haven't tried yet, but would be trying it soon By the way, have you tried watching Monkie Kid yet? And I'm definitely screenshotting the skeleton pfp before it goes away.

My question is the connection between Demise and Ganondorf, because Zelda’s dialogue in the final boss of BOTW reads to me that Ganon is the fragment of Demise reborn time and time again and is/has separated from Ganondorf. As we know the Secret Stones only enhance pre-existing powers the person has so all it does for Ganondorf is awaken Demise within him, causing the transformation and letting him create monsters. We can tell this sort of from how he doesn’t use any magic: no electric tennis phase to his fight, only Gloom and weapon to weapon combat. This Ganondorf is just a man with the fragment of demise within him, awoken by the secret stone. Just like how Zelda’s inherited time powers are awoken, separately from inheriting the Triforce. Regardless, I assume the damage done to the castle during the calamity refers to when the Divine Beasts blast Calamity Ganon all together because that blast is funnelled directly into a chamber beneath the castle, probably not too far from the chamber Ganondorf is in, and that blast is likely what undid the seal. Or possibly the sudden unexplained disappearance of all the Sheikah tech(?) like those massive pillars under the castle, which probably caused cave ins/opened the ways to the depths. Sorry if there is an explanation somewhere in the game, currently after beating the main story I haven’t found one yet.

I’m calling it now, next game we’ll be fighting his ghost

Ooh, now I get it. Thanks!

And all of this without the Triforce. 😳

amazing video mate! first one ive ever seen from you, have my like and we shall see if you deserve my subscription

I know it’s not important but it must smell so bad being near Gannon in tears

Thank you so much

You forgot to mention this is a different Ganondorf

Ngl the scariest part of totk is when you realized the entire calamity was caused by a PUPPET of the guy youre up against

Kids: eh the Calamity’s a myth Link: *ptsd*

Calamity Ganon is an extension of ganondorf

Just goes to show that the Hylians were dealing with a monster puppet made out of just hatred and evil malice, not the real deal.

HOLD UP, WAIT A MINUTE! i didn't get the male geurudo thing... I know there isn't one, i just still dont know why If it was just because ganon was alive, then that would mean that ganondorf instead of a normal occurrence in the world, is just a cursed placed on the gerudo tribe for no reason, and the best way to end it would be to kill him as a baby, as he will end uo becoming Ganon, no matter what... But if a male gerudo every 100 years is a natural part if the gerudo biology, then it just happens that Ganondorf is the best vessel for the great evil, as they both happen every 100 years, and a gerudo male just marks all the checks for power triforce... Which would mean their should be a gerudo male after ganondorf Who wasn't him, unlike the other times, after all he is kind of alive still

To be fair, we don't know if calamity Ganon always takes 10.000 years to resurrect, it is perfectly possible that the reason it spent so long between the great calamity and botw was to gather enough power to take over the sheikah tech, in fact, that would explain why it becomes so powerful as dark beast Ganon

The confusing part for me is how is Ganondorf in OoT if he was sealed by the first king of Hyrule, which implies it's before OoT since Zelda father isn't the first king in that game.

How did you unlock the character profile? I completed the game and I never saw or got it

Calamity Ganon is just the passing of gas from Ganon

Video idea, detailing differences between gloom and malice?

Welp the age of calamity timeline is gonna have their hands full with Revali Daruk and Urbosa dying of old age before Ganondorf comes back. That is unless Purah makes the reverse aging rune work on everyone which in that case they’ve probably got a better shot that the TOTK cast of characters

Ganondorf: Destroy Hyrule Calamity Ganon: yes