Point of Inspiration – Ganondorf

Point of Inspiration is a new series of posts where I share different sources of inspiration, and what they inspired in my work!

Today, let’s talk about Ganondorf from The Legend of Zelda.

ganondorf tears of the kingdom fan art by kelci d crawford

First of all, his reveal for the Breath of the Wild sequel, Tears of the Kingdom, has me swooning. (And I’m not the only one.) I’m not shy to admit that I like some cake with a generous helping of BEEF.

Second, this villain is fascinating to me. He’s appeared in maybe half of all the Legend of Zelda games, but his appearance (nearly) every time is like a boogeyman coming out of banishment to antagonize the world at large – not just the main characters of Zelda and Link. It’s like he reappears to not only terrorize people; he also wants to claim a prize he thinks is rightfully his. (Usually the land of Hyrule).

I’m not going to bury the lead here – Ganondorf was a major point of inspiration for the antagonist of The Legend of Jamie Roberts, Ragun Ranki.

ragun ranki from the webcomic the legend of jamie roberts

Like Ganondorf, Ranki is a) a redhead, and b) someone banished to another plane of existence for amassing too much power. And after a long time being banished away, he comes back to the world to cause chaos.

Here’s where things diverge a bit. For one thing, Ranki is a lot more…(how should I put this?)…flirtatious.

the legend of jamie roberts comic panel

Don’t get me wrong, fan works exist to give this kind of air to Ganondorf, as well (looking at you, Tale of Two Rulers). But in the canon, Ganondorf isn’t nearly this persuasive and willing to flaunt that.

For another thing, Ranki has a family still alive in the story. We’re getting into spoilers here for the comic, so if you haven’t read The Legend of Jamie Roberts, go do that.

But in short, having Ranki’s relatives still alive in the story is going to complicate his goals. Only time will tell how they will react to each other if they cross paths again.

Of course, other ideas inspired Ragun Ranki (especially Ansem and Xemnas from Kingdom Hearts). But Ganondorf was the launching pad.

Stay tuned for more Points of Inspiration!

That’s all for now. Thank you for reading!

You. Are. Awesome.

Comic Shop Smorgasbord

Today my sis, my brother-in-law, and I went out for lunch, and on the way back home, I saw a comic shop and we HAD to stop by.

The place is in Phoenix, AZ, and is called Dr. Fantasy’s Comic Books ‘N’ More.

VISIT THIS MAJESTIC MEDIA HAVEN AT ONCE (if you’re in the area).

After much consideration and browsing through ALL THE AMAZING COMICS, I finally decided to get these…

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That is a Bone plushy of Smiley Bone (my favorite Bone and oh my goodness is it soft!), Bucko by Jeff Parker and Erika Moen (I follow Erika Moen on Twitter and LOVE her stuff, so I had to buy), Loki, Agent of Asgard issue 1, and the collected Guardians of the Galaxy (I had to read this series before seeing the movie this summer).

I also saw a lot of promotional posters for Free Comic Book Day, which reminds me that I need to finish my promo poster ASAP. I’m making the poster for the Free Comic Book Day Event at the Apache Junction Public Library, where I’ll be speaking, showing off my work process, and selling some new prints and bookmarks.

Thank you for tolerating my promotional paragraph. As a reward, here’s a GORGEOUS Ganondorf figure among the figures in Dr. Fantasy’s Comic Books N More:

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I tried to get a close-up, but the camera got blurry.