#tldr. he thinks hylian gender binarism is stupid and likes messing with it

[kagoutiss]

First of all!!! Congrats on your comic it's so super good!!! I've been rotating it in my mind since reading it like a dungeon boss key!!! So, semi-related: I remembered tags on something you posted a while back discussing Sheik's gender, and I have to say I would be *so* interested in your 40 pages single-spaced thesis about Ganondorf gender (having a billion thoughts about this myself, I'm so incredibly curious about your own take). Only if you feel like it of course!

thank you sm i’m glad to hear it!!! also i remember the tags you’re talking about— so it did NOT end up being a 40 pg thesis, but i DID actually try to draft something like that a while back since a couple people asked me to follow up on it, and then i did not follow up on it, but now that you brought it up again it gave me a chance to look back over my attempted Ganondorf Gender Essay and clean it up a bit, so! here’s my 2 cents! (thank u anon for reminding me!!)

so i’ll start with some of my personal interpretations about gender in gerudo society; this includes the idea that 1) the gerudo don’t have an inherently binary perception of gender, or really an inherent concept of gender at all, and 2) if not for the emphasis that hyrule places on the authority of Kings, then ganondorf might not be described as the One Male among his own kind at all. i’ll try to explain what i mean by this.

by default, i think in ganondorf’s society there is (or at least would be, if not for their complicated relationship with the neighboring kingdom) less of a perception of him being a Man distinct from the Women of his race, and more a view of him just…having been born a very rare type of child, who could be conveniently recognized as a kingly authority by hyrule’s definition. and this is in the context of OoT, in which hyrule has recently absorbed the last independent territory (Gerudo Valley) after the end of a centuries-long war (which is described as having ‘united’ the races of hyrule. which sounds like textbook imperialism and manifest destiny ideology, but anyway). so having been fighting directly with the kingdom of hyrule for several decades, if not centuries, to maintain their independence and some semblance of land & resources, it may have ended up being useful to take into account hyrule’s definition of men & kingly leadership. the gerudo have this special child born every century, in context it might’ve been convenient to start saying ‘if this child can fit hyrule’s definition of a king, so we could at least have one of our own to rival theirs, then so be it. this child is a blessing amidst this conflict and he fits their definition of a king, so that’s how he’ll be raised.’

that being said, i don’t see ganondorf as being inherently male, or all other gerudo as inherently female? this is really just headcanon, but i like to think there are no gendered pronouns in the gerudo language during OoT, and the induction of words like ‘voe’ and ‘vai’ may have initially referred to hylian concepts of sexual dimorphism that became gradually more incorporated into gerudo culture over time. at the same time, i also think, after generations of these two nations being at war, while simultaneously having one be reliant on the other for procreation, the binarism of hylian society would imprint itself on the gerudo in some ways (though not at all in a foundational way). as in, there is a greater understanding about hylian ideas of sex & gender, and associations are made, and it does affect gerudo culture, but the gerudo are still inherently different in terms of how they perceive people, and it isn’t necessarily as Male / Female. and gerudo people don’t perceive themselves as being All Female with One Male— though they’re aware that this is the Hylian perception, and it does benefit them at times to work and communicate within those restraints.

i think ganondorf, as a result, does not really perceive himself as being inherently male, and he doesn’t perceive his fellow gerudo as being conversely female. internally he still thinks about gender as being…mostly a convoluted hylian invention that he’s had to vigorously study and mold himself to. i think growing up he probably had to learn a LOT about hylian society and what defines a man/king other than biology; he understands on an anthropological level what makes a hylian a woman or a man, and that it’s social & behavioral as well as biological, so (at least around hylians) he tends to be a little bit. idk. hypermasculine? while working to suppress behaviors that might break that perception. i think he also deeply despises having to monitor his own behaviors in this way.

for pronoun stuff, i don’t think he particularly minds being referred to as a ‘he,’ like he’s probably used to being called a he in hylian even among his own people when that’s the tongue being spoken. and i think the gerudo might also mess around with hylian pronouns since they can be a bit arbitrary, like it would make sense if plenty of gerudo other than ganondorf used he/him for themselves or switched between different pronouns. i don’t think ganondorf would necessarily care if someone she/her’d him either, though among hylians, he would definitely be able to tell if it was meant to be mocking. and that could be insulting on different levels— namely if they’re attempting to degrade the other 99% of his population, and projecting hylian gender stereotypes/stigmas onto people it really isn’t even applicable to, and also attempting to criticize ganondorf himself for being too effeminate, too similar to the ‘women’ of his race. which may be a common attitude among hylians who think someone of ganondorf’s sex, rank, and physical stature should be far removed from feminine behaviors.

but obviously, this has no bearing on him aside from constraining his behaviors & appearance in the public eye, before he comes to power. i do not think he cares on a personal level what anyone thinks of him, and would only measure said behaviors & appearances insofar as it helps him achieve his goals. this is also just a headcanon, but i like the idea that ganondorf grows his hair out after the 7-year timeskip in OoT because he’d originally had to cut it short sometime after surrendering to hyrule, knowing he’d have to start appealing to hylian sensibilities if he was going to get very far as a vassal to the king. he may have had very long hair prior, and only grew it out again after the coup.

so. i think he has a complex relationship with gender that is based in gerudo social conventions, and then complicated heavily by hylian social conventions. to me, ganondorf doesn’t view himself as being a man per se, but he does view himself as being a sort of redefinition (or even a bastardization) of the hylian idea of a man/king? he’ll call himself a King while behaving precisely as he wishes, especially if it will ruffle any feathers who’d deem him otherwise effeminate or unbefitting of the title. because ultimately, none of that terminology means a goddamn thing to him and he’s probably sick of having to constrain himself to these imaginary rules that were entirely imposed upon him.

i think ganondorf encompasses a lot of traits that could be defined as very masculine & very feminine at the same time. i feel like if my ganondorf had to actually choose a gender he identified more with, like from the Hylian Gender Mythos, he might lean more towards the idea of women? and part of that may also be because his lived experience has been defined by Having To Be A Man? and plenty of other gerudo might identify more with stereotypically male traits, it just depends. but he also likes being called a King and encompassing that role regardless of gender, and uses he/him pronouns anyway. i call him a girl a lot and i’m not joking when i say that, i mean sometimes he really is like a butch goth girl to me??? i’m also a bit sentimental about the idea of the gerudo being ‘all women’ in a case where ganondorf isn’t considered to be an exception to that, even if his biology is unique. but i also think he would generally see hylian binarism as very silly and that he’d love to make a mockery of it. i’m running out of thoughts so i’ll just end this here lol