The evil overlord is a time-honored archetype in fantasy. Who better to oppose the all-loving defender of the innocent of a protagonist than a dark lord who embodies the evil that lurks within all of humanity? They're ruthless, powerful, and never stay dead for long. This Halloween season, the warriors that Appel and Laq are pitting against one another are two of gaming's most famous dark lords: Count Dracula, the immortal vampire lord of Castlevania, and Ganondorf, the Gerudo King of Thieves of The Legend of Zelda! But enough talk! Let's find out which of these demonic diabolical dictators is DEADLIEST!
Dracula (repesented by Laquearius)[]
| “ | If my existence itself makes me savage, is that not the result of this world? Are not all the people of this age savages as well? If so, I should be a shining beacon for what this world wants me to be: the one to lead them.
— Dracula
|
” |
Count Dracula Vlad Ţepeş, formerly known as Mathias Cronqvist, is the world's most powerful vampire, the Dark Lord, and the avatar of Chaos on Earth. As a human, Mathias and his close friend, Leon Belmont, fought together as crusaders. When Mathias's wife suddenly died from illness, Mathias vowed to defy God and transformed himself into a vampire, changing his name to Dracula. Centuries later, Dracula married a human woman named Lisa, with whom he had a son. He lived peacefully until Lisa was murdered by superstitious villagers. Dracula swore revenge and, with his demonic castle and unholy army at his side, began a war of extermination against humanity. For centuries, Dracula's dark plans were repeatedly foiled by the Belmont clan, Leon's descendants. Ultimately, in the year 1999, numerous religious and military factions united to seal Dracula's power. Dracula was slain by Julius Belmont and the Count was destroyed for good.
- Chaotic Realm: As a Dark Lord, Dracula's power originates from the Chaotic Realm, an alternate universe created and ruled by Chaos. Chaos is an entity born of the sins of humanity and represents all the evil that is the opposite of God's goodness. As long as Dracula is connected to Chaos, he will be resurrected at least every one hundred years, although human interference can speed up this process. Dracula's ultimate demise came after he and Castelvania, his castle, were sealed within an eclipse, severing his connection to the Chaotic Realm and allowing him to be destroyed for good.
- Superhuman Physicality: Dracula towers over his enemies, standing at twice the height of an average human. He can lift and toss humans with ease and rend metal and stone structures with his bare hands. In battle, he moves so fast that he can disappear from view and attack an enemy from behind in an instant. He can even take Shanoa, who can dodge bullets from a flintlock pistol, by surprise. Most impressive, however, is his durability. He regarded a bombardment from Shanoa's arsenal of magical weapons and spells as merely an annoyance. Without a powerful holy weapon, like the Belmont family's Vampire Killer, or something born of his own power, such as his son Alucard or Shanoa's Dominus, he is nigh impossible to seriously injure. He is immune to status effects such as poison, petrification, cursing, and even being frozen in time.
- Regeneration: Even when confronted with an opponent capable of doing him serious harm, Dracula has powerful regenerative abilities that ensure he won't go down easily. He has healed and continued fighting after being decapitated, impaled, and dismembered.
- Dark Metamorphosis: Like all vampires, Dracula can absorb the life force of his victims by sucking their blood with his fangs, but he can also activate Dark Metamorphosis to absorb blood through any kind of physical contact. Absorbing blood heals and rejuvenates Dracula.
- Dark Magic: After hundreds of years of existence, Dracula has become a master sorcerer. With simple gestures, he can summon and command balls and pillars of hellfire, flaming meteorites, balls of molten magma, energy attacks, laser beams, lightning bolts, evil crystals, and storms of unholy blood. These magical attacks can be launched as projectiles, called down from the sky, summoned up from the ground, or sent to home in on targets. His most notable spells are listed below.
- Demonic Megiddo: Dracula's ultimate spell is the Demonic Megiddo, a charged explosion of demonic fire that's large enough to cover almost his entire throne room and is instantly lethal to almost any living thing caught in the blast. Dracula can either throw it as a projectile before detonating it or unleash it with himself as the nucleus. Despite what Ben Singer might claim, it's not a holy spell. The description that he read from was about a different spell belonging to a completely different character.
- Levitation: Dracula can create a runic platform out of thin air on which he levitates.
- Shapeshifting: Dracula can take on the form of a bat, a swarm of bats, a wolf, and a cloud of mist. He can also partially transform, such as giving himself a bat's spiny wings to fly and attack with or turning his body to mist while keeping his head and arms tangible.
- Soul Steal: Dracula can rejuvenate himself by feeding off of the life force of all living beings in his immediate vicinity to restore his own, draining the vitality from their souls.
- Teleportation: Dracula can teleport short distances, disappearing and reappearing in a beam of light. He can do this extremely rapidly to confuse and surprise his foes.
- Mental Influence: Dracula's existence has a negative effect on the minds of humans, inspiring evil in them and driving them to rage and murder. During Trevor Belmont's time, his influence grew across Europe and drove countless people to madness. Even with Dracula dead, those spending too much time around objects or places inhabited by Dracula's power may find themselves possessed. Dracula's telepathic powers seem to be especially effective on women and his mere presence can charm them into submission. Of course, these effects can be resisted by strong-willed warriors.
- Power of Dominance: Dracula absorbs the souls of his slain foes and can call upon them to serve him. He has the countless souls of animals, demons, undead, and elemental creatures stored within him and can summon them to fight for him in battle.
- True Transformations: When pushed, Dracula can tap into the full potential of the Chaotic Realm to transform himself into a large and powerful monster. Such forms vary greatly and have included a giant bat, a gargoyle, an archetypal demon, and a floating amalgam of organs and body parts. The release of so much chaotic energy during these transformations often has an effect on reality itself, transforming the local environment into a carnage-laden hellscape or a swirling void.
Ganondorf (represented by Appelmonkey)[]
| “ | I drew deep of it and grew strong again. Your people had some skill, to be sure... but they lacked true power. The kind of absolute power that those chosen by the gods wield. He who wields such power would make a suitable king for this world, don’t you think?
— Ganondorf to Midna
|
” |
Ganondorf is the reincarnation of Demise and the former ruler of the Gerudo, being one of the rare Gerudo males that is born every 100 years, and destined to rule the tribe. Hundreds of years ago, Ganondorf attempted to access the Sacred Realm and obtain the Triforce for himself. But before Ganondorf could succeed, his plot was exposed, and he was captured and sentenced to death by the Seven Sages. Chained to a pillar, Ganondorf was stabbed through the chest with a holy blade created by the Sage of Water, but through some divine prank, Ganondorf obtained the Triforce of Power, allowing him to survive. Breaking free from his binds, Ganondorf pulled the sword from his chest and used it to kill the Sage of Water. The Sages, seeing no other option, banished the Demon Lord to the Twilight Realm. This did nothing be delay his evil, however, and after manipulating Zant into serving him, he returned to the Light Realm. Ganondorf came close to conquering Hyrule but was ultimately foiled by the combined efforts of Link, Zelda, and Midna.
- Sword of the Six Sages: A holy greatsword that Ganondorf stole from the Sage of Water during his failed execution. After the blade pierced its chest it created a glowing wound that never healed. It is unkown if this is a feutre of the sword or if the effect is exclusive to Ganondorf. Possesing superhuman strength and being really tall, Ganondorf is capable of using this greatsword like a longsword.
- Armour: Befitting of his role as a dark lord, Ganondorf wears a suit of dark plate armour including a chestplate, greaves, boots, and a neck guard.
- Triforce of Power: The Triforce of Power embodies the essence of the Goddess of Power, Din, one of the Three Golden Goddess that created of Hyrule. Whoever holds the Triforce of Power is granted "true power". The Triforce of Power allowed Ganondorf to survive his execution and subsequently break free from his shackles. It also granted him access to an unlimited source of mystical power.
- Superhuman Strength: Born a male of the Gerudo, Ganondorf easily stronger than and over towers over the avarage man. This strength was presumably further increased once he received the Triforce of Power. Feats of strength include sending Link flying with a back handed strike, wielding a great sword like a longsword, pulling himself free from his own manacles after being stabbed in the chest, and is able to match Link, who is able to carry a large steel ball with with medium effort and beating Goron is sumo matches. He is also capable of effortlessly leaping over people.
- Superhuman Durability: The Triforce of Power did not just grant Ganondorf great strength but durability as well. Ganondorf survived being pierced in the chest by a great sword, (in Orcarina of Time which is the same canon) was burried under a bunch of rubble after his castle collapsed, and take numerous arrow shots and sword slashes before finally being killed. Even if his body is destroyed, Ganondorf is capable of almost instantly regenerating a new one as long as his soul is still intact. His soul is rather durable aswell, as it managed to survived being pierced by a spear created by Midna wielding the True Shadow and managed to overpower her shortly after. The only way to perminantly kill him seems to be by destroying his soul or use a powerful anti-evil artifact like the Master Sword.
- Dark Magic: Being an already skilled magician, Ganondorf's magical powers were enhanced when he received the Triforce of Power, granting him acess to a wide variety of magical attacks and abilities. Note: Since Zant was empowered by Ganondorf I am going to use a lot of his feats under the assumption that Ganondorf would be able to do the same.
- Barrier Creation: Both Zant and Ganondorf used this ability. The former created one around Hyrule Castle to prevent people from entering and leaving while the latter created a smaller wall-sized barried to keep Zelda from aiding Link in their final duel.
- Energy Attacks: Ganondorf is capble using a variety of energy attacks which include electric balls, a triangle of damaging magic that is cast on the floor, shockwaves which he creates by punching the floor, and red orbs of energy which seem to deal blunt damage. These orbs can be shot rapid fire or briefly chraged up to increase their size.
- Levitation: Ganondorf is able to fly through the air.
- Necromancy: During the course of Twilight Princess, Ganondorf constantly brought Zant back to life so he could fight Link for him. Zant was also seen creating a sword which he plunged into a Stall Lord's skull, the skeleton back to life.
- Object Creation: As noted before, Zant was able to create a sword made of twilight capable of reanimating a giant monsterous skeleton. Later, he summoned two swords (though it is possible he had those hidden up his sleaves) and created giant versions of his own helmet which were large enough to hide in and rose from the groud, somehow.
- Shapeshifting: Ganondorf is able to turn into a giant boar monster simply called Ganon, which is strong enough to smash through pillars, and twilight particles, which he can use to fly, posses people, and pass through solid objects. He used this last ability as Ganon during his fight with Link in the attempt to take him by suprise, appearing from unexpected directions and even the ceiling in an attempt to crush him. Where he might appear is indicated by blue cracks which moves around Ganon's general area before turning red to indicate the final direction he will come from. Zant used this ability to grow to a giant size to crush Link under his feet, but turned back to his normal size upon being injured (likely because he was throwing a tantrum and was too focused on being hurt than maintaining the spell).
- Summoning: During his final fight with Link, Ganondorf created a jet-black horse with red eyes which he rode into battle. He also shot an orb of energy which split off and hit the ground, creating four spectral riders that charged at the hero. A holographic construct created by Zant was seen creating portals which summoned Shadow Keese (small bat-like monster), Shadow Deku Baba (man-sized caniverous plants), and Shadow Beasts (corrupted citizens of the Twilight realm possesing superhuman strength and durability which can revive eachother by shrieking).
- Teleportation: Ganondorf is capable of teleporting short and long distances. Zant used this ability to transport himself and Link through Hyrule, though it is possible he altered the battlefield, avoid attacks, and posistion himself to attack.
- Telekenisis: Zant used telekenisis to hold Midna in place before stealing parts of the Fused Shadow. While possesing Zelda, Ganondorf used this ability himself to throw Midna with enough force to knock her out.
- Chest Wound: Though the Sages failed to kill Ganondorf, they nonetheless managed to leave a glowing wound on his chest. This wound doesn't seem to hurt Ganondorf much, but nonetheless acts as a weak spot for him both in his human and Ganon form. He also can't get ridd of it when creating a new body for himself.
X-Factors[]
Experience
Having been born in 1062, Dracula was over nine hundred years old at the time of his final death. As a human, he was a master tactician who fought in the crusades to great success. As a vampire, he was resurrected at least eleven times, and after each return he loosed his demonic army on Europe. However, Dracula vastly prefers to let his minions do the fighting for him, seeing personal combat as beneath him. He has only stepped into battle personally when when the chips are down and his army is on the verge of defeat. He has battled against five different Belmont vampire hunters, Catholic witches, a rogue devil-forger, a combined army of soldiers and priests, and many others. However, his track record is less than impressive, as each of his genocidal wars ended with his defeat.
Born the leader of the Gerudo, its likely that Ganondorf received training from an early age. It is also mentioned that he lead the Gerudo during the Hyrulean Civil War. Afterwards, his fighting experience is somewhat limited as is plan was to obtain the Triforce was exposed pretty early on by a time travelling Link. He was subsequently captured, almost executed, and subsoquently banished to the Twilight Realm when said execution failed. For a while he acted the puppet master, empowering Zant, having him take control of the Twilight Realm, and invading the light world. After Zant got killed, Ganondorf once again had to get his hand dirty in the final battle where he faced Link, Zelda, and Midna before being slain.
Intellect
In his life as a human, Dracula was Mathias Cronqvist, a tactician and alchemist in the service of a brotherhood of knights. Mathias put his tactical know-how to good use as the Dark Lord, as after each of his resurrections, he and his demonic army were poised to annihilate the entire human population of Europe before the vampire-killing expertise of the Belmonts came to save the day. He is also a skilled manipulator, as demonstrated when he attainted his vampiric powers by manipulating his friend, Leon Belmont, into killing a powerful vampire for him. He and his minions have plotted early resurrections that allowed him to arise numerous times in the 18th and 19th centuries, pulling the strings from beyond the grave. However, each of his attempts at global genocide has been thwarted by the Belmonts or their successors. Despite these defeats, Dracula maintains a massive ego and a god complex, which isn't entirely undeserved considering that he is the avatar of the opposite of God himself.
Being the leader of the Gerudo and having fought in the Hyrulean Civil War, it is safe the assume Ganondorf would know a thing or two about military tactics. Though he did swear loyalty to Royal Family in the end, it is unkown if this was because he was defeated and making the best of a bad situation or if this was part of his plan all along. Regardless, he has shown himself to be a cunning puppet master and charasmatic politician, having managed to butter up the Royal Family enough to allow to allow him safely travel through the kingdom, and was only found out when Link, with some future knowledge, exposed his plot. During his stay in the Twilight Realm, he once again proved quite the master mind, manipulating Zant into conquering the Twilight and Light Realms for him. That said, he has a light god complex, which, like Dracula, isn't entirely undeserved since he posses a part of the Triforce, the manifestation of the power of the Three Golden Goddesses.
Notes[]
- The battle takes place within the throne room of a castle that neither warrior is familiar with.
- Ganondorf is as he appears in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.
- Much thanks to Field Marshal Montgomery, who created a spectacular piece of art for this battle, pictured here:
