When you think of Ganondorf, the villainous entity that plagues The Legend of Zelda’s Hyrule, what comes to mind? Despicable, evil, heinous, repulsive, vile—all good adjectives for the Demon King. “Robust and sexy” might not cross your brain, but those two words were purposeful descriptors to sketch his appearance in Tears of the Kingdom, according to a recent interview with two TotK developers.

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Around the time of the Breath of the Wild sequel’s May 12 launch, folks online were already losing their shit over Ganondorf’s glow up. Voiced by Matt Mercer (Attack on Titan’s Levi Ackerman, One Piece’s Trafalgar Law), ToTK’s interpretation of the Dark Lord left everyone gasping for air: He was hot, having been colloquially referred to as “rehydrated Ganon” due to his newly jacked figure after a June 2019 reveal trailer made him look like a shriveled prune. Well, Ganon’s bodybuilder physique was an intentional thirst trap, according to director Hidemaro Fujibayashi and producer Eiji Aonuma.

TotK’s Ganondorf was intentionally evil and hot

In an interview with Japanese magazine Nintendo Dream that was translated by Nintendo Everything, Fujibayashi said the team wanted TotK’s Ganon to be almost another protagonist in the game and a foil for Princess Zelda’s plans. Ganon needed to be evil, and Fubayashi says they wanted him to be attractive, too. Here’s why:

I think we managed to represent this visually as well. The designer didn’t simply make him look violent; they managed to fulfill my wish of making him look overwhelmingly evil while also being handsome enough that both men and women would fall for him. We put a lot of thought into choosing his clothes and accessories, keeping in mind that Ganondorf himself should have a strong sense of beauty and good taste. We thought he would probably be a character who paid a lot of attention to his appearance, demonstrating his dignity and intelligence as a king, and designing him with that in mind, we were meticulous with his face, body, all the way down to his fingertips, making him come off as robust and sexy at the same time.

Elsewhere, the devs pointed out that Ganondorf was inspired by a Japanese warrior aesthetic. Fujibayashi added that this can be seen through the cruelty in his expressions when performing violent acts.

“We incorporated something like the coolness, or essence, of Japanese military generals,” Fujibayashi said. “Take a look at [Ganondorf’s] stance with his sword, and how he unsheathes it among other movements. […] I [also] wanted to show ‘humanity’ through Ganondorf as well. His expressions when killing was also something we were meticulous about. Actually, we wondered if we should show that at all, but we thought it was a meaningful shot to include, so we did.”

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A hot and sexy killer who dresses well but probably smells awful? I don’t want to say I’m on board, since Ganondorf would snap me in half but…I wouldn’t mind it. Rest easy, my horny one, your arousal is valid. It’s OK to say Ganondorf is sexy. After all, that’s how he was supposed to be, and we can all thank artist Satoru Takizawa for it.