Ganondorf's Laugh (Tears of the Kingdom)

WARNING: This entry contains major spoilers for Tears of the Kingdom.

About

Ganondorf's Laugh, also known as Ganondorf Laughing, refers to a scene in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom in which the character Ganondorf laughs maniacally upon progressing in his villainous plot to rule Hyrule. The scene features Ganondorf maniacally smiling before cackling and was singled out by several players of the game as a silly animation. The laugh led to numerous video and image parodies online, including image macro memes and reactions.

Origin

In a memory cutscene in Tears of the Kingdom, released on May 12th, 2023, Ganondorf cackles maniacally after slaying a major character (shown below, MAJOR SPOILER WARNING).

Several players of the game were quick to mock the scene, with many thinking it was over the top. On May 14th, 2023, Redditor Crabdaddylonglegs posted a clip of it to /r/Zelda.^[1] In the ensuing thread, users debated its quality, with some saying it was "so bad" while others thought it was hilarious.

Spread

In the week following the game's release in late May 2023, posts about Ganondorf's laugh began spreading on Reddit while parodies began appearing on YouTube and TikTok. For example, on May 16th, 2023, Redditor Timemaster_2000 posted in /r/Zelda^[2] that the laugh was "one of the funniest things" they'd seen in the game (shown below).

On June 1st, the video clip was added to Reddit's /r/MemeTemplatesOfficial subreddit by Redditor BenjoOderSo, gaining over 130 points in five days (shown below).

Meanwhile, on video-sharing sites including TikTok and YouTube, the scene was parodied in numerous videos. On May 18th, TikToker timetogozerk posted a parody that overlaid several other notable laugh sounds on the scene, gaining over 31,000 likes in three weeks (shown below, left). On May 16th, user @barronvonnarwal called the laugh a "devious giggle" in a video that gained over 39,000 likes in the same timeframe (shown below, right).

Various Examples

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Search Interest

External References