About

Rehydrated Ganondorf refers to fan art in which the mummified body of Ganondorf from The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild sequel teaser is no longer mummified, giving him the appearance of a handsome man.

Origin

On June 11th, 2019, at the end of the Nintendo Direct for E3 2019, Nintendo announced that a sequel to The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild is currently in development. The two-minute trailer had creepy music and a Lich King-like enemy, likely Ganondorf, and showed Link and Zelda working together, perhaps suggesting that Zelda will be a much more integral part in the follow-up's story.

Later that day, Twitter user @furanchu^[1] posted art imagining what Ganondorf would look like if he was hydrated out of his mummified state (shown below).

Spread

Over the following several days, fans began creating fan art of the character "rehydrated," imagining him as a muscular man. On June 12th, Twitter user Jokatorium^[2] posted art that gained over 6,000 retweets and 17,000 likes (shown below, left). Tumblr user nelmdraws^[3] also posted art to their personal page, gaining over 8,200 notes (shown below, right).

The wave of fan art inspired meta-jokes about the popularity of the character. For example, Twitter user @boisteruse^[4] posted a Dermatologists Hate Her parody about the character, gaining over 1,800 retweets and 4,500 likes (shown below, left). Redditor TekHead posted a Spongebob Squarepants meme to /r/Breath_Of_the_Wild,^[5] gaining over 90 points in less than 24 hours (shown below, right).

Reveal Of "Hot" Ganondorf

On April 13th, 2023, Nintendo released the final pre-release trailer for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom. The trailer offered a first look at Ganondorf as he will appear in the game (shown below).

The same day, Nintendo^[6] posted the official art of Ganondorf to Twitter (shown below).

The reveal led to a resurgence of "Rehydrated Ganondorf" memes, as well as commentary that the character was unexpectedly physically attractive. For example, Twitter user @devongiehl^[7] posted the Girl Staring At Guys Chest meme to comment on Ganondorf's new look, gaining over 1,100 retweets and 5,900 likes in 24 hours (shown below, left). User @kujahos^[8] posted fan art of Ganon's design, referencing the "Rehydrated Ganondorf" trend, gaining over 40 likes (shown below, right).

Various Examples

Search Interest

External References