Matthew Mercer is Ganondorf, and Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom’s potential grows

This could be the best Ganon iteration yet

When I first heard that the “final” Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom trailer would be a scant three minutes long, I didn’t think it would break the internet. Welp! Never doubt the power of Zelda, especially in a post-Breath of the Wild world. Not only did it break the internet multiple times, but we also learned of the return of fan-favorite Ganondorf. Later that day we also found out that famed voice actor Matthew Mercer would be voicing the character.

Mercer tweeted out the news himself, with the following message for fans:

“I just got the go-ahead from Nintendo, so I can FINALLY announce my absolute pleasure to be voicing Ganondorf in the Legend of #Zelda : #TearsoftheKingdom. An immense honor that I have thrown myself into doing justice. I have been an immense Legend of Zelda fan since I was a child, and Ganondorf has been one of my favorite antagonists… to the point where I portrayed this green-skinned menace for my webseries over a decade ago! Many of you know the weight of expectation on my shoulders for this, and I hope to do you proud. A huge thank you to @NintendoAmerica @Nintendo And the entire Tears of the Kingdom team for entrusting me with such a badass. <3″

The wait must have been killing him!

I just got the go-ahead from Nintendo, so I can FINALLY announce my absolute pleasure to be voicing Ganondorf in the Legend of #Zelda : #TearsoftheKingdom.

An immense honor that I have thrown myself into doing justice. pic.twitter.com/GDtoWRUHDx

— Matthew Mercer (@matthewmercer) April 14, 2023

As a reminder, Matthew Mercer is one of the more prolific voice actors of his generation, with roles that range from big-name anime franchises to a lot of video games (including Persona 5, Smash Ultimate, Death Stranding, Guilty Gear, Overwatch, and Kingdom Hearts III). He’s also widely known for his heavy involvement in the Critical Role tabletop entertainment empire. He also hasn’t fallen into selling NFTs to his fans like many others in the voice acting community, which is a plus.

It’s crazy that we’re now in the era where many generations who grew up with some of these long-running IP universes are now playing the very iconic characters they had so much fun with. Mercer seems to be having the time of his life here, and I can’t wait to see what he does with Ganondorf.