A reader sent me a question a few weeks ago that I had a chance to look into now.
Nintendo updated its Zelda website to include a profile of Ganon that refers to him as “Ganondorf Dragmire.” I heard this was also in A Link to the Past‘s game manual. Was there any mention of the name or some other surname in Japanese?
Zelda Legends thankfully had scanned copies of the manual for the game both in Japanese and English which I used in reference for this post. So let’s take a look:
The dialogue is highlighted in Japanese (left) and English (right).
In Japanese: He is simply ガノンドロフ and ガノン (Ganondorf and Ganon respectively). He has the title of an Evil King/King of Thieves/etc, but no mention of a surname of any sort.
The English above is straightforward, mentioning both Dragmire and Mandrag as other names.
So, no, the Japanese manual did not make a mention of this surname at all, and it is likely a localization creation that the site decided to stick with!
Comparisons are always fun! I hope this post can be used in reference for those who may not be aware of the lack of surname in Japanese.
Let me know if there’s anything you’d love to have looked into. Feel free to leave any comments below!
kantopia 