Gerudo



The Gerudo are a race of Hyruleans who live in Gerudo Valley. They first appeared as Gerudo Thieves in Ocarina of Time and appeared as Gerudo Pirates in Majora's Mask. Although the race seems to consist of mainly females, every 100 years a male is born in their society. This is the one who will be the king of their society. Ganondorf was such a male and is the only one who is mentioned in the series.

The Gerudo live primarily in the desert of Hyrule, which is referred to as the Gerudo Desert. Their territory is marked with an intricately designed fortress, which is constantly guarded. However, in Four Swords Adventures, they lived in tents. Though the Gerudo Desert exists in Twilight Princess, the Gerudo race (with the exception of Ganondorf) is mysteriously absent. It is not known if the race died out or if the entire desert was not presented in the game, having them and their civilization in some unexplored corner of the desert. It is noted that the barmaid in Castle Town, Telma strongly resembles Gerudo women from previous games, suggesting that the Gerudo may have integrated into the dominant Hylian culture at some point.

The Gerudo are a fearsome race of fighters who despise tresspassers and won't hesitate to lock one up, or worse. One is able to gain their favour yet it is a hard task. Link is able to do so in Ocarina of Time. Their look resembles an Arabian ninja and dual scimitar swords are common weapons for this band of thieves. The only documented male (Ganondorf) doesn't use a weapon in OoT, yet in The Wind Waker he wields dual swords. Ganondorf appears to be able to use magic and can manifest into a boar like creature known as Ganon, this is not a skill possesed by any other Gerudo except the Gerudo witches Koume and Kotake.

Tales that Gerudo women come into town to find mates circulate around the Market square. There is a Gerudo mask which can be borrowed from the Happy Mask Shop in Hyrule town square. Nobody knows how Ganondorf was born, except that Navi mentions that Twinrova is Ganondorf's mother.

It is also mentioned that Twinrova is merely Ganondorf's surrogate mother.