Zelda franchise strategy guide/Races/Gerudo

Ocarina of Time

The Gerudo is a tribe of thieves in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. Their race consists entirely of women, but legend has it that a man is born every hundred years. This man is destined to be the king of the Gerudo. They have dark skin, red hair, and a rather bird-like appearance, causing some to link them to the Rito. They are known to have relations with Hylian men, who they form relationships with or simply use for procreation.

History

Link first encounters the Gerudo when he is a child. Princess Zelda tells him to look through the window, and he sees Ganondorf, the legendary king of the Gerudo and rumored to be the "Prince of Evil". He later confronts Ganondorf outside of Hyrule Castle and is promptly defeated. However, this encounter results in Link receiving the Ocarina of Time from Princess Zelda. Link vows revenge against Ganondorf and continues on his quest. He travels to the Temple of Time and uses his Spiritual Stones and ocarina to reach the Chamber of the Master Sword. He grabs the sword, hoping to use it against the Gerudo king, but is imprisoned for seven years so that he may become a true hero. Meanwhile, Ganondorf enters the Sacred Realm through the portal the Master Sword left, stealing the Triforce of Power and becoming the new King of Hyrule.

Seven years later, Link wakes up and continues on his quest.

The last overworld area Link encounters as an adult is Gerudo Valley, home of Gerudo Fortress, the desert stronghold the Gerudo call home.

Link sneaks into the Gerudos' tightly-guarded compound and frees several unjustly-captured prisoners inside. A Gerudo who has been following him comes out of the shadows and praises his abilities. She then gives him the "Gerudo Membership Card," a proof of ID letting all Gerudos know that he is a friend. From this day forward, Link becomes an honorary Gerudo.

The Gerudo happily help Link train with his bow on their archery range and let him test skills in their Gauntlet. Once Link has completed the Gauntlet, he receives the fabled Ice Arrows. The Gerudo tell him that he must cross the Haunted Wasteland to reach their Spirit Temple.

When Link crosses the Haunted Wasteland at the edge of Gerudo's Fortress, sure enough, he finds the Spirit Temple. According to the owl, Kaepora Gaebora, he must return to the Temple of Time and become a child again to finish his work in the area and gain full access to the next sage. Link does so and returns to his childhood. He then returns to the temple where he meets the second significant Gerudo character.

The woman he meets is Nabooru, the second in command of the Gerudo tribe. Nabooru is a celebrated hater of Ganondorf and she protests his evil ways. When she finds out that Link agrees, she enlists his help in finding the Silver Gauntlets, the only way into the body of the Spirit Temple (and a fine piece of treasure).

Link retrieves the Gauntlets, but meets up with Nabooru too late. She is captured by Koume and Kotake, two old Gerudo witches.

Once Nabooru disappears, Link keeps the gauntlets for himself so he can use them as an adult to gain access to the Spirit Temple and try to save Nabooru. He returns to adulthood and sets on his way.

Once Link has braved the trials of the Spirit Temple, he fights an Iron Knuckle, who turns out to be an imprisoned Nabooru. Koume and Kotake return to re-imprison Nabooru and subsequently start a fight with Link. They use their powers of ice and fire to try to destroy the young hero, but to no avail. Link has already found the Mirror Shield and uses it to reflect their powers back on them.

Soundly defeated, the witches reveal their true form: the evil Twinrova sorceress sisters who were the surrogate mothers of Ganondorf.

After destroying the evil witch, Link finds Nabooru in the Chamber of the Sages. She is the sixth sage, the Sage of Spirit.

Link, having awakened the sages, travels to Ganondorf's dark castle and faces him in battle. Ganondorf, being brought up by accomplished sorceresses, tries to destroy Link with magic power, but fails and is killed. With his "final breath," he knocks down the castle. Link escapes with Zelda and faces Ganondorf in a final battle. Ganondorf unleashes the true force of the Triforce of Power and turns into Ganon, the true King of Evil. Once felled, the former Gerudo king is imprisoned until further games in the Sacred Realm.

Majora's Mask

In Majora's Mask, the Gerudo exist as pirates.

Wind Waker

Outside of Ganondorf, the Gerudo are not seen in the Wind Waker.

Breath of the Wild

The Gerudo play a major role as an ally to Hyrule in Breath of the Wild.