Summary
Among all thedifferent cultures that can be found within the land of Hyrule, theGerudoare one of the most interesting. This race is mostly made up of strong, well-respected female warriors who live in the vast desert, with the occasional male being born every hundred years.
Ever since their initial appearance inOcarina of Time,the Gerudo have become a stapleof theLegend of Zeldafranchise. Because of this, there are a lot of prominent characters that belong to this race and, keeping true to the nature of their culture, they ended up becoming some of the most powerful warriors in the franchise. The following Gerudo are the absolute strongest ones in these games.
Majora’s Maskreuses a lot of assets fromOcarina of Time, which resulted in the admittedly interesting concept of a dangerous pirate crew made up of Gerudo women. The Gerudo Pirates terrorize the Great Bay Area of Termina. They were responsible for stealing Lulu’s Zora Eggs, with their captain being the infamousAveil.
Like almost every other female member of her tribe, Aveil is a strong and respected fighter, which is evident in her intense clash against Link. But what makes her even more intimidating than other Gerudo is that she has an entire crew of pirate warriors at her disposal. Unfortunately, Aveil is also held back by an unexpected weakness: her major fear of bees.
It was clever for Nintendo to introduce a benevolent Gerudo who fought alongside Link inOcarina of Time, establishing that not every member of this race is loyal to their evil king, Ganondorf. This was none other thanNabooru, who ended up becoming one of the most recognizable Gerudo characters in the series.
Nabooru is a strong physical fighter like her sisters, but there are a few elements that make her stand out more in terms of power. At one point, she was brainwashed and turned into an Iron Knuckle by Koume and Kotake. This gave players a firsthand experience of how strong she is when Link had to begrudgingly fight her.On top of that, Nabooru also became the great Sage of Spiritand demonstrated that she was potent enough to seal Ganondorf away, alongside the other Sages.
In her original appearance inBreath of the Wild,Makeela Rijuwas the respected young Chief of the Gerudo who, despite her inexperience, proved to be a crucial ally in Link’s quest. This can be seen when she wields the Thunder Helm and helps the hero get into the Divine Beast of her people, Vah Naboris.There’s no question that Riju was a brave and skillful young woman, but she still had a lot to learn.
Fortunately, she got a major glow-up in the sequel,Tears of the Kingdom, in which she fights alongside Link. Riju became proficient at combat with her dual scimitars, while also being able to manipulate lighting like her ancestor, Urbosa. Because of this, she gained the title of Sage of Lightning. Riju is so much stronger now that, thanks to her Secret Stone, Link can summon her spirit to use her electric powers at any point.
Since themain villain of the entire franchise is a Gerudo, it only makes sense that other members of this race would also align themselves with the Evil King.Koume andKoutakeare possibly Ganondorf’s most important allies. Not only are they devoted to him, but they are also his surrogate mothers, who raised him.
If being the most loyal Ganondorf servants wasn’t enough, Koume and Koutake are also quite powerful, as they’re evil witches with a mastery of elemental magic. Koume is known as the Sorceress of Flame, and Koutake as the Sorceress of Ice. They are also able to brainwash other characters, so that they follow their orders. However, their most dangerous power is the ability to fuse and transform themselves into a mighty fire and ice witch known asTwinrova.With this powerful new form, they both gave adult Link a tough time in their boss fight, but the Hero of Time managed to defeat them by using their own elemental magic against them.
In the timeline ofBreath of the Wild,Urbosawas the most respected andbeloved member of the Gerudo race. After all, she was the great Gerudo Champion tasked with piloting Vah Naboris. She was also extremely capable in combat, where she fought with her sword, shield and her powerful thunder magic, which let her summon lightning just by snapping her fingers.
Urbosa’s fighting prowess was also complemented by her strong physique and fierce personality, not to mention that she was devoted to protecting Princess Zelda at all costs. Similar to the other Champions, Urbosa was killed by Thunderblight Ganon when she was trapped inside Vah Naboris. But she managed to live on even after her demise. Not only did she inspire other Gerudo warriors to be like her (with Riju being a prominent example),but her spirit also assisted Link in the battle against Calamity Ganon.
Even thoughGanontechnically existed years before the introduction of the Gerudo,Ocarina of Timeestablished that the villain’s humanoid form, better known asGanondorf, was part of this newly introduced race. This changed everything, because it means that the Gerudo are now associated with the main antagonist of theLegend of Zeldaseries.
Ganondorf is the strongest Gerudo character in the entire series, which makes sense considering he usually wields the Triforce of Power. He was shown to have huge physical strength, impeccable skills with different types of blades, and an incredible use of powerful magic. He can summon and control evil creatures, and then there’s his signature move: Transforming into a hulking beast that’s almost impossible to take down,whether it’s a giant boar, a giant dragon, or something in between. On top of all that, some incarnations of Ganondorf have been able to keep existing even after his death and propagating evil all over Hyrule.Calamity GanonfromBreath of the Wildis the most obvious example of this occurrence.
Curiously enough,it seems like Ganondorf gets more and more powerful with every new appearance he makes. His iteration fromTears of the Kingdomis one of the strongest characters ever featured in aLegend of Zeldagame. And, considering he’s such an iconic antagonist, it’s most likely he’ll keep appearing as a formidable combatant in future installments.
