Gerudo
From Lozwiki
Quick witted, aggressive, fiery tempered and highly attractive, the Gerudo are a tribe of thieves from 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, and this man is destined to become the King of the Gerudo. It is stated by a Gossip Stone in "Ocarina of Time" that Gerudos travel to Hyrule Village to search for boyfriends with whom to breed. This is also evidenced by the panicked reactions the player gets when talking to male NPC characters when wearing the Gerudo Mask gotten from the Happy Mask shop.
They have dark, tanned skin, red hair, non-pointed ears, and some say they have a rather bird-like appearance, with prominent noses, causing some to link them to the Rito from The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker; in the manga, they appear most as Arab harem-style figures. They are known to have relations with Hylian men, with whom they form relationships or simply use for procreation.
In Majora's Mask, which is set in Termina, they appear as pirates rather than thieves, and not as much is known about them. However, it is assumed that the same rules apply because, as with the Hylian Gerudo, the tribe consists entirely of females, and they dress and look the same.
Link first encounters the Gerudo when he is a child. Princess Zelda tells him to look through the window, and he sees Ganon, the king of the Gerudo and soon to be "Dark Lord". 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. An interesting fact about this particular Gerudo is that her outfit changes color to match whatever tunic Link is wearing.
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 the Spirit Temple, which is a dungeon.
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 thief who hates Ganondorf and 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 Twinrova/Koume and Kotake, two old Gerudo witches who are Ganondorf's surrogate mothers and most loyal servants. 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 Nabooru under the spell of the Twinrova sisters. The two 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. The witches countered by merging into Twinrova, but were still killed. 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 (Golden Land).
According to The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, the Gerudo were apparently wiped out by the flood that sank Hyrule. Whether there are still Gerudo elsewhere in the world, or in the alternate world of Termina; it appears that Ganon is the last of the Gerudo.
