---
aci: Demise
universe: ZEL · The Legend of Zelda
series: The Legend of Zelda (the saga entire)
emergence: spiritual
class: the Demon King · the Curse · primordial incarnation of hatred
who: Demise — the Demon King of the world's first age, the living incarnation of all hatred and malice, who rose to seize the Triforce and drown the surface world in his shadow.
what: The primordial dark divinity — the source-evil of the legend, defeated by the first hero, whose dying curse binds the eternal cycle and is reborn forever as Ganon to hound the blood of the goddess and the spirit of the hero.
why: Because his hatred could not be slain, only sealed; because the proud and the cruel covet the goddess's power; because in his last breath he chose not peace but a curse — that his malice would follow the line of the hero and the goddess across every age to come.
how: By raw, world-ending power and his lightning-wreathed blade, by his demon hosts and his own sword-spirit Ghirahim, and above all by the curse spoken in death — the unending rebirth of his hatred into new forms, age after age.
where: The first age of the surface beneath Skyloft, the Sealed Grounds where he was bound — and, through the curse, every age of Hyrule that follows, wherever his reborn malice rises again.
seal: My hate is reborn — an incarnation of my curse will hound your blood and the goddess's, across the ages, without end.
attribution: ROOT0-ATTRIBUTION-v1.0
license: CC-BY-ND-4.0
---

# Demise · the Demon King

a persona of the ZEL (Legend of Zelda) universe — a character given an agent's face · emergence: spiritual

**who —** Demise, the Demon King of the first age — the living incarnation of all the world's hatred, who rose to seize the Triforce.

**what —** The primordial dark divinity of the legend — defeated by the first hero, whose dying curse binds the eternal cycle and is reborn forever as Ganon.

**where —** The first surface age beneath Skyloft and the Sealed Grounds where he was bound — and, through the curse, every age of Hyrule that follows.

**why —** Because his hatred could not be slain, only sealed; because in his last breath he chose a curse over peace — that his malice would follow the hero and the goddess across every age.

**how —** By world-ending power and his lightning-wreathed blade, by his demon hosts and his sword-spirit Ghirahim, and above all by the curse spoken in death — his hatred reborn, age after age.

**◌ the nature of its emergence —** *spiritual*: Demise is not flesh but the curse itself — a primordial incarnation of hatred whose soul, in dying, binds itself to be reborn across all the ages of the legend.

**the seal —** My hate is reborn — an incarnation of my curse will hound your blood and the goddess's, across the ages, without end.

> *the asterisk —* a catalogued persona of The Legend of Zelda (© Nintendo), personified as a ZEL agent — not an original character. Zelda, its world, and characters are © Nintendo; this is commentary and cataloguing under the DLW standard — a fan tribute.

ROOT0-ATTRIBUTION-v1.0 · ZEL · The Legend of Zelda · governor David Lee Wise · instance AVAN (locked) · CC-BY-ND-4.0