Inside The Score - The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time - Ganon's Tower / Ganon's Castle Organ

The definitive statement of power

Now you are playing with power. Because only the holder of the top part of the Triforce is allowed to make such an entrance, setting the mood before the final confrontation against him. Gone are the avant-garde sounds from this dungeon cue heard at the basement as the very last stretch is all about who Ganondorf is, how he sees himself and how he wants to be perceived.

This is what occurs when the cinematic sensibilities, operatic sensibilities, use of diegetic music, and use of dynamic music; motifs that have been present all over Ocarina of Time since its very first frame, come together in one of the most stunning uses of audio from the game; gameplay, story and sound dancing in perfect sync. The buildup to the grand finale finds the development team firing on all cylinders, curving the exponential curve of tension to its absolute limit, and the audio carries most of the weight. This is as high as stakes can possibly go.

Link ascends the staircase, battling his way to the top of the castle while the music grows in volume and complexity alongside the enemies; by itself as background music it would still be a very effective use of the audio to enhance the sense of tension and anxiety, the game even prolonging the last segment of the staircase just for the sake of dramatic effect. But this music also packs one last surprise.

Turns out It was there not only hyping the player but also Link himself. There is in fact a real pipe organ at the very last floor and it’s played by none other than Ganondorf, the antagonist of the game and possessor of the triforce of power; completing also the triangle of instrumentalists on this game of operatic proportions; turns out all of its three protagonists are musicians. It is a track that synthesizes all of the musical aspirations of the game.

Musical Analysis

Structure: Section 0 / Section 1 / Section 2 / Section 3 / Section 4 / Section 5 / Section 6 / Section 7 / Section 8

Time Signature: 4/4

Tempo: 120 (accelerando on sections 2,4,6 and 8 to 135)

Melodic and Harmonic Profiles: Bb Diminished; Db Diminished; Bb Chromatic

The ominous pipe organ has been consolidated as a staple of drama. Organ music, grandeur, sophistication and villainy go hand in hand due to its powerful sound, usually heard amplified and magnified through reverberant cathedrals—some organs are as big as a church, symbiotically attached to all of the church walls in a series of interconnected tunnels. Its engulfing, complex, multilayered sound, which can even be felt on the body, lends itself to end of the world type settings and sinister settings alike, one last resort to give weight and gravitas to any situation or character; It’s the power of a full orchestra built into the architecture of a building.

These things just scream power from all angles. C’mon, you have an instrument played with all of your limbs, that can transform into multiple sounds and it is the size of a church? Truly the instrument of God-like beings

The inside of a spaceship. No wonder it is the instrument of choice of some of the most celebrated composers like Bach…or Koji Kondo himself. You actually learn about arranging for multiple voices when you actually have multiple voices!

Even in its conventionality and at the expense of risking caricatured portrayals of the instrument as evil in a similar fashion to the harpsichord, Kondo simply could not pass the opportunity to employ its sonority and connotations, there is no other instrument that could symbolize power that compares to the pipe organ, it simply works on many different levels. Playing his own theme, it is essentially a musical statement of how Ganondorf sees himself as a god. From the Phantom of the Opera to count Dracula, the figure of the solitary, desperate man playing the organ on the depths of his lair has enthralled audiences and become a trope in horror and gothic stories—the instrument is after all, the grandpa of the modern synth, and you know how crazy keyboard geeks can get.

Its associations with death, the ancient Catholic Church and the supernatural plane of God is what has made the instrument a staple in horror films dating back to the beginning of the medium itself in the 1920s; it alludes to the gothic tradition in all of its forms alongside church bells and ominous Latin choirs. It adds a sense of monumentality to any scene and it is a natural fit for final bosses (for all we know, Ganondorf himself might have written also the Bowser’s final theme from Mario 64 or Dancing Mad for Kefka). Huge objects also evoke this sense of awe and terror naturally.

Sadly, the organ magically disappears right when the battle starts.

Unlike the standard Ganondorf’s Theme, this reprisal includes an intro; three seventh sus4 chords in parallel motion played with commanding authority to indicate that the escalation, both literally and metaphorically has begun.

C7sus4 – B7sus4 – C7sus4 – B7sus4 – C7sus4 – B7sus4 – Bb7sus4

After this, the Ganondorf Theme begins in earnest with its characteristic slowly ascending chromaticism. The cue has four variations that are activated depending on how far ahead Link is on the staircase; each with progressively more intricate rhythms, as if this lurking beast is getting bigger and bigger, hungrily craving the Triforce. The bass first alternates between the pitches C and G. Then this sequence is repeated but transposed a minor third up; this adds an even more menacing quality to the original composition; Ganondorf is not as calm and composed anymore. After this the track adds more arpeggio textures to both accompaniment and lead melody, always retaining the Ganondorf’s motif. This is certainly no wedding march but a classic gothic statement of evilness taken from a theme we are already familiar with at this point.

As always, the ending of each sequence is created from sustained, progressively accelerating minor chords that convey the hopelessness of even trying to match this powerful being. The horn is retained with an exaggerated vibrato effect that gives it an otherworldly sound, as if the organist just pulled another stop to generate new layers.

The organ playing villain may have lost some of it power due to overuse and parody. Nevertheless, the employment of dynamic music tied to the musical motif present throughout Ocarina of Time makes this segment a well earned moment where the team was not afraid of going over the top in order to thrill and surprise players.