I just beat The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom last night and boy, do I have a lot of thoughts, a fraction of which I will be covering in this post.
Zelda isn't exactly a series I go into expecting zako content, but I was pleasantly surprised with this installment (and then somewhat disappointed as you do not encounter any zako during gameplay.) This post will contain (minor) spoilers for Tears of the Kingdom.
[SPOILER="Minor Tears of the Kingdom story spoilers."]
When we are introduced to Ganondorf as he is in the pre-story of the game, he can be seen commanding an army of malevolent Gerudo warriors.
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We get a close look at this one, who summons a swarm of Molduga to attack Hyrule castle
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In the next scene, we see Ganondorf with his guards putting on a show of fealty to the rulers of Hyrule
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For the rest of the game, I was really hoping that I'd actually get to encounter and even fight some Gerudo warriors whose loyalty remains with Ganondorf, but unfortunately, these cutscenes are the only time we get to see them.
For those of you who are less familiar with Zelda, the Gerudo are a race of women who live in the desert. Their society typically consists only of women, since only one man is born to them every 100 years, Ganondorf and his many incarnations being those men. They have dark skin and red hair, some of them having dark green skin as opposed to dark brown.
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They're not usually evil, they're just another race in the land of Hyrule after all. However, it is consistent that Ganondorf, their king whenever he is around, is an evil man who seeks to destroy Hyrule or claim it for himself. But, whenever Ganondorf is around, we never see much of him commanding or governing the Gerudo people. I'm pretty sure Tears of the Kingdom is the first time we actually see him commanding an army of Gerudo as opposed to an army of monsters (though, he does do a good lot of commanding monsters at several other points in the game.)
[/SPOILER]
While The Legend of Zelda isn't a series I expect much zako content from, the enemies almost always being beastly monsters with little to no human resemblance, there are a small handful of times where the Gerudo have fulfilled the role of zako. In Ocarina of Time there's a quest where you can fight and even (non-lethally) take some down. In this video (not mine), the player sneaks around Gerudo Fortress and takes down some guards and thieves. [MEDIA=youtube]MvtEq2rfnJo[/MEDIA]
At 3:29 there's a fight with a thief, and at 4:15 a guard is taken down. There are more moments like these throughout the video.
Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity is another time Gerudo have been zakos. In one mission, Link and the party find themselves up against an entire army of Gerudo due to a misunderstanding.
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The lethality of this battle is unclear (the use of the word "KO" in place of the kill counter is used when up against monsters too, who are clearly being killed), but this entry to the series isn't really canon, so I wouldn't worry too much about it. In the attached zip folder are some videos I took of taking them down, where I got these screenshots from.
I never see much Zelda discussion on this forum. Probably because, I know I've already said it, Zelda just isn't a series known for its zako content, but I really love the Gerudo, zako or not. As a black girl, their society seems heavenly. Except for, y'know, when they're ruled by a tyrannical demon king. Also I don't do very well in hot temperatures. And I guess not being able to live with my partner since he's a guy would suck. Yeah, on second thought... maybe I'll pass on life in Gerudo Town. Still seems like a nice vacation spot, though.
