Matthew Mercer already played Ganondorf in a fan film before rumored Zelda role
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Mercer is a man of many talents.
Gamers now expect every Nintendo Direct to end with an eye-widening trailer for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom – and that’s exactly what we got. On top of new gameplay and story details, we also got to hear Ganondorf narrate and fans believe it’s voice actor Matthew Mercer supplying the antagonist’s English voice. We take a look at fan reactions to the trailer and reveal the time Mercer played the antagonist in fan film, There Will Be Brawl.
The Legend of Zelda video game series began in 1986 under the creation of Japanese game designers, Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka, and the series has produced 19 entries to date.
Developed and published by Nintendo, the action-adventure game, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, is a direct sequel to 2017’s Breath of the Wild, flaunting open-world gameplay in the fictional kingdom of Hyrule following protagonist and hero, Link, ally Princess Zelda, and antagonist, Ganondorf.
Zelda fans are convinced Ganondorf’s voice actor is Matthew Mercer
During the opening of Nintendo’s new, two-minute trailer for Tears of the Kingdom, we can hear the voice of Ganondorf planning to spread havoc over Hyrule.
Instantly Twitter became alight with confirmations from fans claiming this was Matthew Mercer – a prolific voice actor in the field.
Mercer has supplied the English voices for popular characters Levi in Attack on Titan, Luke Skywalker in the game Star Wars: Battlefront II, and he’s also the dungeon master and host on the Dungeons & Dragons web series, Critical Role.
Gamers were also convinced that they managed to spot two beloved villains from the Zelda series, Redeads and Gleeoks.
Matthew Mercer played Ganondorf before in fan film There Will Be Brawl
What some fans of Zelda and Mercer may not know about, is the fact that he’s played Ganondorf once before.
The 2009 Super Smash Bros. fan film series, There Will Be Brawl, was an independent project helmed by Zach Grafton, and Mercer, running for 10 parts spanning one year.
Mercer portrayed a slightly leaner version of the Zelda antagonist, alongside talents like Kyle Hebert playing Wario and Gregory Niebel playing Solid Snake.
The premise was set in a “dystopian Mushroom Kingdom” following beloved characters from Nintendo’s Zelda and Super Mario Bros. franchise, who must fight together to overcome the evil polluting their lands.
By Jo Craig – [email protected]
The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom releases May 12, 2023, on Nintendo Switch.
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Jo Craig
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Jo Craig is a staff writer at GRV Media reporting pop culture content on Forever Geek and brainstorming with the HITC Entertainment team. After nearly a decade in the game, Jo finds dissecting Marvel trailers for hours standard practice and still finds time to review, analyse, and research film, anime, video games and everything on the nerdy spectrum. Maintaining a strong social media presence, Jo’s passion for contributing to the geek culture community is a staple in their work and the spark behind vibrant discussions with comrades, even though some disagree that The Lord of the Rings is the best franchise.
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