Ganondorf

Ganondorf is seen as one of the main villians of the Legend of Zelda series. His first appearance was in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time where the link between him and the beast Ganon is established. He is well known for being the wielder of the Triforce of Courage and for being the King of the Gerudos.

Story
Ganondorf was born as the only male to be born in a hundred years to the all female Gerudo tribe. He immediately due to the customs of the Gerudo tribe became their leader and King. Not much is known about Ganondorf's childhood but his adulthood is very well known and his motives through the games he has appeared in.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Much later Ganondorf, King of the Gerudos, uses dark magic that he has acquired to attack the Great Deku Tree, Jabu Jabu and Dodongo's Cavern in order to try to sway the inhabits that looked up to and lived around these areas to give up their Spiritual Stone. Eventually Ganondorf figures out that Link along with the aid of Princess Zelda had helped these civilizations and acquired the spiritual stones. He knew that if they got to the Triforce first that he could never acquire it. In a last ditch effort Ganondorf attacked Hyrule Castle to try and get the last piece of the puzzle needed to open the Door of Time. He chased Princess Zelda and Impa, who held the Ocarina of Time, out of the castle where he met up with Link. Link stood in his way while Impa and Princess Zelda galloped out of sight. Ganondorf pushed him out of the way only to see that they had gotten away. Ganondorf knowing Link had the spiritual stones followed him into the Temple of Time where he snuck into the Sacred Realm where he took the Triforce. But upon grabbing the Triforce the Triforce split into three pieces leaving him with only one.

Ganondorf knowing that to truly rule the land he would need all three pieces so he waited 7 years for Princess Zelda and Link to reappear. Taking his chance he captured Princess Zelda once she took her Shiek disguise off. Using her Ganondorf got Link to come to the top of his tower where they had an enormous battle. Ganondorf defeated by the power of the Master Sword used his last ounce of breath to destroy his tower hoping to kill the others in the aftermath of the destruction. But they survived and the power of the Triforce of Power kept Ganondorf alive and using the full power of the Triforce he turned himself into the beast, Ganon. Through a ferocious battle Ganon was defeated and the sages sealed the now detransformed Ganondorf into the Sacred realm.

From this point on in the series the timeline splits creating to seperate accounts of what happened. The first (the Adult timeline) shows Ganondorf's attempts at taking the Triforce and shows his true motives through his escaping the Sacred Realm. The other (the Child Timeline) shows Ganondorf's actions once his original scheme was stopped and once by a "Divine Intervention" Ganondorf gained the Triforce.

Adult Timeline
The Legend of Zelda: Windwaker

Child Timeline
The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess

Four Swords Adventure
The Legend of Zelda: Four Swords Adventure does contain Ganondorf but not the same Ganondorf as in the previous games. Due to another 100 years passing and the death of the original Ganondorf on either side of the timeline a new Ganondorf was born. This Ganondorf is said by the Gerudos to have shown many signs of evil similar to the original Ganondorfs. Ganondorf before the game begins had gone to the temple within the Lost Forest where he took the Dark Mirror and with it he created many Dark Links that whom let Vaati free and caused havoc which created a good distraction so Ganondorf could start his plan. The first thing it is known that he did after this is he went to the Pyramid lost within the Gerudo Desert where he took the Trident of Power. He is not seen again though till the very end where it is shown that with the Triforce of Power and Trident of Power he had turned himself into Ganon. Trying to take the other pieces of the Ttriforce yet again he trapped Link and Princess Zelda atop the Tower of Winds where he fought them. In the end though he was defeated by them and was sealed away into Vaati's prison where he is known to rest.

This game could happen on either side of the Timeline but is most often seen as happening on the child timeline due to its ties to other games that happen on this timeline such as The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past.