20 Smartest Video Game Villains Who Deserved To Win
12. Ganondorf - The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Ganondorf's scheme in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time is basically the mantra "work smart, not hard" writ large - why put so much exhaustive effort into a 10-step plan when you can just... get the hero to do most of the work for you?
Ganondorf's operating plan was to simply let Link collect the Spiritual Stones, head to the Sacred Realm, and draw the Master Sword, in turn revealing the Triforce.
With the Master Sword allowing The Big G access to the Sacred Realm, he then simply steps in, incapacitates Link, and takes the Triforce for himself. Like taking candy from a baby, truly.
This allows Ganondorf to drive Hyrule into a dark age for seven years unopposed until Link finally reawakens.
The only thing the big bad didn't count on? His own unbalanced heart, lacking a worthy combination of power, wisdom, and courage, which caused the Triforce to split into three pieces, with the other two ended up with Link and Zelda.