having an oc you havent drawn / written about publicly yet that only exist as a concept is so funny. i have special access to this limited edition guy from my brain
Warriors: since the sailor is asleep and the old man is patrolling, why don't we talk about the ladies that have caught your guys eyes recently, you know, to pass the time.
Twilight: is that really necessary
Warriors: lighten up rancher, I'm sure some of the others are also curious. Sky is their anyone you've been into lately?
Sky: oh well, I do have a girlfriend...
four: wait, really?
Sky: Its actually Zelda, she's the light of my world and I love her so much.
Twilight: thats really sweet sky
Sky: yeah she is, how about you cook? Anyone that you like?
Wild: oh, well... no
Wild: what about the veteran, their must be someone who has been able to make him go soft
Legend: no.
Warriors: stop being so grumpy all the time, anyways What about you smithy? Are you with zelda?
Four: uh no, not Zelda.
Warriors: so there is a lady
Four: not recently but there was someone...
Wild: what was she like? If you don't mind talking about it
Four: hmm, they were quite smart surprisingly. They were adorable and I hold dear all those treasured moments. We were two sides of a coin. Never meant to be but I guess they thought I was worth all the trouble. I mean, they spent a whole day setting up a room just to be dramatic!
Sky: aw, sounds like she was lovely
Four: yeah, he was
Four: I-uh I mean...
Warriors: what else did he do?
Wild: none of us here would judge you for liking a guy smithy.
Sky: if there is someone who has a problem with it. Then they can come talk to me about it
Four: thanks, I didn't really expect anyone to stay around me if they knew, well liking the same gender isn't exactly welcomed
Legend: if it makes you feel better shorty, I actually like both.
Wild: you could do that?
Warriors: thats sweet but what about you traveler. You've been awfully quiet. You don't have a problem with it? Do You.
Hyrule: oh-uh, no. Its just. It got me thinking, I don't. I dont want a relationship or anything like that. I've never felt that way towards anyone before and just the idea... I don't find it all to appealing.
Twilight: there's a word for it.
Hyrule: ?
Twilight: Your asexual. Its when you don't have sexual feelings towards others.
Astor (AOC) was a bigger threat than Ganondorf (TOTK) was, in regards to the gameplay. Yes, I know The Calamity was the ultimate threat and not Astor, but that's just lore. What matters is that when the AOC plot said, "It's time to get serious about this story now," it actually got serious. Rather than TOTK's idea of "boy, it's sure going to get serious once you hit this area and trip an event flag!"
Like, TOTK Ganondorf's idea of being 'evil' was to make a puppet Zelda and go around and mess with Hyrule, doing everything from pranking some of the stables to summoning monsters to invade the temples. And because the game is open world, it makes for some really weird tone shifts. Things ranging from "our city is being overrun by unkillable monsters" to "there's a talking chicken spreading rumors." And where was Ganondorf? Down in the core of the earth, being evil. The biggest AND ONLY threat he ever directly posed to Link was in their final fight. There was nothing in the story itself to suggest that he posed any kind of threat. Especially because he made it look like Zelda was the one behind it all.
But Astor! We saw him working with/manipulating the Yiga in his plans. He lured the gang into the Lost Woods as a trap and sent the Hollows after them, coming within inches of killing Zelda. He managed to release the Calamity early. He tore the souls out of the Yiga to re-summon the Blights! He went after Zelda himself! And when it happens, it feels impactful, because of how the story unfolds in the game play. The tone shifts; you lose access to the Champs from every game menu once they're trapped in the Divine Beasts. When the Calamity hits, the tone of the entire game shifts. You're not on some action-packed adventure fighting off the Yiga clan anymore; now the apocalypse has happened and you're still alive, trying to find a way to reverse it. And throughout everything, you know that Astor is the one behind it and he's the one you have to stop. Even with the Calamity as the greater scope villain in the background, Astor is still the focal point.
So yeah, from a gameplay and story perspective, even if Astor was a flat character, he at least acted like he was trying to destroy Hyrule. Ganondorf did fuck all in TOTK. All his action scenes were flashbacks. Lazy ass man couldn't even be bothered to trek up to the surface and destroy a village or two to show he meant business.