Like The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild before it, Tears of the Kingdom allows you to explore its vast world short after the start of the game, and allows you to undertake various main quests in different orders -- or skip them entirely. Both Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom allow you to head straight to the final boss of the game after completing the tutorial area, though finding Ganondorf's location in TotK may not be as easy.

Before you can attempt to face the final boss of the game, there are a few necessary steps you need to complete first (until speedrunners find a way to circumvent these barriers):

• Complete the Great Sky Island Quests - Similar to Breath of the Wild's Great Plateau, Link will begin the adventure on a structured large area that you cannot escape from until you complete the story quests - Find Princess Zelda and the Closed Door. You cannot dive down to the lands below until you unlock the final door by completing all four of the Shrines found on the Great Sky Island.

• Get the Paraglider - Once back on the surface, the path to the final boss is not one you will survive unless you can slow your descent. To do this, you'll need to complete one more short main quest - Crisis at Hyrule Castle, and return to Purah at Lookout Landing. She'll have you activate the first Skyview Tower and grant you the Paraglider to land safely.

In Breath of the Wild, you were given a quest to Destroy Ganon from the very start, pointing you directly to the well-guarded Hyrule Castle's throne room Sanctum. It may seem like Tears of the Kingdom is setting up a similar premise, with much of Hyrule Castle being pushed into the sky.

However, even if you manage to eat enough stamina boosting meals when paragliding or use a Zonai Device to glide from afar, you'll find much of the floating castle empty -- including the Sanctum. If Ganondorf isn't here, where is he?

As it turns out, you saw where he went at the start of the game. When Link and Zelda fell off the platform, Ganondorf's mummified corpse can be seen falling back as the floor crumbles around him, disappearing into the Depths...

To find Ganondorf's lair, you need to dive straight down into the Hyrule Castle Chasm.

There's a Lightroot you can spot as you move down, and after activating it, you'll need to keep diving to the very bottom to a place called Gloom's Approach. From here, the gauntlet begins.

On one side of this narrow chasm, you can find a cave entrance lined with Electric Likes, and the walls are covered with Gloom. You'll need to dive down and glide to an opening on the opposite wall, only to run into a larger cave full of Black and Silver Horriblins climbing on the ceilings.

The only way forward is through a narrow gap against the far wall you will need to climb, and at least two Horriblins will likely throw rocks or climb up to swat you down if you don't interrupt them before climbing up.

If you make it to the top, you can drop down the other side where a horde of Electric Keese will try to ambush you, but killing them for their monster parts will prove useful.

The next room opens up into a large chamber with a single Silver Lynel, and is likely to kill you with a single bow shot if you're attempting this early. Therefore, you'll want to hug the left wall and try to remain out of sight to quickly make it to a balcony over to the left.

Once you reach the far platform, run to the end of the hall and take the platform as it crumbles down.

Ride another platform back up with Recall to find a hall covered with Gloom, Ice Likes, and Ice Keese.

There are many Keese hiding behind pillars, as well as more Ice Likes that can fill the Gloom-filled floor with more hazards. Any fire elemental fruit or keese parts can help you race through this area.

Making it through to the other side will have another platform fall away leading into a massive pit full of Lizalfos archers and Chuchus, though some alcoves can have weapons to grab and may help you survive later -- but for now it's better to keep avoiding encounters.

Paraglide to the bottom floor and run out the large passage to another huge cave, and you can spy a Silver Moblin on the other side of a broken bridge. Do not drop down to the floor below, as a terrible foe is lurking down here that will likely kill you very fast.

Instead, jump off the broken bridge and glide to the right to use the ruins to keep above the bottom floor. If you climb up on the far right, there's a tunnel full of rocks that will take a lot of hammer weapons or bombs to break.

If you lack the weapons or materials, you may have to glide from this balcony towards the other end of the bridge with the Silver Moblin, and dodge around him to head down the tunnel below.

At this point, you'll find yourself back in the chambers Link and Zelda moved through at the start of the game.

This time however, a Silver Bokoblin will block your path, followed by several Gibdo. Utilize the Electric Keese Eyes and Wings to stun them.

Once you reach the end of the hall, you'll need to break through a wall of rock, requiring either hammer weapons or a Bomb Flower, and you must do it quickly before the Gibdo surround you.

After that, you've made it past all the enemies down here, and you can head through the mural room to the Imprisoning Chamber where Ganondorf came to life.

Since he's not here anymore, you'll need to jump down a great Chasm into Gloom's Lair.

You can find Zelda's torch down here, and then make your way down the long tunnel to find the final jumping point. Landing down here will take you right into the Final Boss Fight.

One last warning before you attempt the fight:

Good luck! See our full Tears of the Kingdom Walkthrough for more guides and the How to Beat Ganondorf for strategies on how to defeat him.