What happened to the Zora of Windwaker

Shinigami · 07-16-2007, 11:24 PM

I have developed a theory on what exactly happened to the Zora in Windwaker and whether or not they really did become Rito. I stand by the theory that the Zora did become Rito because of the Laruto-Medli connection as well as some cultural references. But, the true question is why? Why would a race of fish people, now living in a world filled with water, need to evolve into a bird-like species? I believe I may have figured out this predicament. The answer is to keep Hyrule a secret.

When the Golden Goddesses flooded the kingdom of Hyrule, they tried to erase all memory of the kingdom, and they did, with only a few legends floating here and there. They tried to make Hyrule "disappear"from the people's mind so that they wouldn't remember about the past and tried to find it. If everyone knew their old home was underwater, they'd tried to swim down and find it. And once they see it, they'll try their best to break the barrier and enter, where Ganondorf was waiting. So, they made sure not to have anyone find Hyrule. But, if the Zora are swimming and all within the Great Sea, they would have eventually found Hyrule. This would cause great commotion and would cause what the goddesses were trying to prevent. So, by making it so that the Zora were bound to the islands prevented them from discovering Hyrule. The humanoid, wingless Rito coped with being land bound, but after a while, the Goddesses send Valoo to give the Rito wings to soar.

This also explains why no fish, except for those talking, map making fishes, are in the Great Sea. The goddesses want a minimal amount of life in the ocean as possible. If the sea was full of fishes, there would be more fishers and an advancement in their technology would have for more equipment used for fishing deeper fishes and to explore the ocean, so submarines and related objects would be built. As well, the fishes could evolve into sentinel beings who would then know the location of Hyrule. This is just what I think, what about you?

Donkey_KongX · 07-17-2007, 12:47 AM

I think that's a pretty good explanaition to the subject as a whole. But wouldn't the Godesses become angry, with this primitive submarine (I think there was one in WW), and just destroy it?

But, there could be a "Reckoning". Some centuries after the flood, the Godesses dried up the land and revealed Hyrule (when they were sure Ganondorf was dead forever), revealing the land of legend to the people. The Godesses then could establish Hyrule as a kingdom again. (But that's only a theory, not canon yet).

Shinigami · 07-17-2007, 01:07 AM

Well, the goddesses wouldn't intervene every second for little things like that. Our god doesn't intervene at every little thing, he doesn't stop us from sin, so neither do they. As for your reckoning, I don't think so. Hyrule is destroyed by the King remember. And, most of the games (in my opinion and theory) takes place in the original (child ending) time line. WW is in the alternate with only PH following it. And, whether the other games in the series follow it or not, the King wanted them to find a new land, not a revival of the old Hyrule.

AngelOfDeath · 07-17-2007, 07:25 AM

Plus, the Zoras are freshwater creatues and would have died in the great sea.

Donkey_KongX · 07-17-2007, 12:05 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Shinigami

Well, the goddesses wouldn't intervene every second for little things like that. Our god doesn't intervene at every little thing, he doesn't stop us from sin, so neither do they. As for your reckoning, I don't think so. Hyrule is destroyed by the King remember. And, most of the games (in my opinion and theory) takes place in the original (child ending) time line. WW is in the alternate with only PH following it. And, whether the other games in the series follow it or not, the King wanted them to find a new land, not a revival of the old Hyrule.

That's a great point, thought. So, Hyrule B (adult ending in OoT) gets flooded, WW and PH takes place, and then what's left of the Kingdom is mostly islands, situated on top of the highest mountains. There could be attempts at forming a new kingdom (it would be very decentralized) but I think mostly that it would fail.

Shinigami · 07-17-2007, 03:27 PM

Well, actually there would be two possible ways I would see for them to reestablish their kingdom. One would be that they find a new land somewhere in the unknown reaches of the Great Sea (a la Noah's Ark). The other way would be the Deku Tree's plan to connect all the islands together in forming a grand continent. I believe the former is more likely to happen but its just inside Nintendo's alley to make a tree's dream come true. And as for what AoD said, I believe that Zoras are diadromous creatures. That means they can swim in both salt and fresh water. This is backed from the fact that Termina Zoras live in the sea and that in Oracle of Ages, it is stated that the good humanoid Zoras are call sea Zoras and the evil enemies are called river Zoras. Meaning that they could change to whatever water they wanted just by simply changing their alliances to the other races.

Ewok · 07-17-2007, 06:19 PM

Well, ok, perhaps they are diadromous. I never considered that possibility because I didn't know it was an actual state, but I'll accept that one for the time being.

The theory does have some ground to it. However, the fish-men aren't the only fish in the sea. There are also those enemy swordfish, those octopuses, giant octos... Surely, considering the lack of depth of the Great Sea (think about how far Link and the King of Red Lions sink before they reach Hyrule Castle - not very) some of these creatures would have found Hyrule, and possibly informed Ganon - the one person the goddesses would want to keep away - which would take away the basis of your theory.

It's likely that the Rito just evolved to a form that better suited their purpose as postmen (wet mail is never good) - or because Zora's Domain flooded and they wanted some form of land to live on (they have human-shaped bodies, so much have some human requirements, after all).

So well done on the theory but there are better ones out there.

Shinigami · 07-17-2007, 07:58 PM

You are mistaken on 1 thing. Ganon was sealed underwater with Hyrule. So having his minions telling him where it is is kind of pointless. Ganon's monsters are living in the ocean because they belong to Ganon not the goddesses so they follow his rules. As for your theory, Zoras aren't mail carriers. They took that job because they became Ritos.

Ewok · 07-17-2007, 09:26 PM

But perhaps they decided to take that job because they wanted to, and became Ritos in order to do it.

It's such a vague zone of Zelda history. All we can do is guess. None of us can prove the above paragraph right or wrong. It's just an idea.

And was Ganon sealed away in Hyrule? Meh. I must have forgotten that. I thought it was only the Master Sword - the key to Ganon's power - that was in Hyrule.

NarutoFan · 07-17-2007, 11:59 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Donkey_KongX

...the Godesses dried up the land and revealed Hyrule...
...The Godesses then could establish Hyrule as a kingdom again. (But that's only a theory, not canon yet).

In Zelda Retrospective, their Split Timeline Theory said that the Oracle of Seasons or Oracle of Ages (I don't remember which one) was a reborn Hyrule, after the flooding (In Hyrule B). So your theory may be true.