A Matter of Flying Fish

Deku, Kokiri, Gerudo, Goron, Subrosian, Yook, Zora, Zuna; the list of races found throughout the entire Zelda-verse always seems to be increasing, to a point where I couldn’t even remember every single race in that list. The most notable are, of course, the Deku, Gorons and last but not least the Zora. Our fishy friends with their own monarch found themselves home in Hyrule for the first time in A Link to the Past, a very similar looking group of enemies, save one, (how common is that, a single lovable member of a whole race, well perhaps not lovable isn’t the right word…). Everyone raised a flag to an older enemy that acted exactly like ‘them there Zoras’, the Zola of old in LoZ.

One thing can be said that it’s extremely likely that Zoras and Zolas are related, you’re not likely to find much of an argument for that. But consider that maybe they never existed together. The purpose of this article is to spin a yarn at exactly how to explain this. To begin, how did they go from our good friends in Ocarina of Time/Majora’s Mask/Twilight Princess to the bloodthirsty and murderous demonic looking fiends of, well, LoZ, ALTTP, and LA? Herein lies a lot of guess work.

In the Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, we do have the nice assurance that Rito are the result of Zora evolution. This theory can be taken as fact because of the Zora symbol that the Rito use as their own herald. Prince Komali wears a necklace that bears a likeness to the Zora Sapphire, in fact, this exact symbol is found in the Master Sword Chamber on Ruto’s stained glass window. Now a crest that was hidden in Hyrule Castle for all of those years and the surfacing of Rito and lack of Zoras; the only explanation is that the Rito would have had to been shown this symbol to use it as something sacrilegious.

The Zora were not allowed to touch the ocean, a fishless ocean as to not disturb the slumbering Hyrule. They lost their home to Hylian meddling, and like any evolution theory, just because the ‘pre’ exist, doesn’t mean it never happened.

The ocean must eventually wither away or Hyrule is centered to a different area, and the Hylians begin to prosper again, as do the other races, Zoras. Or perhaps, Zolas, out to get redemption for what the humans allowed to happen to their people; we must face the facts that with the two timelines, there has to be a ‘new Hyrule’ resurface, or the old to return to the light of day at some point. If that weren’t a possibility, then why have an entire set of games based off of ocean travel?

Now, grudges are quite fickle things, I’m sure you all have held them; I know I’m far from perfect when it comes to them. Consider how much of a blow it would be to the entire Zora people to have to change because of Hylian mistakes. I know that the moment they returned to see the sun above Hyrule, that chucking (up) magical rocks to annoy them with while playing ‘Mute Marco Polo’ would feel ever so sweet. A little side trip into a bit of discussion between Deku Lord and myself, (the beginning of a set you’ll see in the future.) the disappearance of the Zora and the tides of revenge giving birth to the Zolas. Well, now what of those Gorons?

 Written by Zeldaeinstein

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