An extensive look at the Zora/Rito relationship
Yes, I have too much spare time on my hands
Hello, and welcome to this cluster of words pertaining to the oft-spoke theory that the Zora of
the Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time evolved into Rito in the time leading to the Legend
of Zelda: the Wind Waker. Prepare yourself.
Have you noticed that there are no Zora in Wind Waker? (Except the dead one, but she don't
count.) What? This nonsense makes no sense! The entire game takes place on the ocean, you'd think
that there'd be entirely more fishpeople! Well, here's my little compilage of evidence:
0I. The Great Sea.
Over the some-hundred years the country of Hyrule was submerged underwater, its inhabitants
suffered different fates.
Hylians, being adaptive peoples, moved to higher ground. I mean, come on, they're not
that stupid.
The Kokiri: a race made up entirely of children. What most people don't know is that they're
not just Hylian children under a spell or anything like that; they're the spirits of the forest
manifested into humanoid bodies. They just think they're children 'cause they're dumb. After
Hyrule's plunge (which will henceforth be called "the Flood" because it sounds kind of cool),
they changed shape to better suit their surroundings, and this is where we get Koroks[1]. Also,
the Great Deku Tree Sprout grew up.
Aww, big nose!
Gorons can't swim. They died.
Except for a traveling nomad or two...
And Zora, for some unnecessary reason, turned into Rito.
10. A reason.
Why would they do that? The whole continent is a giant ocean; why would fish need to evolve
into birds? I've looked for an obvious reason, but there isn't any. Some say that the Zora were a
river-dwelling species and couldn't adapt to ocean water, but we see ocean Zora in the Legend
of Zelda: Oracle of Ages and other games. Others suggest that too many predators invaded the
Zora's territory, and they took to the skies to survive. No way to tell, really, perhaps they were
just Natural Selection'd into wings.
So far, however, the likeliest theory would be some sort of divine intervention. After flooding
Hyrule, the three Golden Goddesses took away the Zora's ability to swim; had they not done that, it
wouldn't be hard for a Zora to stumble upon the castle and discover what was once Hyrule. This
leaves the Zora as some sort of land-dwelling, grappling hook-wielding creature[2], which eventually
recieved flight from Valoo.
Remember: Jabu Jabu had fled during Ganondorf's reign--it's possible that the Zora were already
out of the water by the time he came back as Jabun.
11. Anatomy and similarity.
Anyway, here's some evidence that points to the evolution:
The most notable similarity between the two species is the wings/fins. They can retract when not
needed and are very depended on. They begin to protrude at an angle slightly above the elbow, and
stop abruptly about halfway down the lower arm.
The Zora has a long cephalocaudal ("head-fin"; oh yeah, I'm bringing Latin into this) used to help
it swim, but after adapting to the sky it was most likely no longer needed and was reduced to a
small point. As you see on the facial construction, the Zora has a pointed beak-like nose, and the
Rito has a beak.
A miniscule addition is a long line directly above the eye in both
species, not quite an eyebrow. Possibly to streamline the face?
100. Ancestral lineage.
Now here's the most obvious piece of evidence, just take a gander at the respective Earth
and Wind sages:
It's no coincidence that the species chosen for sagelihood are as is.
Makar is a Korok, a descendant of the Kokiri. Fado is a Kokiri.
Medli is a Rito, a descendant of the Zora. Laruto is a Zora.
Laruto even calls Medli "One descended from the royal bloodline"[3] and
that's more or less proof that they're somehow related.
One thing that crossed my mind was that the Zora worshipped Jabu Jabu as their diety
and the Rito had Valoo. Jabu Jabu is sort of...a "representative" for Nayru, Goddess of Wisdom;
just as Valoo and the Great Deku Tree speak for Din and Farore. (As you have hopefully figured
out by now, the Zora have the Zora Sapphire and the Rito Din's Pearl.)
I have no idea, but this may have something to do with their change. Perhaps Jabu Jabu's absence
in Ocarina of Time forced the Zora to find a new slab of flesh to worship, and, upon finding
Valoo, changed their way of life?
Here's a more cameo-like discovery. Take a look at these ugly kids.
Medli's shirt thing and Komali's necklace have insignias of the Zora Sapphire. DUN DUN DUNN!
101. Things that just don't quite make sense.
A. Watarara.
Something that stood out in my mind was that the Rito could be descendants of the rare and
scarcely seen Watarara race, another bird-peoples who yearly travel thru Hyrule on a migrational
path.
They, too, have a ceremonial Coming-of-Age task they must perform in order for their wings to
grow in. This crams a Deku stick in the bicycle wheel of my theory, but if you take notice, the
two species have little in common: Watarara migrate while Rito and Zora don't. Watarara loose their
more human-like qualities once matured, and even so lack Rito-y anatomy. I assume the Watarara live
elsewhere on the Great Sea if they haven't died out or anything, but they are most likely not Rito.
(Most people don't even consider the Watarara people a canonical part of Hyrulian biology, since
they only appeared in the manga. I just wanted to get them out of the way.)
While we're at it, Fishman is not a Zora.
B. Postman problems.
Everyone knows about the dependable and slightly dense postman from the Legend of Zelda:
Majora's Mask. What everyone does not know is that Koboli, one of the Dragon Roost-stationed Rito
in WindWaker is his direct descendant.[4] Yes! It is true.
As you can see, Koboli inherited Postman's rather protrusionous nose and eyebrows, not to mention
his constant...er...stoic facial expression.
But wait! If Rito come from Zora, how can one be a descendant of a Hylian? Well, we already know
that Hylians have fairly recessive genes[5], so it's possible for inter-species occurences to happen
without stirring up the gene pool too harshly. Ruto, the Zora princess of Ocarina of Time,
openly admits her attraction to Link, suggesting that the mix of culture may not be looked down upon
(despite Link's horrified expression).
3. The Zora Coffee anomoly.
Surely you've noticed that Hyrule and the Great Sea are dotted with signs and inscriptions written
in the Hylian language. These are actually translatable, and they read into a Japanese text; once you
translate that into English (or find someone who actually knows Japanese to do it for you), you've
got a heap of eastereggs.
These are usually simplistic and unimportant little things: the schoolhouse has lines noting
"blue sky" and "white clouds" on its chalkboard, Dragon Roost Island has all sorts of labels for
things like "Mail Stamps" and "Postal Savings Exchange", and the inscription on Phantom Ganon's sword even
reads "Zubora Gabora", an interesting cameo--those were the names of the swordsmiths on Mount
Snowhead's summit in Majora's Mask.
Anywho, something that caught my attention was the menu in the Cafe Bar:
Lon Lon Milk -> 150
Deku Seed Cake -> 300
Zora Coffee -> 250
Another humorous cameo. (By the way, you can also see bottles of Lon Lon Milk on Carvlov's desk at
the Nintendo Gallery...but this is not Mystery Cameo Hour! Argh!) So anyway, there's also Deku
Seed Cake and Zora Coffee. There are apparently no Deku people left on the Great Sea, and Hylians
generally don't venture very close to the Forest Haven...but what's really odd is the Zora Coffee. I
mean, jeez, what's that made of? Zora are not a source of caffiene...
No, wait, that's not why it's odd. It's odd because there aren't any Zora, and people
shouldn't know they exist.
Or, more likely, it's just another cameo and I'm overanalyzing.
110. Citation.
[1] Proof of relationship between Kokiri and Koroks:
"These are the Koroks--the spirits of
the forest.
Once upon a time, long ago, the Koroks
took on human forms, but when they came
to live on the sea, they took these shapes.
Now they fear people...but to me, they will
ever be my cherished little children."
--Great Deku Tree, the WindWaker
[2] Proof of land-dwelling middle species between Zora and Rito:
"Here, Link!
Use this to get out of here!
It's what I used to get this far.
It's a device we Rito used before we
evolved wings."
(You got the Grappling Hook!
This was an item used by the
Rito people before they had wings.)
--Medli, the WindWaker
[3] Proof of blood descent between Laturo and Medli:
"You must find the one who carries on
my bloodline... The one who holds this
sacred instrument...
Nothing can stop the flow of time or the
passing of generations...but the fate carried
within my bloodline endures the ravages of
all the years. It survives."
--Laruto, the WindWaker
[4] Proof of blood descent between Postman and Koboli:
"Koboli
------
Birthplace: Windfall Island
Occupation: Mail sorter
Koboli is the third generation in a family
of postmen, but rumor has it that an
ancestor of his in an age gone by was also
a postman..."
--Koboli's figurine, the WindWaker
[5] Proof of recessive Hylian genes:
"They say that Gerudos sometimes
come to Hyrule Castle Town to
look for boyfriends."
--Gossip Stone, Ocarina of Time
Note: Since one male Gerudo is born every hundred years, the females must use Hylian men to
reproduce. Since Gerudo blood had run strongly and unchanged for hundreds of years, their genes must
have dominated over the less-potent Hylian genes.