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The Races and The
Great Flood Written by: The King of Hyrule Though not mentioned specifically
in any Zelda game this far, The Great Flood was one the largest changing
forces in the Zelda series. All of Hyrule was affected by the flooding,
races were forced to evolve, and people had to be relocated. During
the Great Flood, all of Hyrule was flooded, and many things were lost,
including some races. So what happened to those races? First, let
me give you a quick rundown of the events of the Great Flood. Ganondorf, after Twilight
Princess, survives and hides away and builds up his army until the
Hero of Hyrule died. He then launched an attack on Hyrule Castle.
The King of Hyrule, in deciding how to save his kingdom, ordered all
of the races of Hyrule to evacuate to the mountaintops. As the fighting
continued, the people of Hyrule made their way out of Hyrule. The
King of Hyrule then touched the Triforce and called on the gods to
flood the land of Hyrule. As the rain began to fall, Ganondorf abandoned
his army and followed the races to the mountaintops. The Dark Army
then broke through the ranks of Hylian soldiers and began to ravage
Hyrule Castle. Seeing this, the gods completely froze the kingdom
of Hyrule so that it could not be destroyed. The rain continued to
fall until all the land was covered, all except the mountaintops. Over time, civilizations
formed on the mountaintops, and the mountaintops became islands. The
memory of the world beneath the waves became nothing more than a mere
fairy tale to be lost in the folds of time. This is where The Wind
Waker comes in, taking place on those islands that were once the mountaintops
of Hyrule. But there is a problem. New races appeared after The Great
Flood. Where did these races come from? The simplest answer is to
say that the gods created more races after the flood. However, this
is very unlikely because races are missing from The Wind Waker that
existed before The Great Flood. Knowing this, the most obvious answer
is this: certain races evolved in order to survive the flood. Most all of the races survived
The Great Flood. The following is a list of the races that didn’t: - The Zoras - The Gorons - The Kokiri Now here is a list of the
new races that appear in The Wind Waker: - The Rito - The Korogs But wait, there are less
new races in The Wind Waker. Does that mean that a race was killed
off in the Flood? No. This is very important, so pay attention: there
is a land outside of the Hyrule we see in Ocarina of Time and Twilight
Princess. This is proven by what we see in the opening of the NES
Legend of Zelda game, in which Hyrule is described as a “world”
and a “kingdom.” The sea is more vast in The Wind Waker
than the game allows us to see, which is proven by the map in Phantom
Hourglass, the sequel to The Wind Waker. So what happened to the extra
race that disappeared from The Wind Waker? (By the way: that race
was the Gorons.) It is simple: the Gorons did evacuate Hyrule kingdom.
However, they managed to climb a different mountain that was further
away from the rest of the mountains of Hyrule. We know this because
the Gorons are present in Phantom Hourglass. (This also explains the
extra races in Phantom Hourglass – the Anouki and the Yetis/Yooks
because they always existed, but on the outside of the kingdom of
Hyrule, so they were unknown to us before. Besides the Anouki and
the Yetis/Yooks, this proof can be used to prove that the gods did
not keep creating races, but created them widespread.) So though the
Gorons were not in The Wind Waker, they did survive the Great Flood. Onto the other two races:
the Zoras and the Kokiri. Both races evolved into new forms because
of the Great Flood, so each missing race corresponds with a new race:
the Zoras to the Rito and the Kokiri to the Korogs. First, lets cover the Kokiri
race. It has been known since Ocarina of Time that the Kokiri forest
was a magical forest, and it is known that the Kokiri could not leave
the forest or they would die. So what was the Great Deku Tree supposed
to do to do when the King ordered the evacuation of Hyrule? The Great
Deku Tree did the only thing he could do: raised the borders of Kokiri
forest. He did this by growing new trees and extending those trees
high enough as to be above the water when Hyrule flooded. The trees
grew so dense that the forest was literally impenetrable, so thick
that it would even keep out the water of the coming flood. This is
proven by the very thick forestry surrounding the forest in The Wind
Waker. (Link must fly in using a Deku Leaf because there is no other
way to enter.) He then used branches, leaves, and other forest things
to make a solid ground for the Kokiri to live on. So the Kokiri never
had to leave the forest, but still survived the flood. So that explains how they
survived the Great Flood, but not when they evolved. They did not
evolve to survive, so to speak, but instead evolved to become more
like the forest. They could not grow old or die, and they were forced
to always live in the forest, so sometime in the 600 or so years from
the Great Flood to The Wind Waker, the Kokiri turned into the Korogs
simply because they were “becoming one” with the forest. Finally, the Zoras. Since
The Wind Waker’s release, people have gestimated that the Rito
were in some way related to the Zora, which is a very logical connection.
According to legend, the Zoras could only survive in fresh water,
which is what Zoras Fountain was. But the Great Sea, the result of
the Great Flood, was a salt-water sea. The Zoras were forced to evolve
because they would have been unable to survive otherwise. But they did not evolve
on their own. A large dragon-like bird had taken up residence in Death
Mountain that the Zoras scaled to survive the flood. The dragon’s
scales were found to produce wings on animals, so, overtime, a large
ritual was built around the dragon. When coming of age, the Zora child
would approach the dragon and take a scale. Over the next few weeks,
the Zora grew full-fledged wings. During the centuries between the
Great Flood and The Wind Waker, the Zoras evolved further on their
own, growing fur and other things to protect the Zoras in the sky.
The Zoras took up the responsibility of being the mail carriers of
the Great Sea. They took the name Rito in honor of their new job and
forms. However, the many years affected the Rito’s past, and
soon the remnants of the race ever being water-dwellers disappeared,
and the people forgot all about it. Overall, no races were
lost in the Great Flood, and every new race can be explained simply
by examining their past. Using this method, you can discover the origins
of most every race in Zelda. Many races evolved over time, producing
new looks and abilities, but all have common roots in the kingdom
of Hyrule. |
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