top of page
Writer's pictureDawn Dagger

‘Zelda’ Theory: Why the Zoras Change to Birds in ‘The Wind Waker’

So, often a point of contention for The Legend of Zelda; The Wind Waker is the fact that the world is flooded and the Zoras, the fish people, turned into… uh… birds. I mean, if the entire world flooded, and they are fish people, you’d think they’d love the water! The rulers of the world! Not turn into bird mail carriers.


Thinking of this point of contention, I was considering all the possible reasons this could have happened. Why would fish people suddenly turn into birds when water is their habitat?

I will not get into the Evolution vs. Christianity debate because this is a video game, so we know evolution applies. Evolution is survival of the fittest, along with animals adapting and evolving to their changed habitat and surroundings.

The Water Itself

This first problem could be the entire reason. Sharks, fish, all kinds of water/sea creatures need specific types of water and special conditions. “Fresh water does not have enough salt concentration to satisfy the survival of salt water fish. Therefore, the fish’s hypertonic cells will become hypotonic which will not mix well with the body structure of salt water fish, and they will die. Osmosis helps even out the concentration inside and outside the fish’s body.” –Prezi presentation. That’s why a saltwater fish can’t survive in fresh water. What if that applies to the Zoras?

In Twilight Princess and Ocarina of Time we can see the Zoras’ habitats. They are always places with waterfalls and pools of water. We can assume they live in freshwater- these places are not like or near the ocean.

You could point out that in Majora’s Mask they lived in the ocean, but do realize that Majora’s Mask was sort of an alternate dimension, only furthering the point that they live in freshwater.

hqdefault
Zora's_Domain_(Twilight_Princess).png

What if the water in The Wind Waker is salt water? There would be no way that the Zoras would be able to survive. It would make a lot of sense if the Zoras evolved into something that would get away from the dangerous salt water; make sense to turn into birds and stay far away from the potentially deadly sea.

Pollution

Guys, the water flooded practically the entire world, right? What if the water became too polluted with the buildings and dead bodies? If the water was too crowded, the Zoras could not possibly survive. The fish they ate and fished could have died off due to the pollution, so they evolved into birds to get away from the pollution and to change their diets to survive.

Predators

What if other creatures evolved? The water flooded the world. Many of the original land animals could have evolved to the water, like the Big Octos The Zoras would have trouble surviving all the new predators. The calm, quiet, fish side of them would kick into the flight (hehe, ‘flight’) side of ‘fight or flight’, and evolve into something that could get away from the danger.

Too Much Activity on the Sea

We can see in any games with Zoras that they are calm, gentle souls. Too much activity and excitement on the seas could have scared them off, causing their evolution.

Therefore! All of the plot gaps due to these fish-birds can be explained!

Did I leave anything out? Are there any gaps I missed? Did you enjoy? Make sure you comment and watch for more!

0 views0 comments

Comments


bottom of page