About the thumbnail: There are comments about the old thumbnail, which may cause confusion. It used to show some of the aspect when worn by Link, but I changed it to just the armor piece in the menu. I made and pinned a comment addressing the original one, but have since deleted it and will replace it with this. (changed 6/26/23)

The hero doesn't have to be "the" Link though. Windwaker Link, of course, was just named Link, he was really just some random, albeit very brave, kid.

I think an important thing to note about the appearance of the Zonai is that we literally only have a sample size of *two individuals* aside from the aspect of the hero, and those two individuals are siblings, so they’re bound to look similar to each other.

You know, I don't think the ancient hero is Zonai in origin. Down in the depths, there are these chains of statues that if you follow them, guide you to the major mines and Zonaite foundries found below each major settlement. Each statue chain accurately depicts each race found in the region above. However, the guiding chain in central Hyrule do not at all look like Hylians, or Zonai. What they do look like however, is the ancient hero

My favourite theory I've heard is that there were two types of zonai people, those who went to the sky, and those who lived within the faron region. In the game the ruins around thyphlo and the faron rainforest are referred to as older than the sky ruins. I think that the ancient hero may be a part of the zonai that stayed on the surface or from before they left the surface when they still had more animalistic features.

I think a lot of people are missing a much less complicated explanation here: Nintendo made this mural for BOTW depicting characters in an "ancient" art style for contextual reasons, all the fans said in one voice "That's not a traditional Link, it looks more like a Gerudo male" and so Nintendo said "Oh crap, better squash that theory for good by creating this species no one's ever heard of"

THEORY: The Zonai King Rauru had a third eye. The sheikah later took this idea of a third eye and incorporated it as a symbol in all their designs including the tears drop. In BOTW the tear drops of the of the sheikah devices transferred data / information into the sheikah slate. In TOTK the tears drops (of the dragon) transferred memories.

I find it interesting that even though he is clearly Zonai in ancestry on some level, he lacks the dragon-like scales that Rauru has. Granted, Mineru seems to have no visible scales either.. but I think it does show that there can/will be a lot of variation within the species as a whole? I do question now if Rauru and Mineru's hair color hasn't changed due to age, whether or not any specific hair color is actually associated with Zonai. But this Ancient Hero definitely has to have some sort of Hylian blood in him. Definitely has skin, not signs of fur like Rauru and Mineru's ears (perhaps the only fur they have, I think they have skin otherwise). Also missing the burdened third eye.

It would've been amazing if the ancient hero's aspect allowed for all the sages to use their respective helmets. Personally would've really loved that since only having one at a time is honestly quite a bummer and not so significant

The thing that baffles me most is how he was alive 10,000 years ago, far after Rauru and Mineru's time, and they were seemingly the last two Zonai to exist. His skin and hair color almost remind me of Ganondorf, so maybe he is a male gerudo? But then why the zonai shaped face? I really hope we get some dlc that explains it

I wondered if it was a child of Sonia and Rauru . Was just thinking about the Calamity Tapestry and if it was something we’d actually seen in BotW or TotK

One idea I have is that they might be related to whatever those unknown figures seen in the depths are. They seem to vaguely resemble them, and the statues probably aren’t completely accurate since the Zora, Rito and Goron statues found in the depths look bizarre and almost unnerving, almost reminiscent of something out of Majora’s Mask or Twilight Princess I hope they answer all these burning questions in the DLC, I’m worried they’ll be vague or still leave loose ends if we even get one, but it’s at least helped knowing that BOTW did have a scrapped DLC that became TOTK so it’s likely that whatever DLC we get will be more thorough considering many of the loose ends in BOTW probably would’ve been tied off.

Also the waistguard is a representation of the 3 animals tied to the different aspects of the triforce that the Zonai seem to use. Owl, Dragon and Boar

I have a bunch of theories. One thing I noticed just today comes from two odd details that could connect to something greater. So firstly, the only “emitter” Zonai device that isn’t based on one of the dragons is the beam emitter, which is a unicorn. Similarly, in BOTW, the 5th divine beast, the Master Cycle Zero, is a unicorn, and doesn’t have a sage representing them, nor a helm. These seemed like weird little pieces on their own, but then I realized, there’s a somewhat horse-like creature that’s said to be related to an ancient sage and has vaguely Zonai-like patterns covering its body, and that is one of the few things depicted by the ancient Sheikah in the ancient observatory, of course being the Satori. So, maybe there’ll be some backstory on the Satori in the future. Like, maybe, similarly to how the divine beasts seemingly came from the sages’ masks, the master cycle was based on the mask of the original form of the Satori.

I feel like not a lot of theorists have been seeing connections to Twilight Princess in TOTK, so I loved this video! I thought it was a great connection to make and it really makes sense. Keep it up! I'd love to see more videos like this!

My theory is he is the secret child of Rauru and Sonia, or that child's descendant, and also an unconnected hero who stumbled into his role much like Wind Waker Link did. A regular Hylian with Zonai blood who comes out of hiding to take up arms against a calamity in the absence of a "true" Link. I would LOVE to play a game that explores his story, and just the First Calamity and the ancient Sheikah in general.

I'm EXTREMELY cautious to say he's the decendent of any sort of Zonai. I recognize he's wearing Zonai armor, but so do Hylians of that time. The biggest denouncers of him being a Zonai are the digitigrade legs, the lion-like big cat eyes and tail, the pointed ears instead of rabbit-like ears, and the lack of a third eye or eardrop marking over his nose. I'll admit Rauru and Mineru could be hinding a tail under their long gowns, but their legs are plantigrade as hell. The red hair is also quite odd but I'm not going to rule out other Zonai having it, but even then I noticed neither Mineru or Rauru have eyebrows. My best guess is that this is a hybrid of multiple races or more likely a brand new race we've never seen before. I'd expect like how BotW had a few clues to the existence of Zonai, this is our clue towards something coming next game (if there is a next game). I really do like the idea that this is related to the Barbarian tribe from Faron though!

it supposed to be Rauru and Mineru to be the last kind of the Zonnai, but, the farone region Zonai are depicted as older than the king Rauru... so peobably, the Ancient hero is from that tribe of zonai and went kinda "forgotten" qhen Rauru and Sonnia created hyrule... the ancient hero is also mentioned as the 8th heroine in gerudo, since they couldnt accept a man to be the hero

Really hoping DLC will elaborate on the ancient hero.

I can’t wait for the DLC to come out and explain all of this.

I feel like the tail may just be a result of the dragon-like genes of the Zonai causing a mutation when mixed with hyrulian. Maybe that answer is too convenient, but it makes sense to me at least.... The Zonai were "Descended from the gods" and with the three elemental dragons being named after gods as well, there may be a generation of Zonai who were somehow created BY the dragons. Another RANDOM curiosity of mine, is if the miner set has ANY significance... since it has Zonai green stones and a long mask.

He might be the son of rauru and soina

Oml i didnt even notice how little attention this video has. Keep this up! I never caught on that the Zonaite armor was worn by the Ancient Hero, and that's certainly one hell of a hidden detail! Hehehe

I think the Hero was Zonai and Gerudo. The Red hair, of such intensity is only seen in that shade (in all works relating to totk) to The Gerudo. He also has a high hairline, and an ornament which we also only see in that style with the Gerudo, it looks very similar to Urbosa's and particularly Ganondorf's in placement and style. And we do know Zonai can have children with Hylians as Zelda has a blood connection to both Rauru and Sonia, however we don't see their child directly. Did they look more Hylian or Zonai or did that diminish over time. The Hero has many zonai-like traits, but he also doesn't look Fully like Rauru or Mineru. His ears are smaller, more pointed, his mouth is small, but he has a snout. and he lacks a third eye. His hoop earrings are also reminiscient of other Gerudo in style. Which has interesting implications for how the Gerudo used to relate to the Zonai people and to ancient Hyrule. Maybe this was another technically Gerudo male after Ganondorf. Who knows, but I definitely think that's what they were going for

This is your first Zelda theory video?! What a great start! You've earned a sub!

This is my theory So I realised the hair and markings of the ancient hero is very similar to the barbarian armour which we know is armor worn by Zonai in the Faron region, but we never see it as a part of zonai clothing, maybe there was a split between the Zonai species and one tribe lived in the sky, the other tribe lived in the Faron region where they would qorship Farosh, the lighting dragon, and made dragon sculptures around the region, and maybe the different enviroment from the sky islands evolved the zonai to get red hair and have body changes, it is probably where the hero was born into. it is similar to the shiekah split, the Yiga clan was originally normal sheikah, then they split making the yiga clan, a clan that worshipped an entity (Calamity Ganon, soon the Demon King) like how the Faron Zonai worshipped Farosh, also I would like to add the reason the ancient hero was chosen to wield the master sword is probably because the Faron Zonai was a barbaric tribe and was very good in their skill in fighting, which is probably why the barbarian armor gives attack up, so the ancient hero would be the only skilled enough person to wield the sword

I just wanted to say that this is by FAR the most detail-oriented, evidence-based, extensive, in-depth video essay on the Ancient Hero, and I super duper appreciate you for taking the time to put all this together. Truly, you have more receipts than all the other Ancient Hero videos combined (I know, I've checked). It feels greedy to hope for future information on this character, but also, like, there is SO much, and why do all that if not to use them? Much love, hope you get proven right someday

Bro, you have great editing and story telling, you just earned a new subscriber, and supporter. Great job!

Honestly the idea of the spirit of the hero passing on into different species is a really cool idea to explore, while Zelda does effectively always need to link to the royal blood line (goddesses blood), link can be a different species… now I want a game where link is a goron from the beginning or a zora, rito, even a korok

Very well done!

Thank you for sharing your thoughts on this. I am really surprised that the Ancient Hero's Aspect isn't being talked about all that much. I like that you focused more on the aspect itself than the possible lineage. Great video! Thanks and blessings!

I like to think Fi was confused as hell to see one and seemingly only one person look so drastically from all her other wielders

6:44 I just noticed another difference between Zelda's and Sonia's dresses: while both have the own/dragon/boar motif that seems to be so common in Zonai clothing, Zelda's is dragon-owl-boar while Sonia's is boar-owl-dragon. I can't help wondering if this has some kind of meaning.

Great video! At first guess, I think that the Hero's Aspect is basically a warrior born of Gerudo and Zonai parents. There have been theories that the Gerudo are essentially a form of Hylian, but the hair is really the only reason they'd come up. Ever since people saw the BotW tapestry and saw the red hair, it's been a question. The Zonai part seems to be the only twist. Twili certainly don't have those facial features.

Fantastic analytical video! And the memes were highlights as well! Would love to see more!

First time seeing one of your videos, amazing editing, narration, and narrative! loved the ending with a happy tone haha

my mind wants this to be the hylias first chosen hero so bad because of how unique he is. the only way I can make sense of it is if he was sent forward in time during the battle between demise and hylia.

You know, they did get rid of the Wolf you could get with twilight princess amiibos, perhaps that's because the twilight realm will have a place in the DLC, and it wouldn't make sense to find wolf link before then.

I really like the idea of the Zonai gear being that time's Champion garb. I didn't even notice the sages of the past each wore a champion cloth, nice catch! Love this armor set. It's fun to think about!

I love everything you said in this video and am excited to see more. Keep up the great work!

Given that the armor is referred to as an "aspect", and looks animalistic in nature, my theory is that the ancient hero was the ruler of some type of animal; likely wolves given that Link has a history of having a connection with wolves, which like dogs, are notable for loyalty and courage which are two of Links defining traits. When you do the labyrinth prophecies, they are given to you by the "ruler of boars", "ruler of owls", and the "ruler of dragons", which likely are ancestors of Ganon, Rauru/Mineru, and Sonia/Zelda respectively. So it's possible that ancient tribes, clans, families etc, had strong connections with animals and their symbolism much like history in real life. Why the red hair, though? Maybe the red in his hair and the blue in his eyes represents his connection with the royal family, or perhaps its a reference to the goddesses and the Triforce; red hair, blue eyes, green skin. There is no Triforce in BoTW/ToTK so maybe the power of the goddesses manifests itself through these aspects and grants a person power and an appearance dependent on their inner nature, much like Secret Stones. Link, and his ancient hero ancestor, would take on a canine like appearance due to their loyalty and courage. This is not new information, due to the power of the Triforce and Goddesses repeatedly transforming Ganondorf into a boar-like beast. And the Rauru from OoT takes on an owl form, Mineru wears a mask with an owls face, and Raurus zonaite chest armor looks like an owl. The reason I think the ruler of dragons is an ancestor of Sonia/Zelda is due to the fact that they have relation or equal status to Rauru/Ganon and the fact that dragons (not corrupted by Ganon) are always protectors of the realm and servants of the goddesses which the royal family are literally both. There's also the fact that when King Rhoam transforms into the King of Red Lions in Wind Waker, his appearance is actually dragon like, so the royal family lineage definitely has some connection to dragons. Zelda would inherit the nature of owls and dragons from Rauru and Sonia, represented by her wisdom and her desire to defend the land of Hyrule no matter the cost. This may also be why Rauru has slight characteristics (small horns, the mane, and the ears) of Dragons while Mineru does not; his secret stone likely recognized his nature to serve the land and being a ruler of the Hyrule kingdom. Naydra, Farosh, and Dinraal are female, were likely Zonai given their armor sets, yet share no physical similarities to Mineru and in fact share many with Rauru - likely telling us that his physical traits are not of the Zonai and are probably the effects of his secret stone much like how Ganondorfs makes him demonic.

"Spoiler warning" Then proceeds to make the thumbnail pretty much the spoiler

Really cool vid It brings me peace to see such solid timeline theories discussed I’ve been scratching my head since the ending trying to figure all of this out

Very good video! Nice to see someone actually tackle this question, also just stumbled upon this account and I really appreciate you putting the music in the corner of the video, well done!

Good job! Unique from other theories on this topic.

the child of Rauru and Sonia would have to be the royal lineage so they’re bloodline only reaches as far as a zelda. The ancient hero is depicted in a tapestry depicting calamity ganon, meaning it would have to have been far after the imprisoning war. The ancient hero also seems to not have any real zonai traits out of zonai markings and zonai gear. having red hair, a tail and paw-like feet, it’s possible that zonai armor and zonai technology simply stayed around after the deaths of the last two zonai. eventually assimilating into shiekah technology and culture, which is why the masks correlate with the ancient zonai masks. Meaning by all accounts this link lived within a culture of zonai technology and tradition but wasn’t zonai themselves.

Amazing video!! I have subscribed and I really look forward to watching more of your content!!

this is absolutely fascinating!!!! i've been desperately looking for tears of the kingdom theory videos that didn't state the obvious, and this video blew my mind literally every minute! your eye for detail is so impressive, thank u for making this video!

my headcanon is that he's the child of ganondorf and a zonai, and for some reason or another the heros aspect was born and orphaned, taken into the care of the ancient hylians, thus becoming like them with the shared markings, over time proving his loyalty and ascending to the ranks of knight and then the hero of that era

These are the possibilities of who the ancient hero is related to and the races it could be: - Rauru and Sonia - Mineru and somebody else? (You mentioned how wearing that battery outfit affected mineru and that it has the same defense as the ancient hero aspect) - Ganondorf’s son or a new Gerudo male - a mix of races including a new one (hence the tail. We don’t see Rauru or Mineru have one) I just pray that DLC can answer these questions and the name of the hero and if not dlc, then maybe a sequel to tears of the kingdom

Really liked the video! Good shit, look forward to more videos :D

I loved this video so much!!!! This channel deserves to be way bigger than it is!!!! Please make more Zelda content, this theory was really well put together :D

If the Ancient Hero was a descendant of Rauru and Sonia, then it would make sense that the Ancient Hero would look like a mix of both Zonai and Hylian. It would also make sense if the Ancient Hero's Zonai traits were to become a bit "diluted" over however many generations it took for Calamity Ganon to finally emerge from Ganondorf's slowly oozing gloom (that eventually cooled and coagulated into malice). There's no indication that the Ancient Hero's name would also be Link, but it does stand to reason that the Ancient Hero would posses the Spirit of the Hero (with respect to Demise's curse). It's possible that the Ancient Hero's Aspect may also hint to some future DLC for TotK, but only time will tell...

Rauru was married to a Hylian… who’s to say they didn’t have children and Link is descended from the Zonai by blood. Since they were god-like (according to Ganondorf) maybe that is how a regular, non royal family Hylian is able to wield the triforce with such regularity. It would make since. Ganondorf is Gerudo king, Zelda is royalty, and Link has some Zonai blood.

You’re underrated, and this is a great and entertaining video. Also very interesting.

Excellent video. Good attention to detail pointing out all the differences in the adronements... Inlove how much attention to detail the developers put in games like this. Its teuly special!

Sonja's coloring of her clothes are identical to the deep royal blue and rich reds and browns of the royal guards uniform. Just wanted to point that out.

The reason why the Ancient hero is a Zonai-Hylian mix, is because of the royal family being of Zonai origin, as we can see with Rauru and Sonia being King and Queen, meaning they had children to carry on the bloodline.

I would never have even considered the way the outfit and markings denoted status, fantastic video and glad I watched it :D

Really fun and well explained theory!! Keep it up! It's nice to have new voices to the Zelda theory KZfaq landscape

Could it be Hylia's Chosen Hero who fought Demise before the events of Skyward Sword?

This was an incredible theory which should have way more attention. Instant sub

This video is great NGL. I’ve been wondering about this since I saw the armor

You have done your research really well, keep up the good work

Real nice video man, was pretty concise and flowed real good

Nice Video! Thank you for looking at all the details and laying them out for us :) please more!

great ideas! i actually hadnt noticed some of the cool details you pointed out. thanks for the video!

Very well put together video! Not sure I agree with all your conclusions, but you definitely pointed out things I hadn't known before!

I thought you did a great job, nice voice for the commentary. Keep up the good work.

Amazing editing and nice video

First off, brilliant choice for music, for all the stages of your narration. Very very well written discussion. Do keep it up and do more of these! Very nice. 🤗

for your first zelda theory video, i think you did a very good job👍

Nice to see someone finally theorizing about the ancient armour. Great video earned yourself a subscribe keep it up!

This is easily one of the best theory videos that I have seen keep up the work

Good job blowing up with this video!

Bro this shit rocked I love finding new channels like this

Love this! It’s so good that I’m subbing!

Love the video, cant wait to see more

congrats on all the views and subs!

Been wondering about this for a bit, nice video.

That's a really interesting theory. Considering the icon of the Ancient Hero's Aspect in the menu is a depiction of an owl, dragon, and boar, which also are what is draped in front of the waist guard, that makes me wonder if he is supposed to be some kind of amalgam. Zelda lore has taught us that those animals are aligned with the virtues of the Triforce, so for them to be combined into one is probably a clue that this ancient hero was either a combination of the different races of Hyrule or something similar.

this was a really good video for your first theory

New Zelda Theory KZfaqr Unlocked! Great stuff, I'll hit that subscribe button and I look forward to more.

I think the Aspect could be hinting towards either ideas the team has for future dlc, or maybe even a future game. I really like the connection to the Faroni Zonai! You could even spin it to be that the Zonai like Rauru interacted primarily with Hylians, but these Zonai spent more time with the Gerudo. That makes the placement of them in Faron a bit weird since that's a good deal away from Gerudo Desert, but I'm sure that could be explained. And I always appreciate a theory that incorporates the Twili. I want more of them in the main series so bad

Great stuff! Love the analysis!

I had a very similar theory, I’m glad someone else had it too! I think the ancient hero is a hybrid of Hylian and Zonai with the spirit of the hero.

I love your style! Very good work

nice, i approve heh good job making the script (i really liked the video)!!

Very clear voice & nice video :) subed & liked 👍

Great vid. Love all the details you noticed.

Great video! Thank you for making this!

This video is beautiful and brilliant. Thank you.

Really great video pointed out alot of interesting and neat facts i hope we learn more about this guy in the dlc and especially his relationship with the sheikah

great video, keep up the good work

This is a underrated Channel

I find it interesting that the ancient hero seems to be a fusion between Ganondorf / beast Ganon and an ancient Hylian era hero. It could be an allusion to the merging of the timelines? Regardless, I have a feeling there will be future DLC exploring the 3 dragons, and hopefully they’ll explore this ancient hero a bit more too. Congrats on your first Zelda theory video! It was great!

I loved this video, keep it up!!

I always wondered the lore and stuff about this gear. Thanks!

Great theory and video!

One thing to note is that the inventory icon and the weird front piece on the two sets seems to depict a dragon, owl, and boar, which are the three animals that the labyrinth spirits are the rulers of.