Maybe it really WAS supposed to be "The Legend of Groose." 🤔 That boy can BUILD!

The Gorons not knowing about it doesn't mean that they didn't once live there, all the humans on Skyloft don't know about how their ancestors lived on the surface, save a select few. The fight against Demise obviously took a huge toll on everyone involved so it could be that those who knew the details of things like that died in the war, Hylia herself died/gave up her immortal form so assuming that mortal Gorons or Mogmas died and left young descendants without the knowledge of their predecessors isn't that much of a stretch.

The three-eyed statues with the very long ears sure hint at the Zonai having at least been there.

Not only do Gorons love the heat, they can also walk through lava.

Bringing the Zonai into this is so much fun. I love how you retrospectively mix them into the lore of the other games. Videos like this give me so much more appreciation for Skyward Sword since I hadn't even fully realized the significance of those walls in Faron for example. Never made the connection to ruins from the time before Skyloft was created.

One thing I love about Skyward Sword is that, although it goes to a mythical 'time before our time' and tells us the genesis of Hyrule and the legend of Zelda, it still places us in a very ancient world full of decaying ruins, long lost civilizations and unreliable legends of which, following the tradition of the series, we are told between very little and nothing: there are more questions than answers in this game and I wouldn't want it any other way

Holy crap, this is my first time seeing footage of Skyward Sword HD and it looks SOOOOO MUCH BETTER. I still remember playing Skyward on the Wii and feeling like there was vaseline over the screen.

Z o n a i ✨ The North Lomei Labyrinth is associated with the “ruler of owls,” and it lies between Eldin and Hebra-names both associated with “Death Mountain” in the past. Could be…

I like the Zonai theory, but allow me to propose the underground race: Subrosians from Oracle of Seasons (theory Idea: who may be the race of the Garo from Majora's Mask). They bathe in lava pools as if they are hot springs, so they can survive the heat, so it's possible. My evidence for it: not much, I just like the Oracle duology. 😁

Really great video! It definitely seems like there was a Zonai presence on Eldin Volcano. But have you considered that the Earth Temple (and associated structures) is from a different culture than that which constructed the Fire Sanctuary? The two temples are architecturally very dissimilar. The reason I say that is because I would posture the Earth Temple as being heavily related to the Zonai, due to the consistent dragon motif and the Zonai’s tendency to construct sites around sacred springs, as we see in BotW/TotK. While the sanctuary seems more associated with ancient Hylians, as it contains Din’s Flame and the walls of its sanctum depict the Gate of Time. However, those are great points about the leap of faith and the owl motif. The Fire Sanctuary could have been cross-cultural- both Hylians and Zonai constructed and inhabited it, maybe in some form of religious collaboration.

I believe the zonai of the bird and owl where very close, but those who worshiped the board seem to likely be banished or wiped out at some point, since at some point the zonai seemed to have stoped worshiping the board due to the boar statues being especially pretty deteriorated far more than the other statues very few in numbers

This video making me skyward sword nostalgic

Great theory! I’d side with the Zonai, especially with the leap of faith. That platform always really stuck out to me in my SS play through. The gorons have a similar feeling to me in SS as in WW - they just seem a little lost!

Definitely not Zonai. Either a unique race that died out, or a kingdom of humans that had unusual magic. Most likely the inhabitants of that area also wore the earrings. Who else would possibly need them???

A great video, however the Zonai connection only works if you are sided with pre timeline Zonai as opposed to post timeline Zonai.

Great video! One thing that's a little weird about the zonai is where they are in all the games. That's one thing thats rough about introducing a new species at the very end of the timeline.

@Gossip: Good evening. I think it's a combination of the *Zoni,* *Gorons,* and also the *Mogma* that all lived there. Some of these races aren't *around* anymore, so we just don't have a clue as to what happened. Maybe how the *Mogma* became extinct had something to do with the *Fire Sanctuary* or even *Eldin* itself... I just really *ENJOY* how you do these new kinds of *THEORIES* and are really *excited* about the next topic!!! Till next time... ~ JonseyG 👲💖

As much as I would jump at any strong evidence to link the Zonai to Skyward Sword, this one feels like too much of a stretch. If the construction of the location resembled more of that we see of them, I would agree it could be them. Unfortunately, there is much of the ancient past, even the present, of Skyward Sword that ought to be somewhat visible in BotW & TotK. If we are to believe that the Skyview Temple is the Spring of Power, then it seems like there should be a lot more of Skyward Sword around still these new games. I wish that Gorondia shared some similarities with this location in SS. I raised a similar question to what you are asking a few months ago when I investigated the Eldin Region regarding the name of Eldin (Ordra in Japanese). If there was even a little big of a connection, I would have jumped at it, but I came up empty handed.

I've been replaying SS and I swear it is so Zonai coded lol. I love trying to fit older games into what we now know. That's how Legends work after all, they change when you learn new information!

I don't think the Zonai lived in skyward swords past however they may have originated from it maybe if the imprisoned destroyed the gate of time

I mean, it's obviously Tingle, maybe with some help from Beedle.

Great video! I love your explanation style, very to the point and laying out evidence. I’d definitely be willing to insert Zonai into unsolved puzzles in Zelda games. I agree with your analysis that the builders of the temple were likely not Hylians, Gorons, or Mogma. It’s unclear whether the Zonai originate from the sky or if they ever spent time on the surface before Rauru’s time. I tend to assume they arrived later because there are 3 other sky civilizations we see before the Zonai descend. Do you have a thought of where the fire temple zonai would be if not in the sky next to the Hylians of Skyloft? Are they in the primordial depths or a different universe? That’s the biggest sticking point for this theory to me.

I want to say Zonai, but I have this sense that what is called "Zonai" isn't a single race at all. With the name related to "mysterious" any people not native to Hyrule because the gods put them there directly should earn them the moniker. That said, if we both take the owl iconography to connect them to the outer gods from TotK along with (more speculatively) the name "Ruaru" through Kaepora Gaebora, then the kind we see in TotK would be the best fit.

Maybe it was Hylians that lived or partially resided in that area, but they were granted special gear to keep them protected from the extreme heat, such as the ear rings. The ear rings exist for the sole reason to keep another being protected from heat, and while perhaps they are the only pair that exist solely to assist the hero (Link), it's possible more exist(ed).

One of my best friends died recently and the only real *JOY* that I've been able to get since then has been your videos so I wanted to make sure that you got a huge *Thank You* for helping me to *COPE* with the loss... Please keep up the *Awesome* work and I'm *REALLY* looking forward to your next video!!! ~ JonseyG 👲💖

The Zonai have the unique position of having features that are drawn from several forms of Buddhism. Their Third Eye, Chinese influence, symbology tied the to the Lotus (especially the White Lotus), access to what I call "Natural Force" (power that seems to come from zen as the Shiekah Monks release it during death) and ties to heavenly transformation. This places them in a unique position seeing as buddhist themes are always destined to pop up throughout the Legend of Zelda. Their race as a whole (or at least magic) definitely seems to have had an effect in "The Era Before". Whether it be giving the Hylians their characteristic ears, powering machines with no other discernible power source, or deeply resembling the powers of the Twili, it seems that they too had a role to play. For some reason I don't think that they neccesarily took on the appearance they have now, but likely were one of the first to successfully colonize Hyrule at the start of The Current Era due to their inherit powers as quasi-boddhis. Twilight Princess did say that a race closer to the Gods had predated Hylians in cultivating Hyrule, so perhaps the conflict that arose from "powerful magic wielders" attempting to claim Hyrule as theirs arose from this. That would give credit to the idea that the Zonai are somehow the ancestors of the Twili.

I’m personally curious if these were built by a still unknown species, perhaps the ancestors of the Zonai? I mean, the Gerudo race at this point in time did not exist yet and both species of Zora did not exist either, though, in both instances their predecessors do. I don’t think it’s unlikely that Nintendo could create some retroactive continuity in which this temple was made by Zonai (the three-eyed, long-eared effigies do seem superficially similar) or the ancestors of the Zonai. My personal hypothesis is that this temple was built by the ancestors of the “modern” Zonai, given that so many Zonai structures are subterranean and rely on a unique form of magic powered by Zonaite.Alternatively, the Zonai could be related to the Mogma and/or the Gorya races, just based on their physiology and the possibility that they just developed their technology independently. It’s quite hard to say

I like your idea that the Zonai lived there since they are both known for living above the ground as well as having a lot of activity below.

I just got this video in my recommended and the only reason I clicked to it was to find out what the video was about because there is nothing telling you that it is a zelda video in neither title not thumbnail.

It seems to be like all the ruins part of a Pre Hylia civilization. As in the goddess not the people. And i mean all of the ruins since Proto Hyrule had robots, time travel, and a gate to Buddhist hell itself. Also the Shiekah were the ones who guarded the gate of time.

What about the subrosian

My heart says that Zonai inhabited that place

I would argue the fire temple from skyward sword is probably same as tears of the kingdom both being the ancient city gorondia

What if it's the Subrosian from Oracle of Seasons? They're kinda owl-like.

Unfortunately, the dev team went out of their way to show the Zonai are not part of any previous timeline and they only appear in this new "merged" timeline. BotW and TotK take place so far after everything else that their stories are more or less self contained. The Hyrule they founded is different from the one in Skyward Sword. My headcanon is that they are the descendants of the Ooccoo, their curse reversed. Living in the sky through magic instead of technology

Its obviously zonai. Long white ears, 3 eyes. Cmon ffs

nooooo not the zonai! 😩

Yo

The moment I heard "zonai", my eyes went rolling

3rd i think

Ain't no fucking way you're running this game and getting your capture on a switch how in the fuck are you getting like 120fps

i think you're a bit quick to dismiss the gorons. just because they haven't kept a record of their civilization's past doesn't mean it can't be theirs.

I hate the zonai. It’s annoying to pronounce just as it sounds silly. They are somehow founders of hyrule, yet there are only two in totk? The statues in the depths clearly shows that zonai did something there and if that’s a past hyrule then I am willing to agree that they founded that part of hyrule, but anything else? Naw. However if people enjoy the idea of zonai, then I’m happy for you. I don’t personally want anything to do with the zonai in the future games, but as this is the the most likely case I’m atleast happy for the people who like the zonai.

I refuse to consider TotK canon.

I just got this video in my recommended and the only reason I clicked to it was to find out what the video was about because there is nothing telling you that it is a zelda video in neither title not thumbnail.

I just got this video in my recommended and the only reason I clicked to it was to find out what the video was about because there is nothing telling you that it is a zelda video in neither title not thumbnail.