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I love how the world got flooded and the *fish* people were like “shit what do we do” (Guys I know why they did it okay I just find it very funny)

I remember when my goldfish turned into a pigeon

I've always figured that the zora were actually forced into the form of the rito by the goddesses to protect them from Ganondorf, if he had the Zora he could just enslave them and have them search the ocean floor for Hyrule

Have you noticed that the Rito in Wind Waker live on a volcano, and the Rito in Breath of the Wild live in the Hebra mountains? In other words, the Rito without feathers live in a hot climate, and the Rito with feathers live in a cold climate.

I think it’s honestly just one of those moments when they wanted to update the designs but didn’t know how to implement the change, story wise. Any which way, I really like the botw style.

When he said “flooded Hyrule”, it started raining... Hylia help me.

Deku Tree: You Kokiri are gonna be Korok. Jabun: You Zora are gonna be Rito. Valoo: You Goron are gonna be food. Goron: nani Valoo: My dad was Volvagia.

2:11 “I’ll do you one better...WHEN is the Rito?” -Drax

Quick note: bird legs that seem to bend "backwards at the knee" is a misnomer because that is the bird's ankle. That long part that looks to be the bird's calf, is just a long foot. The bird's knee is right up under their belly and bends correctly so to speak.

I always thought the reason the Zora evolved into the Rito was because "the gods" saw that if they flooded the land, the Zora would surly over run the other races of the Great Sea, due to their high maneuverability in water. The the gods had them evolve overtime as to keep everything balanced. I could be wrong though.

Whenever I see people discussing this, no-one brings up the Fokka from Zelda 2. They are shown and described as bird warriors and in both their book art and their 8bit sprites resemble humanoids with bird heads and bird legs but no wings.. Perhaps the Fokka isn't the name of their species, just the name of their military group (being guards of the final temple) Maybe they are the non-Zora-turned Rito that exist, maybe coming from Loftwings. And they eventually grow usable wings. Proving that all 3 timelines have Rito (or at least bird people)

Valoo does actually have a connection to ocarina of time-Another red dragon starting with V that lives on death mountain? VOLVAGIA! Valoo clearly became their protector after they moved to the peak of death mountain

"Depicts what appears to be the hind legs of an animal, with a bend that's opposite to knee of a human. _Unless_ the Rito walk on their tip-toes, meaning that this entire part is the foot. Other artwork from the remake and Hyrule Warriors implied that this is indeed the case." Um, that's exactly what almost ALL animal legs are. None ACTUALLY bend the opposite way, they're all just differently proportioned. Most walk on their toes and have longer feet, which makes it look as if their "knees" bend the opposite way when it's actually their ankles.

I was today years old when I found out that there's a Gillian in the Zelda universe

The Zora, a tribe of Fish-People, evolved into the Rito, a race of Bird-People, in order to survive a great flood. This makes _total_ sense. Edit: Relax everyone. This is only a joke.

Haven't we always had two tribes of zora? Don't remember where it was stated but you have the River Zora and the Sea(Oceanic) Zora which have served Ganon as antagonists in multiple games. The Ocean Zora are also more monsterous looking and primal, like the Zora Warrior from the guidebook.

Hold on a second, the carvings in twilight princess look nothing like the rito in BOTW, they look like Wind Walker rito, they’ve got beaks for noses and u can clearly see a human mouth underneath!

hyrule: floods zora, who thrive on water and could benefit greatly: NA FAM WE FLYIN

5:52 - thats not - “backwards knee”, its a hock, that entire length is the foot, in both WW and BOTW the Rito stand with only their toes making contact with the ground, as do actual birds, the BOTW design just makes it more obvious. Anyway, the WW/BOTW Rito differences are just art style changes.

8:40 Hmm, Hyrule Historia mentions on page 127 that Valoo is thought to be descended from Volvagia

When will Wind Waker and/or Twilight Princess come to the switch eshop...

What about BOTW Zora armor? It gives link the ability to swim up fountains.

This is actually one of the more solid theories I've seen involving both the Zora and Rito from Wind Waker. You should get it touch with Game Theory!

What if the Rito from Breath of the Wild evolved from the Oocca?

I think it'd be pretty cool if the rito i botw were evolved loftwings It would also explain the coexistence of zora and rito

In Oracle of Ages, there's two variants of Zora, both friendly and hostile. The friendly ones refer to themselves as "sea Zora" and the fireball-spitting enemies as "river Zora". So there's precedent for an evolutionary split. I believe it's said in game that Great Fish Isle was just recently destroyed by Ganondorf. And it's stated in Hyrule Historia that "the guardian spirits of the three pearls of the goddesses (...) are thought to be descended from Volvagia, the Deku Tree, and Jabu-Jabu". That's an idea I'd like to explore.

I feel like the reason the Zora evolved into Rito because of the incredible change in temperature and pressure that the water would undergo with a flood

While I was playing legend of zelda botw I realized that in the faron region you can hear the champions ballad song that kass plays with out purchuseing the dlc and that could mean that the original champion was from the zonai cause the song could be played for that hero of the wild hopefully zelda botw 2 explains more

i'd understood from the game that the zora were evolved into the rito via divine intervention so they wouldn't discover the ruins of hyrule on the sea bed

I love the fact that somewhere at one point in the timeline, the running/mail man basically got with a Rito or Zora.

I always thought the Rito developed from the Ooccoo or the loftwing (then again, twilight princess was my first game and I didn’t get to play much from before that) it’s kinda cool to see how the Zora’s could’ve split tho, staying in the ocean or evolving into a bird form!💕

one thing that immediately catched my eye when going to the rito village the first time in botw was how much the chief kaneli resembles the owl in oot. maybe it is nothing, but it makes you think that maybe the owl is some form of ancestor to the ritos in botw

In the Adult Timeline, I always imagined that Ganondorf did something similar to the curse on the Deku Tree. He caused Jabu Jabus death, and his descendent or reincarnation was Jabun. And in his youth he was unable to protect the Zora, so they went to Valoo for help in Surviving the coming Flood. Perhaps there was both Zora and Rito, ones who stayed with Jabun but when Jabun was attacked by Ganons monsters perhaps they either passed on or fled into the water and are still around?

I'd love to see more windwaker stuff! I've only recently started playing the zelda games and am currently playing through windwaker after having finished botw, and I love to get to know the worlds better!

I think this is my favorite explanation for this question. Very thought out and looks at every detail

Really enjoyed this video and how you explored different explanations. Wind Waker is an amazing game and I'd love to see more theories on it!

Idk why but when I was younger I used to think j‘abu j‘abu from oot got smaller (and that’s why he disappeared when link was an adult) and is now the fish in wind waker xD

Please do more Windwaker theories

I think the beak looking this way was just an early evolution feature, and then later down the timeline they evolved into more birdlike creatures

I find this the minute after it’s published... WOW

Great work as always, my friend!

Really love these theory videos. I wish Nintendo did more to organize the Zelda world and give it more consistency. Wind waker is such a small fragment of the world but its such a fun game

Me: OK I clicked the Link. Link:HHEEYYAAAHH!

For sure down for more Windwaker vids, it’s in my top 3 🤟🏼😁

when you can flood the world but not stab an oversized gerudo in the neck

Now I want Marin to be a rito that looks like a seagull in botw2.

What about the Fokka and Fokkeru in Zelda II? They are also bird people.

Nintendo Black Crisis i love your theories. Please acknowledge my existence.

I would like to point out that there are two types of Zora present in the Oracle games: the river Zora who are evil and the Sea Zora who are good. If we take into account that the Oracle games take place outside of Hyrule then we could say that diffrent spices of Zora evolved differently

My personal thought is that there were earlier Rito (i.e. evolved from Loftwings) and that they were somehow driven to extinction in the adult timeline split. The Zora Rito, regardless of any desire to keep them away from old Hyrule, were created to fill the void left by their loss. Thanks for pulling together all the threads of conversation from the Discord. Great video as aways!

What if some Zora decided to live in the sky, and some of them decided to hide with Jabu in an underwater city (maybe also some of them could become a fish because of Jabu?) and, when eventually, because of years of evolutions, they gained fish traits which would explain why some Zora in Breath of the Wild are some similarities with different species of fish. They no longer look all the same like in Ocarina of Time ; something changed every single one of them.

Nbc you know the glowing hand thing! I thought about it and what it could be connected to and I realized the master sword!!! I feel it would make sense because when the sword glows it looks like the same color as the hand. I also think that the hand is the spirit in the sword that talks to zelda?! It would make perfect sense because also the reason why the sword runs out of power is because the spirit isn't in it anymore and is trying to hold back ganondorfs rage and power, but is still slightly connected to the sword but the hand is losing its power! I'm not much of a theorist but I thought it would be good enough to be made into a video! :) (Edit) btw the hand might be zeldas mother??? Trying to hold back the rage and power so zelda and link don't die or something?!! Just an idea though!? I'm going to watch some MORE BOTW MOTORSYCLE TRICKS NOW or I could watch Metty333 hes pretty cool! But obviously not as cool as Nbc!!! Or I could watch zackscotgames? Oooorrrrr!!!??! I could watch some regular botW series? NOOOOO!!!!!! NEVER WATCH REGULAR STUFF ITS NOT GOOD FOR YOU!!!!!!! No but seriously you dont want to get sick! Unless you want to stay home to watch specifically nbc videos that are 14:52 seconds long! Dont click on the time btw.

Eiji Aonuma confirmed during an interview that the Watarara race from the Ocarina of Time manga by Akira Himekawa inspired the Rito. Which is why I love Rito more as the manga was well done. Much so that the artist thought to us it in breathe of the wild.

Yess new theory!

The mystery dungeon music was a good touch lol

"Dragon scales dragon tails, its almost time for dragon scales" -young ritos growing up

Birds actually do walk on their tip toes! So does any animal that appears to have that “backward knee” likes dogs, horses, goats, etc. That “knee” is actually made of the same bones that make up our ankles, just squashed and stretched to different proportions. There’s some really interesting art around the internet that illustrates this!

The Zora turned into the Rito because the Goddess wanted them to leave so they decided to BIRD UP.

I never caught that the Wright Brothers were referenced in Wind Waker. That’s awesome!

In Windwaker everyone mentions that there aren't any fish in the ocean. My suspicion has always been that the Zora ate mainly fish, so when the Great Sea appeared the Zora began to starve. Becoming the Rito was more about resources rather than some more sinister.

Yes, more Wind Waker theories!

My theory, the Rito we see in BOTW are purebloodled Rito, evolved forms of the Loftwings from SS. During the Great Flood of the Adult Timeline, eccosystems changed and the purebloodled Rito were on the brink of extinction. So they bred with the Zora, another race on the brink of extinction, and the result ended up with a crossbred Rito race, which is the Race we see in WW. So yes, I do not believe BOTW falls in the Adult Timeline.

Fish people needing to become birds to survive living in a vastly ocean world. That never made sense to me. Past them being fresh fish, but we've also seen salt and fresh water Zora.

Imagine going your fishing business going bankrupt and investing into farming until the noisy-ass neighboring kingdom is making water noises.

I have a theory: Because the game's water is so opaque, it would have take a long time to develop some sort of underwater transition for Link. Since Link can't dive anyway, and it wouldn't make sense for the Zora to be on land, the devs made them evolve into Rito because they had already planned to use the Zora in the game, so making them "evolve" allows them to use all the Zora symbols, etc.

Watching this a week later but I just noticed it was posted on my birthday lol

Cool theory!

I always viewed the fishmen as sort of the “owls” of wind waker. not just normal talking fish, but spirit guides for link

One of these days i wanna see a zelda game completely in the languages of the characters. Like gerudo only speaking their language, zora speaking their language, and other hylians speaking their language. Where you would have to actually learn the languages from certain characters in order for you to unlock new dialogue options and to be able to understand what they say

Oof, Sidon. Now thats a fine specimen right there. Is it getting hot in here or what?

I always wondered about this cause it's such a big change

Yes! More windwaker please!

Although it makes sense that, with divine intervention, the Zora were able to evolve into the Rito. But if it weren't for the game explicitly giving hints that the Rito are descendants of the Zora, it would make so much more sense that the Rito evolved from Hylians - Hylians who took refuge on Dragon Roost Island after the flood, and were given the bird-like features and abilities from the resident Dragon. As you pointed out in the video, Medli still has the quintessential Hylian ears, and they're human-like than bird (or fish) like. Millennia of living under Valoo would have them evolve into the very bird-like creatures we see in BOTW.

Watching this video reminded me how beautiful wind wakes remake is.

Imagine the WW Rito but with normal noses instead of beaks

A bird's knees do not point opposite to ours, the joint youre seeing is their ankle. They stand on their toes essentially but their toes have adapted the be more like a full foot.

ive only just noticed the fishmen have tiny hylian-like ears ? perhaps they were cursed to become fish or something idk i personally really like the “botw-era rito are loftwing descendants” theory, after i made art of them shortly after doing some loftwing art i really appreciated HOW similar they are

One word of this mystery it’s just there’s just a roll from this to that and millions of years

I see my girl medli i click

Here's a theory I wrote on the topic a while ago- a fair bit of it isn't new, but I think it's worth including. Proposal on Dragon Roost Island being the Zora's Domain: The floodwaters that covered Hyrule had to come from somewhere, so the gods called upon the infinite water source of the Zora's Domain to have it outpour en masse. This happened with such immense force that the Earth's crust below it cracked, letting magma rocket upwards. Lava and water shot up together in a pillar for some time, and once the waters were ceased, a column of stone sat high above the waves. Now why did the Zora become birds when a water world would've suited them perfectly? I believe that the gods, knowing whoever was at ground zero would be totally obliterated, asked Valoo to watch over the Zora. As a god of the sky and believing the sea-people couldn't escape in time, Valoo granted the Zora his scales, allowing them to grow wings and fly from their home before it erupted. They then flew until the land solidified, and returned to what was once their home, finding a hot spring at the place that once gave birth to a great river. They continue to give thanks to the deity who gave them wings, and every newborn Rito must learn to give thanks to him before they are granted the power of flight. Now, perhaps the gods could've given the Zora more notice? This part is just speculation- a couple ideas: Maybe the gods were keeping the plan a secret from Ganon, who definitely would've noticed a mass Exodus, right up until it happened. Maybe the gods were so focused on protecting the Hylians that they didn't think about the other races until the last moment, or more likely, this was truly a last second, last resort decision that left an extremely small warning period. Personally, I like to think that the gods couldn't allow the fish people to stay water bound BECAUSE they would flourish. New generations of Zora who forgot the terrors of Ganon would search for the old kingdom, and since they would number in the thousands, keeping track of everyone was out of the question. Their evolutionary success would immediately threaten the barrier between old and new Hyrule, along with the incredibly fragile peace the gods had just created

Yay another theorie!

My friends: is it a bird? Is it a plane? Me: no it’s a rito

Damn valoo really has just been giving out dawn stones to evolve zora into rito.

I’ve had a theory that maybe the fishmen in windwaker could actually be Zora that decided to stay in the great sea, but that might be unlikely.

yes, big brain time, we fish but in ocean time we need to be bird people.

My favorite zelda youtuber

My two theories for botw rito are they evolved from loftwings(like mentioned in the video) or there was a tribe of zora in the area of Lake Totori that evolved due to changes to the area that were unsuitable for fish people but were perfect for bird people.

I think they're thinking ahead. They're slowly changing the timeline to be more connected

In regards to the Fishmen, I think the "keeping Hyrule hidden" theory still holds merit. Perhaps sunken Hyrule is so deep that not even the Fishmen can reach. You wouldn't see an Angelfish in the darkest depths of the ocean. And in BotW, perhaps instead of evolving from the Zora since both races are present, the Rito evolved from the Fokka (from Zelda 2)

How do I enter if I don't have a Twitter account?

0:39 I think the far left figure on the representation of Demise's forces may be Giharahim. Just a mini theory, but something I noticed

Great video Who's better Bird man or fish man

Fishmen could have been an unintended consequence of ganons meddling in the power the gods used to flood hyrule. Unintended by Ganon that is

Love that mystery dungeon music

Exilent video as always! Just wanted to mention that birds don't actually have backwards knees though. I noticed that you implied that when talking about Medli's legs. The "backwards knee" on birds is actually the tarsus/ankle. Similar to how many mammals, like dogs and cats, technically walk on their toes, birds to a similar thing. Their real knee just tends to be higher up and sort of tucked up against/in the body so it looks like they have backwards knees. Sources: internet and my pet pigeon. ;)

Its official, nintendoblackcrisis is my favourite youtuber

The Rito never made sense.. The Zora, water creatures, became Rito, flying birds... And they change because there was "Too much water"

maybe after years of gaining wings, they started to be born with wings, and then colder climates they grew feathers all over there bodies

I think what happened is that someone in the different timelines that formed as the result of the OoT used the Triforce in all the different timelines at the same time and this caused the timelines to merge as one. That would explain why Zelda references the events of TP and WW despite the fact that they take place in different timelines, and it would explain why the geography of Hyrule is so different.