Zonai - Blog Posts
Simple question :
Hmm, what if when the Skyloftians left the sky they vaguely still looked like Zonai. Like they had much longer ears, little markings that resembled a closed third eye, and slightly sharper teeth. But after a few generations they turn into Hylians while those that stayed up in the clouds turned into the Zonai we know.
I was watching the gameplay reveal for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom earlier, and man does it look sick. May 12th cannot get here any faster. Anyway, after that I decided to watch NintendoBlackCrisis’ videos on the Zonai in Breath of the Wild because they were mentioned in the gameplay video. I needed some long form content to listen to as I was washing our bedsheets so hey, this works out. I am only a quarter through the second video (the first one is 43 minutes, the second one is 85) and man, is my brain fried. Zelda lore is fun. The videos are really good and informative. A lot of it is speculative but it’s still really fun learning about this hidden tribe of people that you can only learn about in game via some ancient ruins and developer interviews.
This is my TOTK, Zarak.
He is very tired, and he would like a hug. (Backstory contains spoilers so it's under the cut)
Slumbering in the unforgiving depths of Hyrule, lies a whisper of a legend. Frequent explorers of the Depths may have seen a hunched, shaggy form dragging itself through the darkness. Those who collapse may remember a figure towering over them out of the haze, before waking up, healed, under the light of the nearest chasm. Explores caught in fights with monsters have reported a huge, maned creature, latching onto their attacks with tooth and claw and dragging them, screeching, into the darkness.
Due to these encounters, a mythos has began to swirl around this creature. Some say it’s a benevolent spirit of The Depths, rescuing outsiders and keeping the population of monsters at bay. Others believe it is simply a new, more deadly monster. To be avoided at all costs. Many have gone looking for the strange creature, though none have gotten far enough to find a trace of it.
Zarak is the keeper of a broken secret stone, and the last truly living Zonai. He is older by far than any mortal creature in Hyrule, the only living creatures to equal (or exceed) his age being Ganondorf and the three great dragons flying above Hyrule.
Zarak has made his home in the depths, of an old Zonai temple. His home is small, yet cosy. He spends his days roaming the depths, searching for Hylians in need of help. He sees protecting Hylians as his duty. He has long had time to adjust to his new body, hobbling on all fours rather than trying to stand on two legs.
He attempted many centuries ago to swallow a secret stone, and join three of his friends in the sky as immortal dragons. His friends succeeded. However, Zarak was only able to swallow pieces. They were sharp, and cut his throat. His body began to twist in awful ways, the pain unbearable. Crystalline spikes sprang from his back, huge horns weighed down his head, forcing him into a constant hunch. Three of his legs grew and stretched, with talons, leaving only one arm as it was before he changed.
He shies away from the light cast into the depths by the dragons when they fly through.
He cannot bare to look up and see what could have been.
A bunch of Zonai, since I’m still so mad that Rauru and Mineru were the last of their species :(
I FUCKING. LO VE SPECULATIVE BIOLOGY/EVOLUTION
Aka what if the Zonai didn’t die out and were allowed to evolve over the tens of thousands of years it’s been in their respective regions.
If you're interested, I did a speeddraw of this that explains the floor in depth. Part 1 https://youtu.be/84bNQqiwxWU and Part 2 The Depths of Hyrule Part 2of2 Fan Art Speedpaint Expanding on my personal AU where Ganon/the gerudo culture fuses with the abandoned Zora during the great flood, the kokiri have also adapted through the many changes Hyrule has seen.. including not only keeping hylian and human children, but zonai as well. They use the network of the great deku tree and deku mole to go to the surface world forest or the system of caves below the waves to spy on Ganon's activities. I REALLY loved the depths, it's part of my favorite place to explore just for the sake of all the mushrooms and poe and nature! >w< This has been an idea I've been working on for a while.
Linktober day 19! Rauru is the best Hyrule King change my mind lol I also think Zelda is to Silent Princesses as Sonia is to Sundelions
Linktober day 18! Tfw you keep dying cause you keep running out of arrows lol (I know he drops more but then it almost resets the fight lol) - Also in hindsight Gohdan is DEFINITELY Zonai tech lol, seeing Zonai-esque things in Wind Waker is so bizarre and even stuff around this boss area resembles Shiekah tech to me (Looking at Naboris in particular with the shapes/lightning barrier around the arena)
Linktober day 8- Imagine if these guys could do expressions lol
Linktober day seven! Flight of the 'first' two heroes : )
I wonder if Zonai in the past interacted with Loftwings?
