Are Zoras Really Extinct?

[Fierce]

That idea comes from something Ganondorf said at the end of the game.



It is largely considered to be a metaphor since the ocean clearly did have fish living within it, although rare and most were of the large monster variety. And that Ganondorf was alluding to the emptiness of the great sea which had no future for the Hylians. The Zora being removed from the water and remade as a people of the air might be an aspect of this sealing. The lesser deities of Jabun and Valoo seemed to know a lot about the previous world and the goddesses decision. They even guarded the pearls that would awaken the Tower of the Gods. In foresight the Gods might have decided to take the one people who would be capable of traveling deep within the ocean and learn of the secrets of the world below before a worthy hero appears, and remove them from the water. And then later remake them into a people that would never travel within or even on the water at all. Then the Rito would be the ultimate answer to the Zora possibly learning what was not meant to be learned. And keep either them or the world safe by making sure they cannot reach the bottom of the ocean. As birds they would have no interest in the deep seas, they would only be interested in the sky and traveling up in the air.

This coincides with my theory exactly.
But the great sea not being fishless, I might have to disagree with. Never in Wind Waker do you find a single "fish." I believe that some of the Hylians that didn't make it to the mountains evolved into Fishmen... but that's just me.

The Great Sea is treacherous... home to sea monsters and beasts, likely due to Ganondorf's evil influence. Perhaps his evil magic also killed off the fish?

 

[Wolf Sage]

Monsters in the sea? Hmm...kinda sounds like the monsters ATE all the fish, or the fish high tailed it out of there to a safer location (with less predation). For there to be so many seafaring islands and such, one could safely assume that the inhabitants MUST eat; they can't survive solely on pigs now, can they?

There may very well be fish, though. They were just not highlighted in the game enough if at all. Several things could have contributed to their omission. Off the top of my head, I can think of one possibility, which has to do with data (or something along those lines). I guess the developers left us to assume there's fish in the ocean without having to actually SEE any. I mean it is, after all, an ocean... :/

 

[JuicieJ]

Monsters in the sea? Hmm...kinda sounds like the monsters ATE all the fish, or the fish high tailed it out of there to a safer location (with less predation). For there to be so many seafaring islands and such, one could safely assume that the inhabitants MUST eat; they can't survive solely on pigs now, can they?

There may very well be fish, though. They were just not highlighted in the game enough if at all. Several things could have contributed to their omission. Off the top of my head, I can think of one possibility, which has to do with data (or something along those lines). I guess the developers left us to assume there's fish in the ocean without having to actually SEE any. I mean it is, after all, an ocean... :/

Yes, it would have been pointless to add fish swimming aimlessly in the game. It would just take up programming space and would waste development time. Even in Twilight Princess there weren't pointless little fish along Zora's River and such.

 

[Locke]

Yes, it would have been pointless to add fish swimming aimlessly in the game. It would just take up programming space and would waste development time. Even in Twilight Princess there weren't pointless little fish along Zora's River and such.

This, and it wouldn't fit in well with the art style. Little shadows darting around would draw too much attention to what should only be ambiance. It would also make it more difficult to notice the Fishman. He needs to be readily identifiable as the only shadow in the sea.

 

[goomboo]

I reckon that they survived throughout the Child timeline as they are in Twilight Princess. However, I think that in OoT they were covered in ice and only a few Zoras stayed alive. Then after the great flood, they could have been at the peak of the Zoras Domain so they were high above the water. From here Valoo arrives and they stay on the island with him and slowly evolve into the Rito. However perhaps some stayed at large and became River Zoras which become enemys in PH and then evolve to only live on land in ST to be those things that look like the PH river Zoras.

 

[JuicieJ]

I reckon that they survived throughout the Child timeline as they are in Twilight Princess. However, I think that in OoT they were covered in ice and only a few Zoras stayed alive. Then after the great flood, they could have been at the peak of the Zoras Domain so they were high above the water. From here Valoo arrives and they stay on the island with him and slowly evolve into the Rito. However perhaps some stayed at large and became River Zoras which become enemys in PH and then evolve to only live on land in ST to be those things that look like the PH river Zoras.

Thing is, the ice melted over time. All the Zoras survived. And the gods obviously had something to do with their evolution. I'm no evolutionist, but I know that it would have taken more than "hundreds of years" for them to change as much as they did. And there's a problem with your River Zora thing. Phantom Hourglass takes place in a different world. The Ghost Ship could somehow travel back and forth between the two worlds. So the going from PH to ST can't be true. (And why would they go to River and then to land in a matter of two generations? That just doesn't make sense.)