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The Mystery of the Ordona Province...

Justac00lguy

BooBoo
Joined
Jul 1, 2012
Gender
Shewhale
This theory is mainly going to be based on the discussion of a place we seen in Twilight Princess known as Ordona.

Now in Hyrule we know it to have certain places and/or landmarks "so to say". We have the iconic Death Mountain, Lake Hylia, Zoras Domain, Hyrule Field, Hyrule town and the Gerudo Desert (or varieties of these places).

So a lot of people have used the tactic of labelling each the map of Hyrule to a specific province....These were seen in Twilight Princess but we perceived this to be a new formation of separate of province's due to the placement of this game on the timeline however in Skyward Sword we see these province's and similar landmarks and since Skyward Sword is the first game on the timeline we can use this to our advantage.

Now to the province's themselves, we see Lanayru, Eldin and Faron all respectively named after one of the 3 Goddesses and generally representing their colour scheme as well a element. Faron remains specific to the forest, Eldin to fire and Lanayru to water however in SS it was desert however this was originally a sea, so one can imagine that part of this was restored and the remains became the Gerudo Desert. Now in TP we have a 4th Province "Ordona", why would they introduce a 4th province and to what significance?

mqdefault.jpg


Now if we look at the landscape of Ordona itself it bears much resemblance to it's neighbouring province of Faron with the forest and greenland, however when we enter Ordon Ranch we see that the terrain is a lot different. It's mountainous and there is very little forest, it reminds me of a valley...So tbh I think Ordona has more significance than just a neighbouring province to Faron but we only know of what we see in TP we actually don't know what is beyond this land. In my opinion there has to be a so called element represented within each area and I think that Ordona could be the province of the sky or wind for that matter.

Another interesting point that I thought was that maybe Ordona isn't a part of Hyrule at all....

"Oh, no, I don't believe he's from Hyrule proper at all. No, my understanding is that he's from the small neighboring province of Ordona." — Shad

"Whoa! An Ordonian! Hey, guy!"-Coro

Now these quotes hint at for me that Ordona isn't actually a part of Hyrule all together, the first quote nearly confirms that Ordona isn't a part of Hyrule and the 2nd quote seems the refer to Link as an "Ordonian" now this could be just a term used or that Link or the people of Ordona are not actually connected to the land of Hyrule. Now of course we know Link is a Hylian but the people of Ordan do not have the key feature of pointy ears that Hylians are famous for. Now I think that Link was in the same situation as Link from OoT adopted by the Village of Ordan as this would explain why he has no family connections. So are the people of Ordan a separate race all together? If so what defines them?

Now could it be that Ordana is about to become a new land in Hyrule or was it originally a land of Hyrule but cut off by a significant event...

TPOneMore-Ordona-220x.jpg


This is a scene that stuck out to me, it shows a fissure in the ground and two sides...One being Ordona and the other being the entrance to Hyrule, notice that Rusl locks the gate as well maybe this proves that Ordona is actually separate to the land of Hyrule. Well the main point am making here is that this fissure could have been what caused the separation between Ordona and Hyrule, maybe through a geo-physical event or a war! We saw in SS that the demons broke through a fissure in the ground and waged war on the surface, could have the same happened here?

So overall I want to know your thoughts, Do you think Ordona has some significance, is it a part of Hyrule, or do you think that it was originally a part of Hyrule like some have speculated that it could be Kokiri Village or even the sealed grounds in SS...
 

ihateghirahim

The Fierce Deity
Joined
Jan 16, 2013
Location
Inside the Moon
I think the Ordonans are an offshoot of the Hylians. They simply must have migrated to the better pastures in the south to raise their goats.

They must be considered the outsiders or country-folk of Hyrule, they're within the influence and race of the Hyrulean Royal Family. I justify this by noting that they are obviously of the same race as the Hylians, and Link is sent on an adventure to give a sword to the Royal family. The sword is no doubt a sign of loyalty and affection for the Hyrulean royal family. This shows that they consider themselves a part of Hyrule. We also see that when the monsters attack, the townspeople try to handle the situation on their own, which signals that they don't usually go to the royal family for help. However, we see Rusl join the resistance to help save Hyrule. He demonstrates a loyalty to Hyrule in this. The others seem to accept him. I guess they are a part of Hyrule, just a little detached.

The province itself is likely an expression of the gods following the Hylian people moving south some time after OoT. The gods seek to protect the Hylains, and they extended their powers and spirits to follow them to the south. In a sense, Ordona is a new expansion of Hyrule. The reach of the people carries the politics and gods with it. Who knows, we may see more expansions in the future.
 

Castle

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Ordonian's appear to defer to Hyrule seeing as how they pay their respects to the Royal Family. They must not be considered a part of Hyrule proper, this much is generally assumed (and rather explicit as far as exposition in Zelda goes) but they must not fall under Hyrule's domain. Hyrule must not offer them protection and Ordon must not owe any fealty to them. They appear to simply be an independent neighboring settlement, perhaps Hyrule settlers.

Think of it this way. I have my yard, and my neighbor has hers. Sometimes she brings me a nice casserole (Ordon Sword) because we're neighbors and we're cool like that. But she doesn't owe me any taxes, and I am not obliged to fix her sink.
 

felipe970421

Mardek Innanu El-Enkidu
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Colombia
I see Ordona as a Hyrulean colony, they pay tribute to the royal family and show some loyalty to the mainland, it is worth noting that spirit Ordona was not present in Lanayru's tale, this mat mean two things, 1) that it was created later or 2) That there are far more spirits protecting the land than we know of, and each province has one to save them from the darkness, I personally vote 2
 

Sir Quaffler

May we meet again
I kinda see Ordon as a separate colony, having loose connections and political ties to Hyrule proper but otherwise leading their own lives independently. Now I know the map for Hyrule doesn't have any details outside of what is seen in the map, but perhaps Hyrule is surrounded by other lands like this one. It seems Hyrule is a mainland country rather than a country cut off from others by an ocean, so I posit that Ordon is but the Hylian's first branching out into this surrounding territory.

It's just a shame we don't get to see much of the Ordon land, it looks interesting but we only get to see the small town. Pretty disappointing, but whatever.
 

Justac00lguy

BooBoo
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Shewhale
HH says there four Light Spirits who sealed the TR. Just sayin'. Whether that's a mistake or a retcon is up for debate.

Hmmm this is strange as it seems in the actual game that only Faron, Lanayru and Eldin help sealed the Dark Interlopers away...

It was then that the Goddesses ordered us 3 light spirits to intervene- Lanayru
To be honest I don't know which source to believe but this quote seems to isolate the 3 light spirits and it may be that the 4th light spirit "Ordona" was at a later date maybe to watch over Ordon province or it was it's own entity but formed a bond later on with the other 3.
 

DekuPrincess

Are you serious?!?
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Hmmm this is strange as it seems in the actual game that only Faron, Lanayru and Eldin help sealed the Dark Interlopers away...

To be honest I don't know which source to believe but this quote seems to isolate the 3 light spirits and it may be that the 4th light spirit "Ordona" was at a later date maybe to watch over Ordon province or it was it's own entity but formed a bond later on with the other 3.

Yet at the very end of the game, after defeating Ganondorf:
Skip ahead to 1:20 to see the light spirits arrive:
[video=youtube_share;EmxxIZapJXc]http://youtu.be/EmxxIZapJXc?t=1m20s[/video]

When the lights first appear, before taking on their distinctive shapes, it appears that three are clumped together--possibly Eldin, Lanayru, and Faron--while the fourth (Ordona?) is off to the side, alone. However, as the light spirits draw nearer and take on their animal forms this picture changes. Ordona is actually part of the triadic clumping, and it is Faron who is off to the side. As the spirits take on their forms they no longer look as though they are in two separate groups, as Faron's large round shape fills in the distance between. Even more interesting, however, is that as the cut scene continues you can see the Faron, Eldin, and Lanayru draw closer together--indeed, so much so that Lanayru is almost hidden behind Faron and Eldin's wing sweeps protectively over the other two. Yet Ordona seems to draw further away from the three and although Eldin's wing sweeps towards the goat as well, the two never touch. This seems to indicate that although the four spirits are clearly united at this point as guardians of the land, Ordona is still somewhat "separate," be it because it is younger or because Ordona is not truly part of Hyrule, so although the four spirits together protect the land as a whole, Ordona is not bound to Hyrule the way the other three are, and perhaps wasn't present for the sealing of the dark interlopers.

What I also wonder is whether Ordona wasn't present for the sealing or if Ordona is younger, coming into being when Ordona province became a separate settlement.
 

Justac00lguy

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Yet at the very end of the game, after defeating Ganondorf:
Skip ahead to 1:20 to see the light spirits arrive:
[video=youtube_share;EmxxIZapJXc]http://youtu.be/EmxxIZapJXc?t=1m20s[/video]

When the lights first appear, before taking on their distinctive shapes, it appears that three are clumped together--possibly Eldin, Lanayru, and Faron--while the fourth (Ordona?) is off to the side, alone. However, as the light spirits draw nearer and take on their animal forms this picture changes. Ordona is actually part of the triadic clumping, and it is Faron who is off to the side. As the spirits take on their forms they no longer look as though they are in two separate groups, as Faron's large round shape fills in the distance between. Even more interesting, however, is that as the cut scene continues you can see the Faron, Eldin, and Lanayru draw closer together--indeed, so much so that Lanayru is almost hidden behind Faron and Eldin's wing sweeps protectively over the other two. Yet Ordona seems to draw further away from the three and although Eldin's wing sweeps towards the goat as well, the two never touch. This seems to indicate that although the four spirits are clearly united at this point as guardians of the land, Ordona is still somewhat "separate," be it because it is younger or because Ordona is not truly part of Hyrule, so although the four spirits together protect the land as a whole, Ordona is not bound to Hyrule the way the other three are, and perhaps wasn't present for the sealing of the dark interlopers.

What I also wonder is whether Ordona wasn't present for the sealing or if Ordona is younger, coming into being when Ordona province became a separate settlement.

I have never actually analyzed the final scene before but it is a very good spot :yes: and I think this would further prove that Ordona is a separate or even a new province in Hyrule.

Maybe it is so that Ordan is a new province but another topic would be what each Light Spirit represents....Faron seems to represent a monkey or ape which relates to the current tribe within the forest however we did see these in MM so maybe the did actually co-exist during the events of OoT. Eldin seems to represent an eagle or as I would call it an owl, now this could be a reference to Geabora from OoT. Lanayru is in the form of a serpent but I would relate it to a dragon as it is vastly similar to Volvagia again from OoT. Now we have Ordona which represents the current breed of animal which is a goat, this is what Ordan is famous for and we don't see this race of animal in any other Zelda game.

What I am getting at is it seems the other Light Spirits seem to represent past creatures or races in Hyrule, even though the Monkey is still present in TP it is possible that it was an older race with the appearance of it in MM. Now the Ordan goat seems to be a new race to Hyrule so it's possible that the formation of the Light Spirits form was of it's first native race the goat and since this is a new race in Hyrule it could relate to the Ordona being a new light spirit. I know it's a very weak connection but I thought it would also support this argument :)
 

DekuPrincess

Are you serious?!?
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Now the Ordan goat seems to be a new race to Hyrule so it's possible that the formation of the Light Spirits form was of it's first native race the goat and since this is a new race in Hyrule it could relate to the Ordona being a new light spirit. I know it's a very weak connection but I thought it would also support this argument :)

I actually do think it more likely that Ordona is a new light spirit, just as Ordona is a new province. My reasoning for this is that, based on the clear alliance between the four light spirits throughout TP, it seems very unlikely that Ordona simply wasn't involved in protecting the land at the time the Dark Interlopers were expelled from Hyrule. Even if Ordona is not bound to the country of Hyrule, the Dark Interlopers were clearly threatening the world as a whole, which would have put Ordona province in danger as well, thus making it Ordona's concern every bit as much as for the other light spirits. The evidence (HH's possible retcon excluded) supports Ordona having appeared at a later date to protect a new land, and I don't think it is too much of a stretch to use the presence of the goats in Ordona and Ordona's goat form to support this theory.

That being said, I'm not sure about Lanayru's form; I believe it is actually supposed to be some sort of snake or water serpent (which helps link the form to the province--Eldin the falcon/owl flies through the mountains, Faron the monkey lives in the trees, Ordona the goat enjoys wide open pastures; the water serpent flows through the...waters). If it resembles a dragon at all I actually find it most similar to the water dragon from SS, although that of course makes no sense as an origin species. Perhaps water serpents were the original species of Lanayru province and somehow were predecessors of the Zora? This would make sense with the form they take in SS as they appear much less humanoid, indicating that the humanoid form they have in Oot/MM/TP was not their original form. And as we know from WW, obviously the Zora are a highly adaptable species. It does not seem unlikely that they could have originally had a more serpent like form.
 

PalaeoJoe

The Diplomatic Dinosaur
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Perhaps water serpents were the original species of Lanayru province and somehow were predecessors of the Zora? This would make sense with the form they take in SS as they appear much less humanoid, indicating that the humanoid form they have in Oot/MM/TP was not their original form. And as we know from WW, obviously the Zora are a highly adaptable species. It does not seem unlikely that they could have originally had a more serpent like form.

There is no evedence that the Parella from Sky Ward Sward are the ancestors of the Zoras, the only connection is that they are both aquatic.
 

Justac00lguy

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There is no evedence that the Parella from Sky Ward Sward are the ancestors of the Zoras, the only connection is that they are both aquatic.

No Evidence? There is a srong argument to support this as stated in*HH*"during the Era of Chaos a transformation took place involving the Zora descendants"

Now if you look at the timeline, the era of chaos happens in between Skyward Sword and the Minish Cap and due to there being no game in between the Minish Cap and*SS*I think we can only relate the ancestors of the Zoras to be the Parella. There are obvious similarities between the two as both are semi aquatic race and they reside within a lake. Now if I remember correctly there was no aquatic race seen in the Minish Cap so one can at the moment only interpret that the Zora/Parella were outside the boundary's of the Minish Caps world or they were simply hidden.

As for why they evolved or adapted, in my opinion hey had to adapt to a major event. In this case I refer back to the Era of Chaos, as it stated that some part of transformation took place at this time I think it could have been due to the danger the Parella could have been in so they might have had to move from Lake Floria to another location (Zoras Domain) Now since Parella could only reside in water it seems maybe they evolved human features to move locations and ultimately save the aquatic tribe.
 

Locke

Hegemon
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As for why they evolved or adapted, in my opinion hey had to adapt to a major event. In this case I refer back to the Era of Chaos, as it stated that some part of transformation took place at this time I think it could have been due to the danger the Parella could have been in so they might have had to move from Lake Floria to another location (Zoras Domain) Now since Parella could only reside in water it seems maybe they evolved human features to move locations and ultimately save the aquatic tribe.
That's not how evolution works. I can't just sprout wings and fly if the earth's surface becomes molten.
 

Justac00lguy

BooBoo
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Shewhale
That's not how evolution works. I can't just sprout wings and fly if the earth's surface becomes molten.

I wouldn't be completely sure as Zelda races and generally the world of Zelda act very different to what we know but it does seem that transformation's between races can happen on a rapid scale. If we look at the time gap between OoT it doesn't state specifically but I think we can pin point it down between 100-500 years. Now we see multiple transformations of the races in order to survive the disaster, now whether this was to do with evolution/adaptation or even a divine power is a different topic.
 

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