The theory behind the Leviathans

[TGTelescope]

In my opinion, the leviathans can be seen as two different species. Dragons or Whales. I know a leviathan is a giant sea creature, however, in the game all you see is their bones so it could be a guess made by the people in the game.

For the dragon theory, there are three main things to point out. firstly, these dragons relate to the dragons in skyward sword. Secondly, the locations of the dragons include an ice formation in a cave, the foot of a volcano and the desert. The dragon in the cave could be Faron as she is frozen in a cave that could possibly be filled with water prior to an ice age. The dragon at the foot of the volcano can easily be Eldin as the excuse is that there was a volcanic eruption. This doesn't mean that he was hit by the eruption but rather he was shot out of the volcano. And finally, Lanayru, do I have to explain. HOWEVER, there is a fourth dragon in skyward sword, Levias. With some intense searching, I found an area to prove it all. This dragon is all but forgotten because it is located in dragon bone mire.

For the whale theory, I'm not talking about 'whales', but however, the wind fish and the ocean king. There is a problem with this however, there are three leviathan bones and only 2 'whales'. The final 'whale' is called, well a whale, known as the sky whale. This is killed in a remote location but thanks to a drought could be the leviathan found in Gerudo desert. These other two leviathans could be at either location as it is unknown where they go when link awakens.

If your wondering, the dragon bone mire for the whale theory would still be Levias as he can be seen as a whale and the three dragons, Faron, Eldin and Lanayru could die in an odd way, like disappearing and reincarnating as a new dragon, Farosh, Dinraal and Nydra.

 

[Fraxinus]

I'm personally subscribed to the theory that was posted by NintendoBlackCrisis regarding the three leviathans being a metaphor for the timeline placement for the game. Each leviathan and its respective theorist represents one of the three timelines. The three NPCs at Serenne Stable each focus on evidence for their theories as to why the leviathans went extinct. "Evidence" is present for all three theories, as is there evidence for BotW to fit in any of the three timelines. Design-wise, they appear to be based upon the whale characters, but they may not be the same entities.

As for the dragons, Skyward Sword featured a water dragon, a lightning dragon, and a fire dragon. Other than a slight flip-flop with Farore and Nayru's elements, Breath of the Wild features dragons of the same elements. Naydra and Faron are both water/ice, Farosh and Lanayru are both lightning, and Dinraal and Eldin are both fire. But, Lanayru is dead in the present of Skyward Sword, so he in particular would have no connection to any of the dragons in Breath of the Wild. It is likely that the same is said for Faron and Eldin. The Zelda series has other dragons, that come about for one reason or another. Volvagia probably doesn't have a connection to Eldin, for instance. The Dragon Spirits in BotW are implied to just be manifestations of elements and/or the Goddesses so they don't necessarily have to be descendants of any dragons in particular.

 

[Jirohnagi]

We've seen dragon bones on two occasions in the series so far,Volvagias on it's death and Lanaryu the Thunder dragons bones. The skeletons in BOTW are not dragon bones. From what the popular theory says the skeletons are from Levias, Windfish, Jabu Jabu. Maybe the Ocean King would fit but to be realistic theres no way he could get to either Hebra or Death Mountain, not unless the land was flooded prior

 

[DragonEleven]

Leviathans don't necessarily need to be sea creatures... they can be any sort of creature that is particularly large, which makes sense considering how different each of the skeletons in BotW are from one another.
Personally, I'd be more tempted to compare the leviathans to dinosaurs more than anything else, with each skeleton representing each of the three main types...
the Hebra skeleton appear to have flippers, so reminds me of aquatic dinosaurs, such as Plesiosaurs
the Gerudo skeleton seems to have wings, making it look more like a Pterosaur
the Eldin skeleton doesn't appear to have wings or flippers, so was more likely land based, with it's armoured skull possibly resembling something like an Ankylosaur

In addition to their physical similarities, the extinction of the leviathans also bears a similarity to the extinction of dinosaurs, with both having been surrounded in a lot of debate.
The widely accepted theory for the extinction of the dinosaurs is that it was caused by a meteor hitting the earth... but there is actually more to it than that, as the impact itself would not have caused such an extinction on it's own... instead it is believed that it caused a chain reaction of events, which ultimately caused the extinction.
To start with, the meteor's impact would most likely have triggered huge volcanic eruptions around the world, which would have killed some species (similar to the Eldin skeleton)... the impact and eruptions would also have sent dust/ash into the atmosphere, blocking out sunlight and causing acid rain which would have killed most plants and made drinkable water sources scarce, causing conditions not unlike those of a drought (similar to the Gerudo skeleton)... finally, the lack of sunlight would have also caused temperatures to drop below freezing, killing most of the remaining cold-blooded reptiles (similar to the Hebra skeleton).

We've seen dragon bones on two occasions in the series so far,Volvagias on it's death and Lanaryu the Thunder dragons bones. The skeletons in BOTW are not dragon bones. From what the popular theory says the skeletons are from Levias, Windfish, Jabu Jabu. Maybe the Ocean King would fit but to be realistic theres no way he could get to either Hebra or Death Mountain, not unless the land was flooded prior

While the three leviathan skeletons don't appear to match those of past dragons, they are similar to those found in Dragon Bone Mire (which the name implies to be from a dragon), so it's possible that they could at least be related.

 

[Siphonix]

Could any of the bones be the remains of Lord Jabu Jabu? I say this because of the links between oot and botw. Also, I mean. Come on. Big fishy.

 

[Spirit]

Could any of the bones be the remains of Lord Jabu Jabu? I say this because of the links between oot and botw. Also, I mean. Come on. Big fishy.

They're most likely Levias (Skyward Sword), The Wind Fish (Link's Awakening) and Oshus (Phantom Hourglass).

Their Bone structures match up with the breeds of whales that they were.

 

[PoeFacedKilla]

I subscribe to the "BOTW is so far into the future that all three timelines have happened," theory so I think the leviathans are each a creature from one of the timelines.