What is "Hylian?"

[ReveredPartisan]

I've been thinking lately, what are the biological differences between Hylians, Gerudos, Humans, etc.? My feeling is that they're all the same species (some variation of Homo Sapien Sapien), but different races (White, Black, Arabic, etc.).
I theorize that previous to the conception/invasion of Demise (depending on what, exactly, you believe Demise to be), there was a single race of humans, but Hylia only chose a handful to survive, sending them to Skyloft. The surviving humans would have settled into small groups throughout all of Hyrule (and beyond) in order to best assure their survival.
This scattering of populations would have led them to develop certain biological features (i.e. Racial features). This would also explain the Hylians' pointed ears (millennia of particular genetic traits solidifying themselves among a small population-- essentially, inbreeding).

But what do you think? What constitutes a Hylians, or a Gerudo, or a Human? How did they originate, or develop? Do they all descend from Skyloftians, or just a handful of them?

 

[Beauts]

I am inclined to agree with you. Hylia sent a select number of people up to live on Skyloft. When they came back to land and resettled, they easily would have split off into various areas and started to develop different features- some would've been dominant and some recessive, for example rounded ears. For example, if you look at the differences between the Hylians in SS and the Hylians, Sheikah and Gerudos in OoT. The majority or largest proportion of the population appeared to settle in central/southern Hyrule. The pointed ears could've been a dominant feature. The Sheikah lived around the mountain region, Kakariko. Not much is given about them other than they served the royal family, but arguably they could have been more lithe and agile than other Hylians whether by nature or nurture.

The Gerudo... well I mean, Groose appeared to settle in the forest but what if he or a descendent travelled and settled in the desert? He had red hair after all. And although red hair is recessive, the Gerudo population is decidedly smaller than the Hylian one at this point, so red hair could have become more common among them, even to the point it came to dominate the genes of whatever Hylian men the Gerudo women bred with. (I have no idea as to why they're all women but one man every century, that is another theory for another time). The Gerudo also have round ears, maybe for the same reason? A random gene that is strengthened by a limited gene pool, especially if the Gerudo originate from one couple. Their climate, out in the desert, could have contributed to the darkening of their skin for evoluationary reasons.
The other Hylians inhabit different climates so they probably wouldn't have developed these alternate traits til later if at all, for example the people of Ordon in TP with rounded ears. Ordon isn't an incorporated area of Hyrule, so that could easily have been the case, or they got their genetics from somewhere else that was more akin to Hylians with rounded ears. It's also worth mentioning the Sheikah are almost completely extinct by OoT. The Gerudo are also very exclusive, imprisoning any visitors.

I do think that at core though, Hylians and Gerudo and Sheikah are human, the difference is racial. I don't think they're different species at all, the way Zoras and Gorons etc are clearly not human.

 

[Dio]

I've been thinking lately, what are the biological differences between Hylians, Gerudos, Humans, etc.? My feeling is that they're all the same species (some variation of Homo Sapien Sapien), but different races (White, Black, Arabic, etc.).
I theorize that previous to the conception/invasion of Demise (depending on what, exactly, you believe Demise to be), there was a single race of humans, but Hylia only chose a handful to survive, sending them to Skyloft. The surviving humans would have settled into small groups throughout all of Hyrule (and beyond) in order to best assure their survival.
This scattering of populations would have led them to develop certain biological features (i.e. Racial features). This would also explain the Hylians' pointed ears (millennia of particular genetic traits solidifying themselves among a small population-- essentially, inbreeding).

But what do you think? What constitutes a Hylians, or a Gerudo, or a Human? How did they originate, or develop? Do they all descend from Skyloftians, or just a handful of them?

I agree they are merely different races of the same species. Hylians and Gerudo are both human, we know this because in TP, link has the option to turn into a 'human' from wolf form. We know Gerudo are also human, this is because they have the ability to breed with Hylians and produce viable offspring.

 

[Seth]

I always saw Hylians as like the Zelda universe's version of Elves.

 

[ReveredPartisan]

I am inclined to agree with you. Hylia sent a select number of people up to live on Skyloft. When they came back to land and resettled, they easily would have split off into various areas and started to develop different features- some would've been dominant and some recessive, for example rounded ears. For example, if you look at the differences between the Hylians in SS and the Hylians, Sheikah and Gerudos in OoT. The majority or largest proportion of the population appeared to settle in central/southern Hyrule. The pointed ears could've been a dominant feature. The Sheikah lived around the mountain region, Kakariko. Not much is given about them other than they served the royal family, but arguably they could have been more lithe and agile than other Hylians whether by nature or nurture.

The Gerudo... well I mean, Groose appeared to settle in the forest but what if he or a descendent travelled and settled in the desert? He had red hair after all. And although red hair is recessive, the Gerudo population is decidedly smaller than the Hylian one at this point, so red hair could have become more common among them, even to the point it came to dominate the genes of whatever Hylian men the Gerudo women bred with. (I have no idea as to why they're all women but one man every century, that is another theory for another time). The Gerudo also have round ears, maybe for the same reason? A random gene that is strengthened by a limited gene pool, especially if the Gerudo originate from one couple. Their climate, out in the desert, could have contributed to the darkening of their skin for evoluationary reasons.
The other Hylians inhabit different climates so they probably wouldn't have developed these alternate traits til later if at all, for example the people of Ordon in TP with rounded ears. Ordon isn't an incorporated area of Hyrule, so that could easily have been the case, or they got their genetics from somewhere else that was more akin to Hylians with rounded ears. It's also worth mentioning the Sheikah are almost completely extinct by OoT. The Gerudo are also very exclusive, imprisoning any visitors.

I do think that at core though, Hylians and Gerudo and Sheikah are human, the difference is racial. I don't think they're different species at all, the way Zoras and Gorons etc are clearly not human.

Regarding the Gerudos' "one man every century" rule (and hopefully I won't get too off topic), I actually have a theory that somewhat ties into this thread. As the Gerudo, as we've already established, would have A) spent several millennia taking shape, allowing bountiful time for religious customs to develop, and would have survived all this time in the harsh desert on very limited resources, it likely would have been very difficult to support a full population (i.e. Both men and women). Given this, it's possible they would have been selective as to which children to keep. Well, you need women to carry on the tribe (yes, you need men too, but a far smaller amount of them), so perhaps the Gerudo began to leave many of their male children to die in the desert. Over time, this practice manifested itself in their religion, until they both despised and worshipped men, leaving the great majority of them to die in the desert as infants, while a select few ruled and populated the tribe (an unhealthy method, but perhaps explaining the emergence of the recessive red hair/yellow eyes). By the time of OoT, when mating options have extended beyond their own people, the Gerudo, as part of their religion, kill all male children but one, every hundred years.

 

[Beauts]

Regarding the Gerudos' "one man every century" rule (and hopefully I won't get too off topic), I actually have a theory that somewhat ties into this thread. As the Gerudo, as we've already established, would have A) spent several millennia taking shape, allowing bountiful time for religious customs to develop, and would have survived all this time in the harsh desert on very limited resources, it likely would have been very difficult to support a full population (i.e. Both men and women). Given this, it's possible they would have been selective as to which children to keep. Well, you need women to carry on the tribe (yes, you need men too, but a far smaller amount of them), so perhaps the Gerudo began to leave many of their male children to die in the desert. Over time, this practice manifested itself in their religion, until they both despised and worshipped men, leaving the great majority of them to die in the desert as infants, while a select few ruled and populated the tribe (an unhealthy method, but perhaps explaining the emergence of the recessive red hair/yellow eyes). By the time of OoT, when mating options have extended beyond their own people, the Gerudo, as part of their religion, kill all male children but one, every hundred years.

Religious customs sure, I just don't believe they kill all those babies. I know real life cultures do such things but the Gerudo weren't entirely resource free. They live not far from a valley after all. I think the Gerudo simply don't have boys because it doesn't happen that way. You see it in a lot of families, there will be loads of daughters. Besides, they breed somehow and like it or not if they didn't breed with Hylians they would have died out long before OoT.

 

[Spiritual Mask Salesman]

Hylian, the humaniod like species of the land called Hyrule. That have pointy ears, otherwise they look human, in some games.

 

[Justac00lguy]

Given what we know, the original three goddesses created the world of Hyrule; Din crafting the world, Farore creating life, and Nayru establishing law and order to guide the life. So Hylia didn't exactly create life, she just governed it (if I recall, it doesn't explicitly state she created Hylians).

I'd assume life prospered and grew as it did in our world - through evolution or possibly divine intervention from the original goddesses. We don't exactly know for sure the original races, but going off the earliest installment, the original races where the Humans (Hylians), Kikwi, Parella, Mogma, Gorons and the Ancient Robots.

Onto the actual question though: what is "Hylian"? I think there's actually a rather logical explanation for this. If you actually look at some of the quotes from Skyward Sword you'll see they use the term" human" to describe the original people of Skyloft:

To prevent this great power from falling into the hands of the evil swarming the lands... The goddess gathered the surviving humans on an outcropping of earth. She sent it skyward, beyond the reach of the demonic hordes. Beyond even the clouds.

With the humans safe, the goddess joined forces with the land dwellers and fought the evil forces, sealing them away. At last, peace was restored to the surface.

So most likely, Hylians were originally referred to as "Humans". So where did the name come from? Hylia. We know that Hylia made the sacrifice to become a human in order to make the Triforce on day actually usable. I think it's pretty obvious that the name came from Hylia's involvement with the human race. The term "Hylian" came from Hylia being now one of them.

 

[ReveredPartisan]

Given what we know, the original three goddesses created the world of Hyrule; Din crafting the world, Farore creating life, and Nayru establishing law and order to guide the life. So Hylia didn't exactly create life, she just governed it (if I recall, it doesn't explicitly state she created Hylians).

I'd assume life prospered and grew as it did in our world - through evolution or possibly divine intervention from the original goddesses. We don't exactly know for sure the original races, but going off the earliest installment, the original races where the Humans (Hylians), Kikwi, Parella, Mogma, Gorons and the Ancient Robots.

Onto the actual question though: what is "Hylian"? I think there's actually a rather logical explanation for this. If you actually look at some of the quotes from Skyward Sword you'll see they use the term" human" to describe the original people of Skyloft:




So most likely, Hylians were originally referred to as "Humans". So where did the name come from? Hylia. We know that Hylia made the sacrifice to become a human in order to make the Triforce on day actually usable. I think it's pretty obvious that the name came from Hylia's involvement with the human race. The term "Hylian" came from Hylia being now one of them.

I think it's fair, and only logical, to say that the Hylians earned their name from the Goddess Hylia; but the question is, what sets them apart from Gerudo, or round-eared humans, or Sheikah?

I do need to detract a previous statement I made: I said that there must've previously been a single race, but looking back to Skyloft, Gondo and his mother are Black, and as they're very much a minority, the gene obviously didn't come from nowhere; I suppose the true question should be, why are there so many isolated ethnicities with unique and uniform traits throughout Hyrule? Are they all the same species? How did they develop?

 

[Justac00lguy]

The actual Hylains, direct descendents of the people from Skyloft, were probably gifted with magical properties or they adapted to fit a purpose. We've seen this before in the Zelda series in the Wind Waker, races adapt.

The likes of the Gerudo and the Ordonians, were most likely not apart of the humans who lived on Skyloft. Possibly outcasts living independently, hence why they appear differently.

 

[Farore's Chosen]

Hyrulians and Shiekah-Elves or Elf/Human Hybrids
Gerudo and others-humans
Zoras-Merpeople who have evolved to be able to walk and breathe on land
Gorons-uh...sentient rock people.

Can interbreeding happen? Between Hylians, Shiekah and Gerudo yes. I saw a gossip stone talk about how Gerudos come into town for boyfriends.
Between them, Zoras and Gorons? No. I personally believe that Gorons are Zelda's take on Golems, formed from rocks/cooling lava and given life by a deity or magic ritual or something. Zoras may have too many uh fishy chromosomes to breed with humanoids and Gorons.

As for why Gerudo only have daughters, well maybe they asked some deity to only bear daughters except for once every 100 years, or maybe there's a darker history there, or maybe Nintendo created the Gerudo so PC people would shut up for a while. Take your pick.

 

[Beauts]

So most likely, Hylians were originally referred to as "Humans". So where did the name come from? Hylia. We know that Hylia made the sacrifice to become a human in order to make the Triforce on day actually usable. I think it's pretty obvious that the name came from Hylia's involvement with the human race. The term "Hylian" came from Hylia being now one of them.

This makes so much sense. I mean the first Zelda was the reincarnation/human form of Hylia and she was the first to govern and rule the land when people returned to Earth. Hence, the land was called Hyrule, ruled by Hylia, as technically Zelda is Hylia. Hence her followers/constituents whatever you want to call them were Hylians. Followers of Hylia, the same way Jews were from the tribe of Judah. So, Hylian can connote the people of Hyrule by nationality but also by religion (the one that subscribes to the Triforce and three goddesse, which we remember the story was forgotten by Skyloftians except those schooled in old texts). Presumably Gerudo's religious differences (the Goddess of the Sand) stems from the same thing, kind of like Christianity. After all, the Spirit Temple still seems intrinsically linked with the three Goddesses in OoT the same way the other temples are, despite the difference in design and imagery. This is turning a bit Zeigeist lol, but I just realised how analagous this is. I know there are already theories on Zelda's parallels with Abrahamic religions. But that isn't what I'm actually getting at here. Just that the etymology breaks down the same way, explaining a lot more than any thing else in my opinion.

 

[ReveredPartisan]

Beauts, I couldn't agree more; I think that's a very thorough explanation as to the nature of "Hylian," and one that I'm glad you could so well communicate.

Call them sects of people, if you will; isolated populations of surviving humans (as well as the Skyloftians, sent to the safe haven of the Sky by Hylia) who developed different biological (mainly aesthetic, such as red hair, pointed ears, etc.) traits due to their small gene pools, and developed also different religious beliefs/customs and different social orders during the span of several thousand years between the defeat of Demise and the return of the Skyloftians to the surface.

The Hylians would soon become the dominant race, and many of their religious practices would be integrated into the cultures of other races/species (i.e. The Gerudo, who had previously worshipped the Goddess of Sand (a false entity as far as I'm concerned) would come to accept the place of the Golden Goddesses beside her).

The only area where I'm not so sure would be the Sheikah; I'm somewhat inclined to think that they're a different species of human, especially due to their odd proportions, uncanny athletic prowess, immense wisdom, and divine vocation.

 

[Spiritual Mask Salesman]

Well before the skyloftians humans still exhisted. The decendants of Hylia became the skyloftians, so you never know maybe some other bands of humans didn't go up into the sky, and instead stayed hidden on the surface?

 

[Heroine of Winds]

What Seth said earlier, I always thought Hylians were elves in the Zelda universe. I mean, there are regular humans in TP (with normal human ears), so I always see Hylians as being separate from humans.