What is "Hylian?"

[Retro Ganon]

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.

This, and to the general direction of the thread:

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.

Hyrulians/Hyruleans - Races and or tribe-like city-states within the nation's proper (Zora, Gorons, Sheikah, etc)
Hylians - Humanoid legal citizens of Hyrule
Humans - Humanoid residents not affiliated with Hyrule specifically, unless seen as such by the governing body of Hyrule

This is how I've always come to see it from a demographic view of Hyrule's territories and typical inhabitants. Unless I'm wrong?

As for the interbreeding... I think we have a few examples of that in the series concerning a half human/half goron like creature that turns out to be a Sage in ALBW. OoT shows evidence of Gerudo and Hylian chemistry as well. I think in a strange way too, the Rito from TWW may be an evolution from the Oocca and/or interbreeding of the sort between Hylians and Cuccoos....... Not sure what the hell is going on with that race still. lol

 

[Jamie]

While I would agree that humans and hylians are like either the same or extremely similar species, Gerudo are not. Clearly, as there can only be one man per 100 years, there must be something considerably different between Gerudo and humans/hylians.

 

[Dio]

While I would agree that humans and hylians are like either the same or extremely similar species, Gerudo are not. Clearly, as there can only be one man per 100 years, there must be something considerably different between Gerudo and humans/hylians.

The fact they can interbreed and produce viable offspring means they are the same species. lions and Tigers can breed together and produce a Liger or Tigon but these offspring are rarely viable. If one man truly is born every 100 years to a gerudo woman it is likely due to some kind of curse or magic rather than a genetic thing because Gerudo regularly breed with Hylian men and produce viable Gerudo females.
Alternatively the one man born every 100 years could be a myth. Male babies born in between centuries could be thrown off a cliff, or segregated. Perhaps they are trained up physically before they are brainwashed and put into the armour of the Iron Knuckles. Onox appears to be a Gerudo male or at least an Iron Knuckle of sorts so I'm thinking that could be the case.

 

[Jamie]

Plenty of animals can interbreed. Many canines, felines and bears for example. Sure, it may be a curse but how does the curse differentiate between Gerudo and other humans if they are the same species? Evidently every child to a Gerudo is a Gerudo. The female children of Gerudo cannot produce male offspring but once every 100 years. They must be unique species.

 

[Justac00lguy]

I always interpreted the whole "one male born every 100 years" as a tradition rather than a cruse or trait. It could just be a law that they adopted themselves. As for them being related to Hylians (humans), they could be, though that's up for speculation. In Ocarina of Time the Gerduo race has their own sage which could indicate that they are unique or that they are still humans, but instead were gifted a special purpose.

 

[Dio]

Plenty of animals can interbreed. Many canines, felines and bears for example. Sure, it may be a curse but how does the curse differentiate between Gerudo and other humans if they are the same species? Evidently every child to a Gerudo is a Gerudo. The female children of Gerudo cannot produce male offspring but once every 100 years. They must be unique species.

They would still be considered the same species since their offspring are viable. The animals of a different species that interbreed produce offspring that aren't able to continue to pass their genes down.
Lions and tigres share the same genus but are seperate species. Lion would be panthera Leo and Tiger would be Panthera Tigris. They are close enough genetically to reproduce but not to produce viable offpring. Gerudo and hylians can.
The human/hylian and Gerudo races would all be homo sapien. Just like the German and Zimbabwean people are all homo sapien. You cant justify classing them as a different species because they meet the definition of the same species.

 

[Jamie]

Grizzly and polar bears can reproduce and it's been proven that there is a second generation prizzly bear. So yeah, I can.

 

[Seth]

Some different species of fish can also cross breed with viable offspring.

 

[Justac00lguy]

It's one of those, they could be the same species or completely separate but one that share a similar biological makeup. One of the main differences is skin tone, which can easily be explained due to their environment (desert). I guess you could say some physical differences as well such as the ears. Though in Hyrule evolution seems to work slightly differently, as in every race has a purpose to the world and they adapt to suit that purpose. It could just be hearsay that was passed down though and breeding between caused the physical differences.

Really one of the only ways to settle this argument is Twinrova. The two witches are stated as being Gerudos, but have a large lifespan and magical properties, which would favor the case that Gerudos are a different race than the Hylians. Although you could also argue that Twinrova are a different species altogether.

 

[ReveredPartisan]

Do Gerudos and Hylians have any contradicting traits that would signify their being different species? Both, aesthetically, have no more differences than can be attributed to two different races (the only snag being the pointed ears, but of all the deformations that could occur from millennia of inbreeding --and face it, there have to be some-- the ears are among the most plausible). Both have been shown to use magic, both have the same athletic/physical ability, and both-- and this especially is important-- have the same average intelligence, as far as we can see. Were they different species, it's questionable whether they even would have been able to coexist in a civilization (and although they are hostile to one another, they are shown to have diplomatic relations).

The "one male per century" law is, first of all, biologically impossible; but furthermore, it's unreasonable, in that there's no reason behind it. There's no way one can (or at least, I've yet to see anyone try) concisely identify the causal factors of a biological solution to this rule, without resorting to assumptions. I've given my solution-- that it's a social construction, and that newborn males are left in the desert to die.

 

[Seth]

But it's a fantasy game, it doesn't have to make real life biological sense. Besides, maybe the Gerudo are long lived and never have children that often anyway? Lifespans are never mentioned in-game.

 

[Chaltab]

So I've noticed that there's a weird translation thing in the Zelda series. Where fantasy series generally use the word 'race' to signify things like Elves, Dwarves, Humans, and Orcs, Zelda tends to use the word 'Tribe'. There's the Zora tribe, the Goron tribe, the Demon tribe, the Sheikah tribe, etc. Whereas when the word 'race' is used, it's used more like it is in the real world to distinguish between the broadest ethnic classifications of the same species. In the games, the Gerudo and Hylians are referred to as races, but also as humans.

The name 'Hylian' is clearly derived from the Goddess Hylia, and particularly seems to refer to humans descended from the goddess. I don't that's referring to humans descended from Skyward Sword Zelda, though; everyone in Skyloft has the long ears characteristic of the Hylian race. In other words, the race of humans that would come to be known as Hylians must have been descended from the actual goddess form of Hylia in ancient times. This also implies that there are other human groups outside of (the land that would become) Hyrule, such as the people of Holodrum and Labrynna, who lived on the surface the whole time Skyloft was in the sky. Otherwise, there would be no non-Hylian humans thin the Hylian bloodine and make it so rare in later games in the timeline (such as Wind Waker, Twilight Princess and A Link to the Past).

 

[Justac00lguy]

Yeah, agree with the post above.

 

[Jamie]

But it's a fantasy game, it doesn't have to make real life biological sense. Besides, maybe the Gerudo are long lived and never have children that often anyway? Lifespans are never mentioned in-game.

Completely agree with this by the way. Are humans and saiyans the same species in Dragon Ball? lol

 

[ReveredPartisan]

But it's a fantasy game, it doesn't have to make real life biological sense. Besides, maybe the Gerudo are long lived and never have children that often anyway? Lifespans are never mentioned in-game.

Yes but this is Zelda Theory. You could use the "fantasy" argument to deconstruct and nullify anything. It doesn't mean that there's not a more solid and/or scientific solution. Pretty sure JC and Vita touched on this in the "Termina is Lorule" thread from a month or two ago.

As for Chaltab, yeah, that's basically my line of thinking; but I think "tribe" indicates a political entity whereby the specific races (Goron, Zora, etc.) bind themselves. "Race," of course, is a confusing word, as you pointed out.