Why Did The Zoras Evolve?

[Snow Queen]

So what I don't get is that the Zoras are aquatic creatures yet when the Great Flood happened they had to evolve because they couldn't water? So why did they have to evolve? Makes no sense to me. Any theories or anything?

 

[Octorokstar]

I had always believed that they were never fully aquatic or that their evolution wasn't caused physically.

If you notice in certain Zelda games such as Skyward Sword and Wind Waker and Link's Awakening have a Whale that have some form of powers. Now, The Wind Fish created an island through his deep sleep. The Ocean King created his own world as well. And then there is Levias, who doesn't really confirm much other than being the guardian of the skies sort of.

But if you see the pattern of the Whales, it might just be possible that the Zora's are all connected to them. I theorize that when these Whales possibly change the shape of the world, their subordinates (Zoras) change with them. And its all done through their imagination. Not to say that the Zora's aren't real, but they are subjected to change when their deities change.

 

[Doc]

I believe that due to the dangers of the ocean, the Zora began to spend less time in the water and more on land. They had always lived at the base of a river, so enemies didn't seem like much of a problem. The Zora's domain is easily defendable, where enemies can only, for the most part, attack from one direction. In a sea, the Zora would be vulnerable from all angles, so transferring onto land would be good solution. I believe that they lost their aquatic characteristics and became more like wingless Ritos through evolution, and it is also during this time that they used the grappling hook.

Their wings came through divine intervention when Valoo came and his scales gave them wings.

 

[Justac00lguy]

I've made quite a few posts on this before, so to avoid repeating myself I'll try and brief.

The main reason is survival, it's it's what we live for. I'll explain the different aspects of why they adapted to survive below:

- Food -
We can only speculate on what the Zoras consume, but I think we can all agree that they eat river fish, maybe river vegetation as well. They probably know where to go and finding food in a river is rather easy considering it's a small amount of water compared to an ocean. Food will probably be much be harder to find in a vast ocean and at a deeper depth as well.

- Competition -
Within their normal habitat, the Zoras are the prime residents - usually having complete control over the area. In an ocean they will find be surrounded by many more species and this will lead to competition for space, food etc.

- Habitat -
This kind of links into the point above, but Zoras are definitely at home within a small confined space next to a river or small space of water. Finding a habitat within a vast ocean is going to be much tougher. Also, Zoras are generally seen on surface, maybe they need a good balance of living underwater and on the surface.

- Predator Threat -
Zoras are under little threat, well unless Ganondorf comes along, in their usual safe space, but in a ocean there are tons of threats. In The Wind Waker we saw vicious Gyorgs, which could possibly cause a big threat to the race. Then of course you have the Big Octos and god knows what else.

- Different Conditions -
Sea water is very different from river water. The salinity is different, the food chain different and the temperature is much much warmer. Nine times out of ten, you put a river based fish in the ocean and it doesn't survive. They're completely different living conditions.

- Purpose -
It seems every race has a purpose in Hyrule. The Zoras usually offered Hyrule with a clear and constant source of water;however that purpose is completely lost if they lived in the Great Sea. Them adapting into the Rito Tribe gave them a new purpose - communication. Each Island was now separated by vast amounts of ocean thus making communication hard. The Rito tribe, with their wings, made transportation infinitely easier and so now they have a reason to exist.

 

[Spiritual Mask Salesman]

Maybe they had to start living on land because they are a race of aquatic creatures which in Hyrule have adapted to freash water. They live near the Hylian river, and can swim in lake Hylia, which I'm pretty sure contain freash water. An ocean is salt water, if you put a freash water species in salt water they will die. So after the great flood maybe in order to survive they started spending all their time on land since they could no longer go into the water available to go into, thus they adapted and their fins became wings? Remember this is a theory.

 

[Djinn]

The main answer was that it was an executive decision on part of the developers. They

a) wanted to keep the ocean, it's origins, and what resides in it a mystery. Having a species that lives in it can way too easily give away that there happens to be an air bubble down there with a castle inside it.

and

b) They needed a fast moving mobile race that can help give out messages, push the story, and help Link by being ever present in the rito.

The real problem is trying to invent a story driven reason for a change. They created the effect without the cause. My best guess has always been divine providence. The main reason for the flood in the first place was to seal off Ganondorf and keep the people above safe. Meanwhile a series of artifacts and a temple was made just to test the mettle of a hero who will come along some day in the future to defeat Ganondorf and save the land below. This provides more of a challenge when there is a species of fish people who still have a memory of Hyrule, and the possibility of invading the sealed off land beneath the water. It makes a danger to them and to the entire world above. If some adventurous and foolish Zora were to actually go into the air bubble and accidentally release Ganondorf then the whole plan is for nothing. So I thought the powers that be in Hyrule wishing to keep them and the rest of the great sea safe moved them out of the water. As far out of the water as possible. Placing them under the care of Valoo who also seems to be in on the plan to keep Ganondorf sealed, and wait for a hero to be born seems like a decent idea when it comes to handling the Zora.

 

[Terminus]

Addressing the "salinity" argument: Earth's oceans are about ~1% salt, which isn't a lot. THen, assuming that water volume doubled due to the rains, that's measly 0.5% Salt content. The second most salty liquid (tears) are 0.9%, and the difference between that and saltwater is noticeable, so the salinity effect would be drastically diminished.

 

[Spiritual Mask Salesman]

Addressing the "salinity" argument: Earth's oceans are about ~1% salt, which isn't a lot. THen, assuming that water volume doubled due to the rains, that's measly 0.5% Salt content. The second most salty liquid (tears) are 0.9%, and the difference between that and saltwater is noticeable, so the salinity effect would be drastically diminished.

Ah well, it was worth a try...

 

[Locke]

They didn't. This is what would have happened if we attribute their transition to a natural process. Evolution works (theoretically) on species, not on individuals.

It's better to attribute the transition to either Farore or Aonuma (or both).