WW-Wii U Zoras Evolve for WW? What?

[Awesomehylian]

So I read through all of Hyrule Historia yesterday, and apparently Nintendo is claiming that the Zoras evolved into the Rito tribe. . .for some reason. The Kokiri becoming little wood nymphs makes a little sense, the gorons remain mostly the same, just without the gusto we're used to, but the Zoras?

Common sense and basic evolution would say that the Zoras would be totally psyched about having a world of ocean, right? The way they were would be most ideal since the majority of the world is now ocean, which they were living in anyway. Zelda has Zoras living in both rivers and the sea, so salt and fresh water differences don't really seem to matter. Why on earth would a water dwelling race, who now has a crap ton MORE habitat to live in, move on land and develop beaks and wings. . . ?

This makes no sense to me at all.

 

[surferguy7]

Because the Zoras looked at all that water and said to themselves "Screw this, this dead ocean is boring." and decided to sprout wings.

...And because you can't exactly have all those Zoras swimming around gossiping about an ancient undersea Hyrule for your story to work.

 

[Awesomehylian]

So they become birds?? It would make way more sense, with a forced evolution, for them to become something reptilian. Going from underwater to the skies is, ya know, the biggest evolutionary leap ever. Not counting flying fish.

 

[Big Octo]

I've always been baffled by this as well. It's definitely not Natural Selection. Nintendo should have probably gone with a different means of explanation, because this makes the least amount of sense.

 

[tketle]

Perhaps Zoras were strictly freshwater creatures and had to evolve for that reason.

 

[Big Octo]

Perhaps Zoras were strictly freshwater creatures and had to evolve for that reason.

Well, they are often referred to as "Sea Zoras," implying that they can survive in salt water. Also, them being freshwater is no reason to evolve into birds, as there are other Zoras in the series that can survive in salt water.

 

[ProtagonistJake]

Ganon DOES say at one point "The Ocean yields no fish to catch", so it's possible the Ocean wasnt fish inhabitable or something.
Ignoring that one fish that fills your map

Some fish require certain water, but all birds require one sky.

 

[Awesomehylian]

Ganon DOES say at one point "The Ocean yields no fish to catch", so it's possible the Ocean wasnt fish inhabitable or something.
Ignoring that one fish that fills your map

But what about sharks, the giant octopus and everything? I don't see why one source of food can't be replaced by another. I mean, are the Zora THAT picky? It would be way easier to just eat something else than evolve into birds and eat other things anyway. And if there are no fish, what on earth do all those seagulls eat?!?!

The Zoras have SPEARS for crying out loud! They should be able to eat whatever they want! The Great Ocean is calm for the most part, and the regular monsters stay out of the sea. They are way more vulnerable to evil as a land-based tribe who worship a dragon! I like the Rito tribe, but I never, EVER considered them to be anything like the Zoras. I thought they were a whole new species that had developed when birds realized there was no place to land anymore or something. That makes more sense than the Zora evolving like crazy and changing their entire culture and becoming mail men. . .

 

[ihateghirahim]

Isn't Outset Island called a fishing village?

 

[MW7]

Maybe the Ritos are just an evolutionary ancestor of the Zoras, but the original species of Zora continued to exist and we just didn't see them in TWW. It does seem counterintuitive that the Zoras would cease to exist as a greater portion of their world became water. Maybe the Zoras built a city underwater which is why we don't see them, but some Zoras didn't want to cut ties with the other species on land. Eventually these Zoras that chose to live on land could have evolved over generations due to their new non-aquatic existence. Nintendo doesn't seem to think things through though. It seems to me like they had heard about a few scientific theories and decided to put elements of them in TWW without understanding them at all. Besides the inclusion of a baffling case of evolution, I think TWW also reflected the growing international consciousness about global warming at the turn of the millennium. I think Nintendo heard global warming, the possibility of melting polar ice, and the possibility of rising oceans. Then like the evolution of the Zoras to the Ritos, they took this real-life phenomenon and exaggerated it to the point of absurdity by flooding Hyrule up to the mountaintops. The way I interpret this is that Nintendo is fascinated by scientific phenomena enough to have this concern reflect itself in its games but not enough to actually research and understand it.

 

[Awesomehylian]

Maybe the Ritos are just an evolutionary ancestor of the Zoras, but the original species of Zora continued to exist and we just didn't see them in TWW. It does seem counterintuitive that the Zoras would cease to exist as a greater portion of their world became water. Maybe the Zoras built a city underwater which is why we don't see them, but some Zoras didn't want to cut ties with the other species on land. Eventually these Zoras that chose to live on land could have evolved over generations due to their new non-aquatic existence. Nintendo doesn't seem to think things through though. It seems to me like they had heard about a few scientific theories and decided to put elements of them in TWW without understanding them at all. Besides the inclusion of a baffling case of evolution, I think TWW also reflected the growing international consciousness about global warming at the turn of the millennium. I think Nintendo heard global warming, the possibility of melting polar ice, and the possibility of rising oceans. Then like the evolution of the Zoras to the Ritos, they took this real-life phenomenon and exaggerated it to the point of absurdity by flooding Hyrule up to the mountaintops. The way I interpret this is that Nintendo is fascinated by scientific phenomena enough to have this concern reflect itself in its games but not enough to actually research and understand it.

But Nintendo specifically states that the Zoras evolved into Rito. There is no loophole about some that stayed underwater or about the Zoras becoming more and more like a species they encountered on the mountaintops after the flood.

Your idea about Nintendo taking real life examples and using them as game plot points is interesting, but global warming affects land animals way more than sea animals, so why would the Zoras feel the need to become land animals? With the way Nintendo carries on from OOT to WW, there is just no room for this. It would have been easier to say that with all their new territory they eventually became many small settlements instead of a large colony, and thus were reclusive. You don't really traverse the bottom of the Great Sea, so this would have worked just fine. They chose a ridiculously complicated and nonsense way to include the original three races when not having the Zoras is perfectly fine.

 

[Aelic7]

Like surferguy said, the goddesses probably didn't want all the Zoras swimming around the sunken Hyrule Castle and telling everyone else. Technically, Hyrule Historia doesn't say anything about evolution, so the goddesses probably magically transformed the Zoras into Rito. Magic is always the answer.

 

[Doc]

I have always assumed they evolved due to some divine intervention. Valoo is the sky spirit, and seems to have been a tool of theirs. Perhaps the goddesses sent the dragon to alter the Zoras into sky beings. They needed to get the Zoras out of the ocean to hide Hyrule. Why the sky? Not a clue

 

[mαrkαsscoρ]

Isn't Outset Island called a fishing village?

[rimshot]

 

[MW7]

But Nintendo specifically states that the Zoras evolved into Rito. There is no loophole about some that stayed underwater or about the Zoras becoming more and more like a species they encountered on the mountaintops after the flood.

The way I interpret Nintendo's statement is that some Zoras evolved into Rito. Just like some fish evolved into amphibians but the fish still existed. Zoras evolving into Rito doesn't have to mean that there aren't any more Zoras. The rest of what I said was just very speculative. I was guessing a way that Nintendo's statement could possibly make a little sense, but I doubt they thought about it at all.

Your idea about Nintendo taking real life examples and using them as game plot points is interesting, but global warming affects land animals way more than sea animals, so why would the Zoras feel the need to become land animals? With the way Nintendo carries on from OOT to WW, there is just no room for this. It would have been easier to say that with all their new territory they eventually became many small settlements instead of a large colony, and thus were reclusive. You don't really traverse the bottom of the Great Sea, so this would have worked just fine. They chose a ridiculously complicated and nonsense way to include the original three races when not having the Zoras is perfectly fine.

I was treating the idea of global warming separate from the evolution point, but you make a lot of sense. A rising ocean would motivate the Zoras to stay in the ocean. I made up the thing about underwater city to try and make up a plausible scenario in which Nintendo's world would make some sense. If there was an underwater city then maybe some Zoras would want to not leave their old neighboring species behind. It's very farfetched, but like you said Ninendo made the backstory of the Rito nonsensical. I'm just saying it's not impossible for the Rito to have evolved from the Zora. It's far more likely that Nintendo just doesn't think things through and/or doesn't count on its fans on being as smart as you are. So basically I agree with you, but I'm saying it's not totally impossible for what Nintendo said to have happened.