The Hylia - Zelda: Intelligent Design

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The Rito are an amazing race that debuted in The Wind Waker. Yet, their origins seem to be a focal point of much debate. While we don't know all the answers, there are a few basic facts that help support my theory on how the Rito came to be. Yes Zelda fans, I'm giving you a theory of mine after about over a year of me not debating anything timeline related. Well, nothing major, anyway, except saying nothing can be proven one way or the other. Without further ado, here's my theory on the Rito's "evolution".

Please read the following passage, carefully. As you can see, we of the Rito tribe are profoundly connected to the sky. We make our livings on the airways. We do so by the graces of the sky spirit, Valoo. When a Rito reaches adulthood, he or she journeys to the top of Dragon Roost to receive a scale from the great dragon. It is this scale that enables the Rito to grow his or her wings. - Rito Chieftan, The Wind Waker (2003 GCN)

If you've done your job, then you should come to the following conclusions: 1) The Rito are naturally a wingless specie. 2) The Rito only grow their wings thanks to a higher power, not through natural evolution. This argument is now over. Oh, if only life were so simple. You see, there is one flaw people love to point out to those of us, like myself, who naturally believed the Rito did not evolve from "anything", but were just given a special power by a diety-like figure. Please, again, read the following passage:

You must find the one who carries on my bloodline... The one who holds this sacred instrument... Nothing can stop the flow of time or the passing of generations...but the fate carried within my bloodline endures the ravages of all the years. It survives. - Laruto, Sage of Earth, The Wind Waker (2003 GCN)

The fact remains, though, that Laruto named her descendant as part of her bloodline. For those of you who do not know who is Laruto's "descendant", I'm about to give you a spoiler. Medli carries Laruto's bloodline within her. It is her destiny to become the new Sage of Earth. Thus, deterrents of the "Rito did not evolve" theory love to point out that Medli, a Rito, is in fact of the same bloodline of Laruto, a Zora. Yet, this is highly inconclusive. Why is this?

Bloodline only means you are a relative of that person - it does not denote specie continuation. It is entirely possible, over the time between Laruto and Medli, Laruto's descendants inter-breed with other races (since we don't know the biological limitations of species in Hyrule or elsewhere in the fantasy realm), and thus Medli is descendant of Laruto, yet, but is not a Zora herself nor does she carry a substantial Zora bloodline in her. Still don't get it? Let's say Laruto married a Hylian, and they have a half-Hylian, half-Zora child. Let's say that child marries a Gerudo, and their offspring is a 1/3 Gerudo, 1/3 Hylian, 1/3 Zora. Keep having the offspring mate with non-Zora for a few genrations, over the "100's of year's" between Laruto's time and Medli's, and you quickly see that the amount of Zora' blood in Medli could be a small fraction of what it once was, and her immediate parents and their parents could technically be non-Zora. Thus, there is no "evolution" - it's just breeding, in a sense. There is no substantial criteria for causality in the claim the Zora evolved into Rito based on the above statement from Laruto. People also add in, a total tangent, that Makar is a Korok, and is the new Sage of Wind, when Fado, a Kokiri, was the old one, and that the Kokiri became the Koroks according to The Great Deku Tree. Circumstantial evidence, and it has no direct causality on the Zora-to-Rito argument. Additionally...

Also, the term "bloodline", according to both our Japanese bretheren, and our open-minded English-speaking fans, can mean of the "sage" bloodline, and not the "Zora" bloodline. As you recall, Medli had to be "awakened" to the knowledge she was a Sage, just like Makar. Just like all the sages in Ocarina of Time except Rauru and Princess Zelda. Thus, it is plausible to believe that it is not the same "bloodline", perhaps, but the "spirit" inside of them that endures. Afterall, Ganondorf said that Link in The Wind Waker was truly the "Hero of Time reborn". That doesn't make him a direct descendant, in regards to bloodline, of the Hero of Time. But it does seem the spirit of the Legendary Hero passes on from generation to generation, just like Princess Zelda. So instead of perhaps a blood relative, it's more of a spiritual connection.

Still, people insist even with these two counter-arguments, that the Rito evolved from the Zora. So going on what was originally said about the Rito by the chieftan, you Evolution-supporters are arguing this - The Rito, a wingless specie, evolved from the Zora. After that evolution, they became an avian race thanks to Valoo. I wager a good majority of people arguing for the Zora-to-Rito evolution don't get they've lost to the likes of me in the fact that they still claim the Zora evolved, naturally, into an avian race. Why do I win?

First, Valoo gives the Rito a scale, and they fly. Nowhere does it say only the Rito can grow wings thanks to Valoo's scale. Perhaps any creature could, and thus the ability to gain wings is not mutually exclusive to the Rito, and thus the Zora were never going to evolve, as far was The Wind Waker demonstrates, into an avian race without intervention from another, unnatural power. And...

Second, the Rito did not have wings, ever. I've heard people make fan-theories that the Rito used to have wings, then lost them, and so forth. Please read this: Here, Link! Use this to get out of here! It's what I used to get this far. It's a device we Rito used before we evolved wings. (You got the Grappling Hook! This was an item used by the Rito people before they had wings.) - Medli, The Wind Waker (2003 GCN)

The Rito, before they gained wings, had to use the Grappling Hook to get around. Yes, I know Medli said "evolved", but she is not the authority on Rito, and again, just like bloodline, she could be using evolve in a non-traditional way. This is arguing over semantics because we clearly have sound, undoubtable poof the Rito did not evolve naturally to get wings. Also, Medli uses the term oddly. She does not say "before we evolved to have wings". She says "before we evolved" wings. The term, in Japanese according to some, actually could translate to "grew".

So, here we are. What, apparently, some fans are arguing - The Zora evolved into a flightless, dark-skin specie known as the Rito. Against this argument, besides what I've presented, I've got no hard evidence. I can only draw on inferences and circumstantial evidence. What I would use to counter this claim is:

1) The Rito have pointed ears, much like Hylians. Zora did not have "pointy ears". Only Hylians have pointy ears. So Zora would have also had to have evolved into Hylians, and Rito must be Hylians. 2) The Zora exist in games after The Wind Waker. 3) Just because we see no Zoras in The Wind Waker does not mean they were not present.

Thus, I feel with all the evidence stacked up, it's obvious the Rito are not evolved from the Zora. People simply took the fact we see no Zora and the fact Laruto said Medli was of her bloodline and decided there was evolution.

But let's not mention that even though the distance in time between Laruto's age and Medli's age is hundreds of years, this massive evolution took place. A process that normally takes thousands, hundreds of thousands, even millions of years for creatures of this size, especially for the changes being claimed.

There you have it. My case against the evolution of the Zora. What sounds more logical to you? In the span of a a few hundred years, the Zora evolved into Hylians with beaks, or that the Zora were just not present in The Wind Waker, and the Rito are probably just Hylians who survived and were taken under the wing of the wind spirit, Valoo, who granted them the abiity to fly.

That's up to you. - Mike "TSA" Damian is the Senior Online Editor of The Hylia Discuss this in the forums.

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