Holy moly I just beat all the shrines. PLEASE tell me you have theories cooking because I am losing my mind here š
Ancient Hero's Aspect theory time.
Look at this funky lil guy.
See this man?
Not a Zonai
Biologically, cannot be a Zonai, or Zonai-Hylian hybrid. There's a major feature of the Ancient Hero that gives it away, but let's start with the basics.
This is Rauru:
He has large ears covered in fur from the top of his head, golden horns, a third eye, and white hair with colored edges. His eyelashes are white, green, and gold, and the sclera of his eyes are white.
Proportionally, he's built more like a Zora than a human. His hips are low, with his torso the same size as his legs.
Let's look at Mineru and compare, to account for variation in Zonai physiology (the sample size is bad, but there's not much we can do about that):
Large, fur-covered ears, a third eye, white hair with colored edges. Her eyelashes are white, pink, and gold, so we can assume that some of these colors are from makeup, but her sclera are still white.
(Model ripped by WhiteMageSunny on DeviantArt)
Like Rauru, she has those weirdly proportioned hips and torso. No horns, though, so that could be a male Zonai thing, or just a him thing.
Bonus evidence, in lack of sample size, the dragons:
The three elemental dragons all have the same kind of hair as Rauru and Mineru, fluffy with spiked ends that have colored edges. And we know, from experience, that dragons keep the hair of their previous forms as their mane:
Now for our little scamp.
First off, his skin is gray-green. Not an indicator of itself, could just be a different fur color.
However, he also has:
Red, silky hair with no secondary color
Black sclera
No lashes
No horns
No third eye
Pointed ears on the sides of his head
We've established that the horns aren't a requirement, so that's also not a direct indicator. Maybe he's missing the third eye because that's a royalty-is-different trope. Maybe the red hair means he's half-Gerudo, and the ears are a byproduct of that. The black sclera is weird, but not entirely unforgivable. Zelda's done weirder (see Yeta and Yeto, or King Zora and Ruto).
(Model ripped by WhiteMageSunny on DeviantArt)
And now we get to the proportions. There's no strangely cinched waist like Mineru and Rauru have. The legs are proportional to the torso in a way that's almost human.
Still could be half-Hylian or Gerudo, right?
Wrong. Look closer.
That is a TAIL.
Neither Mineru nor Rauru have tails. But there's something even more damning here.
Mineru. Five toes. Plantigrade (on the floor) feet. Big toe to little toe, like a human.
Rauru. Five toes. Plantigrade feet. Big toe to little toe.
Hero's Aspect! Four toes! Two large middle toes! Cat toes!
Digitigrade (catlike, heel raised) feet! That spoke on the end of the sandal never touches the ground!
Where did the tail come from? The black sclera? The change in skeletal structure? The literal paws for feet?
This is not a Zonai. I'm calling it a Lomei, and I rest my case.
WC: 6K
Characters: OoT Zelda, OoT Link, Sages
Relationships: Implied Zelink
Essential Tags: Zelda-Centric, An explanation for the downfall timeline that finally makes sense.
Summary:
The flow of time is always cruel. No one knows that better than Zelda.
When Link falls in that final, critical battle, Zelda knows what she must do. She defies fate, steals the Ocarina of Time from Link's body, and prays that this time, she can create a better world. If she succeeds, perhaps it isn't only Link that she can save.
Additional Notes:
This is a theory disguised as a fic. This is my personal explanation for the downfall timeline, with my notes and research cited in the beginning notes.
i love oot zelda. she's haunted by prophecies and visions. she's haunted by what she's done, the rash actions of a child done in earnest. the scheme of a child who is not listened to, made in secrecy. and while i know it was canonically done for security, i think its also the trauma that causes her to cast aside her own face, her own self, to take on a new one.
we all talk about how link had his childhood ripped from him, but the truth is that zelda never got to grow up either. sheik did, in her stead. the sheikah poet, who can distance himself behind rhyme and harp chords. the one who can atone for the innocent mistakes of that haunted child in his memory.
Every few months I think to myself "what exactly is Wario and waluigi's relationship. They're not brothers so what are they" and I check the wiki and it doesn't say their connection
āEpisodes will air one after the otherā yeah Iāll believe it when I see it š§āāļø still thought I should let yāall know this was said though lmao