Ok, let’s back up real fast. So really the first way to get into the Zelda fandom is to get real familiar with the games. Specifically, Ocarina of Time, since it’s like THE game and a shocking amount of the fanific and fanart is based off of it. Also, given its positioning in the timelines (which you should not worry about yet, young grasshopper) a lot of the characters reappear in some form or another throughout the other games. I don’t know why, but OoT is just a much more popular game than any of the other ones, and that’s the game with the waterfall that you have to jump off of. (My next favorite games are Spirit Tracks (I’m forever alone on that one), Skyward Sword, Twilight Princess, and A Link to the Past.)
But now for this question. The Zora are a race of creatures from the games. They’re like fish people. They started out the series as monsters who hang out in bodies of water and shoot red shit at you. But then OoT changed everything, and they became NPCs that you have to rescue and talk to and get swag from. They’ve got their own culture and music and fashion sense, and there’s a bunch of lovable characters amongst the Zora.