Who are the ZONAI? - A Breath of the Wild Documentary

[Music] [Music] so [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Music] [Music] first off i want to thank everyone for the massive amount of support on the first episode of the zonai series as of writing the script the video has surpassed 800 000 views which is very nice to see as lots of time was put into the making of it hopefully it will reach a million views in the future though we'll just have to wait and see i also want to apologize for the delay due to several reasons the video was pushed back repeatedly but with the confirmation of an e3 event this year and the fact that nintendo will be participating i wanted to release this video before that happens so i greatly appreciate your patience throughout all this as mentioned in the title this is the second part of a series on breath of the wild zonai tribe so i highly recommend you check that video out before watching this one there were several reasons behind splitting up the series into separate parts one because it would have simply been too much to compile all this information into a single video and two so that the topics could be more categorized episode one specifically goes over the information presented in breath of the wild the sequels trailer and masterworks a book released that contains additional information for the game referred to as creating a champion in its english version i wanted to keep things as objective as possible in part one which is why i only looked at the information from these three sources with that said the video still contained my personal opinions on said facts as it can be interpreted in multiple ways but for the most part what was presented in part one was factual information but there are many people who believe that the zonai have impacted not only breath of the wild but also the other zelda games in the timeline and that's what part 2 is going to be all about in episode 1 we looked at them as a group only existing in breath of the wild's history now we'll go over the possibility of this tribe's involvement in other games such as twilight princess and skyward sword and personally this idea falls under more of the speculation side compared to what was covered in the first part there's still plenty of interesting evidence to go over and the information from breath of the wild will be brought up again but know that this episode involves a lot more speculation some of the ideas i bring up may contradict some things said previously but that's for the sake of being as thorough as possible and covering all my bases after all every theory has its flaws before we begin i'll be recapping the important information from part one as well as address some of the common thoughts and concerns brought up in the comments when making this series i wanted to approach it from a documentary perspective since it makes the overall experience feel more professional and because of that a lot of the information and ideas discussed are presented in a more objective way but as i said before even that video contained personal opinions which may have come across as being factual when they're not if anyone felt that i was trying to push these ideas on them as facts i apologize as that wasn't my intention it was solely done to make the overall flow of the video feel smoother one example being the part where i suggest that the zonai were the sea invaders referenced in the akala citadel portion of masterworks where it mentions the fortress being used to repel forces coming from the sea a very good point that many of you brought up was that the citadel isn't nearly as old as the other zone structures scattered across hyrule which contradicts the idea of the tribe being the same as the invaders mentioned in the book just proceed with the knowledge that while information may be presented in a more objective tone a lot of this video will consist of speculation the other detail worth addressing is the canonicity of the masterworks book other books such as hyrule historia and encyclopedia are infamous for containing information which contradicts that of the games and that's why many question whether this book is really canon i personally see masterworks as something that adds to breath of the wild's already existing lore for the most part its information doesn't appear to go against what's said in the game but when there are contradictions the information from the game takes priority over the books luckily we do have some developer quotes which we know are canon as they come from the people who made the game and that makes our job a bit easier there was a part of the video where i brought up the idea of the lomme labyrinths being shiga made meant to replicate zone architecture and to do so i suggested that the swirl scene on the mazes isn't the true zonai swirl since it lacks a tick at the end this goes against what masterwork says as the part that mentions the swirl being a distinct trait of the zonai is paired with the very same scene on the labyrinth in addition one of the pages on masterworks categorizes ruins as either ancient hylian or zonai and the three mazes are marked as the latter some people in the comments gave me flack for that since i'm contradicting what's said in the book and for the sake of counter-argument masterworks does contain some mistakes in fact there is one on that very same map close to the wrist peninsula are two sets of ruins at the top and bottom of the hill both of these locations use the same type of stonework telling us that these ruins were built by ancient hylians despite this the one at the top of the hill is highlighted in green the color used to represent zonai built structures it's an obvious mistake and that's why the map included in masterworks isn't 100 accurate last thing i'll say is that while information from breath of the wild 2's trailer will be brought up the sequel won't be this video's main focus since e3 is only a month away there's no point in guessing what role the zona may play in the sequel story and that's with the assumption that they will have some involvement in the game it's possible that the tribe won't be a part of the plot and still remain shrouded in mystery depending on what information we get this year there could always be a third part to the series but that's for a later date with that said it's time to sit back and relax as we delve into one of zelda's greatest mysteries welcome my friends to part two of the zonai series evidence of the zonai tribe's existence within hyrule goes way back to the game's initial teaser trailer in 2014 this was our very first glimpse at zelda u which would later be called the legend of zelda breath of the wild link is pursued by a guardian and in the foreground and background lie statues of an owl and dragon these same statues are scattered all across hyrule with most of them located in feron belonging to a tribe named the zonai and their main base zonai ruins is found in these very same woods and yet despite them clearly existing in hyrule's past not a single record of them exists other than the dilapidated structures it's as if this group was wiped from history and the only time the word zonai is used is when entering their main base both the origins and fate of this tribe remain a mystery though it wasn't until breath of the wild two's trailer that people started to gain an interest in what happened to the zonai many of the carvings and structures in the cave look similar to that of zona architecture including the very same pillars that are found all across the ruins in hyrule before the sequels trailer most people were either unaware of the zonai tribe's existence or had no interest in the subject one of the earliest recorded videos to go over the mystery of the zonai was uploaded on may 7th 2017 by user tgl medora also known as lorulean historian he's contributed to many of my past videos and spent years researching this tribe and while he had some involvement with part one lots of the evidence and research for this video was provided by him he plans to make a much more detailed video of his findings and whenever that's uploaded i'll be providing a link to it in the description of this one in japanese the name for zonai izono coming from zona an anagram for nazo meaning mystery according to both the information of masterworks and the barbarian gear found in the lomae labyrinths they were a warlike tribe located in the pharaon region another term used to describe them is savage as the japanese version's name of this armor is the savage tribe's clothes other details known include their ability to wield magic and sudden disappearance long ago everything else about them such as where they came from and what led to their disappearance isn't made clear but it's undeniable that at some point the zonai did exist and that's because of the ruins pharaon holds most of these structures however there are a number of other ruins spread across the kingdom thundra plateau typhlo ruins its name coming from a greek word for blind palmyrae ruins and the three lomme labyrinths found in hebrew akala and gerudo wasteland structures associated with the zonai include statues of an owl bor and dragon two types of pillars the smaller type engraved with a double snake pattern and stylized walls often seen in their ruins some of the more unique cases are the giant dragon head with claws consuming the spring of courage carvings of a twinning snake directly behind the spring one that will be much more prominent in this part the bird torches exclusive to typho ruins the fragmented monument which judging from the surrounding zonai structures may have also been made by this tribe and both the korok block puzzles and paths which feature the same ticked swirl found on the animal motifs there is also the tall pillars scattered all across the land which masterworks labels as zona made yet for some unexplained reason underwent drastic changes in design stripping them of all connections to this tribe what's interesting about the zonai is how most of their prominent ruins are paired with shrines suggesting that there was some sort of collaboration between them and the sheikah 10 thousand years ago but this makes the mystery much more complicated as no one of the present day acknowledges their existence impa tells the hero of the events transpiring ten thousand years ago yet there's no mention of the tribe on the tapestry or in her story another possibility is that the zonai disappeared long before the events told by impa and the shika later used their abandoned ruins for the shrine quests both of these ideas will be further looked at in this video a big part of the first episode was set on the three lomme labyrinths said to be made by the same group who lived in faron woods the exterior of the mazes features a similar looking dragon head carved into the walls and the same snake pattern columns used in ruins associated with this tribe each labyrinth holds its own shrine and the reward for completing the quests are pieces of the barbarian gear their descriptions matching that of pharaon's warlike tribe but evidence suggests that these mazes are instead recreations of the sheikah meant to replicate the style of zonai architecture the size of the labyrinths is much larger than any other ruins and the overall design is reminiscent of the interior of sheikah shrines with a blocky manufactured look compared to other structures the lomme labyrinths have aged much better overall lacking the weathered look of the boar owl and dragon statues the swirl paired with the structure differs from the one on other ruins as it lacks the tick and the snake patterns used are for some unexplained reason upside down another detail worth mentioning is that while the other ruins may have been originally used for other reasons and later repurposed as trials for the hero these structures appear to have been built for the sole purpose of becoming a shrine quest quotes from the developers confirmed that the three animal motifs littered within the ruins are directly connected to the traits of the triforce bore representing power owl for courage and dragon tied to wisdom the fact that the sprint of courage is within a massive dragon head reinforces this idea this tribe knows of the triforce and its powers but views it from a much more barbaric point of view with their animal imagery one can question just how much symbolism is intended with these statues such as the spectacle seen to the northeast of sargon bridge one bore surrounded by six pillars is it a retelling of the events of ocarina of time where ganon was sealed by the seven sages there's also a distinct lack of bore structures in hyrule with all of them being found unfair on while the dragon and owl continue to withstand the passage of time the unkept state of this animal suggests that it too was wiped from history lastly we have breath of the wild too a game which may delve further into who the zonai were and what happened to them as the stonework is reminiscent of zona architecture including carvings of the dragon and owl on the walls there is also talk of the hand-sealing ganondorf being connected to this mysterious tribe however as said previously breath of the wild 2 won't be the main focus of this video it's best to start by breaking down a timeline of events for the zone eyes so we can pinpoint where they fit in hyrule's history there's no definitive way to do this so instead of focusing on one placement in the zelda timeline we'll take a look at several according to senior lead artist makoto yanazu the zonai are a perished culture from prehistory the term prehistory refers to the period of time before written records or human documentation depending on how you view breath of the wild it drastically changes where the zonai are placed on the timeline if breath of the wild is viewed as a game taking place at the very end of the timeline the earliest recorded series of events would be of those in the first chronological game in the zelda series skyward sword little is known about the state of hylia's realm before demise breached the surface and fought the goddess and the descendants of those who rose above the clouds along with skyloft are unaware of what lies below the barrier only a few know of the surface such as zelda's father the great spirit of the sky levias and gyano's grandfather who left behind notes with information of the world below and was the previous owner of the ancient robot ld 301s scrapper the water dragon pharon states that humans once lived in the woods and were in harmony with nature very similar to breath of the wild zonai tribe with their main base in pharaon it's said in masterworks that the tribe worshipped a water dragon therefore these humans could be the very same referenced in skyward sword but it's worth noting that this dragon may be for rosh as a spring tie to this dragon is the same one that appears within the zonai ruins and while the dragon is described as a spirit of electricity it spawns from water and makes an appearance in the pharon region on the other hand if breath of the wild is seen as a stand-alone game separate to the zelda timeline its prehistory could be the events taking place between the establishment of the royal family of hyrule immediately after skyward sword when the humans returned to the surface giving birth to the kingdom and the story told by impa which occurred 10 000 years before breath of the wild's events the game is filled with references from past titles including skyward sword ocarina of time twilight princess and wind waker breath of the wild still exists in the zelda timeline but its exact placement is still unknown and quotes from the developers suggest that where it fits exactly isn't important and up to the player placing the zone i somewhere between these two points is much more vague given how big of a time frame there is to work off of but there are some ideas which would make some sense if the strange formation found within ferron really is a retelling of the sages ceiling ganon they had to have existed after the events of ocarina of time a detail which unfortunately acts as a counter-argument to some of the more popular theories that do hold some ground one can also argue that this formation is of twilight princesses sages since one of the pillars is broken perhaps representing the death of the sage of water this gives us two parts of the timeline where the zonai may have appeared and subsequently vanished and lastly since everything we know about hyrule civilization thousands of years ago comes from the tapestry in impasse house it's a similar situation to what occurred in skyward sword with the passage of time people forgot about the surface and hylia's battle with demise it wasn't until the prophecy that the royal family took the threat of calamity ganon seriously stories of ganon were passed from generation to generation in the form of legends and fairy tales one could also question just how reliable the information from the tapestry is since the series tends to leave bits and pieces of history out of the overall narrative and if what's depicted on the tapestry really is an accurate telling of what transpired lana go if anything it's better to focus on the ruins themselves as opposed to what's said by characters previously we've analyzed said ruins and concluded that the zonai may have vanished long before the events of ten thousand years ago and that the shika used their ruins to house a number of the hero's trials the best example being typhlo ruins a location plagued with an endless darkness the only light source being the bird torches which also act as a guide to that area's shrine one area in particular suggests that this isn't the case as the shika tower within pharaon is surrounded by zonai ruins which appear to have been destroyed once this structure was activated by the hero according to the timeline of events these ruins would have been constructed after the creation of the sheikah technology which we know dates back 10 000 years meaning that this tribe's disappearance had occurred after the events depicted on the tapestry in terms of a proper timeline there is no proper timeline both the developer quotes and information from the game can be seen differently based on one's perspective which completely changes the context of said evidence personally i believe that the zonai disappeared before the creation of sheikah technology but given how little we know it's worth going over many different theories and ideas regardless of where they fit in the zelda timeline it comes as no surprise that many of the things we see in the zelda series come from real world cultures and religion skyward sword's ancient cistern has direct connections to buddhism and before the creation of the golden goddesses early games referenced christianity one of a link to the past's official artworks shows link kneeling and praying before a crucifix similar to the execution of jesus christ and one of the items in the game the book of magic is a depiction of the bible the holy book of christianity the front cover has a cross similar to the one often seen in christianity and the japanese version refers to this item as the bible breath of the wild zonai tribe was a mysterious group who suddenly vanished thousands of years ago the only thing left of this culture are the numerous ruins across the kingdom including the three massive statues depicting three animals all referencing different parts of the triforce most of their structures are present in pharaon said to be the home of the zonai but the passage of time has worn down these ruins to what's seen in the present the tribe is described as barbaric and warlike and while their story is shrouded a mystery they too are connected to real world cultures one of these cultures being the aztecs a mesoamerican culture which was located in central mexico over 700 years ago from 1300 to 1521 this empire flourished until it was overthrown in the conquest of mexico also referred to as the spanish aztec war the aztec faith was similar to other mesoamerican religions including mayan culture and were very warlike even performing human sacrifice massive temples and other structures were constructed as their empire grew and while the aztec used primitive tools in their buildings the group was considered to be highly advanced many of the palaces and temples had animal statues built into them one of the most notable being quetzalcoatl or feathered serpent a dragon and one of these statues is eerily similar to the ones used by the zonai to depict the triforce of courage a dragon head with the body of a serpent one of their cities tenochgilon is located in modern-day mexico city and acted as the capital for the aztec empire before the group migrated and built this city it's said that they lived to the north in a place called astland the ancestral home of the aztec tenochtitlan was named after the group's chief tenoch and a main temple for the mexican people was constructed known as the templo mayor two shrines were built atop the pyramid dedicated to two different gods wheat cilapuccitoli god of war and tslaloq god of agriculture and reign the templo mayor also featured scaffolds often found embedded into the high part of walls including the talalok shrine and were known as battlements the design shares similarities to a snail's spiral shell not only does the aztecs quetzalcoatl share similarities with the dragon statues of breath of the wild zona tribe but the battlements found in the templo mayor look similar to another group found in a different game the ancient robots of skyward sword located in the lenaeru province according to the game's lore this race was constructed by a highly advanced civilization not seen in the game the design of the ancient robots closely resembles dagu small figurines created in the german period of prehistoric japan as a matter of fact this same era is a source of inspiration for most of the technology seen in breath of the wild such as the guardians and shrines joman translates to rope pattern very similar to the design often paired with technology created by the shika tribe and some boat schematics can be found in la neru desert shipyard with hylian that translate to dagu ship another connection between the ancient robots and joman period as previously mentioned this series tends to contain a mix of different cultures and religions in its story and design and while the robots are closely tied to prehistoric japan much of the technology seen in leneru uses a hooked spiral design resembling that of the battlements of aztec structures the headpiece seen on all of the ancient robots as well as the armos and a tick swirl can be found on skipper's ancient sea chart as well as the sand ship both the dungeons doors and rails feature this design and it's nearly identical to the ones found on the animal motifs constructed by the zonai tribe what's interesting is that the ancestral home of the aztec people is said to have been a great desert and the place they migrated to was on the shores of lake texcoco one theory is that the highly advanced civilization referenced in la neru the ones who built the ancient robots later traveled across the sea and migrated to the faron region seen in breath of the wild creating the structures which now lay in ruin due to the passing of time while most of the stonework is found in their main base they later expanded out to other stretches of hyrule as their empire grew similar to the aztec who also migrated from a great desert and are said to be warlike it's possible that the residents of luerlen village are descendants of the zonai who once lived in the dense jungle of feron as their settlement is close to both the shoreline and zonai ruins and the buildings made out of the bigger boats feature the same ticked swirl seen on the technology of the ancient robots in la neru and the zonai structures of breath of the wild not to mention that one of the residents of the village guerrini is able to decipher the message engraved into the fragmented monument of palmore ruins another site linked to the zonai thanks to the surrounding structures which originate from the same tribe breath of the wild zona tribe also appears to be influenced by southeast asian culture as the design found on most of their walls is extremely similar to the ones from angkor temple sites within cambodia a country referred to as the angkorian empire from the 9th to 15th century it's a style unique to southeast asian culture not present in mesoamerican constructions in addition the region the zonai call home ferron is filled with a mix of southeast asian and mesoamerican plants monster deliciosa sago palm banana and plantain washingtonia robusta arums bromeliads and other poles it's interesting how these two cultures are relevant not only to faron but the tribes said to live there in breath of the wild two's trailer there is one particular shot of a wall covered in cave paintings what appears to be a man on a horse wielding a trident other figures on horseback can be seen suggesting that this figure is ganondorf marching into battle with the exception of four swords adventures the gerudo kane has never wielded this weapon however the boss of ocarina of times forest temple phantom ganon wields a trident although this isn't ganondorf the boss shares the name of the demon kane and takes on the appearance of ganondorf before transforming and the trident is the main weapon of ganon the gerudo king's beast form often taken in the zelda series many have speculated on who the other figures in the painting are and one of the common theories is that the zonai were followers of ganon and battled alongside the gerudo king their warlike description further supports this idea and would explain why they were wiped from hyrule's history a tribe who sided with the king of thieves would be understandably punished by the royal family of hyrule something similar has happened before with the gerudo in the child timeline after the hero of time returns to the past he warns the king of hyrule of ganondorf's betrayal who is captured and sentenced to execution [Music] no gerudo make an appearance in the following game of the timeline twilight princess aside from ganondorf himself it's likely that upon hearing the king of thieves evil plans the group was chased out of the desert in four swords adventures this tribe lives in the desert of doubt and now maintains a good relationship with the people of hyrule described as honorable and trustworthy previously we've gone over the barbarian armor which directly translates to the savage tribe's clothes both the japanese and english versions state that this set's markings are meant to swell your fighting spirit increasing the wearer's attack power the markings appear to be a sort of war paint and it makes sense as the zonai are constantly referred to as a barbaric and warlike group similar markings appear on the silver enemies and the hyrule compendium's japanese entry states that these appear because of ganon's evil magical power there's a chance that both the purple markings of the silver enemies and the ones on the barbarian set are connected so perhaps the increase in attack power for the savage tribe's clothes is due to it being enchanted by ganondorf's dark magic and the overall design of this armor closely resembles that of ganon's design in ocarina of time however the zonai ruins spread all across the land appear to tell a different story both the owl and dragon statues are abundant even appearing outside of pharaon but the same can't be said for the boar these structures only appear in the pharaon region with one of them being in the zonai ruins and while the dragon and owl stand proudly withstanding the passage of time most of the boar statues are buried within the ground and barely visible it's extremely easy to miss them if one is not looking out of all the three animal motifs it's also the only one that fails to include a full body if the zonai were followers of ganondorf their lack of care towards the boar statues and reverence of the owl and dragon contradict this belief especially since their main base is in the same location as one of the sacred springs the one most closely associated with the hero the spring of courage which is within a giant dragon head one argument is that perhaps the zonai used to be loyal to ganondorf and later atoned for their crimes establishing close relations with the royal family of hyrule but there's also the formation within feron which may be depicting the fight between ganon and the sages would such a thing be remembered by a tribe loyal to the gerudo kane where he was defeated and sealed away it's worth pointing out that the wall carvings of breath of the wild 2's trailer show both the dragon and owl but no boar either we weren't shown all of it or the walls don't contain this animal and the figures riding alongside ganondorf may be the gerudo themselves making some adjustments to the image reveals the following picture and part of it looks like a stylized gerudo crest all things considered at this moment it seems more like the zonai were against ganondorf and his followers and perhaps he's somehow responsible for their disappearance what's interesting is while the zonai may not be devout followers of ganondorf in the past he's been seen with both owl and dragon imagery animals used by the barbarians of pharaon to represent the parts of the triforce ganondorf in the wind waker appears to have a pair of dragons on the back of his robe and twilight princess takes his connection even further ganondorf's armor has both imagery of an owl and dragon the owl is present on his arm and images of serpent-shaped dragons can be found on his collar since he transforms into a bore-like creature that also ties him to the third animal used for zonai architecture we already discussed the problems with the theory of the zonai being loyal to ganon but something worth pointing out is some of the early concept art for twilight princesses ganondorf a figure that appears to be part gerudo part beast this design just screams zonai but that's more of a subjective topic twilight princess tells us of a group called the interlopers who used the dark power of the fused shadow to take over the sacred realm resting place of the triforce in retaliation the golden goddesses banished them to the twilight realm and ordered the light spirits to split the source of their power the fused shadow into four pieces many years passed slowly transforming the interlopers into the twilight race the dark magic used by their ancestors was lost with the passage of time and the twilight lived peacefully within the twilight realm for thousands of years at the time of twilight princess this piece is disrupted when zant is denied the throne and with ganondorf's power overthrows the monarchy becoming the yusuper king and launching a full-scale invasion against the kingdom of hyrule the gerudo kane approached zant posed as a god granting him the power to take midna's place as ruler transforming the twilight into shadow beasts to use as tools for war on the hyrulean royal family the dark interlopers are one of many tribes referenced in hyrule's history others being the ancient clan from majora's mask and four swords adventures dark tribe at first glance one could assume that the battle the interlopers partook in was the fierce war of ocarina of time this great war went on for many eras before the kingdom of hyrule was unified by its king the interloper war referenced in twilight princess mentions a battle over the sacred realm in which a group of people who excelled in sorcery rose up and tried to govern it with powerful magic this led to the intervention of the light spirits and their banishment to the twilight realm under the orders of the goddesses from this information it seems that at the time the sacred realm was yet to be watched over by the royal family of hyrule explaining why war broke out for dominion of it as well as the actions of the golden goddesses who rarely intervene with hyrule's affairs this ended when the king unified the kingdom as the royal family would become the protectors of the sacred realm and its treasure however according to the official timeline this war took place during the era of chaos before the hyrule kingdom was established the temple of time was then built over the remnants of the sealed temple by the ancient sage raru which put an end to these wars so while ocarina of time states that the civil war ended once the king unified the country it's not related to the establishment of the kingdom of hyrule which occurred during the era of chaos we don't know much about the dark interlopers but evidence suggests that this group was made up of multiple races it specifically says that among the people ones who excelled at sorcery appeared it's not limited to a single tribe or race and two of the tribes speculated to be part of the twiligh are the shika and garudo red eyes are a common trait among the shika the same color seen on the twilight zan's throne room in the palace of twilight has an eye symbol on the back something often used to represent the shika the same detail can also be found on the fused shadow it's worth noting that the shika eye is usually seen with a teardrop on the bottom something that this eye lacks so it's possible this symbol has no connection to the tribe and the front of zen's robe dons a symbol resembling what could be a stylized version of the grudo crest he's seen wearing this outfit before meeting ganondorf meaning this pattern is connected to the twilight and wasn't later added as a representation of xanth's alliance with the gerudo king perhaps the interlopers were composed of a group of shika and gerudo who defected from their respective tribes in hopes of establishing dominion over the sacred realm with their magic but this rabbit hole may go much much deeper than we initially thought one popular theory is that the interlopers referenced in twilight princess are the same as the mysterious zonai tribe of breath of the wild and this is one topic that has been researched by many different people and it's a theory so complex that explaining it is going to take a lot of time there's multiple layers to this theory so brace yourselves as we discuss the interloper zonai connections whether breath of the wild exists in all timelines or a single one isn't relevant to this theory nor can it be used to debunk it the interlopers were sealed away before the events of ocarina of time meaning that the twilight exist regardless of whether breath of the wild falls in the same timeline as twilight princess or not we know that the zonai were a warlike tribe who knew of the triforce's existence given their construction of the animal motifs the boar representing the triforce of power owl for the triforce of wisdom and dragon symbolizing the triforce of courage according to masterworks the zonai held a mystical power with the localization describing them as magic wielders and this tribe is nowhere to be found in the game developer quotes state that the zonai are a perished culture from prehistory and no one knows what caused this tribe to suddenly vanish twilight princesses interlopers are described as individuals who excelled in sorcery and used their powerful magic in the war over the sacred realm their power was sealed by the light spirits and this group was banished to the twilight realm never to see the light of day again we have a tribe who was skilled in magic waged war on the land and were subsequently punished by the goddesses exiled from the kingdom of hyrule it's very similar to what we know about the zonai tribe and would explain both the warlike description and their interest in the triforce masterworks entry on the zonai stone pillars suggests these structures to have been used for incantations another detail connecting this tribe to magic if the columns spread across breath of the wild world are of zonai origin this information is very intriguing it's true that all connections to the zonai were stripped away in the game's final build as the stonework closely matches that of ancient hylian structures in contrast to what's shown in masterworks but these details were changed very late in development so late in fact that the pre-release game footage of the nintendo treehouse event shows different textures both a dragon head and a spiral pattern are visible and resemble a serpent popping out of the ground why nintendo chose to change this last minute we may never know some of the stonework seen in breath of the wild matches what's seen in the twilight realm the sides of zant's throne and part of the fused shadow feature a design also present on sargon bridge a structure located within ferron that judging by its looks may have been made by the zonai in fact the series has had its share of dark tribes the interlopers a group who tried to take over the sacred realm with their magic an ancient tribe referenced in majora's mask who used the mask in its hexing rituals and the dark tribe and four swords adventures who invaded hyrule and were subsequently defeated not only is it possible that breath of the wild zonai are the group of magic wielders sealed away by the goddesses but that the interlopers ancient tribe and dark tribe are all the same set of people the ones who used majora are also tied to magic since the mask was a part of their magic ceremonies and according to the happy mask salesman this race has since perished majora's mask is described as a wicked and terrible power and fearing its misuse the ancestors sealed it away another item from the series the fused shadow is similar in both description and use it was used by the interlopers in the battle for the sacred realm and described as a dark power by the light spirit la neru a power so great that it corrupts any who come in contact with it such as yeta of snowpeak ruins and the patriarch of the goron's darbus midna obliterates saint after his defeat with only a fraction of the fused shadow's power something that horrifies her fearing this power the light spirit sealed it away and broke the fused shadow into four separate pieces very similar to the fate of majora's mask it's worth mentioning that the fused shadow's design may have been inspired by majora as its eye is the same one seen on the mask perhaps the interloper is intended to use majora's powers to take over the sacred realm but couldn't control its power later creating and using the fused shadow less is known about four swords adventures dark tribe long ago they invaded hyrule and were defeated and imprisoned what's interesting is that similar to the interlopers this group was sealed within the dark mirror perhaps this item is connected in some way to the mirror of twilight since four swords adventures takes place after twilight princess the timeline of events contradicts this theory however this game's true definitive placement on the zelda timeline has been up for debate it's the only title featuring a ganondorf different from the rest making it a black sheep of the timeline one topic frequently brought up regarding the zonai are the luminous stones which glow a pale blue in the dark many believe this is because the stones are souls of the dead a similar glow is seen on the fragmented monument another structure which may have originated from the zonai while it shares the shape of the mirror of twilight its appearance differs and is most likely unrelated some zonai structures are paired with luminous stone such as one of the dragons and typho ruins and in the same ruins is an odd formation of six dragon heads surrounding a piece of luminosaur the caves seen in breath of the wild two's trailer are filled with glowing rocks similar to this item and since the zonai mysteriously disappeared long before the game's events it's been theorized that the two are connected in fact satori mountain's glow is similar in color to the luminous stones and its light only appears when the lord of the mountain spawns believed to be the reincarnation of an ancient sage again we can look at the interlopers from twilight princess on the game's start menu the fused shadow occasionally glows a blue green color similar to the luminous stones and stone monument at palmare ruins and a similar color is seen everywhere in both the palace of twilight and on the twilight the group responsible for the fused shadow were banished to the twilight realm which some of the citizens believe to be a netherworld another word for underworld or hell a place associated with dead people it's said that when dusk comes both hyrule and the netherworld intersect and it's the only time when the thoughts of those in the afterlife and regrets they carry pass over to this world the rumors of luminous stones holding the souls of the dead may be directly tied to the same ones told in twilight princess areas consumed by the twilight and without light the people living here transformed into spirits yet another connection to the strange glow of the luminous stones but it's worth noting the difference in color the color of the flames surrounding breath of the wild spirits is similar to the luminous stones while the deceased of twilight princess take on a much stronger blue suggesting that the light from the twilight and that of spirit magic is different if the zonai are the interlopers it means that this group may have been composed of multiple races who excelled in sorcery and their lust for power resulted in the banishment of both their tribe and magic given what's present in certain games it's possible that more races were involved in the interloper war something that we'll be discussing later much of the zelda series inspiration stems from buddhism a religion based on the teachings of gadama buddha it's one of the largest religions in the world originating from ancient india and is practiced by over seven percent of the global population the buddhists believe in the concept of rebirth and the cyclicality of all life matter existence also known as samsara or to put it in simpler terms an endless cycle of death and rebirth the goal of buddhism is to break the cycle of samsara by attaining nirvana also known as reaching enlightenment the zelda series takes inspiration from this belief in skyward sword with demise's curse the japanese translations give this curse another name instead labeling it as the demon tribe's curse described as an endless cycle of death and rebirth till the end of time it's the reason ganondorf continues to be reborn no matter how many times he's defeated and sealed away demise's hatred never perishes and only grows as time passes leading up to what's seen in breath of the wild sequel an ancient evil now overflowing with malice ready to unleash its anger at any given moment and continue the cycle of death and rebirth the curse of the demon tribe is directly connected to the buddhist belief of samsara and that's only scratching the surface of the series inspiration the two games most commonly looked at when it comes to buddhist themes are skyward sword and majora's mask skyward sword was the game that first introduced the demon tribe's curse and both the ancient cistern and earth temple are filled with details linking back to this religion the central chamber of the former holds an enormous statue with an appearance closely resembling that of buddha the top half of the dungeon represents a paradise with its clear waters and calm atmosphere with the lower half contrasting this dark chambers filled with a poisonous substance part of the ancient cistern is inspired by a short story the spider's threat where a sinner almost escaped hell by ascending a thread lowered by buddha the same thing happens in skyward sword when link climbs a thread pursued by cursed bokoblins a species of carp is also present on the exterior of the dungeon while the inside is filled with fish imagery in buddhism there exists the ashta mangala a sacred suite of eight auspicious signs endemic to a number of religions such as hinduism jainism and buddhism and one of these signs is a pair of golden fish meant to symbolize happiness as they have complete freedom of movement in the water other signs of the ashtamangala appear in the ancient cistern as the lotus can be found within the dungeon which the buddha compared himself to the significance of the lotus is its ability to rise and bloom above the merc and achieve enlightenment in other words breaking away from the cycle of samsara link's goal is to ascend the temple and reach the boss chamber symbolic of one who attains nirvana by rising through the mark similar to a lotus flower link is met with one final challenge at the end a battle against the demon-tainted sacred instrument colluctos colloctos is believed to be heavily inspired by the asura a demigod in buddhism which is said to have six arms and three faces a detail that is reinforced by the game's files since asura is used in the file name for the boss both the crown and chest of colloctos feature carvings of lionheads an item significant of the buddhist faith as they are symbolic of beings who have attained a high level of spiritual development the bodhisattvas these creatures serve the role of dharma protectors and are often located at shrines and monasteries the series takes a lot of inspiration from buddhism which brings us to breath of the wild [Music] as previously established the goal of a buddhist is to break the cycle of birth death and rebirth by attaining nirvana in tibetan buddhist temples it's common to find a symbolic representation of samsara outside its walls the bhava chakra also known as the wheel of life the outer layer of the wheel represents the twelve links of dependent origination the second being the six realms of samsara and the third which represents karma at the center of this wheel lay what's known as the three unwholesome roots or three poisons it's believed that these poisons are what turn the wheel of samsara and why people's souls are trapped in the cycle of death and rebirth also known as the three root clashes each one represents a different flaw in a character moja delusion and ignorance represented by a pig raga greed and attachment drawn as a birder rooster and a devicia aversion and hatred its animal being a snake it's interesting that the animal motifs constructed by the zonai are of similar creatures the boar owl and dragon many depictions of dragons and zelda are serpent-shaped like a snake including the ones of breath of the wild known as farash dinrail and nedra and the zonai often pair the dragon heads with elongated bodies such as the ones within typho ruins giving them the appearance of serpents and the owl motifs have crests not unlike a rooster according to the landscape artist makoto yanazu these zonai structures represent an ancient perspective on the virtues of the triforce if demise's curse is a representation of samsara and the animal statues represent both the triforce and the three poisons said to be the root of the cyclical life perhaps it means that the triforce itself and man's desire to obtain it is what traps people in the cycle of death and rebirth the curse of the demon tribe is what pushes the series forward with the continual return of ganon and so long as the triforce exists this suffering will continue for eternity and since this relic is the very foundation of the world as seen in a link between worlds this cycle of rebirth can never end statues of the boer and dragon are also present in another game skyward sword with the existence of the earth temple another dungeon closely connected to buddhism above one of the doorways is a standing figure closely resembling a kind of mahakala known as protector deities who keep away the evil spirits from sacred sites mahakala are usually depicted with a crown of skulls and have three eyes the latter can be seen on the standing figure in the earth temple and while no skulls are present other monsters are seen with them it's worth noting that the figure above the doorway has long ears a trait directly tied to buddha and its hands are posed in a way that references the buddhist mudras and of course there are depictions of two of the three animals associated with the zonai serpent-shaped dragons found on the entrance and the wall of the dungeon including the giant statues and platforms that act as the body of snakes crowned moblins are littered throughout the temple representing the boar or pig in fact there appears to be many statues referencing skyward swords monsters such as the lizalfos and the reasons for that remain a mystery but two other animals appear within the earth temple one being the lion which we've already discussed and the other being an elephant a symbol of greatness and often associated with gadama buddha's mother queen maya it's worth noting that while eldon's earth temple is closely connected to the serpent and boar the other dungeon within this region the fire sanctuary is filled with bird imagery including statues of the owl though they aren't the only animals to make an appearance here and it could very well be a coincidence on the topic of coincidences what's interesting is that zant's dialogue when confronted in the palace of twilight seems to reference the three different character flaws making up the clesha the rage and hatred felt by the toilet's ancestors their desire for power and the foolishness of the royal family with all the connections to buddhism perhaps zant's commentary has a deeper meaning though that's more of speculation one popular theory is that twilight princess suzaku are the same group as the wind tribe of minish cap shad's commentary tells us that according to legend it was the sky people who created hyrule and were closer to the gods than the hylians later building a capital and ascending to the sky to live there link travels to the city in the sky to retrieve one of the fragments of the mirror of twilight meaning that the sky people referenced are the akka shad's outfit and book confirmed this suspicion as both include akka imagery despite their bird-like appearance the akka were capable of constructing their capital and seem to have great knowledge in ancient technology not only did they create a home which floats in the sky but we also have the sky cannons used to transport people to the capital and the dominion rod technology infused with magic and used by the messenger of the heavens to communicate with the sky people it's hard to believe that a tribe with disappearance was capable of such feats more importantly the dominion rod is located within the temple of time resting place of the master sword the dungeon is filled with dominion rod imagery whether it be the statues columns doors and wall carvings which depict a person holding the dominion rod right before the hallway leading to the room with the master sword features hylian script etched into the wall are the word sanctuary stone statue master sword and copy rod which happens to be the name of the dominion rod in the japanese version as it is used on the statues to literally copy the player's movement it's clear that the sky people did indeed have close relations to the royal family given the item's connection to the temple of time if the akka ascended with their capital on a go were a technologically advanced civilization and maintained close relations with the royal family of hyrule then perhaps they are descendants of the wind tribe from the minish cap the wind tribe lived on hyrule's surface later using their wind magic to move the palace of winds to the sky where the group now lives remnants of their old home remain in the form of the wind ruins just like the akka this tribe is said to have close relations with the royal family of hyrule as seen in king gustav's description the same person who holds one of the kinstone pieces needed to gain access to the cloudtops where the wind tribe now lives and the wind ruins are home to many armos built by the minish for the wind tribe link obtains the ocarina of winds at the end of the fortress of winds an item allowing him to travel to the multiple wind crests within hyrule according to the figurine description the fortress of wind's boss mazel was constructed by the wind tribe to repel intruders likely a collaborative effort with diminish two tribes who ascended above the clouds excelling at both ancient technology and magic and have good relations with the royal family remember that only the localization uses the term akka while the japanese refer to them as the sky people it's possible that the wind tribe ascended above the heavens and maintained contact with the royal family until a certain point and this relationship slowly deteriorated once the connection to the capital was lost and the group underwent evolution to take on the appearance of the yaka according to russell the sky people are ancestors to hylians and one of the early designs for the akka was shared on the official japanese zelda twitter account a humanoid figure the post itself states that originally the akka would have had a more human-like figure suggesting that something had happened to the sky people and both tribes are paired with triforce imagery the walls of the room beneath the kakariko sanctuary and the ruins of the wind tribe there's a symbol located above the owl statue which holds sky characters and that same symbol is found within the house of the wind tribe one pattern not seen in game but is present on the texture file of breath of the wild's boar statue closely resembles one within the fortress of winds remember how we suggested that the interlopers weren't a single race and instead a group of people from different tribes who excelled in magic while there appears to be connections with the shika and gerudo the same applies to the sky people the symbol present on the doors and outer walls of the city in the sky is similar to one of the symbols on the twilight curtain [Music] and the owl statue beneath the kakariko sanctuary has a seal closely resembling the twilight symbol on the same curtain and on the wall behind zan's throne another pattern found from city in the sky bears some resemblance to the palace of twilight's doors but there are more connections between the twilight and hyrule's races and this is where things get interesting what if the interlopers were a group similar to breath of the wild's shika tribe defectors a combination of many cultures including the gerudo shika hylians and sky people most chose to use their powerful magic as a tool for war to gain control over the sacred realm and its triforce but there were also those who maintained close relations with both the gods and royal family of hyrule and instead used their magic to ascend above the clouds a group named the wind tribe later evolving into the akka also known as the sky people the dominion rod acted as a source of communication between them and the royal family located within the temple of time a sacred site where imagery of both the dominion rod and the light medallion coexist while the dark interlopers were punished by the gods and banished to the twilight realm the people of the winds used their magic to become even closer to the gods than the hylians [Music] some recent discoveries have made this mystery all the more intriguing of all the dungeons in the series certain ones share patterns which are a near one-to-one resemblance including twilight princess's forest temple and the palace of twilight it's possible that the assets were reused for both dungeons but when you take a look at wind waker's tower of the gods it features the same design the fact that this pattern is found on multiple games makes you question whether it's really a coincidence or not and the hieroglyphs seen on twilight architecture are also found in two other places the forest temple and you guessed it the tower of the gods one group divided into two the dark interlopers who were sealed away to the twilight realm and constructed the palace of twilight and those who established close relations to the royal family of hyrule the same patterns being present on the tower of the gods a dungeon previously theorized to have been made by the sheikah suggests that the wind tribe contributed to its construction the dungeon's interior resembles that of breath of the wild shrines with patterns similar to the constellations found on most chica technology however there are many things also linking the tower of the gods to the wind tribe of minish cap the dungeon's puzzles are based around the mechanic of the player controlling the movement of several statues with use of the command melody assuming that the wind tribe evolved into the akka their dominion rod serves the exact same purpose temporarily mirroring link's movements into the statues based on the temple of times puzzles and the functionality of the many statues perhaps the wind tribe were involved in the dungeon's creation armo's statues lay within the interior of the temple technology which is also present at the wind tribe's ruins if the sky people were influential enough to have partook in the construction of the temple of time holding an item which acts as gateway to the sacred realm is it possible that the same group were involved in the making of the tower of the gods meant as a divine trial for the hero to overcome the patterns on the interior and exterior of the dungeon could be meant to represent constellations but it's also true that a part of the fused shadow shares a similar design it's fitting for a tribe who excelled at wind magic to be this prominent in a game all about controlling the winds with a hero given the title of hero of winds little is known about the wind waker but it's capable of manipulating the weather itself and is the item used to take control of the many statues in the tower of the gods there's also its guardian godin who tests the hero of winds in combat a mechanical being said to have been created by the gods somewhat similar to the origins of the wind waker which allows its user to borrow the power of the gods the tribe of winds constructed masel to guard the fortress of winds a creation very similar to that of godan remember what shad says about the sky people in twilight princess they ascended with their capital to the heavens and were a race even closer to the gods than the hylians it's interesting that the one in possession of the wind waker prior to the game's events was the king of hyrule the same person who conducted the sages long ago when they played their song to call upon the gods as the royal family had maintained close relations with the wind tribe who are now living within the heavens and when it comes to technology the lenairu mining facility comes to mind a factory run by the ancient robot with technology closely related to that of the shikas and yet there are signs of what may be another tribe's involvement in the facility in the depths of the factory rests the gust bellows an item which blows out air at a fast speed and is used to navigate throughout the dungeon technology which may have been created by the wind tribe themselves it's possible that the facilities found within le neru are yet another example of their influence however there's one other detail about both the sky people and ancient robots which connects them together because the swirling intricate pattern found on the sand ship a mechanical boat operated by the ancient robots of la neru is also found on one of twilight princess's dungeons the city in the sky home to the sky people it's possible that the technology used for the sand ship is similar to the technology of the floating capital there is another item in the series which functions similar to the gust bellows the gust jar found inside of the deepwood shrine and wouldn't you know the game the item comes from is none other than minish cap it's worth mentioning that in the japanese version both the gust bellows and gust jar share the same name mahonotsubo magicjar not only does this prove that the item manipulates the wind but that it does so using a sort of wind magic in addition the wind crests the player can teleport to with the ocarina of winds in the minish cap have a similar shape to the insignia adorned by much of the technology found in the mining facility twilight princess's forest temple was never addressed in the previous bit although it's relevant to the overall topic as it's the third dungeon to contain these unique carvings by itself there doesn't seem to be much significance on the doors of the dungeon is the symbol of the kokiri something which will be addressed later on however another set of border designs for this temple are also found in wind waker's earth temple and ganon's tower so the forest temple not only has potential ties to the creators of the palace of twilight and tower of the gods but also ganondorf it's worth noting that both gannon's tower and the earth temple are closely associated with monsters and while the same can't be said for the forest temple the dungeon contains depictions of a human skull over an inverted triforce that is engraved into several beams if the zonai are unrelated to the interlopers perhaps this tribe did indeed follow ganondorf based on this information a faction of monsters led by the demon king a warlike tribe which hungers for power personally given the state of the ruins and breath of the wild and how it's presented to us i have my doubts on this hypothesis assuming that the zone i referenced in breath of the wild are meant to be the same group as the dark interlopers what's seen in these temples could suggest that ganondorf himself is a successor of sorts the era of chaos took place before the kingdom of hyrule was established and ganondorf's first appearance dates back to ocarina of time long after the temple of times construction and establishment of hyrule's monarchy like the interlopers ganondorf both opposed the royal family and excelled in sorcery if this faction of powerful magic wielders was a mix of gerudo it's a potential connection between him and the ones who fought over the sacred realm there's much less to cover when it comes to the gerudo kane's potential ties to the interlopers or the possibility of the zonai being his followers though it needed to be addressed since it's technically still a possibility if this is the case chances are that we'll see more of the story in breath of the wild too but as stated previously this video isn't focused on the sequel while the state of breath of the wild's bore statues suggests that this animal was held in low regard perhaps due to its association with the demon kane the opposite can be said for the dragons found across numerous zonai ruins many of them appearing within pharaon and tyflo ruins the dragon is the only animal of the three to get its own effigy with a size much greater than the others an enormous dragon head with hands situated directly above the sacred spring of courage almost as if this thing is its protector a guardian if the boar is looked down upon for its connection to ganondorf it makes sense for the same tribe to revere the creature representing the virtue of courage the one associated with hyrule's heroes the dragon only masterworks suggests that the zonai had worshipped a water dragon though even if this was an inaccurate statement what we see in breath of the wild suggests that at the very least this animal was the one most revered and the form taken by all three elemental spirits guardians of the sacred springs is the form of a dragon one with a body shape resembling a serpent very similar to the zona statues in fact the zonais seem to have an interest with the serpent-shaped dragons one structure missed by many can be found directly behind the screen of courage a twinning serpent design etched into the stone it's likely that this is yet another depiction of a dragon and the same goes for the patterns etched into the stone pillars but what's interesting about this twinning serpent design is the fact that many different games use it in both their structures and as a culture a situation similar to the zonai swirls a pattern may exist in multiple games but it doesn't necessarily mean it represents the same thing it's why this video is much more subjective and is more about presenting the possibilities as opposed to building up evidence to head towards a single conclusion now back to the twinning dragon design whether it be intentional or a coincidence this pattern appears on one of breath of the wild's most common items the traveler's shield said to be made of animal hide and sturdy wood and this happens to be link's shield of choice in both the official art and initial teaser a trailer which also gave players a first look at the ruins of the long forgotten zonai tribe other areas of interest include skyward sword's earth temple where a twinning dragon design is present on both the dungeons entrance and walls of the chamber as well as the two enormous serpent-shaped dragon statues and the temple's boss key wind waker's dragon roost cavern also contains twinning dragons one of the cave entrants with colors resembling farosh and etched into the walls of the cavern itself the beams protruding from the walls of the dungeon resemble lawn dragon arms and the one who acts as guardian of the island is the dragon value however these creatures have a history of appearing in the series whether it be imagery in dungeons or as deities so it's hard to tell whether certain ones really are connected to breath of the wild's barbarians when it comes to the theory of the interlopers being the same group as the zonai it's worth noting that dragon and serpent imagery are common among the twilight zanz shoes resemble the head of dragons and on the back of midna's robe are two elongated figures of dragons resembling the design of breath of the wild statues in addition the palace of twilight's throne room is filled with symmetrical serpent statues also present on the usual king's shoulder plates and midna's headpiece the forehead features a twinning snake design and above it are two other symmetrical figures resembling a serpent's head the item used by the interlopers in the battle for the sacred realm the fused shadow has two snakes engraved into the mask two serpents breathing fire a trait commonly associated with dragons while this can be used to further support the zonai interloper theory it also means that the dragon imagery seen in both breath of the wild and other zelda titles doesn't have to always be associated with right or wrong especially if we take into account the potential buddhist connections the animal motifs have to the three klesha poisons as it's believed that all three of them are what keeps a person's soul trapped in samsara what i find to be the strangest detail is the mirror of twilight itself which was used to seal the magic wielders within the twilight realm the snake pattern matches the one seen in the palace of twilight suggesting that it too was created by the interlopers it's also strange that arbiter's grounds the execution place which held ganondorf is full of stuff linking it back to one tribe the gerudo their crest can be found on some of the stonework outside of the dungeon and its interior include statues of a female figure with a snake very similar to the statue of the spirit temple's goddess of the sands a deity worshipped by the gerudo it too depicts a female with a cobra wrapped around her body some believe that arbiter's grounds and the spirit temple are the same place while others think that the former was a different gerudo temple repurposed to serve the role as an execution site it's odd that the ones who may have been responsible for the mirror of twilight were sealed away by their own creation at what was once a gerudo site now used to hold and execute the gerudo king himself the tribe had no way to fight back as they became enemies of all of hyrule and had no choice but to flee the desert for the majority of this video i've avoided talking about the swirl pattern often paired with zonai structures it's a symbol often seen in the zelda series and since the ruins debuted in breath of the wild it's difficult to know whether the ones of past games are truly connected to this tribe at best we can narrow down the search to those similar to the ones found on the three animal statues we've already looked at the ones associated with the ancient technology residing in the laner region best examples are the sandships railings and doors as well as the crest paired with the technology of leneru mining facility including the ancient robots a crest resembling that of a ticked swirl both the earth temple and dragon roost cavern share the same border design resembling swirls with ticks at the end however wind waker's use of it likely stems from a stylistic choice as it's commonly associated with the wind though one found in the earth temple specifically bears resemblance to breath of the wilds it acts as the body to the scorpion featured on the ground meanwhile the earth temple from skyward sword is filled with swirl shaped patterns including one with a tick as this dungeon's theme is centered around fire this symbol may too be a stylistic choice with no connection to the zone eye the ancient language of twilight princesses sky people contains some sky characters that resemble the zona swirl the sixth one in particular closely matches one of the designs used in akka constructions now most of the theories and ideas presented in this video rely on other evidence and observations the swirl being only part of the bigger picture while the symbol itself has sparked plenty of controversy one topic barely discussed that i feel to be important is the origin of the zonai swirl going back to breath of the wild two's trailer we see multiple angles of the seal holding ganondorf down the green energy emanating from the hand flows up through the ceiling with one strand of malice in the dead center a top down shot of the seal shows that the substance is spiraling outwards as it flows to the top of the chamber it's interesting that this angle resembles the zonai spiral found on most of their structures especially when considering the timeline of events ganondorf was sealed long ago and we have remnants of a long lost tribe who mysteriously disappeared leaving only the ruins behind assuming that the swirl is found exclusively within breath of the wild is it possible that this symbol described as a zonai feature was based off of the seal placed on the demon king thousands of years ago if so then perhaps this tribe was the one who placed said seal which had some involvement in their disappearance i previously theorized that the green energy is meant to represent courage with malice and chica fluid symbolizing the virtues of power and wisdom and that the hand is only part of the seal put on ganondorf long ago over time the life force of whoever placed this seal has weakened to the point that only the person's hand remains as the rest of this individual's body has dissolved into nothing the size of the hand compared to link suggests that the person it once belonged to was massive much larger than your typical hylian it's possible that the one who sealed ganondorf was a humanoid figure though given the zonai's reverence of dragons and the claws on the hand perhaps the one who sealed the demon king took the form of a dragon and the spiral is meant to represent the serpentine shape of this dragon but if the zonai were around before breath of the wild the spiral would predate the ceiling of calamity ganon and have no correlation previously we've gone over the different timeline theories of when the tribe existed the ancient robots of leneru predate skyward sword itself built by an ancient civilization never seen gondo the owner of the bizarre scrap shop in skyloft owns one of these robots once belonging to his grandfather it was used to collect scraps from the surface and the notes left behind suggest that he himself may have lived during the time of demise's attack and the rising of skyloft even if this isn't true it's clear that gondo's ancestors have had a history with the ancient robots and perhaps gondo is a descendant of the tribe who built leneru's technology it's been theorized that the citizens of lurlin are descendants of feron zona tribe as the hooked spiral is present on the bigger boats with luerlen village itself being in close proximity to the parish tribe's ruins and gondo's appearance closely matches the residents of this fishing village some believe the zonai to be related to the koroks and kokiri as the ticked swirl is found on breath of the wild korok block puzzles the spiritual stone of the forest the kokiri's emerald is the same pattern used as the emblem of the kokiri tribe also appearing on the deku shield similar to the zonai the kokiri and koroks live in the woods and the spiritual stone of the forest is associated with courage a trait that's also coupled with the zonai dragons and one of the dungeons we previously tried to connect to the interlopers in our zonai interloper theory the forest temple of twilight princess has a symbol of the kokiri on its doors despite this detail neither the kokiri nor koroks make an appearance in this game it's possible that the inspiration for the zonai swirl originates from the emblem of the kokiri a tribe said to originally be hylians who chose to distance themselves from civilization and live in harmony with nature but as of now there's no confirmation of this in game since the hyrule encyclopedia is the only source for this information a book filled with contradictions and inconsistencies since there's no mention of the zonai tribe in impasse story detailing the events of ten thousand years ago combined with the fact that most of their ruins are coupled with shrine trials it's possible that farron's barbarians were a group of sheikah who maintained close relations with the royal family and constructed the ruins which were then paired with the shika shrines one race split into two groups the ones responsible for creating the technology used to defeat calamity ganon and train the future hero and those who went under the name of zonai constructing historic sites including the thunder plateau typhlo ruins and other locations it would explain why the lomae labyrinths incorporate a similar design into their stonework while also closely resembling the style found within chica shrines in fact one could argue that zonai isn't the actual name for this tribe the word zona is an anagram for naso directly translating to mystery so they are the mystery or mysterious tribe when browsing online sites and forums one person made a very good point following calamity ganon's defeat the shika were split into two factions those who abandoned their technology to live normal lives and continue to serve the royal family and the yiga clan a group fueled by their hatred now pledging allegiance to calamity ganon if there were a third branch of shika who lived under the alias of the zonai these three clans would be associated with the three different virtues of the triforce the sheikha who constructed the sheikah technology and remained loyal to the king those who turned against hyrule due to their malice and the ones responsible for all ruins associated with the zonai a tribe who for some unexplained reason has an interest in the dragon which is tied to courage it's possible that after building the ruins this branch of the sheikah went deep underground and was responsible for ganon's imprisonment on the topic of the shika since the story told by impa originates from the tapestry there may be more to what transpired ten thousand years ago that will come to light with breath of the wild sequel if some details have purposely been left out the question is why the hyrulean royal family is no stranger to hiding dark secrets the shadow temple of ocarina of time was a place used by the shika to both torture and interrogate anyone considered enemies of the royal family chambers stained with blood and filled with deadly traps a place so wicked it's considered to be a taboo subject the ones who built the technology used to defeat calamity again and thousands of years ago are the very same who constructed this torture chamber the thing about history is that it's often written by the victors we already know about the oppression of the chica once the royal family began to fear their technology and while most agreed to abandon it and live normally among the people there were those who turned against hyrule and now work for ganon were the royal family somehow involved in the disappearance of the zonai in the first episode we discussed the zonai pillars which underwent drastic changes in design during the game's development a number of these pillars are located within guccini plain barrows and as french theorist rinkuto pointed out in his first video on the zonai barrows is a term used for large structures erected over a place where people were buried in ancient times and this location is in close proximity to farron woods it's possible that these pillars mark the graves of the zonai tribe a group said to have perished long ago one structure not addressed in the first part can be found near one of the shika towers some of which are covered with a stone slab perhaps these are meant to be shallow graves and burial grounds of pharaon's barbarians assuming this is true whether the royal family is responsible for the disappearance of the zonai or not isn't known and as of now is more of a conspiracy theory but if there is more to what happened thousands of years ago breath of the wild too will most certainly bring it up it's pretty clear that we have yet to get enough information for a definitive answer on who the zonai were or what led to their disappearance i'm sure there's plenty of other ideas regarding the tribe that weren't addressed in this video and that's sort of inevitable given the fact that part two contains a lot more speculation since it covers other games in the zelda timeline along with what we know from breath of the wild and because it's a broader view that technically means that there's an unlimited amount of ideas and possibilities that could be covered unfortunately given the little time that i have it's only possible to go over a number of these ideas and that meant focusing on some of the more popular theories as well as elaborating on ideas that i feel are worth dissecting plus some of these topics require more time to properly explain such as the zonai interlopers theory there is much more information on that compared to something like the ancient hero being part of the zonai or them being followers of ganondorf especially since breath of the wild 2 was mostly ignored since we might as well wait and see what e3 gives us again we should all go in expecting the zonai to have little to no involvement in the series it's likely that all the previous connections we made are mere coincidences and the group is only relevant to breath of the wild depending on what we get it's likely that i'll be back with a part 3 solely focused on the sequel if not that then chances are i'll return to normal length theory videos especially if they do end up being a major part of the game in the meantime if you are dissatisfied with this video or want more on the topic i highly recommend checking out other people's videos as there's tons of ideas which weren't talked about in this video whether it be information i forgot to include topics only briefly brought up or brand new ideas i'd like to take this time to personally thank lirulian historian as a ton of the information presented here comes from discussions with him and whenever he gets his own video out i'll be sure to include it in the description i also want to thank link chateau lon lon rincuto cole and enochtaro for also working with me on this huge project lots of the conversations with these lovely individuals helped with the overall research and making of the video and i can't thank you enough lastly i want to thank all of you for your continued support and patience this video should have come out sooner and for those who endured the long wait i thank you not many people get this privilege and your encouraging words greatly helped me during the production of the series no video has taken me this long to make but now that it's done it feels like there's been a huge weight lifted off my shoulders if you enjoyed this video and wish to see more content like this then please consider subscribing and if you didn't like it then feel free to hit the dislike button your honest feedback is what helps me improve and by doing so it ensures that i continue to put out the best content i possibly can now we wait and see what nintendo has in store for us at e3 i've been nintendo block crisis and i'll see you all next time i

Channel: NintendoBlackCrisis

Views: 456,671

Rating: 4.9572496 out of 5

Keywords: zelda botw, breath of the wild 2, botw 2, botw sequel, zonai part 2, zonai tribe, theory, nintendoblackcrisis, e3 2021, nintendo direct, legend of zelda, zelda 35th anniversary, nintendo e3, documentary, analysis, mysteries, secrets, twilight princess, skyward sword, interlopers, zelda breath of the wild, release date, zonai theory

Id: mNPTGQGe9RU

Length: 85min 3sec (5103 seconds)

Published: Sun Jun 06 2021