I didn't even realize two minutes had passed by by the time you started talking. The level of quality you've poured into this gorgeous video is unrivaled. I look forward to part 2 with great anticipation, as does everyone else. Phenomenal work sir. Legend
I’m 24 and have played Zelda games since Wind Waker on the GameCube when I was around 6. I will probably still be playing these games when I am 63 as well. Some things are just too fun to give up.
It felt like Avengers Endgame for me; getting super hyped, and then watching he film. Coming out of the film and thinking “wow that was a spectacular movie”
Suddenly, my head goes to the way Link wears blue throughout breath of the wild. True, it was because it was gifted to him as Zelda’s knight and the Hylian champion... But also, technically this means that throughout that entire game he’s wearing the color of Nayru, of wisdom. Link, as the hero of courage, has traditionally always worn green, the color of Farore. Could it be that the reason this is not the case is because he has yet to ascend to the role he was meant for. BOTW focussed on Zelda’s power because it was so obvious that She didn’t have it yet. Link meanwhile, definitely had the mastersword and, unlike most other Links in the games once they start on their adventure, was expected to follow the interpretations of the people around him of what power and actions were needed to fulfil his role. In a way, he was as limited from growing into his own role as Zelda. BOTW is the story of how Zelda managed to gain access and use her powers to stop the country from being destroyed, waiting for Link to rescue her. But through that entire adventure, link only gained memories of who he was as an individual connected to Zelda and the part of the triforce that should belong to link (and appear on his hand) is also never shown. My guess is that during the next instalment, Link is going to grow beyond the role of Zelda’s knight, beyond the blue that he wears right now, and become the hero he was meant to be, as an entity seperate from her and equal to her. I really can’t wait. ^^
On top of that, by wearing that blue, he was put as an equal to the other champions. Not to say they're any less than he is obviously, but his role in the loop and within the triforce is beyond the rest of the champions. To graduate past that tunic into something more is what I hope to come of the new game. I have no idea what to expect and honestly, I couldn't be happier with that
“Did you finish designing those three mazes?” “Yeah let me send the file over” “Bruh you flipped the design upside down” “Nobodies gonna notice just leave it alone”
Right. We can try to find meaning in every little nook and cranny, but the truth is many of these minute details were probably never thought about during the development of the game. It's not possible that every single piece of geometry or ingame lore or music (etc) is as full of intent as fan theories would like the to be.
@@mostlyokay I'm not saying every blade of grass is relevant, but with a game like BotW, that took this long to come out, and with this much of the creative process and intent behind it being shared, I feel like something like the mazes is intentional
I believe the Zonau (Zonai) Tribe was split into 3 parts. The owl, which represents the triforce of wisdom. The dragon, which represents the triforce of courage. And the boar, which represents the trifprce of power. Since Ganon had followers of the Zonau tribe, I believe that the followers were from the boar group. This explains why the boar statues were cast aside, which means that the owl and dragon group worshipped goddess Hylia, and the boar group didn't.
I was actually gonna comment on this but o just wanted to check if anyone else had said it since owls are wise and boars are strong wisdom and strength so dragons would be courage
I would argue that the boar is courage and the dragon is power. traditionally boars in japanese culture are symbols of courage and headstrong mentality. while dragons are just naturally powerful beings. the boar statues could be cast aside because PERHAPS what we see is an iteration of a hero V. gannon lifeline? perhaps gannon destroyed the boar sect of the Zonau in hopes of keeping the hero from being born, but failed and is now held deep within the Zonau ruins where the symbol of the dragon is prominent
to take this even further the Zonai that split into the wizdom became the Sheka tribe, the Zonai of power became the Yiga clan, and the Zonai of courage became the savage tribe that lived in Farron
Ok, here's some hot takes: The labyrinths: per my art history studies, you get that deviating style when the dominant culture shifts quickly. This would suggest that these are late-Zonai/early-Sheikah designs, built around a significant cultural exchange. Perhaps a remaining Zonai artist was the designer, but the workers and commissioners Sheikah. Perhaps a Sheikah artist studied under a Zonai master for a time. The impressive scale suggests that the Sheikah were definitely booming at the time, but this is definitely a blended style. The Owl, Dragon, and Boar: it's likely that the Zonai regarded the three facets equally. However, later cultures, like Sheikah and Hylians, would have found the Boar, referencing Gannon, upsetting. These sculptures would have been more neglected, perhaps actively defaced by the Sheikah as they slowly co-opted Zonai structures for themselves. *extra hot*: the Zonai could have been a Lynel society. They certainly fit the bill for a warrior-race. They use magic arrows, so they have some magical skill. There are so few, but they are... proud, refined... in a way other enemies aren't. It's easy for me, at least, to imagine them being the lost descendants of a mighty warrior people. And the Barbarian armor could have been designed as a gift for a Sheikah or Hylian (perhaps even the Hero in the tapestry) who had proven himself to them, and was accepted as one of them, thust the inexact recreation of mane, horns, and stripes.
I actually thought of the same thing, the zonai having descendants, but I was just thinking about bokoblins and moblins, seeing as they're pretty barbaric and have -like the Lynels- oddly resembling tattoos to the zonai armor. Maybe that would mean that the weakest zonai became bokoblins, and the strongest or noblest became Lynels?
I was thinking, the reason the mazes are Zonai like are because the sheikah might have uncovered the barbarian armor in zonai ruins as some kind of treasure. Then they decided to put the barbarian armor in theses mazes that they built as a reward for the hero because it's a great asset and built a Zonai like structure to either respect the tribe, or to create a connection with the tribe.
That wouldn't be possible since the statues were built before the kingdom of hyrule. It is apparent in twilight princess that there is, indeed a kingdom.
The wait for part 2 will soon be over! It's now being worked on and should release some time in late May/early June. I thank you for your patience and will follow up with a link to the video once it's released!
I just found this video and enjoyed it far much more than I should've. The mystery and all the different theories and connections makes this too much fun! Also noticed that it's been almost a year since you've released this video, and here you are commenting that part 2 is almost finished? I feel super lucky!
It's finally time... part 1 of the Zonai series is complete! This project has been a WIP on and off for the last several months, and I'm excited to release it after all the waiting. Special thanks to RwanLink for providing the opening shots (his channel is in the desc). Part 2 will focus on the tribe's possible influence on past games, and I ask that you be patient as I get it started. I hope to release it in the next 3-4 months. Thanks for reading this, and have a great weekend!
NintendoBlackCrisis Loftwings turned into horses And also I think the sheikah are descendants from the Zonai and that’s why they built shrines at Zonai ruins also the sheikah worship the Zonai and are the only people that know of them Pls read this @NintendoBlackCrisis
33:07 I believe this more likely represents Ganondorf’s botched execution before Twilight Princess, since the boar is buried fairly deep into the ground (representing being sent to the twilight realm), and the one broken pillar represents the Sage of Water killed by Ganondorf
Pretty much😂😂 What are the statues? Isn't one a dragon, another an owl and another a boar? I haven't seen the entire video yet but I'm going from memory
Absolutely stunning man. Wow... I really felt I was looking at a documentary produced by an entire team of researchers, editors, animators etc. Instead, this guy is just doing this stuff mostly all by himself. So much respect. Cheers bud! Cannot wait for part 2.
I agree wholeheartedly! Also, hi Monster Maze! I absolutely loved your BOTW 2 trailer restructuring. If anyone here hasn't seen it yet they absolutely should. It's fantastic.
Hm... If they worshipped Ganondorf/Ganon in the events of OoT, perhaps those boar statues in the ground were neglected once the tribe found out about what he did. And the pillars surrounding the boar's head do depict his sealing.
Or maybe there was a split in the tribe, and the anti-Ganen part succeeded, and only built the Owl and dragon statues after that, Because of a hatred of Ganen.
@@annaclarallb Yeah, to me the answer seems obvious, assuming Ganondorf was Zonai. He led their tribe to ruin, so the survivors left to pick up the pieces condemned him. It happens all the time in real-world history, why not here?
@@Ylurple Maybe they mistaken him for Zonai. This tribe may have been very huge to have structures all over Hyrule. We might not truly know what the Zonai look like but according to the armor set red hair seems to a strong characteristic. The Zonai are describe as "savage" so they could be fighters and warriors. Also, they were magic wielders. With all that Ganondorf could be mistaken for Zonai.
Something I found interesting: at 27:40, take a look at the neck of Garini’s shirt. You may notice that his shirt has a very familiar swirling design, with a very unique tick at the end of the swirl...
I noticed that, too! I didn't realize it until NBC was talking about the Lurelin Village and it's people and their plausible connections to the Zonai and looking at Garini's shirt, I noticed the swirl's with the tick at the end.
Brandon EV maybe they are so little left because conquer//crossbreed, just like how in Mexico the vast majority of people are mongrels (sorry, all my blood is Mexican), and there are very few true natives and they are in forgotten/ hard to access areas. It’s a stretch but I like this theory
That normally happens, when a fan makes a theory that is better than the cannon and is very well thought out, only, to get shafted bc creators had a different plan for the game.
@@5thnovemberscrivener634 I wouldn't call the Zonai theory "well thought out" it's a bunch of almost baseless conjecture yes the zonai are tied to shrine puzzles but that doesn't magicly tie them to huge important story events in the next game they exist for thr sole reason of adding s sense of life and history to yhe world nothing more.
Gandhiodus Klifgote while i do agree most of this is a reach, i feel like the zonai will be more important in the second game due to very deliberate shots in the teaser showcasing zonai architecture, and some of the points NBC makes in this video. but yeah, overall it’s not very well based. definitely well thought out, though (almost to a painstaking degree).
This is the one game series where it's history and monuments genuinely feel real and mysterious; it really feels like the historical mysteries we haven't unlocked yet in our own world
I love that given the tears of the kingdom trailers, we now know the reason why the zonai engravings on the labyrinths are upside down. It’s because they are. They fully fell from the sky and landed upside down. It makes sense how one is in the middle of the ocean, why the “entrances” are in weird spots, even those pillars in the “basement” of akkala. It’s genius, hidden in plain sight. It’s why so many monuments are broken and laying on their side, why so many have broken bits. We thought it was just time. But it’s time and how far they fell. I love it.
When you started talking about the swirl that really reminded me of academic debate around archeology. Like thia sounds exactly like the controversies that arise around ancient cultures in the real world and their extent. Ancient cultures are often categorized based on how they made tools, what kind of tools they made and which decorations they made but that also can spark controversy since simple shapes will of course appear in many places and period. It's just kinda funny to me just how this has become so similar to real world academic debate and I actually aplaud you for that since it shows a level of critical thinking you usually don't find when talking about games.
archeologist: "what is this?" other archeologist: "I-it can't be!!" archeologist: "what is it?" other archeologist: "A SWIRL!!" archeologist: "OH SWEET HYLIA!!"
The Skyview temple in skyward sword has swirls everywhere inside the structure. _everywhere._ the trees in faron woods had the same swirl design in many of the tree's branches. the water dragon even mentions people that used to live there long ago--the fact the Sky keep fits perfectly back into the sealed grounds, which is next to faron woods by the way--is blatantly saying that yes, the people of skyloft, their ancestors once lived in faron before being sent skyward. Twilight princess also speaks of the sky language and people--botw and TP feature owl statues in the overworld--which relate to the zonai in botw aka the sky people. Besides the springs, and forgotten temple which feature the loftwings, typhlo ruins is the only place in hyrule that has bird statues resembling those found on skyloft; think of that bird statue with the missing eye. There's even a giant version of that in the typhlo ruins that directly references that particular statue, missing eye and all. Yet it's dubbed a zonai ruin in botw. Interesting isn't it?
The Labyrinths could still have been repurposed by the Sheikah. The Shrines actually look out of place. The labyrinths might have housed something else before. So this does in no way contradict the theory, that the Zonai disappeared before the shrines. Also, while the Zonai were discribed as savage, the structures in the Faron area tell a different story. It is actually safe to assume, they were a rival to the Sheikah and wiped out by them. History is always written by the victors. The Empires in human history always branded outsiders, Barbarians. Another possible theories, are: a) The Zonai had something to do with Hylia's decline after the first Calamity. b) They were destroyed in the first calamity (the shrines were likely not all built a once, but over time). c) Link might be of Zonai origin, he carries the Triforce of Courage, whereas the Princess of Hylia the triforce of Wisdom. d) The Zonai might be a proto-race which had something to do with the TriForce's creation.
A year later, I want to ask: have you considered that ganon obtained the power of the zonai markings through some kind of trickery, as opposed to them willingly, following him? He is, among his many titles, often a thief. It would make more sense as to why they laid the statues of the boar low, if the bearer of power betrayed them.
I feel like it’s more a call to twilight princess and the deep burial significance is the twilight banishment to the underworld. Broken Pilar being the water sage that fell to Ganon during his banishment.
With what we know now, I’m curious if this could have any connection to the tear that has replaced the jewel on Ganondorf’s headdress. He most likely stole it from one of the tribes/sages before corrupting it with malice. It appears white in certain shots, so either that’s how all the tears look in their dormant state or he stole the Tear of Light from our dragon friend/leader of the Sages
“The Zonai existed long before hyrule’s kingdom” “The citadel was built to repel the zonai from entering hyrule” (implying it was built by the current royal bloodline)
Magma Mustache I think another possibly related people to the Zonai are the Gerudo who have red hair and have an affinity with lightning (at least in BotW). Just a thought though.
@@blamethelag4992 I heard someone saying that maybe the Zonai weren't human at all, and were ancestors of Lynels. Lynels are much more intelligent that most monsters, and have horns and stripes like the barbarian outfit. Perhaps the Zonai made the outfit for human heroes that completed dangerous challenges (like traversing the labyrinths), making them an honorary Zonai. The modern Lynels are not a part of the Zonai tribe, just descendants, so they do not honor tradition and do not respect humans wearing the outfit. They also use elemental arrows, which might be made using Zonai magic.
I believe the reason why there are so many guardians inside the forgotten temple is not because they got there during the calamity, but they were put there by the sheikah to protect the temple, however they were inevitably infected by malice ,, so this may be a similar case: in this video is implied that the lomei labyrinths are actually made by the sheikah and not by the zonai, so just as in forgotten temple they could have put guardians defending these structures until the hero came to get into the shrine. Still I really like the idea of botw Ganon knowing about the Zonau, this could mean thatthey had and important role in sealing him 10,000 years ago alongside the sheikah..!.. (? sorry if there's any mistakes in my english
Sweet Hylia Will, you’ve outdone yourself. This was a true masterpiece. I got chills throughout the entire video. Kudos, kudos to you and all the people who helped you on the theories Channel. This was utterly incredible. 👏🏼👏🏼
I really like the theory that ganandorf became a litch using the zonai. They were loyal, but him basically wiping out a large portion of their population all at once to fuel his transformation was seen as a betrayal. And the remaining survivors desecrated his boat statues.
I saw another video with a similar theory (considering the zonai were following Ganondorf and he used their souls to become a litch -> "Ganondorf's Dark Ritual" by Monster Maze You should take a look! I found it very interesting :D
The Palmorae Ruins near Lurelin Village involve a monument written in, presumably, a Zonai language, which tells you to kneel on the platforms to open the shrine. So the ruins can't possibly date from before the Sheikah began building shrines - and these ruins are super worn, unlike the labyrinths. So the Zonai and the Sheikah must have been working together since very early on. Also, the text on the monument seems the same as the green text in the BotW2 trailer. So the magic keeping Ganondorf in place must, presumably, be Zonai magic - and maybe also it's Zonai magic keeping the Sheikah monks in their shrines, since they vanish into green sparkles when Link completes the challenges. I wonder if the monks are even real live monks and not magical replicas put there by the Zonai. A further point: when you complete the Thyphlo Ruins challenge, Link writes in the Sheikah Slate "Someone built this challenge within the Thyphlo Ruins", so it's clear that the game designers want you to know that the Sheikah repurposed Zonai sites in order to train the Hero.
I think the monks in the Sheikah shrines are a reference to a semi-obscure practice certain sects of Buddhist monks would undergo, which involved them entering a cave and essentially mummifying themselves. It was done by some elderly monks, they would meditate and go without food and water , and they had a bell attached to the outside which they would ring to indicate if they were alive or not. When the bell didn't ring in answer, the cave would be sealed up. It was believed to be a sacred ordeal that would lead them to enlightenment.
On the topic of the zonai towers, just looking at them makes me feel like they should be holding something up. I can’t think of what, but the flat area at the top just doesn’t sit well with me.
Maybe the "statue" of the dragon? That architecturally and size wise could pass as a divine beast if it weren't buried south of the dueling peak's taller half?
I want to interject here... that depending on how long a civilization lasts, their art also changes and develops. So the whole concept that the Sheikah making fake ruins can be tossed aside with that as well. Repurposing, sure that's a possibility, but honestly we can see how art changes the longer a civilization is around and not that the Sheikah made fakes. We see it when the Mesopotamian people became the Persian peoples. The Shrines always looked so out of place, as if they were brand new things that were put in something old. It's possible that the Sword Trials and the Designs the Sheikah use were based off their research into the Zonai and not that they made fake ruins. However, I pose that it's more like this: you can be part of the same tribe, but have different sections and colonies. Perhaps the changes in style were for different parts of the tribe. They're all Zonai, but perhaps the tribe fractured and became different societies. You can see examples of that in differing art and religious practices for the same gods between the different regions of Egypt. Northern Egypt did not have the same practices as Southern Egypt. So maybe the Tick swirl is for Faron Woods, but the swirl with the lines is specifically for the part of the tribe that settled there, and Vices Versa. If you want to think of it this way, there could have ben 3 separate tribes of Zonai people. One for the Dragon. One for the Boar and followers of Ganon (if that's a theory that holds up), and one for the Owl. They could have developed their own distinct swirl. The tribes under the Dragon and the Owl probably got along quite well while the boar tribe did not.
Well said, it's the part off this theory that made roll my eyes multiple times. "The Zonai were savage, therefore they couldn't have built these massive structures" reeks of "There's no way these 'primitive' people could've built these massive cities and pyramids, it must've been ALIENS!!!!" As an archeological nerd, this whole theory video makes me cringe WAY too often. Says "they wouldn't have these designs upside down" then a few sentences later says that the designs are found lying horizontally... So in other positions other than upright. Cultural drift may account for the different swirl designs, or they could be two distinct symbols from the same time period that look the same to outsiders at first glance. Why would the sheikah make labyrinths mimicking the architectural style of another tribe??? Why not make it in their own style? It's a lot of extra work, and the simpler answer is that the Zonai, gerudo, and other races worked with the sheikah to create places and puzzles to hold shrines. I feel like there's a lot of confirmation bias in this theory, and I'm glad I'm not the only one that's frustrated. I remember being confused the first time I watched this video, because NintendoBC usually has pretty solid, well thought out theories, and this one went off the rails REAL quick!
@@AskMia411 archeology student here. My brain had little alarms go off the moment “savage” and “primitive” were used in relation to the Zonai being incapable of making large structures too I was also rolling my eyes a lot lmao
A thought passed through my mind while watching this theory: what if Sheikah were defectors from the Zonai? The upside down carvings on the mazes reminds me of the reversed text in the eight heroine, which made me think of the yiga and the Sheikah. What if, at one point, way back when, the Sheikah were part of the tribe, but eventually split off due to some set of circumstances? Maybe a rift between the old ways of magic and their new ways of technology? Or a distaste for the barbaric and warlike ways of the tribe, instead preferring stealth, tact and wisdom? Or setting we just don't have a clue about. Just a thought, of course. It could explain why they use a symbol similar to but not identical to them Zonai swirl. It could be paying homage to the ancient ways during the transition from Zonai-defectors to their own true independent tribe.
I thought the same thing, but I started to think about whether one of the two tribes (zonai or sheika) created the calamity to win this war between tribes, but that she ended up getting out of control??
hmm funny I thought something similar of the idea that maybe the Zonai knew something about TriForce in ancient times and maybe their tribe split to represent the 3 pieces of it now that you point out the Sheikah connection to Wisdom this got me thinking: what if Ganondorf was a radical of the Zonai whose faction became the Gerudo tribe? but then a question comes up because of it. if this theory is accurate and one faction split off and became the Sheikah and another split off and became the Gerudo what happened to the rest of them?
*There are a few things I want to point out, partially aided by the fact that I just watched Zeltik's theory on the ancient arrows. *1. Perhaps the Zonai were not barbaric or warlike at all- perhaps this is propaganda maintained by the Sheikah. *2. Maybe the Sheikah and Zonai coexisted, but had some sort of clash. We know the Sheikah had (and thanks to Robbie, have) weapons capable of sending foes to oblivion. This could explain their sudden disappearance. *3. Perhaps the Zonai were around at the time of the Calamity, but were subsequently wiped out and erased from history by the Sheikah. *But those are just a few things I've noticed could be possibilities. The Barbarian armor obviously contradicts them not being warlike, slightly- but it's possible they weren't overly aggressive, but simply the best at fighting and at creating equipment for such.
@@goggles8691 But we know that it was the Sheikah who were exiled by the Hylians for their advanced technology... how could they have done the same thing to another group at the same time?
I think it may have been the First Calamity that got rid of the Zonai. They may have been loyal to him but turned on him and helped the Sheikah to capture and seal him. Then, Ganon got his revenge by trapping the Zonai in the luminous stones.
@@PlatinumAltaria but what if they got banished because they deleted an entire civilization with it, that makes more sense than the weaponry being too good at stopping the calamity
This was beautiful. I didn’t realize the “part 1” till like 12 mins in. We’re all super hyped for the next part! I’m so glad to have seen this channel grow so quickly! When I first started watching you, your video quality and number of subscribers seemed kinda screwed. You had around 30k views and only 1.5 thousand subs! The video was incredible, as is most of your content. You’ve helped me so much with so many different things. And now I’m planning to start a theory channel. I already share some on Zelda Theory sub Reddits and there is some good information from the community there if you’re ever stuck on theories. Good luck in the future. I just can’t believe you’ve grown 225 thousands subscribers in just 3 years! You truly are inspiring.
The madlad called it. Every damn bit. When you released this video two years ago, I bet Nintendo was pleasantly surprised to see someone touch on it and slightly spoil a game that wasn't even finished! Seeing the lore unfold before tears of the kingdom, has been incredible and downright historic. Forever impressed.
Ok. I agree to the “take your time part” but... 6-7 months?! I’m ready for part 2. This is starting to feel like it’s going to come after nintendo actually makes good on their “botw2 is now in production” statement made forever ago!
Could link also be a descendant of the zonai? In the past we’ve seen link come from the “forest area” such as faron woods & kokiri forest. Plus the obvious connection to the triforce of courage in that region it makes sense & if that green magic IS connected to the zonai then all the more reason it would be drawn to link who is a descendant of that magic & if the hero fighting calamity in the painting was indeed wearing the barbarian armor it would make sense that thats where link is from. Great video btw 👌🏼
Unlikely that he is of Zonai descent*. It's been stated multiple times that Link is Hylian across the entire series. Not to mention, the birth of the demise and hero cycle took place in Skyward Sword, in which Link is Hylian. I mean, it's possible by the time that BOTW occurs that some inter-racial breeding occurred. *Edit
@@kingstrongsad7454 The Links aren't necessarily related at all. In fact, the only ones that are even hinted to share a bloodline are Ocarina Link and TP Link. Zelda is part of the royal family, so they're related, but Links are just reincarnated into anybody with the 'spirit of the hero.' All of this is to say that while other links may full-on-Hylian, there's nothing to say that BOTW isn't a zonai. Hell, it's entirely possible for him to reincarnate into a Gerudo, or a Zora, or a Goron, or anything. The only reason he's been a blond-haired, blue-eyed Hylian up to this point is to keep a consistent character design.
But the link that "Came From the forest" was just a hylian that was placed there by his mother to put him under the protection of the kokiri and the Great Deku Tree
It could be that Link is Hylian but is supported by the Zonai in regards to his courage like how previously he’s gained the favor of the other races the Zonai could be in direct support of the spirit of the hero in this game because Link is the one who holds the triforce of courage and corresponds to Farron which is who the Zonai put their regards in The spring of courage I was thinking that maybe Link a Zonai descendant but the fact that he’s a Hylian hero over and over again it’s more likely that the Zonai knew the tale of the hero and the calamity and supported Link as one of their own for his courage But to be honest it would be more entertaining if Link was Zonai and was a different race from Zelda because then it would be three races that bore the triforce
21:52 This particular view of the Zonai dragon head with the remains of red pigment on it indicating that they were once painted or gilded also contrasts the mazes - parts of those mazes are in nearly perfect condition, and the underground parts completely protected from weathering elements - yet there is no paint, pigment, or gilding on any of the surfaces. It would seem that the Zonai ruins were weathered and stripped to bare stone before their style was replicated by the Sheika making the mazes - leaving some critical flaws that reveal them to be reconstructions and not originals.
That could be why the armor found in the mazes shrines is called barbarian armor and not zonai armor (or something along those lines). To denote its difference and otherness from the other races in hyrule, perhaps the sheika placed them in those specific temples as a tribute to the zonai. Which makes me believe that the zonai still existed near the time of the shrines creation, for the armor to be called barbarian armor and not something else.
Much like how Roman statues were painted, but weathered to bare marble by time. And when the Renaissance tried to mimic these ancient statues, they left them bare thinking the Romans did so too
I’ve been watching so many Zelda theories since middle school, I’m in college now lmfao... And after watching NBC’s videos and then seeing this one, I actually smiled so hard. Its very nice to see the constant improvement in theories and I actually thought “wow i’m so happy for him” just by watching the first two minutes. I see the quality and time that went into this and im so happy you got to do this theory in collaboration with others on this scale :,)
Theory: The Zonai’s sudden and mysterious disappearance could’ve been they lived in Faron and then they “disappeared” by sailing the Necluda Sea swiftly. They were gone for several years in lands unknown and their now unrecognizable group came back to Hyrule and settled in Lurelin.
According to the information you’ve given me, I have two theories: 1: The Zonai were the ancient keepers of the sacred power found in the master sword. The Shiekah discovered these people and chose to work with them to refine their power source into the various shrines and technologies across hyrule. That would explain why so much shiekah tech is associated with Zonai ruins, and it would also explain why they were removed from history; aka the shiekah decided to remove them from history to protect them from any evil forces that would go after their power source. My second theory is that the Zonai are the predecessors to the Shiekah. As in, maybe they WERE savage, but evolved to become the Shiekah after they discovered the sacred power and how to refine it. Again, with the Shiekah being ninjas, it wouldn’t surprise me if they lied and denied the connection in order to keep the sacred power hidden.
Sheikah have always been the sheikah tho. Even in SS Impa was clearly of the Sheikah, and even used magic similar to remote bombs. They were likely 2 seperate groups
Monsters = Zonai tribe. Hear me out, and know that this is hardly a possibility. Lmao. -Monsters are found with war paint on them, or something alike that. -They're pretty violent. Would not invite to a tea party. -Sea invaders could be Lizafos and Octoroks. -Preventing them from invading central Hyrule is probably a smart idea. -Monsters really like to hang around Zonai ruins. Of course, this wouldn't make much sense at all. Maybe the Zonai tribe were being forcefuly ruled over by Ganon's evil forces. (extremely unlikely) Maybe Ganon used the hatred of the Zonai to turn them into monsters. Maybe the Zonai and Ganon had their own face-off. Corrupted soldiers could have been turned into monsters. Those who survived could have banded together in order to seal Ganon, or something. Maybe the hero from the Great Calamity was a Zonai warrior. Maybe he's actually the avatar, master of all the elements. Maybe it's natural. Maybe it's Maybelline.
Ok but the Zelda orchestra at the beginning gave me HUGE nostalgia, I played that CD on repeat to help me sleep when I was younger or just to bop too 👏
Perhaps the Zonai died in order to lock Ganondorf away? Their connection to Courage could be symbolic of them being the ones courageous enough to give their lives to create enough energy to lock Ganondorf away. That could explain the amount of Luminous Stones present in the BOTW2 trailer, and why the magic involved is green.
@@jorgemadrigalcalderon4860 When you reverse the Breath of The Wild 2 trailer, you can hear chanting and whispering. People have said it says Help us and two other lines, But I haven't listened to the reversed version yet.
It’s interesting to me that the Zonai are called “savage”. By association, they are linked with Courage. Link has a connection to the Fierce Deity, right? Are these not all just hyperbolic terms for courageousness? Considering how evidently advanced the Zonai were, I think savage is a play on understanding of the word. They are a bit uncivilised. They were barbarians, yes. But they were fierce and courageous. Given that Link’s family are all unknown, and given their connection to the attribute of Courage, I wouldn’t be surprised if Link had a divine form as a dragon deity of the Zonai.
Okay, this video is awesome! However, I do have one big problems with it. The big problem I have with this is the assumption that the Sheikah were the ones responsible for creating the architecture that is explicitly referred to as being created by the Zonai. First of all, throughout the game, the Sheikah are shown to have their own styles of architecture, mostly themed after constellations. Why would they make giant structures in a style not their own that's blatantly ripping off a less advanced culture? But even more importantly, why would Masterworks, an official work distinctly separate from the potential misinterpretations of in-game characters, have these structures blatantly mislabeled? If they wanted to maintain the mystery, they could have easily just been vague and let us ASSUME the Zonai made them. But that's not what happened. If Masterworks says they were created by the Zonai, I believe we have to accept that as the truth and take our logic from there. If the Zonai really were responsible for building the labyrinths, that would mean they disappeared after the development of the Sheikah's technology. Could this be the reason for the change in symbols? The structures they had created beforehand used the spiral with the "tick" at the end, while the structures they created in collaboration with the Sheikah, such as the labyrinths, have a slightly different spiral, symbolizing that the structure isn't entirely of Zonai make. Something brought up in this video that I'd never considered is that the Zonai were once warriors fighting for Ganondorf. While this could be used as evidence against the theory I'm putting forth, I'd say it could actually explain a lot of things. The Zonai's boar statues might date all the way back to when they served Ganon. However, as shown with Zant and probably a lot of other minions I'm not remembering off the top of my head, Ganon isn't the kindest to his minions. Possibly after being punished for failing something he demanded of them, they abandoned his cause. Alternately, only some of them served Ganon, similarly to the Sheikah and Yiga clans of modern times. Regardless, now an enemy of Ganon, this is the point at which they began creating statues of dragons and owls. (Alternately, they always created statues of all three creatures, but stopped creating and maintaining the boar statues when they turned on Ganon as an act of defiance.) It would be at around this point that they allied with the Sheikah, combining the might of the magic and warriors of the Zonai tribe with the powerful weapons and technology of the Sheikah tribe. Finally, there's still two big questions to ask: Why are the Zonai never mentioned in records of the efforts against Calamity Ganon despite having been involved in the fight, and what happened to the Zonai? I believe the answers to these two questions are connected. Neither the Hylians nor the Sheikah would want to admit that they had to rely on help from savages to defeat Ganon, least of all savages who at one point had served the very enemy they fought against. Because of this, all mentions of the Zonai were purged from the records, and the Zonai themselves were annihilated by their own allies to keep their involvement a secret. (On a different note, something stuck out to me during the video. The symbols of the Zonai remind me of magatamas which, according to the limited knowledge I have received from playing Ace Attorney, are connected to spirits in Japanese culture. Additionally, they're also very similar to the symbol Ace Attorney uses for the Mitama, which is a term referring to the soul or spirit of a dead person. Obviously this would require more research, but assuming the Ace Attorney series isn't pulling things out of its ass, this could be another connection between the energy of spirits and the swirling symbol of the Zonai.)
Ok hear me out this is what I believe happened. 1. The Zonai worshiped the triforce which explains the statues representing courage, wisdom and power aswell as other things mentioned in the video. 2. The Zonai followed and served Ganondorf, that could be literally for any reason such as them believing him to be the rightful owner of the triforce but that's just an example, this is obviously supported by the painting in the cave and other connections like the barbarian set connection with Ganondorf's power. 3. The Zonai were either betrayed by Ganondorf or they realized the destruction he brought upon the world so ultimately cursed him aswell as the triforce of power all together, this is supported by the destroyed boar statues, the depiction of Ganondorf being sealed by the sages and the Sheikah-Zonai connection in their collaboration. 4. Some of Ganondorf's followers remained and caused chaos in hyrule which is what ultimately led them to perish by either the Hylian and Shiekah or by their own hands.
Oh thank you for writing this! You said everything I thought too. It’s obvious that the zonai made the mazes in a collaboration with the sheika, that’s why it uses the zonai symbol a little bit different but still theirs, and also it’s obvious not sheika type of structure since it’s very different from the sheika towers and shrines architecture. And also is ducking writing in the oficial book with a photo and all. So I think the zonai were there when the tech always invented and they made the mazes to hide the shrines, otherwise why would the build 3 mazes ? So of course it was for the shrines .I have some theory’s of why the zonai where not mentioned by impa 1: my favorite: the zonai “vanished” on PURPOSE to the underground,after ganon lost, and them sealed him away in the underground , and maintain themselves there to stop anyone from revive ganon,so the sheika erased their history from books and and history to hide them from the others to protect them, and the seal. 2:it got lost in time bc of all the destructions from battles and centuries ,and the sheika end up retaining only their own historical stuff, and not others tribes stuff 3: maybe the two tribes fought and the sheika won bc of the tech and the sheika manteined the shrines like that bc why move what’s is good, and then erased them from history so impa doesn’t even know. Also I’m pretty pretty sure the past hero from the history was a zonai! Since the barbarian set was from the zonai ( I think is mentioned on the item description or/and the zonai were know as the barberiam tribe so it matches) and the hero on the old story sheet from impa had RED hair, just like the zonai/ barberian set , and the hero is not wearing a green tunic or hat, and it even has a swirl or his “shoulder” just like the zonai architecture has. And more, I think the hand holding ganon in the trailer is the hand of the past hero, since has the same green color and a gold thing rapping around just like the ps hero has in the sheet, and that’s made my theory that the zonai went to the underground with the hero to seal ganon away
Jesus man, this is frickin incredible! The quality is among the best I’ve ever seen, and the amount of detail is superb! Definitely one of the best Zelda theory videos ever made, fantastic job!
When the video talks about the Zonai I always wanna adress this: Why does the screen in BotW get a little bit green when near the border of the map? It felt weird, but when I heard about Zonai and their green magic, I suspected it was related. Just how though... This comment was made before watching the video
I'm SO happy you used the Zelda 25th Anniversary Theme in the intro! The opening credits and I already have chills... I'm so excited to watch this right now!
This made me realize something. If you take a coin and bury it underground, later on a bunch of random people are gonna dig that up and it will be an ancient relic from "2021" lol
"Why would the Zonai chose to make the ones on the mazes upside down?". As a person in North America, I can speak for the South Lomei Labyrinth.. ɥʇnoS ǝɥʇ uı sı ɐıןɐɹʇsn∀ Also, I have a theory of my own with the "Zonau Towers". If the Zonai made that one little spot of statues, showing their perspective on the sealing of Ganon, then maybe the Zonai Towers are recreations of the Sheikah towers. That is if the Zonai were around after the towers were found. This isn't so much a theory rather than a concept I was thinking about. The solid evidence to really help this idea would be if the Sheikah towers were up before Link activates the Great Plateau Tower. I don't know much about the beforehand information because I don't know the Zelda history, having only played Breath of the Wild. If the towers were, in fact, up before Breath of the Wild Link awoke or even existed, then please tell me because it can boost the credibility of my mini-theory.
I don't know if the towers were up before Link existed, and I sadly don't know where to look to find out, but this gave me a thought, what if you looked at everything the Zonai had built, their structures, pillars, etc, from a top down view and connected the "dots" or lines? What if it made a picture, or a map or something? Idk lol.
When you visit Kakariko village and get the 10,000 year history, the towers are shown on the tapestry along with the other sheika tech so one can probably assume they were up at least 10,000 years prior. Who knows how long they took to build before the battle 10,000 years ago. Maybe they were always up till they weren't needed and then they were hidden "for storage".
No the towers were not up before link woke up, cos they were all dormant underground until link activated them all at the great plateau. We know this because there are a few NPCs that were found at the top of few towers (I think lanayru and ridgeland) and they were stuck up there cos the towers rose when they were standing on the ground just walking around when link activated the great plateau one and couldn't get back down since they didn't even climb them in the first place. But the only thing which I think was already in the overworld was the sheikh shrines as we were able to see them in that memory where link comes to get Zelda but Zelda is not happy. Hope this clarifies it. (ALSO I like that hidden upside down message 😂👍)
@@KLT-id9nm Yeah that's similar to what I was thinking. Because the Sheika had to actually build the towers and I don't think you can build stuff underground. SO perhaps it took long enough to build all of them for the Zonau to see them and be like "wtf i guess we'll do that now."
Their mysterious disappearance might be connected to the sealing away of Ganon (if they indeed were followers of Ganon, it would make sense if they disappeared when he was seal away)
Bro, you are the only person to have read BotW's world design so well that you essentially gave us a better understanding for the new game! much respect man. Amazing videos as always btw
So you're saying they're people from across the waters and love war...Vikings in breathe of the wild?!?!?!?! HELL YA! Perhaps the sheikah made buildings in honor of their strength?
Crazy how they completely forgot about the savage warlike tribe and just took the name of the zonai and slapped on another ancient civilization of 2 goat people
They’re probably Bulblins if the skull is supposed to be a member of their race it lines up 1 for 1 with a bulblin skull except for the fact that we never see a Bulblins hair. They likely just went extinct during the imprisoning war never to be seen again. They fought for the strongest side against ganondorf and lost. As such it would make sense that the zonai honor them by having their outfit as a reward for feats of strength and courage
I believe the Zonai are Ancient Shiekah. If this is the case it would explain almost everything. They disappeared suddenly because they renamed themselves after some event (Probably the Boar group betraying the others and following Ganondorf). It explains why the Labyrinths resemble Zonai ruins but may not have been made by them. It explains why the towers resemble the Shiekah towers. It explains the differing swirls. It even explains why the Barbarian gear gives attack up. The Shiekah liked Mighty Bananas 10,000 years ago, but changed to other foods after the Great Calamity in order to distance themselves from the Yiga. The Barbarian gear and Mighty Bananas both give attack+. Honestly I think this is the best explanation of the Zonai possible, they're just ancient Shiekah, who themselves are ancient by the time of BotW.
Going on the labyrinth theory, what if they were these “castles” that were made by the zonai, but the Sheikah deconstructed them and rebuilt them to make a labyrinth out of the castle walls and ruins n stuff
Love the video and I am a big fan, however I will respectfully disagree on the real vs. fake Zonai swirl thing. My reasoning is that there are multiple versions of other symbols (specifically the Sheikah symbol) that appear and yet they are not discounted as fake. For example, look at the little frog statues near Impa’s house (and elsewhere in the world), the Sheikah eye on them is clearly different and yet still clearly a Sheikah eye. Same goes for the symbol on the doors of the Kakariko houses, they are stylized and sharper versions of the Sheikah eye. Personally, I think the differences in Zonai swirls could just represent different uses. The ones with the tick could be for religious sites, the ones with the rays could be for their castles/large cities (as Masterworks describes them, I think), and the simplified ones on Lurelin houses could be for residential areas, just as an example. Those are just my thoughts though. Keep up the great work and I can’t wait to see part 2!
Exactly! As an fan of ancient civilizations, i was face palming through all that. The variations of symbols across a culture can be wildly different. The various designs of the Christian cross is a good example. The two swirl designs may even be two separate symbols for all we know, or the simple swirl a simplified version of the ticked swirl. Same with the dragon designs.
the reason why the true zonai swirl has a definitive tick at the bottom is because the swirl beach in akkala and the beach shaped like a point by lurelin. The designed their symbol based on their tribes geography. It also would make it much more likely that they were the "sea invaders" that attacked attacked the citadel since they would have been living so close
ok i'm just now watching this and it's amazing, but there's one thing i'm confused about, why would the sheikah make zonai structures, and not their own? for some shrines i get it, because the structures were already there, but did the sheikah just take the zonai designs and make 3 giant ass, hard to construct mazes? why?
Because the rewards hidden within those 3 were of the Zonai. It likely made sense to them, not the mention how they're so advanced it probably wasn't that hard for them
I don’t know if you mention this because I’m only 17:50 minutes into the vid, but my theory, is that the Zonai is tribe that worships the legendary Hero. Similar to how the Sheikah represent Zelda and the Yiga represent Ganon, the Zonai represent Link! And I believe that all 120 shrines were built by the Zonai under the Sheikah’s authority to aid the Hero, through Courage, and Wisdom!!!!! You should go more into depth on this!!!!! Edit: My theory on the Zonai’s true purpose is to train the Hero by setting tons of trials before him. And I believe that since the Zonai were MAGIC wielders, the mysterious hand we see in BOTW 2 trailer is the power of the Zonai tribe connecting with Link! OMG! What if the Zonai’s purpose as Magic wielders is to keep the soul of the Link before the new Link around, that way he can train the newer Link similar to how the Heroes Shade trained Twilight Princess Link!!!!
Let's just forget about the Sheikah man in Kakariko Village that tells of someone going into the shrine and never returning. (I only remember the main gist of it.)
I love just how the Zelda lore became deeper and deeper throughout the years. In the past, it was Hyrule Kingdom that was a mystery (since it was always in ruins by the game's start), then it was the Sheikah (usually 100-1000 years before the advent of Hyrule Kingdom) and now it's Zonai that could predate them all by thousands more years. And who knows if there may be tribes even more ancient than the Zonai!
PART 2 WILL BE PREMIERING THIS SUNDAY! It's around 85 minutes and will begin at 3pm EST. See you there!
I can't wait!
will it have the same intro music?
Well I picked a fantastic time to be a subscriber.
Looking forward to it
I'm excited!
Just rewatched the first video before part 2 premieres
Ridiculously high quality, even by your standards
Thank you! RwanLink was key to making it stand out with his legendary opening shots!
You are my favorite Zelda theorists, love you!
Pog
beghtr VortexxyGaming was also an awesome theorist too but apparently she died. 😕🤷🏻♂️
@@GulagPower sorry, I didn't know that...
*When you have archaeologists and historians for a simulated world.*
Hyper reality
Tolkien fans: first time?
@@labrynianrebel Ah yeah, forgot about that.
@@labrynianrebel oh yeah
Indiana Jones approves.
It was a pleasure to make renders for the opening shots! ;)
You’ve truly made a Masterpiece my friend. That was just... gorgeous.
@RwanLink I subscribed
Great work, friend.
Tu t'appelles Erwan ?
cool af a lot
I think a new video comparing the theories in this video to what the Zonai ended up being in Tears of the Kingdom would be pretty neat
I didn't even realize two minutes had passed by by the time you started talking. The level of quality you've poured into this gorgeous video is unrivaled. I look forward to part 2 with great anticipation, as does everyone else. Phenomenal work sir. Legend
Oh my gosh, my two favorite zelda content creators, I hope you are both well, and I can't wait to see what's to come!
And people say video games cause violence
All of the Zelda theorists are here
Gasp. hi bandit
2 big Zelda theorists are on this vid an love it!
Having just discovered Zelda at the age of 63, I am simply overwhelmed.
Well done.
I'm 46 ...and I'm enjoying this over anything on TV or in the theaters
Welcome to the party, pal! 🎉
Get your game on. You're never too old.
I’m 24 and have played Zelda games since Wind Waker on the GameCube when I was around 6. I will probably still be playing these games when I am 63 as well. Some things are just too fun to give up.
@@ValiantPixel ❤️❤️❤️❤️👍
I can tell that this is a big project just by how the intro was handled
I know, first frame and I thought to myself "well, better grab some food and a blanket and settle down for a ride"
Wait, this isn’t Commonwealth Realm...
Same
It felt like the beggining of uncharted 4
It felt like Avengers Endgame for me; getting super hyped, and then watching he film. Coming out of the film and thinking “wow that was a spectacular movie”
Suddenly, my head goes to the way Link wears blue throughout breath of the wild. True, it was because it was gifted to him as Zelda’s knight and the Hylian champion... But also, technically this means that throughout that entire game he’s wearing the color of Nayru, of wisdom. Link, as the hero of courage, has traditionally always worn green, the color of Farore. Could it be that the reason this is not the case is because he has yet to ascend to the role he was meant for. BOTW focussed on Zelda’s power because it was so obvious that She didn’t have it yet. Link meanwhile, definitely had the mastersword and, unlike most other Links in the games once they start on their adventure, was expected to follow the interpretations of the people around him of what power and actions were needed to fulfil his role. In a way, he was as limited from growing into his own role as Zelda. BOTW is the story of how Zelda managed to gain access and use her powers to stop the country from being destroyed, waiting for Link to rescue her. But through that entire adventure, link only gained memories of who he was as an individual connected to Zelda and the part of the triforce that should belong to link (and appear on his hand) is also never shown.
My guess is that during the next instalment, Link is going to grow beyond the role of Zelda’s knight, beyond the blue that he wears right now, and become the hero he was meant to be, as an entity seperate from her and equal to her. I really can’t wait. ^^
Underrated coment
THIS NEEDS MORE LIKES AND ATTENTION!
On top of that, by wearing that blue, he was put as an equal to the other champions. Not to say they're any less than he is obviously, but his role in the loop and within the triforce is beyond the rest of the champions. To graduate past that tunic into something more is what I hope to come of the new game. I have no idea what to expect and honestly, I couldn't be happier with that
3rd game where u play as Ganondorf confirmed lmao
HRLLO?! THIS IS SO-
“Did you finish designing those three mazes?”
“Yeah let me send the file over”
“Bruh you flipped the design upside down”
“Nobodies gonna notice just leave it alone”
Right. We can try to find meaning in every little nook and cranny, but the truth is many of these minute details were probably never thought about during the development of the game. It's not possible that every single piece of geometry or ingame lore or music (etc) is as full of intent as fan theories would like the to be.
Nintendo is toooo anal for that to happen.
Dichali Nash I found a spot where you can just casually clip into a mountainside
@@Top-Code I found that you can clip into one of the 7 heroine statues a 100% of the time
@@mostlyokay I'm not saying every blade of grass is relevant, but with a game like BotW, that took this long to come out, and with this much of the creative process and intent behind it being shared, I feel like something like the mazes is intentional
TH-cam: "We are focking done with these Zonai Theory Videos"
NintendoBlackCrisis: "Hello There"
General Kenobi!
@@NintendoBlackCrisis EGG
NintendoBlackCrisis You are a bold one
NBC: "hey listen!"
He did it! He did the thing!
This is like the Avengers: Infinity War of Zelda theories
ok
Lol yeah
Part two will be the Endgame.
Mr. NBC I don’t feel so good
True, but that what’s the Avengers Endgame of Zelda Theories?
I believe the Zonau (Zonai) Tribe was split into 3 parts. The owl, which represents the triforce of wisdom. The dragon, which represents the triforce of courage. And the boar, which represents the trifprce of power. Since Ganon had followers of the Zonau tribe, I believe that the followers were from the boar group. This explains why the boar statues were cast aside, which means that the owl and dragon group worshipped goddess Hylia, and the boar group didn't.
yo that’s an incredible theory my dude
I was actually gonna comment on this but o just wanted to check if anyone else had said it since owls are wise and boars are strong wisdom and strength so dragons would be courage
Ok Joe
I would argue that the boar is courage and the dragon is power. traditionally boars in japanese culture are symbols of courage and headstrong mentality. while dragons are just naturally powerful beings. the boar statues could be cast aside because PERHAPS what we see is an iteration of a hero V. gannon lifeline? perhaps gannon destroyed the boar sect of the Zonau in hopes of keeping the hero from being born, but failed and is now held deep within the Zonau ruins where the symbol of the dragon is prominent
to take this even further the Zonai that split into the wizdom became the Sheka tribe, the Zonai of power became the Yiga clan, and the Zonai of courage became the savage tribe that lived in Farron
Ok, here's some hot takes:
The labyrinths: per my art history studies, you get that deviating style when the dominant culture shifts quickly. This would suggest that these are late-Zonai/early-Sheikah designs, built around a significant cultural exchange. Perhaps a remaining Zonai artist was the designer, but the workers and commissioners Sheikah. Perhaps a Sheikah artist studied under a Zonai master for a time. The impressive scale suggests that the Sheikah were definitely booming at the time, but this is definitely a blended style.
The Owl, Dragon, and Boar: it's likely that the Zonai regarded the three facets equally. However, later cultures, like Sheikah and Hylians, would have found the Boar, referencing Gannon, upsetting. These sculptures would have been more neglected, perhaps actively defaced by the Sheikah as they slowly co-opted Zonai structures for themselves.
*extra hot*: the Zonai could have been a Lynel society. They certainly fit the bill for a warrior-race. They use magic arrows, so they have some magical skill. There are so few, but they are... proud, refined... in a way other enemies aren't. It's easy for me, at least, to imagine them being the lost descendants of a mighty warrior people. And the Barbarian armor could have been designed as a gift for a Sheikah or Hylian (perhaps even the Hero in the tapestry) who had proven himself to them, and was accepted as one of them, thust the inexact recreation of mane, horns, and stripes.
Oh my gosh the bit about modern Lynels being descended from Zonai. YES! I would freaking LOVE that. That would be such a good twist!
That insight about the boar statues is GENIUS!!!
I actually thought of the same thing, the zonai having descendants, but I was just thinking about bokoblins and moblins, seeing as they're pretty barbaric and have -like the Lynels- oddly resembling tattoos to the zonai armor. Maybe that would mean that the weakest zonai became bokoblins, and the strongest or noblest became Lynels?
I was thinking, the reason the mazes are Zonai like are because the sheikah might have uncovered the barbarian armor in zonai ruins as some kind of treasure. Then they decided to put the barbarian armor in theses mazes that they built as a reward for the hero because it's a great asset and built a Zonai like structure to either respect the tribe, or to create a connection with the tribe.
I like the lynel theory. that seems really cool!
Maybe the reason only 5 Owls stand surrounding the Boar instead of 6 is in reference to how the Sage of Water from Twilight Princess was killed.
That wouldn't be possible since the statues were built before the kingdom of hyrule. It is apparent in twilight princess that there is, indeed a kingdom.
While yes there is a kingdom in Twilight Princess. Twilight Princess takes place long before Breath of the Wild.
What if zonai had powers to see future and the ancient hero was zonai
Rajvardhan Patankar Hell What If Links Ancestors Are Zonai But He Doesnt Know
@@mistilteinn4981 would make sense for them to be the twili with the mock mirror of twilight with their language on it.
When I clicked this, I didn't expect it to be a movie
The wait for part 2 will soon be over! It's now being worked on and should release some time in late May/early June. I thank you for your patience and will follow up with a link to the video once it's released!
I was just rewatching your video when I saw you commented that while I was watching, what a timing !
This is astonishing!! Wow!!!!! Talk about depth!!!! Fantastic job!!!
Yuh
I just found this video and enjoyed it far much more than I should've. The mystery and all the different theories and connections makes this too much fun! Also noticed that it's been almost a year since you've released this video, and here you are commenting that part 2 is almost finished? I feel super lucky!
Hey listen this is great news
It's finally time... part 1 of the Zonai series is complete! This project has been a WIP on and off for the last several months, and I'm excited to release it after all the waiting. Special thanks to RwanLink for providing the opening shots (his channel is in the desc). Part 2 will focus on the tribe's possible influence on past games, and I ask that you be patient as I get it started. I hope to release it in the next 3-4 months.
Thanks for reading this, and have a great weekend!
It already looks like a great video I’m already hyped for part 2
I HAVE BEEN WAITING FOR SO LONG
Why at the very start it said zonau instead of zonai
@@AlexG32777 zonau is what the tribe is called in japanese. The english version switched it to "Zonai".
NintendoBlackCrisis Loftwings turned into horses
And also I think the sheikah are descendants from the Zonai and that’s why they built shrines at Zonai ruins also the sheikah worship the Zonai and are the only people that know of them
Pls read this @NintendoBlackCrisis
Me: *sees it is 43 minutes* oh neat
*Sees it is part One* OOOOHH
43 minutes 20 seconds
5k subscribers without any videos shut up plz thank u
@_matt_ why are you getting so angry? He only wanted to be exact. If you don’t have anything nice to say be quiet.
Part one of A 10 PART SERIES HAHAHA
5k subscribers without any videos
Too bad it wasn't 43:21...
33:07 I believe this more likely represents Ganondorf’s botched execution before Twilight Princess, since the boar is buried fairly deep into the ground (representing being sent to the twilight realm), and the one broken pillar represents the Sage of Water killed by Ganondorf
I would not ever have thought of something so genuis!
I know I'm late, but I thought exactly that when I watched the video
Super late, but if you stand on the fallen pilar it points directly to Zora's Domain.
@@yoursoupinmyrat i think that pretty much confirms it, since the sage that was killed was the water sage :)
It always felt appropriate to use lynel gear when wearing the barbarian armor.
Same! Though I also used the elemental blades, since I felt it was also fitting.
@@thelagnificentleader i never fight lynels, I evapotratee them with anceint arrows
@SharkAttack me
I agree
@@stevefelber that's
1. A waste of ancient arrows
2. A waste of powerful weapons
3. Lame
NintendoBlackCrisis: here's a 43 minute video about the zonai and their symbols.
Nintendo: we just wanted to make animal statues
Edit: Oh boy 🤦♂️
But that's the beauty of Zelda: we're free to interpret the meanings of the statues and overthink as much as our heart desires!
James R McGalliard underrated comment
Pretty much😂😂
What are the statues? Isn't one a dragon, another an owl and another a boar? I haven't seen the entire video yet but I'm going from memory
Don’t forget that this is only part 1
😂
Absolutely stunning man. Wow... I really felt I was looking at a documentary produced by an entire team of researchers, editors, animators etc. Instead, this guy is just doing this stuff mostly all by himself. So much respect. Cheers bud! Cannot wait for part 2.
I agree wholeheartedly!
Also, hi Monster Maze! I absolutely loved your BOTW 2 trailer restructuring. If anyone here hasn't seen it yet they absolutely should. It's fantastic.
Your comment deserved more likes! That trailer restructuring video was so amazing that i couldn’t believe why no one bothered to do it earlier.
Hm... If they worshipped Ganondorf/Ganon in the events of OoT, perhaps those boar statues in the ground were neglected once the tribe found out about what he did. And the pillars surrounding the boar's head do depict his sealing.
Or maybe they were purposefully vandalized to ensure they were never worshiped again!
Or maybe there was a split in the tribe, and the anti-Ganen part succeeded, and only built the Owl and dragon statues after that, Because of a hatred of Ganen.
@@annaclarallb Yeah, to me the answer seems obvious, assuming Ganondorf was Zonai. He led their tribe to ruin, so the survivors left to pick up the pieces condemned him. It happens all the time in real-world history, why not here?
@@tuackanxu but ganondorf was gerudo, so how would this work?
@@Ylurple Maybe they mistaken him for Zonai. This tribe may have been very huge to have structures all over Hyrule. We might not truly know what the Zonai look like but according to the armor set red hair seems to a strong characteristic. The Zonai are describe as "savage" so they could be fighters and warriors. Also, they were magic wielders. With all that Ganondorf could be mistaken for Zonai.
Something I found interesting: at 27:40, take a look at the neck of Garini’s shirt. You may notice that his shirt has a very familiar swirling design, with a very unique tick at the end of the swirl...
I noticed that, too!
I didn't realize it until NBC was talking about the Lurelin Village and it's people and their plausible connections to the Zonai and looking at Garini's shirt, I noticed the swirl's with the tick at the end.
Meeptron 500 yeah I saw that too
They are definitely zonai. Zonais seem to be based off of ancient Mayans/Aztecs and the Lurelins look just like the Mayans/Aztecs
Brandon EV maybe they are so little left because conquer//crossbreed, just like how in Mexico the vast majority of people are mongrels (sorry, all my blood is Mexican), and there are very few true natives and they are in forgotten/ hard to access areas. It’s a stretch but I like this theory
just a reminder, technology existed thousands of years before skyward sword: remember those ancient robots?
and even skyward sword had to be like 15,000 years before botw. So tech has been around a fucking long as time in zelda history and lore.
Doonkey Korng exactly!
Straight up time travel, robots (maybe even ai?), electricity and modern industry.
@@game-enjoyer13 more like 10 million. But still awesome point
@@DarthZ01 not time travel bc the OoT only works bc The Hero Of Time is a hero.
Also AoC is not canon.
Nintendo is like: YOU’RE SPOILING OUR WHOLE PLOT!
NBC:imma expose these people's whole career!
Nintendo:tries to sue
NBC:imma end this man's whole career!
NBC: you never had a plot!
Nah! They always manage to subvert expectations of theorists.
And then the entire lomei labryinth section became dated because it turns out the zonai made those too, but we were missing the other 2/3rds of them.
Man I'm gonna laugh so hard when botw 2 releases and thr zonai aren't even mentioned exept in passing.
that would be funny
Zelda theorists: am I a joke to you?
That normally happens, when a fan makes a theory that is better than the cannon and is very well thought out, only, to get shafted bc creators had a different plan for the game.
@@5thnovemberscrivener634 I wouldn't call the Zonai theory "well thought out" it's a bunch of almost baseless conjecture yes the zonai are tied to shrine puzzles but that doesn't magicly tie them to huge important story events in the next game they exist for thr sole reason of adding s sense of life and history to yhe world nothing more.
Gandhiodus Klifgote while i do agree most of this is a reach, i feel like the zonai will be more important in the second game due to very deliberate shots in the teaser showcasing zonai architecture, and some of the points NBC makes in this video. but yeah, overall it’s not very well based. definitely well thought out, though (almost to a painstaking degree).
First couple seconds in already is fantastic can’t wait to see part 2
Yeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeet
This is the one game series where it's history and monuments genuinely feel real and mysterious; it really feels like the historical mysteries we haven't unlocked yet in our own world
I love that given the tears of the kingdom trailers, we now know the reason why the zonai engravings on the labyrinths are upside down.
It’s because they are. They fully fell from the sky and landed upside down.
It makes sense how one is in the middle of the ocean, why the “entrances” are in weird spots, even those pillars in the “basement” of akkala.
It’s genius, hidden in plain sight. It’s why so many monuments are broken and laying on their side, why so many have broken bits. We thought it was just time. But it’s time and how far they fell.
I love it.
Omg, genius,, zeltik thought shieka copied their design but downwards
Oh my god. You're a genius, I never even thought of that
So the Sheikah didn’t create them?
When you started talking about the swirl that really reminded me of academic debate around archeology. Like thia sounds exactly like the controversies that arise around ancient cultures in the real world and their extent. Ancient cultures are often categorized based on how they made tools, what kind of tools they made and which decorations they made but that also can spark controversy since simple shapes will of course appear in many places and period. It's just kinda funny to me just how this has become so similar to real world academic debate and I actually aplaud you for that since it shows a level of critical thinking you usually don't find when talking about games.
i was thinking the very same thing throughout! glad to see it stood out to someone else, as well :D
Sometimes people come up with similar ideas, because that shape is neat!
Or cultural influence, not necessarily the very same people
archeologist: "what is this?"
other archeologist: "I-it can't be!!"
archeologist: "what is it?"
other archeologist: "A SWIRL!!"
archeologist: "OH SWEET HYLIA!!"
Archeologist: *bursts into the room* OH MY GOD! IS THAT A ZONAI SWIRL?!
@@YT-Stylis Another archeologist: *smashes through a window* IT CAN'T BE
@@fuckwit107, Another another archeologist: *Smashes the whole wall* EXTRAORDINARY!!!
The Skyview temple in skyward sword has swirls everywhere inside the structure. _everywhere._ the trees in faron woods had the same swirl design in many of the tree's branches. the water dragon even mentions people that used to live there long ago--the fact the Sky keep fits perfectly back into the sealed grounds, which is next to faron woods by the way--is blatantly saying that yes, the people of skyloft, their ancestors once lived in faron before being sent skyward. Twilight princess also speaks of the sky language and people--botw and TP feature owl statues in the overworld--which relate to the zonai in botw aka the sky people. Besides the springs, and forgotten temple which feature the loftwings, typhlo ruins is the only place in hyrule that has bird statues resembling those found on skyloft; think of that bird statue with the missing eye. There's even a giant version of that in the typhlo ruins that directly references that particular statue, missing eye and all. Yet it's dubbed a zonai ruin in botw. Interesting isn't it?
@@lady_lexi_ Yet another archeologist: *smashes through a hole in the roof* HOLY FUCK IS THAT A ZONAI SWIRL?!
The Labyrinths could still have been repurposed by the Sheikah. The Shrines actually look out of place. The labyrinths might have housed something else before. So this does in no way contradict the theory, that the Zonai disappeared before the shrines.
Also, while the Zonai were discribed as savage, the structures in the Faron area tell a different story.
It is actually safe to assume, they were a rival to the Sheikah and wiped out by them. History is always written by the victors. The Empires in human history always branded outsiders, Barbarians.
Another possible theories, are:
a) The Zonai had something to do with Hylia's decline after the first Calamity.
b) They were destroyed in the first calamity (the shrines were likely not all built a once, but over time).
c) Link might be of Zonai origin, he carries the Triforce of Courage, whereas the Princess of Hylia the triforce of Wisdom.
d) The Zonai might be a proto-race which had something to do with the TriForce's creation.
A year later, I want to ask: have you considered that ganon obtained the power of the zonai markings through some kind of trickery, as opposed to them willingly, following him? He is, among his many titles, often a thief. It would make more sense as to why they laid the statues of the boar low, if the bearer of power betrayed them.
Lol I just made a comment about this bc I was thinking the same thing while watching and I'm just now seeing your comment
I feel like it’s more a call to twilight princess and the deep burial significance is the twilight banishment to the underworld. Broken Pilar being the water sage that fell to Ganon during his banishment.
With what we know now, I’m curious if this could have any connection to the tear that has replaced the jewel on Ganondorf’s headdress. He most likely stole it from one of the tribes/sages before corrupting it with malice. It appears white in certain shots, so either that’s how all the tears look in their dormant state or he stole the Tear of Light from our dragon friend/leader of the Sages
Damn he called it
I bet you feel so smart right now lol
“The Zonai existed long before hyrule’s kingdom”
“The citadel was built to repel the zonai from entering hyrule” (implying it was built by the current royal bloodline)
"One video where we outline multiple possibilitys"
Magma Mustache I think another possibly related people to the Zonai are the Gerudo who have red hair and have an affinity with lightning (at least in BotW). Just a thought though.
@@blamethelag4992 I heard someone saying that maybe the Zonai weren't human at all, and were ancestors of Lynels. Lynels are much more intelligent that most monsters, and have horns and stripes like the barbarian outfit. Perhaps the Zonai made the outfit for human heroes that completed dangerous challenges (like traversing the labyrinths), making them an honorary Zonai. The modern Lynels are not a part of the Zonai tribe, just descendants, so they do not honor tradition and do not respect humans wearing the outfit. They also use elemental arrows, which might be made using Zonai magic.
@@jorted_julimak i doubt that since lynels have been in many other zelda games, including ones not set in hyrule
lelelelelelelelel
Anyone else appreciate the amount of collaborations in this one video? Thank you so much NBC. Love the intro.
I also appreciate them, also that intro was indeed phenomenal 🙂
I think it's interesting how the mazes are so heavily guarded by the flying guardians
Same
the mazes do have pieces of equipment from the zonai so im guessing ganon definitely knew about the zonai so he knew about the locations of the mazes
I believe the reason why there are so many guardians inside the forgotten temple is not because they got there during the calamity, but they were put there by the sheikah to protect the temple, however they were inevitably infected by malice ,, so this may be a similar case: in this video is implied that the lomei labyrinths are actually made by the sheikah and not by the zonai, so just as in forgotten temple they could have put guardians defending these structures until the hero came to get into the shrine. Still I really like the idea of botw Ganon knowing about the Zonau, this could mean thatthey had and important role in sealing him 10,000 years ago alongside the sheikah..!.. (? sorry if there's any mistakes in my english
Dude guessed the entire tears of the kingdom plot line 3 years before it even released.
I think we both watched completely different videos tbh
When it's 43 minutes long, and has a 3 minute intro crediting everyone who worked on it, you know it's a good video. And this is only part 1.... :D
Haha true!
You just HAD to hit that 10 minute mark didn’t you
Edit: Changed my name so now the argument in the replies make no sense😂😂
Jesus no he got that 10 minute mark ×4
I know a guy named Jesus. He is a butcher. Not a lord.
NBC: *WAIT UNTIL I SHIFT INTO MAXIMUM OVERDRIVE.*
kiomon hahahaa
Lol it’s so true though
Sweet Hylia Will, you’ve outdone yourself. This was a true masterpiece. I got chills throughout the entire video. Kudos, kudos to you and all the people who helped you on the theories Channel. This was utterly incredible. 👏🏼👏🏼
I really like the theory that ganandorf became a litch using the zonai. They were loyal, but him basically wiping out a large portion of their population all at once to fuel his transformation was seen as a betrayal. And the remaining survivors desecrated his boat statues.
I saw another video with a similar theory (considering the zonai were following Ganondorf and he used their souls to become a litch -> "Ganondorf's Dark Ritual" by Monster Maze
You should take a look! I found it very interesting :D
The Palmorae Ruins near Lurelin Village involve a monument written in, presumably, a Zonai language, which tells you to kneel on the platforms to open the shrine. So the ruins can't possibly date from before the Sheikah began building shrines - and these ruins are super worn, unlike the labyrinths. So the Zonai and the Sheikah must have been working together since very early on.
Also, the text on the monument seems the same as the green text in the BotW2 trailer. So the magic keeping Ganondorf in place must, presumably, be Zonai magic - and maybe also it's Zonai magic keeping the Sheikah monks in their shrines, since they vanish into green sparkles when Link completes the challenges. I wonder if the monks are even real live monks and not magical replicas put there by the Zonai.
A further point: when you complete the Thyphlo Ruins challenge, Link writes in the Sheikah Slate "Someone built this challenge within the Thyphlo Ruins", so it's clear that the game designers want you to know that the Sheikah repurposed Zonai sites in order to train the Hero.
I think the monks in the Sheikah shrines are a reference to a semi-obscure practice certain sects of Buddhist monks would undergo, which involved them entering a cave and essentially mummifying themselves. It was done by some elderly monks, they would meditate and go without food and water , and they had a bell attached to the outside which they would ring to indicate if they were alive or not. When the bell didn't ring in answer, the cave would be sealed up. It was believed to be a sacred ordeal that would lead them to enlightenment.
@@LaydiNite this is super interesting!
@@LaydiNite I didn't know about that being a thing so thanks for making me learn something new.
On the topic of the zonai towers, just looking at them makes me feel like they should be holding something up. I can’t think of what, but the flat area at the top just doesn’t sit well with me.
Maybe the "statue" of the dragon? That architecturally and size wise could pass as a divine beast if it weren't buried south of the dueling peak's taller half?
Magic wielding races don’t seem to fare well in this series
oof
Yeah. Magic is reserved for the goddesses and no one else.
I mean, they wouldn't in real life either with all the "burn the witch" stuff that happened throughout history
@alligator lizards all of the tribes have paper when the chad sheika have mobile phones
@@TwelveRats That was due to control, paranoia and lack of value placed in human life, but I hear you
I want to interject here... that depending on how long a civilization lasts, their art also changes and develops. So the whole concept that the Sheikah making fake ruins can be tossed aside with that as well. Repurposing, sure that's a possibility, but honestly we can see how art changes the longer a civilization is around and not that the Sheikah made fakes. We see it when the Mesopotamian people became the Persian peoples. The Shrines always looked so out of place, as if they were brand new things that were put in something old. It's possible that the Sword Trials and the Designs the Sheikah use were based off their research into the Zonai and not that they made fake ruins.
However, I pose that it's more like this: you can be part of the same tribe, but have different sections and colonies. Perhaps the changes in style were for different parts of the tribe. They're all Zonai, but perhaps the tribe fractured and became different societies. You can see examples of that in differing art and religious practices for the same gods between the different regions of Egypt. Northern Egypt did not have the same practices as Southern Egypt. So maybe the Tick swirl is for Faron Woods, but the swirl with the lines is specifically for the part of the tribe that settled there, and Vices Versa.
If you want to think of it this way, there could have ben 3 separate tribes of Zonai people. One for the Dragon. One for the Boar and followers of Ganon (if that's a theory that holds up), and one for the Owl. They could have developed their own distinct swirl. The tribes under the Dragon and the Owl probably got along quite well while the boar tribe did not.
Well said, it's the part off this theory that made roll my eyes multiple times. "The Zonai were savage, therefore they couldn't have built these massive structures" reeks of "There's no way these 'primitive' people could've built these massive cities and pyramids, it must've been ALIENS!!!!"
As an archeological nerd, this whole theory video makes me cringe WAY too often. Says "they wouldn't have these designs upside down" then a few sentences later says that the designs are found lying horizontally... So in other positions other than upright. Cultural drift may account for the different swirl designs, or they could be two distinct symbols from the same time period that look the same to outsiders at first glance.
Why would the sheikah make labyrinths mimicking the architectural style of another tribe??? Why not make it in their own style? It's a lot of extra work, and the simpler answer is that the Zonai, gerudo, and other races worked with the sheikah to create places and puzzles to hold shrines.
I feel like there's a lot of confirmation bias in this theory, and I'm glad I'm not the only one that's frustrated. I remember being confused the first time I watched this video, because NintendoBC usually has pretty solid, well thought out theories, and this one went off the rails REAL quick!
@@AskMia411 archeology student here. My brain had little alarms go off the moment “savage” and “primitive” were used in relation to the Zonai being incapable of making large structures too
I was also rolling my eyes a lot lmao
Or more accurately, the ancient sheikah knew about the zonai through the ancient hero from the calamity 10,000 years ago.
A thought passed through my mind while watching this theory: what if Sheikah were defectors from the Zonai?
The upside down carvings on the mazes reminds me of the reversed text in the eight heroine, which made me think of the yiga and the Sheikah. What if, at one point, way back when, the Sheikah were part of the tribe, but eventually split off due to some set of circumstances? Maybe a rift between the old ways of magic and their new ways of technology? Or a distaste for the barbaric and warlike ways of the tribe, instead preferring stealth, tact and wisdom? Or setting we just don't have a clue about.
Just a thought, of course. It could explain why they use a symbol similar to but not identical to them Zonai swirl. It could be paying homage to the ancient ways during the transition from Zonai-defectors to their own true independent tribe.
The current-day Sheikah I assume?
The people who left the tribe were probably not the modern sheikahs but their ancestors. They were probably the maze creators.
I thought the same thing, but I started to think about whether one of the two tribes (zonai or sheika) created the calamity to win this war between tribes, but that she ended up getting out of control??
The symbol change makes sense to me. The same beginning but a break right at the end of the swirl, saying "we're changing our ways"
hmm funny I thought something similar of the idea that maybe the Zonai knew something about TriForce in ancient times and maybe their tribe split to represent the 3 pieces of it now that you point out the Sheikah connection to Wisdom this got me thinking:
what if Ganondorf was a radical of the Zonai whose faction became the Gerudo tribe? but then a question comes up because of it.
if this theory is accurate and one faction split off and became the Sheikah and another split off and became the Gerudo what happened to the rest of them?
*There are a few things I want to point out, partially aided by the fact that I just watched Zeltik's theory on the ancient arrows.
*1. Perhaps the Zonai were not barbaric or warlike at all- perhaps this is propaganda maintained by the Sheikah.
*2. Maybe the Sheikah and Zonai coexisted, but had some sort of clash. We know the Sheikah had (and thanks to Robbie, have) weapons capable of sending foes to oblivion. This could explain their sudden disappearance.
*3. Perhaps the Zonai were around at the time of the Calamity, but were subsequently wiped out and erased from history by the Sheikah.
*But those are just a few things I've noticed could be possibilities. The Barbarian armor obviously contradicts them not being warlike, slightly- but it's possible they weren't overly aggressive, but simply the best at fighting and at creating equipment for such.
Yeah, what if the sheikah deleted the zonai in every way possible
@@goggles8691 But we know that it was the Sheikah who were exiled by the Hylians for their advanced technology... how could they have done the same thing to another group at the same time?
I think it may have been the First Calamity that got rid of the Zonai. They may have been loyal to him but turned on him and helped the Sheikah to capture and seal him. Then, Ganon got his revenge by trapping the Zonai in the luminous stones.
Yeh just cos they’re barbaric doesn’t mean they’re retarded
@@PlatinumAltaria but what if they got banished because they deleted an entire civilization with it, that makes more sense than the weaponry being too good at stopping the calamity
This was beautiful. I didn’t realize the “part 1” till like 12 mins in. We’re all super hyped for the next part! I’m so glad to have seen this channel grow so quickly! When I first started watching you, your video quality and number of subscribers seemed kinda screwed. You had around 30k views and only 1.5 thousand subs! The video was incredible, as is most of your content. You’ve helped me so much with so many different things. And now I’m planning to start a theory channel. I already share some on Zelda Theory sub Reddits and there is some good information from the community there if you’re ever stuck on theories. Good luck in the future. I just can’t believe you’ve grown 225 thousands subscribers in just 3 years! You truly are inspiring.
The madlad called it. Every damn bit. When you released this video two years ago, I bet Nintendo was pleasantly surprised to see someone touch on it and slightly spoil a game that wasn't even finished! Seeing the lore unfold before tears of the kingdom, has been incredible and downright historic. Forever impressed.
Except when he claimed the zonai were barbarian or savage.
how so??? half of it is wrong lmao
so much of this video ended up being wrong tho
this is absolutely incredible!! can't wait for part 2. take your time! this is so well done.
Omg didn't expect to find you guys here ! ❤
ily guys ❤️😼
Ok. I agree to the “take your time part” but... 6-7 months?! I’m ready for part 2. This is starting to feel like it’s going to come after nintendo actually makes good on their “botw2 is now in production” statement made forever ago!
@Brian Roberts yes
Yooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooøoooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo
Me: he'll never beat Rinkuto
See Rinkuto in the credits: Oh
I was going to say that this is a plagairism of Rinkuto's video from last year but then I saw the description, lol.
LOL
@@Link-hx5qk In reality, I only got 2 bits of info from him (the SS Faron quote and Guchini Plain Barrows).
*Spits out cereal*
Could link also be a descendant of the zonai? In the past we’ve seen link come from the “forest area” such as faron woods & kokiri forest. Plus the obvious connection to the triforce of courage in that region it makes sense & if that green magic IS connected to the zonai then all the more reason it would be drawn to link who is a descendant of that magic & if the hero fighting calamity in the painting was indeed wearing the barbarian armor it would make sense that thats where link is from. Great video btw 👌🏼
Unlikely that he is of Zonai descent*. It's been stated multiple times that Link is Hylian across the entire series. Not to mention, the birth of the demise and hero cycle took place in Skyward Sword, in which Link is Hylian. I mean, it's possible by the time that BOTW occurs that some inter-racial breeding occurred.
*Edit
@@kingstrongsad7454 The Links aren't necessarily related at all. In fact, the only ones that are even hinted to share a bloodline are Ocarina Link and TP Link. Zelda is part of the royal family, so they're related, but Links are just reincarnated into anybody with the 'spirit of the hero.' All of this is to say that while other links may full-on-Hylian, there's nothing to say that BOTW isn't a zonai. Hell, it's entirely possible for him to reincarnate into a Gerudo, or a Zora, or a Goron, or anything. The only reason he's been a blond-haired, blue-eyed Hylian up to this point is to keep a consistent character design.
If you understand French or you're capable of read him look at the theory of rinkuto about zonai
But the link that "Came From the forest" was just a hylian that was placed there by his mother to put him under the protection of the kokiri and the Great Deku Tree
It could be that Link is Hylian but is supported by the Zonai in regards to his courage like how previously he’s gained the favor of the other races the Zonai could be in direct support of the spirit of the hero in this game because Link is the one who holds the triforce of courage and corresponds to Farron which is who the Zonai put their regards in
The spring of courage
I was thinking that maybe Link a Zonai descendant but the fact that he’s a Hylian hero over and over again it’s more likely that the Zonai knew the tale of the hero and the calamity and supported Link as one of their own for his courage
But to be honest it would be more entertaining if Link was Zonai and was a different race from Zelda because then it would be three races that bore the triforce
21:52 This particular view of the Zonai dragon head with the remains of red pigment on it indicating that they were once painted or gilded also contrasts the mazes - parts of those mazes are in nearly perfect condition, and the underground parts completely protected from weathering elements - yet there is no paint, pigment, or gilding on any of the surfaces. It would seem that the Zonai ruins were weathered and stripped to bare stone before their style was replicated by the Sheika making the mazes - leaving some critical flaws that reveal them to be reconstructions and not originals.
That could be why the armor found in the mazes shrines is called barbarian armor and not zonai armor (or something along those lines). To denote its difference and otherness from the other races in hyrule, perhaps the sheika placed them in those specific temples as a tribute to the zonai.
Which makes me believe that the zonai still existed near the time of the shrines creation, for the armor to be called barbarian armor and not something else.
Much like how Roman statues were painted, but weathered to bare marble by time. And when the Renaissance tried to mimic these ancient statues, they left them bare thinking the Romans did so too
I’ve been watching so many Zelda theories since middle school, I’m in college now lmfao... And after watching NBC’s videos and then seeing this one, I actually smiled so hard. Its very nice to see the constant improvement in theories and I actually thought “wow i’m so happy for him” just by watching the first two minutes. I see the quality and time that went into this and im so happy you got to do this theory in collaboration with others on this scale :,)
I feel like I'm watching a documentary, your channel is seriously one of the best on youtube.
I think that was NBC idea
except it is all fiction...
Zonai dragons Statues looks like the statues in Water temple of OoT .
Theory: The Zonai’s sudden and mysterious disappearance could’ve been they lived in Faron and then they “disappeared” by sailing the Necluda Sea swiftly. They were gone for several years in lands unknown and their now unrecognizable group came back to Hyrule and settled in Lurelin.
That just begs the question, what is beyond Hyrule? I want to know so bad
According to the information you’ve given me, I have two theories:
1: The Zonai were the ancient keepers of the sacred power found in the master sword. The Shiekah discovered these people and chose to work with them to refine their power source into the various shrines and technologies across hyrule. That would explain why so much shiekah tech is associated with Zonai ruins, and it would also explain why they were removed from history; aka the shiekah decided to remove them from history to protect them from any evil forces that would go after their power source.
My second theory is that the Zonai are the predecessors to the Shiekah. As in, maybe they WERE savage, but evolved to become the Shiekah after they discovered the sacred power and how to refine it. Again, with the Shiekah being ninjas, it wouldn’t surprise me if they lied and denied the connection in order to keep the sacred power hidden.
Sheikah have always been the sheikah tho. Even in SS Impa was clearly of the Sheikah, and even used magic similar to remote bombs. They were likely 2 seperate groups
Swirl = Zonai
Saved you all 43 minutes
You spoiled everything. Anyway I don't know what is swirl so I will continue watching
But wrong Swirl =/= Zonai.
Solibrae that’s the actual hecking joke
Next up we have Croton, now who's next.
Who knows? This is only part one. We might get some more evidence in part 2. (Please do not spoil next time.)
Monsters = Zonai tribe.
Hear me out, and know that this is hardly a possibility. Lmao.
-Monsters are found with war paint on them, or something alike that.
-They're pretty violent. Would not invite to a tea party.
-Sea invaders could be Lizafos and Octoroks.
-Preventing them from invading central Hyrule is probably a smart idea.
-Monsters really like to hang around Zonai ruins.
Of course, this wouldn't make much sense at all. Maybe the Zonai tribe were being forcefuly ruled over by Ganon's evil forces. (extremely unlikely)
Maybe Ganon used the hatred of the Zonai to turn them into monsters. Maybe the Zonai and Ganon had their own face-off. Corrupted soldiers could have been turned into monsters. Those who survived could have banded together in order to seal Ganon, or something.
Maybe the hero from the Great Calamity was a Zonai warrior.
Maybe he's actually the avatar, master of all the elements.
Maybe it's natural.
Maybe it's Maybelline.
He is definitely the avatar! No doubt! xD
I would like to see him as the Avatar!
"would not invite to a tea party" 😂😂😂
Nah it's definitely Maybelline. Mystery solved.
Maybe Gannon corrupted their bodies to become more animalistic, while keeping the souls underground?
Ok but the Zelda orchestra at the beginning gave me HUGE nostalgia, I played that CD on repeat to help me sleep when I was younger or just to bop too 👏
Me: Sees first minute
Also me: Plays on TV and gets popcorn and ice water
Perhaps the Zonai died in order to lock Ganondorf away? Their connection to Courage could be symbolic of them being the ones courageous enough to give their lives to create enough energy to lock Ganondorf away. That could explain the amount of Luminous Stones present in the BOTW2 trailer, and why the magic involved is green.
Yesss
Yea and it has recently has been proven that something sayinh "help us" was hidden in the background of the trailer
@@jeffloud6180 where that was proven?
@@jorgemadrigalcalderon4860 When you reverse the Breath of The Wild 2 trailer, you can hear chanting and whispering. People have said it says Help us and two other lines, But I haven't listened to the reversed version yet.
@@jeffloud6180 that was false
There's one issue with the Zonai being repelled by the Akkala Citadel. By the time they vanished the Akkala Citadel wasn't even built yet
It’s interesting to me that the Zonai are called “savage”. By association, they are linked with Courage. Link has a connection to the Fierce Deity, right? Are these not all just hyperbolic terms for courageousness? Considering how evidently advanced the Zonai were, I think savage is a play on understanding of the word. They are a bit uncivilised. They were barbarians, yes. But they were fierce and courageous. Given that Link’s family are all unknown, and given their connection to the attribute of Courage, I wouldn’t be surprised if Link had a divine form as a dragon deity of the Zonai.
It’s the racism.
me: oh look its another nbc theory video.
Also me:*sees complete cinamatics and a credits reel* holds ma spirit orbs, we doin a marathon.
Lol
Lol
Imagine still having spirit orbs
(Me searching the north west hebra tryna find my last hecking shrine...)
Help
Finally home, time to be productive
*sees this in feed*
Time to be productive in aprox. 43 minutes and 20 seconds
Screw my part time imma watch this.
Okay, this video is awesome! However, I do have one big problems with it.
The big problem I have with this is the assumption that the Sheikah were the ones responsible for creating the architecture that is explicitly referred to as being created by the Zonai. First of all, throughout the game, the Sheikah are shown to have their own styles of architecture, mostly themed after constellations. Why would they make giant structures in a style not their own that's blatantly ripping off a less advanced culture? But even more importantly, why would Masterworks, an official work distinctly separate from the potential misinterpretations of in-game characters, have these structures blatantly mislabeled? If they wanted to maintain the mystery, they could have easily just been vague and let us ASSUME the Zonai made them. But that's not what happened. If Masterworks says they were created by the Zonai, I believe we have to accept that as the truth and take our logic from there.
If the Zonai really were responsible for building the labyrinths, that would mean they disappeared after the development of the Sheikah's technology. Could this be the reason for the change in symbols? The structures they had created beforehand used the spiral with the "tick" at the end, while the structures they created in collaboration with the Sheikah, such as the labyrinths, have a slightly different spiral, symbolizing that the structure isn't entirely of Zonai make.
Something brought up in this video that I'd never considered is that the Zonai were once warriors fighting for Ganondorf. While this could be used as evidence against the theory I'm putting forth, I'd say it could actually explain a lot of things. The Zonai's boar statues might date all the way back to when they served Ganon. However, as shown with Zant and probably a lot of other minions I'm not remembering off the top of my head, Ganon isn't the kindest to his minions. Possibly after being punished for failing something he demanded of them, they abandoned his cause. Alternately, only some of them served Ganon, similarly to the Sheikah and Yiga clans of modern times. Regardless, now an enemy of Ganon, this is the point at which they began creating statues of dragons and owls. (Alternately, they always created statues of all three creatures, but stopped creating and maintaining the boar statues when they turned on Ganon as an act of defiance.) It would be at around this point that they allied with the Sheikah, combining the might of the magic and warriors of the Zonai tribe with the powerful weapons and technology of the Sheikah tribe.
Finally, there's still two big questions to ask: Why are the Zonai never mentioned in records of the efforts against Calamity Ganon despite having been involved in the fight, and what happened to the Zonai? I believe the answers to these two questions are connected. Neither the Hylians nor the Sheikah would want to admit that they had to rely on help from savages to defeat Ganon, least of all savages who at one point had served the very enemy they fought against. Because of this, all mentions of the Zonai were purged from the records, and the Zonai themselves were annihilated by their own allies to keep their involvement a secret.
(On a different note, something stuck out to me during the video. The symbols of the Zonai remind me of magatamas which, according to the limited knowledge I have received from playing Ace Attorney, are connected to spirits in Japanese culture. Additionally, they're also very similar to the symbol Ace Attorney uses for the Mitama, which is a term referring to the soul or spirit of a dead person. Obviously this would require more research, but assuming the Ace Attorney series isn't pulling things out of its ass, this could be another connection between the energy of spirits and the swirling symbol of the Zonai.)
Ok hear me out this is what I believe happened.
1. The Zonai worshiped the triforce which explains the statues representing courage, wisdom and power aswell as other things mentioned in the video.
2. The Zonai followed and served Ganondorf, that could be literally for any reason such as them believing him to be the rightful owner of the triforce but that's just an example, this is obviously supported by the painting in the cave and other connections like the barbarian set connection with Ganondorf's power.
3. The Zonai were either betrayed by Ganondorf or they realized the destruction he brought upon the world so ultimately cursed him aswell as the triforce of power all together, this is supported by the destroyed boar statues, the depiction of Ganondorf being sealed by the sages and the Sheikah-Zonai connection in their collaboration.
4. Some of Ganondorf's followers remained and caused chaos in hyrule which is what ultimately led them to perish by either the Hylian and Shiekah or by their own hands.
I think you guys are overthinking everything
@@tomfoster314 Probably. But it's fun, and we like figuring things out.
Oh thank you for writing this! You said everything I thought too. It’s obvious that the zonai made the mazes in a collaboration with the sheika, that’s why it uses the zonai symbol a little bit different but still theirs, and also it’s obvious not sheika type of structure since it’s very different from the sheika towers and shrines architecture. And also is ducking writing in the oficial book with a photo and all. So I think the zonai were there when the tech always invented and they made the mazes to hide the shrines, otherwise why would the build 3 mazes ? So of course it was for the shrines
.I have some theory’s of why the zonai where not mentioned by impa
1: my favorite: the zonai “vanished” on PURPOSE to the underground,after ganon lost, and them sealed him away in the underground , and maintain themselves there to stop anyone from revive ganon,so the sheika erased their history from books and and history to hide them from the others to protect them, and the seal.
2:it got lost in time bc of all the destructions from battles and centuries ,and the sheika end up retaining only their own historical stuff, and not others tribes stuff
3: maybe the two tribes fought and the sheika won bc of the tech and the sheika manteined the shrines like that bc why move what’s is good, and then erased them from history so impa doesn’t even know.
Also I’m pretty pretty sure the past hero from the history was a zonai! Since the barbarian set was from the zonai ( I think is mentioned on the item description or/and the zonai were know as the barberiam tribe so it matches) and the hero on the old story sheet from impa had RED hair, just like the zonai/ barberian set , and the hero is not wearing a green tunic or hat, and it even has a swirl or his “shoulder” just like the zonai architecture has. And more, I think the hand holding ganon in the trailer is the hand of the past hero, since has the same green color and a gold thing rapping around just like the ps hero has in the sheet, and that’s made my theory that the zonai went to the underground with the hero to seal ganon away
The similarity to Mitama is *definitely* intentional, given Luminous Stones and "souls of the dead" are a recurring theme here.
I wonder what his reaction was when he realized totk was abt the zonai
Damn the editing in this video is at its best.
Jesus man, this is frickin incredible! The quality is among the best I’ve ever seen, and the amount of detail is superb! Definitely one of the best Zelda theory videos ever made, fantastic job!
When the video talks about the Zonai I always wanna adress this: Why does the screen in BotW get a little bit green when near the border of the map? It felt weird, but when I heard about Zonai and their green magic, I suspected it was related. Just how though...
This comment was made before watching the video
new gameplay footage was shown today and you were right. the zonai are coming omfg
"They've never been the central focus of a video, with the exception of a couple."
I'm sorry I just cant
that sentence yeeted me so hard. glad to find someone else whose mind couldn't get past that. good video though x'D
Adding to the "Followers of ganon" possibility: they could have betrayed ganon at some point and started secretly working with the royal family
or possibly ganon cursed them with too much power and the zonai thought they’d be better off without him, hence why there are so few boar statues
I'm SO happy you used the Zelda 25th Anniversary Theme in the intro!
The opening credits and I already have chills... I'm so excited to watch this right now!
This made me realize something. If you take a coin and bury it underground, later on a bunch of random people are gonna dig that up and it will be an ancient relic from "2021" lol
3:40 "But these structures pale in comparison to those of another tribe, ones which are located all across Hyrule."
_Shows two structures_
Literally everything else is off the sceen since the map has a different ratio 😆
"Why would the Zonai chose to make the ones on the mazes upside down?".
As a person in North America, I can speak for the South Lomei Labyrinth..
ɥʇnoS ǝɥʇ uı sı ɐıןɐɹʇsn∀
Also, I have a theory of my own with the "Zonau Towers". If the Zonai made that one little spot of statues, showing their perspective on the sealing of Ganon, then maybe the Zonai Towers are recreations of the Sheikah towers. That is if the Zonai were around after the towers were found. This isn't so much a theory rather than a concept I was thinking about. The solid evidence to really help this idea would be if the Sheikah towers were up before Link activates the Great Plateau Tower.
I don't know much about the beforehand information because I don't know the Zelda history, having only played Breath of the Wild. If the towers were, in fact, up before Breath of the Wild Link awoke or even existed, then please tell me because it can boost the credibility of my mini-theory.
I don't know if the towers were up before Link existed, and I sadly don't know where to look to find out, but this gave me a thought, what if you looked at everything the Zonai had built, their structures, pillars, etc, from a top down view and connected the "dots" or lines? What if it made a picture, or a map or something? Idk lol.
When you visit Kakariko village and get the 10,000 year history, the towers are shown on the tapestry along with the other sheika tech so one can probably assume they were up at least 10,000 years prior. Who knows how long they took to build before the battle 10,000 years ago. Maybe they were always up till they weren't needed and then they were hidden "for storage".
No the towers were not up before link woke up, cos they were all dormant underground until link activated them all at the great plateau. We know this because there are a few NPCs that were found at the top of few towers (I think lanayru and ridgeland) and they were stuck up there cos the towers rose when they were standing on the ground just walking around when link activated the great plateau one and couldn't get back down since they didn't even climb them in the first place. But the only thing which I think was already in the overworld was the sheikh shrines as we were able to see them in that memory where link comes to get Zelda but Zelda is not happy. Hope this clarifies it. (ALSO I like that hidden upside down message 😂👍)
@@glitchville Holy- that's a good idea I gotta work on that!
@@KLT-id9nm Yeah that's similar to what I was thinking. Because the Sheika had to actually build the towers and I don't think you can build stuff underground. SO perhaps it took long enough to build all of them for the Zonau to see them and be like "wtf i guess we'll do that now."
Their mysterious disappearance might be connected to the sealing away of Ganon (if they indeed were followers of Ganon, it would make sense if they disappeared when he was seal away)
Bro, you are the only person to have read BotW's world design so well that you essentially gave us a better understanding for the new game! much respect man. Amazing videos as always btw
A shame loads of the video turned out to be wrong. Like... the exact opposite of what TotK revealed.
My mans just released like a whole ass documentary! I’m amazed at the level of professionalism in this! Good job man!
Also impressed nintendoBlackCrisis
33:35 or it could have represented the events of Twilight Princess 6 sages try to seal Ganondorf 5 survive Ganondorf kills one of them.
Wow I didn’t think of that!
That could also be plausible.
I was thinking the same thing! Mostly because I never played ocarina of time, and I have played twilight princess.
It be so sick if somehow the Zonai have a connection with Twili.
Captain_ Unhinged
Dear god.....they ARE The Twili!
😛
So you're saying they're people from across the waters and love war...Vikings in breathe of the wild?!?!?!?! HELL YA! Perhaps the sheikah made buildings in honor of their strength?
but they couldn't really be the invaders as their structures predate Akala Citadel based on weathering alone.
Suddenly had visions of Godbrand from Castlevania. We're vikings!!! We build boats!!
Crazy how they completely forgot about the savage warlike tribe and just took the name of the zonai and slapped on another ancient civilization of 2 goat people
They’re probably Bulblins if the skull is supposed to be a member of their race it lines up 1 for 1 with a bulblin skull except for the fact that we never see a Bulblins hair.
They likely just went extinct during the imprisoning war never to be seen again. They fought for the strongest side against ganondorf and lost.
As such it would make sense that the zonai honor them by having their outfit as a reward for feats of strength and courage
Yo this mans just quoted masterworks like the bible
I believe the Zonai are Ancient Shiekah. If this is the case it would explain almost everything. They disappeared suddenly because they renamed themselves after some event (Probably the Boar group betraying the others and following Ganondorf). It explains why the Labyrinths resemble Zonai ruins but may not have been made by them. It explains why the towers resemble the Shiekah towers. It explains the differing swirls. It even explains why the Barbarian gear gives attack up. The Shiekah liked Mighty Bananas 10,000 years ago, but changed to other foods after the Great Calamity in order to distance themselves from the Yiga. The Barbarian gear and Mighty Bananas both give attack+. Honestly I think this is the best explanation of the Zonai possible, they're just ancient Shiekah, who themselves are ancient by the time of BotW.
Rewatching this now that totk is out. Damn you were close!
Going on the labyrinth theory, what if they were these “castles” that were made by the zonai, but the Sheikah deconstructed them and rebuilt them to make a labyrinth out of the castle walls and ruins n stuff
YESSSSSSS IVE WAITED SO LONG FOR THIS
It's interesting watching this after totk came out
Love the video and I am a big fan, however I will respectfully disagree on the real vs. fake Zonai swirl thing. My reasoning is that there are multiple versions of other symbols (specifically the Sheikah symbol) that appear and yet they are not discounted as fake. For example, look at the little frog statues near Impa’s house (and elsewhere in the world), the Sheikah eye on them is clearly different and yet still clearly a Sheikah eye. Same goes for the symbol on the doors of the Kakariko houses, they are stylized and sharper versions of the Sheikah eye. Personally, I think the differences in Zonai swirls could just represent different uses. The ones with the tick could be for religious sites, the ones with the rays could be for their castles/large cities (as Masterworks describes them, I think), and the simplified ones on Lurelin houses could be for residential areas, just as an example. Those are just my thoughts though. Keep up the great work and I can’t wait to see part 2!
Exactly! As an fan of ancient civilizations, i was face palming through all that. The variations of symbols across a culture can be wildly different. The various designs of the Christian cross is a good example. The two swirl designs may even be two separate symbols for all we know, or the simple swirl a simplified version of the ticked swirl. Same with the dragon designs.
the reason why the true zonai swirl has a definitive tick at the bottom is because the swirl beach in akkala and the beach shaped like a point by lurelin. The designed their symbol based on their tribes geography. It also would make it much more likely that they were the "sea invaders" that attacked attacked the citadel since they would have been living so close
Well now that Tears of the Kingdom is out, we know that the Zonai labyrinths _were_ made by the Zonai, and not the shiekah....
ok i'm just now watching this and it's amazing, but there's one thing i'm confused about, why would the sheikah make zonai structures, and not their own? for some shrines i get it, because the structures were already there, but did the sheikah just take the zonai designs and make 3 giant ass, hard to construct mazes? why?
Because the rewards hidden within those 3 were of the Zonai. It likely made sense to them, not the mention how they're so advanced it probably wasn't that hard for them
I don’t know if you mention this because I’m only 17:50 minutes into the vid, but my theory, is that the Zonai is tribe that worships the legendary Hero. Similar to how the Sheikah represent Zelda and the Yiga represent Ganon, the Zonai represent Link! And I believe that all 120 shrines were built by the Zonai under the Sheikah’s authority to aid the Hero, through Courage, and Wisdom!!!!! You should go more into depth on this!!!!! Edit: My theory on the Zonai’s true purpose is to train the Hero by setting tons of trials before him. And I believe that since the Zonai were MAGIC wielders, the mysterious hand we see in BOTW 2 trailer is the power of the Zonai tribe connecting with Link! OMG! What if the Zonai’s purpose as Magic wielders is to keep the soul of the Link before the new Link around, that way he can train the newer Link similar to how the Heroes Shade trained Twilight Princess Link!!!!
Let's just forget about the Sheikah man in Kakariko Village that tells of someone going into the shrine and never returning. (I only remember the main gist of it.)
At first all I saw was the last two words amd I was like
Now this is a theory
Its interesting to hear you theory on the Zonai representing the hero, but the sheika were most definitely the ones who built the shrines.
damn I can’t even comprehend how much time and effort this would’ve taken. amazing!
I love just how the Zelda lore became deeper and deeper throughout the years. In the past, it was Hyrule Kingdom that was a mystery (since it was always in ruins by the game's start), then it was the Sheikah (usually 100-1000 years before the advent of Hyrule Kingdom) and now it's Zonai that could predate them all by thousands more years. And who knows if there may be tribes even more ancient than the Zonai!