Origins, habitation and population movements.

Part 1

Part 3

In part 1, it was argued that the Zonai King Rauru, in the flashbacks of Tears of the Kingdom (TotK), founded Hyrule between the events of Skyward Sword and The Minish Cap. There’s nothing particularly out there or groundbreaking about this conclusion, but the timeline was a preliminary issue that had to be resolved before proceeding to the Zonai’s history more generally. It also raises several questions. In particular, where were the Zonai during the events of Skyward Sword? The architectural evidence provided by Tears of the Kingdom and Skyward Sword does, however, make it possible to outline a rough chronology of Zonai history and movements.

In TotK, the Zonai live (or at least lived) on flying islands in the sky. They eventually descended to the surface to unite and lead its various peoples and, in Ganondorf’s words, ‘must have seemed to be gods.’ (TotK, Memory 7) This clashes with the events of Skyward Sword, in which the sky islands are home to humanity with neither sight nor mention of the Zonai. The two groups are not the only sky denizens either. In Twilight Princess, the sky islands are inhabited by the Oocca, human-bird hybrids briefly declared by that game to be the god-affiliated founders of Hyrule (more on that in a later entry). Nevertheless, Skyward Sword makes it explicit that the humans were the original sky people. The game reveals that goddess Hylia created the sky islands, lifting them from the ground, specifically to save humanity from the demon king Demise. The Zonai must have moved in later. So, where did the Zonai live before they went to the sky?

There are, in Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom, a lot of Zonai surface ruins, most notably the titular Zonai Ruins of the Faron Woods region. But these ruins were not their pre-sky home. In TotK, the Zonai have two different architectural styles. They have a ‘surface style’ and a ‘sky style’, suggesting that they were built at different points in Zonai history. It also indicates that there was a moment of societal rupture in their history in which the old styles and techniques were forgotten, creating a discontinuity in their aesthetic style. The damage done to the Faron region’s Zonai Ruins during TotK reveals that some ‘surface style’ ruins were built on top of and around an earlier ‘sky style’ structure. It can be glimpsed beneath the chipped masonry (pictured below).

This rules out the possibility of a gradual architectural shift; it was a conscious change, which again points to a possible societal rupture. It also establishes the ‘sky style’ as older than the ‘surface style’. Moreover, the surface structures (in both styles) were constructed after Skyward Sword. The Faron region Zonai Ruins are built around the Spring of Courage (a shrine to the Goddess Hylia), which appears in Skyward Sword without any Zonai ruins or structures surrounding it (assuming that Skyview temple is unaffiliated with the Zonai; more on this later). The Zonai surface ruins, then, were built relatively late in their history and are not indicative of their pre-sky habitation.

It’s apparent from TotK that the Zonai come from the Depths. The energy-rich mineral Zonaite, the foundation of Zonai power, is stated by the robotic Zonai Steward Constructs to have come originally from the Depths and, in the present day, the Depths are filled with abandoned Zonaite mines. The depths are also home to a new monster called the Little Frox, which shares the distinctive eye of the Zonai. This could be a common evolutionary trait for species that evolved in the Depths (maybe it helps them to see in the dark). The Zonai shrines, meanwhile, are physically linked to the Depths’ Lightroots. It’s clear, then, that the Zonai are closely associated with the Depths, and it is, as such, their probable place of origin. That the Zonai originated/evolved in the Depths, a generally mysterious place, may indicate the nature of their early society. The way in which they’re theorised to interact with the Depth’s more cryptic features could help to illuminate both the mystery of Zonai culture and the mystery of the Depths more generally. This connection does not necessarily mean, however, that they were in the Depths during Skyward Sword.

Skyward Sword’s surface world is filled with abandoned temples, structures and ruins, and each region (Faron, Eldon and Lanayru) has a distinct architectural style. Since they were all likely abandoned during Hylia’s war with Demise and thus inhabited simultaneously, the different styles imply that they were built by different tribes and groups. It’s not a case (as in TotK) of the same tribe’s style evolving over time. So, who were those different groups? The abandoned Faron structures were probably built by Skyloft’s human population (given their connection to Skyloft), and the Lanayru structures have some Sheikah tribe imagery. This leaves the temples and structures of Eldin volcano unexplained.

There is some evidence to suggest that Skyward Sword’s Eldin structures were built and inhabited by the Zonai. First, the Eldin temples make widespread use of the swirling patterns and some animal iconography (owls and dragons) used by the Zonai. More substantially, however, the Eldin region’s Earth Temple is adorned with giant portraits/statues of humanoid figures with large ears and three eyes, exactly like the Zonai! Before TotK, it may have been counter-argued that Eldin Volcano has a different architectural style to what has previously been seen of the Zonai. This objection is laid to rest by the fact that Zonai architecture has now been shown to change over time. It’s more than conceivable that their aesthetic preferences may have changed more than once in their millennia-long history. This could mean that the Zonai have experienced more than one societal rupture/crisis. An idea which is further supported by the abandonment of Eldin volcano during Skyward Sword (presumably due to Demise) and the Zonai’s seemingly low numbers during the flashbacks/time travel scenes of Tears of the Kingdom.

There are a few additional points about Eldin Volcano that should be briefly mentioned. First, if the Zonai came from the Depths, then the volcano is a logical place for them to have settled. As a natural ‘bridge’ or connecting point between the Depths and the surface, it would have likely been a trading hub between them and, thus, a place of assembly. That this Zonai trade hub took the form of a temple points to a temple economy: a model used by many early civilisations IRL. Second, the automated Zonaite mines in TotK are built in the Zonai ‘sky style’ which means they were likely constructed after they had left Eldin during their sky era. Their automatisation further supports this; the Zonai didn’t have to be present. The third point concerns the Gorons. In TotK, Link discovers an ancient Goron city in the Depths beneath Eldin Volcano/Death Mountain called Gorondia. This could conflict with the theorised Zonai settlement of the area (if its one or the other), but Skyward Sword seems to depict the discovery of Eldin Volcano/Death Mountain by the previously nomadic Gorons (start of dungeon 6). The implication being that Gorondia was built after Skyward Sword, when the Zonai were already gone. Finally, an old and somewhat dark fan theory suggests that Eldin Volcano was renamed Death Mountain due to a volcanic eruption that killed the treasure-hunting Mogma found there during Skyward Sword. Any such eruption would have also destroyed the Zonai ruins and paved the way for Gorondia’s construction.

A rough history of the Zonai’s evolutionary origins, habitation and population movements can thus be sketched. They first evolved in the Depths and then built a great temple city in the natural Surface-Depths trade hub of Eldin Volcano. A significant societal rupture (probably involving Demise) caused them to abandon it. It also caused an architectural shift and presumably reduced their numbers to the point of relying on robotic constructs. Then, after Skyward Sword, they resettled on the recently vacated floating sky islands that had been created for humanity. At this time, they began building automated mines in the Depths to provide them with Zonite. Eventually, and possibly after another societal rupture, they returned to the surface and founded the kingdom of Hyrule.

This rough outline does not, however, explain where they were during Skyward Sword. This question, along with the Zonai’s social structure and their various social ruptures will be discussed in subsequent entries.

-Dexter