How the Zonai connect the The Legend of Zelda franchise (Theory)
In TotK we're explained that the kingdom of Hyrule was founded thanks to the union of the Hylian and Zonai tribes with the marriage of Rauru and Sonia. I've seen that a big part of the fandom thinks that this is not the true founding of Hyrule and that it's the creation of a new kingdom (since this has already happened before), but I think that it is the same Hyrule that we see in Minish Cap, Ocarina of Time, Twillight Princess, etc.
Why do I believe this? Because the Zonai existed during Skyward Sword and became extinct before Minish Cap.
1°- The Zonai in Skyward Sword
Throughout Skyward Sword, in the surface we can see ruins, temples, dungeons, etc. I believe that most of these constructions were built by the Zonai: The Skyview Temple has mechanisms which work with eyes, the Earth Temple is full of symbolism and sculptures of dragons (and also has sculptures of people with fangs, long ears and three eyes), the Ancient Cistern has symbols of what appear to be tears and also flowers of lotus (which personally remind me of the figure that has the Zonai symbol from TotK), the Sandship has many spirals and in the Fire sanctuary there are statues of more dragons. Also, most of the dungeons I just mentioned (aside from being almost completely abandoned) have spirals in their architecture. As you can see, the Zonai probably inhabited all of Hyrule just like in BotW, since there we can see Zonai architecture throughout the entire kingdom.
The features that the dungeons have are eyes, dragons/snakes, owls, tears, and spirals; we can easily relate all these symbols to the Zonai, because there are many of these in their ruins. Throughout the Faron region there are statues of boars, owls and dragons/snakes; These represent the golden Goddesses and their qualities: power, wisdom and courage. In TotK we can see that the eyes represent the Zonai (in weapons, architecture, jewelry and the extra eye on their foreheads). The tears can be related to the secret stones, which have the same shape as the tears, and are apparently a very important element in the Zonai culture.
And finally the spirals, the most important symbol. Before TotK, spirals were the symbol of the Zonai tribe; In BotW all Zonai architecture was full of spirals (architecture which you can find in basically all Hyrule). According to Creating a Champion, the spiral is a unique mark to show that the Zonai were there and that the place belonged to them; This is why I believe that the dungeons in Skyward Sword were built by the Zonai. (Interesting fact: as I had already pointed out in another post, the Māori patterns are traditional art from New Zealand, one of them is a spiral and is called Rauru)
The Zonai made buildings throughout the surface, but I believe they had one special settlement; Lanayru. Long ago I thought that the Lanayru Mining Facility belonged to the Sheikah, but now I'm almost sure it belonged to the Zonai. Here are my reasons:
The Zonai had an incredibly advanced technology for their era, in the same way, the entire Lanayru region in general has very advanced technology: artificial light, flying robots, laser rays, automatic platforms, electricity, etc.
Throughout Lanayru there are all kinds of technology and robots, if you look at their designs you will notice that they have an aesthetic very similar to the Zonai. (Another detail is that these robots work with blue/green electricity, the same color as the electricity that the Zonai Constructs have)
The ancient robots that inhabit Lanayru have many kinds, each with a different function (just like the Zonai Constructs), and it seems that most of them suddenly stopped working while doing their daily jobs. It seems that they worked for someone and then they disappeared, similar to how the Zonai became extinct.
The Lanayru Mining Facility, as its name says, is where they used to process all the Timeshift Stones that they had obtained in the mines. In TotK the Zonai also had mines where they collected Zonaite.
As I mentioned before, throughout Lanayru there is a mineral called Timeshift Stone, which has the power to change the time around it. These stones have a dark blue color, and when activated they change to light blue/green; When these pass through the Lanayru Mining Facility, a design that looks like an eye with eyelashes and a tear is added. Previously that eye would be related to the Sheikah, but with all these connections it would make more sense for it to be related to the Zonai.
All of this points to the fact that the Zonai inhabited Lanayru and that everything there belonged to them; That means that the Zonai protected the temple of time and Nayru's flame, which leads me to think that they also protected the other two flames. As I had previously said, all the temples where the flames are have details that make them related to the Zonai. But why do the Zonai have access to these sacred artifacts?
In TotK we are told that the Zonai are descendants of Gods, and these gods were the ones who gave them the secret stones (which are also sacred artifacts). In Creating a Champion we're told that the Zonai worshiped a certain water dragon, however, in the BotW era there is no water dragon (It could be Farosh, but it's more related to electricity). But, in Skyward Sword there is a water dragon, Faron.
I believe that the Zonai are descendants of the dragons from Skyward Sword (which are basically gods). That would also explain why most temples are made for the dragons and the appearance of the Zonai and their dragon-like features too (scales, horns, fangs, bright colors, etc.)
So the Zonai, being descendants of dragons, were entrusted to protect sacred artifacts such as the secret stones, the Gate of Time in Lanayru, the flames of the Goddesses, and probably also the Sacred Tears.
In Skyward Sword, when Link goes to the Silent Realm he has to find the tears of the goddesses. There are two very important things here:
After TotK we relate a lot the tears with the Zonai, and in the Silent Realm we have to collect sacred tears. Also in the Silent Realm (and only there) we will find many ''dusk relics'', which have the same shape as the secret stones.
In the Silent Realm there are machines called Guardians, which have an incredible resemblance to the Zonai (Extremely tall, with long ears, three eyes, and they also have many spirals on their desing).
Another game where there are also tears that must be collected is Twilight Princess. Here the spirits of light ask you to collect all the tears in order to restore the world of light.
6°- Connection with the Twili
Another thing I want to point out and that a big part of the fandom has noticed is the big resemblance that the Zonai and the Twili have, but I still want to show more evidence of why I think they are connected:
The spirits of light tell us that a dark tribe known as the Interlopers tried to take over the Triforce using their magic, it was then that the spirits of light stopped them and sent them to the twilight realm.
In Twilight Princess they describe the Interlopers as a tribe with incredibly powerful magic (so much so that they almost got the Triforce). In Creating a Champion they describe the Zonai as “strong magic wielders who vanished suddenly,” similar to the story of the Twili.
The architecture of both tribes is very similar; The architecture in the Twilight realm is very similar to the Zonai which we see in the Dragon's Tears. Inside the palace of Twilight we can see that the building is full of figures that look like eyes with tears, hands, snakes and spirals.
Eyes and hands seem to be very important in Twili culture as well as in the Zonai (There are giant hands in the palace of twilight and even Wolf Link has the mark of a third eye with a tear on his forehead).
The Twili have technology similar to the Zonai's (platforms, switches, etc.)
The magic of the Twili is blue/green, a color we associate with the Zonai, and when something or someone bad controls both, they turn red. Another thing to add is that when we saw the TloZ TotK logo, many of us related the cracks of the master sword with the magic of the Twili.
In BotW, in the Faron region, there is a fragmented monument which is very similar to the twilight mirror and which also has the same color as Twili/Zonai magic.
Despite being a tribe of shadows, they have artifacts called “Sol” which are made of light.
A very important piece of evidence that the Twili and the Zonai are connected is the design of the Fused Shadow. The Fused Shadow (in addition to appearing to be made from the same material as most Zonai architecture in TotK) has spirals, snakes, and eyes.
Another detail about the Fused Shadow that has been talked about for many years is that one of its pieces seems to be one of the eyes of the Majora's mask (I also once saw that someone was comparing one of Rauru's eyes in the mural with Majora).
In Majora's Mask we are explained that an ancient tribe used to wear the Majora's mask to perform rituals, then they sealed the mask in shadows to avoid catastrophes, and then they mysteriously disappeared. It has been three times that we have heard about a powerful tribe which mysteriously disappeared, it's not weird to think that they could be the same tribe, the Zonai.
The manga explain us that Majora was originally a demon. Majora's armor could fulfill wishes, so many people tried to kill him to take his armor; However, Majora ate them. Afterwards, he was defeated by the Fierce Deity, who made him dance for 3 days and 3 nights until he died. The Fierce Deity used the remains of the demon to make the Majora's mask.
It may be that these people Majora killed were the Zonai, and when the Fierce Deity killed the demon, the Zonai thanked him by making a mask in his honor. I believe this because the Barbarian Armor (which is most likely of Zonai origin), when dyed blue or red, has the same marks as the Fierce Deity.
8°- Zonai appearances in other games before BotW
I don't have much to explain here, just more evidence that the Zonai could have been in Hyrule before the BotW era.
9°- History of the Zonai (my conclusion)
The Zonai are descendants of the three dragons that protected the surface in Skyward Sword. This tribe had very advanced technology and powerful magic. However, being so special, they had a small population
The Zonai had the mission of protecting the most important, sacred artifacts (the tears of the goddesses, the tears of light, and even the Triforce), which is why they came down to the surface in the distant past (The age of Creation, before SkSw). When they arrive to the surface, the Zonai took advantage of the resources that were there (the timeshift Stones) and with them created the two Gates of time and also the ocarina of time (The ocarina is a relic that has been passed down through generations in the royal family, it may have been a gift from Rauru to Sonia). However, by spending Lanayru's resources, a portion of the Zonai ended up dying along with all of Lanayru's technology.
When the Zonai descended to the surface, the Hylians and other inhabitants mistook them for Gods. The Zonai became so obsessed with the idea of being Gods that they tried to be one; So they looked for the demon Majora to kill him and take his armor, with which they could make the wish of becoming Gods, however the majority died in the attempt to defeat the demon. When the Fierce Deity managed to kill him, they made a mask of him and painted their armors in his honor, and the remaining Zonai decided to hide the Majora's mask to avoid further catastrophes. However, they did not give up trying to be gods.
When the ancient battle begin the Zonai were sent to build the Silent Realm for the Hero (that's why you have to collect tears and the guardians look so much like the Zonai). But in the middle of the war, a group of Zonai used their magic to create the Fused Shadow to enter the sacred realm (they were its protectors, that's why they knew about it) and obtain the Triforce, so they could finally make their wish. Unfortunately for them, the Goddesses found out about their betrayal and sent them to the Twilight Realm to punish them (Long time later, the other Zonai built a replica of the mirror of twilight, which is found along with the other Zonai ruins in Faron, to remember them).
At the end of the war, the goddesses gave the few remaining Zonai the secret stones, them decided to remain faithful to the Goddesses and protect the stones (It could be that, as gratitude, the spirits of light gave these few Zonai their light magic, that's why Rauru has sacred light without being related to Hylia). Throughout Skyward Sword the Zonai were hiding somewhere in the sky.
Hundreds of years after SkSw, the Zonai descended from the sky again; Rauru, who was the leader of the tribe (and was also a descendant of the Zonai who protected the stones and had the powers of light), married Sonia (who was a descendant of Link and Zelda from SkSw) and together they founded Hyrule. With the pass of time, the Zonai began to die and finally Rauru and Mineru died in the Imprisoning war, and the Zonai became completely extinct.
Alright, if you made it this far I want to thank you very much. If you have more evidence about this theory that you would like to add, or anything that contradicts it, or any comments, I would like to see it. :)
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