#ruby talks

(Miss her)

“Huh, that smoke looks kind of like it’d fit in Wind Waker…” Which is the thought I had that started this whole thing. I remember the wizzrobes making a ringing sound when they teleport. And when I looked:

The wizzrobe appears with a ringing alarm. (Video here.) Wind blows-

Black and yellow smoke billows-

Then monsters appear.

In Wind Waker, the advanced wizzrobes are capable of summoning monsters, while the normal ones only shoot fire. When wizzrobes teleport (which is frequent), they make a distinctive ringing alarm sound effect. This is a sound that absolutely sets me on edge because it’s hard to tell where it’s coming from, and a frantic handful of seconds ensue of spinning around and trying to find where it is so you can shoot it before it disappears again. So, I can see that being what makes it an unforgettable sound.

The only issue with this idea is that I wouldn’t personally consider the Wind Waker wizzrobes to be an obscure reference, but Jojo could have a different perception of that than I do.

As for why Wind hasn’t said anything, I think it’s as simple as he hasn’t heard the sound. The first time, Legend is the only one who notices.

(threatening shadows pt1)

I think he noticed due to proximity and to not being in the thick of the fight like the others. He’s just shooting Keese, something that would be relatively quiet.

This also acted as a red herring, I think. Plenty of people seem to wonder if it’s the sound that plays when you enter the Dark World, or the sound that plays from the discovery ring in the Oracle games, or random ringing that can happen in the original Link’s Awakening. However, I don’t think anyone would consider the Dark World sound to be obscure since A Link to the Past is one of the most well-known Zelda games. The discovery ring and LA ringing absolutely are obscure, but contextually, they don’t make sense to me. That ring plays a sound to let you know if there’s dirt that you can plant a Gasha seed in nearby. It has nothing to do with monsters. Neither does the LA ringing, it seems completely random. Plus, I think Legend would look toward his hand or pouch and not the sky if the sound was coming from one of his rings.

The second time, Hyrule and Time hear it.

(Shady escape pt1)

This is also due to proximity. They’re the first to get attacked, and the others are too far away to hear it. Legend has to whistle to get Wild’s and Four’s attention, and Wind is even farther away than they are.

(Shady escape pt1)

As for the shadow shapeshifting into a wizzrobe, I’m a bit less confident on that point. After all, he’s only shown as a lizalfos and doesn’t shapeshift until fighting Twilight much later when he turns into an iron knuckle. He could just be using summoning magic that mimics the wizzrobes.

Except that that ringing sound only plays when a wizzrobe teleports. Not when it summons monsters or casts fire. Hence the shapeshifting idea. The reasons he’s not shown as a wizzrobe could be two things. One, from a writing standpoint, to keep the intrigue alive for us readers and not just give it away. And two, maybe he’s keeping his cards close to his chest. The heroes first see him as a lizalfos, so he makes sure that they only see him as a lizalfos from that point on. When he finally does shapeshift, it’s because he’s losing badly to Twilight. He tried to run, but when that didn’t work and Twilight’s got him on the ropes, he’s forced to use his shapeshifting ability so that he isn’t defeated.

Another thing. Warriors says that the monsters are coming through the gates.

(Divine Dark Reflections pt8)

However, the monsters are never actually shown coming through the gates. They just kind of show up. Also, the creation of the gates never makes the ringing sound. Twice now, the gates have been created on screen, and neither time has the ringing sound been depicted.

(Shady escape pt3)

(There are two more pages, but I didn’t want to paste all of them here lol. You can check for yourself if you want, there’s no ringing in any of them.)

(Night)

Furthermore, Warriors has never encountered wizzrobes of any kind before. What he is familiar with, are gates to other eras that monsters come through. That’s what the Gates of Souls in Hyrule Warriors do. He even says on the next page that he could be completely wrong. I think, like with Legend being the first to notice the ringing, Warriors’ theory is a red herring.

One thing that throws a big wrench in this that I should address. In the Q&A Jojo did on the Discord server, she answered one of the questions with this:

This Q&A was posted just before “Dawn”, so the shadow had been introduced, implying that that’s not who she’s referring to. It’s possible that she is, that she’s referencing Dark Link’s actual humanoid design which has yet to be shown, but it’s really hard to say for sure. It could be a side character, maybe a wizzrobe-type secondary antagonist in a role similar to Ghirahim or Zant. Maybe I’m completely wrong and it has nothing to do with wizzrobes at all. But hey, that’s what theories are for, right? In any case, I think it’s really intriguing.