The title reveal trailer for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom has some references to the Zonai, leaving hints that this extinct tribe might have a role in the story. Even in Breath of the Wild, the Zonai never appear beyond traces of the tribe that have been left behind. However, it seems that players might learn more about the Zonai and their relationship with Hyrule in Tears of the Kingdom.
By the time Link’s journey begins in Breath of the Wild, there are no living members of the Zonai tribe left. Like the Sheikah, the Zonai have a specific spiral-like symbol associated with them. This symbol makes it easy to identify which ruins belong to the Zonai tribe in order to learn about them and their history, and possibly connect them to Twilight Princess through the Twili being the lost Zonai tribe’s true identity.
Despite the minimal information given in the trailer for Tears of the Kingdom from the September 2022 Nintendo Direct, the imagery from the hieroglyphs suggests that the Zonai will play an important role. It also seems that Hyrule’s history will be further explored, particularly the darker portions and possibly their role in the Great Calamities. This isn’t the first time that Hyrule’s history has been referenced as being dark, but the events of that history are not always expanded upon in-game.
Clues About The Zonai Tribe In Breath Of The Wild
As far as what type of culture the Zonai had, it seems that they valued power and enjoyed war. The item description of the Barbarian Helm mentions “an ancient warlike tribe from the Faron Region,” and this can be assumed to refer to the Zonai as the majority of their ruins are found in Faron. It’s possible that their warlike nature led to the Zonai becoming a lost tribe in Breath of the Wild, but since none of the tribe remain, players have to look at the ruins to find clues about why this tribe vanished.
The depictions of animals in the Zonai ruins show that three creatures had more importance to them than others. These creatures would be pigs, birds, and, most prominently, dragons. It’s possible that the Zonai worshiped the lightning dragon Farosh, who appears around the ruins in Faron. Alternatively, these animals are linked to the three pieces of the Triforce. Pigs are associated with Ganon, who holds the Triforce of Power. Owls are birds associated with wisdom. The Spring of Courage is found inside dragon ruins, which links the dragon to courage. Therefore, the Zonai seem to have a connection to the Triforce or a reverence for it.
Tears Of The Kingdom Could Show The Strength Of The Zonai
Tears of the Kingdom will have flying mounts, which means Link will take to the skies to explore floating islands. Combining their talent for magic with their reverence of dragons, there could be more Zonai ruins on those islands. They may have expanded their civilization to the sky for advantages in war, or they could have been exiled or driven to the sky in a last effort to avoid being wiped out. While it’s possible that the Zonai could be related to the floating islands since both are heavily referenced in the trailer, it seems unlikely that the Zonai will be the focus of the islands since the trailer links the Zonai more heavily with the Calamities.
Symbolism In Tears Of The Kingdom’s Trailer
One of the more recognizable symbols is found in the title image for Tears of the Kingdom: the Ouroboros. With the Legend of Zelda timeline having both Great Calamities and periods of rebuilding, the Ouroboros becomes an appropriate symbol overall. However, the Ouroboros in Tears of the Kingdom is in the specific design of the Zonai dragon ruins. Since the Ouroboros symbolizes death and rebirth, it could imply that the Zonai tribe is not completely gone or that there is a faction of the tribe that has created a hidden home.
The Tears of the Kingdom trailer doesn’t show much, but there is another two-headed dragon symbol. This one is different from the Ouroboros and is related to Mesoamerican cultures, which could have offered some inspiration to the design of the Zonai ruins in Breath of the Wild. Link pushes open a stone door that has a dragon with two heads meeting at the top instead of two dragons eating each other’s tails. The two-headed dragon symbolizes two things in Mesoamerican culture; first is the power of the earth, but the second is calamities.
The Zonai Could Have Caused Their Own Demise
The hieroglyphs in the Tears of the Kingdom trailer reference some scenes that might be familiar to players who’ve gone through previous Zelda games. This could hint at Demise’s return in Tears of the Kingdom, because there is an image of a floating, unconscious woman in the trailer that is reminiscent of Zelda in Skyward Sword when Ghirahim was using her to bring back Demise. The game’s name could refer to the Zonai’s attempt to summon evil, which resulted in their own demise and led to a dark era for Hyrule as it worked to survive.
The hieroglyphs also show a bird-like figure surrounded by seven teardrop shaped spirals. Since birds are associated with wisdom, this image could be Hylia shedding tears for the kingdom named after her. However, there’s a theme in Zelda of having seven sages seal away evil. In that case, the Zonai could have been the bird-like creatures seen in the war image, and the summoner of the evil could be shown as being surrounded by the sages.
So little is known about the Zonai that they could even allow for the return of Twilight Princess characters in Tears of the Kingdom. Since the greatest remains of the tribe are the ruins and symbolism left behind, information about the Zonai relies heavily on speculation and theories relating to the influences of cultures from the real-world. The new trailer offers more material for speculation, and it seems that the Zonai have connections to the Calamities and darker history of Hyrule, whether they were the cause or not. It’s looking like players will get to delve further into the mystery of the Zonai and their disappearance in The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
