The word Zonai is a pun on the Japanese word nazo, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild senior lead artist Makoto Yonezu said in the Breath of the Wild – Creating a champion art book. And the word – nazo – of course means mystery.
Breath of the Wild the mystery of a race of humans called the Zonai embedded in the minds of some players, and those players have been grasping for details ever since to solve the riddle of the little-known group. There are little hints of the Zonai in there Breath of the Wild which are easily overlooked, and most players probably haven’t given much thought to. But for the people drawn into the mystery, those details are everything – and they lead to a prominent Zonai presence in the coming weeks. The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom.
For years, Zonai-obsessed players have worked on tiny bits of information. But if Tears of the Kingdom approaches, a stream of knowledge is opened. And just as seasoned Zonai theorists had suggested, the Zonai and their technology play a huge role in Tears of the Kingdom. Here’s everything you need to know before you go Breath of the Wild follow-up.
Who are the Zonai?
The Make a champion The book includes a brief section on the mysterious Zonai, detailing rumors that they were “a savage tribe,” a group only spoken about in “silent whispers” because of their powerful magic. The Zonai worship a water dragon, probably from Farosh Breath of the Wild, with their dedication seen in their carvings and ancient structures. Indeed, the Spring of Courage is specifically mentioned in the art book, where Farosh’s bowl can be submitted as an offering in Breath of the Wild. It is said that the group suddenly disappeared thousands of years earlier Breath of the Wild.
You don’t actually meet any of the Zonai in Breath of the Wild, but Hyrule is populated by remnants of their civilization, now just crumbling ruins. The Zonai ruins are concentrated in Faron, but there are similar structures scattered more sparingly across Hyrule. There’s no explanation for this other than a minor detail in the item description for the Barbarian Armor set: “armour once favored by an ancient warlike tribe of the Faron region.”
In describing the Zonai Relics, Yonezu said Nintendo wanted to show bits of a lost world, to “make the world feel more realistic” – like something with a history. He noted that the ruins have an animal theme: dragons, owls and boars. These are symbolic and relate to the three points of the Triforce – courage, wisdom and strength respectively. Zonai towers are mentioned on the next page of the book, their purpose “an utter mystery”. Nintendo points out that they “loom over the surrounding terrain” – perhaps a reference to the eventual creation of Tears of the Kingdomheaven islands. “They remain one of the things that characterize Hyrule’s past sky of mystery,” the book reads (emphasis added).
What is the role of the Zonai in Tears of the Kingdom?
There is a lot we don’t know in advance Tears of the Kingdom‘s release date on May 12, but previous trailers and an April preview give us a lot of information to work with. We now know it’s the Zonai Certainly in Tears of the Kingdom; a gameplay preview in March showed Link battling an enemy named Construct on a sky island. Once the Construct is defeated, it drops an item called a Zonai charge. Nintendo’s April preview gave more answers about what the Zonai charge can do: it boosts all the things Link can craft with the Ultrahand ability.
In fact, all the items that can be welded together to make vehicles and other inventions are Zonai items. It’s technology that created the Zonai and has since spread all over Hyrule.
With this in mind, you can look back at the older one Tears of the Kingdom trailers and see the Zonai influence throughout: a lot of enemies are clearly Constructs with their Zonai attacks, and there are even hints in the Tears of the Kingdom logo that pulls out Breath of the Wild‘s Zonai Ruins.
It seems likely that Link’s mysteriously altered arm, which allows him to use Zonai items, is using some sort of technology linked to the group. So much of the imagery surrounding the game also seems strongly drawn from the ancient race. Those images date from then Tears of the Kingdom didn’t even have a nameand was simply called the sequel to Breath of the Wild. There are Zonai swirls and Construct technology, including a huge Construct! – all in plain sight.
Are there other theories?
There is one huge mystery that has inspired some players to believe Tears of the Kingdom may be related in some way The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess. Zelda theorists have noted striking similarities between the invaders twilight princess and the Zonai. One Reddit user outlined the theory, noting that both groups disappeared seemingly suddenly – the invaders were banished to the Twilight Realm for their forbidden magic. That’s consistent with what we know of the Zonai: they were wizards too, then suddenly vanished.
There is also some similarity in the images of the two groups, especially the glowing green things. The Reddit user pointed to twilight princessFused Shadow, an item with dark magical power. It has the same type of spirals we associate with the Zonai, as do the Twili (who are descendants of the Invaders) and Zant, the big bad guy from twilight princess. A Tumblr user drew an important comparison to show the similarities. The stuff from the Zonai looks like it came straight out of the Twilight Realm.