9 Major Races Of Hyrule In The Legend Of Zelda

Hylians / Humans

In the stories, Hylians and humans are very different from each other, even though they look, dress, and act a lot alike. The main physical difference is that Hylians have pointed ears that they use to “hear the gods.” More humans show up in the outside parts of Hyrule and beyond, mainly in Holodrum and Labrynna from the Oracle and Seasons games.

As seen in Skyward Sword, Hylians are from Skyloft and are related to the people who lived with the goddess Hylia before coming down to Earth and making Hyrule.Like many other fictional elves in literature, Hylians were thought to have been very good at magic in the past, but these skills have mostly disappeared. People in Termina from Majora’s Mask who love technology are thought to be Hylians from a different world.

Sheikah

Players with sharp eyes may have seen signs of the Sheikah while playing the game. However, the “shadow folk” lived up to their mysterious name and didn’t show up in full until late in the Zelda storyline in Breath of the Wild. The only exception was Impa in Ocarina of Time. They are different from Hylians because of their red eyes. They are thought to have been split off from Hylians.

They were very good at acrobatics and technology, and they built the old shrines and towers that can be seen all over Hyrule after the disaster. Sadly, the king of Hyrule didn’t trust their advanced understanding of magic and technology, so he threw them all over the land, even though the goddess Hylia had told them to protect the royal family and Zelda in her human form.

Korok / Kokiri

The Kokiri are thought to have come from Hylians. They look like children dressed in green and always have a fairy with them. Link, a Hylian who grew up with fairy kids in Ocarina of Time, is sometimes thought to be a Kokiri because of the green clothes he wears and the fairy that helps him. But the fact that he grows up shows that it’s not true.

When Hyryule got flooded, the Kokiri turned into Koroks, which are small and look like trees. Like deku scrubs, which are also plant-like creatures that live in Hyrule and Termina, they had leaf-like parts that helped them fly high above the land or water, which made them hard to find in the wild but also fun.

Gorons

The Goron are one of the oldest and most durable races. They are famous for being great at making tools and eating rocks. They usually live in mountains because that’s where the best downhill rolls are. They don’t mind living in very hot places. Like inanimate rock formations, some members can get very big, like Biggoron, who is famous for making Biggoron’s Sword, and hide many secrets behind their stony appearance.

Goron haven’t changed much since their first appearance in Skyward Sword, which may not be a surprise given how stone-like they are. There hasn’t been much change, so it’s possible that they don’t have much trouble dealing with monsters and threats in the area.

Twili

The Twili are also called “Interlopers,” and Zelda fans only saw them once, in Twilight Princess, when they were changed into Shadow Beasts. Hylian sorcerers who were ancestors to the current tribe were sent to the Twilight Realm and banned from the World of Light because they tried to take the Triforce for themselves.

The power of the people who would become Twili wear off over time, and they became a “shadow” of who they used to be. They are easy to spot because of their glowing red eyes and glowing glyphic markings on their skin that show which group they are from.

Zora / Rito

The strange sea-dwelling Zora have been many forms over the course of the Legend of Zelda series. They are not to be confused with river Zora (or Zola), the monsters that shoot fireballs at Link in the top-down games. After the Great Flood, which happened before The Wind Waker, many Zora couldn’t live in the strange water and turned into Rito, which looks like a bird.

When they first showed up in Snake Game, they looked like humans except for their beak-shaped noses and the ability to grow wings from their arms. After thousands of years, in Breath of the Wild, they have much more developed bird features, like feathers that stand out and feet with claws.

Zonai

The Zonai first showed up in Tears of the Kingdom, but a strange set of armor called “The Ancient Hero’s Aspect” announced their arrival in the series. But it looks like this lost race has been in Hyrule since the start of its very long and complicated history. There is even a Zonai member named Rauru who is named as the first king of Hyrule. His Hylian wife is named Queen Sonia.

According to the Zonai, they are the children of the gods. If you don’t need to use magic, they keep their third eye closed. They look like animals. They are very good at both magic and science. They made things like the Steward Constructs on Great Sky Island, which shows one of their styles.

Gerudo

Hyrule has races that are made of stone and races that are made of wood. The Gerudo, who live in the desert, are all women. They are tall, strong, and good at surviving because they live in a harsh environment. Their society is mostly female, but the Gerudo believed that every man born (about every 100 years), he would become king.

The Gerudo have suddenly stopped having babies since Ganondorf was the last man to be born among them. In the N64 games, they started out looking more like people, with round ears. Later, they changed their look to have pointed ears. The Gerudo said in Breath of the Wild that this was because they felt bad about having Ganon and it “opened their ears to the Goddesses.”

Blins (Moblins, Boarblins)

These guys have been around since 1986, when the first Legend of Zelda game came out. They started out looking like bulldogs, but over time, their snouts and limbs have changed to look more like pigs’, and their bodies have grown taller like goblins’. The ones that looked more like pigs were called “Boarlins” to set them apart from the others. They aren’t very smart and generally follow the leader of the most powerful and evil thing around, which is usually Ganon.

In the top-down games, they were just weak, useless enemies. In the 3D games, they’re more dangerous and need a little more skill than a sword swing to defeat. Like most henchmen-type bad guys, they only care about rupees and violence, so the games don’t say much else about them.