10 Unanswered Questions ➤ Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom 

Hi guys, I'm alive. How many hours have YOU put in to Tears of the Kingdom???

On the subject of building the shrines of light, monsters were running rampant in Hyrule, so the shrines were built as a way to help repel the evil. As for why Rauru's hand let go of Ganondorf. I like to think he sensed Link approach and was like, "Sweet! Alright Ganondorf, that guy I said would come to kick your butt is here. Go get him, Link!"

I mean, the easy answer for why the Sword didn't use Recall to repair itself is because it needed to become STRONGER than it oreviously was, and attain a higher power. That's why it goes back to Zelda, A Hundred thousand plus years ago. Not just to repair, but to become truly powerful and invulnerable to Ganondorfs Gloom

If you translated all the tablets, one of them mentions that Sonia was "with chylde"( pregnant) when she and Rauru worked together to read the land of monsters and found the kingdom. So yes, their kid is around somewhere, probably cared for by Mineru and Zelda. Which must have been incredibly weird for Zelda, playing temporary parent to her own ancestor.

In regards to question 7: the reason the sword didn't just rewind a day or so is because it *needed to absorb sacred energy to get stronger.* It's said as much to our faces in the tear cutscenes.

I believe that the ancient zonai hero could very well be a hybrid descendant of Rauru and Sonia (a mix of zonai and hylian blood), I mean, he is mostly zonai, except for Link's blue eyes, but most importantly, the ears, which are physically hylian.

The shrines of light were created to seal away monsters. It's explained in one of the floating archives that monsters existed before Ganondorf and the shrines were used to seal evil away inside of them to prevent them from respawning and ensure peace within the kingdom, monsters only appear again after Ganondorf gets the secret stone. It's also theorized that Malic is a weaker form of gloom that was able to escape Raruu's seal and was based on anger and hate, while gloom is a much stronger form of those feelings.

In regards to the shattering of the master sword, I think it was already in a weakened state during BotW. I mean, you saw how messed up the blade was after fighting all the Malice infected guardians in the memories. If Malice is diet Gloom then the sword was already on it's way to breaking. The 100 year rest helped restore it to functioning status but under Ganondorf's targeted attack it couldn't hold up. At least that's my own personal theory.

10:19 I believe it was the ancient Hylian text quest that has you visit all the flower-shaped islands in the sky for pictures of their inscriptions that explains that Rauru and Sonia set up the shrines to seal monsters away. This implies that monsters existed before Ganondorf got the secret stone, and possibly that by the time Zelda was sent back the monsters had all been sealed and were no threat.

I believe the difference between Malice and Gloom might be intent. As in, right before Rauru seals Ganondorf, he speaks about how the years are gonna pass in the blink of an eye, which leads me to believe Ganondorf was in a sleep-like stage while he was sealed. That to say, I think the malice coming out of him while he was "asleep" is a physical manifestation of his hatred of the world and desire to conquer it seeping out of him, taking form and wrecking havoc but not necessarily directed by Ganondorf. Meanwhile, when Ganondorf directly uses his magic to attack (and as the seal weakens and he's regaining consciousness) is putting direct thought and intent in it, thus making it Gloom. I hope that makes some sense! Although it's still weird that Zelda was able to pick up on the change...

Ganondorf's character profile that you get after beating the game mentions that the magic holding him down was weakened due to Breath of the Wild's great calamity damaging the castle.

My personal theory for "why haven't we seen Zonai in other time periods before" is that the "hyrule" that Rauru is the first king of, is actually a new kingdom after the previous Hyrule fell into disrepair at some point after every other game in the timeline. There's probably a million tiny holes you could poke in this theory, but it's the only way I can wrap my head around it.

The Triforce is very much present in TOTK. It appears on the back of Zelda's hand during her transformation into the Light Dragon.

In the Japanese version of the game, it is explained that Ganondorf wanted to create a world where only the strong and brave survive, a world where chaos reigned and peace was frowned upon. A world in his image.

My theory on the hand stopping at the exact moment Link and Zelda walk in is that Rauru's spirit knew they would come (since Zelda would have told him the story). So, in order to keep the time loop on track, he stopped holding Ganon (which was likely draining his energy) and dropped the stone for Zelda to pick up. We know that he still had some energy left in him since he grabs Link as he is about to fall into the Depths.

Tears if the Kingdom Ganondorf's Motives are passively explained: He is a Man that loves War and Combat, in other Translations he also referrs that before the Zonai there was Battle everywhere you see, meaning Ganondorf is a Bloodthirsty Maniac that finds his pleasure in killing for the thrill of it.

Regarding the bravery islands, I think we are forgetting the fact that the zonai were the tribe of the skies... Maybe, Rauru and Mineru lived their youth up in there like all the others and the sky islands were nothing but their "old land". Something that could explain the extinction of all the other zonai is how those islands are all wrecked. What happened to make them go down?

The biggest question I had throughout my playthrough of TOTK was where the heck all the Sheikah technology went. Divine Beast Vah Ruta could have washed away all the sludge. Vah Naboris could have lightening'd all the Gibdos. Each of them could have massively helped with all the regional phenomena and monsters, but they literally disappeared with no mention at all.

Triforce appears on Zeldas hand when she's holding and restoring the master sword in that little vision you have of her 4:10 Referring to this section around here. It's still in her possession in some shape or form

My theory for totk Hyrule's birth is that it's not the birth that took place before/after Skyward Sword, but actually one that took place inbetween botw and the rest of the zelda games. The gist I got of botw's separation from the other games is that there was such a large gap in the time between them, greater than even the gaps between those earlier games, that there was time for Hyrule to fall and be re-established by Rauru and Sonia. While it might seem convenient, it does save us from the litany of questions and issues that arise from totk Ganondorf being stuck underground and totk Zelda being a flying noodle throughout the entire timeline(s).

I would actually really love some lore about the 3 giant depths skeletons. They look like the dragons we can see in Hyrule with slight differences and appear to be larger.

Regarding the Triforce: in at least one of the dragon tear memories, I could see very specific Triforce emblems on Sonia’s clothes. Like, incontrovertibly a Triforce. Which meant that, at the very least, the Hylians at the founding of the kingdom of Hyrule knew of the Triforce, even if we never actually heard it mentioned onscreen.

The unmentioned child/children of Rauru and Sonia are worth a whole video honestly. It is extremely weird that they weren't mentioned at all, and i suspect we might actually have an intentional paradox on our hands. I think this will lead up to story that merges the timelines together in order to correct the paradox zelda created by preventing the birth of her own ancestors and prevent reality from unraveling.

I tend to subscribe to the unified timeline theory, and that Rauru and Sonya’s “founding” of Hyrule is a re-founding some time after all the other games. My headcannon as to why it isn’t more present or talked about is that some time after all the other Zelda games, the triforce was used to unify all 3 timelines into one, and this either resulted in it’s partial destruction from such a big wish, or it all ended up in an ancestor of Zelda’s afterwards. Maybe Hylia saw what a mess the triforce was causing, destroyed its physical form so no one would fight over it anymore, and only left its sealing power in Zelda.

The only thing I can assume about the gloom = malice thing is that Malice was the more violent, less controlled version of Gloom, and Gloom is the purest form of Malice, which you can see by the fact that Malice flames were wild and untamed, while Gloom flames are a lot more controlled and less aggressive

I'd always had the impression that the Zonai were native to the depths and that Rauru was responsible for illuminating an otherwise extremely dark land. The particulars surrounding the lightroots are unknown. I theorize that the Zonai could have functioned as the behind the scenes chroniclers of world history archiving and preserving what has occurred above ground. However when Zelda merged the 3 timelines together, this shook things up and may be the reason why the Zonai are active players in History.

You actually do see the triforce! It took me a while to see it, but in the memory when all three come together to create that huge beam attack, you see it very loosely and briefly as the laser shoots out

About the shrines of light, they aren’t just for helping link. A side quest that has you take pictures of ancient text on silent princess shaped sky islands says that the shrines were made to seal powerful monsters, and that this was one of the first acts done by the queen and king together after hyrule’s founding.

I believe that the constructs were “revived” by Mineru, who was very into the ancient zonnai and that may be the reason why they mention “zonnai youth” Also, as it’s said that the zonnai descended from the heavens, maybe the other sky islands is where they lived and they were hidden above the clouds (maybe except the ones with shrines on them) up until the moment the great sky island also appeared, which was probably also hidden above the clouds

My theory is that the hero seen through the "Ancient Hero's Aspects" armor is the son of Rauru and Sonia, or a Zonai/Gerudo hybrid since he had bright red hair. But if he has the blue eyes of a Hylian, then perhaps Link is a descendant of this mysterious hero and through the blood connection Link has power that normal Hylians don't have any control over.

I always personally headcanoned that the Ancient Hero’s Aspect was always Rauru and Sonia’s son, or at least directly related to them, given that the Ancient Hero’s appearance contains both Hylian and Zonai traits. Is there holes in that theory, well yes, but it’s a suitable explanation and I quite like the idea. We already know that Rauru and Sonia had to have had a child of some kind (even if they’re not shown in the game at all, which is a shame) since Sonia says that her and Zelda are related by blood. Again, there’s holes in it but it’s a bit heart-warming to think that Rauru and Sonia’s legacy lived on despite their deaths in the wake of Ganondorf’s attack on Hyrule.

If you watch the credits, during the time when Zelda is healing the Master Sword, you can see the Triforce on her hand helping with the healing process.

My theory about the "first king and queen oh Hyrule" thing is that BotW and TotK take place so far ahead of the split timeline that Hyrule might have fallen and been remade possibly many times over. The original calamity which is depicted in the tapestry takes place 10,000 years before the calamity of BotW, and the game itself takes place 100 years after *that* calamity, so who's to say the events of Skyward Sword don't take place millions of years before the original calamity. Our actual recorded human history is only about 5,000 years, and we know the earliest homo sapiens evolved around 200,000 years ago, meaning there's around 195,000 years of human history that we know little to nothing about, maybe something similar has happened to this Hyrule. The events of all previous games are such ancient history that they're straight up forgotten all other Hyrules that have come before

Welcome back… about the sky islands, the steward construct told link how the garden of time and great sky island was ascended, not how all of the islands were. And A question you did forget to consider was “Where did the other Zonai go?”. Because Mineru and Rauru are the last two Zonai in hyrule. Did the others leave to the sky, went away to discover new lands, die off in a genocide or apocalyptic level event. I would love an episode on that..

I think the simplest and most attractive explanation is that the 'ancient past' is still more recent than the events of any previous Zelda title. The Zonai founded a later 'incarnation' of hyrule that postdates that of Skyward Sword.

Bandit, the malice/gloom is easily explained by their definitions. Malice is the intention to do evil (the multiple calamities prior to BotW) while Gloom is to cover in Darkness (spoiler but like that memory when Ganondorf first uses his newly acquired secret stone to create the first ever blood moon and to bring back and add to his army of monsters. Also if you look at the symbol on that stone it's a stylized version of the kanji for the word Yami or Darkness)

Totk was amazing. And, scary… the gloom hands won’t leave me alone

So many years and we still don't know sht about the Zonai 🙃

An idea for the malice gloom conversation. Gloom is the more concentrated source of Ganondorfs evil while the malice is what leaked from his sealing that caused the Calamity therefore why he chooses to use gloom

In terms of raising the islands and the tests of Zonai bravery, I think that Mineru insinuates at some point that they didn’t completely invent floating islands from scratch and that ancient Zonai had used them before. Alternatively, maybe the tests of bravery still involved them jumping off a cliff through rings into water, but it was originally on the ground and not too high a jump, and each location became elongated and distorted when it went into the sky.

The dragons were likely zonai. Their manes resemble mineru and raurus hair with the different colours. Their snouts also differ from the light dragons, who was formed from a hylian. Maybe the features are different depending on the race they originate from. Also, the great dragon skeletons have very similar snouts to that of the elemental dragons. Maybe they were also zonai turned dragon, however the dragons are supposed to be blessed with immortality so im not sure how theyd end up dead.

Spoilers for the very end of the game. I think the Triforce did show up, not literally but thematically. When Zelda was un-draconified, we have three contributors to that magic. It seems like they embody the Triforce pretty well. Raru is power (the king of Hyrule, a god-like Zonai), Sonia is wisdom (she is said to be super intelligent and insightful), and Link is- obviously- courage. It seems like the echo the Triforce is here. Little less than a Triforce wish would help Zelda, but this setup lets Link fulfill basically what would be his wish on the triforce at the present moment. Ganondorf is already defeated, and his only main quest is to get Zelda back. Only by channeling the power of three people who embody these attributes is he able to bring that about. I’m not saying that the recall idea is wrong; actually, I think it’s correct. I’m just saying that thematically Nintendo is sticking to the triforce. (Copy/pasted my own comment from another video).

on the subject of who the 3 dragons are i think its very interesting to note that the light dragon looks VERY different from the others, especially with her pointy hylian ears. then if you compare the 3 to mineru and rauru they have the same goat like snouts and droopy ears which suggests to me that theyre definitely draconified zonai

Oooh, let’s see if I can answer/guess the answer of some questions: 1) “What is Ganondorf’s motivation?” According to the Japanese version, Ganondorf found the era of Rauru’s reign to turn the people into peace-loving cowards. It is made apparent he admired the time of when monsters were running rampant across the lands and he wanted to go back to that. (Potential theory fodder for the Barbarian Armor?) Also, hot-take: Wind Waker Ganondorf is totally lying about his motivation. You are a literal child in the game and OoT Ganondorf did not once make any attempt to even fulfill his initial goals he states in Wind Waker. It is very on-brand for him to be a cunning bastard and tricking a child would not be far off from his normal behavior. 2) “Timeline stuff” The past of TotK have been determined by the community to be one of two places. Either after Skyward Sword or after the end of all three timeline splits. Explaining all the reasons would be too long, but the most hard-hitting would be that Demise’s curse coming after Ganondorf’s dealing would make no sense. 3) “Does Malice=Gloom?” Most likely. Impa makes it clear that the Calamity is the embodiment of Ganondorf’s hatred after doing the Dragon Tears quest and returning to Kakariko. So, Gloom/Miasma is most likely a more concentrated version of Malice, since it comes directly from Ganondorf. 4) “Why is the Secret Stone still fully-powered after Rauru’s arm runs out of power?” This very plot-convenient, but it’s probably because Rauru was waiting for Link. His arm is technically stated to be out of power by the time Link wakes up, so it can be presumed that Rauru was at the last vestiges of his energy he can hold after his death. He had enough to replace Link’s arm and teleport Link after holding Ganondorf, but that was it. As for the Secret Stone, if we use Sonia as an example, the Secret Stone seems to revert back to its blank form without a host. If Rauru found reason to finally let go by Link’s arrival, then the Secret Stone was probably never out of power, but only merely hostless. 5) “Did Zelda and Mineru raise all of the Sky-Islands?” Most likely, since Rauru and Sonia’s shrines are all over the Sky Islands, denoting Mineru would know of these areas and would tell Zelda and the Sages about them. 6) “The Ancient Hero is a Zonai?” The community is split on this. Some think it’s a Zonai, but others (like me) doubt it is just a Zonai if there is any genetics of Zonai inside. The Ancient Hero has features the Zonai do not have in their art pieces created by Hylians or even Rauru and Mineru. The Ancient Hero’s snout is much smaller than the Zonai, bears red hair, and has a tail that the Zonai do not have. The red-hair can be hand-waved as maybe a Gerudo mated with whatever the Ancient Hero’s ancestor is. After that, it could be any number of combinations of species in it. The tattoo markings only are signifiers of them being a member/knight of Hyrule, since Zelda and Sonia also bear tattoo markings. 7) “Why didn’t they recall the Master Sword to fix the damage?” Oh, that’s easy. Zelda is untrained in her time powers, even now. She can recall objects to a different point in time, but we have no reference as to how far she can go or how long she can do recall. And Link can only do a limited aspect of recall. Not to mention that the Master Sword needed to not just heal. It needed to get stronger. 8) “Who became the three dragons?” All theories at this point. What I will say is that their features match the Zonai in contrast to the Light Dragon and Demon Dragon, who both bear Hylian and Gerudo features. whoever they used to be, they were most likely Zonai before they became the three dragons. 9) “Are the amiibo canon?” Ugh, I’m there with you. I’m gonna give a tentative “yes”, but only for the armor sets, since we don’t have hints of Wolf-Link or Epona’s anywhere in the game. Fun Fact: In the cave at the Sage Temple Ruins by the Ancient Tree Stump, there is a plaque inside stating the Dusk Claymore used to reside there and was moved to the Typhlo Ruins. (Theory Fodder~) Also, more theory fodder: Was Misko an ancient Zonai? His armor set treasures are usually held behind Zonai tech/nearby Zonai Tech.

Curious inquiry about the Fealty memory: the part where Ganondorf mentioned that only Rauru & his sister are the only remaining Zonai left- HOW would he know that unless he didn't have some part to play in their extinction? Another thing to note about the Light Shrines: if you do the side quest where you have to locate 13 stone slabs across Hyrule, you learn some interesting tidbits about the ancient past even from BEFORE Sonia & Rauru were married. One slab details how the pair created the shrine as a means of protecting the kingdom from monsters. The shrines sealed the monsters away, making them unable to be resurrected by the Blood Moon, or by any other means. Also, YES I'm bitter about no mention of Rauru & Sonia's child(ren) that continue into Zelda's bloodline Still love the game no matter how much I've delved into it >83

I think malice is gloom but a diluted version by the light power of Rauru, because it’s not a dark red like gloom but a magenta (Ganondorf’s red power + Rauru’s white-ish secret stone = a magenta like color)

Here is my personal theory as to why Rauru's hand fell off randomly. The sealing magic slowly disintegrated Rauru's up until the events of totlk, where we can see the only thing left of him was his arm. I think if Zelda or Link didnt show up the arm would have disintegrated with only the secret stone left remaining, meaning Ganon would have another secret stone in his possession. Rauru knew this so when he was given the chance to get it out of Ganondorfs possession he took it. rate my theory pls :))

Gloom is heavily implied to have existed and created monsters in the depths before even the events surrounding ganondorf and the birth of hyrule. Remember, the zonai ruins in the depths that weren't specifically for the purpose of mining were ancient even to Mineru and Rauru, and the gloom armor and bargainer statues imply people existing and living down there even before the zonai mines were built. Also, the zonai secret stones are only capable of enhancing a power in someone that is already there and elementally distinct from the individual person. Ganondorf's enhanced his preexisting ability to use gloom which already existed, it didn't grant him that ability nor create the gloom, and that's why he could still use it to create the Zelda imposter before actually obtaining Sonia's secret stone. Rauru almost explicitly created the shrines to ward off monsters and gloom that would plague hyrule from the depths before they had something (Ganondorf) controlling them, and given that they were either placed directly on top of the lightroots or the lightroots grew from beneatg them, it was almost certainly known that the monster were originally amd continuously coming from the depths rather than ganondorf.

I think the master sword was only able to be broken because of its damage taken during the calamity and during the 100 year sleep it wasn’t able to fully recover because it wasn’t bathed in sacred light or enough of it and it was just strong enough to beat Calamity Ganon. Which also would explain why in BOTW it needed to recharge.

One other thought: In Twilight Princess, during the quest to find the Sky Cannon and get to the city in the Sky, it's revealed the Occa had created the Kingdom of Hyrule. Zeltik and Nintendo Black Crisis have a fantastic theory video on that topic, but I've been wondering if it's possible the Zonai returned to the Skies where they evolved into the Occa, but a few stayed behind and eventually died out at Hyrule's founding. Maybe the Ooca evetually died out as well or found a way to move on to other realms. You've also got the Wind Tribe in Minish Cap(released on Switch shortly before TOTK dropped, mind you) a race of humans who live in the skies, so plenty of lore questions raised

BANDITS BACK 🙌🏼 I’ve been checking back on your channel for ages I am so happy right now

Last night I found myself wondering where you went, it's good to see you back!

I actually thought you would have to look all over hyrule, find shards of the sword, and use fuse to add them all back. Would have been cool.

If you watch the memory zeldas wish when she's holding the sword it looks like the triforce on the back of her hand

Good to see a video from you Bandit! Hope to see more in the future.

its so nice to coming back to my favorite zelda channel after 2 years

The only image of the triforce we got, is one of the tattoo's on Sonia. It is among the other sheikah like symbols she has on her wrist. I had to check a model because I was positive I saw it there.

I definitely subscribe to the theory of this being a new timeline entirely that takes place in the timesplit from Skyward Sword (at least at the moment). Always thought it was strange that Ocarina of Time got a time split but Skyward Sword didn't? Even though Demise was defeated in two different timelines. It would make sense since we go back to the birth of Hyrule, and it wasn't founded by Skyward Sword Link and Zelda, but rather Sonia and Rauru, Sonia probably being the descendant of the alternate timeline SS Zelda who did not know of her purpose or Blood of the Goddess because SS Link from the original timeline killed their Demise as well. It would also explain why there is another Ganondorf Dragmire, that doesn't come from the Ocarina of Time split and therefore doesn't remember anything from previous games and has his own motivations (that we have yet to have explained fully).

A bunch of these are ones that I was thinking about but I haven’t seen addressed by anyone so I’m glad to see this video

I think Malice is like a low-power version of Gloom. Rauru's power kept it from reaching its full strength, but the sheer volume of less empowered Gloom manifested as Malice and the projection of Ganondorf's will into the Calamity Ganons.

The only thing I want to know is whether we'll be getting a playable Daddy Ganondorf in the inevitable dlc 😏

I legit just cheered where have u been

Great video - thank you for producing a entertaining and original Totk video!

My headcanon for the malice to gloom change was that the malice burned bright as the hatred and rage incarnate that was calamity ganon. When Zelda destroyed the calamity, the hatred turned to regret and sorrow at ganon's faliure.

I'd love to see a video covering Misko in the future. It takes one to know one

i was so bummed when i found out there was no dark link / malice link fight :( that fight from OoT is unforgettable man

Good to see you back!

"I'll continue to seal ganon while I wait for your hero, Link. It can't be that far into the future." (Montage of Rauru patiently waiting below Hyrule as every single iteration of Link fights evil above ground never coming to his aid. With the series adventure theme playing in the background.)

Oh man I missed you my guy!

My boy! My guy! My man!

OMG YOU'RE BACK !!!!! Happy to see you Bandit :) Also the Triforce is referenced at least once. It's on Sonia's arm, her tattoo/paint-like thing she's covered in. Here's a question: How is Zelda already a Dragon roaming around the skylands when you take your first big dive outside, if you haven't even reached the temple of time yet to have the master sword sent back in time? She clearly only transforms after getting the sword so what's up with that?

I’m just happy you’re alive. Welcome back to RU-vid.

He's back! 😊 I'm on 225 hours and trying to defeat Ganon, I fight bad.

Honestly, the secret stones are kind of a mess story wise as they seem to behave differently depending on what character is currently using it. The sages get about a 1.5× power boost and get access to a new ability they never had before dispute this not being how the stones work. While Ganondorf gets a power boost of about 1000 insted. Even when he goes dragon, his form is different from the others as his secret stone is on the outside of his body and can be damaged

I love you Bandit, and I watch your videos at night while I sleep, but every time I get to the end of a video and your outro plays it feels like I'm in a fever dream because of how loud and high pitched it is compared to your voice

"Why are you evil?" Ganondorf: "Yes."

and the most important one why the hell are all the sky islands just "bring the green rock to the pedestal" I love the game but c'mon also I also hate how much inconsistency there is in the game story as well it wasn't this bad in breath of the wild I also honestly don't like the story in this game i hope some of these massive inconsistency gets solved in future dlc or something

tbh I felt like Ganondorf's motivations were expressed pretty well in TOTK. Before the Zonai showed up, the world was chaotic and savage which suited him just fine because he valued power above all else. When Rauru created a kingdom of peace, this confused and infuriated him. He was outraged that someone from a godlike lineage wouldn't just create a kingdom of "peace-loving cowards running rampant", but validate it behind his incredible strength and Secret Stone. He feels personally offended that someone would try to control him or what he views as the natural order. It's why he says Rauru was squandering his power when he took Sonia's stone: because he didn't understand why he didn't use it to conquer like he would. His motivation is to return the world to it's savage, primitive, state where only the strongest survive.

I think the majority of sky Islands were built and used by the Zonai, while the Great Sky Island was the last and largest one. Many were even managed regularly by the sages afterwards, but fell into obscurity after one of the many calamities.

Hey Bandit, good to see you back!

I dont think the zonai take place before skyward sword, going against both what Zeltik and NBC say. The zelda team could definitely, infact easily reuse areas from skyward sword to indicate the time. Such as sitting on the viewing platform infront of the great tree. They went through the effort of remaking hebra peak. I think the time of the zonai is just one of the many times that hyrule restarted. The zonai came down one day and took over imagery, names and places of power. We can see the triforce tatted all over Sonia and the eye of the sheika is everywhere in their weapons. Not to mention the "swirl" they stole from the koroks. So its clear that the zonai touched down after the events of windwaker.

Im on the still after timeline merge theory. I someone made a video talking about how how could the rito be there, they had not evolved yet. How could the Zora be there, they too had not evolved. TOTK's ancient past definitely takes place after all the other games.

So very good to have you back, man. We missed you sorely.

The tablets across hyrule explain that all the sky islands were raised by mineru and rauru to provide solace for link and places for him to recover across hyrule that were out of Ganondorf's reach. Also the questline with Master Kohga starts with a device only working for you because of Rauru's arm tricking it into thinking you're zonai. The diving platforms could still have been designed for link with the idea that he would have to use them as a zonai somehow

12:19 The arm noticed that Zelda didn’t have a secret stone, realized what that meant, and provided one.

"Ganondorf - why do he do what he do?" had me in stitches 🤣

Hey, so the Triforce does actually appear in game. During the Molduga Attack memory, when Zelda and Sonia charge up Rauru, if you slow down the footage, you can see the Triforce fade in between Rauru's hands.

A point about zonai using the sky islands: whilst they were raised by the sages they still existed on the ground before hand. So the zonai still used them just before they were raised.

I didn’t even think to ask these questions, but if there’s something I have a strong faith in, it’s the ability of lore geeks to somehow find an answer. I’m looking forward to it!

I love RU-vid videos when they made speculations in the past and things come to liked then they were wrong and I can never admit it

Glad to see you're back, and another face to remind ya, aoc lowkey prepared us for rauru light abilities. Zelda got a light sheild similar to his, but lacks the runes on the sheild, like mineru and rauru. Heck, apparantly in the non canon, but totally canon like misko the great bandit and his outfit finding ways- the ancient hero canonically meets the egg guardian because aoc tapestry was revealed to have changed, or at the least updated. Heck. The dlc playable guardian fights with him too probably. And ya know the triforce? Probably a story we will find out from the hero aspect... as you've mentioned in this here video

I’d like to note that the founding of Hyrule still takes place way farther down compared to the very first founding. Considering that it takes place in a timeline where all previous events are practically just myths and legends

Bandit is back! Nice Video =)

I'm so surprised at how few videos I've seen come out from, what I would say, bigger Zelda theory channels. I saw so many things during my playthrough of TotK that I was like "huh what's this? I'm sure there'll be a video explaining this." and there just hasn't been yet. At first I was thinking it's a big game, it's going to take some time to dig into and such but I feel like it's been long enough. I guess I was just expecting this stuff to be pumped out as fast as possible like most things usually are.

I just got done with doing 100% of totk and I remember that in the side quest where link has to take a picture of 12 stone markers in little flower shaped sky islands. One of them talks about how the shrines of light were used to repel monsters that plagued hyrule before the memory sequences

We get like, one TotK vid from Bandit post release and then he's gone for two months. Not surprising, of course. ;) It's good to have you back, Bandit!

Hey Bandit, I'm sure others have said this but just in case. In the memory after you pull the Master Sword, look very very closely at Zelda's upper hand. It's barely visible but the Triforce mark is there in Tears.

I didn’t realize how many plot holes and unanswered big questions there were. I love the game, but man I’ve been pondering these questions ever since I got BOTW. If the Fierce Deity Sword is now canon here, man I love fusing it to the Master Sword. Just the idea of two legendary, super powered evil fighting blades working together is satisfying and exciting to me. And I love the idea of fighting Ganondorf as the Fierce Deity first, then finishing him off as normal Link.

13:22 maybe those *specific* islands weren't used to test bravery of zonai youth but rather the skydiving islands in general were, and the ones we see in the game are like recreations of what the zonai use in their home world

Welcome back, Mr. Bandit. We missed you.