The Zora Have BAD Defenses (Zora Domain Analysis)  

*Zora 10:11

Ironically the koroks have the best defenses because no monster can get through the magic fog and even if they did they can’t even see the koroks

I love the fact the only thing saving the Zora from annihilation is a bunch of rocks that fell by complete chance

11:32 If I remember correctly, BotW mentions that Lynel bows are made of metal strong enough that Hylians can't draw them. Link, of course, uses them anyways.

This actually was reflected in in Age of Calamity. The Rito held out for quite a long time by just sniping anything that approached the cliffs they live on, the Gorons are... well, Gorons, so they're excellent soldiers by nature, and the Gerudo had to be infiltrated by the Yiga rather than assaulted outright. The Zora are shown to have struggled the most, with Dorephan almost getting badly injured by an Electric Moblin before Mipha takes it out with Vah Ruto.

I hadn't thought of how the waterways would give the Zora such a ridiculous tactical advantage The Royal Family had to have been sweating like "Yeah...better to have them as our allies than enemies."

In Breath of the Wild, it actually points out that the domain is constructed out of luminous stone.

I feel like we're ignoring the fact that for much of Ganon's army, falling in the water is a one-hit KO. Bokoblins and Moblins would be barely an inconvenience, especially if they had access to the Rito gust weapons. Moving onto Drakenwild's video to see if that angle pans out :)

Honestly, that was my first thought the second I walked into Zora's Domain in BotW. I mean, you have this giant bridge, which is good, but no walls, no gates, and no way to retract the bridge...

Another thing I want to mention, in botw we see Vah Ruta sink into the water and go through Rutala river and then into the mountain where Ruta rests, which means there is an entire underwater passageway or something connecting these places that the Zora can use as an escape

The zora can also get to the kakarico bridge because there is a new cave that connects the Lanayru wetlands to that lake. The only problem though... is that it has a lot of monsters.

“This STUPID GIANT FISH” 😂

Zora's do have ranged weapons. They can actually throw their spear and because their water manipulation allows them to recall them like having a string attached to them (this is canonically explained in a stone tablet by Sidon). Also most Zora weapons get a significantly boost when they get wet, literally doubling their attack power. Also they are the only race that have healers.

This is going to be a fun series

Bread and Drakenwild could be hired for making the new lore of another games from this series. *Main quest: 'The battle of Zora's Domain.'* Such a bloodbath.

Thanks again for having me, this was a lot of fun! ^^

13:54 I would also like to point out the Zora’s previous weaknesses to fire and ice. In Twilight Princess, the Zora Armor is exceptionally weak to fire and ice attacks; making Link take 10 hearts worth of damage when hit by one of the aforementioned elements. Additionally, all the Zora of Ocarina of Time were frozen in the adult timeline. Another weakness of theirs is their need to be near a body of water due to their semiaquatic nature. Meaning they won’t be able to survive outside of the southeastern regions of Hyrule.

Ganon: “Why aren’t the Zoras wiped out!?” Monsters: “Too many rocks….” Zora: “Hehehe rocks go brrr~”

"The rito being the water people" -bread pirate

Link: **Can bend metal bow strings.** Also link: **Slowest swimmer known to man.**

I'd like to note that most of the monsters in the game (excluding only a few like the Lizalfos and Octorocks) _can't swim._ The Zora could simply take refuge underwater during a battle and the monsters wouldn't be able to do much. Especially since there's a high likelihood that Zora's Domain has an underwater section we never even see, seeing as they are fish people. Then again... They didn't do that in Age of Calamity, where we see an attack on Zora's Domain firsthand... so maybe not.

the rock used in the domain is luminous stone as said in a side quest in botw where if you bring the guy using a chisel luminous stones he will give you a diamond so he can make the repairs made by the calamity

The Zora have always been my favorite race in zelda but all of a sudden I see them from a different light. Sidon, watch out!

It's always been my understanding that the "giant crystals" on the cliffs were ice. They have the same effect as ice when you climb on them (you slip). They also look similar to ice formations and areas in other regions. Besides, a (repeatable) sidequest in Breath of the Wild confirmed that the domain is made of Luminous Stones. If you give a certain amount of them (can't remember if it is 10, 15, or 20) to a worker near the entrance of the city proper, you will get two diamonds on the first trade and one for each trade thereafter.

I don't really think it is fair to say that the zora bow is unusable just because it is made of metal, unless you plan on disqualifying almost every bow in Hyrule. Also, in BotW, they were trying to build up tolerance to touch shock arrows, which implies that if they could touch them, then they did have a way to fire them.

I love these videos. The one about Lookout Landing was absolutely hilarious.

What if I told you, blocking the roads with rocks is exactly what Ganondorf wanted. You see if they did block the roads off, I suppose he would block off all the waterways and send troops up to the mountains to absolutely siege the zora, he would also cut off the waterfalls, making water and seafood finite, and with the whole zora population confined within the domain, they would run out of food and water sooner or later, and it wouldn’t help that they would be defenseless against the flying monster thingys dropping bokos on their faces, and thus Zora’s Domain will fall

Bread gonna offend a lot more zelda fans today

1. the zora sword is not short. look at it compared to link. 2. thin Rapier like swords are blindingly fast and have wonderful point work, making them very good at taking down armored enemy's. it may be light but its a rapier. 3. that cross guard is ideal for disarming enemy's. 4. they have spears. there is one way to get to zora's domain.

Draken's accent is so cool lol! This was really well thought out and it came out amazing. You should do more of these for like the Rito or something♥😅.

Do akkala citadel next. That one’s interesting because there’s already a ton of stuff about it in creating a champion.

I'm literally imagining right now the zora pushing monsters off the bridge leading to the domain into the water

it would be cool if you reviewed depths yiga base defenses! they seem pretty well fortified even for the player to get into

Another excellent analysis! Now onto Drakens vidja! 🤙

Dorephan is, however, very good at sweeping through HUGE swarms of monsters. Look at AoC’s fight for Zora domain (although they would have lost that without Vah Ruta)

One part that you left out that could totally change the tides, heh, Zora have confirmed water magic. While we don't know all of the details what we do know is that this involves both manipulation and healing and that more than the royal family could do it as outside of mipha and sidon there were other zora mages. While this doesn't totally make up for the lack of ranged weaponry the ability to wash away groups of foes or create barrier or heal injuries might be the reason they don't have the best weapons, armor, or fortifications.

There's a hinox up on Ruto Precipice, but from there it has no easy way to get down to the Domain. It probably wouldn't be able to survive the fall from the Precipice into East Reservoir Lake, and even if it could, there's no way for it to get down from there that doesn't involve another long fall onto solid ground (it's too big for the staircase up to the Reservoir from the east gate of the Domain); it can go south and follow the path up Zora River, but it's debatable whether it would be able to make it across the bridge without the bridge collapsing under its weight, and it would have to tear down the arches which would structurally weaken the bridge even more. The aerocudas are also capable of carrying the much bigger and heavier lizalfos (the ones over Rist Peninsula in Akkala carry lizalfos archers), so aerocudas could airdrop lizalfos into the waters under Zora's Domain, which would mean that the Zora would be unable to use their main means of escape (if they're not faster than the lizalfos in water and can beat them to the waterfalls), so they'd be trapped in the Domain and be easy pickings for the bokoblin archers (brought in by aerocudas from the encampment on Tal Tal Peak) situated along the outer walls of the Domain, since there are NO WALLS and the entire Domain is open-air. The only completely enclosed space in the Domain is the cove where the shrine was in Breath of the Wild, WHICH IS RIGHT UNDER THE GIANT FISH, so if the Zora took refuge there then the bokos (or the hinox) could just destroy all structural support for the giant fish and make it collapse on top of them, killing them all in one fell swoop. The weight of the fish falling would probably collapse the main part of the Domain, too, which is NOT supported by any columns (the columns only support the outer wall, the central part of the Domain is "floating"), so now any survivors that can't beat the lizalfos to the waterfalls are easy prey That's not even mentioning the fact that Electric Lizalfos exist, but I can't think of any in the area of Zora's Domain/Akkala

Could you please do Gerudo Town for totk? I was wondering how the sanctuary would fare if the monsters approached from the caves - there’s also that secret entrance, which is practically a hidden hole with no defenses

Drakenwild's accent is so lovely. I could listen to her talk about laying siege to the Zora's Domain for hours.

This is a great and very accurate video, bread pirate. I want to see you do gerudo town next, as it did both great (like the tall walls) and dumb (like no gates on flat ground) things to protect the vais.

why is this man not the number one Zelda RU-vidr? these videos are so just, fun

Cool video! While you focused on Tears of the Kingdom Zora's Domain, I'd like to add to the skepticism of the Zora being proactive in manning strong defenses with forewarning, is that while they were devastated by the Calamity (hence why they wouldn't have the defenses and forces shown in the Age of Calamity missions featuring the Domain) it doesn't make sense that they wouldn't start re-fortifying their defenses in the timeskip between Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom (not 100 years by any stretch, but enough years to get started!). Taking out the lightning hydra was definitely a good call, taking out the pest (Muckoroct or something to that effect) that polluted the water in ToTK should have been worthy of an extra mentioning when you brought up what polluting the water would do; it alone could cripple the mobility of the Zora within their city, since the Zora are comically slow moving on land anytime we see them (Mipha and Sidon riding water on land in Age of Calamity is a QoL game feature, we don't see them do that in the cutscenes of the game nor in the main games' play). All that time spent making a new statue for Sidon and Link's victory when they could have devoted those resources to a gate. No wonder that Red Lynel in BoTW was able to stay up there so long and threaten the Zora!

The rocks probably wouldn’t even be an issue if you scaled back from an invasion. All you would need to do is block northern escape by fortifying the rivers and southern escape by blocking the river. Ultimately you would probably siege out the zora while you slowly worked your way in while the wizrobes drakes havoc and airdropped archers screwed with things

Cool detail you may have missed about the riverways: there's actually an underground waterway that connects lake Hylia with Cora Lake/The Menoat River which lets out into the sea. Given how much water flows through there it likely was navigable for the Zora until The Upheaval which seems to have broken up and raised the passage. It is now Cora Lakefront Cave and unfortunately infested with monsters including electric likelikes.

Am so glad draken is getting some recognition

BreadPirate in the background after drawing a terrifying plan for ganondorf to obliterate zora's domain: 👍 :D

Some thoughts of mine: I think that the Zora shield is more of a buckler, which is a small shield that you use with a sword (a messer if I'm not wrong). Also, if the longsword is pretty heavy, and the goal is to kill and not to injure, Zoras are very tall, so they could just hold the longsword high up and drop it while holding it if that makes sense. Now the spear, even though the design is kind of weird, it is actually kind of effective imo. The Zoras are L O N G, they could use the spears like staffs and just knock enemies over AND attack the Wizzrobes pretty easily i'd say. Also if they use a dash attack like Link does (when sprinting then attacking) I think that they could reach at least 1.5 times Link's range when using the same attack. Now that wall you talked about, is actually pretty effective. Monsters cant swim, at least most of them. And the Zora most likely have alliances, and Hylians and Gerudo can't swim infinitely, not to talk about Gorons. That wall can be used as somewhere to stand on for those other races, and to defend against Lizalfos as they can swim and fast, but are less versatile there than on land. Now about the Aerocuda, the Zora are strong, Aerocudas aren't, they could just throw rocks at them or something. The bomb barrels aren't a huge threat, they don't cause a big explosion, but the monsters they carry could be, even though it's like 3 Aerocuda at a time most of the time. And if Ganon chooses to block their path, that would also mean blocking his forces from coming inside, and as the Zora have kind of a fort, they kinda have an advantage as they are not as open as the monsters.

I love you bread. You have created one of the best pieces of entertainment in existence.

Hey just to point out at 10:15 you said “Rito” instead of Zora… just a fun thing I noticed but I would LOVE a video on the Rito

I really like these defense videos 😁There super interesting and well made.

We need this as a series

Question about the mountains surrounding the Domain: Would an army of Lizalfos be able to climb all those mountains? Also, what do you think the chances are that their bows are made of something similar to plasteel? That could explain why they can bend?

can you PLEASE do a video on the gerudo they are my favorite race also i love your content also how do you think each nation would fair in a civil war

Counter argument would be the stones strength , it survived the upheaval with no damage to the main structure. And it hold up that giant fish , it would not be so easy to destroy

"Rito being the water people" 💀 10:11

Good job! It is a very put together video. I love all of the facts and reasons and jokes you put in.

Dont mind me just sitting here watching this during school

9:58 I'm pretty sure there's another waterfall and just because they can swim really fast doesn't mean they can't escape on foot.

I LOVE THIS, i would love to see more stuff like this! i am very curious how the gerudo specifically would fair

Haven’t watched the video yet but in AOC the only captain that needed help was the zora one in the bit before hyrule outpost, i’m doing that that part tommorow

This is a great series! Glad to see another video on theme.

Yoo a part 2! Love this series that is starting to form!

That was a really good collab! I hope the two of you will make another at some point in the future :)

amazing video!!!! really loving these!!❤

This reminds me of a video I saw where someone theorized how the species in botw would do in a civil war

9:55 I don't remember if this is the case in TOTK, but in BOTW the monsters had built fortifications that spanned the river right about that western border of the domain. (I remember escorting a bottle past them.) Clearly attempts where being made to cut off that escape route, though if the monsters didn't get fortifications done in the preceding 100 years I don't know if they ever would.

Correction: 3 escape routes use the waterfalls to climb ploymous mountain and once at Mipha court jump into the east reservoir and then you’ll be in the wetlands shortly later

What about the fact that lizalfos are also excellent swimmers?

Lizalfos hits itself with electric arrow 😂 14:09

The rito are probably gonna be number 1 but I think gorons are gonna easily take second place because they're so darn resilient, immune to extreme heat, resistant to electricity and potentially only weak to cold (though we don't know for certain that it's a weakness or if they just dislike the cold) and even then icy enemies are weak to heat and even in TotK's cooled Death Mountain there are still burning hot caves that icy enemies can't enter, even ranged attacks presumably aren't an issue for gorons as they're simply too resilient and even then we do know that the gorons have developed cannons so they could still use those

I love this videos where you find how strong a domain is

Everyones gangster until link comes in with a whole freaking bombing plane

I love this series so much.

This may be just in Majora's mask, but the zora basically have built in boomerangs in the form of their arm fins

11:30 Actually there is a thinner part of the bow near the ends, which could be what allows them to bend They obviously won’t bend the same, but it’s a good compromise between fancy design and practicality that you don’t see on any other Zora weapons -Though Link is built different anyway so him being able to bend it doesn’t really count- Also I think something important to add to this, also, is that it’s concerning how the Zora have also been shown to be practically incapable of defending themselves. In both games, they’ve pretty much solely relied on Link to solve all their problems. As opposed to most other areas where their inhabitants may not have the situation under control, but they can still at least do _something_ before Link arrives In TOTK had Sidon not been born with his special power, they would pretty much be sitting ducks. And with nowhere to escape to with all the Monsters with deadly electric weapons roaming around, they’d probably all be dead by the time Link got to them

The Zoe’s don’t fight they’re peaceful that’s why they have bad defences they only have guards because of lizafos and bokos

please remember hyrule warriors while not explicitly cannon the actions of terraco don't actually affect the domain so we can see how they would respond-the creation of additional structures around the domain. also, they have no reason to ever go on land so they can hide underwater where there barbed weapons that are used for fishing would have destructive effects on the lizalfos above. for future videos please have a look at warriors it gives a more realistic scale of armies since dialogue doesn't need to be added to every npc. still great vid good work

Bread here again making some top quality videos like always

3:38 at this map, there is a water filled cave under Kakariko that can lead you to the lake with kakariko bridge.

17:14 the fact that “Oh, It’s You” plays caught me off guard lol

The Zora do not have a need for the bridges surrounding the domain, the main purpose is likely to create ease of access to tourists and merchants, however if the Zora were desperate enough they could likely destroy the major bridges that cross between mountains and major rivers, along with the three main bridges that access the domain itself. Being Zora, they could simply travel up and down stream with ease. while the enemy could not and would be force to follow the trail and cross said bridges, the only downside is that any non Zora reinforcements would not be able to assist as effectively (if the reinforcements were Rito, they could likely have a much easier time crossing into the domain, however Gerudo, Hylian, and Goron reinforcements would likely not be much help.

Hello there bread. I've been watching you for a while now and honestly, you never fail to amaze me and I can't wait for your next vid👍

Bro I was just about to sleep but now I have to watch you 😂❤

Since the monster bodies vanish on death until the next blood moon, the hooks on the weapons aren't a problem if they're used for the killing blow. Also, zora weapons deal double damage while wet... The only way I can think of for that to work is if water reacts with the material the weapons are made of to essentially create a poison, an acid, or an anticoagulant. If it's an acid, that could help negate the hook problem... That could also make the holes in the weapons themselves strategic. More surface area of weapon could be more damaging, and the taller zora are going to be stronger so they don't need to rely on weapon weight as much to force it through their enemies.

Good point about the Thunderstorms because like all their weapon reigned shields and bows made or the metal

Another banger video from the captain!

I'd love to see you cover the Goron Gerudo and Yiga capitals/bases!

The many hooks on swords are probly to catch fish as regular hunting tools on top of monster fighting. An aspect not brought up much are the zoras inherent water abilities and the air time given with zora swimming. If we go with the thought that zora cant use bows, they have an equally viable option right in thier own domain waterfalls, ride up them, launch into the air likely higher than link can, and just start throwing things at enemies. The spears are clearly made for it, and elemental items are plentiful in stock. Additionally, thebwaterfall launching serves as a method of reconiccence to locate enemy positions and keep a strategic understandingof the battlefield. I'd go as far as saying that a waterfall squad launching throwing weapons would be able to ground a gleeok with ease and deal with wizzrobes. And with the sheer number of possible waterfalls to use interchangeably, they wouldn't even become chokepoints against the zora.

I would honestly love if you did this for the others as well.

11:32 Metal bows are real things! They work! While the Zora bows are pretty ornate and themselves might not work, that doesn’t mean metal bows don’t work

To quote Commonwealth: “ROCKS!!”

He said the cdotkom line! “In Tears of the Kingdom!” That is very Kingdom.

"The Rito being the water people" - Bread Pirate

Oh god i would love a similar video on the goron village

"Sending in the gleeok would be overpowered." Me: looking at the King Ghidorah I've been given. "And?"

two major oversights 1: cant the zora literally control water? like as an easy example sidon makes a whirlpool and he says something about using water for reach and other water powers 2: pretty much every monster in the game except for oktoroks and lizalfos die if falling in water

I love the most replayed scene

Shoutout to the TF2 sound effects! I love hearing them in videos completely unrelated to TF2.

Please make more of these video's

drakens rolling rrrr so gooooooood