Zonai

The are a prehistoric civilization whose existence was first indicated by ruins and an in . They appear fully in , where they are said to have been descendants of the gods who came from the sky.
==Characteristics==
===Magical Abilities===
The are an ancient tribe who came from the heavens and are said to have descended from the gods. From those gods, the Zonai were given the Secret Stones which could amplify an individual's magical abilities which are elements such as Water, Wind, Electricity, Fire, Time, Spirit, Light and Darkness. When the Zonai first descended to the surface long before Hyrule's founding, the ancient Hylians mistook them as actual gods.
After coming to the surface, the Zonai lived in the . They were strong magic wielders and are thought to have worshiped a water dragon. Their stone artwork represents the Triforce through the perspective of a prehistoric tribe; they use dragons to represent courage, owls to represent wisdom, and boars to represent power. They constructed several ancient ruins made of stone. Their name comes from their largest ruin site: the . Etched into the stonework associated with this tribe is a spiral symbol, which is considered to be the tribe's crest. However, their real crest is what seems to be a rectangle that shrinks at the bottom.
===Physical Appearance===
The same Faron Region where the Zonai Ruins are located were home to a barbarian tribe, whose untamed ways are known by the the fierce power enchanted within their . This tribe is not explicitly identified as the Zonai however, and the Barbarian Set does not match the style of other Zonai clothing.
As seen in Tears of the Kingdom, the Zonai have an animalistic appearance vaguely reminiscent of camelids with remarkably long ears. They are covered in dark grey fur and have white manes of hair. They have three eyes, but tend to keep the third one closed, making the eyelash resemble a jewel on their forehead. They also have sharp, triangular teeth and are much taller than Hylians, with their tall bodies making up for their shorter legs. From what is seen of them throughout the game, they go barefoot, possibly due to different standards of their time. Contrary to their original representation, they are revealed to have been a highly advanced civilization that inhabited islands floating in the sky.
==History==
Very little is known about this tribe's history, but what is known can be gleaned from the remains of their civilization left behind all across . Their established stronghold, the , extends through to the , which rests in northeastern .
The Zonai leader, Rauru, wed a Hylian named Sonia and together the two of them founded the Kingdom of Hyrule depicted in and as its first king and queen. It is possible that Hyrule may have been destroyed once before their founding. During this time period most of the Zonai were already gone, with only Rauru and his sister Mineru remaining. However the Zonai bloodline did not technically go extinct, as the descendants of Rauru and Sonia live on as the otherwise Hylian Royal Family of Hyrule, including Princess Zelda.
When Rauru sealed Ganondorf underground shortly after founding his kingdom, his people constructed Hyrule Castle above the site to keep the Demon King sealed, with the castle remaining intact for ages, until it was damaged for the first time during the Great Calamity 100 years prior to the .
Ten thousand years before the events of , the hero who wielded the Master Sword and fought alongside the princess to defeat Calamity Ganon is possibly a Zonai. Calamity Ganon was a later incarnation of the Ganondorf who was a contemporary of Rauru and Mineru, who were the last two Zonai of their time, meaning that if he is a Zonai, the ancient hero would necessarily have to be one of Rauru or Mineru's descendants, and as such also have non-Zonai ancestry. The Ancient Hero's Aspect, which transforms Link's appearance into that of the ancient hero, resembles some of the Zonai traits seen in Rauru and Mineru, such as a snout, claws, and (ambiguous) third eye, but also differs in having a shorter stature, tail, digitigrade feet, different facial structure, and smaller pointy ears more similar to that of Hylians, yet also a fiery red hair and green skin not normally seen in Hylians but found in male Gerudo like Ganondorf.
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The appear to have vanished a long time ago. Many of their relics are tied to the , and their powerful is gifted by the found in at the heart of three massive mazes: the , the , and the . The mazes themselves appear to be related to the tribe, but their exact relationship remains unknown.
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The Zonai were an ancient race with highly advanced technology. Their ruins and constructs have been rediscovered all over Hyrule, from the sky islands above to the darkest Depths below. The Zonai's technology was a powerful force for good, but it was also capable of great harm, as now all combat constructs see any and all people as a potential Threat. On the flip side Steward Constructs thankfully are capable of recognizing Link, most likely thanks to his arm being Zonai, and otherwise won’t attack intruders.
After the Upheaval, Zelda was sent back in time to the founding of Hyrule. There, she learned that the King Rauru was one of the last two surviving Zonai of his time, the other being his elder sister, Mineru. Ganondorf when falsely swearing fealty also alluded to how Rauru and Mineru were the last of the Zonai while subtly hinting that he intended to ensure that the Zonai would be rendered completely extinct.
==Trivia== 
*According to Senior Lead Artist, Makoto Yonezu, the name "" is an anagram of the Japanese word .
*The many stone and metal arranged in odd patterns by the across bear the tribe's spiral mark.
*The Zonai have many similarities to the : both are technologically advanced tribes who live in the sky, are close to the gods, participated in Hyrule's founding, and have ancient ties to the Royal Family.
==Nomenclature==
==Gallery==
BotW Boar Statue Faron Woods.jpg|Boar statue at , as seen in-game
BotW Damel Forest ruins.jpg|Dragon statue and pillar at , as seen in-game
BotW Ebara Forest.png|Statues in , as seen in-game
BotW Faron Woods Ruins.png|Ruins in , as seen in-game
BotW Guchini Plain towers.jpg|, as seen in-game
BotW Palmorae Ruins 2.jpg|, as seen in-game
BotW Spring of Courage Statue.png|Dragon sculpture at the , as seen in-game
BotW Thyphlo Ruins entrance.jpg|Entrance to , as seen in-game
BotW Thundra Plateau 2.jpg|, as seen in-game
BotW Thundra Plateau Dragon Statue.jpg|Dragon statue at the , as seen in-game
TotK Object Pot (Zonai).png|A pot with the zonai crest on it.
==See Also==
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pt-br:Zonai
zh-tw:左納烏族
Category:Zonai
Category:Female characters
Category:Male characters