Many different races have been introduced throughout the history of The Legend of Zelda, but the immense variety the franchise displays also seems to obscure a much darker truth. The world of Hyrule holds a remarkable level of nuance when it comes to worldbuilding, both in of explicit detail and those that are inferred by implication. Arguably one of the most depressing facts of the franchise’s treatment of its various races is one such implication, a looming shadow that seems inescapable for many of Hyrule’s people.

The Legend of Zelda races are easily recognizable for their roles in multiple titles, not every fictional species introduced to the franchise enjoys the same level of attention. In fact, plenty of Zelda races have not been part of a game’s cast for many years, which has arguably contributed towards a depressing hidden truth for the franchise.

The Legend Of Zelda’s Races Constantly Go Extinct

There Is No Other Way To For All The Disappearing Races

There are many races that appear only in one or two Zelda games, with Hylians themselves arguably being the only true constant throughout the franchise. Although in some cases, later absences can be explained by the races in question being depicted as living away from Hyrule (such as the Tokay and Subrosians met in the Oracle games’ Labrynna and Holodrum), not all species enjoy this glimmer of hope. Instead, it seems that the only logical conclusion is that many of these less prolific races have gone extinct, at least within the borders of the kingdom.

Although some Zelda races have become recurring parts of Hyrule, such as the Gorons and Zora, many more appear only in a single game. Perhaps most prominently, Skyward Sword is the only title to feature races like the Kikwi, Parella, and Mogma. Ultimately, the true fate of these races is uncertain, but it is clear that they no longer exist in Hyrule in any other part of The Legend of Zelda’s timeline. Similarly, the Ancient Robots of the Lanayru Desert are shown to be effectively dead themselves without access to Timeshift Stones.

One striking addition to Breath of the Wild’s version of Hyrule is the existence of three enormous Leviathan skeletons, remains which undeniably prove the extinction of a whale-like species at some point in Hyrule’s past.

Notably, Tears of the Kingdom directly shows the final stage of the Zonai’s own undeniable extinction. Long after their ancestors arrived in Hyrule, King Rauru and his sister Mineru (the last two Zonai known to exist) die in the past visited by Zelda. Although both characters do initially linger as spirits, they clearly move on to the afterlife as part of the game’s conclusion. With the Zonai’s own extinction as such a prominent example in the franchise, it becomes much easier to consider how the same fate may have befallen other Hyrulean inhabitants.

No Explanation Is Given For Hyrule’s Missing Races

The Mystery Makes It Easy To Infer The Worst Scenario

When a race vanishes from The Legend of Zelda, it is hardly ever noted and the reasons, if any, for their absence are left a mystery. Even the precise reason for the Zonai’s own decline is left unclear, as their numbers were clearly decreasing long before Ganondorf acted on his ambitions. Instead, people observing the way Hyrule changes between titles can only theorize about the impact of environmental changes, as well as the potentially disastrous effect Ganon or other major villains may have on the population.

There is also the possibility that many missing races may have simply left Hyrule, perhaps to escape the recurring threat of Ganon. There are several known TOTK suggests more than one Hyrule exists in the franchise’s history lends just as much credence to the idea that Hyrule’s long list of disasters proved deadly to many races.

Although it is always possible that any given Zelda race could make a comeback in future titles, this does not explain where they may have gone in the meantime. Instead, the more the number of species known to have inhabited Hyrule at one point or another grows, the less likely it is for them all vanishing from the kingdom to have purely peaceful explanations. Instead, it seems much more plausible for a much darker fate to have befallen these races in the unseen spans of history between each title.

Hyrule Is So Old It Forgets Its Own Extinctions

The Kingdom’s Countless Tragedies Are Quickly Lost To Time

Arguably the most tragic part of this likely list of extinctions is the fact that the absence of these races is usually never even referenced by the people of Hyrule. This implies that such events happened so long ago that those who remain in the kingdom have forgotten that these other races ever even existed, unless they leave physical traces like the Zonai or Leviathans in BOTW. Of course, the the franchise’s split timeline does complicate matters in this regard, but at the very least the many races introduced in Skyward Sword receive no later mentions despite their apparent prominence.

It is worth noting that The Wind Waker does offer examples of races evolving instead of going extinct. Specifically, the Zora became the Rito, while the Kokiri became the Koroks. However, evolution is not used elsewhere to for other missing races. Furthermore, although Echoes of Wisdom’s placement in the Defeated Hero timeline makes the exclusion of the Rito perhaps less notable given their origin in the Adult Timeline, it also uses Deku Scrubs. Notably, the plant-like beings are not a part of Breath of the Wild, which is presumably set later in the timeline, again implying extinction.

On the surface, it can simply be disappointing for a favorite race in The Legend of Zelda to not make it into a new game, but this constraint of game development carries dark implications for the series’ canon. It is difficult to see so many different races abandoning their home over the years, which leaves the explanation that they did not survive the intervening years between one title and the next. As a result, the history of Hyrule seems to be littered with extinctions, which occur on a timescale so vast that surviving races like Hylians inevitably forget their once-neighbors.