The ocean is a strange, beautiful, and scary place. Around 95% of the ocean floor remains unexplored, but the 5% we have seen has revealed fauna far outside what our own imaginations could conceive. It is no wonder these dwellers in the deep have inspired countless science fiction and fantasy creatures. We can add the designs for the Zora race in Breath of the Wild to that list, especially if we examine the varied concept designs for the primary Zora characters.
The Zora are a recurring race in the Zelda series who live in or near water and tend to resemble fish. While there are plenty of fish in the sea, the Breath of the Wild developers didn’t want to limit their Zora character designs just to gill-bearing animals. In the Breath of the Wild: Creating a Champion art book, Hirohito Shinoda, lead artist for non-player characters, explains, “I wanted to make the Zora look really cool while still being faithful to the Zora of past titles. Rather than restricting myself to fish, I drew inspirations from dolphins and other mammals as well.” Let’s see how this played out for different Zora Link encounters.
Mipha is a Zora princess and champion chosen to aid Link and Zelda in their battle against Calamity Ganon, and she also has it bad for Link. Her overall demeanor and appearance is that of quiet grace (see what I did there?). Some of her concept ideas would have given her a more fierce look, including one where she is modeled after a lionfish (or zebra turkeyfish for those Animal Crossing players out there), a group of venomous fish native to the Indo-Pacific. Sketches in the book show Mipha with large, webbed spines protruding from her head and forearms, giving off a strong resemblance to the poisonous fish. No Hylian would dare say no to her.
Shinoda notes, “I … considered several other ideas [for Mipha’s design], including using an oarfish or a rockfish as a motif.” No sketches of Mipha based on these fish appear in the book, but we can imagine what they may have looked like by examining the fish themselves. The giant oarfish is a truly terrifying creature that lives in tropical and subtropical waters but is rarely seen despite being the largest species of bony fish. Some reports of oarfish length reach up to 17 meters/56 feet. While the red plume may have made for an interesting design, I’m not sure how approachable Mipha would have been if she resembled this nightmare of the deep.
Rockfish is a term for several species of fish that hide among, you guessed it, rocks. While these species are set apart by location, coloration, and other characteristics, many share a set of spiky fins that run down their spine. How do you think Mipha would have looked with a mohawk?
In the end, the designers modeled Mipha after a dolphin. These lovable mammals can be found in any ocean and in many rivers around the world. Dolphins are extremely smart, friendly, and cute to boot, so it seems like a good decision to me. Echolocation would have been a neat ability to pass on to Link, but I guess I’ll settle for Mipha’s Grace saving his skin more times than I can count.
The book also shows concept designs for Mipha’s younger brother, Prince Sidon. One of these is modeled after a sturgeon and looks much different than the Sidon we know and love. Sturgeons are a family of large, long-living fish native to subtopical and sub-Artic rivers, lakes, and coastlines in the northern hemisphere. They are considered a primitive fish because their evolution dates back to the Triassic period. Sturgeons have five rows of spiny protrusions called scutes, making it look like nothing to be messed with. Sidon’s sturgeon design embodies that sentiment and looks like a no-nonsense Zora.
Sidon’s final design is based on the hammerhead shark, nature’s answer to the question, “What would happen if you grabbed a shark’s eyes and stretched as far as possible?” These bizarre-looking but proficient predators are found worldwide in temperate coastlines. According to Breath of the Wild non-player character artist Yoko Miyakawa, the hammerhead design was what won Sidon his in-game (and, let’s be real, out-of-game) fan club. Hammerheads are cool, can’t argue with that.
Rounding out the royal Zora, we have King Dorephan. This massive monarch towers above all other Zora, and for good reason. As Shinoda elaborates, “The reason that I used a whale motif for him is purely because the king of the sea should be a whale!” While unclear what type of whale specifically, my guess is Shinoda relied on the blue whale, the largest animal known to have ever existed. These behemoths migrate through all stretches of the ocean. Why do I think it was the blue whale? Because King Dorephan is big and blue! However, his forehead resembles that of a beluga whale, an arctic and sub-arctic mammal more closely related to dolphins than whales. It’s hard to believe, but one of the concepts for King Dorephan appears to have imagined him even bigger: big enough for a regular Zora to walk on his shoulders and dump buckets of water on his head to keep him moist.
One other Zora design is worth mentioning: that of Councilman Muzu. His flat head, large hanging flippers, and thin tail display an undeniable resemblance to a manta ray, an ocean giant that flies through tropical, subtropical, and temperate waters. He even has a pair of cephalic fins, horn-shaped appendages adorning the sides of a manta ray’s mouth (earning them the nickname “devilfish”). Muzu may act like a devil when Link first comes around Zora’s Domain, but he eases up once Link appeases the Divine Beast Vah Ruta.
Breath of the Wild‘s Zora designs draw inspiration from a variety of ocean life. With so many unique ocean animals that weren’t used in this game, there’s hope that the Zora in the Breath of the Wild sequel will be even more varied. You can bet that I will be exploring a lot more than just 5%of that game once released.
