Rito



The Rito are the race of anthropomorphic birds that inhabit Dragon Roost Island, the volcanic island located in the Great Sea in The Wind Waker. They have yet to make an appearance in another game. The Rito serve the role of mailmen, as they, because of their ability to fly, are most suited for that job. A big part of their island is used as Post Office.

The Rito are said to not always have been creatures of the sky. The Grappling Hook is a remnant of those days. The Rito (still) aren't arboreal by birth. They need to get their wings from the Sky Spirit, Valoo, by visiting him and receiving a scale from him. this also seems to serve as a sort of coming of age-ritual.

The name Rito seems to be a play on the Japanese word "tori" which means "bird" (indeed, it could just be a reversal of the characters to and ri). They also might be inspired by the Watarara, a much more birdlike race that appeared in the manga of Ocarina of Time.

The Zora to Rito Evolution Theory
Every new Zelda Game causes new discussions about the storyline to arise. One of the most prominent debates caused by The Wind Waker is one about the Zora-Rito relation. In the game, Link meets the spirit of the former Sage of Earth, Laruto, who is a Zora. She asks Link to find to find "the one who carries on her bloodline", as that person is destined to become the new Sage. This descendant turned out to be a Rito girl, Medli. This has led people to believe that some time before The Wind Waker, the Sea Zoras, or a group of them, evolved or transformed into the Rito. Other evidence for this theory includes the absence of Sea Zoras in a setting in which they should be plentiful, the fact that the Rito were confirmed within the game to not have always been aerial creatures, and the appearance of the Zora Emblem on the clothing of Medli and Komali. It should also be noted that the Koroks, another race in The Wind Waker are explicitly stated to having been a different race once, confirming that the races of the Zelda universe can significantly change.

There are arguments against this theory though. The main counter-argument is that the Sages presented in A Link to the Past and Four Swords Adventures are supposedly the descendants of the Sages in Ocarina of Time. This opens the possibility that Medli has a Zora ancestor because of interbreeding, and that Zora may not be a common ancestor of the race. Furthermore, several other races have also been absent in some of the games that did display their confirmed habitats. The reason for such "inconsistencies" is unknown, but it is thought that the developers sometimes choose to omit elements of the world of Hyrule if they can't find a proper role for them in a specific game. Finally, some have questioned the idea that an aquatic race, which has previously seemed to be able to live in salt-water, would change into a birdlike race when the whole world is flooded. This is countered by the claim that the seas are too rough or empty. Finally, if interbreeding between species is possible, the Zora symbol on the Ritos' clothes could be explained by Medli's heritage.