Zora's Domain

Zora's Domain is a recurring location in the Zelda series. It is based on Zora's Waterfall from A Link to the Past. It serves as the home of the aquatic race known as the Zora in Ocarina of Time and Twilight Princess.

Ocarina of Time
In Ocarina of Time, Zora's Domain is located in the northeast section of Hyrule and is home to King Zora and his daughter, Princess Ruto. It consists of a large cavernous area mostly filled with water, with a large waterfall flowing from the top into the lower area. Its source of water comes from Zora's Fountain, to which its closely linked to. The only ways to access the domain is from Zora's River or from a secret entrance hidden underwater in Lake Hylia; however, only members of the Royal Family of Hyrule are allowed to enter. To enter via Zora's River, Link will need to play "Zelda's Lullaby" in front of the seemingly impassable waterfall at the end of the river to prove his connection to the Royal Family. This will cause the waterfall to momentarily split in two, allowing the young hero to access Zora's Domain.

Link's first visit to the domain is called upon during his search for the third Spiritual Stone, the Zora's Sapphire. He ventures inside Lord Jabu Jabu's belly in Zora's Fountain to rescue Princess Ruto, receiving the Spiritual Stone in return. Seven years later, after Link awakens from having pulled the Master Sword from its pedestal, the young hero returns to Zora's Domain to find it completely frozen over; moreover, the Lake Hylia entrance has been blocked by ice. The only Zoras that inhabit it are the King Zora and the shopkeeper of the Zora Shop, and both of them are frozen over by Red Ice, which only Blue Fire can melt. Sheik explains that the ice is caused by an evil curse, and the source of the curse is Morpha, a monster in the Water Temple. The only way to restore Zora's Domain to its natural state is by destroying Morpha; thus, Link ventures to the Water Temple where, with the aid of Princess Ruto, the source of the curse is shut off. Princess Ruto, awakening as the Sage of Water, thanks Link for his help and reassures him that Zora's Domain and its people will eventually return to their original state.

During the ending credits, Zora's Domain is shown to have been thawed out, although it is still empty since all of the Zoras are in Lon Lon Ranch celebrating the defeat of Ganondorf.

Twilight Princess
In Twilight Princess, Zora's Domain is located in the Lanayru Province, and it serves as Hyrule's source of water. The waterflow comes from the throne room, situated above the domain. From here, the water streams into the rest of the village, forming the Zora's Waterfall and continuing its path to Upper Zora's River and eventually reaching Lake Hylia. Zora's Domain is also connected to Snowpeak, and it is the only way to access that region other than warping. Link can easily access the throne room by asking one of the Zoras near the waterfall to take him upstream. When Link first visits Zora's Domain, he finds that it has been completely frozen over and all the Zoras have been trapped under the thick sheet of ice. Since the domain is frozen, Zora's River has dried up as well as Lake Hylia. Link must warp a giant, lava rock from Death Mountain with the help of Midna and drop it into the throne room, which will cause the ice to shatter and allow the water to flow again. With Zora's Domain now unfrozen and its people safe, Wolf Link and Midna begin to head out of the throne room when Queen Rutela makes an apparition before them. Just She stops them on their way and thanks them for saving her village and her people. She informs them the tale of her unfortunate fate and asks the young hero to save her son, Prince Ralis, in return for the protection of water, which is necessary to enter the Lakebed Temple.

Later on in the game, after Link obtains the Coral Earring from Prince Ralis, the young hero must revisit Zora's Domain to fish in an area known as the Mother-and-Child Rocks. It is here that the Reekfish dwell, a rare fish specimen unique to the Zora village. Once Link manages to catch a Reekfish, he will be able to pick up the Reekfish Scent that is necessary to navigate through Snowpeak.

After Link obtains the Water Bombs and Zora Armor, Link can sink to the bottom of the throne room and blow up the shard, releasing a Goron that was trapped in it. By speaking to him, Link will receive a Bomb Bag. Eventually, Prince Ralis will return to Zora's Domain and sit in the throne room in place of his mother.

Zora's Domain is last seen during the ending credits, showing Queen Rutela looking over her son.

Link's Crossbow Training
Stage 4 of Link's Crossbow Training is specifically seated in the outer waters of Zora's Domain. The stage begins facing a waterfall and has targets falling with the water at various speeds and very few pots to shoot for additional points. In the second area, Link shoots at targets dropping with the waterfall and panning through openings in the mountainside. This stage normally ends in an overhead view of the two waterfalls as the targets again follow the water downwards. The alternative end can be unlocked by getting 1000 points on the scarecrows from the first two views. This stage ending scene will take Link above the waterfalls and offer a larger cluster of targets drifting towards him. Many more gold targets are found in this scene among the regular and false targets, than the top-view of the waterfalls.

Relocation in Child Timeline
The differences in geography between and  in the Child Timeline show Zora's Domain in very different locations, with the former being southeast of Death Mountain, and the latter being directly due north of Hyrule Castle and to the west of Death Mountain, in Lanayru Province. The path of Zora's River is different too, and its river channel is also much deeper in the future, being a gorge almost the entire way. It's possible that Zora's River radically changed course at some point (as real world rivers have often historically done). And since rivers naturally have more than one tributary and Zoras seem to pride themselves in living at source waters, it is possible that the Zoras chose or were forced to abandon their original domain near Zora's Fountain (possibly due to changes in climate, hydrology, etc.), as both the fountain and Jabu-Jabu are noticeably absent in the future. In such a scenario, they would have abandoned one tributary in favor of another, and simply rebuilt their settlement in the new location. If Zora's Domain did relocate, its former location would likely be somewhere further to the east between Eldin Province and Faron Province, if indeed the forests of Faron are in the same location as Kokiri Forest.

An alternative to this theory is that Zora's Domain did not leave Zora's Fountain, and that the fountain actually became the icy lake at the base of Snowpeak. This theory is bolstered by the Ice Cavern originally being directly accessible as a cave off of Zora's Fountain, with the assumption that the cavern forms a smaller part of Snowpeak.

Trivia

 * According to an interview given by Shigeru Miyamoto to Nintendo Power for their 100th issue, an area called Zora's Lake was planned to be included in Zelda 64. This may of been during the phase of development where Zoras were still River Zora, and was instead converted into the more village-like Zora's Domain.
 * The process of unfreezing Zora's Domain as part of Link's quest in Twilight Princess may be a nod to Ocarina of Time. During the release of Ocarina of Time, gamers tried endlessly to figure out how to unfreeze Zora's Domain after they had obtained the Water Medallion by either using bombs, fire arrows or Din's Fire.  Some people to this day still believe it can be unfrozen.
 * Part of the cause for the attempt to unfreeze Zora's Domain in Ocarina of Time also stems from an April Fools prank which Nintendo pulled one year. They released several hoaxed images of Ocarina of Time which included a shot of the Triforce on the quest status screen filled in and an adult Link standing in an unfrozen Zora's Domain. These caused people to scramble frantically to find ways to unfreeze Zora's Domain, until Nintendo revealed that it was all a prank.
 * Zora's Domain may have not always been the size as it appears in Twilight Princess and, if the connections with Ocarina of Time are true, then the effects of years of erosion may have made the roof collapse and open it up, and the waterfall may have eroded away some of the rocks to give it a deeper feel with evidence of the apparent fossils on the walls.