The MYSTERIOUS CONNECTION Between the Ancient Sheikah and Zonai | Tears of the Kingdom Theory

***SPOILERS FOR THE STORY OF THE LEGEND OF ZELDA: TEARS OF THE KINGDOM***

Something was off when there was no sight or mention of the Ancient Sheikah in Tears of the Kingdom, after they had played such a prominent role in it's Prequel, Breath of the Wild. I have a theory that connects the two ancient people of both popular Zelda titles, that you aren't going to want to miss! I lay out all of the evidence that concludes that the Zonai and the Ancient Sheikah certainly had a relationship.

I want to acknowledge MonsterMaze's discord user MagicPixieDreamGirl, who was able to provide one of the most significant pieces of evidence to this video

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0:00 Introduction
1:50 Ancient Races
2:09 Ancient Shrines
3:10 The Eye and the Tear
3:45 Draconification
6:00 The Zonai Pillar and Sheikah Constellations
7:12 The Purah Pad
8:12 The Sage of Shadows
8:35 Spirit Temple Eye
8:41 Draconification (Pt 2)
9:03 Kakariko Village and the Ring Ruins
10:08 Mineru and the Ancient Sheikah
13:44 Thank you for Watching!

[foxylegs]

While idk about all the details, I definitely agree that the Sheikah are connected to the Zonai. When a 5th sage was revealed I was so sure it was going to be Purah. She is the embodiment of Mineru's successor- they're both knowledgable/techy, similar in appearance with their half-closed eyelids and googles, and then everything you mentioned with the connection between the Sheikah and Zonai (eye symbolism, connection to spirit/shadow, etc). Also in the cutscene when all the sages figure out that there's another sage, right at the moment of realization the scene zooms in on Purah! To me it really felt like Purah was set up to be the final sage, and I wonder if the decision to make it Mineru was a last minute thing.

[ChrisHoulihan]

5:13 your idea that the tear represents Draconification is interesting bc the tear prior to TOTK has always represented sacrifice. I think these two ideas go hand in hand as draconification is presented as the ultimate sacrifice. What a banger vid, keep it up, can’t believe this is your first one

[andywright]

Just wanted to point out that the mind's eye has been the Sheikah symbol since at least the time of Skyward Sword, if not longer (timeshift stones have it on them). Not to mention that the Sheikah are said to be a clan that directly served Hylia at the time that Demise attacked the surface.

[rolix_]

I would add one thing that i noticed. The divine beasts helmets that you can get in a quest after completing the dungeons are said to be the same helmets the sages worn during the imprisoning war but these were zonaï helmets whereas the one you get are sheikas. My theory is that they are indeed the same helmets but the sheikas modified them afterwards and based their divine beasts out of the helmets to pay tribute to the sages.

[cato]

Two in one for theorizing:
1) Ancient energy is refined Zonai magic coming from the Imprisoning Chamber. The pillar with Sheikah constellations is a Purification machine, noted in its file name. This energy was redirected towards ancient furnaces on the surface.
2) The puzzles in shrines are for Rauru, and are meant to test him in the three virtues of the Triforce to refine his spirit. In other words, the Zen Garden aesthetic is literal, this is a meditative place for refining his own spirit. He seems to know about all of Link's hand abilities, meaning he is just as capable as Link to complete them.

[dbweinhaus]

[TOTK timeline]: After the ancient calamity, the Shiekah weren't just hiding technology; they also hid the secret of the sages, the imprisoning war.. all of it. The original Yiga may have been less about evil and more about preserving Zonai/Shiekah culture.

[julianvanegas]

We've always known there must be a Sheikah-Zonai connection since BOTW, as many Zonai ruins houses Sheikah Shrines. But what got me really interested in learning more about the Sheikah-Zonai connection is the Mining Construct in the Spirit Temple. That Construct sells Link Ancient Blades it has excavated in the depths for zonaite. But why are there Ancient Blades in the depths? Ancient Blades are clearly of Sheikah origin. (The same blade that is a the tip of Ancient Arrows from BOTW.)

[hellzonefirebrigade]

Im curious about the Ancient Heroes Aspect tbh. Hes obviously Zonai/ Hylian mix but has red hair 🤷

[robinita]

I think this video is really well put together and I would be happy to see more of your ideas get explored! However, I can't say I find all of these concepts super compelling. Mostly because they erase pretty much all of the information we know about the Sheikah before botw. I think it is fine to theorize that botw and totk retcon the rest of the series and have everything before botw be considered "myth and legend" and not history, but that would be such a bummer that I won't operate under that assumption unless I have zero other option. We know the origin of the Sheikah occured during the era of Hylia before Skyward Sword. They were a priestly race that dedicated themselves to her service, as Impa explains. During that time, they also had advanced technologies as you showed in the video with the gates of time and the timeshift stones. This is all well before the first Hyrule is established by Hylians. They already had their eye symbol in that era, well before any Zonai had evolved or were created.
Considering the Zonai are the 3rd sky-people the series has seen (4th if you include hylians in Skyloft), then I highly doubt they existed or influenced the world until far far far into the future past Wind Waker, Twilight Princess, and Zelda II. New races pop up in Zelda and are said to have evolved into existence, such as the Rito in botw, or magically entered the world such as the Minish. The Sheikah rarely show their faces, it was only in botw we saw a living Sheikah settlement for the first time. I think its a giant leap to assume that this most recent of sky-peoples were the ones who were the originators of the eye symbol which is confirmed to be nearly as old as the universe itself because of some henna on Rauru and Mineru.
The Sheikah are the secret-keepers of Hyrule and always have been. They keep a deeper understanding of theology, physics, and magic that everyone else seems to forget or treat as fake. Just because no Sheikah is seen during the era where Rauru and Sonia reestablish Hyrule does not mean they aren't there. It's par for the course for the Sheikah to stay in the background even during calamities (ex. Twilight Princess). I do think you are correct that Mineru would have an interest in sharing her knowledge of the Zonai with the Sheikah, perhaps clueing them in that a fight will be had with an entity of malice leftover from the decaying king. The decision to come out of the shadows and embrace technology once more could easily have been influenced by the Zonai's departure, well done! In fact, the Sheikah were the ones who acted on behalf of the royal family to connect them to the Oocca too! So it tracks that the Zonai were hugely influential on their mission. Plus, if we assume Sonia carries the blood of Hylia, the Sheikah failing to save her would be a huge wake-up call to their holy duties. So yes, I highly doubt the draconification bit for the eye symbol, but I do think the Zonai were instructional for ancient Sheikah.
I like your voice and the matter-of-fact way you explore details of the series, it's definitely a great way to go about a topic. For your first video, I like it more than some of the bigger guys out there, really really good stuff.

[vivithefox]

Here's a theory on how the sheikah started that would make sense. Raru and his wife were obviously not the same type of people and yet Zelda clearly from their bloodline turned out to be hylian. Is it out of the realm of possibilities that mineru was the start of the sheikah people? Having found herself a lover of her own? Not much is said about how much time passes before her body withered away perhaps a descendant of hers was born before she became astral form. Which would explain purah being so similar to mineru including skills.

[TheHaddonfieldRegistry]

Another piece of evidence that they're intentionally connected; TotK's story is clearly evoking OoT's story. During OoT, after the Hyrulean Civil War, the Sheikah were nearly wiped out. Impa is one of few left.
During TotK's past, after the unnamed war, the Zonai were nearly wiped out. Mineru is the only one left.

[Lagojos]

Yes! I agree so much with this. *Spoilers* Also Purah is hinted at as being the new sage of Spirit since she's there when Mineru's spirit passes away and they both have similar headpieces.
My personal canon right now is that one of Rauru's and Sonia's son/daughter is the first sheikah in the ToTK timeline (it could be someone similar to the ancient hero but with white hair and Hylian ears or simply a Hylian with white hair like modern sheikah). They probably had more than one child, one of them had more Zonai features and the other more Hylian. One that stays with the royal family keeping the magic of time and light (this is the side of the family where Zelda comes from) and the second child will act as a spiritual guide, protector and scholar (Impa's and Purah's side)

[ghoulie]

The Sheikah Eye, and the teardrop appear in Skyward Sword.

[miguellopes]

Unlike what I believe the developers intended I watched all tear memories before finishing the 4 temples so it really annoyed me when what's his name didn't let me go to the ring temple because "Zelda" forbid it

[kyleoliver]

I’m glad there’s a video that points out the Sheikah’s absence in the early memories.

[Joe-xksv]

That would also explain why some pieces of sheika technology are identical to the Zonai (lasers, flamethrowers, etc)

[bdhuffman]

This is an awesome theory. I would love for them to go in this direction with future DLC.

Something I always wondered though about BotW. Why 4 Divine Beasts when there should be 6? Did they die before they finished the Shadow and Light ones?

[lordnul]

Anyone else notice how the Depths set looks like it could be an evolution of the Garo's robes from Majora's Mask? Just me?

[mattiekarwin]

Honestly, just the Divine helm and ancient dagger are enough evidence to convince me that the Sheikha someone came from or out of the the zonai. There's just no arguing your way around the fact that a zonai construct gives you the material Robbie used to craft ancient arrows and unambigiously referrs to it as zonai in origin. And the sages being directly effected by the divine beast armor is all the more evidence. Why people are skeptical about the connection at all after just those two I can't fathom. We even get confirmation of a group in the ancient past who could have gone on to become the Sheikha tribe.

Edit for typoes

[darkshado]

My theory is that the Sheika are the Zonia. Specifically a group of them followed Rauru and Mineru's example of staying behind in Hyrule - instead of going with the rest of their race to wherever they went - to continue to serve the Gods in their own way. The difference between them and Rauru and Mineru is that they hid in the shadows. To do this, they changed their physical form to better match the local Hylians via magic or by Secret Stones.

The Eye Symbol they have is based on their now missing third eye (Zonai have 3).