With The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom now having an official timeline placement, it is clear that the of one race in the game have a depressing fate awaiting them. As complex as Zelda’s timeline can be, the relatively stand-alone nature of most games means that they can be played independently of each other, Echoes of Wisdom included. However, taking the events of other games into can still give extra context to the events of each game, as well as show how well Hyrule fares in the long run after being saved.

On the surface, tragedy following the conclusion of EoW, something that is evident just within the game itself. But regardless of this, the problems that the inhabitants of Hyrule will face in the long term far eclipse the immediate consequences of the game’s events.

EoW’s River Zora Are Doomed To Become Monsters

The Timeline Proves They Lose Their Civilized Nature Over Time

Echoes of Wisdom shows both the River and Sea Zora living in relative harmony, and their relationship only improves over the course of the game. However, although the Sea Zora are as friendly as they have always been in the games since they were introduced in Ocarina of Time, the River Zora have had a much more tumultuous relationship with Hyrule, having originally been monsters in the original The Legend of Zelda. And sadly for the Zora, given Echoes of Wisdom’s timeline placement, it is clear that this is their direct future.

Echoes of Wisdom is now officially placed within the Fallen Hero timeline, the branch of the Zelda timeline created by Ganon defeating Link in the final battle of Ocarina of Time. More specifically, it is preceded by A Link Between Worlds and Tri-Force Heroes, and is then followed by The Legend of Zelda and The Adventure of Link. This means that Chief Dradd’s River Zora are effectively doomed to become the entirely hostile monsters faced by Link in the original Zelda title.

EoW Worsens ALBW’s Queen Oren’s Fears

The Latest Zelda Game Gives The River Zora Society False Hope

A Link Between Worlds features Zora clearly more in line with the River Zora than Sea Zora, who are nominally ruled over by Queen Oren. However, Oren herself warns Link that many of her subjects are becoming increasingly violent in Hyrule’s rivers, and they will indeed attack him if he approaches. When it first released in 2013, ALBW clearly depicted the turning point in the Zora’s nature from friendly to hostile. Echoes of Wisdom’s introduction has complicated this slightly, with Dradd’s Zora implying that the River Zora collectively returned to a more civilized state.

Ultimately, Queen Oren’s worst fears for her people are realized by the time of The Legend of Zelda, with all of Hyrule’s Zora having become true monsters. This in turn means that the harmony enjoyed by Chief Dradd and the other River Zora in Echoes of Wisdom is truthfully only a temporary reprieve for their degrading society. As depressing as it is to acknowledge, The Legend of Zelda’s timeline makes this fact extremely clear.

The Zelda Timeline Implies EoW’s Zora’s Peace Will Shatter

The River Zora May Be Responsible For The Sea Zora Disappearing

It should also be noted that EoW’s Sea Zora have disappeared from Hyrule when The Legend of Zelda occurs. Of course, a similar change in Hyrule’s demographic evidently occurred after Ocarina of Time, leading to the River Zora arising in Hyrule to begin with. However, while this initial transition can be explained by evolution (which itself would be a far less dramatic change than the Zora becoming the Rito), the fact remains that a new group of Sea Zora now appears and then quickly disappears without the loss of Link to act as a catalyst.

A large number of the franchise’s species have disappeared over the years, implying a dark truth is faced by many Zelda races. A similar fate may befall Echoes of Wisdom’s Sea Zora; as the River Zora once again become increasingly hostile and monstrous, it is not difficult to see them also growing increasingly at odds with the Sea Zora after the events of Echoes of Wisdom, driving the latter group away from Hyrule. At worst, this may even have led to bloodshed and the River Zora killing the Sea Zora, although there is no direct evidence for this.

Dradd and Kushara’s friendship alone makes the prospect of their respective Zora groups fighting a tragedy, but this is only compounded by the dramatic irony of Dradd explicitly being chosen as Chief for his ultimately pleasant demeanor.

The eventual fate of Echoes of Wisdom’s River Zora is not acknowledged in the game, and can only truly be inferred by examining the game specifically as a part of the larger Zelda series. Nevertheless, given the established facts of the timeline as it stands, it is clear that the peace enjoyed by the Zora in The Legend of Zelda: Echoes of Wisdom is only temporary. It is difficult to imagine Dradd’s happy Zora becoming the monsters seen in the franchise’s earliest titles, but tragically it seems that this is an inevitability.