The Late King of the Zora
Elouan: a poor son, a good brother, a great king, and an extraordinary father
When the time comes in Link's quest, the ghost of Zora Queen Rutella guides him to the final resting place of her late husband, where she gives him her blessing to wear the zora armour her husband made, placed with care within his grave. That armour was not just crafted by the late king of the zora; it was truly his own. Before he was a king, Rutella's husband was a prince-- Prince Elouan of Hyrule.
In Hyrulean tradition, it is the eldest royal daughter who possesses inherent right to succeed the throne. Royal sons have different roles to play in the kingdom. The eldest son would be considered the ultimate prize for marriage; his studies would revolve around politics and diplomacy, grooming him to be a royal advisor. His most major accomplishment in life would be to secure a strategic arranged marriage, either to ensure a great allyship for the throne of Hyrule, or to influence another power according to Hyrule’s agenda. The second son would study war, and train for battle, preparing to be a skilled general and strategist.
As the second son, this was what Elouan devoted his days to, and he was good at it— and he enjoyed it. He loved the sport of dueling, he loved jousting, and sparring, and he studied not just how to use weapons and how to wear armour, but how to craft them too. He learned what made a sword or a spear or a suit of armour really excellent, and what went into making it the best possible version of itself it could be. It was not just about learning to be great, but learning how to become great.
He was carefree and often full of mirth, even when his smile wasn’t quite reaching his eyes, in a metaphorical sense. He was witty and charming and funny, which allowed him to get away with being more unserious in ways his older brother Neirin, the eldest prince, couldn’t. Elouan was very social, genuine in his companionship, and enjoyed spending time with his older brother and younger sisters. Neirin was five years older than Elouan and was often too busy with his studies to give him much attention, and was also never willing to abandon his work to goof off. A devoted and responsible prince, unlike Elouan-- according to their parents, at least. Elouan's three sisters were all younger than him, by three years, seven years, and ten years respectively, and when heavy rain or snow prevented him from going outside, he loved playing with them. All princesses of Hyrule were named Zelda, according to ancient tradition, so second names were also always given. Zelda Clarita, the eldest daughter and heir to the throne, was extremely serious and had no sense of humour, so she and Elouan didn’t get along well, though he still loved her and made a show of doting on her. Zelda Anfisa, the middle daughter, was sweet, but very sensitive, and would run crying to their parents every time she felt like Elouan was teasing her, which was often, even if he wasn't actually. Zelda Rosana, the youngest daughter, was Elouan’s favourite to play with, ever since she was a baby and he would spend entire afternoons with her in his arms, doing everything he could to make her smile. Despite their difference in age and in personality, as the youngest princess had always had a very serious disposition, the two of them shared the closest bond of any of the royal siblings. Elouan called her ‘Rosie’, which Zelda Rosana found unamusing, but secretly endearing.
Being the second son also afforded him the privilege of forging a more personal dynamic with the citizens of the kingdom. When he wasn’t training, spending time with his family, or mucking about the castle swiping snacks from the kitchens, Elouan would go into castle town, where he had several friends, mostly the apprentices and children the same age as him of craft and tradesmen-- the weapon and armoursmiths he patronized.
He was a happy boy with a good life. He loved his home, his family and friends, and he loved his craft, his chosen path in life as a soldier.
That happiness came to an abrupt and brutal end when, during the summer of Elouan’s sixteenth year, his older brother Neirin went missing. The eldest prince, the dutiful, dedicated, perfect son, had run away from home, not even leaving a note, the only traces of his existence being the belongings he left behind in his chambers and his likeness hovering still in the family portraits like a phantom. Elouan led the search parties combing central hyrule for Prince Neirin, but there was no trace and no trail. Eventually, the king and queen decided to give up looking, and simply try to replace him instead. They believed a trophy of a son was more valuable than a warrior one.
The same night that decision was made, they and several servants entered Elouan’s chambers, waking him suddenly. To Elouan’s confusion and dismay, all traces of his previous life and his calling were erased, his weapons and armour confiscated and locked away, even the decorative and ceremonial ones. He had choice but to now fulfill the role his brother had abandoned.
Elouan was beside himself, but he had no hope of going against his parents’ wishes or changing their minds-- which he did try, to exhaustion. Everything had changed. He could no longer go into town without an escort, and he couldn’t spar or train or even get his hands dirty, or do so much as hold a weapon. He could no longer be fun, he had to be dignified and mature. He had to catch up on all the studies he’d never had a reason for pursuing. Essentially, he had to become an entirely new person, and it did change him, but not in the way his parents had hoped. He struggled hard and everyone around him could tell, which only earned him more of his parents’ ire. It was maddening and humiliating.
Elouan loved his brother, and prayed for his safety and happiness. But he also hated him so much, for leaving him, and for leaving him to inherit his life.
He was miserable.
When the queen died-- of illness, nothing particularly spectacular or dramatic-- Elouan cried, but he wasn’t sure why.
Four years later, a border conflict erupted between Hyrule and Zora’s Domain. There were long stretches of a large river in eastern Hyrule that some zora had always claimed ancestral right to, but the hylians in the area were hostile to the zora who leaved in the river, and soldiers had for years been pushing those zora out of Hyrule. The military conflict was finally triggered when a group of zora merchants were unlawfully arrested by Hyrulean soldiers in the east. Zora’s Domain was swift to retaliate, ruthless and unforgiving, and the ensuing battles were short, but bloody. Hyrule released the imprisoned zora, but Queen Rutella did not call off her forces, and by following the river, she and her soldiers claimed more and more of Hyrule’s eastern territory. The military losses were high, on both sides, but fortunately the civilians who happened to live in the east were spared the violence-- after all, Queen Rutella believed that punishing the uninvolved common people of Hyrule would not be justice, only hypocritical.
Elouan did not abide by the actions of the soldiers that started it, but still he ached to be on the battlefield, and dreamt of coming face to face with Queen Rutella with their weapons drawn.
As fate would have it, after one month of skirmishes and violent tug-of-war, the Hyrulean generals called for a truce, and surprisingly, Queen Rutella agreed. She and one of her generals met with the Hyrulean ones on middle ground to discuss the terms of what was being tentatively but optimistically referred to as the ‘Non-Aggression treaty’.
The Zora agreed to return the farmlands they’d seized to Hyrule, but would keep the banks and beds of the river as far as their forces had reached, which Hyrule accepted. But, the Hyrulean generals were stumped when Rutella asked what else they would offer to her and her domain, to convince them that Hyrule’s contrition for their hand in starting this conflict was true, and that the treaty really would be more beneficial to them than simply continuing to conquer Hyrule. Nothing they offered satisfied, and eventually the generals caved and demanded for Rutella to just tell them what she wanted. She said, “the most precious thing you are willing to offer me.”
At a loss, the generals rode back to Hyrule castle for the king’s orders. The king was perplexed and infuriated. After a lot of arguing, that both Elouan and Zelda Clarita sometimes joined in on, Elouan spoke up with an idea. He had the ability to secure a great allyship for Hyrule through marriage… and would Queen Rutella not be much greater to have as an ally than an enemy?
So the generals returned to the negotiations arena in the company of Prince Elouan, where he was presented by them to Queen Rutella like the trophy he supposedly. Rutella’s response was only to request she and Elouan speak in private to discuss this proposal. Elouan was nervous, this was something he was never good enough at after all, and a lot hung in the balance. Also, Queen Rutella was very, very tall, and as intimidating as she was beautiful. To his relief, they were able to speak honestly and personally, coming to a genuine understanding with each other not just as royals but simply as people, and the proposal was accepted.
To symbolize the new pledge of peace-- or at least, lack of aggression-- and goodwill-- or at least, lack of malintent-- between Hyrule and Zora’s Domain, Prince Elouan and Queen Rutella were now engaged to be married.
The wedding was held in Zora’s Domain, where Elouan would be living from that point forth as Queen Rutella’s husband, King of the Zora. It was a grand affair with only some uneasy tension between the hylian guests and the zora hosts. The ceremony went exactly as planned, carried out mainly in Zora tradition with some Hylian wedding rituals woven in. Elouan’s father was stone-faced throughout the entire affair, and his only words to Elouan were in the form of scoldings and warnings. Zelda Anfisa wept openly and loudly, but the other two princess maintained their decorum. After the ceremony, however, Elouan and Zelda Rosana’s goodbye was tearful and heartfelt, and incredibly moving to those around them. After the rest of the Royal Family and relevant dignitaries and their aides and servants and guards had all left, leaving Elouan the only human in the Domain’s capital city, the real festivities began. The people of Zora’s Domain may have been unsure about their Queen’s choice of king, but they weren’t going to pass up an opportunity for feasting and partying. There was even a parade, and Elouan was blown away by all the excitement and revelry.
Now King Elouan, his role in the Zora Royal court was mostly a symbolic one. Rutella was the reigning monarch and Elouan had little executive power that didn’t involve assisting his wife, but he didn’t mind that. Freedom was what he always wanted, not power, and now he had freedom in abundance. The pressure from his family to be the right kind of prince was no more. The new pressure from the Zora citizens to be the right kind of king suited him much better. He did not expect to be accepted with no effort on his part, so he put the effort in. He explored as much of the domain as possible and talked to anyone and everyone he could, getting to know as many people as possible. He showed everyone he met great respect, from the most irreproachable royal advisors and elders to mischievous, title-less youth, from craftsmen and merchants to servants and farmers. He shook hands and kissed babies’ cheeks. He learned how to swim better, developed a taste for their food, their song and dance-- if not their lack of clothing, for he did keep his human modesty.
He revisited his old passion for armour, and crafted himself the Zora armour-- that, little did he know, the Hero of Twilight would one day come to wear-- so that he could breathe underwater and swim like a zora could. He picked up a sword again, and began practise sparring with Zora generals and soldiers. He learned how to better wield a spear, which was most zora's weapon of choice, though Elouan would always favour the sword. It was everything he was a natural at, and everything his parents tried to train out of him. He grew out his hair, and braided in luminous stone beads, integrating with the domain and its people and their ways more and more each day.
All of this earned him his new people’s affection, but it was his valiant and selfless actions in battle defending the domain from invading Oceanic Zora Empire forces that earned him their trust.
Somewhere along the way, Elouan and Rutella fell genuinely in love, despite their union initially being a purely political one. To those around them it was a pleasant surprise, but to the royal couple it was an inevitability-- after all, they both felt the spark when they first met in that incredibly dingy and unromantic negotiations tent. Just after their first full year of marriage had passed, their son, Prince Ralis, was born.
Ralis’ development was precarious and his hatching was frightful. He was a weak egg, lacking healthy colour in the protective organic sack he was laid in, and both Elouan and Rutella spent many sleepless nights with a royal physician watching him closely. When he finally did hatch, sooner than he should have, it was immediately discovered with great horror when the nurses submerged him in the cleansing basin that Ralis could not breathe underwater. A more thorough examination of the sickly infant showed that while on the outside he looked (more or less) like any other zora, on the inside his physiology much more resembled that of a human, the evidence of his mixed parentage. He had the shape of gills on his ribs that were actually closed shut, and while gill surgery was not unheard of for zora, even ones so young, Ralis' fully human lungs would have made it impossible. He had more bone than the average zora, and his cartilage was much thicker and harder, making his fins and head-tail stiff and severely lacking hydrodynamicy-- even moreso than a human. Prince Ralis was born unlucky, but his parents loved him so, so much.
Rutella cherished and nurtured him, and Elouan made him a much smaller version of the enchanted mask he himself wore to help Ralis breathe underwater. Though he had to go above water to eat, and to sleep safely, it was the same for his father. Even though being so different from the other zora upset Ralis, it was comforting that they were differences he had in common with his father. When they could, the family would spend time at the shallow sunny lakes in the highlands surrounding the city. Elouan loved being a father more than he’d loved anything else before. Ralis was his pride and joy, and he made sure everyone, especially Ralis himself, knew it.
Naturally, Zelda Rosana was the one Elouan kept most in contact with since leaving Hyrule, and when Ralis was born it was to her that his first letter containing the news was addressed. Zelda Rosana and Zelda Anfisa would visit their brother in the domain when they could. Zelda Rosana even soon took up the sword herself, the one obvious way in which she and her brother were alike-- their physical resemblance aside-- and her and Elouan sparred together whenever they had the chance during these visits. Zelda Anfisa loved playing with her baby nephew Ralis, and the young Zora prince was always excited whenever the sisters were there. Zelda Rosana didn’t have the same instinctual love for young children that Elouan or Zelda Anfisa had, but despite not really knowing how to interact with her nephew, she was still kind to him, in her own reserved way. Though she absolutely did not let him call her ‘Auntie Rosie’.
Any time since the wedding that Elouan saw his family was when they came to Zora's Domain. But six years after he left, Elouan returned to Hyrule Castle for the first time, to attend the funeral of Zelda Anfisa. The middle daughter, sweet and delicate and sensitive, had been murdered. Rutella and Ralis also attended. The young prince’s first visit to Hyrule was cloaked in the shadow of death, and, unfortunately, so would the next several ones be as well.
The prime suspect of the murder, the name on every gossiping and conspiring tongue in Hyrule castle, was Zelda Rosana. Who could it have been if not her, the youngest princess, cutting down the barriers between her and heirdom? The youngest daughter would have little esteem in her elder sister’s court. But in truth it was not the younger sister but the elder who was the true murderer, for Zelda Clarita had been jealous of Zelda Anfisa for being more popular and more liked than she among the court, and thought she was planning on sabotaging her.
When Zelda Rosana bloodied her sword, it was with the ichor of vengeance, and of justice. Six years and two weeks after he left, Elouan returned to Hyrule Castle for the second time, to attend the funeral of Zelda Clarita.
Though he had sources of sorrow and experienced hardship from time to time, and grieved the deaths of two of his sisters and his longer separation from his youngest one, Elouan’s life as king in Zora’s domain was still full and rich. His life as a husband and father was even perfect, he would say, in every way that his life as a son was flawed. And he was happy. He was so deeply, powerfully happy.
But, of course, we all know how this story ends: with the Hero of Twilight being brought by Queen Rutella's spirit to her late husband's grave. At the age of only thirty-one, King Elouan fell suddenly and severely ill from a common disease for which there was no cure yet. Weakened by fever and coughing up blood, he passed away from the sickness in his bed surrounded by family and friends. He left a letter of goodbye for his most dearest and single remaining sister, which he'd managed to fight through the feverish haze to write with the desperation of a man who knew he would die soon. Zelda Rosana received that letter when she arrived in the domain for Elouan's funeral, where she was stoic as ever, but the hard lines of her somber face could not disguise her sorrow. The king of Hyrule was cold and impassive as a statue, and it was impossible to tell what he felt about his son's death, if he felt anything at all, or if he was just bored. Queen Rutella and Prince Ralis, along with the rest of Zora’s Domain, mourned King Elouan's death as deeply as if he had always been one of their own.
Queen Rutella had known already that as a zora, she would obviously outlive her husband, but it was not until then that she realized what the reality of a long life after he was gone would be like. His loss was like a heavy stone chained to her neck, dragging her down to the very bottom of the lake, and it took all her strength to stay strong for her people, and for her son. Ralis, a child of only ten still, had not even begun to grapple with the concept of either of his parents’ death, even that of his human father. He was inconsolable, and wouldn't smile for months.
But, as fate would have it… only six months later, Zant’s invasion of the light world began, and Queen Rutella was killed in the usurper king’s attacks on the domain, only managing to send Ralis away before it would be too late. When the veil of twilight was lifted from the domain, she appeared to the hero as a spirit, and when her son was finally safe, she guided the Hero of Twilight to Elouan's grave where she gifted the young Ordonian with her husband's first set of Zora Armour. Queen Rutella reunited with King Elouan in the afterlife much sooner than she feared she would, but her passing also left their beloved son behind, orphaned, much sooner than she ever hoped. Though it was unbearably painful for them to be apart, the king and queen of Zora's Domain hoped that Ralis would not join them for a long, long time.
Extradiegetic (aka Doylist) Notes
It's sometimes crazy for me to think about how much of this character and the story surrounding him are completely made up by myself and my sibling Anon. It's because the theory that Queen Rutella's late husband was actually a human and not a zora is one of our most longstanding Zelda theories, something we considered long before we even thought about writing out our own entire version of the games' canon. Then there's the fact that by the time the actual events of Twilight Princess begin, almost everyone described here is dead-- only Zelda Rosana (the canon TP Zelda) and Ralis still live, and technically also Link, though he's not actually part of the backstory here and I don't even really mention him by name. Of the characters that have died but also actually canonically existed in the first place there's only Rutella and her husband, and only Rutella was even somewhat a real character, with a name and face and personality.
The only canon information about the late zora king was that he was alive once and then he died, he was king of the zora, he was Rutella's husband and Ralis' father, and he made the zora armour. In-game, it's said that he made the armour specifically for 'the hero', but honestly Anon and I always believed the odds would greater that he'd been a human and crafted that armour for himself and, by coincidence, was the same size as Link, than if he'd been a zora and and crafted the armour for a hypothetical future hero and just so happened to perfectly guess exactly what this unknown hero's measurements would be.
Some more details that fed our theory were that he was buried in Kakariko village-- and Rutella says that Kakariko village is apparently very important to the Zora but tbh it's pretty far away and there's no other indication in the game of that significance. However, there is a precedent for a strong connection between specifically Kakariko village's graveyard, and the royal family of Hyrule. The graveyard in TP even heavily references OOT, the game which established that precedent, what with the covered up well, and the two poes in the main part of the graveyard.
Also, Prince Ralis really does look like he probably had a human parent. Sure, the closed gills thing could just be a matter of texturing, but it's not like they shaded them to look open, they just have the outer shapes, and the shape of his lil baby nose and philtrum are more emphasized than on the faces of the other zora, which are smoother and much more subtle. Then there's the upright head-tail and tiny, solid-looking little fins thing. For a kid born to an aquatic race, he sure doesn't look like he was actually built to swim, which logically a zora should be able to do easily sooner than they would walk, and Ralis definitely would not be able to swim the way we see zora do in the game. Plus, they go out of their way to mention that Ralis is the only one who can catch reekfish-- but not because he can catch them in the water like one would presume a zora would, no, he has a special fishook that he uses-- to catch fish the human way. And like, sure, the game needs it to be like that because Link needs to catch the fish the human way, but that doesn't mean that was the only possible explanation the developpers could have reasonably come up with. I'm telling you-- that! Boy! Can't! Swim! Or at least, not any better than a human could.
Anyways, pure speculation and headcanon is what brought us from there to here. It was a lot of fun to come up with all this backstory for a pair of characters who literally die before the game even begins, one of whom we never see at all. But I do make myself sad with it sometimes. I do have a habit of just sprinkling tragedy on things that were not nearly that tragic before.
Comments