Rito

The Rito postman Quill.
Rito
Type	Birdlike Humanoid
Debut	The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

The Rito is a bird-like humanoid species from the The Legend of Zelda series that originally appeared in The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker.

Information

The Rito is a humanoid species that bears many bird-like features, including beaks and feathers, which come with the ability to fly in the air. Between their two primary appearances, The Wind Waker and Breath of the Wild/Tears of the Kingdom, there are notable differences between their physical appearances. The Ritos from the former game have more human-like appearances, while in the latter game they look more like anthropomorphic birds. Ritos from The Wind Waker had human arms that could turn into wings, human mouths and beaks in place of their noises, while Ritos from Breath of the Wild had fingered wings for arms, and their entire mouths were beaks. The Ritos seen in The Wind Waker also had strong physical similarities, as most of them had dark skin and white hair (aside from Medli's paler skin and red hair), while in Breath of the Wild/Tears of the Kingdom, Ritos come with various colors, and some of them resembled specific types of birds such as owls. Ritos could also fly freely in The Wind Waker, while the Breath of the Wild/Tears of the Kingdom version relied on the winds to ascend.

They tend to live in tribes that are ruled by a chieftain, and they usually live in mountainous areas. In fact, it is implied that they developed their birdlike features through evolution to adapt to such areas. In The Wind Waker, they were specifically said to have evolved from Zoras, but is unknown if this is also true for their appearance in Breath of the Wild and Tears of the Kingdom.

Appearances

The Wind Waker

The Ritos inhabited Dragon Roost Island and lived there under the protection of the dragon Valoo, whom they revered as a sky spirit. They evolved or transformed from the Zora tribe at some point following the Great Flood, and they gained bird-like features such as beak-like noses as opposed to the Zoras' fish-like appearance. Before they developed wings, the Ritos used grappling hooks to get around the mountainous island. It seems that it was only with Valoo's help that they were able to get their famed wings. Eventually, visiting Valoo was established as a coming-of-age ceremony for Rito fledglings. They traveled to the top of the mountain and would receive a scale from Valoo. The scale enabled the Ritos to grow their wings. The Rito tribe also established a line of caretakers for Valoo who were taught to speak the Hylian language. With their wings, the Ritos were free to explore the skies and were known to make livings as postmen. In fact, the title of postman was revered by Ritos. Rito women are also known for their love of Golden Feathers. Some humans also attempted to imitate Ritos and hold "Bird-Man" contests in other parts of the Great Sea.

The Rito tribe primarily lived within an aerie in Dragon Roost Island and were ruled by a chieftain. The Ritos had also been entrusted with the protection of Din's Pearl, which they believed to have been handed down from the goddesses. During The Wind Waker, Valoo was tormented by a parasitic Gohma, which sent him into a perpetual rage which prevented any Ritos from getting near him. This also jeopardized the ceremony in which the chieftain's son Komali was set to receive his wings. Link arrived and managed to work with the current caretaker, Medli, to save Valoo. Valoo was calmed, and Link was rewarded with Din's Pearl. Komali was able to get his wings and was set to become the tribe's true heir, while Medli later succeeded Laruto as the Wind Sage of the Wind Temple. The Rito postman Quill also was helpful towards Link in his adventure.

Breath of the Wild/Tears of the Kingdom

In Breath of the Wild, Ritos were shown to be living in Hyrule within the Hebra region. Their home, Rito Village, was built along the sides of a towering stone structure atop an isle in the middle of Lake Totori. In the game's backstory, the Rito were among the Hyrulean races to receive one of the Four Divine Beasts which were created to help protect Hyrule from Ganon. Their Divine Beast was the bird-like Vah Medoh. One hundred years before the game began, the headstrong Revali was chosen to act as the Rito Champion to pilot it. However, the Divine Beast was infiltrated by Ganon's magic, and Revali was killed while Vah Medoh fell into the enemy's control. Revali was still immortalized as a legend, and Rito boys were encouraged to become honorable warriors like him.

During the present time, the Rito Village was led by an owl-like Rito named Kaneli. The Ritos lived in fear of Vah Medoh, which attacked anyone who flew near it. Two of the local Ritos, Teba and Harth, made attempts to fight the Divine Beast, only for Harth to end up injured in the process. When Link arrived, Teba helped him to attack and infiltrate Vah Medoh. Link was able to destroy the evil within, and Revali's spirit reclaimed Vah Medoh. This allowed the Ritos to live their lives more peacefully. Other Ritos were found outside of Rito Village as well, most prominently a traveling musician named Kass who recited legends and local rumors about hidden areas while playing the accordion.

These Ritos reappeared in Tears of the Kingdom. Kaneli had retired and appointed Teba as the new elder. In the aftermath of the Upheaval, the Rito Village suffered from an endless blizzard. During this crisis, most Ritos left the village to look for food and possible solutions to the blizzard, while the children took care of the village, with Teba and his wife watching over them. This crisis was ultimately resolved by Link working with Tulin, who defeated the source of the blizzard in the Stormwind Ark high up in the skies. Tulin became the Sage of Wind in the process, and it was revealed that there was an ancient Rito Sage of Wind who Tulin was descended from. The Stormwind Ark was the subject of folklore and a local song. It was said that the ark saved the Rito in a past catastrophe and got them to build flying boats. It was implied that it was the Zonai who brought the ancient gift of the ark and inspired them.

Notably, the Ritos and Zoras coexist within Hyrule in these games without any mention of a connection between them, andTears of the Kingdom showed that both races coexisted when Hyrule was founded.

In Other Zelda Games

Medli has appeared as a playable character in Hyrule Warriors, where she was initially available as DLC. In Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity, both Revali and Teba appeared as playable characters, and NPC Ritos also appeared as allies and sometimes opponents in battle.

Trivia

• The name "Rito" seems to be a reversal of the Japanese word for bird, "tori".
• Within the game, the Rito's connection to the Zoras is only implied through Medli's blood relation to Laruto and the conspicuous absence of the Zoras, but Eiji Aonuma later confirmed through an interview that the two species are indeed related. Oddly enough, one minor postman character is also implied to be descended from the Postman, which implies that Ritos may have also developed from (or crossbred with) Hylians.
• It has also been confirmed by Aonuma that they were inspired by the Watarara, a similar race of bird-people that appeared in a bonus chapter of the Ocarina of Time manga.
• The Ritos are oddly absent in the follow-ups to The Wind Waker, Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks. A flying postman does appear in the former game, but he appears to be a strange type of winged human rather than an actual Rito.
• In Twilight Princess, there is a mural seen on a pillar of the observation deck in Hyrule Castle Town which depicts a number of beings resembling Ritos near what appears to be a young Link.
• In Skyward Sword, the characters Owlan and Horwell were both designed based on the Ritos, due to the bird-like motif of the citizens of Skyloft.
• While no Rito physically appear in Cadence of Hyrule, the Roc's Feather-like item is called the Rito Feather.