Ruto

Ruto as an adult in Ocarina of Time.
Ruto
Species	Zora (Sea)
Eye color	Purple
Relatives	King Zora (father)
Debut	The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Ruto is a female Zora who was featured as one of the Seven Sages in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time.

Background

Born into the Zora royal family, she acted like a selfish and spoiled princess, but she was also known for being a rebellious tomboy. One of her treasures was the Zora's Sapphire, a present from her mother (who is presumably deceased). Ruto was told only to give that sapphire, the Spiritual Stone of Water, to the one she would marry. Another good friend of hers was Lord Jabu-Jabu, the guardian deity of the Zoras. As princess she was assigned to feed him, and Jabu-Jabu would sometimes even let Ruto explore his stomach.

One day, when Ruto was just a child, what started as a normal feeding went bad, as Jabu-Jabu swallowed her whole and caused her to lose the Zora's Sapphire. Jabu-Jabu's Belly was also filled with strange monsters. A boy named Link eventually came looking for her. Ruto rejected his aid at first, but Link persisted on helping her, so Ruto let Link carry her around in search of the Sapphire. Ruto found the Sapphire, only to be snatched away by a Bigocto and imprisoned in Barinade's lair. Link saved her and destroyed the evil in Jabu-Jabu's body. Ruto had developed a crush on Link in the meantime and gladly gave him the Zora's Sapphire when he asked for it. Ruto declared their engagement official.

Seven years passed without a word from Link, and Ruto grew worried. Then Ganondorf cast an evil curse on Ruto along with all of Zora's Domain, encasing it in ice. Ruto was freed from her frozen prison by Sheik. She immediately took off for the Water Temple to stop the evil there and undo Ganondorf's curse. As she explored the temple, she was reunited with Link. She quickly scolded Link for his disappearance and decided to lead him to an area where he could change the water level. But when Link went up after her, she had disappeared.

After Link destroyed Morpha, he and Ruto met in the Chamber of Sages. Ruto was awakened as the Sage of Water. She called off the engagement and realized that she and Link had two different destinies. She also assured Link that she sensed Princess Zelda was still alive and asked Link to thank Sheik for rescuing her. Ruto gave Link the Water Medallion and continued to help the other Sages after they were gathered. Together with their new powers they created a rainbow bridge leading to Ganon's Castle and sealed Ganondorf in the Dark Realm. Ruto traveled in the form of a blue sprite to Death Mountain with four of the other sages in the ending, and from their perch they saw the Lon Lon Ranch festivities.

Other Appearances

Other Media

• In Akira Himegawa's Ocarina of Time manga, she first appeared in one of the child chapters where Link saved her from Barinade. This version expanded on Ruto by saying that she had gone into Jabu-Jabu to hide from her father, as she often did, and to avoid a marriage had arranged along with his control over her in general. Ruto ultimately evades the wedding by giving the sapphire to Link instead. She then makes a more brief appearance in one of the adult chapters, seen guiding Link into the Water Temple and becoming a sage after Morpha's defeat.

Trivia

• Her naked appearance as an adult appears to have caused enough controversy that her design has been changed for the 3D remake by giving her an extra layer of scales resembling a dress and censoring her "nudity".
• Ruto shares her name with a town in Zelda II: The Adventure of Link. This was done to increase a sense of history in the series and comes with the implication that the town was named after her.
• She is also seen on a stain glass window in The Wind Waker.
• Her Terminan counterpart is Lulu, who has some design changes and most notably wears a dress. Ruto is also referenced by name within the game, as her name shows up on a list of answer options to a trivia question in which Lulu's name is the actual answer.
• A treasure called the Ruto Crown appears in Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks. It is apparently the same crown that was once worn by Princess Ruto, and it was handed down by the Zora race, despite large quantities of the crowns being obtainable in both games.