Ruto

Ruto as an adult in Ocarina of Time.
Ruto
Species	Zora (Sea)
Eye color	Purple
Relatives	King Zora (father) Dorephan, Mipha, Sidon (descendants)
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

Video Games

Hyrule Warriors

Ruto appears in Hyrule Warriors, where she can be unlocked as a playable character. This game uses a model similar to her adult Ocarina of Time 3D model. Her weapon is simply the Zora Scale, with which she attacks with water elemental abilities. She is unlocked as a playable character by clearing a scenario in Adventure Mode.

Storyline

She also has a non-playable role in the main storyline of Legend Mode, after Impa and Sheik travel back in time to the era of Ocarina of Time. First in the mission "Land of Myth", she was captured by Darunia after he was brainwashed by what seemed to be Princess Zelda. Impa and Sheik were able to defeat Darunia and restore him to his normal state of mind, and at that point he released Ruto with his apologies. Ruto then acted as an ally in the following mission, "The Water Temple". where Impa and Darunia's forces were fighting off the fake Zelda at Lake Hylia and the Water Temple. Ruto's knowledge of the area came in handy, and she was able to find the Lens of Truth that the others used to undo Wizzro's disguise.

After the battle, she came through the time portal to the 'present' time with Lana and Darunia to help in the final battles against Cia. However, she did not take part in said battles on the first playthrough, although she could appear in the replayed versions; in a replayed version of "Shining Beacon", if the player controlled Darunia, then Ruto took his place in awakening the Statie of Fire and Water, one of three special statues that had to be unlocked to open the gates of the Temple of the Sealed Sword. She was then seen in the denouement of "Shining Beacon", where she returned to her time period through the portal with Darunia, whose arm she rode upon. Lana later opened the portals again to bring all of the people from other eras, Ruto included, in to help in the final battles starting in "Enduring Resolve". After the final battle in "Liberation of the Triforce", Ruto and the others faded away, presumably returning to their own time period.

In the Legends port, she also appeared with a playable role (regardless of whether or not she is officially unlocked at the time) in the chapter of Linkle's Tale known as "Powers Collide". In this mission, Ruto and Darunia were working together to try to repel Volga's attempt to attack the Water Temple. They enlisted the help of Linkle with this task, and with her help they ultimately defeated Volga.

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 apparently she often did, and to avoid a marriage that he 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

• Ruto shares her name with a town in Zelda II: The Adventure of Link, as do several of the sages introduced in Ocarina of Time. This was decided in order to increase a sense of history in the series and comes with the implication that the town was named after her.
• Ruto's appearance as an adult was edited in the 3D remake by giving her an extra layer of scales resembling a dress in order to censor her apparent nudity.
• 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.
• She is also seen on a stain glass window in Hyrule Castle's basement, along with windows depicting the other sages, in The Wind Waker.
• 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.
• In Breath of the Wild, there are multiple references to Ruto. Her ascension to sagehood is described in one of the stone slabs detailing Zora history, and Mipha's diary in the "Ballad of the Champions" DLC mentions an old legend about a Zora princess falling in love with a Hylian swordsman. The Divine Beast of the Zoras, Vah Rutah, is named in her honor. Some of the locations near Zora's Domain are also named after her, such as Ruto Mountain, Ruto Lake and Ruto Precipice. There is also a bridge that is called Luto's Crossing, most likely due to a mistranslation, as l's and r's are interchangeable in Japanese.
• In Tears of the Kingdom, the locations that were named after Ruto in Breath of the Wild are retained, and Ruto is also mentioned in one of the stone slabs that was authored by Sidon. The slab tells of Ruto rising up to defend her people after they were menaced by an evil man, and that she was said to save Hyrule alongside a hero and a princess. This account notably makes no mention of her sagehood, possibly intended as a retcon considering the game's interpretation of the sages and knowledge of them seeming to have been lost over time. Sidon also refers to himself as Ruto's descendant, indicating that they are related by blood.