Jabu-Jabu

A depiction of Jabu-Jabu from Ocarina of Time.
Jabu-Jabu
Species	Unspecified Fish
Eye color	Blue
Relatives	Jabun (possible descendant)
Debut	The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time

Lord Jabu-Jabu is a large and seemingly unintelligent whale-like creature that has appeared in several The Legend of Zelda games as the guardian deity of the Zoras. It is particularly notable in that in both of its appearances, its interior is large enough to count as an entire dungeon. Jabu-Jabu's Belly is the third dungeon in Ocarina of Time and the seventh dungeon in Oracle of Ages.

Background

Jabu-Jabu was a large sea creature. It was worshiped by the Zoras, maintained by its royal family and adorned with jewelry atop its head. Despitr all of this special treatment, Jabu-Jabu did not seem to be capable of any special talent and was content to merely suck up any food that was presented to it. Jabu-Jabu has been known to swallow its feeder from time to time, but being a friendly creature, it was usually easy for the person to get out. The exception was when Jabu-Jabu is corrupted by outside forces.

Ocarina of Time

Lord Jabu-Jabu was kept in the Zora's Fountain and was regularly fed by Princess Ruto, who had spent time in Jabu-Jabu's interior since she was young. This ritual was performed daily because "The Legend of Zora" stated that feeding fish to Jabu-Jabu would bring happiness. Zora's Fountain was only accessible by those with permission from King Zora in order to protect Jabu-Jabu. However, Ganondorf somehow got through and managed to infect Jabu-Jabu. Ganondorf's curse filled Jabu-Jaby's belly with wide variety of monsters, most of which were electrical in nature such as the Bari. The boss of Jabu-Jabu's Belly was Barinade. Due to Jabu-Jabu's illness, it would up sucking up Ruto when she tried to feed it, and she was trapped there while searching for the Zora's Sapphire that she had dropped. Link was able to similarly enter Jabu-Jabu by presenting it with a fish, which caused Jabu-Jabu to immediately suck both of them into its mouth.

The belly of Jabu-Jabu was very organic while still having doors with locks, treasures and such, as well as the Boomerang item. Link was able to help Ruto find the Zora's Sapphire and destroyed Barinade. The two were then able to leave Jabu-Jabu, who was restored to good health. Over the next seven years, Zora's Domain was frozen by a curse from Ganondorf, and Zora's Fountain was also partially frozen over. Jabu-Jabu went missing at some point during these seven years, and no clue was provided about its whereabouts aside from the possibility that it was encased within the iceberg that was floating where Jabu-Jabu once was.

Oracle of Ages

Jabu-Jabu was located near the Zora settlement at the bottom of Labrynna's sea. It appeared during both the past and present segments of the game. In the past, it was still a baby. In the present, which was about four hundred years later, Jabu-Jabu was fully grown but was suffering due to the ocean's pollution. King Zora's permission was needed to enter Jabu-Jabu, and he would only allow someone to enter Jabu-Jabu when he was in good health. Link was finally able to enter Jabu-Jabu after cleansing the ocean with the help of the Fairy Queen.

Unlike in the previous game, Jabu-Jabu's Belly instead resembled a standard man-made dungeon, likely for gameplay purposes, and there were also switches which maintained the water levels of the belly. There were a large variety of enemies within the belly, including Baris again, and the treasure inside was the Long Hook. The miniboss and boss within were the Angler Fish and Plasmarine, respectively. Link went through all of this to claim one of the Essences of Time, the Rolling Sea, which had somehow entered Jabu-Jabu's Belly. Jabu-Jabu seemed to live peacefully afterwards.

Trivia

• Jabu-Jabu's name is derived from Japanese onomatopoeia for splashing water.
• In Oracle of Ages, King Zora is shown to be visibly insulted by Lord Jabu-Jabu being called a "fish".
• In the Ocarina of Time Master Quest, cows are encased within the walls of Jabu-Jabu's Belly, implying that he consumed them at some point.
• Jabu-Jabu is absent from Twilight Princess, but the Lakebed Temple (which is a worshiping place for Zoras) contains sculptures resembling Jabu-Jabu, and some of the Zora masks used in the game also resemble Jabu-Jabu.
• Jabu-Jabu has a notable resemblance to the Wind Fish, including similar headpieces. The similarity only seems to be physical, however, as Jabu-Jabu shows no signs of intelligence or special powers unlike the Wind Fish.
• Jabun from The Wind Waker seems to be named after Jabu-Jabu and possibly is connected to him in some way, due to Jabun's familiarity with Ancient Hyrule. The two are very likely not the same due to Jabun resembling a different species of fish and being notably intelligent. The Hyrule Historia referred to Jabun as possibly being "descended" from Jabu-Jabu.
• In Majora's Mask 3D, it is possible to catch a fish called Lord Chapu-Chapu from the Swamp Fishing Hole. This fish resembles a small version of Jabu-Jabu and is referred to as the king of the swamp. It is possible that Chapu-Chapu counts as Jabu-Jabu's Terminan counterpart.
• In Breath of the Wild, an area called Ja'Abu Range, which is part of the mountain range within the Zoras' domain, seems to be named in reference to Jabu-Jabu. He is also mentioned on one of the stone slabs that document Zora history. Although he is not mentioned by name, he is referred to as "the Zora patron deity" in a slab describing the events of Ruto's life.