Rutela

Rutela in Twilight Princess.
Rutela
Species	Zora
Eye color	Green
Base	Zora's Domain
Relatives	King Zora (husband) Ralis (son)
Debut	The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker

Rutela is a Zora queen whose spirit appears as a posthumous character in The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.

Background

Rutela was the wise queen who presided over the Zoras of Zora's Domain for an uncertain amount of time following the death of King Zora. She was revered by the other Zoras and was respected by most other Hyruleans who knew of her. Rutela was also described as the elder of the Zora village. She also took care of her son, Prince Ralis. Zora's Domain was later attacked by shadow beasts from the Twilight Realm. Rutela sent Ralis away to get help from Hyrule Castle so that he could be safe. Rutela gave her life and was killed the by the shadow beasts while the rest of the Zoras were encased in ice.

She survived as a spirit and appeared before Link at the throne room when he defrosted the domain. Rutela's spirit implored Link to find Ralis and take care of him. She offered him the "protection of water" in return. After Link lived up to his word and rescued Ralis, Rutela appeared before him again and guided him to Kakariko Village's graveyard. She told him about the hidden grave where her husband was buried with garments that had been specifically tailored for the Hero. This was the Zora Tunic. Rutela realized that Ralis was still unaware of her passing and asked Link to tell him not to grieve her death, but to instead be brave and live on as the Zora king. She also told Link that she loved Ralis without end. At some point, Rutela's image did appear to Ralis in a dream and told him about Link, which made Ralis aware of how much Link had accomplished for him. This also seemed to make Ralis aware of Rutela's death. Although Rutela had said that she would be joining King Zora in eternal slumber, her spirit was shown again watching over Ralis during the ending credits.

Trivia

• Her name appears to be based on the name of Ruto, the Zora princess from Ocarina of Time.
• During the appearances of her spirit, a rearranged version of the Serenade of Water is used as her leitmotif.
• Her necklace has a design similar to the Zora Sapphire.
• A trophy of Rutela appears in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.
• In Breath of the Wild, one of the Zoras' dams is named Rutala Dam in reference to her.