Princess Ruto

Princess Ruto
Series	The Legend of Zelda
First Appearance	The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
Species	Zora
Age	10 (Child) 17 (Adult)
Year Created	1998
Created by	Nintendo

Princess Ruto is a Zora and the daughter of King Zora, who resided in Zora's Domain in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. She must be rescued as a child from Jabu-Jabu's Belly. She later becomes the Sage of Water.

History

Unified Timeline

Getting trapped in Jabu-Jabu's belly

She's an adventurous, yet temperamental, young Zora girl who got into trouble when Lord Jabu-Jabu, the Zora's fish-like deity accidentally swallowed Ruto's most precious treasure, the Zora's Sapphire. Angered, she managed to get inside Lord Jabu-Jabu's belly without telling anyone, causing distress among her people and father who were unsure of her whereabouts.

Meeting Link

When she realized she couldn't get out either, she sent a message inside a bottle that ended down on Lake Hylia, which Link recovered. Prompted by this, Link entered Lord Jabu-Jabu's belly to rescue her. However, Ruto refused to leave until she could find her treasure. When they finally recover Ruto's belonging, Link realized that's the jewel he'd been looking for: the Spiritual Stone of Water. Ruto was then subsequently captured by a Big Octo and Link was forced to continue through the dungeon. Once he defeated Barinade, he was reunited with the Zora princess.

Giving the spiritual stone to Link

Ruto, having grown fond of Link, agreed to hand the Stone to him on one condition: Link would have to marry Ruto when the time came. This was because Ruto's late mother made her promise that she would give the Stone only to the man that would become her husband. Having no other option, Link received Ruto's memento as a sign of their engagement.

Child Timeline

After the Timeline Split

Since Link go back in time and denounce Ganondorf, he never has the chance to kill the ancient sages and Ruto never become a sage and she is not remembered as heavily as she is in the other Timelines.

Adult Timeline

Trying to save her people

After Link was sealed by the Master Sword inside the Temple of Time, Zora's Domain and its habitants were eventually frozen by the evil that flowed from the Water Temple when Ganondorf acquired the Triforce of Power and conquered the Sacred Realm and Hyrule. Soon after Link was freed from the Master Sword's seal, Sheik managed to free Princess Ruto from the ice, who in turn went immediately towards the Water Temple to try to cast away the evil from the temple. When Link found her once again inside the temple, they had a short reunion recalling their engagement; nevertheless, Ruto declared that it's no time to talk about love, and offering her help, she requested of Link to destroy the evil the temple suffers from in order to defrost Zora's Domain and save her people.

Becoming the Sage of Water

Once Link defeats Morpha, Ruto is revealed as the Sage of Water and speaks of her feelings for Link, but, given it's still not the time, she postpones their engagement and prompts Link to continue his quest of awakening the remaining sages. She finally asks Link to give Sheik her thanks for rescuing her, which he does. She, with the other six sages, sealed Ganondorf inside the Dark Realm at the end of Link's final clash with Ganon.

Wind Waker

The Stained glass window.

By the time of The Legend of Zelda: The Wind Waker, Ruto and the other sages have been forgotten along with the Kingdom of Hyrule but each of the sages are represented in a stained glass window inside the Master Sword's room.

Phantom Hourglass and Spirit Tracks

In The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, an item called Ruto Crown can be found, its description say that it was once the crown of a Zora Princess, this princess being Ruto. Said treasure returns in The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks.

Downfall Timeline

Death

In the Downfall Timeline, Link is killed by Ganon. Zelda and the Sages sacrifice themselves to trap the Demon King.

The Adventure of Link

Years later, various Towns are named after the Fallen sages and one of those town is given the name of Ruto in memory of the late princess.

Unclassified information

More than 10000 years before Breath of the Wild

One of the Divine Beast, Vah Ruta was named in her honor by the Sheikah.

During Breath of the Wild

During The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, it is shown that the Zora still remember her since one of the Zora Stone Monuments is a recording of her story as the Sage of Water.

Hyrule Warriors

Description

"When Cia opened a portal to the era of the Hero of Time, a princess other than Zelda rose up and decided to aid the Hero, making it the second time she would answer Hyrule's call for help. As a princess of the Zoras, Ruto is at home in the water, ruling over Zora's Domain at the point where the Zora's River flows into Lake Hylia. While her refined speech may initially convince enemies and allies alike that she's stuck up and snobby, her actions as a warrior instantly remind those on the battlefield why she's so beloved."

Trivia

• Apparently, Ruto has the ability to read people's minds. That, or she's quite apprehensive to other people's thoughts.
• In the Ocarina of Time manga, Princess Ruto says the word 'Zora' at the end of her sentences, similar to how Moogles of the Final Fantasy series say 'kupo' at the end of theirs.
• Lulu from The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask is modeled after Princess Ruto. One major difference, however, is that Lulu wears clothes.
• In the Wind Waker, The Zora sage you meet in the game has a similar name, Laruto
• In The Legend of Zelda: Phantom Hourglass, there is an item called "Ruto Crown". The description explains that some say that it was once worn by a Zora princess, obviously referring to Princess Ruto.