Daily Debate: What Happened To Hyrule’s Deku Race?

There are many recurring races in the Zelda series: the often elegant and magical Zora, the proud and stubborn Gorons, and the childlike and innocent Koroks. Of course, then there are some one-offs, like the Minish or the Mogma. However, there’s another race that’s very prevalent in few games, but oddly absent in others. I’m talking about the Deku Scrubs.

First appearing in Ocarina of Time and then playing a major role in Majora’s Mask, the Deku Scrubs have seldom been seen since. Specific to events after the split in the official Zelda Timeline, you will only see this forest-dwelling race in Hyrule during Four Swords Adventures. However, they do appear in Oracle of Seasons, Oracle of Ages, Tri Force Heroes, and The Minish Cap, which canonically comes before Ocarina of Time.

So, the question today is: what ever happened to the Deku Scrubs?

I don’t think there’s a solid answer for this, personally. It falls heavily into theory territory, trying to pin down anything to create an explanation. I think it’s possible that the Deku Scrubs simply drowned with the overwhelming majority of Hyrule during the Adult Timeline. After the Hero fell during the Downfall Timeline, they could have opted to hightail it out of Hyrule, and traveled to Hytopia. As for the Child Timeline, maybe they just laid low with the events before Twilight Princess, and in the aftermath, waited for Ganon to arise again.

It’s an oddity that after featuring so heavily in two of the biggest games of the series, the Deku have scarcely been seen since. What do you think about this? Are they just constantly hiding out in the shadows? Or were they wiped out? Let us know your ideas in the comments below!

David Nystrom

David is an editor at Zelda Dungeon. He’s the author of the ongoing series, The Era Without A Hero, and his favorite Zelda games are Ocarina of Time, The Wind Waker, and Skyward Sword. He’s also generally a fan of JRPGs and other major Nintendo titles, such as Smash Bros. and Mario.