Are mermaids related to the Zora?

[GZ Zelda]

Oracle of Ages: "Mermaid Suit, The skin of the mythical beast."

Zora reacting to Link "We don't get many mermaids visiting us! This is Zora Village!"

Zora reacting to Link "Welcome, young mermaid! This is Zora Village!"

Zora in the present explaining how Jabu-Jabu was healed in the past (referring to Link)
"The legend of the mermaid has been handed down from past to present"

I think mermaids are just people wearing Mermaid Suits. Link has all the powers of a mermaid when he wears the Mermaid Suit, and the Zora think that he is a mermaid. Mermaids are like cyborgs, made not born.

Seems to me that if mermaids were just an in universe cryptid/myth, being so close to what a Zora is, it could easily be in universe racism, akin to a monkey man. It's literally a fish person. I really don't want it to be anti-Zora racism. (I'm not saying that one does mean the other, just that there is the possibility.)

People aren't racist towards Link when he's wearing the Mermaid Suit, I don't think this is a problem.

So mermaids might exist, but I don't think they are related to the Zora.

They are related to the Zora insofar as they are part of Zoran mythology.

 

[Spiritual Mask Salesman]

They are related to the Zora insofar as they are part of Zoran mythology.

True but I meant more like mermaids aren't genetically linked to the Zora or something

 

[Ryuu Kage Desu]

People aren't racist towards Link when he's wearing the Mermaid Suit, I don't think this is a problem.

Good point. More importantly, it sounds like the Zora aren't offended by seeing a mermaid. I would have to agree.

Though, if all mermaids were land dwelling people wearing suits, I would think it would be addressed as such. The statements you provided suggest, to my eyes, that the Zora believe that mermaids are real.

 

[Ashley the Witch]

Best we can go off of is what little we have in game, and it's not much. Link's Awakening is the only "living" mermaid that I am aware of.

Considering the one in Link's Awakening is in, well, Link's Awakening, and spoilers, it takes place in the dream. Not really shocking developments there, the only other mermaid we have is that one girl from Phantom Hourglass, which isn't a true mermaid to begin with, and the Oracle games takes place in another Kingdom separate then Hyrule, but then again, we never actually see the Oracle games feature an an actual mermaid I believe. Chances are that mermaids either did exist and went extinct, they still exist and have never been in a Zelda game so far, or like GZ said,

Oracle of Ages: "Mermaid Suit, The skin of the mythical beast."

Zora reacting to Link "We don't get many mermaids visiting us! This is Zora Village!"

Zora reacting to Link "Welcome, young mermaid! This is Zora Village!"

Zora in the present explaining how Jabu-Jabu was healed in the past (referring to Link)
"The legend of the mermaid has been handed down from past to present"

I think mermaids are just people wearing Mermaid Suits. Link has all the powers of a mermaid when he wears the Mermaid Suit, and the Zora think that he is a mermaid. Mermaids are like cyborgs, made not born.

People aren't racist towards Link when he's wearing the Mermaid Suit, I don't think this is a problem.

They are related to the Zora insofar as they are part of Zoran mythology.

I'm more leaning towards the former, because of the item description.

 

[Fletch]

Oracle of Ages: "Mermaid Suit, The skin of the mythical beast."

Zora reacting to Link "We don't get many mermaids visiting us! This is Zora Village!"

Zora reacting to Link "Welcome, young mermaid! This is Zora Village!"

Zora in the present explaining how Jabu-Jabu was healed in the past (referring to Link)
"The legend of the mermaid has been handed down from past to present"

I think mermaids are just people wearing Mermaid Suits. Link has all the powers of a mermaid when he wears the Mermaid Suit, and the Zora think that he is a mermaid. Mermaids are like cyborgs, made not born.

People aren't racist towards Link when he's wearing the Mermaid Suit, I don't think this is a problem.

They are related to the Zora insofar as they are part of Zoran mythology.

I think this is another thing to think about entirely but by this ideology, considering we don't actually see another mermaid past Link's Awakening, would calling Link a mermaid when he wears the mermaid suit even be false? Like that tail supposedly gives him the capacity to swim and breathe under deep water so it makes me wonder if wearing the skin actually *does* turn him into a mermaid. Plus this game's definition of a mermaid isn't set in stone either. They could just be a group of Hylians who call themselves mermaids and coined the term once they made their new "I'm half fish" technology.

I'm probably looking way too deep on this though.

 

[Farore's Chosen]

No. Mermaids are half human half fish. Zoras are fish that grew limbs