Humans or Hylians?

[Hylian Herb]

I think I read on loz.com's website that Hylians were human-like beings with pointy ears and an ability to use magic. This implies that Humans were round eared people with no magical ability. Link is obviously a Hylian, because not only is he pointy eared, but doesn't the bloodline of the Hylian Knights consist of Hylians? My point in asking this is because there's a discrepancy about this in Twilight Princess. When you transform from a wolf back into a Hylian, it says "Transform into a human" as one of Midna's options.

So is Human and Hylian interchangeable words when talking about Hyrule? I thought it wasn't because loz.com also said that Gerudos were humans, because they're round eared.

 

[benjibibbles]

Gerudos, Hylians and Humans are all different races. I think the "Transform into a human" thing was just an oversight.

 

[Locke]

"Human" isn't used as a name of any specific race in Zelda. It's basically any 'humanoid' that isn't Zora, Goron, or Kokiri. It also applies to the people in WW, TP, LttP, etc who don't fall into the category of any of the known races. It's used in that specific case to distinguish between man and beast.














"Is there also a shadow of human figure?" - AOCHIDER, Pokémon Green Version

 

[butterbiscuit]

Hylians are pretty much synonymous with humans. They all have lungs, two arms, two legs, etc. The only real difference is the ears, I'm guessing the ability to use magic is more of an acquired skill than an inherited quality. Maybe humans just hadn't really figured out how to use it yet.

Just think of it like this; African people and English people. They're both humans, but with some different attributes.

 

[DuckNoises]

It has already been expressed pretty well here; Hylians are merely a specific group or culture of humans. In Twilight Princess, the Lamp Oil salesman refers to Hylians as beginning to slowly disappear over time, and their numbers are dwindling. By the time of ALttP (which I believe to also be on the Child Timeline), the Book of Mudora allows you to read the "ancient" Hylian language, implying that the Hylians have been long gone. However, humans still exist within Hyrule; they are just no longer of substantial Hylian descent.

 

[PhantomTriforce]

My best thought was that they are just interchangeably used. I didn't even know until a bit back that Hylians and Humans were separate races in Zelda, so I would have used them interchangeably.

 

[T Edoc]

The human-form peoples probably had the same ancestors, but they're distinct races, though I'm sure they're compatible.
Humans probably is the name for the non-Gerudo round-ears people (which can be seen nearly only in Wind Waker and Twilight Princess).
The term 'Human' also seems to become a generic term used to refer to Hylians too in Twilight Princess, though I'm sure it's not relevant.

the Book of Mudora allows you to read the "ancient" Hylian language, implying that the Hylians have been long gone.

Well, to me, it is only an old language which is different from their new one. I don't remember if it actualy says 'Ancient HYLIAN language', but I think ALttP is before Twilight Princess in the Child Timeline (for many reasons I could present in another thread, if there's interrest for). So I guess there are still many Hylians by the time of A Link to the Past.
Interrestingly, the original and altered version of the symbols of that 'Ancient' language both look like the symbols Navi reads to Link at the entrance of the Spirit Temple in Ocarina of Time.

 

[Locke]

Well, to me, it is only an old language which is different from their new one. I don't remember if it actualy says 'Ancient HYLIAN language', but I think ALttP is before Twilight Princess in the Child Timeline (for many reasons I could present in another thread, if there's interrest for). So I guess there are still many Hylians by the time of A Link to the Past.
Interrestingly, the original and altered version of the symbols of that 'Ancient' language both look like the symbols Navi reads to Link at the entrance of the Spirit Temple in Ocarina of Time.

*expresses interest*
"If you have the writings of Mudora, they say you can understand language of the Hylians." - Aginah, LttP, Japanese retranslation (NoA says basically the same thing. No 'ancient.') It's clear that the Hylians are distinguished from the modern peoples.
"With this, I can read the ancient characters the Hylians used!" - Link, LttP, Japanese retranslation (again, NoA says the same thing.) This one does use 'ancient,' but it's already made clear in the other quotes (the first one I provided was repeated several times) that the Hylians are not still around.
Could you provide an image of the Shadow Temple symbols?

 

[ancazur]

Well, just because the language is ancient doesn't mean the people aren't still around. Compare old English to modern English, for example. Or any ancient version of a modern language, I'm assuming. English-speaking people are still around, but old English is practically indecipherable.

 

[T Edoc]

Well, just because the language is ancient doesn't mean the people aren't still around. Compare old English to modern English, for example. Or any ancient version of a modern language, I'm assuming. English-speaking people are still around, but old English is practically indecipherable.

Yeah. And it's the same for french. Maybe it only means the current language by the time of ALttP already is the alphabet seen in Twilight Princess, or a version less newer than Twilight Princess's, but newer than the 'ancient hylian language'.

Could you provide an image of the Shadow Temple symbols?

Here :

*expresses interest*

Seriously? Well, first, to me it's obvious ALttP looks more med-age than TP. But that's just the very smaller reason why I think they go in that order. You heard of the Earthquake theory?

 

[Locke]

I'm pretty sure there was also a quote somewhere saying that no one could read them without the book.

Edoc, you should make a new thread explaining your timeline and the "Earthquake theory."

 

[T Edoc]

By the time of ALttP nobody could read it without the book. Of course somebody, someday, has been able to read it without the book, since it has already been a living language.

Navi, who can read Gerudo symbols - whether or not they are the sams as th 'ancient hylian language', lived by the time of Ocarina of Time.

For the Earthquake Theory :
http://www.zeldaeternity.com/forums/showthread.php?tid=93&page=1
More details may be added soon.

I'll stop now, cause we're a bit off topic. :-)