N
NoSignalHere
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After you beat the water temple dont you think the Domain should melt?:huh:
I have always assumed it was more of a programming issue than an in game situation. Many times in the past it was stated that a lot of the sequences and story points had to be removed from the final copy to fit the entire game into the original cartridge. And normally this means non important aspects of the story have to go. Like individuals celebrating something, some NPC comments that are not necessary for the plot, or even sidequests that are not important enough to be left in. And I believe an unfrozen Zora's domain was one of these. Nintendo saved space by having the place remain frozen so there would be no need to have an unfreezing animation or extra NPC lines from the Zoras within.
It does make a little bit of sense in this context since Zora's Domain was a relatively small and insignificant area in the first place. No useful quest based NPCs or merchants were lost because of it. And no interesting areas to explore were cut off by it either. It had no story based significance to Link, Zelda, or Ganondorf. Only Ruto and she is already rescued after defeating morpha. Link revisits the Kokiri forest as an adult and views the changes to his personal home. The same for the home of Zelda in Hyrule castle town, and the Gerudo Valley to Ganondorf. And since the only changes to the Goron city was the presence of Gorons within it before and after the fire temple, no changes for the shadow temple in Kakariko, and Spirit Temple for the Gerudo fortress, a sequence for melting Zora's Domain was considered insignificant enough to drop from the finished game.
As for story based explanations, the Triforce powered curse on the area probably cannot be undone so easily simply by defeating Morpha. The Kokiri Forest was only infested by monsters and when Link defeated Phantom Ganon, they were gone. No permanent damage was done. As well as the guardian deity the Deku Tree sprouted and began protecting the area again. Well Jabu Jabu was already gone. Either killed by Ganondorf or escaped and have not returned. The loss of the Zora guardian deity would mean that they area might not recover so quickly as the Kokiri Forest. The Gorons of the Death Mountain were only taken prisoner and after Link defeated Volvagia they were freed and returned to the Goron City. The Zora were not taken prisoner like the Gorons nor were they hiding from monsters like the Kokiri. They had a much more permanent curse placed upon them that cannot so easily be solved by defeating a large monster. The ice will still be there even if the creature keeping things frozen is immediately removed. It still takes time for a glacier to melt even in warmer conditions. Especially so if that glacier is deep inside a cave away from the sunlight and kept cool by a river. It would very likely take ore than anything Link has in his arsenal to melt that.
It's because the game isn't in real time. The n64 didn't have an internal clock and the game wouldn't last very long if it depended on a battery to run. Just look at all those old GBC games like Pokemon Crystal.