The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild features many unique and imaginative races and creatures who call the wide expanse of Hyrule home. Each of them brings something new to the player's experience with the game, but it is the Koroks that deliver the greatest levels of mystery and hilarious charm.
The Koroks are plant-like beings who resemble tree branches, albeit branches with leaves for faces. Their home is deep within the secluded Korok Forest, but they are known to travel across and explore the entire kingdom. They are shy beings, and as such the other races of Hyrule rarely encounter them. This has led the Koroks to become something of an enigma in Hyrule, with knowledge about them being reserved for only a select few.
7 Koroks evolved From Kokiri
Despite their close association with nature and more primitive things, Koroks are technically one of the younger races that exist in Hyrule. They are the descendants of the Kokiri, a humanoid race that was featured in Ocarina of Time. After the events of Ocarina of Time and before the events of The Wind Waker, the Kokiri survived on the Great Sea and adapted to their new life by turning into the Koroks.
Multiple millennia later, the Koroks came to live in Korok Forest with the Great Deku Tree, and from there they spread out across Hyrule to explore. Despite now living on a continent again, the Koroks never reverted to their original Kokiri forms.
6 Koroks Are The Most Prominent Race In Hyrule
Some people may not notice this fact due to the reclusive nature of the Koroks, but they have the largest population of any race in Hyrule. In Breath of the Wild, the player can meet over 900 Koroks, an amount that dwarfs even the number of Hylians in the game.
It is unknown how or why there are so many Koroks in Hyrule, but the prevailing theories come from two main reasons. The first is that the Koroks are adept at hiding, so they were able to escape the Great Calamity before the events of the game, and the second is that Koroks live for a much longer time than most of the other races.
5 Koroks Have Long Lifespans
Their exact lifespan has not been revealed, but it is known that Koroks can live for an incredibly long time. When Link first meets the Korok Hetsu on the trail to Kakariko Village, the Korok mentions that he is surprised that Link approached him. No one in the past 100 years had been able to see Hetsu, let alone make contact with him.
And much like their Kokiri ancestors, who were literal perpetual children, the Koroks retain their youthful appearances and attitudes. This means that it is possible that the Koroks are actually immortal, akin to the Elves from The Lord of the Rings.
4 Not Everyone Can See The Koroks
As Link learns from Hetsu and a few other Hylians, very few non-Koroks are aware of the Korok's existence. The Koroks are magical creatures, and as such, they have the ability to make themselves invisible, but they also have the innate condition of being undetectable by most people. The people who can notice the Koroks typically can only hear the sounds they make, and even fewer people are able to see them as anything more than normal plants.
This is why Link was such an anomaly for the Koroks. He could see them, hear them, and interact with them freely. Though none of the Koroks expressly state why this was the case, conversations with them point to it being due to both his inherent nobility and his role as the legendary hero.
3 Korok Seeds Are Not Actually Seeds
All throughout Hyrule, the player can find Koroks that are hiding in various unusual locations in the terrain. Once they are located, the Korok will celebrate the fact that the player has found them and offer them a reward. This reward is always the same for every Korok: a Korok Seed.
Hetsu will use these Korok Seeds to increase the size of the player's weapon inventories if the player requests it, but it's not until all 900 Korok Seeds are delivered that the truth about them is discovered: These "seeds" are not true seeds but rather Korok waste.
2 Koroks Are Skilled At Crafting Weapons
Despite their docile nature, to the point of being incredibly vulnerable if they are ever caught or discovered by enemies, the Koroks show a surprising amount of skill for forging useful weapons. The ironic thing is that the Koroks never used the weapons they made, as they only craft them for the Hylians to use for various purposes.
Using wood from the Korok Forest, the Koroks are able to craft the Forest Dweller Swords, Spears, Shields, and Bows. These are lightweight and strong weapons, though they do all share the weaknesses of being flammable and somewhat fragile.
1 Koroks Are Afraid of Vegetarians
It might catch some players off guard at first, but the more they think about it, the more it makes sense that Koroks would be afraid of Vegetarians. Even when people can see them as being a type of plant, Koroks can also be easily mistaken for a type of plant worth eating. And if a person cannot recognize a Korok as being sentient, they might make the horrible mistake of trying to make a meal of them.
This fear is made obvious when the player visits the Korok Forest and listens to a Korok named Pepp talk in his sleep. While sleeping, Pepp has a nightmare about being surrounded by a number of hungry vegetarians that seem to be unaware that he is not supposed to be on the menu.