#POSTMEN IN THE MOUNTAINS

[anamon-book]

山の郵便配達 エキプ・ド・シネマ第128回ロードショー EQUIPE DE CINEMA No.135 岩波ホール 監督：フォ・ジェンチイ／出演：トン・ルゥジュン、リィウ・イェ、ジャオ・シィウリ、ゴォン・イエハン、チェン・ハオ ほか

[seasnipper]

I asked her why mountain people live in the mountains.

POSTMEN IN THE MOUNTAINS 那山那人那狗 (1999) dir. Huo Jianqi

[musical-chan]

Father of Time Chapter 14: Messages Home

Hi Malon, 

I hope this letter gets to you.  I'm not sure if any of the postmen actually know where Hyrule is out here but you never know, right?

It took us a week to get out of the forests around Hyrule. A whole week! Can you imagine?  Well, you probably can. And then I got to see a mountain. A real mountain! I'm pretty sure it's bigger than the volcano too.  It's hard to understand the people out here sometimes but I think they said it was called Dragon Peak or something. Dad says we're going to see more mountains.  I think we're going to go up one!?  Wow, I wonder what that's like. Guess I'll find out! 

I also found out what a mesa is. It's kind of like a flat topped mountain but not as tall. Kinda looks like someone cut the top off a mountain and it's just flat!

Oh man, you know what? Most people out here don't have normal ears either. They're a lot shorter. Have you ever seen a Gerudo? Kinda like that! But their skin is lighter so I'm not sure they're related.  Everyone's very nice though. Deity and I helped a family on our way here.  There's a lot more monsters around out in the wild.  They just wander around in packs.  Anyway, it was no problem and the family gave me some milk! I still think Lon Lon has better though.

The town we're in is pretty interesting. It's smaller than Castle Town for sure and I think it's mostly just where the local farmers come to trade and get news.  I've seen some animals I don't recognise! Dad said they were kinda like cows but more used for pulling loads. And goats! Goats are kinda like sheep, I guess. Not sure why we don't have them at home.

I really liked the food at the inn. Dad says I'd like anything as long as it's edible but there's nothing wrong with liking food!

I'll try to write more though I don't know how many more postmen we'll see. We're going pretty far away.

Pet the horses for me, okay? Link

(Read the rest on AO3!)

[moonspirit]

favorite movie, favorite ships (aot or non aot), favorite book

hi hi hi!

Favorite movies - copy pasting from a prev ask haha xD - some of my favourites off the top of my head - Most Ghibli movies (but esp Howl’s Moving castle), Kimi no Na wa, Interstellar, Avatar 1&2 (james cameron), titanic, The Martian, Postmen in the Mountains, Big Fish & Begonia

Fav ships - Hm. Aruani (obv), eremika, yatori (currently I am in shambles), Touken, Ayahina (tokyo ghoul), Yutamaki (jjk), royai, edwin, lingfan, inukag, okikagu, kei x hikari (from my first ever fanfic-inspiring anime; SA), Ito x Makoto (from a manga called W Juliet, GOD I love(d) it so much T_T), and uhhhh i'm sure I have more but I'm blanking out... xD

Fav book of all time - Cosmos, by Carl Sagan :3

[othernaut]

Moreover, if you're dealing with the past, don't underestimate how distance and inaccessibility breed differences in language. Different dialects spring up all the time in villages who live, like, one mountain over. News moves differently when it travels on the backs of pigeons and postmen.

If your time traveler bursts into a blacksmith's shouting, "I need a rigor wheel, oil iron, lightly hatched, and with three sooth divots maximum. If all you have is a fiver, you can solder the spares, it'll work for now." That blacksmith is going to land on 'some fucking guy two villages over, they're weird up there' before 'time travel/sorcery'.

If your time traveler is trying to delicately insert themselves into a high-society soiree and doesn't know who the king is, well, were you summering in the mountains, maybe? Convalescing by the seaside? "Philadelphia" - is that near Cairo, maybe? Makes sense that the messengers couldn't get out there in a timely manner. Let me fill you in on my version of current politics.

If you're seated on a patio, drinking watered wine and trying to figure out what year it is, there's a strong chance of sparking a spirited discussion among fellow drinkers who also don't know what year it is, the fucking Cardinal shifted things around again so that harvest season starts on a feast day, there's been massive issues with current border passes being technically issued two weeks into the future, let's argue about it for hours.

People are going to default to their personal biases before moving to outlandish assumptions. Maybe you've been sick for the past few years. Maybe you've been hermiting or on pilgrimage. Maybe you've been soldiering. Maybe you've been getting your news from that one fucking crier, yeah that guy, he takes bribes, half of what he says is advertisements for his brother's import business. Maybe all the weird bullshit you're describing is just how things are in the Mysterious and Far-Off East, we've never been, tell us everything. We've been wielding Occam's razor long before William of Ockham drew breath.

In time travel movies, when the time traveler asks 'What year is this?!?' they're always treated like they're being weird for asking.

When in reality, if you go 'What year is this?!?' people will just say '2024. Crazy huh.' and you go 'Wtf where has my youth gone.'

And if you ask 'And what month??' people won't judge you, they'll just go like 'SEPTEMBER!!! Can you believe it?!?!' and you go 'WHAT?!? Last time I checked we were in May?!?'

[hoppipolla]

Hi, Liz! How are you feeling today? Has the week started well? I'm personally really moody today because of the weather, but I hope it's not affecting you as much as me and you're feeling alright! Also, did you enjoy any dramas/films in January? I hope you did

- With love, Your Secret Valentine 💝

Hi lovely Valentine! The weather isn't great where I live either but there was some beautiful light during the day so it made up for it :) I hope you'll feel better soon! It's always a bit tough when you start the week in a sour mood :( Sending you hugs! I haven't really been in a drama watching mood since the beginning of the year. I'm mostly watching films nowadays. I've watched 7 so far and my favourites are 'How to Make Millions before Grandma Dies' and 'Postmen in the Mountains'. What about you? How is your drama/film watching going?

[priafey]

there's this movie i just watched called Postmen in the Mountains (1999) and I'm afraid I have no choice but to highly recommend it. insanely good story, really great cinematography, great acting. i cried at one point 😭 probably my favorite movie i've watched this year

(disregard the goofy thumbnail)

[poemsbydrparthapbanerjee]

On Gravity | Dr. Partha P Banerjee (Author)

On gravity… The peace loving soil is coming down From the hard working mountain top to poetic river bed

On gravity' The escapist twilight is rapidly coming down From the Sidhu's farm house to Gurgaon-Mehrauli main road

On gravity' Poor postmen are burning letters outside the post office premises And keeping time to nail their shoes they got free'

On gravity' Who are running around, they are aimless student! Burning their degree certificates of unemployment!

On gravity' Amazed Judges are now outsiders! Hearing jungle book story from the leaders!

On gravity' Cunning politicians are coming down to collect bones They need more skeletal to flourish their business

Ask anybody bone Business a reality Either with or without sanctity

No slogan, and No gravity please

[nonkul]

Hello hello dear user nanaphat! I've been thinking about something... You said in one of your replies that it's been a while since you've watched an animated film (you mentioned it because I was telling you that I was looking forward to watch The Boy and the Heron) and it made me wonder: should I be annoying and recommend you some or should I just send you an ask after I've watched The Boy and the Heron to tell you what I thought of it? I haven't watched it yet (and I also don't have an answer to my own question) BUT I'm going to the cinema this Sunday to watch Princess Mononoke (this feels like a dream tbh... Princess Mononoke on the big screen) and it made me think of you. If you haven't watched it yet, I'd highly recommend it! I have yet to figure out your taste in series and films but I think you might like Princess Mononoke ^^ You might have already watched it though so just ignore this ask if you have haha (I'm aware that telling you which films I'm about to watch might blow up my cover but it doesn't matter haha. I'll pretend you haven't figured it out yet.) Random question but what are your favorite film(s)?

hello hello! actually you should do both! because I'm very curious about what you think of The Boy and the Heron! aaand I do need to watch more animated films anyway. so recommendations are always appreciated!!

tbh I haven't watched that many animated films to be able to confidently say I like xyz. I know I like ones that are a bit more grounded in reality (Grave of the Fireflies is my all-time favorite, animated or not). I also liked The Wind Rises and 5cm/s! everything else is a blur to me because suddenly I forgot anything I have watched up to this point. 😭

I might or might not have watched Princess Mononoke one time in cram school? kinda don't remember anything about it. and I know, cram school of all places, it's weird. BUT the one I used to go to would occasionally show movies during break so we could ~ease our minds~ after intensively studying. and I don't think we ever got to watch the entirety of anything either so idk. Princess Mononoke is due for a new watch for sure!

and like I said, I don't remember everything I've watched up to this point. I can probably tell you what my favorite watches of this year though? they are:

Postmen in the Mountains (1999): probably closest to what I usually like and look for in movies. it doesn't have much going on but it was just made for me

Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter… and Spring (2003): this one is more of a classic. it always ends up on somebody's best asian film list so this year I just had to see it for myself and I gotta admit people are right. this is good

Permanent Residence (2009): this one is more of a guilty pleasure. would I recommend it to people? probably not. most people hated this movie and the director I think. 😔 but is it one of my all-time favorites and completely makes sense in my head? ...yes

honorable mention:

Egoist (2022): it's ~entertaining~. it made me feel intense feelings for the main characters. definitely lived up to the hype tumblr and twitter built for it. I just wish the second half of it were more memorable

[cinemaronin]

Postmen in the Mountains (1999)

那山那人那狗 Postmen in the Mountains (1999)  directed by Huo Jianqi cinematography by  Zhao Lei

[nikitasbt]

Postmen in the Mountains (那山那人那狗, 1999) by Huo Jianqi

Huo Jianqi’s Postmen in the Mountains is one of the finest and awe-inspiring pieces of independent modern Chinese cinema. A pretty straightforward and linear narration enriched with touching scenes of family relationships, people’s solitude and their inferiority to the time and nature unfolds rich elegance of existence. This is a sad film, though there is no big drama. Postmen in the Mountains is pretty much into life showing the reality of common people’s world as it is.

A pace of the film is typical for the Oriental arthouse: it is slow, enigmatic and beguiling. There is no aggressive montage, and no splurge of colours and visual effects we see on the screen. Postmen in the Mountains is focused on two main characters and astonishing landscapes of the hills. The plot is absolutely brilliant in its simplicity: this s a story about the postman working in a remote area where he is the only one to deliver letters people have been expecting for weeks and months. This job is drastically important making a postman local hero and personification of hope.

An aging man (Teng Ruijun) and his son (Liu Ye) are off for a trip to deliver a rucksack full of letters. They are son and father, accompanied by the dog. The father’s whole life has been dedicated to this work, but he was recently forced to resign due to the knee injury. And now this is the time for a son to take over. A father volunteers to show his son a full route, so they depart for a trip which is the first one for the son and last for his father. A father’s farewell to the meaning of his all life is bitter, yet he stands it showing the son how he has been living for decades.

With these decades, a postman became a kind of local god for the people from these remote villages who are loosely connected with the outer world. He has gained tremendous respect, and people trust him and expect his arrival as he was their own son. The postmen had always been helping them along the way, in addition to delivering the letters. And now his son learns peculiarities of his father’s life. They were not so emotionally close before the trip, and during this voyage they re-discover their relations learning a lot about each other feelings and thoughts. The son understands his father life was full of meaning. He is a simple postman, but the job he does is so important for many people that one can hardly imagine such a worthy and dignified life. This postman in the mountains doesn’t have a chance to run his business, to dedicate himself to the art, science or education but he does which is even more important – he is the truly pivotal person in this area. He handles this mission very well and has lived a life of the man of dignity.

It’s a drama for the aging postman to hand over the job of life to his son, but he is wise and he knows the change of generations and time is inevitable. He gets along with these changes. While son and father converse during this trip, they also change quite a lot. At some point, the son says the word “Father” to the aging postman – and this is the first time ever.

The trip is divided into several scenes: the father and son attend an old woman, a village and take part in a celebration hosted by Dong people living in the hills. The scenes are very rich and elaborate, but it feels like the film is short of more similar scenes. It runs for one hour and a half and I was feeling I really wanted to see more encounters and details of this spectacular route! Though, Huo Jianqi keeps his film, short, calm and dry.

Once again, I can’t avoid mentioning the beauty of landscapes – it is just fantastic! Huo Jianqi shows this land with sublime elegance inhabiting the blessed parts with common and beautiful people and individualities whose life is full of meaning. And these individualities would be replaced with those who follow their lead, as long as goodness, honesty and hope stay alive hand-by-hand with people of these lands. Postmen in the Mountains is a true masterpiece made by Huo Jianqi.

[chinesemovieposter]

那山那人那狗（1999）

[histoireettralala]

In Memoriam

First there were the sparkle of a new century; the splendour of the Universal Expositions; the race to progress; the series of calm, serene Sundays; the swaying gait of the Apaches and of the hips of dactylos on a spree in the guinguettes of the banks of the Seine or the Marne. Trips to the mountains or to spa towns, for a sunny Sunday. The trend of sea baths; again and forever, a time of long dresses, hat pins, hat veils and sunshades to protect oneself from the sun; the first fevers of the metropolitan; the magic of tramways. A smell of rail and electricity.

There were the shapes of the Art Nouveau, the fashion of stem-like women with vegetal curves, who were starting to escape and free themselves from their corsets. Parisian ladies had large hats and tiny feet. Men were smoking their first Gauloises. There were of course, riots and strikes: electricians, civil servants, site workers, postmen, bar waiters, taxi drivers. Men wanted to build and shape their destiny. They wanted a better share of the riches of the world.

There was the Montmartre of the painters and the Bateau-Lavoir; the first aerial meetings; the Paris flooding; the comet of Halley passing by; the appearance of the first tangos; the first music halls; the inauguration of the Vél'd'Hiv and the Gaumont Palace; the theft of the Mona Lisa; the end of the Bande à Bonnot; the publication of La Guerre des Boutons; the meeting between Yvonne de Quiévrecourt and Alain-Fournier under the trees of the Cours La Reine, which so narrowly missed the Goncourt prize; the first phone cabins; the electrification of the railway; the first Michelin maps; the fashion of caps et boaters; the invention of esperanto.

It was peace. The promise of a new dawn, the carefree spirit of summer, the peace of fields spattered with cornflowers and poppies which were waiting the sickle of the harvester or the knife of the thrasher.

They were seventeen, twenty-five, or thirty. Many wore their hair short, and moustaches. Many had the rough neck and hands of the worker, a laborer's worn fingers, a turner's or mechanic's broken nails. There were grooms, land surveyors, bakers, butlers, office boys, clerk notaries, butchers, schoolteachers, peddlers, copywriters, cow keepers, porters, shepherds, priests, grinders, cooks, toolmakers, clerks, chauffeurs, footmen, tinsmiths, deliverers, boilermakers, newsboys, barbers, railway workers, waiters, postmen, intellectuals, factory workers, bourgeois, aristocrats and saddlers.

Suddenly there were civilians, career soldiers, conscripts, reservists, artillery men, navy men, infantry men, zouaves, aviators, pioneers, stretcher-bearers, liaison officers, telegraphers, non-commissioned officers, submariners, cooks, adjudtants, generals, lieutenants, chaplains, canteen-workers, cavalry men, bleus, rappelés, permissionnaires, etc… Suddenly, were the Poilus.

Their handwriting was round or sharp; it had the delicacy of the quill or the thick stroke of the ink pen. Their names were Gaston, Jean, Auguste, Marcel, Louis, Alexandre, Edmond, Martin, Antoine, Etienne, Maurice, Albert, Henri, Roger, René… Their wives or their mothers were named Félicie, Léontine, Hortense, Louise, Honorine, Clémence, Marguerite, Berthe, Germaine, Yvonne, Marthe…

All of them travellers without baggage who had to leave their families, their fiancees, their wives, their children. Leave there their office, their lathe, their kneader, their workshop or their stable. Don the poorly cut uniform, the garance trousers, the bumpy képi. Take on the too heavy barda and put on the cleated shoes.

They knew very soon that this war was senseless. From false hopes to false hopes, from last battles to last battles, they ended up unable to project the end of the war whose actors they were, and whose usefulness wasn't so obvious anymore to them.

Out of eight million mobilised between 1914 and 1918, over two million young men never saw again the belltower of their village. Their names are carved in the cold stone of the monuments of our cities and towns. And when the church goes quiet, when the school is closed, when the train station is shut down, when silence reigns over these places that became hamlets, remain these lists of words, these lists of names and surnames keeping the memory of a France whose countryside was so populated.

Over four million men survived only after they suffered grievous wounds, their body broken, amputated, marked, bitten, their flesh torn, when they weren't seriously mutilated. Others got out apparently intact: they still lived with the memory of the horror they had lived for over fifty months, the memory of blood, of the stench of rotting corpses, of the bursting of shells, of stinking mud, of vermin, the memory of the obscene smirk of Death. They had for them the systematic and reoccuring lash of nightmares for the rest of their days and with it the anguished, unanswered cry, the cry for their mothers. They lived with the words reminding them of sights whose horror they would never forget: Galipoli, Verdun, the Chemin des Dames, Arlon-Vitron, the mill of Laffaux, the Somme, Ypres, Péronne, Montmirail, Douaumont, the Fort of Vaux…

Over eight thousand people answered the call of Radio France: eight thousand letters, meaning that many families searching, into a coffer in the attic, between the yellowed pages of family photo albums, for the memory of their fathers', grandfathers', ancestors' lives.

These words written in the mud aren't eighty, or eighty-five years old; they are one day old. They have the whole strength of a life all the more intense since it was so close to the abyss, since it was looking at death every second.

We do not claim to do a historian's work by gathering in a few weeks so many powerful and intense documents: our purpose is before all humanist and literary. We simply meant to let these cries of the soul, entrusted to quill and crayon, be heard, like so many bottles thrown to the sea, which should stimulate for future generations the duty of memory, the duty of vigilance, the duty of humanity.

Jean-Pierre Guéno- Paroles de Poilus- Lettres et carnets du front 1914-1918

[moonspirit]

Ask ask ask

Do you prefer brown eyed armin or blue eyes armin?

What's your favourite food?

Favorite movie?

Hellooo~

So, as much as I like Armin as a whole, I'd have to go with the blue eyes. For whatever reason, I think it was a good decision to animate him with blue eyes because I feel it has a better thematic relevance and significance. GIving him literally bright blue ocean eyes tells us about the hope and curiosity and wonder he carries and serves for some really nice visuals T^T

Favorite food huh xD Well, I have lots I really love, most of them are spicy af xD Let's say ramen? Since it's the thing I eat most often xD In times of happiness, in times of stress, in times of laziness... ramen is my one true love.

Favorite movie ._. weoihweogihweghiug terrible question, so here are some of my favourites off the top of my head - Most Ghibli movies (but esp Howl's Moving castle), Kimi no Na wa, Interstellar, Avatar 1&2 (james cameron), titanic, The Martian, Postmen in the Mountains, Big Fish & Begonia

[cinnamonest]

Some random headcanon that I'm gonna post on my blog 🏃‍♂️

I'm getting a little too obsessed with this blog, but this is the only place where I can share my horny side 😣🤚

Btw here

Childe

Childe would try to get you and you family into debt and then, like the angel he is, he will pay you any debt, what a nice guy, and after that you would start talking more and slowly become friends. He would take you to his house, everything was fine, he gave you some tea, but after a few minutes your head started to spin and oh no you passed out, the drugs had taken effect. After being kidnapped he would keep reminding you that this was the debt payment you owed to him and how he is doing it to help your family and not get them into debt like you did oh and let's not forget how you trusted him, one unknown person paying your debts? you didn't even suspect it, you're really stupid and stupid people have to be put in their place, luckily Childe decided to protect you since you couldn't do it alone.

Albedo

you were the maid of the knight of favonius and you were in charge of helping Albedo to find materials for his experiment since Sucrose had taken a vacation, you climbed an entire mountain together only to not find what he needed, so Albedo decided to send a letter to the knight of favonius so that they wouldn't get too suspicious if you didn't come back in time, he had to go to the nearest city since the postmen don't pass over the mountains.He left you at his house, tied up, with a dildo in the ass, leaving you like this for 2 days. And now you don't have to worry about the time limit, because you were killed by an avalanche or at least that's what the letter reports, what? do you have hopes that Sucrose will help you? no problem he has already transferred her to another alchemist, you know the terrible feelings of guilt of having caused someone's death were really too much so he decided to leave Sucrose to someone else, so don't be afraid, no one will interrupt you.

Now I'm working on a Xiao 🏃‍♂️

-🔎

PLEASE DO ANON KEEP ME UPDATED FOR YAKSHA BOI

Hhhhh sadist albedo is getting to me... Y'all are making me too horny I swear... I want Albedo breaking my ass so bad :'(

Also Childe being the bastard man that he is hhhhhh. Like how dare you you fucking ginger, stop being a smug bastard and just fuck me already

[void-tiger]

Disclaimer: Hyrule Historia is horseshit and I will never acknowledge it as “canonical.” Fanon Copouts and Hylian Propaganda and a source for unused ideas at best. Don’t bother mentioning it because I am deliberately ignoring it in favor of information I can take from playing the finished games and doing my own extrapolation from there.

Theory: the Rito in Windwaker are not actually evolved from the Zora, but actually commonly intermarry with other races.

See this guy?

This is Kobali.

His figurine reads as:

“Kobali

Birthplace: Windfall Island

Occupation: Mail sorter

Kobali is the third generation in a family of postmen, but rumor has it that an ancestor of his in an age gone by was also a postman…”

Which, okay. Postman Reference from OoT/MM is obvious. BUT, this guy also canonically has some hylian ancestry, since his figurine’s blurb felt the need to include both his birthplace (a human/hylian settlement) as well as that “three generations of postmen from a family of postmen” when…the Great Sea’s cast system basically regulates the Rito to “postmen ONLY!!” outside of their home mountain.

But! What other race in the Zelda Franchise also:

-has a Role for passing on messages + guardians

-have a connection to the gods that’s more intimate than the Hylian bullshit about their ears “making them closest to the gods to hear their messages” (but as a culture are largely privileged, agnostic, and superstitious)

-are second-class to hylians in Hyrule’s Cast System

-have White Hair, Dark Skin, and Red Eyes

That’s right, the Sheikah.

Dragonroost is also incredibly close by geographically speaking to Windfall Island (which is basically just a rebuilt Kakariko Village), which, so was Death Mountain to Old Kakariko (which as a reoccuring settlement in the series, Kakariko often changes location BUT even in its first appearance in LttP could be argued to still be more-or-less at the base of Death Mountain verses, say, near Lake Hylia). Which as-of OoT Impa was left with a decimated tribe, an empty village, and implications of inducting the Hylian villagers and Castle Town refugees into her village as adopted Sheikah (not just Zelda as Sheik.)

So Windfall is more than likely the result of Impa trying to rebuild her tribe…but with mixed results. Some characters seem to be Culturally Sheikah hiding in plain sight like Miss Marie (see Zeltik’s video about her for more details), but by and large the culture of Windfall (and Outset) is overwelmingly Hylian.

HOWEVER! If the Rito are any indication, Impa was at least successful in rebuilding her bloodline, who then continued to intermarry. Only the gods basically screwed the Rito’s Ancestors into being flightless while also dehumanizing them…so Valoo had compassion on them and gifted them scales for wings. (Note how every Rito adolescent is not born with wings, but still have beaks in place of more humanid features like noses and mouths.)

Sidenote: but this also explains the Goron Merchants wearing sacks over their heads and being nowhere near either Windfall or Dragonroost—Volvogia has subtext implications of being OoT’s Absent Fire Spirit (again, check Zeltik for further details). Basically the Gorons attempted murder on Volvogia when they first invaded settled Death Mountain generations ago. (The Gorons in SS also do not live in Eldin.) Ganondorf then revives the dragon and imprisons the Gorons for Volvogia to deal with as the dragon wishes. So…yeah. By the time of WW the Gorons have moved onto the Ocean King’s world and what would later become New Hyrule under Tetra’s leadership. I don’t think it’s a stretch to say Valoo has a grudge against Gorons.

Now. What does this have to do with Medli?

-we know Rito have a history of intermarriage

-we know Medli is not “full rito” as evidenced by her being the only Rito with Red Hair (styled the same as the Din Idol as well as the Gerudo) and much paler skin

And by the Timeskip in OoT? The Zora are basically extinct, save for Ruto with Link only able to revive the Zora Shop Owner and King Zora; no Zora aside from King Zora are present in the epilogue seen in the game’s credits, while all other races are, including the Kokiri who would allegedly “die” if they left their patch of Forest.

So…despite Ruto’s hope, the Zora within the cave’s pool all froze to death in the absence of JabuJabu’s magic keeping the place thawed and therefore habitable—clense the Water Temple and Lake Hylia’s levels return to normal. Subtext is that Lake Hylia drying up =/= the same cause as the Zora’s decimation, despite the close proximity of events.

Which preTimeskip JabuJabu is literally a whale fed a single fish a day and kept in a fishbowl it can’t even turn around in. No wonder JabuJabu got so ill, ate two children, then later died. Classic case of neglect. Now if I had to guess? “Sea” Zora in the Oracle Games isn’t a misnomer—the same design is also used for MM Zora who actually do live in salt water. So, the Zora in OoT are the descendants of Zora who migrated from the sea to Zora’s Domain and used a baby JabuJabu’s magic to keep their mountain spring habitable. (And they do specifically live in the mountains in OoT and TP. Zora’s Domain is Hyrule’s major water source, set in the mountains (in TP it’s at the base of Snowpeak), and rivers begin either from snowmelt runoff and/or an underwater spring. Zora’s Domain is both, especially with how easily it refreezes.

So, after OoT? The handful of surviving Zora settled either in Kakariko or on the shores of Lake Hylia—Zora’s Domain was no longer habitable but Hyrule was still their home. Eventually either Ruto (if allowed to return to her previous life after a time) or the Item Merchant intermarried with one of Impa’s Descendants eventually resulting in the sage Laruto. Add in a few Gerudo and you get Medli—primary Rito genes, but obvious Gerudo (hair) and Zora (skin) genes surfacing after generations as well.

…that, and the Earth Temple is basically thematically similar to the Shadow Temple with Gerudo Elements as well (like the Light Puzzles.) If the designs were going off of Obvious Designs, by all rights the Rito should’ve been associated with Wind as avians and the Koroks with Earth as literal tree people.

Except…

The Koroks not only gave Link the Deku Leaf (which was then used in wind puzzles and for harnessing wind), the Kokiri are also thematically associated with Wind, as is Fayore (and like the Zora, the Koroks and Kokiri used their patron goddess’s symbol as theirs as well.) Meanwhile the Rito live with a volcano (earth&fire), are under the protection of a dragon (fire spirit), and have connections to the Sheikah (shadow, necromancy) and Gerudo (while OoT technically has a “light” sage, it’s actually the Spirit Temple that uses Light at all), with the Rito also having a history of intermarriage in the Great Sea Era (Kobali), with races like the Gerudo and arguably the very few surviving Sheikah and Zora as well. (There are absolutely No Water Themes in the Earth Temple. The closest we get to water as an active mechanic is the first floor of the Tower of the Gods…which is otherwise Very Sheikah from the second story onward. But, arguably that first floor was Zora-Influenced, possibly by Laruto herself.)

TL;DR:

So. The Rito are descended from the Sheikah, the Sheikah were rebuilt by Impa using Zora Survivors and Hylian Refugees (with mixed results), eventually in the (Sheikah-Gerudo) Earth Temple with a (Sheikah)Zora Sage. Then several more generations later…Medli.