TLOZ Theory: Possible Gerudo Reproduction Mechanism

[Link 0]

The Gerudo are an (almost) all-female society found in several games. Introduced in Ocarina of Time, it's explained that Gerudo women take boyfriends from other races, such as the Hylians. It's also established that nearly all Gerudo children are female, with a single male born every 100 years who would go on to become king of the Gerudo. The only male Gerudo ever firmly depicted was Ganondorf. 

There are some interesting aspects of the Gerudo that I've noticed. For example, even though it's common for Gerudo women to take boyfriends from other races, Gerudo offspring only seem to express Gerudo traits, instead of mixed traits influenced by, for example, Hylian skin tone and pointy ears. Also, assuming that Hylians and Gerudos have the same XY sex distribution that modern humans have, it should actually be the male that determines the gender of the offspring because males carry both X and Y gene sperm.

There is actually a real-world mechanism that would very easily explain the Gerudo race's unique circumstances, although this mechanism is limited only to a few species of salamander and fish. It's called gynogenesis, and it works like this: individuals from an all-female species mate with closely related males from a different species. The male's sperm is necessary for the females eggs to develop into offspring. The female's eggs are already diploid and only need to be stimulated by the presence of sperm in order to develop, meaning that the males contribute no genetic material to the offspring. This results in the sperm being discarded and massive cloning of the mother. 

However, very rarely, the sperm can fertilize the egg, resulting in either discarding one of the mother's contributions, or polyploid offspring. This can contribute genetic material from outside sources into the population.

Applied to the Gerudo, this method of reproduction fits almost perfectly. Gerudo women do look very similar to each other, contrasting with Hylians, who tend to have very unique looks, thus supporting the idea that they are all clones. Also, it explains the Gerudo's necessity for males from other species even though the contribution from those males isn't obvious, particularly when it comes to genes. And the fact that only one male is born to the Gerudo tribe every 100 years fits nicely with the rare fertilization of gynogenetic species. Ganondorf even bears a slight resemblance to the Hylians (unusually pointy ears, though not on the level of a Hylian).

[EmpireKicking 155]

I personally have had the theory that Termina is the world where the goddesses never made the Triforce. Because this never happened Hyrule never rose to power, thus why we have no Zelda. No kingdom also means the other races are able to grow on their own, thus why the Gorons and the Zoras have bigger kingdoms. The negative side is that, because there is no Hyrule and thus no kingsguards to protect the lands from monsters, the Great Deku Tree was chopped down and the Koriki were driven away, allowing the Deku Shrubs to rise in power instead of being restrained by the magic of the Great Deku Tree. 

This also explains why the Gerudo are pirates: without a large kingdom that offered plenty to pillage and plunder, the warrior women must turn to the sea in order to survive. And because the Shiek have no royal family to take them in and make them the secret protectors of the crown, they slowly fade away... leaving nothing but a valley of death.