Minish

Minish (Picori)
Artwork of a Forest Minish
First appearance	The Minish Cap (2005)
Distinctions	Only visible to children and are the size of a thumb
Notable members	Belari Ezlo Festari Gentari Jotari Librari Melari Vaati

"Yes, the ones from the fairy tales... But the Picori are no mere legend. They most certainly exist. No one outside of the royal family knows the truth about them. The Picori, who forged the sacred blade, live deep within Minish Woods."

— King Daltus

The Minish, known to the Hyruleans as the Picori, are a race from The Legend of Zelda: The Minish Cap. They are a diminutive race the size of a thumb and can only be seen by well-behaved children. According to legend, they came from another world; this world can be reached when a door within Hyrule Castle Garden opens once every century. It is said that when monsters threatened mankind, the Minish gave a legendary sword, called the Picori Blade, and a golden light, called the Light Force, to the courageous Hero of Men, destined to ward off the monsters. One Minish mentions that Minish thrive off of making people happy. Vaati, the main antagonist of The Minish Cap, was stated to once have been a Minish who became evil.

Biology

The most notable feature of the Minish is their small size. Even the largest of the Minish are no bigger than an average Hylian's thumb. The Minish resemble intelligent, anthropomorphic mice. The skin of the Minish tends to be very pale, and their faces are very rounded and slender. Compared to those of a Hylian, Minish eyes are large and beady. Like the Hylians, they have long pointy ears, and may have hair on their head and/or a beard.

They also have human-like limbs except for their toes, which are around the same size as their fingers, and they only have four of them. The Minish appear have a tail of sorts in the form of a small feather. Certain Minish seem to lack this feature, although this may simply be because the clothing they wear covers them up. Minish are completely invisible to adults, leading many to believe they are just a fairy tale. The reason for this is unknown.

Types of Minish

Forest Minish

These types of Minish live in the fields and forests. They like to leave Rupees and other various items hidden in the grass for adventurers to find, explaining why Link is able to find all sorts of items in or under pots, rocks, and grass. Minish Village is the highest concentration of Minish in the entire land of Hyrule and is solely populated by Forest Minish. They do not hate Hylians, but instead like to keep their distance away from them and help them from afar. They tend to wear red caps.

Town Minish

These Minish love Hylians so much that they live near or in the cities of Hyrule. Town Minish do various things for the Hylians, including making shoes for Rem, baking goods for Wheaton & Pita, cleaning, sorting books in the Royal Hyrule Library, etc. They have a good relationship with the Forest Minish and are visited often by them. Their clothing is different from Forest Minish where they mainly have blue caps instead of red. One particular Forest Minish covets his Town Minish friend's blue cap, and vice versa.

There is also a second kind of Minish living in the town: Library Minish, who resemble town Minish with orange clothing.

Mountain Minish

These Minish are a special type of Minish that live solely in the mountains. Their primary jobs are mining and smithing items. Mountain Minish tend to sing a special song while working, but this is a privilege given to Minish who are accepted as full-fledged Mountain Minish. Their caps tend to be orange colored.

Etymology

The word "minish" is an archaic word meaning to diminish or lessen. The name "Minish" could also be referring to either mini, meaning small, or diminish, meaning to lessen. More interestingly, "Picori", the Hylian name for the Minish, appears to be a reference to pico, a prefix in measurement that denotes a factor of 10 to the negative 12th power. Both names refer to the size of the Minish.