Malon's Mother and the Gerudo Question

Malon’s mother is never named and never drawn. She composed Epona’s Song and had already died when Ocarina of Time begins. Talon’s Gerudo Mask line is a hint that she might have been Gerudo. Nothing confirms her mother’s ancestry. References identify Malon as Hylian or Human.

The song is the whole canon role

Malon’s line, carried on the wiki and the song page, is that her mother composed it. ScreenRant repeats that the song was written by her mother. After that, the melody is how Link befriends Epona and how cows are milked. The fingerings and the race that follows are on Malon’s Friend. Her mother’s influence is the tune, not a scene.

Is Malon a Gerudo?

Public references identify her as Hylian or Human: Legends of Z says Hylian, and Zelda Wiki says Human with Hylians as the association. Those are compatible levels of description, rather than evidence of a contradiction or proof about her mother’s ancestry. The mother question is separate. ScreenRant describes Talon saying the Gerudo Mask reminds him of his wife. The earlier wiki notes also mention a Goron Mask reaction, so the mask joke does not establish a race. ScreenRant adds that Malon’s hair is red while Talon’s is black, and calls a Gerudo mother plausible. “Plausible” is the strongest word that source uses. I will not upgrade it.

The Epona myth

A Zelda Dungeon essay traces the horse’s name to the Celtic horse goddess Epona. It does not claim Nintendo based Malon on that myth. The horse shares the goddess’s name. That is the whole supported sentence. There is no official portrait of the mother, so this page does not borrow a drawing to fill the gap.