While Skyward Sword was one of the more contentious Legend of Zelda games when it was initially released in 2011, it has since come to be seen much more favorably by the majority of the fandom and even received an HD remake that was released on the Nintendo Switch 10 years after its original release.
Skyward Sword’s Legacy: Impact on Tears of the Kingdom Recognized
In The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, Nintendo places a few callbacks and references to Link’s journey across the Skyloft and the airborne islands, demonstrating that the influence of Skyward Sword can still be felt in the newest game in the series. Despite frequently overshadowing many of the classic games that came before it and the mega-hit that was Breath of the Wild a few years later, it frequently overshadows many of the classic games that came before it and the mega-hit that was Breath of the Wild a few years later.
It’s highly unlikely that players will be able to recognize all of these allusions in a single playthrough of Tears of the Kingdom, however, given how enormous the map of Hyrule is. The game itself actually connects some of these allusions as cleverly concealed easter eggs that players must discover, while other callbacks are related to the design, aesthetic, and plot.
Fantastic Minecart Sections
Players who have completed Skyward Sword will never forget their time on the Rickety Coaster or any of the several minecart challenges that dotted throughout the game, putting their knowledge of the Wii motion controls and the in-game time mechanics to the test.
Minecarts are now even more enjoyable to use thanks to Tears of the Kingdom’s new physics-based gameplay, but there’s no denying that the game’s designers were heavily influenced by the way they worked in Skyward Sword, particularly with some of the trickier cart rides like the one found at Mine-Cart Land, which is reminiscent of the game’s visually stunning minecart minigames.
Sword of Skyward Outfit
In Tears of the Kingdom, players can obtain Link’s Skyward Sword outfit directly from the game by searching for a few chests scattered throughout three separate locations. Recovering the Sky garments is actually incredibly difficult because all the pieces are hidden in the Depths, a dangerous place full of monsters.
Under Hateno Village, in Retsam Grove, adjacent to a massive tree stump, is where you’ll find the first chest. The road leading to the Korok Forest in the Minshi Grove hides the second section, while the Crenel Canyon Mine contains the third section.
White Sword of The Sky
After getting the outfit back, players can complete their Skyward Sword appearance by looking for the White Sword of the Sky by scanning the Link Skyward Sword Amiibo or by completing the Mother Goddess Statue side quest. This mission will need a lot of running around and a few combat encounters, but as long as the player has good weapons and armor sets, it shouldn’t be too challenging to complete.
In order to obtain the Sword of the Sky, which resembles Link’s original Goddess Sword from Skyward Sword in almost every way, the player must complete the time-consuming side mission that calls for the collection of several Dragon Claws. The statues of courage, wisdom, and power must receive these claws.
Fi Dwelling in The Master Sword
Link will almost always have a friend in a Legend of Zelda game who will help him on his adventure to save and reconnect with Princess Zelda, and in Skyward Sword, that companion is the humanoid spirit Fi. The goddess Hylia created Fi with the Goddess Sword, the sword Link would eventually find and utilize as the Master Sword, and Fi rests within it.
After completing the Trial of the Sword, the sound effect of Fi would play, and the sword would start glowing, making Fi’s presence more obvious. In Breath of the Wild, Zelda mentions a legend that claims the Master Sword emits a voice.
Flying Through the Sky
Devoted fans recognized the significantly greater emphasis on aerial exploration in the early teasers, which was perhaps the strongest influence from Skyward Sword. Link spends the majority of his time in Skyward Sword traveling over many floating islands, with the most well-known ones being Skyloft and Pumpkin Island. These islands are not only vitally important to the plot and the story of the Skyloftians, but exploring them will also yield many secret goods and side missions.
The game Wind Waker inspired the idea of traveling through a vast, open area that wasn’t on the ground, where Link spent a significant amount of time navigating the open seas. Nintendo seems to have developed this concept further to the point that it now appears to have moved from Wind Waker to Skyward Sword and all the way to Tears of the Kingdom where it is once more a major part of the game.
Influences of the Story
In Skyward Sword, Link and Zelda’s main goal is to clean up the surface so that the Skyloftians, who currently live in the sky, can finally come down and settle there. This would eventually lead to the formation of the Kingdom of Hyrule. It’s still very simple to draw comparisons between the plots of Tears of the Kingdom and Skyward Sword, even though some of the smaller details aren’t exactly the same. In Tears of the Kingdom, the gods sent Rauru and Sonia to serve as the story’s introduction, and in Skyward Sword, they portrayed Zelda as a goddess reincarnated named Hylia who ultimately played a significant role in purging the world.
Final Thoughts
Due to the obvious inspiration, this has unavoidably led to a significant debate among Zelda fans about whether Tears of the Kingdom could actually be a direct sequel to Skyward Sword. At the conclusion of Skyward Sword, some people have even suggested that the Hylians who were seen ascending to the sky, such as Groose, would evolve into the Zonai. Although it’s unclear where Tears of the Kingdom fits into the overall timeline at the moment, both games still retain the overarching theme of purging the world of evil with help from a divine-like person.
On the Nintendo Switch, The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom is currently available.
