Lanayru Desert

Lanayru Desert is a location in Skyward Sword, a large part of the Lanayru Province. It is home to the Lanayru Mining Facility and the ancient Temple of Time, and it is also here that Link obtains the Clawshots. Electrical enemies can be found throughout the region and will cause considerable damage to Link, along with the side effect of paralyzing him.

Appearance and Features
The Lanayru Desert, along with the rest of the Lanayru Province, was once a vast green landscape, inhabited by an ancient robotic civilization who performed various mining tasks in the area. However, the natural resources were eventually depleted and all that remains of the once green land is a vast desert with many hazards and a lot of quicksand. Along with the green land perished a great sea that was once located where the Lanayru Sand Sea now exists. The water completely dried up and only the Sand Sea was left. The Timeshift Stones, which were refined in the desert's mining facility, were also abundant in the region. They served as the power source for the Ancient Robots, and as a way to go between past and present.

Link first visits the desert while on his search for Zelda, after receiving the Amber Tablet from the Earth Temple. The Amber Tablet, upon being placed inside the Statue of the Goddess, reveals a rift in the clouds leading to the Lanayru Desert. After descending, Link finds himself to be situated in an area known as Lanayru Mine. The mine was one of the notable locations where the Ancient Robots were currently mining for Timeshift Stones, which are the robot's main source of power. After Link activates one of the stones, the land, citizens, and objects affected by the Timeshift Stone all replenish and reactivate to life. After traveling through the mine, Link proceeds to the Lanayru Desert. Link rescues an Ancient Robot from a technologically-advanced variety of Bokoblin known as a Technoblin. The robot thanks Link, and upgrades his Beetle into a Hook Beetle which can now pick up and drop various objects. Using his upgraded Beetle, the hero travels across the desert, and reaches the Temple of Time where Zelda is said to be located at. Unfortunately, Gorko the Goron says that the entrance to the temple is blocked by rubble. Another robot alters Link's Map to show the region based on how it appeared in the past, and it also reveals that there is another entrance to the Temple of Time located deep inside the Lanayru Mining Facility. Link activates three power nodes which power a device that can raise the dungeon. Upon doing so, the mining facility rises out of the sand. He ventures inside the Lanayru Mining Facility and, while there, he receives the Gust Bellows and uses them to defeat Moldarach.

Later in the game, Link returns to Lanayru Desert to search for Nayru's Sacred Flame. He completes Nayru's Silent Realm Trial and receives the Clawshots. Using the newly acquired item, Link travels to the Lanayru Sand Sea where he finds, and revives, an Ancient Robot by the name of Skipper. Skipper says he was the captain of the Sandship, a ship that protected Nayru's Sacred Flame, until a gang of pirates led by Scervo took it from him. Link and Skipper travel by boat across the Lanayru Sand Sea, searching for clues for the whereabouts of the Sandship. After traveling to Skipper's Retreat, the Shipyard, and the Pirate Stronghold, they finally track down the fabled ship and board the vessel. The second dungeon of the desert region is the Sandship which holds Nayru's Sacred Flame and is located in the Lanayru Sand Sea. Link will have to fight a giant tentacle monster named Tentalus that is attacking the ship during a storm as a result of the ship's large Timeshift stone, restoring the desert plain to open ocean.

Lanayru the Thunder Dragon, one of the three dragons who possess a part of the "Song of the Hero", resides in a gorge called the Lanayru Gorge. However, due to Lananyru being ill in the past, he is nothing more than a pile of bones in the present. In order to obtain Lanayru's part of the "Song of the Hero", Link has to travel across the gorge, transporting a Timeshift Stone.

Trivia

 * Gerudo Dragonflies can be found in the desert, referencing Gerudo Desert and the Gerudo people.