Sky

The Sky is the area located above the clouds in each game, as each Overworld has a sky upon it. However, the location has varying significance to it in each game. Four Swords was the first game in the series to have the sky as a playable area. The Sky is not a playable area by it self in Four Swords, but the fourth and final Dungeon, Vaati's Palace, is located here. Having a dungeon in the Sky was repeated in Four Swords Adventures, The Minish Cap and Twilight Princess. Whereas Four Swords Adventures and Minish Cap went further and featured a surrounding area to the dungeon, which in both cases were the Palace of Winds. The game where the area bears the most significance however, has to be Skyward Sword, not only because it is here that our protagonist has grown up, but because many of the game's events happens here.

Era of Goddess Hylia and the Sky Era
Before the events of Skyward Sword, a large horde of monsters led by Demise appeared from beneath the ground of The Surface world, and began leading a massacre against the people of the surface. The monsters wanted only one thing, the ultimate power given to Hylia by the gods of old. To prevent the great power from falling into the hands of the demonic creatures, Her Grace gathered all the remaining humans on a plot of land and brought it up skyward. Centuries later, the civilization living above the clouds is living a peaceful life, with the protection of the Statue of the Goddess decipting Hylia, presiding over them. The Statue of the Goddess was built so that Hylia, could keep the Goddess Sword, Fi, and the Triforce hidden away from the mortals, and to keep them safe for the choosen hero of the goddess.

The technology of the region has also greatly advanced since Skyloft was risen into the heavens, even surpassing The Surface's technology, with windmills that have the power to raise the sacred Light Tower, Beedle's flying Air Shop, and various lighting and furnishing. However, the Skyloftian's are known for the way that they travel around the islands of The Sky, on large shoebill-like birds called Loftwings, who are mostly tamed and ridden on by the students of the Knight Academy. The economy of The Sky is mostly based upon the various minigames located above the clouds, the famous pumpkin pub; the Lumpy Pumpkin, and the Bazaar and Fun Fun Island.

There are numerous islands in which Link is able to travel to with the help of his Loftwing, earning treasures and Heart Containers after locating the corresponding Goddess Cube from the surface. Also located in the sky is the Thunderhead, where the great spirit of the skies, Levias, resides, as well as the main location of the Isle of Songs.

Link is not able to travel through the sky at nighttime, as he is not a graduated knight from the Knight Academy. The only way in which he is able to explore a single island outside of Skyloft if Beedle's Island when he falls asleep inside the aircraft.

City in the Sky
In Twilight Princess, ages after the happenings of Skyward Sword, the Sky is populated by the race Oocca. The Oocca live in the City in the Sky and are even closer to the gods than Hylians. Link visits the City in the Sky in his quest of collecting the three missing Mirror Shards and resurrect the Mirror of Twilight. It can only be accessed after paying Fyer 300 rupees for fixing the Sky Cannon. The city is hunted by a dragon frightening the Oocca, the city also works as a dungeon in Twilight Princess.

Developement
"If we could make the gameplay in each area dense, then we wouldn't need to physically join them. Then the question was "How do we design it?""

- Eiji Aonuma

One thing that is very special for Skyward Sword compared to other games in the series such as Ocarina of Time or Twilight Princess is not necessarily that the main in-game areas are so vastly different as they are, but that there roads between them. The developers created all sorts of different gameplay and or dense gameplay mechanics for the different areas, and due to that, developing roads between those different areas became difficult. The first thing they thought of, was whether or not they really needed those roads, because If they could make the gameplay in each area dense, then they wouldn't have to physically join them. The question they then to answer was; How do we design it?. They then got the idea of a course selection similar to that of Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario Galaxy 2, but they just couldn't do it the exact same way. It was then the developers got the idea of a sky where Link would skydive from to the land below. After using that idea for some time in development, the pieces just fell naturally together. The transportation for instance, just felt the most natural with a bird.

Goddess Cubes
Goddess Cubes are mysterious cubes spread onto the world by the Goddess Hylia in order to assist her chosen hero. When Link uses the Skyward Strike on these cubes, it disappears from The Surface and beams into the sky, unlocking a Goddess Cube Chest.