Lanayru Desert

Lanayru Desert is a location in Skyward Sword, making up a very large part of the Lanayru Province.

History
The Lanayru Desert, along with the rest of the Lanayru Province, was once a vast green landscape, inhabited by a technologically advanced civilization which used robots to perform various mining tasks in the area. However, climate change slowly transformed the once prosperous region into a desert over several centuries, leaving all of the region's natural resources depleted; all that remains of the once green land is a vast desert with many hazards, such as sinksand. Along with the decay of the green land, a sea of sand is now located where the great sea once was.

Link first visits the desert while in search of his childhood friend Zelda after receiving the Amber Tablet from the Earth Temple upon Eldin Volcano. The Amber Tablet, upon being placed inside the Statue of the Goddess on Skyloft, reveals a new opening in the clouds leading to Lanayru Desert. After descending, Link finds himself to be situated in an area known as Lanayru Mine. The mine itself was one of the notable locations where the Ancient Robots were mining for Timeshift Stones, which serve as their primary source of power.

After Link activates one the desert's many Timeshift Stones, the area, robots, and objects all located within the vicinity of the stone all replenish and reactivate to life. After traveling through the mine, Link proceeds to the proper Lanayru Desert, where he finds an Ancient Robot under attack from a technologically advanced variety of Bokoblin known as the Technoblin. After Link rescues the robot, it thanks the young hero and upgrades his Beetle into a Hook Beetle so that it can now pick up and drop various objects. The robot also reveals that the Beetle was manufactured by the same civilization that produced the robots. Using his upgraded Beetle, the young hero travels further across the desert, and reaches the ancient Temple of Time where Zelda is said to be located. Unfortunately, Gorko the Goron says that the entrance to the temple is blocked by rubble after a recent explosion there. Upon saving it from the local Technoblins, another robot alters Link's Map to show the region based on how it appeared in the past, revealing that there is another entrance to the Temple of Time located deep inside Lanayru Mining Facility. The modified map also reveals submerged paths over the quicksand in the area, allowing Link to travel around the desert with ease. To access the mining facility, Link must activate the three power nodes, which energize the Power Generator that can raise the mining facility's entrance from below the ground. Upon doing so, it rises out of the sand and the young hero ventures within, obtaining the Gust Bellows and fighting the facility's boss, Moldarach, a large, fully grown Aracha. After defeating Moldarach, Link enters the Temple of Time, discovering Zelda and Impa at one of the two surviving Gates of Time in a brief confrontation with Ghirahim. With Link's help, Zelda and Impa escape through the gate, destroying it behind them.

Later in the game, Link returns to Lanayru Desert to search for Nayru's Sacred Flame. While in search of it, the young hero is tasked with Nayru's Silent Realm Trial and receives the Clawshots for completing it. Using the newly acquired item, Link travels through the Lanayru Caves to Lanayru Sand Sea where he finds and revives an Ancient Robot by the name of Skipper. Skipper says that he was the captain of the Sandship, a ship that protected Nayru's Sacred Flame, until a gang of pirates led by Scervo captured the ship because they wanted to possess the Sacred Flame. Link and Skipper travel by boat across 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 using Fi's Dowsing ability and board the vessel.

Features
Lanayru Desert could be considered the most hostile and deadly location in the game due to the large amount of quicksand, gorges and the plentiful numbers of fast-moving, electrical enemies that can cause considerable damage to Link and temporarily paralyze him. It is scattered with Timeshift Stones, objects that shift a small portion of the desert into a state of time from many years ago. With Lanayru Mining Facility, Sandship and Pirate Stronghold, it is home to two of the game's major dungeons and a mini-dungeon, all of which also require Link to manipulate the nearby Timeshift Stones, so that he can render that specific room into a past state. In the present day, the desert's robotic workers, the Ancient Robots, are lifeless and the Thunder Dragon Lanayru is missing. It is for this reason that time shifts to revert small sections of the desert into a past state are required. This causes the enemies that appear in the desert's present to cease to exist; however, the time shift also reanimates the nearby remains of any enemies. The Temple of Time is found here with a Gate of Time, and it is also here that Link obtains the Clawshots. Like the other three regions of Skyloft, Faron Woods and Eldin Volcano, it is home to one of the four Silent Realms; in this case, Nayru's Silent Realm.

Tumbleweeds are very common throughout the main portion of the present-time desert and can be used to upgrade items at the Scrap Shop in the Skyloft Bazaar.

Trivia

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