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 people living there are known for their way ro travel around the different #|Islands of The Sky, on large shoebill-like birds called Loftwings. Having a Loftwing is what separates children from adults in this little society. The Sky's economy 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.

The Force Era


In The Force Era, the sky is inhabited by a tribe called the Wind Tribe. After living along with the Wind for ages, the tribe eventually gained mastery over it and abandoned the Wind Ruins for the skies taking their palace and element; the Wind Element, with them. At the time of The Minish Cap, the only way up to the sky is through the tornado nearby Veil Spring. What Link has to do to reach that tornado, is to climb up the Veil Falls and jump into the vortex. According to one of the Wind Tribe surprised by that someone else than one of the Wind Tribe could walk on the clouds, Link has to have a very pure heart, as he is able to actually walk on the clouds. Well on the Cloud Tops, Link searches through the Tower of Winds just to discover that the element he's seeking, is not there. Link then enters the Palace of Winds in his search for the Wind Element, both the palace and the element are guarded by the Wind Tribe. Allthough the Wind Tribe has protected their element for ages, monsters has taken root inside, and the largest and the most dangerous enemies inside; the Gyorg Pair, has taken hold of the Wind Element. Eventually, Link defeats them and recovers the element, and returns to Melari's Mine to have the legendary Picori Blade revived.

Apparently, the seal on Vaati from The Minish Cap has weakened over time; because at the time of Four Swords, he's back again. However, the time sealed within the Four Sword had made him forget. For instanse, he doesn't remember his existece as a Picori, Zelda's Light Force or any of the happenings of The Minish Cap in general. He has taken the palace - which now goes under the name of Vaati's Palace - for his own. It eventually becomes Link's mission to defeat him and seal him in the Four Sword a second time.

City in the Sky


In Twilight Princess, ages after the happenings of past eras and far above those of The Twilight Invasion, 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 are. 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.

Islands
The Sky of Skyward Sword features a great number of shrouded islands floating above the clouds. These are the most notable:

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.

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 the Super Mario Galaxy games, 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.