Lanayru Desert

Lanayru Desert is a location in Skyward Sword, 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 an ancient robotic civilization who performed 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 and all that remains of the once green land is a vast desert with many hazards, such as quicksand. 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, citizens 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 Technoblins. After Link rescues the robot, to which it thanks the young hero, and upgrades his Beetle (Item) into a Hook Beetle which can now pick up and drop various objects, claiming that it is of Lanayru Province origin. 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 Technoblins, 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 Lanayru Mining Facility. To access the mining facility, Link must activate the three power nodes, which energize the Power Generator that can raise the mining facility 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 to 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 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
The desert could be considered the most hostile and deadly location in the game due to its large amount of areas containing quicksand, gorges and the plentiful numbers of fast-moving, electrical enemies that can cause considerable damage to Link, temporarily paralyzing 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 two two of the game's major dungeons and a mini-dungeon, all of which also require time shifts to complete them and specialize in the mining of the Timeshift Stones. When in the desert's present, all of its good inhabitants, the Ancient Robots, are long since dead and the Thunder Dragon Lanayru is missing. It is for that reason that time shifts to revert small sections of the desert into a past state are required. Although that makes the enemies swarming the area in the present cease to exist, it brings back to life the nearby remains of any Technoblins. 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.

A common enemy of the desert are the Aracha, small creatures that bury themselves in the sand and take approximately one thousand years to fully mature, of which two fully mature ones can be found. The Ampilus are another common enemy of the desert and one of the deadliest due to their quick hostility, speed and electrical rolls. On a plus side, Tumbleweeds are very common throughout the main portion of the present-time desert and can be used to upgrade items in Scrap Shop in the Skyloft Bazaar.

Trivia

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