There's something that always sort of confused me about Skyward Sword.
Ye Olde Ancient Civilization.
not like the zonai but like the ancient ancient ancient ANCIENT Hylians.
I feel like the Surface could've been handled differently. This place was once home to an entire civilization, yet there's barely any evidence of them ever existing apart from the dungeons.
Although... there are... GIGANTIC rifts in Skyward Sword's map that we never get to see. Which could be where ruins of houses and such are actually located. Or maybe the rest of the Sheikah idk...
(side tangent) like Impa could NOT have been the only Sheikah remaining!!!!! Either she had children stashed away somewhere, or there were still others because the Sheikah race woulda died with sksw Impa if that were true.
It could be argued that most of the civilization was at the Sealed Grounds, which eventually became Skyloft. But... Skyloft is so... so teeny... so tiny... so miniscule.
I feel Skyloft was once the center of this civilization, kind of like Castle Town before Castle Town Castle Towned in the chronological sense. Only the castle in question was Hylia's temple. Which makes sense because she would be the equivalent of a royal.
But again. SO TEENY. SO TINY. And looking at old concept art... skyloft was gonna be BIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIG. or smaller... and cramped as hell.
Anyways. Despite being a LOT larger, it still manages to look very tight-knit. A part of me really wishes we were able to get this version of Skyloft. In the second image, there is a lot of space, yeah, but it is PACKED.
What was my point again?
Oh, right, the Surface.
So yeah, Skyloft could've been the capital of Hylia's land once upon a time. Now it's in the sky, preserved, and far away from the earth, where the rest rots away.
In comparison to Skyloft, the Surface is hell. It doesn't seem like it in the actual game since it's so bright and cheery, and there aren't any actual ruins of homes or anything.
Both are separated by a barrier of clouds. This was to separate Skyloft from the rest of the world, keeping it hidden and far from any harm. The archeologist Goron, Gorko, talks about Skyloft as if it were a paradise... or heaven, basically.
"So get this: people actually live on this sky island, and they get around by flying on the backs of huge birds that are way bigger than birds down here! Up there everyone reveres the goddess, and the residents of all the little islands in the sky live in a perfect society, totally free of conflict or unhappiness! Not only that, but from what I can tell, their civilization is way, way more advanced than ours down here. But it does not even stop there, bud! This Isle of the Goddess has even more stuff to marvel at! The place was crafted by the goddess herself, so it figures that it is filled with wonders we do not have here. The buildings are all made of gold! An endless spring of mystical water feeds a river through the place. One sip of that stuff, and you live forever! The trees are heavy with plump fruit that cures all disease! The fields are crowded with pumpkins that never rot! Magic wildflowers bloom everywhere! And the weather. Oh, the weather, bud! Not too hot, not too cold. No chance of sweaty weather in this garden paradise! That is the Isle of the Goddess... Amazing, right? WRONG! IT IS BEYOND AMAZING!"
I mean... the water is kinda mystical. It endlessly flows into the abyss and doesn't ever run out somehow. (Maybe it evaporates... turns into rain, and the cycle continues...?) But it doesn't make anyone immortal, nor are the buildings made of out of flipping gold.
This shows that Skyloft has become a legend of sorts to those remaining on the Surface. Which consists of... two Gorons and a Sheikah. And those weird Parellas too, ig. (Robots don't freaking count. Scrapper can go jump into a trash compactor.)
Skyward Sword is kind of a post-apocalyptic setting. It's kinda stated outright. Demise's return is referred to as an apocalypse when Gaepora paraphrases some hand me down knowledge:
"When the light of the goddess's sword shines bright, the great apocalypse will wake from its long slumber."
But it doesn't really feel post-apocalyptic, does it? At least not to the degree Breath of the Wild did. There's no ruins of villages, towns or farms, even though people did live down there once.
Here's what I think the surface could've been.
Because of the cloud barrier, it's dark, and gloomy. People are nowhere to be found, all that's there is what's left of them.
RE-DEADS. (or gibdos.)
Oh, and their burnt homes, being dragged down into the ground by the arms of nature ever so slowly. Those are there too. How quaint.
The possibility of re-deads in sksw isn't impossible. There were zombie bokoblins. ZOMBIE. BOKOBLINS. Also, with how LITTLE the population of Skyloft really is, it's easy to assume the number of casualties in the Great Apocalypse of Ash Baby were monstrous, and most of them went down in agony. Evident by this frame in the sksw prologue!
That doesn't look pleasant I'm gonna be honest with y'all.
Agonizing death? Sounds like reason to become a zombie. A similar thing happened in Ocarina of Time after Link comes out of his seven year coma. Castle town is flooded with re-deads, legit zombies, who likely died at the hands of Ganondorf's army. Although it isn't ever stated, it's sorta implied.
Sigh, if only.
It's really a huge gigantic shame none of this was ever expanded upon in Skyward Sword, but Nintendo really loves being ambiguous about everything ever. And a lot of concept art for Skyward Sword suggests it was going to have a darker aesthetic, but it was probably brightened up for gaming's sake.
also never forgiving Nintendo for not expanding on Zelda's journey more. or Hylia herself for that matter. Though I don't trust them with my girl tbh.
anyways. ancient civilization in Skyward Sword exists. hurm. okay thanks for reading have a super epic day. might continue yapping on this at a later date.
