The release of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward
Sword back in 2011 was very important to the
Zelda series, for a number of different reasons.
From marking the 25th anniversary of the historic
and now household name Zelda series to introducing
full on motion controls in a Zelda game to
undoubtedly the most significant piece of
importance, giving us the game that tells
the story of the very beginning of Hyrule
and the first game in the official Zelda timeline.
Love it or hate Skyward Sword is without question
one of the best games in series in terms of
lore and story.
Where it struggles in combat controls and
side activities it makes up for in it’s
incredibly rich history content.
The game tells us the story of how the Kingdom
of Hyrule came to be, along with the backstory
to Demise and his ultimate fall, including
the malice filled curse he plaques on the
newly found land of Hyrule.
Aside from the big talking points of the lore
and story there is actually a lot of really
interesting facts, characters and things unique
to this game.
Skyward Sword is the only game we can obtain
the gratitude and evil crystals within, the
game we see how the legendary blade of evil's
bane Master Sword was forged and built into
the triumphant blade found in future adventures
in the timeline and one of my personal favourite
and today's topic, the only appearance of
the Loftwings.
The Loftwings are essentially giant birds.
Similar to say a Pterodactyl but with feathers.
The majority of civilization lives in the
sky in this game and the Loftwings are a means
of transport but are also highly protected
and praised as the people of Skyloft, the
eventual Hylians believe they are a symbol
of the divine protection granted to them from
the Goddess Hylia.
There are a few different kinds that we will
touch on later in the video but something
interesting and potentially heartbreaking
happens at the very end of the game.
At the end of Skyward Sword, once the people
of the sky move down to the surface to create
Hyrule we see the Loftwings belonging to Princess
Zelda and Link fly off into the distance,
but they don’t come back.
They actually fly off into the distance, never
to be seen again…
To this day, we still don’t know what happened
to the Loftwings at the end of Skyward Sword
but today I am going to theorize into just
what happened to the Loftwings after the events
of Skyward Sword and try to uncover their
unexplained and unknown disappearance.
To begin, let’s examine and get a good understanding
of exactly what a Loftwing is.
A good thing to note firstly, is that it’s
a custom for every single citizen of the skies
to own their own Loftwing.
Right off the bat we can clearly see they
are a sort of bird like creature but on a
much larger scale, and as mentioned in the
intro they are primarily a means of transport
for the people of the skies.
In the game we can also find out that there
are a few different kinds of Loftwings, there
is the standard everyday Loftwing which the
everyday civilian would have for flying the
skies during the day, there is Loftwings that
have been specially trained to be able to
fly at night as the standard Loftwing can’t
see particularly well in the dark, and then
there is the most notable Loftwings which
are reserved for the higher ups such as Princess
Zelda, her Father and Link.
With Links personal Loftwing being known as
the Crimson Loftwing, presumably named after
the colour Crimson red.
[No shit mate].
That’s all we really know about them, along
with the fact the are considered to be very
close to the Goddess Hylia and practically
a sacred animal to the people.
Now that we know so basic information about
the majestic birds let’s start digging into
why they disappeared at the end of the game.
Considering we say them fly off into the distance
it’s obvious they didn’t just die out
then and there and after some research, digging
and thinking I believe there could be three
possible reasons as to why they went extinct.
We shall go over them one by one and discover
which one is more likely and hopefully come
to a conclusion of what happened.
The first possible reason is that once the
people of Skyloft, now Hylians settled on
the surface, they had no need for the loftwings
so they pretty much neglected them resulting
in extinction.
Whilst definitely possible I do see a few
flaws here.
We are told within the game that the people
look at the Loftwings as sacred beings, so
even if they did return or stay once the people
had settled it’s very likely the Loftwings
would have been cared for.
Even if that means just simply feeding them
and keeping them healthy whenever they stop
by.
The Hylians would definitely not neglect something
sacred to them and if you know you Zelda games,
you’ll know that when something is sacred
in these games, the people take it VERY seriously.
So that writes off the first possible reasons.
Secondly, the now Hylians tried to domesticate
the Loftwings further as they no longer needed
them as much for traveling, but the domestication
didn’t work out so well, resulting in eventual
extinction.
Hearing that at first, you’d probably think
that’s even more unlikely than the first
option but I personally this is slightly more
likely.
The definition of domestication in terms of
an animal is [ an animal, tame and kept as
a pet or on a farm.
The Loftwings somewhat fit into that.
They aren’t kept as pets or caged up, despite
Grooses attempt, and they aren’t kept within
some sort of farm or set location in the sky.
They are given freedom to roam around anywhere
in the sky and come to their designated civian
upon a command whistle.
They partly fit into being domecatied but
also parly don’t.
So it’s fair to say there is more work to
be done before being fully domesticated Loftwings.
So let’s say the Hylians did try to domesticate
them further with the implication of trying
to make them home pets or even land pets.
Domestication in the real work can take as
little as a few thousand years to as much
as hundreds of thousands and considering Skyward
Sword is at the very beginning of the Zelda
timeline there could have been thousands of
years between the next few games in the timeline.
We aren’t given exact time frames between
games but considering the advancements in
society in games taking place after Skyward
Sword we can assume that there is at least
a good few thousand of years in there, possibly
more.
From our knowledge given to us in Skyward
Sword, this would be the Hylians first attempt
to domesticate them, meaning it could work
but could also end in disaster in the form
of a long term extinction due to failing to
domesticate them.
It’s not very likely but it’s more likely
than the first possible reason.
Whilst failing to domesticate them is very
possible it would have to be tragically failed
to result in a mass extinction.
I’d say this reason is relatively unlikely
but we still have one more potential reason
to discuss.
The third and final possible reason for the
disappearance of the Loftwings is that overtime
they slowly evolved into the Oocca found in
Twilight Princess.
I know what your thinking, no chance but hear
me out.
This could actually make a LOT of sense.
To begin trying to prove this possibility
let’s look at the facts.
Both the Loftwings and Oocca are inhabitants
of the sky and also both regarded as sacred
beings.
Proof of this is found in the Loftwings case
when we are told the Loftwings are the divine
protection sent from Hylia and in the Oocca’s
case we are informed by Shad, researcher in
Twilight Princess studying the Oocca and their
history that Goddess Hylia created the Oocca
at the same time she created the Hylians.
Now creating the Hylians is slightly subjective,
as they weren’t technically Hylians until
they settled on the surface at the end of
Skyward Sword.
Yes they are at times called Hylians but the
actual kingdom of Hyrule wasn’t established
until after the end of Skyward Sword.
So it’s hard to tell if Hylia meant the
literal creation of them when they were originally
on the surface before the surface was formed
into the Kingdom of Hyrule, or when they officially
became Hylians upon the creation of the Kingdom
of Hyrule.
That aside there are other points to look
at.
Shad in Twilight Princess tells us that the
when Goddess Hylia created the Hylains, the
Oocaa simultaneously moved to the skies and
we do find out that the Oocca have a home
in the sky known as, The City in The Sky.
The interesting piece of information here
is that the Oocca left for the skies at the
same time of the creation of the Hylians.
Meaning the Oocca already existing prior to
the Hylians, which also falls in line with
the Loftwings as they presumably also existed
prior to the Hylains.
So if the quote on quote creation of the Hylians
did imply them officially being Hylians upon
the long awaited return to the surface then
that would line up with the time of when the
Oocca left for the skies.
Well I believe that the Oocca leaving for
the skies which Shad tells us about could
actually be the loftwings leaving for the
skies and for multiple reasons.
Firstly, the Loftwings were as previously
mentioned considered to be protection sent
from Hylia, this is because Hylia moved all
of her people to the skies when Demise first
invaded the land, the loftwings were a means
of protection for her people now living in
the sky, but as you know, at the end of Skyward
Sword skyloft descends to the surface and
moves the people of the skies down to the
surface, which went on to become Hyrule, making
them Hylians.
Since they were now on the surface and safe
from Demise following his, Demise to Link,
they no longer needed such divine protection
in the form of the Loftwings.
So they left and headed off for the skies.
This is more speculation but I’d say it’s
relatively fair to assume that Hylia then
created the City in The Sky for the Loftwings
that left at the end of Skyward Sword.
A big part that could make this the case is
that Shad in Twilight Princess isn’t fully
knowledgeable on the Oocca, he is still currently
researching during the events of Twilight
Princess.
Both the Oocca and Loftings are bird like
creators and more importantly close to a god.
We are told the Oocca were close to a gods
but Shad doesn’t specify on who, but considering
Hylia is a god and both the Loftwings and
Oocca are considered close to them it’s
not unlikely that Shad has discovered the
connection between the Loftwings and Oocca
without even knowing it.
He is reaching a time thousands of years ago
and through old statues, carving and notes
so it’s not unlikely the depiction of both
the Oocca and Loftings were massively similar
on paper.
As for the evolution part we know that’s
actually 100% possible.
The Zora managed to evolve into the Rito to
adapt to their new life in the flooded land
of Hyrule and that wasn’t even the works
of Hylia, that was a natural transition over
many years for them.
So with or without Hylia's help the Loftwings
of Skyward Sword could have easily evolved
into the Oocca upon Goddess Hylia calling
them back and forming the city in the game.
We are told in Twilight Princess that the
Oocca were close to the Royal Family and if
they are an evolution of the Loftwings that
matches up.
The Loftwings were close with the closest
thing to the Royal Family at the time, Zelda's
Father and Zelda herself.
There is also the possibility that once Hyrule
was formed at the end of Skyward Sword the
Loftwings returned in the form of the Oocca
during a timeframe we don’t actually get
to see.
That could be what Shad references when he
tells us the Oocca where once close to the
Royal Family.
Additionally to all of that both the Loftwings
and Oocca are there to help the Hylians, they
serve similar duties if you will.
To me this is the most likely possibility.
You could even say that if the creation of
the city in the sky was a form of reserving
or holding the helpers from Hylia until the
time comes that they are required again and
during that time of being on standby they
evolved into more intelligent beings, the
Oocca.
Of course, this theory does involve some speculation
but more so due to the fact that we don’t
have 100% conformations but we do have valid
reasons to speculate.
Technically we can’t actually say they went
extinct but considering there is no mention
of them after Skyward Sword and no signs or
memories of them other than little easter
eggs, it’s safe to assume that the Loftwings
did go extinct after the events of Skyward
Sword.
So I believe that the disappearance of the
Loftwings is NOT due to extinction, but due
to the fact they evolved into the Oocca found
in Twilight Princess remaining as helpers
to Goddess Hylia.
Thanks a ton for checking out the video, it’s
very much appreciated.
As always, this is just my personal thoughts
and theories on the topic, what do you think?
Do you agree with the theory of evolution?,
or maybe even one of the other two ideas or
maybe even a theory of your own.
Whatever it may be, let me know down below
in the comments.
I want to let you guys know I truly appreciate
all of the support you have given me over
the past 3 years, coming on 4 at the beginning
of January 2020.
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it means the world to me, and until the next
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