The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword/Characters

• Main
• Characters
• Laconic
• Trivia
• YMMV
• Fridge
• Headscratchers
• Quotes
• WMG
  • Pre-Release
• Crowners
  • Awesome
  • Funny
  • Heartwarming
  • Nightmare Fuel
  • Tear Jerker
• Wikipedia
• All Subpages
  • Drinking Game
• Create New

Characters from The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword include:

Protagonists

Link

The main protagonist and resident of Skyloft. At the outset of the game, he is a knight-in-training, studying at Skyloft's Knight Academy. On the day of his graduation, a mysterious black tornado sweeps Zelda away. He is then chosen to pierce the cloud layer existing between Skyloft and the surface world by the Goddess Sword (and its spirit, Fi), fulfilling a prophecy and searching for Zelda in the harsh world below. His voice samples are provided by Takashi Ohara.

• Adorkable
• Affectionate Nickname: Zelda refers to him as "sleepy head", due to his inability to wake up early, with her usually being the one to wake him. It takes a quite emotional turn later in the game, when Zelda goes into her hibernation to contain Demise, she notes that this time, it would be his turn to wake her up.
• Almost Kiss: Til Zelda pushes him off the statue instead.
• Badass
• Berserk Button: For the love of Hylia, do NOT do anything to hurt Zelda. At all. You will regret it.
• Beware the Nice Ones
• Bishonen
• Blow You Away: With the Gust Jar.
• Bow and Sword in Accord
• Brilliant but Lazy: Zelda and Gaepora both make comments that suggest Link was this as a student. He drops the "lazy" part real fast once Zelda is in danger, though.
• Butt Monkey/The Chew Toy: At the beginning, Link gets no respect.
• Cassandra Truth: Shortly before Zelda has Link train for the race, Link informs her that he can't sense his scarlet Loftwing anywhere. Zelda initially thinks Link's attempting to weasel out of training. Unfortunately, she doesn't discover until shortly after shoving him off that Link was actually being honest: his Scarlet Loftwing really was missing.
• The Champion: For Zelda.
• Chick Magnet: He gets a fair bit of admiration from a few girls throughout the game. Cawlin even asks Link to deliver his love letter because he considers Link to be the kind of person to be good with the ladies.
• Childhood Friend Romance: With Zelda.
• The Chosen One: Quite possibly the first in a long line of future Chosen Ones.
• Clothes Make the Legend: His tunic comes from the Skyloft Knight Academy. Every student in his year wears dark green.
• Cool Sword
• Crazy Prepared
• Deadpan Snarker: Some Dialogue Tree choices can make Link this.

Link: Nice hair. Link: Am I late?

• Death Glare: He gives a few in the game, mostly to Ghirahim. Especially when Ghirahim kidnaps Zelda, and also when Link is confronted with Demise, Link becomes furious.
• The Determinator: He will find Zelda, no matter what. She even reveals that she uses this to her advantage, though she wasn't happy with doing so.
• Dialogue Tree: How he communicates, when prompted.
• Dual-Wielding: His Clawshots.
• Dude, Where's My Respect?: Even after he's saved her life and powered up his sword, Faron doesn't treat him with respect until after he's completed her Fetch Quest.
• Fingerless Gloves: Part of his uniform.
• Good Feels Good: "Helping people feels good."
• Hello, Insert Name Here: The game does give the default of "Link".
• The Hero
• Heroic Mime: Played with. He can be seen speaking (with mouth movements) during some cutscenes, but the game displays no text to show exactly what he is saying, nor does the player hear what he says.
• I Will Protect Zelda
• Informed Attribute: A meta-example. The game portrays Link as a kind-hearted boy, but certain dialogue options can make him seem quite mean.
• Kleptomaniac Hero/Rewarding Vandalism: Subverted on occasion; some people will call Link out for breaking their pottery, and he won't take anything from people's homes. When he breaks the chandelier in the Lumpy Pumpkin the owner is furious and forces Link to work off the debt.
• Lady and Knight: The Knight to Zelda's Lady.
• Legacy Character: He's currently the chronologically first playable Link in the series. The prequel manga reveals Goddess Hylia's original Champion from long ago was the precursor to all Links.
• Leitmotif: Shares one with Zelda entitled as "Romance". Also, the main theme of the series comes back as his motif with an arrangement: Song of the Hero.
• Luckily, My Shield Will Protect Me:
  • Played with this time; the shield in Skyward Sword has a breaking point. Heap too much abuse on it and it will shatter. Any shield can be fixed up to reset how much damage it can sustain, though, and the Sacred Shield and its upgrades, the basic form of which can be bought after the third dungeon, repair themselves if left idle at the cost of being less durable than the other shields.
    • Not to mention that metal shields don't completely replace wooden ones. Certain enemies have attacks that can actually shatter metal shields on contact, meaning that you have to switch out a wooden one that won't. Electric attacks will also still hit if you're using an metal shield rather than a wooden one. On the flipside, wooden shields are of course flammable, so switching them out and upgrading as needed is key.
  • Played straight with the Hylian Shield, obtainable through an optional boss rush, which blocks all damage types and has infinite durability.
  • Shield-Bash: A maneuver Link can preform to get the drop on the enemy.
• Knight in Shining Armor: Maybe a bit rough around the edges at first but he gets there by the end.
• Magic Music: He plays Zelda's harp throughout the game.
• Manly Tears: When Zelda is put to sleep.
• Master Swordsman: It varies depending on the Link but at least in this case, Link is pretty handy with a sword from the get-go. He can receive a few pointers from his sparring instructor but it's implied that he is already fairly capable with a blade.
• Maybe Ever After
• Nice Guy
• Nice Hat
• Oh Crap:
  • A brief one at the beginning. After he wins the Bird Statue, Zelda sees him and excitedly jumps off the edge of Skyloft. The look on his face as he swoops in to catch her says it all.
  • He gets a hilarious one when Groose is skydiving at a ridiculous speed towards him.
• One-Man Army: This incarnation of Link is probably the most defining example of all the Links, going through waves of Bokoblins and Moblins to save Zelda.
• Ordinary High School Student: Before the whole test at the beginning of the game, he was living in a dorm, going to school, studying to become a knight, had an implied romantic interest with one of his closest friends whom could be seen as "the most popular girl in school", was bullied by a Jerk Jock and like most high school-esque scenarios, has most of the problems from this time solved by the end of the story. In a meta-like direction, this Link is the most normal Link in the series before the whole Took a Level in Badass.
• Parental Abandonment: Link is a said to be a native of Skyloft but unlike some of the other students, his family does not live there. His origins aren't expanded upon beyond that so this is sort of a "who knows" kind of affair.
• The Quiet One: Though he still generally acts as a Heroic Mime, Link has occasional BioWare-esque text options in certain cutscenes, often when talking with Zelda.
• The Reliable One: With exception to his bad habit of sleeping in he's more or less the go to guy in Skyloft whenever you need a favor. Karane even lampshades it.
• Tunic over Slacks
• Sleepyhead
• The Southpaw: Generally averted; in a break with Zelda tradition, this Link is actually ambidextrous, but often holds his sword in his right hand due to gameplay reasons (with the motion control, Link's dominant hand needs to match the player's, and most people are right-handed).
• Stab the Sky: The Skyward Strike allows him to charge up his sword and perform Sword Beams and other techniques.
• Sword Beam: The Skyward Strike allows him to turn a normal slash or stab into one. For the player, this is the first time a Sword Beam existed in a 3D home console Zelda game since The Legend of Zelda Majoras Mask.
• Took a Level in Badass: He went from the Ordinary High School Student who was nearly in over his head and chewed out by Impa to a true Hero of the Goddess and One-Man Army.
• Unstoppable Rage: Link versus the hordes of Bokoblins and other enemies at the end of the game. It's almost impossible to lose against them. While in other games Link's most clearly motivated by duty to the kingdom/world, and doing what's right for a Princess he met, at best, a couple weeks before, this time, the villains have messed with a Zelda who he's been best friends with (and perhaps more) for years and he is pissed.
• Whip It Good: Receives a whip in the Ancient Cistern.
• Work Off the Debt: How he gets employed at the Lumpy Pumpkin.
• You Are Too Late: Impa berates him for it too.

The Goddess Sword/Fi

Fi is the name I was given. I was created for a single purpose, long before the recorded memory of your people. I must aid you in fulfilling the great destiny that is your burden to carry.

The titular blade, which houses a spirit named Fi that manifests itself in the form of a girl to aid Link. Its voice samples are provided by Ayumi Fujimura.

• Auto-Tune: Her incomprehensible speech is given this effect.
• Ambiguous Gender/No Biological Sex: Aonuma has stated he considers it to be a feminine figure, but not female, though it is occasionally referred to as such.
• Armless Biped: She does have a winglike cloak that resembles arms, however.
• But Now I Must Go: Having completed her mission, Fi's consciousness fades into the Master Sword at the end of the game.
• Blue Oni: To Ghirahim's Red.
• Captain Obvious: A lot of the time, though she can be incredibly vague some other times.
• Chrome Champion
• Cool Sword: She is the sword.
• Critical Annoyance: She always tells you to look for hearts when you fall into near-critical health. It is worth noting, though, that it's entirely possible to simply ignore it when she pings you about your health, and the alert will go away in a few seconds if it goes unanswered.
• Deadpan Snarker: Shows up whenever Link acts stupid.
• Emotionless Girl: Word of God states that it has a very icy demeanor, and speaks in a rather stoic manner. However, after Demise has been sealed away, she says that she is experiencing happiness.
• Empathic Weapon
• Enemy Scan: Can pinpoint enemies' weaknesses.
• Exposition Sword-Spirit: Indubitably the best-informed of the series' Exposition Fairies. She's a fount of backstory factoids and gameplay advice all couched in a charming turn of phrase.
• Expy:
  • Her character design is very reminiscent of the Fairy Queen from Wind Waker.
  • Her simlish and overall idea behind the character strongly reflects Midna.
• Fashionable Asymmetry: Half of the cloak is purple, half is blue/silver.
• If My Calculations Are Correct: She presents percentage probabilities rather frequently.
• Leitmotif
• Living Weapon
• Moe Anthropomorphism: Of the Goddess Sword, and later, the Master Sword.
• My Sensors Indicate You Want to Tap That: Done in a roundabout way when it concludes that any good news about Zelda will lift Link's spirits. Played straight if you make Link return Peatrice's affections, mainly to confirm that Link does not lie when he says he likes her. Fi sees the effect that Peatrice's looks has on Link.
• Robot Girl: Though certainly not a robot, she seems to be evoking a fantasy version of this with her speech patterns and design. After all, the sword made of metal.
• Speaking Simlish: Making it the second Exposition Fairy to do so in this series. 1Up compared its voice to an "auto-tuned Vocaloid."
• Spell My Name with an "S": Various gaming news outlets gave both "Phi" and "Fie" as anglicized spellings of its name when its name was first revealed. The final game spells it "Fi".
• Spock Speak
• Stocking Filler: Of the fishnet variety.
• The Stoic
• Stop Helping Me!: Her habit of pointing out the obvious can be rather irritating.
  • That being said, she has far more dialogue choices than any other Fairy before her and can end up being useful now and again. She's not perfect, but she at least has moments.
• Talking Weapon
• What Is This Thing You Call Love?: A possible interpretation of her last speech. She says her most valued memories are those she shared with Link, and that in their travels together, she found a reason to fulfill her purpose beyond simply being directed to by her creator. Maybe not romantic love, but the gist of it is there.

Zelda

A resident of Skyloft and friend of Link's since their childhood. The daughter of the Knight Academy headmaster, she serves as the goddess surrogate for the Wing Ceremony. She is sucked into a vortex early on in the game, but rescued by Impa. Her voice samples are provided by Yuu Shimamura.

• The Atoner: While not a bad guy, she did take advantage of Link's motivation to find and rescue her. The plan was set into motion back when she was the goddess Hylia, and despite her current self, Zelda, not being conscious of the plan at all, she still blames herself for it. To atone, she puts herself to sleep for thousands of years to seal away Demise in the past until Link finds a way to destroy him in the present.
• Badass Damsel: She managed to make her way through the Faron Woods without getting caught, and got to the Earth Temple's entrance on Eldin Volcano before she was captured.
• Barrier Maiden
• Blue Eyes
• Bully Hunter
• Childhood Friend Romance: With Link.
• Crystal Prison: Self imposed to strengthen the seal on the Imprisoned.
• Daddy's Girl
• Damsel in Distress: Played with; she was spirited away by Impa and is spending her time trying to evade Ghirahim's capture. Played straight near the end of the game, where Ghirahim manages to capture her.
• Everything's Better with Princesses: Averted, she's not a princess this time, but she's clearly still an important figure.
• Genki Girl: She starts off as one. As a kid, she's described as having thrown a long, unbearable tantrum about Link's special connection with his Loftwing. As a young girl, she's not above pushing Link from possibly lethal heights, leaping in his arms by even higher heights herself and dragging her lifelong friends around wherever she sees fit.
• Girl In White: In her second costume as seen in the artwork to the right.
• Girl Next Door
• Goddess In Somewhat-Hylian Form: She's the reincarnation of the goddess Hylia
• Hair of Gold
• Harp of Femininity: Which she uses in her prayer ceremonies to restore her body. As per tradition of the series she lends it to Link to use to play Magic Music.
• Hime Cut
• Hero of Another Story: Although she is technically the Heroine of the Same Story, like Link Zelda made her own journey across the surface alongside Impa facing her own trials.
• Holy Child
• Implied Love Interest: Link and Zelda are strongly implied to have romantic feelings for each other. At the very least, she has them for him.
• Incorruptible Pure Pureness: Ghirahim needs Zelda for his plans because of her "holiness". Later subverted when we find out that she's actually the Goddess Hylia reincarnated. Her "holiness" actually refers to the raw divine power in her soul. She, herself, is actually not.
• Lady and Knight: The Lady with Link as the Knight.
• Legacy Character: The first incarnation of Zelda. This is cemented during her reveal that she's the Goddess Hylia.
• Leitmotif:
  • Has one shared with Link called Romance and, of course, has her Lullaby.
  • Ballad of the Goddess counts, too, due to her origin as the goddess Hylia.
• MacGuffin Girl
• Maybe Ever After
• Mystical Waif
• Ordinary High School Student: In much the same way as Link. Who would have thought the first in a long line of princesses started out as a normal girl?
• Pink Means Feminine: Her first costume.
• Plucky Girl: Ironically, see Badass Damsel, above. Zelda has no noticeable combat skills in spite of being a student of the Knight Academy, but she has every bit as much Heroic Spirit as Link does. Wow.
• Shout-Out: The same character doing the same throw when the Big Bad is chasing her down as in Ocarina of Time.
• Silk Hiding Steel
• Spirited Young Lady
• Singing Simlish: Zelda's singing is actually fully voice acted, it's just that her actress is singing gibberish in imitation of Simlish.
  • Running Gag: We never get to hear her finish singing the Ballad of the Goddess.
• The Ugly Guy's Hot Daughter
• White Magic

Groose

Link's rival on Skyloft, Groose has a crush on Zelda.

• Anime Hair: Sports a ridiculous-looking pompadour that everyone from you to Ghirahim insults.
• Badass Normal: For a guy who doesn't have any special powers or Goddess-given destiny, Groose sure does pull off some ridiculously cool things. He even gets praise from Demise for having the guts to save Zelda.
• Big Damn Heroes: Helps Link out seal away the Imprisoned the second and third time, and at one point catches Zelda.
• The Bully
• Character Development: Goes from a Jerkass to an ally as the game goes on.
• Cannot Talk To Zelda: When Zelda's around, he tends to lose his train of thought...
• Dub Name Change: His original Japanese name is "Bado".
  • This can be transliterated as "Bad" or "Bird". When you apply those to instances of the Egopolis trope....
• Egopolis: When he first arrives in Hyrule he suggests naming it Grooseland.
• Eyes of Gold
• Friend to All Living Things: Hilariously, the small birds in Hyrule seem to love him.
• Gang of Bullies His lackeys, Cawlin and Stritch.
• Green-Eyed Monster: Is very jealous of Link's close relationship with Zelda at the beginning of the story. He seemingly gets over it by the end.
• Heroic BSOD: He beats himself up when he was unable to defeat the Imprisoned yet Link was the first time it escaped, viewing himself as useless. He eventually gets out of the rut.
  • Even earlier, he seems to go on what could only be described as sensory overload when seeing what the Surface is, demanding hysterically where Link is at. It's implied after Link explained it to him (well, in-universe, for obvious reasons) that he understands the gist of his explanation and seems to calm down slightly.
• Hopeless Suitor: Groose has an obvious crush on Zelda, and at the beginning of the game hopes to earn her affections. Unfortunately for him, Zelda only has eyes for Link (though his initial attitude didn't do him any favours). It seems he comes to accept this by the end.
• Idiot Savant: He's not all that smart, yet he's able to build a working catapult and railway track that circles the entire Sealed Grounds rather quickly.
• Intergenerational Friendship: He gets pretty close with "Granny".
• Jerk Jock
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold
• The Lancer: After his Character Development, he becomes this to Link.
• Leitmotif: A slightly jerky one, usually using the Trombone, which goes flat in instances when Zelda is calling him out on his behavior.
• Non-Action Guy: Downplayed. He admits that his eventual role in helping Link isn't very action packed, but he doesn't mind it. On top of that, he does help out pretty nicely against The Imprisoned, with his Groosenator.
• Redheaded Bully
• The Rival
• Siege Engines: He builds a catapult called the Groosenator that he launches bombs and Link from.
• Small Name, Big Ego: Until he sees Link in action.
• Spell My Name with an "S": The dub's name is technically supposed to be Grouse /ɡraʊs/, but it's spelled as Groose /gruːs/, perhaps because it's a combination of "grouse" and "goose".
• You Shall Not Pass: When Ghirahim arrives to capture Zelda after Demise is defeated for good and take her into the past, Groose attempts to block Girahim's way. Unfortunately, Ghirahim simply pushes him aside with little effort.

Impa

A mysterious Sheikah woman who rescued Zelda from Ghirahim and becomes her bodyguard. Her voice samples are provided by Rei Shimoda.

• Action Girl
• Badass Cape: She only wears it in the artwork and her very first appearance.
• Barrier Warrior: Is shown holding up a barrier when fighting Ghirahim.
• Continuity Nod: This one might as well be the younger Impa.
• Cool Big Sis: To Zelda
• Dark Is Not Evil: Considering that the Sheikah are generally associated with shadows.
• Darkskinned Blonde
• Facial Markings
• Good Is Not Nice: She gives a biting "The Reason You Suck" Speech to Link when he manages to catch up to her and Zelda. Link eventually earns her respect after saving her from Ghirahim.
• Kung Fu Wizard
• Legacy Character: Currently the first Impa in the Zelda series.
• Legacy of Service
• Noodle People: She's a lot taller and skinnier than the rest of the cast. Lampshaded when Ghirahim refers to her as a 'beanpole'.
• Praetorian Guard: As one of the Sheikah it is her peoples sworn duty to protect Zelda.
  • Bodyguard Babe
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: Inverted, as she is protecting Zelda.
• "The Reason You Suck" Speech: While Link could have caught up with Zelda at the Temple of Earth, where they meet again for the first time after their separation, Impa explicitly forbids Zelda from even speaking to him. After sending her away, she gives Link a caustic speech about his shortcomings, explicitly says that he was too slow and too weak, and since she had to save Zelda by herself, this makes Link a failure as the Goddess' Hero, unworthy of his role and Zelda's attention.
• Short Hair with Tail
• The Stoic
• Sugar and Ice Personality
• Two Aliases, One Character: She and The Old Woman below? Same person.

The Old Woman

An old Sheikah lady who watches over the Sealed Ground. She helps Link and Zelda out in their quests.

• Ancient Keeper
• Cool Old Lady
• Disappears Into Light: What happens at the end of the game. She's finished her duty of protecting Hylia and so is going back to the heavens. Also because she's several thousand years old when that happens. It's amazing she held on that long.
• Elderly Immortal: Until she fulfills her task and Disappears Into Light.
• The Hermit
  • Hermit Guru
• The Mentor
• Miniature Senior Citizens: Especially jarring considering the beanpole she used to be.
• Ms. Exposition
• No Name Given: At least until the end of the game, where it's revealed that she's the present-day form of Impa.
• The Obi-Wan
• Robe and Wizard Hat
• Two Aliases, One Character: She and Impa above? Same person.

Antagonists

Demon Lord, Ghirahim

250px

"Still... it hardly seems fair, being of my position, to take all my anger out on you. Which is why I promise up front not to murder you... No, I'll just beat you within an inch of your life!"

The main antagonist of Skyward Sword, Ghirahim is a white-haired man who claims to be the ruler of the surface. He wishes to revive his master, and seeks out Zelda for that purpose. His voice samples are provided by Anri Katsu.

• Agent Peacock: He's quite flamboyant, but he's extremely powerful.
• Ambiguously Gay, with an emphasis on ambiguous, though, he's technically genderless.
• Attack Its Weak Point: In the third fight, Link hits him with successive Finishing Blows, creating a diamond-shaped wound in his chest, which serves as a stab target thereafter.
• Ax Crazy: What do you expect from a demon god's sword?
• Badass Cape: Although he takes it off to fight. It kind of just disintegrates.
• Badass Finger-Snap: He snaps his fingers whenever he uses magic such as summoning a boss or creating a sword.
• Bad Boss: Right before his third fight with Link, he summons hordes of enemies to stall for time, and he tells them that if they fail and live (he's aware Link will kill them), they will suffer for it.
• Barehanded Blade Block: During his boss fight. If you can't get out of it in time, he steals your sword and uses it against you.
• Beware the Silly Ones: Don't let his narcissism and flamboyance fool you, he is still a crazed and evil villain who needs to be encountered with extreme caution.
• Big Bad: He is the main antagonist of the game, even though he is The Dragon to his master, who he is trying to revive. And even though Demise is the Final Boss of the game, Ghirahim does have more of a role on the entire story.
• Bishonen: Very much so. In fact, Game Informer magazine actually mistook him for a female. Aonuma said he was designed with a "unisex-like, genderless feel". If that sounds familiar, he also describes Fi the same way. This is not a coincidence.
• BFS: During the final phase of his final fight. He also plays this trope literally. Demise's sword, a BFS, is... well, Ghirahim. So Ghirahim himself is a BFS.
• Black Magic
• Blood Knight: Really enjoys violence and conflict. Actually justified because Ghirahim is the humanoid form of the Demon King Demise's sword.
• Blow You Away: He's the one that summoned the tornado to capture Zelda early in the game.
• Boss Banter: He chastises you if you do very badly against him.
• Boss Remix: His battle music is based on his leitmotif.
• Breaking the Fourth Wall: He hums his own Leitmotif when he does his victory dance right before he starts the ritual to sacrifice Zelda.
• Camp: Quite possibly the campiest Zelda villain yet.
• Catch and Return: A rare close-range example. Let him hold onto your sword for too long, and he'll pull it out of your hand and start slashing you with it. This even applies to the Master Sword during Lanayru's boss rematch with him. So much for "only Link can wield it."
  • Unfortunately for Link, the exact text is "[O]nly Link may wield it." Besides that, Lanayru wasn't around when Link beat Ghirahim the first time, so he probably just assumed he always had the Master Sword (which is true, upgrades notwithstanding). Note that the real Ghirahim doesn't use the blade grasp trick when you fight him for the last time with the Master Sword.
• Character Tics: Some people have noticed that he wiggles his fingers quite a bit.
• Chrome Champion: His One-Winged Angel form.
• Cool Sword: He is Demise's sword. In sword form, he looks like an evil version of the Master Sword.
• Crucified Hero Shot: Inverted after Demise is revived, Ghirahim is thanked by him by being forcibly reconverted into his sword and is in this pose during the process. Ghirahim doesn't seem to mind though, as he's laughing maniacally during the process.
• Dangerously Genre Savvy: How many other villains are smart enough to realize Link's sword is his most potent weapon and knock it out of his hands?
• Death Glare: At the end of their second duel, Ghirahim briefly lose his temper... And let's just say that his face wasn't pretty (this abysmal furious pink pupiless eye was quite disturbing).
• Demon Lords and Archdevils: His title is Demon Lord, and he rules the surface in the absence of his master Demise
• Demon Drama Lord: In spades.
• Die Laughing
• Dissonant Serenity: In the first phase of all of his fights, he approaches Link calmly.
• The Dragon: Ghirahim's main motivation is to resurrect some "Master" of his, using Zelda in some way to do so. Said master turns out to be the Demon King Demise.
  • The Heavy: He is the most active villain in the plot. Technically The Dragon to his master, Demise, but he stayed a Sealed Evil in a Can until the very end of the game. Ghirahim's quest to free him drives the plot.
• Dual-Wielding: During his second fight.
• Evil Albino
• Evil Counterpart: To Fi. They're both swords, Ghirahim being the sword for Demise, and his One-Winged Angel form in his third fight resembles a black-and-white version of Fi with arms instead of a cloak. Also, their temperaments are complete opposites, with Ghirahim as a Red Oni and Fi as a Blue Oni.
• Evil Is Hammy: Fabulously so.
• Evil Overlord: He claims to be the ruler of the surface world, only subservient to his master.
• Evil Tastes Good: He licks his lips during his first battle with Link. Though considering how he was acting towards Link earlier, this may be implying something else entirely.
  • It also qualifies as Violence tastes good as well, which also acts as foreshadowing as he is actually the humanoid form of Demise's sword.
• Facial Markings or Guyliner
• Family-Unfriendly Death
• Faux Affably Evil: He mostly keeps a semblence of dignity around Link, but the "Faux" part comes from his appetite for bloodshed and his horrific promises to torture Link.
  • Note that he has an odd definition of dignity.
• The Fighting Narcissist: Over half of the cutscene before his second fight with Link is Ghirahim talking about how perfect his body is.
• Flaming Devil
• Flechette Storm : He can summon a flurry of diamond knives to attack Link.
• Foil:
  • Aonuma has said Ghirahim was designed to contrast with Ganondorf's "very masculine, powerful, evil" characteristics. As a result, this makes Ghirahim also somewhat resemble Vaati, who is somewhere in the middle of the effeminate/masculine spectrum. This also makes him contrast his master Demise, who is very masculine.
  • He also serves as one to Fi when he transforms into Demise's sword. He is one to Fi overall, his over the top, emotional and flamboyant nature contrasting Fi's subdued and stoic manner.
• For Doom the Bell Tolls: Part of his leitmotif.
• Glamour Failure: Ghirahim's face starts to show 'cracks' once he starts to lose his cool towards the end of the game.
• Good Old Fisticuffs: In the last fight with him he initially just uses punches and kicks, though after getting knocked off the platforms he goes back to uses a sword.
• Go Out with a Smile: A twisted variation.
• Happy Dance
• Heart Light: Develops one during his third encounter with Link.
• Hoist by His Own Petard:
  • After going One-Winged Angel, he tells Link that he'll knock him to the edge and then push him off in a method he calls the "Endless Fall." Guess how Link defeated him?
  • A more subtle example that serves from the very beginning: he chastises you if you telegraph your attacks, but he does the same thing outrageously, making it comparably easy to counterattack.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Done to him repeatedly in his third fight with Link, but Inverted with his "death", as he seems to fall lifelessly after Demise yanks his sword from Ghirahim's body.
• Impossibly Cool Clothes: Notice that his form-fitting costume is mostly skin-baring cutouts.
• Just Between You and Me: See Hoist by His Own Petard. He even lampshades his tendency towards this trope earlier in the game.
• Just Toying with Them: Holds back in their first fight, as he doesn't see Link as much of a threat and decides to just beat him within an inch of his life.
• Knight of Cerebus: While possessing some funny traits, any time the guy arrives creates a marked change due to how frightening and dangerous he is.
• Large Ham
• Laughably Evil: Doesn't stop him from being incredibly creepy, however.
• Laughing Mad: Laughs maniacally when Demise forcibly reconverts him into his sword. It's pretty safe to say that he wanted it to happen.
• Left the Background Music On: He hums his own Leitmotif at one point.
• Lean and Mean: In comparison to Ganondorf, he's pretty scrawny. Doesn't make him any less dangerous. Subverted with his Sword Spirit form, which is rather muscular. Even Fi notes a 90% increase in muscle mass.
• Leaning on the Fourth Wall: It's subtle, but in his last form (capable of speech), his dialog box looks like a black version of Fi's.
• Leitmotif: A rather creepy-yet-whimsical one.
• Light Is Not Good: Has a predominantly white look, which is even more noticeable when he removes his cape.
  • Dark Is Evil: On the other hand, his sword has been seen to have a dark glow around it. Also, he gets black markings on his body during his meeting with Link in the Fire Sanctuary.
    • His final form is black all over.
• Licking the Blade
• Living Weapon: Though he really doesn't seem to be living after he gets absorbed into Demise's sword.
• Make Wrong What Once Went Right: He travels to the past to free Demise after he is permanently dealt with in the present.
• Magic Knight: Ghirahim is an exceptional swordsman, but he's also able to use precise and formidable magic powers.
• Meaningful Name: Ghira is an Arabic word for Pride (specifically, responding to perceived insults with violence).
• Milking the Giant Cow: In just about every scene he's in.
• Motif: Seems to have a thing with diamonds.
• My Defense Need Not Protect Me Forever: He may lose the final fight with Link but that doesn't mean he couldn't complete the revival ritual.
• No Sense of Personal Space: At least with Link.
• Not So Fast Bucko: He crashes the party after you defeat the Imprisoned the final time, knocking out Link, Groose, and the Old Woman in rapid succession, and then taking Zelda captive for use in reviving his master. Also an aversion of No Sneak Attacks.
• Ominous Latin Chanting: Added to his battle music in his third and final fight.
• Ominous Pipe Organ: Part of his leitmotif and battle music.
• One-Winged Angel: His true form looks like a dark version of Fi, as well as being about a head taller and is considerably more muscular. Appropriate, considering he is the sword for his master Demise.
• Overly Long Tongue: Ye gads.
• Peek-a-Bangs
• Recurring Boss: No less than three.
• Red Oni: To Fi. They contrast one another well: Where Fi is stoic and emotionless, Ghirahim is flamboyant and over the top. They are both Equippable Allies as well, and refer to their owners as their Master. Driving the point home is that Fi's Master is Link, who wields the Master Sword, and Ghirahim's Master is Demise, who wields a literally Darker and Edgier Master Sword.
• Ring Out Boss: In the first phase of his third fight, Link must knock him off the platforms on which they fight.
• Royal Rapier: Wields one in his first fight. Wields another in his second fight.
• Sissy Villain: Definitely not sissy in his fights, but he acts like one incredulously.
• Smug Snake: Lampshaded by Fi in her scan on him. He displays overconfidence in his ability to beat Link while holding back, even after Link beats him the first time. After Link beats him twice, however, he stops acting smug and does not hold back in his third fight.
• Talking Weapon
• Tennis Boss: If you're a pro, you can whack back his drones in the fights perfectly with your sword. This will send the drones back at him, causing him to always defend against them and leaving him open to attack. Note that they are all done in the direction of slashes, going from the floor-up. You can also do this in the last two parts of the final fight with him by using Skyward Strikes against his red strikes, and the above defend position also happens. Just make sure that they are in the same kind of slash and you don't strafe. On a different note, you should have a good idea what this trope references.
• That Makes Me Feel Furious! Outraged! Sick With Anger!: Line from his introduction aside, he has a tendency to say how he feels in a very over-the-top manner.
• The Gloves Come Off: In your second fight against him, he makes his gloves disintegrate, and true enough, he isn't playing around this time.
• Throwing Your Opponent's Sword Always Works
• Undying Loyalty: The only positive trait he has is his loyalty to his master. And even then, his master is Demise, the source of all evil.
• Variable Mix: His battle music varies between having the occasional bass drum beat for its percussion to instead having a more fast-paced snare drum with a few cymbals for percussion. The snare drum version has yet another variation with a freaking choir.
• Villain Teleportation: A pretty cool-looking teleportation to boot.
• Villainous Breakdown: He loses his temper whenever things don't quite go his way. He actually admits it's a flaw of his.
  • After Link defeats him for the second time he stops pretending to be Affably Evil, and starts acting like the Ax Crazy demon he really is.
• "Wake-Up Call" Boss: Can be surprisingly difficult on his first battle if you're not careful.
• White-Haired Pretty Boy
• Why Won't You Die?: He gets increasingly irritated as Link seems to survive everything he throws at him. Ghirahim eventually loses his Smug Snake demeanor once Link beats him for the second time.
• Would Kick an Old Lady

The Imprisoned / Demon King, Demise

Click to see(WARNING: MAJOR SPOILERS) Demon King Demise

Those who share the blood of the goddess and the spirit of the hero... They are eternally bound to this curse. An incarnation of my hatred shall ever follow your kind, dooming them to wander a blood-soaked sea of darkness for all time!

A huge, monstrous beast which haunts Link's dreams frequently. It is the sealed form of Demise, Ghirahim's master and the Bigger Bad of Skyward Sword..

• Affably Evil: Unlike Ghirahim, his praise is completely sincere.
• A Form You Are Comfortable With: Inverted. Fi's description of him says that he actually changes forms in each era in order to make mortals less comfortable around him. This does perfectly explain why Ganon looks different in each incarnation.
• A Plague on Both Your Houses/As Long as There Is Evil: He curses Link and Zelda's descendants/successors to fight his incarnation of hate, who is implied to be the Big Bad of most of the Zelda games, Ganon.
• Armless Biped: Subverted in the second and third incarnations of The Imprisoned, where it actually does gain arms (not to mention a tail and the ability to fly or resist gravity by the third incarnation).
• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: A very slow-moving one for the first fight, but has a ridiculous increase in speed by the third time.
• Badass: As Demise.
• Become Your Weapon: Demise uses Ghirahim as his weapon in the final battle.
• Bigger Bad: Although he is the Final Boss of Skyward Sword, Ghirahim seems to be more of the main antagonist than Demise. Since he is the source of Ganon's countless returns, he is also this for the entire series.
• BFS: That wicked, black Master Sword? That's Ghirahim.
• Blood Knight
• Continuity Nod: As noted on the Main page, this boss references all of the other bosses. It is regarded as the origin of all monsters, not just Ganon(dorf).
• Cool Sword: He wields what appears to be the Evil Counterpart of the Master Sword, which turns out to be Ghirahim.
• Clipped-Wing Angel: The Imprisoned is the sealed form of the Demon King Demise.
  • Bishonen Line: After he's freed, Demise looks more like a ruggedly handsome giant made of stone. Justified, as this might as well be his original form.
• Dark Is Evil
• Death From Above: After Link, as a last resort, wished to the Triforce to annihilate Demise for good, the Isle of the Goddess sinks back to Earth and squishes The Imprisoned just as he was emerging from his broken seal. This, however, only works for the present, and Link must travel back in time in order to initiate the final battle.
• Eldritch Abomination
  • Humanoid Abomination: What Demise is once freed. Although given that Fi states that Demise has taken on different forms over the years, it's likely even after absorbing Zelda's soul it still counts as one and that might not have been his true form.
• Evil Is Bigger: Even in his most humanoid form, he towers over Link.
• Evil Overlord
• Evil Sounds Deep
• Evil Weapon: Your weapon doesn't get much more Obviously Evil in the Zelda franchise than a demonic version of the Master Sword.
• Expy: Demise looks strikingly similar to Akuma from the Street Fighter series.
  • And more than similar to Berserker from Fate/stay night.
• Final Boss
• Final Boss, New Dimension: He sets up a pocket dimension battlefield consisting of a reflecting pool and cloudy sky once freed.
• Flaming Hair/Fiery Redhead
• Foreshadowing: At the beginning of the game, Link dreams of this creature swallowing Zelda. Thanks to Ghirahim, this is essentially what it finally manages to do.
• God of Evil/Ultimate Evil
• Graceful Loser: Somewhat, he compliments Link for beating him (he is genuinely impressed with the battle Link puts up, given that is Link is a mortal), but also vows that his hatred will curse him to have to fight for eternity as well.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Once he opens up the sky to summon lightning to his sword, Link can do the same, and the blast from Link's supercharged Skyward Strike is what stuns him so Link can deal the final blow.
• Implacable Man: Demise isn't stunned when you shield-bash his attacks
• Lightning Bruiser: Both forms display this. The Imprisoned much faster than one would expect from it's size an appearance. Demise is faster than Ghiraham despite being several times larger.
• Meaningful Name:
  • It's a Sealed Evil in a Can of the Demon King Demise.
  • On another note, where Link is the player's "link" to the game world, Demise is the player's "demise" whenever the player loses.
• More Teeth Than the Osmond Family
• Names to Run Away From Really Fast: The Imprisoned... sounds pretty pleasant, doesn't it? And wouldn't you love to have tea with a guy named Demise?
• Nintendo Hard: As well as being a very hard-hitter (The Imprisoned ramps up in difficulty every time you fight it), the difficulty of Demise's boss fight is this trope, even more so in Hero Mode.
• Painting the Fourth Wall: Demise's text bubbles are cloudy with flame-like borders.
• The Power of Hate: He curses the bloodlines and reincarnations of Link and Zelda to forever fight the manifestation of his hatred. This is, of course, Ganondorf.
• Restraining Bolt: The Sealing Spike in its forehead.
• Recurring Boss: The Imprisoned is fought thrice. On a meta level, every Zelda final boss is an incarnation of Demise.
• Satan: Seems to be Hyrule's closest equivalent.
• Sealed Evil in a Can: The Imprisoned is sealed within the Sealed Grounds. It breaks free from its weakening seal several times and has to be resealed.
• Someone to Remember Him By: Villainous example: It's heavily implied that Ganon is the reincarnation of Demise. More specifically, his hatred.
• Stab the Sky: He does this in the 2nd phase of his boss fight. You can do the same.
• The Stoic: Even when he's being sealed away he remains calm.
• Sword Beam: Imbues his blade with lightning during the fight with him to fire blasts of electricity.
  • Shock and Awe
• Tactical Suicide Boss: While not a pure example, the third form of the Imprisoned has a flying ability with shades of this, in that it allows you to send him to the bottom of the gorge instead of merely halting his advance as it would if he stayed on the ground.
• Walking Shirtless Scene
• When All You Have Is a Hammer: Demise doesn't have any fancy tricks beyond temporarily electrifying his sword with a lightening bolt, but the fact that shield bashing him doesn't stun him, his extremely hard to dodge dash attack, and the complications adding by electrifying his sword, that's all he needs.
• Worthy Opponent: Views both Link and Hylia as one.
• Your Soul Is Mine: He plans to absorb Zelda's soul so he can gain immense power. Fortunately for her, that doesn't happen.
• Zombie Gait: Once The Imprisoned gains arms, it walks this way.

Pyroclastic Fiend, Scaldera

A fiery beast which Ghirahim summons in order to kill Link in the Earth Temple.

• Breath Weapon
• Expy: Of King Dodongo, in that he's the boss of the second fire-themed dungeon that you defeat by primarily throwing bombs into his mouth.
• Feed It a Bomb
• Go for the Eye
• Our Monsters Are Weird: It's a giant... rock... lava... monster... thing.
• Playing with Fire

Thousand-Year Arachnid, Moldarach

A scorpion-like boss located in the Lanayru Mining Facility.

• Attack That not-Giant Enemy Crab For Massive Damage
• Big Creepy-Crawlies
• Degraded Boss: Another Moldarach shows up in the Shipyard later in the game as a Mini-boss, but the battle goes by faster since the sword deals twice as much damage as the original encounter.
• Expy:
  • Of Gohma, a staple enemy of the Zelda series.
  • Her name also calls to mind Twinmold and Molgera, two sand-burrowing bosses from earlier games.
    • And, by extension, Moldorm, which had appeared in previous games.
• Eyes Do Not Belong There: She has eyes in her claws.
• Foreshadowing: If you ask Fi for advice on an Aracha she will note that they can live to be 1000 years old.
  • Moldarach is the only boss in the game that dies in the same small explosion as any common enemy.
• Go for the Eye: Link has to slash at her eyes in her claws.
• Queen Mook: Of her offspring.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: It telegraphs which claw it will attack with by having the eye in it glow red.
• Scary Scorpions

Ancient Automaton, Koloktos

A huge, golden statue which Ghirahim brings to life with his dark magic. It is located in the Ancient Cistern.

• BFS: In the second stage of the battle, it has six swords in its hands, which Link can take advantage of.
• Bring It: This official artwork.
• Creepy Doll: Kinda has this trope going on with its face.
• Easily-Detachable Robot Parts: Justified, given that the only thing holding it together is some sort of dark magic.
• Giggling Villain: Upon its defeat.
• Heartbeat Soundtrack: Plays when it first assembles itself.
• Hoist by His Own Petard: Link must use Koloktos's own swords against it.
• Multi-Armed and Dangerous
• Pulling Themselves Together
• Slasher Smile: Upon its defeat. And it's not there when it dies.

Abyssal Leviathan, Tentalus

A tentacled beast which is encountered in the Lanayru Desert. Boss of the Sandship.

• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever
• Cthulhumanoid
• Combat Tentacles
• Giant Space Flea From Nowhere: While most of the other bosses are indicated to Ghirahim's monsters, this thing doesn't actually appear in the Sandship, it just suddenly appears out of nowhere and attacks the ship.
• Go for the Eye: Link has to shoot him in the eye.
• Prehensile Hair: Eel-like head tentacles in the vein of Medusa.

Ocular Parasite, Bilocyte

A parasite who seems to have lodged itself inside the whale deity Levias.

• Body Horror: No wonder Levias was acting irritable-the thing's tentacles are the size of small buildings!
• Go for the Eye
• Tennis Boss

NPCs

Hylia

The Goddess who sealed the Demon King away. Zelda is the reincarnation of Hylia, and Ghirahim wants to capture Zelda so his master Demise can gain ultimate power.

• Action Girl: Implied to be this in the prologue due to her wielding a sword, most likely Fi.
  • Even moreso by the fact that the three goddesses had her protect the Triforce.
• Batman Gambit: Knowing her chosen hero would stop at nothing to save her, she orchestrates Zelda's descent to the surface.
• Big Good
• The Chessmaster: Sets up more or less the entire game, including most of the dungeons, with the intent for her destined hero to create the Master Sword and claim the Triforce.
• Genre Savvy: See Batman Gambit.
• Goddess In Hylian Form: Zelda is Hylia reincarnated.
• God of Good
• Manipulative Bitch: Zelda thinks so, given that Hylia's plans for her and Link never took into account their feelings on the matter.
• Mythology Gag: Hyrule and Lake Hylia, as seen in later games, are named for her. Also, a very specific and very subtle one that connects it to the original game: In the first game, the manual explains that the pointy-eared Hylian people are said to be descended from the gods.
• Worthy Opponent: Is seen as this by Demise. He finds her human reincarnation, Zelda, to be rather underwhelming in comparison.

Gaepora

Zelda's father, and the headmaster of the Knight school.

• As You Know: Said word for word when he explains about the connection between Skyloftians and their Loftwings.
• Big Ol' Eyebrows
  • Big Ol' Unibrow
• Cool Old Guy
• The Dumbledore
• Mr. Exposition: Mainly when it comes to Skyloft's history.
• Mythology Gag: His name is explicitly a reference to Kaepora Gaebora. He also bears a resemblance to Rauru, who was eventually confirmed to be the original form of the aforementioned owl.
• The Obi-Wan: Implied.

Instructors Owlan and Horwell

Two instructors that assist Gaepora and the students in the academy.

• Everythings Cuter With Kittens: Horwell always takes care of Gaepora's Remlit Mia so much that he feels he wants one.
• Eyes Always Shut: Horwell.
• Expy: Of the Blade Brothers of Minish Cap.
• For Science!: Owlan has a fascination with plant research that he wishes to find new species. And that includes fetching him a Kikwi, which is both a fauna and flora example much to his delight.

Cawlin and Stritch

Groose's lackeys.

• Beetle Maniac: Stritch, who is probably a Shout-Out to Agitha, considering both of them have a fascination with bugs and can give Link ridiculous amounts of money.
• Co-Dragons: To Groose.
• Fat and Skinny
• Friend to Bugs: Strich, to the extent that he actually buys bugs from people.
• Gang of Bullies: Groose, Cawlin and Stritch.
• Gonk: Both of them, Stritch a little more so.
• Jerkass: Stritch later shows a nice side, but Cawlin is a jerk through and through.
• Jerk with a Heart of Gold: Stritch. He did help kidnap Link's Loftwing, but he's happy to talk to Link regarding bugs, and later on in the game he's genuinely sorry for wanting to keep Beedle's bug despite the guy being so stressed over it.
• Hypocritical Humour: Cawlin snickers at Groose for being upset over Zelda's disappearance. Later on in the game he's much more upset when he doesn't get to hook up with Karane.
  • Asshole Victim: Delivering the letter to the ghost in the bathroom instead will not only upset Cawlin so badly, but every night said ghost will haunt him. Who's worse, the jerk who throws eggs in the Wing Ceremony or the guy whose 'bungling' gets the guy haunted by a lovestruck ghost every night?

Pipit, Karane, and Fledge

Other students at the Skyloft Academy.

• Amazingly Embarrassing Parents: Pipit's mother. Dear god, Pipit's mother.
• Broken Ace: Pipit is a senior class student, a Loftwing expert, crushed on by Karane and is constantly upbeat and happy to help Link out. As it turns out he's barely able to pay the Knight Academy tuition fees due to his mother constantly squandering their money, causing him to stay up all night patrolling the grounds. What makes it worse is that it's one of the few problems that Link can't help with.
• Charles Atlas Superpower: Thanks to an insane regimen of exercise aided by stamina potion, Fledge eventually becomes strong enough to do thousands of push-ups in a setting and lift a huge barrel with one arm, although he doesn't bulk up in any visible way.
• Dude Magnet: Karane, who during the game has Pipit and Cawlin falling for her. Fi even points it out.
• Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas: Inverted, Pipit is a good guy who's quite mean to his mother.
• Expy: Fledge is one for Colin, as a weak boy who eventually toughens up thanks to Link.
• Girlish Pigtails: Karane
• Love Triangle: A Type 4 happens between Karane, Pipit and Cawlin. Karane ends up dating Pipit.
• Meaningful Name: Fledge is a pun on "Fledgling," which befits his personality.
• Sempai-Kohai: Pipit acts as the Sempai to Link and the other students.
• Twice Shy: Pipit and Karane, before the side-quest with Cawlin's letter.

Phoeni

A ghostly hand that haunts the Academy's toilet.

• Cute Ghost Girl: We actually only see her hand, but it's a pretty cute hand.
• Expy: Of the toilet hand from Majora's Mask and Oracle of Ages.
• Love At First Sight: Her reaction to Cawlin.

Link's Bird

A Loftwing of a rare red color who has a bond with Link.

• Bond Creatures
• Expy: of Epona
• Giant Flyer
• Horse of a Different Color
• Law of Chromatic Superiority
• No Name Given

Gondo, Rupin, Luv, Bertie, Sparrot, Piper, Peatrice, and Peater

These eight people are located in the Skyloft Bazaar, offering various services to Link.

• Acrofatic: Peater is rotund and looks incredibly out of shape, but is quick enough with his tiny sword (much smaller than Link's, even at the beginning of the game) to cut a stalk of bamboo upwards of 30 times before it falls.
• Big Eater: Fi mentions that Luv's hobbies are eating and sleeping.
• Crystal Ball: Sparrot uses one to foresee the future. In his sidequest it breaks and Link has to get him a new one.
• Defrosting Ice Queen: The more you visit her at the Item Check, the more Peatrice will loosen up and become enamoured with Link. She is a classic Tsundere, starting out tsun-tsun (with lines like "not that I care, anyway") and becoming dere-dere, gushing everytime she sees Link.
• Expy:
  • Rupin is like the Happy Mask Salesman with his creepiness removed, mainly because his "shop smile" drops pretty frequently, and isn't present at all if you meet him at night.
  • Gondo has similarities to Wind Waker's Gonzo, both being loud and boisterous, but good at heart.
• Fortune Teller: Sparrot.
• Gadgeteer Genius: Gondo, who along with upgrading your items likes to tinker with things in all his spare time. Becomes helpful when he needs to repair his grandpa's robot for Link.
• Hartman Hips: Piper.
• Henpecked Husband: Bertie, to Luv.
• Honest John's Dealership: Rupin, though he isn't dishonest about his wares, just puts on an overly-friendly demeanor to sell his stuff.
• I Was Quite a Looker: Peater, apparently, before he started putting on the pounds.
• The Insomniac: Bertie, thanks to his crying kid. The typical crankiness that comes with this trope is averted though.
• Smitten Teenage Girl: Peatrice, towards Link.
• Team Chef: Piper serves this role, though she usually spends more time making the food than letting people eat it.
• Top-Heavy Guy: Gondo.
• When All You Have Is a Hammer: Despite his impressive Utility Belt, Gondo somehow does all his repairs and upgrades with a simple screwdriver.

Beedle

A shopkeeper who continuously pedals on a bike to keep his airship afloat.

• A Worldwide Punomenon: Beedle has a pet beetle.
• Beetle Maniac
• Honest John's Dealership: Has shades. Some of the items he sells he admits he doesn't know what they do, but he'll still charge you more than a thousand rupees for them.
• Karmic Trickster: If you enter his shop and then try to leave without buying anything, he chastises you for wasting his time and pedaling energy, and pulls a lever that drops you out of his flying shop through a trapdoor.
• Legacy Character
• Purple Prose: Beedle's "real persona", which he assumes only outside of work hours, is this trope.
• Stealth Pun: Beedle, being a merchant, keeps his shop flying by generating electricity with a stationary bicycle. What's another word for merchant? He's a peddler.
• Took a Level in Jerkass: Compared to his past appearances. There's no more membership cards for discounts and eventual rewards, his prices reach into the 4-digit range, and if you leave the shop without buying anything he yells at you for making him pedal harder due to the added weight, then drops you out a trap door.

Batreaux

A demon in Skyloft who wishes to become human.

• Ascended Demon: If you collect all the Gratitude Crystals, he becomes a human. Mostly.
• Camp: That he's a big, imposing demon doesn't take away from the fact.
• Collection Sidequest: Gratitude crystals.
• Dark Is Not Evil
• Expy: Roughly similair to the Skulltula family from Ocarina of Time, as he wants you to gather a certain amount of a type of item to become human, and rewards you with gratuitous amounts of rupees and wallet upgrades for helping him.
• Face of a Demon
• Humanity Ensues: See above.
• Mook Maker: Unintentionally, his demonic aura attracts monsters to Skyloft. Once he's human they vanish and the Remlits become tame.
• Nice Guy: He just has a bad reputation.
• Noble Demon: Literally!
• Pinocchio Syndrome: The reason he wants so many Gratitude Crystals is so that he can become human.
• Uncle Pennybags: He's implied to be very rich judging by the amount of Rupee wallets he can give Link. He's also a nice, amicable guy.

Gorko

A Goron archeologist who is trying to uncover the history of the surface and sky worlds.

• Adventure Archaeologist: Gorko is fascinated with Skyloft culture, and asks Link for help on his research. He also likes to travel to dangerous places just to get some research.
• Large Ham: Becomes one when he gets really excited.
• Medium Awareness: Has some awareness of the kind of setting he's in, but never seems to grasp that he's repeatedly bumping into the goddess's chosen hero.
• Mr. Exposition: Tends to take on this role, especially when it comes to explaining the Goddess Walls and Gossip Stones.
• Recurring Traveller: Early on, you find him all over the place on the surface investigating ancient mysteries, but later in the game he permanently stays next to the Goddess Wall behind the Sealed Temple.

Bucha

Bucha is the elder of the Kikwi who gives Link a slingshot if he is able to find four of the missing Kikwi.

• Expy: Of the Great Deku Tree from Ocarina of Time.
• Large and In Charge: The other Kikwis are smaller than Link, he's larger than most of the game's enemies.
• Leitmotif
• Paper-Thin Disguise: He thinks he's a Master of Disguise, but he's so huge that he stands out a mile.
• Verbal Tic: He caps off his sentences with his name.

Machi, Oolo, Lopsa, and Erla

They are Kikwi who Link has to find in order to get the Slingshot from Bucha.

• Paranoia Fuel: In-Universe, Lopsa can't stop thinking bad things will happen to the forest even after Faron flooded it to get rid of the monsters. He lets it go after commenting on it, though.
• Ridiculously Cute Critters
• Verbal Tic: They cap off their sentences with their names.

Ledd and Cobal

Two Mogmas that Link first meets in Eldin Volcano. Ledd seems to be the Smart Guy of the two.

• Leitmotif
• Meaningful Name: They are both frequently found underground. So are the elements Lead and Cobalt.
• Mole Men
• Smart Guy: Ledd
• Those Two Guys

Faron

A dragon-like deity that lives at Lake Floria.

• Continuity Snarl: Oddly, she looks nothing like the Faron of Twilight Princess. How did she go from a water dragon to a monkey-like light spirit?
  • Justified with Name's the Same, as the only prominent lake in Hyrule before Lake Floria is Lake Hylia, which is in the Northern middle section of Hyrule as opposed to Twilight Princess Faron's domain of Central South Hyrule. This could be corroborated with Faron's resemblance to a Zora, which underlines the parallels to Lake Hylia more than the light spirit of Faron province.
• Fish People
• Good Is Not Nice: She's far from the most personable or considerate of dragons, but she is one of the Goddess' chosen servants and does prove a valuable ally.
• Jerkass: She has a good mind to eat the hermit that helped you find her, she floods the woods to get rid of the monsters not caring about the Kikwis or the nearby Sealed Temple, she refuses to let Link know her part of the final song even after he saved her and she clearly thinks lowly of her fellow two dragons.
• Kimono: She wears one of these, or at least the Hylian equivalent.
• Making a Splash
• Offscreen Moment of Awesome: You first encounter her in a basin tending her wounds, which as she is quick to inform you came from Ghirahim. Prior to those injuries, she was eating her way through his Bokoblin hordes - literally, with some of them. Even jerk dragons know what evil is, apparently.
• Old Master
• Our Dragons Are Different
• There Is No Kill Like Overkill: Her response to the rising monster population in Faron Woods is to flood the entire place, regardless of the Kikwi living there. Though in her defense the Kikwi don't seem to mind it, Bucha even enjoying the change of scenery.

Eldin

One of the legendary dragons that lives in the Eldin province.

• Beware the Nice Ones: Inverted, since we see the 'beware' side first when he causes Eldin Volcano to erupt, presumably to chase away the rising Bokoblin population.
• Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: His eruption knocks out Link, causing him to lose his sword and adventure pouch, and while he's unconscious the Bokoblins steal everything except his sail.
• Old Master
• Our Dragons Are Different
• Palette Swap: Kind of looks like Faron, except red.
• Playing with Fire
• Volcano Lair: He actually lives inside Eldin Volcano.

Lanayru

The third legendary dragon, who resides in the past version of Lanayru Desert.

• Boss Rush: He runs it.
• Cool Old Guy: The eldest of the dragons with a love of helping to train heroes.
• Glowing Eyelights of Undeath: In the present.
• Incurable Cough of Death: The reason why he's deceased in the present.
  • And I Must Scream: The eyes of his skull are glowing when he's first encountered. Unclear if he's still alive or it's just remnants of his power. From a gameplay point of view it's solely to clue you in to the identity of the skeleton.
• Old Master
• Our Dragons Are Different
• Post Modern Magic: He may have developed the Ancient Robots, and even suggests designating Link with a model number, despite being an ageless dragon created eons ago by Hylia.
• Shock and Awe
• The Last of These Is Not Like the Others: Unlike the other two he's initially dead, lacks a flow of his element down his belly (Instead having a few glowy horizontal bars), and in personality is much more excitable and affable than the snobby Faron and nice-but-serious Eldin.
• Unexplained Recovery: So why is he seen flying with the other dragons when Link completes the Song of the Hero? Since he technically died in the past and was cured in that same time, he no longer needs to be around a Timeshift stone anymore. Though disabling the timeshift stone will not keep him there; he must have moved elsewhere during that time.

Great Spirit of the Skies, Levias

A huge whale-like deity.

• Demonic Possession: Is a victim of it by Bilocyte.
• Expy: Looks a bit like both the Wind Fish and the Ocean King. Likewise, his being possessed by a demon which also is the boss is similar to that of Jabu-Jabu.
• Meaningful Name: His name is derived from Leviathan, whose name also means whale.
• Trademark Favourite Food: Pumm's pumpkin soup.

Races

The Kikwi

A race of potato-shaped, Kiwi bird-esque creatures that live in Faron Woods.

• Expy: The creatures live in a forest under the rule of a Deku Tree-like chieftain, which brings to mind the Kokiri and the Koroks.
• Leitmotif
• Master of Disguise: Their ability to look like a normal piece of grass is quite effective.
• Planimals
• Ridiculously Cute Critters
• Verbal Tic: They cap off their sentences with their names.

The Mogmas

A race of lava dwellers that seemingly take the place of the Gorons as the resident fire-themed race. All of them seemingly took fashion tips from Fonzie.

• Distressed Dudes: Two of them are captives in the Fire Sanctuary.
• Jerks With Hearts of Gold: They all come off as rather gruff when first meeting Link, but they're really nice guys who are more than willing to help him out.
• Leitmotif: When you talk to them, a particularly jazzy track plays in the background.
• Lovable Rogue: They happily chat about robbing the local temple, but they aren't bad guys at all.
• Mole Men
• Punny Name: "Mogma" (モグマ) comes from "mogura" (モグラ), which is Japanese for "mole".
• Theme Naming: Their names tend to be a spin on the names of metal-based chemical elements; for instance, you have Cobal for "cobalt," Ledd for "lead," Guld for "gold," etc.
• Top-Heavy Guy: All of them. Justified, as without them they probably couldn't dig.

The Parella Tribe

A tribe of Squid-like creatures that live in Lake Floria.

• Cool Key: The key to the Water Dragon's chamber is a Parella's head.
• Everything's Squishier with Cephalopods
• Expy: They bear a striking resemblance to the River Zoras from the NES-SNES era. It's probably not coincidental.
• Fantastic Racism: They don't exactly take kindly to people other than their own. Fairly justified with their hatred of humans since the first 'human' they met was Ghirahim.
• Law of Chromatic Superiority: The red one, named Jellyf is described as being the leader of her species because she is more intelligent than the others.

Ancient Robots

A tribe of small robotic creatures that live mainly in the past version of Lanayru region.

• And I Must Scream: They are still partially active and possibly aware even while they are rusted pieces of junk. And they're stuck that way unless Link is around to hit a Timeshift stone for them, but worse of all, considering their durability, they may still be there in subsequent games, trapped under the desert with no hope of escape.
• Jerkass: Gondo's robot Scrapper. The rest of the robots vary from gruff and unhelpful (the robots hard at work in the mine) to neutral (the ones infront of the dungeon) to friendly and helpful (the Skipper, and the robot that gives Link a "current" map of the region)
• Cute Machines
• Interspecies Romance: Scrapper has a rather one-sided crush on Fi. Strictly Played for Laughs. A double Cargo Ship.
• Mechanical Lifeforms
• Raymanian Limbs: Their hands are attached to their body by some sort of electrical current.
• Trapped in the Past: The Timeshift Stones are the only things keeping them from dying out.
  • They are all dead already, except for Scrapper because he was repaired and is active in the present. The Timeshift Stones merely let you go into the past of an area for a while, and don't actually restore anything. Skipper is an odd case in that while he's living in the past as well, he seems to be able to see the present outside of the time radius and is fully aware about the state of the "sea" and that he's basically not really alive anymore.

The Gorons

So far the only race that remains from previous games, besides the Hylians of course.

• Rule of Three: You come across a total of three Gorons in the game.
• Walking the Earth: Possibly. As the Gorons have no real home at this point in the timeline (with their usual dwellings in other games being used by the Mogmas), they seem to be nomadic in this game, appearing all over the place to aid Link.

Mooks

The Bokoblins

The most prominent enemy race in the game, and one of the most common. They have a loose society, mostly traveling in gangs looking for places to pillage, or being under the command of Ghirahim.

• Exclusively Evil
• The Archer: Some of them fulfill this role - some of them even use Arrows on Fire.
• Call Back: One of the Bokoblins in the final face-off with Ghirahim plays the flute song from Link to The Past on his monster horn.
• Fake Ultimate Mook: The Bokoblin leaders, encountered early in the game, seem to be the ultimate type of Bokoblin. They're soon overshadowed by Blue Bokoblins, Moblins, and Technoblins.
• Fat Bastard: They're rather fat, and none of them have redeeming qualities. Taken to extreme levels with the Moblins, which are fat enough to have Jiggle Physics in their gut.
• Fan Disservice: The Moblins are huge, fat, and wear nipple rings and thongs.
• Elite Mook: Blue Bokoblins. The guide even refers to them as "the truly elite of the Bokoblin family."
• Giant Mook: Moblins forgo their usual pig/bulldog look for this, though it's worth noting that they still make very pig-like snorts while patrolling.
• Goofy Print Underwear: Leopard print, to be specific.
• Gonk: Especially the Moblins.
• Mascot Mook: To Skyward Sword.
• The Horde: Probably rivals the Bulblins in this department. Before the last fight with Ghirahim, you'll face an endless supply of them till you reach one of his barriers.
• Night of the Living Mooks: The Ancient Cistern's basement houses undead Bokoblins called Cursed Bokoblins.
• Panty Shot: Unfortunately frequent. Even as decaying zombies.
• Running Gag: Their undergarments are always mentioned in Fi's scans of them.
• Too Dumb to Live: Despite being a bit more competent in combat, they're still pretty damn stupid. This is even lampshaded in Fi's description of them.
  • To give you an idea, throwing a bomb at them will make them take cover... even if that "cover" is lava.
  • When fighting the army of them, some of them will use lit bombs. If you don't get within their throwing range they won't throw them, and will blow themselves up.
    • And if you don't kill them but remain out of range, they'll throw the bombs, likely taking out the massive group of Bokoblin massing for attack.

Lizalfos

The unmistakable race of lizards that don't appear as frequently as Bokoblins, but are still quite prominent. They fight with their massive stone gauntlets, spiked tails, and their fire breath, and are far more competent fighters than Bokoblins.

• Beware My Stinger Tail: Their tails have spiked balls at the end, which they take advantage of in combat.
• Breath Weapon: They can breath fire. The later Dark Lizalfos breath cursed energy that disables Link's use of the sword.
• The Computer Is a Cheating Bastard: If you try to snipe them with a long-distance weapon, they'll always block it, even if they shouldn't possibly predict it coming. Although, this only applies to assaults to the front; their backsides are fair game.
• Lightning Bruiser: In addition to being quite durable and hard-hitting, Lizalfos are very good at dodging Link's sword.
• Lizard Folk
• Shoryuken: If a Lizalfos blocks Link's sword with its gauntlet, it immediately follows up with a Shoryuken.
• The Computer Shall Taunt You: If they block your attack they'll stick their tongues out at you and make mocking sounds. Which actually provides an excellent opportunity to strike them.
• Underground Monkey: Later on in the game there's a dark variation of the typical Lizalfos, which are capable of cursing Link with their breath.

Chu Chus

Slimy creatures appearing in nearly every location, ranging from small to large.

• Asteroids Monster: The bigger versions will split into smaller versions when cut.
• Blob Monster
• Color Coded for Your Convenience: One for each region. There are red versions (Eldin Volcano) that set you on fire, yellow versions (Lanayru Desert) that electrify themselves, and blue (Skyloft) and green versions (Faron Woods) that...don't really do anything. There's also purple ones that live underwater when Faron floods her woods.
• Captain Ersatz: Although Chu Chus are a recurring enemy, this particular type of Chu Chu behaves exactly like the Slimes in Minecraft. Both come in 3 different sizes (small, medium, large), split into two smaller versions when hit, and drop an item rather than splitting when the smallest version is killed. The only difference is that Chu Chus can form back together. The Chu Chu's behavior is probably a reference to the Zol, enemies native to the older Zelda games who behaved similarly, but their behavior does match the Slimes much more closely.
• Giant Mook: The biggest kind of Chu Chu is truly gigantic.
• The Goomba: The blue and green versions are the weakest, most basic enemies in the game.
• Personal Space Invader: Their one attack is to leap and cling onto Link.

Spumes

Aquatic, frog-like creatures which come in many different varieties, appearing in basically every region of the game.

• Cartoon Creature: They resemble frogs more than anything else, but it's hard to determine. They seem to be a mix of various types of reptiles.
• Color Coded for Your Convenience: Much like the Chu Chus, there are red "Magma Spumes" in Eldin Volcano, purple "Cursed Spumes" in the Volcano Summit, yellow "Electro Spumes" in Lanayru Desert, and blue "Aqua Spumes" in the Lanayru Sand Sea.
• Frogs and Toads
• Lava Is Boiling Kool-Aid: They can swim in lava.
• Sand Is Water: Yeah, they swim in sand, too.

Stalfos

The reanimated skeletons of human knights who fought and died centuries ago but still continue to fight. A stronger variant called the Stalmaster has an extra pair of arms. There are also skeletal three-headed snake monsters called Staldras that can only be defeated by cutting off all three heads at once. Except for the Staldras, Stalfos are Mini Boss-level enemies which appear in the dungeons of Faron Woods.

• Dem Bones
• Dual-Wielding: Their use of two (or, in the case of Stalmasters, four) swords requires that you carefully aim your sword swings.
• Elite Mooks: The Stalmasters.
• Hydra Problem: Staldras.
• Multi-Armed and Dangerous: The aforementioned Stalmasters.
• Multiple Head Case: Staldras.
• The Undead

Armos, Beamos, and Sentrobes

The game's resident Mecha-Mooks, native only to time-shifted areas of the Lanayru region. Although they are robotic, they have a certain Mayincatec feel to their design.

• Color Contrast: They have a red-and-blue motif as part of their designs, a Call Forward to a similar motif among Gerudo designs.
• Eye Beam: Guess how Beamos defend themselves?
• Mecha-Mooks
• Mayincatec: They look more like mechanical totems and tikis than traditional robots, especially the Armos.
• Our Robots Are Different: Advanced robots with Mayincatec designs.
• Rule of Three: There are a total of 3 robotic enemies in the game.
• Segmented Serpent: As in every game, you can kill a Beamos by nicking it in its eye with an arrow, but until you get a bow, you'll have to settle for slashing its segments off and then stabbing the eye.

---

Back to The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword