My Thoughts on 'Legend of Zelda Skyward Sword'

Finally, after two weeks, I officially beat Skyward Sword. I enjoyed this game greatly. My right arm is a bit tired with all the swinging of the sword, but we are taken onto the front seat of a knight, so small price to pay. Now, as much as I enjoyed the game itself I had some issues with the story. As I was nearing the end, I noticed a few paradoxes. The first paradox I noticed was the fruit tree. It may seem like a small thing from a narrative standpoint, but when it comes to time travel, nothing is trivial due to the butterfly effect. The butterfly effect in terms of time travel is pretty big. Basically, any small change done in the past can have huge repercussions in the future, much like killing just one butterfly can set off a chain of events that could alter life as we know it. In case you haven't played Skyward Sword, let me give you some info on the fruit tree section. Link goes to meet the Thunder Dragon, however, when he uses time stones to revive him (time stones have the ability to revert small sections back 1,000 years), the Thunder Dragon turns out to be sick. Now Link finds a dying tree called the Tree of Life and uses another time stone which turns this dying tree into a sapling. Link then takes the sapling to the Seal Temple and plants it. When he returns to the present, the sapling has turned into a beautifully healthy tree which can now bear fruit. Link takes this fruit to the Thunder Dragon and it makes him strong enough to sing. The issue with this however, is certain events within the game revolve around what's called a predestination paradox. Predestination paradox is exactly what it sounds like, events are already predetermined in time. But if that were true, then other small details wouldn't be available such as Impa wearing a bracelet Zelda gave her at the end of the game. And if we backtrack, then we will see more issues arise.

Before Zelda gives Impa a bracelet, Link defeats Demise in the past. Defeating Demise in the past, rather than sealing him away like he was supposed to, adds more problems to the time travel aspect in the story. This is because just before this battle with Demise, Link made a wish on the Triforce in the present to rid the world of The Imprisoned (Demise sealed away). But with Demise dead in the past, Link would have never made the wish. Not only that, but with the Fruit Tree not being in the Sealed Temple, Link never would have been able to get the Thunder Dragon's part of the song he needed to obtain the Triforce in the first place. If Link never got that part of the song, then he never would have made the wish on the Triforce to kill Demise's imprisoned form, which never would have pushed Ghirahim to take Zelda to the past and use her as a sacrifice then.

Now we are back to the bracelet Impa wears in present day. If Ghirahim never took Zelda to the past, then Link would have never fought Demise, which then never would have allowed Zelda to offer her bracelet to young Impa. Yet, the problem with that is Old Impa is seen wearing this bracelet from the moment you meet her in the Sealed Temple.

So, a lot of events were already predetermined, but then there are aspects within the story that are completely overlooked—probably for the sake of a fun/cool factor. Now, again, I enjoyed this game. It was fun, exciting, challenging thanks to the motion control, I had a good two weeks playing it. But I am pretty huge when it comes to time travel (I do all the research I can to theorize, all for fun), and I had a great time dissecting and sorting through the time travelling aspect of this game. Yes, I know this is a fantasy game and it doesn't have to make sense, but plot holes are plot holes. Just because we enjoy certain things, doesn't mean we can't recognize certain flaws within it. Nevertheless, I hope you enjoyed this article... Until next time.