The Wing Ceremony - The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword Guide - IGN (2024)

Welcome to IGN's Walkthrough for the Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. This page contains information on the opening act of the game, including exploring Skyloft, getting your sword, and finding your captured Loftwing.

Video Walkthrough - Intro and Meeting Zelda

Today is the annual Wing Ceremony, a race to determine who graduates and becomes a knight. You begin in the Knight Academy, where Zelda's Loftwing wakes you up to give you a letter.

Controls:You can move Link around with the control stick. Pressing and holding the "A" button while moving will cause you to walk faster (when you're indoors), or dash (outdoors). Press the "C" button (the smaller of the two buttons on the Nunchuk) to enter a first person view. While in the first person view you can walk around by moving the control stick, and you can look in different directions by pointing the Wii remote. You can stand next to a chair and press "A" to sit on it, which will recover any hearts you may have lost.

Walk over to the Closet/Cuboard and press "A" to open and recieve a blue rupee worth 5 rupees.

Leave your room and you'll be in the hallway of the Knight Academy.

Talk to Pipit, the student wearing a yellow tunic to learn more about the Wing Ceremony. Then, head down the hall and talk toFledge, who is standing by a couple large barrels. He will ask you to carry a barrel to the old woman in the kitchen.

Controls:You can check your map by pressing "+". Certain objects, such as pots and barrels, can be picked up and carried by standing next to them and pressing "A". To gently set an object on the ground, tap "A". To throw a carried object, point the Wii remote up and flick forward. To roll an object, point the Wii remote down and flick up.

Stamina Meter: The Stamina Meter isa green circle that appears whenever Link is doing something exhausting, such as carrying a heavy object, dashing, using a spin attack, and climbing.If your stamina meter runs out completely you'll become temporarily winded, and will be unable to carry anything or use your equipment until it recharges. When your meter is almost empty, you will need to stop performing any exhausting action and wait for it to refill.

Carry the barrel into the kitchen, keeping an eye on your stamina meter. After you carry the barrel into the kitchen, go back toFledge and talk to him. He will reward you with a Red Rupee, worth 20 Rupees.

Exit the academy through the big double doors. Here you will find your first of many Bird Statues, which function as the game's save points.

Bird Statues: Since there is no automatic saving in this game, Bird Statues are your only option for recording your progress. They appear quite frequently throughout the game, so it's a good idea to save whenever you encounter one.

After you exit the academy, a man will call out to you from above the door. His name is Instructor Horwell.

Controls: You can lock on to people, enemies, and objects by facing them and pressing and holding the "Z" trigger on the Nunchuk. While targeting them, you can talk to friends from a distance by pressing the "A" button.

Talk to Professor Horwell, and he'll tell you to dash up the boxes near by to reach the area where he's standing. Dash towards the crates to climb up on top of them, then jump across the short gap by dashing towards it.

Important: This game does not feature a "jump button". Instead, Link will jump automatically whenever you walk quickly or dash off of a ledge.

Note that there's a speech bubble above ProfessorHorwell. Speech bubbles usually indicates a person has something important to say, pertaining to either the Main Quest, or a Side Quest.

If you want to help Instructor Horwell find Mia, you can by climbing up the nearby ledge and shimmying around. Jump across a few gaps and then climb up the vines to the area above the Academy. Push the box against the wall on the landing and climb up and grab the furry creature.

Stamina Fruit: A green Stamina Fruit is on the ground here. when you touch a stamina fruit, your stamina meter will be instantly refilled. This makes it easier to move quickly around Skyloft.

After dealing with Professor Horwell, head past the Bird Statue towards the stairs in front of the Academy. From here, you can take one of two paths. One path leads you straight to Zelda where a cutscene will commence while the other path is a detour towards a chest that contains a Red (20) Rupee. Taking the path towards the chest is the best option since it will eventually lead you to the cutscene with Zelda anyway (and Rupees aren't always easy to come by).

To head straight to the cutscene with Zelda, go through the door. To take the path to the chest, look towards the right, from the nearby stamina fruit, and there will be a brown box where you can drop down to (make sure to look around with the C button to make sure you won't drop off the map!). From on top of the brown box, drop down to the ground below and then drop down again (you wont take damage from just dropping down). From there, jump across the gap and head straight down the path until it splits into two. Take the path on the right, it will lead you to the chest that contains 20 Rupees.

After you obtain the Rupees, head back up, to where the path splits into two, and take the path on the left. Dash up the wall so that you hang from the ledge and shimmy your way all the way across to the other side. Drop down and head down the path until you reach a steep stone hill. Dash up the stone hill to get to the top and then jump over to the floating island nearby. It is at the top of the floating island where you will first see heart flowers that will replenish your health when you run through them to pick them up. From here, jump to the grassy wall and climb all the way up to the top. You are now at the place where you meet Zelda and when you walk forward a bit the cutscene will commence.

As you speak with her you can choose what you want to say. Your choices won't affect the game, only Zelda's responses.

Video Guide - Meeting Groose

After the cutscene, Zelda will push you off the cliff. Press DOWN on the D-Pad to call your Loftwing. He won't arrive!

After the cutscene, you need to find ProfessorHorwell. Head back to the Academy, just down the steps to the southwest. (You can find out a hint about what happened to your Loftwing by talking to the man fixing the gate at the bottom of the stairs.

Also, talking to Fledge inside the academy reveals that he knows something about what happened to your Loftwing.)

Right outside the Academy (to the left of the door) is Professor Horwell. Now, head to the stone Light Tower in the southern Plaza area. A boy will stop you on the way to talk about bugs.

You can roll into the tree using the Nunchuk and a Sky Stag Beetle will appear (if you roll into the other trees around, they will drop blue (5) Rupees).Touch it to pick it up.Read up about bugs in the Bug Collection section.

In the Plaza you'll find your opponents in today's race, Groose, Cawlin and Strich. You will initiate a cutscene with dialogue choices when you approach them.

Video Guide - Obtaining the Practice Sword

Clearly, your bird has been captured by these jerks. People will tell you to find Pipit now. He's at the Sparring Hall talking to Fledge.

Head back to the Sparring Hall in the northwest and talk to Pipit. He'll show you Waterfall Cave on your map. It's on the east side. Before going, you'll need a sword.

Enter the Sparring Hall. Talk to the big guy in front, then head through the door into the back. Here is a chest containing the Practice Sword.

You can now talk to the guy in front for a sword lesson if you so desire.Practice your slashes on the logs in the room.

Controls: Basic slashes are accomplished by simply swing the Wii remote in any direction. You can thrust with your sword by making a stabbing motion straight towards the screen. You can swing both nunchuk and Wii remote in one direction to do a spin attack, but be aware: using spin attacks drains a portion of your stamina meter. You can perform the Fatal Blow on fallen enemies. Simply Shake both Wii Remote and Nunchuck at the same time to jump up and stab the fallen enemy.

Sheikah Stone: When you leave the Sparring Grounds, a Sheikah Stone will rise out of the ground. It contains a collection of video hints to help you if you ever get stuck during the Main Quest, and will also include some extra videos for some Side Quest related activities. More hint videos will unlock as you progress through the game.

Now, head straight for Waterfall Cave, located near Skylofts only large body of water. Head towards where the water falls off the edge of Skyloft and jump across the platforms to reach the other side.

Continue walking towards the waterfall. You will find a cave entrance with several wood posts in front of it. Cut down the posts with your sword and enter the cave.

Waterfall Cave

Chop down the posts with the sword. Inside the cave are Keese. Slash wildly to kill them. Chu Chus will hop onto you if you get close. Nail them with basic attacks to kill them. If they latch one, waggle the Wii Remote as show to get free.

Follow the single path through the cave. If you check the map, you can see the path you are taking -- zoom in to see the dots in your path.

Follow the path through the cave until you see a fence on the right. Head to the broken part of the fence, at the end, and jump to the ledge that contains two heart flowers and a chest that contains a Red (20) Rupee. Drop down to the ground below and continue down the cave path.

Dash to get up the steep incline at the bottom of the sloping path. You can climb some vines on the southern edge of the cave to find a Chest with a Red Rupee in it.

The real treasure is a stash of two Red Rupees near the exit. Cut down the grass by the exit and crawl into the small hole to pick them up.

Exit the cave and save at the Bird Statue. Zelda will join you.

You'll see theCrimson Loftwingahead. Slash the four rope spots on each side of the boarded up area to free the bird.

With your bird free you can now fly to the ceremony. After the cutscene, jump of the ledge and press DOWN on the D-Pad. This time your Loftwing will catch you.

The instructions given are a bit misle

ading -- to fly you'll want to do more than tilt up and down. The key is to swing your Wii remote vertically to flap the bird's wings and gain altitude. The waving motion is somewhat like waving a giant fan at the TV. After you gain height, tilt the Wii Remote down to dive. This is how you can win races and get around quickly.

Pressing the A button will give you a dash of speed, but you have limited dashes (marked as feathers on your screen) that will recharge. Pressing the B button will slow you down.

After the tutorial, Zelda will say that your Loftwing looks fine and that you both should go to her father to tell him the good news.

A screen asking you if you would like to save will pop up so make sure that you save. After you choose whether to save or not, you and Zelda will be back on the ground and have a little conversation until she leaves to tell her father that your Loftwing is alright. Groose will then show up with Cawlin and Strich. It will eventually be apparent that he is infatuated with Zelda. Zelda will then show up behind Groose breaking up his little daydream about him and her alone. He then leaves with his henchmen and Zelda wishes you good luck in your race.

An announcement for all the students to assemble for the race is then made and a cutscene will commence.