Day 15: Phase 3, Backstory, and More
Now that I completed Phase 2 of the game, I headed over to Faron Woods to begin Phase 3. But right when I was about to (by performing a Skyward Strike on the huge column in the middle of the Sealed Temple), the freaking Imprisoned broke his seal again, so I had to go reseal him. This time, two things were different: 1) he had really long arms now, and 2) Groose was there to help me out. Apparently, while I was galavanting around trying to power up my sword, Groose was chilling at the temple and building a giant catapult. So I had to cut off the Imprisoned's toes like normal and hit its fingers with Groose's catapult, and it was tough but I finally did it and sealed him away again. Then I went back inside and Skyward Struck the column thing, which made it break apart into hundreds of tiny cubes which then recombined into a shiny gear with the triforce and tune symbols on it. After that, it "opened up" to become this trippy tunnel thing that transported me, as you would expect a Gate of Time to do, into the past.
When I arrived, Impa was waiting for me and told me that we're in the past in the Temple of Hylia, which eventually becomes the Sealed Temple. I was able to finally able to catch up to Zelda, and apparently the Temple of Hylia is also infodump headquarters, so there's a major SPOILER ALERT on this paragraph, because this is the first time we get real backstory in this game and it's a doozy. Are you ready? Ok. First of all, Zelda reveals that the Imprisoned is actually a demon king named Demise, who wanted to get the Triforce (she also explained the history of the Triforce, but we already know all that) so the goddess Hylia created Skyloft and stored the Triforce there to prevent evil from getting it, which means that Skyloft - for intents and purposes - IS the Sacred Realm, or at least a version of it. She also revealed that Hylia was reborn as a mortal to protect herself, that mortal is Zelda herself, and that Zelda had to visit each temple to pray so that she could relearn who she really was. Then she tells Link that he's Hylia's chosen hero and tasks him with obtaining the Triforce so that Demise can be sealed away for a long time if not forever, and then puts herself to sleep for "thousands of years" until she can be safe (but right before that she says she hopes Link will be the one to wake her). WHICH MEANS SHE'S ALMOST CERTAINLY THE SLEEPING ZELDA FROM THE SECOND GAME.
So she puts herself to sleep and I head back to the present and then to Skyloft. But before I can leave for the sky, Groose tells me he's going to stay behind and try to pretect the temple because somebody has to. Groose rivals some of the people in Majora's Mask in terms of character development and I really dig it. Before going to Skyloft itself, though, I remembered the girl from the Lumpy Pumpkin saying something about plowing, and I figured that the sidequest would be open now that I was in a new phase of the game. I was correct, and got the ability to dowse for a person that could help her (it turned out to be Guld, the Mogma elder). 5 grabitude crackles! Then I went to the Bazaar, and Sparrot was missing. The guy at the diner said he hadn't shown up for work lately, so I should go visit him at his house to see what's up. I did, and it turns out his crystal ball broke. I got the ability to dowse for a new one, but I already knew where it was (on the top of the Earth Temple entrance). 5 more grabitude crackles! So I visited Batreaux and he gave me 600 rupees! After that, I went to the Knight Academy and talked to Gaepora about the Triforce, and at first he said he didn't know anything, but then he mentioned that a sky spirit named Levias probably would. So I go into the thunderhead to talk to Levias, but he's...not himself. Specifically, he has a parasite controlling him. If you defeat the parasite and then talk to Levias (who, by the way, is the latest in a long line of cetacean deities in the Zelda universe), he'll tell you about the Song of Heroes, which you have to learn in four parts from him and the protector dragons of the three regions of Hyrule. Lovely.
I decided to visit Faron first, and something weird happened: I could only access two bird statues. And I swear yo you, this is what happened next: first I said, "oh no, I *better* not have to fight The Imprisoned again" and then when I found out I had to fight The Imprisoned...again...I said, "What's gonna happen this time? Is he gonna grow wings or something?" And then hew grew wings! Anyway, that's not what's important. After I beat him and make my way back into Faron Woods, I discover that it's been flooded and it's even prettier than it was before. The Water Dragon (who's also named Faron, by the way) was tired of the monsters so she decided to take matters into her own hands, but she decides to unflood it once she teaches you her part of the song. In the meantime, though, you have to prove yourself worthy by tracking down tadtones, which are basically fish that correspond to musical notes. The hardest part is simply finding them, and the second hardest part is getting all of one group at the same time (which can be as little as two or as many as like ten or twelve). Pretty simple stuff overall. Also, the reason I came to Faron first is that Owlan asked me to find a new species of plant, and I succeeded by bringing him Oolo the Kikwi. Five more crackles!
Next, I visited Lanayru to talk to the Thunder Dragon, and this was pretty straightforward. I got to visit a new area (Lanayru Gorge) and had to get a timeshift stone to the center of the gorge by following its track and opening doors for it when necessary. This section's long and kind of hard to explain, so suffice it to say that I had to use a variety of tools and the timeshift puzzles never cease to amaze me. Whoever came up with that idea should get a raise, seriously. So when it finally gets to the center, it turns the pile of bones nearby into the Thunder Dragon, which is really, really sad. But it's ok! Because, without getting into the pretty awesome (and very timey-wimey) time travel shenanigans you have to get into to accomplish this, you can feed him a fruit that cures his ailment which allows him to be alive in the present. And then he teaches you his part of the song out of gratitude.
And finally I tackled Eldin, which took way longer than I expected it to. When I descended from the clouds, I didn't get to choose where I landed. Instead, I woke up in a bokoblin prison with all of my stuff stolen. Bokoblins have taken over the volcano, and more than that, the volcano has recently erupted, sending up a cloud of ash that darkens the area and prevents your from returning to the sky. A Mogma named Plats was able to return my Mitts to me (which I could use to escape) and point me in the direction of some of my other items, and what follows is basically an extensive stealth mission where you have to retrieve your items while avoiding being seen by the bokoblins. Maybe it was just because it was late, but I had a ton of trouble figuring this out. But I finally did, reached the summit, got the rest of my stuff back, finally got that in-plain-sight Goddess Cube I mentioned yesterday, and talked to the Fire Dragon, who taught me his part of the song. That calmed him down and brought Eldin Volcano back to normal, thank goodness.
I was going to quit there for the night, or at least after I got the two Goddess Chests I unlocked, but it turned out they were both inside the thunderhead which is where I needed to go anyway. So I got them (an unneeded small quiver and an equally unneeded but possibly more useful fifth(!) bottle) and then went to learn the last part of the song from the Wind FishLevias. The completed song will, of course, unlock another trial - this time on Skyloft - but I'll worry about that tomorrow.
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