Npcs

Our Skyward Sword pages about the people and things Link meets make an odd set on paper: a bestiary of 31 enemies, a list of Skyloft's shopkeepers, the spirit who lives in the sword and the demon king at the end of it. Read together the first two are one page, because nearly every entry in the bestiary ends with what to hit it with, and each of those tools is either given to Link on the surface or sold to him in the sky. So the enemies below are sorted by how much kit each one demands, from the twelve the sword alone handles up to the two that no weapon touches, then the shops as the supply side of the same list, and the named characters at the end because neither of them fits a tier.

The Sword Is Enough: Twelve Enemies

Twelve of the 31 entries are settled with the sword, and the advice is about timing rather than gear. Ampilus rolls along the floor with an electric charge and is hit when it stops rolling. Bokoblins take damage only outside their guard stance, and when one keeps summoning more, the ring leader is the target. Chuchus rejoin if the slices are slow. Cursed Bokoblins rush in groups, so the rule is to keep moving. Craniocs turn red before they strike, which is the cue to dodge. Deku Babas never move and open their jaws either up and down or side to side, so the swing matches the jaw. Guays only attack from behind. Scervo fights with electric swords on the Lanayru coast. Skulltulas need flipping to expose a purple weak spot, or a horizontal strike to spin one hanging on its web before a couple of thrusts. Staldras regrow any head left standing, so all of them come off in one rush. Stalmaster, the four-armed Stalfos, blocks anything that is not aimed. Tech-Bokoblins wear electric armour and punish a careless swing with a counter, so the weak spot has to be found first.

Shield First: Seven Enemies

Seven entries lead with the shield, either to block something or to open a guard. A Beamos fires a beam from its one-eyed head that the shield absorbs while the sections below it, separated by blue lines, are cut to bring the head down. A Lizalfos carries its own shield and taunts; the answer is to dodge and take the opening. A Stalfos fights with two weapons and defends well, and a shield bash makes the gap. A Big-Blin's wooden shield breaks quickly, after which the sword or the bow finishes it, with the occasional spear thrust to watch for. Keese are bats with fire variants, and the page warns that a wooden shield is vulnerable to their fire. A Fire Toadpoli spits lava that the shield blocks, again at the cost of a wooden one, and the slingshot or bow works from range. An Octorok's projectiles can be sent back, or the sword lands a couple of hits when it surfaces.

Reach for a Ranged Weapon: Four

Four entries put the fight at a distance. Archer Bokoblins shoot from high ground on the Eldin summit, in the Fire Sanctuary and on the Sandship, and the bow or a thrown bomb answers them when the sword cannot reach. Walltulas cling to walls in Skyview Temple and on the Great Tree and come down to a bow or slingshot shot. Horks in the Lanayru Mine spit boulders that are dodged before a ranged reply. Cursed Spumes in the Earth Temple throw projectiles that are repelled, and the page says to stay ranged if getting close is not an option.

Bombs Only: Three

Three enemies hide in something the sword cannot reach into. Pyrups sit in holes and walls on Eldin Volcano and block passages with what they spit; a bomb tossed into the hole clears both the enemy and the path. Sand Toadpolis rise out of the Lanayru sand and take a bomb. Electro Spumes, which the page places in five Lanayru locations from the Mine to the Sandship, carry an electric field that makes a sword strike impossible, so bombs and other ranged attacks are the answer.

A Dungeon Item Does the Work: Three

Three fights are built around an item Link has just been handed. Arachas in the Lanayru Mining Facility, the Sand Sea and the Sandship grow by eating and are dealt with by the Gust Bellows, the Mining Facility's own item. Armos in the same two places explode on death, so the Bellows expose their two gems from a safe distance before the slash and stab. Furnix in the Ancient Cistern fly too fast to target, and the Whip, the Cistern's item, pulls one close enough for sword hits. The items guide says where each of those tools is collected.

Cannot Be Fought: Two

Two entries have no counter at all. A Sentry Sentinel in the Lanayru Mining Facility never attacks; it raises the alarm, so the rule is to stay out of its green light. A Silent Realm Guardian appears when a tear is not collected within 90 seconds, or when a Sentinel reports Link, and since he enters the Silent Realm unarmed the only moves are to run, hide, or grab a tear.

Where the Enemies Are

The location lines sort the bestiary unevenly. Sixteen of the 31 entries name a Lanayru location and ten of those name nowhere else, which makes the desert province the most crowded and the most electric: Ampilus, Scervo, Tech-Bokoblin and Electro Spume are the page's four electricity users and all four are Lanayru-only. Thirteen entries name Faron or one of its dungeons and seven are found nowhere else; seven name Eldin and five are Eldin-only. Only three entries are ever met up in the sky: Chuchu and Keese as Skyloft night-time or Waterfall Cave visitors, and the Octorok in the open air. The Silent Realm Guardian belongs to no province, and Stalmaster is the one entry with no location at all.

The Supply Side: Skyloft's Shops

Every purchase in the shops page is in Skyloft, and the Bazaar's Gear Shop sells what the tiers above keep asking for: shields and ammunition. The Wooden Shield is 50 rupees, the Iron Shield 100 once Skyview Temple is beaten, the Sacred Shield 150, and bombs, arrows and Deku Seeds come ten at a time for 20 rupees each, with a Small Seed Satchel and a Small Quiver at 150 apiece. The Potion Shop sells the Heart Potion for 20, the Revitalizing Potion for 30, the Stamina Potion for 50, the Air Potion for 20 and the Guardian Potion for 200; the Infusion Shop next door turns those into stronger versions for insects and a fee, and the Guardian infusion, which makes Link invincible for three minutes, is the one the Lanayru tiers are for. The Scrap Shop trades treasures for equipment upgrades, the Item Check stores what the Adventure Pouch cannot hold, and the Fortune Teller sells hints.

Beedle's shop is reached by ringing its bell with the Beetle or the Slingshot, which means the two Faron rewards are what open it. His whole stock, bought once each, comes to 5,650 rupees, which is more than the 5,000 a Giant Wallet holds; the wallet ladder that makes it affordable is on the items guide. One inconsistency to know about: the shops page lists the Bazaar's general stall twice, once as an Items Shop with the Small Seed Satchel at 100 rupees and once as a Gear Shop with it at 150, and nothing on our pages settles which price is right. The Skyward Sword guide walks the provinces in order and says which of these purchases to make before each descent.

The Two Who Sit Outside the Tier List

Neither of the characters with a page of their own can be sorted by what Link hits them with. Fi is the spirit inside the Goddess Sword, which makes her the one companion the bestiary above could never hold: she is the hand behind dowsing, and the nineteen things she can be pointed at are what find the Kikwi, the Tadtones and every loose Gratitude Crystal in the sky. Demise is the opposite problem. He is the last fight in the game and no tool on this page touches him, because the answer is a shield bash and a stolen bolt of lightning rather than anything the Bazaar stocks.

Between the bestiary and those two sit the thirteen boss fights, which follow a rule of their own: a dungeon issues Link a tool, and the thing waiting in its last room is there to test him on that tool. Our bosses page runs all of them in order, including the three Ghirahim rounds that break the rule and the Lightning Round at Lanayru Gorge that replays the lot for the Hylian Shield.