SegmentNextSkyward Sword Side Quests: Every Job, What Opens It And What It Pays
Skyward Sword keeps its side quests in one place and pays them in one currency. Almost every job is an errand for somebody living on Skyloft, and twelve of them pay Gratitude Crystals, which are worth 65 of the 80 in the game. What trips people up is not finding the quests, it is that most of them do not exist yet. Each one is held behind a story beat, so a player who tours the island early meets a lot of people with nothing to say and concludes the layer is thin. It is not thin, it is staggered.
Find the missing child first, whatever else is open
Wryna is standing near the entrance to the Statue of the Goddess once Skyview Temple is behind you, and her daughter Kukiel is not in her bed. Finding her pays five crystals like most of the list, but that is not why this is the quest to do first. It is the gate on the rest of the board: most of the later jobs only appear once Kukiel is home, and finishing it also teaches Fi to dowse for Gratitude Crystals, which turns the fifteen loose ones into a route rather than a night-time search. Leave it late and the fifteen loose crystals stay invisible for most of the playthrough.
What opens each job
| The job | Who asks | What has to have happened | Pays |
|---|---|---|---|
| Find Kukiel | Wryna | Skyview Temple cleared | 5 crystals, crystal dowsing |
| Bring the sister home | Parrow, then Orielle | her Loftwing goes down on the surface | 10 crystals, Empty Bottle |
| Answer the hand in the bathroom | the ghost | Kukiel home, Groose on the surface | 5 crystals |
| Clear the dust out of the house | Mallara | the Gust Bellows in hand | 5 crystals, 20 rupees |
| Train the boy who cannot lift | Fledge | Kukiel home, the Sandship done | 5 crystals, Pumpkin Pull |
| Recover the party wheel | Dodoh | Scrapper repaired | 5 crystals, Skydiving Roulette |
| Return the baby rattle | Bertie | Kukiel home, Nayru's Silent Realm done | 5 crystals |
| Handle the Item Check crush | Peatrice | she starts calling you darling | 5 crystals |
| Work the pumpkin field | Pumm and Kina | Kukiel home, second Imprisoned beaten | 5 crystals |
| Replace the crystal ball | Sparrot | Kukiel home, second Imprisoned beaten | 5 crystals, half price fortunes |
| Catch the escaped beetle | Beedle | his shop open and visited | 5 crystals, 50 percent off one item |
| Find the uncatalogued plant | Owlan | the surface provinces open | 5 crystals |
Six of the twelve trace back to Kukiel in one way or another, and three more wait on a specific tool or dungeon. That is why the board fills up in the back half of the game: our walkthrough marks the points where a batch of them opens at once, and the sensible rhythm is to sweep Skyloft after each dungeon rather than to hunt continuously.
Five of them pay in something other than crystals
The crystals are the headline and the side payments are what actually change the game. Parrow and Orielle hand over an Empty Bottle, which is a permanent inventory slot for potions or a fairy, both priced on our shops page. Fledge's training opens Pumpkin Pull and Dodoh's wheel opens Skydiving Roulette, and each of those minigames has a Heart Piece attached to a score, which is covered on our Heart Pieces page. Beedle's lost beetle is worth half off a single purchase, and the thing to spend it on is the most expensive line he stocks, which is either the 1,600 rupee Heart Piece or the 800 rupee Life Medal. Sparrot's replacement crystal ball halves the Fortune Teller's fee for good.
The Lumpy Pumpkin runs a chain that pays hearts instead
The bar in the sky sits outside the crystal economy and is the reason different guides count a different number of side quests. Link breaks the chandelier by rolling into the upstairs wall, takes the Heart Piece that falls with it, and then owes Pumm for the damage in three jobs: a bowl of pumpkin soup delivered to Eagus in under five minutes while it is still hot, a stack of pumpkins moved into the shed with none dropped on the way, and a night shift on the Goddess's Harp backing Kina while she sings. Finish the chain and a second Heart Piece comes out of it. The harp job needs the Harp, so this bill stays open for a long stretch.
What the whole layer is worth
Add it up and the side quest board pays 65 Gratitude Crystals, two Heart Pieces from the pumpkin bar, an Empty Bottle, two minigames that hold Heart Pieces of their own, and two permanent discounts. The crystals then buy the four wallet upgrades that make Beedle's 5,650 rupee stock reachable, and our Gratitude Crystals page has Batreaux's ladder and the fifteen loose crystals that top the total up to 80. None of this is required to finish the game, and all of it is required to finish the collection.
The order that works
Kukiel first, as early as Skyview lets you. Then switch the clock to night and make one full circuit of Skyloft with dowsing on, which clears the early loose crystals. Take Beedle's beetle whenever you first ride his shop, since the discount is worth more the earlier you hold it. Then check Skyloft after each dungeon rather than between each errand, because the gates are keyed to dungeons and silent realms. Leave the pumpkin field and the crystal ball until the second Imprisoned fight is done, and leave Fledge until the Sandship is behind you. The items guide covers what to do with the rupees all of this generates.