What Is City in the Sky and Where Did It Come From?

 
The Legend of Zelda Twilight Princess is one of the more dungeon heavy games in the series. If you include Hyrule Castle in the mix, that is a total of 9 full fledged dungeons to traverse. Quite a few of the dungeons in Twilight Princess have a role in the story and some of them even get a fleshed out back story such as Arbiter’s Grounds and the Temple of Time. The seventh dungeon in the game is the City in the Sky. At first glance, City in the Sky is home to the Oocca, a race of birds who are capable of speech, communication, and advanced technologies. It is even said they created the Dominion Rod to keep in contact with the Gods. Through my playthrough of Twilight Princess, I couldn’t help but see a resemblance between City in the Sky and Skyloft, the city the goddess Hylia created in the past. I began to research, and have found a couple of theories about City in the Sky. Two major theories stand out to me. This article will highlight both of those theories, and then you, the reader can decide where you think the City in the Sky came from.

Theory #1: City in the Sky is what remains of Skyloft

I first played through Twilight Princess after playing Skyward Sword. Because of that, it was easy for me to think that the City in the Sky is what remains of Skyloft. I knew that Skyward Sword came first in the timeline, so it lined up. I did not have much more to go on after that, so I began to look on YouTube as well as Hyrule Historia. Here are some of the things I found that support this theory:

First and foremost, I found a great video made by YouTuber VortexxyGaming. You can find the video at the end of this article but I will also summarize her findings here:

Vortex states that she thinks the City in the Sky is the same place as Skyloft. She opens with a summary of the events that take place before Skyward Sword. This being the war between the goddess Hylia and Demise. The demons wanted to obtain the power of the Triforce at all costs. Because of this, the human race was on the verge of extinction. Thus, Hylia gathered all of the remaining humans as well as the Triforce, put them on a piece of land and sent it Skyward. She then created a barrier of clouds blocking this land from the surface below. Hylia was then able to seal Demise away. The land became known as Skyloft and the inhabitants lived there with their guardian birds, known as Loftwings. The Loftwings were given to the inhabitants as a gift from Hylia herself. Years passed and those who knew of Skyloft on the surface long since vanished.

According to Hyrule Historia, Garpora, Zelda’s father became the keeper of the ancient documents about the surface, a job passed down to him through his family bloodline. He also kept the secrets of the Goddess Sword. This can be found in the video as well as on page 72 of Hyrule Historia. After the events of Skyward Sword take place and Link permanently seals Demise away, him and Zelda decide to live on the surface with the Triforce, as stated by the ending cutscenes in Skyward Sword. Some of the other humans joined them on the surface, and this was the start of Hyrule. The Loftwings returned to the sky. What happened to the Loftwings after they left their masters behind? Did the Loftwings become the Oocca? It was said the Oocca began to live in the City in the Sky around the time of the first Hylians. This matches the timeline of Zelda and Link coming to the surface and beginning the first kingdom of Hyrule.

One of the things that make the evolution of the Loftwing into the Oocca unlikely is the size comparison. The Oocca are much smaller than the Loftwings. Vortex states that this can be explained by evolution. Since the Loftwings no longer needed to directly serve Hylia, they evolved and developed skills they needed to survive in the sky such as communication and language. The Loftwings evolved into the Oocca, simply because it allowed them to better survive in the ruins of Skyloft.

Another idea that points to the City in the Sky being the remains of Skyloft is the size of the tools and spaces in the City in the Sky. This shows that the City was likely to support bigger creatures, likely humans.

The thing Vortex referred to in her video that sold me most on this theory about the City in the Sky were the Clawshots. As of now (2018) the Clawshots have only appeared in two Zelda games; Twilight Princess and Skyward Sword. In Skyward Sword, both Clawshots are given to the hero for completing a Silent Realm. This makes the Clawshots one of Hylia’s ancient relics. In Twilight Princess, the Clawshots are separated. The first Clawshot can be found in the Lakebed Temple, the other was found in none other than the City in the Sky. To further push this idea, the Clawshots are used to traverse both Skyloft and the City in the Sky. In Skyward Sword, the entrance to Sky Keep, the game’s final dungeon can only be entered by using the Clawshots. Link is seen traversing the City in the Sky in a similar fashion using the double Clawshots. Since these were divine objects, they could have been split up as time went on. This could also show the connection between the Oocca and the former inhabitants of Skyloft, now known as the Hylians. Not to mention that in Twilight Princess, you need one Clawshot to even gain access to the City in the Sky. Since this cannon was developed by the Oocca, it means they must have known of a second Clawshot somewhere on the surface.

Vortex is also able to connect the Dominion Rod to the Oocca potentially being evolved Skyloft. The rod was created for the “people in the sky”, likely the Oocca, to maintain contact with the royal family. Why would the Oocca need to stay in contact with the royal family? As we know, The royal family of Hyrule was established shortly after the events of Skyward Sword, with a lot of the first Hylians being direct descendants of Zelda, the reincarnated Hylia. Zelda is depicted to have a close relationship with her Loftwing, as Hylia sent the Loftwing to serve the people of Skyloft in the first place. This makes sense as to why the Royal family and the Oocca would keep in contact after all these years.

Vortex also goes on to discuss Rauru’s role and that he could be a descendant of Gaepora, the ancient document keeper of Skyloft. Check out her video to hear more on that.

After watching Vortex’s video, it seemed more than clear to me that the City in the Sky was the remains of Skyloft. However, I still had a few questions left unanswered. The major question being that Skyloft didn’t have to be kept aloft in the sky. In Twilight Princess, the City in the Sky is seen to have these big motored turbines keeping it up in the sky. There were also many comments left in Vortex’s video that illuted to the Wind Tribe in the Minish Cap creating the City in the Sky. Because of that, I continued my research to bring you this second theory.

Theory #2: City in the Sky was created by the Wind Tribe and later inhabited by the Oocca

Another theory I have seen a bit on regarding the City in the Sky is that it was built by the Wind Tribe in the Minish Cap. According to page 80 of Hyrule Historia, “The Wind Tribe originally lived on the land. After mastering the wind, they moved their palace up into the sky. They live even higher than the clouds and the winds carry news of everything to them. The land they left behind was known as the Wind Ruins. They can ride the wind back and forth between the sky and the land.”

It is said that the Wind Tribe built the City in the Sky to be a mechanical representation of Skyloft, but it is not the same place. This would explain the motors and turbines that hold the city up. But if the Wind Tribe built the City in the Sky to live there, what became of them? Why are they not still living in the City in the Sky?

People have speculated that during the reign of Vaati in the Force Era, he set up camp in the City in the Sky. This drove the Wind Tribe out and led them back to living in the Sky Tower. This would cause the City in the Sky to become abandoned after Vaati was sealed away in the Four Sword. With the City in the Sky now abandoned, the Oocca were able to later inhabit it.

There is also speculation out there that the Wind Tribe used magic to attempt to transform themselves into birds, making them the Oocca. This would explain why the Oocca are able to communicate and use more advanced tools such as the Dominion Rod.

I know that I don’t have as much information to support the second theory but I think it is still probable.

Where do you think the City in the Sky came from? Is it the remains of Skyloft? Was it later built by the Wind Tribe? Leave me a comment and let me know!

You can check out VortexxyGaming’s video below or here on YouTube.