better button controls in Skyward Sword HD, which seems to have partially redeemed the game. Breath of the Wild is by no means unworthy of a sequel, and fans are rightfully excited for the game, but narratively speaking, Skyward Sword presents a more interesting time period for the series to keep exploring.
Skyward Sword originally released in 2011 for the Wii. As a game that required Wii Motion Plus - and upgraded motion tracking system for the Wii Remote - the entire game heavily involved motion controls. Even Link's sword swings mimic the direction the Wii Remote is moved in, with most of the game's enemies requiring precise action. The motion controls combined with an obnoxious companion in Fi, overbearing item description text, and levels which are required to be traversed multiple times gave Skyward Sword a rather sour legacy amongst its peers. Skyward Sword usurped Ocarina of Time's timeline placement, though, and gave fans a new look at the origins of The Legend of Zelda's recursive, fated conflict involving Link, Zelda and Ganon.
Breath of the Wild, on the other had, takes place in the distant future of an unspecified timeline. In many ways, its the antithesis to Skyward Sword, where BOTW demonstrates Nintendo's usual gameplay-first approach to game development. Whereas Skyward Sword can sometimes feel like a chore to play through, BOTW is a joy to engage with. Its physics sandbox version of Hyrule provides nearly endless entertainment, with vast opportunities for emergent exploration. Its tale is heartfelt and well-executed, but it doesn't carry the same gravitas as that of Skyward Sword, which comes first in Zelda's timeline. BOTW's sequel will almost surely have some interesting plot points, but Skyward Sword only just broached an unexplored era of Hyrule, and deserves a sequel.
A Skyward Sword Sequel Could Show Early Hyrule
For the most part, The Legend of Zelda depicts once proud kingdoms falling into the clutches of Ganon's evil. Even in Breath of the Wild, where Hyrule was utterly decimated by the Second Great Calamity 100 years before the game starts, the kingdom still maintains its foundational status, and Link and Zelda are hoping to rebuild. The recursive nature of the Zelda's primary conflict ensures that Hyrule kingdom is almost always an institution in some form or other. Some games involve other sources of strife, like the civil war that predates Ocarina of Time or The Wind Waker's Hyrule being submerged after a hero failed to emerge against Ganon's last appearance, but only a Skyward Sword sequel could show the rise of the famed royal family.
Skyward Sword takes place prior to the establishment of Hyrule, when Hylians live amongst the clouds, primarily on a floating island called Skyloft. The Hylian people were driven from the surface by the emergence of Demise and his hordes of demons. The Goddess Hylia sent her flock above the clouds along with the Triforce as a protective measure. A mortal incarnation of Hylia named Zelda lives among the Hylians in Skyward Sword, initially unaware of her importance. By the ending of Skyward Sword, the cyclical conflict depicted in the rest of the series has been set in motion, with Demise promising that his hatred would manifest and seek revenge on future inheritors of Hylia's blood and those fated to take up the mantle of the Goddess' chosen hero.
With Demise sealed inside the Master Sword, and his minions quelled, Link and Zelda set about reestablishing a presence on the surface. A Skyward Sword sequel wouldn't have to immediately thrust the same incarnations of the two heroes back into another conflict, but could take place in a time known as the Era of Chaos. The Era of Chaos has yet to be explored in any Zelda game, and is only mentioned in the backstory of Twilight Princess, and elaborated on in Hyrule Historia, a reference text released in 2011.
A Skyward Sword Sequel Would Also Be A Twilight Princess Prequel
Ocarina of Time is chronologically the first time Ganon tries to take over Zelda's Hyrule, but the Era of Chaos has other conflicts that could arise. Although not a whole lot is known about the epoch following Skyward Sword, it seemingly coincides with the establishment of Hyrule into a dominant kingdom, since it is followed by the Era of Prosperity in which Hyrule Castle is built. The Era of Chaos is so named primarily because of an incident called the Interloper War. Once Hylians returned to the surface, word spread that the Triforce, a powerful artifact created by the three Golden Goddesses, was kept hidden in the Sacred Realm. Eventually, a faction of dark sorcerers known only as the Interlopers attempted to seize control of the Sacred Realm and harness the power of the Triforce.
Twilight Princess deals directly with relics from the Interloper War. The Interlopers' most powerful weapon was the Fused Shadow, three fragments of which Link hunts down with Midna, Twilight Princess' companion character, who wears the fourth fragment as a hat. A follow-up to Skyward Sword has a unique opportunity to depict parts of the Interloper War or even another attempted breach of the sacred realm. It wouldn't have to deal with Ganon directly, but paranoia surrounding the return of Demise's hatred could be a powerful narrative device.
A Zelda game set in the Era of Chaos could also heavily feature Rauru, the Sage of Light. Sometime following Demise's defeat, Rauru erects a new Temple of Time surrounding the Master Sword in its pedestal, which becomes the key to accessing the Sacred Realm and the Temple of Light. Skyward Sword already holds a special place in the timeline, and a sequel could accomplish much the same, exploring a fledgling Hyrule desperately trying to defend the Triforce. Breath of the Wild's sequel seems poised to connect to the series at large more than its predecessor, but it will still be many millennia removed from the rest of the games, whereas a follow-up to Skyward Sword could explore a known, but undepicted part of The Legend of Zelda's history.
