When Nintendo showed the first trailer for The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword at E3 2010, it placed a lot of emphasis on the one-to-one implementation of motion controls for combat and item usage. That was the game’s hook after all, and while that was cool, it wasn’t the thing that got my mind racing. No, it was a simple moment near the very end of the trailer where Link runs toward a grassy cliff and jumps into the sky, spreading his arms and legs wide as he plummets through the clouds. While the actual implementation of the sky and land dichotomy in the game is often seen as questionable at best, this fantastic, courageous leap is often one of the first things I think of when remembering the adventure of the Hero of the Skies, even to this day.
Source: Muse-kr’s Deviant Art page
Artist Muse-kr does a fantastic job capturing this moment in her piece titled simply as “Skyward Sword.” The first thing her audience is likely to see are the two figures in the portrait: Link and Fi. Link’s arms and legs are spread the same as they are in the trailer while the wind whips both his cap and tunic backwards. This sense of motion is reinforced by the white lines at the top of the piece, streaming diagonally from the hero’s body.
Link’s eyes are another point of interest. They’re not dramatically wide open as mine would be if I were hurtling through the ether; instead, they’re almost serene as they look down at the lush land below. I find his expression interesting because many artists would give Link a determined, steely smolder. I rather prefer the calm look because it invites analysis. It makes me wonder if Link is simply thinking of the next step in his journey, recounting his first encounter with the fabulously fluffy Kikwi, or recalling all the time Zelda and he spent together. The interpretation of his eyes, like the sky, are endless.
Fi’s inclusion as a secondary figure is important too, as while she’s not featured in the trailer, she’s extremely important to the game. While both his clothes and the diagonal lines of the clouds show the speed at which Link is falling, Fi’s figure is missing these velocity cues. Her flowing arms are thrust backwards but not straight up. It’s more like she’s pirouetting through the sky rather than falling. Even her toes are pointed as if she were dancing on each gale and zephyr as she slowly descends alongside her master and friend.
Beyond Link and Fi, there is something else interesting to analyze that initially appears to be absent. While artists will often place an object of great importance in the center, Muse-kr initially seems to have left this space blank. A second look reveals the truth though. The center isn’t blank; instead, Link and Fi frame the object in the center: the sky. By doing so, the duo call us to think back to Skyloft and all of Link’s friends and fellow Hylians he left there. It also reinforces the importance of Skyloft to the Zelda mythos as both the birthplace of Hyrule and the land the goddess saved during her initial conflict with Demise.
Through her art, Muse-kr invites us to think back not just to our initial meeting with the Hero of the Skies but also to all the adventures we had and continue to have beneath the clouds.
