Skyward Sword has some pretty fun boss fights. Using Koloktos’s blades against it, running away from Scaldera, and tentatively hoovering the sand both searching for and not wanting to find the squirming Moldarach (which still gives me the creeps to this day) are all pretty fun. Of course, there are also bosses that I don’t prefer because they are either too simple like Tentalus — you mean I have to shoot this boss in the eye? Shocking! — or too repetitive like the numerous fights against the Imprisoned. Though they aren’t my favorites, my experiences with my daughter have endeared these poor ragamuffins of the Skyward Sword boss pile to me a lot more.
As I picked her up from daycare one day, my daughter jumped into the car excited to tell me something. Within a few minutes, a flurry of words had told me that one of the daycare provider’s daughters had been playing Skyward Sword, and my daughter’s eye had been caught. She recounted her tale about other children playing with action figures, toy trains, and dolls while she sat on the couch alongside the daycare daughter and watched Link battle “a purple blob with a giant eyeball.” My daughter ended her story by sharing that she hoped she could watch more tomorrow. I smiled at her and told her that we actually had a copy of that game, and I could show her more tonight. Her toothy grin told me that our evening plans had been set.
When we got home, I immediately booted up our old Wii with Skyward Sword in it and asked my daughter if she wanted to see the story from the beginning. I figured she might want to see how the whole thing started since she’d missed that part. Plus, Skyward Sword has one of (if not the) best stories in the whole saga, so I thought she might really love it. To my surprise, she said that she wanted to see Link fight Tentalus again. Like the Triforce, I set off to fulfill her wish by going to see the Thunder Dragon to start his boss rush trial.
As the tentacular terror appeared on the screen, my daughter cheered. The cheering continued as I fired arrow after arrow into Tentalus’s eye and followed those up with multiple slashes from Link’s sword. Once the oceanic fiend had been defeated, I asked my daughter who she wanted to see me battle next, describing each of the bosses in detail. She replied with a request similar to that heard by many parents of young kids: “I want you to fight Tentalus again.” Dreams of sharing the inspired design of Koloktos and the scene-stealing Ghirahim withered away as I realized that I had inadvertently gotten myself stuck. The same way that parents will watch the same Disney movie on repeat until they can literally perform a one-man-show version of it at the drop of a hat, I found myself caught in the curse of fighting and defeating Tentalus only to have her resurrect to continue the dance. The tiny monarch who had stolen my heart demanded it.
Years passed and I got pretty good at fighting Tentalus, and my daughter eventually let me share the other bosses with her as well. She still loves Tentalus the most, but she has also developed a fondness for the Imprisoned due to some of the Zelda theorists we watch calling it “The Avocado.” I have grown to love these bosses more as well despite having developed a muscle memory built by having to fight them altogether too many times. It’s because every time I battle them, I recall the memory of my little girl cheering me on. Then I look to my side and see my daughter waiting and ready to cheer me on as I resume the old battle. Hopefully, I can mix in some more Koloktos next time!
