Exploring all of the strange and wonderful islands of Phantom Hourglass is one of the best parts of the game. (And there are many great parts. Deal with it, haters.) The game follows a reliable pattern: Link finds a sea chart, sets a course for one of the islands on said chart, and explores to his heart’s content. All of the islands are present on the charts, save for one. This is the aptly named Uncharted Island, and it has some hidden surprises in store for Link.
Rather than resting out in the open seas, this island stays close to one of the massive rock formations that separate the sea into quadrants. The formation in question is the one in the Northeast portion of the sea.
Link dares to freely explore that area, which eventually prompts the not-so-stalwart Linebeck to point out how there’s an unknown island ahead of you. Feeling adventurous, Link sets a new course for its harbor.
Stepping foot on shore, Link discovers that the Uncharted Island is very much, well, uncharted. The map is mostly useless to him here as it’s entirely blank, though he still can draw on it if he wants. Maybe that will come in handy at some point, but Link sees no point obsessing about that now, though, so he moves forward.
This island seems fairly peaceful, aside from a handful of small-time enemies such as ChuChus and Miniblins. Those are nothing you can’t deal with quickly. The terrain is similar to Mercay Island and other populated locations, so Link has no outrageous terrain or natural elements to worry about. All in all, exploring the sea’s hidden mystery doesn’t seem like it will be too much trouble.
The only things that don’t make sense are the shy Gossip Stones. Well, perhaps they aren’t actually shy, but when Link strikes them with his sword, they don’t become chatty like any of the other stones he’s met in the past. Rather, these stones, which are dotted around the island, keep their thoughts to themselves. Try as many times as he likes, Link can’t get a word out of them.
Now, that’s not the case for every single one of them. In the center of the island, Link finds one stone that is willing to have a chat and this one has something interesting to say. It speaks of Golden Chief Cylos, who wields the power of cyclones. That’s a power that sounds promising to Link, but if he wants to speak with the chief, he’ll need to prove himself worthy of doing so.
To earn the meeting with the chief, Link needs to hit all of the other Gossip Stones on the island, but in a specific order. The talkative stone is kind, though, as it gives Link a clue as to what the order is:
It steers with rudder, then makes spray! And third, it paddles, then sees a way!
With that, Link needs to set to solve the puzzle, which the stone calls an enormous riddle. “Enormous riddle” is another clue. With all of that information, Link finally sees what he’s supposed to do, and he’s also starting to put together a mental map of the island. It’s time for him to stop wasting time and start smacking stones.
The location of the quiet stones, paired with the keywords in the clue tell Link something important about the Uncharted Island: its shape is the outline of a whale. “Rudder” is the stone at the east end of the island. “Spray” is the stone at its northmost portion. “Paddles” refers to the flipper at the bottom and, finally, “sees a way” refers to the whale’s face, which is to the west.
When Link brings his blade down on the fourth and final stone, the path to the Golden Chief opens. Next to the stone that gave Link the clues there is a cave entrance surrounded by water. Hitting that last stone causes a bridge to rise out of the water to give Link a way across. Eager to meet a new friend, Link charges across the bridge and into the cave.
Inside the cave, there are two rooms. The first one has some optional treasure chest to open, depending on whether he has the Grappling Hook or not. Those treasures are nice to have, but that’s not what he’s really here for. There’s a passageway to the next room nearby, so Link runs through, fixated on meeting the island’s ruler.
The island’s ruler doesn’t disappoint and he lives up to his name. In this cavernous room is a large pond, and resting in that pond is a large, golden frog. Link notes his similarities to the frogs he had seen out on the open seas. That observation turns out to be an important one.
Cylos rules over the frogs, which he calls his gilt minions. He also, Link learns, is an old friend of Oshus. Seeing that Link has the Phantom Hourglass, and hearing that he needs help on his quest, the Golden Chief decides to make Link’s quest a fair bit easier by gifting him with the Cyclone Slate. It is a stone drawing tablet with magical powers. If Link draws specific symbols on it, symbols he can learn from the frogs swimming in the seas, he can use the power of cyclones to quickly traverse the vast open waters.
Finding the Uncharted Island was not Link’s intention, but he was rewarded greatly for taking a chance and taking the time to explore both sea and land. With his new asset safely stored with the rest of his gear, Link returns to Linebeck to set sail, grateful to have stumbled upon the whale-shaped landmass.
Phantom Hourglass is 15 years old on June 23, 2022! We’re celebrating with dedicated articles all week.
