‘The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword’ Scrapped ‘Second Quest’ Stole a Playable Zelda Away From Fans

Link usually bears the brunt of the adventures in The Legend of Zelda series. While Zelda became (sort of) playable in The Legend of Zelda: Spirit Tracks as an armored phantom, fans still have yet to play as Hyrule’s princess. Many players hope Breath of the Wild 2 has an option to play as Zelda. However, The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword nearly changed hopes into reality by making Zelda playable in a ‘Second Quest.’

‘The Legend of Zelda: Encyclopedia’ revealed a scrapped ‘Skyward Sword’ Second Quest with a playable Zelda section

Nintendo released a series of books about The Legend of Zelda series starting with “Hyrule Historia.” It was followed by “Art & Artifacts,” and lastly, The Legend of Zelda Encyclopedia.

Each book corresponded with a color associated with the three Golden Goddesses. Green represented Farore, red for Din, and blue for Nayru.

On page 297 of the blue Legend of Zelda Encyclopedia, developer notes offered some insight to a scrapped Skyward Sword’ Second Quest’ with a playable Zelda.

“During development, the team considered turning Zelda’s adventure after she landed on the Surface into a fully playable ‘Second Quest.’ It never became a reality, but the setting of that story was used in the cinematic shown after the game’s ending,” The Legend of Zelda Encyclopedia reads.

This marked a pretty massive bombshell to drop about Zelda in a small section about Skyward Sword.

What story would ‘The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword’ Second Quest follow?

While Nintendo fans never got the chance to play through Zelda’s adventure, the section says they reworked the “setting of that story” for the cinematic that plays in the game’s end credits.

After Link defeated Demise, returned the Master Sword, the end credits rolled. The Skyward Sword Second Quest cutscenes show Zelda waking up in the Sealed Grounds near an older woman. The woman cares for Zelda, giving her the Goddess Harp and then sending her to the Skyview Spring to pray.

She continues to the second spring at Eldin Volcano but finds herself captured by Bokoblins. However, Impa manages to rescue her before the villainous Ghirahim can get ahold of her.

Impa and Zelda head to the Temple of Time in the Lanayru Desert. Zelda is seen in a much lighter mood in the cinematic, skipping as she and Impa travel. However, Ghirahim launches an attack, forcing Impa and Zelda to escape back in time to the past.

The final scene in the end credits cinematic has Zelda praying in the Sealed Temple, finally realizing her real identity.

However, one fan on Reddit suspects that the Skyward Sword Second Quest had more to offer for Zelda.

One fan noted that NPC’s offered more possible story beats for the scrapped ‘Legend of Zelda’ section

The first half of The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword has the player trying to catch up with Zelda. Link follows clues given by NPC’s in Faron Woods, Eldin Volcano, and Lanayru Desert to find her.

However, a Nintendo fan on Reddit noted that some NPC’s dialogue hinted at more action than the end credits cinematic showed.

“Throughout the game, various characters (namely [Gorko], Impa, the Kikwi Elder, and several Mogma) describe Zelda’s perspective to Link and several of the encounters she has prior to their catching up at the Temple of Time,” the Redditor noted. “In Faron, the Kikwi Elder and Zelda fend off attacking monsters together, and he helps her escape to Skyview Temple.”

If these events happened in the Skyward Sword Second Quest, Zelda might have had some combat sections.

Unfortunately, it never came about. Neither Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword nor the HD re-release ahead of the Breath of the Wild sequel had the second story.

However, some fans hope BOTW 2 could feature a playable Zelda.