Great Sky Island is the tutorial section for The Legend of Zelda: Tears of the Kingdom, during which you’ll gain several abilities that allow Link to manipulate objects and traverse the environment. You’ll need to display proficiency in the use of these powers as well as various gameplay fundamentals like melee combat, ranged combat, jumping, climbing, stamina management and more, and your journey across Great Sky Island will give you ample opportunity to learn. This page will provide an overview of the objectives you’ll need to complete in order to make it off Great Sky Island and onto Hyrule.

Step 1 - Reach the Temple of Time¶

The game begins, of course, with a lengthy walk-and-talk sequence with Zelda, after which Link will find himself on Great Sky Island, bereft of everything save his modesty. Grab what remains of the Master Sword, cut your way out of the room you’re in, then work your way out of the dungeon. You’ll be introduced to basics like attacking, jumping, swimming and climbing here. After getting some new pants you’ll leap down onto Great Sky Island proper.

After you land, defeat a Warrior Construct and talk to a Steward Construct to obtain the Purah Pad, which allows you to access the map and track your current objective: Find Princess Zelda. To do this you’ll need to trek north to the Temple of Time, which is along the northern edge of Great Sky Island. Perform another dive to reach a lower section of the island and fight your way to the Temple of Time, where a Zonai ghost named Rauru will task you with visiting three shrines to gain the power necessary to enter the Temple of Time.

This task will consume most of your time on Great Sky Island, constituting the main quest The Closed Door.

Step 2 - Ukouh Shrine¶

Make your way west to the first shrine - Ukouh Shrine - which isn’t that far away. The others will require lengthier journeys to reach. Complete Ukouh Shrine, which is basically a tutorial for the Ultrahand ability.

Step 3 - In-isa Shrine¶

After completing Ukouh Shrine and displaying competence with Ultrahand you’ll be ready to move onto the next shrine. Scope out the next two shrines and you’ll notice that your next objective is quite a bit further away, along the southwestern edge of Great Sky Island. To get there you’ll need to solve some navigation puzzles:

• Build another rail platform and ride it to another section of Great Sky Island.
• Cut down some trees and build a log bridge to cross a collapsed stone bridge.
• Create a raft and sail across a lake to reach In-isa Shrine.

Reach and complete In-isa Shrine to gain the Fuse ability, which will teach you to create hammers by fusing rocks and stones to weapons, and fire arrows by fusing Fire Fruit to arrows.

Step 4 - Gutanbac Shrine¶

Complete In-isa Shrine and when you exit you’ll be given the Energy Cell, which powers Zonai devices. Along with Ultrahand and Fuse, you’ll need to use Zonai devices to complete a series of puzzles en route to the third shrine, Gutanbac Shrine. This is the longest single leg of your journey on Great Sky Island, during which you’ll need to:

• Pass through Pondside Cave.
• Build a raft powered with Zonai Fans to cross some water.
• Pass through Mining Cave.
• Build a Zonai Fan-powered minecart to cross some rails and exit the Mining Cave.
• Pass through Pit Cave. You’ll need to cook Spicy Peppers to make meals that improve your cold resistance.
• Pass through Bottomless Cave, bypassing two Like Likes (get close and shoot the orange mouth pod they reveal before attacking).
• Climb up to the shrine. You’ll need to scale a patch of rock near a waterfall.

After your long journey, clear Gutanbanc Shrine, which will requires you to demonstrate proficiency with the Ascend ability. This ability allows you to pass through solid structures above you and emerge out the other side.

Step 5 - Return to the Temple of Time¶

Despite the distance you have to clear, this is a fairly short step. From Gutanbanc Shrine, head back west and Ascend through a platform to the north, loot a chest to score the Archaic Warm Greaves, which will protect you from the moderate levels of cold found on Great Sky Island. Use a Zonai Wing device to glide back to the Temple of Time, where you’ll get the Recall ability. Use your newfound ability to manipulate some wheels so you can reach the temple’s northern door. Sadly, you don’t yet have the power to open this door, which will lead you off Great Sky Island, so you’ll have to visit a fourth shrine.

Step 6 - Nachoyah Shrine¶

Fast travel back to the Room of Awakening at the southern end of Great Sky Island and use Ascend and Recall to cross some gears to reach Nachoyah Shrine. Enter and complete Nachoyah Shrine, which requires you to use the Recall ability to solve several simple puzzles.

Step 7 - Leave Great Sky Island¶

After claiming your fourth Light of Blessing, you’ll need to return to the Temple of Time one more time. Use a Zonai Wing device to glide back over (or fast travel back to Ukouh Shrine and just walk) to the Temple of Time, use Recall on the gears to get to the back rooms, and pray at a statue to regain a Heart Container. With four hearts you can open the door and get past the Temple of Time. After some chatter, use Ascend to traverse some ruins, interact with an orb of light to trigger another scene, then jump off the ruins and down to Hyrule Kingdom.