Daily Debate: What Do Skyloftians Do With Their Deceased?
Posted on September 04 2019 by Heather Beard
Imagine a picturesque village. There’s the town leader, a school, and traditions that the people of the village hold. There’s also giant birds called Loftwings, and did I mention that this village is in the sky? Welcome to Skyloft! The beautiful village that can be explored in Skyward Sword. Today we are going to tackle the wonderful question of what the Skyloftians do with their lost loved ones. I have a few theories so here we go:
One – Skyloft does have a pretty decent chunk of land underneath. They could simply bury their dead, and as time goes on, those bodies and the coffins decompose and there’s no issue! Skyloft does have a graveyard but it seems small and that it might fill up eventually. They’ll soon face the problem of where to bury their dead. The village of Skyloft was not overtly large, so how often would they really be dealing with loss?
Two – Skyloftians could burn their dead on a funeral pyre and offer blessings to Hylia for their spirits’ safe return to the afterlife. A funeral pyre seems like it would be more traditional and fitting in the fantasy world of The Legend of Zelda.
Three – The Skyloftians could go the route of those who lived out at sea. A burial at sea is typically performed off the side of a ship, but we can call this a burial of the sky if you will. For generations Skyloftians knew of the Surface world before, but never ventured there since Hylia sent Skyloft heavenward to protect the remaining Hylians. With the possibility of a lack of space on Skyloft, the people could just shove their dead off the floating islands. It’s an extreme approach (and probably and undesirable one), but it would work. Come to think of it, with the Surface being a place where evil dwells, one might not want their lost loved ones shoved off of Skyloft.
What do you think? Would any of these three ideas work? Sound off in the comments below!
This Daily Debate was inspired by Discord user and Zelda Dungeon Team Member Spiritual Mask Salesman!
Hi I’m Heather! I’m Senior Editor and Art Director at Zelda Dungeon and I’ve been a member of the ZD team since 2019. I am a graphic designer, artist, and nerdy mom to an awesome little boy. When my nose isn’t in a book, working on my novel or watching anime you can find me curled up with my cats Mandy-Lynn and Daisy Mae.
