TotK Great Sky Island Walkthrough: Four Shrines, Temple of Time

Great Sky Island is where Tears of the Kingdom begins: a cluster of floating islands with four shrines, the Temple of Time and Rauru. This page takes you from the Room of Awakening to the jump down to Hyrule, with the armor and devices worth picking up. Each shrine’s puzzle has its own page, linked below.

What do you do after waking up?

You wake in the Room of Awakening. On the way out, a chest holds the Archaic Legwear. Outside, a Steward Construct gives you the Purah Pad and marks where Princess Zelda should be: the Temple of Time, on the large island below. This is the main quest Find Princess Zelda.

Make your way down, picking up branches and weapons from the Soldier Constructs on the path, and climb the stairs to the Temple of Time. The door will not open. Rauru appears and starts the main quest The Closed Door: your arm needs its power back, and the island’s shrines will restore it.

Where are the four shrines and what do they give?

Each shrine ends with a Light of Blessing. The puzzles are solved step by step on the shrine pages; here is how the route between them goes.

Ukouh first. It is the closest, and Ultrahand is what you need to bridge the gaps to the rest of the island.

In-isa second. Build a bridge from planks to the western islands, then cut logs and build a raft to cross the lake to the shrine. When you come out with Fuse, a Steward Construct gives you an Energy Cell, which powers Zonai devices such as fans.

Gutanbac third. The route goes through Pondside Cave, where a chest holds the Archaic Tunic, and then up through more caves and across a cold snowfield. The cold drains your hearts: cook the Spicy Peppers that grow along the way at one of the cooking pots, or bring a dish with cold resistance. The Gutanbac Shrine page has the route up the last icy cliff.

As soon as you have Ascend, use it on the wooden ledge near Gutanbac Shrine to get into the large hollow tree trunk. The chest inside holds the Archaic Warm Greaves, which give cold resistance. Further on, Wings and a Device Dispenser make it easy to glide back down to the temple.

What happens in the Temple of Time?

With three shrines done, the door opens. Inside, examine the glowing stone on the pedestal and you get the fourth ability, Recall: it sends an object back along the path it just moved. Use it on the turning wheels to climb to the upper floor.

Behind the Goddess Statue is a second, larger door, and you are not strong enough to push it yet. Rauru tells you to get one more Light of Blessing and unlocks fast travel. Warp to the Room of Awakening, use Ascend and Recall to get past the turning gears, and clear Nachoyah Shrine.

Back at the temple, pray at the Goddess Statue: four Lights of Blessing become one Heart Container. This first exchange only offers a heart; from then on statues let you choose between hearts and stamina, as explained on hearts or stamina first.

With four hearts you can push the big door open. Walk to the altar at the end of the path, examine it, and the main quest To the Kingdom of Hyrule begins. To get there, you jump.

What should you grab before leaving Great Sky Island?

• The Archaic armor. Archaic Legwear (Room of Awakening) and Archaic Tunic (Pondside Cave) have 1 defense each and cannot be upgraded; see the Archaic set. The Archaic Warm Greaves (2 defense, cold resistance) are a separate piece.
• Zonai devices. The island has several Device Dispensers. Feed them Zonai Charges, which drop from the Soldier Constructs, for fans, portable pots and wings; the Zonai devices page lists what each machine gives.
• A habit of fusing. A rock on a stick breaks ore deposits and cracked walls. The Fuse guide has the numbers.
• Food. Cook what you have picked up. A dish heals far more than the raw ingredients.

What chests are on Great Sky Island?

By the game’s placement data Great Sky Island has 28 chests, not counting the ones inside its four shrines (see each shrine’s page). The Archaic Legwear, Archaic Tunic and Archaic Warm Greaves above are among them, and 3 open only after you beat the enemies nearby. The chest in the Temple of Time that holds the Ancient Hero’s Aspect appears only once all 152 shrines are done; see single armor pieces.

“Nearest landmark” in the table is the shrine, or the Temple of Time, closest to the chest. It is only there to give you a direction: the chests are not inside the shrines. Click Show on map to move the map to that chest.

Click “Show on map” to move the map above to that spot.

Where do you go after Great Sky Island?

Follow To the Kingdom of Hyrule to Lookout Landing. The beginner tips list the next steps in order, and the main quest order covers the rest of the story. You can come back to Great Sky Island any time by warping to one of its shrines or the Room of Awakening; the Steward Construct outside Nachoyah Shrine is also where you later trade Crystallized Charges for battery upgrades. Come back later with the Zora Armor for the side adventure Legend of the Great Sky Island on the Temple of Time roof. For the other islands above Hyrule, see the sky islands overview.