AWKWARD ZOMBIE

No. This.

I want one of those.

I think the Sky Pirate captain should be pretty.

I think she should be based off of a Gerudo.

I'm totally inspired to draw that abandoned city!! And the air pirates! And their captain!!! And the actual airship!!

I'm gonna sketch all of them and post my drawing when I'm done. Maybe ink it and color it.

Also, another idea for the temples and such:

In the Abandoned Forest Village, there is some wierd power or whatever that's luring people to it, where they never return. Link is sent to investigate when an important character (Like Malon in terms of importance) disappears into the forest. When Link gets there he sees some huge weird creature-monster standing in the middle of the village, by the fountain. The other character is there too, and when the monster sees Link it retreats with the other character to some old cave in the back of the town. As it retreats, it knocks down a tree (or maybe it makes the OLD bridge leading to the cave collapse) so Link has to find the Wand of Eons to age (or un-age) the obstacle.
I'm thinking the monster would look sort of like Gohma, being the Forest Boss and all.

Also, maybe in Zora's domain this time the water, instead of freezing, is drying up. You have to see the Zora ruler for some reason, but you can't because the water level is too low, and to see the ruler you'd normally have to swim. So, down near the bottom of the dried-up lake there's an old cave. The cave's entrance is blocked by a boulder so you'd have to use the Wand of Eons to age the rock, and make it crumble. In the cave there's water, but most of it is so hot that it's boiling and Link can't stay in it very long without injuring himself. (I don't know why you'd need keys and stuff in the cave, someone else can elaborate on the keys and the boss key)
I don't yet have an idea for what weapon Link might get in here, someone else give me a good idea.
For the boss fight, Link would be standing on some island-like area in the cave surrounded with water. You'd have some sort of fire monster that's been causing the water to dry up, and you'd have to find a way to either extinguish it yourself or cool down the water around the island to the point where if the monster fell in, it would be extinguished.

Long post is looong. Tell me what you think of my ideas; I like getting feedback.

I'm designing the captain now. But there's one thing that I'm having trouble with. She's too cool to be a Zelda bad guy.
You can't have a bad guy and say "Gee I wish s/he was on our side 'cause they're just so cool!"

No!

Ganon/dorf
Agahnim
Twinrova
Vaati
Onox
Veran
Bellum
Majora

The trend here is that a zelda bad guy must possess:
- Dark Magic Powers
- Some sort of demon-ish looking form (aside from human form)
- Want Power/revenge
- Loves to spread misery for their own happiness or for master plan
- Monser control
- Black and purple are essential for a stylish bad guy

A gerudo airship captain may get on the hero's nerves. But she wouldn't be a real villian, more like an anti-hero because she's cool enough that you want to be part of her crew.

I'll still add the Gerudo Airship Captain as part of the cast and crew. But we need to rethink our main villian.

I was thinking about the same thing. I sort of had Jolene in mind when the idea popped into my head (Crazy McBitch from PH, as she's known), and I always thought she was someone that I wished I was friends with. So maybe even instead of a minor antagonist, we have them be the main bad guy for the obligatory first three dungeons. So we learn in the exposition that some bad thing got sealed away or whatever, so the Sky Pirates are just out to capture it for themselves.

Let's just say there are three Magic Keys that need to be used to unlock some sort of castle in the sky. This place shouldn't ever be unlocked due to unspeakable evil, so it's Link's job to collect the keys and then give them to some old man that knows how to destroy them. Except OH NO, he's ambushed, Keys are stolen, and then the sky pirates unlock the castle in order to capture le darkness for their own dastardly wiles.

Oh hey the castle could be the fourth dungeon I guess. Maybe one to revisit over and over and over again? Also the pirates find the monster-demon thing but it totally overpowers them and declares anger on the world.

Yeah.

Actually I had the same idea regarding the design for the Sky Captain. I immediately thought "Jolene." I was actually going to base the captain's design around Jolene but change enough to make her original.

I like your idea regarding the magic keys and the demon. I think it can be elaborated on a bit more.
The Sky Pirates seek the treasure of the Sky Palace and think the ancient legend of the sealed demon is only a myth to drive off grave robbers. Link gets the keys (or stones or medallions, etc) but they are stolen from him by the Sky Pirates.
The Sky Pirates are once again warned not to open the door once they are in front of it. The Pirate Captain ignores you and releases the demon inside.

After that Link and the Sky Captain work together somewhat to capture the demon and bring him back. And by work together I mean it in a loose fashion.
The Sky Captain won't admit to her mistake and will constantly be a pest to Link who does all the work. But at some point later on she shows she actually cares by giving saving Link from a sure death.

Now some things I don't like exactly about this plot:

The Sky Palace reminds me too much of The Wind Tribe's "Sky Palace" in Minish Cap. This same Palace is probably the same one taken over by Vaati in Four Swords and Four Swords Adventures.

The only person I could think of being sealed in any structure in the sky is Vaati. We need our own original bad guy for this adventure.

Maybe we should move away from a palace in the sky and instead use some ancient ruins in a lost forest.
Granted this is a sequel to Spirit Tracks so it's not really the Lost Woods.

Finally, Link needs an instrument. That's another vital when it comes to the new Zeldas.

Elaborating on Crawfish's idea and my own ideas, maybe the person that's abducted by the Forest Boss has the first key in their position; they refused to give it to Link at first (maybe because it was a family treasure?). When they're kidnapped and Link goes to save them, he finds the key in the village somewhere; the person must have dropped it. If Link tries to leave the village with just the key and not rescuing the person, he gets ambushed by a lesser monster who steals the key and takes it to where the Boss is. Link saves the character from the Gohma-type monster (who then drops the key that the little monster had brought to it), and the person gives in and let Link keep the key.

Then, for the dried-up Zora's domain, the ruler of the Zoras has the next key which is why Link has to go and see them. Upon discovering that he can't get to the ruler, however, because the water level is so low, he has to go and defeat the fire monster that's causing the lake to dry up.
(After the fire monster is defeated, the air around the lake immediately cools down and it starts to rain, letting the lake fill with water.)

I don't think it should be a Gohma-like monster. Not only are they way too easy but they are seriously over used in Zelda now a days.

I like your second idea though. Except there wouldn't be a Zora's Domain in this Hyrule because it's the New World found by Link and Tetra.
It can still be used in an alternate setting.

Evil people screw up the hero who accidently drops/loses the powerful object(s) even though he normally wouldn't and it is obvious the evil people are trying to take them. Then they use them to unlock, release, unseal, summon, etc. some ancient, universal, powerful, etc. evil to harness, capture, absorb, etc it. Then it overpowers, kills, enslaves, etc them?

No game in the history of games has ever done that!



I wasn't trying to be mean and I enjoy LoZ greatly.

Yeah, I guess Gohma is a bit overused.
Some sort of disgruntled spirit monster, then? Perhaps a forest-animal monster that appeared after the village was abandoned (or is the cause of the village being abandoned).

Also, couldn't Zora's exist in the new world, too? That's what I was thinking; it wouldn't be the same Zora's domain but it would be a habitat where Zoras could live.

I really like Sky Pirate Captain saving Link's life. I think it's both cute and would cement her place as one of the greater side-characters in a Zelda game. This could also be stretching it, but maybe she and Link can work together in an area of a dungeon, sort of like how you could control that one Goron kid in Phantom Hourglass. Maybe she could use a very primitive-looking gun (Blunderbuss?) as a means of attacking enemies. OH GOD GUNS IN ZELDA. Just an idea.

I think I disagree in regards to the Sky Palace. While you do definitely make a valid point in Vaati and his connection to the Palace in the Sky, I think having this floating castle is sort of necessary since we gave Link a hot air balloon. He has to have an excuse to go up there all the time, y'know? It doesn't have to be a beautiful cloud-covered scenescape like in Minish Cap. It could bodaciously just be a huge castle floating in the air.

As for an instrument, I really have no idea. I want to say that we don't need one, but I guess most Zelda games...technically...do. All I can think of is a violin. It hasn't been done yet, and it gives me the impression of a very "airy" instrument.

EDIT: Also the locked demon and keys thing totally reminds me of the plot behind Paper Mario 2.

EDIT EDIT: Zelda games prove that you can use the same formula, just different variables. I don't think we're looking for a revolutionary new plot, just filling in the blanks.

What if one of the enemies (minor enemies) in the Sky Palace is a small storm cloud that shoots lightning bolts and can't be attacked with the sword or touched due to electrocution? What specific item could defeat it? Maybe something similar to the Gust Jar in Minish Cap?

You use the seed shooter and a gust seed!!!!