History Heartwarming / TheLegendOfZeldaSkywardSword

** Zelda could have kept Link in the dark about [[spoiler:her status as Hylia reborn]], [[spoiler:the way she, as Hylia, manipulated him into following her plan]], or both, but she instead tells Link everything, even knowing it might ruin their friendship and destroy his trust in her. Telling Link the truth was more important to her than keeping his friendship by lying to him. Her honesty is rewarded, too, as their interactions in later cutscenes imply Link wholeheartedly forgives her.
** [[spoiler:And Link's reaction to the news that Zelda is about to wake up. The poor guy has spent the entire game worrying about his best friend ([[ShipTease and perhaps more]]), has seen her enter an thousands-of-years-long slumber ([[TearJerker which did not go over well with him]]) - and now he finally, FINALLY gets to be with her again, knowing that she's okay. His expression just sells it.]]
** [[spoiler: Link and Zelda finally being together for the first time after she awakens from her thousand year sleep. He holds her in a very tender and elongated [[RescueHug Rescue Hug]], followed by the two seen holding hands as they approach Groose and the The Old Woman with a muted but sweet reunion...It's [[SubvertedTrope subverted]], however, when a total MoodWhiplash occurs and Ghirahim captures her.]]

** [[spoiler: Not to mention just how [[ShipTease Ship Teaser-ish]] that moment is... [[DidTheyOrDidntThey No one knows what happened during that]] [[KissingDiscretionShot White Screen...]]]]
*** [[spoiler: [[ComicallyMissingThePoint Zelda says "Good Morning, Link."]]]]

** In fact, [[spoiler: Demise's]] final speech canonizes it when he says that all future Links will "share the blood of the goddess and the spirit of the hero". BabiesEverAfter it is!

* Link's expressions in this game just make him so darn adorable. When [[spoiler: Link listens to the various parts of the Song of the Hero]], he looks so genuinely peaceful, which he probably hasn't felt much throughout the game.
* Halfway through the game, [[spoiler:Link is on his way to the Sealed Grounds when Groose hitches a ride on his Sailcloth. Groose starts freaking out when he sees the Chirris and Gorko, and he starts shaking Link and demanding answers. This is the guy who has been an absolute ''ass'' to Link for pretty much their whole lives, up to and including putting Link's life in danger by penning up his Loftwing. What does Link do? He gives Groose a pat on the arm, smiles, and proceeds to calmly explain what's been going on with him and Zelda and the Surface.]]
** Even [[spoiler:Groose's reaction to the offscreen InfoDump]] comes across as Heartwarming. [[spoiler: He basically tells Link to head back home and get some rest, and that he can handle things from here. The Kikwi are all horrendous cowards, the Mogmas are self-centered treasure hunters, the Ancient Robots are worse than useless since they are functionally extinct outside of very small pockets created by the time stones, and Impa gave him a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech the first time they met. Groose is ''offering to help'' - indirectly, and entirely for his own reasons, but still. After the amount of hell Link has gone through, he knows someone else cares about and is going to help him save Zelda.]]

* Fi wishing Link good luck before the battle with [[spoiler:Demise]]. Considering how mechanical and impersonal she typically acts, it's very touching to hear her finally encourage him in that way.
* [[spoiler: Fi's final words to Link before going to sleep forever and becoming one with the Master Sword is that she'll meet Link in a next life. She does. All Links share the same spirit, so every time another Link picks up the Master Sword, whether they know it or not, they are meeting again. So in a way, it really isn't goodbye forever when they part ways at the end.]]
** This has the bonus of [[spoiler:retroactively turning every retrieval of the Master Sword into a SugarWiki/{{Heartwarming Moment|s}}.]]
** [[spoiler:And making the ending to ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker The Wind Waker]]'' even more of a TearJerker. And FridgeHorror, when you take into acount that [[OhCrap YOU doomed Fi to be stuck in Ganondorf's stone forehead for all eternity.]]]]
** [[spoiler:On the other hand, it helped to sever the cycle in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker The Wind Waker]]'' timeline which freed Link and/or Zelda's descendants from Demise's curse which could retroactively turn it into a [[HeroicSacrifice heroic sacrifice.]]]]
*** [[spoiler:Unless [[Videogame/TheLegendOfZeldaSpiritTracks Malladus]] was a new incarnation of Demise's hatred [[FridgeHorror freed up when Ganondorf was finally executed for real in that timeline]].]]
** [[spoiler: There's a flashback moment in Breath of the Wild where Link is near death and Zelda is in despair - and then she hears a voice from the Master Sword telling her that Link can still be saved. Fi is still looking out for her master after all that time.]]
* [[TheStinger After the credits]] [[spoiler:we cut to a bunch of the villagers at the now earthbound Goddess Statue. Zelda says to Link that she wants to stay on the land the rest of her life, and Link doesn't even bother to answer with anything but a nod and a smile, implying he's going to stay with her. The way it's shot with the Triforce in the background and Zelda's white dress makes it look like an exchanging of vows.]]
** Even better? [[spoiler:The ultimate result of Zelda's choice to live on the surface is the founding of Hyrule.]] '''''THIS''''' is WhereItAllBegan.
* Groose. When you leave him [[spoiler: he's having a meltdown over being unable to do anything while Link takes on the BigBad. The next time you come back he's not only gotten over his funk, but built ''an entire rail system'' to combat The Imprisoned. Talk about CharacterDevelopment!]]
** Going hand-in-hand with that is right at the end, when [[spoiler: Groose travels back in time after Link to see what he can do to help, and managing to dive and catch Zelda's body after Demise tosses it aside]]. The simple fact that the player will think "Hell yeah, [[spoiler: Groose!" about a guy who was ''the'' resident JerkAss at the start of the game speaks volumes about how far he'd come.]]
** Pretty much the whole relationship between [[spoiler: Groose and Link. In the beginning, Groose locks up Link's Loftwing, and basically just shows that they're rivals. After Groose follows Link to the surface, eventually, he warms up to him and thinks of him as a friend, helping him out against the Imprisoned.]]
** And at the end of the game, when Link inserts the Master Sword into its pedestal, [[spoiler: effectively locking Fi inside it]], we see that [[spoiler: Groose]] has come to stand next to Zelda and watches him do the deed. We never see his face, but him being included at all speaks lengths as to how their relationship has evolved by that point and how much [[spoiler: Groose]] regards Link as a friend.

** Similarly, Groose's relationship with "Granny", [[spoiler: the elderly Impa.]] When he is down in the dumps about being useless following the first battle with The Imprisoned, she is the one to help him see that there is still worth in himself and that he has a role to play, even if it's not exactly what he thought it was. Groose's name for her, "Granny", is clearly spoken out of affection and he does whatever she needs done around the temple. He hugs her after reuniting with Zelda, and then gets in front of her protectively in order to defend her from Ghirahim. It's this, as well as his developing friendship with Link, that contributes the most to his development.

* When [[spoiler:Zelda]] is revealed to be [[spoiler:the goddess reincarnated, and has to enter a slumber to protect herself and to maintain the seal on [[BigBad The Imprisoned/Demise]], she asks Link to wake her up when he has collected the PlotCoupons, as she always woke him up when they were kids. Most dialogue trees have a "no" option, but all the choices here are "Of course!" "I promise." and "I will."]] This also doubles as a full-on TearJerker.

* Groose's lackeys, Cawlin and Strich, don't seem to care that Groose [[spoiler: goes missing from Skyloft and seemingly never returns]]. Cawlin mocks Groose behind his back and Strich is more interested in secretly hoarding insects. But then [[spoiler: they come down to the Sealed Grounds with Gaepora after the credits to see Groose before leaving with him. [[TheyReallyDoLoveEachOther Aww, they really are friends]].]]

* The long ending cutscene before the credits roll has a subtle example shortly after [[spoiler: Link, Zelda, and Groose return to the present. There's a shot of the Master Sword in its pedestal, right where Link left it in the past. The doors behind it then open on their own, reminding us that just beyond was the room where Zelda had been sleeping. So in a sense, the sword (and Fi, in a sense) were watching over her almost the entire time.]]

** Even [[spoiler:Groose's reaction to the offscreen InfoDump]] comes across as Heartwarming. [[spoiler: He basically tells Link to head back home and get some rest, and that he can handle things from here. The Kikwi are all horrendous cowards, the Mogmas are self-centered treasure hunters, the Ancient Robots are worse than useless, and Impa gave him a TheReasonYouSuckSpeech the first time they met. Groose is ''offering to help'' - indirectly, and entirely for his own reasons, but still. After the amount of hell Link has gone through, he knows someone else cares about and is going to help him save Zelda.]]

** Another subtle but really sweet detail about their relationship: Link has some half-made loftwing figures along with some carving tools on his desk, implying he does it as a hobby. Later when you can enter Zelda's room through the ceiling you can spot a completed figure painted to look like her loftwing, implying Link made it for her.

** Another subtle but sweet detail about their relationship: Link has some half-made loftwing figures along with some carving tools on his desk, implying he does it as a hobby. Later when you can enter Zelda's room through the ceiling you can spot a completed figure painted to look like her loftwing, implying Link made it for her.

*** On the flip side of this, Fi is potentially the first person to take note of any worth that exists in Groose, even before "Grannie" does. If you have her analyze him early in the game, when everyone else is still treating him as a remorseless bully who'll never shape up, she sums him up as [[JerkWithAHeartOfGold "a somewhat vain and stubborn individual--but pure of heart."]] If he ever did learn of that, it would make heaps of sense narratively for him to harbor some fondness for her, as well.

** [[spoiler:On the other hand, it helped to sever the cycle in ''[[VideoGame/TheLegendOfZeldaTheWindWaker The Wind Waker]]'' timeline which freed Link or Zelda's ancestors from Demise's curse which could retroactively turn it into a [[HeroicSacrifice heroic sacrifice.]]]]