♫ The thunder that strikes the earth is my anger!

Hello, visitor, and welcome to From the Sky, Crystal's somewhat text-heavy one-page tribute for the amazing song titled The Song of Storms which was composed by Koji Kondo and makes its appearance in the video game series The Legend of Zelda. Because of the fact that this is my favorite song in the entire series I felt it appropriate to create some sort of tribute for it. This was the result. Considering the games this song appears in have been out for more than a decade I will not give any spoiler warnings (and honestly, I don't think there is anything to spoil anyway). If you have any comments or questions regarding the song or the site feel free to contact me about them. Aside from that please enjoy your stay!

Please note that the main focus of the shrine will be for the song as it appears in the Legend of Zelda video games and I will try to explain the song both in and out of the game to the best of my abilities. I make mention of its appearance in other games if I feel them important enough. I will also not provide any downloads but I do have a playlist you can listen to if you scroll down. And that's about it. xD

Updated September 24, 2011 · Part of ZerudaORG · Listed at Amassment & Emotion

♫ The Legend of Zelda

The Legend of Zelda is a high fantasy action-adventure video game series created by Japanese game designers Shigeru Miyamoto and Takashi Tezuka. It was developed and published by Nintendo, with some portable installments outsourced to Flagship/Capcom and Vanpool. Considered one of Nintendo's most important franchises, its gameplay consists of a mixture of action, adventure, and puzzle solving. The series centers on Link, the playable main character and protagonist. Link is often given the task of rescuing Princess Zelda in the most common setting of the series, Hyrule, from Ganon—also known as Ganondorf—who is the primary antagonist of the series. However, other settings and antagonists have appeared throughout the games, with Vaati having recently become the series' secondary antagonist. The story commonly involves a relic known as the Triforce, which is a set of three golden triangles of omnipotence. Link holds the Triforce of Courage, Zelda holds the Triforce of Wisdom, and Ganon holds the Triforce of Power. The protagonist in each game is usually not the same incarnation of Link, but a few exceptions do exist.

♫ The Song of Storms

The Song of Storms (aka the Windmill song) is a song composed by the amazing Koji Kondo that makes its appearance in a few of the Legend of Zelda video games that Link can use to help him in his adventures. The song has the power to make it rain. However, that isn't just all it does. If used in the right situation it can be a lot more than just something to summon rain with. It can make windmills spin like crazy, free trapped souls, reveal hidden treasures, and even make frogs happy! The Song of Storms is often presented with a strange looking man that is often referred to as the "Windmill Man" or "Guru-Guru" who is always seen playing his phonograph with the Song of Storms always playing in the background. He is mostly seen playing inside a windmill and seems to have a thing about them spinning just right. If anyone messes up his windmill he gets really mad.

♫ Koji Kondo

I felt it important to add a small section to Koji Kondo here because, in my personal opinion, he is a "God" when it comes to music and is a huge reason as to why I love this series and song so much.

Born on August 13, 1960 in Nagoya, Japan, Koji Kondo is a Japanese video game composer and sound director who has been employed at Nintendo since 1984. Not only is he the greatest legend in the video game audio industry he is also responsible for the composition of much of the music in games released by Nintendo (most notably Super Mario and the Legend of Zelda), although the last game for which he was solely responsible for the composition of the soundtrack was The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. He was the first person hired by Nintendo for the purpose of creating compositions, and was to play an integral role in making the company's games and music recognizable worldwide. In my opinion, he succeeded.

His first major score was in Super Mario Bros. The game's melodies were created with the intention that short segments of music could be endlessly repeated during the same gameplay without causing boredom. As a result it has become a widely known and recognized piece. Even today it is the most well-known video game score. His work on The Legend of Zelda scores have also become wide recognized and the overworld theme has become close in popularity with the Super Mario Bros theme.

♫ The Windmill Man / Guru-Guru

So writing about some silly man that does nothing but plays a phonograph 24 hours a day seems like a silly thing to do when this site is purely about the song doesn't it? Well not so. I feel this character to be an important and critical piece to the Song of Storms. For one, he was first seen in a windmill with this song playing so immediately then I connect him with the song. He's also got such a passion when it comes to windmills (well in Majora's Mask not so much) and likes the way they spin. If someone messes his windmill up though he gets really angry showing just how much he loves them.

Okay, so that has more to do with the character and less about why I think he is important to the song. Well, in all honesty I don't know a definite reason. I just connect him to the song as you never see one without the other. Thus why I think the two go together hand in hand.

♫ The Song's Origins

In Majora's Mask the origins of this song are revealed and that it was composed by the Composer Brothers--specifically by Flat. When Link finds him in the crypt beneath Ikana Graveyard he will teach it to him and goes on to explain that the song represents his sadness of loosing his brother, Sharp, and his anger for his brother's betrayal.

"Sharp sold his soul to the devil and was the one who locked me in here... You who do not fear the dead, learn well the song that is inscribed behind me... And if you ever meet my brother, I'd like you to inform him... The thousand years of raindrops summoned by my song are my tears. The thunder that strikes the earth is my anger!"

When Link encounters Sharp and play this song it cures his soul and returns him to normal and causes the river in Ikana Valley to start flowing again.

♫ The Song's Powers

Put simply, when the song is played it rains. But if that was all it did that would be pretty boring and useless, wouldn't it? Thankfully, there is more power in these notes than to just simply make it rain. One such example is in Ocarina of Time when Link meets the "Windmill Man". When he speaks to to him as a child he talks about the windmill spinning which really doesn't seam all that important at the time but when Link comes back as and adult he is agitated about some kid messing up his windmill and draining the well. After Link shows him the Ocarina he teaches him the Song of Storms and if he comes back as a child and play the song the windmill will start to spin faster than it should, thus draining the well.

"What?! You've got an ocarina!! What the heck! That reminds me of that time, seven years ago! Back then a mean kid came here and played a strange song. It messed up this windmill! I'll never forget this song!"

If also played in other locations it may have a mysterious effect on the location revealing hidden treasures. If I could remember them all I'd tell you but do be sure to play the song for the Fabulous Five Froggish Tenors in Zora's River for a pleasant treat!

♫ The Song's Appearance

The song makes its first appearance in Ocarina of Time and is always heard playing in the Windmill, by the Windmill Man, in Kakariko Village. When Link visits him as an adult he will teach it to Link which he, in turn, can use it to cause the Windmill Man grief when he plays the song.

The Song of Storms makes a return in Majora's Mask and is often heard by Guru-Guru of the Gorman Troupe at the Laundry Pool in Clock Town although it really has no significance from him. Instead Link encounters Flat in Ikana Graveyard and learns it from him in which he can use it to cure Flat's brothers' soul and revive the Ikana River.

The song also makes a small appearance in Oracle of Seasons--along with Guru Guru--but it has no purpose at all, besides background music, and doesn't entirely sound the same either so I won't go into any detail on that (especially considering it has been years since I last played the game).

Last, but not least, the Song of Storms makes an appearance in Super Smash Bros Brawl in a collaboration with Ganondorf's Theme and Serenade of Water and is a hidden song for the Pirate Ship stage. As I haven't played the game yet I can't say much about it but the song itself doesn't catch my fancy and sounds like a rather awkward combination (I actually only like the Song of Storms part of it).

♫ Hear the Song

For those of you who are new to the Song of Storms (*gasp*) or are already familiar it here is your chance to hear the awesomeness that is the Song of Storms -- plus some handpicked favorite remixes of mine. Please note that I did not make any of the remixes (I'm sadly not musically talented for that) and they were all found at sites such as OCRemix, Newgrounds, and YouTube. If you're ready to listen then please proceed to this page!

♫ Why the Song?

This is kinda strange but the way I fell in love with this song was not through the original version itself but rather from remixes, and it wasn't an instant thing either. As I listened through several Zelda remixes I found myself commonly listening to remixes of Stone Tower Temple, the Deku Palace, and the Song of Storms. After I had noticed Song of Storms remixes filling up my favorites on my YouTube I had decided then that the Song of Storms was my favorite Zelda song. But just to like a song because of its remixes sounds kinda silly, doesn't it? Thankfully I like the original just as much as the remixes so that helps out. The melody of it is calm and pleasing to the ear. Not to mention impossible to get sick of. It also reminds me of a gentle rain but it is probably because the song has to do with rain, heh. It could also have to do with the fact that I have an unhealthy obsession for thunder storms (the more severe the better).

♫ Site Info

From the Sky was opened on October 12, 2010 after endless hours of listening to countless Song of Storms remixes on YouTube and a little bit encouragement from Varen after the idea had popped up in my head. Because of the fact that I decided to make a shrine that was dedicated to a song (which are already a rare sight) it was difficult to decide on what to do for content -- or even a layout for that matter -- and even worried that I strayed from the song while working on it. Despite that though I am rather pleased with the way everything turned out. For anyone curious the name From the Sky was inspired by one of the many fanmade Song of Storms lyrics I found while browsing on Youtube so nothing really special there. I don't remember who wrote them but here was the one I liked the most that didn't contain any swearing:

From the sky, To the ground
Rain is falling all around
Thunder rain and wind
A song of storms begins
Play a song, A melody
Then everybody will see
The hero of time
Has come

Currently we are on version 2 of From the Sky which was made by me using Adobe Photoshop 7.0 and coded in Notepad. The image used was found at Zelda Informer and the texture used was found at site now dead (and sadly forgotten). The fonts used are called Abadi MT Condensed Extra Bold and default with my computer. Credit goes to ZeldaWiki and Wikipedia for information used on the site. And thank you to Samantha for putting up with my constant bugging on asking for your opinions with the layout. ;-;

♫ Departure

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TOP · From the Sky was created by Crystal and is not to be duplicated in any way. The Legend of Zelda and characters are © Nintendo. No copyright infringement intended.