Hidden Skill

The Hidden Skills are seven special Sword techniques taught by the Hero's Spirit and learned by Link in Twilight Princess.^[1]

Overview

To acquire a Hidden Skill, Link must first find specific Howling Stones that will teach him a new song. Once Wolf Link howls the melody with the White Wolf, which is the wolf form of the Hero's Spirit - himself the restless ghost of his ancestor the Hero of Time (the Link from the Nintendo 64 installments), he will ask Link to transform into his human self and find him, pinpointing the location on Link's Map.^[2] When the Hero of Twilight has found the White Wolf, Link will be transported to a cloudy area, where he will be taught the Hidden Skill by the Hero's Spirit. However, before the session begins, the Hero's Spirit will always ask his descendant if he is ready to learn the next skill.^[3] Should Link say "no", the Hero's Spirit will transport Link back to Hyrule. If Link says "yes", the Hero's Spirit will test him to see if he properly learned the previous Hidden Skill.^[4] If he passes the test, the Hero's Spirit will proceed to teach Link the next skill.^[5]

Although up to seven Hidden Skills can be learned throughout Hyrule, only the first one, the Ending Blow, is required to defeat Ganondorf and therefore complete Twilight Princess. As such, the first meeting with the Hero's Spirit cannot be avoided.

If Link does manage to to learn all of the Hidden Skills, the Hero's Spirit will become proud of him, saying Link now has what it takes to become a true hero and even addresses his descendant as his "son", before ultimately passing into the afterlife in peace.

Ending Blow

The Ending Blow is the first Hidden Skill that is taught to Link by the Hero's Spirit. As its name implies, the Ending Blow is an attack that will eliminate most enemies if properly executed. It itself is a powerful Down Thrust.

Shield Attack

The Shield Attack is the second Hidden Skill that Link learns. To perform the Shield Attack, Link must push his Hylian Shield out in front of him and use it to bash into enemies, lowering their defenses.

Back Slice

The Back Slice is the third Hidden Skill that Link learns. To perform the Back Slice, Link must roll around the enemy and then attack while jumping up.

Helm Splitter

The Helm Splitter is the fourth Hidden Skill that Link learns. To perform the Helm Splitter, Link must use a Shield Attack and then attack by jumping over the enemy and attacking from behind.

Mortal Draw

The Mortal Draw is the fifth Hidden Skill that Link learns. To perform the Mortal Draw, Link must sheathe his Master Sword and wait for the enemy to approach him. Once the enemy is close enough, Link must attack without Z-Targeting. This instantly kills the enemy.

Jump Strike

The Jump Strike is the sixth Hidden Skill that Link learns. To perform the Jump Strike, Link must prepare a Jump Slash while charging power in his Master Sword. Once the power is fully charged, Link must release the energy by jumping forwards and slamming his Master Sword into the ground, creating a shockwave that damages all nearby enemies.

Great Spin

The Great Spin is the seventh and final Hidden Skill that Link learns. To perform the Great Spin, Link must perform a normal Spin Attack while at full health, which will upgrade the Spin Attack to the Great Spin.

Trivia

• Three of the Hidden Skills strongly resemble Link's Parry Attacks from The Wind Waker and function similarly to their Twilight Princess counterparts. Specifically, these are the Ending Blow, the Back Slice, and the Helm Splitter. Ironically, the first one shares a very similar finishing blow toward Ganondorf in both games' respective final battles, with the difference in that Twilight Princess' blow has Link impale the King of Evil onto the gaping wound on his chest while The Wind Waker has himself hit on his forehead.
• Although the Hero of Time himself did not manage to kill Ganon in Ocarina of Time as he only near-fatally wounded him at the game's final battle, because the first Hidden Skill, the Ending Blow, was taught by the Hero's Spirit and used to ultimately defeat Ganondorf, this would technically make this incarnation responsible for the villain's death.
• As most of the Hidden Skills were never used by the Hero of Time in his main or spin-off appearances prior to Twilight Princess, it is likely that after the events of Majora's Mask but before becoming the Hero's Spirit, he managed to establish his already exceptional skills even further via training, itself giving a good explanation why he wanted to pass his skills to the younger generations - ultimately the Hero of Twilight.

Nomenclature

See here for the names of each particular Hidden Skill in Twilight Princess.

Gallery

• 
  Link's list of Hidden Skills in Twilight Princess
• 
  Link's list of Hidden Skills in Twilight Princess HD
• 
  Link using the Shield Attack on a Lizalfos
• 
  Link using the Back Slice on a Lizalfos
• 
  Link using the Helm Splitter on a Lizalfos
• 
  Link using the Mortal Draw on a Lizalfos
• 
  Link using the Jump Strike
• 
  Link using the Great Spin
• 
  The Hero's Spirit teaching Link the Mortal Draw
• 
  Link learning to use the Helm Splitter by the Hero's Spirit
• 
  The Hero's Spirit teaching Link the Helm Splitter
• 
  Link training with the Hero's Spirit to perform the Mortal Draw

See Also

• Parry
• Parry Attack
• Sword Technique

References