Impa has had many iterations across the Zelda franchise. Sometimes she’s Zelda’s nurse or nanny, other times her personal guard. In this game, Impa is a hero from the distant past who time travels forward a thousand years in order to rescue Zelda when she’s captured by demon lord Ghirahim. They then take off on an epic game of cat-and-mouse in which Impa barely manages to keep Zelda a step ahead of Ghirahim, rescuing her just in the nick of time. Meanwhile, Link lags behind, enmeshed in dungeon after dungeon, held back by a frustratingly linear plot which explores the same three areas over and over and over while the player wrestles with some of the worst control mechanics in the whole series. Yeah, this game isn’t my favorite. But none of my frustrations come from the main cast. In fact, this game has some of the most layered and entertaining characters in the whole series.

Here is the rest of the Skyward Sword series: