The exact requirements to trigger the glitch were unknown until Nintendo responded to emails from inquisitive fans. I'm going to post the details after the jump because it's a late-game occurrence and there are some slight story spoilers. Here's a spoiler-free version: When it comes time to assemble the three-piece "thing" to get the ultimate "whoosit," leave the trip to the desert for last.
Hopefully Nintendo finds an appropriate fix soon. You might have to send your disc in for a swap if the glitch happens to you. Lament the lack of proper patching.
Below is the Nintendo response in its entirety. It contains spoilers!
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We have been made aware of the issue that results in being unable to progress in the Song of the Hero quest. If the game has been saved after completing the sequence of events, it will no longer be possible to proceed through the game on that save file. The only options at that point are to either start the game over or to use an earlier save file to continue.
The situation is caused by performing the following sequence of events during the Song of the Hero quest:
1. At the beginning of the quest, go to Lanayru Desert to retrieve the song of the Thunder Dragon.
2. In the Lanayru Mine, speak with Golo the Goron.
3. Complete the Thunder Dragon's event, and receive his song.
4. Before heading to the forest or volcano regions, speak with Golo in the mine again.
5. At this point, the forest and volcano events will no longer occur, making it impossible to continue.
Solutions:
- This issue WILL NOT OCCUR if the Fire and Water Dragon songs have already been collected before collecting the Thunder Dragon's song. Talking to Golo in the Lanayru Caves will also NOT trigger this issue.
- If the game has been saved after completing the sequence of events, it will no longer be possible to proceed through the game on that save file. The only options at that point are to either start the game over or to use an earlier save file to continue.
I wish I had a better answer, but I'm afraid there currently is no other fix available. I can assure, however, that we are documenting all feedback we receive on this issue. Thank you for your patience and support.
Sincerely,
Sharon Matheny
Contest:
5:15 PM on 12.06.2011 | 
Hopefully I don't encounter such a glitch.
A dangerous pastime, I know.
"I can assure, however, that we are documenting all feedback we receive on this issue."
Its like The spaces and weight they put on each word and spacing will make a difference to people who've put in serious time to another broken Zelda game.
I hope they start to patch games rather than sending a disc in for a swap.
Yep. Say what you will about the current gen's reliance on release-and-patch games, sometimes you really, really need to have that ability.
I never even knew Twilight Princess had a glitch, is this like the Other M glitch where you have to go against the natural progression of the game to encounter it?
The Twilight Princess glitch was very rare.
It's very simple to do. The guy you talk to is literally right by the door. The temptation to trigger a convo is strong.
No, after.
@El Conrado:
Tough to say. It's rather simple to pull off and not exactly out-of-the-way but I also don't imagine accidentally tripping it will turn out to be very common.
How about patch support already, Nintendo? Jesus.
"The Wii's lack of patching is a double edged sword."
Is there an actual physical reason that Wii games don't get patched?
Hackers seem do it all the time.
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@Tony Ponce
Thanks, I'll keep that in mind.
Buggy game releases that needs 12 patches afterwards is somehow better to this generation? LOL
Ah Skyward Sword, GOTY that thousands of douchers won't play because they have a stick up their ass. Already on my Hero Mode and loving it.
Well I would say because of the lack of internal storage and because Nintendo's internet-strategy is lackluster at best. Storing patches on SD-cards seems way too flaky.
Yes, yes we know already. We're infinitely inferior for disregarding motion controls and it's our loss and whatnot.
That is because literally every other company's system has the ability to fix these bugs once anyone finds them, and then they stop being news. If you find one on a Nintendo system, however...
Also, I did the Thunder Dragon first, and I cannot believe I managed to dodge this. So relieved. And on that note, how is this even a thing? It seems like such a roundabout way of deactivating the other quests.
For massive content updates? Sure, 512MB of internal memory is paltry.
But for the occasional killer bug fix? That stuff is usually very, very small. The save data of some games is bigger.
But on the other hand, your point about their online infrastructure is very valid.
Still, this is unfortunate for people who stuck it out. I'd hate to restart after 35 hours of gameplay.
I just can't believe that Nintendo EAD developed this for five years and didn't spot this bug. Un-fucking-believable.
lol I wouldn't consider walking back to a save point after finisheing a boss battle even if it meant back tracking a little to be "unnatural".
Specially if that boss happened to have given me particular trouble and there is no telling when the next save point might show up :P
Course I have never played OtherM and probably won't in the foreseeable future.
......... On a side note .... I never really understood why Nintendo didn't create a savegame patcher for these kind of things. It would be small, simply need to be able to detect that the issue it was going to fix was in fact an issue and then change a few bits around. It would be something any user could run themselves..... just make it a free "app" in the Nintendo store...
Anyhow I guess since they can't seem to do that ..... I will just wait for info on where to send my defecto-disk for a replacement.
Oh, I read spoiler, and immediately dropped to the comments. Probably should have read the rest of the word considering it was hyphened and all Lol.
@Scuffles
It wasn't a boss fight it was just a regular room that when you cleared it the door on the other side opened. It would have been an awkward moment to decide to backtrack, but still it shouldn't have been there.
Hmm for some reason It had sounded like a boss fight when I read about it (months ago lol), oh well... yeah I guess that would be a little strange/unnatural unless I picked that room to decide to call it a night for gaming :P
Hopefully they are adding similar things to the check list for the QA department.
Like the Twilight Princess bug (which required you to save and quit in a VERY specific room) this bug is quite obscure.
I went to the desert section SECOND (before the volcano) and I never had a problem.
When considering the plot, the forest is the FIRST place you'd logically go considering what you're looking for, and there's NO reason to talk to this particular Goron again after the fact.
You have to go out of your way to get this sequence bug, but it's a shame it exists.