The opening screens tell of a boy who, after battling evil and saving Hyrule, crept away from the land that had made him a legend, on a secret and personal journey in search of a beloved and valuable friend. If you missed the original release, theres also the 3DS re-release. And when youre bad, you just run. With a dark start and a weirdly personal conflict, it felt like a completely different Zelda experience. But theres an alternative explanation that squares this ability of citizens in Termina to detect evil with the capacity of metaphysically adjacent entities to impose moral artifice on Termina. We won't send you spam. Why should this ambiguity of Majoras nature be centrally important to the story ofMajoras Mask? In fact, some of the even carry the same exact names, but others carry different monikers and fill different roles in the town of Termina than then did in Ocarina's Hyrule. And theres the ever-smiling, creepy Happy Mask Salesman. It's shrouded in pain, gets respite in the most remorseful forms, and cannot comfortably hold comparison with most other Zelda games. Originally called The Legend of Zelda: Gaiden (meaning The Continuing Adventure), and before this known as Ura Zelda Majoras Mask was revealed at Spaceworld 1999. Theres an easy way to end up misinterpreting exactly what Majora is, and I fell prey to it in this original analysis: if youre not careful, you can end up conflating Majora with his various objects and manifestations. One of the most popular and well-supported video game fan theories is the one that posits that Super Mario 3 is actually a stage play, being performed by actors in front of a set. Through detailed work, Link finds Kafei, and works to pair him and Anju back together as well as to regain the wedding mask that was stolen from him. As much as I love Zelda, it is difficult to argue that its story is exactly profound. It's through Darmani's spirit that Link first inhabits the body and spirit of a dead character. These two interpretations of Majora are mutually incompatible and both plausibleand I suspect it wouldnt be too hard to add more competing interpretations to the list. Required fields are marked *. This difference is subtle, but it ends up mattering a lot: this one change ends up making Majoras Mask optimistic where it would otherwise be pessimistic. Majora's Mask Should Terrify You, and This is Why. I wanted to take some time today to explore Majora's Mask, and really understand its darker tone. For more information, please see our Learn more here. This still barely scratches the surface of a game that evades comprehension at every turn (and there is more to examine about everything that I have discussed within this post), but I hope it has provided at least the beginning of a framework for understanding the visceral reaction so many gamers have to this game. While some of the areas are far more clear, such as the anger in the Deku shrubs, some of the areas are a bit more washy in their appearance. He specializes in the impact of player-avatar relations on game stories. Majoras endgame is a testament to this: he inhabits the moon and seeks to unite the moon itself with the earth, destroying the distance that separates them.. I got this game on my birthday right after I beat Ocarina of Time on my little 3DS. Even when Link falls down a proverbial rabbit hole in the woods and follows Skull Kid to the parallel world of Termina, we want to believe that the Link as whom we are playing is that same Link who traveled time to confront the Great King of Evil in Ocarina of Time. To focus only on the letter of canon and on the information a game literally endorses is to ignore the nuances of a storys overall world: oftentimes, making sense of a games universe requires reinterpreting various data from the games story in order to gain a maximally coherent understanding of the overall work of art.. Link "heals" him, and through that healing ultimately ends his life and turns his spirit into a mask. This is why, in later work, I argued that it makes sense to equate Majora with Terminas concept of evil. We can easily write off the disturbing undercurrent of Majoras Mask as a result of aesthetics such as these, but in this post, I want to offer an argument that the horror which pervades the game is much more subtle and existential than that interpretation. One of my favourite was that each of the areas of Termina, which is comprised of four areas surrounding Clock Town, and the fifth of Clock Town representing the five stages of grief. According to legend, the troubles caused by Majora's Mask were so great, the ancient ones, fearing such catastrophe, sealed the mask in . Alas I have finally got around to playing Majoras Mask after finally finding the time, but am I the only one feeling that the game is really different to its predecessor, Ocarina of Time, while the mechanics completely changing the formula with the masks (and you can upgrade your sword which I absolutely adore . Even though I analyzedMajoras Maskfor three months, I rarely mentioned the five moon children and never analyzed them in depth. Some fans have documented the differences between the Japanese and international releases of Majoras Mask. The Legend of Zelda series can be described in a lot of ways, but easy is not always one of them. Lets play good guys against bad guys. The Gorons, for example, could be read as both Bargaining and Depression. The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask is a standout game, and slightly divisive in the community. All other Zelda games give you a happy ending, but even at the end of Majora's Mask - when Link has finally defeated the evil Majora's Mask - there is still pain and suffering and fear in the world he traversed through. This was felt almost universally by the reset taken by Breath of the Wild. The fifth child sits alone under the tree, wearing Majoras Mask itself. For example,Final Fantasy VIIfeatures a story where the player learns about Sephiroth by seeing his influence all over the world; thats why, by the time Cloud and his friends confront him at the very end of the game, the player feels as if she knows Sephiroth intimately even though shes rarely encountered Sephiroth himself over the course of the game. At the beginning of Majoras Mask, Link is entirely alone, guiding Epona through a forest in search of Navi, who left him in the Temple of Time at the very end of OoT. Not to mention some pretty heavy topics are brought up by implication, with the 5 stages. Majoras Mask is. Your email address will not be published. The players initial horror as they engage with Termina therefore isnt that theresno basis at allfor morality in Termina, as I originally argued: rather, the horror is the realization that good and evil only exist in the world becausesomeone looking at the world(namely, the Salesman)said so. This design feature of the game actually enhances its ultimate message: for the designers have made it possible for the gamer to progress from start to finish believing that their quest was one objectively motivated by reality, while the underlying substance of Termina simultaneously refutes that belief. Not only was it literally the second article published on the site (back when it was just a blog in which I analyzedMajoras Mask), but it also went viral onZelda Dungeonand presented many of the major themes that occupied the rest of my work onMajoras Mask. With the six-month gap between releases, youd think thered be more. This is howThe Sound and the Furyworks; this is howFight Clubworks; this, Ive argued, ishowMajoras Maskworks. And even with all the comparisons made to Ocarina, its no less than obviously clear that Majoras Mask is its own experience. Even though the Salesman is the first to ascribe evil to Majoras Mask and introduce the concept of evil into Termina (as I discussed above), he isnt theonlyone to talk about evil throughout the course of the story. Seeing Majoras Mask as a direct complement to Ocarina compromises seeing it as its own adventure. Ournewmodel of divine command theory instead says that, once that player is able to recognize her own metaphysical authority and impose her own values upon the game, shereally canestablish her own moral order within Termina. Zelda games fell into the rut of similar structure, which is quite appealing. While OoT has had more critical praise, Majora's Mask has ALWAYS had a very deep cult following. Wait until midnight of day 3, the clock tower's upper door will open, use the deku scrub's platform to shoot up to it and enter. My key impressions of the game were certainly of its bizarre world, rendered in the same graphics as Ocarina but still so fantastically different. The swamp, filled with Deku Scrubs, are furious because they believe the monkeys have stolen their princess. Morality is explicitly, literally construed as a game on the surface of the moon, and in order for Link to truly complete his quest, acquiring the final mask for his collection (again, the Fierce Deitys Mask), he must surrender to the moon children all his other masks that he allegedly earned by doinggooddeeds in Termina: in other words, he must surrender all the tokens that implied his quest was morally good. So if the non-canonical nature of my analysis is your issue with it, take this as an invitation to consider my analysis afresh. We are then tasked to defeat the Skull Kid, and save the Land of Termina from having the moon fall down on them (brought on by the Skull Kid) within just three days. Ive spoken a lot about why canona creators official interpretation of his or her storydoesnt get the last word in the analysis of stories. It's literally about an inevitable apocalypse. First, the player ultimately encountersSephiroth himselfinFinal Fantasy VII,which allows the player to analyze Sephiroths influence by relating it to the actual entity Sephiroth whom she encounters; in contrast, the player ofMajoras Masknever actually encounters Majora itself, and so Majoras influence cant be related to the entity of Majora in that same, direct way. Majoras Mask is depressing. : r/zelda - Reddit More important than this objection in my mind, though, is that much of what I cited as evidence that Link wasnt the same person in the two games is better construed as evidence that Termina is a fundamentally different world than Hyrule. Why was Zelda Majora's Mask so scary? - Quora In Ocarina of Time, Link has time stolen from him - the ten years between the moment he touches the hilt of the Master Sword and the moment he reawakens in a broken Hyrule. Ultimately, its a testament to the intricacy of the games universe that months of intensive analysis can end up illuminating its story in ways wed never before imagined. The opening screens tell . Hes slumped on the back of the horse, head downcast. People either love it or hate it, and they either love it or hate it for the same reason: it's different. After regaining the mask, the two finally get married, and wait to die together in the town. Ive come to think that this is a very bad argument for very good conclusion. It is deeply sad - shockingly so. It takes place in an inexplicable parallel world; the apocalypse is constantly occurring; and the moon has an enormous, menacing face. Although I am often tempted to view Majoras Mask in a vacuum precisely because it is so wildly different from other Zelda titles, it is important to remember that itisthe direct sequel to Ocarina of Time, and therefore in many ways engages with its predecessor in an artistic and philosophical dialogue. Theres no account within the game of what relation this green fieldthe surface of the moonbears to Termina or anywhere else. So even though the press approached Majoras Mask primarily as an Ocarina followup, there were indications it was something different. The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask is a standout game, and slightly divisive in the community. The second area we encounter is the swamp. In other words, he tells Link that the Mask is evil even though there is no basis for good or evil (a basis like the Triforce) in Termina. Will you play with me? Youll have to plan dungeons romps around them; if youve just opened up a new dungeon and its the Night of the Final Day, best play the Song of Time and go back to the First Day. If you dont remember that, it was a separate add-on graphics cartridge for the Nintendo 64 that allowed games to have enhanced graphics or use more memory (so, bigger levels or more save data). It did things that no Zelda since has done; actually it did things that no game since has done. Reddit and its partners use cookies and similar technologies to provide you with a better experience. However, he gets the mask by healing troubled souls often those who are either recently passed, or in the process of dying. This is corroborated in the story when Link liberates the final giant, who tells him to forgive [his] friend. Though the giants were sealed away by Majora, they sympathize with him because he and Skull Kid are ultimately characters with pathos: whereas Ganondorf represents the desire to subjugate the universe, both Skull Kid and Majora represent the primal desire for unity and liberation from individuation. No other game in the series is as eerie, as psychological, as emotional, or as atmospheric as . This mental friction is even greater when the player has Ocarina of Time as background: for in Ocarina of Time, as I argued earlier, Link absolutelyisengaged in a moral quest to stop the very incarnation of evil, Ganondorf. Majoras endgame is a testament to this: he inhabits the moon and seeks to unite the moon itself with the earth, destroying the distance that separates them. I enjoyed exploring its world and collecting all the masks, even the ones that required surgically precise movement throughout the three-day time clock. If anything, youll learn more about stages of life than you will about the moon from such a theory; similarly, a Buddhist interpretation of the moon children will tell you more about Buddhism than it will about the moon children and the role they play in the overall story and world ofMajoras Mask. He gets attacked by the Skull Kid, another once-familiar face from Ocarina, whose wearing a strange mask. Ive already reiterated that thesis several times in this Critical Review. This is a journey of Links, with nothing to do with Hyrule or the Triforce. But we'll get to the mask transformations later on. Yet I believe that, in review, we have far greater reason to believe that it is a parallel Link whom the player inhabits upon entering Termina, if it can be said to be Link at all. Its with those months of analysis at our back that weve been able to reviseMajoras Mask Should Terrify You:appreciating the unknowable Majora, the symbolic moon children, the ultimate optimism of Terminas metaethics, and the estranged identity of Link in a robust new light. Termina indeed lacks an inherent basis for morality, but metaphysically adjacent entities can actuallyprovide itwith that missing basis. This was key to why Majoras Mask was to terrifying: players want to be doing good, but the universe provides them no possibility of doing so. Time in Termina constantly winds down to the apocalypse, whereas the Temple of Time in Hyrule serves as a unique nexus that allows travel through time; it makes sense that the same toolthe Song of Timewould be receptive to these different time-based constraints, opening the Door of Time in Hyrules Temple of Time and also allowing passage back in time, away from the apocalypse, in Termina, a perpetually ending world. Its a side tale, a small adventure. depressing. When Link awakens after a seven-year stasis to find that the Ganondorf has transformed the castle of Hyruleinto a proverbial citadel of darkness, it is unequivocal that we are meant to view Ganondorf as the archetype of evil, who essentiallyexists only that Link must stop him at all costs. What's more, after finally pairing the two together, the player plays the Song of Time, and resets everything - including all the joy brought to them, or the pain that has been erased - and returns to the beginning of the three days. Four of the children are running around the tree in play, each wearing one of the evil masks thathad been used to seal the giants away. While many Zelda games take the position of the various Links and Zeldas in the various games as being reincarnations of each other, Majora is different in its positioning as direct sequel to Ocarina. Maskaphobia, Also Known as the Fear of Masks - Verywell Mind The mask transformation sequences are perhaps one of the creepier parts of the game, and one I used to skip past quickly when I played the game as a child. We'll get to that bit in a second. Thats pretty pessimistic as far as stories go, and its especially pessimistic in the context of the Zelda series, in which Link is virtually synonymous with the notion of heroism. Step back from the technicalities of my analysis from a moment and recall how pre-theoreticallyweirdthe game ofMajoras Maskis: Link, a child, falls into a parallel world doomed to live out a countless number of three-day cycles leading up to the apocalypse, and every aspect of the worlds nature is out of whack (poisoned swamp, frozen mountain, etc.). The upshot of this is that its very hard to integrate the events on the moon into the overall story and world ofMajoras Mask. This language doesnt suggest that theres anything special about Link specifically that allows for these transformations. Since I still stand by that discussion, I quote it here: Zeldagames, more than most games, are often heavily analyzed through the lens of canon: the official, Nintendo-licensed interpretation of how the series titles fit together into a coherent set of timelines. There is no mention of the Triforce throughout the entire course of the game, and although Link traditionallyholds the Triforce of Courage, we do not have reason to think that the Triforce, a gift of three goddesses to the world of Hyrule, holds any sway in the parallel world of Termina. Majoras Mask was understood as a complementary adventure to Ocarina of Time. Theres the strange and twisted alienation of Skull Kid himself. Other publications, likeIGN, shared similar sentiment. Here is a list of such theories. So whether you were in Japan or elsewhere this day 20 years ago, feel free to celebrate Majoras Mask. There had been no such comparisons made between the other Zelda titles, though they also had not shared so many similar resources, either. People either love it or hate it, and they either love it or hate it for the same reason: it's different. Its return on 3DS came at exactly the right time. It causes the mounting fear that comes from calling something evil when you cant possibly understand what that thing even is. (Ganondorf as a character, I should add, has become farmore nuanced with the addition of games such as The Wind Waker and Twilight Princess; but it is Great King of Evil Ganondorfto whom Majoras Mask responds.). Through this questline, Anju insists on waiting for Kafei in Clock Town, where the moon will fall. The in-game descriptions of the transformation masks, for example (the masks that allow Link to transform into a Deku Scrub, Goron, or Zora), say that Link can wear them to inhabit the body of a Deku Scrub, Goron, or Zora. Tales of Symphonia: What Regal Bryant Taught Me, Tales of the Abyss, Kabbalah, and Gaming as a Spiritual Act. It is said that an evil and wicked power is bestowed to the one who wears the mask. The presence of death permeates the entirety of the game. It also purportedly picked up right from where Ocarinahad left off. This peripheral was only released in Japan, but Majoras Mask was re-planned as a regular N64 release. Nintendos words, and the words they encode in their games, are often taken as law in one way or another. Zelda games always have some great evil that must be stopped - most of the time taking the form of the evil king Ganondorf. This strategy of analyzing an entity by looking at its influencecall this analysis-by-proxyisnt categorically mistaken: oftentimes, stories are explicitly structured to facilitate this kind of analysis. Third Subject of Critique: the amoral nature of Termina. But we can also think about the question in terms ofspirit, where spirit is something along the lines of an immortal soul that can take various physical forms over time and space. As for personal experiences with the game, my own mirrors the lead up to release. As we noted, the final boss fight actually plays like a trivial game when Link is in the form of the Fierce Deity, almost as though he is victimizing Majora. In the U.S. version, you save in Majoras Mask by rewinding time to the first of the three-day cycles or by using one of several owl statues throughout the game. Majora's Mask came out just a year after Ocarina of Time. When the conductor surprised the audience with a Majora's Mask suite as the encore for the Zelda symphony in Chicago, the audience went absolutely nuts. After Anger comes bargaining. There is no perfect run, and no way to save everyone. So now we have a better picture of why its especially hard to integrate the moon children and their world with the rest ofMajoras Mask; all the same, I think its possible to saysomethingusefulabout them. The surface of the moon thus exists outside of both space and time, relative to Termina. Through Link's service, the children are recovered, and she is once again able to move on. Let's take, for an example, one of the more depressing side quests for the game: the story of Anju and Kafei. The same basic story - the pursuit of the Triforce, the vanquishing of evil, the disappearance of a princess - guides them all, shepherding you gently between dungeons, towns and the open road. We have just transformed into an adult, jumping ahead in time by seven years. Even though Sephiroth and Majora are similar in many ways, theyre importantly different in two ways that make analysis-by-proxy a very bad strategy for understanding Majora. The Legend of Zelda is a large and top-rated franchise comprising 29 games, multiple graphic novels, and even animated shows. Skull Kids end-of-game etching, featuring him, Link, Tatl, Tael, and the four Giants. The format of the game, and the way the player experiences the game, is, quite frankly, depressing. During most of my analysis of Majoras Mask, I was emphatic that Termina was metaethically nihilistic, which is to say that morality is not a metaphysically real feature of the world (in contrast to a world like Hyrule, the morality of which is metaphysically based in the Triforce). While these facts do not entail that Link is a different entity inMajoras Mask than inOcarina of Time, that certainly seems to be the inference to best explanation. Putting aside the issue of the moon children for the moment, we can focus on two key data: the trapping of Terminas four giants within evil masks, and the declaration of the moon (possessed by Majora) that it will consume everything. You might think, as I once said, that these data imply that Majora represents the primal desire for unity and liberation from individuation. But on reflection, this implication isnt clear at all. It conflicts you, shows you agony and hurt; destruction for the sake of it and the damages of greed. His Deku Shrub version is theorised to also be the Deku butler's son, who we see has passed and therefore become a tree at the end of the game. This post originally appeared on Kotaku UK. If you liked what you just read, please consider supporting us by leaving a one-time tip or becoming a contributor on Patreon. When Ididmention them, it was typically in the same vein as the above quote: I claimed that they were symbolic of Majora and his loneliness. However, I was there for the U.S. launch later in the year, during October. Photo: Nintendo. The Link ofOcarina of Time is directed towards the goal of conquering evil without faltering, and the game is heavilyfocused on his own coming-of-age, featuring a seven-year time jump explicitly contrived to turn him into an adult capable of defeating Ganondorf. There is - of course - the doomed romance of Kafei and Anju. The description of this mask, as providedby the game, is offered as a question: could this masks dark powers be as bad as Majora? After Link acquires the mask, the child says to him: Are you ready? This post originally appeared on Kotaku UK, bringing you original reporting, game culture and humour with a U from the British isles. But again, that point doesnt translate into a thesis about the fundamental identity of Link the Hylian inMajoras Maskrelative to Link the Hylian inOcarina of Time. Most games put something in front of us for 30 minutes and then take it away. In Ocarina of Time he is a child in an adults body, in Majoras Mask he carries the weight of experience of a grown man, but in a childs body. Instead, just like the inside of the Clock Towerwhere the Happy Mask Salesman residestime on the moon isnt recorded at all. This means that only those who actually go to the trouble of helpingevery person in the games universe, thereby acquiring every mask, are ultimately led to the realization that morality is a construct a narrative dimension which makes the ultimate realization of Terminas nihilism that much more poignant. But the well and the Shadow Temple - and even the desolate ruins of Castle Town - are very horror-movie type of dark. Twenty years ago, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask released in Japan. And if last years Links Awakening remakewhet your appetite for an off-center Zelda experience, then look no further than Majoras Mask. The esoteric mystery of Tales of the Abyss gives us the gift of a mystical experience in the simple act of playing a video game. Kafei is betrothed to Anju and has also gone missing.