Majora's Mask and the Art of Dark Symbolism

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask is a game that I hold on the pedestal as my favorite of all-time. Tonight, we're going to explore the many themes throughout this work of art, and drum up a fresh theory of our own.

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Music:
-Time's End: A Majora's Mask Album by Theophany
-Majora's Mask OST

[Nexpo]

Oops. I accidentally released the first marathon video early 🙁😏

SCHEDULE:
Vid 2: 10/22
Vid 3: 10/25
Vid 4: 10/28
Vid 5: 10/31

Let’s do this🎃

[andrewbowers]

For me, the theme that always stuck with me was the idea that “you can’t save everyone”. You can collect all the masks. You can try and complete a “boss rush” before facing Majora. You can try to “do it all”, but the credits scene always includes the Butler grieving in front of his son. There’s no way you can prevent that. You have to learn to accept the things you cannot change. Until I played this game as a kid, no other game I played ever really managed to express this idea so well.

[CZsWorld]

On your theory, I don't think Link is trapped in Termina per say, but that doesn't mean he isn't cursed at the end of Majora's Mask.

In Twilight Princess, the sequel to Majora's Mask, you can meet The Hero's Shade, a towering skeletal creature resembling a Stalfos who teaches you sword techniques. The legend goes that people who get lost in the Lost Woods without a fairy turn into Stalfos. The Hero's Shade carries what looks like the mirror shield, the last shield acquired in Majora's Mask. His height is similar to that of The Fierce Deity. He has one red eye, which could be the price Link pays for his dependence on dark Sheikah magic like the lens of truth, similar to how Bongo Bongo, the boss of the Shadow Temple in Ocarina of Time, became obsessed with the Lens of Truth and became a horrifying monster with one red eye.

When Link left Termina, he continued to search for Navi, but ended up getting lost in The Lost woods. Out of sheer desperation for survival, he used the Fierce Deity mask and mask of truth to try to discover the way home, but it did not help him. He became corrupted by the dark power of the masks and ended up becoming a Stalfos. The great hero who saved Hyrule and Termina was unable to save himself from becoming a monster...

[codemancz]

I would like to point out a different theme: adulthood.

Think of it. Link struggles with being a child. The villain is a Skull Kid. Tingle refuses to grow up. Each area has a problem with children (Deku Princess, Elder's Son, Eggs, Pamela). The Bosses become Moon Children. Majora's Incarnation acts like a child. And if you do enough work, you get to become an adult and clap Majora's ass.

[kiriseraph]

I thought it was all a metaphor for trauma and healing, and the fact that mental scars fade but never truly go away

[tss]

Majora's Mask, to me, is about acceptance.

So much in life is out of our control, and Link is no exception to this. Link never had a choice in being the Hero of Time; the goddesses chose that path for him. Try as Link might have to reach the Triforce before Ganondorf did, the goddesses sealed Link away until he was ready to wield the Master Sword, allowing Hyrule to be conquered in his absence. Link could have reaped what he sowed in the Hyrule he fought to take back from Ganondorf, but Zelda instead sent him back to a childhood he now knew was a lie amidst a time that wouldn't remember what he did. And Navi, his faithful companion who was there with Link from the Deku Tree to the fiery battle with Ganon, disappeared, leaving Link entirely alone.

"The road to hell is paved by good intentions."

When we see Link again at the start of Majora's Mask, he looks utterly defeated; just to be robbed by Skull Kid of the Ocarina of Time, Epona, and, upon entering Termina, his identity; at least what was left of it. Enter the Happy Mask Salesman (this is where my views differ from the video). Regardless of his true intentions, the Salesman offered Link a path. A path to reclaim his identity through healing. Of course this rings true for what it took Link to regain his body. But as he travels across Termina to reclaim Majora's Mask, he regains his identity through his experiences. Whether it was by his decision or not, Link is a hero. And as Link travels across Termina, as he fights through the temples to restore it's lands, as he aids and connects with it's citizens, he is dutiful, observant, helpful, kind, and brave; simply put, a hero. And not because of any prophecy or goddess's will, but because Link is in a position to do something and has the experience to back it up. He makes it his choice. And as Link heals the land of Termina and all who inhabit it, he heals himself. Maybe not entirely, as evidenced by the Hero's Shade from Twilight Princess, but enough to help him carry on.

The cruel flow of time will always take people in different directions. But what we take from it, our experiences, is what makes us who we are. And that can never be taken away from us.

[nicholaslienandjaja]

10:04: Apparently, that theory was recently confirmed by Nintendo. The tiny, withered tree WAS the Deku Butler's son after all.

[ax]

Best game ever in my opinion, and very underrated. Majora’s Mask is Nintendo’s accidental masterpiece.

[ditzyblonde]

I haven't played any Legend of Zelda games, but seeing that mask and that moon face, I wonder how kids put up with that without any nightmares.

[jonjon]

The second I saw the scary preview for this game about the world ending by a scary looking moon my 7 year old self knew this was a game I was dying to play. I remember the anxiety hitting hard as I was figuring out what the hell to do in a dungeon and panicking about the moon falling. My childhood is defined by themes of anxiety and sadness, not in a bad way but rather catharsis by creation of tension

[Silent]

So basically you're suggesting Majora's Mask & Termina could be Link's "Silent Hill"?

[QuikVidGuy]

"His long, lost friend"
Imagines very tall navi

[femiyr]

Omg this actually made me realize a lot of stuff...I never noticed the Butler crying by the dead deku scrub. That’s so sad :(

[JinnKid]

Now I am wondering how the Happy Mask Salesman knew that Link’s ocarina was stolen, and how he knew that Link wasn’t a Deku? I also wonder how he knew the melody and power behind the Song of Healing and how it would remove the curse? Is the salesman the one who orchestrated all of this and was behind it all along?

Think about it... He knew that the Skull Kid was lonely, weak, and lost. He gave him Majora’s Mask with the knowledge that it would consume him and cause great evil. He knew that “Fate” would eventually bring the Hero of Time to him. Hence why he waited by the stairs for Link to arrive. Could he be the one pulling the strings all along? Maybe he IS the devil and wanted to cause some mischief in the land. And Lastly, if the mask salesmen knew of the masks power... why not wear it himself? or try to destroy it?

Maybe the Fierce Deity mask is from Adult Link who had already died trying to save Termina?

[envyq]

This is a really nice and dark theory! However, I like to interpret this story as one of different dark themes. Grief, hopelessness and death are definitely prominent but so is loneliness and the emphasis on childishness. But what I think encompasses Majora's Mask most of all is loss and how people deal with it. Everyone in the game is dealing with a certain type of loss. Skull Kid with the loss of his friends, Tatl with the loss of her brother, the Deku King with the loss of his daughter, even the Happy Masked Salesman with the loss of Majora's Mask! Everyone is dealing with a type of loss and who's to say Link isn't? No matter what he may physically look like, he still lost his childhood and now, he's even lost the credibility of his adulthood. The game even begins on his search for Navi, a friend who he LOST. This game is poetic in the story it tells because so many people can take away a lot from it. I personally think the entire game is about Link coping with the loss of his innocence and deciding that even though he was robbed of it, he wasn't going to let it stop him from helping others find peace and hope again. (Sorry this was so long. Thanks for reading!)

[erikhawkke]

Of all the games that never really needed a creepy pasta. With all due respect for the writer "Ben drown" is kind of just a drop in the bucket compared to the actual content of the game.

[jorgeoquendo]

I'm sure someone else has said this already, but the theory at the end has already been debunked. Link can't be trapped in the 3 day cycle at the end of Majora's Mask because it's canon that he appears as the hero's shade in Twilight Princess. It's stated in Hyrule Historia that the hero's shade is OoT Link. The hero's shade is a grown adult, Link grew before he died and was a soldier or knight at some point judging by his armor, missing left eye and the sword skills he teaches you. He had a child as well, it's canon that TP Link is OoT Link's blood descendent. Also, there was an interview stating that the true ending of Majora's Mask is when you get the fierce deity's mask and defeat majora's mask with it. If the defeat of Majora's Mask is part of the canon ending then it'd have to stay dead, not revive over and over, otherwise the true ending would just be you getting the fierce deity's mask. Link came to the lost woods to search for Navi and he rode away after saving Termina to continue looking for her. Also, your idea that Termina was destined to be destroyed is actually debunked by the citizens' own dialogue in game, they all state that the skull kid (Majora's Mask) is responsible for everything going on and that it all started recently. The giant boulder at the ranch for instance, it's explicitly stated by the prospector there that skull kid put it there. Or the curse on Ikana Kingdom, the king states that the skull kid threw open the doors to the stone tower temple and evil poured out. In other words, it wasn't destiny, it was Majora's Mask.

[CherrygroveCity]

Marathon starting off hot with my favorite Legend of Zelda game

[AngelCarrillo-yutz]

Termína is literally finish/end in spanish

[aNgeL-onwy]

"this was supposed to make us feel something"
*link happily jumps