Deepest Zelda Theory? The Cult of Masks | Gnoggin

[Music] remember majora's mask easily the darkest gloomiest game in the entire zelda series one of the most creative ones too with lots of new imagery themes and all kinds of things we've never seen in a zelda game before from african mythology to biblical references we are far from the traditional heroic fantasy setting and it was great but even beyond visuals there was this mysterious atmosphere this serious tone that made many think that there was a deeper meaning to what was happening on screen some kind of message as you already know this game has become a classic and nintendo decided to add a little nod to the game in a link between worlds for the 3ds where the mask itself is displayed on the wall in link's house the main ability you have in this game is being able to merge with the walls like graffiti so at first many believe that you could just slide behind the mask to wear it and maybe trigger something special but nope it doesn't do anything so is this just a simple easter egg for the fans just for fun well i don't think so what if i told you that this is the ultimate clue to the legend of zelda's biggest and best hidden secret first let's talk about the land of termina what do we actually know about this place well termina is known to be an alternate version of the land of hyrule where everything related to the goddesses or hylian religion in general seems to be completely gone instead technology has developed and we can come across things like steamboats pipes clockworks all kinds of stuff in this world every character you know and love from high roll has a counterpart an alter ego with the same appearance but a different personality a different backstory and sometimes even a different name the comparison even stands for the emblem of both lands hyrule is represented by a majestic bird a loft wing a symbol of power whereas terminus emblem is an owl a nocturnal bird wings down seeming a bit less epic though wise and mysterious it's in this world that child link driven by his quest to find his lost friend navi will venture and fight all the while the inhabitants brace themselves for the end of the world is coming pretty grim huh but maybe this reminded you of another kingdom with a somewhat similar story in a link between worlds we are introduced to the land of lo rule a dark and corrupted version of hyrule the other side of the mirror where everything is the same but reverse hilda princess zelda's lorulian counterpart tells us a bit more about her kingdom in a long forgotten time low rule was just as shiny and flourishing as the high rule we know and love they even have their own triforce but as was the case in our character's homeland a relic of such power only brought war to the people divided by jealousy and lust for power to end the wars the laruelian triforce was destroyed and as time went on the kingdom fell apart starting to get where i'm going with all this well i'm afraid you will have to wait a bit longer because this is only the beginning as you may know everything in the zelda universe revolves around symbols colors elements characters virtues etc let me ask you one question have you heard of the tetraforce no well it's time for a crash course the tetraforce is a very old theory that was denied by nintendo this theory claims that the hollow triangle in the center of the triforce is actually a fourth piece that was taken away from the relic it goes like this in the zelda universe everything is known to go by three as we've seen just before except it doesn't the number four is far more represented let's do a quick review of them all in the minish cap and plenty other zelda's there are four elements fire water earth and wind respectively red blue green and purple there are four links in four sword the classic green one red link blue link and purple link use that color purple again in twilight princess there are four life spirits elden la neru and theron whose names are taken from the goddesses themselves but but then comes ordona who has really no tangible origin and plus just like nintendo the other spirits deny ordona's existence this trend goes on with the main races of the series we have the gorons affiliated with fire and rock the zoras fish-like creatures the deku living in the forest and also humanoids whether they be hylians the people of the sky or gerudos living in the desert as thieves and renegades and do you know what's best there aren't even three goddesses yes there actually is a fourth one you know the goddess helia it really seems like the forces that tie the zelda universe together tends to go by four instead of three let's recap what we have here the wind the color purple or donna the desert humanoids and the goddess helia some of it makes perfect sense helia being the protector and goddess of the humanoids her symbol is the loftwing hyrule's bird heck she was the one to send the hylians to the sky along with a piece of the land for them to survive she's the typical representation of a guardian angel ruling over the sky and she's obviously intimately tied to the triforce but what about the other stuff like the color purple and the gerudo she has nothing to do with that yes yes we'll cover that stuff soon just have faith in me for a little while and everything shall be explained for the moment let's take a look back at majora's mask in this game the goal for link is to travel the world of termina in four directions first going south to the mojo palace then north to the gorons mountain west to the great bay where the zoras live and finally east to ikana valley the deserted land of the dead a place out of time where the living corpses of the soldiers keep acting like the war that ravaged them never ended in order to enter the valley you need to get the garo mask an item that allows you to talk to the dead once you have it with you the npc that keeps you from entering beforehand will say the following that is a nice mask you're wearing that is the mask of the leader of the ninjas who once spied on the hilltop castle with the blood-stained history keep that line in mind as it's going to be very important later we are later introduced to the garrow themselves cloaked warriors in the desert wielding sabers their combat style is swift like the wind hectic even upon defeating them the garo warrior will blow himself up so that everything he knows dies with him true ninjas and yes i know we're not quite going anywhere with this yet but don't you worry it's coming here take a look at the logos of every game in the franchise do you notice something yes majora's mask for it is the first and only time in the series that the title dropped its classic red lettering in favor of a nice purple one that may have been a lot to take in and we still haven't covered everything but we're getting close there is a common theory that connects the majora's mask to the fused shadow of twilight princess let's take a look shall we so in general when several masks are created by the same tribe they are likely to share some sort of symbol like a signature or a style and indeed the eye on majora's mask matches perfectly with the remaining eye of the fused shadow is it possible then that both masks were created by the same people let's find out in majora's mask the happy mask salesman tells the player that the majora's mask was created by a very ancient tribe to be used in hexing rituals and sacrifices it has then fallen into the hands of the salesman himself under unknown circumstances only to be stolen by skull kid the quote-unquote villain of the game the fused shadow on the other hand has a bit more backstory in the original timeline just before ocarina of time a terrible war broke out in the kingdom the hyrulean civil war as everyone was punching each other's faces the overall chaos created an opportunity for a group of interlopers to steal the triforce away from the royal family using a powerful dark magic and the fused shadow itself to break into the sacred realm just before accomplishing their goal the light spirits were sent to banish the interlopers into a separate dimension a world of shadow where they would lie forever the twilight realm inside this realm of darkness the interlopers changed forms becoming the twilight but still they continue one particular custom each and every one of them wears a mask if you made it to this point in the video your weight is finally over because we have all the information we need to piece together the first big part of the puzzle and identify these interlopers so we're looking for an ancient tribe close enough to the royal family to know about the sacred realm and how to break into it masters of shadow magic creating masks and artifacts with strange powers fluent in ninja-like arts and i as their most recognizable symbol and are almost extinct by the time of ocarina of time did you get it the interlopers are the sheikah tribe yes the same chica that have been the protectors of the royal family since the dawn of times even before skyward sword all along they have been by their side learning all there is to know about the triforce and the secrets of helia practicing their dark magic hidden down the well of their village enchanting stones to gather info about the kingdom creating artifacts with the power to reveal the truth until the day where they would be able to steal away the triforce from hyrule betraying their long time allies and revealing their true nature but why you may ask come on now we'll see that in just a few minutes how impatient can people be on youtube these days but first a bit more info i'd like you to take your attention back to helia as of now she doesn't really fit into the picture and we're gonna try to fix that one of the key abilities of the goddess hilia we tend to forget is her affinity with time after all she created the master sword and the ocarina of time an artifact that link uses multiple times to time travel she also created the gates of time these gargantuan portals that play a huge role in skyward sword and finally she has the ability to reincarnate again and again all across the ages and even call out to her chosen hero to be reborn with her it even goes back to majora's mask a game where there is no faith anymore when you reclaim your ocarina from skull kid's hands link gets a flashback to his last meeting with princess zelda aka helia reincarnated before he goes she plays him the song of time one last time with the magic flute and tells him it reminds me of us and that's despite the fact that since time traveling back at the end of ocarina this would have been the first time they ever met but more importantly after playing this song she says the following the goddess of time is protecting you if you play the song of time she will aid you and this is the only line she gets also a few characters in the game do reference the goddess of time calling out for her for help and there you have it the only deity that the terminian people still worship albeit weekly is the goddess of time helia herself no longer the three goddesses well then let's gather all of our clues before we get to the final part the number four in zelda is often associated with purple the wind the desert the gerudo and helia which now includes time it has a strong connection to majora's mask the game not the artifact as it is the game where these are most heavily represented it is also good to know that in japanese culture where zelda happens to be made the number four is seen as a sign of bad luck as one of the ways you can say the number four in japanese is she which also means death purple on the other hand is the color typically attributed to villains case in point even in the japanese release of rayman 2 rayman's clothing was changed from purple to blue so that the japanese audience would not identify him as a villain so death and villains let's put those on the list too and let's get back to ikana valley real quick you know death villains and everything remember what that npc said that's a nice mess you're wearing that is the mask of the leader of the ninjas who once spied on the hilltop castle with the blood-stained history interesting now let me reintroduce you to zant the leader and self-proclaimed king of the twilight yes the enigmatic garrow are actually the interlopers the twilight the sheikah and the castle of ikana is actually the termina universe's high rule castle stormed by the ninjas who spied on their secrets the secrets of the castle with the blood-stained history all of the hylian soldiers are dead but cannot rest in peace forced to wander in undead they act like the day of their demise never ended the same way that link the exact same link that wanders inside these ruins will become the hero's shade the link from ocarina of time you didn't see that one coming did you anyway focus in the end the most mysterious character out there truly is the happy mask salesman he starts off playing the victim asking us to get his mask back but we soon find out that he knows way more than he tells as if he wanted link to fall down this trap in the first place his design tells the same thing he's got pointy ears a slightly darker skin tone than the other characters and his eyes are red and in fact all of these traits are exclusive to the sheikah note 2 that he's the one selling the mask of truth in ocarina of time a nice choice of color this tunic by the way all right we talked about low rule earlier in this video remember we talked about hilda and as you're seeing her right now on your screen you probably know where this is heading red eyes purple clothing darker skin pointy ears i've spent the last 15 minutes telling you again and again about those connections so let's get right into it here's what we're gonna do let's review lo rule's backstory together so as hilda told us in the beginning low rule was doing just fine hopeful bathed in light and the triforce was still a thing hilda being the princess of the realm supposedly makes her hylia's reincarnation in this universe right even the names would match but then came the wars and as the populist wanted to get the shiny triangles people smacked each other's faces hilda wanting to stop the conflict then had the most brilliant idea she could have destroying the triforce so no one can abuse it in a link to the past we learned that once the triforce gets messed up the sacred realm becomes the dark world a disgusting land falling apart and that's precisely what happened in low rule but most importantly in the dark world people are transformed into creatures that reflect the true nature of their heart pinocchio style enjoy your nightmares link for example turns into a cute little bunny but bandits and smugglers greedy as they are will become pigs or moblins if you prefer knowing all this it's easy to conclude that it's right after the destruction of the triforce that residents began to turn into monsters later we get to the alternative version of kakariko village now known as the thieves hideout as we know what's going on down the well of kakariko the conjunctions are obvious right in the center of the village lies the milk bar from majora's mask the waiter tells us that with all these monsters running around more and more people take refuge in here the building has clearly been put there for a reason it's a huge clue that leads us into thinking that low rule is actually termina prior to its fall you don't believe me well that's understandable little evidence and all that so here comes some more remember in ocarina of time when ganondorf breaks into the sacred realm becomes the king of evil and turns hyrule basically into fantasy fallout i mean i guess that's elder scrolls but when we go back to long lawn ranch famous for its lawn lawn milk by the way we find out that ganondorf gave the ranch to ingo you know the same waiter from the milk bar give him a year the bar is operational again but that's not all of it the big thing lies in the central plaza where a newly formed cult is settled a guru wearing a mask that resembles the face of a monster preaches to the terrified residents which is understandable they're terrified of becoming monsters but that will inevitably happen anyway which is why he offers them a way of redemption he is certain that the corruption lying in every single one of them will sooner or later take them away and the goddesses won't save them only monsters will simply wearing one of his masks would give them strength once again you probably saw these npcs by simply playing the game but you may not have really noticed them after all the devil tends to be in the fine details at this very moment low rule has become a land where monsters reign by strength and as the inhabitants barricade themselves in the ruins of the sheikah village it's easy to assume that they simply fortified the place to keep monsters away exactly like clock town monsters destroyed the faith of the residents they no longer trust in the goddesses everything here tells us that termina and lo rule are one and the same alright until now this video is mostly analysis and finding clues now is the time we get to the hypothetical part the real theory so let's put quote unquote onto everything and use our imagination so first of all to me low rule sounds like a strange name it makes a clear parallel to hyrule so why would anyone call its realm inferior version of a realm from another dimension we don't even know about personally i think that low rule used to be called hyrule which would be a nice consonants with helia and hilda the name would have been changed with the realms downfall hyrule becomes low rule the fallen kingdom then later renamed to termina the world in a terminal condition at the end of it all at the end of everything we could also imagine that the red eyes the dark skin and all of these traits are symptoms of minor exposure to the corruption the dark sky and the hardly breathable air now what if hilda had actually had a backup plan to fix this i would expect no less from the holder of the triforce of wisdom and reincarnation of helia she could have sent some of her soldiers to the past via the gates of time or more simply she could have used the ocarina to restart everything and help the goddesses once again in giving birth to a new high rule one where destroying the triforce would be absolutely inconceivable what if she did do this at least in some split timeline perhaps they would create and wear a symbol that summarizes their mission and i a symbol of knowledge surmounted by three triangles take a guess what that means shedding a single tear in memory of this poor decision basically we destroyed the triforce it was bad don't do that now we've got two different timelines one where the triforce was destroyed and another where it was kept safe and those two co-exist in the multiverse it would be possible to travel from one to the other and a link between worlds clearly showed us that some people of laurel were able to do this kind of travel through dimensional cracks in game the path to hyrule's castle is blocked by that same black magic those cracks with the help of the master sword you can slash right through it and clear the path it is funny then how in skyward sword demise used that very same weapon to lead his first invasion which we know from the lore came from a crack in the earth this theory actually answers a lot of questions throughout the whole zelda franchise where does vody the first villain after skyward sword come from purple outfit red eyes sharp ears is a wind mage is capable of turning into this thing low rule where does dark link and the happy mask salesmen who in the end only wanted to bring link back home to prevent the end of the world and all those weird sneering people hiding in the dark corners come from low rule and what about the gerudos because yeah how are they involved in all this well in twilight princess there is quite an interesting dungeon arbiter's grounds it has been built by the gerudos and it is the fourth dungeon of the game nowhere in hyrule will you find such highly advanced technology with mechanisms and complex puzzles it's filled with stalfos too another interesting point is the boss starlord a gigantic undead monster with a huge totem stuck in its skull just like the imprisoned the well imprisoned form of demise even the ghost's smells match remember when you play as wolf link you get to learn the smell of the spirits haunting the place guess how the smell is depicted in game yep a trail of purple smoke finally this is the very place in which the mirror of twilight is hidden used to banish the interlopers into the twilight realm it shares a quite strange resemblance to the gates of time too plus let's be honest this guy here yuga he's a gerudo right so long story short taking into account everything i've said so far the long going cliche of the series depicting two worlds clashing against each other looks a bit less stupid and gimmicky since there has always been just these two worlds the light world and the dark world which really are just two sides of the same story with one getting a darker outcome than the other and there you have it the ultimate zelda theory the cult of masks what do you think of it interesting plausible few holes but good all around let me know down below and here are a few other awesome zelda videos until next time never stop using that noggin and if you want to be super awesome consider supporting this channel through patreon links below you

Channel: Lockstin & Gnoggin

Views: 1,134,488

Rating: 4.7720971 out of 5

Keywords: Game Theory, game theorists, Nintendo Switch, The Legend of Zelda, Breath of the Wild, Majoras Mask, Theory, Zelda theory, cult, twili, zant, who is zant, who is ganondorf, dark world, history of zelda, history of the legend of zelda, history of hyrule, hyrule historia, link is dead, link, zelda, a link between worlds, video games, nintendo, darkest theory, zelda is evil, ganon, ganondorf, plot, sheik, shieka tribe, Lorule, Goddesses, Hylia, who are the, creation, triforce, matpat

Id: guXHxiCAvSU

Length: 24min 9sec (1449 seconds)

Published: Fri Feb 10 2017

Reddit Comments

[u/SnowCone4673]

What bugged me about this video is that he made a lot of already popular and well known theories and banks of information seem like no one has ever heard it before, like a "mind blown" effect.

The fact that the interlopers and the creators of the majoras mask were the same tribe.... for example....

And how it's such a shocker than OoT link is the hero of shade ("didn't see that coming?")

I was already under the impression that lorule and termina could be the same place simply based on their lack of triforce and gods, and how many people had counterparts... I don't know. It's just when I watched this I felt insulted at how little credit he gives his viewers for this one.

[u/EarthDragon2189]

Zelda fans think about Zelda way more than Nintendo does.