The Fierce Deity Unmasked - Zelda Theory

[Music] the fierce deities mask is perhaps the most powerful weapon in the zelda series but it's also the most enigmatic while items like the master sword silver arrows or bow of light are sacred tools designed to repel evil the fierce deities mask instead seems to embrace the darkness transforming link into a towering demon-like warrior the mask's description emphasizes this it asks whether the mask's dark powers are as bad as majora itself with the mask equipped link is unbelievably powerful and the final boss fight against majora becomes a joke fierce deity link wields a great two-handed sword shaped like a double helix and each massive swing throws an equally massive blade beam the deity's attacks are quick and deal massive damage meaning each of majora's three forms can be dealt with in a matter of seconds it's not even a real fight link can use the deity mask in the rest of the game's boss fights too and as you'd expect it absolutely destroys them each swing deals four times the damage of the kakiri sword and the blade beams deal the same again giving link an absurd damage output this ridiculous strength makes sense given that the mask is only obtainable after link hands in all of his other non-transformation masks many of which aren't necessary to complete the game so in order to receive the fierce deity's mask you need to have completed most of the game's side quests making it a sort of completionist's bonus the origins and histories of the other transformation masks are clear their physical manifestations of the souls of the deceased darmani mikao and probably the deku butler's son the designs of these transformations are fusions of link and the original soul but the physical masks themselves only represent their original spirits but the truth behind the fierce deity's mask remains a mystery the transformation looks like link as you'd expect but unlike the other masks the mask itself does too so does this mean that it contains the soul of someone that looked like link could it be the soul of a previous hero if it belonged to a fearsome warrior god a being even worse than majora itself then why does it resemble the face of adult link link has three days in which to save termina majora's mask uses the skull kid like a puppet and its power tears the moon from the sky on the third day the moon hits clock town and the world comes to an end that is unless link uses the song of time to reset these three days beginning again on the dawn of the first day three days away from the apocalypse using this time loop link is able to rescue the four giants from the four corners of termina and these great ancient deities are able to stop the moon's descent catching it before it collides with the clock tower but even their mighty strength isn't enough majora sheds itself of the skull kid and forces the moon downwards with no other option link enters the moon to face the end of the world alone inside the moon is a weird place in contrast to the cataclysm happening in the outside world link finds himself in a peaceful field surrounding a central tree on a hill around this tree four children play each wearing one of the four masks of the game's bosses and a fifth child sits alone wearing majora's mask talking to the child under the tree will initiate the final showdown against majora which takes place in a psychedelic chamber but if link first hands in all other masks in the game save for the main three transformation masks the child will present him with the most powerful mask in the game the fierce deities mask but what is it in a 2015 interview with game informer zelda producer aj al numer explained some details about majora's mask regarding the transformation masks he explains that they were created to contain the memories of people who have died often there are things that they really wanted to do before they left this world so becoming them is actually really painful because it's like hosting a really powerful spirit that's coming into you this makes sense with what we see in the game the masks materialize after the deaths of mikao and darmani and the deku mask probably appeared after the death of the deku butler's son they contain this person's memories and regrets and using them to transform is painful because your body becomes the host to these spirits but aonuma also goes on to discuss the fierce deities mask he suggests that the best way to think about the mask is that the memories of all the people of termina are inside of it so in the same way that the goron mask contains darmani's memories the fierce deities mask supposedly holds the memories of all the people of termina this is supported by a gossip stone which describes the fierce deity's mask as containing the merits of all masks and also by the fact that in order to obtain the fierce deities mask link needs to have collected all other masks and handed them to the children within the moon while the goron deku and zora masks contain the tormented souls of the deceased many other masks are given to link as rewards for acts of kindness for helping the people of termina the happy mask salesman describes link's masks as being filled with happiness that he's made a number of people happy and most of the cryptic dialogue from the moon children references happiness and how helping others and doing the right thing makes everybody happy the mask salesman will comment on each of link's masks supporting this idea the blast mask once owned by the old lady and described as dangerous and filled with gun powder is said to be filled with feelings of gratitude after link saved her from sakon the gibdo mask which was once the monstrous face of pamela's father after being cursed isn't as evil as it appears the mask salesman notes that it's filled with the love of a father and child the postman's mask is filled with the joy of freedom camaro's mask is filled with the joy a teacher has when finding a good student and the troop leader's mask contains the feelings of tenderness left behind in the back of one's heart this isn't like how the main transformation masks contain the deceased spirit and regret of those who they represent it's confirmation that simpler masks contain the happiness and gratitude of those who link has helped so link's mask collection represents the fruits of his labors it shows just how many people he's helped throughout his journey how far he's gone to heal termina the masks aren't spawned from thankfulness like gratitude crystals but they do show link's journey and his triumphs they're filled with the happiness and memories of the people he's helped link's mask collection is traded in return for the fierce deities mask a mask which contains the merits of all others a mask which contains the memories of all the people of termina while this idea explains the strange process of obtaining the mask it doesn't answer what exactly the mask is why does healing the people of termina result in link transforming into a dangerous powerful warrior god in the japanese version the child who gives link the fierce deities mask first asks him if he wants to play tag in japan tag is known as onigoko meaning pretending to be an oni oni being demons in japanese folklore one player is said to be the oni and others run away from them the fierce deity's mask is called the kishin mask literally translating to oni god and its description asks if it's an oni mask that an oni wears but kishin are more than just monsters kishin is the term used to refer to buddhism's wrathful or fierce deities which are forms taken by enlightened buddhas to protect or help vulnerable sentient beings fierce deities are terrifying powerful beings who use their strength to destroy obstacles to enlightenment they're formidable because they represent the indomitable energy of compassion which destroys anything preventing wisdom and liberation in japanese buddhism five fierce deities known as the wisdom kings make up the third level of the pantheon the wisdom kings are emanations of the buddhas and four of them watch over the four directions north south east and west the fifth chief among them is fudo myo a warrior god who wields a sword revered throughout japan fudo mio is a deliberately frightening figure he carries a sword in his right hand to cut through ignorance and temptation and a rope in his left to reign in evil he's believed to protect buddhism and its followers fudo myo or wrathful deities in general obviously inspired fierce deity link in some way link can take on a powerful godlike form which while dangerous and terrifying ultimately fights against evil not only does the fierce deity take inspiration from fudo myo but the other four wisdom kings one in each cardinal direction likely inspired majora's mask's four giants four powerful gods who protect each corner of termina the four giants were sealed inside the masks of the game's four bosses adolwer goat georg and twin mold most likely by skull kid and majora's mask and when they're freed they appear as gigantic powerful humanoids but if the fierce deity's mask contains the spirit of what is essentially the fifth giant a wrathful terrifying god who destroys evil then why does it look like link buddhism revolves around the central idea of samsara it's the eternal cycle of reincarnation with no beginning or end everyone is eternally reincarnated into different material bodies based on their karma so the body into which one is reincarnated is the result of their actions in a previous life escaping this cycle is known as nirvana where one becomes enlightened quenching the fires of greed hate and delusion in majora's mask link literally escapes an endless time loop playing the song of time and repeating the same three days over and over is necessary because without it the moon will fall and the world will end by saving the people of termina and freeing the four giants link escapes this cycle thematically achieving nirvana his enlightenment with this in mind it's entirely possible that the strange events inside the moon aren't real they instead represent link's enlightenment the four children playing wear the masks of goat adolwer gyorg and twin mold while the fifth wears majora's mask but all of them strangely resemble the happy mask salesman link's first task after arriving in termina is given to him by this character return the stolen majora's mask and here in a dreamlike field link hands in his masks to beings resembling this salesman though in the form of children like link is himself i don't think it's a stretch to assume that these four children wearing the boss masks are meant to represent the four giants who were imprisoned within these same masks by majora who is obviously represented by the fifth child as already mentioned most of the dialogue spoken by these children references happiness and friendship just like the happy mask salesman himself again the masks that link has collected throughout his time in termina are physical representations of the people he's helped they're filled with happiness this is why link can't hand over the goron deku or zora masks to the moon children as the salesman explains when he teaches the song of healing they're troubled spirits and they seal evil magic by handing in the happy masks he's collected throughout his adventure link achieves a sort of enlightenment he's escaped the endless cycle of the same three days and has brought happiness and peace to the people of termina this parallels the story of the first historical buddha who achieved enlightenment while sitting under a body tree though it isn't the result of something as simple as just helping others buddhism's wrathful deities are manifestations of enlightened buddhas bodhisattvas those on the path to enlightenment or other divine beings the fierce deity's mask looks like link because it is link by healing termina and thematically achieving enlightenment he's able to take on the form of a wrathful god a terrifying warrior who fights against evil the fierce deity is a true deity its dark powers are as bad as majora's own but it is link himself with the memories of all of the people of termina within him link takes on an ultimate form to defend them this theory was heavily based on a post on the zelda universe forums by user gamtos who wrote a fantastic piece on the connections between the fierce deity mask and wrathful deities as well as how the happiness inside other masks could connect with this be sure to give it a read through i also used a ton of great online resources regarding buddhism and its gods links to everything are in the description down below cheers guys and i'll see you next time [Applause] [Music] [Music] you

Channel: Zeltik

Views: 582,750

Keywords: Zelda, fierce deity, fierce, deity, feirce, feirce deity, fd link, mm3d, mmhd, majoras mask, majora's mask, switch, boss, fight, theory, oni link, strongest

Id: IlEnGbsnnUU

Length: 14min 10sec (850 seconds)

Published: Sun Aug 22 2021