The Return of Majora - Zelda Theory

[Music] [Music] majira's mask will forever remain a fascinating anomaly to me a good analogy for this game would be that majira's mask as a sequel to ocarina of time is like making a big hollywood blockbuster and following it up with a low budget in the art house film on paper this game should not be as good as it turned out to be limited development time of only a year and recycling assets aside its themes in the overall atmosphere are such a monumental contrast to ocarina of time it almost feels as if a completely different studio got their hands on the zelda ip and decided to do something weird and experimental with it yeah like that only not bad it has been more than 20 years and this game still stands tall atop my list of favorite games of all time and yet i've never made a single video about it ever since i started my channel but that is about to change so hold on to your seats because i'm about to explain the nature of majora its whereabouts in the timeline possible return and how this all ultimately ties into its appearance in breath of the wild so let's get started majira's mask is described as an accursed item from ancient legends said to have been used in hexing rituals by an ancient tribe the mayhem it caused reached the point that the tribe itself started fearing it to avoid catastrophe the mask was sealed in darkness by the ancient ones to prevent further misuse this mystery tribe spoken of in legends eventually vanished into thin air and no one alive today knows about the mask's true power there is a lot of mystery surrounding majora as the game itself doesn't reveal much about its nature its origin or even how it resurfaced after all this time there are plenty of great theories out there but nothing is conclusive and given nintendo's habit of making us fill in the blanks it likely never will be what is clear is that the mask itself is not the true source of evil it's just a piece of decorated wood and nothing more instead the real evil originates from the entity that dwells inside it only known as majora it is made obvious that this evil has left the mask at the end of the game having been defeated at the hands of link the mask was reduced to a mere shell of wood and fiber as it likely once was before majora housed itself inside all seems well until you realize that oh yeah the zelda timeline isn't straightforward now is it the events of majira's mask are but one of three possible outcomes so what about the other two timelines what fate befell termina and its people in those realities since we're dealing with time travel and alternate realities it can get confusing real quick so i'll try to sum it up as briefly as i can the entire premise of majora's mask and its outcome is entirely made possible due to four different variables link the happy mask salesman skull kid and timing i firmly believe that the salesman and skull kid are alive at the beginning of all three timelines the child timeline speaks for itself as that is where majora's mask takes place kid is practically immortal as he is classified as a spirit not only that but he is featured in the ancient stories of termina so he already visited termina a long time ago and would likely travel back there again in the future the mask salesman is seen at the celebration during ocarina of times credits which takes place at the beginning of the adult timeline and in the downfall timeline we find an incarnation of him possibly a descendant who has set up shop in labrena this leads me to believe that he has also survived this outcome and one additional reason which i will mention later the only one who isn't around in the other timelines is the hero of time but even if he was it would still be unlikely that the events of majora would have occurred sure the masked salesman could have potentially traveled to termina somewhere in between link's child and adult adventure while link was trapped inside the sacred realm only to travel back to hyrule in time for the celebration at the end even then it still would have been highly unlikely that things would have aligned the exact same way the key which brings it all together is timing in order for the events of majira's mask to play out like it did all three individuals would have to be in the exact right place at exactly the right time i think it's safe to say that the happy mask salesman was already on his way back to hyrule when he was ambushed by the skull kid since he could never have been in the possession of the mask if he was still on his way to termina in turn the skull kid too would have to be in the lost woods at that exact moment in order to run into the salesman we can see in some of the cutscenes that skull kid spends a lot of time just messing around in termina with his newfound fairy companions so it's not like he's always hanging around in the lost woods had the salesman arrived in termina one day earlier or later the two may have never even run into each other a majora's mask with the evil still inside would have been taken to hyrule or wherever else the masked salesman was heading next and lastly link also would have to arrive at the right moment in order to get caught up in the events which ultimately leads him to defeating majora and ridding the mask of the evil presence and this incarnation of link aka the hero of time would have also been the only hero to be able to defeat majora as without the ocarina of time this task would have been impossible this begs the question since link never traveled to termina in the adult and downfall timeline does this mean termini has been annihilated by the moon in those realities i mean link wasn't around to stop it right well no probably not because as we just illustrated the timing is very delicate one single change in the schedule of the mask salesman or that of skull kid would already be enough to completely throw the alignments off so you see when it comes to the fate of termina it's actually not that relevant whether or not the masked salesman did or did not travel to termina in the other two timelines if he did then he could have successfully taken the mask from termina and brought it somewhere else without running into trouble along the way if he did not then the mask would have remained in termina but it would have never found its way into the hands of skull kid since he took the mask from the salesman not to mention that if the masked salesman was the one who originally broke the seal on majora it would still to this day be sealed in darkness somewhere perhaps for all eternity either way in both cases the evil would still be inside the mask but let's say he did let's say that no matter the outcome in hyrule at some point in time the happy mask salesman will travel to termina to search for the mask given his obsession with rare masks there is a big chance that he was already aware of the legends surrounding majora even when he was still in hyrule and was always planning to look for it someday the only thing that differs is when he set off on his quest this could mean that in the other two timelines the mask salesman never ran into the skull kit because the timing of events would have been so radically different and thus he managed to successfully get the mask out of termina this would explain the presence of the mask in a link between worlds without writing it off as a simple easter egg a link between worlds also happens to take place in the downfall timeline the only timeline aside from the child branch where we find an incarnation of the happy masked salesman i'm not going to get into how the mask ultimately made its way onto a wall in link's house as that is a theory on its own but hypothetically speaking let's say that this is the real deal the real majira's mask and in the adult timeline the mask also made its way into hyrule or some other place outside termina at some point by that definition the mask we find in those timelines would still have the evil entity inside it since the skull kid never stole it and the hero of time is non-existent and thus never faced majora to begin with if this is the case how come we don't see moons crashing towards earth chaos and armageddon why is hyrule spared this fate altogether in order to answer this question we need to do some theorizing about majora as an entity and how its powers operate the true origin of majora's mask where it was sealed and who this mysterious tribe was who used it are unknown we also have no definitive answer as to how the masked salesman came into its possession in the first place if he was the one who broke the seal on the mask or if someone else did and the salesman simply made a deal for it but the fact that he states that he went through great lengths to acquire it hints that he might be the one who took it from its seal the only thing we can find in the game related to majora's backstory is a secret shrine in akana canyon this place is filled with imagery related to the mask and could very well be the place where the rituals spoken of in the ancient legends took place but if this is also where the mask was found and by who remains up in the air there exist countless theories about it and perhaps i will make a video about it someday as i do have some ideas but these are topics for another time what we want to focus on is not necessarily the mask itself but rather the entity that dwells within majora is described as more than just a faceless evil hellbound on causing destruction it has all the traits of that of a deity somehow bound to a physical object the four giants link encounters in the game are classified as guardian deities and are sealed inside a mask-like object by majora additionally we have the fierce deity mask which as the name suggests is set to house an unknown yet powerful deity so it's only natural to assume that the same characteristics of a deity trapped or bound to a mask also applies to majora it may seem trivial but there is a good reason why this matters we know that the zelda team has derived a lot of their ideas and symbolism from shintoism by far the biggest religion in japan with almost 80 percent of its population putting its customs into practice to some degree the shinto religion is well known for the worship of a wide array of spirits guardian deities and gods known as kami the aspects of kami are very complicated as there's many different types subgroups and all with different traits names and various degrees of power and importance even the word kami can already mean different things depending on the context but to oversimplify kami can be elements of the landscape forces of nature as well as beings and the qualities that these beings express more importantly kami are not inherently good or evil as shintoism makes no distinction between the two generally speaking they can be nurturing and comforting when respected or become vengeful and destructive when neglected shinto followers also believe that the kami are the ones who can either grant blessings or curses to a person as such they desire to appease the kami to quote stay on their good side kami must be appeased in order to gain their favor and avoid their wrath and failing to do so can lead to catastrophic events commonly in the form of natural disasters dying crops or curses in order to avoid this the shinto practice sees a wide array of rituals revolving around appeasing these deities even demons which are called oni and kami are generally regarded as the same thing and they too can either bring blessings or curses the fine line separating demons and gods is further evident from the fierce deity mask an english link while wearing the mask is mostly referred to as simply fierce deity link however in japanese his name is kishin rinku kishin being a japanese word made up of the characters ogre and god and commonly translates to fierce god or wrathful deity with this information in mind let's take a closer look at majora according to the legend majira's mask was involved in all sorts of ominous rituals by an ancient tribe until finally being quote sealed in darkness out of fear of misuse this seems to suggest that majora was always inherently evil and caused so much trouble that the ancient ones decided to rid themselves of the mask but what if it was the other way around what if just like the kami majora was just an entity neither good nor evil the tribe are the ones responsible for using its power for its own benefit the quote trouble caused by majora spoken of in the legends may not have been its own doing but rather one or more members of the tribe who used it for malicious intent then to prevent further misuse by some of the tribe's members the mask was sealed away or hidden in a dark place somewhere again kami are not good or evil a deity simply acts upon that which his worshippers feed into what if the reason why majora turned vengeful was not because of the rituals but because the rituals stopped majora's evil nature may be the result of neglect after hiding the mask away from the rest of the world the ancient tribe who used its power disappeared for unknown reasons sealed in darkness forgotten and abandoned by its worshippers the entity inside the mask slowly turned vengeful and by the time the mask is rediscovered it releases its anger upon the world without mercy as soon as it latches itself onto skull kid it starts turning nature against the population of termina poisoned waters endless winters polluted seas and cursed lands and finally armageddon we even see this motif of what it means to be good or evil reflected back onto the final act of the game some of the lunar children found on the moon right before the final boss fight hint at this uncertainty saying things like the right thing what is it i wonder if you do the right thing does it really make everybody happy or let's play good guys and bad guys i'll be the good guy and you'll be the bad guy essentially doing a role reversal and placing link in the shoes of the bad guy even though he has done nothing but to help the people of termina and ridding the land of majora's curses and during the boss fight itself we see the three stages of majora through its different forms it starts with just a mask nothing more than an object then comes majora's incarnation the entity inside the mask this form of majora is playful energetic a bit silly even if it wasn't part of the boss fight i'd say it doesn't really look all that malicious but then finally we transitioned to the final stage majora's wrath the hate which had festered and built up inside the deity for being neglected and forgotten finally breaks free longing for revenge on the world around it there is one final aspect i want to cover about majora and one which will make it more apparent where i'm going with all this another trait of the shinto kami is that in some cases they are bound to a specific group of people location or element in a sense they have boundaries or domains from which they operate or exercise their influence they are also not considered omnipotent or even immortal kami can in fact die and there are many examples of this happening in shinto legend the locations where these kami are set to reside are often indicated by what's called a torii gate a man-made archway meant to communicate that you are now entering the domain so to speak of a specific kami it also often leads to a shrine devoted to said deity as such i firmly believe that majora's power is either non-existent or at the very least severely diminished outside the borders of termina and there are several indications of this first is the fact that skull kid is able to take the mask off when he's inside the lost woods something he never does once he is in termina this indicates that skull kid still has control over himself when he resides in hyrule it's apparent that skull kid likes to mess with people the act of ambushing the mask salesman is something he does without the mask and seemingly on his own volition the same thing goes for stealing link's horse and ocarina you can clearly see from his body language and silly demeanor that this is still skull kid behind the wheel his actions although rude are not necessarily evil not only that but despite link's attempt to lash out at him and take back his ocarina skull kid never attempts to fight back instead resorting to a game of chase but as soon as link falls down the hole and enters the boundaries of termina skull kid immediately uses the mask's power to cast a curse on link almost as if he was waiting to strike as soon as link ventured into its domain his tone and demeanor also promptly shifting from that of a dimwitted prankster to outright militias from this moment on we never see skull kid take off the mask until the moment at the very end where madura states that his puppet has fulfilled its role this could indicate that when the mask resides in hyrule for instance its powers are negligible at best since majora is a deity belonging to the land of termina which finally brings us to breath of the wild the fact that majora's mask shows up as a usable quest item and not just a little reference hanging on a wall somewhere is already quite interesting i do believe that the inclusion of the mask is canon something i already covered in my video about misco the great bandit in that video i suggested that all items related to the misco dlc are likely canon they were part of a series of ancient artifacts holding historical value which the royal family had collected over the many years until misko broke into the castle and stole them away i also made the case that some of these have to be replicas and not the real deal as some of these items or apparel were either destroyed or banished or in other words couldn't possibly have made their way into the game in their original form what i didn't mention in that video was that the description of some of these items actually seems to confirm this just look at the way some of these items are described the phantom armor this helmet looks like the one day referring to the armored phantoms supposedly wore mitna's helmet a helmet much like the one mitna wore when she fought alongside the hero of twilight the wording here such as looks just like and much like definitely suggests that they are not the original now let's take a look at the description for majora's mask an airy mask passed down from ancient times nowhere does it seem to hint that it's a replica in fact the opposite is true it states that it has been passed down from ancient times you cannot pass something down from ancient times if it's not the real deal so assuming that this is indeed the real mask the million dollar question then remains which timeline does it originate from is it the harmless version from the child timeline after the evil has left the mask or is it from one of the other two where majora's evil presence is potentially still inside it we definitely see that the mask still has power since it's able to fool undead style enemies the eyes also still glow how is that possible if majora was no longer inside it wouldn't it be just a piece of wood and nothing more if this is the real version of the mask one where madura is still inside it should still be mostly harmless since as stated before it likely has no power here however if someone would be stupid enough to bring the mask back to termina someday god help us all thank you for watching and a big thanks to my amazing patreons and members of which mr nucleosome and fertzaner just joined as my latest supporters you guys are awesome thanks a lot anyway i will hopefully see you all soon in the next video this is dawn signing off and have a good one [Music] hey [Music] you

Channel: Monster Maze

Views: 339,335

Keywords: Majora's Mask, Majora, Majora's, Mask, Zelda Theory, The Legend of Zelda Majora's Mask, The Legend of Zelda, Zelda Majora, Zelda Breath of the Wild 2, Zelda Breath of the Wild Sequel, Breath of the Wild 2 Theory, Breath of the Wild 2, Breath of the Wild 2 analysis, Breath of the Wild Theory, Legend of Zelda Theory, Breath of the Wild 2 Release, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild 2, Zelda Breath of the Wild

Id: HjDDIP0pwRk

Length: 19min 8sec (1148 seconds)

Published: Sun Mar 28 2021

Reddit Comments

[u/nico2026]

I really like that video