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Majora's Mask Majora As A Villain

The Skull Kid is generally praised as a corrupted, misguided antagonist, but I've seen some of that praise carried over to Majora as well.

Frankly, Majora, as separate from the Skull Kid, is a weak villain, betraying its former vessel and unleashing its insanity in the fight with Link. Some people, however, regard this as a unique trait distinguishing Majora from the franchise's other baddies.

Do you think Majora is a well developed villain with characteristics that stand out from the rest, or is he another bland foe wishing destruction upon the world?
 

Ventus

Mad haters lmao
Joined
May 26, 2010
Location
Akkala
Gender
Hylian Champion
Majora is an interesting character—and villain—for a number of reasons, development not included. While I don't know them all, I will say that its most outstanding trait is its insanity.

We know nothing about Majora except that the Mask itself was used in some ancient tribe's ritual hexing, and Majora itself has a baby-like behavior set, preferring to play games rather than take live and death seriously. This leaves players (but mostly me) befuddled with its nature. Is the crazed behavior we witnessed in the final battle its true self? Or was there something lying beneath that insanity? :)
 

ihateghirahim

The Fierce Deity
Joined
Jan 16, 2013
Location
Inside the Moon
I despise his boss fight, but Majora made for an excellent villain. He's almost the manifestation of all the darkness and eeriness within the game. He's scary and weird, and I love him.
 
Ventus said:
This leaves players (but mostly me) befuddled with its nature.

^I believe the most important part of the Majora mythos and Majora's Mask as a whole is what you don't know, not what you learn. No other Zelda game leaves as many unanswered questions, and what's even more tantalizing is these questions will likely never be answered due to the standalone nature of the game.
 

Deku

...But I ain't no scrub.
Joined
Jul 29, 2013
Location
Burnaby, Canada
Though I wouldn't say that the character and history of Majora is quite as well developed as the Skull Kid's, I found Majora to be an excellent villain, and one that clearly stands apart from the others of the series. Here's why:

While the Skull Kid's history tells the tale of him losing his friends, the Four Giants (and how lonely he became because as a result of this), at this point in time the Skull Kid was by no means known to be a highly destructive individual. Mischievous, yes, a prankster, yes... But a villain bent on destroying Termina? No. Not by a long-shot.

The Skull Kid, while misguided and confused by the departure of the Four Giants, was not capable of perpetrating the evil that Majora displays. Sure, he was said to have gotten a little more angry and vengeful after the Giants left for the four temples, but it was Majora that influenced the Skull Kid to enact the most devious punishments upon the people of Termina, not the Skull Kid himself.

However, this matter is obviously up to some debate. To me, it appears that the nature of Majora's influence upon the Skull Kid could have been one of the following:

1) Majora influenced the Skull Kid, augmenting the Skull Kid's loneliness and desire for revenge, but didn't exactly take him over. This left the Skull Kid to wreak havoc with new-found powers, which ended up enacting the destruction Majora also desired.
2) Majora may have simply assumed the identity of the Skull Kid, a known prankster in the land of Termina – a perfect cover for a rampaging psychopath bent on destroying the world (Majora is still a mask after all, and might have been worried about being sealed away again). After all, Majora does call the Skull Kid a “puppet”.
3) Majora and the Skull Kid may have fused personalities (like the Symbiote suit when it bonded with venom in the Spider-Man series). The two may have had opposing goals at the beginning, but the strength of Skull Kid's sorrow may have caused Majora to unhinge a bit, and begin questioning its own identity, and state of being.

Once it casts the Skull Kid aside, Majora proves itself to be a strange and confused being on its own. I've heard theories that state that Majora is the spirit of an entity that was trapped within the mask. Though the mask may simply be a vessel into which a torrent of dark energy was poured, the fact remains that Majora's Mask has a mind and spirit of its own, separate (yet similar) from the Skull Kid's.

Majora itself can be seen as a sad, child-like being when encountered on the moon – a being that seems to have trouble understanding the difference between right and wrong. The other moon children pose moral questions that lead one to believe that Majora is an entity that is unable to answer these questions, leading one to the conclusion that Majora is a being of unrestrained chaos.

The fact that Majora is a mysterious, faceless horror that perpetrates acts of chaos and destruction without moral guidance makes it one of the most interesting villains of the series. While a villain with clear motives makes for a more logical, arguably robust character, a villain driven to satisfy the needs of its own insanity makes for a much more unpredictable, frightening character.
 

DarkestLink

Darkest of all Dark Links
Joined
Oct 28, 2012
I hate him. He destroyed a perfectly good villain. Ganondorf and Demise were just "Bigger Bads" whose agendas and characters worked with the previous villain, Zant and Ghirahim. But Majora? No. He destroyed the Skull Kid as a villain by making him his puppet.

I'd have loved it if the mask had just been a whispering voice telling that Skull Kid what to do and tempting him. But no. He was controlling him...for NO REASON! No reason other than shock value. Why didn't the mask attack the HMS himself and run away? Why did he need the Skull Kid? And Majora himself has no character.
 

TMLink76240

Travis Mask
Joined
Jul 13, 2013
Location
Gainesville, Tx
I do not believe it's the end of Majora.
Maybe the "Moon Childeren" are only anifestations of the mask from the influence of both the HMS and skullkid. Also, who says that the mask has to be worn to affect it's possessor? I think it was ideal for the skullkid to take the mask; it could've been slowly giving the HMS power and slowly taking over. Which would be why he wanted the mask returned to him so badly, Link would return to him every time Link couldn't retrieve the mask and all was destroyed, and the HMS was so depressed whenever Link returned the mask with no power remaining. Maybe the HMS has a vendetta of his own, causing him to resurrect Majora?
 

Deku

...But I ain't no scrub.
Joined
Jul 29, 2013
Location
Burnaby, Canada
Was is ever explained why Majora needed skull Kid as puppet?

Also, who says that the mask has to be worn to affect it's possessor?

Well, I'm fairly certain that the full power of Majora is limited while the Majora's Mask is not being worn.* It's been speculated that Majora used its influence to draw the Skull Kid to the Happy Mask Man, getting him to attack him and find the mask. The Skull Kid lacked the power to do anything about his predicament (losing his friends, and being cast off into another world), and jumped at the opportunity to grant himself mastery over Termina.

To put it in more familiar terms, think of Majora's Mask as the Ring of Power from the Lord of the Rings series. The ring had limited power when it wasn't in use, but it still had the ability to draw one in, and tempt one into putting the ring on. Perhaps the Happy Mask Salesman was resilient to Majora's influence, but wanted the mask back all the same once it was stolen because he had become addicted to the power it emanated – much like Frodo. I'm betting the Happy Mask Man never really intended to use the mask for himself, though I'm willing to bet that the mask could easily have taken him over with enough exposure.

In the hands of a wielder, Majora's power seems to be far more potent, else the mask would surely have brought Termina to annihilation on its own. But in reference to WHY Majora did what it did, there are many elements here that are not explainable by typical methods of reasoning – try explaining why a mentally unstable person does the things that they do. We often fear that which we are unable to comprehend, which makes Majora all the more interesting a villain. The chaos and insanity Majora displays has no rhyme or reason. Maybe it got pleasure out of taking the identity of the Skull Kid and causing chaos to Termina. Maybe it did need the Skull Kid to gain power and strength enough to do what it desired. Who knows?

*I feel I should add as a footnote the fact that yes, Majora displays great power when it casts off the Skull Kid, and Link engages in the battle which ensues within the moon – standalone power which I can obviously offer no concrete reasoning to properly explain. However, my theory on this is that when Majora went “into” the moon, this could have been a way of Majora bonding with another host – the moon itself. Link is sucked into the moon, and forced to overcome Majora's power within. Perhaps this is Link being absorbed into the powerful celestial body, which grants Majora more power – or maybe Link is taken into Majora's mind. I fear we'll never know. But it's fun to think about.
 

smashton

Awkward~~
Joined
Aug 1, 2013
Location
Upstate SC
I definitely find it an interesting villain. I look up a lot of fan theories to try and understand the history of the character more. The character leaves an air of mystery that makes me want to learn it and understand it.

It's also pretty creepy.
 

r2d93

Hero of the Stars
Joined
Nov 10, 2011
Location
Lost Woods
Majora is a good villain in my opinion.

Giving Majora a vessel to blame for the bad things happening is a bit more comforting than a deranged pure evil spirit mask that can wreak havoc. A truly evil mask with little backstory with the ability to possess and corrupt those who wear it? That's scary. Plus, he doesn't even NEED a vessel he just choses one.

The fight with Majora was fun I guess but didn't do Majora justice at all. It wasn't scary or even that hard.

Probably the scariest aspect of Majora is his motives. Every main villain in the Zelda series has one or both of two things on his/her mind:
-Taking over the world
-Revenge

Majora's motive? Destruction. He doesn't want to take over the world, he wants to end it. For no reason.
 
Joined
Jul 1, 2013
Majora is too ambiguous to be judged against other villains. Really I wouldn't even call it a villain.

It doesn't want power, it doesn't want control, it isn't evil, it isn't not evil, it has no purpose. Majora purely represented chaos. To give it a back-story, character, development and, God forbid, bring it back in a future title--or expand on it in any other way--would completely demolish the whole idea.

It's really quite difficult to make sense of it as an antagonist, and its relationship with Skull Kid, as I believe little to nothing in Majora's Mask is concrete.

I could go on about Majora, but it would take a while to fully assemble my thoughts and it would be quite a long post, so I will just say that I think Majora was an ingenious inclusion in the game, and in my opinion the best 'opposing force' the series has seen to date.
 

PapilioTempesta

Tots Som Pops
Joined
Mar 22, 2013
Location
Barcelona
Majora's Mask appears to me like the One Ring: it is linked to an ancient and powerful entity, it has some of this evil entity's mind, it gives badass power to its bearer, it poisons his mind and turn all its previous bearers into addicts who want it back quite desperately. See:

Bilbo and Happy Mask Salesman.jpg
Sudden homicidal rage hidden beneath a kind smile... Now, where have I seen that before? ;)

Still, the mask alone has no value, like the ring without part of Sauron's power/mind. When the HMS has it back he is clearly disappointed that the power of the Mask is gone.

-By the way, the urge of HMS has little to do with the fact that Majora is making the moon fall. I'm quite sure HMS never cared one bit about Termina, he just wanted the mask back before the world was obliterated so that he could get out via the secret path to Hyrule. For all we know, Majora could have been defeated and retrieved at the clock tower, without the help of the giants, and the moon would still have fallen over Termina).
 

Zorth

#Scoundrel
Joined
Apr 22, 2011
I find that Majora is one of those villains that is chaotic and just loves it, doesn't have any really logical underlying motives like power, politics, honor etc. for the evil it spreads across the world. Could be considered insane simply, which makes him/her/it so unpredictable and fascinating as a villain to me.
 

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