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Majora's Mask Majora's Mask Storyline

Joined
Jun 29, 2010
Location
Hyrule
Am I the only one who thinks that Majora's Mask has kind of a dumb storyline? I mean an evil mask possesses someone who uses its power to cause a moon with a face to come crashing into Earth and Link must awaken four giants to hold up the moon. Then he goes into the moon and battles the mask itself. I don't mind that the mask is the villain, but the final battle should have been against someone wearing the mask, not the mask itself. I like this game and there are parts of the story I like, such as Termina being an alternate Hyrule, but for the most part I don't like the storyline. Does anyone agree with me?
 

shan-tastic

nine thousand and one.
Joined
Jun 15, 2010
Location
W.Mass
It isn't the mask itself that's causing the problems, but the demon/spirit inside it.

Anyway, I have to disagree with you on this. The storyline in general may be yet another take on the whole impending doom concept, but if you look into it a bit more in terms of the side questing and some of the dialog, it's actually quite sad. The entire kingdom of Ikana was abandoned and destroyed due to constant war against the Garo and faulty leadership. The swamp is poisoned, and there is trouble in the Deku Kingdom. The Mountain/Goron Village is stuck in what seems like an eternal winter, and the Gorons are running out of food. The ocean is strangely murky, pirates steal Lulu's eggs, which cause her to lose her voice. Strange extra-terrestrial beings invade the ranch, and when you save it, you have access to a few scenes that show Romani wondering why Cremia is treating her differently the night before the moon will fall. A twisted thief steals Kafei's wedding mask, and on top of that he's turned into a child, and one fault in the Anju/Kafei trading sequence can completely change the outcome of the sidequest.

Maybe I'm being a bit melodramatic about this, but I find MM to be extremely dark and intriguing for such a short game.

To each his own, though.
 

McBlizzy

Happy Mask Salesgirl
Joined
Jul 2, 2010
Location
Ikana Canyon
That was an extremely well written break down of some of the story lines in MM. I agree with you that the game is dark and tragic in a sense.

I don't feel that the main storyline is dumb however. A poor child got possessed by a demonic mask! That right there is sad to start.

The moon crashing into the town was very important to the storyline, because villains Link can stop on his own, the moon is a huge force MUCH more powerful than him, thus he needed help to suppress it. Which shows that even hero's need help sometimes.

The Majora's Mask is my favorite Zelda game and I am very biased towards it. It's a fantastic game, short and sweet with very detailed plots.

Fighting the actual mask was inevitable, because it was the actual mask that was the real problem and not just what/who it attached itself too.
 

Kungfuyu24

Metanna! Nurunna!
Joined
Jul 4, 2010
Location
LA
At one end, you have the epic adventure of traveling across Hyrule, pulling out the Master Sword, and defeating Ganondorf to save the princess. At the other, you have a world of impending doom. Both have their appeals, but I can understand why some people would be turned off by the dark nature of Majora's Mask.
 
Joined
Jul 3, 2010
Location
Michigan
I love that you have to fight the mask. I thought it was really dark and incredibly creative. Not mention crazy as hell. That mask has some issues haha.

Majora's Mask is one of my favorites, I have to say.
 
M

Majora Aurora

Guest
You do make the story seem pretty funny :), but I am inclined to disagree. The mask itself is possessed, and that evil flows through whoever is wearing it. Because the Skull Kid wore it, the evil flowed through him and made him possess the most destructive and biggest object he could; the moon. The four giants already existed to keep the moon at bay, but since Skull Kid was possessed he sealed the giants away. Finally, when Link rescues the four giants, the evil of the moon (from the mask) pulls Link into the "eye-of-the-storm" per say, where he battles the actual mask. And since the actual Mask is possessed, it doesn't need a host to use its evil. So basically, the main villain is Majora's Wrath.

Funny point you make, but I have to disagree.
 

SavageWizzrobe

Eating Link since 1987
Joined
Jul 27, 2010
Location
The Wind Temple
I completely disagree. Majora's Mask has a very good storyline. At least it's not the cliche "save the princess" plot we see a lot in Zelda. I can understand why some people might be turned away by its darkness, but I like the sense of impending doom because I feel it makes MM unique. The threat of the moon crashing into Termina actually made you care to do something about it. That's not counting all the other nasty things the possessed Skull Kid did, all of which made you care for the characters (such as Kafei).
 
Joined
Oct 20, 2008
Gender
Timecube
Am I the only one who thinks that Majora's Mask has kind of a dumb storyline? I mean an evil mask possesses someone who uses its power to cause a moon with a face to come crashing into Earth and Link must awaken four giants to hold up the moon. Then he goes into the moon and battles the mask itself. I don't mind that the mask is the villain, but the final battle should have been against someone wearing the mask, not the mask itself. I like this game and there are parts of the story I like, such as Termina being an alternate Hyrule, but for the most part I don't like the storyline. Does anyone agree with me?

I don't think it was "dumb". Sure, it wasn't that great, but it wasn't necessarily bad, either. Majora's Mask was dark, but you could say the same about Ocarina of Time or Twilight Princess, in both of those games, something bad was happening/going to happen to the kingdom and its citizens.

The part with "going inside the Moon" seemed more metaphorical to me, than literal. Several aspects of the game seemed to be somewhat allegorical.
 

bigflyingpotato

Watch out!
Joined
Mar 15, 2010
Location
Kirby's stomach
Other people have made very good points, and I'm adding to that.
Have you ever heard Skull Kid's backstory from Anju's grandmother in the inn? It's very sad.
Basically the giants were in Termina and were good friends with Skull Kid. One day they decided to go to their respective corners of Termina and wait for the people to call if they needed help. The Skull Kid cried after them to not leave him behind. Feeling betrayed he began to lash out at the people of Termina by doing terrible things. The people called the giants who responded by warning Skull Kid if he didn't leave they would tear him apart. Skull Kid then supposedly "returned to the heavens" and everybody lived "happily...ever after" we might assume he went to Hyrule where he learned Saria's Song from Link, robbed the Happy Mask Salesman at some point and returned to Termina.
I think with the great reaction to Ocarina of Time Nintendo wanted to try new and crazy things with their next game, so they weren't afraid to put the weirdest and saddest stuff in Majora's Mask.
 

Majora16

KOOLOO-LIMPAH!
Joined
Jun 2, 2010
Location
Windfall Island
I'm going to have to disagree, as I think that Majora's Mask had the most unique story. With the short, exaggerated summary of the main story you provided, it may seem like a dumb, mindless story at first but when you really looked closely at all of the details, you'll see that it has an unbelievably heartbreaking story. I think that Shantastic summed it up perfectly as to why the story is so sad. It was also edgy and was a breath of fresh air after five games with the same "Save the princess, kill Ganondorf" plot. The story had an epic apocalypse feel that, IMO, hasn't been beat.

The way that the story deals with death in such a mature way really makes the game special. It's pretty hard to have a theme of death without even seeing a drop of blood and I love that about the game. It's the only game in history that I've felt like I truly cared for the characters. The inevitable deaths of these hundreds of citizens who I genuinely cared for really pulls at my heart strings. The story was so thought-provoking, unlike any other video game story I've ever played.

Also, it's not just one story, Majora's Mask is one huge story containing many sad, complex stories that weave together and they fit so perfectly with one another. I guess it really all depends on how you look at it and what you look for in a good story though.
 
Joined
Aug 10, 2010
Location
Another place
I dont find it that dark, only the last 6 minutes of the game (midnight of the final day). but then after you kill majora, the darkness instantly goes. theres a rainbow, a wedding and lots of people being very happy.But it was kind of mean for tatl to tell link to beat it it when the festival was about to start.
 

insanity76

I don't suffer from it ..
Joined
Jun 17, 2010
Location
Texas
But it was kind of mean for tatl to tell link to beat it it when the festival was about to start.

Yeah I always wondered why Link didn't stick around for the Carnival. If I were in his shoes after doing all that I'd want to take at least a little break and attend the carnival that I just got done saving from destruction.
 

Majora16

KOOLOO-LIMPAH!
Joined
Jun 2, 2010
Location
Windfall Island
I dont find it that dark, only the last 6 minutes of the game (midnight of the final day). but then after you kill majora, the darkness instantly goes. theres a rainbow, a wedding and lots of people being very happy.But it was kind of mean for tatl to tell link to beat it it when the festival was about to start.

But after the fourth day, you have to go back to the first day again and everyone's fear of their inevitable deaths is back once again.
 
Joined
Aug 7, 2010
Nope, I think it's a real smart and well thought out story in general. I think the interesting thing about Majora's Mask is how it has a very deep backstory to it which you can't exactly tell from just playing the game once or not paying full attention to what everyone has to say.
I mean you think it's pretty silly that it's just a Mask, but that Mask is a demon. It's quite funny, it's only a "mask", yet it's probably more evil than Ganondorf, isn't it?
I mean Ganondorf didn't kill everyone, people were allowed to move to Kakariko and stay there, but, he didn't take his time to ruin everyone's lives.
Yet in Majora's Mask, so many people's lives around Termina have been shattered. Kafei being turned into a child and being put in shame, having to hide from the woman he loves. Cremia losing her sister, or if she doesn't, having to act all happy for her when she knows they're going to die. That Deku butler that lost his son because Skull Kid turned him into a trunk, Lulu's eggs being taken away from her (basically her children being kidnapped), the Deku King's daughter being kidnapped, the witch being hurt and even dying if you don't save her, right infront of you (if you talk to her on the second or third day, she replies at first, yet then says "...." and lays with her eyes closed), the little girl in Ikana with her father being turned into that creature, and having to act all mature to protect him, even though she's like 5. And well, in the end, he will kill every person and race in Termina by having the moon fall on them.

I could go on for ages, it's filled with mature, tragic stories, which are covered up well to fit a child's gameplay without them really realizing the sadness and deepness of it all. Other Zelda games are dark, but Majora's Mask is dark in it's own respect, and differs from the other one's completely in my opinion.

I also love that there's a lot of backstory to some of the things that happen, mainly the Ikana one, with how the Stone Tower was built to reach the heavens to show the Goddesses they were more powerful than them, defy them, yet it was flipped upside down for them to go to hell instead. And the "subtle" details in it such as how the triforce is strategicaly placed on the crotch of the those big blocks which are found around Ikana, as well as other things you can find there. I also like how you see that, if what I read was fact, that when they reached hell, that's where they found Majora's Mask, which was a demon, and they worshiped it, which is why we find images of Majora or carvings of it in temples and all.

I like that there's a lot of story to the game, yet it's not shoved in your face as you progress, instead you must look for it and link things together C:
 

Ooccoo Watcher

Some guy with a Clawshot.
I might be the only one on ZD to agree with you. The whole thing seems kind of redundant. To add to your breakdown of the plot here is the main plot:

You chase a guy who stole the ocarina of Time, part of the theft included two TINY TINY fairies, that can knock you off your horse. :S
You get turned into a deku scub. You find the skull kid and he makes the moon fall onto the earth
You find four giants
You go onto th moon itself and kill A MASK.
 

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