Majora's Mask The Government of Termina

[Austin]

The other day as I was reading political news, I was thinking of what kind of government Termina. We know in Hyrule that there is a monarch based system. There is an obvious King, and Princess (Zelda). Finally, the big castle should give it away.

Thinking about Termina, I can't find any traces of a monarchy anywhere. However, we are tipped about Ikana having a monarchy, when you have to fight the King of Ikana (Igos Du Ikana) or at least the spirit/skeleton of him.

Igos Du Ikana - King of Ikana
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However, the fact you have to fight his skeleton tells us that Ikana is no more, and their form of goverment has perished. We all here can discuss possibilities of why they perished and what this great war was about, but this discussion is more about the recent government.

I have reason to believe that Termina has some form of democracy. This comes from the fact that clock town has a mayor and town meetings. When you working on the Kafea and Anju quest and get the heart peace using the couple mask, you will come up to this town meeting with mayor and some construction crew.

The Town Meeting's Resolution
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If Termina was a monarchy, there wouldn't be any room for argument. The construction crew would have to do what they have been done to do, without argument. However, since Termina is a form of democracy, they were able to speak up and oppose the idea of staying. Freedom of Speech is one of the major aspects of democracy.

One more trait of democracy is advance technology. Most of the nations that have democracy also have advance technologies. Termina is another example of that. One of the first and biggest form of technology you see at Termina is the telescope.

Termina's Astrologist near his telescope
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This may not be the most sophisticated piece of technology, but it gives us some information. One, it shows that Termina is fairly smart enough to build a telescope and use it. Two, it shows that Termina is interested in astrology and space. The mere fact that Termina is interested in something so far, shows that they have a taste for knowledge. Going back to my previous point, we can see that Termina has some technlogy, and Termina has a taste for more technology/knowledge.

If we compare Termina to it's monarchy brother/sister Hyrule. We can see that Termina is fairly far in technology and taste for knowledge. This can be seen as evidence of democracy over monarchy. It also brings up more curiosity when determining which came first, Hyrule or Termina. Termina has shown that it experience an era of monarchy and now an era of democracy. That will be left for another discussion.

What do you guys think about Termina's government? Do you agree or disagree? What evidence do you bring to the table?

 

[magnus90]

Well, it seems that Termina is another example of burocracy, the mayor can't stop people from arguing XD

 

[KickinBird]

I agree that Termina, or at least Clock Town, is most likely some form of Democracy. I'm wondering, though, why you use advanced technology as an example of democracy? I didn't quite follow the logic there.

 

[Gooey Fame]

We must consider that all of the areas in the game are ruled by different groups and different governments.
-Clock Town almost seems to be a Democracy. The Mayor pretty much gives that away.
-The Deku Palace is ruled by a monarchy, The Deku King
-Goron Village is ruled more by Tribal Leadership
-Not much is really shown about the government of the Zora's, but they do seem to be a separate entity from Clock Town
-the Pirates Fortress is obviously controlled by the group of Pirates.

Clock Town seems to be a small town that is a Democracy, but only of itself. The Hylian Monarchy seems to have control over the rest of Hyrule. For example when you have to play "the song of the Royal Family" to enter Zora's domain and other locations. Clock Town does not show to have this kind of power over the other parts of Termina. This leads me to believe that the monarchy of Ikana was only the monarchy of Ikana, and not the rest of Termina.

Though there is this from Anju's Grandmother:

This tale's from long ago when all the people weren't separated into four worlds like they are now. In those times all the people lived together, and the four giants lived among them.

So apparently they were once all together as one single entity? Who ruled them? Maybe it was the Ikana Monarchy that used to exist was once the law of the Land?

 

[Austin]

I agree that Termina, or at least Clock Town, is most likely some form of Democracy. I'm wondering, though, why you use advanced technology as an example of democracy? I didn't quite follow the logic there.

Looking at our modern day world. The US, UK, most of Europe, have all adopted to some sort of democracy now days. However, their history wasn't always democracy and most had monarchy. When the UK switched to a democratic life style, they hit their industrial revolution. This lead them to an era of rising technology and rise in taste for knowledge.

We must consider that all of the areas in the game are ruled by different groups and different governments.
-Clock Town almost seems to be a Democracy. The Mayor pretty much gives that away.
-The Deku Palace is ruled by a monarchy, The Deku King
-Goron Village is ruled more by Tribal Leadership
-Not much is really shown about the government of the Zora's, but they do seem to be a separate entity from Clock Town
-the Pirates Fortress is obviously controlled by the group of Pirates.

Clock Town seems to be a small town that is a Democracy, but only of itself. The Hylian Monarchy seems to have control over the rest of Hyrule. For example when you have to play "the song of the Royal Family" to enter Zora's domain and other locations. Clock Town does not show to have this kind of power over the other parts of Termina. This leads me to believe that the monarchy of Ikana was only the monarchy of Ikana, and not the rest of Termina.

Though there is this from Anju's Grandmother:


So apparently they were once all together as one single entity? Who ruled them? Maybe it was the Ikana Monarchy that used to exist was once the law of the Land?

In Majora's Mask you don't have to play the song of the royal family to get into the dungeons. In fact, that song doesn't exist, and only few songs do carry over form OoT to MM. Thanks for mentioning that.

 

[TheGreen]

I agree that Termina, or at least Clock Town, is most likely some form of Democracy. I'm wondering, though, why you use advanced technology as an example of democracy? I didn't quite follow the logic there.

I agree. It seems like some of the biggest technological advances happen under heavy government supervision/sponsorship.
i.e. NASA

I'm fairly certain that historically the really powerful empires with monarchies or at least heavy gov't control have big technological advances.
i.e. Roman Empire, Persian Empire

Looking at our modern day world. The US, UK, most of Europe, have all adopted to some sort of democracy now days. However, their history wasn't always democracy and most had monarchy. When the UK switched to a democratic life style, they hit their industrial revolution. This lead them to an era of rising technology and rise in taste for knowledge.

While I think that people do get pleasure out of having more knowledge and this was a cause of the Industrial Revolution, I think it was driven more so by capitalism and desire for profit.


Back to MM:
I pretty much agree that Clock Town is a democracy. And it seems as though they don't answer to anyone. The mayor is the highest level of government!
From what has been mentioned I think it's safe to say that Termina falls into the city-state category. Each area is on its own and operates in their own way that works for them. Each "city" is a country in itself.

 

[DuckNoises]

I dislike the use of "taste for knowledge" because that reminds of the literal Greek translation of "philosopher," which is "lover of wisdom." Similar, but not identical. But I digress. Government has very little to do with the development of technology. It's due much more to economic and diplomatic factors, the primary catalyst being war. As the novel 1984 almost states outright that war will eventually degenerate into a mere technological race to be superior over the enemy, and that theory has proven true with the Cold War.
In terms of government, you can take a few examples. Before the emancipation of the serfs (effectively Russian slave peasants), 19th-century Russia's technology, culture, and economy were all stagnating. After some reformist movements, the freed serfs were still held down by having to pay off land they should have owned by squatting. The point is here that a more democratic agenda didn't spur technological advancement at all.

Take Stalin, as well; he is regarded to be one of the most iconic dictators, and yet Soviet Russia underwent astronomical technological, educational, and military progress under an iron fist. Note however, that he essentially made everything out of nothing at enormous and inhumane expenses.

 

[Xinnamin]

Termina doesn't really seem to have much of a cohesive, overarching government. Take Hyrule for instance, though there are many races that each operate in their own societies, all the races are more or less connected with the Hylians, what with the Song of the Royal Family and the three Spiritual Stones entrusted to different races. On the other hand, there is little to no evidence of inter-racial connections within Termina beyond the fact that there are Terminians living outside of Clock Town, though that does show that the various races at least get along with the Terminians to a certain degree (with the exception of the Dekus).

Speaking of the Dekus, which clearly runs under a monarchy, I always found it curious how closed off the Dekus were, having a giant wall around their land and excluding all non-Dekus from their borders, not to mention the use of cruel punishment despite little evidence. Their society almost reminded me of the Soviets, but maybe that's just me.

Anyways, Clock Town is obviously democratic, but it seems like their gov't isn't particularly strong, having not made any apparent alliances with other racial gov'ts and having trouble maintaining order within the city walls itself. Perhaps Clock Town is a young democracy. The "taste for knowledge" idea is interesting. At any rate the Terminians are clearly more technologically sophisticated than the Hylians, but the fact that the observatory is situated outside the city itself, connected only via a sewer system, makes me think that the tech advances are more or less privately sponsored developments rather than gov't affiliated.

 

[KickinBird]

Looking at our modern day world. The US, UK, most of Europe, have all adopted to some sort of democracy now days. However, their history wasn't always democracy and most had monarchy. When the UK switched to a democratic life style, they hit their industrial revolution. This lead them to an era of rising technology and rise in taste for knowledge.

Unfortunately I've been away for a few days, but the two following posters stated my point exactly.


So it looks like there really is no debate on the type of governments the five different areas have, we all seem to agree there. They are all basically city-states, like DuckNoises said. However, a very interesting point is brought up: Anju's Grandmother's quote about how all the different people lived together. It seems very likely that this was under the Ikana Kingdom, that ruled all of Termina the way to Hylian Royal Family rules all of Hyrule. Actually, this implies to me that whichever entity ruled the land was much tighter than the system Hyrule is under, where everyone actually lived together as apposed to separate communities segregated by race, similar to that of Ancient Greece. Another piece of evidence: the fact that Stone Tower Temple integrates the four races of Hylian (or Terminian), Deku, Goron, and Zora. Perhaps they all worked together to build this Temple back when they all lived together under the Ikana.

 

[Gooey Fame]

Another thought. The Carnival is a celebration that brings together everyone from the different states of Termina. It shows some Unity, thought not politically. It reminds me of an event similar to the Olympics. So if anything it shows that have a loose social confederation, that is they work together to have social events.

 

[Petman1325]

I would actually say that Termina can be either one big land mass with multiple tribes/nations, or we could say that each of the tribes are like a city-state, complete with it's own rulers, yet with no definitive high point. In Hyrule, we can clearly see that it is one big kingdom of Hyrule, complete with provinces that have their own rulers who still respect the highest law of the land: Princess Zelda. However, in Termina, it seems as though the humans pretty much have control of Clock Town and everything on Milk Road.

In the mountains, we can assume that the Gorons rule the roost, while the Zoras rule Great Bay, and the Dekus rule the swamp. Now, as far as we're concerned nowadays, I can claim that Ikana was a monarchy that fell due to a civil war that somehow managed to completely wipe out the population. Termina reminds me of Ocarina of Time, in which tensions are high between the groups (in a way), and yet there seems to not be a superior group, but rather groups that have different levels of power that have a bit of an alliance.

It could also be similar to Twilight Princess, in which the races rule their own provinces, but they also have to report to Zelda. Perhaps at one point, Ikana Canyon may have had two mini-nations, in which you had the Stalchild and the Redeads/Gibdos in different regions of the canyon. Perhaps in Clock Town, they have a monarchy, and maybe for the Gorons. We don't know a thing about the Zoras, since we can say that they're major capitalists and their whole economy is pretty much determined by the success of the Indigo-gos.

The Dekus, we can confirm that they use a system of monarchy, but we don't know much about Ikana. So, that's my two-cents on this topic. Is it me, or is this based on my theory of Hyrule's government back in Janurary?

 

[chrisss]

I really just realized that recently when playing MM again
I guess I was too young to realize before, but it does seem like Termine is far more advanced than Hyrule, in many aspects.

So many details of technological or cultural advancement is seen in Termina compared to Hyrule. They have clocks, they have the mailing system, a bank, the lottery, they even have a hotel! Or an Inn, pretty much the same. And then you also have the camera item, as well as the touring guide in the swamp.

And then the rest of the races in general are more advanced than they were in Hyrule.
In Hyrule, dekus are basically wild creatures that often feel threatened and attack you, yet in Termina they have set up their own empire, they have butlers.
The Gorons don't seem to have advanced much though... I can't think of something about them that makes them more advanced.
I see the Zoras as being more advanced as they have instruments such as drums and guitars and all that, and they have music bands.

So that does rise the question of wether the races in Termina appeared first.

That post someone made before, about Anju's mother telling the story about everyone living in harmony before... it still seems like they do so now, right? They may have all lived as a community to start with, maybe they just divided according to the conditions they needed to survive according to their race. But they all seem to get along together. There is the Deku doing work with trading in Clock Town, we see a Goron stay at the Inn one day, we have the Zora band playing at the bar. Then we also have that scientist in Great Bay that gets along well with Zora's it seems, we have the blacksmiths in the Goron Mountains, and we also have the humans working in the Swamp for the touring guide.

Even in Ikana we have the little girl living with her dad and Dampe in his graveyard. Though they don't have to live with anything as it's a dead land pretty much.
Whatever race it was that lived in Ikana, they tried to defy the gods by building the stone tower, so surely they were not the best of people and were not as in control as other races? And so they became extinct.

I got way off the point I think... but just, sharing those facts and thoughts.

 

[initialDable]

Termina Government

What kind of government do you think Termina has. It is obviouly not united since the Ikanans and Dekus and so on all have seperate organizations.

 

[Flagpole]

Seeing JosephII has given us some proof that Termina was once a united world, it's safe to say that each portion of Termina is ruled by it's own government. We can see Clock Town is ruled by a Mayor, Deku Palace, by a king, Ikana by a king, too, etc. In fact, and though I think one of the many problems planted here are solved, there's one more no one has mentioned: the currency.

The currency we can see all over Termina are rupees, and, in fact, each place has a lot of them. This is a strange fact as, in real life, we can see euros, dollars, pesos, etc., being all of them different currencies, some worth more money than the other ones, as we know euros>dollars>pesos (for example), while in Termina, as there is only one currency, the rupees can't be more worth than themselves, except because some rupees are worth twnety rupees, soime fifty, some one, some five, some even two hundred.

Also inside economy, but also related to the government, we know Termina is mainly divided into four sections, and, as I've already showed, all of them have the same currency. But, another thing we can see is that no one is economicly bad: there are no poor people, actually, which shows Termina's governments are socialists, if not some variation of socialism. So the zones in Termina couldn't have had split into four areas because of economical reasons, which brings the question: why has Termina split into four?

And it also brings another question: if no one is poor (though we can see some portions of Termina, like Clock Town, are far more avdnaced than others, like Snowhead), why was there a war? Being so that there is a same currency for all Termina, it couldn't have been that Clock Town had money worther than the one in Snowhead, so Snowhead might have used their rupees very badly, though I must remember they live in a kind of tribe governemnt.

Termina, as a whole, I think it had a monarchic or democratic government, as they are some of the governments that have the most probabilities of having a war, thus there could have been a war in which some races pretty much devastated others, and, like in the first Mundial War, some races had to pay indemnizations for what they had destroyed, thus making them poor, and they might have also had to donate some territory to other races, or to build what we know as Termina Field.


This is my point of view on the different governments and economical situations of Termina (which pretty much affect because there are wars because of economical situations), as well as how there are almost no possibilities that a war could have happened with a reasonable explanation.

EDIT: As I've seen some talking about how Termina is far more advanced than Hyrule, I must say, there are many possibilities: Termina's races could have appeared before the ones of Hyrule, or they could be more intelligent, or, being the governments are splitted, maybe some of them decided to advance technologically, while, in Hyrule, then king has all the techonological decisions. Also, remember in real life some nations submitted others in order that they give them the raw material that they needed