Forests and Woods in literature almost always seem to be associated with mystery, and the unknown. It sparks curiousty which makes woods adventurous. In the Legend of Zelda series, in particular the games Ocarina of Time, and Majora's Mask, the Lost Woods depicts this feeling very well. It is a mystical place that defies the laws of physics, logic is irrelevant within it. Due to the Lost Woods' odd nature I've recently begun to wonder if maybe it is a focal point in Hyrule—a crossroads between dimensions?
Let's begin looking at the Lost Woods in Ocarina of Time. There are only certain paths through it one can take to continue proceeding futher, if you follow the right path you will enter the Forest Meadow. Though the special rule of the Lost Woods is that if you get lost (stray from the right path) you end up back at the beginning of the woods. The path seems to only be known to the Kokiri, and the only Hylians who can find their way through (via listening to the music) are children. If adults wander into the woods they will likely become lost, and if an adult becomes lost it is said they will become a stalfos, they will not simply return to the beginning of the woods like the Kokiri or Hylian children would.
Naturally this vast wood would be difficult to accurately navigate for someone who has never entered it, hence the name “Lost Woods”. It certainly has a magical enchantment. Though there is more mystery to this wood. There are certain areas inside it which can get one to very far regions of the Hyrule instantly (A pool of water which if dived down in can transport one near the entrance of Zora's Domain, A doorway which has it's other end in Goron City, high ontop of Death Mountain). It's safe to assume this area is unlike any other in Hyrule, and after the part it played in Majora's Mask I believe maybe it's a crossroads between dimensions.
In Majora's Mask Link, while in pursuit of Skull Kid, is lead to a sort of portal which takes him to a a parallel world called Termina. Keep in mind that Link was very deep in the Lost Woods when this happened—which suggests that there are likely things about the woods that even the Kokiri are oblivious to. Due to the mystical nature of the wood, I believe that maybe the portal to Termina is just one of various portals possibly leading to other dimensions. We know the Happy Mask Salesman, one of the series' strangest characters was in the Lost Woods when he was jumped by Skull Kid. He said he is a traveling mask salesman, it is possible he was just in the woods because he knew it's secrets to get to different regions of Hyrule faster, although I believe he was in the woods so he could use it to travel to different dimensions.
Take Majora's Mask itself, a mask like that would probably have had a big impact on the land it orginates from, and the way the Happy Mask Salesman talks about it, the mask did. We really have no menetioning of Majora's Mask in Hyrule, and it's obvious the mask isn't native to Termina (I breifly touched on this in more detail in the recent Kafei theory posted). I've long believed Majora's Mask is likely not native to Hyrule, or Termina, but possibly orginates from some unknown dimension that the Happy Mask Salesman probably found while traveling between dimensions.
Maybe this is far-fetched, but the idea exists, I'd reference Marvel Comics and the Crossroads of Infinity, a place which has endless portals to different dimensions. The Lost Woods, in my opinion, is probably the Hylian equivalent to such a place. The portal to Termina certainly makes this theory concievable, and the mystical elements of the Lost Woods in particular would make it the perfect place for such a focal point.
In the end there are no other examples besides the portal to Termina to support this theory. It's possible that the maybe portal to Termina is the exception, there are no other portals like it. Maybe the Lost Woods is just a really odd, enchanted forest that one can easily become lost in, can find paths to travel to far regions fast, and has one portal to a parallel world. Maybe it's a focal point for mutiple portals to different dimensions? If there is one thing we know that is certain, it's that the Lost Woods is clearly out of the ordinary.
Let's begin looking at the Lost Woods in Ocarina of Time. There are only certain paths through it one can take to continue proceeding futher, if you follow the right path you will enter the Forest Meadow. Though the special rule of the Lost Woods is that if you get lost (stray from the right path) you end up back at the beginning of the woods. The path seems to only be known to the Kokiri, and the only Hylians who can find their way through (via listening to the music) are children. If adults wander into the woods they will likely become lost, and if an adult becomes lost it is said they will become a stalfos, they will not simply return to the beginning of the woods like the Kokiri or Hylian children would.
Naturally this vast wood would be difficult to accurately navigate for someone who has never entered it, hence the name “Lost Woods”. It certainly has a magical enchantment. Though there is more mystery to this wood. There are certain areas inside it which can get one to very far regions of the Hyrule instantly (A pool of water which if dived down in can transport one near the entrance of Zora's Domain, A doorway which has it's other end in Goron City, high ontop of Death Mountain). It's safe to assume this area is unlike any other in Hyrule, and after the part it played in Majora's Mask I believe maybe it's a crossroads between dimensions.
In Majora's Mask Link, while in pursuit of Skull Kid, is lead to a sort of portal which takes him to a a parallel world called Termina. Keep in mind that Link was very deep in the Lost Woods when this happened—which suggests that there are likely things about the woods that even the Kokiri are oblivious to. Due to the mystical nature of the wood, I believe that maybe the portal to Termina is just one of various portals possibly leading to other dimensions. We know the Happy Mask Salesman, one of the series' strangest characters was in the Lost Woods when he was jumped by Skull Kid. He said he is a traveling mask salesman, it is possible he was just in the woods because he knew it's secrets to get to different regions of Hyrule faster, although I believe he was in the woods so he could use it to travel to different dimensions.
Take Majora's Mask itself, a mask like that would probably have had a big impact on the land it orginates from, and the way the Happy Mask Salesman talks about it, the mask did. We really have no menetioning of Majora's Mask in Hyrule, and it's obvious the mask isn't native to Termina (I breifly touched on this in more detail in the recent Kafei theory posted). I've long believed Majora's Mask is likely not native to Hyrule, or Termina, but possibly orginates from some unknown dimension that the Happy Mask Salesman probably found while traveling between dimensions.
Maybe this is far-fetched, but the idea exists, I'd reference Marvel Comics and the Crossroads of Infinity, a place which has endless portals to different dimensions. The Lost Woods, in my opinion, is probably the Hylian equivalent to such a place. The portal to Termina certainly makes this theory concievable, and the mystical elements of the Lost Woods in particular would make it the perfect place for such a focal point.
In the end there are no other examples besides the portal to Termina to support this theory. It's possible that the maybe portal to Termina is the exception, there are no other portals like it. Maybe the Lost Woods is just a really odd, enchanted forest that one can easily become lost in, can find paths to travel to far regions fast, and has one portal to a parallel world. Maybe it's a focal point for mutiple portals to different dimensions? If there is one thing we know that is certain, it's that the Lost Woods is clearly out of the ordinary.
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