- Joined
- Apr 30, 2022
Ok I know everyone hates edgy takes on Majora's Mask about how Link is dead or in purgatory, etc
I agree because Majora's Mask exists to develop further the character of Link and thus he must have a future, or else the game has no purpose and that would be sad.
But i think i have cracked the code to Majora's Mask....well, sorta.
I am always kind of disappointed with some of the theories found in youtube or other places since they always make interesting in-game arguments but never seem to point out to real word inspirations that Nintendo developers must certainly take into account—the different encyclopedias of course would also never discuss this— These ideas don't exist in a vacuum after all and Westerners are not very familiar with Chinese and Japanese folklore.
First of all i want to say that i have been doing a full musicological analysis of both The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask and, in the process, i have found a lot of influences in the series, So it would be cool if you all could check it out, even if you are not interested as much in the music, I am sure you will find very interesting information.
This take is still not very organized because I have not reached Majora's Mask yet, but hear me out.........
...... The Water Temple from Ocarina of Time and The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask are exactly the same thing
i know, i know, it sounds totally bonkers but I promise i am not losing my mind or trying to do out there fan fiction. In fact, i would appreciate if some of you can help me further with the research and expand on it.
i am now tending towards the idea that Nintendo indeed took very seriously the notion of a "personal journey"for Link in Majora's Mask and perhaps he is indeed the only "real"character"—whatever reality means in our most literal sense— of the entire adventure.
the Zelda series has huge Buddhist influences all across its games and since the music of Majora's Mask is influenced by Chinese opera and Japanese drama i knew there was some connections between the masks and chinese folklore. it's very complicated to fully explain but you can imagine that their concepts of heaven, hell, purgatory, etc have great differences to most western ideas so saying Link is in purgatory is not as simple. however, he is still in a rebirth cycle trying to gain karma (represented by masks) in order to attain enlightenment; defined as: when a Buddhist finds the truth about life and stops being reborn because they have reached Nirvana.
If you have the time, Here is an essay explaining how these ideas are exactly what forms the basis for the design and concept of the Water Temple:
officialmusictracks.wordpress.…-soundtrack-water-temple/
There is a very good reason this is the place where we fight Dark Link
Majora's Mask is jut a more elaborate culmination of this whole concept.
the basis of Majora's Mask is the Nuo folk religion from China. the oriental influence was there even from the beginning in ocarina of time, where the Happy Mask Salesman—a blatant Chinese character— ran a "happiness" shop and he encouraged Link to basically give happiness through masks to different characters in Ocarina of Time. Nuo culture is mainly a hexing religion that exorcises demons and people, or alternatively, heals them. One of the most distinguishing characteristics of Nuo folk religion is its iconographic style, which represents the gods as wooden masks or heads. For now, i can only say that the music that accompanies the character Majora is unmistakably from these cultures.
This particular mask is from japanese Noh theater, a successor of the nuo folk religion traditions.
Ever wondered what is the deal with the Happy Mask Salesman? he is a figure called a Fangxiangshi. What is that?? The definition in Wikipedia reads:
A Chinese ritual exorcist whose name is translated as "one who sees in all four directions" His primary duties included to chase out disease-causing demons from houses and buildings and leading a funeral procession to exorcize the deceased.
Clock Town Architecture itself is Chinese based. inspired by the towns known as Fujian tulou:
All these concepts have their counterparts in Japanese religion so i still have to do more research to try to sort out what are the specific influences. but In learning the Song of Healing Link is basically taking the role of the Happy Mask Salesman, becoming an exorcist himself.
Sadly, there is little information out there about Nuo culture at the moment. But on the other hand, the Buddhist influences are surely there in the game: the emphasis on the number four is a staple of Buddhism, the cycle of rebirth and gaining karma is right there imbued into Majora's Mask design. and Inside The Moon is nothing more than the same allegory from the Water Temple. That being the Bodhi Tree where all the Buddhas are said to have attained enlightenment.
After seeing all this, some things that can be said are
From the very beginning of development, the concept of Navi was based around her being a guide for the player; Navi is short for "navigation" and since early in the making of Ocarina of Time, the developers knew that the game would start with Navi arriving and end with Navi leaving no matter what happened in the story. The reason is because the player does not need navigation anymore after the end of the game, the control can be unplugged now.
so Navi has slightly more connotations to the developers. Link looking for Navi at the beginning of Majora's Mask is also Link looking for "direction"in life
The character of Majora is nothing more than the dark side of Link and all the reflections made in the game definitively concern what Link is living tthrough right now. It would be ridiculous to focus on the sentiments of a Skull Kid. This is the reason why Majora's Mask is shaped like a dark heart. In turn, the Fierce Deity Mask is the good side of Link he gained by accumulating karma throughout the game. Eiji Aounuma even hinted at this on an interview. That is the explanation of why it has the face of Link.
The Happy Mask Salesman may be an already enlightened one or guiding spirit, or even the consciousness of Link himself
The giants are based on Pangu from Chinese folklore, a primordial being and creation figure in Chinese mythology, Pangu is usually depicted as a primitive, hairy giant who created the world by separating heaven and earth.
The fact Hyrule is referrd as heaven makes me think Termina is indeed some kind of underworld and Stone Temple Tower was built to escape it. Also c'mon! calling the land Termina and Link literally going to the land of the dead as his last quest can't be for nothing. Maybe it is really some kind of purgatory but in an Eastern conception that we need to dig up more. (As a side comment, the Clock Tower is full of symbols of Ikana, so it must be a landmark not built by the people of Clock Town, they just put the giant clock in it; the stonework is also different from the rest of the town)
I am pretty sure there is a lot more of Eastern influences on various Zelda games, like use of colors, symbols, the giant turtle, the monkeys etc to uncover.
At the end, what i wanted to point out is that these ideas are inspired by something, and looking into the real world can also shed light on what the developers were going for. Even if the specific points that i made are all wrong, i am convinced that Buddhism played a part into Majora's Mask
(The man responsible for these surrealist takes in Nintendo is Yoshiaki Koizumi, His is the main driving sensibility in Majora's Mask and Link's Awakening, He even managed to somehow inject weirdness in the ending for Super Mario Galaxy!)
I agree because Majora's Mask exists to develop further the character of Link and thus he must have a future, or else the game has no purpose and that would be sad.
But i think i have cracked the code to Majora's Mask....well, sorta.
I am always kind of disappointed with some of the theories found in youtube or other places since they always make interesting in-game arguments but never seem to point out to real word inspirations that Nintendo developers must certainly take into account—the different encyclopedias of course would also never discuss this— These ideas don't exist in a vacuum after all and Westerners are not very familiar with Chinese and Japanese folklore.
First of all i want to say that i have been doing a full musicological analysis of both The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask and, in the process, i have found a lot of influences in the series, So it would be cool if you all could check it out, even if you are not interested as much in the music, I am sure you will find very interesting information.
This take is still not very organized because I have not reached Majora's Mask yet, but hear me out.........
...... The Water Temple from Ocarina of Time and The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask are exactly the same thing
i am now tending towards the idea that Nintendo indeed took very seriously the notion of a "personal journey"for Link in Majora's Mask and perhaps he is indeed the only "real"character"—whatever reality means in our most literal sense— of the entire adventure.
the Zelda series has huge Buddhist influences all across its games and since the music of Majora's Mask is influenced by Chinese opera and Japanese drama i knew there was some connections between the masks and chinese folklore. it's very complicated to fully explain but you can imagine that their concepts of heaven, hell, purgatory, etc have great differences to most western ideas so saying Link is in purgatory is not as simple. however, he is still in a rebirth cycle trying to gain karma (represented by masks) in order to attain enlightenment; defined as: when a Buddhist finds the truth about life and stops being reborn because they have reached Nirvana.
If you have the time, Here is an essay explaining how these ideas are exactly what forms the basis for the design and concept of the Water Temple:
officialmusictracks.wordpress.…-soundtrack-water-temple/
There is a very good reason this is the place where we fight Dark Link
Majora's Mask is jut a more elaborate culmination of this whole concept.
the basis of Majora's Mask is the Nuo folk religion from China. the oriental influence was there even from the beginning in ocarina of time, where the Happy Mask Salesman—a blatant Chinese character— ran a "happiness" shop and he encouraged Link to basically give happiness through masks to different characters in Ocarina of Time. Nuo culture is mainly a hexing religion that exorcises demons and people, or alternatively, heals them. One of the most distinguishing characteristics of Nuo folk religion is its iconographic style, which represents the gods as wooden masks or heads. For now, i can only say that the music that accompanies the character Majora is unmistakably from these cultures.
This particular mask is from japanese Noh theater, a successor of the nuo folk religion traditions.
Ever wondered what is the deal with the Happy Mask Salesman? he is a figure called a Fangxiangshi. What is that?? The definition in Wikipedia reads:
A Chinese ritual exorcist whose name is translated as "one who sees in all four directions" His primary duties included to chase out disease-causing demons from houses and buildings and leading a funeral procession to exorcize the deceased.
Clock Town Architecture itself is Chinese based. inspired by the towns known as Fujian tulou:
All these concepts have their counterparts in Japanese religion so i still have to do more research to try to sort out what are the specific influences. but In learning the Song of Healing Link is basically taking the role of the Happy Mask Salesman, becoming an exorcist himself.
Sadly, there is little information out there about Nuo culture at the moment. But on the other hand, the Buddhist influences are surely there in the game: the emphasis on the number four is a staple of Buddhism, the cycle of rebirth and gaining karma is right there imbued into Majora's Mask design. and Inside The Moon is nothing more than the same allegory from the Water Temple. That being the Bodhi Tree where all the Buddhas are said to have attained enlightenment.
After seeing all this, some things that can be said are
From the very beginning of development, the concept of Navi was based around her being a guide for the player; Navi is short for "navigation" and since early in the making of Ocarina of Time, the developers knew that the game would start with Navi arriving and end with Navi leaving no matter what happened in the story. The reason is because the player does not need navigation anymore after the end of the game, the control can be unplugged now.
so Navi has slightly more connotations to the developers. Link looking for Navi at the beginning of Majora's Mask is also Link looking for "direction"in life
The character of Majora is nothing more than the dark side of Link and all the reflections made in the game definitively concern what Link is living tthrough right now. It would be ridiculous to focus on the sentiments of a Skull Kid. This is the reason why Majora's Mask is shaped like a dark heart. In turn, the Fierce Deity Mask is the good side of Link he gained by accumulating karma throughout the game. Eiji Aounuma even hinted at this on an interview. That is the explanation of why it has the face of Link.
The Happy Mask Salesman may be an already enlightened one or guiding spirit, or even the consciousness of Link himself
The giants are based on Pangu from Chinese folklore, a primordial being and creation figure in Chinese mythology, Pangu is usually depicted as a primitive, hairy giant who created the world by separating heaven and earth.
The fact Hyrule is referrd as heaven makes me think Termina is indeed some kind of underworld and Stone Temple Tower was built to escape it. Also c'mon! calling the land Termina and Link literally going to the land of the dead as his last quest can't be for nothing. Maybe it is really some kind of purgatory but in an Eastern conception that we need to dig up more. (As a side comment, the Clock Tower is full of symbols of Ikana, so it must be a landmark not built by the people of Clock Town, they just put the giant clock in it; the stonework is also different from the rest of the town)
I am pretty sure there is a lot more of Eastern influences on various Zelda games, like use of colors, symbols, the giant turtle, the monkeys etc to uncover.
At the end, what i wanted to point out is that these ideas are inspired by something, and looking into the real world can also shed light on what the developers were going for. Even if the specific points that i made are all wrong, i am convinced that Buddhism played a part into Majora's Mask
(The man responsible for these surrealist takes in Nintendo is Yoshiaki Koizumi, His is the main driving sensibility in Majora's Mask and Link's Awakening, He even managed to somehow inject weirdness in the ending for Super Mario Galaxy!)
