How Majora’s Mask leads into Twilight Princess

A couple of years ago, Nintendo came out with their book Hyrule Historia which included Nintendo’s official Zelda timeline. There has always been controversy, but I have been trying to see how each game’s events and characters lead into the next game in the timeline.

While looking through the timeline, I saw that Ocarina of Time led to Majora’s Mask which led to Twilight Princess. I had always thought in my head that Ocarina of Time could have just led straight into Twilight Princess and Majora’s Mask was nothing more than a fabulous sidequest. But as I got to thinking about in-game events and characters in Majora’s Mask, I came to the conclusion that Majora’s Mask is required for the storyline of Twilight Princess. Hit the jump to see why.

The first thing I noticed was how similar the maps of Majora’s Mask and Twilight Princess are. Majora’s Mask has the central town in the center, the wooded area in the south, the desert in the east, the snow covered mountains in the north, and the ocean on the west shore. This is essentially the same map as what is found in the Wii version ofTwilight Princess. Hyrule City is in the center, the woods in the south, the desert to the east, the mountains to the north, and Zora’s Domain to the northwest. This is just the physical setup for where the land of Twilight Princess came from.

Now that the area is layed out, it is time to go deeper into this idea. When I first played Twilight Princess I was lost as to where the Twili Tribe came from, and then even more confused when Nintendo released its timeline. Where did the Twili Tribe come from? Well, it’s explained in Majora’s Mask. In the beginning of Majora’s Mask, you are stopped by the Happy Mask Salesman and told the story of the Majora’s Mask, which at the time I thought had no relevance to the Twili Tribe. But he continues to say the mask was from a dark tribe that was lost, but it held amazing and dark powers. Which, oddly enough, is a very good description of the Twili Tribe. Many of the tribe which are of a darker decent wear masks which are powerful and dark.

Not only does the mask explain the Twili Tribe, but it also makes a reappearance in Twilight Princess. If this mask was created by the Twili Tribe, other masks made by this tribe would have very similar artistic styles. The mask that Midna wears throughout the game has a very similar artistic style to Majora’s Mask. This led me to believe that the Twili Tribe was responsible for the making of Majora’s Mask. This can also be seen through the Fused Shadow. Majora’s Mask could have been destroyed and its power reincarnated as this new mask, and Midna’s form while wearing the Fused Shadow resembles Majora when the mask is being fought on the moon in Majora’s Mask.

In many occasions throughout Majora’s Mask there is a reference to things happening years ago, such as the soldier in Ikana Canyon that can only be seen with the Lens of Truth who says that he has been waving his arms and sitting for years. This means that Termina has a history and past events which have previously happened before Link entered Termina, which also debunks the theory that Link is dead. Since Termina has a history, this would explain the multiple places and objects in Twilight Princess that are not explained, such as the gate to the Twilight Realm and the City in the Sky. Both would be in the history of Termina in Majora’s Mask, and the City in the Sky could be the remains of a destroyed Stone Tower Temple whose gravity was flipped and there in an upside down state until it deteriorated and fell up and became the City in the Sky.

Ocarina of Time Link is also said to have been the warrior in Twilight Princess that teaches Link sword techniques. And there are some techniques that are introduced that are very similar to the attack style of Link in Majora’s Mask, these upgraded and more complicated attack are due in part to the higher animation style of Majora’s Mask. These attacks were introduced in Majora’s Mask and it would be the only time that Link would have learned these moves in order to know them for when he teaches them in Twilight Princess. The Link from Ocarina of Time had to go through Termina and grow up and then become the skeleton warrior in order to know the moves he does.

I found this very interesting, but it makes sense now that Nintendo has released their timeline. What do you think? Does this solve a mystery in the timeline, or do you disagree with the links between the two? Let us know in the comments!