It’s so fitting that one of the franchise’s biggest mysteries is centered around a mask. I understand part of the point of Majora and Majora’s Mask is the obscurity, but it’s mysteries are in layers. Not only is the evil essence residing in the mask questionable, but the circumstances surrounding it and where it falls into Zelda lore as well.
The story behind the mask never seems fulfilling. An ancient tribe with no specific name or whereabouts used it in hexing rituals and hid it away when it became too powerful. The tribe vanishes and the mask falls into legend. The end. Well, it would have been, if someone had not “gone to great lengths to get their hands on it”. How did the Mask Salesman get it? It’s never revealed. One thing in this story does stand out nowadays; ancient tribe with powerful dark magic in the form of head gear. Know who else was a tribe and lost control of their dark magic head gear? The Twili. And the designs of both Majora’s Mask and the Twili Artifact are eerily similar.
Half of Majora’s mystery is the “Happy” Mask Salesman. He is a man with seemingly, and all too conveniently, all the answers, but none of the ones you want.
“You’ve met a terrible fate, haven’t you?”
Either he’s impishly clairvoyant, secretly set you up, or is being a jerk and joking about your face looking like a surprised wooden radish.
From the way he reacts with Link in telling him details about the mask’s origin and being able to feel its evil, it’s possible the salesman has possibly used it before. As you find out with Skull Kid, the more you wear it, the more the Majora persona takes control. So is it possible that the Mask Salesman is the way he is because he is the only one with the will power to wield it? Perhaps it is why he is sadistically happy most of the time; to counter the dark, you must force light upon it through yourself. He has many different masks, however, each seeming to contain a power. Did he collect them out of good will, or a darker intent?
It’s revealed that each mask Link uses in the game is a deceased spirit trapped inside a mask. Each time Link wears one, his appearance closely resembles that of the spirit’s former life. If the same can be said about Majora’s Mask … WHAT THE HECK IS THAT THING!? It reminds me of the Shadow Beasts from Twilight Princess if they all went to a rave together and wore googly eye goggles. So many colors… if it was a living being, what was it? Magic Skittle demon is the only thing I can think of. The same goes for each of the four bosses: what were they before becoming the mask you see on each of the little kid’s faces? Were they innocent beings trapped into masks, or corrupt from the start?
If you have played enough Zelda games, you should know that Ganon is not alone in seeking out the Triforce and its power. At the end of Skyward Sword, Demise curses Link in that his evil will always follow generation after generation. It is quite possible that Majora, like Ganondorf, is one of Demise’s reincarnations or followers. But, then again, perhaps it’s not the Mask that contains Majora after all. Perhaps Majora is not the reincarnation and it’s been the Happy Mask Salesman the whole time. Masks are used to hide identities, after all…
And my biggest unanswered question: Why the name Majora? Is it the name of the tribe, the persona of the mask, or possibly a deity/demon that resides in it? Nonetheless, it’s a neat sounding and very unique name.
All I can say for sure is: the moon becoming evil and wanting to crush everyone to death? If that’s not a successful hex, I don’t know what is.
What are your thoughts and theories? Share them in the comments below.
