Daily Debate: What is Termina?

Link’s Awakening and Majora’s Mask share two very interesting traits that separate them from most other Zelda titles: neither game takes place in Hyrule, and neither game has an emphasis on Ganon or Zelda. Those similarities aside, these game do differ on how clearly their settings are projected. The events of Link’s Awakening took place on Koholint Island, which in the end was very clearly dreamed up by the Wind Fish. Majora’s Mask, on the other hand, makes it very unclear of what you were exploring.

Link enters Termina through a mysterious underground route in the Lost Woods, and somehow returns to the Lost Woods after his three day misadventure to continue searching for Navi. That bare bones description would lead people to believe that yes, Termina was real. However, if you compare the residents of Termina with the residents of Hyrule, you’ll notice that they’re the same. As a child, that led me to believe that Termina was just a parallel universe of Hyrule, but now as an adult, I wonder if it’s that simple.

Was Termina actually real? Could it have been a hallucination created by the Lost Woods? Was my younger self correct in the parallel universe theory? Could the Hyrulean Goddesses have something to do with Termina even though they aren’t mentioned? Are the Illuminati involved in some way? Tell us your thoughts in the comments!