Majora's Mask What's This Game Really About?

[basement24]

So, I finally finished Majora's Mask for the first time (I only played it for the first time earlier this year, so really it didn't take me THAT long!) and I couldn't help but feel that the overall game was about Link dying. It didn't seem this way at first, but the last events of the game really had me believe this. (Spoilery) events include:

The tree on the moon. Okay, so many just say it's Majora's warped sense of... everything(?) that explains this. I have heard some mention it to be a kind of Garden of Eden, which fits I suppose. Mainly I was thinking about just how surreal it is. To go up into the sky and find a grassy plain where people play in the sunshine? Seems kind of heavenly.

The questions the masked children ask on the moon. After beating the mini dungeon puzzles they throw at you, they seem to ask questions about Link and life in general. Questions like "What makes you happy?", "The right thing, what is it?", "Your friends, what kind of people are they?" and "Your true face, What kind of face is it?" really make you stop and think about your life. They're not necessarily ones that can't be asked until the end of your existence, but really they reflect one what kind of person you were.

The party you're not invited to. So, you save everyone, and how do they thank you? By throwing a party and not inviting you. There's really only one major party that happens in your honour that you can't come to, and that's your funeral. Seems a bit odd that Link isn't allowed to attend the carnival after all of his efforts...

Link heads into the light. Finally at the end, Link gets to "go home". All we get to see of that is him riding into a beam of light in the forest in which he disappears. Did he finally get accepted and was allowed to go into the light? Oddly, where he left is marked by a stump with a Skull Kid carving. Perhaps a grave marker?

In general, after seeing all this, it made me think that the whole game was some kind of purgatory for Link. It was his test to see if he could get into heaven (or wherever the people of Hyrule go that is). He had to save souls in order to save his own.

I'm not looking to get into a big religious discussion here, although I know I'm treading the line quite carefully. Overall I just wonder if I'm seeing something that's not there, and wonder if others saw the same things I did...?

 

[Dungeon killer0]

Well, I understand what you mean about the purgatory and all, but I don't see why Link would be going through that when he has done nothing but good. Yet again this game was different to me than the others, I always thought that this was a trial for link, as if the gods in the game thought they had made a mistake and choose the wrong person. As if Link would do something that the gods wouldn't approve of, or maybe that he had all ready done something wrong. Which leads to your question, maybe Link did something to Navi, that is why she is gone and that is why he was in the lost woods. He was going to find her and aplogize, but the gods decided to have him take a trial to prove his worthiness.

I just wish we could know what this game is trying to do, or it is just something different.

 

[Random Person]

These theories all make sense, but all in all I think this concept is just being over thought. Basement 24 everything you said was really well thought out and deep, but it all seems like coincidences to me. But that's the best argument I have so it could still be true.
Dungeon killer your statement makes sense too, but without proof it's pretty doubtful. I know we've seen the three goddesses play a hand in other Zelda games but in OoT and MM, we only hear about how they created Hyrule. Not to mention once you cross in Termina it's hard to say who the "gods" really are. I would see the Giant's as gods over the land, yet Tatl called Zelda a goddess.

Not trying to step on anyone's toes here but everything is just too iffy to come to a real conclusion. So I still have my doubt that these are what the creators were trying to do.

 

[Dungeon killer0]

Yes, but remeber what if the gods made Termina as a trial and zelda knew but she couldn't tell Link, you even mentioned that Tatl knew zelda was a goddess.
So it could be different, maybe Termina wasn't even there Link could have been dreaming agian, but we know he wasn't, it could have not been there at all.
I just find it weird that you would find an entire new world deep in the forest, if it were there wouldn't the fairies say anything or what if the Deku Tree knew, would
some other being have been there or were the ones who knew, never told anyone. It seems as if it was made for something. What was the main purpose for Terminas exsistence?

 

[Zenox]

Those are some crazy observations. When I first started reading it, I just thought I'd pass by this thread, just thinking they were some odd observations, but now that you mention it, you might actually have something.

This game keeps surprising me more and more with how deep of a meaning each event has in the game. Perhaps Termina isn't real at all and him being teleported there was really just a test to see if he could go into heaven of sorts? Seems extremely odd but at the same time it makes sense, would that make Majora the devil and he's tempting you to do the wrong thing? He seems to fit that role, trying to prevent Link's sucess.

The part about the party Link isn't invited to being his funeral seems a bit odd ... unless it's extremely metaphoric I don't see that being true. And I don't think the grave marker thing is real at all. I think that's just Skull Kid is happy he finally found the friendship he was searching for and made a drawing of his new friends as he's extremely happy to have them around.

EDIT: But if it is just all a test and is made up, how would the Skull Kid recognize Link from OOT? He said that Link "smells like that fairy boy that taught me the song in the woods" that makes it very clear who he was, but if this land is all fake, how did Skull Kid get in there as well? I remember when I was editing on the wiki that it said some of the dialogue implies Skull Kid originated from Termina, but it had no reference so I don't know where that is.

 

[Kybyrian]

I've never really looked at many games too deeply in like you have here, but whenever somebody mentions these things it gets me thinking, and you make a lot of sense. I really don't think that developers put that much thinking into the game to really make it something like this, but it does resemble what you are talking about. Throughout the whole thing, all the hardships he was put through, he still stood strong and fought to save Termina. It's like it really all was just a test to see if he was worthy to move on, but I don't think that's really what it was, because, you know, it's just a game and I don't really think they work to put that much thought into it to make something like that.

 

[Da Bunni Hood]

This is my favourite topic in zelda . Now that I think about it, I agree, especially seeing as the game is so deep and emotional.

 

[Ember Incubus]

Here is a theory that might explain some things. READ AT YOUR OWN WILL! Please be atleast the age of 13 to read this.

 

[Phantasmagoric]

That was a pretty cool theory, Ember Incubus. I usually don't go for that kinda stuff, but I kinda wanna believe it now.

 

[Triforce Eden]

This is honestly one of the most brilliant theories I have ever heard. Your eye for symbolism and meaning are simply fantastic. Not only that, but it does make a tremendous amount of sense. And to those of you who debunk his theory, this is simply HIS interpretation of a game with endless amounts of symbolism and underlying themes. No interpretation is more correct than any other.

Basement24, I salute thee.