The Great War of Ikana

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theoretical elements which only reflects the opinions of the writer and

not ZeldaInformer as a whole. That said, enjoy the article!

The land of Ikana is the most daunting and mysterious locale in

Termina. The constant talk of death gives it a very daunting atmosphere

and inflicts a great sense of fear into the player, but what is the

cause of all this horror and death? The answer lies all around Ikana,

in the spirits of the fallen and deceased. Through the information

presented in the land of Ikana, one can begin to understand the events

that led to this great kingdom’s decline and how Ikana relates to other

kingdoms outside of the Zelda universe.

The land of Ikana was

once the home to a thriving kingdom and its people; however, the

kingdom has a history of darkness and bloodshed. This dark past likely

refers to the kingdom’s fall from grace which has left the land in the

sorrowful state that we see in Majora’s Mask. The region is the

home of the dead, where spirits cannot find peace and are forced to

wonder aimlessly, hating the living and regretting the past. Sakon the

thief seems to know a little about these wondering ghosts.

These

ghosts are the deceased soldiers of the Kingdom of Ikana. Clearly, the

kingdom is long dead and all that remains are the disgruntled spirits

of its fallen warriors. These monsters take the form of Stalfos and

wonder around the blood-stained land of Ikana aimlessly. Link has no

trouble slaying these undead creatures, but there are a few that are

clearly more powerful than others. The most powerful of these warriors

is the king of the once thriving land, Igos du Ikana. Now only a

pathetic shell of his former self, Igos sees that the darkness plaguing

the land has turned his men into violent ghosts and he knows that the

source of this darkness is the great Stone Tower of Ikana, which lies

behind his ancient castle.

Igos

believes that the Kingdom of Ikana has been left in ruins due to petty,

meaningless battles within the kingdom’s population and that his

subjects cannot find peace because of the evil flowing from the Stone

Tower. These petty battles, which are implied to have occurred not only

between the enemy nation and Ikana, but also between friends and

allies. As the enemy nation had sent in ninja to begin their assault,

it is possible that the soldiers of Ikana became suspicious of one

another, causing conflict within the kingdom’s forces. He believes that

Link carries the power of light, the power that is able to topple the

darkness flowing from the Tower. Igos also states that one man alone

cannot brave the tower, so he grants Link a melody which creates a

soulless statue that resembles the player so that he will not be alone.

He does this in the hope that Link will seal the doors of the Stone

Tower so that he and his subjects may rest in peace. He also mentions

that many of his men could not assail the Tower, implying they lost

control of it. However, it is clear that it was an Ikanian structure.

While Ikana may be the home of the undead that hold great disdain for the

living, there are a few who realize that Link is the one who can bring

them peace. One of these restless souls who aids Link is the captain of

the Ikanian army, Skull Keeta.

Keeta

was the commander of the Ikana Army and, since losing a great battle

which clearly claimed his life, he has waited for someone to come and

lay his soul to rest. He gives Link the Captain’s Hat, a mask which

allows Link to appear as Keeta and communicate with the undead warriors

of Ikana. His final wish is for Link to tell his men that the war has

ended, also bringing rest to their souls. As for Keeta’s soldiers, the

Stalchildren, they too were connected to the Royal Family of Ikana,

being labelled as the cursed soldiers of Ikana. His men, like him, were

also slain, left as undead skeletons. What is this war that the

Ikanians were involved in? Who did they fight? All of this is made

clear as Link travels further into the haunted land of Ikana.

Of

the many spirits and creatures that lie in Ikana, none are as

mysterious as the Garo. These robed ninja appear only when Link wears

the Garo’s Mask in certain areas where Tatl will warn Link that she

senses blood thirst looming around.

The

Garo were a group of ninja from an enemy nation that spied on the

Kingdom of Ikana. This leaves no doubt that the war that took place in

Ikana was between the Garo and the Ikanians. These Garo spirits remain

around Ikana with some of them residing within the grounds of the

Ancient Castle of Ikana. This indicates that they were spying on the

castle, as well as the land. There is one noticeable Garo leader, the

Garo Master. The spirit of this lead ninja rests within the Stone Tower

Temple. Upon defeat, he tells Link that arrows blessed with light can

be shot into the emblem outside the Temple, flipping the entire Tower.

Link then receives the Light Arrows. This suggests that the Garo could

have brought the Light Arrows to Ikana to combat the great Stone Tower.

Whilst they gathered information, it is possible they noticed the Stone

Towers structure and so they brought the Light Arrows, allowing them to

flip the Tower upside down, hopefully killing all those within. It is

also possible that the Garo stole the Light Arrows from the Ikanians

and took them into the Stone Tower in order to weaken the Ikanians

defences. Many of the Garo wondering about Ikana valley also know how

to enter the Tower and the Garo Master resides there holding the sacred

Light Arrows which solidifies the idea that the Garo took control of

the Stone Tower after the war began. The Giant’s Mask also resides

within the Stone Tower, and could quite possibly have been an Ikanian

weapon as well. Taking the size of Captain Keeta into account, it is

very likely that the Ikanians created the Giant’s Mask in the hopes of

strengthening their soldiers to the level of Keeta.

Igos

mentions the Stone Tower, but he speaks of it as if it belongs to the

enemy. The Tower features many Ikanian markings and objects, meaning

that that the Ikanians lost control of the Tower during the war. This

is a further indication that the Garo took control of the Tower and the

Ikanians then tried to reclaim it. Igos also mentions that the Stone

Tower is the source of the curse that is corrupting Ikana. While it is

likely that the Skull Kid was the one responsible for opening the Stone

Tower, the source of the curse remains unknown.

Sharp,

one of the composer brothers who served the Ikanian Royal family, also

mentions this strange curse. Like Igos, Sharp seems to be at peace

after Link saves him from the curse. This implies that the curse is

tormenting the dead and is the reason that the land is full of undead

creatures, such as gidbos and poes, and that they can be saved. This

can be efficiently done by sealing the doors of the Stone Tower, as

Igos suggests to Link. Sharp also places the blame of this curse on the

Skull Kid, indicating that this curse is his work, which backs up the

claim that he opened the Stone Tower. But again, it is unknown whether

the curse was the Skull Kids doing, or if its origins predate his

arrival.

After learning the Ikanians’ weaknesses, the Garo began

their assault. They took control of the Stone Tower, as well as

bringing the Light Arrows should they need to flip the Tower. Then, the

mysterious curse of the Stone Tower made the dead restless, leaving

Ikana as a horrifying land. What remains a mystery is why the Garo were

spying on the kingdom and what they wanted to achieve.

To answer

this, one must take into consideration that the Kingdom of Ikana is the

only apparent royalty in Termina. Therefore, whoever this rival nation

was, they must not have been a great, influential power in the land

like the Ikanians were. The Garo were likely an elite race that was

part of this enemy nation, or perhaps allied with it, and they were the

warriors that were meant to overthrow the kingdom of Ikana. But why

would this nation want to bring death to Ikanians? The answer is greed

and jealousy.

This rival nation hungered for more power and more

land, so that they could thrive and prosper. This is a very tradition

style of warmongering; one group trying to take possession of the land

of another group. They planned an attack on the Kingdom of Ikana, in

the hopes of taking the province for themselves. They sent in spies so

they could plan an attack, but they were discovered. And so the war

began between the Ikanians and the Garo. The Garo’s infiltration caused

internal conflicts between the Ikanians and these are likely the petty

battle Igos spoke of. Essentially, greed and jealousy, two very basic

emotions drove the enemy nation and the Garo to start a war that would

claim the lives of all involved and leave the land of Ikana defiled and

barren. The two parties engaged in battle and the Garo took control of

the Stone Tower. The result of this war was clearly the deaths of the

Garo and the Ikanians. The bodies of the fallen lay restless in the

defiled land that is Ikana and after the Skull Kid opened the doors of

the Stone Tower, a dark curse swallowed the land and the souls of the

dead were unable to find peace, so they walked the land in spite of the

living.

The war of Ikana was an unfortunate occurrence in

Terminian history that had spawned from the fragile emotions of the

people involved in the war. The rival nation wanted more power and land

and their greed lead them to fighting with the Ikanians. These strong

feelings of jealousy are unavoidable and many scenarios similar to this

have happened outside of the Zelda universe. These feelings also

account for the “blood thirst” that Tatl senses when a Garo warrior is

near. The Garo and Ikanians extinguished one another and the curse of

the Stone Tower made them restless and unable to find peace. This left

Ikana as a lifeless blood stained land full of regret. Even the

mightiest kingdoms can fall to the simplest human emotions and Majora’s

Mask is a game that shows this in great detail. What remains of the

enemy nation is unknown and as for Ikana, the dead lingering there

finally found peace after Link sealed the Stone Tower and its evil

curse. This is a sign to the player and all of Termina that war can

only lead to death and regret, and that there can be no true victor.

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