This creepy bugger is one of the most infamous and unnerving characters of the entire Zelda series, second only to Tingle (and I shall also be doing an analysis on later); I wouldn’t be surprised if there were people who actually feel that the Happy Mask Salesman is creepier than Tingle. After all, he has violent mood swings, very sudden, jerky movements, and wants back an evil mask with magical powers that was stolen from him. This guy has mysterious motives and even more mysterious origins, and, in general, he’s just a very mysterious guy. With that said, let’s try and make him a little less mysterious, shall we?

Starting off with the character’s origins, where did the Happy Mask Salesman originally come from? Due to his appearance in Ocarina of Time, a lot of people assumed that the Happy Mask Salesman was an ordinary guy who was born, raised, and lived in Hyrule, running the Happy Mask Shop with the intentions of spreading happiness to everybody by selling them masks. He might’ve had a minor anger management issue, and when he was taught to smile to his customers, he took it too literally, but apart from that, he was completely normal. Then he appeared in Majora’s Mask

The Happy Mask Salesman’s presence in Termina is questionable enough, given that Link only got there by accident, but the only confirmed connection is a large hole in the ground in the Lost Woods in Hyrule, and a large hole in the roof of a cavern beneath Clock Town in Termina. However, because Link somehow got back to the Lost Woods with Epona (and reinforced by the Happy Mask Salesman’s easy travelling between the two worlds) suggests that there is another portal between the two lands which is a bit more practical… that, or Link climbed all the way back up to the Lost Woods carrying Epona on his shoulders…

Either way, this already creepy guy casually travels between parallel worlds searching for masks. And this connects to another theory: the idea that he is connected with the Moon Children. To those of you who don’t know, the Moon children are five masked children in white clothes that are found inside the moon, hence their name. While you don’t see their faces, their haircuts, pointy ears, and pale skin match that of the Happy Mask Salesman’s. Furthermore, if you talk to them and have at least one none-transformation mask, they ask you the following question:

“Masks… you have… a lot. You, too… will you be… a mask salesman?”

This would suggest that the Happy Mask Salesman is one of these children who somehow managed to escape the moon, and, either because of the childrens’ interest in masks, or the aspect of wearing masks at the Carnival of Time of Termina’s culture, or a combination of both, he went forth on land in search of more masks.

Collecting all of these masks apparently makes the Happy Mask Salesman very happy, as can be seen by his almost-constant smile, and explains why he attempts to spread happiness to others by giving them masks, and this further ties the Happy Mask Salesman to the Moon Children, because the one wearing Goht’s Remains asks the somewhat disturbing question:

“What makes you happy? I wonder… what makes you happy… does it make… others happy, too?”

Well, we’ve discussed his connection the Moon Children, so back to his personality, with him being ever-happy because of collecting masks… so why is he secretly so angry? I almost feel that his happiness is just a mask to cover his sanity-defying rage, as he so easily becomes very angry by the slightest bit of misfortune, which again ties back to the Moon Children:

“Your true face… what kind of… face is it? I wonder… the face under the mask… is that… your true face?”

Okay, this is becoming a bit of a habit, referring to the Moon Children’s quotes as a way of connecting them with the Happy Mask Salesman, so I’ll admit, if you didn’t already guess, that I do believe that the Happy Mask Salesman is a Moon Child that escaped, grew up and collects masks, and as I further explore the character, I’ll bring up these quotes that further connect him with the children. That one, by the way, was from the child that wears Twinmold’s Remains.

Getting back to my point: what did cause this anger? I hadn’t thought of this until I wrote this editorial, but what if the reason he is angry, is the same reason that the Moon Child that wears Majora’s Mask is sitting by himself, apparently sad? Did they have some sort of falling out? Is the child that wears Majora’s Mask the leader of the Moon Children and was forced to exile the Happy Mask Salesman? I’d be pretty upset by this too, not only if I was the one who had to make the decision to exile a friend, but also if I was the one being exiled from an apparent paradise? Or was it the other way around, and the Happy Mask Salesman was the leader, and the other children rejected him for some reason, and that one child is upset due either to his part in overthrowing their leader or because of the absence of one his own, and the Mask Salesman was infuriated by being betrayed. And I just found another connection between the Moon Children and the Happy Mask Salesman:

“The right thing… what is it? I wonder… if you do the right thing… does it make… everybody… happy?”

This is asked by the Moon Child wearing Gyorg’s Remains, and again, I thought nothing of it until writing this editorial. This suggests that (if the Happy Mask Salesman was indeed a Moon Child) whether he left of his own accord, or if the other children kicked him out, but no matter the circumstances, either the Happy Mask Salesman or the Moon Children clearly thought it was the right thing to do, believing it to be in everybody’s best interests. Evidently not, as not one, but two individuals have been scarred by this ‘right thing’.

The idea of the Happy Mask Salesman being kicked out is also reinforced by the final disturbing question from one of the Moon Children:

“Your friends… what kind of… people are they? I wonder… do these people… think of you… as a friend?”

This suggests that the Moon Children, while the Happy Mask Salesman perceived the rest of them as friends, they must not have thought of him as a friend. And one final quote from a Moon Child can also support this idea:

“Let’s play good guys against bad guys… yes. Let’s play that. Are you ready? You’re the bad guy. And when you’re bad, you just run. That’s fine, right?”

The upset child who wears Majora’s Mask that makes this statement might have been harbouring other emotions, too, it would seem. Other people connect this statement to when this same child gives Link the Fierce Deity’s Mask, and wonder about the origins of the Fierce Deity and why he is perceived as the bad guy, and while this can still be true, in this conversation, it refers to lingering feelings that this final child had. While upset that the Happy Mask Salesman left them, the child appears to still feel that it was the ‘right thing’ to do, as the Happy Mask Salesman had somehow become an antagonist amongst the other Moon Children.

I was once open to the idea that it may simply be all coincidence, the similar appearance of the Happy Mask Salesman and the Moon Children, but after really going through it, I find myself believing that this can be the only possible solution, though, if you guys have other explanations, please let me know in the comments. I was going to do a separate editorial on the Moon Children, but it appears that I no longer need to, given that I essentially already have.

Moving on from the character’s origins, let’s see what the Happy Mask Salesman does in-game. Most people would believe that he does nothing, and he is simply a background character, serving only as a motive for Link to get Majora’s Mask back. However, he is actually the reason that Termina gets destroyed three days from the time that Link meets him.

People who knew that Link replays a three-day cycle over and over in Majora’s Mask before they played the game would most likely find it convenient that the Happy Mask Salesman must move on with his travels in three days (as if he knew that the moon was going to destroy the land at that time), but it is actually because of his departure in three days that causes the moon to fall at that time and destroy Termina. After he tells Link that he must depart in three days, and for Link to get Majora’s Mask before that time, Link sets out to find Skull Kid, and after spending three days figuring it out, doing other stuff, and waiting for the only path to the Skull Kid to open, he confronts Skull Kid, and this confrontation is what causes Skull Kid to pull the moon down directly onto the land at that time.

The only previous action of Link that is carried over through every cycle is the result of his confrontation with Skull Kid: the moon falling. If the Happy Mask Salesman could’ve waited any longer, or if Link had not interfered at all, the moon could’ve kept slowly falling toward the land for even more days, weeks, or possibly even months, before it inevitably destroyed Termina; but it was Link’s intervention at the end of the three days that caused it to destroy the land right at that moment.

This then leads me to my next question: the Happy Mask Salesman knew that three days had passed for Link… how? Background info for people who have not played the game, any cycle after the first three-day cycle, if Link doesn’t play the Song of Time, which takes him back to the moment he first found himself in Termina, then the land is destroyed and the Goddess of Time steps in all by herself without being called by the Song of Time and immediately transports Link back to the start of the three-day cycle, at which point, Link finds himself inside the clock tower with the Happy Mask Salesman, who asks him:

“How did you do?”

While this suggests that he doesn’t know whether Link failed or succeeded at getting back Majora’s Mask, later text reveals he apparently assumes Link failed and sends him off to get it. But he still knows that three days have passed for Link, and it is never stated how he knows. I have no idea for this one, so anybody who does have an idea, you are welcome to say so in the comments.

At the very end of the game, the Happy Mask Salesman finds that Majora’s Mask has been rid of the evil it contained (and sounds almost upset over it), and leaves Link with these final words:

“Since I am in the midst of my travels… I must bid you farewell. Shouldn’t you be returning home? Whenever there’s a meeting a parting is sure to follow. However, that parting need not last forever… whether a parting be forever or merely for a short time… that is up to you.”

Ever since I first played Majora’s Mask, that extra part about partings always felt a little unnecessary, like he was giving Link (and the player) a hint, and I’m sure he was, and that’s a further connection to the Moon Children: their disturbing questions aren’t just for Link, but for the player as well. But as his own character, I can’t help but feel he’s referring to himself in some way. Now that the moon has been destroyed, if he was a Moon Child, he can’t return to them even if he wanted to, but I believe he might have been hinting at his supposedly deceased brethren at this point, almost as if he’s admitting that they had every right to get rid of him (“a parting is sure to follow”), but that he is now sorry and wants to go back (“that parting need not last forever”); but as for what he means about that last part (“whether a parting be forever or merely for a short time… that is up to you”), I can only guess: to me, it feels like he’s accusing the others of something more than banishing him, as if they should’ve only banished him to think on his misdeeds, rather than permanently.

As for the character’s future, a Happy Mask Salesman appears in Oracle of Ages, where he owns a mask shop in Lynna City. Some may think that, because it is a different world, it is also a different Happy Mask Salesman, but I prefer to think otherthwise. If the Happy Mask Salesman in Ocarina of Time and Majora’s Mask was indeed a Moon Child, then he could have a form of immortality. When he was forced from his home, those that still lingered there remained young, while he aged. From this, I believe this might be what he may have been accusing the other Moon Children of: sentencing him to eternal life in the mortal world, where he ages slowly but surely. He is wishing that he could’ve died with his brethren, and be with them that way, rather than be alive and without them.

It’s a depressing idea, I know, but it could be what is reflected in the fact he is starving in Oracle of Ages, he is barely clinging on to life. The idea that they are one and the same is further suggested by the fact that the official art of both of his appearances is identical.

At this point, you guys are probably thinking, “Hold on, Oracle of Ages is in an alternate timeline from Majora’s Mask.”, and yes, this is very true, but if the Happy Mask Salesman can travel between parallel worlds and is aware of a person travelling through and altering time, who’s to say that alternate versions of him that exist in alternate timelines can’t somehow communicate with each other. If they are alternate versions, the Happy Mask Salesman in Oracle of Ages is directly from Ocarina of Time, and avoided the events of Majora’s Mask, but if he somehow also had the ability to jump between timelines, then it’s possible they are all the same Happy Mask Salesman. And, either way, the Happy Mask Salesman is forced to wander the land, knowing he is now alone and can never go back home.

A haunting ending to an analysis on a deeply disturbed character… how fitting. And, wow, I used a lot of quotes in this editorial. Oh well, they were put to good use. I realize that I’ve really only focused on one possible origin of the character, and carried that through to his present and possible future, so do you guys have other ideas? Do you think he is a Moon Child from Termina, or an ordinary citizen of Hyrule? What do you think causes his external happiness and internal anger? Do you think it is the same Happy Mask Salesman in Oracle of Ages? Let me know in the comments.

Sorted Under: Editorials, Majora's Mask