The idea that Majora’s Mask is a trip through the five stages of grief is not my own original conception, but it’s one that I find tremendously profound and I hope I’ve done it some justice. I’ve already carved my way through all of the games, but for Majora’s Mask‘s birthday I wanted to give it a special second look. Themes in Motion was an article project I started up a little over a year ago, aimed at exploring the thematic elements packed into each story in The Legend of Zelda series. As the story closes, we note that he has returned to the Lost Woods together with Link, his new friend. But we also see that this parting is not the end. Taken out of the shadow of grief, we see that Skull Kid is able to reconcile with his old friends and find peace in their departure. That maturity gives him great power, with which he can easily vanquish the comparative weakness of grief and despair. As a result, when Link faces Skull Kid at the top of the Clock Tower, it manages to take on a life and personality of its own, creating a psychological dimension in which Link must face it in one final showdown.īy surrendering the masks he's collected on his journey - in essence providing proof of his battles against grief - Link earns the Fierce Deity's Mask, which is described as "containing the merits of all the masks." That this mask transforms Link into an adult form in contrast to Majora’s Mask’s own child-like form signifies the maturity he has gained by overcoming grief. That same grief gets absorbed by Majora’s Mask as it feeds off of Skull Kid’s emotions. In his grief, he tormented the peoples of the four lands, and as a result lost his friends. We hear from one of Grandma’s stories that Skull Kid, as the "imp," was once the friend of the Four Giants, but when faced with the prospect of losing them to their slumber in the four corners of the world, he fell into deep despair. Link’s antithesis throughout these proceedings is the Skull Kid. The geography then allows the map from A Link to the Past to be included to the west.įive Stages of Grief Skull Kid & Majora's Mask In The Legend of Zelda comics, the map from Zelda II: The Adventure of Link is added to the north of the map found in The Legend of Zelda, and the in-game map for Zelda II: The Adventure of Link also has an area that resembles a scaled down version of the map in The Legend of Zelda.
It is also possible that different parts of Hyrule are shown throughout the various games. Some fans argue that while Hyrule does change from game to game it is simply due to gameplay reasons to give players something new to explore while staying in the same land and has no real in-game explanations. The second theory is that Hyrule's geography stays relatively the same but that each new game shows the same Hyrule seen from a different angle, that landmarks are renamed, or that other unseen parts of Hyrule are seen each game. The first is that the changes occurred because of geological events between the games such as earthquakes, mudslides, erosion, forest growth, continental drift, or all of the above. Several fan explanations have been given. While some games may take into account the geography in past Zelda games (A Link to the Past and Four Sword Adventures share almost the same Hylian geography) others may completely ignore them (The Minish Cap's Hyrule bears almost no resemblance to any other game). Parts of Hyrule found in one game's map may be in a different location, have different geographical features, or be completely absent in another.
While certain landmarks of Hyrule commonly return, Hyrule's geography appears to be laid out differently with almost every new game set in it. 59.1 The Garo as the Makers of Majora's Mask.35 The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess.10 Clock Town Carnival Executive Committee.