Throughout day three, the festival music in the background has become more ominous, but beyond that everything seems pretty normal. A little past noon, it becomes apparent that there are tremors running through the land of Termina. The moon is closer than ever and by nightfall, everybody has gone indoors. It's safe to say Termina has gone terminal and has hours left until the inevitable. In the town square near the clock tower, there is a single man still standing. He is the foreman who was building the bridge to the clock tower. Upset that all of his apprentices had run away with the job unfinished, he stands alone shouting straight up at the moon. He shouts again and again hoping that it will scare the moon back into the sky. I don't think there's been a better time to use the word lunatic beyond this scenario.
At the stroke of midnight, the clock tower door opens as the structure converts into a platform. Being forward thinking, the flower Link bought from the deku tree person merchant guy allows him to jump up towards the stairs of the clock tower. Upon ascending, he finds the Skull Kid hovering around with Tatl's captive fairy brother present as well. Having waited so that Link may have front row seats to the end of the world, he takes the last few hours to taunt Link without end. Tael blurts out to Link and Tatl to go to the forest, mountain, ocean, and canyon and to "bring them here." Skull Kid smacks his captive and then lets out a keening death wail to bring the moon down faster. As the moon draws closer, the bell of the clock tower begins to shake uncontrollably, becoming the death knell of the world. Skull Kid then reveals the Ocarina of Time and holds it over Link to taunt him some more. To challenge the Skull Kid's limitless and apocalyptic powers, Link musters his magic and spits at him. This gives just enough of a distraction to make Skull Kid drop the magic flute, thus reuniting the Hero of Time with the righteous power to do some serious wibbly wobbly timey wimey stuff.
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| Hey kids! Now you can play along on you nearest instrument. Piano, guitar, fiddle, banjo, or even kazoo if you feel so inclined. |
As he holds the instrument, the first memory that comes to mind is Princess Zelda. I suppose if you're gonna remember something at the end of the world, it might as well be a good memory. In the memory, he hears the notes of the Song of Time. The Song of Time, when played on the Ocarina of Time by the Hero of Time in the nick of time at the end of time, allows Link to jump back in time to the first day when he arrived at the base of the clock tower, a structure built to measure time. Tatl at this point begins to wonder who Link is, but before she continues this thought, she remembers that the creepy mask man (technically the happy mask man, but we will see why creepy is more befitting in a moment) would help Link had he reacquired the ocarina.
Link goes under the clock tower where the man is waiting. He seems to be somewhat aware that Link has gone to great lengths to retrieve the instrument. As such, he summons a pipe organ out of nowhere and teaches Link a new song, the Song of Healing (Listen to it on Youtube. It's creepy but strangely relaxing.) This song lays tortured souls to rest. How exactly does this help Link? Well, the dead tree person that he saw in the cave had it's soul taken by the Skull Kid, and then impressed on to Link causing him to transform. By laying the deku spirit to rest, Link is returned to human form. He has a similar hallucination to the one he had before (the David Lynchy one) but this one is a lot less unsettling as Link playfully waves goodbye to the giant tree person that was chasing him. The spirit is then placed into a mask, that Link might take it on his quest.
Of course, the mask salesman asked that his stolen mask be returned. When he sees that Link doesn't have his mask, he loses his cool. He did this in the previous game (yeah, it's possible he's been stalking Link for a while now) at his shop when Link didn't return with the money he made in selling masks. This time, there's no counter between the salesman and Link and also no witnesses. He proceeds to strangle Link, but is overcome with the horror of losing the mask forever and decides to give Link a better reason to complete the quest (as if the end of the world wasn't enough).
He tells that the the mask in question, Majora's Mask, was one used by an ancient tribe in hexing rituals. When the demon within the mask became too dangerous to control, the mask was sealed away. The mask collector, whether to add another mask to his collection or perform nefarious acts, sought out and captured the mask. He tasks Link once again to retrieve the mask. This leaves me with the sense that this is probably one of the most morally ambiguous quests given in the Legend of Zelda franchise. Leaving the mask with the Skull Kid leads to certain destruction, but returning it to the mask salesman who has no qualms with strangling children doesn't seem like the best alternative either. Link is left with the only thing that seems right: saving the world.
Continued in the next post.
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