Termina and the Five Stages of Grief: Majora's Mask part 16

    A while ago, somebody suggested that the regions of the land of Termina were each indicative of the Kubler-Ross Model of grief.  This is also known as the Five Stages of Grief.  While the original author who discussed this matter is lost to me, it is still of considerable importance to understanding this game.  I said I would give a detailed study of this game and though I don't always embody formality (especially when I do this eheheehehehe), it would feel inappropriate to leave out this theme coming to a complete understanding of the game.  So now I shall begin, and from this I hope clarify what happens next in this story.


   The Five Stages of Grief are traditionally listed as Denial, Anger, Bargaining, Depression, and Acceptance.   The original application of this model was put to cases of loss or terminal illness.  Since the land is named Termina, and we know that the end of the world is fast approaching this land, this model seems appropriate.  Aside from the obvious fact this is a fantasy land, there is something considerably different about this one from Hyrule or Narnia or Middle Earth.  This world is very small and yet there is a beach and a humid swamp right next to snowy mountains and an arid canyon.  You would think somebody would notice such drastic changes in environment, but in truth the change of the lands appearance can be very easy to miss.  It's as though the lands flow into each other.  Of course variety is the spice of life, and in a a video game variety needs to be present to maintain the interest of those playing it.  Also, the reason for the small world is that after all, Link needs to get around quickly since he is being timed.  Nintendo tried the whole huge world thing with Wind Waker and people complained that sailing was tedious.  Those same people are complaining right now that there isn't enough to see in Skyward Sword, so suffice it to say that I feel about those opinions similar to how I feel about Mozart compared to musical fish children (probably the last we'll hear about musical fish children, probably)

   Returning to Majora's Mask, we'll begin with Clock Town.  This is where Link began his adventure and starts of every time he resets time.  With the people of Clock Town is the sense of denial.  As I mentioned in my First Three Days posts, people are making plans and celebrating the coming festival.  Nobody notices that the moon is looming over them or that they are at the epicenter of the crash site.  Perhaps the best example of this is the mayor.  The mayor assures Link and the people in his office that nothing bad will happen.  He is convinced that the Festival of Time will be a success.  Remember from my ending of the Ranch posts that he is staying in the farmhouse?  Clearly he done goofed up.  Denying that the world would end didn't stop the world from ending.

  Upon leaving Clock Town, Link went to the Swamp to the south.  There was the really angry king of the tree people who was torturing the monkey.  Swamps are quite humid places; they get quite heated.  Also there is a volcanic looking mountain in the Swamp, but instead of lava it is flowing over with poison that eats away at life.  When Link restores this place, the poison clears out and the king is returned to his senses by his daughter.  Wrath was set aside for clarity of thought.

Also note that the darkness around his eyes make him look like he's on fire.  

  Next, Link went to the mountains.  The mountains are snowing in the summer.  The stone people known as Gorons are freezing.  In their enclave their is a crying baby Goron.  Here the Gorons are weighing the options of freezing in the cold or staying inside with the screaming baby.  Since being outside isn't a good option, they'd rather stay inside with the long winded crying baby.  Link frees the land of the freezing weather and the Gorons can go out into the summer or stay inside where the baby has stopped crying.  At first I thought this was the weakest point of the metaphor, but when I put this in terms of "would you rather freeze in the cold or look after the screaming baby" it fit a little better.

  Following the mountain portion, Link went to the Great Bay.  The band was depressed and hid away in their enclave as they questioned the future of the band.  Lulu was depressed because she didn't think she would see her (unbelievably musically rock-most-ultimate) children ever again.  There is also this sense of seclusion in that everybody is tucked away and separated from one another.  The band is in their concert hall, the pirates are in their hideout, the sea snakes are hiding in caves in an abysmal hole in the ground, the turtle was in an island, and something I didn't mention before, there is a hut on the beach full of people turning freakishly into very large tarantulas.  Link restores Lulu's voice by returning her children and saving the ocean from the monster.  This allows the band to reassemble and perform.

  Often I've considered that the last two were interchangeable.  The Gorons are hiding in their cave while the pirates in the ocean area made a deal with Skull Kid to take the eggs.  These do alter the order of the five stages and while I doubt psychology always fits into a clean cut progression of one always to the next, it fits more appropriately if the Snowy place is bargaining and the Great Bay is depression.

  Why does the world of Termina revolve around the model of the stages of grief?  Well, aside from the moon crashing into it, there's a theory that's become quite popular lately.  I'll discuss this theory in either the last or next to last post of this series because of major spoilers, and it's also sort of a downer (yeah, moreso than the moon destroying the world).  What's important to note is that in rescuing each of these individual locations, Link doesn't push the people into the next phase of grief, he almost completely fixes each problem.  There are three of four giants that have been rescued from the Skull Kid's power and one more may be enough to stop the moon from falling.

  Given that Link has helped three of the four sets of people, what's the worst that could happen?  Remember that the final stage of the Kubler-Ross Model is Acceptance.  The thing you should know is that in the final area, everybody is already dead.

  We'll get to that after this next post.