Whistle and I'll Come to You: The Ghosts of Majora's Mask

Faith is tested, hearts are redeemed, but the monster never dies.  The time has come once again to discuss one of the most mysterious video games in history.  It has been two years to the day since I started my series on the themes and story of Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask.  I wanted to write this follow-up post because not only does the game mean the world to me, but the blog series remains the only series I have followed through to completion.  The writing featured on this blog was very much a labor of love and I was determined to see those thirty posts through with reflection.  I also sorta want to get the Great Mighty Poo off of my front page, so there's kinda an ulterior motive in making this post, but you'd do it too if it meant scrubbing the giant singing turd off your front page.  In all seriousness, I'd decided to follow up on my musings on Majora's Mask for some time now, but decided to hold off on posting until today.

The glorious news that accompanies this post is The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask is getting an HD remake on the Nintendo 3DS/2DS/and New 3DS.  This is one more reason for a post and for you to go out and get a 3DS/2DS/or New 3DS dependent upon your budget.  It's true that the game is a little difficult, but there are countless walkthroughs on the internet in this day and age so you don't have to be some sort of major league gamer to play it.  Also, the 3DS is a solid gaming platform with many excellent titles for all ages and such apps as netflix, hulu, and youtube, so consider that as well.  All the phone minus the phone, but you probably bought an iPad, so this isn't your first rodeo.  Admit it... you'll buy anything with a screen and buttons on it.  I've got you figured out, muahahaha.

So then, what in particular do I want to talk about for the anniversary.  I've already said a lot and there are countless other people saying countless other things about this game.  The Game Theorists have pointed out that the falling Moon wouldn't actually be much of a threat to the world given the velocity and mass of the moon and the possibility of Link being dead, and recently there has been a series by the brilliant Gaijin Goombah on the African roots of the game's cultural elements.  It's a popular game that inspires discussion, so I'm gonna link all of those videos at the end of the post as well as Jirard "Dragon Rider" Khalil's Completionist video on the game to give those who are new to the game a fast and dirty look at the game itself (I say fast and dirty, but Jirard does a really good job putting those videos together so show him some love).

However, what do I personally bring to this to the discussion that I haven't brought before?  Why not just put it off to the 3 year anniversary of my blog series?  Well, recently I have completed a class on the study of supernatural fiction focusing on ghost stories.  After studying many critical debates in ghost stories, I've realized Majora's Mask is among the great ghost stories of video games, up there with Silent Hill 2, Fatal Frame, and even Metal Gear Solid (I'll talk about that when Phantom Pain comes out, remind me if I forget).  So in the spirit of the season, I'm gonna write a blog post every day from now until Christmas on the Ghosts of Majora's Mask.  You're thinking "Christmas isn't a time for ghost stories!" and I'm saying "uhhh, Christmas Carol, and 'tell scary ghost stories and tales of the glories of Christmases long long ago.'" Apparently it's a very English thing to tell ghost stories around Christmas, in America we just buy stuff so that our children don't grow up to be cowboys because we didn't get them a Tickle Me Elmo one year.  Pretty sure there's a bit in the Bible where the spirits of dead saints were proclaiming the birth of Jesus at the nativity, so you could go at it from that angle too.

Things you can expect from this series is a discussion of the abodes of the ghosts (Lost Woods, Clock Town, Ikana Valley, things like that), a discussion of desire among haunts, accursed objects, the role of gods in ghost stories, and the inability to let go.  So with that, get yourself a glass of milk (or some chateau romani if you're 21 or older or 18 and not American) and we'll meet back here tomorrow and get started.

Praise the Moon!

Link is Dead Game Theory

Majora's Mask Completionist

Gaijin Goombah on the African Roots of Majora's Mask

Without Me: A Link Between Worlds Intro

Guess who's back?

       Alright, so I wasn't sure if I'd bring this back, in large part due to lack of inspiration, but with the release of Legend of Zelda: A Link Between Worlds, I felt I could at least make an effort and see what happens.  I'm going to start off by saying my initial goal was to approach games on their story aspects and share it with gamers and nongamers alike, but admittedly this is a sort of difficult endeavor.  It's sorta like handing a Wii remote to someone and telling them to "swing it like a tennis racket" and they insist they can't do it because "they don't play games." So this time, I'm going to be a little more reasonable and recognize I can't get everyone to read it but I'll still leave it open for everyone to read.

    I also recognize reading takes time (and in the case of my stuff a little effort too).  So I'll just throw in pictures so we can all be on sorta the same page.


    So why am I coming back now?  Wind Waker HD came out last month(?) and I've sung its praises and considered it my second favorite Zelda game just behind Majora's Mask.  I wrote about Majora's Mask on the basis that it was so bizarre and outside the conventions of the Zelda series while being full of symbolism.  Well, I think I want to do Legend of Zelda A Link Between Worlds in large part because it is so close to the traditional Zelda formula and yet brings something new and exciting that makes it my third favorite Zelda game.  I'll have to do it a little differently, so this will probably be a shorter series.  By shorter series I mean it will be less than thirty pages.

   Without further ado, let's talk about the boy in green.

ooooh yes the bees!

Before I get back into more Metal Gear, I want to talk about a mod I think you all should know about.


Do you like Majora's Mask?  I suppose you like it enough to have read any of the previous series.


Are you aware of Nicholas Cage's existence, for better or for worse?  I certainly hope so.


Wouldn't it be great if somebody combined the two?  No, it would not, but who cares what you or I think?


Thanks to the work of popular youtuber Criken and his friend Shane, we now have access to this abomination

By way of this all new texture pack, you can reenact the movie Face Off.  The best part is, it's less John Travolta and more everyone else.  You will question whether or not the horrors of Termina can ever be reversed past doomsday.  Skull Kid doesn't turn Kafei into a boy, he turns him into Nic Cage.  The mask was created by Nic Cage.  Link IS Nic Cage, and all transformations still look like Nic Cage.  Truly this is the devil's work.

Critics have already been calling this new take of an old title a guaranteed Call of Duty killer.  Now, every Mountain Dew chugging prestigionado can set CoD Blops Zombies aside and live their favorite nightmare by becoming the most enthusiastic actor in the world.

Check it out, test your nerve, and let the nightmares and ruined childhoods begin.

You've met a terrible face, haven't you?

Certainly brings new meaning to the scene where Link drops the bees on the pirates.

You can also run the streets of Clock Town shouting "I'M A TREE PERSON! I'M A TREE PERSON! AAAAHHHHH"


Because face it, one day, every day, every where, somewhere out there, somebody wakes up one morning to find they have been turned into Nic Cage, and then you realize what you had.  You realize that you truly did want that cake that your wife ate. (women included, you all become a Nic Cage when you transform)  You will shout "TA DAH" and have everybody look at you like a crazy person.  And then you will find yourself breaking down in Las Vegas with your only daughter when you should've gotten a hair cut, and you give her the bunny that you insisted should stay in the box.  You're gonna go far, kid.  You're gonna go far.

Pixels n' other Pixels

     Hello once again one and all.  It is time for me to discuss a number of things that are all sorta loosely related to this blog but not necessarily to each other.  I hope everyone has been having a good hiatus since the Majora's Mask series ended.  You may notice that the title up there has been altered to be a little more appealing to the themes discussed right down here.  My brother designed the title above so kudos to him.

     I'd like to announce that I will be writing as a columnist for a website some friends of mine will be starting soon called Culture Mass.  When that's up you can go to culturemass.com to check that out.  There's no link there right now because it hasn't started yet, but when it does I'll give you the means to check that out.  I will be writing a series on silent protagonists' role in video game storytelling (seems fitting because I just finished Majora's Mask).  That will go up once a week.  Feel free to check that out and the other articles which cover any number of pop culture fields.  I think it will be pretty sick, and I think you will appreciate it too.

   I will also be taking the time to devote a separate page to the Majora's Mask series.  Soon, you will be able to read each post from beginning to end without ceasing as each page links directly into the next.  In this manner you can relive all those great moments.  You like to translate Mayan chanting? There's a post for that.  You want to relive my description of the Witch King of Angmar being an eskimo? Also time for that.  Aliens? Sure, why not.  My challenge to Justin Bieber? My Brendan Fraser joke? The actual serious posts like the first three days, the comparison of Skull Kid and Link, and the one about masks?  You can read all that and much, much more.

   Now, if you're wondering what the next Pixels Project will be about.  I will give you a list of ten possible game franchises that I will do next.  There's a good chance I will end up doing many of these later, but for now only one will be the next series.  The list goes as follows:

Metroid (especially Other M)
Pokemon (1st and/or 5th generation)
Castlevania
Banjo-Kazooie
Call of Duty Modern Warfare (it's more likely than you think)
Resident Evil
Metal Gear
Chrono Trigger
Final Fantasy (but only a couple of them)
Shin Megami Tensei Persona (as much as I love these, don't get your hopes up this time)

     I think that's all I need to say for now.  I will narrow down the list in the next post to a single franchise, and then in the post after that I'll narrow it down to a single title.  I'm gonna be honest and say I'm taking a different approach to this one than I did Majora's Mask, but I think it will all work out to a similar effect.

    If anything else, tell your friends about this, tell your family about this, tell your not-friends about this.  If you frequent forums and those fellow forumers may find this to be appealing, you could tell them.  If you play D&D with friends, those friends might appreciate it.  If you want to reddit it, that's up to you as well.  Really, so long as it doesn't violate the law, feel free to spread the word however you see fit or just be that hipster who wants to be the only person who knows about this blog.  That would be an incredibly bold claim, but I can't stop you from saying it.

   Until next time.

Until Next Time: Majora's Mask part 30

   I'd like to thank everyone for reading my series on Majora's Mask.  For all who don't know, it started as a statement of how much I loved the game somewhere around December 21st of last year.  Over time, the more I looked at it and the more I started playing it, the more patterns emerged from what I knew to be themes and symbols as far as storytelling and literature went.  So from there I asked, what if there is more to games than just playing them?  Sure, the game should still be a game, but why settle just there? If I have any regrets, it is that most of what I've said outside of summarizing the story is limited to my own theories and the theories of others who have approached the game in a similar manner.  I can't claim I was the first to suggest Termina was a dream or that the land is divided by the five stages of grief (though I'd like to think I was the first to put to writing the significance of the Moon Tears and the nature of the conflict between Skull Kid and Link), but now I can claim that I've written 30 pages on the matter.

   I'm going to take a break from writing hear for a little while.  If anything I'll drop a post here or there, but my hope is to give the site a new look so I can get a fresh start on the new series.  Perhaps I'll give a hint or two as to what I have in mind for the next series.  I can't say it will be more Legend of Zelda, though perhaps another time I'll take a look into it.  I will also begin writing for a website put together by a friend of mine, and I will link you to it when the time comes for it to go on the web.

   Finally, I'd like to thank Shigeru Miyamoto for creating this franchise and congratulate its success for 25 years and counting.  I thank the production team for putting this game together and the production team of Ocarina of Time since this game would not exist without the sequel that brought Zelda and her legend into the third dimension.  I thank Sailor Moon for sparing us her wrath and not dropping the lunar body upon our world that we may live to read and write another day, and I turn it over to JonTron to finish my thoughts:

Cruel Angel Thesis: Majora's Mask part 27

      As the mask floats towards Link, he swings his new sword.  It turns out the sword can throw bolts of energy.  These ki blasts if you will prove the fight is going to be very one sided when they drop the mask to the floor and allow Link to just wreck it.  Majora's Mask summons other masks from off the walls to attack Link, and Link quickly takes them down with a single swipe each.  It would almost be anticlimactic if you didn't take into consideration this mask is more evil than Majora's Mask.  This fight can be done without the Fierce Deity Mask, but I feel like it is more fitting this way.

    There have been a lot of theories as to what is the Fierce Deity and how it could be contained in a mask.  Some would say the fierce deity is the empty space between the three triangles of the triforce.  This tetraforce theory suggests that before the three goddesses of Hyrule brought order and life to the world, there was a malevolence in the chaos.  The three goddesses proved infinitely more powerful than this darkness and controlled its power, possibly by capturing it in a mask.  Whereas the goddesses have power in the prime universe (a.k.a. Hyrule), the Fierce Deity holds the power over the satellite universes where the triforce doesn't exist.  Another theory that I think holds more validity was that the Fierce Deity was the god worshiped by the creators of Majora's Mask.  This would render the Fierce Deity as a much greater power than Majora's Mask as Majora's Mask would only be the fullest extent of the worshipers' power as opposed to the limitless power of the worshiped.  The theory ends by saying that when this tribe of ancient ones was stopped by the goddesses, they again put the Fierce Deity's power in the mask.  How Majora's Mask came upon this one is sort of a mystery.

    After batting Majora's Mask around a bit, it floats upright, sprouts arms, legs, and a single eye out of the top and takes on its next form.  "Majora's Incarnation" as it is called is the closest thing to what the original Majora looked like if ever such a person existed.  The Incarnation simply runs around and dances.  He does stuff like the moonwalk and might even break out some Travolta in the middle of this fight.  It has a remarkably high pitched voice.  This has led many people to assume the spirit that is in the mask is a woman.  A female antagonist isn't out of the question in the Zelda series. The villain in Oracle of Ages was a woman.  It could happen.  However, I think these claims are made to give some humanity to that which isn't understood.  If anything, I think Majora is just drawing on the fact it was reawakened by a child, hence the playful demeanor and the high voice.  The music in this fight could easily be something Danny Elfman would right for an Eddie Murphy kids movie.  It is very off putting when compared to the usual music of danger used in other fights.  It takes even less time to defeat this form.  Despite the fact Majora's Incarnation is very fast, it is very difficult to dodge energy blasts coming out of a massive sword.  

3 forms of Majora. (art by Onimadness)

   After a few hits, the mask takes on its final form.  Its muscles pump up, the eye transforms into a demonic head, and two long whips grow out of its arms.  This is Majora's Wrath.  If there is a form that can stop Fierce Deity Link, it is this one.  Majora's Wrath is still pretty fast but can also his Link from afar with his whips.  When people talk about the fight with Majora, they usually think of this form.   Majora's Wrath is hardly pleasant to look at even if you ignore the demon face, it doesn't have skin so all of its muscles and veins can be seen openly.  It can jump around the room, bringing its whips with it.  If I remember anything about this fight from my childhood, it was that other kids had a horrible tendency to overexaggerate this phase of the battle.  They said stuff like Link had to climb up Majora's Wrath a la Shadow of the Colossus and things like that.  This would be true in Oracle of Season in which Link has to climb up the Dragon Onox's arms, and this was even planned to be used in the final battle with Ganon in Ocarina of Time, but for as horrifying and dangerous as Majora's Wrath seems, Link never has to climb up him.  This part of the fight takes longer than the first two, and despite the Wrath's efforts to defeat Link.  It still proves to be no match.  Rather than turning into a writhing mess of tentacles or burning up or exploding, Majora's Mask just looks up, screams, and fades to dust just like (SPOILERS, I guess?) Voldemort.  It's almost like a nightmare fading from someone's mind.

Ganon's got nothing on this.

  

    Why was this fight so easy (with all respect to those who didn't use the mask because it was very difficult to them)?  Well, personally, I have to believe Majora's Mask gave Link the Fierce Deity mask under the assumption that he would fall under its dark power like the Skull Kid did.  Link does appear to be a child although after the events of Ocarina of Time he is pretty much a child in name only.  Perhaps Majora's Mask was trying to summon a greater evil into the world.  He knew that he still couldn't bring the moon down on Termina alone but two evils could.  Since Majora's Mask was originally used for hexing rituals, it is possible this was a final service to its creators in order to try and summon their god into the world.  Regardless, I mentioned from the beginning that Link's greatest strength was the power to let power go.  This is something no villain in the series could ever boast.  Link started this adventure without most of his equipment and without the power of magic.  He proved his strength to the children of the moon by giving them all the masks he acquired.  To them (wearing the masks of the evil monsters Link fought) the masks were a sign of power. Some of the masks were quite powerful.  However, the Happy Mask Salesman told Link long ago that to give masks is to share happiness.  Link didn't get any of the masks without doing a service to the giver.  The reception of the masks was the reciprocation of Link's good deeds, culminating in the ultimate good done through the union of the Couple's Mask.  To give away the masks was to give away the power in them.  This is how Link managed to remove the Fierce Deity Mask in the end and save the world from himself.  

   With the destruction of the spirit of Majora's Mask comes the destruction of the moon.  A rainbow remains in the sky from where it was as Link returns to Termina below.  The sun is high over a new day in Termina.  Majora's Mask has been reclaimed.  The quest is over.  

Moonscape: Majora's Mask part 26

psych

   This tree on a hill against the light blue sky? This is the inside of the moon.  What did you expect?  Probably screaming skulls, lava pits, flying demons, some psychedelic maze of death, spiders, human sacrifice, or absolute void, something at least more akin to Ikana Canyon, but no, it's just a field with a tree.  The field looks like it goes on forever, and there is a surrounding mist that gives it a sort of dream world look.  Turning around, you see no sign of being in the moon.  It's not like the inside of his mouth is behind Link, it's just a completely pristine field.  There's even a sun shining in the sky.  Don't let your guard down.  Just because the field is quite unsuspecting in appearance doesn't mean things aren't about to get messy.  I actually really like this scene. In another horror game, FEAR 2, a very similar dream world is frequently visited in which a single tree with a rope swing sits in the middle of a field.  The series' main antagonist, Alma (who looks a lot like the girl from The Ring if you are wondering) is seen sitting on this rope swing and as the game goes on the field around the tree gets more and more chaotic until the totally bizarre final battle.  We're not going to go to much into that, but I feel like its things like that which justify playing FEAR 2.

kinda blurry (which is intentional)
but it gives a sense that there's
something wrong with the
tree on a hill

   So what does Majora's field with a tree have on Alma's field with a tree.  Well, Majora's tree with a field is surrounded by five children.  Four of the kids are running around the tree playing and the fifth is sitting under the tree all alone.  All four kids are wearing masks and judging by the backs of their heads, they resemble a childish form of the happy mask salesman.  They are all dressed in almost tribal garb.  The four masks on the running children resemble the four monsters that had held the curse on the areas around Termina.  The fifth child in the center is wearing Majora's Mask.  

   These children say some really odd things.  One asks Link if he will become a mask salesman like the will, and another asks Link what real face lies beneath his face.  If Bill Cosby taught me anything, it's that kids say the darndest things.  However, I don't think he meant stuff like "what face is under your face" when the five children are perfectly identical and wearing the masks of beings that had been trying to kill you over the past few days. The four of them around the tree ask Link to play hide and seek with them.  To initiate this, Link must give a few of the masks he has acquired from everyone he's helped.  The children teleport Link to odd places that test his skills that he has gathered on the adventure.  Three of these puzzles utilize the deku, goron, and zora masks while the fourth check all of Link's skills in archery and demolitions while facing against various monsters he has already killed.  Upon completion of each of these challenges, Link is required to give more masks.  With the last of these puzzles completed, Link has no more masks to give.  

   I will go into who I think these children are later, but now I suppose it's fitting we check out the big man himself.  

By big man, I mean this shy kid.

  This kid wants to play with Link but realizes Link has no more masks.  He also decides hide and seek won't be fun, so he decides to play a new game.  He calls this new game Good Guys against Bad Guys.  For Link's role in this, he hands Link the final mask.  This mask is called the Fierce Deity Mask.  Upon seeing the mask, the comment is made that the power of this mask is far greater than that of Majora's Mask but so is the evil.  The child with Majora's Mask stands up and tells Link that he gets to be the bad guy.  He then adds to this "When you're the bad guy, all you do is run."

   He teleports Link to a room full of dark symbols and strange colors.  Link puts on the Fierce Deity Mask, causing him to transform into an armored warrior with white eyes, white hair, strange face paint and a double helix sword.  Walking toward the center of the room, the masks of the boss monsters Link killed float and attach themselves to the walls.  Looking to the far side of the room, Majora's Mask unhinges itself from the wall, sprouts tentacles, and prepares to attack. 

Majora's Mask Unmasked: Majora's Mask part 25

    Link ascends the Clock Tower quite like he did when he was the tree child.  This time things are different. Link has moved heaven and earth to prepare for this showdown.  He has three spirits to aid him, and an assortment of masks gathered from everyone he helped along the way, not to mention a much better repertoire for the Ocarina of Time than when he last saw the Skull Kid.  Skull Kid and Tael say all the same things they did last time.  When Skull Kid starts calling the Moon down, the sun begins to rise over the horizon.  It's a new day for an ending world.  Link can turn back time like last time, but instead he plays the Oath of Order.

      The song is so fitting for the moment where everything is falling apart.  The speed at which the moon is coming in is shaking the ground apart and the draft of wind is tearing leaves from the trees and throwing debris.  Then upon playing this song, the four giants materialize out of the lands they guard.  They walk with even steps toward the moon and then reach up all at once to catch it before it crashes down on Clock Town.  After some struggle to keep it from falling, the moon ceases.  The sun has risen.  It's a new day.  

      Though a new day has come, the darkness has not yet passed.  Before victory can be claimed, the Skull Kid screams in pain before going limp.  Then the eyes on the mask begin to glow, and Majora's Mask begins to speak on its own.  It casts aside the Skull Kid for his failure, and begins to hover around on its own.  Majora's Mask has life of its own.  Though there are other dark artifacts like Majora's Mask including the remarkably similar in appearance Fused Shadows from Twilight Princess, this is the first one to display sentience.  Without a motive, care, or emotion, the mask travels up into the moon.  The moons eyes burn brighter as the mask says it wishes only to "consume everything."  The moon begins to bear down even harder and the giants struggle to hold it up.  

     While this is going on, Tatl expresses that she wishes to punish the Skull Kid for performing the crimes against the world and its inhabitants.  She is stopped by Tael who tells her the Mask is the real evil that must be dealt with.  Given no other option, Link must travel up into the moon by way of a strong gust leading into it.  If he cannot stop the moon, everything he has done would be for nothing.  Tatl tags along as this team prepares for whatever hell awaits them inside the belly of the beast.  For all who don't know what's coming next, this is probably the moment that digs at people the most.  I can guarantee confusion, shock, and absolute terror.  Tread lightly as we go into the depths of hell itself.  

The Vacant Wedding: Majora's Mask part 24

    Link meets with Kafei behind a rock on the final day in the canyon.  How Kafei managed to climb over the protective wall, the cliff, and avoid all the monsters is entirely beyond me, but here he proves that he can be kinda heroic too.  If I were to make a comparison, I'd say Kafei is sort of like the Rory Williams of this world.  The more you think about what he's doing, the more awesome he comes across.  The fact he got here without a horse or a sword makes him pretty cool.


   So Sakon prances up to the door of his hideout, does some open sesame stuff on the side of a canyon, and Kafei and Link run in before the door closes.  Kafei sees his mask sitting in a nice display case at the front of the hideout and runs straight for it, triggering a pressure plate.  I guess love really is blindness.  The mask starts moving out of the case down a conveyor belt to a shoot in the far side of the hideout.  I believe Tatl sasses Kafei for his mistake (misery loves company. friend).  At this point, the player is given control of Kafei's actions.  Kafei runs into the next room which is full of pressure plates, some which speed up the conveyor belt, others which return it to normal speed, and others still that open door.  As Kafei opens doors, Link runs into the next room and slays all the monsters within.  They continue this pattern as the rooms get more and more complex, but finally Link and Kafei make it to the mask just in time.  Kafei reveals that he promised Anju he would get to the inn so they could have their wedding.  He wants Link to witness it.  Link uses the Ocarina of Time to get there quickly since it can travel through both time and space.

Something Old, Something New
Something Borrowed, Something Blue

     As Link arrives in Clock Town, it is a familiar site from the first time he visited.  The streets are empty, the clock tower is ringing ominously, and the moon stares the city down.  Link enters the vacant inn to find Anju sitting alone in a room with her mask.  After about an hour and a half, Kafei shows up.  Although she doesn't recognize him at first, she quickly picks up on who he is.  They embrace and exchange masks, forming the Couple's Mask.  Giving this mask to Link, they tell him to escape and find shelter.

Kinda bittersweet if you ask me.

    As far as Link's actions go in this game, I feel like this one is the most meaningful.  Link slays monsters and lifts curses, fights aliens and bandits, proves his prowess on a horse and with a bow, and amid all of this reunites a couple.  I feel like this makes all the trouble worth it in the end.  What is done here differs from any action of any previous incarnation of Link.  Rather than helping a princess, Link helped an innkeeper.  Rather than slay a monster, Link delivered letters.  Rather than punish the thief, Link aided the ruined.  I mentioned that Majora's Mask flew in the face of the traditional legend.  If Link can't save the world for everyone, he at least saved the world for a couple  whom many doubted and everyone had forsaken.  This makes him a different sort of hero than any knight in shining armor.


   With only a couple hours left, Link would play the Song of Time, but instead he goes to the Clock Tower. Skull Kid has waited long enough.

Courtship, Curiosity Shop, and the Third Wheel: Majora's Mask part 23

     With no way out, Link is not getting out and the purple haired person's hideout has been revealed.  However, fox face (Hunger Games reference? in my Pixels? it's more likely than you think.) recognizes Link from the description of green clothes in Anju's letter.  Satisfied with Link's silent promise to keep a secret, the person removes the Keaton Mask to reveal he is in fact Kafei.  Tatl (that's the fairy in case you forgot, she's been here the whole time) says that the Kafei they are looking for is an adult.  Kafei mentions that a masked imp (probably Rorschach from Watchmen) transformed him into a child.

oh... close but no cigar I guess.  

  He goes on to say that his sudden transformation is not the reason he is hiding but rather something important was stolen from him.  The mask that he must unite with Anju's was stolen (read part 17 for further details) by a bald smiling man.  This character, who I have not discussed yet, is named Sakon.  He's an all around trouble maker. He robs an old lady on the night of the first day, tries to steal Link's sword in Ikana Canyon, and has a most unpleasant little canter.  Kafei is having a stakeout and cannot leave since he is waiting for Sakon to come to the Curiosity Shop.  It also just so happens that Kafei has the Keaton mask to wear in the absence of his Sun Mask.

btw, this is what he looks like.

  Apparently this is a world where everybody has a ton of masks lying around.  This is like going over to meet your significant other's parents, and upon entering the house everybody is wearing masks.  It would be alright if they were celebrating Mardi Gras, but instead they're doing whatever normal families do when you go over to visit the parent's of your significant other but with masks (I can't exactly put my finger on what one does in these situations, has dinner? talks about aspirations and interests? watches the game that isn't a video game? please leave a comment if you can enlighten me on this matter. I'm rambling from all the coffee I drank, but a comment would still be appreciated.)


  In his effort to comfort Anju in his absence, Kafei tasks Link with bringing her a pendant that only the real Kafei would own.  This effectively promotes Link to the role of intermediary and third wheel.  I sorta think this is ridiculous because Link can kill monsters, climb mountains, follow suspicious characters, avoid detection, and solve intense physics puzzles and yet he gets stuck with making the deliveries.  He's going to be the one to try and avert the apocalypse and yet he's just being the mailman working overtime.  Is it because Kafei is an adult in child form because technically Link could boast the same thing.  Whatever, Link gets the Keaton Mask for doing this because when he comes back Kafei has gone in pursuit of Sakon to Ikana Canyon.


    edited note:  I mentioned this guy is pretty cool in a previous post, and he's not a horrible person.  I just get a little belligerent after one too many cups of coffee.  We'll pick up with him redeeming himself in a treasure cave.

The Mask of the Fox: Majora's Mask part 22

    Remember during the finale to the ranch posts how I mentioned there was that groom who didn't show up when his fiancee was waiting with Cremia and Romani at the ranch?  Well, we're gonna talk about him now. This is the story of the only person who could be Link's equal in bravery and cunning.  Some would even suggest he is Link's doppelganger since Link is from Hyrule and this guy is from Termina.  I wouldn't go so far as to say that, but the similarities are quite apparent.  This is the story of Kafei (also it's probably gonna be another three parter like the ranch one was)

   When Link first entered Clock Town, it is very difficult to miss this guy.  He's a fellow with purple hair and a yellowish-golden fox mask (known in the Legend of Zelda as a Keaton mask, which comes from the Japanese word kitsune).  He walks down to a mailbox, puts in a letter, and then runs to a door in the wall by the laundry pool.  Despite sticking out like a sore thumb, no one else sees him.

Keaton Mask
(He's batman)

   After some poking around, Link may notice that the mayor of Clock Town has purple hair like the fellow in the Keaton Mask.  I'm no geneticist, but I think that would be a good starting point.  He says nothing about it,  however his wife mistakes Link for a private investigator (You think that sounds weird? Don't you know that in Japanese fiction all private investigators are children or got their start as children?).  She tells Link that her son, Kafei, went missing about a month ago.  Kafei is apparently a very famous man, but since Link was carried to Termina across the far reaching expanse of the multiverse, he has no clue who he is.  To aid Link in his investigation (since asking questions is difficult when the detective is mute) she gives him a mask in the likeness of Kafei (which is to say long purple hair). Nobody really knows where Kafei is, but the mailman acts all suspicious about it.  Following him after he picks up a letter from the mailbox the Keaton Mask wearing guy visited, he delivers the letter to Anju at the inn.  She's shocked that she received the letter and knows that it could only come from Kafei.  By wearing the mask in front of her, she invites Link to talk in the kitchen late at night about getting this letter.  She asks Link to deliver a letter in reply to the one received.

Actual Keaton Mask (looks like a Pikachu)

   After another round of mail delivery, the post man takes the letter to the laundry pools (Where the only purple haired individual in the entire town lives. This would not be so obvious if this wasn't the billionth time we reset time. If Link could talk, this would be a lot easier too.) After rising out of the laundry pool water like Martin Sheen in Apocalypse Now and running through the door the purple haired fellow came out of, Link finds himself in the back of the Old Curiosity Shop.  After waiting here a while, the purple haired fellow with the Keaton Mask charges in, cornering Link.
Next Post.

Actual Keaton
(scratch that Pikachu, it's a Ninetails sans six tails)

Stone Temple Pilots: Majora's Mask part 21

    Link goes to the stone temple and solves the puzzle of the floating cubes.  This puzzle relies heavily on using the song Elegy of Emptiness.  By performing this song, Ben (yeah we're just gonna keep calling it that and hope no one gets possessed), appears over a pressure plate.  This pressure plate moves a floating block around.  As different plates are pressed with different weight, the blocks rearrange in different positions.  In order to accomplish this, Link has to perform the Elegy of Emptiness using the goron, zora, and deku masks he has acquired thus far as well as when using Ben.  When playing the song in each of these forms, the statue that forms is not of Link but of the three souls that inhabit each mask, Darmani, Mikau, and the deku steward's son.  It suggests with all the souls Link has helped thus far, he has not been alone on this quest.  That said, I feel like the meaning behind the song Elegy of Emptiness is, well, empty.  There's all sorts of creepy things in the canyon including Ben, but something about the actual application of this song is a little disappointing.  This disappointment will continue through the rest of this section.  I am sorry for this but prepare for probably the dullest post of this series.

It's like that Roald Dahl story about the serial killer who was a taxidermist.  

   Link enters the temple, does some puzzles that involve standing on the ceiling and stuff, fights some worms, does so with a mask that makes him big enough to fight the worms, frees the giant and calls it a day.

   Yeah, there's really nothing to say here.  The whole surrounding area is death themed, but once you go in the temple, that all ends.  Link runs into the master of the Garo ninjas somewhere in there, fights him a bit, and then the guy blasts himself to pieces with a bomb so as to probably not fall under the curse of the land.  Link gets some holy arrows or something.

   Personally, I feel like this is the weakest part of the game's overall themes and story.  Sure, that whole bit with the puzzles was cool using the Elegy of Emptiness and the flipping of the temple upside down, but beyond that it is sort out of place when considering how interesting the surroundings are.  There is an entire canyon full of the undead and tormented souls, and this temple revolves around earth, wind, and fire (the elements, not the band).  Sure worms are the boss and there's that whole bit in Hamlet about dietary worms and Polonius and stuff (sorry if I left someone in the dust there with the Shakespeare, but spoilers:  Hamlet kills Polonius and then jokes about him being at dinner with worms).  This temple feels like it should've been in Ocarina of Time, and they didn't have enough done so they put it in Majora's Mask.

  The great thing is despite this temple's shortcomings, the game is less built around dungeons than more traditional Zelda titles.  Since the player is timed in completing each dungeon, these dungeons have to be short and there is a lot more additional content outside of the dungeons.  I feel like there is enough that go on outside of each of these temples that it gives me something more to talk about than the actual dungeons do.  With that said, Link saved the giant. He's got all four giants woot woot, wakka wakka.  With the giants back, the curses across the four lands have been lifted.  The sorrows of the people of Termina can now be lifted.  So now Link can prepare for the final showdown, but before that, I want to talk about a few other things before the ending.  I promise those things will be more interesting than this post.


Here, for your trouble, a picture of RDJ and Conan being awesome.

The Walking Dead: Majora's Mask part 20

   Link climbs a hill up to a well.  Like pretty much everything in Ikana Canyon, the well is dry.  Crawling down into the well reveals that it is full of mummies.  Using the wraps that came off the guy from earlier, Link passes off as a mummy capable of jogging that also wears green.  The mummies in the well each ask for stuff, and Link brings each thing so that the souls of the mummies can be laid to rest.  At the far end of the well is a chamber with an image of the sun in it.  There is also a treasure chest.  Within the treasure chest is a mirror shield.  Upon the mirror shield is the most unpleasant face of what would seem to be a gorgon.  By standing in the light shining into this chamber, Link reflects the light onto the walls with the sun on them.  The sun gives a creepy smile, opening the way to another chamber.  Then in a long bit of puzzle solving and slaying the dead, Link works his way through the castle of the Ikana royal family.

   Link finally reaches the throne room.  The drapes over the lights descend as the dead king of the Ikana people admonishes Link for entering the throne room.  The room descends to darkness as two armed guards  approach Link.  Link fights with these guys a bit, but because of the darkness the spirits reenter the bones.  As it turns out, while drapes can block out all light in a room, they are quite old and subject to burn easily.  Using fire arrows, Link completely burns away the drapes filling the throne room with light.  In the light, the bodies of the guards cannot reform.  The king of the Ikana then challenges Link, but Link beats him as well.

   With the spirits of the king freed, he reveals that the reason the souls of Ikana Canyon have been stirred is because of, yep you guess it, Skull Kid.  Well, probably Skull Kid, the King just says "the masked one."  It would seem the dead have been roaming this place for a while.  Its hard to say when Skull Kid came and started causing trouble with the mask, but it is most likely him.  The Mask Salesman is also not outside of the realm of possibility (what? I don't trust him).  He mentions that all this trouble began with the dead raising when the Skull Kid (probably) entered the Stone Temple.  Unfortunately, all the armies of the dead were perplexed by the puzzle that guards the temple (yeah it's one of those "really?" kinda things.  but how many fairy tale kings can't figure out puzzles and stuff which calls for a hero to do it?)  It does require more than one person to enter the temple, and Link is only one person, so the king teaches Link a song.  The Elegy of Emptiness.

You shouldn't have done that...

   This is a creepy song, not because of what it sounds like, but because of what it does.  When Link plays the song a statue of himself appears in his place but it just doesn't look quite right.  This statue is now known as Ben, due to a creepy internet story (otherwise known as a creepypasta if you want to look it up) called Ben Drowned.  Basically, the story goes that somebody received a cursed copy of Majora's Mask that contained the damned soul of the child (named Ben) who previously owned the game but died by drowning in a lake and now manifests himself in the form of the statue.  Ben's spirit becomes a demon that torments the writer of the tale before the writer finally goes insane.  This story is hardly the only one of its kind, there are too many stories of cursed games for all of them to be of good quality.  The writer provides footage of how the game messes with him, and I must admit it's some eerie stuff.  I encourage you to read it.  It is probably one of the creepiest things I've ever read.  Sure it's fiction, but still I enjoyed it

Link takes this song to the temple.  Where we will pick up next time.

Monsters n' Music: Majora's Mask part 19

   Link goes to a graveyard where he is visited by a dead spirit named Flat.  Flat was a composer who wrote songs for the royal family of Ikana.  His brother, Sharp, was also a composer, but Sharp sold his soul and cursed Flat's soul to the graveyard.  While Flat was under the graveyard, he wrote a song filled with his hatred and sorrow toward his brother's actions and downfall.  This song is the Song of Storms, which is all over Youtube in a variety of dubstep remixes.  You should check them out if you're into that thing.  If not, the actual song that existed before the dubstep remixes is also quite nice.

 

   Having climbed the cliff, Link comes upon a strange building shaped like a music box.  It has a mill wheel in the river next to it, but the river doesn't have enough water in it so the music box house is doing nothing.  Surrounding the music box house are several mummies.  These mummies, known as gibdos, are nothing to mess around with, so we're just gonna let them devils do their thing for now and completely ignore them.

Somebody call Brendan Fraser.  We need him to yell at them a lot.  

     Link follows the riverbed to a cave.  Within the cave is another spirit.  This spirit is Sharp, the brother of Flat.  Sharp makes for a horrible soul.  He questions why Link would come to the land of the dead and assumes Link wishes to be dead.  Working his foul magic, Sharp makes Link gradually begin to weaken.  Under the circumstances of being faced by a spirit, it would make sense to play the Song of Healing.  While it worked fine every other time, the difference is that Sharp is not a tortured soul but rather a torturing soul.  He finds the song to be soothing (they all say that) and then proceeds to get back to killing Link.  The Song of Storms seems like the next best thing. It was written by flat so that would make it fitting to use against sharp.  When Link plays that, Sharp panics and stops torturing Link.  With Sharp's spirit gone, water begins to pour out of the cave and fill the riverbed.  As the water passes down the stream, the mill wheel turns.  As the wheel turns, music begins coming out of the house which causes all the gibdos to sort of dance around before descending into the ground.

     With the mummies gone, the camera zooms up to the door of the house and a click can be heard from the door unlocking.  Link comes out of the cave to see a little girl come out of the house and watch the river flow by.  This girl is very timid and will run in the house and lock the door if she sees Link approaching.  Using the mask that allowed Link to slip by the guards in the pirate base, Link enters the house.

    As it turns out, it is not the monsters outside that led the girl to lock the door, but the monster within.  Link opens a closet, and in a scene that I swear did not make me jump out of my chair, a half mummy guy jumps out and starts approaching Link.

I'm not shaking.  It just so happens
there's a small earthquake under
my feet.  

    After recovering and finding wherever I threw the controller, it is noted that the man isn't attacking.  Link plays the Song of Healing (because why not) and the mummy wraps fall off the guy, freeing him from the curse.  The wraps form into a mask, because it can be assumed the song fixed his soul without completely removing it and instead cut out the bad part and put it in the mask in a weakened state.  The daughter and father embrace in a rather happy moment and Link takes the mask to do something that we will discuss in the next post.  

Abandon Hope, Ye Who Enter Here: Majora's Mask part 18

    Link approaches Ikana Canyon to the east.  Before I say any more, I'd like to point out the literary significance of going east.  To the Japanese living on an island, to go west was to go to China, but to go east was just ocean.  In the Chinese Odyssey "Journey to the West," the monk Xuanzang goes west to India to acquire the sacred texts of Buddhism in order to return east to reform the morally loose frivolity of his home.  In Jewish tradition, Cain, after killing his brother Abel, fled from God's presence east of Eden.  East of Eden became the title of a John Steinbeck work and the character Nick Carraway in F. Scott Fitzgerald's The Great Gatsby goes east to Long Island, NY where he witnesses the immorality of the Roaring Twenties.

Shi means death

   It sort of makes sense that going east has such a negative connotation in these cultures.  The sun rises in the east and sets in the west, so if a people were to spread out, it would make sense to go west with the sun so that they would not be travelling in the dark.  Ikana Canyon is a place full of darkness.  It is also the fourth geographical location Link has gone to this journey.  The significance of the number for is that in older Japanese, the word for four was shi.  Shi sounds remarkably similar to the Japanese word for death.  As such, the number four is unlucky (I'm having the wildest sense of deja vu. Did I write that before?) Ikana Canyon is also really the only place thus far in the journey that Link gets the option of turning back upon reaching it.  He rides to the canyon to find a large cliff with an odd hermit sitting on top.  The hermit's entire face is hidden save for one glowing red eye and his decaying bony legs swaying over the cliff's edge.  This fellow is the doppelganger of someone Link met on his previous adventure.  The original person's trade was the buying and selling of tormented souls known as Poes (named after the American poet and short story writer, it's no secret the creators of these games love literature just as the makers of the Mega Man series love music, and this is why Legend of Zelda has excellent stories while Mega Man has excellent music).  He will not let Link through unless Link comes back with a certain mask due to the dangers of the land.

(From OoT) What does one do with purchased tortured souls?

   Link acquires the necessary mask by challenging the bandits who tried to plunder the ranch's wagon in a race.  This mask is the Garo Ninja mask.  It is sort of a double edged sword.  The history of Ikana Canyon was that the kingdom of Ikana went to war with the Garo Ninjas.  It ended poorly for the Kingdom and now only the Garo Ninjas wander the ruins.  While wearing the mask, Link is safe from the tortured spirits of the land, but Link also attracts the attention of the Garo Ninjas.  They frequently mistake him for their leader, but upon realizing their fault challenge Link to a duel in a ring of mystical fire.  They aren't too difficult to beat, but they do come out of nowhere frequently and must be fought to go any farther.  Upon recognizing Link's strength, they give him some information before performing self-cremation.  They always say it is the way of their order to die without leaving a body.  It suggests that perhaps there is a curse on the dead of this land and to burn is the only way to be sure one's spirit will not linger.

Now imagine it coming out of nowhere and attacking.  

   We will continue upon Link's journey through the land of the dead in the next post.

Masquerade, Paper Faces on Parade: Majora's Mask part 17

    As you've probably guessed by now, masks are of considerable importance to this story.  The villain wears a mask, the monsters wear masks, and the hero is collecting masks from people he helps.  Being such an important symbol, I figure we should take a moment to look more deeply into these masks.

I always liked this picture.  Captures the dark whimsy of Skull Kid.

   I'm gonna start with the three masks that cause Link to transform (there's a fourth one later, but like just about everything in this blog, time and place).  The three forms that Link takes on in this game are the deku (tree person), the goron (rock person), and the zora (fish person).  Aside from the clever stream lining of many items that existed but were limited in use from the previous game (Link can shoot his fins out like boomerangs in Zora form and Goron Link can slam into the ground in the place of the hammer), it is important to note that each of these three masks embodies a spirit.  The Zora was the spirit of Mikau, the guitarist for the Indigo-gos.  When Link wears this mask, the other Zoras believe him to be Mikau.  The Goron mask contains the spirit of Darmani, the Beowulf-esque Goron.  Other Gorons also recognize him.  The Deku mask is the mystery.  Whose spirit does it contain?  Though never specifically stated, it is heavily implied that it was the dead tree Link met in the dark cave when he first came to Termina.  So who is that if both of the other two forms were of great significance and not just run of the mill Gorons and Zoras.  Link, within the Deku Palace, meets the butler and steward of the King who lets Link follow him through a sacred portion of the castle.  When Link wears the Deku mask and follows the Steward, the Steward mentions that Link reminds him of his son who went missing a while ago.  It is confirmed in the credits that the dead tree is his son as he is seen crying on his branches and roots before it.

   I think it is interesting to note that the Happy Mask Salesman (who is hardly trustworthy, stalking and strangling kids and stuff) carries around a lot of masks on his backpack.  We would like to think they are just simple masks with no magical properties, but seeing how Majora's Mask was part of his collection, I doubt these masks are harmless.

  Why masks?  Why not souls in some soul jar?  Well, something that I haven't really noted too much is that the greater portion of this world has a very Meso-American atmosphere to it.  There was the Mayan chanting in the swamp, the ocean huts at the Great Bay, and large dwelling mounds in the mountains, there are also stone temples in the canyon.  According to popular traditions about Native American magic, it was believed that wearing masks made the wearer into the individual depicted.  Many times this is literal, as in the above cases,  other times this is semi literal, and other times still this is metaphorical.

   In the semi literal cases are such masks as the Bremen Mask (a falcon-shaped mask) and Kamaro's Mask (the mask of a dancer).  When Link wears these masks, he still maintains his form as a Hylian (human), but gains the skills of the original owners.  The Bremen mask allows Link to charm animals into following him and  Kamaro's Mask allows Link to dance as the owner's lost spirit once did.


   Other times still, masks just exist as symbols.  Cremia gave Link the Romani Mask, which symbolizes that she recognizes him as an adult, and when two lovers exchange the sun and moon masks (which serve the function of wedding rings) the masks fuse into the Couple's Mask (given to a witness as a testament of the couple's love).

   While there is the matter of bringing something into reality, there is also the idea that masks are a facade.  The three bosses fought thus far died and in their death left nothing but their masks.  Through this, it is suggested that perhaps the monsters never were real, but that they were puppets on strings.  These puppets could be something like anchors that hold the curses down to lands since the Skull Kid cannot be in all these places at once to maintain his own mischief.  By killing the monsters and seizing the masks, the captive giants go free and set right what was wrong.


   I think this will be the first part of the mask discussion.  I will return to this again at the final showdown and complete the thought.  It will make more sense then.

Now let's get to that canyon.

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.

Sea Turtles, Mate: Majora's Mask part 15

   Playing the song for Lulu makes her sing it for an island.  The island turns into a turtle with palm trees on its back and takes Link to the Great Bay Temple.  The temple is surrounded by what looks like a hurricane (in all its N64 glory).  The pirates also try to sail a boat to the temple, but the winds lift their boat and throw them into the sea.  Turtles that perform island identity theft are far more structurally sound means of transportation beyond pirate ships.  The turtle goes to the temple and Link hops off and enters to find turbines and pipes and stuff.  Turns out temples are the perfect places for large industrial centers of indoor plumbing and waste treatment.

  I often have found this to be a matter worth discussing.  What is the purpose of a temple?  I would assume it would be to worship something.  However, in so many of the Legend of Zelda games, these temples are full of puzzles and monsters.  That would be like going to church, and in order to get the church bulletin, you would have to slide boxes around over certain pressure plates to make the treasure chest holding the church bulletins appear.  Next, in order to get the communion crackers and wine, you would have to go down into the boiler room and measure water pressure and divert flow while being timed for the box to open up with the Eucharist in it.  Then, in order to put money in the offering plate, you would have to beat large stone-spitting squids to death with your church bulletin.  Finally, to hear the sermon, a giant fish comes out of nowhere and tries to eat you while being nearly impossible to hit in the murky water.  If that's how people worship in the Legend of Zelda, no wonder these temples are virtually empty.  Link must be a saint for enduring all of this.  I know a church and a temple aren't exactly the same thing, but I feel like the illustration makes the point.  I feel like I might be missing something about the nature of these temples, but if Nintendo ever thinks to write a second edition of Hyrule Historia, I'll let them discuss that to greater length.

So much hate.

  So giant fish, am I right?  His name is Gyorg, and he is wearing a mask like Goht and Odolwa were.  You ever see the movie Jaws?  Well, one fellow wearing green falls into the water, zero fellows wearing green come out.  The fish just throws itself against the platform and vomits piranhas.  He is also very hard to hit.  He is really hard to hit.  I don't know how else to put this.  Just try throwing a feather at a chandelier and then divide that by two, it's unpleasant and tedious.


   Link kills the fish, frees the third giant, and restores peace to the ocean.  The band of Zoras, the Indigo-gos, gets together (except the dead guy, because, you know) and performs the song the little Zora children wrote.  Lulu reveals the song they wrote was actually a song her mother used to sing...


ummm...


Those little fish children are still better at music than Mozart.  Song of Time right outta there.  Next time we will be looking at more symbols and themes and then we will be diving right into the canyon from hell.  This is gonna be good.

The Best Pirates: Majora's Mask part 14

    Link as a fish person swims into the pirate hideout.  After dodging patrol boats and sea mines and traversing an incredibly elaborate series of water works that exist for no defined purpose but to be mini puzzles.  Link finds himself in a pirate courtyard for Gerudo pirates.

Ganon-ish

    I realize that this entire series, I have been throwing a billion odd names all over the place so with sincerest and most courteous apologies allow me to define this one too.  The Gerudo people are a tribe that usually live in the desert that consists entirely of women.  All of these women are redheads without exception.  The matter of this race of all women's survival for hundreds of years is not discussed in the games (because E for everyone), I think it is safe to assume that if any questions are asked, one should defer to the Wikipedia article on the Amazons because I will not say any more on this.  All Gerudo women will have Gerudo daughters, but prophecies tell of a man being born among them who is exceptionally powerful and very evil.  This guy, Ganon, is villain of most of the games.  As discovered in Skyward Sword, this anomalous Gerudo exists due to a malevolent spirit that takes will take on human form and is constantly reincarnated over the years.  The important thing is red headed pirate ladies.

Here's some music to enrich your reading experience.  

After doing his best to avoid patrolling guards, Link handily gets captured and then promptly experiences defenestration or gets thrown off a wall or something of that sort.   I went and got a special mask to appear invisible to guards (like hiding under a cardboard box or barrel as a certain chain smoking spy featured immediately above these lines is known to do) and then worked my way toward a crawlspace.  In this crawlspace, Link sees a beehive hanging from the ceiling and the pirate captain lady is talking to one of her fellow pirates.  They discuss that Skull Kid (because who else) told them to take the eggs as they would reveal the secret entrance to the Great Bay Temple and unbelievable treasure.  Link takes a shot with his bow and knocks the beehive down chasing the pirates from the room.  Then sneaking around a bit more, he claims one of the four eggs in the hideout.  Sneaking around and avoiding the other guards (though having to fight with some because they are different than the pike wielding guards) leads to more eggs which fit in the ever convenient bottles.  However, these four eggs are incomplete as three more eggs must be obtained. Link swims there and finds that the eggs are guarded by large sea snakes.  As it turns out, Link has the power to emit electricity like an electric eel in this form and by doing so fries all the snakes.  

Upon rescuing the eggs and taking them to the marine biology lab.  The eggs hatch together and, putting Mozart to shame, write a jazz combination melody moments after being born.  Really gotta hand it to the little guys, maybe instead of playing Mozart for newborn infants, mothers will let their infants get kidnapped by pirates and sea monsters.  Could be risky but at least all the kids would come back as musical prodigies.  That's right Mozart, I'm talking to you.  What do you even do anymore?  Decompose? Ok, I think I've sold this at this point and should move on.  

Anyway, Link plays the song for the mother, who sings it at an island, and the island transforms into a large sea turtle with trees on its back.  Can you spell puzzles and dungeons? I think you can.  Also, unlike the first two, this one is quite tedious, though not as bad as the one that shall not be named from the previous game that was also big blue and wet.  Thankfully this is not a tutorial, and I can just hit the high points in the next post.