Some really brilliant responses, I really enjoyed the Earthbound and FE comments too.
Crunched said:
Wasn't Majora originally some kind of huge, obese monster? I remember a comic or something where he is "killed" and becomes the mask.
Neiteio said:
Can't believe the OP praised the villain of my all-time favorite game but forgot to post what he looked like
before he was reduced to a mere mask:
http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/zelda/images/8/80/Majora_(Manga).gif
http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20090906092634/zelda/images/8/8e/Majora_manga.jpg
Majora's beast form, from the manga. As the legend goes, he ate every warrior who ventured into his realm to challenge him, until one warrior brought a pair of bongos (if I recall correctly) and played a beat that caused Majora to dance... and dance... and dance, until after 72 hours he collapsed of weariness and the warrior (the Fierce Deity) carved up Majora's carapace and made the mask, in which Majora's essence survived.
Meanwhile, the dance-to-death explains why Majora's Incarnation (the second form) dances all over the place, from the moonwalk to the can-can. It's a very cool origin story and one I wish they explored in the game proper. It would be cool to see Majora restored to his beast form in a future Zelda someday... Call him Majora's Hunger, since eating warriors is what he did.
Its an interesting backstory certainly, but being licensed from Nintendo does not canonise it. Captain N the Games Master was also licensed from Nintendo, and that certainly had no canon impact.
I actually would prefer this manga to be treated as a non-canon theory, and Majora's origins to be less clear. Given his power (to posess planetary bodies and pull them out of the sky and supreme corrupting sorcery), I imagine any specific explanation would be mundane.
McNum said:
Another comparison would be The Joker, except with superpowers. I mean, it's not hard at all to boil Majrora's motivations down to "for the lulz". Almost as if it doesn't know or care that anyone gets hurt by it, but dropping a moon on a town sounds like fun! Big boom! Even the lead-in to the fight against Majora has it still thinking it's just a game and it finally has a "bad guy" that's strong enough to be fun to play with.
Chavelo said:
Did the OP just compare Majora to the Batman's Joker?
The Joker comparison was not intended, but now I read through the post again I can really see it. Rather than specific origin stories for Majora, its tempting to think of him as a Joker-like force-of-nature, an agent of pure chaos. Subdued but never stopped.
Zeal said:
More words please.
wwm0nkey said:
As a kid to me it seems Majora though it was all a game. The end result being if we lose everyone dies and there is no continuing from that point. He seemed childish but I think that is what was really scary about it for me, treating the fate of the entire planet like a childrens game.
Its been awhile since I played it but thats what Ive though since I was a kid, could probably be wrong though since I havent played it in years.
EDIT: Also the way he dances and hops around in the final fight just made me think of a child and how he was clearly just treating the whole thing as a game.
Fimbulvetr said:
You forgot to mention that Majora has the mind of a child. Imagine if he/she/it was ever serious.
I interpret it a bit like the movie The Mask - the mask takes on qualities of his host (even after the detachment), and the new entity tries to consolidate their differing backstories into one.
Skull Kid backstory: A lonely child who runs away because his (Hyrule) friends will not play with him. He is bitter. He has a tantrum and runs away.
Majora (known) backstory: A demonic entity who tried to destroy Termina millenia ago (see the ancient carvings in the Stone Temple) only to be defeated by the four summoned giants and exiled from the realm (albeit temporarily).
Consolidated backstory internally invented by the new Majora-Skull Kid entity: A lonely child entity Majora tried to play with the giants but they do not play with him and cast him out.
If the mask, or another artifact of Majora fell into different hands, the resultant power and personality could be truly apocalyptic and very different.
SirPenguin said:
Saw this on another forum, but you know how you can use the observatory to look up at the moon? On the 1st and 2nd days it shows Skull Kid/Majora dicking around on the clock tower. He notices you, then mocks you by slapping his ass like a monkey before jumping away
On the 3rd day, he changes. The moment you look into the telescope he's staring at you, head cocked at an unnatural angle, twitching slightly. He doesn't even mock you, nor does he jump away. Just continues to stare and twitch.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1tsu5kbcn7k
It's incredibly unsettling.
Jenga said:
No, that's what the Skull-kid wanted.
in my mind the real majora shows itself like when you see skull kid twitching at you , tightening its grip on the kid near the end making him become less trickster and more psychotic
as for bioware style "spiteful dick", imo that's just Skull-kid acting under the influence of Majora
I like the idea that the closer they get to the apocalypse, the more the entity asserts itself and dominates his hosts child behaviour. There are lines that a clearly child-like, and then there is the I WILL CONSUME EVERYTHING (the only use of full caps in the game) which seems to be the purest expression of the Majora creature.
SirPenguin said:
Majora's Mask is full of stuff like that. There's a ton of scenes I missed simply because I didn't even think to look for them. For instance, there's a scene that occurs if you rescued 1-3 of the giants, but not all of them. The giants you've freed still come and try to stop the moon...but they fail.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yGzgBqi5qiU#t=1m55s
Holly shit I had no idea!
Green Scar said:
The Happy Mask Salesman was Majora's herald, he wanted to challenge Link after the events of OoT and pulled him into his fucked-up game.
At least, that's a possible explanation. If Majora is that evil it would make sense he'd want to fuck with the world's greatest hero just for the craic.
The Happy Mask Salesman, his disjointed movement and speech, his control over time and interdimensional manipulations confirm he is the Zelda version of Half-Life's G-Man. Reading his lines in the G-Man's voice is marvellous.
EatChildren said:
I always liked the idea that Ganondorf was to Majora as Sauron was to Morgoth.
It would be great if he was the main villain of Skyward Sword.
I like the idea that the Majora entity is leagues above Ganondof in demonic power.
A theory I've been bouncing about:
-Given Majora's almost-celestial power, he could be a creature on the same level as the three Goddesses that created the worlds. Some sort of universal personification of chaos.
-When the Goddesses created the bubble of life containing Hyrule, Termina and all related lands (As per the Hyrule origin story shown in OOT), this protected the people in it from Majora's direct interference.
-Dark artifacts that have been the focal point of atrocities can summon him back into the world. The Mask was used by a tribe in (if I recall correctly) hexxing and ritual human sacrifice. These ongoing acts made the mask a focal point that Majora could use to reenter the world.
-When Skull Kid stole the mask, Majora started as a little voice in his mind from the mask and enabled him with primitive magic (explaining the various mild magic 'pranks'). As time went on the voice grew to dominate and the magic became planet-destroying.
-When the mast detaches from Skull Kid, it acknowledges Link as a suitable challenger, and Majora's physical incarnation grows flesh out of the mask (its gateway into the world).
Note that if you look at the Majora's Wrath boss, and assume the purple colouring and symbols are a result of it retaining the patterns carved onto the mask, we can edit these out through a quick application of MS Paint. As you can might or might not agree, the result exhibits the most biblical Satanic design of anything in Zelda - Horns, talons, even Cthullu tentacles to borrow from another mythology.
-When defeated (the mask is destroyed), Majora has lost this entry point into the world. If another object picks up the chaos from atrocities or bloodshed, that could become another entry point.
(You could even expand this and suggest the Shadow Temple in Hyrule was a failed attempt to summon Majora through such atrocities, perhaps as a misguided attempt to win the wars that preceeded OOT).
Its all speculation of course, but its the way I like to interpret the character!
Neiteio said:
Who did these two incredible pieces of art?
EDIT: One step ahead there, Ivysaur.
Sorry should have posted the links with the OP:
http://kurkoboltsi.deviantart.com/art/MM-Fierce-Deity-VS-Majora-164494593
http://henskelion.deviantart.com/art/Majora-s-Wrath-179206359
sillik said:
Between this thread, and the "most creepy gaming moment" one it feels that certain fans of a certain company are blissfully ignorant/terribly shortsided when it comes to gaming experiences.
I really want you to come back and explain your patronising comment. Really, please do. I'm actually a "certain fan" of many companies.
You know what? I have high praise for the villains in System Shock 2 (never have I felt such directed contempt); Panzer Dragoon Saga (there's a strange alien logic to its motivations), Portal (present and yet an unknown, from beginning to end), Soul Reaver 2 (completely victorious), Braid (
), Riven (magnificently eloquent), Eternal Darkness (true corruption of a human soul) and Killer 7 (many answers depending on what plane of the story - material, celestial or psychological - you are considering).
Blissfully ignorant, terribly-short sighted my arse.
In my opinion, Majora is outstanding. I don't need to repeat why, just read the OP. I've justified my comments, now justify yours.