[Article] Origin of Fierce Deity and the Majora's Mask

[the_Predator]

Hello guys. So here's my theory on the origins of Majora's Mask and the Skull kid. There is also a brief explanation on the Happy Mask Salesman but it seems like it isn't too accurate but I'll leave that to you to decide. So here goes...

Alternative Fierce Deity + Majora's Mask Origin Theory

First of, the idea for this theory isn't originally mine. I found an article on google some time ago and I thought it over, and this is what I came up with.
First of all let me review the basic things, the last fight with Majora.

• The fight takes place on the surface of the moon which is falling on Termina.
  On the moon all you see is a giant empty space with one tree in the middle (?) surrounded by a small portion of grass.
• Around the tree you see 5 children wearing masks. 4 of the wear masks of the dungeon bosses you meet in the game while the 5th child is wearing Majora's Mask.
• The 4 children wearing boss masks (Boss children from now on) are playing. Only the kid wearing Majora's Mask (Majora kid from now on) is sitting lonely under the tree.
• If you play a mini game with each of the 4 boss children (Assuming you have all the other masks) you give each of them some of your masks and in the end you get the Fierce Deity mask from the Majora kid.

1. Origin and identity of Fierce Deity
Now after those things are set, now is the time for a bit more in-depth look of the situation. First of all let's check Majora's psyche a bit. For him this whole thing is a game. It has a playful nature. Notice how this resembles on the surface of the moon. 4 children playing, but one isn't. Why is that so? I will go into detail later. Also note that the Majora child asks you to play with him when you talk to him, no matter if you did the mini games or not. Now that everything is set up, in order to explain everything easier later on I will state the theory here and I will provide the evidence in this article. The basic idea is that the place where the kids are, the kids themselves, do not exist. It is all in the mind of Majora (Assuming that the entity in the mask is called Majora). The same goes for Fierce Deity as well. He or It never existed unlike the other transformation mask's original owners.

Now before you start thinking "What bull**** is this!?" and stop reading the article, let me provide the evidence. First of all judging by the scenery it becomes quite obvious that it cannot be reality. Endless white void and just one grass spot with a tree on top of a destructive moon... Also the fact that you regain all your masks which you gave to the Boss children after you leave the moon supports this statement. So... that same theory states that the 4 children aren't real either. Now take a close look at the situation. The kids are doing what? They are playing. Playing with masks. And when kids play, especially with masks, they usually pretend to be someone else, in this case they are pretending to be the corresponding boss whose mask they are wearing. But the Majora kid is just sitting there. Why? Take a look at Majora's Mask. What does it represent? Nothing. It is no animal, no human, nothing. That is why the other kids didn't let the Majora kid play with them. So the Majora kid is most probably angry. And there goes Link... he comes to the tree, and he talk to each of the 4 Boss children. Each of them says that he wants to play with Link. And thus the mini games start. Note also that in each of the mini games you must wear a transformation mask in order to finish it. That also goes to the favor that this is all happening in Majora's mind because the children are pretending to be someone / something else and Link must play along, thus change form.
Now imagine the Majora kid who is watching the other 4 kids and Link playing together. He would be jealous at Link, and we all know jealousy leads to anger and hate. So when Link is done playing with the other children the Majora kid asks him to play with him. After Link accepts the Majora kid says that Link is the bad guy, since the kid is angry and hates Link thinking that it was bad of him to play with the other kids who were cruel to the Majora kid. There comes the Fierce Deity mask. As we all know Fierce Deity is called Oni Link in Japaneses and Oni means demon which then translates into Demon Link. And that is the essence of the whole mask. It is just a mask created by Majora in order to surface Links evil side in his heart (Or at least evil parts). That also explains why Fierce Deity looks like Link. In other words, Fierce Deity never existed.

2. Origin and identity of Majora's Mask
Now for the second part of this article I will try to explain the origin of Majora's Mask. Trough the game it is never said who or what made the mask nor where it comes from. Also there is no information on how old the mask is. Ok so let's get started.

As said the scene on the moon is not real. It is just happening in Majora's mind. Now to be more precise in Majora's memories. Maybe not his memories but I will clear it up in this part of the article. Now look at the scene again of the children playing. That is the memory. And if Majora is "playing it back" then it would certainly be the memory of the Majora kid. And that is it, the explanation of the "evil" inside the mask. The Majora kid was sad, angry and confused. The mask absorbed all the sorrow and the hate. That is also how it could recall that very memory of that day. Now some of you might think that if it was a memory then the first part of the article with Fierce Deity would come in conflict. Well if that is a memory then it must be very very very old. Because in the game it is said that an ancient tribe used the mask for rituals. This means that at that point the mask was already created and filled with the sorrow and all the anger from the kid. That also states that the mask mask was made many ages before that tribe got a hold of it (Yes I am saying that the tribe didn't create the mask. It isn't said where they had it from to begin with).

So that means that Link wasn't alive at that time (At least not the Link in MM, depending on where in the timeline MM is placed the actual event on the moon might have happened during some of the older Zelda games). So Link actually never interrupted the kids play and all what happened is that the Majora kid watched the other children play. Probably the same event happened many times where the Majora kid was left out because his mask didn't represent anything.

So to sum it up. Majora (The entity in Majora's Mask) is actually the anger, the sorrow, the hate and sadness of that little boy. Now in the game Majora meets the Skull kid who is basically very similar to the kid who made Majora's Mask. And thus starts the whole thing. Majora never wanted to destroy the world because of some evil ideals like Ganondorf for example. All it wanted is to play with someone and he sees all his doings as a game. This is widely confirmed by the things Majora says trough the game, aswell as trough it's behavior. Maybe some of his saying don't support this statement but don't forget that it is the Skull Kid wearing the mask so it might be some part of him speaking too. There is no evidence that states that the mask took total control over the Skull Kid.

3. Addition theories and info

• I'm sure you all know that you can only use the Fierce Deity mask in boss battles. But since the Fierce Deity mask is only a fictional item created by the boy on the moon that would mean that the rooms where you fight the bosses aren't real either. That also explains why you can fight the bosses over and over again. It is just a virtual world which Majora created and the boss fights are just games to him. Majora created the bosses by the image of the 4 masks the boss kids were wearing when playing together ages ago. Remember that all those bosses were actually the giants wearing the boss masks. Assuming hat those boss masks are actually transformation masks for the giants it is logical that when you are fighting them again they are simply "playing" with you again by putting on the mask of the boss. But it could also be that since it's a fiction world created by Majora that is simply "resets" when you enter it again. The first theory is more likely to be true though.
  
• If you take a close look at the 4 kids you will see an incredibly strong resemblance to a certain person... The Happy mask salesman. They practically look identical to him (When he still was a child). The Happy mask salesman said that Majora's Mask is a very important mask to him. Now one would automatically assume that it is because of its power but what if it isn't that? There were many theories stating that the Happy Mask salesman is not human because of his ability to move around rather fast and appear as if he just manifested at the spot. He also knows quite a lot which isn't just limited to masks. For example he helped Link regain his former form. Remember also the fact that he said that he needs to leave Termina in 3 days. And the moon is supposed to crash in 3 days. Coincidence? Maybe... but most unlikely. I am sure that you all see where this is going, the kid who was sitting under the tree, and who created the Majora's Mask is the Happy Mask Salesman. This sets up the question... Why do the 4 other kids look like him? This could be of various reasons. It is possible that over the ages Majora forgot how the other kids look because of it's hate and anger towards them. Or perhaps it made all the other kids look the same in the moon scene because the only important thing about them were their masks. It didn't want to remember them. It could also mean that, since childred think of themselves as other creatures while they play as stated above, Majora never thought of those 4 as children but as the 4 bosses.
  
• The forms which Majora's mask takes during the battle against him are rather "abstract" forms. This is due to the fact that back when the kids were playing, that particular mask didn't mean aything. So Majora's imagination could make it into anything it wanted.Phew... well this is it. Hope the article was helpful and/or interesting. I'm sure there are lots of things to add but these can be considered the "basics".

That's it. Hope this provided enough proof to confirm the article. Thanks for reading.

[Rak]

Take a look at Majora's Mask. What does it represent? Nothing. It is no animal, no human, nothing. That is why the other kids didn't let the Majora kid play with them.

I’m not sure this is so easy to assume. I always saw the Majora kid to be disgruntled, which made him defiantly unwilling to play with the others.

After Link accepts the Majora kid says that Link is the bad guy, since the kid is angry and hates Link thinking that it was bad of him to play with the other kids who were cruel to the Majora kid.

Again, this might not be solid reasoning here.

I would agree with you that the final confrontation and the weird haven where the kids run around isn’t “real.” But you would have to reiterate the old Matrix question: how do you define real? While the Majora confrontation might entirely be a battle of psyche between Link and Majora with no physical substance or setting, that does not necessarily mean the event is nonexistent. The result might be explained by calling the event an alternate reality, while not quite a dream, and certainly not a digitalized construct for the brain(like the Matrix), it’s crafted by a more mysterious magic of Majora, which makes such an alternate reality possible. This is similar to how Termina and MM in general take place in an alternate dimension of Hyrule, seemingly a parallel universe. But the concept is taken to the third power.

I also don’t agree with your concluded origin of Majora. While it might explain the earliest signs of the initial evil, it still doesn’t explain how a mere kid could be capable of such powerful evil, or how that anger could be manifested and magnified into a mask. We know that in order for the essence of a mask to be created, its host being must be dead first. But the Fierce Diety Mask and Majora’s Mask ‘s host origins are unknown, and your theory would be suggesting the kid was the first Majora, and after his death, his depressive qualities were instilled in his own mask. If this mask/host connection remains constant with Majora’s Mask, then the Happy Mask Salesman is most definitely not the source of Majora.

I think the playing children are not to be taken literally into the origins of Majora. They could simply be reflections of inner emotions revealed in the skull kid, or even Link. The skull kid seems more likely, as his inner friendship-inhibition worries are constantly revealed throughout the game. It is reflected in the grim interpretations of play that Majora projects into the final confrontation. Oni does not only mean demon in Japanese culture, but also the source of childhood tease, (in games similary to “tag”, Oni refers to the kid who is “it”). I do think there are deeper interpretations of this dark childhood nostalgia reflected in the final confrontation that serves as deeper source of symbolism than source of Majora’s origin.

Also the offical manga has touched on the origins of Majora and the carving of the mask a bit. If the creators seek to pursue Majora and reveal more of its origin in the future, I would bet they would work off this.

I remember reading an article some years ago that analyzed the phenomena somewhat differently. While I cannot remember the exact premise or find the article, I remember the analysis of symbolism, and its use in childhood, nostalgia, and good guys vs. bad guys. It analyzed the in game quotes in depth, and that’s something that your article is missing. It would be nice to have the game quotes stated and analyzed one right after another, to better prove the theory. I’d like to see some more in-depth analysis of the kids, with many different interpretations. Perhaps there is deep symbolism behind the kids, contrast and similarities between the four boss kids and the majora kid, an analysis of the hide-and-seek games versus good guys versus bad guys/cops and robbers, the quotes, or the four hiding and seemingly bad while Majora is the “good guy” and seeks. This is a well-founded article overall though, but I look forward to a more in-depth, thought-out, and researched revision sometime in the future. Good job.

[the_Predator]

Thank you for the explanation, I will make sure to find some quotes and work them over. Although I'm currently busy with rewriting the section on the main page (So busy that I'm not sure if I'll manage to keep up :S). Anyway, here are a few starting comments:

For your first statement, that Majora didn't wanted to play with them, it is possible of course but as both you and me lack evidence for either of them, none can be said for sure. But as far as I know, if I was a small kid who is being a jerk and doesn't want to play with the others I wouldn't just sit there watching them play... This is stretching it a bit though...

About the nonexistent thing... If I ever said that the event is nonexistent then I apologize as it was probably wrong terminology. What I meat is basically that it isn't happening in the "real" dimension and in whatever dimension it happens, Majora has full control of that dimension and some other entities closely related to Majora and the mask _MIGHT_ be able to have some sort of effect on that dimension.

Also, thank you for pointing out that the original medium of a mask has to be dead for the mask to exist, that is certainly true, at least for a transformation mask. But if I follow my theory, take the masks of the bosses. I believe that they are transformation masks too, but just that the giants were forced to wear them and / or were sealed with them. This is also a theory, but the fact that you can go and repeat the boss fight whenever you want more or less supports that theory.

I also believe that the rooms in which you fight the bosses are happening in the same, or similar dimension to the one "in" the moon, thus Majora could have created the boss masks just like he created the FD mask, but because of his grudge for the children that rejected him or Skull Kid's grudge against the giants he used the masks that the kids used back then. As I said, persons closely related to Majora and the mask might have some influence in those dimensions thus Skull Kid might have got a fragment of Majora's memory and simply puted 2 and 2 together and combined his own personal grudge to the giants with the Masks hatred towards those kids.

Your statement that a kid couldn't be a source of all that evil gave me another idea. It sure is true that a mere kid couldn't possibly do that. There are 2 possible patterns here now:

1. The Happy Mask Salesman isn't a normal human being. Perhaps he didn't knew it back then but he had some extent of supernatural power.
2. The mask got it's "initial evil" and after being found by the Dark Tribe, which were surely able to sense that the mask had some extent of power in it, experimented with it and developed it's potential. After all, we don't know if the mask had the powers it has in the game immediately after being found by the dark tribe.

The Oni meaning tag statement is also true, but when gathering information for the theory and coming across that I concluded that it would be and overlapping evidence to what I wrote because it matches perfectly.
As for the part that the children have something to do with Link or the Skull kid, although I do believe so to some extent, I don't think Skull Kid had any direct influence as the mask was detached from it and it had no direct contact with the mask at the time when the events happened. There might still be some "traces" though.

I will come with the quotes of the children on the moon and some more quotes next time to back everything up. I need to finish my exams and the front page article first. :S