History of the Ikana

I recently played Majora's Mask through again a few days ago quite easily; previous times I'd blasted through the game as quickly as possible, but this time around I got the chance to enjoy the game much more and try to understand it a little better. After defeating Gyorg and venturing east into the canyon, I discovered my chance when a strange fellow atop the hill told me that I needed the Garo's Mask to enter the Ikana Canyon. At first I didn't look at him with much interest, until I did a bit of research, realising that there is much more to the Ikana then you may think. So, I decided to share my findings with you here on ZU.

I'll start with a few quotes that I found on Nintendo's official forums. Although we know little about the history of the Ikana, there are many clues given through the dialouge of the characters in-game, even if you talk to them while wearing different masks.

Poe Merchant

[WITH GIBDO MASK]

"Yee-hee-hee.
That's a nice mask you're wearing.

That is the mask of those who
roam this world with the most
lingering regrets!

Use it to ask them their regrets...

Perhaps you may be able to save
the souls that wander beyond
here.
Yee-hee-hee!"
---

[WITH GARO MASK]

"That is the mask of the leader of
the ninjas who once spied on the
hilltop castle with the
blood-stained history.

With that, you may be able to call
out their spirits that even now
are still wandering.

Perhaps you may be able to save
the souls that wander beyond
here...
Yee-hee-hee."
---

[WITH CAPTAIN'S HAT]

"Yee-hee-hee.
You are wearing an interesting
mask.

That is the mask of the captain
of the soldiers who once served
to protect the castle on the
hilltop.

Now it is the gathering place
for the spirits of those with
lingering regrets.

Until now they wander, seeking
one who can save them.

You cannot save them with that
mask...Have you no other? It is
unfortunate, but I cannot let you
pass. Yee-hee-hee."
---

[WITHOUT MASK]

"Yee-hee-hee.
What are you doing in a place like
this?

Ikana Hill beyond here is the place
where spirits with troubles and
lingering regrets wander.

Even now, the spirits wander
in search of one who can save
them.

It is unfortunate, but it is no
place for one such as you...

But if you must enter, then you
must obtain the mask containing
wandering spirits that can be
found near the ranch.

Without that mask, you cannot
save their souls...

Until then, I will not let you pass
by here.
Yee-hee-hee!"

So, the motives of the spirits that wander the canyon are revealed slightly. The Gibdos are described as having the most lingering regrets. When you talk to Pamela's father about the poster of the Gibdo on the wall, he mentions this:

That is a mummified man. Its
scientific name is Gibdo.

A tale in Ikana tells of a treasure
that rests at the bottom of the
well on the hilltop.

It seems the spirits of those who
became Gibdos upon entering the
well in search of that treasure
still linger inside

It's been said going down there is
a petrifying experience. So even
the mummy hunter may become
mummified!

I even tried to go into that well
once myself...

Strangely enough, though, I don't
remember anything that happened
there."

So the Gibdo's motives are answers. They were people (possibly of the Ikana) who ventured down into the well seaking the Ikana's treasure; they became cursed in the process, and they therefore regret it - obvious, but a good piece of information. They savor items found throughout the world, and by giving them these items they are freed and are able to rest.

Now, back to earlier about the Garo Mask. Pamela's father says this about the Garo poster:

That is the ghost of a ninja. Its
scientific name is Garo Robe.

They are merely shells that are

empty on the inside. They're the
shells of spies from an enemy
nation sent to investigate Ikana.
They have been unable to forget
their living days. Even now their
spirits--emptiness cloaked in
darkness--continue to spy.

Although they are said to be
shells, Garos are still ninja and
they will not show themselves in
front of people.

So the Garo were ninjas who spied on the Ikana. This most likely is the explanation for Ikana's "blood-stained history".

Captain Keeta was the captain of the king's army, obviously. He even says this himself.

I commanded the Ikana Army of
Ikana Kingdom atop the hill. I am
called Skull Keeta.

Since being shamed by loss in a
battle within my kingdom...

I have waited here for one to
come and awaken my soul.

And the gravekeeper, Dampe, explains more:

Did you see the huge skeleton at
the back of this graveyard?

My father once said that was all
that was left of the former Royal
Soldier who once guarded this
graveyard.
Even though he is dead, his
remains still block the way. In a
sense, he is still guarding the
Royal Family's treasure.
He must have been a fine soldier,
indeed.

So, the Ikana must have been fighting the Garos, and lost to them. (Don't worry, all of this pointing-out-the-obvious will come in when I try to sum this all up. I'm simply showing what it tells us in the game.) This also brings another question into our minds: What exactly was the treasure that the Ikana Royal Family had hidden? Was it riches? The Mirror Shield? The Light Arrow?

The interesting thing is that the Poe Merchant constantly mentions how the spirits long to be freed, and that they are looking for someone to save them. From what? Well, after you defeat Twinmold the dark cloud above the canyon disappears, lifting the curse set above all of the land and allowing the wandering spirits to rest. Was Majora the cause of this curse? This brings into question how long these spirits have been wandering for. Was the present-day Skullkid the cause of this? Or was it another being, long before this time?

Another interesting point is when you wear the Captain's Hat in front of Igos du Ikana; he mentions how tiny you look, and then realizes that you aren't the captain. This shows that the Ikana was its own race. When you fight the skeleton of the captain to gain his mask, he really is very large, comparable to the king and his two guards. The Ikana (or at least some of them) were very large in size, showing that they weren't related to the "Hylian"-like people found in Termina.

After defeating Igos du Ikana and his two guards, the guards begin to argue. This is what the king says to them:

Will you stop?!!?
What fools!

Haven't you begun to understand?

The kingdom being ruined and us
left in this state...

Isn't it petty, little battles like
this that have caused it?

Believing in your friends and
embracing that belief by forgiving
failure...

These feelings have vanished from
our hearts.

It all happened after somebody
thrust open the doors of that
Stone Tower.

So the Ikana and the Garos were having some problems, true enough, the cause of their war being caused by pointless arguments. Now, again this brings into question how long ago this curse was laid on them. Was the Skullkid the one who opened Stone Tower? If not then who else could it have been?

There are two other "races" that are found in the eastern canyon: Stalchildren, and ReDeads. Now, when you talk to the Stalchildren wearing the Captain's Hat, it's clear that Keeta had once commanded these... children. But why command a group of children? How would this be beneficial for the great Ikana army that they had been so proud of?

The ReDeads on the other hand have a simple explanation. When you talk to a Garo ninja that appears randomly throughout the canyon, he tells you this:

"The ReDeads in Ikana were once
members of the castle's dancing
troupe..."

This explains why, when you wear a "ReDead-proof" mask, they begin to dance. The masks that fend them off are the Captain's Hat, Gibdo Mask, and the Garo Mask. Now, why would you think the ReDeads would dance for these symbols? They would dance for Captain Keeta because he was the entire army's commander, a very high-class citizen of the Ikana. The Gibdos were probably your average citizens, and they would simply perform for their people. But why would they dance for the Garo, the Ikana's greatest enemy? Well, the Garo won the final battle, did they not? Were the ReDeads kept to entertain the leader of the Garo once they had taken over? Or, recognizing the mask as a Garo, do the ReDeads dance to show that they are not a threat, and are simply part of a dancing troupe?

While you go over all of this in your head, I'm going to jump slightly to a topic that I think may have... well, possibly everything to do with the Ikana: Majora's Mask.

Majora's Mask is an accursed item from legend that is said to have been used by an ancient tribe in its hexing rituals. It is said that an evil and wicked power is bestowed upon the one who wears that mask. According to legend, the troubles caused by Majora's Mask were so great the ancient ones, fearing catastrophe, sealed the mask in shadow forever, preventing its misuse. But now, that tribe from the legend has vanished, so no one really knows the true nature of the mask's power. The Ikana tribe has vanished completely, correct? Could the Ikana be the tribe that is mentioned in the legend? Or could it even be the Garo?

Well, let's take a step in a different direction now. The best information about the origin of Majora's Mask is detailed in the final Majora's Mask manga chapter. Yes, it is a manga and is not part of the actual game, but these mangas are actual Zelda merchandise and does closely follow the game; therefore, I think it's safe to trust the information told in them. If you wish to read the manga yourself, then go here.

Anyway, in the story, an unnamed warrior is seen traveling through a world that seems to have been frozen in time. There he comes across a great beast wearing thick armor. The beast is a man-eater, having eaten hundreds or perhaps thousands of men who have tried to kill him, based on a myth (that they created) that anyone who obtained the beast's armor would gain a "great and terrible power," and perhaps have their wishes granted. At first, the beast accuses the man of having come to try to kill him as well. The man assures that he is simply a traveler, though he came following a strange power, likely that of the beast. He gets the beast to consider the time he has spent in the frozen world, and the beast wonders why he has never left, realizing that he is lonely since he long ago ate all of the humans in the world.

As soon as he realizes this, the desires of all those that the beast has eaten well up inside of him, and he says that his first wish (a wish of action, to move for himself) has been formed. The man begins to play on a drum he had been carrying, and the beast dances for three days and three nights. On the dawn of the fourth day, his breathing stops and the world crumbles away, leaving only the man and the beast's armor. Turning the long feather in his hair into a blade, the man takes a piece of the armor and carves it into Majora's Mask. Claiming that the beast's power has been sealed in the mask, and that the power will no longer be a menace, the man casts the mask into an abyss, saying that he hopes the beast will sleep forever.

Now, the problem with this is that in the manga, the man is the one who gets rid of the mask. In the actual game, the ancient tribe does. Unless someone else, possibly a member of the tribe, discovers the mask (which someone obviously does end up doing), and then returns with it. The tribe then discovers the mask has great power and uses them in their rituals, until they realise that the mask is far too dangerous and they seal it away forever.

Now, Igos du Ikana says that it all started when someone opened the door to the Stone Tower. Having beaten Twinmold yesterday, I explored around the temple a bit and noticed that the entrance to the temple is a very strange, detailed face, almost like a mask. The main chamber inside the temple is the same way. Could this tower be the place where Majora's Mask was sealed away? Why was the tower built so well that it would take the life of anyone who entered it? What were the Ikana trying to protect?


I think that the Ikana and the Garo were once friendly between eachother. The Garo, possibly living up further into the mountains, could have even been allies with the Ikana at one point. Then, over time, the two tribes began to grow farther apart, and maybe even started to hate eachother. Now, between the two tribes, I think the Garos would be the ones most suited to use Majora's Mask for hexing rituals. They used it to their advantage because the mask made them more powerful. The time came when the Ikana declared war on the Garo, possibly against the use of such a mask. They fought bravely with their reknowned army, but were defeated in the end. The Garo took over the Ikana's old canyon, including Stone Tower. Now, the Garo are described as being "empty shells", much like, if you think about it, what happens when you play the Elegy of Emptiness. The Garo were able to infultrate the tower and used it as a place to keep the mask that they treasured so much, until one day, even the Garo realised how corrupt the mask had become over years of using it in their rituals, and had the mask locked away in Stone Tower forever. But one day, someone went into the tower and was able to somehow claim Majora's Mask and use it for his own biddings. Yet this it pretty much impossible to figure out, just like how we will never know exactly how the Happy Mask Salesman came into contact with Majora's Mask.

This explanation of everything wasn't exactly well thought-out by myself considering how I was making it up as I went, but it's there for you to gain ideas off of. Now it's your turn; what do you think happened to the Ikana and the Garo? Were they at all connected with Majora's Mask?

Superbal. but i had started a thread on the subject. but who cares, if you want my opinion:
Keeta: ikana army commeander
stalchild: his soldiers, duh!
garo master: A ninja, who leadered the ninja unit of an enemy nation, yet infiltrated into ikana pretending to be an ally to the king.
King Igus du Ikana: the king out there.
Unthinkable: (those skull dudes) the king's vassals. because they had petty little battles, they didnt even notice the garo were spying on them.
Gibdo: after the destruction of Ikana, greedy men entered the area in search of its treasures, but became mummies due to the curse on the well, where the most coveted treasure lies.
for those interested in archeology( sp?) the game leaves evidence that gibdo are more recent than the other undeads seen in ikana. besides the king of ikana, had quite a team of entertainers: musicians(sharp and flat) and dancers(the re-deads). And what about the 4-poe sisters, well i have no clues, perhaps they are related to the ghost-seller, dunno.

From what I understood, as you quite rightly quoted, the Garo Ninjas are spies from another nation, and Skull Keeta led the army of Ikana.

Whether this is because of what I have read in fan fiction or not, I was of the opinion that the Garo Ninjas indeed attacked Ikana, and that Skull Keeta led the armies of Ikana to dispel them.

I commanded the Ikana Army of
Ikana Kingdom atop the hill. I am
called Skull Keeta.

Since being shamed by loss in a
battle within my kingdom...

I have waited here for one to
come and awaken my soul.

The army of Ikana, having been slaughtered, became the Gibdos and Re-Deads that populate Ikana as Link explores it.

The interesting thing is that the Poe Merchant constantly mentions how the spirits long to be freed, and that they are looking for someone to save them. From what? Well, after you defeat Twinmold the dark cloud above the canyon disappears, lifting the curse set above all of the land and allowing the wandering spirits to rest. Was Majora the cause of this curse? This brings into question how long these spirits have been wandering for. Was the present-day Skullkid the cause of this? Or was it another being, long before this time?

Personally, I believe that the regrets and shames of the Ikanan armies and the Garo alike are what kept their spirits from moving on, so they have been dwelling in Ikana from way before the Skullkid or Majora messed reality up.

However, remember how when Ganondorf obtained part of the Triforce in Ocarina of Time?
When he did so - the excess magic in Hyrule manifested itself into grotesque, humanoid shapes (the Re-Deads in Hyrue Market in Adult Link's Timeline).

Magic allowed dormant, potential magic to take on physical form.

Similarly, Majora's Mask may have had a similar effect, and using its powers, the Skullkid simply used magic to make these spirits take on their corporeal forms as Gibdos and Garo shells respectively.

When Link is told that the dead want to be freed, I think it's more a case that, now the dead have physical form, their longings can be heard, and after Link defeats Twinmold and lifts the curse on Ikana, the dead loose their corporeal forms.

Whther this means they are able to move on as spirits again isn't really known, if this is the case.

Although, the man in the Ikanan Waterfall Shrine says that to appease the spirits in the Shrine, Link must defeat them.

As soon as he realizes this, the desires of all those that the beast has eaten well up inside of him, and he says that his first wish (a wish of action, to move for himself) has been formed. The man begins to play on a drum he had been carrying, and the beast dances for three days and three nights. On the dawn of the fourth day, his breathing stops and the world crumbles away, leaving only the man and the beast's armor. Turning the long feather in his hair into a blade, the man takes a piece of the armor and carves it into Majora's Mask. Claiming that the beast's power has been sealed in the mask, and that the power will no longer be a menace, the man casts the mask into an abyss, saying that he hopes the beast will sleep forever.

Oh! I read this! It was fantastic!
But like you stated, it was a seperate manga, and thus non-canonical, so we can't really use it to explain events in the game.
I think it was written to please Fierce Deity fans, more than anything, given the startling resemblance to the Traveller and Oni-Link.

Now, Igos du Ikana says that it all started when someone opened the door to the Stone Tower. Having beaten Twinmold yesterday, I explored around the temple a bit and noticed that the entrance to the temple is a very strange, detailed face, almost like a mask. The main chamber inside the temple is the same way. Could this tower be the place where Majora's Mask was sealed away? Why was the temple made so hard to reach?

I doubt that this was where the Mask was sealed, in the introduction, the Mask Salesman implies that the Mask was incredably well hidden, and had travelled all over the world to find it, and to think all this time, it was hidden in an obscure temple seems a little tame.

I don't think the face on the outside of the dungeon really has any significance, other than to be something to look at for gamers.

If anything, I'd guess that the Temple was merely that - a temple.
During the Ikanan war against the Garo nation, the people of Ikana would have taken refuge in the temple, much like the Clocktown people sought refuge in Romani Ranch.

When the Castle was taken, maybe the Garo nation went to the temple and killed the civillians there, and through Major'as influence, their spirits took on physical forms and became the monsters there.
In a nice little gothic twist, you could say that the Priest of the temple became Gomez.
The fact that the temple is also the place where the Light Arrow rests also contributes that this temple probably really was a holy refuge.

If this is the case, then the obscure puzzles to actually get to the Stone Tower were acting as a deterrent for invaders, to ensure the safety of the people.

The connotations of the words; "Stone Tower" imply strength and resiliance, just what a refuge should be.

Sorry for the long post.

Oh shoot... looks like Darunia's thread's got me beat... --; My bad!

As for your say on Gibdos, that would make a lot more sense if they were more from present time then the same time in which the Ikana were alive; greedy Terminians perhaps, like the two brothers at the ranch (50 rupees for a bottle of milk?). Anyway, I think what you said about the Garo pretending to be allies to the king is interesting, and it makes much sense. I mean, after the Garos are dead and they see you wearing their mask they're very knowledgable about the canyon.

I doubt that this was where the Mask was sealed, in the introduction, the Mask Salesman implies that the Mask was incredably well hidden, and had travelled all over the world to find it, and to think all this time, it was hidden in an obscure temple seems a little tame.

Yes this does make sense. Plus, I don't think the Mask Salesman would be able to have made it all the way up the tower... unless he teleported... which is what he seems to do a lot when you're talking to him.

However, remember how when Ganondorf obtained part of the Triforce in Ocarina of Time?
When he did so - the excess magic in Hyrule manifested itself into grotesque, humanoid shapes (the Re-Deads in Hyrue Market in Adult Link's Timeline).

Magic allowed dormant, potential magic to take on physical form.

Similarly, Majora's Mask may have had a similar effect, and using its powers, the Skullkid simply used magic to make these spirits take on their corporeal forms as Gibdos and Garo shells respectively.

When Link is told that the dead want to be freed, I think it's more a case that, now the dead have physical form, their longings can be heard, and after Link defeats Twinmold and lifts the curse on Ikana, the dead loose their corporeal forms.

Very interesting point... and it makes sense. All Majora wants to do is cause trouble. He knows that the spirits wander the canyon and probably the history of the war and the battles, and he wishes for them to relive their pain and regrets.

Oh! I read this! It was fantastic!
But like you stated, it was a seperate manga, and thus non-canonical, so we can't really use it to explain events in the game.
I think it was written to please Fierce Deity fans, more than anything, given the startling resemblance to the Traveller and Oni-Link.

Yeah you're right, plus the mangas are Japanese, and that game was a little different then Majora's Mask (Although the story is really interesting!).

And perhaps you are right about Stone Tower; maybe the Ikana had nothing to do with Majora's Mask? Or maybe one of the tribes at one point did have the mask but then sealed it away at one point or another.

Are you sure the Garo defeated the Ikana completely? If they did, why does the King's spirit remain on his throne? And why do the Garo continue to spy on the Ikana, even in death?

Originally Posted by Abscido

Are you sure the Garo defeated the Ikana completely? If they did, why does the King's spirit remain on his throne? And why do the Garo continue to spy on the Ikana, even in death?

Well, I think it's made explicit that Ikana lost the fight against the enemy nation, as Skull Keeta says;

Since being shamed by loss in a
battle within my kingdom...

And the spirit of the King and the Garo ninjas remain behind simply because they are filled with regrets.
If you notice, the King and his seravants are actually skeletons, which points out that they're not alive in the Human sense of the word.

I take it as their skeletons are still being re-animated by the magics of the Curse that was inflicted upon them when Majora's Mask caused his chaos with Skullkid.

This is a great theory, and it makes great sense. I've always been interested in Ikana and it's history, but since it takes too long to get to Ikana in MM, plus the fact I hate the pressure of doing things under a timelimit, I can't really be bothered to actually do the research myself. I look through text dumps to get the info I want, unless it's visual.

I personally believe that the Garo learned that the Ikana guarded a great power beyond the doors of the Temple. Deep inside, way beyond the place of prayer, and guarded by many traps, lay an item of such power, it could bring an entire nation to it's knees. A nation like the Ikana which had such wealth and prosperity, but did not share. They spy on the Ikana, and get into the temple. The chieften of Ikana wears the mask, and performs rituals to hex the Ikana. The Ikana find out all their bad luck is the Garo's rituals. They have no idea of the mask, as they never guarded it. They never knew what the treasure was, but they never approached it as great evil surrounded the myth. Each side takes up arms, but Skull Keeta cannot defeat the evil of the mask. The Garos turn against the mask, realising it's great potential for evil and danger. The possessed chieften turns against his own tribe, killing everyone, and the body of the chieften dies after using so much energy. The mask falls the ground, and lays there, in teh ruined kingdom for hundreds of years. The Happy Mask man hears of a mask of great power, and thinks it would be great for his collection. He travels all over the world of Termina, until he finds the Ikana Canyon. Finding the mask, he realises all the evil it contains, and seeks to keep it secret and safe.

I think I have solved the mystery on how the dead of Ikana are stuck in the land!

Sharp, dead, now living as a poe, sold his soul to Majora's Mask and has tried resurrecting Ikana from the dead. But selling his soul took a price: he imprisoned Flat's soul within an iron knuckle in the graveyard, who, before his ultimate imprisonment, scored his revenge through the melody of the Song of Storms

So - it seems that parts of my early theory were right.
The people of Ikana and the Garo nation were indeed slaughtered, but Sharp, the Composer, sells his soul to Majora's Mask, and then, uses his Melody of the Dead to resurrect the dead, which explains why the Gibdos begin roaming the Land, and how the King is re-animated with his servants - they are forced back to corporeal form by Sharp.

Majora, in this case, probably manifests the strongpoint of this ressurecting magic, in the creation of TwinMold.
When Twinmold is killed, Mjora's Magic wears off, Sharp's melody looses it's potency, and the dead go back to death.

Yess! So it was Majora's Mask who cursed Sharp, and then Sharp was the one who brought everyone back, not the Skullkid. Because there is no way that the Skullkid could have been around when Sharp had died, right?

So the Ikana have been defeated by the Garo, but having beaten the almighty Ikana army so... almost easily, seemed suspicious, even to the Garo. They begin to question the mask's power, and eventually realise that the leader of the ninja, the one who wears the mask most often, has become almost "posessed". The Garo begin to question their leader's motives by his strange behavior and eventually rise up and attack him. In the midst of this, Majora's Mask, instantly realising who was now "his" enemy, killed off all of the Garos.

During the rampage, he stumbled across Sharp and Flat. Sharp sees this as an opportunity and surely does not want to die a brutal death, so he offers his soul to Majora's Mask. Seeing his brother Flat, and always wanting to cause trouble, Majora says that he will accept the composer's wish as long as he agrees to sacrifice his brother's soul as well, locking him beneath the graveyard for all eternity. Sharp agrees, obviously severly betraying Flat, and his brother is sent down into the graveyard where he composes the Song of Storms, a song that describes his feelings towards his anger against his brother, and even more, Majora.

Majora's Mask then goes on to kill all the other Garos and lavish in the canyon on his own, admiring the destruction he has commited. In the meantime, Sharp composes the Melody of the Dead, and, using Majora's power, resurrects all of the dead Ikana and Garo. Since Majora really doesn't want to bring back the dead so they can live happily, he ensures that they only remember their deapest regrets and most horrible of memories. Majora's Mask at the same time, as Decimal said, creates Twinmold to ensure that this new "curse" will last forever.

Then the leader of the Garo eventually dies himself, completely corrupted by the mask's power. Perhaps the leader of the Garo gains slight control of himself, knowing the evil mask's power, throws himself off a cliff so the mask will be of no more concern.

In present day, Majora, now controlling the Skullkid, returns seeking vengence on the Four Giants. Remembering the foul beast he had locked away in Stone Tower, he traps the Giant within Twinmold, until Link arrives and frees him, lifting the curse over the canyon.

One of the only pieces in the Puzzle now, is even though the Ikana Canyon is described as being cursed already, why would the dead specifically appear when the doors of Stone Tower were opened?

I suppose that perhaps, with the doors sealed shut, the power manifested in Twinmold physically couldn't escape the Stone Tower to give Sharpe the power to fully bring back the dead, and when a possessed Skullkid opened the Stone Tower doors again, the full influence of the Magic in Twinmold was fully able to escape and resurrect the dead, when used by Sharpe in his Melody.

I fully agree with what you said in your latest post, Miss. Kat, however, I doubt that the Garo Master would have worn the Mask, as the Mask Salesman says that the name of the tribe, and the tribe itself that used the Mask's Power had completely vanished.

But I do agree that Majora, in some form, definately accepted Sharpe's soul, and then with Majora's magical influence, Sharpe brought back the dead.

But either way, whether the Garo Master used the Mask or not, Majora was most definately in Ikana in the times of the War, and again when it possessed Skullkid.

Aye, that does make sense... Or... Perhaps Sharp merely brought the dead "souls" back to wander the eastern canyon, without actual visible forms. Once the Skullkid opened the doors, they took on actual forms and began to feel and remember their regrets more then ever. Orrrrrr, since the Giant guarding the canyon had been locked away within Twinmold once the temple had been opened again, like I said, there was no way to keep harmony (or what little of it was left) anymore, so, since the Giant would have probably used its powers to keep the dead from pretty much "disobeying" the laws of life, once it was trapped within Twinmold, it could no longer hold the canyon together, and therefore the dead actually did come back.

And about the Garo Master... you do make a good point... perhaps the Ikana were the one with the mask all along?

Or maybe both the tribes had used it at one point? Maybe at one point, the Garo and the Ikana were allies? Or maybe even part of the same tribe?

well, the explanation is awewsome and, maybe, im just analzying this, the happy masked salesman is the one the king refered to as the one who opened the doors to stone tower, and maybe thats how he got majoras mask...? (BTW im sorry if anyone elses has posted this)