Zelda Theory: Majora's Mask Ripple Effect

Majora's Mask is one of The Legend of Zelda's most unique titles. Created as a side-project by a small team of developers at Nintendo, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask was made in just a year. But, in-spite of it's small development cycle, it is held in high regard by the Zelda series fan communities. Of course, why wouldn't it be? Majora's Mask is definitely one of the darkest titles of the series, and clearly handles the themes of death, regret, sorrow, loss, and a variety of adult fears that only a few titles of the era could compare. But, just what is Majora's Mask gimmick, you might ask? As Link you're tasked with returning the devilish Majora's Mask which houses a dark and corrupting influence on those who wear it. But, you only have three days to do so, and this is obviously not enough time! Now, Link must once again use time travel, to solve the problems of the world by repeating the same three day cycle in this groundhog day nightmare that he has come upon! But, he's not alone; by utilizing the powers of fallen heroes whose spirits are housed within masks he can become them to face any potential challenges! Together they will save Termina or perish once more, while trying!

As mentioned above, the time traveling mechanics are a key practice of Majora's Mask. Every time Link travels back in time he loses all consumables that he was carrying, rupees, keys, bombs, arrows, and anything inside a bottle. Yet, Link is able to keep the items which use these along with any masks that he collects. Which begs the question? What exactly makes it impossible for Link to keep those items, while keeping everything else? The answer itself is never provided by the game and is probably the subject of much speculation. What exactly makes these items immune to whatever time traveling magic the Ocarina of Time is casting when Link plays the Song of Time? However, recently during a play-through of the game, a realization dawned upon me.

Magical items are able to create ripples in the three day cycle which Link keeps repeating. The first notable observation of this comes with the Heart Piece in the Clock Tower, one which you obtain by following the story line normally in your first cycle. When Link plays the song of time the first time and returns to the inside of the Clock Tower only to be healed from his curse... the player can notice that the heart piece which was formerly there is now replaced with a small heart. The heart piece which was there did not leave Link, but another item took it's place as to avoid creating a temporal paradox which could destroy everything. Yet, the heart remains... strictly from a gameplay mechanic this is to avoid players from abusing this heart piece continually, but in-game explanations are never provided. Next thing players will notice is that if they remain in town for a while gathering masks and heart pieces they will have to eventually restart the cycle and... the masks will now also become a permanent part of Link's inventory and those people will no longer carry heart pieces.

Now masks are a crucial mechanic in Majora's Mask, while they were in Ocarina of Time a pointless side-quest in MM they allow Link not only to become other heroes, but also new abilities and powers. Any mask that Link has gather will remain in their inventory as he gathers each mask it will add an extra bit to the ending until he can finally gain all 24 masks in the game. This is the key to unlocking the full ending and also the major pillar upon which this theory stands. Every single one of those masks is responsible for the happiness of other individuals and if you finish the game with all of them the player is able to witness the impact they made on those virtual lives. It's almost as if the masks themselves are responsible for ripping the time continuum to ensure that once they're gathered that person gains the happiness they deserve. These masks don't return to their owners because by Link gathering each one he's literally breaking a piece from time itself and bringing it to his new one. By gathering items, Link is essentially altering reality! But, even more importantly Link is crafting the future into a brighter one that cements his image of a hero. Yet, some of the masks he gathers can't be worn, and only serve to be held as key items...

The boss's masks are items he gather after completing a dungeon and originally they allowed Link to face a boss once again if he enters their temple without having to repeat the stage (this no longer serves the same application as of the 3DS remake). By carrying the masks into their temples the boss of each dungeon is able to speak with Link directly and remember their defeat at his hands. This signifies that the bosses are not only openly acknowledging the ripple in the previous timeline, but actively seeking revenge for it. If it was true that Link's actions were not causing time rifts then they wouldn't react to this in the least, and yet, they do. They are simply so enraged that Link dares to oppose them, that they blindly allow him into their room without even trying to wear him down by letting him complete the dungeon again. This also means that Link is not the only being capable of acknowledging the time cycle repeat. Which is even more interesting when players take note that the scarecrow and The Happy Mask Salesman (HMS) are also aware of it (in varying degrees as the scarecrow is simply aware of a time manipulating song). HMS is even waiting for Link after the very first repeat waiting for him to return the Majora's Mask that was stolen. This alone puts doubt as to his status as a human, as he's able to cast magic which contains the spirits of the deceased utilizing music, and is exempt from the time travel effects of the Song of Time and what is he walking around with? He's wandering the world with a bag filled with masks. The same type of masks that are shown to be able to escape the effects of the Ocarina of Time! Which could mean that he has collected so many of them, that he's effectively a wandering time bubble!

In the end, what do all of these questions mean for fans of The Legend of Zelda? Well, as the Hyrule Historia confirms, time is a fickle thing in the world of Zelda. A timelines converge and disconnect, and new threads are formed, only a few things can escape the effect of time and magical items are a few of those. By creating a ripple effect, the actions taken by Link can simultaneously happen and not-happen at the same time. These cracks continue creating and destroying timelines which eventually converged at the point in which Breath of the Wild happens and it's amazing. As the grandmother movie "Kimi No Na Wa" describes the word "musubi" which means everything and anything is connected, timelines converge and take shape, twist, tangle sometimes unraveling and connecting once more... "musubi", knotting that is time.

It's a very Japanese concept and The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Masks is a great example of it! It's also important to note that even if you don't do a single quest in your final cycle, you're still capable of seeing the full ending. Which is the twisting and tangling, breaking and finally converging in one last hurrah for when the mask of Majora is defeated. In the end Link departs from Termina and continues his journey as a hero. But, everything is set correct with the world of Termina and order has once again been restored. Even if the balance of time hung from a thread the entire time Link was there. As every ripple continued flowing until finally meeting again...