A Recent Revelation About LoZ: Majora’s Mask

[Interdimensional Observer]

First I’m baaaack! And now with an MA earned with distinction (although I kinda took the easy route by not doing a thesis). I criticize my sloven nature as I am oft to do to no effect, but somehow like always I came out on top. I don’t get me. 

Anywho, as I shifted my procrastination habits elsewhere, I stumbled on something that isn't a timeline shenanigan that made me a little upset about The Legend of Zelda lore and junk. I've since cooled and accepted this, but this is from when I was hot. Not sure how well-known this new information is.

 

According to Zelda Wiki, the new Hyrule Encyclopedia declares that Termina was created when the Skull Kid put on Majora’s Mask. His own sorrows and memories combined with the diabolical powers of the mask, formed the foundation of Termina. The Four Giants were based on four old friends of the Skull Kid.

After Link destroyed the evil in the mask and left, Termina shortly thereafter ceased to exist.

So congrats Link, you spent 3x* days saving a total of two people and two fairies. You selflessly braved terrible evils and helped dozens of nonpersons from a falling Moon that would destroy this world which had existed for no more than a few months in Hylian time.

Where was clear and beyond a reasonable doubt evidence for this in the actual game? When did Nintendo decide this was the case? Was Termina always a fiction? Or is this a modern retcon? 

There are things, like Termina celebrating masks, having the MM painted on blocks and elsewhere, and the Skull Kid’s paintings in the one Spiderhouse. But none of this inherently has to mean Majora’s Mask spontaneously created it all, you could certainly conceive of other possibilities.

I can say I don’t like it. This cheapens the entire MM experience. What motivation do I have now to save anybody when nobody is real, when the ancientness of the Ikana Kingdom is falsehood (or at least a 1000+ year history that unfolded at a immensely accelerated pace of time vis a vis Hyrule- a Deeprealm to speak in FE language)? Link’s journey in this glorified toy box of Majora becomes less meaningful in ways, and I’m partial to the Hero of Time.

Now there will be counterarguments. All video game worlds are a fiction, which is true, but typically, I’m supposed to believe they are real, and few times is it said in the game that they aren’t. 

Another argument is more obvious- Link’s Awakening, for reasons anyone who has cleared that game knows, and probably many who haven’t. But Link’s Awakening is different, because you find out in the game itself the truth directly, whereas MM itself as said above does not appear to provide such evidence.

Others might say that there is something beautiful or nuanced in Link doing all he can to save these people who ultimately don’t exist, that he is truly selfless in helping those who are but illusory constructs. For one who is absolutely virtuous, all forms of life, semi-life, or that which they think is alive, are sacred and hence worth aiding. However, Link likely didn’t know Terminians weren’t real, which could lead one to think Link only helped them because he thought they were real. Although Link not having a selfish bone in his many bodies, he probably would still help the Terminians even if he knew them to be false.

Although you could say that Terminians are conscious, intelligent beings who have real emotions, despite their origins. The shortness of their existence, inevitably destined to soon end either by the Moon’s apocalypse or Link’s “salvation”, should not detract from that fact they did for a time exist. That Kafei and Anju did love each other deeply cannot be denied, that Link saved their romance is a heroic thing, even if within minutes of the wedding vows, all faded to void.

But I do think it more than not makes the Termina sidestory null and hurts MM than it helps. 

Not to mention it sounds a little like Nintendo found that dead Link creepypasta and decided to do something somewhat similarly psychological.

P.S., this means that all the four transformation masks were therefore the MM’s creations. The Kishin (Fierce Deity, the SMT fan in me makes me say Kishin) Mask’s mysterious past is no mystery, it is the MM’s own dark powers turned against it, willingly turned against it in a whimsical way. From one perspective, this is cool, but it leaves me wondering if, sadly, upon completion of MM, all of Link’s newly acquired gear including the Kishin, disappeared. Not that Link needed it anymore, but still.

P.P.S. What does this make of the Deku Butler’s Son? He is found cursed outside of Termina. Does the Deku Butler, assuming he remained there long enough, survive the demise of Termina? Or does he too fade away? The unnamed location is between Termina and Hyrule, whether it survives the end of Termina or not is uncertain. That the Butler and Son survived out of Termina does suggest that Terminians did not have to be in Termina itself to continue existing. Bound to MM’s powers they were, but they were not wholly facades it seems.

[Dragoncat]

That's really sucky. Saving Termina, and it doesn't exist anyway?

Well Link was looking for Navi and Epona...so it's not like he could just walk away.

[AnonymousSpeed]

Yeah, that blows, almost like attempting to make a definitive canon outside the work itself is a bad idea.

[ChefGuevara]

I hate myself for applying thought to this but

if that's true, then how come the hero's shade in TP, who is basically confirmed to be the loafus from OOT and MM, has the MM mirror shield, if it didn't actually exist?

[Acacia Sgt]

Well, that's.... something. I wonder why they decided to make it so...

22 minutes ago, ChefGuevara said:

if that's true, then how come the hero's shade in TP, who is basically confirmed to be the loafus from OOT and MM, has the MM mirror shield, if it didn't actually exist?

I'm pretty sure he doesn't. At least, looking at the Shade's shield, it doesn't look like MM's Mirror Shield. It's not hard to tell, since MM's Mirror Shield design is that of a screaming face... which the Shade's shield lacks.

[Ϲharlie]

Link doesn't exist either, so it's all good.