#i think majoras mask link is traumatized but like

[caffinatedvic]

Day 3: Companion

I actually like really like tatl shes funny and i think link has enough patience to be around her all the time

[huh-1260]

What if Time hadn't experienced the War of Era's yet? Okay let me explain this weird what if, so like with some people's head cannons, Wind goes in the middle or the end of Linked Universe. But like, so when Wind gets dragged to the War of Era's, Time gets dragged too, and with shenanigans, Time is back to 11 year old self (or how ever old you think Young link is at the end of Majora's mask) separated from Wind by a day late.

But you might be thinking, wait but what about the Fierce Deity marks on Time's face? Claim. Fierce Deity claim on his grumpy son to protect him. (Fierce Dadity all the way baby!) So like when Wind or now Tune starts treating Time like a kid, because Wind doesn't know that Mask is Time. Commander Link (or well baby Warriors; I heard he wasnt actually a captain) ends up as Mask's saving grace from certain things, as baby!Warriors is protective, but not to the extreme point because he too is a child soldier. (So like Time can now relate to Wind with being babied, and is prepared to protect young Warriors from everything even himself with the help of Fierce Dadity on his side)

So daurung a fit of child rage, Time yells "I'm an adult stop babying me!" And of course Tune goes serious, pinches the bridge of his nose, and all mysterious says. "If you're really an adult then your ready to hear this" And then explains the second most traumatizing thing a guardian gave give their child. The birds and the bees.

Tldr: Wind gives Mask the "talk" even though Mask is a de-aged Time who has all of his memories and still is actually a 30 something old man.

Time did scream when Wind explained it, he never wanted to hear it again. Don't worry Baby!Warriors did wrap him in his scarf for comfort.

Shit I might post art of this brb

[pumpkinsouppe]

There’s def a lot I wish to be in Tears of the Kingdom, especially things like regional/diverse enemies. But the thing I really wish to see is Link express negative emotions. And not just “he’s angry at fighting enemies” but rather he’s angry and tired and upset and confused at his situation. He has followed orders from the king the moment he touched the master sword as a CHILD. We don’t even know if he truly got to be a child because his whole life has been about duty. And I’m pretty sure in this timeline he was descended from the Hylian knights so who knows how long he’s been training to just be a standard knight before the master sword.

Link SHOULD be angry that he’s stuck in this cycle of rebirth. Even when he died, the fall of Hyrule was blamed on him and he didn’t even get to stay dead. He was woken up and had to finish his duties while also being constantly reminded that his death is what lead Hyrule to look like is does. He should be angry, angry at Ganon and Demise and at the Hylian Royalty for forcing him into this situation over and over and over.

And this is exactly why I hope TOTK is similar to Majora’s Mask. Not because Majora’s Mask was scary. But because it dealt with the grief and isolation and depression Link had to face after going through an incredible traumatic journey, and then losing all of his friends as a result. Most notably losing the ONE friend who was with him the entire time. Who completely understood everything Link went through because she experienced the same thing. And she was the entire reason Majora’s Mask even happened in the first place, because Link was desperately searching for Navi because he was scared to be alone. I want TOTK to explore these hard and brutal emotions for both Link and Zelda. I want them both to be scared, angry, and distraught. I want them to cry over themselves and be selfish. I want them to do something impactful that isn’t for the sake of Hyrule. I hope there’s conflict with the Goddess Hylia. I hope they reject her outstretched hand after she has burdened two children to sacrifice themselves for the good of Hyrule.

I want there to be a good resolution to TOTK. I want both Link and Zelda to choose their own path even if that means leaving Hyrule. But I want the path to resolution to be painful and really explore Link’s true emotions. He is stoic and mute because he is burdened with the weight of the world. What good is a knight who talks when he is judged based on his actions and ability to use a sword.

With Zelda’s warning that she thinks that even Link can’t succeed, I hope we do see helplessness in Link. Again to Majora’s Mask we did get to see Link helpless. He was transformed into a small Deku Scrub with no weapons, no horse, and was an outlier in a town filled with humans. But he learned to work through that helplessness. He embraced the spirit who had to give his life for Link to look the way he does and figure out new ways to fight and communicate. He later became grateful for the Zora and Goron who let him use their spirits to aide his journey. He was able to confront Majora’s because he was never truly alone. Everyone he’s ever met has given him strength even if they aren’t with him presently.

And that’s what I hope to see in Link in TOTK. A helplessness due to his isolated burden, faced against something he could never win against alone. And thankfully we did get that to an extent in BOTW with the champions and even Zelda. But even then, fighting the divine beasts was optional. Link in a sense could have faced Ganon alone. Hell people even fight Ganon with no clothes and only carrying sticks.

No, I want Link, even in the most powerful armor with the most powerful weapon, to be helpless. And I want him to be angry about it. And upset. And hurt. Because he has earned the right to express every painful emotion for his circumstance and he deserves to be able to express his frustration. It is okay if he isn’t the hero.

[blueskittlesart]

Tell me your thoughts on the link is dead in MM theory?

yeah ok. i feel like it's pretty widely known at this point that i do not care for it but let's really go into why. in the post that i assume prompted this ask i compared it to a similar permadeath botw theory in that i feel both theories only work if one ignores the central theme of the game in question. in terms of theme, majora's mask and botw are quite similar. both feature a highly traumatized link after a hard-reset of his life and follow the beginning of his healing process.

majora's mask features the hero of time after the timeline reset. He is physically a nine-year-old boy, but he has spent significant time in the body of a sixteen-year old and he has spent much of his life essentially as a child soldier without any regard for his feelings. he has fought monsters that adults twice his size and age refused to get within 200 feet of, and NO ONE REMEMBERS THIS, because in order to restore hyrule to what it once was he went back and stopped it all before it even began. understanding what has been done to link and how he remembers the events of oot are crucial to understanding mm.

now we have the actual setting of mm, termina. termina is deliberately strange and off-putting immediately upon entering it. you as the player are meant to pick up on the fact that something is off about your surroundings. the entire game plays this up--something is Wrong about termina. you're never supposed to be completely sure if it's real or a dreamscape. truly, i don't fault people for looking at a deliberately offputting, dreamlike, horror-filled world like termina and equating it to some sort of afterlife. the skull kid himself is often interpreted as a metaphor for death in oot--being a child who wandered into the forest and never came out. (i personally see it more as a reflection of oot's greater themes of coming-of-age and adult/child relationships, but that's a point for another post.) i do understand that the evidence for the theory is THERE, and that the tendency to want to explain away the offputting environment of termina as link being dead is kind of natural. but I think it's worth examining WHY termina is the way it is; how its weird vibe ties back to mm's central themes and link's story arc within it. and when you do, in my opinion, the theory falls apart pretty quickly.

majora's mask is a story about healing from trauma. Link, as previously mentioned, is a child soldier who feels trapped between childhood and adulthood and who has seen firsthand that nothing he does matters because in the end no one but him will remember it. termina is designed to enforce this point of view, initially. link can do everything in his power to help the people of termina, to fix their problems, to be a good kid, but at the end of those 3 days no matter what he does the moon will always come crashing down and he will always have to reset. no one will remember him. he can't change anything, not really. but as you play through the game, you find one thing that DOESN'T go away with each reset--the masks. these are given as rewards for link's good deeds--physical representations of the good he has done, even after everything resets. even though he remains trapped in this cycle, he gains a little something for every person he helps, something that can't be taken away from him. he begins to have hope that everything he does isn't in vain. he begins to HEAL.

on the final cycle, when you've completed all the dungeons and you stop the moon, the game performs a check to see if you have all the masks. if you've done every one of the side quests and helped the people in termina, even though they don't remember it. the check comes in the form of a game of hide-and-seek, a metaphorical return to the childhood that link feels he has lost. if every mask has been collected, link receives the fierce diety mask, making the final battle with majora quite a bit easier. he becomes more powerful because he has taken the time to grow and heal and learn that what he does matters no matter if people remember him or not. this is a central point of majora's mask. and when he wins, when he comes out the other side, the message that greets the player is "Dawn of a new day." a promise that the story will continue. a promise of many more days to come. a promise that the cycle has been broken and everyone in termina, link included, can finally begin to truly live.

again, i think the tendency to equate an obviously metaphorical dreamlike world like termina to an afterlife is somewhat natural. but to suggest that link is dead in the context of a game that is fundamentally about link HEALING and continuing to LIVE is kind of ridiculous imo. a world can be strange and function as a metaphor without being an afterlife. the tendency to try to explain termina's oddity is natural, but the fact that it's not explained is part of the point. whether it really exists or not doesn't matter, what matters is that the spiritual journey link went on DID happen, and he came out the other side able to continue living. he broke the cycle. now a new day can begin. THAT is the point of majora's mask. if link is dead, then that point loses ALL of its impact. what awaits link after breaking termina's cycle if he's dead?? to me, it's tantamount to suggesting his fate WAS sealed. that it's TRUE that nothing he did mattered and he was too late to truly change anything. nothing you do matters when you're dead. mm just functions so much better on a thematic level if link is allowed to continue living in the aftermath.

[scenicphoenix]

Is there people actually upset at Zelda for going back in time in tears of the kingdom and supposedly meddling with time? Because she didn't exactly get a choice in that decision, you should take that up with the magic fruit gummy rock. And i don't think that's meddling with time and you should look up the meaning of a stable time loop

That egg in age of Calamity was meddling with time more

Also why are you getting upset at time travel in the time travel series. Does Ocarina of Time and Majoras Mask mean nothing? You're only upset at Totk/botw Zelda doing it instead of oot/mm Link because because she's a girl with actual character development and actually shows emotion when she's upset

Some of you people can't handle a girl upset at her emotionally abusive father. And people lash out at others when living a traumatic life, she didn't hate link in the beginning, she was a traumatized person who felt she got assigned a glorified babysitter by her jack ass father. And they eventually bond over the shared pressure and huge destinies in their lives! They become the most important people in their lives even if it started off rocky. Botw/totk zelink is my favorite version because it has the most development canonically and it really makes use of the two characters stuck in a doomed narrative together and are soul mates trope/s

You cannot separate these two, they are a bonded pair. They don't even necessarily NEED to be romantic, they just need to be together. My favorite Zelink since Skyward Sword and Windwaker/Phantom hour glass

Botw/totk Zelda has to be one of my favorite Zelda's just because she's so relatable. I have/had jack ass parents. The pressure of life can be all consuming. It feels like whatever deity that may exist isn't listening. She's right next to Tetra at number one, they are shaking hands.

[skyward-floored]

How have your opinions on the LU boys changed from when you first entered the fandom?

Huh that’s an interesting question! For some of them it’s switched a lot, but others... I think it’s actually stayed about the same?

Like Four and Wind, I think of them about the same as I always have, though I have gained more of an appreciation for Four in recent years <3

Warriors I was kind of eh about for a while aside from “ooh cool scarf”, mostly because pretty much everyone made him an obnoxious guy who just flirted with everyone, but after stumbling on some of @/anthemxix’s fics I realized there was WAY more to him and have been attached ever since.

Kind of the same for Twilight, since I hadn’t even played tp when I first got into lu. I liked him well enough (mostly because I liked Wild a lot lol), but I definitely like him more now that I know more about him.

Wild was my first favorite (like a lot of people ha) but I sort of viewed him as “ohhh he’s so angst-ridden and traumatized and feral”, which is true to a point, but now I have more like... rounded view of him? If that makes sense.

My view of Time hasn’t changed much— cool oot guy, age trauma, loves Malon, oldest Link, gremlin-y. I know more about majora’s mask, so I understand that part of him more though.

Same with Legend and Hyrule, though with downfall duo I viewed them a bit like Wild, where I pretty much looked at the angsty parts of them and not much else. But I realized at some point they’re not just their trauma XD

And Sky... I view him less as just the nice la de da sleepyhead who’s in love with Zelda, and now more of a sassy godslayer (who is still crazy in love with Zelda XD).

[twilight-vivi]

Why LoZ is so special to me

Random little rant to know me better 🤷‍♀️

So I’m 24 and my mom had me young. She raised me with her parents (my grandparents) and her siblings) my uncle was about 15 and he’s a huge gamer that especially loves Zelda. He’s played every game and beat them all except The Adventure of Link.

For as long as I can remember my uncle would play Zelda games in front of me and tell me about them (the lore and story etc) especially for ocarina of time and majora‘s mask, since those were the most popular at the time. I was playing them when I was really young. The first game I fully played, was twilight princess on the Wii and I think spirit tracks was the next one. 

Twilight Princess really cemented my love for the series.

It was a way for me and my uncle to connect and I actually found it comforting. I was bullied a lot at school and I moved out of my grandparents house when my mom married my ex stepdad and I was 6.

I was constantly stressed and he was very abusive. But I always found comfort in Zelda games. My uncle got me a n64, Wii, and GameCube so I had plenty.

These games always brought me comfort. Playing Twilight Princess in this stressful environment really helped me cope. TP Link was my first ever fictional crush and I liked to imagine that he’d save me from this hell that was my life. I’d think about how there’s more than just my stepdad but also that there must be kind strong men out there like Link.

My mom also likes the series(especially Majora’s Mask). She actually encouraged me to play Majora’s Mask to learn time management. She believes the games are good for critical thinking. She’d want me to do the temples and puzzles without looking them up.

I feel like it did help a lot.

In a way, Zelda games are also good for coping.

I was assaulted at 15 by that ex stepdad and the night it happened I was playing Wind Waker on the WiiU. I played before then right after it happened to get my mind off the traumatizing experience. More specifically, it was the Dragon Roost Island part.

Since then, Zelda games have greatly helped me cope with stress. Even though I finished TOTK I like to hop on and just wander and do things in hyrule. It calms me down and takes me out of the stress of being a young adult. I just love escaping to that world and thinking back to a better time.

[journalsouppe]

Here’s my second ever journal entry and another one of my favorite games! After this entry, I started transitioning to more commentary and longer summaries but I’d always love to play the 3DS OOT and MM games and make new journal entries.

I have so much love for both Ocarina and Majora’s, the only other Zelda game that stands with them so close to my heart is Breath of the Wild. I love the Zelda series but these games in particular have done so much for me.

I also want to say I think it’s unfair to pit the girlies (Ocarina and Majora’s) against each other. I think you can absolutely like one more than the other, but neither would be as amazing without the other. Ocarina can absolutely stand by itself, but the reason it’s so impactful is BECAUSE you get to see how traumatizing the events of Ocarina were in Majora’s Mask. Not many Zelda games have a sequel, which means were rarely get to see the aftermath of the events from the series. Majora’s Mask also gave double meaning to a lot of things in Ocarina such as the Happy Mask Salesman and the enemies. How the more terrifying it is to encounter Gibdos in Ocarina after learning about the curse in Majora’s.

Truly a superb game, and as it should be bc we share the same birth year!!! Ugh I could go on forever just to add more notes and comments about this game but I will save that for a future journal entry or essay.

Writing typed below!

Rating: 9.7/10 Watched: Spr 2022 (Keith Ballard, OG on WiiU port)

Comments:

Skull Kid is such a great enemy, I love his story

BIG SWORD

I love the different swords since Link can't use the Master Sword

The origins of Tingle

WTF IS MAJORAS WRATH AND INCARNATION

Why do the fairies look like this...

Boogie Woogie

Schafrillas has a great analysis video

Summary: Although some of the mechanics are clunky, it has one of my favorite stories and overall game mechanics (3 day time loop). It is so rich in telling a story for each townsperson while showing Link's selflessness despite his devastation. It is quite a tragic tale. Link has gained the strongest power imaginable but he still doesn't have his best friend. My heart goes out to Link and his tragic heroism.

[changeling-rin]

Okay, I have a cursed thought.

The Chain meets a Link that has Majora as his companion. Still the same insane, trigger happy nut job, but instead of being a creature of pure chaos, they are a creature of zealous punishment of evil.

How traumatized is Mask, and what should I call this OC?

-Zam, needing help

Mask does an about-face and is conveniently unable to be found for the remainder of the interaction. On a scale of one to ten, he's riding at about a six, but only because Majora actually seems to be behaving itself. (...for a given value of 'behave' at any rate. Mostly it's just that nothing is on fire.)

As for the OC... personally, I like Mentis? It's Latin for 'mind', from the phrase non compos mentis - or, not in the right mind. Which I think, for anyone spending extensive amounts of time around Majora, is accurate.

Plus they sound good together. Mentis and Majora. Majora and Mentis. This is a solid thirty percent of my reasoning

[heliianth]

ok sorry for this but i just saw a post motherfuckers will be like majoras mask is the best zelda game and think its because of the villain as if its even present for most of it and not clinging onto a lonely child like a parasite YOU DONT GET IT the horror comes from the motif of NEVER being able to help everyone. no matter how many times link tries there will NEVER be a run where he helps everyone before the moon falls. its not mature because it has creepy settings and dark dialogue its mature bc its literally abt link learning to deal with traumatizing survivors guilt. MAJORAS MASK TO SKULL KID IS WHAT THE HERO ROLE IS TO LINK. sorry. ok . carry on

[tnc-n3cl]

🤡🛒🎉

For the fic ask game!

🤡 What’s a line, scene, or exchange you’ve written that made you laugh?

I've got several of those actually... Early on in The Amnesiac Hero's Quest Link's magic wolf friend, who he named Ada, decides to mess with him when he goes to catch a horse by Dueling Peaks Stable. She barks and startles the horses just before Link gets close. After the third time he throws his boot at her and she catches it in midair and runs off with it and makes him chase her half way to the stable before he drops to the ground in exhaustion. Then she gives him back the boot, licks his face a few times, and finally lets him catch a horse in peace.

And as a bonus, in The Ballad of Kass, Kass is escorted to Gerudo Desert by Rinili but first they make a stop by his hometown of Kariki Village (which is near the southern end of the Traganar Canyon). Kass has dinner with Rinili, his two mothers (Harli and Milni) and his little sisters (Koli and Vili), and it's not long before Milni mistakes Kass for Rinili's date which promps this exchange:

“My you’re even more handsome than Gizli!”  Then she turns to her son, “Do you think he’ll be the one?”

“Mum!”  Rinili protests as his feathers puff out in embarrassment, his decorative crest feathers twitch around as well.

Meanwhile, it’s all Kass can do not to spit out his food!

In unison the fledgling tease, “♪Kass and Rinili perched in a tree, P-R-E-E-N-I-N-G…♪”

“Cut it out you two!”  Rinili shouts over his little sisters while Kass tries not to die from embarrassment!  Honestly, Rinili appears as though he may die from embarrassment too!

{BTW: Rinili calls Harli, "Ma". Gizli is the same Tribe as Kass, mostly red feathers, green wingtips, gold chest/belly. Harli and Milni are average Rito, Harli is pale red with blond hair (the same shade as Amali's), Milni is "cream colored" with white hair, Koli is pink, Vili is yellow. Rinili looks a lot like Harth but with a dark spot on his beak larger than most Ritos, and a braided combover, no hair on the back of his head cause he has a crest that looks like a peafowl crest, midnight blue feathers, legs and belly are powder blue with white bands on his legs (like Saki but more than one white band), powder blue finger/wingtips with a white band separating the midnight blue rest of his body, and he has four long decorative tail feathers with wide tips like a marvelous spatuletail or turquoise-browed motmot}

🛒 What are some common things you incorporate in your fics? Themes, feels, scenes, imagery, etc.

Revenge and the futility of it/cycle of hurting it causes/unintended consequences that result comes up a fair amount. Less so in "The Realm Walker" than in the unwritten ideas I have for my original universe "Project 47".

Struggling with/accepting fate/destiny appears in "The Realm Walker". I have a lot of characters with traumatic backstories, which results in a fair amount of angst, which then leads to someone giving them a hug (and Link full on ugly crying while Ada howls the "Song of Healing" from Majora's Mask).

I have several scenes where a character is trying to figure something out and then someone says something to them or something happens that "pulls them out of the rabbit hole" (Or from Mipha's perspective, "pulls her out of the eel shelter").

And there's of course big fighting action sequences!

🎉 What leads you to consider a fic a success?

Hm... Finishing it? I guess... After scrapping both a Star Trek and Stargate fic project, I'll be overjoyed if I can just finish "The Realm Walker." Of course, I love it when readers tell me they enjoyed what I wrote!

Thanks @unmaskedcardinal!

[impasgender]

Hello! I'm Snow and this is my LOZ sideblog I made to ramble. I never played a Zelda game as a kid and am now making my way through as much of the series as I can in my twenties! My favourite game is Link's Awakening, my favourite character is Marin, and I'm abnormal about Impa Skyward Sword. No promises on how active this blog will be.

Games I've Played:

A Link to the Past

Link's Awakening (DX)

Ocarina of Time (3DS)

Oracle of Seasons/Ages

Skyward Sword (HD)

Breath of the Wild

Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity

Games I'm Playing:

Majora's Mask (3DS)

Tears of the Kingdom

Games I'm Planning to Play:

Minish Cap

Spirit Tracks

A Link Between Worlds

Twilight Princess

Echoes of Wisdom

Wind Waker and Phantom Hourglass if I can get my laptop to successfully emulate Wind Waker

Hyrule Warriors (Definitive Edition) if I can find it for cheap because I'm not paying 50 bucks for a game

Some of my opinions and headcanons under the cut for fun!

General:

Most Links had a blast on their adventure and even the ones for whom it was traumatizing still treasure a lot of the memories of it.

Every Link is autistic and aromantic.

Words cannot describe how unappealing and boring I find zelink. In general I do not care for ships.

Link's Awakening:

Not a tragedy. I'll die on this hill.

Koholint is mostly a reflection of the Wind Fish and Marin reflects his desire to wake up.

I think Marin/Link is a very 'he was a boy, she was a girl' type dynamic in canon and I do not care for the ship. Will tolerate it if Marin's characterization is good enough though.

Link did NOT get traumatized by the events of the game and not only will I die on this hill I'll kill on this hill.

Skyward Sword

Impa was born prior to the Hylia and Demise war and lived through it.

The Sheikah were based in Kakariko, which was Impa's home village. Kakariko lay in a mountain chain between Lanayru and Faron. Similar to BOTW, I headcanon their culture to be Japanese-inspired.

Impa was chosen as a kind of hero to the Sheikah and tasked with protecting the village. She failed, and Kakariko and the Sheikah were wiped out. Impa later rebuilds Kakariko, even if nobody will live there.

Impa's devotion toward Hylia is an extension of her devotion to her family, village and traditions.

The Gerudo lived in Lanayru and created the technology there. They fled when Demise started attacking the province; part fled to Kakariko or further in land, part fled across the sea. The part that fled across the sea survived.

Impa's decision to stay behind at the end of the game is in character because she is extremely dutiful, but the justification of 'protecting the Triforce' is paper thin and wildly undercut by having the Triforce sit on the gigantic Goddess statue during the final scene. How I deal with this will range from ignoring it to rewriting it.

Link was 17, Zelda was 18, and Impa was 22 during the game.

Impa nonbiney and autistic.

Zelda is an intersex trans girl.

Link is a Deaf trans girl. Uses Skyloftian Sign Language and Fi translated during their adventure. Relied heavily on memorization and visual cues for the music sections.

Breath of the Wild:

Riju is my favourite character! I love her dearly <3

Buliara and Riju have a relationship that almost could've been familial if they were less emotionally repressed about it. As it is it's loving but complicated.

Buliara and Riju are both deeply emotionally repressed but Riju is more emotionally observant and intelligent.

The Gerudo have normal clothes like thobes and not metal croptops. Their coming of age journey outside of Gerudo Town is not to find a husband but to see the world. I can't fix the orientalism but I can at least do damage control.

Buliara is autistic.

Zelda is a gay trans guy. Abnormal about this headcanon. Also autistic + ADHD and probably PTSD. Becomes selectively mute post-Calamity and will use the Sheikah Slate as AAC. Physically disabled too but still working out the details on that.

Link is transfem and probably some flavor of nonbinary. Was selectively mute pre-Calamity but is fully verbal now, though still quiet and has speech patterns that are often perceived as strange.

If you think Link's orientalism girl outfit is gender I hate you.

A Link to the Past

The Triforce did not so much as erase Ganon's actions from existence as it 'made everything okay', i.e. raised the dead and such. This means that everyone besides Link also remembers what happened.

Zelda's Dark World form would be moonlight.

Zelda was 11 and Link was 13 during the game.

Zelda is butch and genderqueer, has OCD and PTSD. Has major issues with control and autonomy as a result of the trauma of the game.

Link is genderqueer and autistic. Does not speak verbally, uses a chalkboard to write.

[quirkle2]

ooughghhhh how do you think wars would take using the fierce deity mask if he ever had to in an emergency situation? I like how different folks have different spins on members of the chain usin’ it, and I’m curious if you’ve got any fierce deity!wars headcanons!!!! :0!!!! omg

HMMMMS,,,

(warnings for [temporary] loss of sanity, a bit of self harm)

i headcanon that any of the dlc n shit in his game never happened (meaning he never met tune/wind or mask/time) so first off he wouldn't even know what it was. time had explained to them in vague terms that it's powerful and not to be worn by anybody except him, Ever, and that it is a very demonic mask in nature. other than that, wars has no idea what it actually Does

during an emergency he mentally apologies to time while he reaches for the mask in the man's bag. he puts it on and can't help but wonder why it almost suctions to his face like it's reaching out, desperate for contact w Somebody's soul

i don't think fd is evil ? i know next to nothing about it, or majora's mask in general, so this is just me guessing GVYIEA but as far as i know, it simply helps link beat majora or whatever. i think it's a deity that serves as protection of people and land, and it simply protects whoever holds it, and whoever the holder Wants to protect

so when wars puts it on, he's taken over and it would normally play out in the expected way—fd simply takes charge and protects what wars' mind deems as worth protecting—but it doesn't go like that purely due to wars' panic

wars fights against it, naturally. his body and mind are being taken over and that's an utterly terrifying experience, so he struggles and tries to escape it. maybe he's simply scared—he sees the markings on the mask and the markings on time's face and Knows it can leave lasting effects, time said it was a demon, there is a demon in his mind—or maybe the overwhelming magic from the mask itself is simply too much. maybe, if ur not used to it, the mask's magic is usually a lot for one measly, mortal hylian to expose themselves to. maybe it makes the holder lose their senses

either way, wars fights against it, and that causes the fierce deity to lose control of a lot of its power in order to simply keep a grip on wars' mind. and the loss of control over a power That massive and destructive ? it's not good

by the end of the fight wars is trying to rip his own hair out. he's killed everything except his family in the field, but that's not due to efficiency, that's due to pure luck and the chain's abilities to dodge his uncontrolled sword beams and rapid slices w the helix blade. he's clawing at his skin and tearing at his face, sending out pulses of heavy magic with every one of his rapid heartbeats. they can Hear his heartbeat bounce off the cliffs, almost like it's being broadcasted across the continent. he's screaming until his throat is raw, simply scared of being possessed or getting killed

they have to use several of their items to hold him down when they can finally get close to him. since the fd is like roughly 75% in control, it does not fight back—these people r wars' family, the people he wants to protect. it will not hurt them

time manages to rip the mask off. with it comes a crackle of energy, the cliffs stop shaking from the constant pulses and loud booms of his heartbeat, and he simply holds wars while he's a sobbing mess in his arms. it takes a while for the hysteria to fade

time doesn't chastise him for it. he dealt w enough, and he clearly learned his lesson—he's honestly way more worried abt wars himself and hoping against all odds this experience doesn't traumatize him Too much. he doesn't reiterate the lesson to the others, either. they most certainly do not need it, after seeing their beloved captain, usually so calm and level-headed, momentarily lose his sanity

wars never touches time's bag ever again

[fatefulfaerie]

Happy Mask Collector

A happy birthday to Happy Mask Collector! I hope you like it!

His hours were hung beside the doors of the clock tower, the smiling salesman obviously taking over the empty space for the three days he claimed to be in town. Link figured that whatever it used to be used for was beyond him, the stones that made up its walls overgrown with moss and the waterwheel frozen in time.

Between the hours of 11:00 am and 10:00 pm, the Happy Mask Salesman laid out his wares, every single one of the masks that were strapped to his backpack. Link, who had some time to kill waiting for night to dusk, stepped in through the large wooden doors at a quarter to 4.

The Happy Mask Salesman lit up when he saw Link enter, eagerly bouncing with happiness at the prospect of a sale.

“Mister Link!” The man said. Link didn’t recall giving his name, even when they first met a few cycles ago. Link decided that he’d rather assume he didn’t remember than think about how the salesman could possibly know.

“Anything stand out to you?” The salesman asked. “As you can see, my collection is vast. My customers often find it hard to choose, but I tell them these kinds of masks have a habit of having a voice of their own. Sometimes the right one just…calls out to you.”

The smile the salesman adorned was creepy, so Link instead looked down at the masks, wondering if any of them would have magical properties that could help him on his journey.

One was of a man, with brown hair, a large smile, and closed eyes that beneath them were painted black tears. Link was curious about the story behind all of these masks, but he had to admit he was afraid of how scary each rabbit hole would be. Normal customers would think all these masks were made, with materials such as clay and paint, wood and ink, minerals and ore. Link knew the Song of Healing, and was taught it by none other than the man who sat before him. He knew its power. It made masks out of grief, whether willingly or not.

There was a mask of cobbled stone with a nose-like mouth and goat-like eyes. There was one of a man who looked to be smiling in his sleep. The man had a red hat with the letter “M” and Link worried that the mustached man was an unwilling victim of the Song of Healing.

The next mask in the line had round eyes and a far more mischievous smile, as well as red and black patterns painted upon it. It looked to be something made, not created from magic. The painted lines were uneven and the wood was chipping. The next three masks were the same, one blue and sad, one red and grinning, and one yellow, beaked, and laughing.

The last three were frankly horrifying, all three looking like some severely traumatized Hylian faces. One had a nose that was slit thrice widely across the face, one had eyes that were stretched out vertically as much as possible, and one looked to be in the middle of an eternal scream. Link figured those masks really were due to true healing, willing recipients of the song.

“Are there any that have…abnormal abilities?” Link asked. “For the wearer, I mean.”

The Salesman sighed.

“Alas the only mask I have that fits that description has been stolen, as you may recall,” the once happy man said. “Even when you return it to me as you’ve promised, I absolutely cannot sell it. It is a prized possession to a collector such as I.”

Link nodded in understanding. He did not want Majora’s Mask. It caused him enough trouble already.

“I’ll tell you what,” the salesman said, thinking he had to make it up to Link. “For 50 rupees I’ll give you some intel on a mask I’ve heard of that has magical abilities. I’m sure a young, energetic collector such as yourself would be able to find it.”

“All right,” Link said, shelling out a purple rupee. “What do you got?”

“Now, you didn’t hear this from me,” the Happy Mask Salesman started with a hushed tone and a slight smile, leaning in. “But legends tell of a mask that could combat the power of even Majora’s Mask.”

Link’s face twitched in intrigue. The salesman continued.

“You see, the land of Termina once was quite spiritual. People nowadays are atheistic for the most part, but the old stories still remain. The tale goes like this…”

“The sun and the moon would orbit a still and lifeless earth, day after day, night after night, round and round with no end. The moon was so lonely that every once in a while, it would release a single tear. These tears are what created life as we know it, but the moon still felt alone. It could not live among the tiny people on the surface of the earth, nor could it ever see the full beauty of the rays of the sun, only remnants of her light.”

“One day, the moon’s orbit aligned so that he actually met the sun, and he instantly fell in love. Their meeting created an eclipse, a halo of light so beautiful that it inspired the idea that the sun and the moon were gods in love, the moon the deity of fate and the sun the goddess of time.”

“Yet, the eclipse did not last forever, and soon the eternal separation began yet again, and tears would fall from the moon. As civilization progressed, most began to explain this as a testament of science, that the moon was not actually crying, but that these tears were part of the natural order of things, random rocks that crumbled and fell from the moon on occasion and gleamed like sapphires as they descended to the earth. Yet, the moon and the sun are still ingrained in wedding ceremonies, a sun mask and a moon mask melding to make–”

“A couple’s mask,” Link finished. “I know. I’ve heard that story before. I’ve seen it with my own eyes.”

“Yes, but there is another side to the story,” the salesman said. “You see, this right now isn’t the first time the moon has fallen to the earth. The giants threw it back up into the sky once before. But no Majora’s Mask forced it down the first time. It came down on its own. People used to say it was because of its anger, that the god was enraged in his grief and wanted to destroy all things. It was then that the giants came together and threw it back up into the sky, but before they did, they sang it the Song of Healing. The moon didn’t cry for decades, and some believe it’s because the fierce deity of fate was healed by the giants. And us mask collectors, well, we know the power of the song. We theorize that, in the moon, there is a mask of unimaginable power. So here’s your tip: if in the process of getting my mask back you find yourself near the falling moon, it wouldn’t hurt to look inside.”

[blueskittlesart]

why do you think navi left? i’m still confused…

i am once again going to plug my loz analysis doc because i do go into navi's disappearance briefly in both the oot & mm sections but tldr i do not know and it has driven me insane for the last seven years of my life.

navi to me is representative of a support system to link in oot. when link has no one else on his side, when no adult will listen or guide him, navi is there throughout EVERYTHING. she is imperative to link's ability to fight both narratively and as a game mechanic--she is tied to the targeting mechanic. when you briefly lose her in the final battle it's a genuine handicap, because link is unable to target and therefore unable to fight when he is completely alone, and all your energy is focused on removing the block on her so that you can target ganon's weak point and win the final battle. link CANNOT win ocarina of time without navi. which is why it is SO difficult for me to rationalize her unexplained absence in the game's otherwise completely cohesive direct sequel. a fairly popular theory (at least back when i was 12 and frantically googling "where is navi majora's mask") is that, since link has completed his purpose in regards to the hero's destiny by the end of oot, navi was "no longer needed" and therefore left him. I don't like this theory for several reasons, the most prominent being that i resent the idea that navi was nothing but a guide given to link due to his possession of the hero's soul or whatever. navi was a FRIEND and a SUPPORT SYSTEM to a deeply traumatized, manipulated child who quite literally had no one else in the world on his side. and there's a lot of that echoed in majora's mask, especially the first day--you're alone, you're helpless and without a weapon, you're confined to clock town and treated as an inconvenient child by everyone you talk to. you have a fairy companion, yes, and she fills the gap somewhat, but tatl and tael always felt much more like children themselves than adult guides and supports the way navi did. tatl just doesnt quite have enough figured out herself to be as supportive to link in that situation as navi might have been. and in some ways this serves majora's mask quite well--it reminds the player of the "terrible fate" they've met with and lends to the weird atmosphere of clock town. it's a subtle signal that something is REALLY wrong.--the fairy, established in previous games as a species that served to guide you and tell you what to do, isn't quite sure what's going on either. but they had to retcon navi out of the story to get that effect. practically, thematically for majora's mask, a character like tatl works better than a character like navi, but it leaves a plot hole that demands explanation. all that being said, the only way I PERSONALLY am able to rationalize such an abrupt disappearance by navi is to say that something came up that she needed to deal with, but which was on the same or similar level as ganon, and navi, being the only adult in link's life who gave a shit about him, didn't want to subject the poor kid to anything else like that and so left him (hopefully temporarily) to deal with it alone, like any fucking responsible adult should (instead of idk putting a 9 year old to sleep for 7 years and then expecting him to be fine and willing to fight monsters the second he woke up.) there are holes in this interpretation, obviously, such as what the hell navi is dealing with and why, and why link had to set out to search for her at all if she told him what was going on, but canon gives us literally nothing so smaller plot holes are better than huge ones.

[figofswords]

i always got the impression that tp link was like.. the Edgy one but tbh i like your version more. yes he is a soft boy with his doggos and goats 💕

[re these doodles]

ok sorry this took me forever to answer but YEAH I think about this a lot okay just. there’s this version of tp link that exists in fandom that I‘m pretty sure came from his portrayal in the manga and it is so utterly alien from my impression of him in the game as to be almost completely unrecognizable. to be perfectly honest I don’t see any version of link from any of the games as being particularly edgy. sad, yes, traumatized, yes, maybe even angry, but at least for me it is essential to link’s character that he is a gentle soul driven first and foremost by compassion and the desire to help. I think tp link in particular gets the edgelord treatment bc twilight princess as a game has an overall darker tone but even then I think, plot-wise, that games like majora’s mask and even botw are heavier. twilight princess is a story about a boy from a little village where everyone knows his name and smiles when they see him and ask him for help with every minor concern because they know he won’t mind helping. it’s a game where you can pick up every cat and every dog and then you turn into a wolf and those cats and dogs can talk to you, their favorite human, who is now a friend who can understand them. the first time link meets zelda (in wolf form) and agrees to help her, he doesn’t even know he’s the hero yet. he barely knows what he’s agreeing to. he has no idea what’s going on. but she looks sad, and she’s asking for help, so he agrees, because that’s what he does: help people out when they need it. I think tonally that twilight princess is a game that is mournful but there‘s a difference between a gentle hero in a mournful game and an edgy hero in an edgy game and that distinction is important to me.