The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask is extremely unique when compared to other games in the franchise, and its tone is much darker than most Zelda games. Out of all the games in the franchise, it might also have the most speculation about its themes, and the most questions about the world in which it's set: Termina. All together, these factors create a mysterious game that's still being debated decades after it was released.

Majora's Mask is set directly after Ocarina of Time in the timeline where Zelda sends Link back to his childhood after he defeats Ganondorf. Link decides to try finding Navi, who left when he returned the Master Sword to the Temple of Time, but in the process he ends up in Termina. Although Termina resembles Hyrule, it's filled with its own mysteries just like Ocarina of Time, most of which add to the game's eerie atmosphere.

10 Skull Kid Increasingly Loses Control To Majora's Mask

Majora's Mask Power Corrupts Skull Kid

Skull Kid is somewhat of an antagonist in Majora's Mask, and at the beginning, he mostly plays pranks. Then, his pranks grow increasingly cruel, as Majora's influence wants to use him to destroy Termina. The mask itself slowly takes control of Skull Kid, and this transformation can be seen in-game. At the end, the mask removes itself from Skull Kid and faces Link in the moon with its own body. To see Majora gaining influence over Skull Kid, Link needs to keep an eye on Skull Kid as he stands on the Clock Tower over the three days of MM.

For the first two days, Skull Kid is moving around and dancing on top of the Clock Tower, and he looks like the playful kid that he's supposed to be. However, on the third day, Skull Kid becomes rather horrifying. Instead of dancing, he stands with his head tilted to the side and twitching. It's clear that he no longer has control over his own body, and the mask is instead waiting and watching Link as the moon grows closer.

9 The Lunar Children Are Related To The Happy Mask Salesman

Happy Mask Salesman's Lunar Past

At the end of Majora's Mask, Link heads to the moon to face Majora. Before that, he can interact with the children who live in the moon, possibly the remnants of the ancient tribe that summoned Majora in the first place, then sealed it inside the mask. All the children are wearing masks, and they bear a striking resemblance to the Happy Mask Salesman. The strangest part is when Link speaks to them, the children ask if he's going to be a mask salesman, too.

When it comes to the Happy Mask Salesman, anything feels possible.

The Happy Mask Salesman is already an enigma, so the possibility of him being related to the children Link sees in the moon isn't that farfetched. If the children, and therefore the Happy Mask Salesman, are related to the ancient tribe that created Majora's Mask, then it makes sense that he understands how dangerous it is with Skull Kid, and why he had it in his possession in the first place. When it comes to the Happy Mask Salesman, anything feels possible.

8 Link's Regrets Tie His Spirit To The World

Link's Past Haunts His Spirit

With the Song of Healing, Link spends the majority of Majora's Mask helping NPCs who are bound by their regrets find peace. Unfortunately, Link himself is unable to receive this same peace until long after he dies, and that's only if Link in Twilight Princess takes the time to learn seven sword techniques from the Hero's Spirit. This is because the Hero's Spirit in TP is Link from Majora's Mask.

Link's life is tough after Zelda sends him back to his childhood, and in MM, he's clearly not a normal child, basically being an adult who's been turned back into a child. His accomplishments from OoT are largely forgotten, and he ends up in Termina while searching for the only friend he can still interact with. It's no wonder that he had lingering regrets and that his spirit stayed in the world until he could on his swordsmanship.

7 Link Is Burdened By Promises He Can't Keep

Link's Burden of Broken Vows

When Link plays the Song of Healing to bring peace to various NPCs, they often ask him to carry on their work or finish a final task on their behalf, giving him a mask that he can use to do so. Unfortunately, Link is likely unable to keep all of those promises, no matter how many times he keeps repeating the three-day cycle of Majora's Mask. Every reset means that the problems he solved beyond completing temples have returned. It's not possible for Link to keep every promise he makes to NPCs who give him masks for a final task.

Additionally, there's no need for Link to keep every promise he makes in MM. Unless a player wants to 100% the game, Link only needs to complete a fraction of the content. This means he might pick up side quests that he never finishes, which is a bit sad in of story. Perhaps it's natural that Link's spirit lingers with regrets after the events of MM, considering how many responsibilities he tries to fulfill.

6 Putting On Masks Hurts Link

Link's Psychological Burden

With the animation of Link screaming every time he puts on a mask, it's not a secret that it isn't fun for him to put them on. However, Aonuma revealed the canonical reason behind this pain in an old interview with Game Informer that's unfortunately no longer available online. Essentially, each mask holds the memory of somebody who died with a wish that they wanted to fulfill before they died. When Link puts on the mask, he gets a rush of those memories and the pain of an unfulfilled wish.

Game Informer was discontinued in August 2024 after operating for 33 years.

While players can skip the animations after the first time, it doesn't mean that the pain is any easier to bear for Link. In the end, this timeline is the most tragic for Link, and he has to handle more pain than a hero should, only to be forgotten in the end anyway.

5 The Garo Are Dead Spies

Garo's Secret Past Revealed

This secret raises more questions than it answers. The Garo are enemies found in Ikana Canyon, but the versions of them that Link faces are actually spies who died while trying to gather intelligence on the Ikana Kingdom, as explained by Pamela's father. It seems that they commit a ritual suicide when captured, which is further evidenced by the Garo Master using a bomb on himself when Link defeats him in the Stone Tower Temple. This lets them die without leaving a body, meaning there's nothing to gain from them.

While the identity of the Garo is an interesting secret, the greater secret is where they're from and why they wanted intelligence about the Ikana Kingdom. Link also doesn't uncover how Ikana ended up in a state where it's haunted by evil spirits and undead. One possibility is that the Stone Tower itself was built to honor evil, since there are multiple images of Majora's Mask engraved on pillars in the area, which could have contributed to the state of the canyon, if true.

4 It's Not Possible To Save Everybody

Tragic Choices in Termina

This might not be a secret, but it's a dark detail when taken into consideration. The design of Majora's Mask with the way time flows means that Link can never save everybody in a single cycle. Using variations of the Song of Time is required to move through the days, and then returning to the first day technically resets the quests Link completed. If he helps Anju and Kafei in one cycle, then they're separated again when he turns back time with their meeting being reversed as a side effect.

With a game that has this many dark themes, it seems appropriate that it's impossible to be the hero that Link might want to be for Termina.

As a result, Link can only save maybe a third of the residents of Termina, no matter how hard he tries. Also, he doesn't need to help that many NPCs in order to stop the moon from falling, so he could leave a lot of storylines unresolved if he wanted to. With a game that has this many dark themes, it seems appropriate that it's impossible to be the hero that Link might want to be for Termina.

3 The Fate Of The Deku Butler's Son Could Be Tied To Link

Link's Role in Deku's Story

The Deku Butler serves the Deku Royal Family, but when alone with Link, he mourns his son who left and hasn't been seen since. The implications of how masks are created, the power of Majora, and the prevalence of themes of death create a strong theory about the Deku Butler's Son and what happened to him. It seems likely that the Deku Butler's son is the spirit inside the mask that turns Link into Deku Link, and that it was Majora's Mask that used the son's spirit to curse Link in the opening.

Masks are the embodiment of the spirit that they're created from, and the Deku Butler comments that Deku Link reminds him of his son. However, the stronger evidence comes from the tree the butler mourns at looking like the tree at the beginning of the game when Link is cursed. Additionally, using the Elegy of Emptiness with the Deku Mask on creates a statue that resembles the tree, seemingly implying that the mask holds the spirit of the Deku Butler's son.

2 The Mysterious Identity Of The Happy Mask Salesman

Salesman's True Identity Unveiled

Even if the Happy Mask Salesman has some relation to the Lunar Children, it doesn't fully answer all the dark secrets surrounding him. Since the children ask if Link will be a mask salesman, it's possible that the Happy Mask Salesman was once a Lunar Child himself. However, there are still unanswered questions about how he knows so much about Majora's Mask, and how he's able to travel between Hyrule and Termina, seemingly doing so intentionally.

Zelda's recurring Happy Mask Salesman is intimately aware of how powerful Majora's Mask is, and he's clearly concerned about what could happen while Skull Kid is wearing it. He's also able to keep the mask with him for extended periods of time without being influenced by it, which seems to imply that he has a way to dampen or remove its influence when it's in his possession. Then, the biggest secret that's never answered is how he ended up with Majora's Mask in the first place. It must all be tied to his unspoken identity.

1 The Nature Of Termina Remains Unclear

Termina's True Nature Revealed

Perhaps the biggest secret of Majora's Mask is the existence of Termina. The Legend of Zelda Encyclopedia states that Termina was created through a combination of the darkness in Skull Kid's heart and the evil power of Majora, but the book overall contains multiple incongruities that leave it unclear if this is truly the case. Then, the Majora's Mask game manual (available online courtesy of Nintendo) refers to Termina as a parallel world to Hyrule, which is one of many that are known to exist as side effects of the goddesses creating Hyrule.

On top of the question about how Termina was created, there's the mystery of how people from Hyrule are able to travel there, especially if Termina was created by Skull Kid and Majora, since it seems like that would make it a place that's not real in the same way that Hyrule is real. Depending on when it was created, Link could've simply been too close to Skull Kid and ended up inside his creation. However, the real answer remains unclear, and Termina will likely be a mystery for the foreseeable future.

Majora's Mask is a unique game with unusually dark themes for a Zelda game, but those themes are the same elements that help make the game linger with players long after the ending. The emotions and grief of the NPCs feel real and heavy, weighing down Link in contrast to the uplifting journey he has as the Hero of Time. As a result, the dark secrets of Termina make players continue examining The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask to find answers that might forever elude them.

Source: Nintendo