Majora's Mask: The Ultimate Trauma Narrative

This video is so well done and such a fresh take on one of my all time favorite. I’m replaying it tonight! Instant subscribe from me. Very well done!

Of course the kid deserves forgiveness, he was just a kid who was lonely.

Your analysis is insightful, compelling, and brilliant. I am impressed by your use of a coherent narrative to connect and explain the storyline of the game.

I am looking forward to further analysis from you

Why did you use the 2000s version instead of the 3ds version? Hehe just out of curiosity. Nevertheless, your narrative is outstanding regarding the psychological effects this game has impacted us

wow... everyones said it all but i just wanted to thank you for this video. it came up at the exact time i needed it and i wont lie, it made me shed a few tears. this game is so deeply important to me and this video made so many beautiful points.

Incredible presentation. Very well done.

I love how many majora’s mask videos are like “get some help”

Your voice is soooooo relaxing

I'm in a struggle, trying yo cope a loss that shouldn't be affecting me, but it makes me feel uneasy.

Majora's Mask has helped me through mourning before, and this time is no exception. This game always presents to me whenever I need it.

Song of Healing really helps me heal. Oath to Order gives me hope.

I have a theory: the people in Termina look like their doppelgangers in Hyrule, *but only to Link*. In other words, they would otherwise look like normal everyday people, but Link is projecting various Hyrulians onto them because that's how he's processing the trauma of losing everything and everyone. No one knows the Hero of Time, but this is a new land where he can be a new hero (and healer).

Since we play the game from Link's perspective, we see what he sees. There's this girl who works on a ranch? It must be Malon. Let's go save the ranch, not just for Cremia and Romani, but for Malon as well. For Link, healing the people of Termina is synonymous with healing their counterparts in Hyrule, except this time he will be remembered for his deeds. It's a part of how he heals himself.

I've had this in my watch later forever and finally sat down to check it out. First off, genuinely super well thought out video and really thought provoking. I really enjoyed it ♥︎ I'm gonna send to my friend when she's back from vacation. You're so right about all of the struggles of the people and how they make us feel, and the mystery of the place.. and how in a way, the outcome is exactly what Link experienced in ocarina, except at least now he has a type of closure. It always made me sad that Tatl kind of kicks us out at the end. Like no I want to see everyone we helped and bonded with! And we definitely feel so moved because I know many people who always do certain quests before saving the town as a whole (usually the ranch and Kafei/Anju, since those seem particularly dire; and even then some try to do as many as they can to save people before the final battle). But I love you pointing out the little details like the swordsman hiding, or the postman's turmoil, or the bartender/mayor's wife. Even the mayor when we bring the couple's mask... all beautiful moments born out of a game rushed to us a challenge. Amazing

ben drowned if you know you know

You kinda ignored Majora if you go for the fierce deity mask you'd learn more about them. Skullkid was simply a puppet that's why it's easy to forgive them in the end.

Oh man this helped a lot....... thank you so much for making this.

omg a woman on zelda YESSSSSSSSSS AND IT BLEW UP

Thank you for this analysis I finished MM for the first time in a long time I'm 31 you hit the point on the head about Combat Veterans. One of the things i struggled with was using alcohol to surpress the what and over time I started to value the why. Vet's mostly complain of alienation and loss of purpose with their unit. Once you get to the outside world it is immensely difficult finding anyone to truly understand trigger pulling. For me my moment was Ikana canyon the fact the place was a warzone and the spirits that linger, the stone soldier, and the regrets that all the warriors have in the area really rings out to the theme of disconnection. Honestly it is VERY easy to fall into the inner circle of aggression. For a long time I would stay angry at friends and family and the justification of victimhood of combat. Granted one thing I would say is no one wants to be called a hero but if someone tries to offer empathy and acceptance it makes it easier than typical people saying "You have to move on." In therapy I learned many different things about my psyche. It really helped ease my anger and began keeping connected to my squad mates. It really helps when you finally break out of the inner circle, you learn to use that pain of loss to umderstand why life goes on and why you can make the world better when time starts to move again. You owe it to the one's who don't get to be here anymore

This helps alot. Thank you

Link is a healer in Twilight Princess

Unfortunately, my experience of the wedding mask quest line was one of frustration, beating my head against the proverbial wall as I tried and tried to find any entrance into the intended sequence of actions throughout the game. I eventually just had to look it up because everything I tried that I thought made sense wasn't what the game wanted me to do. Kinda soured the whole thing for me.
And that goes for the game as a whole as well. I enjoyed the story, but only so much as I could when so much of the gameplay was frustrating. Being forced to immediately go back and repeat dungeon bosses right after doing them for the first time, because I didn't have enough time left in the cycle for all the stuff you need to do in the post-boss state, for example. I was never able to legitimately beat the swamp shooting gallery and had to cheat. So many pieces of heart are so cryptic I don't know how anyone was expected to find them, like having to do the chest minigame specifically as Goron. Speaking of the Goron form: The utterly horrible Goron track in the moon that took something like half an hour to beat because of how precise and unreliable it is, putting me in a foul mood for the ending, only to also be disappointed by the final boss fight.
I want to like Majora's, and there are plenty of things to like about it… but man does it not make it easy.

I think the most bittersweet thing about the game is the fact that when you beat it, and Link leaves and the game ends, you haven't helped everyone completely. There's absolutely no way to do all side quests and dungeons in one cycle and then also beat Majora. So you've beaten the game, but the deku king's daughter may not be found, or the aliens still invaded the ranch. There's always something in that cycle that you weren't able to fix

As I watched this video, I started thinking about the role of masks, and how people with trauma often learn to wear masks. Happy masks, sometimes - to disguise the pain.

Skull kid's mask resembles a heart with thorns, and two scared-looking eyes. On the box art Skull kid is seeing looking from behind the 'Z' in Zelda.

I played majoras mask right when it came out, it has been my favorite zelda game since

ooooh, I have an hour meeting I don't need to pay attention to and I know what I'm going to do

Here I am, a brazilian guy, watching a video about a game I never played in my life... But identifying every little aspect of it as I remember the events that occured in my life back in 2010.

In 2010 I had both my mom and my 2 years old little sister murdered. As I remember my personal journey in my life on that year, the whole rollercoaster of emotions and feelings... I can say that this game is something I must experience soon, as a personal experience of identifying each aspect of dealing with grief and everything that is involved in the entire process.

Live life fully, but healthy, fellas. This life might have its low times, as well as its sad times and everything... But it's definitely a life worth living. You end up finding amazing people and beautiful reasons to keep on going the train of life.

Thanks for the video, CJ. God bless you all, guys!

As someone healing with CPTSD, this game makes me feel so seen...

This became a therapy session that i needed. Thank you 🙏🏽

This game is really interesting in a lot of ways. I like the interpretation of the quest for enlightenment - and how a hero in that context would act. What would a hero be like then? Someone who helps people overcome their problems in the way link does in Majora may come close. In a sense Link achieves enlightenment himself as he conquers the dungeons and ascends to the Moon, having helped the people of Termina. But, he rejects it, in another sense. Link can achieve enlightenment and leave the wheel of suffering but chooses to remain to help others - he becomes a bodhisattva guiding others to enlightenment and a true fierce deity protecting them from evil on their paths to enlightenment. Or well, that’s one interpretation I guess.

When I play MM I always 100% it because I want it to be a truly changed world in the game. Part of my 100% is that I always run around in the final cycle doing as much good as possible before facing the final boss. I think in one run I healed the witch, cleaned the swamp, saved the monkey, brought spring to the mountain, sang with the frogs, gave toilet paper to the hand, revived Gormans' love of music, Saved the cows, protected the milk cart, rescued the eggs, returned Lulus' voice, defeated Gyorg, saved Pamelas' father, laid the sisters to rest, brought peace to the ghosts of the Kingdom of Ikana, defeated twin mold sealing the curse in the canyon, and all while defeating most of the mini-games. Then there was Anju and Kafei. I always choose to reunite Anju and Kafei. It's always the last thing I do before heading to the clock tower to defeat Majora. It's an emotional feeling I've not felt in other games to rush to do so much and end it on such a surprisingly gripping love story before heading into a battle meant to save the world from certain fiery doom. But every run gives you a choice, a branching tree of choices, actually, where you have to decide who gets help and who doesn't and it all centers around Anju & Kafei.

There are four groups of people whose completions are not mutually exclusive. The deku scrub salesmen, the hand, the bomb shop's grandmother and Anju & Kafei. The salesman need paper. You can only get paper from Anju or the Salesmen. Help the salesmen and you don't have paper from their land deeds, only the love letter from Anju is left. If you want to help Anju & Kafei you have to choose to help either the hand in the toilet or the salesmen. One of those groups will not get everything they want, the other won't or someone in the group will be left out (As the salesmen can all get new flowers except for the last one if you choose to help the hand) and you have to choose who gets left out. So you can't truly 100% the game. But also there is another choice to be made. The hardest one. How much do you want Anju and Kafei to get married? Are you willing to stand to one side as a helpless old woman is robbed in the street? I ask because you have to do that. Sakon robs the grandmother and you have to let him go so he returns to his hideout on the final day. I usually let this happen with me in north clocktown so I can witness the crime I am permitting. There is at least a little cut scene where you listen to her after she is robbed. Meant to be a mission failure screen it's actually more comforting than frustrating to know that I was at least there for her when it went down. It sucks to have to choose who to help and who to let get hurt. Thats' the little bit extra that really clinches the Anju 7 Kafei quest as one of the best of all time, and a landmark in practical, ethical decision making. If you help these two someone else will get hurt. Who do you chose? Heavy.

I want PTSD as a term to end. Just call trauma what it is. Trauma.

This video is so well done and beautifully made. Not only do you cover so many aspects of initial trauma that victims might suffer from, but how the psychological affects of everything and how it is built on the fundamentals of the game. Coming from someone who is super passionate about psychology, Twilight Princess & Majoras Mask are by far still my favorite games from the Zelda franchise. They did such a good job make these older games accessible to all younger ages! Some kids might have been freaked out, other kids might have resonated with this, and now since all of their fanbase has grown up- we can truly look back and see how they were practically speaking to us through meanings that we didn't understand at the time. Thank you so much for taking the time out of your days to make this video, even if it's a year old. I hope to see a lot of your work more <3.

As a fan of Zelda, Majora's Mask is one of my favourites, and your analysis is so well done. At one point, I was even feeling insulted, but that's a sign that this analysis was well done! Thank you for opening up such an amazing perspective.

SO well done!!!

Wow, thank you this video. It was amazing ...

I was 10 when this came out and was completely CREEPED out by majora’s mask, definitely had a much darker vibe compared to ocarina of time, I was so happy when I finally collected all those damn masks though

gonna talk about real personal stuff here but this spoke to me very deeply , i just lost my father to cancer and the day he passed i told him i forgive him for all the abuse and traumas he made me suffer . I always thought that this was to let him go with no regrets but now i know that this is primarily for me and My healing .

Almost exactly a year later to the day, the algorithm suddenly decides to show me this. Good video!

i love your voice its so comforting

i love your voice its so comforting

For me, majoras mask was the first game that taught me it. Dark souls many years later did the same. Tenacity - the power of will - of Determination.

Its notable that it is trauma through the lense of a hero complex. Having been the hero of time, how does that hero handle trauma. Being the last stand between evil and desolation and society as we know it.... is an incredibly heavy burden to bear and changes your perspective.

trans

It was said that when putting on the transformation masks, that person's entire lifetime of memories rush into him all at once, and that's why he screams.

When asked about the Fierce Deity Mask, one of the devs (aonuma, I think?) suggested that, instead of one literal "fierce deity," the mask contained the memories of all the people of Termina. I really like this concept as it alone ties the themes of the game together neatly when paired with context clues in the story.

A lot of people think of the Fierce Deity as a legendary hero citing his resemblance to the Hero of Time. But the mask is given to you by a child wearing Majora's Mask and you're told to wear it so you can "be the bad guy" and he can "be the good guy." The mask's description notes that it has a "dark energy" eminating from it that may even rival the Majora's Mask itself.

I like to think the Fierce Deity Mask contains the crisis in the hearts of the people of Termina who are faced with their imminent deaths. Including their rage at their unresolved conflicts and regrets. It is not a hero, it is a monster manifested from the epitome of despair, and it takes on the form of Link, who is able to redirect this pain into a weapon to tell Majora just how much pain he's causing.

So what about Majora's Mask? If the Fierce Deity Mask is about rage and despair, then I think Majora's Mask, literally a heart-shaped mask covered in harsh thorns and intense, watchful eyes, represents one's fears and guarded nature after experiencing trauma. The boy wearing Majora's Mask thinks he's the good guy and truly believes so. It's not an evil mask. It's just desperate to protect itself and vilified for the damage it causes in its violent disposition.

I completed the anju kafei quest on my final cycle before i killed majora on my first playtrhough. Seeing the wedding actually go through in the credits made me so happy

Skull Kid is a fantasy metaphor for the school shooter. The mask is a metaphor for the ego. When a child grows up in danger, one path is to "never get hurt again" by leaving nothing left to love and make everyone else hurt as much as you. The kid who wants love and safety still exists behind the mask, but the mask controls the holder.

Majoras Mask will always be my favorite Zelda game. It just feels.. deep. Beautiful and full of emotion. And theories/analyses like these make me appreciate it even more.

That was the most healing video to watch at 2am. Thank you