Majora's Rabbit Hole

[bloodyrosemccoy]

OH JEEZ, GUYS, I just had a thought.

So I'm playin' through Ocarina of Time again, like ya do, and I get to the point where Link wakes up after seven years asleep.

I always thought Link seemed remarkably psychologically prepared for Sudden Teenager Syndrome. "Maybe," I thought this time, "Rauru planned for that. He's magic, for crying out loud. Maybe he and ZeldaSheik gave Link some kind of dream-prep, like a realm where he could practice heroing. And it's subconscious but it still helps fortify his mind. Link spends the seven years having crazy vision quest dream adventures."

And then I thought, "Damn, that'd be a great game. I'd play that."

And THEN I thought "HEY WAITAMINUTE. What if I already have?"

Yes, I know there's an Official Timeline, but you can't tell me it wasn't probably a particularly inspired retcon. So who's to say Majora's Mask--the weirdest, dreamlikeiest of the Zelda games, which takes place in an alternate universe, wasn't Link's hero practice after all?

Well, okay, the flashback to Zelda in it is inconsistent, but not by much--it could be how Link dreams it. IT COULD STILL WORK.

Then I got into it. What if this Link is sort of THE Link? What if, while he slept, his consciousness went reverberating through time and space to link up to the consciousness of other potential heroes, learning from them and guiding them? Or, hell, what if ALL the other games are just his dream preps? It'd be a good way to handwave away any inconsistencies as Just A Dream.

Or maybe it's just Majora's Mask. Or none of it and Link just has some serious mental fortitude. He IS the Hero of Time, after all.

Eh, no matter what, I like playing with theories. Anyone who says you can't do literary analysis of games is totally missing out. I LOVE this stuff.

Comments

[dinogrrl.livejournal.com]

My mind cannot handle the craziness that is the Zelda timeline(s)! Even when they do make sense!

[stormteller.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that makes sense. MM is essentially a massive coming-of-age-story. It's also a metaphor for the stages of grief, but that could be useful for a kid who's about to be vaulted into a post-apocalyptic hellverse.

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

The Majora's Mask as Five Stages of Grief theory always struck me as a little shaky, but then, the five stages of grief theory itself does, too. Coming-of-age, though--DEFINITELY.

And even if I'm not sold (says the person with her own crazy theory), there is a massive amount of mourning loss of childhood/innocence in the game--Link revisiting places like the Kokiri Forest where none of his friends know him is always a kicker. So psychic grief counseling (as well as Sheik's helpful therapy sessions) is certainly useful.

[stormteller.livejournal.com]

The stages of grief map extremely well onto the various game areas. The only problem I've had with the theory is the assumption that it deals with Link's grief over his own demise. I think if anything, it's more likely to relate to his loss of Navi and coming to accept that he's not going to find her again. But honestly, I think it's just a theme that the developers put into the game to give it an extra creep factor- like the four extension areas tying in with the "4=death" idea in Japan, it's just a motif of death that was used for atmosphere rather than to convey a specific message.

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

I had only heard hints of the "Link is dead" part of the theory; usually I hear the Loss Of Navi one. Though ... weren't the stages originally meant to describe not grief over the loss of a loved one, but the different attitudes terminally ill patients had about their own impending mortality?

But you're right--no matter what, the game is totally about facing death.. And I give it mad respect for that.

[beccastareyes]

Heck, even if they are separate timelines, there's no reason that they couldn't also be dreams.

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

That's what I was thinking!