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

[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.