After the Hero, the next most popular part of any story, game, movie or play is the antagonist. From the Joker to Darth Vader, they have all made a great impression and remembered fondly by the fans.
Majora belongs to the same league of popular villains. It’s (gender is not known) one of the most complicated and enigmatic villains in the Legend of Zelda world. In the alternative world of Termina, Majora challenges Link, the hero of the most popular video game of all time, into a duel. Its character is very complex often bordering on madness and psychopathic. From its appearance to his actions, he is a remarkable antagonist.
In the world of the Legend of Zelda, Majora makes a very interesting story line. The Legend of Zelda is one of the most popular and highly successful video games franchises released by the video game giant Nintendo. The story explores the adventures of the main protagonist Link, who is often tasked to save the princess Zelda from Hyrule. He chiefly fights the villain Ganon. In the other settings though, the antagonist change and Majora is one of the most remarkable villains in the alternate setting.
What is Majora?
Majora is a mask and the main antagonist in the Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask series. It is genderless so far as no clear indication has been given about whether it is a he or she. It was first used by an ancient tribe for hexing and torture. But, soon the tribe realized that mask has powers beyond their control and may cause trouble and mayhem. To prevent the catastrophic effect of the mask, the ancient tribe sealed it away until it was discovered by Happy Mask Salesman. But he gets robbed by a small forest creature, known as the Skull Kid, and his two fairy companions. Since then the mask uses Skull Kid as a puppet to play havoc on everything and anything as he wishes. Exploiting the Skull Kid malicious nature the Mask grows in power and soon the petty practical jokes turn into a dangerous havoc. Majora seems to love destruction and chaos. There is no clear purpose to its actions unlike the other villains who want to gain power.
Continuing with its destruction games, Major uses the Skull Kid to seal away the Four Guardian deities of Tremina known as the Four Giants and even sets the Moon on a collision course with Earth. This will eventually destroy the land completely.
Link and Majora
Unfortunately for Majora, Link accidentally arrives in the world of Termina. Link learns about Majora and what it has done and eventually sets the Four Giants free and even stops the Moon from collision. Frustrated by this failure, Majora ditches the Skull Kid and leaves for the moon. Link follows Majora and finds a mysterious child in Majora’s mast in a strangely grassy plain with a single tree on it. The child asks if Link would like to play a game of “bad guys and good guys” which Link accepts and then once again is transported to a strange room. There he finds Majora’s Mask hanging on the wall. The two engage in a duel and Link eventually destroys Majora.
Majora the Character
At first it seems that the Skull Kid is the real culprit abusing the power of the mask to create havoc. At the end of the game however Majora reveals that it was itself who was creating the trouble and the Skull Kid was just a medium. Majora seems to be extremely childish, insane, manipulative, and extremely disturbed. It certainly seems that Majora has some issues with certain things like with the Fierce Deity. The madness is clearly visible when he manically laughs and shrieks like a child and also takes on very unsettling appearances while competing with Link. Majora can be compared to the Joker in the sense that they both have such a disturbed mind. The sole purpose of the Majora is to make lives of Termina's inhabitants miserable.
On the interesting side: in the Majora's Mask Manga, it is revealed that Majora was once a great evil beast or creature with magical armor. People came to him to claim his armor and have their wishes granted. Once a traveler visits the beast and starts talking. It is revealed that the beats itself wanted to die as it was so miserable. Then the traveler starts playing the bongo and the beast starts dancing. After three days of continuous dancing, the beast drops dead. The traveler than carves out a mask out of the armor and traps the power of the beast inside it. This is the reason why the mask has spirit inside it seeking a host.
Majora is a very interesting character and has inspired many theories and suggestion as to what its background is and why it is the way it is. Majora has also inspired many cool t-shirts designs for fans who love the mysterious Majora and its antics.