It should surprise no one that we’re writing about Majora’s Mask once again.  As one of the darkest and most unique entries in the Zelda franchise, the game serves as a perfect source for unsettling lore.  Rather than discuss any one thing, though, I’m actually going to list several bits of lore from the game that I find creepiest.  Not including the obvious stuff like the massive, angry moon bearing down on everyone with the intent of crushing them in three days.  Because that one’s clearly hard to miss!

Okay, so I’m going to start with one of the most disturbing things found in Majora’s Mask, the All-Night Mask.  This mask is required to complete the side quest involving Anju’s grandmother by allowing you to stay awake through her boring stories.  This doesn’t sound that bad until you discover that one of the Gossip Stones describes it as a “torture device of insomnia”, which can potentially prevent the wearer from falling asleep.  Forever.  And as someone who personally knows the despair of a restless night, this would be a truly horrifying fate indeed!

I’ve talked a little bit about this before, but the “ghosts” are pretty creepy, too.  Clearly aliens rather than ghosts, you can actually allow them to abduct poor Romani.  She should be back on the third day, but she no longer remembers that she was trying to protect the cows from the aliens.  In fact, she seems to have no recollection of her abduction at all.  This wouldn’t be too bad, I suppose, merciful, really, if it weren’t for the fact that she seems so sad.  Clearly, she seems to know something is wrong, even if not what, and if you watch her, she will cover her face from time to time, almost appearing to cry for a second or two!  Not to mention that the aliens were clearly inspired by the real-life encounter that took place in West Virginia in 1952 with a creature called the Flatwoods Monster.  Pretty spooky stuff.

Video from YouTube User: Virtual Bastion

This next tale is not really all that spooky.  More like…disturbing, when you really think about it.  It involves some dialogue that I recently read about, having never before actually seen it in all my 20 years of playing the game.  It is implied that the miracle milk, Chateau Romani, is actually alcoholic.  And on the final day, Romani’s sister Cremia says that Romani is finally allowed to drink some that night, for the very first time.  She even asks Romani if she wants to sleep in her bed tonight.  When you think about it, this is surely to help soften the blow of their impending deaths, as Romani seems blissfully unaware that the moon will be crushing them the very next morning.

Yikes, Nintendo!  What the heck is wrong with you guys sometimes!

To end off this little marathon of misery, another detail that I somehow failed to notice for many years was the identity of the Deku Mask.  The Goron Mask is obtained from Darmani, while the Zora Mask is obtained from Mikau.  What do these two both have in common?  They’re dead.  So who, then, is the spirit inhabiting the Deku Mask?  Why, the Deku Butler’s son, of course, as he explicitly states that you remind him of his son, and during the end credits, you see him mourning that sad looking “tree” found during the beginning section of the game.  Somehow, I just didn’t put two and two together for the longest time.  Sure, I knew the identity of the Butler’s son, just not his association with the mask.  And honestly, what happened to the poor thing anyway?  How did he even arrive in the place of his eventual demise?  The location where we find him is before we even reach the Clock Tower in Termina.  I mean, does anyone really know what this place even is, as it’s not a place you can return to once you’ve arrived in Clock Town?  It’s a bit spooky when you think about it….

Majora’s Mask has so many dark and creepy moments, many of which can easily be missed on multiple playthroughs.  So I have certainly not covered them all.  Dear readers, if you have any creepy Majora’s Mask lore that you would like to share, please feel free to do so in the comments below!