Majora's Mask is regarded as one of the best Zelda games, despite arguments about how the game fits in the timeline and whether or not the events that take place through the adventure even happened to begin with. It is the scariest Zelda game to date, both visually and thematically, and even received a 3DS remake.
It follows Link in the mysterious land of Termina as he tries to save the region from the falling Moon. There are a number of creepy elements to Majora's Mask that stand out, giving people chills down their spine even on subsequent playthroughs, but some aspects have stuck in players' minds particularly vividly.
10 The Happy Mask Salesman's True Motives Are Unknown
The merchant of mystery is met near the beginning of the game by Link in his Deku Sprout form. The man somehow recognizes Link in any form he appears in and is aware of his adventures without leaving the Clock Tower. The man was introduced in Ocarina of Time and is always smiling with his eyes closed, until his behavior abruptly changes.
He helps Link change back to normal but gets upset when he learns Link wasn't able to retrieve Majora's Mask. The events of Majora's Mask occur because this mask was stolen by the Skull Kid, which begs the question of why the salesman even had Majora's Mask to begin with.
9 The Invasion Of The Romani Ranch Is Never Really Explained
After a series of time travel hijinks and using a giant barrel bomb on a rock, Link opens up the entrance to Romani Ranch where Epona is found. She can be freed fairly easily, but it's what's happening on the ranch itself that is so bizarre and interesting. Romani tells Link about strange creatures that appear every year at the Carnival of Time, abducting the cows on the ranch.
Link has to confront the creatures, now revealed to be ghosts, by riding Epona to fend them off. The entire quest has no explanation as to who the ghosts are or why they want cows, but the whole scene is so reminiscent of an alien abduction that it stands out even in this game full of creepy creatures.
8 Link Sounds Like He's In Pain During The Transformation Process
When Link is first turned into a Deku Scrub, there's a strange and very upsetting cutscene that plays as he dreams of the giant creatures until he awakens as one. After meeting the Happy Mask Salesman and discovering how to turn back time, he's able to return to normal and seal this persona into a mask.
This sort of transformation was seen previously in games like Banjo-Kazooie, but in Majora's Mask, the transformation is twisted. Whenever Link obtains one of the three transformation masks, a short cutscene plays as he takes on his new form. Distorted creaking sounds and cries of pain are heard as his body contorts to resemble his new mask form. Luckily for players, this scene is skippable to avoid hearing the nightmarish sounds over and over again.
7 The Hand Inside The Toilet Is Unnerving
Every night from midnight to sunrise Link can find a hand coming out of the toilet in search of paper. The limb, known only as ???, is rather large and the face belonging to the hand is never shown. It rewards Link with a Piece of Heart if he gives the hand paper, but the mere existence of this catches players off guard. Shigeru Miyamoto has said that the hand was inspired by Japanese folktales about ghosts living inside toilets.
6 The Terrifying Sight Of How Close The Impending Doom Of The Moon Is
The face of the Moon in Majora's Mask is one of the creepiest sights in the entire game and it only gets bigger each passing day as it descends. As quests in the game require Link to wait till nearly the last second before the moon crashes, it gets terrifyingly close and its scale becomes impossible to ignore.
There's only one way to stop it: gathering the Four Giants. Even at the end of the game when Majora enters the Moon, its surface is far beyond what a normal space rock should be. It's as if the Moon was all of Majora's malice put into physical form.
5 The Elegy of Emptiness Statues Inspired The "Ben Drowned" Creepypasta
When Link learns the song to turn himself into a statue, he's able to activate switches that require him to be in multiple places at once. The statues are lifeless, all bearing a creepy smile. The statue copy of normal Link was so upsetting that a multimedia creepypasta project called Ben Drowned was made using it. The creepypasta used a hacked version of the game to exhibit strange events in a scripted sequence and tell the story of a child who died playing a cursed copy of Majora's Mask. While the creepypasta was obviously fictional, the statues clearly left an impression on whoever wrote the story to begin with.
4 Clock Town Is Deserted On The Final Day — Almost
As the Moon edges closer on the final day, these last hours within Clock Town feature some disturbing sights. The music changes to a depressing beat, as though the town itself knows of its own impending demise.
Most of the town is left deserted with the remaining residents going through different stages of grief and panic. It's in these last moments that Link can interact with many emotional people who have all but accepted what's about to happen to them. The town guards stay at their post in complete denial that they won't see the dawn of the next day.
3 Pamela's Father Is The Spookiest Part Of Ikana Valley
The house resembling a giant music box contains the most jarring quest in the entire game. Initially, Link is refused entrance by someone inside when he approaches the house. "My father is not one of you!" is all the player has to go on at first, but after using the Song of Storms, the house begins to play music through its speakers and knocking can be heard from the door.
Link ventures into the basement, discovering a half-mummified man bursting out of the closet as his daughter forces him back and begs him to stop. Link only needs to use the Song of Healing to change Pamela's father back to normal, but it begs the question of what would have happened had Link never come along.
2 Everyone Exhibits Different Stages of Grief
There are numerous theories that speculate Link is dead during the game, and nothing supports this concept more than the emotional states of everyone Link meets during the game. When theorizing that Link is going through the five stages of grief alongside the people he's interacting with, the coincidences are uncanny, even if unintended.
The people in the Clock Tower are all in denial as the residents plan for the Carnival of Time. Three other stages are represented through key figures that Link meets while getting the transformation masks: the Deku King represents anger, upset over his missing daughter; Darmani represents bargaining, trying to haggle his way through life; and Lulu represents depression, unable to speak after losing her eggs.
1 The Masks Aren't Just Empty Personas For Link
The transformation process for Link is disturbing enough on its own, but when combined with the fact that all of the transformations are into the bodies of previously-living people, the process takes on an entirely different level of horrifying.
The Deku Scrub is the Deku Butler's son, found as a dead stump, and Link meets Darmani's ghost before obtaining his mask. Mikau dies in front of Link, requesting help for Lulu and her eggs before turning into the mask. Living as these dead people, unable to let them continue their own lives, and needing to use their bodies to save Termina is one of the most unsettling parts of the game, and also one of the saddest.
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