Majora's Mask Incident
Three days remain before the moon consumes Termina in eternal night.
Few events in Hylian history are shrouded in such dread as the Majora's Mask Incident. Occurring within the shadowed Child Timeline, this catastrophe unfolds inside a suffocating seventy-two-hour loop where an ancient, sentient evil threatens to drag the moon into the earth.
- Artifact Name:
- Majora's Mask
- Primary Location:
- Termina
- Key Protagonist:
- Link (as Deku, Goron, Zora, and Hylian)
- Antagonist Force:
- Skull Kid (possessed by the mask)
- Outcome:
- Prevention of lunar impact; Mask sealed away
Lore & Background
The land of Termina exists parallel to Hyrule but operates on a distinct temporal loop during this crisis. As the moon descends, the inhabitants face their final hours with varying degrees of denial, despair, or acceptance. The incident highlights themes of grief and letting go, as Link must navigate the emotional turmoil of every citizen while racing against an unstoppable celestial body. Ultimately, the mask's power is not defeated by brute force alone but by confronting the darkness within the possessed entity.
In Their Own Story
The sky above Clock Tower bleeds a sickly purple hue as the massive cratered face of the moon looms closer, its eyes glowing with a cold, indifferent malice. Somewhere in the distance, a flute plays a haunting melody that echoes through the empty streets, signaling the start of another relentless cycle. Link stands atop the tower, his heart pounding against his chest, clutching the ocarina that holds the key to time itself. Below him, the world holds its breath, waiting for the final hour when the sky will swallow the earth whole.
Reader's Guide
Disoriented after losing Epona to a masked Skull Kid, Link stumbles into Termina—a dimension parallel to Hyrule, yet severed from its light. Here, time is fractured; death or the Song of Time resets the world every dawn, locking the hero in a relentless seventy-two-hour cycle. To survive the loop, Link utilizes enchanted masks to inhabit the desperate lives of Termina's citizens, solving personal tragedies ranging from a Goron family's ancestral quest to a Zora musician's grief. As bonds strengthen with the Four Giants, Link ascends the Clock Tower for a final confrontation within the moon’s interior. There, he confronts the possessed Skull Kid and the sentient chaos of Majora. The entity is purged and sealed by the Happy Mask Salesman, allowing the giants to halt the celestial collision just as the world teeters on oblivion.
Did You Know?
- The game features a strict three-day time limit that resets upon death or using the Song of Time.
- The Happy Mask Salesman is the only character who remembers the events of the previous cycle after Link resets time.
- Majora's Mask is one of the few artifacts in the series explicitly described as having its own sentient, evil will.
- The incident takes place in Termina, a world that exists parallel to but separate from Hyrule.