"What is the actual interpretation of the Majora's Mask introduction?"

Now this investigation is slightly different to the other investigations I've done, it's more of an analysis, than a true investigation.

So for those of you who have played Majora's Mask you probably know about the weird introduction you get and I've always been puzzled about. So I'm using this opportunity to actually investigate this introduction (as odd as it may seem).

What on Earth does it mean? And was it written to confuse people? I will be looking at each paragraph one at a time.

"In the land of Hyrule, there echoes a legend. A legend held dearly by the Royal Family that tells of a boy..." - Okay this is really the simple part, clearly and very obviously this just tells us that the Royal Family of Hyrule hold a legend about a boy. And of course this boy must be Link! And that's a fact that must be very obvious to everyone, and not exactly the best possible paragraph to use if you want to confuse people.

"A boy who, after battling evil and saving Hyrule, crept away from that land that had made him a legend..." - Link's a Legend? I thought the titles of the games were: The Legend of Zelda, not the Legend of Link, mistake on Nintendo's part? Or done on purpose? Well okay Link is a Legend is his own right, but the question is...If this game was set before OoT, just after Link had gotten the three gems (*Please note* I'm using my personal view of the timeline of the games *Thankyou*) how would he become a Legend? No-one really knows about him. I know a possible theory is that we are looking at it in the past tense (As if we were in the future), but I really don't think so. Also he hasn't saved Hyrule and battled evil, if this game is set before Links adult journey in OoT, then Link wouldn't have battled Ganondorf, 'After battling evil,'

"Done with the battles he once waged across time, he embarked on a journey. A secret and personal journey..." - Okay now this explains a little, it mentions Link has battled across time aka OoT and he embarked on a journey, quite straight forward. And yes a secret journey it could be, but what confuses me is that it's a personal journey, please read on...

"A journey in search of a beloved and invaluable friend..." - Friend? What friend? If I remember rightly Link really doesn't have many friends, most of them live in a forest that they can't leave, so he hasn't really got to search very far, but yet again I say to you to read on...

"A friend with whom he parted ways when he finally fulfilled his heroic destiny and took his place among legends..." - Okay I'll stick with the part about Links friend, now after this line it does become slightly clearer and one of the possibilities is that this friend is actually Navi, just look at the evidence. Links 'Heroic Destiny' that he has fulfilled could possibly be the battle with Ganondorf and Ganon at the end of OoT and if you've played OoT in the end credits when Link is a child and places the Master Sword back into the pedestal, you see Navi leave Link. But that is one possibility out of many. Nintendo could have some storyline in its offices for a game that is based before OoT and MM.

Now one thing I'm not sure about is the last part about Link taking his place amongst legends. Now really if we're looking at the present tense (In the game) Link isn't exactly a Legend, but if we look at it as if we were in the future we would be looking at it as the past tense, so Link would be a Legend.

Conclusion: Now really I've analysed it and I can't really come out with a true conclusion. But one thing I have learnt is that OoT was not thought out well enough, I have come across a few complications in the time travel element of the game. It just makes no sense some of the time!

And well I personally believe that it is definitely very confusing and can makes no sense in some parts.

~ MagicFox's Thoughts ~ Hello, It's me MagicFox. I have been given permission by Doh to add in my own thougts on this pressing problem. Like him, I do not know if mine are correct - I just know what I think. So, here's my little analysis.

Alright. The first three parts of the quote (the parts that are in the first 3 paragraphs) is quite simple in my own definition. It is simply telliing us of Link and that this is after the battle of Ganondorf and the wars he "waged across time" as he did in Ocarina of Time. Then it says he just decided to leave to embark on his own personal journey. Nothing remarkable in all of that.

As for the next piece, "What friend?". Doh believes it is Navi. I'm not so sure on that point. Why would Link embark on a journey in the woods to search for Navi when he knew Navi came from the Great Deku Tree and knew Navi was a temporary guide on his adventure through Hyrule. He's a Hylian, not a Kokiri! Instead, I believe the friend it talks about is the Skullkid who was lurking in the Lost Woods. In the game he played two parts. We give him a mask to complete that sequence to get the Mask of Truth and we play him Saria's Song to get a Heart Piece. Now, if you remember the latter of those two, Skullkid gives Link the Heart Piece saying "Let's be friends." Now, if you think about it, Skullkid would had to have been gone for a while to have stolen Majora's Mask - so Link must have wondered about Skullkid and decided to go look for him.

This is even more believeable when you consider one of the Grandmother's tales in Majora's Mask. Skullkid had been exiled. He was in Ocarina of Time because of this sentence. So, Link must have met Skullkid again in the forest when he was just returning to Tarmina, only Link didn't know it was Skullkid because of the mask (which would explain why we never see the face behind the mask until after the big opening).

Alright, then the final part of the quote. I believe it is just refering to the end of the game Majora's Mask. Link did part ways with him after he filled that heroic destiny and took his place among legends in Tarmina. Now, as a final note about the ending of the game, if you still refuse to believe it is the Skullkid from the stump in OoT - the final scene focuses on a stump with a drawing of them on it! That is the stump that Skullkid was playing on!!

I do not know if my conjectures are any better than Doh's and it could be that it just depends on who is reading it and interpretting it. It might be Nintendo really had no idea themselves and just decided to write it on a whim. ::Shrug:: Who knows.