Happy Mask Salesman: Villain or Hero? (Legend of Zelda Lore)
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- Опубликовано: 22 апр 2022
- A look at the lore and mysteries surrounding the Happy Mask Salesman.
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Somehow forgot to mention that the children inside Majora's Mask's moon resemble the Happy Mask Salesman. They too talk about the happiness inside Link's masks, and give him the Fierce Deity Mask in return for all of them. Makes the Mask Salesman all the more mysterious- how are they related to him? does he know about them?
They might be his kids.
Ah ok. Makes sense.
The mask salesman had an ancestor in Skyward Sword.
You're videos are the best
I think it's highly likely that you are inside the happy mask's salesman's mind, and they represent his inner child. The moon represents his dark side (his increasingly erratic behaviour he is trying to suppress) it's like you are inside his fantasy, his playground with all of the characters that represent the masks that make up his 'happiness'.
“The Happy Mask Salesman smiles even when enraged…”
So basically, he’s every retail employee ever.
Someone...Someone finally gets it lol
He's a schizoid.
I've seen plenty of retail employees that are scowling by default and seem incapable of smiling, but perhaps that's just a perk of living in the Netherlands.
Remember watching a store manager yelling at a shit customer all it would have taken was the music and he would have looked like live action Happy Mask Salesman
Nah he’s Sans
The Happy Mask Salesman's demeanor is on a par with anyone else who has worked in retail for that long. Customers drive him into insanity, his outbursts are the effect, Karens are the cause.
Link: I would like to speak to your manager.
@@goodnightmyprince6734 straight to throwing pots.
@@goodnightmyprince6734 Happy Mask Salesman: *slowly turns full circle, greets Link as manager*
But where's the lie? 😂😂😂
100% this. And you wear a mask whenever you're on the clock.
It's super awesome that years later we're still trying to figure things out about Majora's Mask's story behind the scenes. That's something I consider to be a mark of a good game; that people, years later, still talk about it. If Majora's Mask wasn't so infamously dark and mysterious, I wonder if we'd be talking about it to this day
“years later” kinda an understatement considering that game came out over two decades ago
Facts
This is true, though it can be difficult to tell with some games moreso than others because of how differently people react to them and how many have experienced them too.
Also when they first played the game is a factor as well, I know botw was many people entry game into the franchise so there are a lot of people that are playing majoras mask for the first time because botw got them into the franchise and are now trying the different titles in the series.
@@quintonconoly .... I feel old...
It is also worth mentioning that the HMS seems to know that Link can time travel. When he goes back in time, Link is essentially transported to the exact time when he exits the inside of clock tower. So when the HMS sees Link for the first time and sees him go through the doors, it is LITERAL seconds from his pov when Link comes back and yet he does not question how Link got his ocarina back in those mere seconds and even expects Link to have the mask already.
This was a good one.
Thinkin about it a little the HMS does say he has been following Link, the very same Link from OOT who did in fact time travel, but for how long he has been following him he does not say. So then remains the question how did he retain his memories in face of time travel but given the masks he has or had possessed it's plausible that even if he doesn't keep his memories, he has masks that let him get knowledge of such events even without traversing time himself. For instance he could use the mask of truth, though the oddity in this case is that he does not have it in his posession during the events of MM. Interesting.
What I love about it is the additional fact that he says that you'll get it back in no time.
apparently termina isnt a real place, it was created by the skull kids mind when it took on majoras mask and disappeared shortly after link left
pretty much all NPCs arent real, im wondering if the mask salesman you meet in majoras mask is the actual real one from OoT who the skull kid robbed or if hes a fake created by its memory
that could maybe explain his abillities
@@hallo-mt5tx where on earth did you hear that from? Not the "termina is not real" part. Thats a given in some context, but i have never heard of a theory that this is in the skull kids head. It also sounds nigh impossible. Think about it. If this is from the skull kids mind, how could there possibly be very similar characters Link meets in his time from hyrule. How would he know of the gorons, the zoras, or hell even the dark skinned, red haired, all female gerudo. Hes an imp from the forest with possibly no extended knowledge of the outside world.
Happy Mask Salesman strikes me as a minor kami-extremely unsettling, chaotic, and destructive…but can be called on for assistance. Nevermind his actions are the catalyst for Termina’s current misfortune, and he quite literally demands Link to fix the mess he indirectly caused…but that’s gods for you. Especially the ones that cannot be called good by any means, but aren’t quite direct enough to easily qualify as evil
He's a Yoda-esque Trickster archetype. The hardest question to answer isn't what HMS really is but why Majora is more powerful than he is.
My personal head canon is that he's a higher Keaton, but I forget what my reasoning was other than the fact that the first mask he lends to you in OoT is the Keaton mask, and some vague similarity between that mask and his "idle" face.
And why the kids on the moon have his head, hair, ears and skin tone but no face.
if you want to learn more, the happy mask salesman falls into the category of the "trickster" archetype. It's a literary device used in story telling. It can often be a personna of the all-knowing god, but who knowingly causes conflict, which is why its a literary technique, its in a way- the original creator/author in their own story. thats why makes them mysterious. The man behind the curtain. thats your wizard of oz, your cicero, etc.
It seems like the Happy Mask salesman is a time walker. Every game he or his ancestors have been in, time travel occurs. This can't be a mistake.
I think he's some sort of god. He knows a song to turn evil into masks, and can move to different dimensions at will... makes sense that he'd be a god of sorts.
@@Care_Soul that makes a lot of sense, I am aware that in termina there are duplicates if almost everyone even the two witches that raised ganon however their personalities are off, but the salesman is pretty much the same, cheery on the outside and a dark man on the inside. So the idea if him being some time or mask related deity can't be that far off
@@imsogay8327 perhaps he keeps a time travelling mask in his secret inventory lol
@@grasnes perhaps, dunno what would explain the whole duplicates with different personalities thing if that is the case
@@Care_Soul Just pulling this out of the blue, and I know it doesn't make sense given Skyward Sword, but maybe HMS is a manifestation of Hylia. Both characters are bent on specifically increasing happiness, both deal with both light and shadow, they both exist outside time, and they both are intimately related with the Sheikah and their powers.
One interpretation of the HMS I've always found interesting was that of him being an avatar of the developers of the game (Miyamoto, Aonuma, etc.). For one thing, he's seemingly capable of manifesting objects and manipulating spaces to suit his needs (his room exists outside of the game's internal timeline, and he is able to produce that huge pipe organ out of thin air, not unlike a developer dropping in assets). He also has seemingly omniscient knowledge of the world, it's rules, and its characters, yet despite this he chooses to send Link out on a quest in the interest of "making people happy". The people in question that Link has made happy in the end may not just be the people of Termina, but on a meta level, all of the players of the game itself. He also claims that he has a tight deadline, and will leave Termina in three days, and (the game) Majora's Mask notoriously had a strict development cycle of ~one year in real life. Not to mention, his jerky animations and uncanny expressions also lend themselves to the idea of an entity that appears as though its being puppeted by some external force. There's also the appearance of the Mario mask on his backpack which again hints at a knowledge or even involvement of worlds beyond Termina and Hyrule.
Definitely not the only way to interpret the HMS, but I've always found the idea fun and intriguing.
Don't forget the Elvis mask. I wonder if anyone on the team is a big rock n roll fan...
Not to mention HMS's resemblance to Shigero Miyamoto.
Kind of like Tom Bombadill. He’s theorised to be J. R. R. Tolkien in his own world hence his ability to manipulate the ring and the world around him. As well as being in the world from the beginning. Just a thought.
I like this one a lot.
Cool thoughts!!! I love meta analysis of games because it’s so easy to forget about the real people that make games.
I like to imagine the Happy Mask Salesman is probably designed to be similar to a DM's OC kind of thing. Where it's a NPC that, suspiciously, knows way too much about the session (or game in this case) and wants to not be directly involved with the game, but will help give a little push to guide the player to victory
You suggest an ancestor from Skyward Sword, yet no mention of Batreaux!!
The friendly demon merchant with a creepy smile who literally uses the power of gratitude (from making people happy) to transform himself into a human.
Forget the ancestor, I'm convinced that Batreaux IS the Happy Mask Salesman!!
That isn’t a weird accusation though. *If* a character is more likely to go from the OoT to the MM dimension, it is more likely it would be a (friendly) demon than a human.
Y
The Happy Mask Salesman is such a creepy character at times he gives out darker vibes than Majora's Mask itself. He is so interesting because i have never seen on the character so truly supporting the main character and his actions but at the same time seems to influence everything he does and seems to have the best idea about what is truly going on.
what?
@@chrislevack405 exactly
its darker than i thought. evil know's how to use psychology and also manipulate the environments to it's needs.
we all thought it was majora's mask eh. It was from a perspective.
One of his masks is cut from the flesh of Mario's face...
Nah, he just used the Song of Healing on Luigi, which is why he stopped being just a palette swap of his big brother and got a body and personality of his own.
I noticed that too!!
Mama mía,
Ayyy czs world
When completing Majora’s Mask recently, i realised how when talking to the happy mask salesman he makes jittery movements without animations. For example, when he teaches you the song of healing, he goes from standing up to immediately sitting down in front of a piano that had suddenly appeared.i thought this was a slightly creepy detail about him.
I love that comparison: The Happy Mask Salesman is the dungeon master of the Majora’s Mask game. Especially since he seems to exist outside time and knows everything that’s going on (which I’m surprised you didn’t mention: he literally pulls Link back to the start of the time loop if Link fails to play the song of time before the moon crashes).
I feel like the mask salesman is a chaotic good entity. Someone who wants to do good, but in their own, untraditional way
Just beat the game in 2023 and yeah I kind of agree. I kind of think a lot of fingers are being pointed at him being "evil" or the secret "mastermind" purely cause he's super mysterious and cryptic. But if you actually look at what he does in the game, he seems alright. He seemed genuinely distraught over the fact that the mask is gone, not cause it was his but because if anyone BUT him has it, TERRIBLE things would happen. He praises Link for helping all those people during the game and after it, stating that he made a lot of people happy. Not to mention he teaches you the Song of Healing, which literally plays a critical role in curing all of the broken people you meet along the way and letting them either get there lives together again or move on from their deep regrets and pass on properly. So no, he isn't evil. He's neutral at worst I would say.
I wonder about 2 things:
- Could the Mask Salesman have a curse on himself or some secret reason that require him to collect masks?.
- Did Link need to perform certain tasks to obtain those specific masks for a specific reason? There were a lot of people in Termina that needed help but he only received masks from some specific ones.
Just some doubts, though. Great video 💪🏻
He could actually be related to/descended from Batreaux, or another demon-turned-human like Batreaux was. It would explain why he was sending link off to "make people happy" (gratitude crystals). He's got the same red hair, the happiness thing, and detailed knowledge of cursed objects (the curse medal).
I’ve heard a theory that the happy mask salesman is some god like being putting on a disguise as try and stop Majora’s mask from destroying everything and enlisting link for help
I like the idea that he’s more of an enigmatic imp, like The Puck, not dissimilar to the skull kid tbh
What if he is god. Giving Link purpose in the afterlife after he died as Young Link trying to save Hyrule. Link saving Hades.
@@victorandrade7940Well the Bible tells us that God came down in the form of man, being Jesus. So it would make sense that this game could have one that did the same. Or it was a reference to them the whole time, the world may never know
I don't think he's a hero or a villain, I think he's probably a collector of artifacts that may be under the influence of some of them.
So basically the Zelda equivalent of Gollum?
@@jamesgravil9162 essentially yeah.
@@Crekification He reminds me of the resident evil 4 gun salesman he's a strange one as well 🤔
@@openyoursheeple748 I love characters like that
@@Crekification yeah for some reasons that guy will change his eye colors from blue to red in different parts of the game and I could never figure out why but I always noticed it amd thought what the hell lol
The analogy at 16:03 made me laugh because I'm running a D&D game set in Termina and that's exactly what the Happy Mask Salesman's role is going to be for the party
So, we arent talking about how the children inside the moon, which wear the Boss masks, just look exactly like the happy mask salesman?
He's probably saving that for another video.
@@jamesgravil9162 hopefully, would be interesting to hear some new theories about that
he forgor
They had blank faces in the original N64 game. His face was added to them for the remaster--like a reverse-retcon
@@Fyre0 but they had his hair tho
"My mask" - Happy Mask Salesman
The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
"But now, that tribe from the legend has vanished, so no one really knows the true nature of the mask's power... but I feel it."
He IS Majora. Look at how the mask matches his attire! He exists outside of time! His speech about meetings and partings is talking about the cyclical curse! And you can see the same creepy and erratic mannerisms in the final boss fights. The nuance of that game's handling of Skull Kid is completely different from Ganondorf, here we see the separation of the man from the malice - a concept developed in later games with a literal malice substance, the character of Batreaux and the ancient cistern. From here on we get lots of much more nuanced characters like Tatl, Tetra, Midna, Groose, Hilda etc because now we're seeing beneath the masks.
As someone who has worked in sales, salesmen spend their entire working life wearing a mask (aka persona). You can see this with the way Rupin acts depending on whether or not Link is looking at him in the bazaar. Beedle can be cruel in Skyward Sword and is a bit of an ass in Wind Waker. But there's another character who also exhibits similar traits - Kilton. Only his true nature is much more apparent to seemingly everyone except Link. The guy actually *likes* monsters and malice. He has masks that let you disguise yourself as evil (which weirdly enough is the exact same function of Majora's Mask in BotW). He even sells a costume to make you look like Dark Link, aka shadow possession! BotW's Beedle is sort of his flipside, the good that salesmen can provide.
With the fall of the Happy Mask Shop comes re-deads, horrifying creatures that... wear masks. And their dancing in Majora's Mask reminds me of a scene in Boneworks, again showing the control of the mask. There's a similar thing happened with House Skulltula too. The terrible fate that Link meets in Termina is not simply wearing a persona but being controlled by it, and it makes sense that this is an affliction that Skull Kid could pass on as he himself is being controlled by his newly found evil version of a toughness persona too. Through the game he learns how to make the most of his persona, is released from its control, and begins to harness the power of others, eventually managing to harness a possibly evil mask (Fierce Deity) for good ends. That mask is the power of playing devil's advocate. The fused shadow has a similar function in the story of Twilight Princess.
Having learned this valuable skill, he is able to somewhat pass it on to his descendent through the wolf persona, which the Hero of Twilight is initially trapped by but learns to harness and use to communicate with his ancestor. Meanwhile over in the downfall timeline poor Link isn't faring so well, trapped by a rabbit persona instead.
Oh and a weird thing I noticed - The Happy Mask Salesman and Skull Kid both wear winklepickers.
I didn't fully understand what you are trying to say or prove here, but I kind of like what I read.
Hearing about this in video form with fitting images and diagrams and stuff (like Zeltik is doing) would probably help.
Only problem I see is that after majora dies the happy mask salesman is still alive
@@jordanrobshaw1406 Majora doesn't die, only an incarnation.
The in-game imagery also helps to make him seem "bound" to the mask. It would also explain why he cannot directly help Link at all, and also why he seems to be more curious than happy that the evil from the Mask has gone. Perhaps it was filled with his malice, his negative energy, which gave birth to the calamity of Majora.
I'd argue that he isn't the first either, going off of your theory, I like the idea of the mask being a conduit for Malice. It channels it and forms it into living calamities, which take the likeness of the individual's Malice who "powered it up".
The stories from the grandma could possibly help support that Majora feels more like a "concept" than the mask itself. Perhaps Majora IS a synonym for Malice in this case. Making it "Malice's Mask". A physical conduit that exists to store and unleash it on the world, with the current, accidental host being The Happy Mask Salesman.
I subscribe to the theory that the mask's origin is from the same source as the Fused Shadow, which I believe to be the Sheikah. I also believe the Happy Mask Salesman himself to be directly connected to the Sheikah which would explain how he got a hold of it.
So why the fuck do they make a mask that is Malice incarnate??? Simple, think back to the Shadow Temple. The Sheikah are no stranger to experimenting with BAD SHIT to gain knowledge. In this case: can we trap and weaponise Malice against evil itself? The answer is of course: no, but they couldn't know that until disaster struck.
I like to believe that Termina is a pocket dimension, created by the mask after the skull kid stole it. He basically "activated it" and unleashed its energy. When Link falls down the tree, he falls into said pocket. the imagery of the scrubs chasing him isn't his nightmare either, it's the Skull Kid's; think of the Mask unleashing the nightmares of the skull kid.
The mask is directly influenced by the three individuals who were around it, during it Malice unleashing to create Termina: Link, HMS and Skull Kid. The people of Termina are as a result of Link's memories in Hyrule. The dungeons and Bosses are from the twisted nightmares of the Skull Kid, and the Masks themselves are from the collection of the Salesman himself, even the interior of the moon. The outside may be represented by a face that COULD be seen as Ganon's rage, whilst the horrors it performs being that of the Skull Kid's nightmares, but I inside is Happy, and so is the Happy Mask Salesman's influence. That's why the moon children are represented by the Salesman, why they speak of happiness.
The HMS stays in the Clock Tower, as you could see it as "ground zeroes" for the dimension, where time doesn't move, but more importantly, where his influence stops. Unlike Link, he is a direct influence in the existing Malice the mask has unleashed, so perhaps more exposure to the world of Termina will only make his influence on its power stronger. To that end, he stays in the Clock Tower; a safe haven he probably constructed himself to keep him calm. I like to imagine that the song of healing is a song that helped him in his toughest times, which is why it helped the individuals of Termina. Though this is just personal conjecture with 0 evidence.
The mask isn't an entity, it's a concept, one that uses Malice to create, and weaponises it to destroy. But it isn't ITS Malice, rather that of the people who hold it.
This is assuming btw that you manga is completely NOT canon***
@@Genasidal I like your theory! Well phrased.
The happy salesman is masked, he literally wears a smile to bring joy to others
Awesome video, as usual!
I always liked that theory about the Happy Mask Salesman being based on Miyamoto. In this context, I usually think that the relationship between the Mask Salesman and Link in Majora's Mask is a metaphor for the relationship between Miyamoto and Aonuma during the development process of the game in real life.
For example... The Mask Salesman gives Link a 3 day deadline to retrieve the mask, in the same way that Miyamoto gives Aonuma a 1 year deadline to create the game.
Besides that, after asking Link to get the mask back, the Mask Salesman says: "What? Is that not a simple task? Why, to someone like you, it should be by no means be a difficult task." and then "You'll do fine. I see you are young and have tremendous courage. I'm sure you'll find it right away. Well then, I am counting on you...". This could easily have been said by Miyamoto to Aonuma after explaining his mission of creating the game in just a year.
Later, when Link comes back without the mask, after nearly choking Link and giving the whole speech about the origins of Majora, the Salesman encourages Link, telling him: "You'll be fine! Surely you can do it. Believe in your strengths... Believe...". I can easily imagine Miyamoto getting angry at times during the usual struggles of the development process of the game, and then encouraging the team to overcome the challenges.
At the end of the game, the Mask Salesman tells Link that he "sure have managed to make quite a number of people happy." In the same way Aonuma and the Zelda team have managed to make quite a number of people happy (like us) by creating this masterpiece called Majora's Mask. :)
This is probably the truth.
Seeing the links (;)) with the world of the devs, I was also thinking about the is in the same way
I just love that he’s such a minor character in OOT but made into a main character in MM, which is such a mysterious game and doesn’t feature ganondorf. One of the reasons MM is my favorite Zelda game of all time
Same with skull kid
I used to think the Majoras Mask salesman was a different entity than the Ocarina of time one. Like some deity who reached inside Links mind and found a suitable form to take, someone who made Link a little bit uncomfortable, and still familiar enough to encourage interaction.
Like Navi?
The happy mask salesman has always been one of my favorite characters.
He’s so creepy, especially in MM.
And the fact that he has a literal Mario mask in his backpack (RIP Mario lol 🤣).
As always great video, really made me think 🤔
Never played MM or OOT (i know, i know, im terrible for not having played them) but one of the first times i saw something zelda related it was the mm version of hms and it creeped me out so much. Such an interesting character n i have a lot of love for him despite never having played the games
@@zynstein8059 Bruh, until 2 years ago I hadn’t either. Looks like we’re both kinda behind 😂
Thanks for the reply 🤙
You failed to mention the Happy Mask Salesman's most prominent appearance:
_our hearts_
His giggle never sat right with me, even as a 12-year-old when this game first came out. I always wondered what his true deal was in Majora's Mask...I never believed, even back then, that he was truly just a guy who collects mask. Young me was convinced he was going to turn out to be the villain, and I was surprised when he didn't.
isn't that majora's laugh in the game? Or, is it just the one of the happy mask salesman? Now, THAT would be interesting.
I’m surprised you didn’t talk about the fact that the Song of Healing is able to “force” spirits into masks. And how significant that power is in a world operated by masks.
A lot of characters re-iterate and appear across time as different people with similar names and identities, like Link, Zelda, Malon, Talon, Tingle and Beedle.
Since we don't know the Happy Mask Salesman's name - but he fills a similar role to Rupin, it could be possible that he IS another incarnation of Rupin himself.
Weird fella
He shows up pretty much out of fin air
Pulls out a big ass piano out of nowhere
Teaches you a song that heals the dead
Is Apprently unaffected by the moon collision
Is sad at the fact you got the evil spirit out of the mask
Has an entire monologue about friendship
Then disappears into fin air
Plus the way he shakes link
Wonder how he got his hands on the genocidal Armageddon mask
He also sort of teleports between poses when speaking to link.
Apparently Majora’s Mask was up in Stone Tower. Oddly enough, I do wonder how a man such as Happy Mask Salesman was able to get all the way up there. He’s either a being that does not set to the rules of Hyrule’s world of living or he’s something else entirely.
Fin air? Like if a fish ran a travel company?
@@MunkiZee Fin of a time
I love seeing theories about the happy mask salesman. He is one of the weirdest characters I have ever seen, when do you see a character like this that's this important in the lore yet this unknown in the same story. He is seems to know much more than meets the eye, and that's always made me like him so much more. It's like he us hiding something, but we never find out what that is.
Weirdly enough, the fact that the happy mask salesman is constantly smiling reminds me of the statue of link that appears after link plays the elegy of emptiness in his original form... I wonder what the happy mask salesmans statue would look like if he played the elegy of emptiness.
Maybe like that mask on his bag that looks like the mirror shield. Because maybe THAT mask was the one he obtained when he played the Song of Healing for himself.
When i was a kid this dude scared the hell out of me even in oot
This talk about the mask salesman and timelines made me think. We know he wandered off to search majoras mask some time before Link wanders off to search for Navi. But we do not know what happens with him in the adult timeline, while Link sleeps in the sacred realm for 7 years. We just know that he is alive. Since Ganondorf's rise to power would not be a reason to change his plans to leave Hyrule, there is a high possibility that the events from Majora's Mask happen without Link being there to stop them. That would mean that Termina is actually destroyed in one (or two) of the timelines.
Although perhaps Skull Kid's meeting with Link just before Link gets transported to Termina is what somehow influenced him to let the moon fall, like a butterfly effect. If Skull Kid never met Link, he would perhaps have never returned to Termina and things would have turned out differently, although Hyrule is undamaged by it either way. The mask's magic might not even work in Hyrule.
He unsealed Majora's Mask despite knowing the legends of it and the potential for it to cause harm. Whether he's good or evil is irrelevant when he is this omnicidally negligent.
It didn't hit me until @15:50 when you say how despite the resetting of time and progress, the masks remain as "physical manifestations of the good Link has done."
And then it makes sense why the happy mask salesman is not in the Adult timeline. That's the one timeline where Link's good deeds do not need a physical manifestation. He lives on as the hero. Everyone knows what has been done for them. The mask salesman is free to roam to another world where another person like Link is in need of physical manifestations of the happiness their efforts brought.
In the downfall timeline, Link dies. All his sacrifice and efforts are wiped out and Ganon makes the world dark. A timeline that would need a happy mask salesman to capture physical manifestations of what brings them happy feelings through their bleak timeline.
And in the child timeline,
All of Link's efforts being erased when the timeline resets him as a child,
The one mechanic of Majora's mask is manipulating time. Resetting time and erasing back all your efforts.
You want spring in the Goron mountain village? You have to re-defeat the same big boss every time.
It's like Link, who in Hyrule was set up to re-defeat all the same struggles all over again due to the reset.
But the mask salesman gives link something else he gets to keep along with our other key items,
The manifestations of the happiness we brought (even if no one remembers) stay within the masks.
It's really moving to think now about how much that would mean to Link. To finally hold onto proof that his struggles actually mattered. Even if everyone forgets, eveb if time is reset back to the beginning, a million days over, but still... the physical manifestations of what we've done are still with us, proving thar we mattered. They aren't taken away...
I think you are missing a crucial element of the child timeline. The legend of the Hero of Time existed even before the events of Ocarina of Time, and it continued to echo throughout the child timeline even without OoT's events occurring. You are right that the downfall timeline would diminish the tale of the Hero because he failed, but I think the legend in the child timeline lived on all the way until Twilight Princess.
As always, Zeltik provides a far more interesting, nuanced take on stuff that’s tired ground for a lot of Zelda RUclipsrs.
I’ve always believed the Mask Salesman was, ultimately, a good man. He liked to see the good Link did with the Song of Healing, his freak out about not getting Majora’s Mask back is 100% justified given what it’s capable of, and, frankly, if he’d wanted to do evil, why didn’t he just slap the mask on as soon as he had his hands on it? It’s so easy to think, “Oh, this creepy weirdo has to be evil.” But there are, frankly, a lot of creepy weirdos in Zelda who are benevolent figures.
I've always preferred the idea of the HMS actually being a force for good, and the reason he comes off as creepy (In MM anyway) is due to Links mindset (Dudes obviously pretty depressed at this point) and so the idea of someone being supportive and actually trying to help comes off as frightening, which is what he constantly does, even giving Link good advise at the very end.
I robbed that guy but we’re cool now
Hey, I thought you were dead! It’s been more than 10,000 years!
lol
Link also calls the happy mask salesman a Troublemaker at the end of the non-canon manga when he wants the majora's mask back after link defeats it
To me, the Happy Mask Salesman is almost like a yokai from Japanese myth. Not necessarily an evil spirit, but one that goes around causing mischief and watching from the sidelines as everything unfolds. Why else would he carry around a mask so dangerous, KNOWING the havoc it could cause? So yeah, maybe not necessarily a villain, because he never aids in Majora’s plans, but certainly a self-interested entity.
I was just playing Majoras Mask again and this was something I’ve always questioned. Why is he so happy yet has masks that he has were from lost souls and depressing backgrounds. It’s eerie.
Theory: Masks that Link collect are fused with gratitude crystals (hence why they contain people's happiness and gratitude), whereas evil masks (like Majora's Mask) are fused with malice hence Majora's desire for destruction and death like how malice destroys everything in its path.
I don't know if there are enough malice crystals on hyrule to create Majora.
@@Aceshot-uu7yx not create. The mask would just be infused with the malice crystals when being created and other evil magic
@@tumultuousv not enough on hyrule to give majora the power it has.
@@Aceshot-uu7yx This isn't Hyrule
11:03 Why has no Theorist ever pointed out how Strong the Happy Mask Salesman must be to be able to not only lift Link at all when you add his Gear into the mix but Lift him the exact way that he is doing so?
I suspect link has some kind of hammer space ability which is why he can store so much stuff while making sense
"whether a parting be forever or merely for a short time... that is up to you" tbh, I think that's one of the hardest lines in videogames
For some reason when mentioning his sudden deranged and psychotic demeanour I immediately thought of Jerma
“Majoras Mask is about using our limited time to learn about the people and take time to heal them and make them happy.” 😭 This game is so deep! Thank you for pointing that out, Zeltik!
Another great video, as always! I’ve just started Majora’s Mask myself (I’ve only completed one full cycle so far) and I’ve become instantly hooked. I can’t say for sure yet but I could see it becoming my favourite Zelda game and amazing content like this only fuels that fire. Keep up the great work!
The way you are able to tie story elements together to bring depth to the Zelda lore is truly legendary. Love this content!
Found your channel a month ago, and your theory videos (and the creepy/strange ones for Halloween) are now some of my favorites! I legit got excited when I saw this new video today. Awesome work!
In a way, Majora's Mask is very similar to the one ring in The Lord of the Rings. The one ring is always trying to get back to its master, abandoning Gollum for Bilbo and then trying to influence Frodo to put it on so the Nazgul can find him. I think Majora's Mask was actively trying to find someone who would be weak to its powers, like the Skull Kid because of his perceived rejection by the four giants. We may not know who had it before the Happy Mask Salesman, but I think the mask likely tried to be found by the HSM so it could make progress toward a new host, and when the Skull Kid came along, it influenced him to rob the Happy Mask salesman so it could possess him.
I’ve been playing Zelda since I first played A Link to the Past 25 years ago and more and Majora’s Mask remains my all time favourite. I never tire of delving deeper into its mysteries. Thanks for another great video ❤️
I love Majora's Mask. So terrifying and creepy in literally any and every way.
Should have mentioned how in the manga adaptation, he was played up as more sinister than he is in the game, laughing while Fierce Deity Link attempts to destroy the mask before vanishing into thin air.
this ofcs just a me opinion, but i wouldnt be surprised if the happy mask salesman was somewhat based upon the "Laughing Salesman" from the same anime....
"Even though he's living the same 3 days, over and over again, he still gets to keep the masks as a token that his hard work was not in vain." We can forget the consistent same things we do have a real lasting impact, can't we?
I mean...sort of. That he remembers possible good futures only makes Link feel better. The only lasting impact his actions had was everyone not getting crushed by a moon. A pretty darn good thing. But a lot of tragic elements were left unaffected.
@@Flaris yea
@@Flaris Except, in the best ending, we are shown that Link did help everyone out; we see Anju & Kafei's wedding among other cases of people who were clearly helped by Link. We even see Link as Zora Link play as part of the band; giving the band some closure.
This was a treat, I hope there will be more video essays like this one about Majora's Mask. You rock!
It says a lot that this guy was perhaps the most disturbing character to me as a kid, the fact I just had no idea what to make of him was so effective
He’s an interesting character to say the least!
My theory/headcanon for the Happy Mask Salesman is that he's a retired Sheikah, which is partially tied into my theory that the Sheikah are descended from the tribe that created Majora's Mask--a theory that is challenged by the Sheikah existing in Skyward Sword, which takes place before the Era of Chaos, when Majora's Mask was most likely created; but not completely, because Impa was the apparently the sole living member of the Sheikah in Skyward Sword, so the reason there are Sheikah later in the timeline is because either there were other Sheikah on the Surface whom Link just never met or heard of during SS, or a second Sheikah tribe was founded, naming themselves after those who served the Goddess Hylia.
If the Sheikah have no relation to Majora's Mask, then it's still possible that the Happy Mask Salesman is both a Sheikah and a descendant of the ancient tribe.
Sheikah have white hair and tend to have Sheikah tattoos, Salesman has neither.
I've been watching for like a year and a half but never commented before. You're videos are next level. The research. The theories. The voice over. All chefs kiss. You make incredible content my friend.
Fantastic story telling Zeltik 👍your voice and writing style create such an atmospheric way to present theories and stories
I just wonder why the happysalesman wasn't interested in the Fierce Deity mask as he was for majoras? It is obviously stronger than majoras mask.
he seems to be something like a sage, the "song of healing" seems to just turn loose souls, into masks. he doesnt really sell happy masks, just keeps a permanent smile as he works.
Dude this was nuts. I love hearing more and more about majora’s mask since it was the first zelda game I beat
The way you describe things is straight up poetic and I love it!
Love this!!!! The Happy Mask Salesman always seemed very mysterious and intuitive. I have a theory that he follows Link perhaps knowing or postulating that only someone like the "Hero of Time" could pull off a feat such as breaking Majora's Mask of it's evil, particularly since it involved time travel Link had already mastered from OOT. So much of it feels intentional/set up. Including the 3 day timeline; as if the Mask Salesman knew everything would come to ahead at the festival therefore setting Link up to accomplish his tasks in 3 days until he was able to defeat Majora.
My brother gave me Majora's Mask 3D last christmas, when I was playing through Ocarina of Time again.
As always, your videos massively makes me long for playing this game!
Thankyou SOOO much for making this video! Happy Mask Salesman is my favourite character after Ganondorf and I waited soo much for this video ;w; It has been an amazing watch and I think I will watch it more then once.
I think there's something worth mentioning, when you play the song of time you start at clock town again, but when you die (failing to save Termina) you go back to the happy masks salesman, it kinda feels like he is in control of everything, that's why he acts so "casual" about the destruction even tho it's kinda his fault, maybe he can easily stop it but for some reason he wants you to do it and that would explain why he doesn't seem that concerned but he also helps you through the journey. It feels like he's a god or something, watching over you and lending you a hand from time to time, he's like running a test on you.
I know you’ve mentioned them in other videos but I’m kind of surprised you didn’t bring up the fact that there’s five children on the moon who look just like the mask salesman. I always took that to imply that he might be an aspect of Majora, maybe a little shard of benevolence in an otherwise evil entity.
The fact he was following him after Ocarina Time is the Key to the mystery.
Majoras Mask was the first sad game I ever played and it left such an impact on me, it will forever be a source of happiness for me.
As always, a quality zelda video. I'm always happy to see a new upload, thanks for your work!
Apparently in the manga the HMS is fast/strong enough to either dodge, or full on block Link cold when he attacks him at the end. (It's been awhile) he's also a bit more sinister. Just a bit of trivia really, but interesting to note.
You may want to consider the imagery around the HMS in order to determine his nature. He exists in a place outside of time in the foundations of a clocktower. At the end of the game, the top of the tower links with the moon which brings Link into a dream-like realm with a large tree. Putting that together, the clocktower is just a continuation of the tree into the real world. It's the root of the tree transformed into something realistic (a tower) as opposed to something fantastical (an impossibly large tree).
Then you consider that the top of the tree either resides in, on, or pierces through the moon. The moon related to insanity -chiefly the mind itself. It's made clear that this is the specific theme of the moon since we find 4+1 children who use the same model of the HMS. So basically, you have a tower which represents the mind of the HMS and at the top you confront these immensely powerful aspects of the HMS, albeit they are immature as any non-integrated aspect of your psychology is by definition (and due to something else...). The aspect which has taken control of Termina by force is the MAJORa aspect, but in so doing finds itself lonely (non-integrated) since the other aspects won't play with him.
For me, what this scenario is hinting at is obvious. It's the same psychological phenomenon that's explored in the esoteric book of Revelation in the bible. Which makes it no coincidence that the 4 bosses in Majora's Mask are the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, replacing Conquest with Plague which happens quite often. Odolwa (War) a warrior, Goht (Famine) a mechanical goat, Gyorg (Plague) a spawning piranha, Twinmold (Death) worms in the Land of the Dead. Then the fact that people overlay the 5 stages of grief with Majora's Mask makes more sense now, since that cycle just represents the main emotional responses people have to resisting a belief i.e. resisting a revelation. Hence the name of the biblical book FYI.
Now consider the HMS's uncanny ability to tell you about masks -not to sell you masks. Then add in his mysterious nature and our inability to get a good read on him, and finally the goal of Link to 'heal Termina' by helping people. Not to mention the focus of the largest quest in the game is repairing the relationship between Anju and Kafei, the reward of which is the quest itself and it is the most impressed the HMS can be made by Link.
So what's going on here? The HMS represents an immature individual who hasn't integrated all aspects of his personality in a Jungian sense. He presents himself as a Trickster archetype and comes across as such: potentially malevolent but far more knowledgeable and powerful than he lets on. It's like Yoda in Empire Strikes Back: a seemingly insane, eccentric loner who is actually a powerful master.
The story of Termina is really his story. The Imp represents himself in the past, losing his friends and being unable to form any new relationships. With that, his Impish side i.e. his Inner Child is desperate for connection. However, the HMS's innate fear of rejection prevents his Inner Child from creating meaningful relationships. Instead, the HMS believes that if he can develop a powerful enough facade then he can use that fake persona to control his Inner Child and the rest of his non-integrated personality. Unfortunately, his Inner Child has grown so powerful (it's the source of his greatest emotional desire after all) that it takes control of the facade, the MASK of the HMS. Thus the Inner Child with the power of this mask becomes the MAJOR personality aspect and controls all of the minor aspects (again, because the HMS hasn't integrated them). So the Imp, the Inner Child of the HMS becomes tyrannical and acts out like any child starved for attention does.
So it is then that Majora's Mask is about the HMS's struggle with his Inner Child, which finally makes sense of what the Children on the Moon are all taking about and asking Link about, and why they look like the HMS and why they each take on a Boss Mask i.e. a necessary step in the cycle of Grief/Revelation. There's even more to it than that but this is long enough already.
So what happens at the end? Well, we the player are able to confront and overcome the emotional blocks (the Bosses) which prevent the HMS from dealing with his grief -namely his Inner Child, and finally integrating his personality. When this happens the HMS remarks that the Majora's Mask has lost all of its power, meaning that his attempt to develop a Major(a) personality to control the non-integrated aspects of his personality (his drives and emotions) has failed. Not only has it failed, it can't operate anymore anyway because his personality is finally integrated. So there isn't anything to control anymore because the HMS is finally whole. So of course the MASK, the FACADE has lost its power.
We see then that the HMS doesn't lament this at all, even though he had previously snapped (psychotic break) at us when we didn't return the mask, his Major facade back to him. This is because he has dealt with his grief and ACCEPTED all of himself. So he's a fully integrated individual and no longer fears facing the world without his Majora, his tyrant, his facade. And so at this point I don't think I need to explain why he fades away into nothing.
But in case you need the explanation, it's because the personality the HMS shows us, the player, is a facade. It always was. I said it was. He was always wearing a false face, he was always presenting with a false personality that hid his struggle with the rest of himself. He first tasks us with helping him take control of himself but we eventually find that the only route to help/HEAL the HMS is for him to give up his aspirations of control and to allow his Inner Child to express itself vulnerably. The HMS does so after we battle through his psychological and emotional resistances (Mask of the Child, Incarnation of the Child, Wrath of the Child) and then MAKE FRIENDS WITH THE CHILD (the Imp), which was always what the HMS wanted from the start. So the HMS, finally integrated, fades away because the facade we had always interacted with us through is gone. We're only left with the HMS's true self, the Imp, the Inner Child that had gone suppressed and undeveloped for so long.
We removed its mask, confronted its incarnation, and endured its wrath. We were the therapist and the HMS was our patient. Or better understood, this entire story was therapy for the author. He used his art to express and deal with his psychological trauma, which is probably why so many people find Majora's Mask so meaningful -it is. It's true art in that way. We played through the author's therapy session, with all the emotion that would naturally involve.
Whether or not this was intentional doesn't really matter because once you study psychology/story-telling enough if becomes largely intuitive. It's part of the psychological basis of the Monomyth and so 'feels right' to construct types of stories in certain, universal ways. Even more so, if this story truly was therapeutic expression for the author it makes even more sense that what 'felt right' would be enough to construct it in this fashion, with this underlying theme. With that said, I would wager that the author of the story is very introverted regardless how he may present to the public. What's more, I'd wager further that he might be a Secret Schizoid (covert, extreme INTP) and that the HMS is his self-insert. Again, whether he recognizes it as such or not.
Or he's just a Sheikah lol.
Now that's a very thorough analysis
Tf
Nice one!
Best assessment of HMS by far
@@mt.crushmore4637 Exactly. We note also that Fierce Deity is the adult i.e. mature version of Link facing off against the childish Majora. People have noted that this game could be about Link mourning his lost childhood so if I'm right they're picking up on that theme but applying it to the wrong character. Really, Link has no development in this story. It's only HMS and Skull Kid who have an arc.
So the odds that this project was personal for the author are sky high. I would love to hear an interview with the original creator that isn't just about his nightmares when creating this and delves deeper into what he thinks the game means.
Also, the fact that all the people of Termina are clones of the real people of Hyrule speaks to HMS's disconnection from society. And of course, he knows a lot about masks and how/why people wear them since he's a pro at it. Ironically, he's a pro at understanding social customs and presentation but fails to execute on that knowledge authentically.
One might think he'd wander around Clock Town at least for the sake of the game making him seem more alive. But no. He just hides away from everyone and doesn't want to come out until he gets his Major(a's) Mask. It's almost a stereotype.
When Skyward sword came out, I had a bit of a fun time where I wrote a fic that the Happy Mask Saleman was a sword spirit akin to Fi and Ghirrahim, but his master is the Fierce Deity - patron god of Termina like Hylia is for Hyrule. And the events of Majora's Mask were him trying to defeat Majora who was keeping the Fierce Deity's power fragmented.
That was just a bit of fun though. I love that there's still a huge mystery around this dude.
I’m so glad I found this channel! I’ve been looking for a channel like this, all things I thought about from these games
The HMS reminds me of Professor E Gadd from the Mario/Luigi’s Mansion franchises: someone who clearly knows way more than they let on; and, there’s definitely something dark and mysterious behind their actions and appearances.
Dang I was hoping someone was finally going to acknowledge how he is likely wearing a form altering mask himself. Like the ones Link acquires throughout Majora's mask.
when I saw this I got so excited! Any Majoras Mask content has me running! thank you so much for posting this
Such a great story teller zeltik, thank you!
Could you do a video on Ghirahim? How/when he was made, what he might have done while Demis was sealed, and what happend to him in the end.
Due to his role as a collector of rare and powerful masks, I do think the Happy Mask Salesmen definitely has strange powers he has access to at his own whim. Be they due to his own sorcery, some more divine or infernal explanation, study of masks allowing him to unlock their powers without using them, or just because of his role as a mask collector. I also think this might explain why he disappeared in the future until the credits scene when link pulled the Master sword in OOC. He probably did go into hiding or left Hyrule, but I have a sneaky suspicion (so this is my own speculation) this might have been less due to him wanting a change of scenery as Hyrule is a dark place now, and more due to him being wary of Ganondorf deciding to eliminate him for being a potential threat to his dominion. Ganondorf being as smart as he is sure does seem like the type to make sure any potential troublemakers that he finds get dealt with. And as the Happy Mask Salesmen has access to potent magical powers in some form or another...I think he counts as a potential threat to Ganondorfs rule.
One that while not capable of challenging the holder of the Triforce of Power, Ganondorf outright, nor doing so directly should he so choose, nor constitutes a major hazard of any sort, would most definitely be trouble should he decide to use the powers he has access to in aiding some sort of rebellion, or the still missing Zelda. And being on Ganondorfs hit list definitely would inspire for a change of scenery, or for one to keep a low profile.
Everytime i hear the oath to order, i start crying. There's so much emotion in this game
thank u sir zeltik for the lore on my study break - uve gotten me through almost all of uni my man
You know...I never really questioned the masks and how those were kept upon reset because they felt bonded to Link as if they were a memory of his good deeds and thus proof of those actions. No. My biggest question was how the banker worked. Yes, the special stamp, but if time reset why was that ONE THING preserved otherwise? What was the magic that somehow kept your rupees from being reset just because they were in a bank that, logically, should have reset along with everyone else, stamp or not? That's the one thing I could never really figure out.
Gold dust infused ink was always my assumption (edit, as yeah, that got me pondering back when too)
Does he maybe stamp the account's value on the holder? Is that why he knows?? But he stamps you BEFORE transactions??? Ugh I'm even more confused about this than I always had been.
Also if those rupees are stored through time. Gold being the most 'earthly' material to transcend the time travel. If the rupees are in a gold safe, would what's inside the safe remain through the SoT?
Rupees are, themselves, magical, indicated by how they can be used to charge a few magical items.
I always thought that it was a wierd detail that not only does the Happy Mask Salesman know the masks of all the people (provided he never seems to set foot outside the clock tower) AND knows their emotions like some sorta savant of Psychometry (psychic links with auras left on or within peoples’ belongings)
BUT he seems to retain all knowledge of the previous 3 day loop(s) every time, maybe a power of the clock tower. (Hence why he can’t leave maybe?)
OR perhaps he really does exist on a non-dimensional level within Termina and the HMSalesman is just one aspect of his corporeal manifestation.
Which would explain how he manages to remain untouched by entropy resetting every time Link plays the song - but also possesses some form of Omniscience, or all-knowingness despite never needing to leave the tower. But his non-corporeality also explains why he can leave whenever he pleases after 3 days, coincidentally just before the moon comes crashing down? It’s like he knows that’s what skill kid has planned and has mad plans to leave on the third night, with or without his mask. How did he know?
He knows too much to be “just a guy”
We got the Man of Many Masks (Happy Mask Salesman) Hyrule/Termina and the Man of Many Smiles in Hourglass which is within the Realm of the Ocean King.
Loved the video. Every time I hear the music from Majora's mask I always want to replay it
The mask salesman might honestly be Miyamoto, at least in part. His comment at the end about whether the farewell is forever or not almost breaks the fourth wall: He's talking to the player. If you play again, you'll see each other again. His comments about making people happy and reiterating that it is "truly a good happiness" also very much strike me like the goals of the developers, and it almost sounds like something Miyamoto might say. And of course, that smile, that damn smile...
The third option - neither. He’s simply a necessary messenger
I am hooked to listening to these Zelda lore videos while at work
Dude you're voice is perfect for this type of creepy stuff I love it !!
Didn't he get confronted by deity link in some manga? I know they aren't canon but it shows the general mood toward him. So final answer, bad and stinky.
Yeah it's an interaction where Deity Link says something like : "Disappear, demon." in a stylish way - and the masks salesman vanishes while laughing hysterically
Thats a interesting take tho Link mustn find out that the Salesman has no good intentions at all , the manga is like a idea if the game gets a remastered not a remake , and gives us the players and Link hits about Salseman true characther and Link getting suspicious of him.
Was it a fan made manga or something?
@@theketaminekid1241 Nah not a fan made like a real author with the Nintendo emblem and an interview with Eiji Aonuma
I think it is interesting that time seems not to influence him. He could be a minor deity or a spirit. Something what japanese call kamis. There are plenty in Hyrule.
He is also a parody of the asian salesman stereotype.
I've been really anxious the entire day but somehow your voice calms me down thank you for these videos😭❤
Absolutely loved this vid. Fine fine work!!!
The Happy Mask Salesmen is a creep not to mention he's one of the most suspicious characters in Zelda he has unhealthy obsession with masks.
Over 2 decades have passed since Majoras Mask was released and yet it is still having secrets revealed. I would love to see a return to termina in the future. I feel like there are new stories to tell, new areas that can be explored, new villains to fight, and more people to make happy.
I like how you brought up D&D, as I literally ran a Majoras Mask campaign last year. Anyway cool to see some new perspectives of one of my fav Zelda characters
Your content never fails to amaze me, you make such interesting content and mention thins I never thought of, your amazing bro. Keep it up