@@HyruleGamer you are most welcome. Keep up the amazing work. PS you are an excellent narrator. Theory only goes so far, how you deliver is also a big part. 💥
I've always thought that rather than being Link's statue, this was The Hero's statue. All or most Heros share the same soul, correct? Link wouldn't need to be dead for Death to know him, he's died plenty of times of before.
Dunno how it is in the english version, but in the german, if you talk to the mask salesman as either goron or zora he says something that is roughly translatable to: Oh you are wearing the skin of the zora/goron that _nobody_ could heal.... so i always thought that part of their souls dwell inside the masks and are still unhealed because they are still holding onto something in the living world, which would explain where the song would get it's "soldier witheout a heart" from.... from inside the mask... where it only finds the part of a soul, that part that still has unfullfilled deeds in the living world.... btw the song is in german called (also translated): Elegy of the empty Heart
Ich hätte schwören können, es wäre Elegie der Einsamkeit gewesen, aber da hab ich mich wohl falsch erinnert. Also danke, dass du mich unwissentlich korrigiert hast.
Agreed. It always seemed implied to me that turning someone into a mask trapped their soul within it, which is how the magic worked in the first place.
Links statue never really looked like it was smiling to me, to me it seems vengeful and unsatisfied, gritting his teeth in anger, which reminds me of the stal link from twilight princess, unsatisfied that he was never remembered for what he had done and so bound to the mortal plain till he could pass on both his skills and story, his legacy to his descendent, So your theory of it being of his coming death kinda ties into that, so I can believe its indeed possible
As others have said, I wondered if it's supposed to be the part of Link that died due to the OoT events. The statue doesn't really look like it's happy but it has a forced smile. The child pretending everything is okay when its not. Except it is. He was sent back in time to a Hyrule that's peaceful, where Ganondorf was stopped before he ever really started, where all of friends (besides the Great Deku unfortunately) are all okay. And Zelda told him to enjoy it. And unfortunately it's not like he can talk to anyone about it, so I'm sure people have told him to cheer up and relax since everything's fine. But HE'S not. And in a way, I feel like the statue is taunting him. Mocking him with that same fake persona he puts on for everyone else when Link knows the emptiness behind it. The loss he has in himself just as clear as the others who had their souls crushed before their time. As for the others, I wonder if maybe they didn't actually move on to the afterlife. It was more their souls are at peace with the song of healing, able to lend their power to Link so he can fulfil all of their unfinished business and regret. And by helping them, they stayed with him to see his journey to the end too. It's only after the moon is stopped they can all finally get closure in the form of the credits with things like Link performing as Mikau with the band one last time and the Deku Butler finds his son so the little scrub can rest knowing his family won't spend years never knowing what happened to him and being left to rot alone in the darkness.
"where Ganondorf was stopped before he ever really started" *Awkward laughing * didn't you play Twilight Princess, sure he was sealed away but it doesn't mean that made peace, he killed a sage and then Zant started chaos because he thought Ganondorf as a god, therefore sealing Midna into the imp form and attacking Hyrule and sealing the lake deitys. (it's in the game go play it, it's a really good game)
@@omori-kid8602 oh yeah, Twilight Princess is awesome! But it doesn't change the fact that the Link of Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask would never have to deal with it and lived in peaceful times with no inclination to enjoy it. We don't know how long it was before Ganon took over the Twilight realm but by the time Zant entered Hyrule at least a few generations have passed and OoT Link may have been drawn out as a restless spirit since he KNOWS Ganondorf is behind this but can no longer do anything about it. So the feelings he faced during MM would still be the same.
@@ronandread5141 I didn't mean literally can't talk to anyone, I meant who could he possibly talk to about what he went through? He's got trauma from events no one would understand because he's the only one who actually lived through it. Zelda knows from her prophecies, but she's not the same Zelda from the adult timeline. She could probably feel for him knowing what he went through but can't actually relate to the things he tells her because she wasn't there. So it makes sense when he decided to leave Hyrule for a while, all she could do was encourage him, pray for him, and give him some things that might help.
the face is wrinkled, the body unharmed, like an old man dying peacefully in a peaceful world with no need of hero. leading him to remain as the hero's shade to pass on the hidden skills. but link himself died a happy old man thus, he smile.
If anything, Link's statue looks.... pained. Haunted. It's a copy of his soul, certainly. But what shape is Link's soul in, at this point? Not only has Link been reincarnated unknowable amounts of time, but let's consider what Link has been through at the point of Majora's Mask. Not only has he seen the closest thing to a parent die, but felt he personally failed to save them. Not only did he see Hyrule on the verge of collapse, he saw it in that state due to his direct actions. Not only did he go through trials and torment to save Hyrule that were beyond the mean and comprehension of the average citizens... but he saw loved one after loved one after loved one die, each time "because he wasn't fast enough or good enough." Not only did he see him home get destroyed, but saw even his biggest critic on the verge of tears wishing that he had been around to save them. And then, at the end of trauma after trauma after trauma, he gets sent back to prevent it... knowing that it wouldn't actually undo everything. And then his closest friend just... vanishes. Gone. He seeks for her as a war builds in Hyrule- that would occur as a direct response to his actions, even if his actions were neccessary. His search then lands him in an unknown land, under attack by an evil that didn't even care about domination- only destruction, complete and utter- under a curse. A curse that he would eventually realize cost an innocent their life for it to be put upon him. With the fate of the country resting on him, and him alone. No sages. No princess. Just him, a fairy that initially hates him, and the souls of other people in his pocket. But giving into despair isn't an option. If he stops, everyone will suffer for it. He can't stop. He can't lose hope, or *everything* is lost. His statue is the very image of someone trying to put on a brave face.
This is late, I know. But this comment is just... great. Lol. Link’s struggles are incomparable and the fact that you named all of them in such detail and nice writing. Wow. AND THE BUILDUP TO THE CONCLUSION? Omg. he’s doing a great job keeping it in, though. Especially for a child.
Woah. Wonderfully written comment that puts things in a very interesting light. Very fitting for the one who wields of the triforce of courage. After all, courage isn't being fearless. It's standing up to your fears for what's right.
I believe that the Skull Kid in Twilight Princess uses this song for his puppets. 1. He is likely the same Skull Kid from Majoras Mask, as he guards his old friend's sword and his horn is a broken piece of the deku pipes 2. his puppets resemble him and are made of wood, like the elegy's statues 3. He must play music from his (possibly magic) horn to summon them 4. He has guarded the forest with this song for centuries at that point, and would logically have mastered it to the point that he can create and control multiple puppets at a time.
I've heard a theory about his instrument being the Ocarina of Time itself. We know Link was friends with him and also that the ocarina takes different forms depending on the user(seen in Majora's)
I know why the Goron and Zora statues are like that. When you make the statues, Termina is still in danger...and by extension, the people Darmani and Mikau love. So even though they passed on, they can't fully rest until Termina is saved.
I like to think that this song tries to capture a representation of the true self of the person who plays it, since the truth doesn't care for the feelings, and like Igos Ikana said _These are soldiers without a heart_ The deku is a scared and naked(vulnerable) child with a grim face, probably representing their grief over being cursed. This statue shows a lost child The sora shows Mikau with his guitar, since music was a really important part of his person in life, this is the only statue with his instrument, it was important for that person, and it stands holding his intrument to the ground, in an inmobable pose, representing how he fought and tried to recuperate his lover's eggs, rather than just staying with crossed arms without doing anything. This statue shows a proud and brave musician And Goron, shows Darmani. The hero that did his best to try to save his people from the cold that almost wipped them out. Standing showing his strength, showing his scar with pride, as if he was saying "You see this Scar? Even after this horrible wound I could still fight, don't mess with me!". This statue shows a fearless hero But why do they seem so souless? Because this is their true selves right now, they are dead, there is no soul anymore, just a image that reminds us of what these people were in life. Link is still alive, and his Statue shows his eyes alive, it's very posible that the soldiers made with this song in the war were more like this Statue, probably just more, alive lol But why Link looks is disturbed? Because, Link has gone through so much, he had to abanddon his childhood, his innocence, he had to murder villians and enemies, he had to save lives, he saves the world as the Hero of Time as an adult... But Link *is* a child, he did all of those things because it was expected to do so as the hero of leyends. Can a child, hell, even a normal person, go through all of that without being perturbed by the horrors of this world filled with fiends and evils? Link's statue shows a perturbed child, a child that stands in a gentle pose to show that he needs to be strong, but a perturbed and traumatized child in the end
This is my new headcanon. I like this explanation a lot more personally. I've always thought of the hero of time's mental state and all the shit he went through and I think this sums it up pretty well. Dude never got to enjoy his childhood...
It would've been cool to have Link's statue be Adult Link instead, to show that his journeys gave him the maturity of an adult, like cremia tells him. It would mirror the idea that Link was a child in an adult's body in Ocarina of Time.
But he is still a kid, not a teen, not young adult or adult. His mental state is that of a kid, just one that lived a lot of sh(ee)t for his age. Maturity can be a sign of trauma as a coping mechanism. The statue has to be a kid, cuz link is a kid. Its a reflection, not a wish, m8
It's possible that it saw the regrets that would anchor Link to the mortal world after his inevitable death as he, too, became a ghost some time prior to the events of Twilight Princess in the form of the Hero's Shade.
You're forgetting one key thing: Darmani, Mikau, and the deku butler's son's souls (and most importantly, their sorrows and regrets) are turned into the masks; the song is not reaching and locating the dead souls in another realm, but rather it reaching out and copying the thing that gives the user form, and why their expressions are of suffering
Exactly. It's not a smile, it's the grimace of someone trying to hide the pain and hardships they have gone through. Which is very fitting, given everything that happened to him in OoT, only for him to lose his home anyway (since he is not a Kokiri) as well as the only friend who remembers what he went through. And he cannot befriend the people of Termina, since they forget about him after every reset.
Actually, the real design inspiration might be creepier: that's Miyamoto. They designed the statue of "Empty Link" based on a picture of Miyamoto from when he was a kid. So, in a way, Empty Link is -or was- real
Ive heard it was based off miyamoto because he wanted links statue to reflect the player similar to how the other statues reflect the characters the masks are based on. So he designed the statue after himself to give it that realistic look to represent real life people. I dont think he intended it to look so creepy, but when you try to make something so realistic with just n64 graphics thats what you end up with lol
I always did think it looked like a "realistic" sculpt of a random Japanese kid, with a few too many details added to be safely "cartoony". Imagine, if you were drawing a crude portrait (or a bad caricature) of a real kid, then emphasize the lines going from the corners of the nose to the corners of the mouth, and draw every tooth. That's the statue, right there. The fact that it's Miyamoto (as a kid) makes the resemblance pop. What an Interesting caricature of yourself to put in the game.
when it comes to zelda majora's mask , one thing that i found it really sad is how this game was not treated with respect when it released in 2000 but mostly treated with black lash rather for being so different , how ever this game have really some strenghs that really make me wonder how it could have been like if only was released by taking what worked in ocarina of time while having majora's mask design philosophies in it and what i mean by that , imagine if this game was released like that , a game where it has no time limit meaning that you can play it for as much as you want with out moon's crashing , with having same exact 4 main dungeons " wood fall temple , snow head temple , great bay temple , stone twoer temple" , same exact story , same exact over world , same exact side missions but with them being structured in a way that pretty much allow you to do them with out that time limit while still being fun and giving you a chance to do them agian if you fail at them , having 3 more dungeons that have same concept of other four ones which is having a big central room connected to other ones while having each dungeon with his own unique challenges and atmosphere and them being fun to pass through and also not requiering side missions to do in order to enter these dungeons like four other ones , while also having completely original NPCs in place of any NPC re used from ocarina of time , as well as unlocking cutscene where that central tower when encounter skull kid and go into moon "in a similar way to how you fight a boss of a previous dungeon again " if have all masks , imagine if the game was some how made and released like that , how general reception to it would have been compared to how it was when it was released , i hope some one answer me about that
That's a really good idea, if it was Released in that way, people would've expected it as the great game that it is. I also think that the game would've been easier to play as you're not under the pressure of the timelimit. But on the the other side there are some things that wouldn't work, for example the quest on the farm with these alien like creatures that come in the night, if the world had no timelimit and therefor wouldn't be reseted, it means that if you fail you fail it is permanent and you don't get a second chance and that's what makes the game so different and interesting in my opinion. I must say that I never played the game myself, but I did watch a playthrough of it.
@@inawoodenhouse i know that , but i'm asking about how the game's reception from general audience would have if it was released with all factors i stated above , compared to its reception from its release in 2000 and also compared to ocarina of time
@@NICOLEwendt73 i know that , but i'm asking about how the game's reception from general audience would have if it was released with all factors i stated above , compared to its reception from its release in 2000 and also compared to ocarina
I always felt that the expression on empty-link was more like it was trying to be happy while on the verge of an existential breakdown. The distant gaze seems to imply introspection at the very least.
This has been one of my favorite takes on this aspect of the game so far. I had never considered that Links’ statue arguably proves that they are alive, and it opens a whole new realm of possibilities through it’s means. Thanks Bandit!
I love your gaming channel man!! Metroid Dread looks so cool. Good stuff, Bandit! Nice theory, too. I always that that the statues of Link looked like that to fit the Ikana people, which are all undead skeletons. Maybe, the statues of Link were created for soldiers Link could use… but in this song, they are only statues. Just a thought.
SPOOOOOOKKKYYYYYYYYYY Loved it! x3 I've always been spooked out by the statues and have pondered so much on it but never got around to doing a theory on it, thank you for throwing this at my face, Bandit! You are the best!!
My headcanon is that the statue is shows how Link really is. During his last adventure and during Majora's Mask, he sees some horrifying things. Things that could scar someone mentally for life. So the smile represents that on the outside, Link is friendly and always willing to help. But on the inside, he is tormented and probably mentally scarred from his adventures. That's what I choose to believe.
"A terrifying smile that's haunted gamers for 2 decades." RUclips: This seems like the perfect time for a toothpaste commercial full of smiling people. Seriously, sometimes the algorythm is the scariest thing of all.
@@samgourhan207 if that wasn’t a facetious comment , I’d love an example of someone being cancelled for something as insignificant as offhandedly saying a species of sentient shrubs all have similar faces in a video game 😂 🤦🏻♂️
7:23 Or it could be that a part of them is “torn” to create that form. Think of it like if you were resting peacefully in a hammock, only to have part of you torn away out of no where. It is possible we are causing them much suffering.
Love your videos Bandit! I always thought about the statues faces as a representation of the "true face" and thereby the "maskless face". Which is in reference to my favourite quote from the game where the Twinmold-mask wearing moon child asks Link: "I wonder...the face behind the mask... is that your true face?". This is the last thing the kid says to you after he has taken 8 masks from Link. It can also be assumed that the intended order is to do the Twinmold trial last. Taken together, this means that by the time the Child asks Link this question, you're almost certainly not wearing a mask anymore because you've given the last one to him. So he is asking Link if his actual face is his true face. In my interpretation, the answer is no. Link has been wearing a mask since he pulled the Master Sword in Ocarina of Time. So, what if the Elegy of Emptiness is showing "the face behind the mask". This would make sense for the transformation masks and Link. The transformation masks take on the form of the soul behind Link's mask, as you mentioned. Link, by the time he has reached Ikana Castle has lived the same 3 days in Termina countless times. I'd say a blank smile is the perfect representation of him being tired of the cycle and gradually getting more numb to the problems of the people he's trying to save...yet still smiling because he knows he has to.
The statue is wearing Link's Kokiri clothing from Ocarina Of Time, without the sword belt across his chest. I think it represents the person he once was. The innocence lost.
It's a "smile" but more of a grimace. It's all that Link knows of from ocarina of time in a child's body. The death of a Kingdom at his failure to stop Ganon and knowing that he may yet return. Knowing that grim fate of so many people he may have seen dead traumatizing him.
Perhaps Links statue is smiling because the soul of the Link from the downfall timeline was lead back to his own still living body, and is glad that another version of him didn't fail. His regrets have been eased leaving nothing but happiness, on top of being able to help again if only for a brief moment.
They’re copies of the three dead forms that link wears, posed like taxidermy without link or the original souls inhabiting them. Link’s effigy is a living copy without the soul, rendering it only as useful as the other three
Yay a Majoras Mask theory! My favorite scary Zelda moment is the Twilight Princess Lanayru vision… and all of Majoras Mask… it’s my favorite Zelda game
Majora's mask and wind waker are my absolute favorite zelda games. They do things so different, but so right. I like sailing around in wind waker. Alot of folks did not like that, or the cartoonish graphics. But i love all the zelda games. They all are pretty good. Except for cdi zelda games. Those ones are terrible.
Creepy story about link screaming while putting on masks: When link puts on a mask he screams but why? Some people believe link transforms into them and believes he feels intense pain and he transforms back,But no, link screams because there’s the opponents sorrow in the mask when they turn into the mask, And he can feel they’re sorrow up from the mask, meaning he can feel the same pain as them.
I personally believe that the song of healing causes those it is played for to shed their burdens. And it is instead tasked on the one who plays the song to take up those burdens. The statues therefore would be a snapshot of the person needed to fulfill the unfinished business of the people those masks represent. Zora link with the pain of leaving children behind that need cared for. Goron link with the pride required to lead a people through a long winter. Deku link being lost and forgotten needing to find friendship. And that leaves link. With the anxiety of already having saved one world and transported into yet another where everything has gone wrong and all these people's burdens are on him. A deep chaos within stirring up with just enough madness to keep going because if he doesn't, everyone will die.
For once I thought their expressions would be their final moments before passing out, the last 'face' they did before their inevitable fate, meaning that that 'smile' it was showing could be a way of hiding either pain or sadness (or both) experienced during his death and shown in the statue has their last mark on the living world
I'd like to think it's maybe his innocence smiling back. A thing that Link Once had about himself that is pretty much gone after the events of OOT and in this game is more that deferentially gone by this point in the game.
I have another theory. What if that statue represents the happiness and innocence that Link lost when he began his adventures in Ocarina of Time? Or, and that's maybe on me because I never really understood it. So Ocarina of Time Link (aka Link 1) leaves the forest 1, goes to the castle to meet Zelda 1, travels back and forth in this timeline 1 and defeats Ganon 1. Then he goes back in time where there's another Ganon (Ganon 2) and Zelda 2 and Hyrule 2. Basically it's the same world, but if it's the same world, what happened to Link 2? That boy completely vanished. And maybe his soul is in that mask. His blue eyes represent the fact that he's never indeed dead, he only disappeared.
I genuinely don't get why people think its a smile. The corners of the statue's mouth is clearly angled downwards. It looks more like an awkward grimace to me.
I always assumed the masks contained the regrets of his transformations. The Goron and Zora are slightly changed from their anger/horror of their fates. The Deku was just a sad child(?) who probably didn't fully understand Skullkid's magic, or what it would do to him
That makes a lot of sense. By "healing" them, you create the mask, meaning you're creating a vessel that holds their lingering regrets so that the spirit itself can pass on. You're taking their burdens from them. That's really cool.
That’s not a smile, that’s a grimace. I think Link’s statue has no deeper meaning. The only other logical significance it has is simply to have the the Zelda team allude and test the model they’d use for Wind Waker. It’s very, very common for Nintendo to hint at the upcoming entry in the Zelda series with such easter eggs.
This game is so great because it is genuinely open to interpretation. Like I never assumed the statues to be taking photos of spirits but instead erecting statues that memorialize the energy they had in death. The Zorra was a rocker and defiant, taking every step possible to defy death and achieve its goal. So in turn... the statue had a defiant and rockstar look on its face The Goron was too proud to let go, willing to threaten and barter for more time- a noble leader. In turn the statue looks proud And the Deku Child looks scared and sad because that is how the child was in death. The roots being something that happens when they all die... or perhaps something they do when they are frightened, like literally rooted to the spot in horror. We assume the Deku seen the skull kid but what if it caught a glimpse at the monster that truly was pulling the strings? Only to then die.
I think that when it comes to the mask statues it is actually a bit more complicated. The masks in the game represent different emotions, but the transformation masks in particular represent strong regrets. When the Elegy of Emptiness is played it creates an empty version of body. The transformation masks are already devoid of a soul so what happens is you get the body without Link filling the void. So you see the form of the mask as the original body, empty of a soul, and made of the regrets left behind. The Link statue though...
also it looks less like a smile and more of an expression of anger. Almost like he's biting his tongue to prevent himself from cursing Hylia who decided a literal goddamn child had to be a hero.
That was a really cool theory (both in the awesome way and the…err *…chilling* way)! By the way I remember you saying that you’re a big Batman fan, so if you’re reading this what do you think of the new one that’s coming out?
I think the the smile on the Link statue is symbolizing how he truly feels inside sense he's not dead when he made the statue so instead of representing how he died it shows how he feels. Broken, sad, a forgotten hero, he feels abandoned his friends left him and he's cursed to continue living through these lost childhood years, and he's just forced to act like everything is fine while his pain and loneliness eats away at him and the only happiness he has is Epona and Malon, for everything else just reminds him of everything he's been through. The elegy of emptiness isn't a snapshot of death but actually a snapshot of one's soul itself at the current time brought into physical form separated from the mind and body and sense the characters from the other forms are already dead it's unable to form an expression for they are already separated from the world of the living therefore there is no soul for it to find only small fragments that were left behind in the memories of the people that cared for them hence the soulless eyes on the other statue because all the people that remember them have forgotten what expression they once made. Therefore Link's statue is the true result of the elegy of emptiness a physical reflection of one's inner conflicts within their soul.
This is probably a little out there and I haven't had the chance to play Ocarina or Majora's Mask but... what if it touched Link's spirit from the Downfall timeline? Or perhaps it is the Hero's Spirit who dies but comes back? Link's smile on the effigy seems more like a grimace to me.
I personally think it is the way it is because of several things: 1) The face itself looks significantly older than Link's, so it can imply Link's soul's actual age as he's an adult trapped in a child's body. 2) The expression is the worn down, tired expression the Hero of Time tries to put on in the face of adversity. As this Link's journey has been far more tragic, withering and especially *isolating* than any other Links. In OoT, the apocalyptic world he fought is a nightmare only he and Navi will ever remember, and in MM, Link went to a sorrowful, dark world unlike anything any common hylian has ever seen, and if he being the Hero's Shade is true, then when he came back to Hyrule he also has the memories of Termina to torment him, yet again, to only torment him among hylians and about terminians. The latter because of the uniqueness of his Song of Time skill, as only he has witnessed the horrors of *all* of terminians combined and also on a constant time loop fully knowing what will happen once the Moon crashes. There's absolutely nobody in both Hyrule and Termina who will ever understand what he has seen. 3) My personal guess on how the song looks for the appearance of the statues is that only a thing with a soul can look "alive". So, to me it wouldn't really be relevant how the Deku child, Darmani and Mikau are faring in the afterlife, for example. It is a soulless snapshot, it will never look like the real thing, so it is like a "loss in translation" when the song "prints" the soul into a statue. So, as with the others, the song will try to capture Link's likeness without the life of his soul keeping him youthful, brave and pure, giving the result of a bizarre figure of a body that has endured so much, yet no will (life/soul) to continue on. This, combined with my first point on the aged up-face because of the discrepancy between his cronological age and physical age, might be a sufficient explanation to why it looks so eerie compared to the other snapshots the Elegy of Emptiness provides.
So when he said “even more scarier than what’s behind you” dude I got chills down my back cause there is a dark hallway and room behind me. God I just, can’t.
imo the statue isnt smiling, it seems like a smile that stopped.. interuppted by a sad thought. notice how the corners of the ‘smile’ are turned down. I think the face was happy, moments before the statue appears. Looks like someone pretending to be happy, when really they are empty. caught mid motion. try it ! when u smile then make a sad face, the corners of your mouth lead the movement.
I bet they made Link's face look like that as a joke. Like that face was actually from an employee at Nintendo making a creepy smile for laughs and someone thought 'Oh my gawd, wouldn't it be funny if we put that creepy face somewhere in the Zelda game we're working on right now?' And that game just happened to be Majora's Mask.
Well done as always. As I was watching I started thinking of a separate theory on the same subject. What if it's Link's undying soul from constantly being reborn in every age where a hero is needed. Link's physical body can die at any point in time but his soul always comes back during Hyrule's greatest need.
I always thought the face of Link’s statue looked wrinkly, like he was old, and that it symbolized the face that Link’s soul was older than his body thanks to all his time traveling shenanigans.
Thanks for watching guys! Happy October!
What's your FAVORITE scary Zelda moment?
First
there’s tons of moments like that in majoras mask I can’t decide
My first encounter with dead hands. That thing scared me shitless when I was little lmao, didn’t even want to look at the game for days
The piano solo when you play botw
Hey thanks for talking about my game
He is just a bit socially awkward 😬 ❤
My thoughts exactly. Nice to see you here HG. I love your videos and unique takes in Zelda lore and theory.
@@heatherholzhaus7013 Hey, thanks a lot :)
@@HyruleGamer you are most welcome. Keep up the amazing work. PS you are an excellent narrator. Theory only goes so far, how you deliver is also a big part. 💥
Now THAT I can relate to.
Yooo HG!
I've always thought that rather than being Link's statue, this was The Hero's statue. All or most Heros share the same soul, correct? Link wouldn't need to be dead for Death to know him, he's died plenty of times of before.
So this would be the first Hero before Skyward Sword. Funny how he looks so much like the Hero of Winds
@@beesmongeese2978 Uh Oh its the Hero of winds statue.
Oooooh lol
that’s really smart
I had the same idea!!!
Bandit: what's more sacry than the thing behind you
Me: ah yes, the wall is very scary
Same
After I read this I turned my back to the wall
LOL For me it's a first aid kit! 🤣
I have a closet behind me.
You're not telling me there could be something hiding in my closet are you?
Luckily for me I’m resting on my pillow, cuz otherwise I’d sh!t my pants 😂
MNB: "Everybody dies; EVERYBODY."
Ganon in BOTW sequel: "and I took that personally."
Lol 😂
I really don't knœw anymore
*blood moon laughs in maniacally*
LOL!!
Dunno how it is in the english version, but in the german, if you talk to the mask salesman as either goron or zora he says something that is roughly translatable to: Oh you are wearing the skin of the zora/goron that _nobody_ could heal....
so i always thought that part of their souls dwell inside the masks and are still unhealed because they are still holding onto something in the living world, which would explain where the song would get it's "soldier witheout a heart" from.... from inside the mask... where it only finds the part of a soul, that part that still has unfullfilled deeds in the living world....
btw the song is in german called (also translated): Elegy of the empty Heart
Ich hätte schwören können, es wäre Elegie der Einsamkeit gewesen, aber da hab ich mich wohl falsch erinnert. Also danke, dass du mich unwissentlich korrigiert hast.
Agreed. It always seemed implied to me that turning someone into a mask trapped their soul within it, which is how the magic worked in the first place.
Or perhaps, they linger in the masks out of a desire to help Link.
Links statue never really looked like it was smiling to me, to me it seems vengeful and unsatisfied, gritting his teeth in anger, which reminds me of the stal link from twilight princess, unsatisfied that he was never remembered for what he had done and so bound to the mortal plain till he could pass on both his skills and story, his legacy to his descendent,
So your theory of it being of his coming death kinda ties into that, so I can believe its indeed possible
I always thought it repeated link mental state
Reminds me of a death grimace, myself.
I mean, I would be mad too if I spent my whole life saving people and then they go on forgetting I existed
But Stal Link and "Young Link" are the same person, in the same timeline, so that explains it
The hero's shade is his name . not stal link . Link was never a stalfos
As others have said, I wondered if it's supposed to be the part of Link that died due to the OoT events. The statue doesn't really look like it's happy but it has a forced smile. The child pretending everything is okay when its not. Except it is. He was sent back in time to a Hyrule that's peaceful, where Ganondorf was stopped before he ever really started, where all of friends (besides the Great Deku unfortunately) are all okay. And Zelda told him to enjoy it. And unfortunately it's not like he can talk to anyone about it, so I'm sure people have told him to cheer up and relax since everything's fine. But HE'S not.
And in a way, I feel like the statue is taunting him. Mocking him with that same fake persona he puts on for everyone else when Link knows the emptiness behind it. The loss he has in himself just as clear as the others who had their souls crushed before their time.
As for the others, I wonder if maybe they didn't actually move on to the afterlife. It was more their souls are at peace with the song of healing, able to lend their power to Link so he can fulfil all of their unfinished business and regret. And by helping them, they stayed with him to see his journey to the end too. It's only after the moon is stopped they can all finally get closure in the form of the credits with things like Link performing as Mikau with the band one last time and the Deku Butler finds his son so the little scrub can rest knowing his family won't spend years never knowing what happened to him and being left to rot alone in the darkness.
"where Ganondorf was stopped before he ever really started" *Awkward laughing * didn't you play Twilight Princess, sure he was sealed away but it doesn't mean that made peace, he killed a sage and then Zant started chaos because he thought Ganondorf as a god, therefore sealing Midna into the imp form and attacking Hyrule and sealing the lake deitys. (it's in the game go play it, it's a really good game)
@@omori-kid8602 oh yeah, Twilight Princess is awesome! But it doesn't change the fact that the Link of Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask would never have to deal with it and lived in peaceful times with no inclination to enjoy it. We don't know how long it was before Ganon took over the Twilight realm but by the time Zant entered Hyrule at least a few generations have passed and OoT Link may have been drawn out as a restless spirit since he KNOWS Ganondorf is behind this but can no longer do anything about it. So the feelings he faced during MM would still be the same.
Link can talk 100% just not from a game perspective
@@ronandread5141 I didn't mean literally can't talk to anyone, I meant who could he possibly talk to about what he went through? He's got trauma from events no one would understand because he's the only one who actually lived through it. Zelda knows from her prophecies, but she's not the same Zelda from the adult timeline. She could probably feel for him knowing what he went through but can't actually relate to the things he tells her because she wasn't there. So it makes sense when he decided to leave Hyrule for a while, all she could do was encourage him, pray for him, and give him some things that might help.
the face is wrinkled, the body unharmed, like an old man dying peacefully in a peaceful world with no need of hero. leading him to remain as the hero's shade to pass on the hidden skills. but link himself died a happy old man thus, he smile.
So I agree with this
The hero shades clearly didn’t die a peaceful death
A dead smile that that ain't a happy or peaceful one. lol
I dont agree
You aight
If anything, Link's statue looks.... pained. Haunted. It's a copy of his soul, certainly.
But what shape is Link's soul in, at this point? Not only has Link been reincarnated unknowable amounts of time, but let's consider what Link has been through at the point of Majora's Mask.
Not only has he seen the closest thing to a parent die, but felt he personally failed to save them. Not only did he see Hyrule on the verge of collapse, he saw it in that state due to his direct actions.
Not only did he go through trials and torment to save Hyrule that were beyond the mean and comprehension of the average citizens... but he saw loved one after loved one after loved one die, each time "because he wasn't fast enough or good enough."
Not only did he see him home get destroyed, but saw even his biggest critic on the verge of tears wishing that he had been around to save them.
And then, at the end of trauma after trauma after trauma, he gets sent back to prevent it... knowing that it wouldn't actually undo everything.
And then his closest friend just... vanishes. Gone. He seeks for her as a war builds in Hyrule- that would occur as a direct response to his actions, even if his actions were neccessary.
His search then lands him in an unknown land, under attack by an evil that didn't even care about domination- only destruction, complete and utter- under a curse. A curse that he would eventually realize cost an innocent their life for it to be put upon him. With the fate of the country resting on him, and him alone. No sages. No princess. Just him, a fairy that initially hates him, and the souls of other people in his pocket.
But giving into despair isn't an option. If he stops, everyone will suffer for it. He can't stop. He can't lose hope, or *everything* is lost.
His statue is the very image of someone trying to put on a brave face.
This is late, I know. But this comment is just... great. Lol. Link’s struggles are incomparable and the fact that you named all of them in such detail and nice writing. Wow.
AND THE BUILDUP TO THE CONCLUSION? Omg.
he’s doing a great job keeping it in, though. Especially for a child.
Woah. Wonderfully written comment that puts things in a very interesting light. Very fitting for the one who wields of the triforce of courage. After all, courage isn't being fearless. It's standing up to your fears for what's right.
This is the true theory
Yeah. Honestly, it looks more like a grimace than a smile, personally
Damn dude(tte). But yeah that’s canon now.
I believe that the Skull Kid in Twilight Princess uses this song for his puppets.
1. He is likely the same Skull Kid from Majoras Mask, as he guards his old friend's sword and his horn is a broken piece of the deku pipes
2. his puppets resemble him and are made of wood, like the elegy's statues
3. He must play music from his (possibly magic) horn to summon them
4. He has guarded the forest with this song for centuries at that point, and would logically have mastered it to the point that he can create and control multiple puppets at a time.
Saria's song is the Song of Healing backwards so this would make sense
I've heard a theory about his instrument being the Ocarina of Time itself. We know Link was friends with him and also that the ocarina takes different forms depending on the user(seen in Majora's)
I adore this
I know why the Goron and Zora statues are like that. When you make the statues, Termina is still in danger...and by extension, the people Darmani and Mikau love. So even though they passed on, they can't fully rest until Termina is saved.
0:41 :and what’s more scary than the thing behind you
Me lying on the bed: 👁👄👁
lol
I like to think that this song tries to capture a representation of the true self of the person who plays it, since the truth doesn't care for the feelings, and like Igos Ikana said _These are soldiers without a heart_
The deku is a scared and naked(vulnerable) child with a grim face, probably representing their grief over being cursed. This statue shows a lost child
The sora shows Mikau with his guitar, since music was a really important part of his person in life, this is the only statue with his instrument, it was important for that person, and it stands holding his intrument to the ground, in an inmobable pose, representing how he fought and tried to recuperate his lover's eggs, rather than just staying with crossed arms without doing anything. This statue shows a proud and brave musician
And Goron, shows Darmani. The hero that did his best to try to save his people from the cold that almost wipped them out. Standing showing his strength, showing his scar with pride, as if he was saying "You see this Scar? Even after this horrible wound I could still fight, don't mess with me!". This statue shows a fearless hero
But why do they seem so souless? Because this is their true selves right now, they are dead, there is no soul anymore, just a image that reminds us of what these people were in life.
Link is still alive, and his Statue shows his eyes alive, it's very posible that the soldiers made with this song in the war were more like this Statue, probably just more, alive lol
But why Link looks is disturbed? Because, Link has gone through so much, he had to abanddon his childhood, his innocence, he had to murder villians and enemies, he had to save lives, he saves the world as the Hero of Time as an adult... But Link *is* a child, he did all of those things because it was expected to do so as the hero of leyends. Can a child, hell, even a normal person, go through all of that without being perturbed by the horrors of this world filled with fiends and evils?
Link's statue shows a perturbed child, a child that stands in a gentle pose to show that he needs to be strong, but a perturbed and traumatized child in the end
Zora
@@ronandread5141 this is all you have to say
This is my new headcanon. I like this explanation a lot more personally. I've always thought of the hero of time's mental state and all the shit he went through and I think this sums it up pretty well. Dude never got to enjoy his childhood...
I think Link's effigy is Shigeru Miyamoto, implying that his soul was placed inside if Link all along.
It would've been cool to have Link's statue be Adult Link instead, to show that his journeys gave him the maturity of an adult, like cremia tells him. It would mirror the idea that Link was a child in an adult's body in Ocarina of Time.
Adult link has the mind of child link, when he's returned to the past, he is still a kid mentally, just a traumatized one
@@agristoteles In Majora's Mask his actions show how mature he has become, like when he salutes Captain SkullKeeta.
But he is still a kid, not a teen, not young adult or adult.
His mental state is that of a kid, just one that lived a lot of sh(ee)t for his age. Maturity can be a sign of trauma as a coping mechanism.
The statue has to be a kid, cuz link is a kid. Its a reflection, not a wish, m8
Or dark link lol to show that the darkness still lives in link
It's possible that it saw the regrets that would anchor Link to the mortal world after his inevitable death as he, too, became a ghost some time prior to the events of Twilight Princess in the form of the Hero's Shade.
You're forgetting one key thing: Darmani, Mikau, and the deku butler's son's souls (and most importantly, their sorrows and regrets) are turned into the masks; the song is not reaching and locating the dead souls in another realm, but rather it reaching out and copying the thing that gives the user form, and why their expressions are of suffering
As much as I like some of the other comments down here, this is the most insightful one to me.
Bandit: "A theory about the scariest Zelda game ever made"
Me: "A theory about Link: The Faces of Evil? Sounds good"
Not even the Sages managed to seal that monstrosity or it's two generals. ...Can there be two generals? I 'unno where I'm going with this, honestly.
Lol He probably should've said creepiest Zelda game instead.
“He’s out of line, but he’s correct.”
Fully expected Ben's eyes to flash white while you were talking about Link's inevitable death.
😂 Same
That static jumpscare scared me more than I want to admit to.
Now that i think about it, it looks like it’s expressing the pain and burden that he has gone thru as a hero
Exactly. It's not a smile, it's the grimace of someone trying to hide the pain and hardships they have gone through. Which is very fitting, given everything that happened to him in OoT, only for him to lose his home anyway (since he is not a Kokiri) as well as the only friend who remembers what he went through. And he cannot befriend the people of Termina, since they forget about him after every reset.
I half expected the entire video to be in backwards speech like the beginning, now THAT would have been scary
There's a trick to speak backwards. Smarter Everyday features one. Also Kenneth Branagh learned how to do that for TENET.
Actually, the real design inspiration might be creepier: that's Miyamoto. They designed the statue of "Empty Link" based on a picture of Miyamoto from when he was a kid. So, in a way, Empty Link is -or was- real
Ive heard it was based off miyamoto because he wanted links statue to reflect the player similar to how the other statues reflect the characters the masks are based on. So he designed the statue after himself to give it that realistic look to represent real life people. I dont think he intended it to look so creepy, but when you try to make something so realistic with just n64 graphics thats what you end up with lol
I always did think it looked like a "realistic" sculpt of a random Japanese kid, with a few too many details added to be safely "cartoony". Imagine, if you were drawing a crude portrait (or a bad caricature) of a real kid, then emphasize the lines going from the corners of the nose to the corners of the mouth, and draw every tooth. That's the statue, right there.
The fact that it's Miyamoto (as a kid) makes the resemblance pop. What an Interesting caricature of yourself to put in the game.
Thanks for my nightmare fuel I’m gonna be dreaming about Link’s statue for the rest of October. Again
Hahahahahahhah when I do I will laugh because to me his face looks funny
when it comes to zelda majora's mask , one thing that i found it really sad is how this game was not treated with respect when it released in 2000 but mostly treated with black lash rather for being so different , how ever this game have really some strenghs that really make me wonder how it could have been like if only was released by taking what worked in ocarina of time while having majora's mask design philosophies in it and what i mean by that , imagine if this game was released like that , a game where it has no time limit meaning that you can play it for as much as you want with out moon's crashing , with having same exact 4 main dungeons " wood fall temple , snow head temple , great bay temple , stone twoer temple" , same exact story , same exact over world , same exact side missions but with them being structured in a way that pretty much allow you to do them with out that time limit while still being fun and giving you a chance to do them agian if you fail at them , having 3 more dungeons that have same concept of other four ones which is having a big central room connected to other ones while having each dungeon with his own unique challenges and atmosphere and them being fun to pass through and also not requiering side missions to do in order to enter these dungeons like four other ones , while also having completely original NPCs in place of any NPC re used from ocarina of time , as well as unlocking cutscene where that central tower when encounter skull kid and go into moon "in a similar way to how you fight a boss of a previous dungeon again " if have all masks , imagine if the game was some how made and released like that , how general reception to it would have been compared to how it was when it was released , i hope some one answer me about that
That's a really good idea, if it was Released in that way, people would've expected it as the great game that it is.
I also think that the game would've been easier to play as you're not under the pressure of the timelimit. But on the the other side there are some things that wouldn't work, for example the quest on the farm with these alien like creatures that come in the night, if the world had no timelimit and therefor wouldn't be reseted, it means that if you fail you fail it is permanent and you don't get a second chance and that's what makes the game so different and interesting in my opinion.
I must say that I never played the game myself, but I did watch a playthrough of it.
it would be a completely different game... removing the time factor removes an essential part of what makes the game unique
@@inawoodenhouse i know that , but i'm asking about how the game's reception from general audience would have if it was released with all factors i stated above , compared to its reception from its release in 2000 and also compared to ocarina of time
@@NICOLEwendt73 i know that , but i'm asking about how the game's reception from general audience would have if it was released with all factors i stated above , compared to its reception from its release in 2000 and also compared to ocarina
@@gregtom3272 i know what your talking about. It would've been more, I would say normal? But I'm honestly glad that they didn't do that
I clicked so fast. I always love a good Majora's Mask theory!
I always felt that the expression on empty-link was more like it was trying to be happy while on the verge of an existential breakdown. The distant gaze seems to imply introspection at the very least.
This has been one of my favorite takes on this aspect of the game so far. I had never considered that Links’ statue arguably proves that they are alive, and it opens a whole new realm of possibilities through it’s means. Thanks Bandit!
I love your gaming channel man!! Metroid Dread looks so cool. Good stuff, Bandit! Nice theory, too. I always that that the statues of Link looked like that to fit the Ikana people, which are all undead skeletons. Maybe, the statues of Link were created for soldiers Link could use… but in this song, they are only statues. Just a thought.
SPOOOOOOKKKYYYYYYYYYY
Loved it! x3 I've always been spooked out by the statues and have pondered so much on it but never got around to doing a theory on it, thank you for throwing this at my face, Bandit! You are the best!!
My headcanon is that the statue is shows how Link really is. During his last adventure and during Majora's Mask, he sees some horrifying things. Things that could scar someone mentally for life. So the smile represents that on the outside, Link is friendly and always willing to help. But on the inside, he is tormented and probably mentally scarred from his adventures. That's what I choose to believe.
*Lillie wears Guerdo mask*
Lillie: “Can take a pic?”
*Nabooru appear in photo smiling right behind the girl*
Lillie: “Thank you, Happy Halloween.”
"A terrifying smile that's haunted gamers for 2 decades."
RUclips: This seems like the perfect time for a toothpaste commercial full of smiling people.
Seriously, sometimes the algorythm is the scariest thing of all.
This is generally a very creepy video, also I don't know how much merit this has, but with the empty Link statue is one of his previous incarnations?
Wow did Masked Nintendo just say all Dekus look the same? I never thought I'd live long enough to see him become the villian
🤣🤣🤣
😂😂😂
You jest but people get cancelled for less. Sad really
@@samgourhan207 I know. People are dumb now a days.
@@samgourhan207 if that wasn’t a facetious comment , I’d love an example of someone being cancelled for something as insignificant as offhandedly saying a species of sentient shrubs all have similar faces in a video game 😂 🤦🏻♂️
7:23 Or it could be that a part of them is “torn” to create that form. Think of it like if you were resting peacefully in a hammock, only to have part of you torn away out of no where. It is possible we are causing them much suffering.
Love your videos Bandit!
I always thought about the statues faces as a representation of the "true face" and thereby the "maskless face".
Which is in reference to my favourite quote from the game where the Twinmold-mask wearing moon child asks Link: "I wonder...the face behind the mask... is that your true face?". This is the last thing the kid says to you after he has taken 8 masks from Link. It can also be assumed that the intended order is to do the Twinmold trial last. Taken together, this means that by the time the Child asks Link this question, you're almost certainly not wearing a mask anymore because you've given the last one to him. So he is asking Link if his actual face is his true face. In my interpretation, the answer is no. Link has been wearing a mask since he pulled the Master Sword in Ocarina of Time.
So, what if the Elegy of Emptiness is showing "the face behind the mask". This would make sense for the transformation masks and Link. The transformation masks take on the form of the soul behind Link's mask, as you mentioned. Link, by the time he has reached Ikana Castle has lived the same 3 days in Termina countless times. I'd say a blank smile is the perfect representation of him being tired of the cycle and gradually getting more numb to the problems of the people he's trying to save...yet still smiling because he knows he has to.
The statue is wearing Link's Kokiri clothing from Ocarina Of Time, without the sword belt across his chest. I think it represents the person he once was. The innocence lost.
I always use the Elegy of Emptiness for the Scarecrow’s song in Ocarina of Time.
Haha, I use the drumbeat from the Indigo-go-go Ballad of the Windfish sidequest in the milk bar :3
"What's more scary than the thing behind you?
When you look behind you and see your roommate.
It's a "smile" but more of a grimace. It's all that Link knows of from ocarina of time in a child's body. The death of a Kingdom at his failure to stop Ganon and knowing that he may yet return. Knowing that grim fate of so many people he may have seen dead traumatizing him.
Let's be honest the 3ds remake of the statues are alot less creepy than the originals
The originals were definitely a lot creepier!
Perhaps Links statue is smiling because the soul of the Link from the downfall timeline was lead back to his own still living body, and is glad that another version of him didn't fail. His regrets have been eased leaving nothing but happiness, on top of being able to help again if only for a brief moment.
He just looks so dead, like he's given up when his camera broke and he can't fix
MNB: "...the scariest Zelda game ever made."
Me: "The CD-I games?"
What do you mean? They are the peace that all true warriors strive for.
They’re copies of the three dead forms that link wears, posed like taxidermy without link or the original souls inhabiting them. Link’s effigy is a living copy without the soul, rendering it only as useful as the other three
Yay a Majoras Mask theory! My favorite scary Zelda moment is the Twilight Princess Lanayru vision… and all of Majoras Mask… it’s my favorite Zelda game
Majora's mask and wind waker are my absolute favorite zelda games. They do things so different, but so right. I like sailing around in wind waker. Alot of folks did not like that, or the cartoonish graphics. But i love all the zelda games. They all are pretty good. Except for cdi zelda games. Those ones are terrible.
Agreed
Creepy story about link screaming while putting on masks:
When link puts on a mask he screams but why? Some people believe link transforms into them and believes he feels intense pain and he transforms back,But no, link screams because there’s the opponents sorrow in the mask when they turn into the mask,
And he can feel they’re sorrow up from the mask, meaning he can feel the same pain as them.
The Elegy of Emptiness is smiling about the inside joke between it and the player.
That intro was FREAKING EPIC!!!!!!
Maybe the Link statue reflects one of his past incarnations from previous games?
I dunno, Links statue looks a lot more like the masks salesman than Link himself...
Spooky month content, I'm here for it!
I bet talking backwards for that intro was pretty difficult
I personally believe that the song of healing causes those it is played for to shed their burdens. And it is instead tasked on the one who plays the song to take up those burdens. The statues therefore would be a snapshot of the person needed to fulfill the unfinished business of the people those masks represent. Zora link with the pain of leaving children behind that need cared for. Goron link with the pride required to lead a people through a long winter. Deku link being lost and forgotten needing to find friendship. And that leaves link. With the anxiety of already having saved one world and transported into yet another where everything has gone wrong and all these people's burdens are on him. A deep chaos within stirring up with just enough madness to keep going because if he doesn't, everyone will die.
It's the sold embodiment of shame from not saving Marin from being trapped as a seagull forever .
For once I thought their expressions would be their final moments before passing out, the last 'face' they did before their inevitable fate, meaning that that 'smile' it was showing could be a way of hiding either pain or sadness (or both) experienced during his death and shown in the statue has their last mark on the living world
"And whats more scary that the thing behind you?"
Me: HOLY S---
So much for sleeping tonight. But seriously, awesome! And you’re making me want to play my favorite Zelda all over again.
I'd like to think it's maybe his innocence smiling back. A thing that Link Once had about himself that is pretty much gone after the events of OOT and in this game is more that deferentially gone by this point in the game.
And there's that unused young link mask....
I have another theory.
What if that statue represents the happiness and innocence that Link lost when he began his adventures in Ocarina of Time?
Or, and that's maybe on me because I never really understood it.
So Ocarina of Time Link (aka Link 1) leaves the forest 1, goes to the castle to meet Zelda 1, travels back and forth in this timeline 1 and defeats Ganon 1.
Then he goes back in time where there's another Ganon (Ganon 2) and Zelda 2 and Hyrule 2. Basically it's the same world, but if it's the same world, what happened to Link 2? That boy completely vanished. And maybe his soul is in that mask. His blue eyes represent the fact that he's never indeed dead, he only disappeared.
If you ever feel scared, just know that here in the comments, we have a place for you. 😌
❤❤❤❤❤
Or maybe link dies smiling or cringing as Gannon steals his girl
You know now I can see why Jadusable made the statue as an avatar for Ben and chose Majora's mask as a base for his horror story
I genuinely don't get why people think its a smile. The corners of the statue's mouth is clearly angled downwards. It looks more like an awkward grimace to me.
Person 1: Hey, do you know Deez?
Person 2: Deez who?
Person 1: *Makes elegy statue face*
I always assumed the masks contained the regrets of his transformations. The Goron and Zora are slightly changed from their anger/horror of their fates. The Deku was just a sad child(?) who probably didn't fully understand Skullkid's magic, or what it would do to him
That makes a lot of sense. By "healing" them, you create the mask, meaning you're creating a vessel that holds their lingering regrets so that the spirit itself can pass on. You're taking their burdens from them. That's really cool.
The beginning of the videos was terrifying im not gonna lie
Bandit: Scares me to death
Also Bandit: Thank u for watching!
That’s not a smile, that’s a grimace.
I think Link’s statue has no deeper meaning. The only other logical significance it has is simply to have the the Zelda team allude and test the model they’d use for Wind Waker. It’s very, very common for Nintendo to hint at the upcoming entry in the Zelda series with such easter eggs.
Bandit: The thing behind you!
The thing behind me: A poster of a bunch of cats 💖
I've always loved the elegy of emptiness
Great video btw 😁
This game is so great because it is genuinely open to interpretation.
Like I never assumed the statues to be taking photos of spirits but instead erecting statues that memorialize the energy they had in death.
The Zorra was a rocker and defiant, taking every step possible to defy death and achieve its goal. So in turn... the statue had a defiant and rockstar look on its face
The Goron was too proud to let go, willing to threaten and barter for more time- a noble leader. In turn the statue looks proud
And the Deku Child looks scared and sad because that is how the child was in death. The roots being something that happens when they all die... or perhaps something they do when they are frightened, like literally rooted to the spot in horror. We assume the Deku seen the skull kid but what if it caught a glimpse at the monster that truly was pulling the strings? Only to then die.
Did you really just break the fourth wall at the end
Wasn’t expecting that
The only thinking to fear but fear itself and unknown. But there barely an explanation and alot we don’t know.
I think that when it comes to the mask statues it is actually a bit more complicated. The masks in the game represent different emotions, but the transformation masks in particular represent strong regrets. When the Elegy of Emptiness is played it creates an empty version of body. The transformation masks are already devoid of a soul so what happens is you get the body without Link filling the void. So you see the form of the mask as the original body, empty of a soul, and made of the regrets left behind.
The Link statue though...
also it looks less like a smile and more of an expression of anger. Almost like he's biting his tongue to prevent himself from cursing Hylia who decided a literal goddamn child had to be a hero.
I still have nightmares about that statue.
Time to face it.
I was waiting for the jump scare
That was a really cool theory (both in the awesome way and the…err *…chilling* way)!
By the way I remember you saying that you’re a big Batman fan, so if you’re reading this what do you think of the new one that’s coming out?
I looked behind me and noticed the photos of my family so I guess that’s scary enough lol
i feel like the theory that the statue is the hero of time when he is about to die is disproven by him being dead as a fully grown adult in TP
Not gonna lie, I actually had chills.
I think the the smile on the Link statue is symbolizing how he truly feels inside sense he's not dead when he made the statue so instead of representing how he died it shows how he feels. Broken, sad, a forgotten hero, he feels abandoned his friends left him and he's cursed to continue living through these lost childhood years, and he's just forced to act like everything is fine while his pain and loneliness eats away at him and the only happiness he has is Epona and Malon, for everything else just reminds him of everything he's been through.
The elegy of emptiness isn't a snapshot of death but actually a snapshot of one's soul itself at the current time brought into physical form separated from the mind and body and sense the characters from the other forms are already dead it's unable to form an expression for they are already separated from the world of the living therefore there is no soul for it to find only small fragments that were left behind in the memories of the people that cared for them hence the soulless eyes on the other statue because all the people that remember them have forgotten what expression they once made. Therefore Link's statue is the true result of the elegy of emptiness a physical reflection of one's inner conflicts within their soul.
This was awesome!!
This is probably a little out there and I haven't had the chance to play Ocarina or Majora's Mask but... what if it touched Link's spirit from the Downfall timeline? Or perhaps it is the Hero's Spirit who dies but comes back? Link's smile on the effigy seems more like a grimace to me.
I personally think it is the way it is because of several things:
1) The face itself looks significantly older than Link's, so it can imply Link's soul's actual age as he's an adult trapped in a child's body.
2) The expression is the worn down, tired expression the Hero of Time tries to put on in the face of adversity. As this Link's journey has been far more tragic, withering and especially *isolating* than any other Links. In OoT, the apocalyptic world he fought is a nightmare only he and Navi will ever remember, and in MM, Link went to a sorrowful, dark world unlike anything any common hylian has ever seen, and if he being the Hero's Shade is true, then when he came back to Hyrule he also has the memories of Termina to torment him, yet again, to only torment him among hylians and about terminians. The latter because of the uniqueness of his Song of Time skill, as only he has witnessed the horrors of *all* of terminians combined and also on a constant time loop fully knowing what will happen once the Moon crashes. There's absolutely nobody in both Hyrule and Termina who will ever understand what he has seen.
3) My personal guess on how the song looks for the appearance of the statues is that only a thing with a soul can look "alive". So, to me it wouldn't really be relevant how the Deku child, Darmani and Mikau are faring in the afterlife, for example. It is a soulless snapshot, it will never look like the real thing, so it is like a "loss in translation" when the song "prints" the soul into a statue. So, as with the others, the song will try to capture Link's likeness without the life of his soul keeping him youthful, brave and pure, giving the result of a bizarre figure of a body that has endured so much, yet no will (life/soul) to continue on. This, combined with my first point on the aged up-face because of the discrepancy between his cronological age and physical age, might be a sufficient explanation to why it looks so eerie compared to the other snapshots the Elegy of Emptiness provides.
So when he said “even more scarier than what’s behind you” dude I got chills down my back cause there is a dark hallway and room behind me. God I just, can’t.
imo the statue isnt smiling, it seems like a smile that stopped.. interuppted by a sad thought. notice how the corners of the ‘smile’ are turned down. I think the face was happy, moments before the statue appears. Looks like someone pretending to be happy, when really they are empty. caught mid motion. try it ! when u smile then make a sad face, the corners of your mouth lead the movement.
I bet they made Link's face look like that as a joke. Like that face was actually from an employee at Nintendo making a creepy smile for laughs and someone thought 'Oh my gawd, wouldn't it be funny if we put that creepy face somewhere in the Zelda game we're working on right now?' And that game just happened to be Majora's Mask.
Loved the Black Lodge style opening!
Let's Rock~
The Elegy of Emptiness copies were my answer to your tweet asking about scariest Zelda moments, I am so psyched for this video 😂!
BANDIT.
👏That 👏 intro 👏 was 👏 amazing 👏
Sickity dope, my guy.
"It came out looking like a dead person everytime."
Well done as always. As I was watching I started thinking of a separate theory on the same subject. What if it's Link's undying soul from constantly being reborn in every age where a hero is needed. Link's physical body can die at any point in time but his soul always comes back during Hyrule's greatest need.
I always thought the face of Link’s statue looked wrinkly, like he was old, and that it symbolized the face that Link’s soul was older than his body thanks to all his time traveling shenanigans.
Its based off miyamotos face so thats why it looks like that
That little ending rant you did fit PERFECTLY with that facial expresion.
Maybe, just maybe...
It was smiling at you...
Damn, MNB, you once again pulled out a legend of a video!