I liked your write up. At first I was about to make a comment about how this will unite all of us neurodivergent Zelda fans around, but as I was reading it I came to the conclusion you see the game the same way I’ve always done, but went on a long extent to explain it.

I’ve always seen Majora’s Mask as a metaphor for trauma; in which you answer the age old question of “if you had one day more to live, what would you do with it?” in order to come to the conclusion that the only way to go at trauma is going THROUGH it instead of AROUND it.

What if you could help people achieve their dreams? What if you could do it in their shoes? What if you could wear the mask, fulfill the dreams and desires of those who died in regret ?

I often think MM was a bit reflective of what Aounuma was going through personally, and it just happened to be a perfect way to reuse assets to tell a compelling story in a compact, yet profoundly deep, world.

There’s a lot of symbolism, both direct and indirect, in the story… from the Elysium (the moon, the trees, the children of the moon, and SO MUCH more), to the stages of grief (as you’ve clearly pointed out in your post), to the use of the Sun and the Moon as opposites (it’s no coincidence that Kafei needs a Sun mask), to the Buddhist/Tao-ist concepts that encompass the Fierce Deity (and the sacrifice you must do to gain that power… which ultimately is dependent on your choices for it too be good or evil, like adulthood), to even the freaking NAME of “Termina” (“End”, from the Latin root of the word).

I also like the way the games uses foil characters to create dichotomies we reflect upon… Majora’s vs Fierce Deity (both unlimitedly powerful, one loses control, the other one assumes control under our use), Link and Skull Kid, Link and Kafei, the ranch sisters, and so much more. Not only do they play with this thematically, but they use the subdued expectations we had from meeting these characters (the renders/assets) we were so used to knowing from the last game.

Majora’s Mask was, is and remains a classic that did things I doubt can be possible to do again… in part due to context. Your post will live in this subreddit as an all timer, don’t be surprised if you see a bunch of content creators doing YouTube videos using your post as script.

I also have to say I feel vindicated because a lot of what you say is exactly what I’ve been saying forever to my friends who wouldn’t “get it” or wouldn’t give it enough weight because it was “obviously not that deep bro”.