Majora

Majora (ムジュラ) is the assumed name of the main antagonist of The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. An evil being inhabiting Majora's Mask, it is arguably the series' most depraved and bizarre villain (though, admittedly, almost nothing is known about it). Despite appearing as an inanimate object, and using the Skull Kid as its puppet, the mask carries obvious sentience and the ability to speak coherently, through its wearer or of its own power. The gender of Majora is disputed, as neither the game nor any supplementary material states this.

The true form of Majora is arguably never seen. During Link's final battle with the spirit, it transforms into three different forms. However, if one believes that Majora is not just the mask brought to life, then none of these are believed to be the true form of Majora. It is possible that the appearance of Majora's Mask may somehow resemble the true appearance of Majora, if it ever even had one; however, this cannot be confirmed, but it is widely considered to be a likely approach.

Biography
A long time ago a mysterious tribe with roots in witchcraft and the dark arts created a special mask for their rituals. However, due to the malice they poured into the making of the mask, it soon became apparent that the mask had the power to cause only the most extreme ruin and suffering (or rather, ruin and suffering beyond their expectation). Fearing ultimate destruction, the tribe sealed the mask away, hoping that none would ever find it and unleash its power unto the world. However, the mask was eventually tracked down and uncovered by the mysterious Happy Mask Salesman, a purported trader and collector of rare and powerful masks. The Happy Mask Salesman had looked long and hard for this rare mask, and claimed it for his own, as the tribe where it had originated had seemingly vanished sometime between the creation of the mask and its recovery.

Upon his travels, the Happy Mask Salesman was eventually ambushed by a small forest creature known as the Skull Kid and his two fairy companions. The Skull Kid proceeded to search through the man's belongings and found Majora's Mask. The evil power in the mask magnified the Skull Kid's penchant for malice tenfold, and soon, the Skull Kid's petty practical jokes turned into something much more sinister. Using its power, the Skull Kid summoned forth the Moon to destroy the entire land of Termina.

Eventually, the hero Link arrives in the world of Termina entirely by mistake, where he learns of the Skull Kid's sinister scheme. He releases the Four Giants, guardian deities of Termina, from their imprisonment and due to their shared past together, the Four Giants manage to relinquish the mask's hold on the Skull Kid. However, Majora, the spirit inside the mask, refuses to admit defeat and retreats to the Moon. Link chases after it, and finds a grassy plain when he is teleported to the Moon. Here a mysterious child wearing Majora's Mask asks Link if he wants to play a game of "good guys against bad guys" with him. Link accepts, and he is transported to a glowing throne room. Here, the two begin to duel. Majora manifests itself in three different physical forms, all still bearing some semblance of the design on Majora's Mask on them. Eventually, Link manages to defeat the evil spirit Majora, and the Moon dissolves into a rainbow-like beam of light. The mask, now seemingly powerless, is returned to the Happy Mask Salesman, who disappears from Termina as the Terminans celebrate the Carnival of Time.

Characteristics
The entity that inhabits the mask seems to be highly disturbed, insane, and childish (though, when possessing the Skull Kid, it could simply be trying to masquerade as him). After speaking for itself for the first time near the end of the game, it declares that the Skull Kid was merely its puppet, suggesting that it was in fact the mask's essence itself that craved so much misery and destruction. All of the powers it used seem to suggest or induce insanity, such as the turning of Kafei into a child mere days before his wedding, the transformation of Link into a Deku, and various other bizarre and psychopathic problems it caused. The hideous visage it gave to the Moon also seems to indicate madness. At the Moon, in a very peaceful but surreal meadow, Majora (and the four Boss Remains) take on the form of children, Majora sitting alone and staring at the ground. It asks Link to play a game of "good guys against bad guys", where Link is the "bad guy". In combat, Majora has a tendency to laugh to itself, manically, and lets out a high-pitched, childish shriek when injured, and all of its forms have a very chaotic and unsettling appearance.

Majora seems to have a strained background with Fierce Deity. When asking to play their game of "good guys against bad guys", Majora freely offers Link the Fierce Deity's Mask so that he may become the "true bad guy". This, coupled with Majora's obvious sensitivity to the Deity's powers, suggests that Majora has a negative relationship with the being and wants to destroy him, or at least his incarnation. However, this is never fully elaborated upon in the game, so the nature of the two's relationship is speculatory. However, Majora's psychosis is only further evidenced by the offering of an item obviously beyond his own power level.

However, it should be noted that, in the Japanese version of the game, the Lunar Child wearing Majora's Mask instead wants to play a game of tag, with Link being it. In Japanese culture, the person who is it in tag is called the "oni". Seeing as how the Japanese name for the Fierce Deity's Mask is the Oni God Mask, there may have been no conflict between these masks at all.

Majora's gender is unclear. Though its shrieks of pain in battle are high-pitched (though they sound the most feminine in its final form), it does appear as a child before the battle. The eyes of Majora's Wrath form could be seen as somewhat reminiscent of human breasts; its muscular structure, on the other hand, appears more masculine.

Motive
Majora is the only Zelda antagonist who does not seem to have clear motives. Most villains, such as Ganondorf and General Onox wish to rule their land, but Majora seems happy with destruction. As it amplifies the wearer's dark desires, the motive for each owner may be different. However, Majora itself most likely has differing motives from the wearer, corrupting their mind and bringing about its own ends for destruction. It seems to have a very pronounced sadistic streak, not only causing destruction but causing Skull Kid to use the mask's powers to generally make the lives of Termina's inhabitants miserable.

Origin
There is, however, a plausible theory: Majora was a child who lived in a culture that wore special masks everyday, but the mask had to represent something. Although the four boss masks resemble something (warrior, bull, fish, insect), Majora's Mask represented nothing. As a result of Majora's Mask representing nothing, the other children refused to play with him. Everyday Majora sat by that tree, lonely, angry, and depressed, because nobody would play with him. Majora, being the eccentric one of his tribe, believed that his mask would represent something. Thus, he imbued the mask with the power to absorb the emotions of the wearer. However, since his emotions were negative for being looked down upon, the mask absorbed these feelings, but Majora could not do anything about it, since it was a tradition in his culture for children to wear their mask until adulthood. Majora's Mask, filled with these negative emotions, became a "mask of devils". Once it left its user, it began to cause chaos, but was defeated by Fierce Deity. However, he had failed to destroy the Mask, and its negative emotions still survived inside of it. It was weakened, however, and was soon found by an ancient tribe and because of the dark power stemming from Majora's negative emotions, was used in the tribe's hexing rituals (though what is told in the manga disagrees).

However, because of the dark magic it was used for, Majora's Mask fed off of this power and began to regain its strength. The tribe, fearing what would happen if it regained all of its power, sealed the mask away, hoping that it would never again resurface. However, the ancient tribe died out soon afterwards. In time, the Happy Mask Salesman, presumably Majora, somehow discovered the mask's location, and presumably wanting his mask back, went to find it, which he did. Majora's Mask, being sealed away for so long, had plenty of time to plan for its actions. First, it sensed a being who had much of the same emotions that its old owner did (this being that it sensed was the Skull Kid), and reached out to it. The Skull Kid, drawn by the Mask's power, ambushed the Happy Mask Salesman, and stole Majora's Mask. The Skull Kid then put the mask on, and since the Mask had so many similar emotions to the Skull Kid, it began to take control of him.

Majora's Mask was still quite weak in power; so weak, in fact, it could exert very little control over the Skull Kid. The mask could, however, feed off of his emotions; and since those emotions matched the emotions of Majora's Mask, it grew much stronger. Eventually it had total control over the Skull Kid. Now powerful enough, and with an acceptable vessel, the Mask was able to put its plan into action. It sealed up the Four Giants, and, using the masks of the children who refused to play with Majora, created guardians to keep the Giants locked up. Majora's Mask then proceeded to pull the Moon out of orbit, and then waited for it to crash into Termina, killing everyone. If the mask had been successful, it would have fed off of the death and suffering caused by the Moon crashing into Termina, gaining legendary power.

Demon
Another theory is that Majora was an insane demon that was defeated by Fierce Deity. Majora, in a last ditch effort to save its own life, sealed its own soul in a mask. The deity, realizing that Majora could return and destroy Termina, fused his own powers into another mask to combat the demented demon. Majora always kept the other mask near it so it could exact its revenge when it would be able to destroy Termina. So when Link was about to fight Majora, Majora gives Link the Fierce Deity's Mask in order to destroy his old enemy and his current one at the same time. This mistake causes Majora to be killed permanently. The motive may have been that Majora wanted to be worshiped by the Terminans but was rejected, causing his thirst for the destruction of Termina.

Something to consider is that Majora states "I... I shall consume. Consume... Consume everything..", once it had taken control of the Moon directly. No explanation for it saying this is ever given but it may explain its motive. This could mean it wanted to consume the negative emotions resulting from the destruction of Termina, making it more powerful. This could also mean that it wished for destruction to consume Termina, showing its sadistic streak. Another explanation is Majora considered causing misery and destruction to be 'playing'. This is supported by Majora stating upon being confronted in the Moon that it wanted to play with Link and then engaging him in battle. Given Majora's obvious insanity, this is easy to explain. It's possible the rituals it was used in made it believe this.

Spirit
Another theory is similar to the first theory. Majora was part of a certain tribe. Every year, during a special festival, all the children of the tribe would carve their own masks and wear them as a symbol of their membership to the tribe. When they died, a piece of their spirit would linger on in his/her mask. Majora carved his own mask at the ceremony but because the mask was so scary looking or weird looking the other children shunned him and Majora quickly became lonely. Majora kept begging the other children to play good vs bad with him but the children refused. Years past and Majora's loneliness soon drove him to insanity. He sat on the hillside under a tree watching the other children play. Eventually, a young boy, wearing the Fierce Deity mask, approached Majora and asked to play with him not knowing Majora's condition. Majora happily agreed and they played good vs bad. The boy wearing the Fierce Deity mask won which caused Majora to go into a fit of rage. Majora murdered the boy out of insane anger and was latter killed himself as punsihment. Majora's mask was later discovered by an ancient tribe who discovered it's powers. The spirit inside of each of Majora's tribes masks would manifest in the form of whatever the mask represented. This would explain the bosses in the games appearances and Majora's reincarntation and Majora's Wrath's behavior.

In the manga
Majora plays the same role in the manga version of the game, and it displayed more of personality then it did the game. For the most part it stays with the Skull Kid, but eventually abandons him when the giants stop the moon like in the videogame. However, Majora mocks the Skull Kid, calling him trash and tries to kill him just because it thought he was "no-fun". Link saves the Skull Kid (having grown sympathetic to him), and Majora challenges Link to a game of "tag," and gives him the Fierce Deity's Mask, wearing it would make him the "oni" in the game (in Japan, being called the "oni" in a game of tag means someone is "it" in the game). Though everyone around Link warns him not put the mask on, Link is too disgusted at Majora to listen and puts on the mask and follows Majora. In the battle, Majora first just runs around, but then attacks Link, but quickly proves no-match for Link with the Fierce Deity's Mask, whom effortlessly kills Majora in one attack. Majora in the manga displayed a sinister, childish personality. It appears to like to play, but its ideas of what is fun are twisted, and it even calls Link mean when he starts to defend himself.

Origins
A side-story in the Majora's Mask manga reveals the supposed origin of Majora. Majora was originally a giant dragon-like creature who guarded an empty land -- a land neither living nor dead. The armor this dragon wore was highly sought after, as it was fabled to be capable of granting wishes and bestowing great power unto its owner. Many men came to the land hoping to claim the armor for their own purposes, both good and evil, but Majora devoured them all. One day, an unnamed man (who is, coincidentally, akin in appearance to Link's Fierce Deity form) came to the land and played music for Majora. The music (a furious drum beat) forced Majora into a mad, three-day dancing frenzy. When the music stopped, the dragon dropped dead, supposedly allowing time to move forward. The man then carved a mask from the creature's magic armor into what came to be known as Majora's Mask, hoping to seal its power.