Stone Tower

Stone Tower is a location from The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. It stands to the east of the abandoned kingdom of Ikana. Link must climb the tower in order to reach the entrance to Stone Tower Temple, the game's fourth dungeon.

Stone Tower is easily the largest crafted object in Termina, its height being surpassed by only the mountain of Snowhead; it is multiple times taller than the Clock Tower. It has countless holes on the surface, which could be windows through which boulders fall. The interior is a huge vertical shaft with floating blocks, which move when a certain switch is pressed. The black abyss below the first level implies that there are many sublevels.

The tower contains many platforms onto which Link must climb using the Hookshot. The trios of floating blocks found within must be arranged into a line across which Link can jump to reach the next area. The switches in the tower must remain depressed for their corresponding blocks to remain in place, so Link must use the Elegy of Emptiness to leave shells of his different forms on each switch while he crosses. Link's climb up the tower is hindered by falling boulders, Beamos, and Fire Keese. An Owl Statue can be found near the top, across from the entrance to Stone Tower Temple.

History
It is unknown why Stone Tower was built and by whom. Considering the puzzles and difficult road, it might have been a hide-out or military headquarters a long time ago. It might have been the base of the Garo, since their leader's spirit is found lurking in the temple. However, according to Pamela's Father, the Garo are spies from an enemy nation, which implies they come from farther away, and would not have created the tower even if they made use of it. Igos du Ikana states, "Stone Tower is an impregnable stronghold! Not a hundred of my warriors could topple it!" implying that he and his army tried to climb it, possibly leading to their death; but if so, it is puzzling why they would (or could) build a huge castle so near the enemy stronghold and not something simpler. Another theory is the tower might have been built by the Four Giants, since it would have been extremely difficult for humans to build such a massive and complex structure without modern construction equipment or some kind of magic. The Tower also contains references to the Triforce: after inverting the tower, the floating stones Link can jump across have the Triforce on the bottom (the face on which he is standing). The creatures on the blocks appear to be licking the Triforce, which some believe is meant to blaspheme it. Also, the pillars in east Termina field that are standing on either side of the road leading to the tower have the Triforce on them.

The Temple
The Tower might also be only a protective barrier to prevent access to the even more puzzling Stone Tower Temple at its top. The fourth Giant is sealed there within the giant masked insect, Twinmold. The most wondrous thing of all is the Red Emblem directly under the temple entrance. If the emblem is fired upon with a Light Arrow, gravity is reversed, and objects are now attracted to the sky in place of the earth, further implying that the tower was not built by humans. The gravity-flip must be restricted to Stone Tower since the seas and people in Clock Town are still there afterward.

The lair of Twinmold is reached by falling into the sky through a hole in the flipped temple. The hole differs from the other pits since sand appears to float in it and vaguely forms a whirlpool, through which the sky and sun can still be seen. The hole appears to be some kind of portal to a pocket dimension, since when Link falls through it, he finds himself not falling into the sky, but into a seemingly endless desert where Twinmold lives. In the desert, there are large pillars with several pictures of Majora's Mask carved into them. This might imply that this was the home of the Ancient Ones, who once used Majora's Mask in their hexing rituals. Exploration of the desert is very restricted since if Link walks too far off, he will sink into the sand quickly. This might mean that the sand on the arena is on a mountain, or perhaps even an ancient temple (possibly one used by the Ancient Ones).

The Garo as the makers of Majora's Mask
The tower has clear connections to the Triforce, Majora's Mask, and the Four Giants. The fact that the Eastern Giant is held at the top of the tower seems to indicate that he was tasked with protecting Stone Tower Temple. The presence of the Triforce also is puzzling, as who ever built the tower obviously had knowledge of its existence. It is possible the Garo, the shadow warriors whose leader is found within Stone Tower Temple, were the makers of Majora's Mask, and that the pocket dimension Link fights Twinmold in was once a temple they had built to house the mask, or possibly the place in which they sealed it away since gamers learn that the "ancient tribe" sealed the mask away "in shadow." This is contradicted by information from Pamela's Father, who states that the Garo are spies from a enemy nation, implying they came from farther away. Due to the statement of Ikana's Igos du Ikana that his army could not topple Stone Tower, it seems clear that whoever was inhabiting the temple eventually became enemies of the kingdom of Ikana. Igos also mentions that when the "doors of Stone Tower" were opened, a curse flowed from its summit that laid waste to the entire region. This could possibly be the reason he and his soldiers attempted to climb the tower, to shut off the source of the curse and to destroy the ones that opened the doors of Stone Tower.

The Ancient Ones
Another more likely possibility is that the "Ancient Ones" that used Majora's Mask built the tower and Stone Tower Temple. Who ever built the tower had some knowledge of magic, since they infused the Red Emblem with the power to invert the tower and reverse gravity. This would also explain the appearance of the Triforce both within the temple itself and on the statues that line the way to Ikana Canyon, since the Ancient Ones were likely skilled in magic and probably knew of the Triforce due to its limitless magical power.

Avian species
This theory states Stone Tower was originally a home for an ancient Avian race (such as the Oocca or the Rito). This race built Stone Tower, but not for the same purposes as its later uses were. The many "holes" on the temple served as living quarters for the members of this race, and the temple perhaps served as a town center or some similar thing (such as a place of worship for the Giant of the Eastern Canyon). The evidence of this is that the tower has many holes that serve very little practical purpose and that it would be very difficult to traverse, let alone make, a place with so many gaps unless the beings that made the tower had wings.

Termina's Tower of Babel
Another theory suggests that Stone Tower was built by an ancient folk to blasphemy Din, Nayru, and Farore. This states that the building was meant reach the heavens in order to get to the Sacred Realm for the Triforce. Although the theory does explain why certain elements of the temple exist together, there is little supporting evidence for the exact events that people theorize took place.

Torre de Piedra