Majora's Mask (mask)

Majora's Mask (ムジュラの仮面,) is the mask that is the major plot point and principal image for The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. This ancient and powerful mask was once used in an ancient tribe's hexing rituals and was later sealed away because of its evil magic. It was later recovered and found its way into the hands of the Skull Kid.

The mask has the ability to bestow an evil and wicked power to his wearer. Inclusively, the Happy Mask Salesman said that just by obtaining the mask he could "sense the doom of a dark omen brewing", an "unwelcome feeling that makes your hair stand on end". It also seems to have a certain extent of autonomy: the game implies it influenced the Skull Kid to steal it; the Salesman was worried it would do something terrible, even though he owned it; and it is eventually able to cast off the Skull Kid and move by itself. With the evil power of the mask, the Skull Kid was granted various undefined abilities while wearing it. In the game, some include the ability to metamorphose physical appearance of the people, contaminate Termina's weather and vegetation, flight, and control over the Moon.

Biography
The Happy Mask Salesman, in fear that a great disaster could befall on Termina, he tells the story of Majora's Mask to Link, just after lifting the Deku Scrub curse placed on him by the Skull Kid. The mask is introduced as an accursed item from legend. It is said to have been used by a mysterious ancient tribe in its hexing rituals. The legend goes on to say that an evil and wicked power comes upon the one who wears the mask. But the troubles caused by Majora's Mask were so great that their folks sealed the mask in shadow forever, preventing a catastrophe and future misuse. The tribe eventually vanished too, and the true nature of the mask was no longer known.

Eventually, many years later, the Happy Mask Salesman, a strange collector of masks, set out on a quest to find the mask. He went to "great lengths" to find the legendary mask and eventually obtained it. Because the Happy Mask Salesman never tries to implicate anyone else in the mask's escape, it is assumed that the great lengths he went to to obtain it involved unsealing it from the shadow. He seemed to immediately regret it, later claiming that he could 'sense the doom of a dark omen brewing'. After his adventures obtaining the mask, however, the Happy Mask Salesman was knocked out and robbed of the mask by an imp known as the Skull Kid and his two fairy companions, Tatl and Tael, deep inside the Lost Woods. Tatl later claims that this seemed extreme even for the mischievous Skull Kid ('... nobody wanted to play with him. But to do what he did just because of that...'), indicating that the Skull Kid wasn't acting himself rather than being driven by the mask. That the Mask tries to escape the Happy Mask Salesman indicates it was in some way restrained or unfulfilled under his possession. Its success at escaping shows the lack of control the Mask Salesman had over the mask's activity after he uncovered the mask.

The power residing within the mask took control of the Skull Kid and his personality changed gradually from a that of a mischievous child to a that of a madman. The Skull Kid uses the power of the mask to transform Link into a Deku Scrub. Majora, the creature inside the mask brought to life, forces the Skull Kid to manipulate the Moon of Termina. The moon is taken out of its orbit and is set to crash into Termina. Also, the Skull Kid starts using his powers all over Termina for mischief, including transforming Kafei into a child, injuring Koume, threatening to steal the Moon's Tear from Shikashi's Astral Observatory, blocking the road to Romani Ranch with a large rock, contaminating the water of Southern Swamp and Great Bay regions, creating a perpetual winter in Snowhead, fooling the Gerudo Pirates, and haunting Ikana with undead creatures by opening the Stone Tower's doors.

However, Link stumbles upon the alternate reality and eventually manages to save the Moon from crashing into the world by calling the Four Giants. For this, the mask abandons Skull Kid and retreats into the inner sanctum of the Moon. Link and Tatl follow into the Moon for a battle with Majora. Inside the Moon, Link find five kids running around a big tree, all of them wearing masks, four wearing the Boss Remains. The fifth one has Majora's Mask. When Link speaks to the child, he will take Link to the final battle. Additionally, if Link has all the masks from the game and gives them to the kids, the Majora's Mask kid will give to the hero the Fierce Deity's Mask, saying that he is to play a game of "good guys against bad guys", implying Link is the bad one. After the defeat of Majora's three forms, Majora's Mask, Majora's Incarnation and Majora's Wrath, the mask seemingly loses its power and sentience, and the Happy Mask Salesman takes it with him on his travels to unknown places.

Theory
Due to similarities between the eyes of Majora's Mask and the Fused Shadow, an evil item from The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, it has been proposed that the tribe that created the Fused Shadows, known as the Interlopers, could be the same that created the mask of Majora. This is possible because the Interlopers were an ancient tribe that excelled in dark magic, that was later banished from Hyrule by the Gods. Also is important to point out, that Majora's Mask probably came from the Kingdom of Hyrule, based on the Skull Kid and the Happy Mask Salesman, who were in Hyrule, before getting into Termina.

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask manga
The manga by Akira Himekawa, although not by official Nintendo authors, provides a original side story that attempts to explain the origin of the mask. In this story, Majora's Mask is revealed to have been made from the armor of a legendary beast named Majora, that lived around ten million years before the events of Majora's Mask. The land in which Majora lived was not moving, but not dead either, nor had it stopped. According to a myth devised "by the humans themselves," the armor worn by Majora was supposed to grant wishes and hold a great and terrible power. Warriors, adventurers, soldiers, men, and women sought after Majora for his armor, though they were all killed by Majora.

After centuries of a solitary existence, a human, disguised as a musician bearing a slight resemblance to the Fierce Deity, approached Majora, and offered it eternal rest, not by fighting, but by playing music. As the human beat a drum he carried with him, "making time move", Majora began to dance for three days, and on the fourth day, died. All that remained of the beast was his armor. From the armor, the human carved Majora's Mask; by doing so, all of Majora's power was sealed in the mask. The human believed that by creating the mask, Majora's power would no longer be a threat. He threw the mask in an abyss and it was lost for centuries.

Super Smash Bros. Melee
The stage on which the 47th event, "Trophy Tussle 3," is fought is Majora's Mask itself. After all opponents are defeated within three minutes, the player is rewarded with the Majora's Mask trophy.

Animal Crossing: City Folk
Majora's Mask can be purchased from Tom Nook's shop for 6,000 points. (Points obtained via buying items from Nook's shop.)

Gallery
Máscara de Majora