The Moon is the rock-like ominous object that constantly threatens to destroy Clock Town in Majora's Mask.[citation needed] By the evil power of Majora's Mask, it is destined to crash into Clock Town, which will obliterate the town along with the rest of Termina, including Link. It is also known for having an angry, snarling face.
Appearances[]
Majora's Mask[]
Before the events of Majora's Mask, the Skull Kid ambushed the Happy Mask Salesman and took one of his precious masks, the Majora's Mask. Even though the Skull Kid was unaware of it, Majora's Mask gradually began to fully possess him, turning his harmless pranks into acts with malicious intents behind them. Eventually, the mask completely embraced the Skull Kid's mind, and, using him as a puppet, Majora's Mask set the Moon on a collision course with Clock Town. Once Link, the Hero of Time, arrives in Termina, he discovers that he has just 72 hours (three days) to prevent the Moon from extinguishing all of Termina, including himself.
Along with his Fairy companion Tatl, Link sets out to find the Four Giants in each of the temples found throughout Termina. After they free the Giants from the Skull Kid's curse, the young hero and his Fairy climb atop the Clock Tower on the Final Day to call upon the Giants using the Oath to Order. One by one, the Four Giants appear and stop the Moon's descent, knocking the Skull Kid unconscious in the process.
At this point, Majora's Mask realizes that the Skull Kid has become useless, so it abandons the imp's body and transports itself inside the Moon through its mouth.[1] With the Moon itself now being possessed by Majora's Mask, it becomes too strong for the Giants to hold back and it threatens to continue with its plan of obliterating Termina.[2] While the Four Giants use all of their might to restrain the evil menace, Link and Tatl follow Majora's Mask into the Moon.[3] Inside, Link defeats Majora in rough battle and the Moon disintegrates, returning peace to Termina.
Dungeon[]
Once Link successfully summon the Four Giants to halt the descent of the Moon, Majora's Mask discards the Skull Kid's unconscious body and enters the Moon's open mouth,[1] once more driving it down toward Termina.[2] To stop this, Link and Tatl follow the cursed Mask to the Moon.
Link is transported to a serene, hilled, paradise-like landscape known as the Grassy Playfield. Several Moon Children appear in this field, wearing the remains of the four previous bosses as masks. If Link decides to play with any of these Moon Children at the cost of giving them a few of his masks, they will transport him to a special dungeon. If Link decides to play with the Moon Child wearing Majora's Mask sitting under the tree in the center of the field, he will initiate the final battle with the actual Majora's Mask. In addition, if the young hero were to talk to the same Child after trading all 20 of the non-transforming Masks including the Giant's Mask, he will earn the Fierce Deity's Mask as a reward.
Other Appearances[]
Super Smash Bros. Melee[]
In Super Smash Bros. Melee, the Moon appears in the background of the Great Bay Stage. As the match progresses, the Moon slowly descends until the Four Giants appear and push it back up. The Moon also appears as a Trophy.
# | Trophy | First Game / Move | Description | How to unlock |
---|---|---|---|---|
171 | Moon |
Majora's Mask 10/00 |
High in the sky above the Clock Town Tower, a menacing moon slowly sinks towards the city. Shrouded in mystery and feared by all, it threatens to devour everything and everyone in a cataclysm of fire. Strangely, inside the moon is a beautiful, pristine plain broken by a single tree. The moon breaks after Link defeats Majora's Mask. | Random |
Hyrule Warriors[]
In Hyrule Warriors, the Moon appears in "The Shadow King", where it is constructed by Fairies and summoned by the Great Fairy to knock Argorok out of the sky. The Moon can also be summoned when using the Clawshot into the air, pulling a smaller Moon down to crush enemies. Link can also summon the Moon when using the Great Fairy weapon as a combo attack. Young Link wearing the Fierce Deity's Mask can also summon the Moon, which is pulled by the Skull Kid and then sliced in half by the Fierce Deity. Skull Kid as a playable Warrior kicks a miniature Moon at his enemies to attack.
An 8-bit version of the Moon also appears on the Termina Map in Adventure Mode, which will crash and destroy Termina if the map is not cleared in time. The Moon will crash in 72 moves, similarly to the 72 hours in Majora's Mask. However, if the Four Giants Item Card is used and the hidden battle is completed on the Moon itself, the Moon will not fall down. The Moon can be prevented from crashing by using the Song of Time Item Card, however this also resets the map.
Super Smash Bros. Ultimate[]
The Moon appears as an Assist Trophy in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate. When summoned, the Moon will hurtle towards the Stage, becoming fiery and throwing debris from the Stage as it becomes closer. The Moon will then collide with the Stage, damaging anything in its path, before exploding in a flash and launching any Fighters that were close to the Moon.
The Moon also appears as a Spirit. It reprises its role in the background of the Great Bay Stage as well.
Trivia[]
- During development of the game and in some artwork, the Moon had no face on it.
- In the original N64 version of the game, the Moon's eyes are similar to that of Majora's Mask.
- Even when inside the Moon, in the Grassy Playfield, the dungeons, or the Final Boss arena against Majora's Mask, the earthquakes during the Final Day still occur.
- Under normal circumstances, when inside the Moon, if the Bombers' Notebook were to be checked, the time will display as 7:45 AM, seemingly back on the dawn of the Final Day, though it is technically New Day.
- In the promotional artwork of Majora's Mask 3D, the Moon, with its face facing to the east, one of its eyes can be seen looking toward the viewer. This does not happen in any of its appearances, as they remain completely still and facing forward.
- When the Majora's Mask enters and possesses the Moon after detaching itself from the Skull Kid, its own eyes begin to eerily glow.
- Two separate models of the Moon exist in the original N64 version of Majora's Mask. One is used for Termina Field and the Clock Tower with a slightly simplified face, while the other, a larger model with an even angrier face, is used for the rest of Termina, including Clock Town.
- According the Majora's Mask (Himekawa) manga, the inside of the Moon is the world of the Majora's soul, giving the likely reason why the Moon itself breaks apart when Majora's Mask is defeated in the game's climax.
- Due to the limitations of the Nintendo 64 hardware, the Moon's model simply changes sizes between the First and Second Day while remaining in the same position - half and full, to give the impression of it getting closer, likely because of the limited draw distance. But on the Final Day, however, it begins visibly and slowly descending toward Clock Town in real time. This remains mostly the same in the 3DS remake.
- If one uses ROM hacking effects to make Link hover directly up the Moon, the Moon's model has no hit detection and he will simply go through it.
- Perhaps unsurprisingly, Termina's Moon is an incredibly small scale compared to the real-world moon, as it appears to be only as large as a medium-sized meteorite.
- When Majora's Mask is defeated during the final battle, the Moon disintegrates into ashes much like Majora itself during the ending cutscene in Majora's Mask 3D. However, in the original N64 version, due to limitations, though its top is indeed breaking apart, the Moon itself appears to simply disappear into the sky, seemingly returning to its proper orbit.
- If one performs the 4th Day glitch to enter the New Day and then Link looks up to the sky, the Moon will appear extremely far away (in reality, its model has become tiny). Since Majora's Mask was originally planned to have a seven-day cycle (168 hours) rather than three, it is rumored by fans that the glitch itself brings Link to the very first day of the week's leftover data and the Moon be in the original distance of when it begins its collision course by the Majora's Mask's evil powers during the game's development, and thus the First, Second, and Final Days in the final release actually being days 5, 6, and 7, respectively, based on the scale of the Moon.
- If the aforementioned hover hack was used during this glitch, the heavily downscaled Moon is only slightly larger than Link in size.
- The 0th Day glitch, which makes the time stuck at 5:59AM before the First Day and functions like the above counterpart, shows the Moon's model in a slightly smaller scale compared to said day, suggesting this was the day 4 size of the original week planned in development.
Gallery[]
Artwork depicting a faceless Moon behind Skull Kid from Majora's Mask
Artwork of the Moon over Clock Town in Majora's Mask
The Moon as seen from the telescope in the Astral Observatory from Majora's Mask
The Moon about to crash into Clock Town in Majora's Mask
The Moon crashing into Termina in Majora's Mask
The Moon Children inside the Moon
The rainbow left by the Moon following Majora's Mask's defeat
Artwork of the Moon over Clock Town from Majora's Mask 3D
Artwork depicting the Moon behind the Clock Tower from Majora's Mask 3D
The Moon on the background of the Great Bay stage from Super Smash Bros. Melee
The Moon being dropped by the Great Sky Fairy in Hyrule Warriors
The Moon being sliced in half by Fierce Deity Link in Hyrule Warriors
The Moon in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
The Moon appearing behind Young Link in Super Smash Bros. Ultimate
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "A puppet that can no longer be used is mere garbage. This puppet's role has just ended..." — Majora (Majora's Mask)
- ↑ 2.0 2.1 "I... I shall consume. Consume... Consume everything." — Moon (Majora's Mask)
- ↑ "Well? You're going in, aren't you? ...We can't do anything down here. Let's go!" — Tatl (Majora's Mask)