Zelda Rumour: Termina Theory

Termina Theory

The land of Termina is the one where most of your adventures center around the clock tower in an insane three day cycle. It is a Zelda game with no Princess Zelda in it. The shortest, most terrifying experience a child like Link would ever want to face. Of course he is brave enough, but this adventure is just too much to happen to people, or did it really happen?

ZeldaWiki says “Termina is a parallel world to Hyrule and the setting of Majora’s Mask.” But is it really parallel? I have a theory that it doesn’t exsist. But it is different than the other ones out there. But first let’s look at evidence. Note that this is going to be an image-heavy article, so those with slow internet can use this to test their patience (try google chrome, much faster)

Let’s begin with the beginning of the game where the bandit who stole your ocarina in the forest is the very same bandit that was your friend in Ocarina of Time even before the game started. In the manga of Volume 2 of OOT the two last chapters showed an adventure that happened in the lost woods before Link got Navi. It was a real test for friendship and in the end Skull Kid became friends, but the manga shows a character that never appears in the game:

This is a dark version of the Great Deku Tree, probably his relative or his evil rival. Long story short, he made Skull Kid kidnap Saria and he also made Skull Kid hate adults and people from the outside, but in the end it turned out well and they became friends. I’m guessing that tree appeared in the manga to give a reason of why Skull Kid would betray his new friends and try to give him a more noble character (relatively speaking, ofcourse) in order to explain that he is not an enemy.

But the crimes he did in Majora’s Mask is too much to explained that he was possessed. It is too much to say that he was a controlled puppet. Even the first thing he tells you in the game is “What's with that stupid horse of yours” In the manga it shows that the horse is under a spell. Let’s just take a look at some of his crimes, only some.

Not to mention the boulder he put on the entrance of the Romani ranch, and the curses he made on the terrains of the temples, and the MOON!! Oh the sad scary moon. But there is one person who got something stolen from him in the same forest of Hyrule like you. The Happy Mask Salesman doesn’t sound very convincing in his pain though. Just look at what he says in the manga

So the salesman comes to skull kid and tells him about it and then refuses to give it to him. Naturally after being curious it is normal to just go ahead and grab it, especially for that specific imp. He is such a troublemaker. But the salesman is even more of a troublemaker. He caused this whole problem, that in the last chapter of MM manga (that makes in MMM, haha) Link tells the salesman “Be gone, troublemaker.” But the expressions on his face act as if it was his own mask. The salesman clearly wanted to drag Link into this for a reason (read on to find out)

How can the salesman hide the fact that he was driving these events with own hands when it is so obvious. He wanted the mask to get stolen from him. He wanted Link to get into this. He made a mirror of hyrule. This mirror is called termina. Termina doesn’t exsist, but instead show alternate roles and personalities of characters Link and the salesman both know and have met. The proof is in the manga:

Link notices that this world is different. If Termina really was real, how did all the characters migrate from hyrule and enter clock town if the only way to enter termina is through the rusty basement of the clock tower.

The way to enter is too dangerous to be used for all these citizens. All these locked doors, an entrance clearly for deku scrubs, it is not possible that Termina is easily accessible to anyone but certain people. Another proof that Termina is a mirror is what Anju says and Link’s comments in the manga. Its like how Bowser’s inside story included the brainwashed minions to say “Fawful” instead of “bowser”

It is now obvious that the salesman made “termina” in order to let his scheming plans go without him being actually evil because since the characters are not real he isn’t really messing with anyone’s life. The reason is not simply to experience Majora’s power. He wasn’t purely making an experiment with fake memories. He has deeper reasons.

Notice that when Link deposits ruppees in the bank they don’t get lost with time going backward. The merchant obviously controls what goes back in time travel and what does not. Notice that both the salesman and Majora know a lot about Link in since the beginning of the game. The merchant and Majora are then both on equal terms and agree on the actions done. It could be Majora’s magic that makes some of the items stay while others are lost, such as the bomber’s notebook and the powder keg liscence. This could be a plan that Majora’s Mask becomes powerful then agrees to get destroyed, all as the salesman plans.

The happy mask salesman is not more powerful than Majora. Majora is selective to its targets, and somehow gives a sort of humiliation to the salesman in return of what he did. He feeds the mask, the imp, the races of termina, and Link, then he withdraws everything he did so simply.

 The real reason why there is a three day time limit, is because Majora’s curse would reach the salesman after three days. The mirror won’t stay reflecting Hyrule forever. The land of Termina, its name coming from termination, is bound to get destroyed anyway, regardless of the moon falling or not. There is no spell that can permenantly exsist. The salesman helps to break the curse of being a deku because he made it. Why else would a merchant walk around with a dangerous mask and a huge piano? The salesman clearly wants to be your friend, playing with voodoo dolls  driven by his imagination to give you a frightful experience and gain the rewards that you made. Wouldn’t the items then just replicate themselves in order to travel backwards a short time?

I’m not saying that the salesman did all this just to get his bag full of gil, but he wanted to duplicate items and use Majora’s power in a more deeper way. He wanted to enhance his magic, and try to achieve a dream he never did, or at least it was not covered in Link’s memories. This incarnation of Link never knows where the salesman actually goes after the events of the game. So the salesman just wanted ultimate power after all.