And forgive me for any spelling mistakes. I rushed through this passionate abandon.

While I agree that the whole deep meaning and depression thing about Majora's Mask is a load of horse dick. I don't think it was the developer's true intention to make it that way anyway.

Nintendo has -always- been game play before story, Majora's Mask was no exception. The cool thing about Majora's Mask though was that they did aim at the story a bit more than they did with Ocarina of Time. More specifically they aimed at the side characters and wanted to flush them out and make it a more in depth world. I think their aim of it was more that the side characters were there to give you a reason to save the world. As in, they were so interesting that you wanted to save them.

I digress. Was it a story about death, depression and whatnot? Probably not. Was it supposed to be more meaningful than "go to A, unlock door B and enter room C?" Definitely.

Thank you for posting this, I really like reading up on MM theories :) Though in this theory (I've read quite a few about the areas representing either stages of grief after death or dealing with depression) I'd argue that use of the Song of Healing is in part an expression of relief. Kamero continues to dance on the rock outside of Clock Town even though he knows he is dead, but he, like other characters such as Mikau and Darmani are tormented by it and are released from their anguish by the Song of Healing. These characters know very will the predicament they are in and the Hero helps them as best as he can. Making "that one dead dancing guy happy" does combat his problem. He's dead and he can't move on. You play the song for him and he does, and he gives you a mask as thanks for your assistance.

There are also plenty of different reactions to coping with depression in the story: some people go on with their lives in denial that anything is "wrong"; the dancers in Clock Town keep practicing for the Festival along with the builders making the platform even though most people have fled. Anju continues to wait in hope for Kafei, the travelling Goron comes to stay at the very place where the moon will first impact. Then there are the people who have run away and can't cope with what is causing them so much upset. They know they are in danger and choose to flee from the source of terror.

There are personal tragedies too which have nothing to do the fact that Termina is going to be destroyed. The Deku butler cries for his dead son and Lulu loses her voice and stares out to sea after her eggs are stolen and her lover is killed. These are both examples of how depression can affect people. The butler thanks you for playing a game with him and gives you a gift because you remind him of his dead son and this brings him joy. Lulu teaches you a song after collecting her eggs because she is grateful. Both of these could be interpreted a message into how you can support and help people who have suffered a tragedy and can't cope. Through the game characters are happy that you came to help them, even if it's just the frogs in the pond who have missed their choir leader and want to sing with him, or the soldier who gives you the Stone Mask as he is delighted someone seen him and gave him some medicine. Most of these secondary characters are not actually influenced by the presence of Majora or the moon. The Deku's, Goron's and Zora don't actually seem to notice that the moon is about to fall and destroy them - they are caught up in their own grief and you help them to the best of your ability. It's not perfect, but it does.

Ultimately, being able to manipulate the destiny of other characters in the game as well as that of yourself, there may be a message that says "Even though everything around you is falling apart, you can still take control of things", even if it's just the little things you do to try and make people's lives a bit easier in the face of the inevitable. The only character who never gets any rest in the story is the Hero himself. He starts the story on a journey and at the end he continues it, though now that the game has been around for a while now, people probably are reading too much into it. I'm not convinced by the "five stages" theory, as there are people in all regions who react to things in different ways. Making each area represent one individual aspect puts far too much restriction on things.

Good points, but I feel that, relating to the use of the Song of Healing, I still feel it's too deus ex machina, though not in a traditional sense.

While the act of playing the song may hold some sort of metaphorical value, the act of executing the task in the game is soullessly binary, do-y-when-x-happens. Granted, scenarios in the game do play out rather gracefully (for the most part), but there is no escaping the game's mathematical game logic.

That mostly the game's fault. For being a game.....(Wow, does that sound stupid)

In all honesty, I think Majora's Mask should be looked upon, to see what the challenges of game design are.

While the game has it's certain share of emotional highs, I think there are areas that need to be improved upon.
Hopefully that makes sense.

While I've never played Majora's Mask (or, for that matter, many of the Zelda games), this is an intriguing viewpoint. I can certainly see why you're saying that, and I'm inclined (I cannot say I do, being unfamiliar with the game) to agree. On a side note, and not meant to refute you, this is an example of how wonderful storytelling can be: different people will take different things out of it. I don't know how many times, in my poetry, I've been writing what's intended to be a simple line, and someone else finds deep meaning in it -- which I never actually intended. Just a thought!

Actually, this personal interpretation is the essence of what Zelda is.

You see, Link, the main character, is more like a vessel than a player (for various reasons, mostly due to his lack of characterization).

This allows the player more freedom for how they interact with the story. This wide range of possible emotional variations allows for many diverse ways to play the game (Half-Life is a better example, however. The silent-protagonist/vessel character is a terrific vehicle for emotional delivery).

So, with this sort of approach to game design, players have more possibility for emotional resonance. And, considering the quality of Majora's Mask, it comes as no surprise that so many people feel differently about the game.

3 days.... sorry thats all i can say... but truthfully i have to say it doesn't matter to me if there's anything really ground breaking in the game but what i think Nintendo was trying to do was make a truthfully scary game... when i first played it i found my self actually creeped out at the first sight of the moon... im over it now and its probably my favorite game in the series ^^

Actually, that whole game was terrifying. Remember the part with the Ranch, and how you had to fend off the ghost? Or the Desert Valley with all the Gerudo Mummies (or whatever they're called)? Haunting. Really effective. It is mine as well.

My favorite, I mean.

Finally someone who doesn't say Ocarina is there favorite! i mean don't get me wrong i love Ocarina but there's no way it could be better than Majoras Mask... anyway i guess your right the entire game is pretty terrifying!

To me, Ocarina is the template all future Zelda games need to deviate from. It's the purest example of the formula, and games like Wind Waker and Majora's Mask defy expectations in amazing ways. Twilight Princess...not so much. And I haven't played Skyward Sword, so I don't know. I think the future of the franchise needs to be different than the past. That's what makes it so exciting, to me. The formula is a bit tried at this stage.

trust me i feel the same way but i guess that's just what Nintendo does... once Shigiro Miamoto steps down from his current position (Or at least i think that's whats going on) there might be a new style, lets hope too because when i play a zelda game i want some form of telling one game from another and to tell the truth while playing Twilight Princess i felt like i was just playing a different version of Ocarina... and like you said i haven't played Skyward Sword yet either so i have no idea if its different...

Eh, don't get me wrong, I'm currently playing through Twilight Princess for the Gamecube right now, and while I'm loving the hell. YEa, it's basically Ocarina of Time, enhanced, and with yiffing. But it's nice to see Hyrule fully realized. It looks good (for a Cube game), and it's just nice to see a world that looks like it functions. There are towns, homes, shit like that. That universe feels fully realized. I think Zelda needed that. And Twilight Princess should be the end of that kind of style.

I have a friend, by the way, that's playing through Skyward Sword and he's loving it. And he's practically the same as I on the Zelda series.