Termania, Parallel universe?

Very nice theories, KokirianClockwork!

I think that's a good theory- the scene in the moon might have been a reflection of the Skull Kid's relative innocence. After all, he only wanted someone to play with him- that was what set him on the path to finding MM. The Giants had left him all alone and he had no one to play with. After you defeat MM and find him again, he immediately wants to play again. And in a warped way, that's what MM and the other children in the meadow want. They take that innocent desire and warp it into something deadly and hurtful.

What makes the questions disturbing is partially due to the fact that it's a child asking them. They're not things a child would say or probably even think about normally. They also seem to be insights to Link himself and make you think.

What kind of friends does Link have? People like Darunia, Ruto, Saria, Zelda, Navi, and Malon. The majority of them are strong powerful people who are already different themselves. Also, due to Link having gone back in time, he has to work to reforge those friendships with some because they wouldn't remember him. So the people that Link thinks of as friends might not really think of him as a friend yet in the Child time line since they probably don't know him as well yet perhaps.

This is a really good question: what makes Link happy? It's something that's really left up to some speculation, but you can pretty much infer that helping others seems to make Link happy, and certainly being with friends and people he cares for like Zelda and Saria. Traveling perhaps as well. Do those things make the people around him happy? While Link is out fighting monsters, it's probably a mixed reaction. While they were happy that he was keeping people safe, they would probably worry about him as well. Traveling would take him away from those he loved and cared for, so that wouldn't necissarily make them happy. It's a good question, and one that has so many answers and responses to it.

Now THIS is a question I think hits really close to being personal. The right thing to do . . . at the end of OoT, what Zelda did by sending Link back to regain his lost time. . . it was the right thing to do, but it didn't make everyone happy. Certainly it didn't make Link or Zelda happy, nor probably any of the sages who knew and cared for Link. But for the greater good, it was the right thing to do and kept more people happy than not.

Again this is a question that is really personal to Link. He wears so many masks in this game, but the face underneath, that of the child, it's not really who Link is. So really, it's not his true face if you think about it.

So I think that's what makes those question so disturbing is the fact that they bring to light some issues that probably very personal and even hurtful to Link.

True..I think the things that may hurt OOT/MM Link is that he is a lonely orphan trying to find his identity in a world (Hyrule/Termina) where he seems to be a social misfit everywhere he goes. It seems that helping others helps Link to cope with his isolated loneliness in seeking acceptance among the stangers he meets and also Link's need for maternal type love and affection from the closer friendships like Saria and Zelda greatly helps him to pacify that type of love he never got from a real parent.

I have to point out that Link DID have a parental figure in the form of the Deku Tree. The Kokiri speak of him as being their father, the one who protects and cares for them. The OoT manga further enforces this idea by showing how strong the bond between the Kokiri- including Link- and the Deku Tree was. He told them stories and comforted Link after Mido had been picking on him.

Yeah...the Deku Tree was definitely a father figure to Link but not like a real father that could teach him how to be a man in the traditional sense. As you said, the Deku Tree was a father to all of the Kokiri and not just Link. I'm sure Link would have felt very unwanted in growing up among the Kokiri if Saria was never there to comfort his loneliness in being an orphan.

Yes, Link lost both of his parents, but nothing in the game infers that the Kokiri have parents anyway. They refer to the Great Deku Tree as their father.

But Link was known in the forest as the only one without a fairy. Were you referring to that?

Yes..I only meant Link would be lonely due to the CIRCUMSTANCES of being an orphan. I don't think he was aware of being an orphan until the Deku Tree explained where he came from. Link probably thought of himself as the social outcast kokiri without a fairy instead of thinking of himself as an orphan.

A father figure is alright, after all, in the typical image of a family, while the father may be present and caring, his absence isn't as touching as when the mother is missing. Besides, the Great Deku Tree was more present than let's say, a father soldier would. Plus, since Link firmly believed he was a Kokiri, having no fairy was what made him lonely. It's as an Hylian boy that he must've felt weird with no parents.
Even if Saria could've been a maternal figure, she's still more of a friend. The same goes for Zelda (and then, when they're adults, we could argue all day on her role, depending if we're Zelinkers or not, but when they are still children, she's a close friend, not a mother.)


I think he was just convinced that no matter what hapenned to him, his goal was to try and make everyone happy. Someone has to sacrifice their own (social) life for the well-being of the greater community. Though, he never openly asked himself if what he did really bring happiness to the people around him, and if that's what made him happy too. Or was it just an illusion? Does his happiness lie within something else? Being selfish, perhaps? He's never really tried that, and it seems to make a lot of people happy.

I see MM Link as a happier Link than OoT Link, somehow.

Selfless hero for the win! (Yay, Link!)

And thanks, Angel.

Yeah...I only see Saria and Zelda being the more mentally mature close friends that are more aware of Link's loneliness that may make then seem more motherly in their relationship with Link but not in a literal sense at all.

I don't think that being aware of another person being lonely means you're a maternal figure to them. O.o It's called being perceptive or knowing a person so well that you can understand them without them having to tell you anything.

Maybe I just see Zelda as sort of motherly with the Scene in the Sky as Zelda gently touches and holds Link's hand in comforting him like a itty bitty baby AWWW!! OK JK.

Back on topic: Anyway my opinion that the conclusion of Link's adventure in Termina seems to me that he found a new sense of purpose in becoming a hero. He may have been searching for Navi at first to maybe find her so he can go back to being a kokiri with his very own fairy. Thats probably one of the reasons Link felt lost at the beginning since he no longer had Navi, there was probably no way Mido was going to let him live that down so Link was stuck in being Zelda's adopted pet instead of being able to return to the kokiri forest with dignity. But the conclusion of MM seemed to me that Link didn't need Navi anymore and found a new friend in the Skull Kid in the process. So now Link can return to Hyrule without feeling lost without a fairy. That is if he did return to Hyrule that is

Yeah, I have to agree with you there. Link's adventure in Termina, while it started out with him looking for something he wanted (that being Navi), it ended with him finding something he needed (a purpose beyond just stopping Ganondorf). And after being a child in a man's body, and then a man in a child's body, a sense of purpose was no doubt something he needed more than anything.

But I do like to think that Link returned to Hyrule at the end of his adventure. After all, the Happy Mask Salesman did say it was about time for him to go home

Yeah me too. I'm really not too crazy about these alternative fan fic theories of him staying in Termina or dying a horrible lonely death in trying to get back to Hyrule, or the one where he returns to Hyrule but decides to live in lonely obscurity within the lost woods because he was so heartbroken that he couldn't find Navi. I too would like to believe that Link returned to Hyrule to live the life of a Hero and maybe eventually find true love. Preferably with Malon of course but I can accept him being with Zelda over Ruto for sure.

*clears throat* I must ask you to refrain from the coments of Link being Zelda's 'pet', and Zelda being 'maternal', MalonsLover, even if you are just joking.

I truly believe that Link returned to Hyrule. There's really nothing to indicate that he stayed in Termania, or even that there was anything to hold him there after he had saved the land. The Happy Mask Salesman does remark that it's time for Link to be returning home, and we see Link back where he started in the beginning, in that misty forest.

Termania was a learning experiance for him I think, a way for him to find a purpose and to also perhaps more appreciate what he had left behind.

My thoughts on the issue exactly. I just wish Nintendo would make a sequel to MM to know for sure if Link did return to Hyrule though. I like to believe that the incarnations of Link in Soul Caliber and Super Smash Bros. is actually Child Timeline Link grown up. I also have a theory that Link in the intro cutscene of OOT is actually CT Link grown up. Notice that he doesn't have a fairy following him around while riding Epona and that the drawbridge to Hyrule town is repaired to normal.