OCARINA OF TIME - A Masterclass In Subtext
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- čas přidán 10. 01. 2019
- More Hyrule Journals on it's way.
Good Blood Kofi - ko-fi.com/goodblood
On the Master Sword being the 'essence' of childhood: bit.ly/2Fz56Au
CREDITS
Written, edited and animated by Javed L Sterritt
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Additional writing by Satchell Drakes
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Music provided in partnership with MUSICBED
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The Hyrule Journals theme composed by Jonny Higgins
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The Hyrule Journals Soundtrack
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SOURCES
A full breakdown of sources and resources are over at www.thehyrulejournals.com/
AONUMA & MIYAMOTO ON THE '4 GIRLS'
• Miyamoto and Aonuma on...
SHINTO IN VIDEOGAMES & ZELDA
killscreen.com/previously/art...
femhype.wordpress.com/2016/05...
IMMORTAL CHILDHOOD by HYLIAN DAN:
zeldauniverse.net/2011/09/14/...
FUSHIMI INARI FOOTAGE PROVIDED BY LETTERS FROM JAPAN:
• Fushimi Inari Shrine
SHINTO CREATION STORY:
jref.com/articles/shinto.27/
www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religio...
AMAZING JABU-JABU ARTIST:
/ siga4bdn
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Anju: Wow, you're so mature for you age.
Link: Thanks, it's the trauma.
For real, tho
@kshamwhizzle Incidentally I'm just now reading these books, will finish A Feast For Crows today and I think I'm in the middle of season 2? I never watched the show until now. Poor Sansa baby :(
@@AviatrixDown That doesn't happen in the books. The showrunners don't hold women in very high regard, that's all.
@@hopebringer2348 Yeah it was clear from Daeny's wedding night that they take some "artistic liberties". I'm going to take a lot of notes while reading ADWD so when the TWOW comes out I've got the continuity right.
Another thing I can't stand: why is Show!Sam so horny? He's much less endearing.
No, that's Steven
Was searching for a speedrun.
Then had my heart broken as I realized my childhood was the speedrun.
Im not sure if you meant this lightly or heavy but dang what you said hit hard for me, now a days I find myself asking the same question, why were we in such a rush to grow up?
Holy shit your comment hit me hard.
@@GlibWings06 I was in no rush to grow up, and it still happened too quickly XD
hot damn dude
This explains the 4 videos on speedruns in my feed.
"Banished from his childhood, destined to roam a world that doesn't remember him" that gets me to tear up every time....
Shut up I already cried for that line, don't make me cry in agony again😂
It’s something that’s always intrigued me. Narratively, why is Link forgotten?… I think it’s because, collectively as a society, we tend to forget the importance and impact of one’s childhood. Hyrule forgot Link because they couldn’t see the effects of his labors, being sent back in time and all.
Balanced adulthood is necessary and should be something we progressively to embrace/handle, adapt, and manage with at the pace and capability we can.
Manage with the good memories, lessons, value from childhood/youth/younger/earlier days/years.
I recommend The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Steven Covey for some additional guidance with transitioning/ed adulthood navigation, regards.
@@klebiii thanks for the recommendation, seems like it's worth a look
Something I noticed after watching this... After destroying the evil in the Forest Temple and restoring Link's childhood home, you can learn the Song of Storms and return to the past to retrieve the Lens of Truth, which is intended to be used to beat the Shadow Temple.
If the childhood Hyrule is meant to be lighthearted and fun, then the contrasting darkness we find at the bottom well is very intentional; the darkness of the world was always there, just under the surface, even as a child. As you get older and begin to bear more responsibility, that darkness just becomes more apparent.
So we use this acknowledgment of darkness always being there, as our Lens of Truth. We use it to help us navigate into the heart of darkness within man, the Shadow Temple.
Wow. Thank you for this comment!
Deep!
Did SOMEBODY mention the DOOR to DaRkNeSs??
Wow. Your comment gave me chills.
@@Nami8302_OwO nice kingdom hearts reference
I don’t remember paying for CZcams premium.
Neither do I.
Same
Can someone say that again. This was amazing. It never ceases to amaze me at the content ppl can create on here. Im only scratching the tip of the iceberg in content creation. I wonder what kind of software these publishers are using. INCREDIBLE
czcams.com/video/XeBbpfeQ0KI/video.html
@@elaiottoiale4216 thank you
When the video ends and you just sit there in silence for a while, reflecting.
That's when you know you just watched something good.
Yep. Third line most relevant. Lots to think about. Super depressing. I never really considered that literally no one would even know anything about what Link just did to save the world once he got sent back to the childhood ("hero triumphant") timeline. The only person who would know is the continuing timeline Zelda ("hero triumphant" but disappears), but he can't ever see her again or get back to her. And he can't go back to Kokiri Forest because he's not really a child anymore, and he's not physically an adult. He doesn't belong anywhere, he has no one, and the only person who would understand what he went through is essentially ripped from his life. He couldn't even pass on his lessons because who would believe him (hence the Twilight Princess shade)? How gut wrenching.
@@jasonfrost5025 That's why, in the Majora's Mask sequel, Link does go back to the Lost Woods. He's so distraught at having lost his connection to his childhood, that he can't help but go searching for it again, even though he KNOWS he's doomed to eternal suffering if he can't find it. But, he's damned if he does, damned if he doesn't, because if he leaves his childhood behind so completely, he's destined for sorrow anyways, having already sacrificed all the things in his life that represented his childhood. Luckily, he comes across Tatl, someone else's fairy, the representation of someone else's childhood wonder, and she manages to guide him through his grief.
As much as I really don't like TheGameTheorists, I would recommend taking the idea I just expressed and thinking on it while watching the Game Theory episode "LINK IS DEAD" and apply the logic I've proposed to the idea that, while it isn't the death of Link himself, he is still going through the stages of grief, because his childlike wonder--represented by Navi--has died (or at least left him forever).
Also, as Dissolution points out above this comment thread, Link manages to rekindle his sense of childlike wonder through the eyes of others, like Skull Kid. This theme is even explored through the Kafei side quest line, where Kafei is trapped in his child form (much like Link is, given that he has the memories of his adulthood but can't actually be taken seriously like an adult due to his child form), and suffers a lot of inconvenience and embarrassment because of it because he actually IS an adult but has had his ability to deal with his responsibilities (his marriage) stripped away from him by the jealous Skull Kid.
Amen
true /showerthoughts
Then you revisit the game...and see that everything is there and true. When it at long last clicks that Saria, Darunia, all of the sages are _dead_ (save zelda) and realize you were either too late to save them, watched them die or head towards certain death - assuming that Darunia wasn't already dead; a ghost waiting on Link to show up so he could relay what's happening.
That the temples were a reflection of Link's state of mind, stages of grief or both. That Rauru was the king of hyrule, and the owl was his mouth piece to guide or carry link to his destination. As an adult, he could only watch over him from afar. That Navi _died,_ like a spirit that went into the light with no more regrets or reasons to stay tied to the living, and suddenly the game is even sadder now that you're older and realize Link can't go back to being a child just like that, not after everything he goes through. even if he somehow did make it back to Kokiri forest on his own it wouldn't be the same. He didnt belong before and certainly not anymore. His quest to save Hyrule irreversably changed him and Majora's Mask shows the proof.
Isn't it ironic that we could only understand the subtext of a game from our childhood when we ourselves grew up.
We might not have been able to put it in words as well as this video. But we all felt it.
that's only natural. not ironic at all.
yeah honestly, this is what made me sad. I realized how much this mirrored my own sadness as I've grown up.
@@orangevestsr4750 U people aren't real
@@MASSIVEsock interesting take I guess
I always thought it was incredibly sad that Link loses 7 years of his life. It's like Frodo who saves the Shire for everyone else but not himself.
He doesn't. He goes back in time. That's where majoras mask starts
He gets that time back, but he is not the same kid he was, the experiences stay with him
@@seru.89😞 well i'm depressed now reading this
It gets worse. In the original story, the massacre of the shire happens as revenge. The shire is burned and everyone is killed.
@@tiredsleepygirlhow is that depressing? Link got everyone deep wish; reliving childhood with the gained knowledge.
This is better than most documentaries in Netflix
*all
@@theblockyinkling3889 id agree but they have The Act of Killing which is the best doc of all time
Your god damn right it is 😎👉🏽👉🏽
agreed
TRUE LULW
Saw this on my recommended and I was like " Lol I'm not gonna watch a video about Ocarina of Time for a half hour." 13 min in my bro walks in and I'm like "lemme restart this for you this shit is good!"
I have tried to send it to all my friends who enjoy Zelda and liked OoT, but NONE of them have bothered yet! I can't tell you how irate I am about this! The video chokes me up every time they start talking about the 3rd thread.
this man really dropped two of the best video essays of all time and then dipped
Yea honestly, anyone know what's up with this dude, does he contribute to other YT channels with his work and is more active there or he just a dude who uploads whenever he feels like? (Nothing wrong with that, just asking what he's up to.) Hope he's doing well, because this blew my mind and got me hooked for the whole video
@@yashA.456 He just uploaded 2 days ago another masterpiece... about Majora's Mask this time, www.youtube.com/@TheHyruleJournals
@@SONIKAO Do you have a direct link? There's nothing at The Hyrule Journals except the link to Good Blood channel, which has this video and several others but nothing about Majora's Mask.
@@jmaxsohmer It's there now! Got reuploaded, it's brilliant
@@jmaxsohmer he just uploaded again... the hyrule journals
What surprised me the most watching this is how much Link actually loses in the game. It's not even sugar-coated. But Ocarina of Time is such an overall delightful experience that it just flew over my head all these years. A hero with strength enough to save the world, but powerless to save those closest to him.
😢 it's heart wrenching. I watch this video almost every other day to remind myself "the Cruel Flow of Time" & that 'Nothing Lasts Everything Flows' - Heraclitus
The Japanese have maintained this touch. indirect storying telling, as this guy calls it. it's fallen out of style in American art for more obvious methods. I've always favored it because it allows for greater variety of tone within a piece. the main theme always feels elusive.
One thing I'm surprised you didn't mention is that when link grows up he can no longer wield the weapons of his childhood. After all, slingshots and boomerangs are toys. He is forced to put these aside in favor of the more "adult" tools of war that he must get acquainted with to stand a chance against Gannondorf.
Another thing not mentioned, though it didn't really need to be told, is the implications of Link leaving Kokiri Forest. As the video explained, the forest represents his childhood and by leaving the forest, Link leaves his childhood and becomes an adult as he goes on his quest to save Hyrule.
Well they did mention that actually. Navi allows Link to travel back and forth from the forest as needed. He's allowed to go back to his childhood as much as he wants, so long as he has Navi. The Master Sword is Link's key back to his physical childhood and Navi is his key back into the forest, his actual childhood made manifest.
Once Navi leaves, however, Link can never return to the forest. The video mentions this a few times and references to the idea in various ways, including when they mention that Link becomes a Stalfos. Whatever journeys and adventures Link goes on after Navi leaves, he eventually returns to the forest again and becomes the Stalfos we see in Twilight Princess.
Jesse Harrold I think it was alluded to when he mentioned the game’s code not allowing for anything but the master sword to battle Ganondorf in the final childhood vs adulthood battle. Either way, that’s a good observation!
@@Valiant_Requiem Link doesn't become a stalfos, he just ends up dying with regrets and becoming the Hero's Shade in TP. Otherwise, I agree. Just a little nitpick.
@Samantha Warnaar that signals how he's been changed from his journey in OoT. The hero's shield also shows this, that wielding a metal shield was a lot sturdier and better suited for combat and unknown lands. In Majora's Mask, the deku transformation represents childhood - he is treated as a kid as he cannot buy anything dangerous - if he does, he can't use them yet - leave clock town without his parents or a weapon, let alone carry one. But like Jim's blowgun - a kid's toy - he can blow weak bubbles, but learning this isn't good enough. Clock town is the protective zone for children. The physical appearance and his reaction to it... He is turned into something foreign, a form that mocks him as he used to defeat them in OoT. Without his horse or Ocarina, he feels so lost that he cannot recognize himself as himself. It represents how it must feel so alien to him being this small and being treated like a child again, and he has matured so much from OoT that he now prefers to be treated as an adult. He is more than anxious and relieved when the Happy Mask Salesman breaks the curse on him (I would be too). Though it only lasts 3 days and though he might've had fun hanging around town, going to the observatory, it did not feel right. He was just killing time until the eve of the carnival, and the only thing he can do at the most crucial moment is knock the instrument out of Majora's hand.
This video made me sad and appreciate the game even more. I was thinking about it for a while and then I noticed something else:
If you load the game as child Link, you always start in your home in Kokiri forest (with the exception of when you saved in a dungeon). I interpret this as you always wake up in your protected home with all your toys and a playground just outside.
While as an adult, you start at the temple of time - a cold environment reminding you of the tasks that lie ahead of you. As an adult you wake up to go to work, do chores, tax returns or whatever. There’s no time, no place and no toys to play with.
The "toys" evolved Into weapons of war
omg
Amazing bro
@Nipple Knight yeah, you’re right about that too. in the game as child link, the adults around him would constantly say how he’s just a child and treated him like the kid he was. the guard in kakariko village, nabooru, darunia, and even ganondorf when you first encounter him
Not only that but when you step out of the Temple of Time as an adult you’re greeted by a cruel broken world of darkness inhabited by the undead...
The fact that barely anyone noticed that Ocarina of Time is the saddest zelda game makes me think there a lot of sad people we never notice in life, because it isn't obvious.
Or Majoras Mask 1a , 1b
Breath of the wind pretty sad too
@@Blangblangboy yeah I agree it’s true, BOTW is sad too, but it isn’t as sad as Ocarina of Time/Majoras Mask. Honestly the Hero of Time is probably one of the greatest links to ever live and has one of the saddest storylines in the whole zelda timeline
Link is here to advance humanity whether he's remembered for that or not.
Majora's Mask beats it
I've only ever finished Ocarina of Time once. I must have been no older than 11 when I did. Ever since then, I've replayed it again and again and again but I would always stop at the exact same point: after beating the Forest Temple. I never understood why, I just somehow felt that at that point of the game I I've seen what I wanted to.
But after watching this video, I tried to think about it. I couldn't explain it to myself as a kid, but I knew deep down somewhere that I wasn't happy after I finished the game. I was happy to beat the game, of course, but I couldn't be happy for Link. Even child-me could see he had no more friends and no more home... so I started a New Game. I collected the stones again, pulled the Master Sword, cleansed the Forest Temple, watched the New Deku Tree sprout... and then stopped before I moved on with my Life. Every couple of years since then, I would replay Ocarina of Time to that same point. Part of me was certainly just enjoying the Childhood adventure. The mood was happier, more naive, more magical. The Bombs and Slingshots were cute, and fighting your way out of the belly of a beast was enchanting. But when I got to the Forest Temple, I must have realised the adventure had stopped. It was no longer just an adventure, it was a job and a responsibility - and having just rescued those I felt closest with in the Kokiri forest, I felt like I needed to stop. I didn't want a job, I wanted a game of magic and fantasy.
I'm 25 now, and I still haven't played the game to the end for a second time. Maybe I should. As an adult with my own set of responsibilities and a job, perhaps I'll see the game in a much different light than I did before - and maybe for once I can finally move on past the Forest Temple.
Fear not.
IT'S DANGEROUS TO GO ALONE! TAKE THIS.
This is so beautiful written
😲 - Dang, I'm only 26 and everything you; It wrote really resonates with me on a deep level!
This is why I love BOTW and TOTK. Emphasis on playing exploring and creating with a story you can choose to commit to or don’t. Just play and create. But If I’m honest I didn’t realize how impactful OOT was on my childhood.
I always thought the saddest part of OoT is the fact that link is forced to become a child again (ignore the stupid nintendo timeline, just at the end of the game in the credits) He has all this knowledge of what could have happened in the future, and no one but the seven sages know, but he can’t be with them because he’s a child, but he doesn’t belong with the kokiri because he’s lost all child-like innocence,he’s fought in a war that technically didn‘t happen
MsAnimelover6666 don't see how that has to do with the timeline.
I mean that literally happened.
It's not like the timeline made it NOT happen
there is no need to connect all the stories into one timeline ey.... they are fine as separate myths
So regardless the timeline, the Hero of Time truly drew the short straw. He either dies a hero, or fades into obscurity
At the end, it was all a dream.
It's no wonder the melancholy of Majora's Mask dovetails so nicely with the end of OoT. Easily my two favorites in the series.
"Destined to roam a world that doesn't remember him"
That hit me HARD in the feels...
Intro to Majoras mask makes a LOT more sense now
@@user-wi3qz6fx6y yeah. myamoto just said that you have suffered a terrible fate but us never understood the fate
My favorite game of all time T_T ... Nostalgic memories
1000 like 👍🏻
And, ironically, OoT might be the most beloved, recognizable and highly regarded game of the series, if not of all time.
As someone with childhood trauma, losing your connection to childhood and not having been allowed to be a child- craving that which was taken away and what couldve been. The guilt and the sadness- being forced to go nowhere but forward. Its all too touching, OoT has a special place in my heart.
Dang, that does sound like it would hinder a person...
This in tandem with Majora's Mask is a wonderful story of trauma, reeling from it, healing from it, then moving on
Goddammit, this struck a cord
You know, this was really the same thing that I felt growing up while playing the game. My family was moving around so much, I felt like I had missed out on so much of my childhood even when I was a child. Everybody seemed to have known each other forever but I had to remake all my friends every few years. I was very lonely, and I suppose that is why the Hero of Time really spoke to me - caught in between, not really a child and not really an adult. Maybe we are all Heroes of Time just for coping with the profound sense of loss and pain that comes with maturation.
My innocence and youth was ruined for the same reason
No one cares about your pathetic up brining, cope with the fact you aren't the only one in the world with problems. No one here needs to read your pathetic attention seeking comment
@@russia4biden221 Did I upset you?
You know how every youtube stars their review of OOT with the classic "what can I say about OOT that hasn't been said already?"... this is the answer to that question.
Yes!
And it's "starts" not "stars".
@@toferg.8264 really man?
@@Zaque-TV
⭐⭐🌟⭐⭐
I came for a video game.... I ended up with a philosophy degree, depression and questioning my life
This should be the top comment
Ended up with tears...
I came for a video game
Time is a wound only death can heal
Ended up remembering what I lost as a child and balling my eyes out.
This is my first time seeing this. I just lost my mom suddenly and unexpectedly. But some of my earliest memories are sitting on the edge of the pull out bed in our living room, while my mom played OOT and MM. I was very young and it fostered a strong love for Zelda and video games in general. The heroic story caught my young attention. As an adult, I find myself combing these games for every shred of subtext. I started playing TOTK and found myself exploring the castle and castle town ruins out of that childhood wonder and nostalgia. And I felt that pull of childhood. The slow, deconstructed sad melody of Lon Lon Ranch where I spent so much time as a kid in OOT. It felt safe and fun. Now it's stripped and barely exists. It feels the same. Losing my mom means I have to start on a new adventure. A life without her. An adult with less childhood to hold on to. But I think she'd be proud of me.
I feel like she would my friend - just know you’re so loved in this world & I wish good things come your way ❤️ 🙏🏼
I'm so sorry for your loss and she's playing Nintendo in heaven until you can join her someday. I'm sure she's proud of you no matter what!
She's very proud of you. 🌠
I know what you went through. I hoped that you learned something from this video and realize what 'Suddenly dies' means. Check it out, please. I am not here to hurt you.
Still returning to this masterpiece
On the topic of Ganondorf representing adulthood and Navi representing Link's lingering childhood:
During the first fight with Ganondorf, he pushes Navi away with sheer power, leaving Link to confront Ganondorf as only the man he has become. Without Navi, Link can't focus (z-target) and he doesn't have Navi's insight. This is representative of Miyamoto's ability to use the memories of his childhood in his own work.
Without it, he lacks focus, and insight, and something is missing.
The final conflict occurs and Navi returns, for one last fight, only to leave once all is said and done. Link's childhood is now elusive. But he pursues it, seeking out that feeling again. Which is where Majora's Mask picks up, where Link finds another fairy, but it isn't his, it belongs to someone else. This is a metaphor for how Miyamoto was able to rediscover his elusive childhood through the games he makes. He relives his childhood through the eyes of those who are still children. And in doing so, has a unique drive and childlike wonder that will never go away.
I hope this shed some more light on the wonderful parallel that was so artfully described in the video.
Reading your comment remind of the... I'm not sure if theory, about Super Smash series being representative of Miyamoto's childhood, and his stress of adult responsibilities.
This comment added on the piled of feelings this video left.
@@frankleeaburto That would be Sakurai. And i agree haha
M R what’s your problem? He wasn’t assuming anything, he was just giving his analysis, which by the way was profound.
@M R lmao
"Did you save Hyrule?"
Link: "Yes"
"What did it cost?"
Link: *in tears* "Everything"
BRO!!! You can’t just do that... the original scene already hit me hard enough but taking this video into context only makes it that much stronger... when memes make feels... good job...
He unfortunately didn't really save it since in the adult timeline Hyrule was eventually destroyed anyway.
Everyone timeline eventually leads to breath of the wild... all the Hero Of Time did... was fight the very thing he was the hero of... and it won.
@@AxisChurchDevotee his work was undone once he went back in time since it split the timeline and all the timelines suffered. The hero who sacrificed the most sadly is also the one who ultimately failed in his quest. That's probably part of his regrets that TP Link helps heal
@@kalebramirez7327 now that I think about it, doesn't tp link pretty much save everyone (with the exception of Ralis' mother) and didn't really lose anyone of merit? (Midna willingly left). Arriving on time was something that OoT link largely failed at. The only time he hurried to do anything was to pull the master sword...and that rash decision ended up hurting and killed people as a result. Proving why Link needed to be older to be the hero of time. Tp link was older, wiser, and stronger, and did not fail in saving those he cared about, and even made friends strong enough to come to his aid when he needed it most.
I just remembered there were _four_ people backing him up ...huh. like botw
Fuckin’ 4 years and this is still thee best Zelda video I’ve seen on this entire platform. I’ve watched it a million times. Fuckin’ made me cry the first time I watched it!
I did realize OoT Link was one of the saddest, but not for the same reasons. When I decided to replay the game back in 2014, I started noticing how sad Link's backstory was in this game, he's an orphan who never knew his parents and was given to the Deku Tree to guard him. He grows up wanting to believe he's a kokiri but some of'em are rude to him and make it a point to remind him he's not one of them. He has Saria as a friend but he has to leave her behind because the Deku Tree has placed the fate of the world on his shoulders. He then goes on an epic and exciting adventure, of which I'm convinced Link enjoyed every second, including the descent into the bottom of the well and the shadow temple. Don't forget he has the triforce of Courage, so he has an innate sense and enjoyment of adventure, but... his only remaining friend, AKA Navi, has to leave him to return to the Kokiri forest now that her duty is over. He can't follow her there, and there's nothing to do now that the world is saved. The beginning of Majora's Mask tells you he's now on a journey to make a friend. Majora's Mask's whole story revolves around dealing with the loss of friends or family, and in the end Link ends up thankfully befriending the Skull kid, but I don't think any Link has a sadder backstory than this.
I don't think that navi returned to kokiri forest, but I think that she left completely after her duty was over
It seems like you could interpret it that way at first, but the way the opening of Majora's Mask writes and the sound effect of Navi he clearly was searching for Navi specifically not to make a new friend. Though, that certainly would become the objective when he eventually came to the realization that he may never find her again. I had to go check and see if the text said it in a way that he was looking to "make" a friend because that would change alot but its not the case.
@@scikoolaid That's even sadder, he couldn't get over her loss. But then immediately you meet Skull Kid who was abandoned by the 4 giants because of their duty, the same way Link was abandoned by Navi. Remember the line "Forgive... Your... Friend", that's 100% meant as an echo of Navi saying this to Link. He makes friends with Tatl and Tael, but because of Majora's Mask, they're separated again, and thankfully he meets Link who was also looking for a friend to keep all along. The Happy Mask salesman's last words a serve as a conclusion to Link and Skull Kid's backstory. Man were these 2 games well written.
@@InfinityDz Indeed. I think Yoshiaki Koizumi has made the very special touch to these highly elevated games within their series. He wrote ALTTP's back story, Link's Awakening, and huge influence on both OoT and MM in all aspects, graphics, gameplay targeting, models, story. It's huge. I wish he wasn't mostly dealing with the Mario' series personally. I want Zelda to respect it's roots more from before the gamecube era.
In 1998, my dad was given three months to live. We got an N64 as his sort of "Take him to Disneyland" moment. Ocarina of Time was the very first video game my dad and I ever played together, side by side. Unfortunately, life got in the way and my dad and I were unable to beat the game before he died. I didn't manage to pick the game up for, funnily enough, about seven years.
When OoT was released, it was considered perfect. I imagine most people would have been in awe when they finished it. When I finally saw 'The End', my only thought was, "I wish Dad was here to see this."
Same man my dad always played ocarina of time or a link to the past with me. I really hope to stay healthy enough to show my kid Zelda games too
Aww come on man..i am already sobbing from the video :/
Soery for you loss mate.. I am sure he is in a better place :)
Ironically 7 years.. Once I was says years old. My father told me. Go n make some friends or you’ll be lonely.. but instead of friends. I chose Isolation. Video Games. A Fantasy world. It’s my comfort zone.
My dad sucked, lol, im not like that, but i want to be that dad, i have 4 siblings who i took care of, chrono trigger and OOT, was my dad game to my siblings, for my mom for my grandparents, i did it. BotW is for my kids, and super mario maker 1 n 2, they getting older botw 2 and Elden ring they want play, and ill have it for them, sitting right next to them, so you or anyone else, always make time for youre underlings basically, lol.
You're a lucky one, that youre dad gave a damn. even for a moment, its like eternity of bliss.
Always remember Dad, for what he was, YOURE DAD.
OoT was THE video game that I played with my Father. It was a game that I had no interest in, as I was 5 years old. However, he was told it was the best game he could get me. So, he played it with me because he wanted me to like it.
For 2 years he would get done with work, then come sit with me and play OoT. Spending lots of time on puzzles we couldn’t understand. Reading a game guide that made no sense to us. Then we got stuck on the *water temple* and he gave up.
This last Christmas (at 22) I beat the entire game in front of him. Showing him each boss, and the way to kill them. When it was time to shove the Master Sword into Gannon’s face at the end - I gave him the controller. I got to watch my father finish what he started.
My father is 71 now. I always wanted to finish that game with him. I’m glad I roped him into while I did. It was everything to me that we finished it because i’m not entirely sure how much time he has left either.
This wasn’t meant to be rubbed in your face, I hope you don’t take it that way. It just makes me happy that someone had a similar connection to this game. Sitting and playing Zelda with my dad is my happiest memory. That’s why I still replay it and why I will always buy the next Zelda game
In the holiday season of 1998, my dad was able to secure me a copy (against all odds) of this legendary game. I cannot overstate how much I love this game. My dad passed away in October 2020. He was a good man, a kind father, and he is _my_ hero of time.
Who's cutting onions in here? :3
God damn why do you do this to me?
I’m so sorry man but I hoped you were able to push through and move on :)
@@Flome810 It's been incredibly difficult. I was adopted from S Korea and was gifted a loving family. However... we grew distant despite deep unspoken mutual affection. We had a lot of good times, but the last few memories I have with him are of me being a disappointment. For years I promised myself to close the distance... I failed to do so.
Do not miss another chance to express to your family how much you love them. Don't wait.
You didn’t fail. You are human. Don’t underestimate a parent’s ability to understand the winding path of life, and know that he loved you through it all. I’m sorry for your loss and hope you can find peace that I know he would want for you. ❤️
Watching this the day after I found out my childhood best friend succame to his cancer was perhaps not the right idea. Some of the most vivid memories I have of us together are set in a dinky sideroom of his house where would play N64. We were inseparable for years, until I decided that the Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, and whatever new GameCube game of the day were of less interest than the girls in the cafeteria. We grew apart, though never with any malice. I reached out to him a few times in my post-college days, but everything was promises and vague plans. Time was infinite, until it wasn't. Now I am here, mourning a friend whose companionship in my formative years I would not trade for anything. A feeling that resonates oh so closely with themes explored here. RIP David, you will be missed.
All these years later and the line:
“The cruel flow of time…time is the cute villain of the story”
Just hits so bloody hard 😔
Cute, or true?
“Destined to roam the world alone in a world that doesn’t remember him”. Jesus that sunk in for me
ditto
Doesn't Link as a child meet child Zelda again at the very end of the game? Implying she at least remembers him.
@@islandboy9381I don’t think she remembers him, the cutscene was just to show that Link is able to change the future this time by a) going back before when he grabbed the master sword and b) using the triforce of courage (shown in the final cutscene) as reason for zelda/the king to trust him. But as a result, nobody remembers his deeds in the new timeline because he’s the only one that came from the old timeline.
@@ryanprusak8524 its kinda inacurate since link already met with zelda before he got the master sword since he had to open the doors of time before doing such a thing and he needed the ocarina of time to do this, and the spiritual stones of course... plus in the direct sequel of this game zelda says that she thinks fondly of him even though they only met for a short time before he leaves hyrule, which is actually the case since they interacted twice (when getting the song and the mission, and when she was fleeing) even if the second interaction got erased, the first shouldnt since it would cause a paradox where the door of time is closed and link is trapped in the temple for all eternity, thats also why link has the ocarina of time in the sequel, the treasure of the royal family, and not to mention epona, her loyal companion is also with him...
Kinda like Majora's Mask. You may do all dem side quests in 3 days and save lives etc everytime you'll go back in time and it's as if you hadn't done anything
Shocking we got to watch this documentary for free
Well done, amazing production
Shocking this guy isn’t more widely known.
No one would have watched it if it wasn't free.
I shockingly find myself in agreement. It's rare that I find myself thinking, "I'd have paid a bit of money for that", but here we are.
I vividly remember the final emotion when in 1999, as a kid, I was finishing The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time. It was this overwhelming sadness that you perfectly dissect. Beautiful video, beautiful work. I would just add one more thing to the "losing" part that you describe: as Link progresses in the story, as we heal the world around us, we’re also losing the game… soon it’s going to be over, and we won’t be able to feel it as we did for the first time, again. Maybe that’s why so many people keep searching for something more about it. We want that feeling back. We want to go back in time an experience it just one more time for the first time. For those of us that play it when it launched, as kids/adolescents, I believe there is something bounding us together, it's almost like if we had lived the same life, and lost it… but we’ll always have this memory in common that unite us and bring us together through time.
The last words you said 💯💯💯💯💯💯
This. This is what games should be.
Don't get me wrong, I enjoy mobas or fps games as much as the next person. However, when the game also tells a story like this; encapsulating the writers history, beliefs, and feelings. It becomes an experience in and of itself.
One of the best. We need more like this.
Yeah but its the gameplay setup that makes the story so powerful. If you going to put story first you aren't making a video game. That's why alot modern story driven games are such bad games most of the time, the story is locked to the cutscenes which dictate almost everything that goes on and when it can. Meanwhile the gameplay is cookiecutter and takes a backseat to driving the story forward regardless if its fun to play in of itself.
“In the land of Hyrule, there echoes a legend held by the Royal Family that tells of a boy… A boy who, after battling evil and saving Hyrule, crept away from the land that had made him a legend… Done with the battle he once waged across time, he embarked on a journey. A secret and personal journey… A journey in search of a beloved and invaluable friend… A friend with whom he parted ways when he finally fulfilled his heroic destiny and took his place among legends…”
These are the opening words of Majora’s mask, one of the timeline possibilities heading out of Ocarina of Time. And where do we find Link? Looking for, chasing down Navi, the key to returning to the place of his lost childhood. Kinda heartbreaking!
that really put am aching feeling in your heart once you realize how bad a legendary hero suffering from a robbed child hood.
Hero,
Swamp. Mountain. Ocean. Canyon.
The four who are there, bring them here.
In the land of Hyrule, there echoes a legend. A legend held dearly by the Royal Family tells of a boy. A boy who, after battling evil and saving Hyrule, crept away from the land that made him a legend.
Done with the battles he once waged across Time, he embarked on a journey. A secret and personal journey. A journey in search of a beloved and invaluable friend. A friend with whom he parted ways when he finally fulfilled his heroic destiny and took his place among legends.
He came to us. He rescued us from certain doom, and rid our world of evil.
He once wielded the shield of our kingdom, and gave us hope.
We lost the way.
Believing in your friends and embracing that belief by forgiving failure. These feelings have vanished from our hearts.
I beg you! Bring us back to life with your magic!
The four who are there, bring them here, and allow the shield of our kingdom the privilege to serve you.
I’m not a Zelda expert, but wouldn’t he turn into one of those skeleton soldiers if he entered the forest without a companion? If so, then it would further confirm that Link’s ancestor in Twilight Princess is actually the Hero of Time, seeing how he’s now a skeletal warrior in that. Also, it would tie into that theory that Majora’s Mask is all about Link dying and going through the various stages of grief.
There is also a theory that Link used the Lens of truth and Fierce deity mask in a desperate attempt to find Navi/get out of the Lost Woods.
Minor note: Only grown ups turn into stalfos.
And how poetic that when all is said and done at the end of Majora's Mask, he never finds her... :'(
I remember the hollow, empty feeling I was left with after beating the game for the first time... And now it all makes sense
Agree...glad I was not the only one that felt that way back in the days...
Same here.
Not my childhood game, but I cleared this in 6th grade.
I remember sitting silently in front of the scene, felt like something so precious, so dearest to me was stolen forever, there is nothing I can do to take it back and I have to live on with that.
Beautiful editing, amazing delivery and a lot of substence. This video touched me
yeah, i actually felt more sad than accomplished after beating the game
My dad used to buy and sell consoles on the side to make some extra money and to bring some entertainment to us kids as we were quite poor. One day we would come home and our console at the time had been sold. There was an upside to this; Every few months we'd get a new 2nd hand console with new games to play. One day, we came home and we finally had another console again but this time something was different. One of the games was gold.
That was my first encounter with this incredible game. I remember being on the title screen, just sitting and listening to the beautiful music. Feeling sad, but somehow in a good way. I remember repeatedly getting lost in the forest. I remember being amazed that the game transitioned to night, but then getting shivers with fright because now I was being hunted by ghosts and skeletons. I remember being stumped for months before figuring out I had to give the giant fish another fish to eat. I remember knowing that this game was unlike any other I had ever played and being unbelievably excited to play it coming home from school. But I also remember feeling sad often while playing it, and not quite knowing why.
This video explains that. The subtext in this game is so fully realised in the world that it influences its environment so much that even a 9 year old boy could pick it up. It also explains in part why the game has so many emotions tied to it for me even 20 years later.
I've always known this game was a masterpiece and I've also realised it holds that status for reasons I didn't know. This video explains what I have felt ever since I first played this game.
Thank you to the creators of this game, and thank you for making this video.
It is 4 years later and I still look back every now and then hoping he has released the next one. This video is just that good.
The Hyrules Journal is where he's at
Where is that intro from? Did he make it or is it from a trailer
I'm pretty sure he made it
I don’t think anyone has given such a view into the heart behind the meaning of OOT before. When you have the ability to take a game that has been around for so long, and make people walk away with a NEW appreciation to the story, that’s an accomplishment that cannot be praised enough.
There is no greater love letter to a story, than to re-inspire peoples love for it. You nailed it!
Well said!
This kind of analysis is some of the hardest analysis to do, too. Subtext is incredibly difficult to filter into a comprehensive and coherent explanation because 99% of subtext is only picked up on subconsciously. It takes the finest-toothed comb to pull this much meaning and understanding out of such a deeply complex and profound story as this.
An absolutely astounding, sincere job-well-done to Good Blood here.
@@KarianDespri
Plot twist
At Nintendo HQ:
Miyamoto: "wow these guys have some of the greatest imaginations i've ever seen"
No joke, this is one of the most well put-together videos I have seen in quite some time. 10/10.
"time", heh
had the same exact thought when i finished. well researched and executed super solidly.
Completely agree. Superb video. Made me feel all emotional listening to it even though I've never played the game
"no joke" why would that be a joke otherwise?
Look the channel "Cracking the code" by Troy Grady
This is probably my favorite video on CZcams. I've come back to rewatch it I don't know how many times now.
This video perfectly explains why The Hero of Time is my favorite incarnation of Link and why Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask are my favorite games of all time. Link is often described by people, even by the developers, as being a blank slated character, but I think every incarnation of Link has their own personality and character. They're just presented in different ways, often through stoicism and you have to look for it. I think Ocarina of Time in tandem with Majora's Mask and Twilight Princess present The Hero of Time as a very deep and compelling character and it makes it interesting to see his journey as a person unfold. He's a broken man burdened with responsibilities out of his control, and he goes on journeys throughout his life to learn to accept his role as an adult but as Twilight Princess shows, he never truly finds peace in his life. Majora's Mask could arguably be a metaphorical representation of his state of mind after the events of Ocarina of Time as he learns to accept this new role in adulthood.
The poetic tragedy that Link tried to return to Kokiri forest and became a Stalfos is stunning.
Fck i was trying to not think about it :/ even after saving two realms he still couldn’t get over what he lost and ended becoming an undead... yeah, i feel great now ;-;
It works with Majoras Mask grief theory as well. Each area in that game features some aspect of loss. They match up with the Kubler-Ross model of grief, as when somebody is confronted with death, they go through five distinct emotional phases. When Link returned to Kokiri forest he might've died and become a Stalfos, but we were shown Link's death, in the form of Majoras Mask.
@@Cooil1 Link being dead in MM has long been debunked.
czcams.com/video/LxTf5hjvOCU/video.html
But it is in the lost woods that link finds the skull kid and termina
And? He was an adult psychologically, not physically; in body, he was a child again. We do not know how long the process to become a Stalfos/skull kid takes, either, or how long Link had already been in there.
Besides, it has already been confirmed by Nintendo that Link came back after MM and reached physical adulthood since he had to have had children for the TP Link to be his descendant.
I have a genuine emotional attachment to this game. When I put the cartridge in my n64, in my head it’s similar to when Link places the Master Sword back in its pedestal. And I’m transported back to my childhood. Then when I take it out. It’s back to adulthood 😭
I can't believe I never put that together.
sheepshark no shit 🤯😭
the ocarina songs all make me cry.
That’s beautifully said
But if you put it this way Link's childhood was taken away. The opposite of what we had we when we played the Ocarina of Time as children. Child Link at 7 years old had to grow up fast to set out to his adventure and didn't have time to play. He served and put others people's needs and happiness before his. You could say that as adult Link he was experiencing to be a child something that was taken away because you see him playing mini games and breaking jars and collecting masks :,)
There is a detail that I always thought about: that Link in the Kokiri Village is also an unnatural element placed there by a violent event. The fact that Link doesn't have a fairy and even the loneliness you can appreciate when the game presents us to him at the initial top view of him sobbing when he sleeps at his room. Saria's loves and Miko's envy' towards him are also elements that make Link at the same time special but also impossible: chosen by the Deku tree for not being a Kokiri, the same reason why he will never be able to be with Saria. As time travel itself he is the impossible hero, a hero that when he was an adult was a child inside to defeat the greatest evil and when he was a child, didn't even have a childhood?
Damn this really felt like a full on movie, full of emotion, and powerful message
This is just an outstanding piece of work.
The greatest of Ganondorf's crimes: he stole Link's childhood.
The themes of OoT are all the more poignant if it played a large part of your own childhood. You can never get back the exact same feeling you had when you first played through it. You can now only see it through experienced eyes, not the eyes of innocence.
Are you sure turning a whole city into mindless zombies isn't worse than stealing a dude's childhood?
Well he was able to revive it back. As for him returning to a child yet his childhood was lost and unchanged, being unable to go back to the Kokiri and live how you did before everything happened. That’s upsetting you know.
I think this really speaks to those of us that got to experience this as children. I mean look at it now, we're adults and still talking about how this game shaped us as humans. OoT perfectly mirrors our own maturity into adulthood, especially given that we are the generation that bridged such massive leaps in technology. A generation, nostalgic for the simplicity of our childhood and moving ever forward into the complexities of the future. As was said in this video, time was always the enemy.
@@ultimomos5918 This is also part of why people in retrospect doesn't seem to fully get why OOT was such a good game. People get hung up on the technical flaws, and the bad designs of certain aspects of the game. Yeah, it wasn't a technical masterpiece, and it sure wasn't the "best of all time" gameplay design, but it had a lot more behind it than that.
Today's AAA mentality of "pretty and functional" isn't what we used to focus on when playing games as kids. It has warped what made these games so amazing, partly by the direction the game design has gone, and partly because we simply can't view games the same way we did when we were 10.
Time is indeed very cruel.
Tom Osborne I thinking killing the town of hyrule was worse
You could also make the case that the kami are rewarding Link during the child period. The boomerang, the slingshot, even the bombs to an extent (stuff like child friendly explosives such as firecrackers) are all things they give Link as thanks for his attempts at purification. The kami, arming a child with the only tools he'd understand and be able to use efficiently. Each of the weapons carry whimsical significance: Link shoots a massive spider in the eye with deku nuts, throws explosives into a massive lizard's gullet, and severs a parasite's support with a boomerang. This all sounds very much like solutions to a problem in a children's adventure book.
Then you get to the adult bit and that's just completely gone. You're not shooting nuts, you're shooting lethal arrows at Phantom Ganon. You're smashing a dragon in the head with an extremely heavy hammer. You're pulling a cell out of its liquid container and exposing it to harmful air so you can kill it. You use the lens of truth to expose a demon, and you deflect fire and ice to burn two crones. The methods by which Link deals with the bosses just completely abandon that playful nature.
It's the action itself that is humorous, though. King Dodongo doesn't explode into pieces, he makes a pretty silly burping noise like he ate too much. The child bosses are all portrayed more comically, like it's an actual game that a child is playing, or their own imagination running rampant.
Bombs are one of the weapons Link is able to use as an adult, though..
And still uses, not for main bosses, but to an extent still needs to progress.
What do you make of that?
Good point!
Also those witches supposedly raised ganondorf: you killed his mothers and they are the only nonmonsters besides ganondorf you cut down. But ganon arose and you had to kill him (again), but the burden is lessened slightly because he no longer resembles a man.
interesting
Good lord.. This hit me hard. I liked learning about Shinto and it's influences in the game but the fact that Ganondorfs title of King of Thieves referring to his theft not just of the triforce of power but of Links childhood too really blew me away. I especially like the idea that Link is taking on Hyrules curse as he purifies the land, eventually losing everything and everyone. Fantastic video.
This makes Majora's Mask all the more hauntingly terrible.
A child who lost the only friend he had left - who understood the pains he had to go through - embarks on a journey to find said friend, because essentially that is the only path forward for him. Only to be stranded in a different world that is facing an unavoidable apocalypse, after being attacked and robed of all that he had left. A world that has people who bear extreme resemblances to the people he left behind, serving as a reminder of all that he had lost. Which mean that either he saves this world from doom, or watches all his friends die. So he, yet again, embarks on a journey of sacrifice, living the same three days, over and over again, watching everybody die, going back in time to try again until he finally succeeds. And in the end, never did he find his friend, but he ended up being forgotten as if all that he went through never happened. Kid link is a tortured soul, no wonder he became a stalfos.
Depresses me because oot link is my favorite one I beat ocarina and Majora's mask at a young age I didn't understand why I was depressed seeing the end of both games
what if the story of majorers mask is nothing more than his psyche transition as he becomes a stalfos?
I feel like Majora's Mask is more of a parallel world where Link's world was tortured by what he lost in Ocarina. He wandered into the lost woods to find Navi, and became lost like everyone else. The world flipped, he was robbed, and weak, even losing his horse. Everyone around him represented his memories and freeing himself from the world literally crashing around him was the only way to prevent himself from being forever lost to the woods, but that meant he gave up finding Navi in the end. Then he went on to have a family, and probably died still with the regret that he was never able to keep anything he truly loved (As TP link is a descendant, he could not have just been lost forever in some purgatory of termina)
@@lonelymascot Dude, I never really considered that. Like he's slowly going insane, and Majora's Mask is the visual metaphor of the process.
@yungneil97 TP Link has been confirmed to be a descendant of OOT Link. Considering that he's still just a child in MM, not to mention that the Hero's Shade is clearly an adult (skeleton) it's unlikely that he died at the start of MM.
Recently I came across a fan theory online (I can't recall where exactly) that explained this by explaining the life cycle of fairies in greater detail.
Have you ever noticed that the bottled fairies that you use disappear right after they heal you? This is because of how fairy life cycles work: certain fairies are created by guardian spirits, such as the Great Fairies and the Deku Tree, to fulfill a specific purpose, such as healing weary travelers. Once that purpose if fulfilled, the fairy disappears.
When the Deku Tree addressed Navi at the beginning of the game, she had literally just been created, the blank screen representing her transition into being. The Deku Tree created her for the purpose of assisting Link in his quest, and when Link placed the Master Sword back into the pedestal at the end of the game, that purpose was completed.
That's why Navi flew out the window and left Link behind: she couldn't bear the thought of Link seeing her die.
I used to believe this, but now I think that the fairies return to the spot they were found. In BOTW, once you catch a fairy, you won't find another in that place until you have used some. Then, you come back later to find 1, maybe 2 fairies where there had once been 3, and see that you still have another.
Dirty Jams Got17, Intriguing cause we do find link "searching" for Navi in a wooded area.
She went into the light...like a spirit that no longer has any reason to linger among the living. Link was strong enough without her now. Only Epona - and by some extension Malon and Talon -- the Kokiri Sword, and the Ocarina of Time were the only things that survived from his childhood. The Ocarina of Time alone embodies his entire adventure through time, Kokiri Sword is a reminder where he grew up before it all started for him and possibly reminds him of both Navi and the Great Deku Tree, the two beings that basically raised him and helped him _Navigate_ through his journey of growing up. Epona resembles a sense of safety and companionship, of simpler times at Lon Lon Ranch with Malon and Talon, briefly recapturing his childhood before larger than life responsibilities demand him back.
Nick Kotowski omg.... like any backing facts for it.. but I love it.. goddamn that would be so freaking saaad
@@StatchanaReborn I think he's right about it, i just started playing majora's mask for the first time and it's what the game says link is searching for an invaluable friend and he's in the forest my first thought was he's looking for navi the little shit I never thought I could actually miss
This channel is absolutely incredible
Still to this day the best made CZcams documentary 🙌
The Title-Screen of OOT was always meant to set the mood for the game’s loneliness theme.
I mean, he *is* riding around Hyrule Field all alone while nostalgic semi-melancholy music plays in the background.
That music, every I time I hear it, I am moved to tears. I've purchased and keep working on perfecting playing that song on the Ocarina. It just... It really perfectly fits the mood for the game.
Do you remember how you played this game as a child? And now you're 35 years old, still roaming Hyrule in the search for that childhood that is gone as if you were asleep for years. The childhhod vs adulthood thread is not only one of the game. It's one that applies to us all, in real life. Back then, we were just playing. Now we look back onto this with the same loss that Link does.
The Hero of Time is my hero.
This is a great insight. I wish it was in the video too.
Omg. That really hurt. Yes. Im 30 years old and I still play OoT from time to time just to kinda remember what it felt like to be a 7 year old kid again. It’s like a dream long-forgotten …
I just finished playing the game again in the form of a Randomizer, which was incredibly fun and jovial. But, at the conclusion of the game, I came to the exact same conclusion of feeling such a sense of loss! Obviously, I spiraled and that's how I've ended up here: being validated by videos and comments that let me know I'm not alone in both my journey and appreciation of the sheer beauty that envelops this experience. This video is a true masterpiece and has helped me make sense of all the raging emotions I've been feeling and the sense of sorrow I have had, I felt and had some of these ideas, but not in this form or clarity.
Yep. 34 years old and still playing this game, longing for those late 90s years when I was playing it for the first time. Really well said!
I come back to watch this at least once a month.
This is seriously the level of video this game deserves. It’s the greatest game of all time, the highest rated and most beloved . It was literally a cultural shift when it came out and set the foundation for all modern 3d action games……. It’s influence is truly astounding
The corruption is so bad in Link's adult world that it extends back in time. Originally, as a child, he can't enter the bottom of the well. It's only by time-traveling knowledge of the song of storms that he can enter this place. And his reward for undergoing that terrible ordeal as a child is the ability to "see the truth".
FUCK META MATE DAMN. NINTENDO.
@man with a username tHIS WHIte bitch being the worst. thing that ever happened. sorta. yah. to anyone. ilk.
Nice catch!
@man with a username I don't think that's a reach at all, I think that makes perfect sense
WHY WOULD YOU DO THIS TO ME???
That makes so much sense, and is so painful.
I know this video is over a year old, but I just wanted to take a moment to say how not only does this video show just how amazing of a story Ocarina of Time has, but it also makes Majora's Mask an even better game.
How does Majora's Mask begin? Link looking for Navi, trying to regain his lost childhood. What are the main aspects of Majora's Mask? Masks (obviously) and grief. There's been all sorts of videos talking about how the five regions represent the stages of grief (denial, anger, bargaining, depression, acceptance), and it's that way INTENTIONALLY, because these are the feelings going through Link's head.
When it comes to masks, this game makes it very clear that masks are tied with grief. Whenever link receives a mask in game, it is because he helps someone overcome their grief (the giving of the mask to Link reinforcing the idea of Link taking sorrow from others and placing it on himself). The Song of Healing is the greatest example. In playing the song, Link removes all the sorrow and grief that the person felt and forms a mask from it.
THAT'S why it hurts so much to put it on, because when he does, he relives all the sorrow and regret the original person felt. And this idea of masks and sorrow goes even deeper. What do masks do? They hide what lies beneath. Our desires, our fears, our vulnerabilities, all hidden behind a mask that, while bright and colorful, is filled with grief and regret. And no one represents this better than Link: a man in a child's body who had his childhood taken from him. He has the outward appearance of a strong young hero, while underneath lies a grief-ridden man yearning for his youth.
The question is, how does Link overcome this sorrow? Well, primarily by going through the five regions/stages (Clock Town being denial, the Swamp being anger, the Mountains bargaining, the Bay depression, and Ikana acceptance). But he also learns from the constant three day cycle. This is someone yearning for "the good old days" who is now forced to live the same three days over, and over, and over again.
It makes Link realize something: holding onto and regretting the past will get you nowhere in life. You have to let time pass, you have to see that dawn of a new day. You have to move on. And, moving back to the Song of Healing, how do you remove that guilt? By taking off the mask, by leaving it behind and moving on (just as the spirits did). And that's what Link does.
That's why Majora inhabiting Skull Kid makes for such a great parallel: it represents Link's inability to let go of his childhood, and by defeating it, he let's go of all his grief, starting the "Dawn of a New Day". Link casts off his mask that had been grieving him for so long, and moves on with his life.
In the end credits, when we see him riding on Epona, he's not going INTO the Lost Woods, he's LEAVING it. He's stopped looking for Navi. He's letting go of the past and embracing a bright future. He has healed. Majora's Mask isn't a story about sorrow; it's a story about healing.
I do like your theory and it is incredibly well put together but link does become stalfo why I dont think we will ever know two things link could have died in the lost wood and this majoras mask could have been him accepting his death and letting go or your right in he let's goes of his past and venture home to hyrule but the lost wood was his only way back and his only last regret in life was not passing his skills in combat on and maybe having children which is why the two link are different in tp it was left so open ended they could make another game explaining what happen to link and kill wizard trying to revive Gannon or steal the triforce. Sorry for grammar and run on sentences I do apologize but I never cared for English as it would never make me money so I focus on things I was good at
@@codyfinchum890 Oot Link obv made it back, he wouldnt have had children had he died right after MM. Children become skull kids while adults became stalfos, and Link was still a kid before and after majoras mask. He returned, possibly married malon and had children, lived a steady life while working for the royal family and possibly adventured/mapped out the Hyrule we see in twilight princess and placed the howling stones everywhere. Hero's shade is a spectral ghost, not a stalfos. The armor we see on him could have been ceremonial armor in honor of his death as well
@@binusbechbips758 Isnt the Twilight princess link a descendent of the hero of time? If he married malon that would explain why twilight princess link is a farmer. That is all just speculation though. I really hope that the next zelda game after botw 2 takes place in between majoras mask and twilight princess and explains what the hero of time got up to and how he became the heros shade
@@windexman2280 it also explains why twilight princess link also knows eponas song.
@@windexman2280
Most definately!! They say Botw2 will have some Majora's mask vibes so I cant wait!! While I wish nintendo could give OOT Link a proper ending but I also wish that they won't, simply because he remains as one of the most enigmatic/mysterious Link (at least in my opinion) which makes fans to theorize what could've happened
Without a doubt that TP is OOT Link's blood descendant, I say that OOT Link may have married Malon (which the majority of people can agree on) because there's a still a chance that OOT Link couldve wound up with Zelda of his era. I like to think that he did end up with Zelda and some events happened after, which resulted in OOT Link's descendants splitting up from the royal family and settle very late in Ordon village, as only TP Link is the only one in the village that has the Hylian Ears. I could explain a lot more from my head cannon but I'll stop here :)
Last year I played ocarina of time again ten years after I played it for the first time.
One day you are 11 years old and the next you are 21 years old.
And despite the fact that I realized a lot of the subtext that the game expresses, I had never realized it to such a deep level with which you explain.
Your video is a jewel in this world of youtube. From narration, video editing and music.
Eternally grateful, one of my favorite videos.
Fuck this video makes me tear up every time I watch it. This is the best Zelda video ever uploaded and one of the greatest videos ever uploaded to CZcams
“In the end, Link is changed forever. A savior, banished from his childhood, destined to roam alone in a world that doesn’t remember him.”
This quote right here really tied it all together and broke my heart. This video is amazing, thank you, truly.
@Miles Doyle piss off preacher
@Miles Doyle mucho texto
@Miles Doyle go crusade elsewhere, clown.
Stop it.
No joke, that straight up made me cry.
I think most of us understood these themes subconsciously when playing OoT as a kid, and that is why it is the Zelda game most hold as most dear now that we are older. In many ways, we played a game of our life before it unfolded. Let us give thanks to the game's creators and continue to support them.
Yes
Yea
The thing that makes subtext, and any well-written stories in general, so profoundly interesting is specifically that: our subconscious picks up on these themes, these incredibly powerful and soul-resonating themes, and that's why they stick with us for so long. Even if we don't know WHY we love something so much, the fact that we DO means--almost every single time--that there is something truly special and personal written into the subtext of the story.
That's why things like Dark Souls, despite being almost entirely mystic-babble (as Arin Hanson would put it), are so profoundly captivating. All the theming is about sense of duty, responsibility, self-sacrifice, and trial-by-fire, which are all themes that resonate with almost every single human being on this planet. These subconscious queues are what make people fall so deeply in love with these stories, and more often than not, the best stories will only be picked up on subconsciously like these ones, unless the dialogue lampshades the themes for you but that usually takes away from the experience rather than adding to it and should only be done for comedy's sake (imo, generally speaking at least).
I did not decypher it nearly as much as this documentary does, I was *too* young...but I still hold it very fondly.
I definitely hooked onto the naturalistic parts of it but not the tragic heroism, great vid!
I thought I have seen it all. Excellent video essays from films, history, geopolitics, mystery, etc. But this is a Masterpiece. The writing, the sound design and editing. Too bad he is not dropping new videos.
I'm pretty sure I've already commented on here but every time I watch this video (which is every week or so) I'm simply blown away by it's quality. It makes me feel things in the best way possible.
I'll rank it as one of the best documentary videos I've ever seen on CZcams... It's that good.
@@JohnnySoCaldo you have any other recommendations ?
"The more Hyrule gains, the more Link loses." Hence, Majora's Mask is an exploration of depression.
Majora's Mask begins with Link looking for his Fairy, he is trying to find his childhood.
@@TrueMohax And having never found Navi/his lost childhood, he tries to return to his childhood home, Kokiri Forest, only to become the Hero’s Shade.
The dude just kinda made a masterpiece of a video then peace’d out
yeah, how come he just left right before he hit 100k subs
Right? I thought he had dozens of video essays, but no. He truly has quality over quantity
I wish CZcams would recommend this more.
Yeah
These are reuploads. There were three videos on ocarina of time by the same narrator It was a diff channel. This is the first 1.
Over the past few years I've come back to this video.
The editing is Hollywood tier
The script is amazing
The analysis is perfect
The ability the narrator has to pull you into his perception is memorizing...
This is, easily, one of the best videos on this platform.
26:10 the appearance of the low poly gerudo girl right after a literal Gordon with the word "sex" killed me
I can't be the only one who teared up around 29 minutes.
This video is incredible.
shadypenguinn you forgot your link to the video
I linked it for him in the comments section :D
@@Shorteagle thank you for that.
literally came to watch it because you said go watch it and that was saaaaaad
Amazing video glad you recommend it!!
This video is absolutely incredible and I’ll probably rewatch it multiple times a year, but there are a few tiny details I was surprised went unmentioned in the final story progression line, and I wanted to get your take on them here.
First, I love how, when you get the Goron Ruby and Zora Sapphire, the text directly comments on how you (Link), as a child, don’t understand more adult matters. “You don’t know what Darunia means by ‘sworn brothers’ but you got the Goron Ruby!” “You don’t know what Ruto means by ‘her greatest possession’ but you got the Zora Sapphire!” In this way the text itself is clueing you in to how Link’s mind is working at this point in the story.
And second, I think Link the Goron is an amazing but small plot point. Not only is it rather heartbreaking to see that Darunia named his son after you and you (unintentionally) doomed the Goron race and never visited for all those years, but it’s also a neat look back at the world Link left behind. Here, Link, as an adult, must comfort a crying child that shares his name and very clearly represents who he used to be, and who he still wishes he was. He’s not just comforting a kid that happens to share his name, he’s literally trying to comfort himself. His inner child. He most likely wishes he could cry and let someone save the day as well, but he is now the adult in the situation and so the job falls to him.
Anyway, amazing video. I just wanted to bring these up to get your take.
The only reason I didn't include that stuff is because I didn't even notice them! wow man they are some great observations. I wish I put them in!
Good Blood oh wow thank you so much! I really, really like this video. I’m excited for the others you will end up doing.
skaionex what I’m saying is the experiences Link goes through are what ages him mentally. He’s basically forced to grow up quickly due to the prophecy he’s thrust into, and the run-in to a child with his name, who he has to comfort in order to move forward in his quest, is a big moment in regards to that. It may be the first time it really hit him. He may still be a kid in an adult’s body, but to those outside and in order to complete his quest, he is now an adult.
@@skaionex I think it is important to consider that the growing up story is presented in a metaphorical way. As a true 'legend' -or myth-, the story speaks through symbols and figures rather than having a realistic approach. In that case, the adulthood that Link has to embody carries within all of its significants.
I HATE THAT THIS DOESN'T HAVE MORE VIEWS
I felt all of this as I was playing it when I was a child myself, and never fully understood those feelings. The tragedy of it all, the tragedy of growing up. I said it at the time, and I ll say it now as a man, it is the greatest game ever made. I've been thinking about this game a lot lately because I've finally come to realize I've experienced all of these things myself in the last few years. I sacrificed my friends to start a family. I sacrificed all of my personal time to care for them. I've grown up. And where does that leave me? The flow of time is always cruel.
I feel this as a single man, but for the opposite reasoning. All of my friends started families meanwhile I moved away for work during Covid so it was like pausing my life. It's like we are now in completely separate stages of life despite being the same ages.
The big thing in this video that got to me was remembering the Kokiri wondering where their friend went to. I may have been the one to leave but I'm basically starting over life in a similar place at 27 I was at 22, over the last few years I've lost contact with almost all of them so it's me as the Kokiri wondering where all my Links went to
@@hcook1023 so true, I totally get it. It's not easy living in such a discombobulated world. Even family eventually fade gently out the picture and into the back ground. Wondering what is happening to all my friends, probably more melancholy than joyous. But it's better to try to keep in touch with those that you're truly in love with. As this life is long and great friendships don't just grow on trees. Trying to keep a romantic relationship but at the same time wondering where I would be if I was nomadic like Link. It's all too much and bitter sweet. ❤
Man, this video is done incredibly well. So well written and presented. entertaining, thought provoking and profound. I had no idea there was that much depth in Zelda Ocarina of Time. Returning to Innocence and childhood can defeat the evils of manhood/adulthood. No wonder Jesus said to become like a little child. Love the shintoism and Princess Mononoke references too. Nature.
incredible.
Oh yay I'm glad you showed up.
@@GoodBloodGames Found this video randomly on my feed...
Just wow.
Incredible audio tone and script.
2:00 minutes in and i can FEEL the purityhis words.
Never seen or heard of this channel .and im persistent loz and general youtube viewer.
Just wanted to say thank you .
(I know i already made my own comment. I just dont know how to tag a user.)
Love you you @Zeltik
See.. -_-
Okay it's good if the king of zelda videos is here
Damn, ZELTIC is here?!
I’ve watched this video over 5 times now, and every time I’m jaw dropped at how artistic and creative the entirety of everything is. What wonderful editing, insight, and creativity. Thank you. This is what CZcams exist for.
My third time watching it. So good.
Nicks Kinda Neat man same here sometimes I’ll even put it on when I’m going to sleep so my imagination can run with it
This is the kind of thing I always want to say, but am to amazed to find the words
Same here.. I just come back to this from time to time.
This kind of job he did here!?! only with true love you have power to go with discipline.... but the true history of mankind....before Egypt pyramids gisa sphinx etc...deserves this kind of purity/love
"The saddest Zelda game no one noticed" is a very appropriate title. Nobody realized the sheer brilliance of these three simultaneous plotlines, that have now been captured perfectly in this video. I am absolutely blown away.
I think it's wrong. All these years I remembered it's story as one of the saddest , darkest games of alll time. The change when Link turns to adult link shows this.
The hero of time has such a heartbreaking and depressing story. He’s easily one of, if not the greatest Link of all time.
Actually crying. This game established my childhood. You honestly put all those things I felt into words which I didn’t think possible. OOT is and will always be the greatest game I’ve ever played. It really is heartbreaking though. Just one of them things
Amen
I was only 9 or 10 when this game came out I didn't understand this game much. Now as a adult I understand it now.
Couldn't have said it better myself. Both by you and the video. Amen
This is, by far, the best produced documentary about a game I've ever seen. Specially about a game I love with all my heart. This is a masterpiece.
I never felt so sad and empty than after finishing this game as a young teen. The feeling of wandering in a empty world hit me hard sometimes.
4 years later and I just now found this. This is extremely well done. Good work !
And yet, somehow Malon got a cow into Link's home in Kokiri Woods...
Frankie Bedek I love how that's where your mind goes first lmao. So true though.
I wonder, did that poor cow turn into a Cow-Stalfos?
There seem to be some leeway to this, as in you can only stay for a limited time. I assume there is trade going on with the Kokiris. Also, only adults turn to Stalfoss, children become Skullkids.
@@ElectricPopTart18 A Cowfos?
@@FluffyBunniesOnFire That, I'm sure that the Deku Tree sensed the distressed mother who needed help and probably guided her through somehow. Now, I'm not sure the Deku Tree would've done that for just anyone who needed help, but I'm sure he at least knew the importance of the child she was carrying.
When you realize the reason the Hero of Time became a Stalfos is that, at some point, he tried to go home....
Yep, that was my thought too.. 😩
This gives more credence to the idea that majora’s mask is a story about link accepting his death.
@@wish7540 yo that just made me more depressed cause it makes sense 😭
Zach Hedeen
Except for the fact that he didn’t become a stalfos.
He isn't a Stalfos, he's a Spirit, a SHADE.
I'm not crying.... you're crying.
I always wanted to come back to hyrule after you shave it. To see it's purified. But that's the thing. You've grown up. And you can't go back
The part about Navi leaving Link's side as a symbol of abandoning childhood always gives me Goosebumps and an overwhelming sense of sadness
Me too it was off.
I guess I wanted to believe young Link would be fine but the fairy flying off and not seeing him again in kokiri made me wonder.
"I think that inside every adult is the heart of a child. We just gradually convince ourselves that we have to act more like adults." - Shigeru Miyamoto
This has to be my favorite quote about life I've ever been blessed with.
I have watched hundreds of videos about the Legend of Zelda, and have been a fan of the series since the very beginning when I was a kid in the '80s. To say that this is one of the very best that I've ever seen, would be a gross understatement. I cannot thank you enough for this level of insight - what a magnificent bit of writing and thought. You have most definitely earned a subscriber!
i come back to this regularly, and every time i have tears in my eyes when the music combines
at the end. and even during the video there is so many sections where im very emotional.
This might be the best edited video I’ve ever seen in 10 years actively watching YT
That moment when you finally realize someone else knows the real ending of Ocarina of Time too. Truly the saddest ending of them all. I was blown away as a kid that Link was sent back with no one to remember him. This is the journey of all Heroes though. There are no medals... just sacrifices. ; (
"that no one remembered"
I just started weeping. Oh, Link....
This is why Hero's Shade is my favourite. I wish I could give him a hug.
He'll always be my all time favorite Link. He's such a tragic one and deserves the fkn world gdi. Give Time a break sasdfsghj
@@Vickeey17 czcams.com/video/SpoOXVJPnIo/video.html
so CZcamsr major link is creating a story around the hero shade. got me in tears after a minute.
I love Hero's Shade too, but not because he had a hard life. You don't like someone because their life was crappy. The reason I love him as a character so much is because he still did the right thing regardless of how difficult his life was. He never whined, never complained, never lashed out at anybody, never blamed anybody for his problems. He just did the right thing, despite that no one remembered him for it. And he was happy. And to me, that's true kindness.
Well, he was remembered in the Wind Waker (adult timeline), only thing is that he never appeared again to confront evil once again.
I Absolutely love OOT, beautiful story, beautiful everything!!!
It’s 2024 and this video is still one of my favorite videos in this platform. Better yet, the best video, my favorite video. I could’ve watched countless hours of introspectives and retrospectives but remember no line at all. This video on the other hand is one that every now and then I remember.
This is my third rewatch, Thank you for everything
I am not sure if you realize what you just did here. Older or younger, you just managed to make hundreds of thousands of fans grab hands mentally and remember what it felt like to be playing thid amazong game after years. Not only that but we are actually proud of having enjoyed this piece of art thanks to the video you made.
Congrats, you have just proven that certain video games are like hard drives of our childhood. They contain the memories of what it meant to be playing it and in the meanwhile having nothing else in the world than that feeling.
Thank you friend.
well said. this game was the best part of the times where nothing else mattered.
First 3D game I ever saw/played. It blew my freaking 7 year old mind.
😎
At the end : "...and what might be his greatest crime of all.."
Me: No! Don't say it!
"..Link's Childhood..."
Me: *literally starts crying*
the animation of Navi going away at that line was the cherry on top that absolutely cut to my core.
Childhood is either grown out of or taken sadly
This world values children, not childhood
wow, I didn't expect to be so moved so much by a video on a videogame, its heart-breaking that not only in OOT Link being forgotten in his world, but also overlooked in ours. He truly is the most unnoticed selfless hero of all time...Through his childhood, adulthood and depression timelines there is no one that understands links pain and regret. Causing him to lose himself in a hopeless act to regain his lost childhood.
I cannot believe how sad his story is, and how it makes me wish i spent my time better, I think we all can understand his regret now, something I think none of us want to wish on anyone.
Thank you, for bringing Link's ultimate sacrifice to light. This broke me.
one visual event that really hit me in the video game, that also hit me in real life. was when adult link went back to the kokiri village and every thing was so small compare to when he was kid and everyone didn't know who he was.
going back to my old childhood, i saw my old house, church, park, market, etc. so small and different, i didn't recognize anyone anymore.
time passes as so do the people, places and memories. which is a very sad but nostalgic feeling.