The Real World Inspirations Behind the Design and Music of Woodfall Temple in Majora's Mask
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- čas přidán 11. 07. 2024
- Woodfall Temple, while somewhat simple in layout compared to other Zelda Dungeons, has an incredible amount of thought put into its design and music. It draws on many influences from Aztec and Mayan cultures and even the boss, Odolwa, and the woodfall temple music, does as well. Today, I'll break down the specifics on each of these influences and talk about how Koji Kondo might have been inspired to create the Woodfall Temple Music as well.
Music analysis starts at 9:00
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Some N64 footage sourced from Zor Zelda's walkthrough: • Zelda Majora's Mask 10...
3DS version footage sourced from Zelda Master's walkthrough: • The Legend of Zelda: M...
Art used in thumbnail and video by Jake Opp: www.artstation.com/artwork/le...
Here's a great supplementary piece I recommend reading about design choices in Woodfall Temple: www.architectureofzelda.com/w...
#majorasmask #woodfalltemple #woodfalltemplemusic - Hry
What do you think about Woodfall Temple's Theme? Tell us down below!
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"the 3DS remake added a giant eyeball. WWHHHYYYYY"
SUBSCRIBED.
No lie, when odalwa was saying come burn, I actually thought he was saying "boy must die". I was like, ok, thats not friendly
“Boy must die” is so good 😂
@@SaveDataTeam the first time I ever fought this boss as a kid. I heard him chanting, I didn't make out any of those. But that one, all I heard was, "boy must die" thats all I kept hearing. Ah, memories :)
I heard it like "hütt hadai" figured it was just gibberish
I Really honestly Think he’s just chanting his own name, “Odol-wa, Odol-wa”
I always thought he was saying F*CK MY LIFE!!! 😁
Can’t wait for you to cover Stone Tower Temple
It’s one of my favorites, so I’m excited to get there too!
Stone Tower Temple is Phallic Tower of Babel
@@SaveDataTeam read my comment
@@stevechrollo8074 what is your stand on that
Hahaha, I read it. I would argue most towers have some sense of “phallicness” but I def feel you with Stone Tower.
Was totally not expecting THAT noise to come out of the Death Whistle.
"Hey, Qeatsl! What'cha got there?"
"I made a whistle!"
"Oh! That's ni-"
"That screams like the damned when you blow in it!"
It’s absolutely wild. 😅
Imagine an army of cannibalistic warriors hunting you in the night blowing hundreds of them at the same time.
Omg, I'm shocked on the research department. I'm mexican, from Veracruz. I've visited the mayan and aztec temple, my town has a anthropology museum and I feel like You and I have experienced the same acculturation.
So, I'm sorry for being this late but I hope you keep doing the amazing work that you do.
This means the world to me!! I always try to make sure I don’t overstep or misspeak on another culture! I’m glad it came across as correct! 😁
What museum You talking? I'm from Oaxaca and i would like to visit it sometime :)
@@SaveDataTeam yeah you really did your research, and even said the words correctly, kinda cool
Fun fact in Veracruz is possible that you encounter a giant Olmec head like nothing
@@SaveDataTeam This was some amazing research indeed! Just one thing I'd like to point out: The Teotihuacan site you showed several times while talking about the Aztecs/Mexicas and the Mayans actually belongs to neither. While it's rather close to Tenochtitlan (the Mexica capital city that is now most of the center-north of Mexico City) it belongs to a more ancient civilisation of which there is practically no record other than whatever little they've managed to gather from the site itself, in fact the word "Teotihuacan" vaguely translates into "This was already here" in the Mexica language Náhuatl. The Sun and Moon temples and many of the smaller buildings found in Teotihuacan *are* stepped pyramids or ziggurats like you said so that is accurate :D
That’s really cool! I didn’t know that Teotihuacan was already there before! I feel like so much of ancient mesoamerican cultures are just boiled down to Mayans and Aztecs and what happened after the Spanish arrived 😩
Shaman:
"Best I can do is Beetle, sorry, if he stays a human he's boned."
Odolwa sounds like he’s chanting his name in the first chant
Odolwa confirmed as a Pokémon
See that's what I always thought too! Even hearing it again in this video it sounds like he's saying his name but drawn out (oo-dal-WA)
I hear "ee yaa HUH"
am i the only one that hears “ eeya hoi”?
I always thought he was saying "We shall fight!"
I'm mexican and I'm impressed at how much research Nintendo had with the Mesoamerican themes. Heck, I didn't even know about many of these instruments as we're mostly taught about Mesoamerican history through text books and museums, you're lucky if you get to book a trip to visit the Aztec and Mayan pyramids.
My take on Odolwa's armaments: The Mesoamerican civilizations didn't have access to metal in the same way Europe did, and that shaped much of their weaponry. However, Termina is more European in it's metal-richness (see the abundance of swords, metal armour, etc.) Thus, the Deku people of Termina, while they have the culture of Mesoamerica, have access to metal that the actual Mesoamericans didn't. So Odolwa's weapons make more sense in that context.
This is a pretty fair assessment!
Your name my god
Odolwa’s weapon and shield seem fitting for some african warriors, and considering some of the mentioned sound clips used were african sound samples, it seems safe to say there was some african influence to his design.
100% agreed. This music analysis is great, though I do in fact believe that it also has substantial African elements as well as the Mesoamerican. Lovely mix :)
My mother always mentioned that the vocal samples you hear in the track are very reminiscent of the sounds African people (specifically in the DRC as she was raised there) make at weddings.
Incidentally, the biome that the dungeon is located in seems very similar to the type of landscape you'd find in the jungles of Congo, which is almost a mix of a swamp and a jungle.
Well, you know odolwa is talking in maya, but yeah the mask is more african
@@darkyu3229 No and the supposed translations of songs do not match what it sounds like he’s saying.
@@danieljliverslxxxix1164 what?, everybody knows odolwa speak mayan isnt a supposition, is a game so old
I always thought Odolwa just pronounced his own name during combat. It sounds like "Odaaalwa, Odaaalwa" to me.
Odolwa is a Pokémon confirmed.
Odalwa, I choose you!
I was just about to say like a pokemon
Lol this is what I always thought as well
Me too I always heard it as him calling his own name.
I have been binge-watching this Zelda dungeon series. It's really, really good. So glad I ran across this channel (...before it explodes in well deserved popularity).
Aw! Thank you very much! Glad you’re enjoying so far! 😅
Great to see you finally continue this series with Majora's Mask. Love how you don't just cover the temple theme song, but also go over the actual designs and historical references for each of the locations leading up to the temple's theme song design and what it was inspired by. Great video and looking forward to the rest of this series.
Thank you! Yeah the later videos in the ocarina series I got really into the design choices of the temple as well, and I think it’s going to work extremely well for this series too! Thanks for the support! 😄
Yeah it's awesome, but the silly asides really distract from that for me
Odolwa was one of my favorite bosses. His difficulty and complexity is in a bit of a sweet spot: As he mentions, Odolwa has no glaring, obvious weak spot or even an obvious opening. This makes him uncommon for a zelda boss, and absolutely _unique_ for a first boss. Instead, you're just supposed to _fight_ him, mano a mano. As a result, Odolwa sits in a peculiar difficulty window: He's harder than most for first timers, but becomes pretty easy once you know what you're doing. And Majoras Mask is unique among zelda games in that you're totally free to fight him as often as you want, so you can easily compare. Especially since you can come back and smack him with your fierce deity mask. And on top of that, he's got a pretty vibrant character: I rather like his design, but it's the combination of his appearance, dancing motions and chanting that really makes him unique. I can still hear his death wail like it was yesterday.
I heard Majora's Mask had a lot of African influences, particularly how masks work, though that's over the whole game and not in any specific area.
Yeah, they definitely pulled influences from all around the world and it's totally reasonable to believe they mixed some of the influences together.
Nuovo shlamonic, Nicholas Cage's acting rituals be like
Hi! I'm from Veracruz, México too. Here in my city there's an anthropology museum (Museo de Antropología de Xalapa, I think you can watch the exhibition online), and here are several Olmec heads! I don't think that room with the poisonous water is a reference to Tenochtitlan, but maybe the area where the temple is could be. Besides of that, here in México and other countries of South America there are swamps called "ciénegas".
Great video!!!
Gracias! That’s amazing that you have access to all that in your area! I have been dying to go to Mexico for years!
Ciénagas, más bien xd
Man, the editing on this is so good. I love the hilarious "what are you wearing" and "I'll have the ool".
And super interesting content, I wasn't aware of the cool Aztec Mayan influence.
To notch content as always.
Edit Ahaha awkbird 1 and 2!
Thank you!! I somehow feel more free to add jokes into these videos than my other video essays, so I’m glad people enjoy it! 😅
@@SaveDataTeamI have Majora’s Mask for the 3DS but I haven’t played it yet because I’m trying to beat Ganondorf in ocarina of time in the endgame.
Odolwa’s moving stance has a similar movement that maya and Aztec danzantes do!
the fact that the sounds tie in with the boss fight is genius koji what a legend
Song of healing makes me cry because of its bittersweet tone and the way it's used in the progression of the game
'could talk about the Song of Healing for literal hours' Oh, please do. :D I love this series, expanding it to ocarina songs would be lovely!
I have thought about this. Maybe I'll do a video covering several of them at a time.
Breaking it down like this, the temples of Termina, especially Woodfall, Snowhead, and Stone Tower, make me think there's a lot more to that world than what we see in the game. Woodfall references pre-Spanish Meso-American cultures and the boss is a tribal warrior, Snowhead's architecture is completely disconnected from that of the Gorons' but includes methods of traversal that they would have the easiest time using, and Stone Tower was built to mock the goddesses of Hyrule. While we experience all we really need to know just playing, the fact that humans and Deku apparently lived together in Aztec and Mayan style tribes once upon a time, the Gorons probably helped whoever built Snowhead, and the Kingdom of Ikana may have been much grander before its fall than the game lets on suggests that Termina is not some pre-death limbo state for Link to experience the stages of grief, but rather a fully real world with its own history and physical location factually parallel to Hyrule. And Great Bay Temple? I dunno.
My thoughts on the human influences in Woodfall Temple and Odalwa's human-but-slightly-off design is that, similar to how the Kokiri gradually morphed from humanoid faerie-children into small wood sprites, the Deku (at least in Termina) may have been more humanoid at one point in their history. Like, maybe it's just the limitations of the odler hardware, but Odalwa's skin always seemed sort of wood-like to me, idk
I genuinely lost it at 'Awkbird' 1 and 2, like that was so fucking funny to me
I love that they actually named them that lol.
17:02
Odolwa:I will scare that boy!
Player:Weird sounds lol.
The Teponaztli drum at 12:42 reminded me of the Lanayru Mining Facility track from Skyward Sword, just a slightly different instrument.
i'm from México and actually it was pretty amazing learning that the music for this temple was based on our culture; also, i really liked how you explained all of the instruments and their function. Amazing video :))
That's amazing! I'm glad you enjoyed! I've always been into Mexican culture (I'm semi-fluent in Spanish), but I didn't know as much about ancient Mesoamerican cultures until I did this video!
Oh this is great! Will you be covering Majora's theme and the bosses? Hoping we get a Ganondorf or Ghirahim video!
Yeah I think I’ll move through Majora’s dungeons and then maybe jump around to Twilight Princess, we’ll see! What would you like to see from a Ganondorf or Ghirahim video?
Just to clarify, i mean the boss themes, like Majora's Mask/Incarnation/Wrath
Like how Majora's Incarnation sings Death Mountain's dungeon theme when it's spinning.
@@SaveDataTeam Ganon's Castle (Hyrule castle mix) from Twilight Princess, Ganon's Tower from OOT, and maybe just Ghirahim's main theme or his second battle at the Fire Sanctuary
Ooh, that’s a good fact. I might go and run with this! 😅
@@SaveDataTeam Thanks, and yeah, it's a really cool but eerie easter egg
Why was youtube not showing me this series before now?
Haha, we really appreciate it! CZcams can be tough for smaller creators. Feel free to share our stuff if you enjoy! 😁
Odolwa is my favorite boss in Zelda, while I enjoy many other bosses, he stands out the most. He isn't some beast in monster or animal form, but a tribal warrior decked out in body paint with a sword, chanting and dancing.
One thing I noted from Odolwa's dancing, and this could just be coincidence, is that of the Ghost Dance. A dance performed by the northern tribes to oppose American expansionism. Odolwa could just be gathering spiritual strength to combat Link when he dances.
I thought that the temple theme also included those um... I dunno if maracca is the proper term, but basically a gourd of some kind filled with seeds to produce the scratchy sound that accompanies the drum beats.
You might be right. I didn’t talk about it, but a lot of the traditional mesoamerican musicians I watched wore bracelets that created the same effect, so that could totally be it. (I think I gave it up to the N64’s sound compression 😅)
I always felt that the Woodfall Temple’s theme sounded like someone was going to be sacrificed (yes, I know plot wise).
Woah... I'm from México and holy cow you know so much and researched about our culture that i'm shocked. Your vídeo adds a new perspective to the first temple of majoras mask. Keep up the excelent work!
Thank you very much! I'm glad you enjoyed! 😄
I love Native American cultures, and the analysis including many of the Aztec's instruments was an absolute delight
9:58 honestly deku people's heads look a lot like an udu
😅
Hehe
As a kid, even though I knew it's not what he was saying, I always heard Odolwa's chant as "Took my pie!".
Link is a filthy pie thief confirmed.
I was heard Odalwa saying "your gonna die"
Hey you know more about the Mayans and Aztecs than me, and I'm Mexican. Nice! I liked all your videos.
Haha, I appreciate it! 😅
Can't wait until to see Great Bay Temple and the sound is like.
I'm hoping to have it done within the month!
The drums in this temple music are fire! They make you dance like crazy!
It’s a certified bop
Darunia would be proud, certainly
the jug drum fits the "poison" vibe of the theme. Making you feel the swamp fumes pulsing from the toxic water of the temple.
Yup
Thank you for covering this game's music!!
Of course! This one is super nostalgic for me too, so I’m excited to get to the rest of the dungeons.
Majora's mask has my favourite zelda music. The music is so dark and beautiful, and so different from other zelda music.
Agreed!
6:16 I always thought that voice line was just Odalwa saying his own name
Odolwa is a pokemon confirmed.
How funny that this was recommended to me as I completed Shadow of the Tomb Raider today which is all about Aztecs and Maya. It also features teponaztli drums and the death flute. The in-game description of the latter says it might have been used to scare enemies, and also at rituals with human sacrifices because it sounds like people screaming in pain. I didn't expect to hear the actual sound of this after reading just the description...
It's also cool that the starting drumbeat has a very similar rhythm to the drums from the "Deku Palace" theme, which gives continuity between the two Deku areas
I've always thought of Odolwa saying "and I'll fight" this whole time.
Nicccce, maybe you can do TP? Or other series?
I’ll see how this series goes and then move from there. There are definitely a few temples I’d like to talk about in other games, so I might do that.
Awkbird 1 should be my code name at this point. Really interesting info on the samples involved and the different kinds of drums used especially!
Dude these videos are so well made and the research you put in is impressive! Thank you for taking the time to make these for some of my all time favorite games.
Glad you enjoy them! Thanks! 😅
Love ALL your videos!!!
Love the history and origins of everything Koji Kondo drew inspiration from when creating these songs!!
Musical Genius!!
As a kid the chanting of the boss in Woodfall Temple always freaked me out and to this day 20 plus years later, it is still super freaky in the best possible way! Love the vids! I’ve been binging all the Zelda content
I'm binging all these vids! You definitely did the research 😁 Can't wait to see more !
Hey man, I just discovered your channel and I love it ! I never thought I would be that interested in knowing the historical source behind the elements of games but here I am, watching you talking for several hours . Keep up the good work :)
Aw thank you so much! Glad you enjoy! 😄
Darunia would totally get down to the Woodfall temple music
Great editing, really enjoy watching your videos!
I love these videos. This temple definitely freaked me out as a kid. The art and music direction for this temple were perfect
Great video. This is all stuff I absorbed subconciously and really made the dungeon feel alive, but nice to see it fleshed out and explained, thankyou!
appreciate it! 😊
I’m excited for the series! Really enjoyed the Oot one.
Thank you very much! 😅
Hello, I'm commenting as I watch and I'm here to say THANK YOU, thank you so much for your extensive research. This video is so well put(like your others), and seeing my ancestor's rich culture being displayed in my absolute most favorite video game is so enlightening. By the way, your Nahuatl enunciation is pretty good! 😊
Haha, thank you!! I always try to be as accurate as I can on pronunciations as I can! 😅 This was a fun one to do!
Bro , this video was epic , I started this morning with shadow temple , now I’m here (after watching all the previous one ) and I notice how you went deeper and deeper with research I love it ! Thanks and keep doing the great job you’re doing 🙏🏼
Thank you so much! Glad you are enjoying this series!
Hugely inspiring. It's given me lots of avenues I want to study. I prefer these kinds of breakdowns versus the many all over the internet that break down the music simply from a theory perspective.
Breath of fresh air. Thanks dude.
The person who played the bongos on this song put in overtime!!! this is one if my favorite LoZ songs.
Great video! This temple and boss are some of my faves and the song is a definite bop lol. Overall it definitely feels strongly inspired by Aztec, Olmec, and Mayan peoples. I'd add the Taíno peoples of the Caribbean as well based on certain decorations (the curved symbols with dots being one of them.) We have maracas and a drum like the teponaztli called the mayohuacán, as well as ceremonial paint and some dancing similar to Odolwa's steps.
It always seemed to me Odolwa said "for Jedi!"
Hahaha, I can totally hear that 😅 Zelda takes place in a galaxy far, far away.
@@SaveDataTeam The Alien Invasion on the Ranch. Everything makes sense now
just discoverd your channel yesterday, thanks for this amazing and quality content !!!
Glad you enjoy it!
LOVE the lowkey history lesson in these videos. makes the game so much more interesting
I hope your channel blows up! I love this studf
Thanks! Feel free to share our videos, it really helps us out!
Woooww tus análisis son increíbles !!! Excelente trabajo!!!
Gracias! 😅
Dude the jeweled beetles are really interesting! Thanks for covering that, keep up the solid work👏👏
Thanks, glad you enjoyed!
Just discovered this channel and these awesome series. Thank you for quality content, hail from Brazil
obrigado!
We’ve Been waiting!
Haha, sorry! 😅 I’m gonna try and work in one of these every month to our production schedule, so it shouldn’t be too much longer before Snowhead!
That chanting, ugh it always creeped me out. This dungeon and Shadow temple music are so disturbing.
Nice info about the inspiration, I had no idea!
Awesome research. Love this small facts and I have´t played this game in a long time I want to listen to the score again. Such amazing atmosphere.
Im from Yucatan and I must say I’m impressed with your research! Congratulations ❤
Thank you very much! It means a lot! 😁
I'm glad i stumbled upon this channel. Good video man
Appreciate it!!
Aaaaaand you had to hit me with one of my favorite themes in mm at the end
This was fascinating! Looking forward to watching more!
Thank you so much! Glad you enjoyed 😃
@@SaveDataTeam no problem! I watched all your ocarina of time temple videos and so that’s why you came up in my recommended. It’s so interesting seeing how the Zelda team anchor their races and locations in real world cultures, makes them feel so authentic!
Yeah, I really like it! Part of me wishes they went harder with making the Deku people more mesoamerican based, but I’m excited to see what I can find out about the Gorons and Snowhead!
Fantastic content, really enjoy watching these
Glad you like them!
Absolutely loving all this series, wonderfu work and dedication, specially for us, music lovers!
Thank you! I’m glad you enjoyed! 😅
I did really like this temple with it's music. I agree with you on the killer drum beats bruh. Great video
Thanks for doing majora's mask music. I love your zelda content, I hope instead of just doing dungeons music you could some songs like the song of healing or majora's theme. Great video and I'm hyped for the rest of the series
I might do a general video on some of the songs. I’m not a huge music theory pro like someone like 8bit music theory, so I don’t know if I could do it as much justice, but I’ll maybe try after I finish these four dungeons!
@@SaveDataTeam can’t wait for the great bay and stone tower temple
@@SaveDataTeam saludos desde Mexico
The editing of this series just gets better and better! Not only informative, but with hilarious meme-quality humor.
Thank you! 😁
Some great content, you sir just earned another subscriber and can’t wait for the rest of the MM dungeon songs. I hope to see wind waker, twilight princess and pretty much all Zelda games 😌👏🏼👏🏼
I always adored this track and now I have an even greater appreciation for it
Greetings from Brazil! Your channel is awesome!!
obrigado!
great analysis! first video watched from you.. got yourself a new subscriber
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed!
Soooo happy CZcams recommended to me 😊 very informative and entertaining!!
Glad you enjoyed!
I'm not really into watching stuff in english even thought i know many words and stuff, but usually the people who made videos talks.. weird.. i want to congratulate you because you speak so clearly that is very easy to understand. 10/10
Thank you! 😅
Omg love your videos so far 😍
Thank you so much!
Bruh, this guy looks like he puts so much time and effort into his videos, he deserves way more than 10k subs
Thank you so much! CZcams can be tough for small creators, so feel free to share our stuff, it really makes all the difference! But either way, thank you for the kind comment! 😁
Your Channel is the best i see in years
Wow, thanks so much! That's really humbling!
Honestly would love to see some more zelda music analysis videos, especially and specifically the Deku palace theme. I LOVE THAT THEME
That’s so cool you mentioned the death whistle! I heard about those a few years ago and have one now.
Oh that’s rad!!
I really enjoy these deep looks into the Zelda music😍
As a Mexican i say you did your research also maybe he's saying head will ache
Just found and subbed to your channel. Loving the majora’s mask series you’ve done!!
Thanks! We also have a series on OoT’s dungeons you might enjoy and a bunch of other stuff as well 😁 Glad you found us!
i love this kinda of content. it mixes two of my nerdiest attributes 🥺
SICK!!! vid bro
YYYYYEEEAAAAAAHHHH!!!! love this game
Hey! I know I’m very late to this video series, but I have to compliment you on your knowledge and research you’ve done on Mesoamerican cultures. Also, your pronunciation on the words are great! (I speak Nahuatl and love the cultures of Mesoamerica) Overall, great video and great series!
Thank you!! I try my best with pronunciation 😅