Inside The Score - The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask - Opening

The cycle begins

Aimless confusion is the name of the game here.

For a story about a cycle it is fitting that the piece that opens the curtain is also the one that closes it at the end. As if the hero never left this state of affairs.

At the end of Ocarina of Time, Link is sent to a place he does not belong anymore: his own time. After growing up through the five temples of Hyrule and defeating the King of Evil himself, he is back to a child body; a child who’s is no longer part of the Kokiri tribe. Left without most of the people he became friends with, and robbed of his identity as the hero of legend. The stories of his deeds being told never to reach his ears. Indeed, Link has met with a terrible fate and only a personal journey will heal him. He has no one to guide him

It is in this state of mind we find the hero at the very beginning; lost, with no direction, looking for the only creature that could provide navigation for him. Soon, he will cross paths with his mirror self. Another child who was robbed of his own identity by a dangerous artifact. Unlike Link, this imp has two guides of his own, who have quite the contrasting personalities, their names are a play on the word Tattletale and they actually talk like tinker bells since apparently the real dialogue of the previous companion was too annoying. These two are the first ones to spot Link and alert the skull kid, the fond of masks villain of this adventure, of his presence; when we first met him he wanted to get a mask that made hi look more imposing, it seems he got his wish. This is an encounter that will lead Link literally down the rabbit hole.

Musical Analysis

Structure: Section 1 / Section 2 / Section 3

Time Signature: 4/4, 3/4, 5/4, 7/4

Tempo: 67

Melodic and Harmonic Profiles: Bb Diminished; Gb Diminished; D Diminished; D Mixolydian; G Phrygian Major G Mixolydian; D Whole Tone; B Diminished

In yet another rare opportunity to hear Kondo’s film scoring prowess, the stunning intro also separates itself almost immediately from Ocarina of Time. The very first chord movement we hear being an E to Bb chord, two chords a tritone apart—a movement that is seldom found on the massive score of its predecessor— This chord transition being more associated with Danny Elfman and his darker scores for Batman and other Tim Burton films than with Koji Kondo. Whimsically dark would be the appropriate term for a [ I- Vb ] harmony movement; alien to most of the scales we are used to.

Full of mystery and suspense, just like the Lost Woods where fairies and skull kids inhabit, the score throws a whirlwind of angular chords that seem to be as lost from a tonal center as Link is himself—the time signature not being that far back in the elusive department!—All major chords played in inversion, supported by the upper strings maintaining a pedal note on B natural. The full progression of the intro being:

E – Bb – E – Bb – F# – A – F

D – Am – D – Am – D

phew! So yeah, in short, the level of complexity is already up a notch from Ocarina of Time. The D to Am vamp is the sacred Dorian spirit taking over.

The harp allows us to hear what is happening on the scene, Its delicate tones imitating the fluttering of the wings coming from this mysterious pair of fairies observing Link.

The confusion doesn’t stop there, with the cue seemingly repeating the progression but deviating and finding itself at other locations:

[ E – Bb – E – Bb – F# – A – F ] – Ab – Eb – G – Dm

Yep, we are practically doing circles here in these woods. These are the Lost Woods indeed, in a parallel world where they receive a more standard, less jolly cue. The Dorian vamp would be now in Dm to G.

After this, the music shifts to follow the action, descending to signal danger moments before the fairies attack and leave Link unconscious:

Dsus2 (b5) – D – Am are the three chords before the music shifts to mickey mousing the fairies’ attack and sounding the failure that represents Link getting knocked out. appropriately using a whole tone scale that represents dizziness.

The first part of the song ends and, as we see on screen the titular Majora and its skull kid puppet materialize, the Chinese gongs coming directly from the Peking opera accompany its introduction, just like in the real deal. This Chinese influence will accompany the character throughout the game, masks being a very important part of the Far East drama and opera scenes. The accelerando rhythm having an emotional significance and resonance for East Asians in the same way harmony progressions have codified certain emotions in the West. The instruments follow the increasing madness of the percussion, the ascending brass against the descending bass devolving into a deafening dissonance up to the climax of seeing the antagonist fully formed on the screen for the first time.

The piece ending on a unearthly Bm 9/#11 chord is the final touch that means this is no normal creature we are dealing with this time around; a totally unpredictable evil that just means havoc and destruction, not any particular objective in mind. Ganondorf was cunning and driven by power. Majora simply wants to harm for fun. Was this move premeditated? Is this just a game for the skull kid? The unpredictability of this character might make him an infinitely more dangerous foe.