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

Dead Mountain

Another land corrupted by the evil mask, another version of the corrupted Majora’s theme, of course made snowy to fit the theme of the level. An opportunity to hear the same track arranged in different configurations of instruments Banjo-Kazooie style. It is just a matter of painting with the colors of the freezing climate and bring back the lead from the tiny ice world on Ocarina of Time.

The Mountain Village situated in the Snowhead region is the land of the Goron; since everything in Termina is twisted, we find them on an opposite scenario, their opposite element. A perpetual winter setting that the Gorons will not withstand much longer.

Naturally, for the ice level of Majora’s Mask, Kondo brings back the full orchestra from the Ice Cavern in the previous game; well, that is, the only two “instruments” used there: the fantasia chimes sounding as icy as ever and the sound of the strong wind. The remaining instruments added here are only used to enhance these two sounds and were probably selected by how nice they fit and how they complement the fantasia synth and the wind.

Musical Analysis

Structure: Section 0 / Section 1 / Section 2

Time Signature: 4/4

Tempo: 64 (40 Section 0)

Melodic and Harmonic Profiles: D Whole Tone; D Diminished (Section 1) A Phrygian Major; A Harmonic Minor; A Chromatic (Section 2)

Unlike on the Ice Cavern, here the wind sound is used in a more manic fashion, as if the mountain is truly angry; unpredictable. It is also reflecting the multiple altitudes one may encounter when exploring the Snowhead land. So it is a way more complicated pattern than on the Ice Cavern; the range covers almost an octave, sometimes combining the highs and lows to make the wind feel more powerful.

Just like the trippy dulcimer from Woodfall, the fantasia chimes take the lead with an exaggerated amount of vibrato applied in order to make the theme feel dizzy and otherworldly; definitively corrupted. The female choirs that here replace the strings from the swamp are probably meant to represent echoes of the mountain or from mountain spirits.

Surprisingly, just like the fantasia chimes, the other instruments are fundamentally electronic in nature, chosen for their texture qualities and the way they mix in the track in order to sound icy and inorganic; life can not thrive here after all. The bass of this track is a sample of an electric guitar played with a palm mute technique whereas a performer uses the hand to soften the attack of a note and alter its timbre; by playing on such a tower register it sounds more like a baritone or bass guitar. There is also the classic Fender Rhodes coming straight from its previous use on the Milk Bar—you see, Milk is white. snow is white. Get it? Okay, enough said— All in all, the synths are used to provide an appropriate atmosphere and overall vibe. Almost all of the same instruments will be featured in the temple from the region.

Funnily enough, Koji Kondo also uses, for the first time, an actual sound effect as if it were a normal pitched instrument doing countermelodies; the windy sound of the ambient heard previously on the avant garde, atmospheric track of the Majora’s Mask ‘Cavern’ cue is replacing the bassoon from the Southern Swamp, sounding like a big echo of events happening within or beneath the mountain.

Likewise, Section 2 brings an unnerving calmness where only two of the pitched instruments are left to carry the rest of the piece.

The second region that needs to be purified by Link, the Hero of Time who is witness to the cycle of rebirth. But, like on his travels through the lands of the Deku, he will not do it alone. There is a soul crying somewhere on these mountains, a soul that wants to fulfill something that was left unfinished, a hero that was actually celebrated. He is willing to sell his soul to this mask salesman coming his way.