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@notmuchtoconceal
Glad you'd prompted me once more to consider the metaphysical aspects of Majora's Mask, bro. Was actually just reading about the Scythian religion. A gentleman by the name of Jorgani points out that Prometheus, as we understand him in the Greek context, is a melding of Enki, the Babylonian Wisdom God Who Was Father of Mankind and a figure from Thrace/Scythia. I was considering the Enochian figure of Azazel, who was a War and Blacksmith God, and of how in some tellings it's Prometheus who performs the Cesarean Upon Zeus Which Births Athena, and in some Hephaestus. How it's said that Prometheus stole the fire from Hephaestus's forge. He is a god of Metallurgy, or Chainlink, once again connections to DNA, to metal, to liquid states, to Mercury. This also ties into my Unverified Personal Gnosis about Ares as A God of Bondage. In many myths, he is trussed up, humiliated publicly, ensnared, laughed at, abandoned, thrown into a jar. The similarities with Goetic lore are self-evident. Part of it, the bondage element -- is tied to discipline, some of it to force of will. In my heart, the thrill of bondage is not in succumbing to the inescapable, but in overcoming it, in escaping. This is quintessential in the art of the stage magician, escape artist, strongman, circus ringleader -- you can see, Ares, Hermes, Hephaestus, Dionysos, there is plenty of overlap in the function of the brothers. Bodybuilding and bondage. An absolutely winning combination. Fight clubs and bondage displays. Sheaths slick as hotrods. Show off those bodies, boys.
In the Scythian religion, there is a belief in seven primary Gods, a pattern in line with the Hermetic division of the personality in correspondence with the Seven Classical Planets. The first three Gods are Considered to be as follows: An Absolute, An Earth Mother and A Sky Father, and they are understood to be largely impersonal. The next four are associated with the physical world as we know it and are more immediate and relevant to day to day life. Of these, is the Scythian Ares, as well as what are believed to be correspondences to Dionysos and Apollo and a Fertility Goddess Perhaps Not Dissimilar From Aphrodite, or maybe Artemis.
I was thinking of the Hylian Religion, it's own Big Three, then the Four Lesser Divinities of Termina -- boundary markers, perhaps demons of the compass points, cardinal directions, Guardians of the Four Corners.
It's not simply nostalgia, though I do appreciate the low-res look. Rather, I do believe the moment in time, exploring a pioneering new technology and all the possibilities it offered, provided the atmosphere to tap into some uniqe creative potential, which latter software updates and corporate franchise-making was not as privy to nurture.
OoT is the Narrative Equivalent of Induction Into A Gnostic Mystery Cult. Down to the Plot Twist Which is the Reveal of the True Nature of the Triforce -- a Metaphysical Bond where One Unity Is Severed and Binds Three Souls -- the player ascends into Virtual Godhood. In Majora's Mask, Link is himself the Protean Figure of Mercurius/Hermes changing Shape and Identity at Will, Mastering Time and Space, Land and Sea, Underworld and Spheres Beyond the Spheres, Becoming a Radiant Purifying Force Which Shatters All Illusions, Even the Illusory World of the Dreamscape Itself as the Evil Hands You Your True Face as A Righteous Devil and Deems You Fit To Slaughter It.
There is a sense of transition, of completion, and a sense of accepting death, but I do think Link's literal death is thinking too small, too narrowly, though we do know he dies with regrets, his spirit living on to bestow knowledge upon his descendent. The Death angle is touching on something real, but it's also letting itself off too easy. As Style comes from practice, Specificity in Analysis Comes From Keen Observance.
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@flyoverkushtaka
Well, this is certainly a lot to take in. I'll probably have to respond piecemeal over a few days, having to go back and reread these things to really grasp what you're getting at. I had said nothing yet about Majora's Mask and Buddhism because the right words had yet to come; I needed to refresh my understanding but could not find the time to.
It's a complex subject that I've never seen breached satisfactorily. The three-day cycle is symbolic of samsara. Link is the bodhisattva who liberates the inhabitants of Termina from their suffering. The completion of this task rewards him with apotheosis into the Fierce Deity, perhaps puzzling to Westerners but an obviously reference to the Wrathful Deities of Buddhism, who harness their wisdom and compassion into passionate fury to achieve their goals: They attack, harangue, aggress. They confront you with your own sins and shortcomings, not to make you feel shame, but to strip away your ego and show you how to overcome moral and existential hurdles. . . . Oh! Yes then!
Majora is the culmination of the primal scene of Skull Kid's abandonment, and Link as the Fierce Deity is literally stripping the delusion and suffering away from him so Skull Kid can reconcile with the trauma of losing his friends. Termina is an an inverted Bardo!
It's all coming together now! I can see it oh so clearly, Mister Jacek!
Majora's Mask's thematic core is Buddhist myth and philosophy turned on its head, like a wasteland tower flipped into the sky!
It's Buddhism in Wonderland, Vajrayana Mabinogion! On the surface, Termina is a Bardo for Link, wandering through endlessly, confronted with demons to assail and demoralize him as well as eerily familiar faces to evoke comfort and unease. But if Link makes the effort to act as a true bodhisattva and heal the suffering of the land, you realize that Termina is *everyone else's* Bardo, a shared Bardo, and Link is rewarded with (brief) ascension to Buddhahood as the Fierce Deity.
Oh! But also the Fierce Deity is the completion of the logic of heroic violence! Link is the crusading knight on a mission from the gods, the sort of warrior-figure so intricately woven into so many cultures that it loses some of its teeth in this representation, the little fairy-boy with his little sword who slays monsters that vanish in a puff of smoke when vanquished. Cartoon violence. The Fierce Deity is not a superhero but the expression of violence in its realer, more horrific form.
Violence is the imposition of will to remove agency from another sentient being. Its use requires the harnessing of dark forces inside all of us. Its aftermath is every bone that doesn't heal neatly, every friendship permanently soured, every empty seat at the dinnertable.
Link is a tool of violence wielded by divine forces for their arcane cosmic purposes, and it's cute when he's a little boy fighting monsters and standing up to evil, but you don't come back easy from being a child soldier, from every talking tree and glowing stone telling you your destiny is to kill, over and over again. And so Link incarnates as a violent god to permanently break the cycle. OoT is a clash between good and evil; MM meditates on the question of using violence to stop greater harm. Great Hindu epics have been written about this moral puzzle. Yes.
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