When playing a game, it can be easy to miss some Easter eggs or well-hidden messages the developers may have added for those willing to look for them. Sometimes it’s not just one little tidbit of information that creates these video game fan theories, but a paper trail that can lead to a wealth of hidden knowledge that, once you put the pieces together, changes your perception of the whole game.
Here are four video game fan theories that change the way we look at these games entirely.
Link is Dead – The Legend of Zelda Majora’s Mask
Video Game Fan Theories
First brought to light by the popular YouTube channel The Game Theorists, this video game fan theory gets crazier the more you read into it. The theory suggests that Link dies when he falls into the tree trunk that transports him to Termina in Majoras’s Mask. Termina being a place much akin to purgatory where Link must come to terms with his own death.
Each area of Termina is symbolic of some of Kubler Ross’ stages of grief: denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. This theory is supported by the evidence that Link experiences each emotion as a way of coming to terms with his death.
To start, he arrives in Clocktown and sees the townspeople denying the inevitability of their death due to the moon falling. Then he travels to Woodfall where the Deku king is angry due to the princess being kidnapped, and he mindlessly blames a helpless monkey.
In Snowfall, Link meets the ghost of the Goron leader Darmani who desperately tries to bargain with him for more time, to no avail. When Link gets to the Great Bay and sees Lulu, she’s depressed over the loss of her eggs and children. And finally, in Ikana Valley, Link climbs the Stone Tower Temple and retrieves the light arrows which symbolize enlightenment and acceptance.
Another big hint towards the theory that Link is dead is that he meets Stalfos in Twilight Princess — the game that chronologically comes after Majora’s Mask. Stalfos are spirits of children who get lost in the forest and this one, in particular, is confirmed to be the Hero of Time, meaning Link from Ocarina and Majora.
The Stalfos states that he wasn’t able to convey the lessons he learned during his lifetime and that he was filled with regret. Since Link fell down the tree in the Lost Woods at the start of Majora’s Mask, it could easily mean that this is what made him into said Stalfos and that he wasn’t able to pass on his knowledge due to his early death.
