Aonuma on the 5 stages of grief fan theory in Zelda: Majora’s Mask
This month’s issue of Game Informer has an interview with Zelda producer Eiji Aonuma. Aonuma tackled several topics pertaining to Majora’s Mask, including the 5 stages of grief fan theory.
Here’s the full exchange between the two:
Game Informer: Some fans speculate that Majora’s Mask is a metaphor for the stages of grief. The towns-folk are in denial of the moon falling; the Deku King is punishing the monkey out of anger; the ghost in the snow temple is bargaining for a return to the world of the living; Lulu in the Zora Temple is battling with depression; and the final temple could be considered acceptance as it wraps up Link’s journey. Was this considered during development, or is this just a fan interpretation?
Eiji Aonuma: It’s certainly true that each one of these different episodes you talked about has a different emotional cast to it. One feels like it’s tinged with sadness, and another with anger – that certainly was intentional. But, I also want to point out that it’s not that each one of these episodes only has the one emotion that they are conveying. There are certainly other notes that we’re trying to hit as well, and the reason we did this is always to allow the player to experience that emotion – to give them a chance to hook into the emotional tone of this scene and react to it and feel like they want to accomplish something in the game as a result.”
