The Beaver Brothers of Waterfall Rapids have always stood out to me in Majora’s Mask. In a game with all kinds of creepy and serious themes, the pair served as a lighthearted contrast. When I first stumbled upon them, I could not help but compare them to the beavers from the Nickelodeon show, The Angry Beavers. The Beavers themselves were enjoyable characters as they were constantly annoyed with Link for trying to get their treasures.
For people unfamiliar with The Angry Beavers, the show aired on Nickelodeon in the late 1990s. The show featured Norbert, the older brother with a yellow color palette, and Daggett, the young brother with a brown color palette. The Beaver Brothers matched the color palettes as well as the familial relationship, but their designs were pretty different as the Beaver Brothers wore swimming outfits and had better designs overall. The younger brother had spinners over his eyes that always mesmerized me, and the older brother wore a striped life donut, possibly foreshadowing what was to come. Perhaps these were merely coincidences by the developers, but it was hard for me to dissociate the Beaver Brothers from The Angry Beavers.
To reach the Beaver Brothers, I had to use the Hookshot to climb up the trees in the Great Bay. Finding them proved to be a fruitful endeavor, as they provided both an Empty Bottle and a Heart Piece. To obtain their treasures, I needed to put on the Zora Mask and challenge them to several races. These races involved nothing that would constitute a traditional race, though. All I had to do was follow the beaver and swim through the rings before time ran out.
The first of these “sort-of-races” was against the little brother, who was annoyed that I was trying to get their empty bottle. After beating his time, the older brother challenged me. I beat his time, too. It actually took me more than one attempt when I first played this game. The problem was that I kept bumping into the rings. Doing this forced Link to stop and slightly float upwards, which caused him to be even less in line with the center of the ring. Bumping into a ring cost me a lot of time, as I had to spin around to get into the proper position and try to go through the ring again. I also found myself occasionally bumping into the other obstacles in the track, such as the tree branches that extended into the water. After beating both brothers, I won the water bottle. Unfortunately, this ordeal was not over yet.
After winning the bottle, an item that the Beaver Brothers consider a great treasure, I challenged them again. The races against both beavers were the same, except that I was given less time to complete them. I still bumped into the rings, but since my mind had gotten used to the track, I spent less time dealing with the rings. After beating them a second time, they proceeded to give me a Piece of Heart, while also hoping that the ordeal would be over and I would stop bothering them.
In subsequent playthroughs of Majora’s Mask, I would always repeat a certain three-step event. First, I would suddenly remember that the Beaver Brothers exist in the Zelda universe. Next, I would remember how they look like the Angry Beavers. Finally, I would remember the deep frustration of bumping into those rings. These are the three stages my mind went through when it is time to race the Beaver Brothers. It happens every time, without fail, but I do find myself looking forward to the race anyways. The Beaver Brothers add diversity to the game and something unique to the adventure.
