You know what scares the ever-loving Hestu’s gift out of me? Death. The thought of my own mortality and the briefness and irrelevance of my existence in the vast expanse of time of the universe. I remember once almost 15 years ago, on the day one of the now very popular end of the world prophecies was supposed to be fulfilled. I was in school, trying to remain skeptical about all that, when suddenly I hear what my mind could only recognize as a world’s end alarm–you know, the kind that is known to be heard before an imminent threat or catastrophe? My blood chilled, I grasped my desk expecting the worst. When I see no one else in the room flinched, I quickly come to realize what I heard wasn’t an alarm–it was just the sound of an old, creaky bus braking suddenly. Yeah, I wasn’t a very bright teenager.
Now imagine the people of Termina, knowing — although denying — their demise is less than six hours away, hearing the constant bell tolls announcing upcoming doom (which to be honest isn’t really necessary; I mean have you seen the eerily close moon right above them?) while they still struggle to deal with their grief, denying the fact that any of that will actually happen, and continuing on with their lives, preparing their festival and a very unusual wedding.
Can you? Can you even imagine, let alone try to comprehend what is going through their minds, through their hearts? Can you feel the goosebumps on your skin, the shivers down your spine, your heart racing and the struggle to breathe? That is the way I feel when I listen to this theme from Majora’s Mask, during the final six hours of the in-game clock. It’s not just the beautifully crafted music with minor chords of string ensembles, but also the accompanying persistent toll, which while not part of the melody itself, putting them together with said melody adds to the fright factor.
It is a constant reminder of everyone’s limited time in this world or an alternate one where the moon is about to turn everyone into a mash of bones and lunar dust. Like a clock ticking seconds away from our limited lifetime, whispering our time left in our ear. So while there’s still time, make it count, not just count down.
Happy Halloween everybody! I know it’s still a few days away but it’s already time to get grim and spooky! And now that I think about it, Halloween is just three days away. Coincidence? I think not.
