Many players and theorists have speculated that Majora’s Mask is a playable journey through the stages of grief. As you guide Link through the terrain of Termina, the player rails against the time limit. “I only have three days!” they angrily shout in denial before striking a bargain with time by playing “The Song of Time” and extending their chances by a few more minutes. As the seconds run out, players feel depressed as they say, “Now, I have to start this maze all over again.” Yet in the end, they must accept the terms of the game and play by its rules if they are to save Termina. As the player goes through this endless cycle, the characters do too as they make preparations, rail against, or try to avoid dealing with the inevitable, oncoming apocalypse. In the end, they all end up cowering in Clock Town as the sinisterly smiling moon descends.
Through their orchestral cover of the track “Final Hours”, ClefferNotes weaves a haunting tune that captures the journey through grief of both the residents of Termina and the player.
The song starts out with simple piano notes that play slowly. Each note is allowed time to ring out to its fullest before dying out. It’s the kind of music that plays during a moment of shock in a film. A character has just been stabbed and their life, shockingly, is at an end. It must have felt the same for characters like Anju, Darmani, and Lulu. They were just living their lives. Sure there were struggles, but suddenly an evil moon appears in the sky, and it seems like that may just be it. As these notes continue to sound on the piano, a chorus joins the song, like a prayer. The residents of Termina across all races are calling out for help.
In response, the melody of the piano changes. It becomes a quick pattern of successive notes that repeats over and over while stringed instruments join in. As the stringed instruments rise in intensity and pitch, it overwhelms the piano which can barely be heard any more. It’s as if the piano represents the thoughts of characters like Mutoh the Carpenter who deny the danger they’re in. No matter how much he claims the moon won’t fall though, its path remains constant. It will not alter its deadly course.
The melody changes a third time as cellos and drums enter the fray and create a sense of anger. The residents argue about whether they should evacuate or not. Naming calling happens while others silently rage at the unlucky lot they find their lives in. They wish they could just lasso the moon or reach up and toss it away, but that’s impossible. Nothing can alter their fate.
The final section of the song returns to the exact same piano notes that played at the beginning. It seems like we’ve returned full circle, but careful listeners will notice that the chorus that accompanied the piano at the beginning is gone. The people of Termina have accepted their fate because they can’t change it. Only the player can. While the residents of Termina once prayed and pleaded for help, in their final hours, it’s up to the player and their skill whether the prayers are answered or left to just drift and die in the air.
ClefferNotes version of “Final Hours” is both a profoundly sad and comforting song. It’s sad because it reminds us of all the residents of Termina and their struggles, hopes, and fears that can fail to play out as we’d like in the game. In remembering them, we have to confront that sometimes our own lives don’t go how we’d imagined. Perhaps the nice thing is that like in Majora’s Mask, we’re the players in our own lives, and even if we have to accept that our fate has changed from what we once imagined, we can still continue to play.
