I don’t know where to begin with this one. All I could do when I think about it is just feel sorrow and sadness. Rarely do I feel that way when I am watching a game’s credits. I watched them after I beat Majora’s Mask, and I saw the people I helped live their lives. Some got married, some danced — most of it was more or less what I expected. And then near the end, I saw this sad looking tree from early in the game. I had thought nothing of it then, and I still thought nothing of it at this point. But that all immediately changed when I saw the Deku Butler next to it. He was mourning. Everyone else was filled with glee, while he was the only one filled with sorrow and despair.
I didn’t realize who he was mourning at first. I saw that tree so early in the game, I just forgot about it. And I’d read so much text that I barely retained anything. I had to go back and do a refresher on the some of the lines in the game. Not only did I realize that the Butler had mentioned having a son, but that the tree in the beginning was, in fact, the Butler’s son. My heart sank.
I was even more horrified when I realized that it was not only the Skull Kid who likely led to his demise, but that his spirit was also used to turn me into a Deku Scrub. I was wearing the mask that represented the butler’s son this entire game, and I had been none the wiser.
In a previous article, I wrote about how, despite the people not knowing who I am every time the three-day cycle resets, my actions were not meaningless; one way or another, I was impacting the lives of these people, whether they knew it or not. But even though I helped countless people, the one that bothers me the most now is the one I could not help. It was almost unfair.
There was no way for me to go back in time to that moment, no special code to help save the son. It was simply not possible. It makes me think how true that is to real life: no matter how hard we may want to, we can’t save everyone.
I can always try, though.
