Skull Kid (Character)


 * This article is about the recurring character. For the race of the same name, see Skull Kid.

The Skull Kid is the name of the notable member of the Skull Kids. He first appeared in Ocarina of Time as a recurring character, then reappear as the main antagonist of Majora's Mask, in which he first got a backstory, and as a sage in Twilight Princess.

After being introduced in Ocarina of Time, the Skull Kid's character has seen much development throughout the series, from being a simple recurring character who plays the flute to a more considered character with motives of his actions who is also potrayed to be a lonely person. The Skull Kid's roles in the Zelda series change various times. Throughout the series, the Skull Kid is everytime seen with different appearances and designs.

Out of the Skull Kids, this single notable Skull Kid was given a title to identify him by the people of Termina and the Four Giants, such as the ' or simply the ' in Majora's Mask, due to the times he played pranks on people several years ago.

Background
The Skull Kid was first given a back story in Majora's Mask that supposely toke place some hundreds of years before his appearance in the Lost Woods from Ocarina of Time. Long ago the people of Termina lived in a single world, united and blessed by the four giants living among them. It was during this time that the giants befriended a small imp, who was the Skull Kid. However, there came a time when the Four Giants decided to guard and protect the people while dormant. With the world of Termina now split into four parts by the order of the Four Giants, each of the giants took one hundred steps towards their respective regions, telling their people that if trouble should befall them, they should call them in a loud voice declaring their predicament. This way, their pleads would carry to them, and the Four Giants would come to their aid.

However, the small imp, who had been friends with the giants even before they created the four worlds, became greatly afflicted with their decision and was woefully stricken by their departure. The imp misinterpreted the giants' actions, and, feeling neglected and lonely, he began to spread his anger and frustration throughout all of Termina. Devastated with misery due to the imp's malicious tricks, the people pleaded to the giants for their aid. Angered, the Four Giants, who were still the protectors of the people, ordered the imp to leave the four worlds and return to the heavens; otherwise, the imp would be destroyed by the might of the giants. Frightened and surprised by his friends' reaction, the imp left the lands for the heavens, and peace and tranquility returned to Termina.

For reasons unknown, the Skull Kid managed to fall from heaven and return to the world of Termina, sometime after the events of Ocarina of Time in the Child Timeline. Eventually, the Skull Kid obtained Majora's Mask from the Happy Mask Salesman. Overtaken by its tremendous power, the mask began to take complete control of the Skull Kid, and using him as a puppet, he pulled the moon from its orbit and destined it to crash into Clock Town in order to destroy all of Termina.

Personality
Skull Kid is known to like playing musics with his flute, if Link plays with him, he shall give him a Heart Piece if Link plays "Saria's Song" in a different place of Lost Woods. The Skull Kid hate adults, so do the other Skull Kids, and will attack Adult Link by shooting poison needles from his flute. Skull Kid is portrayed in Majora's Mask as lonely, and always wanted to have friends, before tricking and stealing Majora's Mask from the Happy Mask Salesman, and sooner being possessed by its dark power by wearing it. When he obtains the Majora's Mask, Skull Kid's personality has sightly changed into that of a cruel, insane, omnicidal monster, and wants to destroy the whole world with the Moon. In Twilight Princess, the Skull Kid is now the owner of the Sacred Grove, and is known to like challenging his friend Link's descendant until he wins, despite he is already an adult (a teenager).

Abilities
Skull Kid is also a formidable sorcerer. The Majora's Mask, a dark cursed mask from an Ancient Tribe, made the Skull Kid stronger, granting him powers such as transvection, teleportation, and superhuman strength. The mask grants him the power to curse the entire land of Termina, summon a giant Moon, turn people into creatures, and influence anyone who wears it. Further, the Majora's Mask grants him immortality. In Twilight Princess, Skull Kid has no fighting skills, he blows through his horn to summon a number of wooden puppets from an infinite supply to attack Link. But, he still has his superhuman strength and his immortality, as he is able to shake the earth by heavily stomping the ground and couldn't be seemingly killed no more especially by the Master Sword like in Ocarina of Time. He can also disappear and reappear in a small gust of leaves at will.

Ocarina of Time
In Ocarina of Time, the Skull Kid can be found in the Lost Woods, in the area directly to the left of the entrance room. Whenever Link approaches him, the Skull Kid will disappear from the area. To circumvent this, Link can befriend the Skull Kid by playing Saria's Song while standing on top of the stump across from the Skull Kid's position, and he will receive a Piece of Heart as a gift.

While Z-Targeting, Navi mentions that the Skull Kid seems unhappy to have no face. Some of the Kokiri remember hearing him complaining about his face, as well. Upon first seeing Link wearing the Skull Mask, the Skull Kid comments that he would like it to make him appear a little tougher. Link is able to sell him the mask as part of the Mask Trading Sequence, but the Skull Kid pays just ten rupees when the wholesale price is twenty, leaving Link to cover the difference.

If Link encounters the Skull Kid as an adult seven years later in the Adult Timeline, he will be attacked with poison needles shot from the Skull Kid's flute as he dislikes adults. If Adult Link kills him, the Skull Kid will collapse and disappear, leaving behind an orange Rupee. But he will come back as soon Link leaves the entrance room, which is the same for other Skull Kids.

Child Timeline
The Child Timeline is the timeline that follows Link after being sent back to his original time to warn Princess Zelda, following the defeat of Ganondorf by the Hero of Time in the final battle. This turn of events created the timeline containing Majora's Mask, Twilight Princess, and Four Swords Adventures.

Majora's Mask
Sometime prior to the events in Ocarina of Time and Majora's Mask, the Skull Kid was befriended by the Four Giants. After a time, the Giants left Termina and the Skull Kid was alone, motivating him to seek attention by causing mischief and playing pranks on people. The Four Giants were angered by this, and told the Skull Kid to leave Termina. Frightened by his childhood friends' anger, the Skull Kid left Termina.

Some time after, Skull Kid met with Tatl and Tael and stole Majora's Mask from the Happy Mask Salesman. In the beginning of Majora's Mask, the Skull Kid and his two fairy companions ambush Link and steal the Ocarina of Time. Meanwhile, Link regains consciousness and, having noticed the Skull Kid, attempts to sneak up on him. The Skull Kid steals Epona and attempts to escape; Link is able to hang onto the Skull Kid's leg for a short while before falling off. He chases the Skull Kid into the forest, entering a huge tree with a great pit inside, into which he falls.

At the bottom of the pit, Link finds the Skull Kid, who informs him that he "got rid of" Epona, as she would not obey his commands. During this confrontation, the Skull Kid transforms Link into a Deku Scrub and leaves with Tael, except Tatl, who got seperated from them. At midnight or later, the Skull Kid is encountered by Link and Tatl, who came to see him and Tael to stop him and retrieve the Ocarina of Time. Left with no choice, Link used the Song of Time. Then, he is remained as the main antagonist through most of the game until it is revealed that he is being influenced by Majora's Mask.

It was releaved that Skull Kid was still playing the role of prankster with Majora's Mask on his face, such as turning Kafei into a child and threating Professor Shikashi to break his instrument. He also told the Gerudo about the Zora Eggs as well.

Link eventually gathers the power of the Giants and frees the Skull Kid from the evil influence of Majora's Mask. During the ending credits, the Four Giants reassure the Skull Kid of their friendship with him, and he tells Link that he remembers befriending him in Ocarina of Time. The last scene shows a drawing on a tree trunk made by the Skull Kid himself, of Link, the Skull Kid, Tatl, Tael, and the Four Giants.

During the ending sequence in Majora's Mask, the Skull Kid mentions to Link that he has the same smell as the "fairy kid" who taught him a song in the Lost Woods. This reveals that the Skull Kid is the one by the tree stump near the bridge in the Lost Woods in Ocarina of Time, to whom the young hero sells the Skull Mask. This would be congruous with his apparent fondness for intimidating-looking masks.

His skin appears to be made of wood and he has a duck-like beak. In the original Japanese version, Skull Kid's face was pitch black.

Twilight Princess
A century later, the Skull Kid is the guardian of the Sacred Grove in Twilight Princess. He leads the descendant of the Hero of Time through the Lost Woods portion of the Sacred Grove until he reaches the resting place of the Master Sword. Along the way, the Skull Kid plays a cruel game of hide-and-seek with Link, and Link must find him several times before he will lead him to where he needs to be. After defeating him the first time, he vanishes.

When Link returns to the Sacred Grove area later in the game, the Skull Kid will help him navigate the Lost Woods a second time, this time leading him through different areas to take him to the Temple of Time dungeon. His hiding spots will be more difficult to find. However, two factors give away his location: the light of his lantern and the sound of his instrument playing Saria's Song. Although the Skull Kid never physically attacks Link, he will summon Puppets to do the job. Every time he is hit in battle, he will summon more puppets, but he can be beaten quickly with the bow and arrows. After defeating him the second time, he will tell Link that was fun and vanish.

The Skull Kid appears more imp-like in Twilight Princess. One may note that his eyes and face look very similar to those of the Moon from Majora's Mask, although with a mischievous smile instead of the Moon's trademark scowl. Strangely enough, the horn with which he plays the aforementioned song bears somewhat of a resemblance to Deku Link's Pipes of Awakening both in its appearance and sound. The lantern he carries is also similar to that held by Poes.

Link's Crossbow Training
The Skull Kid appears in Stage Finale of Link's Crossbow Training. He appears and conjures his puppet army. Skull Kid himself will flash green to offer the automatic firing upgrade which is useful for taking down the large number of Puppets that appear. As with Twilight Princess, Skull Kid will warp to various niches in the surrounding landscape to protect himself.

Super Smash Bros. Brawl
The Skull Kid appears as two stickers in Super Smash Bros. Brawl.

Adult Timeline
It is possible that in the Adult Timeline during the events of Ocarina of Time, the Skull Kid did not get the chance to steal Majora's Mask, and that Majora's ruining of the lives of the people of Termina never happened in this timeline. Because of Ganondorf's conquest on Hyrule, the Happy Mask Salesman's stayed on Hyrule which made the Skull Kid to never have the opportunity to steal the mask and remained in the Lost Woods with his current design until the world got flooded. Since the Skull Kid is still immortal, it is unknown whether or not the Skull Kid is still alive somewhere in the Great Sea or in the New Hyrule.

The Hero of Time and his Descendant
There is another theory that the Skull Kid and the Hero of Time are now true friends after being saved from Majora's curse. It is a possibility that the Skull Kid would no longer fears him as an adult (or a grown-up teenager) since they became good friends (which could imply to any incarnations of Links). Before the Hero of Time died (apparently in the Lost Woods) after the events of Majora's Mask, the Skull Kid was probably entrusted by him to watch over the ruins of the Temple of Time and his Master Sword's resting place in the Sacred Grove as its sage and to allow his descendant to get the legendary blade so he could become Hyrule's new hero in the next hundred years to ease his regrets for leaving his role as the Hero of Time and to leave everything to him while teaching him some Hidden Skills. Before gaining the Master Sword and going to the Temple of Time, the way to aknowledge the descendant of the Hero of Time as a true gutsy hero and become friends with him, is to play some cruel games of hide-and-seek with the Skull Kid as trials.

Trivia

 * It should be noted that the Skull Kid was turned into a Skull Kid and remained as a child for long time ago.
 * Skull Kid shares many chracteristics with the Flute Boy from A Link to the Past: both are kids who play music with a flute in the woods and both disappear when Link approaches them. The Flute Boy may have served as a prototype or concept for the Skull Kid.
 * Skull Kid's instrument in Twilight Princess resembles a modern version of the Deku Pipes from Majora's Mask.
 * Like Skull Kid in Majora's Mask, Kamo from The Wind Waker developed a fascination with the moon after having been disappointed by his best friend.
 * In Twilight Princess, Skull Kid's facial features bear a slight resemblance to that of the Moon in Majora's Mask.
 * In most versions of Ocarina of Time and the Japanese version of Majora's Mask (and official artwork), Skull Kid has a plain black face. In Ocarina of Time 3D and International versions of Majora's Mask, however, his head has a wooden texture.