The Legend of Zelda is packed with recurring characters, and the Skull Kid makes relatively few appearances, yet is always of significant importance.

The Legend of Zelda has plenty of recurring characters, but only one goes from a relatively minor role to a primary villain and back again - the Skull Kid. There are canonically multiple Skull Kids, but one is suggested to appear in multiple Zelda games. Though the Skull Kid is a fairly recognizable side character from The Legend of Zelda, they only appear in three games - Ocarina of Time, Majora's Mask, and Twilight Princess.

As far as recurring Legend of Zelda characters go, Skull Kid is rather minor. This makes his major role in the plot of Majora's Mask all the more odd. Even that game does little to elaborate on the Skull Kids, which are still rather mysterious. The main ones interacted with in the series are frequently referred to as "he" by various other characters, but it's unclear whether or not all Skull Kids are male. Players interact with so few of them, and they have such a small amount of dialogue, that all that is known about them is more or less hearsay and speculation.

The Skull Kids first appeared in 1998's Ocarina of Time, then again in Majora's Mask two years later. Their final appearance in The Legend of Zelda (so far) is in Twilight Princess, which came out in 2006. This means that the Skull Kids only appear to exist in the Child Era of the Zelda timeline split where Link was victorious against Ganon in Ocarina - or at least, this is the only timeline branch where they've shown up. With the exception of Majora's Mask, which takes place in Termina, the Skull Kids appear to inhabit Hyrule's wooded regions, though there's really no evidence for this being the only place they're found.

The Legend Of Zelda's Skull Kids Debut In Ocarina Of Time

Ocarina of Time, where the creepy Skull Kids first appeared, proposes the idea that they are the result of children becoming lost in the woods. Three Skull Kids can be encountered in the Lost Woods, and Navi will say, "Is this what happens to kids who get lost in this forest? He seems unhappy to have no face..." The Skull kids in Ocarina do appear to have no face, with only bright orange eyes and lips on a shadowy head. This would later be changed in Ocarina of Time 3D, where the Skull Kids were given beaks and wooden-looking heads to match the redesign made by the non-Japanese versions of Majora's Mask.

The Skull Kids are rather benign in Ocarina, and one even hides from Link when he first appears, only coming out when it's revealed that Link also knows Saria's Song. The other two will similarly engage Link in a musical mini-game, and Link can earn two Pieces of Heart from the three Skull Kids. The question of the Skull Kids' origin is never answered, and the only other interaction with them comes from one of Ocarina of Time's trading quests. The Skull Kid with an affinity for Saria's Song also takes a liking to the Happy Mask Shop's Skull Mask and buys it from Link for half of its price, leaving the Hero of Time to pay the difference himself.

The Legend Of Zelda's Skull Kid Gets A Redesign For Majora's Mask

Majora's Mask has by far the biggest role for a Skull Kid in The Legend of Zelda. In a way, the Skull Kid is the main antagonist, though he's largely being controlled by Majora's Mask. The mask is a powerful and ancient artifact, supposedly once used by an unnamed tribe to cast hexes, but now imbues its wearer with magical abilities. Skull Kid is notorious in Termina for causing mischief, and steals Majora's Mask from the Happy Mask Salesman, inciting the events of the game.

Skull Kid is just one of many Majora's Mask characters reused from Ocarina of Time, and The Legend of Zelda: Encyclopedia suggests Termina may be a creation of Majora's Mask using Skull Kid's imagination and memories, but the book is generally considered to only be borderline canon in many regards. This hypothesis for Termina's existence helps explain Link's strange entrance to the realm through a tree trunk, and the many characters who were also seen in Hyrule, but also somewhat contradicts Termina's mythology and the Skull Kid's place in it.

Majora's Mask heavily implies that this Skull Kid is the same one from Ocarina who liked Saria's Song. Near the end of the game he tells Link, "You have the same smell as the fairy kid who taught me that song in the woods." At some point between the two N64 games, Skull Kid befriended the four giants of Termina, and their retreat into slumber, which split the land into four regions, prompted forlornness in the Skull Kid. His streak of mischief seemingly started out of loneliness, resulting in him eventually being consumed by Majora's Mask and attempting to destroy Termina. Once Link's quest is complete, the Skull Kid seems to have realized the error in his ways. This arc roughly positions him as a foil to Link in the theory of Majora's Mask representing grief and its five stages in the Kübler-Ross model.

The Legend Of Zelda's Skull Kids Change In Twilight Princess

The Skull Kid makes their final appearance in Twilight Princess and is located in a part of the Sacred Grove which is roughly this Hyrule's equivalent to the Lost Woods. Link encounters the Skull Kid on his search for the Master Sword and must follow him through passages only he can access. The Skull Kid is something of a mini-boss in Twilight Princess, though he doesn't attack Link directly, only commanding puppets to do so. Of all three games in which they appear, Twilight Princess has the least information on the Skull Kids. There is very little dialogue about the Skull Kid in the Sacred Grove specifically, and Midna only refers to him as "that little guy with the horn."

There's no concrete proof that this is the same Skull Kid who liked Saria's Song in Ocarina of Time, or nearly destroyed Termina in Majora's Mask, but he is at least tangentially related only for the fact that he plays Saria's Song on his horn while leading Link through the Sacred Grove. This Skull Kid could have either survived through the ages in Hyrule, or may be some form of descendant, kind of like how the undead Hero of Time appears in Twilight Princess. In a way, the Skull Kid is a staple of one branch of The Legend of Zelda timeline, only appearing in three chronologically consecutive games that are directly connected to one another.

Next: Zelda Explained: Twilight Princess Is A Direct Ocarina Of Time Sequel