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TimeLordParadox — The Mask

Published: 2013-03-16 16:24:04 +0000 UTC; Views: 7346; Favourites: 65; Downloads: 0
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Description This is a sprite of the Mask i've used in Mario and Luigi: The Mask. Below is a little essay about it, i've written the essay as if the Mask is actually real and could probably in a book somewhere in either Edge City or the Mushroom Kingdom.

The Mask
The Mask is an object shrouded in mystery and darkness. No one knows exactly where it came from, what it’s for, or who made it. But there are some interesting theories.

The curse of the Mask
Legend has it the wearer of the Mask gains the power of gods, its powers limited only to the imagination and the mind of the wearer. However the Mask has a dark curse, wearing the Mask transforms not only the body but the soul as well. It feeds off of the darker impulses in a person’s psyche, impulses like rage, anger, mischief, jealousy, lust and others, and the Mask makes the person act on them. They become a personification and a slave of their inner, primitive desires.
However inner desires are not the same as the hearts desires. For example, if the wearer desires a girl and wants to romantically woo her with smooth talk so she becomes his girlfriend, that is the hearts’ desire, the inner desire would be that the wearer wants to show off and gain her affection but only to make love to her.

The engine that drives the Mask is the base desires, the need to feed, drink, reproduce, defend themselves and so on, all of them selfish desires. Psychologists would call this the ID, the base of any persons personality and the source for all the desires a person feels and is the first link in the chain of decision making. Current theory suggests that the Mask bypasses two other parts of the mind that are involved in decision making.

A persons mind is made up of the Ego, Super Ego and the ID. The ID tells the mind it wants something (I’m hungry), the Ego decides what to do about it (You can’t eat a table, or a lightbulb, or the carpet but you can eat a sandwich) the Super Ego decides how to get it (Steal it, make it, buy it) Each person’s ID, Ego and Super Ego are unique to that person and are what makes up that person’s personality.

The Mask appears to shut down the Ego and Super Ego giving the ID full reign of the decision making. So it decides it wants something (I’m Hungry) it doesn’t have the other mental processes to figure out how to get it, so the ID forces you do whatever you can to quench the need. Though the Mask allows the ID to retain some intelligence to know it can’t, for example, eat a table.

The psychological effects of the Mask aren’t just limited to when the host is wearing it. Some, after wearing the Mask have become more violent and short tempered. This is either due to fatigue because wearing the Mask tires the wearer out especially if they stayed up all night, or more probably due to the boundaries of the mind being constantly broken down and then re-erected when the Mask is removed, but these boundaries are not totally healed. There have been cases where a Mask wearer has gone gradually insane due to his mental barriers not reforming correctly after removing the Mask, though this is mostly speculation.

Origin Story
The origin of this object is debatable. Most believe it originates with the Norse God of mischief Loki as its design symbolises a Viking mask and the symbol on its forehead is linked to Loki. Some texts of Loki describe him as a night god, which matches the Mask perfectly as it only works at night and stops with the dawning of the sun. However the mythical story behind its creation appears to be open to interpretation, some say Loki was banished into the Mask and it is he who is let loose when the Mask is worn, this theory however has its problems as each Mask wearer is unique as the person wearing it and follows their own personal desires rather than that of Loki’s.

Another theory is that Loki created the Mask himself and imbued it with his own powers, he tossed it down to Earth to cause terror and chaos among the mortals. This theory too has its problems as why would Loki allow mortals to gain an equal footing against him or other gods, and why does the Masks wearer gain far more than just the shape shifting abilities and other powers Loki was capable of. Few to no texts describe Loki being able to pull objects from nowhere, nor the ability to warp reality to his will, if he had those powers Odin could not easily have exiled him from the godly realm. So there appears to be no satisfactory, sound theory behind its creation and the point is still up for debate.

Final Word
The Mask itself has surfaced more than once over the course of years, and when it does chaos, unhappiness and sometimes horror follow in its wake. It seems the ultimate power of the Mask is not the ability to warp reality, but the ability to bring unhappiness to the wearer and hell to the people around its host. If Loki did create the Mask he would probably be very proud that it fulfils its purpose, to cause mischief and chaos in the mortal realm.

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NOTES
This detailed description of the Mask I've written has sources in all official Dark Horse media, from the Comics to the Movie to the animated TV series.

The ID, Ego and Super Ego are real things in psychology and are actually involved in the thought processes as described.

In my research I honestly haven’t found any mention of Loki being able to warp reality, though he is a god so it might just be generic powers, but if anyone knows of any instance where Loki used other powers similar to those granted by the Mask let me know and I’ll update this description.

I've been very careful with the origin story section so I'm not saying any origin story is wrong or which is right. It's great to have multiple theories but I think the mystery of the Mask is one of its strongest features.

I’ve discounted how the Mask was in Son of the Mask because it never followed the original source material. The Mask was always supposed to be a Jekyll and Hyde type character, one light the other dark. Son of the Mask just made the protagonist a confident, cartoon version of himself, he wasn’t even mischievous and wasn’t the least bit interesting. Despite Loki creating a Mask that’s supposed to cause chaos and mischief it doesn’t live up to its name in this movie. I’ve always thought the whole point of this movie was to introduce the ‘super baby’ and the Mask was just there to draw in fans of the original comics, movies and cartoon and to establish itself as a sequel to a successful Jim Carry movie, a move that was a complete con because the Mask was only worn once before it was forced to take the back seat to a boring, uninteresting super powered baby from a Tom and Terry type cartoon. They should've named it "Super Mishcief Baby" (Tag line) also featuing the Mask.

Episodes of Mario and Luigi: The Mask
Chapter 1 [link]
Chapter 2 [link]
Chapter 3 part 1 [link]
Chapter 3 part 2 [link]
Chapter 4 part 1 [link]
Chapter 4 part 2 [link]
Chapter 5 part 1 [link]
Chapter 5 part 2 [link]
Chapter 6 part 1 [link]
Chapter 6 part 2 [link]
Related content
Comments: 14

Hyperomegasonic [2013-04-28 21:31:48 +0000 UTC]

More information about the mask and his powers and caracteristics (All three verisons): [link]

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TimeLordParadox In reply to Hyperomegasonic [2013-05-01 09:08:16 +0000 UTC]

Hmm...

It is interesting that a great amount of this info appears to have been copy and pasted from the discription above, even down to some of my gramatical mistakes. I'm sorry, but the article linked is simple plagerism of my work.

If someone takes the information itself and uses it or re-writes it in their own words it does not count as plagerism, however simply copying and pasting passages from anothers text that has not been composed by themselves and then was presented as their own, does.

I hope whoever runs this wiki alters the wording of this article and the below one, because plagerism is often greatly frowned upon.

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Hyperomegasonic [2013-04-28 21:31:19 +0000 UTC]

More information about the mask and his powers and caracteristics (All three versions): More information about the mask and his powers and caracteristics:

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

Hyperomegasonic [2013-04-28 21:00:45 +0000 UTC]

More information about the mask and his powers and caracteristics: [link]

👍: 0 ⏩: 0

legoman1245 [2013-03-21 06:47:46 +0000 UTC]

cool

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TimeLordParadox In reply to legoman1245 [2013-03-22 08:46:51 +0000 UTC]

Thanks

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Elvisfonz22 [2013-03-16 22:05:28 +0000 UTC]

Incredible I like this mask

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TimeLordParadox In reply to Elvisfonz22 [2013-03-18 15:39:35 +0000 UTC]

Thanks mate

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Elvisfonz22 In reply to TimeLordParadox [2013-03-18 21:54:38 +0000 UTC]

Anytime mate it makes me want to wear the mask more haha

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Ultibeast [2013-03-16 21:32:58 +0000 UTC]

I like this theory,the way you describe how it works sounds about right.

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TimeLordParadox In reply to Ultibeast [2013-03-18 15:45:39 +0000 UTC]

Thanks, gathering this research was fun, watching and reading everything from the original Dark Horse comics, to the movie and cartoon all the way to the special crossover Joker/Mask and even reading up on psychology to fit it into the real world. Though there are still holes in it but these holes add to the mystery of the Mask, if it was ever totally explained away it would lose its... I guess 'charm' is the right word.

Cheers

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luigikirby64 [2013-03-16 19:17:25 +0000 UTC]

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TimeLordParadox In reply to luigikirby64 [2013-03-18 15:45:47 +0000 UTC]

Cheers mate, glad you like it

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luigikirby64 In reply to TimeLordParadox [2013-03-18 17:10:20 +0000 UTC]

Cheers

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