Skull Kid

Skull Kid is a forest imp debuting in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, playing a much larger role in the game's sequel, The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask. He loves playing pranks on people and playing music, though his exact nature varies depending on the game.

The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time
In The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time, Skull Kid is part of a larger species of Skull Kids, who are speculated by Navi to be children who became lost in the Lost Woods. He can be found in the section of the Lost Woods left of the entrance from the Kokiri Forest, playing his flute atop a large stump. If Link approaches him directly, he will disappear in a backflip. If Link plays Saria's Song atop the smaller stump in front of him, however, Skull Kid will warm up to him and ask to be friends, giving him a Piece of Heart. If Link talks to him again, he will complain that he does not find his face to be scary enough. Link can sell him the Skull Mask, although he does not pay full price.

In the section to the right of the entrance, two more Skull Kids appear on a forked tree when Link stands on a different stump. They challenge Link to use his ocarina to follow along to the song they play. Every time this is done, the song and Rupees rewarded increase, until at eight notes he receives another Piece of Heart. In the Nintendo 64 version and its revisions, these two will wear the Skull Mask as well if Link has given it to the "main" one, but in The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time 3D, they stay without masks.

In the future, Skull Kids start appearing in the same places in the Lost Woods again once Grog disappears. They do not speak to Link, but instead attack him due to their hatred of adults. They circle around Link while shooting darts through their flutes, and may flee by backflipping. When Link defeats one, it will drop a Huge Rupee, but will reappear if Link leaves and returns to that section of the woods.

In the first revision of the game, Skull Kids have shadowy black faces and large lips. In later revisions, this is changed to a wood-like face with a short beak due to unintentional resemblance to. This difference is also present between international versions of The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, with the former design only being in the Japanese version.

The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask
In The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, Skull Kid is now depicted as an individual, with his species being vaguely defined as an "imp." His backstory is told in the book that Anju's Grandmother reads. Despite his childish appearance and mannerisms, Skull Kid is an ancient being, having been friends with the Four Giants before they created Termina. After the Four Giants said they would become dormant in wait of times of need, Skull Kid felt abandoned, and took out his anger by attacking the people of Termina, causing them to summon the giants again. Angry at the Skull Kid, the giants forced him to leave Termina under the threat of being torn to pieces. He departs for "the heavens," having realized that he now had lost his friends for real.

At some point after this, a still-depressed Skull Kid returns to Termina and meets two fairy siblings named Tatl and Tael, who become his new friends, making him cheerful again. They drew a picture of the three of them against a tree in the southern section of Termina Field to commemorate his new friendship. He still enjoyed pranking people, though his pranks were generally harmless. However, one night he steals Majora's Mask from a sleeping Happy Mask Salesman, and the mask's evil begins corrupting him, eventually taking control of him. Skull Kid's pranks escalate until he is again wreaking havoc across Termina (now with the aid of black magic), culminating in attempting to crush it under a falling Moon.

At the beginning of the game itself, Skull Kid finds Link and Epona travelling through the deepest reaches of the Lost Woods in search of Navi. Tatl and Tael spook Epona, causing her to rear Link off her back. Skull Kid then appears, seems to converse with his mask for a bit, and steals the Ocarina of Time and Epona, who he is unable to control properly and can only ride by splaying his body across her back. Link holds on to on of her legs until he is forced off near a stump, starting the adventure. Link chases him until he falls deep inside a hollow tree. Once Link lands, Skull Kid reveals he got rid of Epona, and chides Link for taking his "prank" so seriously. Skull Kid's tone then abruptly shifts and he curses Link into becoming Deku Link before abandoning him and Tatl. Link and Tatl follow him through the caves until they eventually reach some sort of warp into Termina, at which the Happy Mask Salesman meets them and tells him in a vague way about Skull Kid's thievery from him.

Throughout the three days the game gives, Skull Kid stands atop the Clock Tower, with the mask slowly pulling the Moon down. When Link confronts him on the night of the third day, Tael will tell Link to free and summon the Four Giants, with Skull Kid slapping him away after that. He then boasts that the giants would not be able to overpower him even if they did come, and he begins pulling the Moon down faster, prompting a sort of battle. Link is unable to damage the Skull Kid with any of his abilities; however, the first time this encounter happens, shooting a bubble at Skull Kid will cause him to drop the Ocarina of Time, allowing Link to go back in time and restore himself to a Hylian. Once Link has freed all four of the giants, encounters Skull Kid in the same place, and plays the Oath to Order, the giants will appear and, with their combined strength, stop the Moon's fall. Once this happens, Skull Kid seemingly faints. Tatl then scolds Skull Kid for all he has done, but Tael insists that it is not his fault. The mask then agrees and drops Skull Kid, before floating into the Moon itself and causing it to accelerate downwards against the giants.

Once Link has defeated Majora's Wrath, Link, Epona, Skull Kid, the fairies, and the Four Giants appear in southern Termina Field. The giants reveal they still always though of Skull Kid as their friend, and leave once more, while Skull Kid shakes in guilt. After they leave, Skull Kid examines Link and realizes he is the one who taught him the song in the forest in the previous game, and offers to be his friend. After the Carnival of Time ends, they both return to the Lost Woods, with Skull Kid making a new drawing on the stump Link's adventure starts near, showing Link, Skull Kid, the fairies, and the Four Giants.

The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess
In The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess, Skull Kid appears in the Sacred Grove. His face now resembles the Moon's in Majora's Mask, and his flute now has several horn-like attachments on the end, making it sound like the Deku Pipes. He summons Puppets to attack anyone (including animals) who enters the grove while he warps between locations in a sort-of game of hide-and-seek. Due to how the grove's paths between sections appear and disappear, there is commonly only one way to reach Skull Kid, and every time he is found and attacked, he leads Link deeper and deeper into the wood, eventually leading to a battle in a circular arena. Once he is attacked enough, he will disappear and thank Link for playing with him. Skull Kid is fought this way twice, first as Wolf Link, leading him to the Master Sword, and the second time as normal Link able to shift between forms, leading to accessing the Temple of Time dungeon.

Super Smash Bros. series
Skull Kid has varying appearances throughout the Super Smash Bros. series. In Super Smash Bros. Melee, he is mentioned by several trophy descriptions, but lacks one himself. In Super Smash Bros. Brawl, he has a sticker with his Majora's Mask artwork. In Super Smash Bros. for Nintendo 3DS and Super Smash Bros. for Wii U, he appears as an Assist Trophy who summons the Moon to smash into the field. In Super Smash Bros. Ultimate, the Moon is now its own Assist Trophy while Skull Kid is two spirits, one without a mask (using his Ocarina of Time artwork) and one with Majora's Mask.

Hyrule Warriors
In Hyrule Warriors, Skull Kid does not appear directly in the base game. However, his outfit (with Majora's Mask) becomes an alternate outfit for Lana in the Majora's Mask DLC pack. She wears it during the final battle of the accompanying map, where she essentially plays his role. Skull Kid himself is playable through DLC to promote the following installment.

Hyrule Warriors Legends
In Hyrule Warriors Legends, Skull Kid appears as a playable warrior. He wears Majora's Mask and is accompanied by Tatl and Tael, but additionally uses Puppets in some of his attacks, and carries the Fairy Ocarina and the pipe-tipped flute. He tends to rapidly switch between his childish mannerisms and the mask's more ominous mannerisms in his dialog, while Tatl and Tael do not talk at all. To attack, he plays his ocarina while he and the fairies dart forward, and in his more powerful attacks, he shoots purple blasts of magic and summons his puppets with his flute. When defeated, he may drop a weapon, Skull Kid's Hat, or on rare occasions even Majora's Mask itself.

He appears in one of Linkle's missions in Faron Woods, where he repeatedly messes with Linkle and acts as the enemy captain. However, this is his only involvement in the plot, and his control from Majora's Mask is not resolved.

Cadence of Hyrule: Crypt of the NecroDancer featuring The Legend of Zelda
In Cadence of Hyrule: Crypt of the NecroDancer featuring The Legend of Zelda, Skull Kid is an important character in the new future side-story. He lives in Deku Village under the Great Deku Tree, whom he considers his grandfather. In it, the Deku Tree tasks him with collecting the Skull Mask from a nearby cave; in the "Symphony of the Mask" mode, he gets it himself, but in the main campaign, he is too scared to and has the player character do so instead. Regardless, after obtaining it, he resolves to stop Ganon. As a playable character, Skull Kid uses masks (starting with the Deku Mask and Skull Masks) granting him different abilities instead of weapons. Throughout his quest, he is guided by a mysterious voice urging him to gain the bongos from the Gerudo Arena and the Synth from the Temple of Brainstorms. Upon using both to break the Lightning Lock on Hyrule Castle and confronting Ganon, it is revealed the voice was from the Skull Mask itself, who wanted to be worn by Ganon, finding him "worthy" of his power. Ganon puts on the mask and becomes Skull Ganon, and Skull Kid must use the Triforce to seal him away. Once he does so, Link, Zelda, and Cadence arrive, finding Ganon already defeated. In the final shot, it is shown that Skull Kid has finally overcome his shyness about his face, relying on masks no longer.

Trivia

 * Skull Kid playing a flute upon a stump and vanishing when approached is quite similar to the Flute Boy in The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past, and may have been inspired by him.
 * In Japanese, Skull Kid is considered a part of the "stal" group of normally skeletal creatures, despite not being skeletal himself; a similar case of this is Skulltula. Both this and his English name are likely a reference to the Skull Mask. His pale redesign in Twilight Princess may have been to rectify this.