???

??? as seen in Oracle of Ages.
???
Species	Unknown/Phantom
Hair color	Unknown
Eye color	Unknown
Debut	The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask

The creature known only as ??? is a recurring minor character from the The Legend of Zelda series. It is usually involved in comical sidequests where it needs some type of paper in the bathroom, and all that can usually be seen of the mysterious creature is a grotesque arm reaching out from the toilet.

Background

??? was first seen and identified in The Legend of Zelda: Majora's Mask, where it inhabited the bathroom of the Stock Pot. The hand could be seen at night, reaching out and asking for some kind of paper. ??? will accept any paper item such as a letter or title deed, and it rewards the player with a Piece of Heart that had fallen into the toilet. Although nothing is known about this creature, including its name, ??? still has an entry in the Bombers Notebook.

In Oracle of Ages, ??? was a resident of Lynna Village in the past era. It lived in a small, rundown hut and once more called for paper. ???'s main purpose in this game was as a link in the trading sidequest. Link could give the hand some Stationary from the Postman in exchange for what is known only as a Stinky Bag. As an easter egg, various items could be dropped into ???'s hole with a variety of reactions.

A different version of the mysterious hand appears in The Legend of Zelda: Skyward Sword. This version is more clearly a ghost and is only ever seen as a floating, disembodied hand, and it appears to be female. Fi supports this by describing it as the hand of a ghost, giving a 90% chance that the hand belongs to a young girl and saying that 80% of ghosts are motivated by unfulfilled desires. The hand appears partway through the game when it begins locking itself in the bathroom at Skyloft's Knight Academy every night while calling out for paper. This concerns some of the students and faculty members, and its feminine-sounding cries could be heard even by other citizens of Skyloft. The day after Link first talks to the hand, Crawlin will entrust him with a love letter for Karane and explicitly warns Link not to give it to the person in the bathroom.

At this point, the sidequest branches depending on the player's choice, but with the same reward. If Link gives the letter to Karane, the hand decides to simply leave the bathroom the next night. Otherwise, Link can offer the letter to the hand as paper. The hand lets Link into the bathroom, revealing itself, and it disappears after claiming the letter. The hand actually reads the letter, most likely instead of "using" it, and this causes the hand to fall in love with Crawlin. On subsequent nights, the hand appears in Groose's room and pets Crawlin while he sleeps. The hand is grateful to Link for helping it meet its true love, which produces five Gratitude Crystals for Link.

Trivia

• Shigeru Miyamoto has stated that the character is based off of a type of Japanese ghost story in which a hand is said to appear in a toilet and grab the person using it.
• In Majora's Mask, its model was taken from the model for one of the Dead Hand's extra arms from Ocarina of Time. It could possibly seen as the Terminan counterpart to that creature.
• The hand shown is a left hand in Majora's Mask and a right hand in later appearances.
• This character has no real name but was referred to as "Te", the Japanese word for "hand", in the Japanese version of Oracle of Ages. Additonally, a Prime strategy guide for Skyward Sword referred to that version by the name of Phoeni.