Journey to Find Oneself: Link has long defeated the evil Ganon, but Hyrule merely enjoyed a precautious peace, its citizens wondering when the next threat would arrive to end the tranquility. Feeling in need of enlightenment, he embarks on this journey for foreign lands.
Kleptomaniac Hero: In addition to Link's usual kleptomania, he can now outright steal things from the shop.
Only Sane Man: Indeed, because he's the only real man in the whole game.
Waking Up Elsewhere: Link goes unconscious after the lightning bolt hits his ship at the beginning. He wakes up in Marin and Tarin's house on Koholint Island.
The female lead in Link's Awakening, of whom Malon is an Expy. A singer who rescued Link when he washed ashore, and later teaches him the "Ballad of the Wind Fish" which is critical to waking the Wind Fish.
However, she is SCARILY encouraging of Link abusing Cuccos if you do it for long enough. Probably because, once she starts encouraging you, if you keep doing it, the Cuccos will start attacking you like they usually do.
Guest Star Party Member: At one point you are required to take Marin with you to wake up a walrus in order to continue with the main quest.
Japanese Honorifics: The animals of the Animal Village refer to Marin as Marin-chan. This is localized in English as the nickname Little Marin.
Manic Pixie Dream Girl: Apart from the fact that she literally is a "dream girl", she qualifies. Life virtually revolving around the protagonist? Check. Quirky personality? Check. ("Dig it! Dig to the center of the earth!") Of course, Link doesn't need convincing to be adventurous.
Missing Mom: In this game and all her future incarnations. In most games, she still has a Mario look-alike dad, but in Majora's Mask, Cremia and Romani don't even have a dad.
Temporary Substitute: Fills in for Princess Zelda in the only Legend of Zelda game where Zelda doesn't appear.
Winged Humanoid (in the black-and-white version), Animorphism (in the DX version): Marin's reward if you get a No Miss Clear is to have her wish granted and either be able to fly like a seagull or become a seagull.
Tarin
The father of Marin who collects mushrooms.
Baleful Polymorph: At one point he's turned into a Raccoon (or Tanuki in the original Japanese version). Although its not exactly baleful - once he's back to normal, he recalls having fun as a raccoon.
He's also reminiscent of Link's uncle from A Link to the Past. Link even obtains the first shield from him just like he did from his uncle in the previous game.
Expy: Of Mario. He has the mustache, he loves eating mushrooms and he's turned into a raccoon/tanuki. The resemblance to Mario carries over into Talon.
Moment Killer: He does this a couple of times during the game.
Sleepy Head: Will be found at home napping in-between his appearances around the island.
No Name Given: People often mistakenly refer to him as Kaepora Gaebora since Kaepora Gaebora is an extremely obvious Expy of him, but this owl was never actually named.
Piece of God: At the end the owl reveals he is part of the Wind Fish's spirit and guardian of his dreams.
According to Nintendo Power, the owl maybe actually be Kaepora Gaebora.
Expy: The Ocean King from Phantom Hourglass and Levias from Skyward Sword are both expies of the Wind Fish.
Fisher King: Both the inhabitants of the island and the nightmares are born from his dreams.
Journey to the Center of the Mind All Koholint is but his dream, and Link must travel his way to the center of an egg and awaken the core of the deity's consciousness. The nightmares that control the whale god of course, won't go down without a fight
Mysterious Watcher: He's constantly watching Link's progress, though unlike the Owl, is unable to directly interact or communicate with the hero.
Non-Indicative Name: As described by an owl statue, "THE WIND FISH IN NAME ONLY, FOR IT IS NEITHER".
Summon Everyman Hero: While never explicitly stated, it is heavily implied nonetheless that the Wind Fish, was responsible for the storm in the game's prologue. He uses the last of his available powers to draw Link into his dream in a final desperate act to stop the nightmares taking over his mind.
Ungrateful Bastard Link saves his divine cetacean from an eternity of nightmares. How does the whale god thank his saviour? By leaving him behind. Clinging to driftwood, in the middle of the ocean
A shape-shifting Sequential Boss that has affected the dreams of the Wind Fish. In its battle with Link, it takes the forms of enemies Link has fought before.
Big Bad: Throughout the whole game it's unclear who exactly the Big Bad is, but once Nightmare is introduced it's pretty clear.
Saving the World: In an unusual inversion, the bad guy is trying to save the world and the hero is trying to destroy it, but the Nightmares aren't saving the world for benevolent reasons.
