The Old Man is a pre-boss NPC. He does nothing but pace around at the entrance to the Dungeon. If a player attempts to talk to him at night, a warning dialogue will appear asking if the player wants to continue. During the day he will just tell you to come back at night. To enter the Dungeon he is guarding, Skeletron must be defeated. He will judge players with less than 15 hearts (300 ) and/or less than 10 defense as unworthy to fight Skeletron. This, however, does not hinder the player from summoning Skeletron.

Old man telling player to come back at night
If a player attempts to enter the dungeon before Skeletron is defeated, the player will be chased by a Dungeon Guardian that inflicts an instant kill on touch. Once Skeletron is slain, the Old Man will appear as the Clothier in town if you have an available room.
If Skeletron is not defeated, and the player is slain, the Old Man will reappear back at the entrance to the dungeon.

The old man card.
Notes[]
- The Old Man is immune to the attacks from monsters. However, he can still take damage from lava, dart traps and boulders. However, when killed he will respawn almost instantly.
- The Clothier has blue eyes instead of red, probably due to him being free of his curse.
- He and Santa Claus are the only NPCs without a name.
- If you talk to him as far away as possible, Skeletron's head will not touch you.
- He will sometimes go down into the Dungeon, making the player wait far enough away for him to teleport back.
- Unlike the player, the Old Man will not continuously take damage from a sand trap, though he will take damage initially. He will repeatedly turn while stuck in the trap, but will take no damage from it.
- Due to their highly similar appearance, he may be a reference to the Old Man in the original Legend of Zelda.
- There is a way to get inside the Dungeon without defeating Skeletron. The player can use a teleportation item, ie. Rod of Discord, to bypass the Dungeon Guardia.
- He seems to have mood swings, going from "You pathetic fool. You cannot hope to face my master as you are now." to "Please, no, stranger. You'll only get yourself killed."
- He may attempt to lure the player in to the dungeon, as his line "I cannot let you enter until you free me of my curse." can be tempting to some new players to enter the dungeon and thus be killed by the Dungeon Guardian.
Old Man's Quotes | |
---|---|
Daytime
Night time, before you are considered strong enough to defeat Skeletron
Night time, after you are considered strong enough to defeat Skeletron
|
Update Info[]
- Sprite updated.
- Will now warn players before becoming Skeletron.
- Added to the game.