Average Middle-Aged Man

The Average Middle-Aged Man is a strange man who appears in A Link to the Past.

Biography
Tha man is a former Thief specialized in the picking of locks that now lives at the entrance of the Desert of Mystery under the guise of being a ordinary man in silent meditation, sitting by a sign that tells people to leave him be. If Link picks up or slices his sign, the man will break his silence and follow Link until he leaves the area.

After hearing about the "average" man from a Thief in the Lost Woods or from a former thief located in a cave found in the same area as the Ice Cave in the Light World, Link can return to him with the Locked Chest found in the Village of Outcasts. The man offers to open the chest for Link in exchange for him not telling anyone about his true identity. He gives Link the Magic Bottle that was inside in exchange for Link's silence. Afterwards, he won't care one way or the other whether or not his sign is taken by Link.

Trivia

 * The man asking Link to keep his identity a "secret from everyone" is possibly a reference to the famous quote from The Legend of Zelda.
 * During the ending credits, the man can be seen back to his old ways trying to pick locks in the Desert of Mystery.