While there is certainly no shortage of oddballs among the citizens of Hyrule, there are some notable weirdos that defy explanation. Most notable for being a straightforward Heart Piece to retreive, the Man on a Roof of Kakariko Village gives Link a Heart Piece if he is spoken to while Link is also on the roof with him. Looking at the house that he’s sitting on top of, there doesn’t seem to be any easily accessible way to get to the roof, and while it’s possible for Link to do so, it begs the question: what’s he doing up here in the first place?
As is the case with many Zelda characters who are at a higher elevation than Link, the player can speak with the Man on the Roof by targeting him and then interacting. When Link is on the ground and speaks to the man, the man directly calls out Death Mountain. It’s reasonable to assume the developers thought the players would most likely interact with the man on their first visit to Kakariko, which would mean Death Mountain is their goal at that point in the story. In this way, the man acts as an indirect pointer in the right direction. However, he also says something particularly odd: he’s unable to get down.
While his low stress attitude towards the situation is certainly admirable, it’s a small cry for help so that the player is incentivized to reach him. There are several ways to reach the Man on the Roof, but the developer intended way of which is to use the Longshot, an item only obtainable when Link is an adult… Seven years in the future. Even that far in the future, though, the man remains on the roof! When Link finally speaks to him on the roof, he doesn’t have much more to say than: “Hey! Good to see you again!” He then rewards the player with a Heart Piece and goes back to his eternal Death Mountain watching. By taking advantage of the unique geometry of the roof’s surrounding area and buildings nearby, it’s possible to ascend to the roof and get the Heart Piece as Young Link. This doesn’t at all change his dialogue though, he simply remarks that it’s good to see you again, same as he would Adult Link.
All of this seems to imply the man remains on this roof for seven entire years, doing naught but simply staring at the majestic Death Mountain. He can’t get down, after all, and is still up there…
After.
Seven.
Years.
I suppose you could argue that he got down somehow and then, for some reason, decided to get back up there. I guess he must really love the view of Death Mountain from that rooftop.
