The Old Man governs as the elder of Amaurot, a subterranean village in Agartha, wielding authority shaped by ancient customs born from generations of strife between his people and surface dwellers. His pragmatic leadership emerges when he allows Asuna and Morisaki a single night’s shelter—a rare concession granted only because they returned Manna, a lost village child. This choice aligns with tradition, as Amaurot’s inhabitants view surface outsiders as harbingers of calamity. Tasked with preserving spiritual order, he presides over sacred rituals, including the solemn offering of Mimi’s corpse to the Quetzalcoatl, reinforcing his role as both political leader and guardian of ancestral rites. When villagers rally to expel Asuna and Morisaki, fearing their presence disrupts the village’s fragile balance, the elder’s unspoken influence steers their actions, though he refrains from direct participation. His decisions mirror Agartha’s enduring enmity toward the surface world, a legacy of conflict that permeates every decree and ritual, binding the community to its insular, tradition-bound existence.