The man from the Curiosity Shop is the man from the Trading Post.

In my last post, I made three points:1. The two in question have a similar appearance, use similar expressions, and even have the same itch.2. They both know who Kafei is, when no one else does.3. The Official Nintendo Player's Guide explicitly says that "they're the same person!" Of these three points, Con only attempted to rebut the first one. Con says, "Yes, they do in fact look similar, but who's not to say they're twins?" Nintendo is to say that they're not twins, and they do; the Official Nintendo Player's Guide says their similar appearance is "no coincidence - they're the same person!"Con made three arguments for why the man from the Curiosity Shop and the man from the Trading Post cannot be the same person:1. "[O]n the night of the second day, before 9PM, both the Man from the Curiosity Shop and the Man from the Trading Post can be seen in their respective stores."2. The man from the Curiosity Shop will not be added to the Bomber's Notebook if the Man from the Trading Post is talked to.3. The man from the Trading Post "is more polite compared to the Curiosity Shop owner."First ArgumentI consider your first argument the most powerful point I know against the proposition. Therefore, I will spend the majority of my characters here.In order to investigate better, I got onto the game and confirmed something I wondered. Even before 9:00 PM but after 6:00 PM on the second day, the time in which the reference says that they "can be seen in their respective stores," the store is closed, and Link cannot enter the shop. Therefore, the reference is referring to when you peer into the Curiosity Shop from Kafei's house. It's true—you can see the shop's owner there—but think: Why is he there if the store is closed? Of course, it could be argued that he is preparing the store for when it does open up, at 9:00 PM—but he is not preparing it. Rather, he is standing there like he does when he's awaiting customers. This, when combined with the fact that the Official Nintendo Player's Guide explicitly says that "they're the same person," seems to indicate that the incident, in the words of Zelda Wiki, "could be explained as a development error, an intentional discrepancy to help recognize the room into which [Link] is peering ..."Another interpretation is that, for the same reason (i.e., "to help recognize the room into which [Link] is peering"), since Link is peering through a wall at Kafei's house and would have to run a while to actually get to West Clock Town, it could be intended that the man just happens to be in the Curiosity Shop when Link is peering but then goes back to the Trading Post by the time Link runs over there. Consider this point from Zelda Wiki user Embyr 75:"... [T]his single instance could be ... the characters moving around/behaving differently based on the player's actions (One could argue that since the Moon's Tear falls a different time and day depending on the player's actions, perhaps the Moon of each 3-day cycle is a different Moon O_O. Ok, I'm taking it too far, but you see the point). If anything, I'd say there's massively more in-game evidence FOR them being the same person, not against them being the same. Those are my two Rupees!"[1]Second ArgumentYour second and third arguments, with brutal honesty, seem much weaker than the first. The Bomber's Notebook is a book that Link adds people to after talking to them, done for the purpose of side missions. Zelda Wiki, as Con pointed out, says the Curiosity Shop owner is not added "when Link talks to the Man from the Trading Post."[2] However, Zelda Wiki also points out that this could "be an intentional device, as the player is not supposed to assume they are the same character from the beginning."[2]Third ArgumentYes, the Curiosity Shop owner is more rude than the Trading Post owner. But who's not to say that he is putting on a good face (i.e., having a good personality) while at the Trading Post and a bad one while working at the Curiosity Shop? After all, his Curiosity Shop sells goods stolen by thieves, so he wouldn't want the public knowing his true identity.ConclusionTo conclude, I have three questions for Con to answer:1. Considering that Kafei is in hiding but revealed himself to the man from the Curiosity Shop, how does the Trading Post owner know that Kafei is a "kid"?2. When the Curiosity Shop opens, the Trading Post is attended by a part-time employee. If you wear the Stone Mask to make yourself invisible, you can sneak up and hear the employee saying, "We don't get many customers, so why does the boss have so much money?" Does this not imply that the Trading Post owner ("boss") is getting money elsewhere?3. Considering that the Official Nintendo Player's Guide itself explicitly says that "they're the same person," is there an argument more conclusive that could override this?References[1] http://zeldawiki.org....[2] http://zeldawiki.org...