Masked Man

The Masked Man is the secondary antagonist of Mother 3; a mysterious character who debuts during the final scene of the fifth chapter. He is the only other person besides Lucas capable of pulling the Seven Needles.
== Profile ==
=== Appearance ===
The Masked Man wears a black-gray coat, orange pants that go inside his black-grayish boots, a pair of white gloves, and a helmet that covers his left eye and hides the right one. He also has a yellow detail under his coat; this can be seen as a belt or a yellow shirt under the coat.
=== Personality ===
The Masked Man is shown not having any kind of compassion or empathy, sacrificing even members of his own team to achieve his goal and follow the orders of his master. He also doesn't say a single word onscreen, but a Pigmask, upon mistaking Lucas with him on the phone, states that he sounded "kind of cheery", signaling that the Masked Man actually can talk, though in an emotionless tone.
== History ==
Is it discovered and inferred through the game that the Masked Man is in reality, Claus, who was apparently discovered near the Drago Plateau by the Pigmask Army. He was brought back to consciousness and turned into a human chimera. It is unknown whether or not he was dead when found, though the implications point more toward being dead, as the Magypsies sensed no heart in him. During this time, Porky used him as a loyal servant and gave to him near full command of the Pigmask Army. While under the control of Porky, Claus's sense of self and memories had been forgotten and pushed deep inside of him.
=== Chapter 5 ===
The 5th chapter is the first chapter where the Masked Man is mentioned. While Lucas and the party are trying to find the Egg of Light, Lucas is mistaken by a commander of the Pig Mask Army, the Masked Man, something that helps the party while they sneak in the Thunder Tower. Later, the Masked Man does a brief appearance before the party fell over the Mother Porkship.
=== Chapter 7 ===
After Lucas and the party arrive at Lydia's House in Snowcap Mountain, they see the Masked Man pulling the Needle before he flies away, leaving the Steel Mechorilla to fight them.
On Tanetane Island, after the party defeats the Barrier Trio, a Flying Pork appears, bringing many Pigmask Majors, who lay down a red rug for the Masked Man's landing. He then strikes the party with a lighting, pulling the Needle before they can regain their senses.
Later, the Masked Man is seen trying to enter the Chupichupyoi Temple, where he again tries to hit the party with lighting, but it is deflected, since now Lucas has the Franklin Badge. With no other choice, he fights the party and, upon being defeated, flies away, allowing Lucas to pull the sixth Needle.
=== Chapter 8 ===
At the end of the 8th chapter, Flint discovers that the Masked Man is actually Claus, feeling relieved for finally founding his missing son and insisting that Lucas should be happy about it, regardless of Claus' condition.
After Porky locks himself in the Absolutely Safe Capsule, the party finally find the seventh Needle, where the Masked Man waits for them. He strikes the party with a strong lighting, incapacitating the whole party except Lucas, with who he starts a fight.
During the battle, Lucas and the Masked Man start listening to Hinawa's voice, trying to help him to come to his senses. With the help of his mother, Claus remembers who he is, taking off his helmet and looking at Lucas, before firing an intense bolt of lightning, purposely reflecting it off on Lucas's Franklin Badge, causing himself mortal damage and ultimately killing himself.
== In Battle ==
The Masked Man is one of the fewest enemies with double turns, allowing him to perform two actions before the party can act again. All fights, he can attack with a sword, an arm cannon, use PK Love, and fire a lightning, which can be deflected by the Courage Badge. Additionally, he has the ability to destroy all types of Shields (including Counters) using his Shield Killer, and may use it even when the party is unshielded, wasting a turn. His first battle theme is a variation of "Strong One", entitled "Strong One (Masked Man)"
During the second fight, Kumatora, Duster and Boney start the battle unconscious, being impossible to revive them, since every time they're revived, the Masked Man fires a unavoidable lightning attack, instantly rendering unconscious to the whole party again. Lucas is also unable to inflict damage during this fight, since he refuses to hurt his brother, only allowing the player to heal, consume items, and Guard.
During the third fight, or the second segment of the second fight, Lucas is the only party member. Like the first part, he refuses to inflict damage, only healing and guarding. The Masked Man starts to inflict way less damage, mostly wasting one or both his turns staring at Lucas, covering his ears, shutting his eyes, etc. It is impossible to defeat the Masked Man, and the fight is programed to end when he hits himself with a lightning.
In the final battle against the Masked Man, the battle themes that play during the first and second parts are titled "Battle Against the Masked Man" and "It is Finished", respectively. During the moments where Hinawa speaks, the song playing is called "Memory of Mother".
== In Super Smash Bros. Brawl and Super Smash Bros. Ultimate ==
Masked Man appears as an Ace class Spirit as well, having the Attack Spirit type and increasing sword damage to its user. It can be obtained as a reward for completing the Adventure Mode.
== Trivia ==
* The Masked Man's overworld sprite depicts him with only one glove on the right hand, but his battle sprite shows him with both gloves.
* The fight background of the final battle with Masked Man is very similar to the fight backgrounds of Ness's Nightmare and Evil Mani Mani.
* The Masked Man uses the same sound effect as Claus, a Sitar, when using his sword during the first fight.
* While it has been said that the Masked Man was turned into a cyborg by the Pigmask Army, it is not said how much of him was replaced by cybernetics, aside from his right arm still having an arm cannon as seen in an unused sprite.
* In the first fight against the Masked Man, even though lightning is reflected back at him, he takes no damage when the battle begins. However, when fought again as the final boss and lightning is reflected back at him, he takes damage as the battle begins. The reason for this is not explained, but it may be due to him taking off his helmet in the final fight.
* The Masked Man is said to have no heart. In keeping with this idea, he has absolutely no heartbeat file present in the game for either of his battle themes.
* There are entire sets of unused sprites for the Masked Man walking around unmasked, apparently exploding, being picked by something, and a single sprite of him being either built or repaired (possibly to be used in a cutscene at the end of either Chapter 1 or 3).Masked Man's unused sprites
** The unused sprites of Pigmask's picking something up match up perfectly with one of the Masked Man's unused sprites, and probably were meant to be used together in the aftermath of the explosion.
* The Masked Man shares a number of similarities to Anakin Skywalker/Darth Vader from Star Wars:
** He was a good, caring and energetic boy who loved his family, much like how young child-to-early adult Anakin was while he was in the light side.
** It has been implied that Claus lost his right arm when confronting the Mecha Drago, similar to how Anakin lost his right arm to Count Dooku in Attack of the Clones.
** Claus was reconstructed into a cyborg/chimera by the Pigmask Army, similar to how Anakin was given more cybernetic limbs and rebuilt into his Darth Vader suit after losing to Obi-Wan Kenobi in Revenge of the Sith.
** Claus was turned into an evil brainwashed chimera, akin to how Anakin was being manipulated to the dark side and later christened as Darth Vader by Palpatine. The only difference was that it was done to Claus against his own free will, whereas Anakin had his desire to save his wife Padmé from dying in childbirth.
** The Masked Man fighting Lucas is somewhat similar to "Anakin/Vader vs. Obi-Wan's duel" on Mustafar during Revenge of the Sith. The Masked Man was constantly attacking Lucas, while the latter was on the defensive the whole time. Obi-Wan's lightsaber form/fighting style (Form III: Soresu) focused purely on defence whereas Lucas can only guard/heal himself in battle.
** Hinawa's spirit speaking to the Masked Man/Claus is similar to Luke Skywalker trying to turn his father Anakin/Vader back to the light in Return of the Jedi.
** Claus sacrificing himself by casting a lightning attack at Lucas's Franklin badge (and having it reflected back), is ironically similar to Anakin/Vader returning to the light and sacrificing himself by killing Palpatine (who was using Force Lightning).
** Claus's final moments and words to Lucas is similar to Anakin's final moments and words to Luke.
Category:Mother 3 Characters
Category:Mother 3 Bosses
Category:Chimeras
Category:Deceased characters
Category:Pigmask Army