>>54505406>>54505573>>54505602>>54505751>>54506254>The man happened to be there. He managed to hold on to one of the masks...>But he was not strong enough to protect them all. The Pokemon stole the other three masks.>Several hours later, when the ogre returned to the cave...>It found its home in ruin. All that was left were signs of a struggle and a teal mask.>The ogre donned that mask and went to the village, perhaps to search for its friend.The actual text in-game says the man was holding the Teal Mask and protecting it so the Loyal Three couldn't steal it like the others. Ogerpon returned "several hours later" to find just the mask. If the Loyal Three had killed the man, why couldn't they have just stolen the Teal Mask as well? He had to still be alive in order to protect it. There's hours between the incident and Ogerpon's return to the cave. My theory is that, with only one mask remaining, the man decided to leave forever so that Ogerpon could have the mask for herself and continue visiting the village and having fun at the festival. If they shared it, half the time Ogerpon would be left alone while the man went to the festival. He decided to sacrifice his own happiness for Ogerpon's, much like a father would for his daughter. The tragedy is that, of course, Ogerpon cared more for her friend than the mask and the man didn't realize that.
