Duster's limp, something that puzzled us as we played through Mother 3. Some forgot about it and blew it off, but this guy didn't. I questioned where and how it happened, and only one thing came through to me. Hope of honor.

We knew Duster was trained in the theiving arts, that alone takes sacrifice and determination. He once caught his master, Wes, doing one heck of a weird dance while he was young. At first he thought it was a silly dance he would teach him soon, but little Duster got surprised to see that after the dance, Wes released a heat of power. Within Dusters curiosity, he had to try it.

It was 2 years within his practice and he realized, he was getting nowhere. He was slacking off in his theiving training, and was slipping away in his knowledge and responsibilities, causing Wes to get angrier after each passing day. Wes started to yell and snap at Duster constantly, and forced him to sleep outside, only knowing he was losing his touch in his theiving. Duster soon got tired of Wes's annoying rants though.

Duster planted a smoke bomb in what he thought was Wes's bed. That night however, Wes was feeling bad, and offered Duster to sleep inside that same night, and he prepared a whole plate of cheese just in apologize sake. Duster go over excited and forgot what he did before. When night fell, Duster decided to get some rest in a bed upstairs. BIG MISTAKE. The bed he placed the smoke bomb in was the one he was banned from for nights.

As he sat on the bed, the bomb went off, sending him in a blinded fit. One more thing he forgot to do, was close the window. He fell out the window he placed his prank in. Another thing to mention, one skill he mastered was the wall hook technique. One he didn't was putting things away. With a loud thud he fell to the ground outside, and a misplaced wall hook pierced his leg.

He was stuck in that smoke stained bed for weeks to come. Wes only offering him the apologize cheese from the night, and constant reminders of the hook permanatly scarring his leg. Every day that passed, he learned less, but somehow learned to joke more...and annoying Wes.

Thus is the story of the limp. For this Theorist, this is the only understanding I can come to understand. With everything in heart (and leg) Firej (Pheen-x) signing out.

- Firej7

one time duster was walking home from school and some guys said hey duster i bet you cant run a hudred miles so duster ran a hundred miles but then duster tripped on a rock and then his leg broke and hes to poor to fix it so he got a limp instead the end.

- Claremonster

Duster seems to be a very modest character, maybe he has an inferiority complex, brought on by his father, who keeps insulting him and seems to want more of him that he can give. But that is only what it seems at first glance. His father is tough with Duster because he wants him to be strong, and secretly hates himself for believing he caused Duster limp during a training accident.

But, and stop reading NOW if you have no beaten Mother 3... Are you still reading? Well... Duster and his father Wess and not really related! In fact since the people of Tazmily Village have not been on the island so long, his limp probably has another cause, but what was that cause?

If we see things outside the box, Duster has bad breath and a limp because Mister Itoi wanted to teach us a lesson, that maybe if you did not judge people at first glance you could meet great people.

But... if he has a limp, how is he able to use his legs in battle? Because he might walk weird, but his leg still works, because he worked very hard, because Wess trained him very hard, and because he is not what he seems at first glance. What do you see of him at first glance? A thief with bad breath and a woody leg, who is sent to steal something from a castle, not the type of person you SHOULD hang out with, right? But once you get to know him, you see something different, you see a good person, one that does care for his friends, and someone that is actually very good at fighting using his legs. In fact we could argue that somewhat slightly erratic movement of his limp leg gives him an advantage in battle, as it makes harder for the enemy to predict where his kick is going to land.

Now, lets see things inside the box, Duster must have been someone with skill using his legs, maybe a dancer, who was also a bassist (He joined the DCMC as one after all), then he had an accident. He tried his best to recover, but even if he regained most of the use of his leg, you cannot dance with a woody leg. Then it came the end of the world, he boarded the White Ship and ended in the islands. And when it was decided everyone but Leder would lose its memory and get a new identity, he saw his chance. He could no longer dance, but becoming the son of a "thief", he could use his legs for something, to protect Kumatora and the egg of light. A new beginning, a new chance, to be useful, to be an hero.

And surprisingly, he ends becoming more of an hero that the person that was before wanted to be, why? Because he did not gave up and worked hard!

Long life to Duster! Son, hero, guy with bad breath and a limp leg, you helped to give the world of Mother 3 a new start, and for that, we thank you.

- Red Snake

Through the entire story of Mother 3 we are constantly seeing how Duster is treated by Wess, of course Wess is not the most loving of all parents and at times is extremely harsh and quick thinking. My theory on how Duster got his limp is that during the time of Duster's training Wess over worked Duster. Duster being a young child (if he's a young child then the accident would be more permanat than if he was a adult) wanted to fully prove that he was ready too use moves like Wall Staples,and the use of the Hypno pendulum. So Duster decided that he would run to the a small cliff near a area where Dragos were staying and steal a Drago egg to prove that he was powerful and could even beat a drago.

When Wess could not find Duster he began to worry so he ran out to go find him but came to late half way up the cliff was Duster and he was going fast. Wess was amazed that Duster was able to climb so high, but what he did not notice is that duster wall staples where clumsy and loose. Wess called to Duster to get down before the wall staples gave in but Duster refused and kept responding ''No I need to prove that I can do this'' but before Duster could take another step he fell from the large cliff in a small crumppled way.

Wess took Duster to the Tazmilly village clinic, the nurse said that Duster would recover but have a limp in his leg for the rest of his life. Wess blamed himself because

1.He was not watching Duster when he left the home

2.He was unable to ctach Duster when he fell

3.Because Duster would never be the same and he felt that he had ruined his chances of becoming a great theif

And thats my Theory

And that is my theory

- islalader

Duster's limp was ultimately the result of an accident combined with the archaic practices of the people of Tazmily. One day the thief's apprentice was going beachcombing as part of his training, the idea being that he was stealing from Mother Nature herself. He gathered up a few dolphin ossicles and seashells and decided it was time to return to Middle-aged Man Wess to deliver Nature's bounty. When he was closing up his bag, he noticed a coconut tree standing on the other side of the beach. The hungry apprentice decided to collect a couple of coconuts both for eating and for submitting his examples of his mastery of pilfering the works of Nature. Duster wasn't exactly good at climbing up trees, so he started to apply Wall Staples to the tree in hopes of securing his safety. Unfortunately, the force of the staples being jammed into the tree caused all the coconuts to fall from the tree. Duster turned to flee as soon as he saw them shaking, but they ended up falling on top of his leg, causing it to be bruised and bloodied.

The apprentice was rescued after an extended period of screaming for help, and the tree was stripped into many pieces and burned ritualistically in a huge bonfire. He arrived at the inn, where innkeeper Jackie practiced the limited medical techniques of the commune of Tazmily. The leg became gangrenous and had to be amputated. An old book detailing the art of making prosthetic legs survived the journey on the White Ship, so Bronson attempted to create one. Unfortunately, the prosthetic turned out really crappy with the limited technology and non-space-age supplies at the time; it ended up being made of plywood and moving like a limp noodle (in fact, an urban legend exists saying that the leg was filled with spaghetti). Duster never got fully used to moving on this limp-noodle leg, so all he could do was limp around with every step on it. Wess ended up being disappointed in his young son from this folly, and took to calling him an “idiot” frequently from that day onward.

- EnnuiKing

Perhaps the most reasonable explanation for Duster's limp is a birth defect. And while it may be simple enough to dismiss such a statement as an uneducated guess, there are a couple of reasons why this may be possible.

Observe the state of Tazmily prior to the Pigmask invasion. Technology in the village was relatively simple, comparable to a 19th century rural community with a few exceptions. The absence of modern-day technology also leads to the absence of modern medicine.

Modern medicine would allow such things as prosthetics, drugs, pain killers, and advanced corrective surgery available to those born with impairing defects. But because these conventions are absent from Tazmily, Duster most likely had little more than crude physical therapy to help him cope through his childhood. He most likely had to improvise and "wing it" in his disability, eventually learning to cope with it and develop a near-normal proficiency with that limb.

In this, it is feasible to rule out his limp being the result of a recent injury. Had he suffered such an incident say, five years ago, he would not be able to use his legs in battle as well as he does during the events of the game. Duster's ability to kick and deal reasonable damage signifies that he has learned to do so over a number of years. This also extends to his running skill, which is that of a normal person.

While it is possible that the limp could have been from an injury much longer ago, the lack of modern medicine would have prevented him from recovering to the state he is in during Mother 3. He would have eventually worsened, perhaps to the point of crippling. The only other available means of healing would be PSI, which was arguably not available (The Magypsies only appear to have the power to unlock it, and Kumatora was not alive at the time).

As such, a birth defect seems like the best possible explanation, because there were so few options available to him otherwise.

- DruidMettool

Duster was still training in Thief Arts when Wes introduced him to "Wall Staples". Wes showed Duster how to toss the staples into the wall, and to climb up and add more.

Duster gave it a shot. He, however, failed. He couldn't get the first staple in the wall.

"Duster, here's how it goes. Thrust it towards the wall and toss about 6 inches away from it." He took a staple for an example, but in his thrusting technique, he spun out of control and the staple sank into his leg.

And that's how it all happened.

- Ostricho