he is a very special villagers

never ages, never works, throws one heck of a party

he does create food, replenish berries and crops, and the parties heal though, so he can be useful

He also helps you figure out who the tribe "elders" are. Go to his details screen and click the right arrow.

Note: it is not always the oldest villager!

I could list my theories about the village leaders, but suffice it to say that when one of them dies, they're not always replaced by the next oldest villager in terms of tribe position like the rest of the villagers are. After a point the leader position is filled by a newborn child, and especially at that point do you get to see villagers chatting with and arguing with all the nursing moms in the Town Center nursery! I think the leader starts getting waylaid at adulthood, when (s)he turns 18. Anyway, once the leader is of age, you can't expect them to get much work done whenever you're watching the game!

Added thought: Since the GC is between the youngest and the leader, does that mean he's considered the last and lowliest member of the village? =P

Well, sometimes a kid is inserted at the start of the list, and when that happens he/she becomes the new leader. Occasionally, other villagers will be the object of the attention, but most likely it is the next villager after the GC.

In one of my games, I had a set of triplets born in that first position. The first one on the list gets waylayed a lot, but does manage to get some work done.