Summary
- The first NPC you meet in Dark Souls is Oscar, a valiant knight who dies saving us, giving us an Estus Flask in his final moments.
- His original cut quest was much longer. He would have escaped with us, and essentially become our Pokemon rival.
- He would choose the opposite Primordial Serpent to us, and we’d have to fight him right at the end of the game to become the true Chosen Undead (ie Pokemon champion).
The entire Dark Souls series began with us in a dingy cell, waiting to be rescued by a knight in shining armour, AKA Oscar of Astoria. He kicks down a corpse with a key in its pocket for us to loot, letting us escape our shackles and flee the Undead Asylum at long last. But as we navigate the dank, ruinous hallways towards the exit, he gets slammed through the ceiling.
When we meet Oscar again, slumped over a pile of rubble, he’s too weak to continue. So we alone are plucked by a giant crow and taken to Lordran, leaving him behind to go hollow. But Oscar’s story was once much longer — and oddly reminiscent of a Pokemon rival.
Choose Your Starter! Primordial Serpent, Or Primordial Serpent?
Oscar would have somehow escaped the Undead Asylum with us, as he originally had unique dialogue for when we rang both Bells of Awakening, and summon signs in Darkroot Garden and Anor Londo.
You can find the Elite Knight armour in Darkroot Garden in the release version, which even references Oscar as its wearer.
Unlike Solaire and Siegmeyer, who have their own stories that we happen to help them along with, Oscar would have always been in direct opposition to our own.
After acquiring the Lord Vessel, you can either side with Frampt, who wishes to continue the Age of Fire, or Kaathe, who wants to see you rise as the Dark Lord instead. These mysterious Primordial Serpents would have essentially functioned as Pokemon Starters, albeit much later in the game than usual. Whoever we picked, our rival would choose the opposite.
The Elite Four (Lord Souls)
“I have waited for thee… foolish slave of the Gods, and pawn of Frampt, I will kill you… and become the true Dark Lord,” Oscar says as you step into the Kiln of the First Flame, ready to finally challenge Gwyn and throw yourself into the ashes as kindling.
It reminds me of Pokemon’s very first rival, who we challenge after facing the Elite Four to become Champion. Similarly, in Dark Souls, we face four lords — the Bed of Chaos, Seath, the Four Kings, and Nito — before we can open the ancient, ornate doorway beneath Firelink Shrine.
In FromSoftware’s original plan for Oscar, he would have served as the penultimate battle, and defeating him would cement us as the true Chosen Undead, ie the Champion. Oscar was our Blue, only his story was far more tragic.
FromSoftware Should Return To The Idea
The idea of a rival knight taking a different path to us is a fascinating one. Soulsborne games, even Elden Ring, are about cycles, and offer us the chance to continue the reign of the gods or chart a new path. But it’s often a quiet, solitary journey, and nobody but the fleeting phantoms of real players have as much influence as we do.
Except for Oscar. He helped us escape the Undead Asylum, where he had first ventured to follow in the footsteps of a false, misleading prophecy. He wanted to be the Chosen Undead just as we did, ringing the bells, following in the footsteps of Artorias, braving Sen’s Fortress, venturing to Anor Londo, and even meeting with the Primordial Serpents. But only one of us can fill that role.
Unless you subscribe to the theory that Solas linked the fire.
Watching the one he rescued in the Undead Asylum grow in power with every passing day, rising to such mythical status, gnawed at him inside. It crushed his will until he was unable to stave off the curse of the undead, hollowing before our very eyes until he desperately attacked us on the final step of our journey. It’s a hauntingly beautiful end that makes that final moment, when we decide what the future of this world should be, far more impactful. To get here, we had to step over the corpse of a dear friend, the one who saved us so long ago.
It’s builds brilliantly on Ostrava’s own quest from Demon’s Souls, but oddly, FromSoftware hasn’t returned to the idea since. For a studio that loves to tell such cryptic stories, where you often find yourself standing at the final fog gate, unsure of why you’re there, having that more intimate rivalry as motivation would have brought everything together perfectly. I only hope the spirit of Oscar lives on in whatever FromSoftware does next.
