FromSoftware doesn’t like to talk about it, but Dark Souls was originally set to feature a female protagonist—and you might have finished the whole game without ever knowing. Priscilla the Half-Blood from the painted world of Ariamis was supposed to have a major role in the story, but the idea was cut during development.

With the sole exception of Elden Ring: Nightreign (which is a spin-off), FromSoftware’s other Souls-like games use player-created characters: you design their appearance and name before the adventure begins. But it turns out the original 2011 Dark Souls nearly had a fixed female protagonist—none other than Priscilla the Half-Blood.

In the final version, Priscilla is an optional boss hidden in the painted world of Ariamis—the one inside the painting in Anor Londo. In fact, you can easily finish the game without ever visiting the area, and some players may not even know she exists at all.

Priscilla’s origins remain a mystery: fans theorize she is the child of a dragon (possibly Seath the Scaleless) and a deity. Considered an abomination in Anor Londo, she was exiled to the painted world alongside other outcasts. When you first meet her, she’s peaceful and won’t attack unless provoked.

Traces of the Lost Heroine

That’s all well and good, but in Dark Souls 3 we find hints that Priscilla may have founded an order of scholars in the painted world who studied the Dark Soul. Some fans speculate that the painter waiting at the end of the Ashes of Ariandel DLC is Priscilla’s daughter—who, in turn, plays a key role in the series’ ongoing story, making Priscilla just as central.

In 2012, Hitaka Miyazaki and other FromSoftware creatives were interviewed for Udon’s Dark Souls: Design Works art book. One segment reveals that, early in development, Priscilla was intended to be a much more important character. Artist Daisuke Satake recalled: “Basically, you could get to another area by walking in any direction [from the Sanctuary], though some of those areas didn’t make it into the final game. We even had plans to have Priscilla there as the heroine, and…”—at which point Miyazaki cut in: “Let’s not talk about that right now.” Maybe he was trying to keep future plotlines under wraps. Still, he did admit: “Priscilla was originally going to be the main heroine.”

Since my copy of the book is in English, it’s hard to say exactly what Miyazaki meant: was Priscilla actually going to be playable, or more of an essential companion NPC like Melina or Ranni? Most signs point to the latter.

Source: 3djuegos