Board Thread:Lore Discussion/@comment-5632187-20130119213241/@comment-18016240-20140407214536

Dark Jeto wrote: This shouldn't be the Stone Dragon from Dark Souls 1. The Stone Dragon had two sets of wings, and sat upright like Seathe. I believe that this memory is from a Dragon that died shortly after the war between the Gods and the Dragons before the Age of Fire even began. It is strange that the Ancient Dragon Soul found in the memory mentions the Ancient Dragon found in the Dragon Shrine. However, I do not believe that he is an illusion. The only illusions we ever encountered in Dark Souls have faded away after a single hit (i.e. Gwynevere and Illusory Walls). Why this Dragon possesses a Giant Soul is a mystery.

I might have an answer for that, or rather, VaatiVidya might. The dragon that the player encounters at the manor could be the person who owned the place before his disappearance. He was said to have been studying giants and dragons and that something happened to make him vanish, but maybe he didn't and transformed into a dragon via the giants' soul.