Board Thread:Dark Souls II/@comment-46.64.182.203-20140312230146/@comment-5115051-20140401011640

Personally, I don't see how this could not be Ornstein. The Dragonslayer Spear says that he used it in the war against the dragons (meaning that he was alive during the same time period as Ornstein and was fighting the same battles). The Leo ring is a unique item; the only one in the world was given to Ornstein by Gwyn, and the Old Leo Ring is obviously the same ring (Meaning that he isn't some random Dragonslayer or one of Ornstein's troops). So if he's wearing Ornstein's Armor, fought against the dragons with Ornstein's weapon, fights identically to Ornstein, and has Ornstein's ring... how could this be anyone but Ornstein?

Furthermore, there's the repeated use of the word "Old." Old Paledrake Soul - Seath. Old Witch Soul - Witch of Izalith. Old Dead One Soul - Nito. Old King Soul - Gwyn. Old Dragonslayer? That is not coincidental.

So the questions that remain are how Ornstein survived in Dark Souls with the ring and soul that the CU took from him, and how he lived through the centuries between Dark Souls and Dark Souls 2. You can say that he was an illusion or that there's a time distortion, but with the info we have, I don't think we'll ever get beyond wild conjecture.