Elden Ring's Merchant Kalé Originally Had A Much Bigger And Darker Role

thegamer.com:

Uncovering the quests that didn't make it into the final cut of Elden Ring is just as intriguing as completing the ones that did. Datamines of the game have revealed NPCs who didn't have much to say offering entire questlines, dead ends that were originally accessible areas, and even the most throwaway line of dialogue, which entirely changed the game's lore. While all this content was surely removed for a reason, it would be interesting to get a version of Elden Ring with the best cut content included.

One recent datamine finds that a certain merchant initially played a bigger role than just selling you goods (thanks, PC Gamer). Kalé can be found in Church of Elleh, and is the first of many NPC merchants you come across while on your journey in The Lands Between. But thanks to a datamine by Sekiro Dubi, we've learned that Kalé was part of a major sidequest, pertaining to the Grand Caravan.

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After the Tarnished defeats Gorick the Grafted, the scrapped quest would see Kalé move to Liurnia and eventually Leyndell, in search of the Grand Caravan. He would eventually end up at Subterranean Shunning Grounds, explaining why there was an area filled with so many Nomadic Merchants – some alive, most dead.

Kalé would be standing near the doorway to the Three Fingers, where he would explain that his people – the Grand Caravan – were buried alive here along with the Three Fingers by the Golden Order. He then tries to embrace the Flame of Frenzy, albeit unsuccessfully. Ultimately, however, the questline was scrapped, and instead, you'd be pointed to the location of the Three Fingers by Hyetta's questline. It could be possible that this was done to avoid the quests from clashing, or that