Elden Ring is a true celebration of open-world games, inviting its players to set off on incredible adventures and battle powerful enemies. There is truly just so much to explore and discover within the game; however, with a game as massive as Elden Ring, it's no surprise that developers had previously cut content. From characters to quests to locations, there's a treasure trove of content hidden within the data of the game.
Enter Sekiro Dubi, a dataminer and Elden Ring fan. While exploring the information tucked away within the game, Sekiro Dubi discovered an unused questline for a surprising NPC: the knight Vyke.
Vyke is more than just a minor NPC in the game; he's actually the knight kneeling on Elden Ring's cover art. Given his place as the face of the game, it appears that Vyke may actually be a bigger deal than his current role indicates.
VYKE'S CUT ELDEN RING QUESTLINE POINTS TO A BATTLE AGAINST GODFREY
In the game, players encounter Vyke in two forms: Festering Fingerprint Vyke and Vyke, Knight of the Roundtable. Players can encounter the former as an Invader on the path towards the Church of Inhibition, and fight the latter as a Boss in Lord Contender's Evergaol.
As the battles rage on, the game reveals that Vyke was actually a Tarnished himself. In fact, Vyke came the closest to declaring himself the Elden Lord than any Tarnished before him. Unfortunately, he had ventured below the capital in his quest, where the Three Fingers burned him with the flames of frenzy. A wholly tragic figure, Vyke is the living symbol of an epic fall from glory.
As it turns out, players were supposed to encounter Vyke much earlier on in the game. Dataminer Sekiro Dubi uncovered a few mysterious lines of dialogue surrounding the NPC, revealing a questline that was ultimately cut from the game.
(Left) Vyke kneeling on the Elden Ring cover art / (Right) A Player dressed in Vyke's armor
In Sekiro Dubi's video, we see Gostoc in Stormveil Castle talking about a mysterious knight: "A rather repulsive looking knight went into the castle just before you. His armor was melting inwards, practically falling apart... Be wary of that knight in melted armor." Looking at Vyke's background and his armor, it's clear Gostoc is referring to Vyke.
Additionally, Sekiro Dubi discovered that Vyke's spawn point was located in Stormveil Castle. This means he would've been available as a summon during the boss fight in the castle. Though no text or rewards from the questline have survived, Sekiro Dubo goes on to make an interesting point. Godfrey has an unused character model declared on the Stormveil map; perhaps Vyke was originally meant to battle him here alongside the player.
Following this discovery, many fans seem to think that more Vyke content could be coming in a future DLC. While possible, FromSoftware hasn't revealed any information confirming it. For now, you can watch Sekiro's full video below: