The Tale of the Dark Knight (DRK Spoilers)

[Cilia]

I was actually confused if Fray existed or not.

The thing is, after you defeat your shadow and accept it, the soldier at Whitebrim mentions giving "your friend" a proper burial. From that line and the fact that people do seem to at least acknowledge Fray's presence when s/he speaks to them, I presumed "Fray" was your shadow possessing the body of Fray the dead Dark Knight to have a corporeal form. Sidurgu, the Auri Dark Knight who offers to train you after the 30-50 questline, will talk about him if you ask, and though he hasn't much to say he confirms that Fray was a real person.

It's kind of screwy, but that's what I patched together.

So DRK storyline is basically a combination of Hollow Ichigo/Evil Ryu/FF4 Cecil plot elements.

Ehh, I felt it was something closer to a Persona 4 story arc. "Fray" is you - or rather, your shadow: the repressed parts of your psyche, especially you anger and resentment about having to play the hero all the time and getting nothing but praise (at best) in return. In the end you have to accept that "Fray" is a part of you, much like the characters of P4, even though the entire population of Whitebrim saw your dark and ugly side.

[Keisatsu]

The thing is, after you defeat your shadow and accept it, the soldier at Whitebrim mentions giving "your friend" a proper burial. From that line and the fact that people do seem to at least acknowledge Fray's presence when s/he speaks to them, I presumed "Fray" was your shadow possessing the body of Fray the dead Dark Knight to have a corporeal form. Sidurgu, the Auri Dark Knight who offers to train you after the 30-50 questline, will talk about him if you ask, and though he hasn't much to say he confirms that Fray was a real person.

It's kind of screwy, but that's what I patched together.

Honestly from that line I thought they just took his corpse back from Ishgard and buried him from there, but you might be correct also, it's a pretty interesting storyline I must say however.

As for Fray being a real person, what I meant was, he was never real after we saw his corpse, we hallucinated him into existence while everyone else saw Fray as our shadow / us.
It's like from a point of perspective, A (the player) see's B (Fray) while C (everybody else) see's A (the player, but when Fray talks, it's the shadow talking) until the 50 quest where he becomes his own separate being as D (our shadow manifested)

[Cilia]

As for Fray being a real person, what I meant was, he was never real after we saw his corpse, we hallucinated him into existence while everyone else saw Fray as our shadow / us.
It's like from a point of perspective, A (the player) see's B (Fray) while C (everybody else) see's A (the player, but when Fray talks, it's the shadow talking) until the 50 quest where he becomes his own separate being as D (our shadow manifested)

While that's certainly a possibility given Fray's vague appearance in prior quests, in the 50 quest you go to Whitebrim and find "Fray" having already beaten the soldiers there into submission. They also recoil in fear when s/he glares at them, and Fray's body doesn't disappear when your shadow manifests itself; it just slumps to the ground.

So while the other ones are still a bit ambiguous, I'm pretty confident "Fray" was your shadow commandeering Fray's body during the 50 quest.

[Keisatsu]

While that's certainly a possibility given Fray's vague appearance in prior quests, in the 50 quest you go to Whitebrim and find "Fray" having already beaten the soldiers there into submission. They also recoil in fear when s/he glares at them, and Fray's body doesn't disappear when your shadow manifests itself; it just slumps to the ground.

So while the other ones are still a bit ambiguous, I'm pretty confident "Fray" was your shadow commandeering Fray's body during the 50 quest.

That's where the whole "They see you while you see Fray" comes to mind..the only plot hole to my theory is his body when your shadow leaves it behind.

But yes the others are still pretty ambiguous since no npc has ever talked to him directly or addressed him directly, they only talk to you and address you as if he wasn't even there.