TV-Series
Description
Oswald is one of the main antagonists of the anime and manga series Dark Gathering. He appears in both versions of the story as a member of a small group of malevolent spirits that also includes Namiko and Dorothy. Rather than acting openly, these spirits take over the bodies of living people and work in the shadows. Their activities are tied to the origin of Kuubou, the powerful evil spirit that once stole the soul of the protagonist Yayoi Hozuki's mother, and the group is suggested to be the hidden force behind the tragedy that drives the main story.
Within the series, Oswald and his associates refer to Kuubou as the Goryō, the embryo of the dawn darkness. Their central method involves traveling through Japan and placing cursed objects at haunted sites, objects that are meant to accelerate the malignant transformation of local spirits and to cultivate a vessel suitable for Kuubou to inhabit. The meaning of their presence is later explained by the monk Nanpoubou, who identifies them as reincarnators. Their apparent ability to replace living people is not ordinary possession but a secret reincarnation art known as the technique of returning souls.
Oswald's most clearly defined relationship is with Dorothy. The spirit inhabiting Dorothy addresses Oswald with the honorific Onii-sama, presenting him as an older-brother figure, with their possible blood relation left unexplained in the story. Alongside Dorothy and Namiko, Oswald stands as one of the principal threatening presences that Yayoi, Keitaro, and Eiko must face during their search for powerful ghosts.
As a member of this faction, Oswald shares its defining supernatural abilities. He is able to inhabit a living human body and operate within the ordinary world undetected, and he is linked to the group's ritual practices, including the placement of cursed objects that remake haunted ground and draw out stronger spirits. An incantation associated with him is known as Oswald's Sutra. His motivations are bound to the faction's larger goal of completing Kuubou and providing it with a suitable vessel, a plan that places him in direct opposition to the protagonists.
Within the series, Oswald and his associates refer to Kuubou as the Goryō, the embryo of the dawn darkness. Their central method involves traveling through Japan and placing cursed objects at haunted sites, objects that are meant to accelerate the malignant transformation of local spirits and to cultivate a vessel suitable for Kuubou to inhabit. The meaning of their presence is later explained by the monk Nanpoubou, who identifies them as reincarnators. Their apparent ability to replace living people is not ordinary possession but a secret reincarnation art known as the technique of returning souls.
Oswald's most clearly defined relationship is with Dorothy. The spirit inhabiting Dorothy addresses Oswald with the honorific Onii-sama, presenting him as an older-brother figure, with their possible blood relation left unexplained in the story. Alongside Dorothy and Namiko, Oswald stands as one of the principal threatening presences that Yayoi, Keitaro, and Eiko must face during their search for powerful ghosts.
As a member of this faction, Oswald shares its defining supernatural abilities. He is able to inhabit a living human body and operate within the ordinary world undetected, and he is linked to the group's ritual practices, including the placement of cursed objects that remake haunted ground and draw out stronger spirits. An incantation associated with him is known as Oswald's Sutra. His motivations are bound to the faction's larger goal of completing Kuubou and providing it with a suitable vessel, a plan that places him in direct opposition to the protagonists.