Bald and wearing trademark leather armor, he is usually a merchant who obtains his wares from looting corpses, including those of unsuspecting people he has fooled.
Patches is typically depicted as a middle-aged man wearing fullbody light leather armor created for thievery and sneaking, save for his head.
Patches is nevertheless shown to have a certain moral code, not resorting to wanton murder and only going after those he believes are greedy and corrupt, generally followers of that universe's prevailing organized religion, such as the Way of White in Dark Souls and the Golden Order in Elden Ring.
[3] Patches does not appear in Dark Souls II due to Miyazaki's lack of involvement in the game, being replaced by Mild-Mannered Pate, a similar corpse robber, but one who is less blatant in his schemes.
During the game's main story, he gives the player the mysterious Tonsil Stone item in an attempt to trap them in an alternate dimension known as the Nightmare.
[2] The most recent appearance of Patches is in Elden Ring, where he ambushes the player in a cave, attempting to steal from them before cowering and begging for mercy upon his near-defeat.
[1] In the FromSoftware game Sekiro, the character Anayama the Peddler was compared to Patches in personality and role, as a shifty former thief turned merchant.
[2] Ian Walker of Kotaku stated that Patches has a "unique brand of tomfoolery", describing his appearance in the remake of Demon's Souls as "one of the most punchable faces I've ever seen in a video game".
[6] Nic Reuben of PCGamesN described Patches as the "mascot" of the Souls games, calling him a "jolly, treacherous trickster" and noting the fan theory that he acts as a "deputy" for Miyazaki.
Patches believes himself to be an "honest thief", making no attempt to hide his criminal behavior, while corrupt clerics would likely execute him and continue pretending to be exemplars of moral virtue.