Demon's Souls/WMG

The Filthy Woman owns the plague rats in 5-1.
She planted them there so people would get plagued and have to buy her Widow's Lotuses. The story about her son is probably a load of crap, too.
 * Yeah, there's something about that woman I just don't trust...

The Old One is the Maiden in Black's son
Just hear me out here, when you finally reach the Old One,

And to top it off, her goal is to make you strong enough so you can cut a path so
 * This may actually be true. If you speak to Saint Urbain after the final area opens, he states that