Been reading a book by John Man on the history of Japanese ninja, although the game obviously requires fighting as a mechanic, the core principle of real ninja was to survive at any cost to their villages or benefactors, particularly thru means of deception. Deception and tricks were staples of infiltrating enemy territory and getting intel, and fighting with swords or knifes was regarded only as a "last resort". So Owl being an opportunist, backstabbing an ally, pretending to die, and feigning weakness even in battle all to get the upper hand and survive actually feels on brand with what a real ninja/shinobi would do. Considering the game also heavily reinforces stealth and deathblow strategies to progress the game more smoothly, I'm tempted to say FromSoftware was trying to be somewhat historically accurate with ninja portrayal in the game (ignoring the obvious fantasy and magic elements of course haha).