FromSoftware president and longtime Souls series director Hidetaka Miyazaki acknowledges the rumor that he has “a bit of a thing for feet” in a new interview, but says he simply cannot fathom where it came from.
Speaking with The Guardian, Miyazaki first examines the hand motif most recently seen in The Duskbloods, FromSoftware’s upcoming multiplayer action game.
“It’s not necessarily something I’m consistently aware of – maybe it’s something subconscious coming through,” Miyazaki says of the recurring hand theme.
From minute one of the first Duskbloods trailer, hands reach for one another in telling dramatic lighting, just as an early Elden Ring trailer made a big show of multiple hands (that we now know to be Godrick’s). Elden Ring itself pummeled players with giant zombie hands, conjured deity-like beings that are just a bunch of fingers, and even let players wield the power of a giant club-like finger for themselves.
“Take a look online and there’s a rumor that I have a bit of a thing for feet, but I’m not honestly sure where this comes from,” Miyazaki continues. “I feel like I’m trying to depict some side of human nature or the human existence that is difficult to describe.”
Far be it from me to suggest Miyazaki has “a bit of a thing for feet.” All I’m saying is: I see where this rumor came from, even if it is absolutely exaggerated, and overplayed as a joke among FromSoftware fans.
Since the original Demon’s Souls and its Maiden in Black, FromSoftware has come up with several central, barefoot characters – often a shrine maiden or nun-coded woman, occasionally a boss, and sometimes a man as well. (And really, games like Armored Core 6, where the only people in the story are reduced to voices or the unseen meat engines of giant mechs, don’t count.)
There’s something to be said for why a character may have bare feet, within and beyond the “human nature” Miyazaki evokes. The Maiden in Black is earthly – literally of the earth. Dark Souls’ Crossbreed Priscilla is humanized through her exposed features. This design choice may convey vulnerability, humility, hardship, tradition, or any number of ideas or themes. Sometimes things just stick for no definable reason in art, and in the absence of a clear explanation, players may latch onto – or invent – the funniest possible answer.