Elden Ring and Dark Souls Creator Doesn't Understand Why He's Considered a Foot Fetishist

Dark Souls and Elden Ring game director Hidetaka Miyazaki unexpectedly commented on a long-standing fan joke that he supposedly has a special interest in bare feet. Judging by his reaction, the developer himself completely misunderstands where this rumor came from.

The reason for the jokes was that Miyazaki's games regularly feature female characters who walk barefoot. These include the Maiden in Black from Demon's Souls, Sister Friede, Gwynevere, and Priscilla from the Dark Souls series, as well as Malenia from Elden Ring.

Fans paid particular attention to Malenia: despite her feet being destroyed by the Scarlet Rot, the character's brother created prosthetics for her with very detailed feet and individual toes. In the Soulslike community, this gradually turned into an inside joke about Miyazaki's alleged "foot fetish."

At the same time, Miyazaki himself, it seems, never considered such design details from this perspective. In an interview with The Guardian, he himself, quite unexpectedly, mentioned the existing rumor on the internet.

Miyazaki was answering a question about another recurring detail in his games — the imagery of hands that appear in many of his projects, including the recent The Duskbloods.

According to the director, the recurring visual motifs in his games are more related to an attempt to show certain aspects of human nature and existence that are difficult to describe in words.