FromSoftware’s Hidetaka Miyazaki has touched upon the recurring motifs in his games but swears he’s not as into feet as some fans assume.
There are plenty of things we’d associate with FromSoftware president Hidetaka Miyazaki, like medieval knights and poisonous swamps, but we wouldn’t necessarily count bare feet amongst them.
And yet some fans of Miyazaki’s video games are convinced that he has a, shall we say, particular interest in feet, citing how often female characters in his games, such as Elden Ring and Demon’s Souls, appear barefoot.
This would hardly be controversial even if it was true, but Miyazaki himself recently went out of his way to deny he has any sort of foot fetish and has attempted to offer another explanation for this frequent foot motif.
Miyazaki brought the topic up almost unprompted during an interview with The Guardian about his past work, as well as the upcoming Switch 2 multiplayer exclusive The Duskbloods.
‘There’s a rumour that I have a bit of a thing for feet, but I’m not honestly sure where this comes from,’ says Miyazaki. ‘I feel like I’m trying to depict some side of human nature or the human existence that is difficult to describe.’
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It is something of a stretch since while there are certainly several women in Miyazaki’s work with an aversion to wearing shoes, they are never depicted in any sort of Quentin Tarantino-esque way. Also plenty of male characters are barefoot too.
If anything, there’s a stronger argument that Miyazaki has a thing for hands, with how often hand imagery appears in his games. But, again, there’s no sense of voyeurism behind them and they always seem to be entirely symbolic
Miyazaki admits that even he’s not sure where this motif keeps coming from, saying, ‘It’s not necessarily something I’m consistently aware of – maybe it’s something subconscious coming through.’
If we had to guess, it seems to be a celebration of human connections, which is also present in Miyazaki’s games in the way you can leave helpful messages for other players or summon others to aid you in battles.
This even carries over to The Duskbloods since despite being a competitive game, you can form alliances through what is essentially a marriage proposal, though Miyazaki describes it as ‘less a traditional romance and more a sense of secure trust with a character in the world, and that’s something I personally yearn for.
‘It’s not necessarily a romantic pairing – it’s having someone that you can ultimately rely on. This concept is carried through from characters like the maidens in Elden Ring … it’s a transient, ephemeral love, which is maybe a motif I’m striving for.’
Speaking of The Duskbloods, it still lacks a firm release date despite being billed for 2026. However, Nintendo did just announce a new Nintendo Direct for next week, so perhaps that detail will be shared there.
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