Kentaro Miura, the creator of the popular manga Berserk, passed away earlier this month, and the Dark Knights of Final Fantasy XIV are currently paying tribute to the artist with a respectful wall around the in-game city of Ul’dah. The players controlling these FFXIV Dark Knights are holding this vigil in a line from one end of the city to the other, due to the massive influence Miura’s work has had on the Final Fantasy series.
Why are the FFXIV Dark Knights paying tribute to Kentaro Miura?
Kentaro Miura was a respected Japanese artist and is best known as the creator of the popular manga series Berserk, which is a dark medieval-style fantasy universe. Miura’s work has had a massive influence on the world of video games, with the likes of the Final Fantasy games, Dark Souls, Bloodborne, Castlevania featuring characters and designs that were inspired by Berserk.
The reason why the Dark Knights class in Final Fantasy XIV in particular would choose to hold this vigil is that the black armour design for the job class is clearly inspired by the Berserk series, right down to the bandage-wrapped swords. Players are switching to the Dark Knight class and adding to the line as the tribute continues in the starting city of Ul’dah across multiple game servers, and has even spread to other areas such as Limsa Lominsa too.
https://twitter.com/SerafiWolf/status/1395248630651662339
The line of dark knights honouring Kentaro Miura in midgardsormr #ffxiv pic.twitter.com/IJQtyozNTw
— kes (@tekesrius) May 20, 2021
Kentaro Miura died on May 6 at the age of 54 due to an acute aortic dissection, according to a statement released today by Berserk’s publisher Hakusensha. Berserk tells the story of two mercenaries, Guts and Griffith, and is set in a medieval Europe-inspired dark fantasy world. There are several anime movies and a TV series based on it. It was still ongoing at the time of Miura’s death and will likely remain unfinished.
https://twitter.com/_greencumulon/status/1395226130236407808
So yeah, Kentaro Miura the creator of #Berserk died. His artwork is beyond amazing and the story he crafted is one of the fundamental and most influential pieces of media. So much of what I’ve consumed has been his works and works influenced by him like Dark souls. Rest In Peace. pic.twitter.com/6hBQdjjBUz
— Zimzilla99 (@OG_Zimzilla99) May 20, 2021
