The sudden death of Kentaro Miura, the extremely talented artist behind the dark fantasy manga Berserk, was devastating for fans of his series, who were hoping to see the demon-hunting swordsman Guts and his ragtag bands of friends and loved ones get the happy ending they so dearly deserved. Even if the Berserk manga is ultimately left unfinished, though, the themes Miura explored in his grim, bloody, yet human saga will still continue to influence and inspire other creative minds - as can be seen with game developer Hidetaka Miyazaki and his Dark Souls trilogy of dark fantasy RPGs.
Kentaro Miura's Berserk manga is raw and brutal, filled with nightmarish imagery and gore. The world of Berserk is a late medieval fantasy setting riven by warring kingdoms, religious persecution, rampaging mercenary bands, and flesh-hungry, human-sacrificing demons. In this grim world walks a demon-slayer named Guts, with a trick prosthetic hand and a very, very large sword. Guts' quest for revenge against his former commander turned demon-god would be edgy and over the top in lesser hands.
However, in the hands of Kentaro Miura, Berserk became a character study of men and women healing from the trauma of past war, abuse, and suffering - a relatable narrative backed up by beautiful artwork, detailed character design, and moments of humor and compassion to balance out the "grimdark." Hidetaka Miyazaki, the current president of the game studio FromSoftware, was one of many artists who took inspiration from Berserk, particularly when it came to designing video games about dark fantasy heroes with cursed fates and truly enormous swords.
Dark Souls Characters & Bosses Inspired By Berserk's Guts
The character of Guts in Berserk started out as a fearsome yet haunted sell-sword, whose friendship with the mercenary company called the Band of the Hawk, love of a swordswoman named Casca, and admiration of a charismatic commander named Griffith helped him start to come to terms with his abusive childhood. Then, after crossing the threshold of despair, Griffith struck a bargain with demonic gods of fate, ascending to join their ranks in exchange for offering up his friends and comrades to be devoured by demons. Only Guts and Casca survived this ordeal, each of them horribly scarred physically and mentally by their ordeal.
Taking up a truly massive great-sword called the Dragonslayer, Guts embarks on a one-man crusade to destroy every demon, even as his own inner darkness and "Berserk" rage threatens to consume him. These core character elements of Guts – a lone warrior touched by darkness throwing themselves into impossible battles against demonic foes – also rest at the core of every Undead protagonist in the Dark Souls games, characters who must overcome overwhelmingly powerful enemies while struggling to retain their humanity.
The Souls RPGs made by FromSoftware also draw lots of visual elements from the character designs of Guts in Berserk. The cursed "Darksign" all Undead characters are marked with in the Dark Souls games (and the Hunter's Mark from Bloodborne) is thematically similar to the Brand of Sacrifice marring the neck of Guts, while the Shinobi Prosthetic worn by the protagonist of Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice is similar to the weapon-laden prosthetic limb Guts wears. Every Dark Souls boss with a massive great-sword and acrobatic fighting style – Knight Artorias, The Abyss Watchers, Slave Knight Gael – also owes a lot to the feral, furious fighting style Guts employs when he activates his magical Berserker armor.
Berserk & Dark Souls Are About Kindness In A Cruel World
The pages of Kentaro Miura's Berserk manga depict a world filled with darkness, violence, misery, persecution, and death: lands ravaged by war-mongering aristocrats and emperors and dogmatic religious inquisitions, and above them also, a court of fate-manipulating demon-gods who tempt the hopeless into becoming powerful demons in exchange for the sacrifice of their loved ones. Yet despite living in a worlds that seems to reward depravity and punish morality, many characters in Berserk still struggle to do the right thing – to show compassion to the weak, atone for their failures, rise above their flaws, and protect what they love.
This theme of "kindness despite it all" also underlies many of the stories in the Dark Souls games. The heroic Undead characters players encounter in Dark Souls, for the most part, are doomed to either die or 'hollow' into mindless shells of themselves. In the time they have left, however, they still seek to assist the player, avenge injustices, and create futures for the people who will come after them - much like the characters in Berserk.