From story beats and themes to enemy and character designs, it is no secret how much inspiration Dark Souls received from the Berserk franchise,. A Dark Souls fan takes Berserk's influence one step further, creating beautiful fanart of the legendary Ornstein and Smough in the style of the late Kentaro Muira.
Despite the difficulty of the encounter, Dragon Slayer Ornstein and Executioner Smough comprise one of the Dark Souls' franchise's most loved boss fights. What makes this boss fight so memorable is the pressure put on the player by the fast and agile Ornstein, and the slow yet heavy-hitting Ornstein. Players never really have a moment of respite as they must juggle the two opponents until one is defeated, and the remaining foe powers up with the energy of their dead comrade. Their legacy extends beyond the first Dark Souls, with their names and armor sets being referenced in the game's sequels, Dark Souls 2 and Dark Souls 3.
A member of the Dark Souls subreddit has shared a beautiful drawing of Ornstein and Smough in the style of the Berserk manga. The illustrator, ffSade, depicts Ornstein and Smough with impeccable detail while simultaneously channeling the intensity and staging found in Muira's Berserk. Ornstein slightly levitates off the ground on the left side of the drawing, electricity coursing up his spear, while Smough smashes his mighty hammer into the floor, detonating the surface and scattering debris. Fans of Berserk will notice the intricate linework of ffSade's piece, filled with heavy blacks and shadows, as well as an ample usage of speed lines to convey movmement.
ffSade's inspiration for the piece comes from multiple places. They explain in a comment attached to the post that Ornstein and Smough "became [their] favorite bosses and [they] wanted to draw fan art of them at some point." The crossover with Berserk in the art is in tribute to the passing of Kentaro Muira, ffSade describing themselves as a casual Berserk fan, but someone who has always admired Muira's work. Many video game communities this year paid tribute to Muira's passing, like the Elden Ring community on Reddit, and Final Fantasy 14 players holding a vigil.
As mentioned, Berkserk's influence on Dark Souls goes deep, with many clear references to the popular manga series throughout the franchise. For example, there are obvious similarities between Berserk's Brand of Sacrifice and Dark Souls' Darksign, both of which involve people rescinding their humanity in order to achieve a higher fate, and leave behind a permanent mark on their body. As for Ornstein and Smough specifically, comparisons have been made to the two unamed apostles who stop Guts in Berserk, as they similarly are a duo comprised of a smaller, faster enemy, and a larger, slower one. Like Guts with the apostles, players tend to have a hard time defeating the Dark Souls duo.
Dark Souls is available on PC, PS3, PS4, Switch, Xbox 360, and Xbox Series X/S.
