The real-life father of light who inspired FFXIV: Dad of Light has died. The director of the film Kiyofumi Yamamoto posted this news on his social media account. [Thanks, Game Watch!]
Yamamoto originally posted on January 21, 2024 to ask people to think about Indey, which is in-game FFXIV name of the titular dad of light, for even a second of their day. He states that he knows people are busy with the new update. But he hopes that they would spend even a second reading the blog or watching the story.
A few days later, on January 23, 2024, he posted to apologize for his original Tweet. He explained that he initially wrote the January 21 post on impulse. He later stated that Indey has gone on a new journey with Maidy. Maidy, the person who originally wrote the FFXIV Dad of Light blog posts, passed away in 2020. He states that he’s only met Indey a few times in game and only once in real life. But he’s glad that he was able to hand Indey a picture he shot of Maidy, especially since Maidy’s family apparently used that picture for the funeral.
He ends the Tweet praying that Indey will have a peaceful new journey, and hopes that everyone who knew about his family through their blog or its adaptations will continue to pass on the stories of who they were in life.
Maidy wrote several blog posts detailing his adventures in FFXIV with his father, in which they use the game to re-connect with each other. Originally, there was a live-action drama series based on the story until a film version came out a few years later. The film and series both combine live-action with in-game footage to tell the story.
You can watch FFXIV: Dad of Light on Netflix. The movie, Brave Father Online: Our Story of Final Fantasy XIV never appeared outside of Japan.
