the case study of vanitas who dies

The Case Study of Vanitas: Who Exactly is Vanitas

The details surrounding Vanitas' past remains one of The Case Study of Vanitas' biggest mysteries. Here is all that fans know about him so far.

Warning: This contains major spoilers for The Case Study of Vanitas The main character of The Case Study of Vanitas keeps things pretty close to the vest, but fans are slowly getting bits and pieces of Vanitas' life, and unfortunately for him, it's not a pretty picture. Vanitas was born to a doctor and a performer, resulting in his mother dying in childbirth. He was raised by his father, a doctor, who traveled with his mother's group of performers. While still a child, vampires attacked and killed everyone but him, delivering him into the hands of the chasseurs. Vanitas resided at the church and resolved to become a chasseur himself in order to slay the monsters that ruined his life. His training was already underway by the time he caught the eye of Dr. Moreau, a mad scientist that was determined to turn humans into vampires .

Dr. Moreau had Vanitas kidnaped right off a battlefield, leaving behind the body of another boy that was roughly the same height as him in order to fool the other members of the church into thinking he died in action. It was deep underground the chasseurs' headquarters, in Dr. Moreau's secret lab, that Vanitas was given the label test subject No. 69. It was here that Vanitas first met Mikhail, or Misha, as No. 71.

RELATED: The Case Study of Vanitas: Who is Naenia?

Luna, The Vampire of the Blue Moon, Saves Vanitas and Mikhail

Dr. Moreau pushed the children through many agonizing experiments , Vanitas taking some in Mikhail's place in order to keep the younger safe, all in order to use the two Books of Vanitas to change the World Formula. These books could only be used by the Vampire of the Blue Moon themselves or by members of their clan. Moreau injected the vampire's blue blood into Mikhail and Vanitas in order to turn them into pseudo-kin. Before the final experiment was complete, the Vampire of the Blue Moon appeared and saved both children, taking them in as their own. When Vanitas asked what they wanted with him and Mikhail, they seemed confused and just stated that Vanitas called for help, much to his confusion.

The Vampire of the Blue Moon , whom Vanitas gives the name Luna, took care of the children for what appears to be a number of years. They lead them to the house of an alchemist friend of theirs and dealt with the children's current injuries. In the throes of a fever, Vanitas explained how he ended up in the lab to Luna. Luna called him kind even as he desperately denied it. Luna takes it upon themselves to teach the children how to read, fight, and about the different Malnomen of curse bearers. It was during this time that Luna probably took him to Altus since that seems to be the only reasonable excuse for him to have gotten there previously.

As time goes on, it is stated that Luna brought the children with them in order to try and help their damaged bodies from going out. Dr. Moreau's experiments pushed the children passed humanity and closer to what vampires are. This state is delicates; at any moment their bodies might give under the stain. Luna, as a last resort, offered to turn both of them into proper members of the Blue Moon clan. Mikhail agreed wholeheartedly, but Vanitas explicitly refused. He stated that even if he died the next day, he wanted to remain human.

Vanitas Kills Luna

This brings forth the mystery of why Vanitas accepted being made a vampire kin when he killed Luna. The details behind this situation have not been revealed yet, but Vanitas, thinking Mikhail is dead , kills Luna because they had become a curse bearer. Luna seemed to be aware of their curse and made Vanitas promise to never let someone see his memories. It appears that this spurred Vanitas to place that hypnotic suggestion on himself to kill anyone who ever tried to steal his memories.

Vanitas' relationship with Luna seems to be completely complicated. He seems to think of them fondly, but there is a deep-seated hatred for them at the same time. Vanitas is following their advice and remembering conversations with them, like when they promised that one day he'd find someone to love as long as he doesn't close his heart. But at the same time, Vanitas has visceral reactions to Dominique de Sade's implication that he worships Luna or when Mikhail wanted to bring Luna back to life. He has started multiple times that his greatest revenge on Luna is to save curse bearers , and that he has spent the entire time since he killed them trying to ruin their memory, and yet there is a certain kindness mixed into all of that.

RELATED: The Case Study of Vanitas: Vampire Lore Explained

The mark of possession on Vanitas' arm allows him to wield the Book of Vanitas, allowing him to change the World Formula and save curse bearers. This mark seems to grow the more he uses his powers, consuming and changing him into something Dr. Moreau tried to create. There is an implication that using the book is slowly killing him and may be an explanation for the anime is told through Noe's flashbacks after having killed Vanitas.

After killing Luna and believing Mikhail to be dead, Vanitas started healing curse bearers, and became a regular costumer of Dante and the other dhampirs' information network, and getting on the radar of the vampires of the Crimson Moon. Dante had stated that Vanitas had other 'shields' before Noe , but he always got bored of them and ditched them eventually. Dante seems surprised by how long Vanitas has stayed with Noe, even going so far as to share a room with him.

That currently brings us to the setting of the anime, where Vanitas and Noe as serially going on quests to save corrupted vampires. Much about Vanitas' life is still a mystery, like his name only appearing as "xxxx" in the manga whenever not addressed by Vanitas. The details of his apparent death are one of the main draws to this anime, and leave anime-only fans mand manga readers on the edge of their seat for every new installment of The Case Study of Vanitas .

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Vanitas no Karte

The Case Study of Vanitas

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The case study of vanitas.

S1.E1 ∙ In the Event of Rusty Hopes

S1.E2 ∙ In the City of Flowers

S1.E3 ∙ Fangs That Lay Bare Blood

S1.E4 ∙ Night of Mocking Masks

S1.E5 ∙ Friends

S1.E6 ∙ Questions

S1.E7 ∙ Love

S1.E8 ∙ Where Death Slumbers

S1.E9 ∙ Those Who Hunt Crimson

S1.E10 ∙ No. 69

S1.E11 ∙ Promise

S1.E12 ∙ Point of Departure

S1.E13 ∙ A Chance Encounter

S1.E14 ∙ The Witch and the Young Man

S1.E15 ∙ The d'Apchiers' Vampire

S1.E16 ∙ The Beast

S1.E17 ∙ Hands Upon a Nightmare

S1.E18 ∙ Just the Two of Us

S1.E19 ∙ Snow Flower

S1.E20 ∙ The Incurable Disease

S1.E21 ∙ Scars

S1.E22 ∙ Blue Night

S1.E23 ∙ Tears like Rain

S1.E24 ∙ His Wish

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• House de Sade

Louis de Sade

• View history

Louis de Sade (ルイ・ド・サド, Rui do Sado ) was a character from Jun Mochizuki 's The Case Study of Vanitas . A Vampire of the Crimson Moon, he was the brother of Dominique de Sade and childhood friend of Noé Archiviste .

Twenty years prior to Noé's trip to Paris , Louis was born to the de Sade aristocracy as one of four siblings alongside Antoine , Veronica , and Dominique, the latter of whom was his twin. However in Vampiric society, twins were believed to be a symbol of bad fortune, and their birth would ruin the de Sades' reputation. And so they chose arbitrarily one to keep, Dominique, and one to "dispose," Louis; only for his grandfather to declare this a "waste" and take Louis in himself. [1] Treated as already dead by the rest of his family, Louis would be raised by the man in Averoigne for the rest of his childhood, which is where he and Dominique first met Noé, who had been taken as a student by their grandfather. The three quickly developed a deep friendship as they grew up together from childhood to adolescence. [2]

Louis and Dominique were raised with the mistaken belief that Louis was one year older, and that the reason for Louis's disownment from the family was due to him being born with a "sickness." Thanks to the ministrations of his grandfather, Louis came to learn of the existence of curse-bearers and believed himself to have been born one. Louis would begin spending much time repeatedly carving wooden stakes in anticipation for what he believed to be his inevitable loss of sanity and death. [2]

This would come to a head when in their teens, Noé and Dominique would attempt to rescue a child inflicted with Malnomen and fail, putting their lives at risk. To save them, Louis succumbed to the corruption of his True Name and became a curse-bearer himself, killing the curse-bearing child and the rest of their friends in a maddened rampage after losing control. His last wish was to have Noé rather than anyone else kill him. Noé could not do it, and Louis was brutally decapitated by his grandfather. [2] Louis's death would go on to haunt Noé and Dominique for years to come, becoming the driving force behind Dominique's self-loathing [1] and Noé's grudge against Naenia . [3]

• 1 Appearance
• 2 Personality
• 4 Powers and Abilities
• 5.1 Noé Archiviste
• 5.2 Dominique de Sade
• 5.3 The Teacher
• 7 Appearances
• 9 References
• 10 Navigation

Appearance [ ]

A full color image of Louis.

Louis was a tall, thin boy, though, having died in adolescence, still androgynous in build. Like his sister Dominique, he had a small chin, thin eyebrows, upturned, yellow-gold eyes with long eyelashes, and pale skin. His hair was black and straight, falling flat onto his face and cut around to be the length of his face. He had long bangs, parted at the middle, which fell into his eyes.

His outfits varied, though, being raised by a high-ranking vampire, his clothing was usually formal and high quality. In most of his appearances, he wore a white shirt (sometimes with a black vest) a dark bow tie, black shorts, black socks, and black shoes.

When Dominique imagined him as an adult, he looked much the same. His hair cut and clothing choices were similar. She imagined him with a slender frame, slightly shorter than Noé.

Personality [ ]

Louis was snarky, skeptical, blunt, and at times outright cruel. He lacked sensitivity towards others, sometimes to the point of hurting their feelings. While he seemed distressed by others' suffering, he was reluctant to apologize or admit wrongdoing. This aloofness seemed to extend even towards himself, and he projected a cold image regarding his supposed status as a cursebearer and thus, his impending demise. In his first appearance, he cuts his own palm open with a knife, and does not seem to flinch at this. This caused his anguish to manifest in more symbolic ways- in the months preceding his death, he grew more distant, and began to obsessively carve stakes to be given to Noé. He seemed to be somewhat prideful, hoping to be killed by Noé as opposed to his grandfather or a bourreau.

Despite his coldness, Louis cared deeply for his sister and Noé. Knowledge of his condition caused him to distance himself from the two of them. While he was unable to completely hide his emotions around them, he would often bite his tongue for their sake. Naenia remarked that to save Domi and Noé had been the first time he'd wanted something "very badly," enough to willingly hand over his True Name , and thus, his life.

History [ ]

Louis was born either shortly before or his twin sister Dominique. The de Sade family name would be tarnished if it was revealed that the Countess had given birth to twins, so the family decided that one of the twins would live and the other would die. Count de Sade chose to keep Dominique, and Louis was slated to die. The Teacher decided to raise Louis and to tell the child that he was sick.

When Louis was a young child, between five and eight years old, Teacher brought Noé to his castle. Louis and Dominique quickly became friends with Noé, and the three grew up together. Throughout his childhood Louis could frequently be seen watching Noé and Dominique playing in the castle, while he sat and watched from the darkness; reading, or playing with a cat similar in appearance to Murr.

When Dominique realized Noé was an Archiviste, she quickly asked Noé to drink her and Louis’s blood. Louis resisted, but Noé managed to drink his blood and saw Louis, curled up in the darkness. Around the time of this incident the kids met Fred , Gilles , Mina , and Fanny and made a secret base in the woods. Also in this time period, the Shapeless One purposefully left books and studies about cursebearers in his collection room for Louis to read. Louis questions what the Teacher wants him to do, and his grandfather responds that he simply wants to observe what he does with this information.

Soon after this incident, Louis’s emotional stability takes a noticeable turn for the worse. Noé comments that he often saw Louis staring off into the distance, appearing pained around Dominique, and avoiding Teacher. Louis begins carving wooden stakes, hoping that Noé will kill him with them. While he carved his final stake, Noé approached him and asked him what he could do for Louis. Louis began to tell Noé that he was a cursebearer, only to be interrupted by Dominique telling him and Noé that Mina was about to be beheaded as a curse-bearer.

Noé intended to save Mina, but Louis stated that he couldn’t save her. Despite this, Noé and Dominique go to their secret base in the woods, where Mina transforms and begins to murder their friends. In order to protect his sister and his best friend, Louis gives his true name to Naenia and kills Mina, Gilles, and Fanny. He loses control of himself and lunges at Noé, begging Noé to murder him. He begins to drink Noé’s blood, unable to stop, and is beheaded by the Teacher.

Powers and Abilities [ ]

• Enhanced speed, strength and endurance - Due to his vampire heritage, Louis had enhanced abilities.
• Cryokinesis - Like the other de Sades, it is possible that Louis possessed the ability to alter formulae slightly to conjure and control ice, although that has not been shown so far.

Relationships [ ]

Noé archiviste [ ].

At first, Louis seemed to look down on Noé, telling the younger vampire that the humans he was raised by were probably just raising him to be eaten. Louis initially saw Noé as a naive, weird kid. He never stopped believing that Noé's view of the world was much too idealistic, trying to stop him from saving Mina from her execution. But as time passed the two of them became quite close. Noé was Louis’s only true friend in the world aside from his sister, and towards the end of his life Louis couldn’t even enjoy spending time around Dominique. Louis never told Noé about his identity as a curse-bearer, but secretly wished that Noé would be the one to kill him when the time came (giving Louis a tiny bit of control over his own inevitable death).

Louis seems to have enjoyed pulling pranks on Noé, from his half- jokes about Noé’s grandparents to pretending to get lost in the woods. Louis enjoyed seeing Noé’s reactions to his tricks— often times these reactions were affirmation that even though Louis’s family had cast him out and his guardian saw him as an experiment, Noé still cared about Louis.

Dominique de Sade [ ]

Louis was affectionate towards his sister, and allowed her to shyly cling to him when they were first meeting Noé. He wanted to protect Dominique, and saw her as a child, not able to understand the pain he was going through or how much better off she was than him. After learning about his status as a curse bearer, Louis began to dislike spending time around Dominique— he loved his sister, but knowing that she was a beloved member of the family while he lived a tortured life as a curse-bearer was painful. It’s unclear as to whether or not Louis knew Domi was his twin or not, but some of his lines in the manga seem to indicate that he knew.

The Teacher [ ]

Not much is known about Louis' relationship with his grandfather, but it seems to have been a negative one. Louis was wary of the Teacher, even as a young child, and told Noé that he must have terrible luck to have been taken in by his grandfather. Louis spent time with the Teacher as a child, but didn’t seem to have a close connection. After learning that the Teacher truly viewed his youngest grandson as an experiment Louis began to avoid him as much as possible. The Teacher ended up being the one to behead Louis after his experiment was complete.

It is suggested that the person who made Louis into a cursebearer was Teacher himself (as, contrary to the De Sade’s statements, he was not actually a cursebearer at birth).

• “Say, Noé… even if… there was a curse-bearer right in front of you… Could you still think that Blue Moon was beautiful?” [4]
• “You have no luck. Having my grandfather take a shine to you… You poor thing. ” [2]
• “As if! As far as the House de Sade is concerned, I’m already dead.” [2]
• “You really do have awful taste…” [2]
• “Save her? How? Can you erase the Blue Moon’s curse? You know it’s impossible. We can’t save her, Noé!!” [2]
• “…Kill… Kill me… Noé…” [2]
• “Noé… listen… If I… If I’m going to die anyways… I’d really rather you were the one… to kill me!” [2]
• “…Kill me, Noé. Use those stakes. Drive them right through my heart—!” [5]
• “Once you’re older and you’ve learned a lot more… I’m sure you’ll understand… just how much—” [6]
• “ ‘How much better your life is than mine.’ ” [6]
• “…How much… everyone loves and cherishes you.” [6]
• “You really do look… just like me.” [1]

Appearances [ ]

• Mémoire 2: Noé — In the City of Flowers* (First Appearance)
• Mémoire 5: Archiviste — Fangs That Reveal Blood*
• Mémoire 6: Altus — Other World*
• Mémoire 8: Louis — Sinking in a Pool of Blood*
• Mémoire 9: Réminiscence — Friends*
• Mémoire 10: Salvatio — Uncertainty*
• Entracte: Chambre d'enfants — A Dream of the Sound of Rain*
• Mémoire 19: Serment — Spell-bound*
• Mémoire 23: Au Pas Camarade — Pace*
• Mémoire 30: Strascinando — Tremolo*
• Mémoire 40: Avec Toi — Alone Together*
• Mémoire 46: Un Autre — Scar*
• Entracte: Jours Bruyants — Tales of Lost Children
• Mémoire 50: Petrichor — The Thread That Reels in the Past (Mentioned only)
• Mémoire 52: Sens Unique — Fall*
• Mémoire 53: Pleuvoir — Rain Which Doesn't Know the Sky*
• Mémoire 54: La nuit sans lune — Dark Night (Part One)*
• Mémoire 54.5: La nuit sans lune — Dark Night (Part Two)*
• Mémoire 62.5: Bourdonnement — Wingbeats of Scattered Thought (Part Two)*
• Mémoire 2: Noé -In the City of Flowers-*
• Mémoire 4: Bal masqué -Night of Mocking Masks-*
• Mémoire 5: Réminiscence -Friends-*
• Mémoire 6: Salvatio -Questions-*
• Mémoire 12: Deux Ombres -Point of Departure-*
• Mémoire 15: Oiseau et ciel -The d'Apchiers' Vampire-*
• Mémoire 18: Avec Toi -Just the Two of Us-*
• Mémoire 21: Un Autre -Scars-*
• Mémoire 23: Pleuvoir -Tears like Rain-*
• Mémoire 24: Après la pluie -His Wish-*

(*) - Denotes that the character did not appear physically, but as a part of another character's memories.

• It is possible that Louis is named after Louis de Pointe du Lac, [8] a character from The Vampire Chronicles [9] series by Anne Rice. Though this is no more than conjecture, Jun Mochizuki has stated to be a fan of Anne Rice's works, to the point of having named her characters after The Vampire Chronicles characters before. [10] This, coupled with the number of parallels between the two characters in question, leads to a strong possibility that this be the origin behind Louis's name.
• In Mémoire 12: Pause , Dominique says to Jeanne "'Acts of pleasure are the passion to which all others are subordinate.' I'm quoting my father." This is one possible translation of a quote attributed to the real life Marquis de Sade, usually translated as, "Sexual pleasure is, I agree, a passion to which all others are subordinate but in which they all unite." This confirms the fictional head of the de Sade family to be directly based on the Marquis de Sade.

References [ ]

• ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Mémoire 46: Un Autre
• ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 2.3 2.4 2.5 2.6 2.7 2.8 Mémoire 9: Réminiscence
• ↑ Mémoire 8: Louis
• ↑ Mémoire 2: Noé
• ↑ Mémoire 10: Salvatio
• ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Entracte: Chambre d’enfants
• ↑ Wikipedia: Louis (given name)
• ↑ Wikipedia: Louis de Pointe du Lac
• ↑ Wikipedia: The Vampire Chronicles
• ↑ Anime da Vinci Interview
• ↑ Wikipedia: Marquis de Sade

Navigation [ ]

• 2 Noé Archiviste
• 3 List of Characters (The Case Study of Vanitas)

The Case Study of Vanitas Manga Online

The case study of vanitas.

There once lived a vampire known as Vanitas, hated by his own kind for being born under a full blue moon, as most arise on the night of a crimson one. Afraid and alone, he created the “Book of Vanitas,” a cursed grimoire that would one day take his vengeance on all vampires; this is how the story goes, at least.

Vanitas no Karte follows Noé Archiviste, a young man who is traveling aboard an airship in 19th century Paris with one goal in mind: to find the Book of Vanitas. A sudden vampire attack leads him to meet the enigmatic Vanitas, a doctor who specializes in vampires and, much to Noé’s surprise, an entirely ordinary human. The mysterious doctor has inherited both the name and the infamous text from the Vanitas of legend, using the grimoire to heal his patients. But behind his kind demeanor lies something a bit more sinister…

All Chapters

• The Case Study of Vanitas, Chapter 62.2
• The Case Study of Vanitas, Chapter 62.1
• The Case Study of Vanitas, Chapter 62
• The Case Study of Vanitas, Chapter 61
• The Case Study of Vanitas, Chapter 60
• The Case Study of Vanitas, Chapter 59
• The Case Study of Vanitas, Chapter 58
• The Case Study of Vanitas, Chapter 57
• The Case Study of Vanitas, Chapter 56
• The Case Study of Vanitas, Chapter 55.5
• The Case Study of Vanitas, Chapter 55
• The Case Study of Vanitas, Chapter 54.5
• The Case Study of Vanitas, Chapter 54
• The Case Study of Vanitas, Chapter 53
• The Case Study of Vanitas, Chapter 52
• The Case Study of Vanitas, Chapter 51.5
• The Case Study of Vanitas, Chapter 51
• The Case Study of Vanitas, Chapter 50
• The Case Study of Vanitas, Chapter 49
• The Case Study of Vanitas, Chapter 48
• The Case Study of Vanitas, Chapter 47
• The Case Study of Vanitas, Chapter 46
• The Case Study of Vanitas, Chapter 45
• The Case Study of Vanitas, Chapter 44
• The Case Study of Vanitas, Chapter 43
• The Case Study of Vanitas, Chapter 42
• The Case Study of Vanitas, Chapter 41
• The Case Study of Vanitas, Chapter 40
• The Case Study of Vanitas, Chapter 39
• The Case Study of Vanitas, Chapter 38
• The Case Study of Vanitas, Chapter 37
• The Case Study of Vanitas, Chapter 36
• The Case Study of Vanitas, Chapter 35
• The Case Study of Vanitas, Chapter 34
• The Case Study of Vanitas, Chapter 33
• The Case Study of Vanitas, Chapter 32
• The Case Study of Vanitas, Chapter 31
• The Case Study of Vanitas, Chapter 30
• The Case Study of Vanitas, Chapter 29
• The Case Study of Vanitas, Chapter 28
• The Case Study of Vanitas, Chapter 27
• The Case Study of Vanitas, Chapter 26
• The Case Study of Vanitas, Chapter 25
• The Case Study of Vanitas, Chapter 24
• The Case Study of Vanitas, Chapter 23
• The Case Study of Vanitas, Chapter 22
• The Case Study of Vanitas, Chapter 21
• The Case Study of Vanitas, Chapter 20
• The Case Study of Vanitas, Chapter 19
• The Case Study of Vanitas, Chapter 18
• The Case Study of Vanitas, Chapter 17
• The Case Study of Vanitas, Chapter 16
• The Case Study of Vanitas, Chapter 15
• The Case Study of Vanitas, Chapter 14
• The Case Study of Vanitas, Chapter 13
• The Case Study of Vanitas, Chapter 12
• The Case Study of Vanitas, Chapter 11
• The Case Study of Vanitas, Chapter 10
• The Case Study of Vanitas, Chapter 9
• The Case Study of Vanitas, Chapter 8
• The Case Study of Vanitas, Chapter 7
• The Case Study of Vanitas, Chapter 6
• The Case Study of Vanitas, Chapter 5
• The Case Study of Vanitas, Chapter 4
• The Case Study of Vanitas, Chapter 3
• The Case Study of Vanitas, Chapter 2
• The Case Study of Vanitas, Chapter 1

The Case Study of Vanitas Manga Unveils Volume 11 Cover

The Case Study of Vanitas (Vanitas no Carte) series revealed the cover illustration for Volume 11 of the manga, which is set to release on April 22, 2024. The regular edition features an illustration of Vanitas holding a plate of Tarte Tatin with Noe and Murr behind him. Meanwhile, the special edition features the “Archiviste girl” with Noe at the back. The manga series is written and illustrated by Jun Mochizuki.

As described by Square Enix , the plot of the 11th manga volume of The Case Study of Vanitas is as follows (spoilers ahead): “Another “fang that reveals blood.” After the fierce battle that Mikhail set up, Vanitas and his friends take a moment to rest. Behind the scenes, Count Saint-Germain approaches the Archiviste girl —This is a “story.” The promised hope and despair of vampires, humans, and half-breeds are set in motion once again. Volume 11 of a steampunk fantasy woven by human and vampire buddies that unravels memories.”

Special illustrations and postcards will also be given away as bonus gifts in selected stores in Japan. Pre-orders for Volume 11 of The Case Study of Vanitas manga are still available on Amazon , Rakuten , and Square Enix. Additionally, the special edition will include a 128-page “Brocante” booklet featuring comments and rough drawings of Vanitas and Noe’s character designs, taken from the author’s original 2000-page sketchbook before the series began in 2015.

Also Read: The Case Study of Vanitas Manga Returns From Hiatus on May 22 The Case Study of Vanitas Episode 24 – A Profoundly Momentous Finale

The Case Study of Vanitas  is a steampunk-vampire-themed manga series by Jun Mozuchi. It has been serialized in Square Enix’s Monthly Gangan Joker magazine since 2015. Studio BONES animated the series in 2021 and has a total of 24 episodes. Afterward, the series went on hiatus in May 2022 and returned a year later in May 2023. Yen Press  releases the English versions of the manga and describes the plot: “ Rumors revolving around The Book of Vanitas, a clockwork grimoire of dubious reputation, draw Noé, a young vampire in search of a friend’s salvation, to Paris. What awaits him in the City of Flowers, however, is not long hours treading the pavement or rifling through dusty bookshops in search of the tome. Instead, his quarry comes to him…in the arms of a man claiming to be a vampire doctor! Thrust into a conflict that threatens the peace between humans and vampires, will Noé cast in his lot with the curious and slightly unbalanced Vanitas and his quest to save vampirekind? “

Source:  Square Enix , Gangan Joker X, Jun Mochizuki X (Formerly Twitter) ©Jun Mochizuki/SQUARE ENIX

Carla Carreon

Hello, I'm Carla Bianca! Just a fluffy bean with introverted energies. Reading, watching, drawing, playing Genshin, and sleeping mostly take up my day. Someday, I will have my manga library and Rimuru shrine!

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Opinion | O.J. Simpson, whose murder trial reshaped the media, dies at 76

Simpson’s trial lured a nation to its TVs, launched a network, created enduring ethics case studies and led to numerous career breakouts.

O.J. Simpson died this week at 76 after a battle with prostate cancer.

What else belongs in that sentence was a question newsrooms around the country tried to answer Thursday.

How do you adequately capture an all-American football phenomenon and larger-than-life Black celebrity who took a horrifying turn to murder suspect and then defendant in a “trial of the century” that galvanized a nation in front of the television; a 20th-century symbol and an enduring fascination?

The challenge of describing Simpson is a testament to just how complicated a figure he was. For its headline, The New York Times went with “Athlete Whose Trial Riveted the Nation,” while The Washington Post landed on “football great whose trial for murder became a phenomenon.”

The news of Simpson’s death was announced by his family on Thursday , prompting discussions of his life, legacy and what his trial and acquittal in the stabbing deaths of ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and waiter Ron Goldman mean close to 30 years later.

The trial, with a beloved celebrity defendant, a backdrop of racial tension only a few years after the 1992 Los Angeles riots, a breaking news car chase and footage from inside the courtroom, made for a natural media sensation. Ethical case studies abounded from trial coverage.

Time magazine’s June 1994 cover, featuring Simpson’s mugshot with a dramatic filter overlay that caught flak for darkening his skin color to make him look more sinister — and guilty — is a classic example in journalism classes of the ethics of photo manipulation.

Judge Lance Ito’s decision to allow cameras in the courtroom , itself a tricky ethical decision at the intersection of due process and the media, made the constant trial footage compelling fodder for viewers (and a standout example for critics of televised trials ).

That steady stream of footage also helped Court TV make a name for itself , a kingmaking moment for the young network following its coverage of the Menendez brothers murder trial .

And TMZ, which had the first media reports of Simpson’s death , was created by Harvey Levin, who came to prominence as a lawyer-turned-journalist at Los Angeles’ KCBS-TV while covering the Simpson murder trial.

Trial coverage also gave plenty of other reporters and commentators their big breakout moments: Jeanine Pirro , Greta Van Susteren , Geraldo Rivera , Jeffrey Toobin and more.

It’s hard to overstate how seismic Simpson’s trial and acquittal were. His death immediately led to reflections on that spectacle, the lasting impact on the news media, and the lessons journalists should remember the next time there’s a “trial of the century.” (Toobin, for his part, was doing just that in a recent Q&A with Politico about former president Donald Trump’s upcoming trial).

Here are some of the obituaries:

• The New York Times with “O.J. Simpson, Athlete Whose Trial Riveted the Nation, Dies at 76.”
• The Washington Post with “O.J. Simpson, football great whose trial for murder became a phenomenon, dies at 76.”
• The San Francisco Chronicle, where Simpson was from, with “O.J. Simpson, fallen football hero and S.F. native, dies at 76.”
• ESPN with “O.J. Simpson dies of cancer at age 76, family says.”
• Not an obituary but an interesting piece of coverage: USA Today with “O.J. Simpson just died. Is it too soon to talk about his troubled past?” The piece compares Simpson’s legacy with figures like early rock ‘n’ roll star Jerry Lee Lewis, whose music career was derailed when he married his 13-year-old cousin, and Playboy founder Hugh Hefner, who was accused of rape in a docuseries released after his death.

By Annie Aguiar, audience engagement producer

A cross-generational media fascination

As Tom Jones noted earlier this week in The Poynter Report while writing about the networks’ superior camera equipment during the total solar eclipse , some unifying moments are just owned by broadcast television.

I was born in 1998, years after Simpson was found innocent and the media circus had long packed up its tents. Occasional references permeated pop culture, and that passing knowledge calcified into an after-the-fact fascination in 2016 with “O.J.: Made in America” and “The People vs. O.J. Simpson: American Crime Story.”

Simpson was such an enduring media figure, it doesn’t matter that I wasn’t even alive to sit in front of the television watching the white Bronco: Today, I turned to broadcast news to hear about O.J. Simpson.

I tuned into CBS News’ streaming network live today on X. Apologies to the team at CBS News, which I’m sure is doing great work on a consistent basis, but I don’t know if I’ve ever done that before.

But today, in a way my elder Gen Z, TikTok-addled brain and sad little attention span usually cringes at, I just wanted to hear a steady stream of experts with relevant archival footage. CBS News delivered that to me — and about 7,100 other viewers on X by the time I was done.

Former DCist journalists tease new worker-led outlet

Several former DCist journalists are soliciting names for a “worker-led, community-based, local outlet — one run by the people who actually make the journalism, not a C-suite.”

WAMU, an NPR member station owned by American University, abruptly shut down local news site DCist in February, laying off 15 people. WAMU general manager Erika Pulley-Hayes told Axios at the time that the organization was looking to focus on its audio products. Since the shutdown, a group of former DCist reporters have teased the possibility of starting their own worker-led outlet on social media.

“We’re committed to representing what it really means to live in D.C. Our coverage will serve the whole city: every ward, and each community that lives in and loves the District,” reads a Google Form asking people to help name the new outlet. “Our reporting will be guided by justice and equity, tackling the complex issues facing our city, like housing, safety, and education, from the perspective that all residents deserve these fundamental rights. Of course, we’re also going to be funny, curious, and irreverent at times… honoring the DCist tradition.”

Name options include 51st News, DCish, The DC Star, DC Free Press and WashRag. The group is also seeking suggestions for a tagline for their new outlet.

As layoffs in the industry abound, more and more journalists are starting worker-owned models with their former colleagues. Last year, reporters from Vice Media’s Motherboard launched 404 Media after Vice declared bankruptcy. Meanwhile, several staffers at Kotaku, owned by G/O Media, started their own outlet, Aftermath. The Colorado Sun, Defector and the current iteration of The Appeal have similar origin stories. The trend of journalists regrouping to start new ventures after a media outlet crash has long been a trend in the nonprofit news world, according to Poynter contributor Amaris Castillo .

By Angela Fu, media business reporter

Media tidbits and links for your weekend review

• “Usually, you need about 10 minutes to walk from the Rayburn House Office Building to the House Chamber. But if you’re running from a reporter, it’ll only take you five.” What a lede! It’s The Atlantic’s Elaine Godfrey with “Matt Gaetz is winning. But what’s the prize he’s after?”
• The MAGA movement and Fox News once seemed poised for a breakup. Founder and then-head Rupert Murdoch seemed to be souring on Donald Trump, and Trump was outraged when Fox News called Arizona — and therefore the 2020 election — for Joe Biden. But as Murdoch watched MAGA viewers’ contempt for the network growing, his tune may have changed — and he’s no longer in charge. “Now, four years later,” The Hollywood Reporter’s Lachlan Cartwright writes, “those close to Trump tell The Hollywood Reporter the ex-president is keen to establish more of a relationship with Murdoch’s eldest son and Fox Corp. CEO Lachlan, 52.”
• Speaking of Fox News, here’s The New York Times’ David Enrich with “How a Case Against Fox News Tore Apart a Media-Fighting Law Firm.”
• “The premium for people who can tell you things you do not know will only grow in importance, and no machine will do that,” says Jim VandeHei, CEO of Axios. The New York Times’ Katie Robertson has more on how Axios is preparing for artificial intelligence .
• Smart coverage from The Washington Post’s Philip Bump on Arizona’s abortion ban, which is derived from an 1864 law. Bump writes, “Here are some other laws Arizona had on the books in 1864.”
• The fallout at NPR continues following the publication of a critical column from Uri Berliner, a senior business editor who has worked at NPR for 25 years, in The Free Press . The New York Times’  Benjamin Mullin and Katie Robertson write “NPR in Turmoil After It Is Accused of Liberal Bias.”
• Another day that ends in “Y,” more outrage about journalists doing the most basic components of their jobs .
• Major League Baseball will likely move its Sunday morning games away from Peacock to another network, Andrew Marchand reports for The Athletic .
• Your internet service provider will soon unveil a “nutrition label” that will note speeds, fees and data caps. Engadget’s Mariella Moon shares what to expect .
• Axios’ Hope King with “James Cameron on tackling the next ‘Terminator.’”
• For Vanity Fair, it’s media reporter Brian Stelter with “The Caitlin Clark Effect.”
• This is fun … and unexpected. The Associated Press’ Steve Reed with “No inflation here: Affordable Masters’ menu still includes $1.50 pimento cheese sandwiches.”

More resources for journalists

• Cover trans issues with authority and accuracy in our Beat Academy webinars. Enroll today.
• Delve more deeply into your editing skills with Poynter ACES Intermediate Certificate in Editing .
• TV producers, consider our Poynter Producer Project . Apply by April 14.
• Editorial Integrity and Leadership Initiative is a fellowship for public media journalists. Apply by April 22.

Have feedback or a tip? Email Poynter senior media writer Tom Jones at [email protected] .

The Poynter Report is our daily media newsletter. To have it delivered to your inbox Monday-Friday, sign up here .

Opinion | What is the best sports documentary of all time?

The five-part, 467-minute ‘O.J.: Made in America’ doc is a masterpiece. I urge you to watch it.

Fact-checking Donald Trump’s Mar-a-Lago press conference with Mike Johnson

In a televised press conference after Trump’s and Johnson’s remarks April 12, Trump made several false or misleading comments.

A fact-checker’s guide to Trump’s first criminal trial: business records, hush money and a gag order

Trump faces 34 counts of falsifying business records to cover up a payment to adult film actor Stormy Daniels.

Grant applications now open to support reporting on transgender issues

The Gill Foundation has partnered with Poynter’s Beat Academy to train local journalists to serve as accurate, authoritative voices 

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O.J. Simpson, Football Star Whose Trial Riveted the Nation, Dies at 76

He ran to football fame and made fortunes in movies. His trial for the murder of his former wife and her friend became an inflection point on race in America.

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By Robert D. McFadden

O.J. Simpson, who ran to fame on the football field, made fortunes as an all-American in movies, television and advertising, and was acquitted of killing his former wife and her friend in a 1995 trial in Los Angeles that mesmerized the nation, died on Wednesday at his home in Las Vegas. He was 76.

The cause was cancer, his family announced on social media.

The jury in the murder trial cleared him, but the case, which had held up a cracked mirror to Black and white America, changed the trajectory of his life. In 1997, a civil suit by the victims’ families found him liable for the deaths of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald L. Goldman, and ordered him to pay $33.5 million in damages. He paid little of the debt, moved to Florida and struggled to remake his life, raise his children and stay out of trouble.

In 2006, he sold a book manuscript, titled “If I Did It,” and a prospective TV interview, giving a “hypothetical” account of murders he had always denied committing. A public outcry ended both projects, but Mr. Goldman’s family secured the book rights, added material imputing guilt to Mr. Simpson and had it published.

In 2007, he was arrested after he and other men invaded a Las Vegas hotel room of some sports memorabilia dealers and took a trove of collectibles. He claimed that the items had been stolen from him, but a jury in 2008 found him guilty of 12 charges, including armed robbery and kidnapping, after a trial that drew only a smattering of reporters and spectators. He was sentenced to nine to 33 years in a Nevada state prison. He served the minimum term and was released in 2017.

Over the years, the story of O.J. Simpson generated a tide of tell-all books, movies, studies and debate over questions of justice, race relations and celebrity in a nation that adores its heroes, especially those cast in rags-to-riches stereotypes, but that has never been comfortable with its deeper contradictions.

There were many in the Simpson saga. Yellowing old newspaper clippings yield the earliest portraits of a postwar child of poverty afflicted with rickets and forced to wear steel braces on his spindly legs, of a hardscrabble life in a bleak housing project and of hanging with teenage gangs in the tough back streets of San Francisco, where he learned to run.

“Running, man, that’s what I do,” he said in 1975, when he was one of America’s best-known and highest-paid football players, the Buffalo Bills’ electrifying, swivel-hipped ball carrier, known universally as the Juice. “All my life I’ve been a runner.”

And so he had — running to daylight on the gridiron of the University of Southern California and in the roaring stadiums of the National Football League for 11 years; running for Hollywood movie moguls, for Madison Avenue image-makers and for television networks; running to pinnacles of success in sports and entertainment.

Along the way, he broke college and professional records, won the Heisman Trophy and was enshrined in pro football’s Hall of Fame. He appeared in dozens of movies and memorable commercials for Hertz and other clients; was a sports analyst for ABC and NBC; acquired homes, cars and a radiant family; and became an American idol — a handsome warrior with the gentle eyes and soft voice of a nice guy. And he played golf.

It was the good life, on the surface. But there was a deeper, more troubled reality — about an infant daughter drowning in the family pool and a divorce from his high school sweetheart; about his stormy marriage to a stunning young waitress and her frequent calls to the police when he beat her; about the jealous rages of a frustrated man.

Calls to the Police

The abuse left Nicole Simpson bruised and terrified on scores of occasions, but the police rarely took substantive action. After one call to the police on New Year’s Day, 1989, officers found her badly beaten and half-naked, hiding in the bushes outside their home. “He’s going to kill me!” she sobbed. Mr. Simpson was arrested and convicted of spousal abuse, but was let off with a fine and probation.

The couple divorced in 1992, but confrontations continued. On Oct. 25, 1993, Ms. Simpson called the police again. “He’s back,” she told a 911 operator, and officers once more intervened.

Then it happened. On June 12, 1994, Ms. Simpson, 35, and Mr. Goldman, 25, were attacked outside her condominium in the Brentwood section of Los Angeles, not far from Mr. Simpson’s estate. She was nearly decapitated, and Mr. Goldman was slashed to death.

The knife was never found, but the police discovered a bloody glove at the scene and abundant hair, blood and fiber clues. Aware of Mr. Simpson’s earlier abuse and her calls for help, investigators believed from the start that Mr. Simpson, 46, was the killer. They found blood on his car and, in his home, a bloody glove that matched the one picked up near the bodies. There was never any other suspect.

Five days later, after Mr. Simpson had attended Nicole’s funeral with their two children, he was charged with the murders, but fled in his white Ford Bronco. With his old friend and teammate Al Cowlings at the wheel and the fugitive in the back holding a gun to his head and threatening suicide, the Bronco led a fleet of patrol cars and news helicopters on a slow 60-mile televised chase over the Southern California freeways.

Networks pre-empted prime-time programming for the spectacle, some of it captured by news cameras in helicopters, and a nationwide audience of 95 million people watched for hours. Overpasses and roadsides were crowded with spectators. The police closed highways and motorists pulled over to watch, some waving and cheering at the passing Bronco, which was not stopped. Mr. Simpson finally returned home and was taken into custody.

The ensuing trial lasted nine months, from January to early October 1995, and captivated the nation with its lurid accounts of the murders and the tactics and strategy of prosecutors and of a defense that included the “dream team” of Johnnie L. Cochran Jr. , F. Lee Bailey , Alan M. Dershowitz, Barry Scheck and Robert L. Shapiro.

The prosecution, led by Marcia Clark and Christopher A. Darden, had what seemed to be overwhelming evidence: tests showing that blood, shoe prints, hair strands, shirt fibers, carpet threads and other items found at the murder scene had come from Mr. Simpson or his home, and DNA tests showing that the bloody glove found at Mr. Simpson’s home matched the one left at the crime scene. Prosecutors also had a list of 62 incidents of abusive behavior by Mr. Simpson against his wife.

But as the trial unfolded before Judge Lance Ito and a 12-member jury that included 10 Black people, it became apparent that the police inquiry had been flawed. Photo evidence had been lost or mislabeled; DNA had been collected and stored improperly, raising a possibility that it was tainted. And Detective Mark Fuhrman, a key witness, admitted that he had entered the Simpson home and found the matching glove and other crucial evidence — all without a search warrant.

‘If the Glove Don’t Fit’

The defense argued, but never proved, that Mr. Fuhrman planted the second glove. More damaging, however, was its attack on his history of racist remarks. Mr. Fuhrman swore that he had not used racist language for a decade. But four witnesses and a taped radio interview played for the jury contradicted him and undermined his credibility. (After the trial, Mr. Fuhrman pleaded no contest to a perjury charge. He was the only person convicted in the case.)

In what was seen as the crucial blunder of the trial, the prosecution asked Mr. Simpson, who was not called to testify, to try on the gloves. He struggled to do so. They were apparently too small.

“If the glove don’t fit, you must acquit,” Mr. Cochran told the jury later.

In the end, it was the defense that had the overwhelming case, with many grounds for reasonable doubt, the standard for acquittal. But it wanted more. It portrayed the Los Angeles police as racist, charged that a Black man was being railroaded, and urged the jury to think beyond guilt or innocence and send a message to a racist society.

On the day of the verdict, autograph hounds, T-shirt vendors, street preachers and paparazzi engulfed the courthouse steps. After what some news media outlets had called “The Trial of the Century,” producing 126 witnesses, 1,105 items of evidence and 45,000 pages of transcripts, the jury — sequestered for 266 days, longer than any in California history — deliberated for only three hours.

Much of America came to a standstill. In homes, offices, airports and malls, people paused to watch. Even President Bill Clinton left the Oval Office to join his secretaries. In court, cries of “Yes!” and “Oh, no!” were echoed across the nation as the verdict left many Black people jubilant and many white people aghast.

In the aftermath, Mr. Simpson and the case became the grist for television specials, films and more than 30 books, many by participants who made millions. Mr. Simpson, with Lawrence Schiller, produced “I Want to Tell You,” a thin mosaic volume of letters, photographs and self-justifying commentary that sold hundreds of thousands of copies and earned Mr. Simpson more than $1 million.

He was released after 474 days in custody, but his ordeal was hardly over. Much of the case was resurrected for the civil suit by the Goldman and Brown families. A predominantly white jury with a looser standard of proof held Mr. Simpson culpable and awarded the families $33.5 million in damages. The civil case, which excluded racial issues as inflammatory and speculative, was a vindication of sorts for the families and a blow to Mr. Simpson, who insisted that he had no chance of ever paying the damages.

Mr. Simpson had spent large sums for his criminal defense. Records submitted in the murder trial showed his net worth at about $11 million, and people with knowledge of the case said he had only $3.5 million afterward. A 1999 auction of his Heisman Trophy and other memorabilia netted about $500,000, which went to the plaintiffs. But court records show he paid little of the balance that was owed.

He regained custody of the children he had with Ms. Simpson, and in 2000 he moved to Florida, bought a home south of Miami and settled into a quiet life, playing golf and living on pensions from the N.F.L., the Screen Actors Guild and other sources, about $400,000 a year. Florida laws protect a home and pension income from seizure to satisfy court judgments.

The glamour and lucrative contracts were gone, but Mr. Simpson sent his two children to prep school and college. He was seen in restaurants and malls, where he readily obliged requests for autographs. He was fined once for powerboat speeding in a manatee zone, and once for pirating cable television signals.

In 2006, as the debt to the murder victims’ families grew with interest to $38 million, he was sued by Fred Goldman, the father of Ronald Goldman, who contended that his book and television deal for “If I Did It” had advanced him $1 million and that it had been structured to cheat the family of the damages owed.

The projects were scrapped by News Corporation, parent of the publisher HarperCollins and the Fox Television Network, and a corporation spokesman said Mr. Simpson was not expected to repay an $800,000 advance. The Goldman family secured the book rights from a trustee after a bankruptcy court proceeding and had it published in 2007 under the title “If I Did It: Confessions of the Killer.” On the book’s cover, the “If” appeared in tiny type, and the “I Did It” in large red letters.

Another Trial, and Prison

After years in which it seemed he had been convicted in the court of public opinion, Mr. Simpson in 2008 again faced a jury. This time he was accused of raiding a Las Vegas hotel room in 2007 with five other men, most of them convicted criminals and two armed with guns, to steal a trove of sports memorabilia from a pair of collectible dealers.

Mr. Simpson claimed that he was only trying to retrieve items stolen from him, including eight footballs, two plaques and a photo of him with the F.B.I. director J. Edgar Hoover, and that he had not known about any guns. But four men, who had been arrested with him and pleaded guilty, testified against him, two saying they had carried guns at his request. Prosecutors also played hours of tapes secretly recorded by a co-conspirator detailing the planning and execution of the crime.

On Oct. 3 — 13 years to the day after his acquittal in Los Angeles — a jury of nine women and three men found him guilty of armed robbery, kidnapping, assault, conspiracy, coercion and other charges. After Mr. Simpson was sentenced to a minimum of nine years in prison, his lawyer vowed to appeal, noting that none of the jurors were Black and questioning whether they could be fair to Mr. Simpson after what had happened years earlier. But jurors said the double-murder case was never mentioned in deliberations.

In 2013, the Nevada Parole Board, citing his positive conduct in prison and participation in inmate programs, granted Mr. Simpson parole on several charges related to his robbery conviction. But the board left other verdicts in place. His bid for a new trial was rejected by a Nevada judge, and legal experts said that appeals were unlikely to succeed. He remained in custody until Oct. 1, 2017, when the parole board unanimously granted him parole when he became eligible.

Certain conditions of Mr. Simpson’s parole — travel restrictions, no contacts with co-defendants in the robbery case and no drinking to excess — remained until 2021, when they were lifted, making him a completely free man.

Questions about his guilt or innocence in the murders of his former wife and Mr. Goldman never went away. In May 2008, Mike Gilbert, a memorabilia dealer and former crony, said in a book that Mr. Simpson, high on marijuana, had admitted the killings to him after the trial. Mr. Gilbert quoted Mr. Simpson as saying that he had carried no knife but that he had used one that Ms. Simpson had in her hand when she opened the door. He also said that Mr. Simpson had stopped taking arthritis medicine to let his hands swell so that they would not fit the gloves in court. Mr. Simpson’s lawyer Yale L. Galanter denied Mr. Gilbert’s claims, calling him delusional.

In 2016, more than 20 years after his murder trial, the story of O.J. Simpson was told twice more for endlessly fascinated mass audiences on television. “The People v. O.J. Simpson,” Ryan Murphy’s installment in the “American Crime Story” anthology on FX, focused on the trial itself and on the constellation of characters brought together by the defendant (played by Cuba Gooding Jr.). “O.J.: Made in America,” a five-part, nearly eight-hour installment in ESPN’s “30 for 30” documentary series (it was also released in theaters), detailed the trial but extended the narrative to include a biography of Mr. Simpson and an examination of race, fame, sports and Los Angeles over the previous half-century.

A.O. Scott, in a commentary in The New York Times, called “The People v. O.J. Simpson” a “tightly packed, almost indecently entertaining piece of pop realism, a Dreiser novel infused with the spirit of Tom Wolfe” and said “O.J.: Made in America” had “the grandeur and authority of the best long-form fiction.”

In Leg Braces as a Child

Orenthal James Simpson was born in San Francisco on July 9, 1947, one of four children of James and Eunice (Durden) Simpson. As an infant afflicted with the calcium deficiency rickets, he wore leg braces for several years but outgrew his disability. His father, a janitor and cook, left the family when the child was 4, and his mother, a hospital nurse’s aide, raised the children in a housing project in the tough Potrero Hill district.

As a teenager, Mr. Simpson, who hated the name Orenthal and called himself O.J., ran with street gangs. But at 15 he was introduced by a friend to Willie Mays, the renowned San Francisco Giants outfielder. The encounter was inspirational and turned his life around, Mr. Simpson recalled. He joined the Galileo High School football team and won All-City honors in his senior year.

In 1967, Mr. Simpson married his high school sweetheart, Marguerite Whitley. The couple had three children, Arnelle, Jason and Aaren. Shortly after their divorce in 1979, Aaren, 23 months old, fell into a swimming pool at home and died a week later.

Mr. Simpson married Nicole Brown in 1985; the couple had a daughter, Sydney, and a son, Justin. He is survived by Arnelle, Jason, Sydney and Justin Simpson and three grandchildren, his lawyer Malcolm P. LaVergne said.

After being released from prison in Nevada in 2017, Mr. Simpson moved into the Las Vegas country club home of a wealthy friend, James Barnett, for what he assumed would be a temporary stay. But he found himself enjoying the local golf scene and making friends, sometimes with people who introduced themselves to him at restaurants, Mr. LaVergne said. Mr. Simpson decided to remain in Las Vegas full time. At his death, he lived right on the course of the Rhodes Ranch Golf Club.

From his youth, Mr. Simpson was a natural on the gridiron. He had dazzling speed, power and finesse in a broken field that made him hard to catch, let alone tackle. He began his collegiate career at San Francisco City College, scoring 54 touchdowns in two years. In his third year he transferred to Southern Cal, where he shattered records — rushing for 3,423 yards and 36 touchdowns in 22 games — and led the Trojans into the Rose Bowl in successive years. He won the Heisman Trophy as the nation’s best college football player of 1968. Some magazines called him the greatest running back in the history of the college game.

His professional career was even more illustrious, though it took time to get going. The No. 1 draft pick in 1969, Mr. Simpson went to the Buffalo Bills — the league’s worst team had the first pick — and was used sparingly in his rookie season; in his second, he was sidelined with a knee injury. But by 1971, behind a line known as the Electric Company because they “turned on the Juice,” he began breaking games open.

In 1973, Mr. Simpson became the first to rush for over 2,000 yards, breaking a record held by Jim Brown, and was named the N.F.L.’s most valuable player. In 1975, he led the American Football Conference in rushing and scoring. After nine seasons, he was traded to the San Francisco 49ers, his hometown team, and played his last two years with them. He retired in 1979 as the highest-paid player in the league, with a salary over $800,000, having scored 61 touchdowns and rushed for more than 11,000 yards in his career. He was inducted into the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 1985.

Mr. Simpson’s work as a network sports analyst overlapped with his football years. He was a color commentator for ABC from 1969 to 1977, and for NBC from 1978 to 1982. He rejoined ABC on “Monday Night Football” from 1983 to 1986.

Actor and Pitchman

And he had a parallel acting career. He appeared in some 30 films as well as television productions, including the mini-series “Roots” (1977) and the movies “The Towering Inferno” (1974), “Killer Force” (1976), “Cassandra Crossing” (1976), “Capricorn One” (1977), “Firepower” (1979) and others, including the comedy “The Naked Gun: From the Files of Police Squad” (1988) and its two sequels.

He did not pretend to be a serious actor. “I’m a realist,” he said. “No matter how many acting lessons I took, the public just wouldn’t buy me as Othello.”

Mr. Simpson was a congenial celebrity. He talked freely to reporters and fans, signed autographs, posed for pictures with children and was self-effacing in interviews, crediting his teammates and coaches, who clearly liked him. In an era of Black power displays, his only militancy was to crack heads on the gridiron.

His smiling, racially neutral image, easygoing manner and almost universal acceptance made him a perfect candidate for endorsements. Even before joining the N.F.L., he signed deals, including a three-year, $250,000 contract with Chevrolet. He later endorsed sporting goods, soft drinks, razor blades and other products.

In 1975, Hertz made him the first Black star of a national television advertising campaign. Memorable long-running commercials depicted him sprinting through airports and leaping over counters to get to a Hertz rental car. He earned millions, Hertz rentals shot up and the ads made O.J.’s face one of the most recognizable in America.

Mr. Simpson, in a way, wrote his own farewell on the day of his arrest. As he rode in the Bronco with a gun to his head, a friend, Robert Kardashian, released a handwritten letter to the public that he had left at home, expressing love for Ms. Simpson and denying that he killed her. “Don’t feel sorry for me,” he wrote. “I’ve had a great life, great friends. Please think of the real O.J. and not this lost person.”

Alex Traub contributed reporting.

An earlier version of this obituary referred incorrectly to the glove that was an important piece of evidence in Mr. Simpson’s murder trial. It was not a golf glove. The error was repeated in a picture caption.

How we handle corrections

Robert D. McFadden is a Times reporter who writes advance obituaries of notable people. More about Robert D. McFadden

Map shows alleged Ballarat murders of Hannah McGuire, Samantha Murphy part of bigger gendered violence issue

Analysis Map shows alleged Ballarat murders of Hannah McGuire, Samantha Murphy part of bigger gendered violence issue

"What the hell is going on in Ballarat?"

Many versions of this question, with varying levels of expletives, have echoed across Victoria and Australia in the past day or two.

It is a fair question — the regional Victorian city has been hit by more tragedy and trauma in the past two months than you would expect in a place with a population of around 110,000 people.

On February 4, 51-year-old woman Samantha Murphy disappeared after heading off for a jog.

On February 16, mother-of-five Rebecca Young was found dead in a Sebastopol home, the victim of a suspected murder-suicide.

On February 22, bushfires west of Ballarat destroyed seven homes, forced mass evacuations, and turned the sky over the city an apocalyptic red.

On March 7, Patrick Orren Stephenson was charged with Ms Murphy's murder .

On March 13, a rockfall at Ballarat Gold Mine killed miner Kurt Hourigan .

And on April 5, the body of 23-year-old Clunes woman Hannah McGuire was found in a burnt-out car in bushland south-west of Ballarat, and her ex-boyfriend Lachlan Young was charged with murder over her death.

The events of the past 61 days have cast a pall of shock, grief, and confusion over the city.

So many people have been left in mourning, reeling from the loss of their loved ones, their friends, their homes.

It's unclear whether anyone is at fault following the bushfires and the mining rockfall, which is no solace to those who have suffered deep losses because of them.

But three women are dead following two tragic months, and each is alleged to have been murdered by a man, with two very young men before the courts, charged in relation to two of those deaths.

Not just a Ballarat problem

Of the 18 Australian women allegedly killed by men this year, three have died in the Ballarat region.

To put that another way, the lives of 16 per cent of all women allegedly killed by men in Australia this year are believed to have ended in the Ballarat region.

It may sound like an unlikely figure, but the reality is that data shows the rate of family violence in the Victorian town is higher than state and national averages.

Which brings us back to the original question: what the hell is going on in Ballarat?

In 2021, the rate of family violence common assault in Ballarat was approximately 12 per cent higher than across the state, according to crime statistics.

But these latest events are something new and even more frightening.

The Victorian government's crime data shows that in five of the past 10 years in Ballarat, there were three or fewer homicides.

And now three women are believed to have been murdered in Ballarat in the space of 61 days.

But this is not just a Ballarat problem. Across Australia, a woman is killed by a man every nine days.

Premier Jacinta Allan put it succinctly on Tuesday.

"It's only April 9 and already 18 Australian women have been killed in 2024," she said.

"This is unacceptable and it has to stop."

So what is going on in Ballarat?

What's going on in Ballarat is the same thing that is happening everywhere, just in a more condensed period of time.

Take a look at the Red Heart Campaign , a remarkable memorial that tracks the women and children lost to violence.

Award-winning journalist Sherele Moody has put together a map that she regularly updates.

It features a red heart for every murder, with details on who the victim was and how they died.

When you zoom out and look at the whole of Australia, the number of red hearts is overwhelming.

Samantha Murphy is on there. Rebecca Young is on there. Hannah McGuire will no doubt be added soon.

These three women have died, allegedly at the hands of men, in tragedies that could have been avoided.

These deaths didn't need to happen, and they are the latest examples of a major problem facing Australia.

Gendered violence is very much alive in Ballarat and Samantha Murphy, Rebecca Young, and Hannah McGuire are not here because of it.

Matt Neal is the editor of ABC Ballarat.

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