​Yorhel (Yoran Heling), the creator and lead developer of The Visual Novel Database (VNDB), passed away on March 17, 2026.

The news was shared with the public on March 21 via an announcement on the site’s forums and subsequently across community platforms like Reddit and Bluesky.

​Yorhel founded VNDB in September 2007, reportedly inspired by his experience reading the visual novel Ever17.

Over the nearly two decades that followed, he grew the site into the definitive English-language resource for the medium.

Before VNDB, detailed information on visual novels was largely restricted to Japanese-language sites. Yorhel’s work made the medium accessible to a global audience.

Before VNDB, detailed information on visual novels was largely restricted to Japanese-language sites. Yorhel’s work made the medium accessible to a global audience.

The site is known for its "old-web" stability, remaining ad-free and highly functional throughout its existence.

Yorhel maintained much of the site's custom Perl-based infrastructure himself.

He was a strong advocate for open-source software, making the VNDB codebase publicly available to ensure the community could learn from and support the project.