I think you have mentioned a few times how you would like to see people exploring NeoGriffith’s mind in a similar manner to Casca’s. And I would like to add, maybe this is the reason why he is said to dread a witch more than a whole army (or something similar).
The first thing he does after being reborn is to make sure he doesn’t feel any emotions any longer – especially towards Guts. And even if he believes the reason why his heart was bthumping was the demon kid, we already saw him hesitating to harm Guts during the Eclipse – even though he was bereft of any humanity, a physical body and his heart was frozen. Or at least this is how I saw the scene.
Because this is certainty to me:
While this is hesitation:
This scene was even better in the movies.
Anyway, what I was trying to get at – while trying to tell himself he is free, he must have had a reason – doubt – to visit Guts and prove it, which only proved the opposite.
And I think, what if the reason he seems to dread witches is, that he is aware he has a weakness, after all – somewhere deep inside, spot, a place, a feeling or a memory, which once brought back to life might mean his downfall – and only magical beings like them can enter his subconscious and trigger such a change.
And another meta about this so called “Age of Darkness“, which is related to this post – what if actually making him weak again is what would cause it – similar to the Eclipse. Because we all know how he handles, when being hurt and desperate.
I want this so much.
Gr8 point about how he was specifically going after Flora – and you know, the fact that Flora got killed but her protege got away has got to lead to Schierke doing something that Griffith feared Flora would do, right?
And we’ve seen Schierke do a lot of psychic exploration, with Guts and now Casca. So I’m down with this theory.
Plus like, the concept of someone getting inside NeoGriffith’s head and altering him again – unlocking latent emotions properly, or whatever – is so good. Dude’s been through weird magic processes that alter his mind twice now, so third time’s a charm.
Also interesting thought about the Age of Darkness – I’ve been assuming it’s the whole high fantasy thing, but we really don’t know for sure, do we?
Semi-relatedly, I’ve had a thought before that while NeoGriff is the messiah/saviour of humanity/dude who grants humanity’s subconscious desires and has the power to save or damn everyone according to the lost chapter, etc, does that hold completely true if the theory that he’s incomplete (because 2 of his sacrifices escaped) is true?
Like is there a scenario where he goes against what humanity wants deep down because his remaining emotions get the better of him once again? Idk this feels like it would fit well with your (rly cool tbh) idea of a weakened/hurt NeoGriff lashing out irrationally and starting an actual Age of Darkness, so I thought I’d throw it in.
Thanks for tagging me in this!
Also interesting thought about the Age of Darkness – I’ve been assuming
it’s the whole high fantasy thing, but we really don’t know for sure, do
we?
I think it is made to seem this way – the Age of Darkness being the new world he created, because even if Falconia is a paradise, the rest of the world isn’t.
But he is also said (like you mentioned) to fulfil humanity’s deepest desires and this new fantasy world is hinted to be what they have always longed for (hinted or straight away said to be like this, I really need to reread the manga.) And to me it seems (in case the Lost Chapter is still relevant), that if he was given the choice to either save or damn humanity, he headed towards “save“, which is why Falconia is the way it is – an utopia.
But if he was to be weakened or hurt again, he might as well change his mind and wreck everything or something equally sinister. If he can unleash people’s deepest desires, I think unleashing their deepest fears/nightmares should be possible too. And that he is incomplete might play the most important role in his change of heart. Hell, that he is incomplete might even be a part of the plan for all we know.
We know the Godhand is manipulative – we saw the games they played with him during the Eclipse, so maybe his reincarnation is an incomplete messiah, who believes to have himself fully in control, while actually not, might be actually planned. Maybe not even by them, but by the IoE itself.
What I mean to say is, while Skully and the others like to believe they exist outside of the Law of causality, this belief might as well be a part of the ultimate plan – so things like the crack in the world can happen, so Guts believes he is determining his fate, while actually moving the way he is supposed to with a Behelit in his freaking purse.
I mean those are only theories, but if the Age of Darkness is such a huge “event”, they it might as well be unavoidable. If someone can influence everything so much, that Griffith is born the way he is supposed to be, they can as well make sure Femto is reborn incomplete, if that’s needed.
man fate in berserk gives me a headache. But this is another point that I’ve been thinking about actually – the fact that Femto is totally beholden to fate, not outside of it or controlling it or even necessarily entirely aware of his role in it.
Because it was totally fate’s plan (or however tf you’d phrase it) that Casca and Guts survive the eclipse. SK even points it out – Rickert just happens to show up after they escape with a bag of magical healing elf dust and Guts just happens to know the dude who lives in the elf cave where he dumps Casca and it just so happens that 2 surviving sacrifices were needed to trigger the mock eclipse that brought Griffith back into the mortal realm etc.
But Femto’s not in on it lol. That panel up there proves it. If Miura wanted to show us that Femto chose to let them survive so the demon fetus could crawl out of Casca and go on its merry way before getting eaten by an egg and turning into Griffith or whatever the fuck, then we would’ve seen a close-up of Casca from Femto’s point of view before he lowered his hand. (Also he wouldn’t’ve raised his hand in the first place if he wanted them to escape, but w/e.) But Miura wanted to show us that Griffith’s Guts-related irrationality is acting up, so ofc we get a close-up of Guts.
So yeah basically I think you’re right about how fate/the IoE/whatever has plans and Femto/NeoGriff is another pawn.
you're the only one 