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a concept

AU where Guts never overheard Griffith’s speech to Charlotte, nothing went wrong, Griffith eventually married Charlotte and became king, managed the whole famine and plague situation competently and is beloved, started hooking up with Guts on the side, Casca became the highest-ranked general in Midland, Gaston’s got his shop, everyone’s living their best lives

And then Ganeshka and his unstoppable demon army shows up, and regular old human king Griffith doesn’t have apostles on his side

So Griffith tries to stop Ganeshka but it’s unquestionably hopeless ofc

Anyway this is ultimately a What If Griffith became king and fulfilled his dream all according to plan but 3 years later had to flee his kingdom (or get knocked out and hauled away over Guts’ shoulder depending on how reluctant he is) as it’s about to be taken over by a demon emperor kinda thing. Or maybe he chooses to flee because Guts is determined to stay and die with him if he stays. Because I like the idea of Griffith being forced to pick Guts’ life over dying for his dream.

Either way bam suddenly he’s back to where he was when he was 12 with a group of rag tag friends roaming the countryside trying to survive and he’s gotta deal with that.

This is an excellent concept.

I really love this.
Also seeing as Griffith’s and Guts relationship in this version has Been allowed to run it’s natural course and I’d really like to see how that would play out.
I actually think, since Griffith and Guts hooked up, Griffith sometimes wishes he could just run away from the kingly stuff once in a while to be with Guts.

What if he isn’t actually averse to running away after the initial clashes against Vanishes prove that it’s futile.
But I’m pretty sure he wouldn’t actually.
Maybe because the guilt for his soldiers hasn’t quite gone yet and he rationalises that he can’t surrender something so much blood had once been spilled for, PLUS since Guts’ is known for his “finish what you started” attitude- Griffith feels that Guts will not respect him anymore if he runs away.

Guts for his part, thinks Griffiths decision is non negotiable, so he’s just determined to save him from as much damage as he can. Guts refuses to come in the way of what Griffith wants. And he reasons that’s well, it’s always been in his nature to fight rather than flee. And if he has to die, nothing better than now, when he’s found somebody who looks at him and CARES.

PLUS since Guts’ is known for his “finish what you started” attitude-
Griffith feels that Guts will not respect him anymore if he runs away. 

oooh nice, gr8 point i didn’t consider at all.

also ironic if they both die bc they think that’s what the other wants lol, but that’s so them. maybe casca could intervene w/ some sense + save their asses as per usual.

Like with all the Casca thoughts which have been accumulating.

You Know this bit-
“ Maybe Casca could intervene w/ some sense + save their asses as per usual.”

This is OUR version of Casca. This is our take on what she could have been if the narrative didn’t constantly screw up her characterisation.
Because this action and characteristics makes sense to us, seems like a reasonable expectation and we or rather I (I’ll only speak for myself here for now) would like to believe it to be true- because I really want to like her.

And of course this is us talking about AUs anyway. So we will fill it with what seems reasonable.

But really I can’t help but think how cannon never explored this possibility. In canon Casca never saved their asses or talked sense into them. She made the connections. Yes. She had the information necessary to. Yes. She had the opportunity to. Also yes.

But canon didn’t care about making us like Casca as anything more than either a worthy (and projected as slightly annoying) rival or a love interest.

We’re never made to empathise with any particular or specific actions she takes or roles she plays. It seems like There’s no particularly thing Casca has done in the entire goddamn narrative which defines her. Like HER. Not someone else.

So when we say ‘as per usual’ we’re really just comparing with different versions we have been forced to create on our own.

There’s unfortunately no as per usual we can compare with in the source material.

Which is so frustrating.

Lol yeah this is true and I was kind of thinking when I wrote it that I should’ve said like she always tried to do, and might’ve done if anyone actually listened to her. (Like “just talk to each other!” can you imagine if judeau shut the hell up and they were like, actually yeah casca has a point let’s try words before swords). But I went with less accurate pithiness instead lol.

Also like… I do pretty much agree with you – the narrative is so bad about defining Casca in relation to the men in her life rather than as herself independently that I’ve come to hope it’s her central character flaw that will one day be explored as unlikely as that is lmao, but in fairness despite doing things for Griffith’s sake or for Guts’ sake, she does show a lot of character as she does them.

Taking command of the Hawks, leading the charge to infiltrate Doldrey, rallying the troops in dire situations, jealousy, pettiness, bravery, practicality (one moment I love for her, even if it is just to give Guts a moment of ‘wow she’s so cool’ (ugh), is when she tells the Hawks to stop freaking out at the start of the Eclipse because it’s not going to change the fact that shit just got really weird, so they might as well hold formation and stay calm), foolhardiness due to insecurity (going to battle on her period lol), perseverence even after almost giving up, loyalty ofc and her attempt to navigate between loyalty and what she feels is a betrayal of it albeit a timely and necessary one (even if the ‘betrayal’ is fucking guts, like, the feelings there are still complex despite the shitty plot imo), etc.

I hate almost all of Casca’s narrative and ofc it’s steeped in Miura’s misogyny, and she has a few character moments that are total offensive bs (acting cuter when she warms up to guts, maybe my place is at this man’s side, her non-reaction to Wyald’s attempted rape which just underscores that whole awful thing as pure shock value and titilation, etc) but there are also lots of moments she has that I think are revealing, endearing, and interesting. Like misogyny is one of Miura’s big flaws but shallow characterization sure isn’t and imo while his flaws are seriously on display in Casca’s character his strengths are still there.

So yeah like I don’t disagree with you bc her narrative absolutely sucks and I know that’s p much what you’re talking about, but your response did make me kind of want to talk up her likeability as a character a little lol. Like it’s not enough to make up for her awful narrative role, but it’s enough to make me want to explore her as a character and feel sympathy and empathy for her and relate to her in some ways, which is not a high bar but tbh it’s more than a lot of designated-love-interest-female-characters have.

It’s funny  that while typing out the previous bit, I was wondering if I should add in the bits I did like about Casca which made me want  more of her in the first place- and I was about to talk about her ‘ keep calm’ situation- but I decided against it because I was afraid i’d meander off course and forget to finish my point.

So yeah I do agree with you.

Looking back I think a lot of the fact of why these personally didn’t leave as much of an impact on me-and in  a way i feel they weren’t even  supposed to narratively-is because Casca’s contemporaries were Guts and Griffith who were both built to be larger than life. While Casca was supposed to be more realistic as an individual.

And most probably the fact that Casca was never intended as a main character to begin with  has something to do with that as well. She just got a hike in the importance hierarchy when Miura realised he could use her for the drama amping during the Eclipse and to explain the demon baby he’d introduced in the black swordsman arc but now didn’t know what to do with. ( This is taken from his interview)

So really in comparision to the characters she was created to act as a contemporary to, Casca stands out remarkably actually. In a story starring Casca judeau, pippin, corkus and Rickert – Casca would definitely be the protagonist, the best fighter, the best leader, insightful- complete freaking boss.

So  this isn’t something I could say is specific to only her Gender but rather, because of Miura’s decision to use her for manpain and thereby increase her importance (which IS specific to her gendered treatment)- so when you suddenly change the comparision from the B characters to the two A characters, who the author has spent a great deal of effort carefully crafting, ofcourse it wont be an even match.

And even if I realise this, as a reader Casca is still presented to me as an MC, so naturally I’ll tend to compare her with the other MC’s. And in that light somehow a few of the scenes I find the most impressive about her…seem almost like echoes. 

Her leadership achievements almost seem like an echo of Griffith’s at times.

Hell even Guts aforementioned appreciation seems to allude to this.

“ Every element has been pre-calculated in his mind, even being outnumbered he’s calm and has perfect judgement. He is amazing. He really is.”

“ Even at a time like this she’s calm. She really is amazing.”

Infact okay, this isn’t really related but a lot of what Guts seems to find attractive in Casca apart from you know…seems to be characteristics she shares with Griffith.

Like you could say the interaction between Guts and Casca’s started for proper during the Bonfire of dreams part. Where Guts compliments her on having a dream and then proceeds to say. “Yeah. You’re pretty impressive. You and Griffith both.” Then when he says – “You sound like some refined princess.” Again remember who else speaks poetically about things that matter to them?

Then during the ball. Guts says he finds her strength and skill attractive. And then I remember- who else really awed Guts with their strength and skill.

And , we’ve talked about this before but he finally kissed Casca when she said she couldn’t live off dreams anymore and visibly needed someone’s presence- moments after  Guts was left frozen and helpless when Casca told him that Griffith couldn’t live off only his dreams and he needed Guts there with him.

And I’m digressing again but I think this is also a point we made before?

How so many of my Griffguts arguments have the cost of further puppetfying Casca. And I don’t like it.

Yeah I think point was-IDK anymore,

So yeah I like Casca but I wish there was more.

I think another thing which has struck me is that I don’t have ANY of these issues with the newer female characters? Like I personally never felt this kind of dissapointment reading Farnese or Luca? 

So did the misogyny get better or did I just get desensitised?

Oh damn that comparison between Casca and Griffith is so good. We’ve def talked about it before a bit and I probably will again but you really hit the nail on the head with those details. I didn’t even consider some of those comparisons you caught, nice.

And yeah like I totally agree with you, Casca’s story is so utterly disappointing and she gets the serious short end of the stick compared to Guts and Griffith. Like she is literally, textually, talked about in actual words-on-the-page as an emotional and physical connection between Guts and Griffith and there isn’t a thing in the story that contradicts that, and a whole lot that supports it. It’s a genuinely accurate statement on her narrative significance. Even if you take Guts’ journey to heal her at total face value she’s still reduced to a distraction from Griffith and mindless morality pet.

Which is super fucked up lol, and we’ve talked about that before too. Idk basically I don’t blame anyone for being uncomfortable as fuck with her or finding her character offputting because of how she’s constantly reduced.

For my part I want to like, transplant her into a different story lol. It’s like I can feel how much I’d love her if she was the protagonist of her own story. Like that “what if Casca became the Black Swordsman after the Eclipse” AU I was chatting w/ ppl about a while ago is The Ideal omg. Every time I remember that idea I swoon a little lol. So I stubbornly maintain my love for her in spite of how unfair the narrative is to her.

And yeah ia, no other woman’s narrative is even close to as awful. Even like, Nina, the annoying blonde in the conviction arc, had a better story arc lol. It still pisses me off that almost every female character in Berserk is in love with a dude and most of them are motivated by that love, but at least most of them also have other interests and roles and development outside of that, while Casca never did.

Here’s hoping that’ll change when she wakes up I guess.