mostly berserk meta. i'm into berserk mainly for griffguts and i'm a huge fan of griffith.
The nice thing about GriffGuts is how that OTP suits lazy people. We don’t even have to ship them, they’re shipping themselves.
lol i s2g for every long and involved post about griffguts i’ve written i could just substitute
and make the same basic point just as effectively
God, I was in physical pain reading this chapter.
My heart just breaks for Rickert.
The Griffith he followed, whose dream he shared and who he adored- who he wanted to save- that’s not the man who stands in front of him now, in this gorgeous prosperous city that was build on the corpses and dreams of hundreds upon hundreds of men.
I always wondered if Rickert would feel like he shouldn’t have survived, if he ever found out the truth of what happened during the eclipse and met Griffith again. And this chapter kind of confirmed it for me. But unlike Guts he cannot drown in hatred and stake his life on revenge. All he could do, and all he had to console him was build that hill of swords. I can’t even imagine how lonely and helpless he must have felt, being the only survivor left with no answers and a thousand questions.
But even so, the Griffith he faced this chapter cannot answer him, not really. I know I happily lost my shit and joked along with all of the ‘Rickert’s balls of steel and impending doom’ crap over the bitchsmack panel when it came out as a spoiler, but seeing it in the context of the chapter as a whole- wow. It took my breath away for a plethora of other reasons.
People say he’s brave as hell for daring the slap the almighty Griffith but honestly I don’t think he even had time to work up courage, and it just happened on this spur of instinct- of way overdue hurt and that hurts me because jesus, Rickert deserves better dammit.
Griffith’s reaction was on point though- I didn’t expect him to immediately chop Rickert’s head off or anything, but it’s impossible to read him nowadays. Is it just apathy? Like always? Does he even feel anything at all when Rickert rejects his new self- his pretty new kingdom? I can’t tell- I want to believe, but, alas. It’s Berserk. It kills. And I’m done.
Totally agreed about Rickert, I don’t often think about his survivor’s guilt but it’s a huge part of his character and it was rly satisfying to see him get to express some of his feelings about everything, directly to Griffith.
As for Griffith, his reaction is the most intriguing part of the scene to me ngl.
Like overall I think NeoGriffith is automatically interesting because of what Miura doesn’t show us? The last time we saw into his head was
like the first and only thing we find out about his internal life is that he’s not as unemotional as he appears, and every scene w/ NeoGriffith afterwards where his emotions are conspicuously hidden from us just adds to my sense that inevitably we’re heading towards a big revelation about his feelings specifically.
The scene with Rickert is especially interesting because it’s the first time we see NeoGriffith at a loss.
Like this is his only response to Rickert’s tirade, and it’s an acknowledgement of the difference between, well, who he is now and who he used to be, essentially.
Ngriff’s got nothing. And that is so damn interesting to me lol.
“Don’t throw away what you can’t replace,” is something Guts reminds Rickert right after the Reunion on the Hill of Swords and right before Guts does this:
NGriff starts putting a new Band of the Hawk together like he’s trying to replace the old one, and he’s invited Rickert to join. I got this idea from @mastermistressofdesire a while ago lol and it’s so perfect, like, basically NGriff invited Rickert along because deep down he wants validation from one of the original Hawks. It would be proof that “nothing has changed.” That he has successfully replaced the original Band.
But Rickert rejected him, and it seems like it throws him off. He’s supposed to be literally untouchable, but Rickert was able to slap him. He has nothing to say to Rickert in response other than to quietly agree that the Hawk symbol is different now. And his face is hidden from us while watching Rickert leave both times:
Like this ties in with this theory/hope of mine that NeoGriffith’s thing is going to end up being identity/isolation. As the absolute with no equal, as someone who has undergone huge changes and denies it (”this is the man I am.”), as a parallel to ascended Ganeshka, because he failed his own test and his heart started beating when he saw Guts and the first thing he did was deny to himself that it had anything to do with his feelings for Guts, and a few other little details, like eg this page at the end of a chapter all about sonia feeling lonely and isolated as the only person who sees the world the way she does:
Like c’mon Miura, all this suggestive emotional ambiguity has to be there for something.
more griffguts bdsm headcanon talk under the cut
madchen
replied to your post “more thoughts on sweet/light bdsm griffguts… hard agree with nev…”
the scarification thing isnt far off my mark lol ive posted before about modern au where griffith has guts name tattooed on his hipbone or some place equally as intimate? yea. and griffiths name where the brand would be on guts js.
ooh yeah now that you mention it i remember that, and it was an a+ concept. They’re both intense enough to go for permanent symbols like that.
hmmm i get what youre
saying with the control thing too? i am very curious about examples wrt
guts making griffith. lose control? i was thinking of small commands
being made to get him to relax at first but im coming from the
perspective of someone who has to does still/sitting/breathing
meditation for therapy so that probably wasnt obvious.
wrt losing control i was thinking along the lines of like, beaing teased until he’s a begging mess lol. but idk i’m thinking about it more and while that’d be something i’d be into bc i love when rigidly self-controlled characters lose it, the way i see griffith maybe he would actually more than likely hate it? there’s like a distinction between loss of control over his environment/letting go of his responsibilites vs loss of control over himself and griffith would want the former but maybe not the latter.
otoh we were talking about subspace earlier too and in the right mindset i could see griffith also finding it freeing to lose self control and just act on instinct. but idt it would come as easily as being tied up would, and i could see it leading to like, regret/shame/awkwardness after he comes lol. but then again maybe not – i mean i guess thinking of canon moments where his brain like shut down and he instinctively did something, he’s actually pretty good at downplaying it afterwards lol.
but i think you’re right on the money about small commands to relax him, especially w/ the context of like, breathing exercises and posture and stuff. and commands where he can demonstrate self control in general. i could def see him finding that soothing, and a good way to like, ease into more intense stuff.
also yea sensory deprivation wrt griffith is good especially when he lets guts help/support him while hes blindfolded.
good shit tbh
seisans
replied to your post “i keep having Thoughts about guts and fear and his relationship w/…”
i would love this bc i personally don’t understand guts as well as i do griffith
lol honestly same tho, i actually basically wrote this in the tags of that post and then deleted it bc it was getting rambly lol. but like, when it comes to griffith i’m super confident about my take but when it comes to guts it feels more like guesswork. you’d think it would be the opposite considering he’s the main character and we see inside his head way more often, but idk lol.
anyway, i am just rambling now but it is such a relief to see someone
closely examine b/erserk’s deeply problematic storytelling. going on the
usual forums like reddit shows that people will bend over backwards to
deny that griffith or guts ever had feelings for the other, and more
than anything i loathe that miura’s cheap pornographic rape scene makes
it that much easier for them to hate a character that, let’s be real,
they would have loved to hate regardless
i’m dying this is so nice and lovely and thank you for sending this you made my day <333 (also yeah ikwym about enjoying media bc of fan meta lol, it’s a big part of what i love about fandom, and I’m super glad you enjoy mine!)
And wrt the second part yeah it’s like, so frustrating. and lol you hit the nail on the head, the eclipse rape really just gives most of them an excuse to be self-righteous and holier-than-thou about hating a character they already hated.
Thank you! and omg I am stoked that you got into griffguts after reading my meta, I’m grinning ridiculously rn lol ty for telling me this.
And yeah for sure! I rarely read fics that aren’t recced to me myself lol so even tho it’s a small fandom I def haven’t read everything, but here are a few I rly enjoyed:
the painted stage – alovelyburn
https://archiveofourown.org/works/785072
oil, sweat, and cinder – applecrumbledore
https://archiveofourown.org/works/11783898/chapters/26572404
enraptured – SuggestiveScribe
https://archiveofourown.org/works/6151171
do i wake or sleep – cainight (wip)
https://archiveofourown.org/works/13254225/chapters/30320127
all the king’s horses and all the king’s men – hikachu
https://www.fanfiction.net/s/8873590/1/All-the-king-s-horses-and-all-the-king-s-men
and i have a fic tag for fic on tumblr which is worth a look
also probably anything else berserk-related these authors have written, though I haven’t read it all myself bc the less fic there is for a ship the more I want to indefinitely save some to read later lol
i keep having Thoughts about guts and fear and his relationship w/ griffith and his “dream” and trauma and the black swordsman arc vs post-eclipse story etc etc and i want to try to coalesce them into another longish post but it seems harder than my other long meta posts for some reason
like idk how to frame it
maybe it’s bc i’m not as completely familiar w/ guts’ narrative as i am w/ griffith’s lol, like writing that griffith analysis was relatively easy bc i have half his scenes practically memorized, but for the non griffguts-y parts of guts’ narrative i’d have to re-read.
also i think it would have to be part critique bc i think miura kind of dropped the ball on this theme (fear) circa the eclipse, and that’s another complication.
idk i’m stating this in public to motivate myself basically lol.
and holds some sort of power or control over him. like i could see guts
blindfolding him and making him rest his head on guts thigh and be very
still and not squirm to like “cool down” from whatever funk he was in
while guts strokes his hair and massages his scalp. when he ties his
arms behind his back he spends a lot of time kissing griffs neck and
relishing in the little hitched intakes of breath griffith takes bc hes
still blindfolded and doesnt know where guts is gonna touch him next.
yea.
Yk I was kind of wondering about things like little inconsequential but easy to follow orders (like hold still, or say keeping his hands behind his back, or smthn), and I couldn’t decide whether it would work or not, I think you could go either way. Like on the one hand Griffith is very tightly wound and self-controlled and I feel like being able to lose control and react in a more animalistic way would really suit him, esp Guts seeing him like that and loving it, but then I could also see exerting self-control in situations that don’t matter would like, feel reassuring in a way? Idk I probably prefer the former but the latter is also appealing in its own way.
But also yessss to the blindfold thing. Idek why but the idea of Griffith not able to do anything but wait in anticipation for a touch is so good. I could see that almost pushing his limits actually – like if Guts was too quiet or waited too long without touching him he’d start to freak out about being left alone. I could see Guts being really into it – like Griffith can’t look at him, but every ounce of attention is still focused on him, even moreso bc he can’t see him.
Also can I just say while we’re on this topic, and ok this is kind of a 180 into heavier kink but w/e it’s very fitting in Berserk in particular and it’s still sweet imo lol – scarification. Like yeah I mentioned Guts wouldn’t be willing to hurt Griffith, but I could so see Griffith wanting some kind of permanent symbol of Guts’ intent to keep him, and scars and wounds are such sexual things in this manga lol. Once they were both relatively secure in their relationship or w/e, like after several years lol. Something always on him, like proof that even as a king or a husband or wtfever that first and foremost he’s Guts’, that he would occasionally absently trace over his clothes during important meetings and kingdom-running lol.
And anyway Guts already has a scar from that time Griffith stabbed him, so it would be kind of mutual too.
I feel like there’d need to be a ton of set-up for that lol, but yk assuming this is a happy AU where he somehow realized Guts > dream without being tortured for a year first.
lmao yeah ok i’m in the mood for this
so like, tbh I actually think griffguts would be p vanilla in general, and that post was kind of a joke about how thrilled Griffith was to cede control of his life over to god/fate. BUT if he was into bdsm he would definitely be a sub and not a dom imo
yk some ppl like being responsible for other ppl, like giving orders, like
being in control, so they work to be in that position of power in their
personal and professional lives, but Griffith is def not one of them lol. for Griffith, being in control is a necessary requirement of his dream, and it’s p much canon that he wants a reprieve from it.so if god is the one who ends up taking the reins in the tragic version of
berserk, in the happy version then obviously Guts is the one who gives Griffith a break from responsibility every night and adds some balance
to his life.also to maintain this pretentious not-actually-meta take lmao, Griffith’s narrative is basically about wanting to be absolved from
his feelings of guilt. the tragedy of his narrative is that he could’ve
had that through a relationship with Guts, through Guts telling him he
isn’t cruel, through Guts seeing all the things he hates about himself
and loving him anyway, but instead he got it through fate claiming
control over his life and god telling him he’s the chosen one whose
whole existence was dictated since before he was even born.so i’m js, Griffith relinquishing control to Guts some nights + praise kink = ~thematically resonant~ sex lol
but like to actually go at this from a real character standpoint, imo Griffith’s got way too many self loathing issues to want to hurt/dominate anyone
when he doesn’t have to, and again like, having power is a burden to him. if he
had to dom it would be a chore with a lot of potential to backfire and
add to his self loathing, x1000 if it was someone he loved, ie, Guts.
like, it’s just canon that he doesn’t want to order Guts around lol.And he’s insecure about whether Guts sees him as cruel, he wants Guts to want him rather than keeping Guts by force, etc, so I think even just consensually domming Guts would light his self loathing up bc it would be like a reenactment of what he fears/hates about himself. Whereas subbing to Guts (w/ the right atmosphere ofc, ie full of praise and tenderness, not like, sadism and degredation) would reassure him that Guts wants him.
To be more detailed, I
think in particular he’d like being tied up and knowing he couldn’t
escape – so struggling and testing his restraints. that visceral feeling
of control being taken away would be good for getting him in the
right head space. Knowing he’s not in control, that he’s ceded control
to someone else for a while, would be a huge part of what he likes about
it.(I mean considering how extreme Griffith’s issues w/ guilt and responsibility are I think it’s maybe a little silly to think bondage would be theraputically relaxing for him lol, but yk, it still ~feels right~)
And again, praise kink man. Lots of “you’re so good”s and “I
love you like this” etc. Not so much with a focus on looks, but more
just existing? And letting Guts see him so vulnerable and open, and being praised for it, etc.I
could see him being into pain. Not like as a punishment thing, but as a
way of grounding himself in the physical and distracting himself from
his thoughts by focusing on something. Imo that’s why he self harms. But
I don’t think it would really be like, a healthy thing lol, considering
his self-harming behaviour, and I don’t think Guts would be willing to hurt him
anyway. Instead he’d rather try to overwhelm Griffith with pleasure to drown out his
thoughts. orgasm control and edging, anyone?Specifically with Guts, he’d be really, really into
being manhandled and rough, fast, desperate sex. The sense that Guts
can’t help but fuck him because he wants him so much. Unfortunately for Griffith, Guts would absolutely not be able to do that lol. At least not for a long time.Actually
to focus on Guts for a bit, I think he’d be kind of a terrible dom.
Like, i’m ngl, at its core I feel like griffguts is bottom4bottom,
sub4sub lmao, but then there’s like a million mitigating factors, like trauma, and canon shifting power dynamics – like eg if Guts has heard the
promrose hall speech, he would never in a million years sub to Griffith,
while if he hasn’t he’d be more than happy to be ordered to suck his
dick or w/e.buuut I think if we’re going the bdsm route then
overall Guts would be more comfortable domming than Griffith would be,
and Griffith would want to sub more than Guts would, so there you go.What
Guts would be into, wrt domming Griffith, would be praising him, would
be feeling powerful, would be knowing Griffith trusts him, and would be
knowing Griffith well enough to be able to drive him wild without being
told what to do lol. And ofc the whole power exchange thing with Griffith being a leader/king/whatever in day to day life but Guts knowing Griffith lets him take control when they’re alone would really satisfy Guts on that deep level where he wants Griffith’s attention/regard imo.Also imo Guts is more service top if anything,
so it would take a while for him to get to the point where he feels
confident in doing things to Griffith without Griffith’s input and Griffith assuring him he’s into it, but he’d get there eventually. Which would be important bc if Griffith was telling him what to do the whole time he was tied up it would defeat the purpose.Ok I think this response is long enough lol.
all of this basically … like, what a lot of people don’t know is that kink is more often about dealing with trauma/stress through these kinds of dynamics rather than about just being horny and wanting to be spanked. relinquishing control to someone else is the CORE of subbing, and if that someone else is the only person griffith could allow himself to be vulnerable with? whew!
he’d love being tied up and blindfolded. he and guts would basically have very long, very sensual sessions intended to help griffith relax and temporarily remove the weight on his shoulders. guts would LOVE doing that, since he’s, as you said, all about pleasing others. yes, it would take him a while to get used to being in control instead of doing whatever griffith asks him to, but if he knew it helped griffith, and if he knew it meant that griffith trusts him more than anyone and that he’s the only one griffith lets in like this … that would give him the push he needs.
so yeah, when i’m talking about dom/sub stuff wrt griffguts it’s never like the full kinky bdsm that people tend to imagine, it’s just a type of dynamic which, if acted out properly, can be very healthy for the both of them, and their relationship. their sex is still very sensual, loving, and passionate. those two honestly couldn’t have it any other way lol. after all, for both of them their primary need is to be loved.
sub space griffith. sub space griffith. please help me.
idk but i’m feeling this
mb bc he’s the kind of intense character w/ so much going on in his head and so much self control that the contrast just makes it like, extra good?
YEA thats it. its such a sharp detour from his usually headspace i imagine and probably very hard to achieve but like if he gets there, its good
andguts would love it ofc bc he loves seeing how much trust griffith has in him to let himself go like that. its so different from the griffith who walks around with a straight back and tense shoulders, who obviously has a million different things on his mind, carrying the burden of overthinking around like a sack of bricks lol
even not fully going the bdsm route guts would love to help griffith relax by like, rubbing his shoulders or even feet and calves. once he understand how severely anxious griffith is all the time at least. and then gets to watch him melt back into the cushions at his touch. loves it.
lol ty! not so much meta as headcanon, but it’s fun to think about. and yeah like that’s another angle to explore too, though not one I was really thinking of. It’s a bit dark for fun porn, though if you want to go depressing and psychological it’s there.
sub space griffith. sub space griffith. please help me.
idk but i’m feeling this
mb bc he’s the kind of intense character w/ so much going on in his head and so much self control that the contrast just makes it like, extra good?
madchen
replied to your post “please extrapolate on griffith being a sub and why lmao?”
i have more to say later but griffith!! would fucking love!!!! being manhandled!!! and passionately kissed/touched while being fucked hard with his hands tied behind his back!!!
this is so real and accurate i’m glad i’m not the only one who sees it lmao
madchen
replied to your post “wingsfreedom
replied to your post “the end of the lost children arc…”
moms really arent people in most already misogynistic narratives tbh
lol yeah p much
not with that attitude
(like jesus this is such a false dichotemy. she could travel with guts for a week and get dropped off to make her own way somewhere else, or he could take her back to godo’s with him and let her learn to be a blacksmith or smthn. it’s not a choice between fighting ghosts every day vs enduring abuse. there are other options lol.
idk maybe this is supposed to say more about guts than it does jill lol, i mean this is one of the darkest points of his narrative. maybe we’ll see jill again and discover that guts’ “advice” here did her no favours.)
wingsfreedom
replied to your post “the end of the lost children arc fucks me up because i find rosine’s…”
Their mothers weren’t abusive though. In Berserk most fathers were abusive to the kids AND their wives. What often hold these poor girls from escaping is their loving mothers, even though the core problem is their dads. (Dads in general are either too nice or assholes, there’s no in betweem. But I don’t remember any nice dad in berserk)
godo is the closest we get to a good father in berserk i think lol.
but i mean yeah it’s true that the abusive fathers in the lost children arc also abuse their wives, but jill’s mother has nothing to do with why she decided to stay, she’s basically a non-entity. rosine sacrificed both her parents, but it’s not like she only regrets sacrificing her mother, she regrets sacrificing both, and no distinction is drawn between them.
their more sympathetic mothers don’t really have any effect or impact on the narrative from what i recall.
lmao yeah ok i’m in the mood for this
so like, tbh I actually think griffguts would be p vanilla in general, and that post was kind of a joke about how thrilled Griffith was to cede control of his life over to god/fate. BUT if he was into bdsm he would definitely be a sub and not a dom imo
yk some ppl like being responsible for other ppl, like giving orders, like
being in control, so they work to be in that position of power in their
personal and professional lives, but Griffith is def not one of them lol. for Griffith, being in control is a necessary requirement of his dream, and it’s p much canon that he wants a reprieve from it.
so if god is the one who ends up taking the reins in the tragic version of
berserk, in the happy version then obviously Guts is the one who gives Griffith a break from responsibility every night and adds some balance
to his life.
also to maintain this pretentious not-actually-meta take lmao, Griffith’s narrative is basically about wanting to be absolved from
his feelings of guilt. the tragedy of his narrative is that he could’ve
had that through a relationship with Guts, through Guts telling him he
isn’t cruel, through Guts seeing all the things he hates about himself
and loving him anyway, but instead he got it through fate claiming
control over his life and god telling him he’s the chosen one whose
whole existence was dictated since before he was even born.
so i’m js, Griffith relinquishing control to Guts some nights + praise kink = ~thematically resonant~ sex lol
but like to actually go at this from a real character standpoint, imo Griffith’s got way too many self loathing issues to want to hurt/dominate anyone
when he doesn’t have to, and again like, having power is a burden to him. if he
had to dom it would be a chore with a lot of potential to backfire and
add to his self loathing, x1000 if it was someone he loved, ie, Guts.
like, it’s just canon that he doesn’t want to order Guts around lol.
And he’s insecure about whether Guts sees him as cruel, he wants Guts to want him rather than keeping Guts by force, etc, so I think even just consensually domming Guts would light his self loathing up bc it would be like a reenactment of what he fears/hates about himself. Whereas subbing to Guts (w/ the right atmosphere ofc, ie full of praise and tenderness, not like, sadism and degredation) would reassure him that Guts wants him.
To be more detailed, I
think in particular he’d like being tied up and knowing he couldn’t
escape – so struggling and testing his restraints. that visceral feeling
of control being taken away would be good for getting him in the
right head space. Knowing he’s not in control, that he’s ceded control
to someone else for a while, would be a huge part of what he likes about
it.
(I mean considering how extreme Griffith’s issues w/ guilt and responsibility are I think it’s maybe a little silly to think bondage would be theraputically relaxing for him lol, but yk, it still ~feels right~)
And again, praise kink man. Lots of “you’re so good”s and “I
love you like this” etc. Not so much with a focus on looks, but more
just existing? And letting Guts see him so vulnerable and open, and being praised for it, etc.
I
could see him being into pain. Not like as a punishment thing, but as a
way of grounding himself in the physical and distracting himself from
his thoughts by focusing on something. Imo that’s why he self harms. But
I don’t think it would really be like, a healthy thing lol, considering
his self-harming behaviour, and I don’t think Guts would be willing to hurt him
anyway. Instead he’d rather try to overwhelm Griffith with pleasure to drown out his
thoughts. orgasm control and edging, anyone?
Specifically with Guts, he’d be really, really into
being manhandled and rough, fast, desperate sex. The sense that Guts
can’t help but fuck him because he wants him so much. Unfortunately for Griffith, Guts would absolutely not be able to do that lol. At least not for a long time.
Actually
to focus on Guts for a bit, I think he’d be kind of a terrible dom.
Like, i’m ngl, at its core I feel like griffguts is bottom4bottom,
sub4sub lmao, but then there’s like a million mitigating factors, like trauma, and canon shifting power dynamics – like eg if Guts has heard the
promrose hall speech, he would never in a million years sub to Griffith,
while if he hasn’t he’d be more than happy to be ordered to suck his
dick or w/e.
buuut I think if we’re going the bdsm route then
overall Guts would be more comfortable domming than Griffith would be,
and Griffith would want to sub more than Guts would, so there you go.
What
Guts would be into, wrt domming Griffith, would be praising him, would
be feeling powerful, would be knowing Griffith trusts him, and would be
knowing Griffith well enough to be able to drive him wild without being
told what to do lol. And ofc the whole power exchange thing with Griffith being a leader/king/whatever in day to day life but Guts knowing Griffith lets him take control when they’re alone would really satisfy Guts on that deep level where he wants Griffith’s attention/regard imo.
Also imo Guts is more service top if anything,
so it would take a while for him to get to the point where he feels
confident in doing things to Griffith without Griffith’s input and Griffith assuring him he’s into it, but he’d get there eventually. Which would be important bc if Griffith was telling him what to do the whole time he was tied up it would defeat the purpose.
Ok I think this response is long enough lol.
At least we’ve seen Griffith in action again! I missed him :3. Despite his human body, Neo Griffith is far more powerful than his counterpart, the actual human Griffith. The new witch (I forgot her name) seem to be a very helpful fellow to him.
The new monsters were terrifying, though. I like Miura’s take on them. They’re like the ghouls we’ve seen in Lost Children arc (I think), but bigger in size. While the ghouls, depite their brutal nature, acting on instinct to survive, those new ghouls, however, are more blood-thirsty and even a little smarter. They even enslaved the smaller ghouls lol. (maybe this is strange comparation, but this pattern similar to the ant kingdoms)
yeah I enjoy NGriff’s narrative so I don’t really mind a digression to it.
it might be kind of interesting, showing that some of these monsters are smart and have societies of their own, making griffith’s army w/ apostles not just roaming bands going out and rescuing refugees, but an actual army fighting opposing armies of monsters. and at least it gives him something to do lol.
you're the only one 