Oh yeah I see what you mean. And you could probably argue that Guts is doing the same thing with Casca right now too, idealizing the concept of her as healed and exactly the way she was before as a Hawk commander.
Also yeah while I’d say Utena was mostly about examining misogyny and patriarchy, I think you could apply a lot of the same conceptual stuff to homophobia and heteronormativity. Like ngl I only watched Utena for the first time fairly recently and I know this would be p much blasphemy to a lot of fans lol, but afterwards I immediately wanted to compare Griffith’s castle dream to the floating upside-down castle. I mean Griffith’s dream is kind of intwined with an ideal heteronormative relationship with Charlotte, noble storybook knight and princess, which is at odds with his genuine love for Guts, except he ends up choosing the dream.
I tend to err on the side of thinking that it’s not purposeful on Miura’s part, and being able to read Griffith’s narrative as about internalized homophobia and heternormativity is just a side effect of him being emotionally repressed, in love with Guts, and needing to marry a princess, but it’s still fun to think about, and imo it’s really not much of a stretch.
I’m sorry anon I’m having a hard time parsing this so apologies if I read your point wrong.
Like do you mean is Berserk a subversion of traditional romance similarly to Utena? bc I wouldn’t really say that, though I do think Miura is definitely not aiming for a traditional romance anywhere in Berserk, I don’t think he’s really deconstructing the concept of hetero romance either. But yeah I do think that regardless of whether it can be compared to Utena, Miura is still very unlikely to write a straightforward happy romantic ending between Guts and Casca.
Idk how it could happen or what kind of AU would lead to this but this is a v depressing concept, I approve lol. Idk what to add but I think I can safely say that Guts wouldn’t leave him in a cave for 2 years tho.
(relatedly, Casca as Godhand? I mean there’s no way to reverse their roles without changing literally everything about the story but still, Casca as a (scary, not naked and slan-y) demon god…)
Technically with cut tendons he shouldn’t be able to curl his fingers at all, but Miura seemed to just make his grip extremely weak and useless. Anyway it wasn’t a calculated attempt to strangle Guts, it was an emotional reaction so it doesn’t really matter whether he was physically capable of killing him, it just shows us how he’s feeling.
Yeah we didn’t get a close up of him when Charlotte was throwing herself on him so idt his reaction really mattered and probably wasn’t anything special. Though when Charlotte took the dart we got a few close ups of Griffith looking v intent and shocked so I wouldn’t say he didn’t care. I don’t think he cared for her sake, but I think the idea that she would take a dart for him even after he was unable to present himself as a perfect fiancee for her was a surprise.
Plus he’s not super rational and he tells her he’ll come back for her, so I think he may have taken it as a sign that his dream was still a possibility, Charlotte could still marry him, even though if he stopped and thought about it for half a second (and he does later) he’d realize that no his dream is dead and buried. It’s gr8 foreshadowing though.
Ooh good question. Yeah I wonder. Because it’s really unsurprising to me that he has no Eclipse-related regrets, but it would be so interesting to see him confronted with a reminder of how vulnerable he was to his feelings for Guts.
I’ve seen people theorize that NeoGriffith might’ve had Guts leaving him in the snow on his mind and maybe took a little bit of spiteful pleasure in being the one to leave Guts behind this time, which I rly like as an idea, especially with Guts moping about how NeoGriffith “deserted” him, but it’s just a headcanon really.
Idk. I feel like something as small as an involuntary flinch from NeoGriffith would be extremely satisfying at this point, x10 if a reminder of the second duel and his devastating feelings for Guts is the reason for it. Maybe we’ll get to see something like that in the future.
Continue- My reasoning for insinuating that Griffith is trying to fit in
and erase the old fedora is because he changed the Band of the Hawks
name to Falcon since he’s marrying into high society, uh the dude will
wake into a rude awakening Charlotte might even dislike Griffith if he
starts changing. The tea compliment what’s next, it’ll get annoying he’s
so fake trying to delete the past yet they don’t see him as their equal
even though he’s worked hard at least when he was human.
Anon
I respect your opinion but I’m running out of ways to say I don’t think
that he’s going to do anything particularly evil or cruel to Charlotte
or the rest of Falconia. I feel like I’ve explained my perspective
pretty thoroughly by now and I can’t think of much else to say on the
topic, so we’re going to have to agree to disagree.
Tho I will say that Hawk -> Falcon is a translation discrepency, the word is the same in Japanese.
You grabbed my curiosity expand your reply about Charlotte not being one
to avoid being a causality to Fem/NeoGriff ? I know that term applies
to Guts and he has his own will but Griffith has fate on his side. Very
confusing, and people undermine Charlotte a lot maybe their dislike is
because she has a thing for Griffith but it was him who suduced her not
the other way around. She’ll bail Miura will create drama he slept with
her next day lmao, I believe Charlotte has bad luck ouch.
I’m too lazy to find the panels rn but I’m
referring to I think Skull Knight (or possibly Flora) describing
Griffith as untouchable as an author is to the characters in a book. He
exists on a different level, and the reason he went out of his way to
have Flora killed was because she’s one of the few people in the world
capable of potentially moving against him, as a witch who also exists on
a higher level.
My point is just that very few people can do a
thing to impede Griffith’s plans because he’s a god. Guts and Casca may
be able to due to the effect of their brands, maybe Schierke and maybe
even Farnese due to being witches, probably Skull Knight could, but
Charlotte and/or various nobles undoubtedly can’t.
Finally, I just
want to say that I’m occasionally finding it difficult to respond to
your messages since they mostly seem to be more along the lines of lists
of your opinions rather than an attempt to start a dialogue, and I
often have very little to add. I don’t want to discourage anon
messages, I like getting them and I welcome them from everyone, but I
just want to warn you in advance that from now on I might not publish
every one I get if I find I have little to say in response.
Huh that’s really weird and random sounding. I don’t really go to youtube or reddit for fandom stuff so yeah never seen that myself.
I don’t think Griffith cares enough about Charlotte to really gaf if she leaves tbh. I’m pretty sure once they’re married he’s king no matter what, so if she suddenly disappeared it wouldn’t really affect his ability to rule, and unless something v surprising happens I doubt she’s going to suddenly change her mind and leave before the wedding.
And anyway NeoGriffith’s got fate on his side and only ppl outside causality can do anything to affect his ability to fulfill humanity’s desires, presumably, and Charlotte isn’t one of those people, so I don’t think he has anything to worry about there. + ia she’s not stupid but she also has no reason to doubt or dislike him right now.
I’m glad I made a convincing case lol, ty for reading 😀
Tbh I have a hard time coming up with a solid idea of what might happen. I guess I’m leaning towards the group, or most of the group depending on whether anyone dies or what Casca does when she wakes up, sticking together. It would feel too repetitive if everyone died again or left to do their own subplots and Guts was back to Black Swordsmaning alone imo. Like granted there’s a complication with the armour potentially taking over now, but even so there’s not a lot of drama or intrigue you can wring out of that. Guts is the Beast of Darkness, eventually someone brings him back to himself again, snore. Like unless that someone is Griffith i’m already bored by the idea bc we’ve seen it like 4 times already.
I could maybe see them parting ways temporarily for plot reasons, splitting up to accomplish different things, but I don’t think Farnese, Serpico, Casca, Schierke, Puck, or Isidro are going to be written out of the story anytime soon. I think they’re here til the end, or close to it.
I could easily see Magnifico, Roderick, the knight dude, and the mermaid dying or taking off though. They’ve all had way less development and time and energy spent on their narratives.
Though I also wouldn’t be surprised to be proven wrong, bc yk, anything
could happen when Casca gets her mind back and I’m prepared to be
surprised by whichever direction we end up going in.
lol the majority of fandom thinks he and femto are exactly the same, i’m pretty sure this corner of tumblr is in the minority.
and yes femto is obviously created from a part of griffith, I don’t think anyone thinks he’s a wholly new character created out of thin air, it’s just a question of where you draw the line. i differentiate between them because they have different personalities and different dominant drives and different motivations (like I don’t think Femto/NeoGriff is motivated by guilt anymore). griffith contained femto, just as guts contains the beast of darkness, but the rest of griffith is gone, or frozen now (give or take a few suggestive bthumpy hints that a part of him still remains buried in femto/neogriffith.)
Also I should let you know that I personally believe blaming the fetus was just NeoGriffith’s way of continuing to deny his actual feelings. I don’t think the fetus actually has much of anything to do with NeoGriffith’s current emotional state, and while I may be proven wrong, I would be very disappointed if I am. So we’re unlikely to agree on that point.
(here are two posts about the neogriffith fetus issue, if you’re interested in more of an explanation)
And I think NeoGriffith is going to keep being a genial, very likeable king tbh. He’ll keep expanding Falconia, welcoming all people to live as equals there, and the majority of Midland and wherever else he expands to are probably going to love him. Any political backlash would be pretty easily quelled – the nobles don’t really have a leg to stand on, they’re vastly outnumbered, and Griff has been declared a saint or w/e and is going to be crowned by the head of the holy see, plus he can’t be harmed by ordinary humans, so I don’t think there’s much they can do even if they resent him.
I’d like to see them sowing some seeds of emotional turmoil for NeoGriffith by reminding him of his life before the Eclipse, maybe moreso now that Rickert has kind of pointed some shit out to him that he couldn’t deny, but I can’t see them affecting the plot much at this point. I mean, maybe if Guts shows up and they help him, but that would be kind of weird lol, and I don’t really see that happening.
Yeah, I’d say whether Femto is a different person from Griffith comes down to semantics and what someone considers personhood, but to me undergoing a magical transformation that augments the “evil” in your heart (which, in Berserk, exists in the hearts of all people) and removes the “goodness” or w/e, as visually depicted by literally losing fragments of himself:
makes you different enough that I have no problem mentally separating human Griffith and Femto, and definitely don’t hate Griffith for Femto’s actions, same way I don’t hate Guts for trying to murder his friends when the armour takes over.
If you (general you) wanna hate Griffith for agreeing to sacrifice his friends, or challenging Guts when he left, or w/e, I’ll disagree but I think that’s fair game. But hating him for Femto’s actions after we’re taken step by step through his magical transformation into an entity made out of evil really doesn’t make sense to me.
Also, do you mean Griffith would’ve taken Guts back if he’d returned, say, a year after the duel, like in canon, but Griffith hadn’t gotten caught fucking Charlotte and therefore hadn’t spent that year in a dungeon?
I think Griffith probably would take him back, because he’s desperate and needy and irrational and in love, but I could see an argument where the duel is a big wake-up call to how emotionally compromised he is by his love for Guts, which could make him view Guts as a huge threat lol, and he might refuse to let him return to try to protect himself from his own destructive, dream-endangering feelings.
Though I think it’s also likely that Griffith isn’t that self aware even after the duel, and would still manage to deny his feelings. Like Guts would come back and Griffith would somehow logic himself into returning to their close relationship without admitting to himself that he just really needs Guts in his life. Like, “it’s not because I desperately want him back at my side, it’s because he knows I assassinated the queen and co and therefore I need him as my ally and not my enemy.” Or something along those lines. Though of course his feelings would be that much harder to deny now, and eventually something would have to give.
Or he could be aware of his feelings now, but too far gone to refuse Guts, a la “if I can’t have him, I don’t care!” Like, “ok Guts’ existence could clearly ruin me, but fuck it, he came back and I’ll be damned if I’m letting him leave me again ever.” Which would open its own associated emotional can of worms lol.
lol sorry I love thinking about Griffith’s stupid feelings and how he deals or doesn’t deal with them.
(And now I’m wondering what if Guts turned around and walked back two minutes after leaving Griffith in the snow. I feel like if that was the case Griffith would be incapable of anything but genuine emotional expression, either in the form of being overwhelmed with relief that Guts came back and immediately taking him back, or rage followed by a sobbing breakdown or smthn.
Honestly I would enjoy more political scheming, Griffith assassinating everyone was one of my favourite parts of the Golden Age. Though NeoGriffith is too invulnerable to make it fun for the same reasons now probably.
Can’t agree with you there, sorry. As far as I’m aware Guts doesn’t even know there’s a connection between the demon fetus and NeoGriffith, and he never really gave much of a fuck about the fetus anyway iirc beyond being like, personally disturbed by its existence.
And we get a lot of information about Guts’ motivation for pursuing Griffith and it’s all about rage and betrayal and longing and emotional repression (and I would argue guilt), nothing there about the fetus.
Casca, maybe, who knows. She had more of a connection to the thing. She might be motivated by it. It’s as good a prediction as any.
Plz feel free to explain more about how Griffith is like Lucifer and not Satan and how they’re different, because all my knowledge of Christianity tells me they’re the same dude, so I can’t really respond to that assertion.
He’s not currently doing any campaigning, he defeated Ganeshka pretty easily and now all his work seems to be taking in refugees, expanding Falconia, performing miracles so ppl can say goodbye to their loved ones, and having tea with the pope or w/e.
I do wonder about people who would resent Griffith for not being noble – they might provide some conflict, though I doubt there’s much they could actually do. And tbh I think Foss is actually a genuine believer now, personally, and probably a somewhat terrified one, but he’d also be an interesting thread to pick up again. I really want to see more from the perspectives of people who knew original Griffith.
I feel like for most of them this is actually kind of a natural progression – we saw people talking back in the Golden Age about how he was like a painting, how he was like a fairytale hero, we saw admiring peasants, etc. He won the war despite all odds so to have him reappear and save Midland from Ganeshka’s army fits everyone’s preconceptions of him. But there could still be some interesting stuff to be explored.
Tbh I’d love for Charlotte to gradually start to realize how non-genuine Griffith’s affections are (though I don’t think that’s changed between being human and being a god lol) or maybe sense a certain coldness or emptiness from him. I doubt it would happen soon though, and it might not happen at all – Charlotte didn’t exactly know him very well as a human, she idealized him herself quite a bit and NeoGriffith’s image of perfection probably fits her expectations.
Idk what I’d love to see is like, suggestive conversations and little reminders that NeoGriffith isn’t quite the same as Original Griffith, and that he’s very singular and therefore very alone. We got Rickert, now I want more. Like let’s see Owen asking after Guts the way he asked Guts about Griffith. Or let’s see what Griffith does in his spare time, or what the nobles say about him and the rumours that he was a traitor a few years ago. I like outsider perspectives a lot and I think there’s a lot of good potential there.
lol I actually theorize that he was a former Godhand, though without any real evidence other than the timeline we’re given. (I think he somehow made his reality warping sword by eating behelits lol.) My theory is that he was the last incarnated Godhand member pre-Griffith, since one supposedly incarnates once every thousand years and Gaiseric’s Falconia 1.0 empire was a thing 1000 years ago. Plus Guts comparing him to Griffith was a solid “hmmm” moment, and the fact that he’s also compared to Guts now (witch friend, possible revenge quest, armour) is more interesting to me if he was the world’s previous “Griffith.”
Never heard those speculations, why 200 years? And like Zodd how? Monstrous, or roaming battle fields, or bloodlusty, or what? Seems like an odd theory since Zodd is just an apostle and Griffith is a god. (Unless you mean become like Skull Knight, in which case I could get behind that theory.)
And I’m not gonna lie, I’m 100% a Griffith fan and I’ll absolutely argue that he wasn’t at all evil pre-rebirth into Femto. Like, the Godhand ultimately convinced him to make the sacrifice not through offers of power or rejuvenation but by guilt-tripping him about all the people who died for his dream. Human Griff ain’t evil, he’s just got stupid (tho imo v understandable) priorities.
After he became Femto, I’d say he’s like, literally evil, in that he’s literally described as being made up of the same evil/dark/negative aspects of humanity that the Idea of Evil is. And NeoGriffith is a mysterious wildcard as far as I can tell, I have no idea if he’s yet another aspect of humanity brought to the forefront, the way Griffith was all human and Femto was humanity’s darkness, or if he’s just Femto with a flesh suit on, or what, so I’m just waiting on more reveals before making up my mind on him.
But I don’t think he’s Satan, or an anti-christ. I think he’s a Christ figure in a world whose God is a manifestation of humanity’s dark side. Yk, if that’s a difference worth distinguishing lol.
I feel like I remember seeing confirmation that Miura was inspired by Hellraiser, tho it could’ve just been speculation I guess, but either way yeah big similarities there lol.
tbh I think we’re supposed to think the possibility exists for Guts to become an apostle, but not a Godhand, since a new member only joins up once every 200 something years. But I personally don’t think it’s going to happen.
But Femto/NeoGriff opposing the rest of the Godhand, now that’s something I think is a possibility. Void is sketchy as fuck, he seems to know more than the rest of the Godhand, and he’s got ultimate big bad written all over him. Plus Miura hinted that he’s going to be really relevant. Add in the fact that theoretically there must’ve been 5 other Godhand members 1000 years ago (since one of them can only incarnate every 1000 years, and this must’ve happened more than once to be a recognized cycle) so Godhands don’t last forever, and ngl I do wonder if there’s going to be a conflict between NeoGriff and the Godhand.
And that’s not a stupid question. Like, I don’t think Femto and NeoGriff are in conflict, but I absolutely wonder if NeoGriff has some inner conflict going on with his reawakened emotions, whatever they are. So if that’s the case I wouldn’t really describe that as NeoGriffith vs Femto so much as the last vestiges of human Griffith vs Femto/NeoGriff, but hey that’s just semantics, no one knows wtf is going on with NeoGriff internally or whether he’s distinct from Femto, etc. So I guess “maybe” is my actual answer to that, haha.
Thanks for the ask, idk there’s lots to think and wonder about. I can’t wait til Miura starts actually like, revealing stuff and getting the plot going again lol.
The way Miura wrote the story I’d say Guts is by far the stronger and more relatable character. Unfortunately Casca really gets the “the token chick” treatment where her whole story and all her issues and half her personality is about being a woman surrounded by men, and written by a dude, so yk, I don’t blame anyone for being unable to relate to her lol, and personal preference is whatever, so it’s not like you should have to like her just because you’re a girl.
And I definitely agree that Casca should develop on her own, away from Guts. The way she jumped straight from being overinvested in Griffith and his dream to being overinvested in Guts and his dream was pretty fucked up imo, and a sign that she needs to get independent.
But I’d have to disagree with you about their respective feelings, because while I think they both felt genuine affection for the other, neither of them felt genuine love, and I’d say even moreso than Casca did, Guts consistently prioritized/s Griffith over her.
cut for length
Rather than staying and supporting her he still wants to go out to become Griffith’s equal, and this is how he invites her along when Casca is outraged by his priorities:
which is pretty far from romantic or commital lol.
While Casca is jealous of Charlotte during the rescue, Guts’ reaction is basically, well that kinda sucks but lbr I got it even worse than she does so it’s not like I can blame her:
When they find Griffith this is the next thing he says to Casca:
During the Eclipse this is what Guts does when he sees the Band, including Casca, about to be eaten by monsters:
And of course after the Eclipse he dumps her in a cave for two years to pursue Griffith/continue pursuing his dream of fighting stronger and stronger opponents and therefore being Griffith’s friend/equal, once again prioritizing Griffith:
When he finally does end up sticking with her to take her to Elfhelm, this is how he makes that decision:
This is what he’s thinking about when he starts off on his journey:
and of course i’d be remiss if i didn’t mention how Griffith grabbing Guts’ attention away from rescuing Casca is framed:
AND then there’s the whole Beast of Darkness fiasco.
And even when they’re on the boat, he’s still planning to run back to Griffith once his sidequest with Casca is over:
Idk basically I would argue that Guts is by far shittier to Casca than Casca is to Guts, and neither are genuinely all that invested in their potential relationship. It’s a rebound for both, an attempt to get over Griffith that doesn’t work for either, but in fairness to Casca she tried, and even when she decided to stay with Griffith she told Guts to leave because she was prioritizing his stupid dream lol, while Guts’ investment in becoming worthy of being Griffith’s friend had him refusing to stay and suggesting Casca come with him only insofar as she doesn’t fuck up his dream from the very start.
2/2 So I’m a bit puzzled and I am wondering about your
interpretation, if you’ve already written a meta about that scene. What I
think is that Guts definitely sees Griffith romantically so he was
doubly heartbroken after hearing that he doesn’t see him as a friend or
equal, so he wanted to leave in order to make him care about him
seriously. But Griffith already loves Guts and respects him, so his
speech is a bit contradictory. Sorry for the long ask btw I love your
blog 🙂
Hi there 🙂 Yk, I don’t think I actually have really talked about this scene in much depth.
My general default reading of Guts and Griffith’s relationship is that they are both romantically in love with each other but neither of them actually realize that they are. (Well, I don’t think Guts has ever quite realized it, at least not consciously, but I do think that Griffith figured it out during his year of torture.)
So in my opinion, Griffith meant his friendship speech.
I also don’t think it’s a coincidence that the conversation that comes right before the assassination attempt and then Griffith’s speech in the narrative included this exchange:
Griffith asking Guts to assassinate Julius was, in a way, a gesture of friendship. It was a request for Guts to do this for him, as a favour for a friend rather than an order from a superior, and Guts picked up on Griffith’s careful phrasing and accidentally rebuffed him. I think Guts meant this as a lighthearted joke, but while we don’t get to see Griffith’s reaction to it, I’m willing to bet he took it as a rejection.
Maybe not even a purposeful rejection – but certainly a sign that Guts doesn’t see him as a friend, but sees him as a superior first. I think this leads directly to Griffith’s speech to Charlotte where he proclaims that he has no equals. Like, it’s completely accurate, whether or not it’s arrogant as well – people either look up at him as a saviour or symbol of their ability to rise in the world, or look down on him as a symbol of corruption in the system.
I also think there’s another important aspect to his speech.
What he describes to Charlotte as a friend is someone who has his own dream, separate from Griffith’s, and would pursue it even if it meant clashing with him.
To Griffith, whose life revolves around his dream and who frames things like that because it’s how he sees the world, what this translates to is that a friend is someone who won’t die in service to his dream.
I think he tries to keep an emotional distance between himself and his Hawks because, frankly, they tend to die in battle, and it fucks him up (as we see in Casca’s flashback to the dead kid and the morning after Gennon.)
So he says the Hawks aren’t his friends because he can’t think of them that way. They see him as a perfect leader, he sees them as people who he will one day send to their deaths, simply by ordering them into whichever battle eventually kills them.
So when Guts re-establishes that he sees Griffith as a leader and tells him to order him to do things instead of requesting favours, it’s a reminder to Griffith to distance himself.
Of course, it doesn’t actually work. He can’t turn off his feelings for Guts even if he tries to ignore and downplay them (also see: I had no reason at all for risking my life for you. He can acknowledge that yeah, he did do that, but he can’t acknowledge why – because he loves him – not even to himself.) Guts is still the only person who Griffith allows to see and participate in the shady shit he does to rise to the top, the stuff that makes him feel dirty. He still risks his life for Guts. He still sends a search party after Guts and Casca despite going against the wishes of the nobles he’s supposed to be sucking up to, and then ditches an important meeting to see them in person. He still expresses concern for Guts’ safety before the Battle of Doldrey. And he crashes and burns harder than anyone has ever crashed and burned after Guts leaves lol.
(Now there is an obvious contradiction in that Griffith wants to be Guts friend and equal rather than the superior who will send him to his death eventually, but also won’t let him leave the Hawks, but that’s plain old fear of rejection imo, and not understanding Guts’ reasons for leaving, and an irrational emotional implosion lol.)
AND I think there’s a third aspect that ought to be explored: Griffith can only call an equal who would fight for his own dream a friend because this definition allows him to continue prioritizing his dream. To save Guts’ life at the risk to his own, rather than let Guts be killed for his dream, is, at its core, a betrayal of his dream, and the thousands of people who’ve died for it. But if his “friend” was an “equal” with his own obsessive dream, then in theory he’d never have to choose between his friend and his dream – it would be understood that their respective dreams would be prioritized. Another reason for the “and should anyone trample that dream he would oppose him body and soul… even if that threat were me myself” clause.
At the end of the day Griffith already loves and respects Guts, of course – he has from day one – but he can’t admit that yet, not even to himself, imo, because it’s a serious, serious threat to everything he’s built his life around.
Tbh I feel like there’s a lot more to say on this topic, especially how and why Griffith represses and denies his feelings for Guts, and what his dream means to him, etc, but I think I’m definitely going to end up writing a long ass analytical post about him soon because I’m really feeling all this nitty gritty Griffith stuff at the moment lol. But yeah when it comes to Promrose Hall I think this is pretty much my thoughts on what Griffith’s speech is about.
Anyway, thanks for the message, I love talking about this kinda stuff 🙂 And ty I’m glad you enjoy my blog.
I think you’ve got it backwards – Eggman with the brand on his tongue swallowed the fetus which became Griffith’s new corporeal body.
Since Eggman sacrificed the world to become an apostle, I think the brand appears on him because he’s the vehicle that creates the new world (Griffith), and he’s destroyed in the process – in a way he sacrificed himself.
But the brand isn’t on Griffith, I don’t think, unless Eggman also became a part of him. But I think he’s just the egg that hatched him, lol. Idk it’s weird so this is just my educated guess, I don’t really get what even happened haha.
Really? Like, I feel like that’s inarguably canon.
It’s directly and unambiguously what causes him to break from reality and hallucinate the whole dream chasing thing, then try to kill himself when he imagines a future with neither dream, nor Guts.
(Also like, how much do I love and want to cry about the way that brief vision of a future with Casca revolves around Guts’ absence? “I wonder if he’s still swinging his sword around somewhere.” Naming her kid Guts. “WIth you and the boy… Just the three of us,” as she seemingly leans in to kiss him. It’s heartbreaking tbh.)
Anyway ty, I’m all about loving Griffith on this blog lol, he’s one of my favourite characters in general so no judgement here 🙂
lol yeah this is exactly how I feel. like idk we’re so shut out of his head after that one “oh no I’m feeling things” moment that he’s totally mysterious so I can’t really feel anything about him, because I don’t know anything about him.
I’m sure there’s something going on in his head, since the last thing we saw was his heart bthumping, but until we know more he’s pretty boring.
and his constant serenity and the way he’s so flawless is kind of annoying lol.
Well we don’t know how much of his life and general existence utilizes fate/magic/whatever so that’s fair.
Also I may not have phrased my response very well, because I def don’t think he’s acting just like an unchanged Griffith. And I totally agree that NeoGriff is super boring in comparison to Griffith in a way, because everything is easy to him.
But idk I think that NeoGriff is charismatic – like eg saying “i must ask, once again, your pardon, princess charlotte” when he rescues her is a ridiculously good line. His response to her army camp baking is exactly what she would’ve wanted to hear, he’s super pleasant and likeable, and we see the ways he makes himself that way with what he says and how he acts.
I guess the real question is whether he magically knows exactly what to say or do to get the response he wants, or whether it’s a mix of that and actual social skill, or whether it’s just skill but now that he’s an inhuman god who can’t be harmed he’s able to make full use of it without human weaknesses holding him back.
And it could be any of those options, so I don’t think you’re wrong, it definitely could be that he’s using god magic to do everything perfectly. I just prefer to think it’s 2 or 3 because it’s more interesting to me. If everything NeoGriff does is just going with the flow of fate and being able to see the future or whatever then I’d be disappointed because that’s super boring. But we know that he needs the help of his psychic to see the flow of battle, so he can’t be completely all-knowing, right?
I don’t think he can transform into Femto, but I think Ganeshka saw him as Femto because he’d ascended into a higher plane of existence, in which he could see NeoGriffith for what he truly was.
So when we saw him as Femto during the scene where he killed Ganeshka and broke the world, it was because that’s what Ganeshka (and probs Skull Knight) saw. Like his true spiritual form, kinda thing.
Femto is a dick, yes, but tbf NeoGriffith has a ton of charisma. The way I see it, Femto didn’t need to be charismatic because he was a god on another playing field whose only peers were other completely dickish and shitty gods lol, like, when you only have Slan, Conrad, Ubik, and Void to hang out with, there’s no point in being charismatic. But as NeoGriffith he has a reason to be charming. I’m sure magic/fate/whatever also plays a part, but I also think part of it is just his natural Griffith-ness coming back to the fore. NeoGriffith is like what Griffith wished he was – perfectly charismatic, the absolute perfect image of a perfect king. Human Griffith did pretty well in that arena, so it stands to reason that NeoGriffith retained that charisma, and is making use of it again, with the added perfection that comes from being a god incarnate.
I never really thought about Femto being modeled after Guts. In the Black Swordsman arc he’s swole as fuck lol but I think that’s just the art before Miura really figured out the vibe he wanted. Everyone was huge in the Black Swordsman arc lol. During the Eclipse he’s slimmed down a bit, and then moreso in our glimpse of him with Ganeshka. I think it’s an interesting explanation though, and I dig it as a headcanon.
And as a contrast to his fragile helpless human body when he made the sacrifice it def makes sense for him to be reborn as a much more powerful, physically intimidating figure.
Someone with the brand of sacrifice can’t be sacrificed again, but there’s nothing saying they can’t use a behelit. And since the implication is that Guts might use the behelit at some point – Flora says it could be his – it follows that Casca could also potentially use it.
She wouldn’t be able to sacrifice Guts, because in the Black Swordsman Arc the Godhand said that you can’t sacrifice someone who’s already been sacrificed, but she could sacrifice Farnese (which would suck) or I’ve suggested maybe the Moonlight Boy (which imo would be awesome but I never rly liked that kid lol).
And yeah I totally agree that Casca telling Guts to leave totally fucked Griffith up and was like, the last straw that lead to his break from reality and then suicide attempt.
I mean come on, right? Guts leaving lead directly to Griffith essentially burning down his life by sleeping with Charlotte (whether that was intentional and conscious or whether it was subconscious is up to interpretation, but either way it wasn’t an accident), then he hung onto his sanity by a thread through a year of torture solely by thinking about Guts and his feelings for him, then he was rescued by Guts who cut a bloody swathe through Midland to avenge him and killed a literal monster to defend him, and finally he was lead to believe that Guts was about to leave him again, while he was totally helpless and had absolutely nothing else in his life.
And then finally Guts’ touch caused him to feel the kind of despair that makes you to want to destroy the person causing it and become a monster just so you won’t feel it again.
Like, that’s a hell of an emotional roller coaster revolving around one person.
Goddamn don’t you just love this fucking story? God.
Idk if this is a prediction or wishful thinking lol, but if I had to lay down a bet I think she’s going to wake up, have all the Eclipse related betrayal and despair and trauma hit her, and use the behelit, then go for revenge herself. I’ve been theorizing this for a while and tbh I haven’t come up with anything better yet so I’m still going with it.
My hopes for her getting a happy ending away from Guts are essentially zero, especially since reading in an interview that Miura only had her survive the Eclipse so Guts wouldn’t be able to fully move on.
And I’m assuming that Skull Knight’s warnings are going to come to something other than Casca being prickly for a while before hooking back up with Guts or w/e, then getting killed to make him want revenge again. Dramatic shudder.
So what I really want is for her to finally, finally react to what happened to her, and for that reaction to be epic as fuck.
I also think it’s plausible because:
there’ve been a lot of ominous shots of the behelit recently
flora specifically suggested guts might be carrying it for someone else
guts revenge quest was bad for him partially because it wasn’t his right to avenge the hawks after abandoning them, but if anyone earned some vengeance it’s casca
griffith instinctively acted to save casca once, giving him a huge weakness against her
“What will she do if she does get her sanity back?” Just sounds so delightfully ominous and suggests Casca actively doing something Guts wouldn’t like.
guts’ revenge quest is played out imo, time for something new. also seeing casca decide to go full monster in her rage would probably fuck him up and wake up the beast of darkness, so it would still motivate him to do something
honestly there’s some great stuff with morality and apostles just waiting to be explored and seeing a beloved character turn into one would be really interesting
Casca’s strong, badass, and her anger manifests in violent lashing out making her a perfect candidate to take over the revenge stuff.
I think Guts hasn’t really given up on the idea of revenge yet – he was still fantasizing about going back after Griffith while on the boat – but it would be pretty anticlimatic if Casca just stuck around in Elfhelm to recover while Guts went “ok side quest over, back to the main quest now,” so I’m sure there’s going to be something more to it.
And I like the idea of Casca taking over the revenge quest and Guts maybe re-evaluating himself, his motives, etc, while fucked up once again because things went south and he did something with mostly good intentions and everything got all fucked up anyway.
Like tbh I think that the conflict as it’s set up now, ie revenge = bad, helping Casca = good, is much, much too simplistic for a story like Berserk. It’s boring lol, whether it ends up tragic and Guts backslides back into revenge, whether he continues doing the “right” thing and chooses Casca over it, it’s still black and white. In the Golden Age there were no easy right or wrong options – eg Guts thought he was doing the right thing by leaving, turned out to be a huge mistake that fucked everything up, and I really liked that. I think the current arc has the potential to be similar which would be great imo.
Guts isn’t helping Casca solely out of the goodness of his heart, he’s doing it because he wants the old Casca back despite misgivings and warnings that he might be going about it the wrong way – and he’s doing it to distract himself from revenge, and also from the fact that he’s not so gung-ho about revenge now that Griffith looks human again. Imo. It doesn’t have to be as simple as revenge = bad, magical therapy = good, and looking closely at Guts’ motivations makes me wonder and hope that, like the Golden Age, a seemingly positive choice could have negative consequences, and the secret actual right choice is dealing with your many issues, Guts, instead of running off for a dream, or revenge, or to “force” someone’s sanity back.
Pardon my bad writing English isn’t my language I’m not fluent, cheers from Ukraine.
Yes! At least that’s absolutely how I understand his character, and it’s like my favourite thing about him.
I get what you mean about Griffith being suprising, like if you assume something about him a later action will contradict it. I feel like to me he makes perfect sense, but only after reading the manga twice in a row and spending way too much time thinking about his narrative lol.
At face value he seems very contradictory because he tends to lie to himself, and the way he gets more complicated as the story goes on also tends to throw people off. Yk like we start out with this impression of him as a powerful charismatic leader driven towards a goal and willing to kill to get there, distant and above everyone else, but the more we learn about him – about his past and his insecurities and guilt and self loathing and feelings for Guts etc etc – the more layers we uncover, and the more we see that first impression is… not wrong exactly, but there’s a LOT more going on beneath the surface, and most of it is pretty depressing.
And like, he’s an unreliable narrator about himself, which can also make him hard to figure out. Imo Miura did a great job writing a character who doesn’t even understand his own motivations and emotions and making him understandable to the audience, but it’s still really easy to miss a lot of the complexities.
Also same! I really feel like we’re heading towards a big emotional reveal for NeoGriffith and I can’t wait.
tbh I’m thinking I might write a much more thorough meta post about his narrative/character soon. I want to talk about this more lol it’s like my favourite Berserk related topic. And it’s been a while since I got in-depth about something here, so keep an eye open if you’re interested!
I haven’t heard of him, but I’ll check him out when I get a chance, thanks for the rec. I’m about to head off to work but maybe when I get home I’ll watch smthn of his.
I don’t really have much to say about Charlotte tbh, nothing about her character really grabs me, but if anything comes to mind or she gets more meaty content in the story eventually, I’ll def write something. Though I don’t really think Casca’s reaction to trauma should be used as a benchmark for how strong anyone else is lol, because her reaction was v unrealistic and pretty much just Miura’s convenient way of getting her out of the way and explaining why she wasn’t around during the Black Swordsman arc despite being alive. I don’t think it means she’s suffered more than anyone else (she may have, but it’s not relevant), or that she’s emotionally or mentally weaker than anyone else.
Charlotte is pretty resilient though, totally agree.
Yeah I’m assuming we’re not far from seeing some revealing emotional NeoGriffith moments, after his interaction with Rickert, but we’ll see I guess. I have my doubts that it has anything to do with the magic baby, but again, we’ll see.
Though speaking of, one thing I can say is that I don’t think it will be a tantrum because things aren’t going his way. We’ve never seen that from human Griffith – when things get bad for him, he’s serene about it. He deals with people plotting against him easily, he uses something that could be very distressing (facing Gennon at the most important battle of the war) and turns it to his advantage, he faces Zodd with calm battle tactics and determination even when the odds of him succeeding are nil, when he’s captured after fucking Charlotte he reaches for his sword and then peacefully gives up when he remembers he’s unarmed, he smugly taunts the king after losing everything and being whipped, and the torturer even comments on how quiet and non-responsive he is during torture, at least during the first day or two.
The only circumstances we saw that made him lose control emotionally were sex with Gennon/guilt + self-loathing, and Guts-related stuff (including Femto failing to kill him and NeoGriffith’s heart going off).
So when NeoGriff does eventually show some emotion, my bets are on it being because of Guts.
you're the only one 