Tag: other ppl’s meta

okay heres another sorta creative ish question because you have good ideas and thoughts and must realize this. i was crying abt how much guts love griffiths broad shoulders and slim hips —-> contemplating guts being closeted gay and the physical attraction he experiences like do you pick up what im putting down bc im interested in your thoughts and opinions on it. its like i want to write but i need to bounce it ofd people first. anyway.

griffithsgaymom:

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ty i appreciate the encouragement ❤

like guts particularly loving griffith’s more masculine features and maybe angsting about it? bc yeah that sounds like, good and interesting and well-rounded, as opposed to shit like “it’s ok for him to be attracted to griffith because he looks like a girl/griffith as the one exception to guts’ heterosexuality.” Which is not to say that wouldn’t also be interesting, but yk, as an examined part of Guts’ internalized homophobia, not played straight like a lot of ppl tend to do (not so much in griffguts fandom that I’ve seen, I just mean as a gay fic trope in general).

actually the whole general idea of exploring griffith’s androgyny and how guts relates to that wrt internalized homophobia sounds rly potentially interesting. Dealing with recognizing that he’s not just attracted to his long curly hair and full lips, but also his masculinity, and what that means to Guts as a closeted dude who may be still in denial over his sexuality.

(which is not to say that a dude being attracted to a dude’s feminine features isn’t still gay attraction, but i mean from guts’ un-nuanced pov ofc)

I hope this is what you meant lol.

YEA VERY GOOD i was just sort of batting around thinking about how actual gay guts attraction would pan out lol

and like this is great guts has always aknowledged that griffith is beautiful etc and its like to contextualize that beyond placing him on a pedestal is difficult bc it comes wth the realization that guts is attracted to griffith not obly because of what he is conceptually but also bc he is a man. and he is attracted to his masculine features and how his feminine features look on him. this doesnt make sense because im sttuggling organizing my thoughts today but this is all good and griffiths adrogyny is imho like a physical mode of him “rationalizing” that attraction, like griffith being so cool and shining and awsome is a la romantic mode or whatever.

tbh yeah like that works rly well with how guts refers to him as “beautiful” and “pretty” in canon too imo. when he refers to his appearance or fixates on it it’s that, and it’s his long hair

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but like how he admires him – for having a dream, honing himself to the limit, no room beside him for the weak, blah blah blah, all that bullshit – it’s kind of based on masculine traits (not rly physical but ykwim and I think in like fic you could extrapolate guts tricking himself into thinking his sexy masculine qualities, like his shoulders or toned arms etc, are just admiration of like, how Griffith is also physically ~ideal~ or w/e lol)

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and then he calls him dazzling because of this.

it’s like, it’s all attraction, my dude. he’s “beautiful, noble, and larger than life” and you’re into all of it.

chaoticgaygriffith:

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chaoticgaygriffith:

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1. This is another one of my favourite expresions in Berserk tbh

2. I’m not saying this is deliberate, I’m not sure it would even be in character, but I can’t help but imagine this as Guts taunting Femto/Griffith about the fact that he was in love with him, his life was destroyed because of him, Guts drove him to make the sacrifice by leaving him, and Guts knows it.

Like yeah logically it’s just Guts being pissed off over the fact that Griffith sacrificed him to become a demon, especially with the follow up “thanks to me who’s fighting an army of the dead because of you,” but man, I’m js that knowing how the Golden Age goes gives this line potential Layers. You’re where you are now because this petty existence had all that power over you.

On the other hand this whole scene exists to set up Griffith making the sacrifice to bury his fragile heart bc of whatever went down w/ Guts, so like, it could be that deep?

Plus Femto’s response:

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Just gonna reiterate that you mean absolutely nothing to me.

Whether that’s what Guts meant to say or not, I’m pretty sure he’s well aware of the irony of Femto emphasising his insignificance now, considering everything that went down between them. He might even stubbornly refuse to go back to post-Speech-to-Charlotte Guts, clinging to the fact that, no, I meant something to you and you meant something to me, and we both know that.

But then he would also have to know that it’s his fault that Griffith went this far. Which we know that he does, but idk, whenever I re-read the manga I feel like we should get to see more guilt from him.

Anyway, I don’t think Miura was fully taking all this into consideration while writing these first few chapters, but in retrospect you have to think about all the layers of meaning behind nearly every word Femto & Guts exchange. Like, this is off topic, but it’s in these chapters that Guts first finds out what sacrificing someone really means, and he doesn’t really react in any significant way, when realistically he should.

To be fair he’s unconscious when the Godhand actually explain the sacrifice and tell the Count that a sacrifice has to be someone you love so much it’s like they’re part of you. Which imo is kind of a hmmmm in and of itself, like there’s no reason Guts had to be unconscious at any point at all since he could barely move anyway, except to miss the explanation of who can be sacrificed. When he does wake up he just lies there and listens to the Count’s backstory before finally telling Puck to heal him. So I feel like it kind of suggests that Guts knowing that info might affect some things.

But otherwise yeah ia. I’m actually kind of rly into the idea of Guts stubbornly clinging to the knowledge that he was important to Griffith, hard earned as it was, now that you mention that. At least between the Eclipse and Griffith’s rebirth.

It’s like… idk I think there’s an argument that he left the Hawks because he knew he did mean something to Griffith, and that gave him the confidence to believe he could truly become his bff4ever if he changed his whole life lol. Whereas if he thought Griffith genuinely couldn’t give a shit about him he wouldn’t even try.

And then I think a similar way of thinking could be informing his behaviour during the Black Swordsman stuff. Like, I know I meant something to you, deny it all you want, I’m going to find you and force you to acknowledge me.

But after NGriff ditches him I think he kind of gives that up? Which is why he’s able to put his revenge thing on hold – it starts to feel futile when he genuinely believes NGriff feels nothing at all towards him. (Which is why that beating heart is a game changer in waiting js.)

idk lol I’m just thinking outloud.

And yeah like, it’s textual that he feels guilty for Griffith’s breakdown, from letting Casca stab him to:

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But I do wish we saw more of that post-Eclipse other than the recurring moments when he thinks about Griffith kneeling in the snow and mopes lol. It kind of makes sense to me that we don’t see Guts feeling guilty after the Eclipse because I feel like the point of the Eclipse rape was to piss Guts off enough that he’d basically channel his guilt into rage, but I feel like we should still see more inner conflict. Not that we don’t see any, but yk, I always want more.

Ohhh, man, I remembered he got knocked out but I thought we didn’t get to see the exact moment when he came to … so I thought, you know, we don’t know exactly how much he’s heard?

But I went to check and this is him twitching awake after all the juicy details have been laid out:

Which is honestly even better than him hearing all that and not reacting.

He does get to hear these parts though:

I honestly like to interpret his expression here as loathing directed specifically @ the God Hand sans Griffith/Femto, for waltzing in and ruining everything lol.

And I agree with everything else you brought up! Like, Guts can actually be pretty confident and even cocky, so it’s not like he’s constantly putting himself down. He’s just a little naive, bless his heart.

I can’t WAIT for Neo-Griff to finally snap lol

It’s gotta happen. Even if Guts’ storyline is wall-to-wall disappointment I know in my soul NGriff’s is going somewhere good.

And yeah I’m sure the parallels aren’t lost on Guts lol, but i guess it’s not quite as direct as essentially saying ‘being able to sacrifice someone is proof that you love them.’ Also yeah I’m into that interpretation of his anger there, like imo he hates Femto on a personal level for being an evil version of the dude he loves, but he def hates the rest of the Godhand for facilitating it. His reaction when seeing Slan in the troll cave was even more overwhelmingly rage-y than when he saw NGriff on the Hill of Swords, eg.

chaoticgaygriffith:

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1. This is another one of my favourite expresions in Berserk tbh

2. I’m not saying this is deliberate, I’m not sure it would even be in character, but I can’t help but imagine this as Guts taunting Femto/Griffith about the fact that he was in love with him, his life was destroyed because of him, Guts drove him to make the sacrifice by leaving him, and Guts knows it.

Like yeah logically it’s just Guts being pissed off over the fact that Griffith sacrificed him to become a demon, especially with the follow up “thanks to me who’s fighting an army of the dead because of you,” but man, I’m js that knowing how the Golden Age goes gives this line potential Layers. You’re where you are now because this petty existence had all that power over you.

On the other hand this whole scene exists to set up Griffith making the sacrifice to bury his fragile heart bc of whatever went down w/ Guts, so like, it could be that deep?

Plus Femto’s response:

image

Just gonna reiterate that you mean absolutely nothing to me.

Whether that’s what Guts meant to say or not, I’m pretty sure he’s well aware of the irony of Femto emphasising his insignificance now, considering everything that went down between them. He might even stubbornly refuse to go back to post-Speech-to-Charlotte Guts, clinging to the fact that, no, I meant something to you and you meant something to me, and we both know that.

But then he would also have to know that it’s his fault that Griffith went this far. Which we know that he does, but idk, whenever I re-read the manga I feel like we should get to see more guilt from him.

Anyway, I don’t think Miura was fully taking all this into consideration while writing these first few chapters, but in retrospect you have to think about all the layers of meaning behind nearly every word Femto & Guts exchange. Like, this is off topic, but it’s in these chapters that Guts first finds out what sacrificing someone really means, and he doesn’t really react in any significant way, when realistically he should.

To be fair he’s unconscious when the Godhand actually explain the sacrifice and tell the Count that a sacrifice has to be someone you love so much it’s like they’re part of you. Which imo is kind of a hmmmm in and of itself, like there’s no reason Guts had to be unconscious at any point at all since he could barely move anyway, except to miss the explanation of who can be sacrificed. When he does wake up he just lies there and listens to the Count’s backstory before finally telling Puck to heal him. So I feel like it kind of suggests that Guts knowing that info might affect some things.

But otherwise yeah ia. I’m actually kind of rly into the idea of Guts stubbornly clinging to the knowledge that he was important to Griffith, hard earned as it was, now that you mention that. At least between the Eclipse and Griffith’s rebirth.

It’s like… idk I think there’s an argument that he left the Hawks because he knew he did mean something to Griffith, and that gave him the confidence to believe he could truly become his bff4ever if he changed his whole life lol. Whereas if he thought Griffith genuinely couldn’t give a shit about him he wouldn’t even try.

And then I think a similar way of thinking could be informing his behaviour during the Black Swordsman stuff. Like, I know I meant something to you, deny it all you want, I’m going to find you and force you to acknowledge me.

But after NGriff ditches him I think he kind of gives that up? Which is why he’s able to put his revenge thing on hold – it starts to feel futile when he genuinely believes NGriff feels nothing at all towards him. (Which is why that beating heart is a game changer in waiting js.)

idk lol I’m just thinking outloud.

And yeah like, it’s textual that he feels guilty for Griffith’s breakdown, from letting Casca stab him to:

image

But I do wish we saw more of that post-Eclipse other than the recurring moments when he thinks about Griffith kneeling in the snow and mopes lol. It kind of makes sense to me that we don’t see Guts feeling guilty after the Eclipse because I feel like the point of the Eclipse rape was to piss Guts off enough that he’d basically channel his guilt into rage, but I feel like we should still see more inner conflict. Not that we don’t see any, but yk, I always want more.

a-girl-named-chester:

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a-girl-named-chester:

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idk tho in say an au where like, guts never overheard the promrose hall speech and they made it to tombstone of flame i could see griffith reaching a point where he’d be able to accept his own feelings

“do you think that i’m cruel” is just so like, emotionally vulnerable. he was totally getting there, to like, yk, being more honest w/ himself

and then you have him crying after charlotte which is also an emotional admittance

so it’s not like i exaggerate his ability to deny shit to himself (well maybe i do but i love that so fuck it) but i may not give him enough credit for occasional moments of honestly

then again that’s short term. it’s one thing to say griffith could throw care to the wind in the heat of the moment and have emotionally intense sex, it’s another thing to think he could live with himself knowing he’d rather have guts + love than charlotte + dream

on the other hand there’s no reason he has to think of it that way since there’s no reason he can’t have both. like… in theory there’s a perfectly legit berserk au where griffith and guts hooked up and griffith still became king, successfully having his cake and eating it too

so idk maybe if he got with guts it wouldn’t be so much denying that he values guts more than his dream as just dismissing that as irrelevant bc he’ll just get both

So much good fic has tones of both. Analyzers have some of the best fic ideas, and good fic is based on examining the source. Idk man ydy bc whatever it is it’s hella good shit.

But like Guts gets such puppy eyes sometimes when he’s sad, like after the Primrose Hall speech. Imagine Griffith withdrawing emotionally (and physically) after sex and Guts just not being able to contain his sad confused expressions?? (Let’s be real he was basically just a rlly sad puppy throughout the entire Golden Age.)

Idk man let’s be real would Griffith be able to shut out those unintentionally honest and sad puppy eyes?

Yeah v true, a lot of my favourite fics are rly analytical lol. and ty!

omggg I can just see it. I think that would actually be more devastating than the promrose hall speech for Guts. Like Griffith’s speech was impersonal, Guts felt inadequate but decided he could change to fit Griffith’s definition of a friend and then everything would be fine. But a much more personal rejection after the most intimate he’s ever been with anyone would really fuck him up.

Though I guess it would depend on how obvious Griffith was about withdrawing. Like if it was a full on rejection as he tries to re-orient himself back around his dream I could see Guts basically cutting and running in a fit of self loathing (or self destructing a la Griffith but in some other more Guts-y way); if it was just becoming more distant that would also fuck Guts up but like, more slowly over time rather than immediately. Maybe the 2nd one is better bc there’s more room for puppy dog eyes that way lol.

I pray there be happy worlds where Griffith had a moment of self awareness and realized he was about to seriously hurt Guts. Imo he doesn’t have the courage to admit he loves Guts, but he’s even less capable of letting something hurt Guts.

like they wouldn’t work everything out in a single heartfelt night, but before things went to hell Griffith was showing some real emotional openness.

Oh yeah I don’t think like, it’s inevitable that a sexual encounter between them is going to end in tears. I think this is just one plausible possibility. Bc yeah especially w/ Tombstone of Flame, Griffith was getting a lot more open. And def, I could totally see Griffith immediately regretting a negative reaction when he sees how hurt Guts is.

Like my Official Statement™ on griffguts as a potential couple 
(yk like basically what I think Berserk genuinely suggests, at least according to my interpretation lol)

is that they would’ve worked, and without Promrose Hall the trajectory of their relationship was headed straight for both finding exactly what they each want and need most in the other. I actually totally think that if he had to, Griffith would choose Guts over the dream and would eventually be able to live with that.

But there’s also so much gr8 potential for drama lol, it’s hard to resist.

Honestly Griffith deep down feels like he can’t relate to anyone, of course Guts was an exception, but he didn’t outright said it. Griffith is an ENTJ? He’s introverted and social, and people love his charisma, but don’t see him and maybe that bothers him he has to meet their expectations which is depressing tbh. I feel bad for Griffith, he’s a beautiful tragedy a bouquet of roses so beautiful but go down it’s rotten and sharp thorns. I feel for him, unpopular op tbh, I love him lol.

wingsfreedom:

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lol well if you love Griffith and sympathize with him you came to the right place. tbh i’ve never been into the whole personality type thing so all I can do is nod along with your assessment lol, but yeah I definitely think Griffith feels removed from everyone except Guts.

I remember @mastermistressofdesire wrote something about this here. It’s an interesting analysis in case you haven’t seen it 🙂

A boy who wanted to be a soldier had a toy knight with him reminds me of Princess Charlotte giving Griffith a pendant that looked like a knight. When the boy died, Griffith was talking about the death of his dream. After Griffith made love to Charlotte, she saw the pendant in her bed. Soon after we see Griffith captured and his own dream is soon destroyed.

Hmm, like if the toy soldier was a symbol of the boy’s dream, the magnetic knight that goes with the female figure is a symbol of Griffith’s, and leaving it with Charlotte is symbolic of the immediate loss of his dream?

Bc I could definitely see it. I actually rly like the idea of that pendant being a symbol of Griffith’s dream bc it’s another way it’s intrinsically tied to heterosexuality in opposition to his feelings for Guts, a theme I both enjoy and am depressed by.

Plus it’s fitting since after he leaves the pendant with Charlotte and gets caught he’s able to acknowledge his feelings for Guts.

ty for sharing this 🙂

inablackmirror:

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inablackmirror:

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madchen
replied to your post

“i miss when griffith had sharp features and looked more masculine now…”

i think hes meant to look more feminine/pretty/awe inspiring now but you can just say miura exaggerates these features a lot now. like look at casca?

yeah it’s def true that everyone looks like… softer in a way i really dislike. a bunch of people have been pointing it out and it’s super true. tho tbf i think griffith has actually suffered from this the least, he looks the same amount of feminine to me lol. tbh my personal biggest problem with the fantasia art wrt griffith is that he looks half assed and generic now, like a collection of his “pretty” features thown together rather than yk, an interesting drawing of a person

but this is true of everyone, it’s like the backgrounds keep getting more and more detailed while the faces/expressions get more generic. or like… the features are detailed, like look at how he draws eyes in closeups, they just don’t come together in an interesting way anymore

tbh I’ve noticed this in most manga…

In Rurouni Kenshin, the art was theoretically less “good” at first as far as proportions and realism, however, there was a lot more detail, and the style was a lot more lively. By the like idk… second story arc after Shishio was defeated, things get a lot more consistent but also a lot more boring and simplified looking.

I feel it’s the same in Naruto and to some degree in One Piece after the time skips.

I think maybe mangaka start out kind of outdoing themselves trying to make their art the best because they want to make an impression and also are still trying to feel out their style and how to make art look good, then once they get stability, over time they figure out shortcuts and tricks to make the art just look good enough.

I think it also changed a lot I think around elfheim? because I noticed it looks like he switched from using traditional media to digital media, and honestly, if you started out as a traditional artist imo it’s really really really difficult to breathe the same level of life and passion into digital art. For me, at least, it’s like there’s always this extra layer between my brain and the computer that doesn’t exist when I’m using paper. Just my personal theory.

I know next to nothing about art but this all makes sense. I’ve heard some speculation that switching to digital may be hindering him and taking a while to adjust to, and what you said about finding it way more difficult to make digital art feel lively and passionate does rly fit.

ty this is informative tbh

:O I’m glad you liked my thoughts.

To comment also on everyone looking more feminine thing… I think in large part that has to do with the overall trend in anime/manga art  or even in fashion.

In the 80s and early 90s buff people were really in, and over time it’s become less and less so. If you look even at what was considered “moe” back in the 90s vs what is “moe” now you can see a pretty vast difference between how feminine or child-like the characters look. 

I’d cite Jojo’s Bizarre Adventure for example at how massively almost comically buff and chiselled his characters looked in the first story arc, but by the sixth or seventh, the men and women became almost indistinguishable. (this is kind of an extreme example, but Araki-sensei does take an unusual amount of inspiration from fashion I think)

One Piece is also a good example of how “rugged” the characters looked at the beginning vs now.

I think right now, compared to the past 20 years, androgyny and femininity are very in fashion, and that isn’t necessarily a bad thing in of itself, but it influences different artists differently. 

I personally thought Griffith changed the least because he was already weirdly fem looking compared to all the other characters. Miura even stated that Griffith was intentionally based on Shoujo art and story lines (which have always featured androgyny and femininity) whereas Guts was meant to be a typical Shounen/Seinen character. He wanted to combine the charm of the two different styles.

I guess I can’t speak about Casca….but I personally also just lumped her differences into the overall shift in art style…. maybe because she was given less development in general, it feels more jarring?…….

inablackmirror:

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madchen
replied to your post

“i miss when griffith had sharp features and looked more masculine now…”

i think hes meant to look more feminine/pretty/awe inspiring now but you can just say miura exaggerates these features a lot now. like look at casca?

yeah it’s def true that everyone looks like… softer in a way i really dislike. a bunch of people have been pointing it out and it’s super true. tho tbf i think griffith has actually suffered from this the least, he looks the same amount of feminine to me lol. tbh my personal biggest problem with the fantasia art wrt griffith is that he looks half assed and generic now, like a collection of his “pretty” features thown together rather than yk, an interesting drawing of a person

but this is true of everyone, it’s like the backgrounds keep getting more and more detailed while the faces/expressions get more generic. or like… the features are detailed, like look at how he draws eyes in closeups, they just don’t come together in an interesting way anymore

tbh I’ve noticed this in most manga…

In Rurouni Kenshin, the art was theoretically less “good” at first as far as proportions and realism, however, there was a lot more detail, and the style was a lot more lively. By the like idk… second story arc after Shishio was defeated, things get a lot more consistent but also a lot more boring and simplified looking.

I feel it’s the same in Naruto and to some degree in One Piece after the time skips.

I think maybe mangaka start out kind of outdoing themselves trying to make their art the best because they want to make an impression and also are still trying to feel out their style and how to make art look good, then once they get stability, over time they figure out shortcuts and tricks to make the art just look good enough.

I think it also changed a lot I think around elfheim? because I noticed it looks like he switched from using traditional media to digital media, and honestly, if you started out as a traditional artist imo it’s really really really difficult to breathe the same level of life and passion into digital art. For me, at least, it’s like there’s always this extra layer between my brain and the computer that doesn’t exist when I’m using paper. Just my personal theory.

I know next to nothing about art but this all makes sense. I’ve heard some speculation that switching to digital may be hindering him and taking a while to adjust to, and what you said about finding it way more difficult to make digital art feel lively and passionate does rly fit.

ty this is informative tbh

For a start I am actually sorry to use the ask option so many times, there is a thing I want to get rid of: Somehow it seems that Casca is back at the start. At the beginning, before she met Griffith the length of her hair must have been around the same. She felt weak and used the sword as a form of empowerment going so far as wishing to become a sword for Griffith. Then Griffith” destroyed that by the rape. Casca somehow regressed to the state of a child until she regained her sanity again.

Asks are great, no worries!

And yeah ia the long hair does seem like a good visual indication of her regression to a point in her life before she was empowered.

I wonder if/how this will figure into things now that she has her sanity back.

One thing I noticed about the scene where Griffith gives Casca the sword is that he tells her “If you have something to protect, pick up that sword.” It makes me sad that he feels guilt about the way that his dream has to be accomplished then because he’s already laid out that this is a real matter of life and death/basic autonomy for him in that sentence. Just a thought.

ngl while my “official” take is that the dream started out as a stupid kid’s fantasy and snowballed horrifically and gained deeper significance as a coping mechanism/escape after the kid’s death and gennon (i’m pretty sure we’ve had some conversations about this ages ago lol), every time I read the scene where he saves Casca I’m like, nope there’s gotta be something else going on there.

He just lays everything out so plainly (”does being born of the nobility mean you’ve been chosen by god?” “if you have something to protect, take up that sword,” “you know how to fight already, don’t you?” “you might die you know,”) that it’s like, there’s no way the kid’s death and gennon was his wake-up call to how shitty the world is, everything’s already in place right here.

Like I guess it can’t be more than headcanon because if there was more to his story I’m sure Ubik would’ve said something while he was fucking with him to make the sacrifice, but chapter 16 like, establishes all of Griffith’s motivations/attitude towards nobility/making sure everyone follows him of their own choice/etc, which really seems to indicate that the kid’s death and gennon wasn’t the beginning of his bitterness re: people’s lives being bought and sold by nobles and his guilt re: ppl dying for his dream. It’s just like, an example.

lol in short, ia!

gwther:

farnese has never had a “normal” relationship/interaction with a man. 

all of the men in her army appeared to have followed her and listened to her orders; but miura made it clear that almost none of them actually liked her and mocked her womanhood behind her back. they were crude and only listened to her halfheartedly because it was tradition for a woman to lead the holy knights. they did not believe in her.

her father was neglectful and emotionally abusive. he was almost never home, and when he was he would only belittle and shame her. she was constantly looking for his approval/affection. her constant unhealthy wavering mental state and inability to stand up against her father caused her to behave violently as a child and lash out, thus her fathers nickname for her, “the vandimion devil child.”

serpico and her have a huge power dynamic due to him being her paige + her half brother (without her knowledge) and him being one of her only means of support as a child. unlike the rest of the mansion staff, he is specifically there exclusively for farnese. farnese even goes as far as to constantly remind serpico that he is bound to farnese and she owns him. serpico was one of her only sources of attention period as a child and that is why she misguidedly tries to push her feelings towards serpico as a pillar in her life to something its not; romantic. she does not want romance or a sexual relationship with him: she just wants attention period and at that time in her childhood serpico was the only one who was giving it to her. 

roderick is one of the first men who at first appears to have a normal attraction to farnese without any sense of “wanting” something from her. he does very bare minimum to woe farnese; simply giving her flowers and calling her “interesting.” farnese has never had a man compliment her in this context before. the whole engagement was simply a transaction to farnese in the first place so this throws her off. she shows zero interest in roderick before he shows her some form of approval; something she has always wanted from men but has never gotten. 

even with guts the whole reason why she is “jealous” towards casca and blushes around guts has nothing to do with actual attraction. farnese has a huge power dynamic at the beginning of her appearance in the manga; wanting to control the servants when shes a kid, wanting to control the army when shes an adult, wanting to control serpico, wanting to control guts. she is charged with finding the black swordsman and creates a personal agenda to catch him. guts shakes her sheltered religious views by exposing her to horrors that she has never seen before and then she is immediately possessed and tries to have sex with guts. it absolutely horrifies her until she almost passes out once the possession is over.

farnese has a very complicated relationship with her sexuality as shown by her different sexual encounters. she associates any sexuality she feels as shameful; even going so far as to lash herself when she feels it. she has to reassure herself when she does feel any sexual attraction that she is normal and that she isn’t in the wrong. she seeks sexual relief in other strange places other than herself such as pain and fire. 

guts is one of the very first men in her life who treats her normally. he disregards her, but not in a way that is abusive like her father. he simply is one of the first men who doesn’t have any alter motives involving farnese. she wants gut’s attention and approval because she genuinely respects him and his willingness to protect casca. she has never felt that before; respect for a man. all men in her life thus far prior to guts are either someone shes in control of and owns or would not give her any attention or abuse her. she isn’t able to tell the difference between respect and being attracted to him. she is jealous of the way guts treats casca because she has never had that kind of relationship with a man period, even platonically.

because farnese has never had any normal relationship with a man and associates her sexual feelings with shame; she is unable to tell the difference between respect and actual attraction. she is momentarily infatuated to any man that treats her like a normal girl; because no man has ever done that for her. 

farnese is literally the walking definition of compulsory heterosexuality and she isn’t able to decipher between romantic feelings and platonic feelings towards men because shes never had any male figures in her life to base that off of

chaoticgaygriffith:

having re-read some bits and pieces of the manga i think i just gained another layer of understanding as to why people are so certain griffith’s utopia is going to go downhill

it’s because he locked away his emotions. right? wanting to create an equal society where he could really help people was human griffith’s dream. but the current griffith, the one setting it all into motion, threw away his humanity

how can someone without emotions be able to understand and fix the pain of the world? that’s probably what most people are wondering about. if he can keep on track, and how long. it’s normal to be waiting for the ball to drop

but the thing is, as i’ve said many times before, griffith is not fulfilling his own wishes–he is fulfilling the wishes of humanity as a whole. and i think that’s exactly why it’s perfect for him to be a husk. because anyone with emotions would surely be driven to follow their own wishes instead

moreover, humanity also desired griffith as he is now, it’s all part of the plan. the change of the world, falconia, apostles, everything. so it’s really hard for me to see how miura could convincingly blame griffith for the fall of falconia/the world, if it is to fall at all

It’s so fitting that he did get rid of like… his entire motivation for wanting a kingdom. There’s something delightfully inhuman about NeoGriffith getting his kingdom because human Griffith was motivated by guilt, and wanting an escape from the pains of the world, and NeoGriffith has none of that, he just has like, this residual ambition divorced from his motivation, that coincides with humanity’s need.

It does make him like the ideal fulfiller of humanity’s desires. Give or take a Guts.

chaoticgaygriffith:

this page always fucking kills me because after he activates the behelit guts just keeps holding on to him and touching him and we don’t see his face again

until this page, and the way he’s leaning over and crying reminds me of his suicide attempt to boot

oh shit you’re right, it’s like almost a full chapter until we see his face again (thx to the interlude with puck and rickert) and then he’s CRYING BLOOD, and the blood drops and his posture do totally mirror the suicide attempt and agh, like this part isn’t painful enough already.

chaoticgaygriffith:

so here griffith is, finding out that he IS one of the keys that set the world in motion, he WAS destined for all this and none of it was a mistake and he didn’t send all those people to their deaths for nothing

(it’s also fitting that his “kin” all look like and are literally monsters)

and then guts jumps in to defend his humanity. i like to think it was somewhat comforting, as much as it was confusing and unexpected (guts has defended griffith many times before, but you know, when he left those memories were replaced with everything griffith perceived as rejection from him. so now whenever guts shows that he cares and HOW much he cares griffith just like. stares at him)

chaoticgaygriffith:

something that i guess people who hate griffith don’t realise which makes me really sad is the fact that yes griffith sacrificed many lives for his dream but he also sacrificed himself the most. even before the eclipse he had to suppress his emotions and any desires outside of his dream. he was a commander, a leader, a warrior, the knight in shining armour,

a hand on the hawks’ shoulders,

a body to be exchanged for funds. the eclipse was the final but not the first instance of him sacrificing his humanity for his dream. it was a culmination.

babygriffith:

babygriffith:

グリフィス(あいつ)への執着を振り切って
ここまで辿り着いたはずが・・・

I’ve come this far by letting go of my obsession …

even though griffith is right there in the panel and it shouldn’t be unclear who guts was obsessed with, and even though “my obsession with him” may not be the happiest translating solution, i’m still side-eyeing the translators for leaving griffith’s name/the male pronoun out bc the original clearly says “my obsession with griffith (him)”

by the way, the word 執着 is defined as “being strongly drawn to[1] something, strongly[2] setting your heart on it[3] and being completely unable to forget about it[4]” and can be translated as “obsession” “attachment” “fixation”
(i quickly looked up example sentences and it was like, attachment to money, results, victory, opinions; fixation in terms of fetishes/dating preferences; still being attached to one’s mother; clinging to hope/life etc. but also: being obsessed with someone specific, most likely in a romantic/sexual sense but not necessarily ig)

[1] drawn to = ひかれる, which means something like “to be attracted/drawn to” “to be fascinated by” “to be taken with” “to be charmed by”
[2] the first “strongly” is 強く (”strongly”), the second “strongly” is 深く (”deeply”) but i couldn’t figure out how to use two different words and still make it make sense in english so i just used the same word twice
[3] among the couple of meanings of 思い込む is “to firmly decide in your heart” or, as i put it up there, “to set one’s heart on”
[4] the verb used here isn’t just 忘れる (”to forget”) but 忘れ切る (”to forget” + “to cut”) which is really like to completely forget all about something

Saw your Judaeu posts; wanted to weigh in a lil cuz I love him. I’m always sad we never got to know much about him (rpg group gets so much backstory!) I always felt like ye, his advice was misguided but that he was trying to help make people happy. Like Casca, who maybe could be happy with Guts if she couldn’t have Griffith, since HE never felt good enough for her. Also, that maybe he didn’t see a point in hooking Guts and Griffith up if he figured the dream and princess still took priority?

a-girl-named-chester:

bthump:

a-girl-named-chester:

bthump:

Yeah I think his heart was in the right place, it seems like he genuinely just wanted what was best for everyone even if his methods were a little… underhanded and dishonest. Like towards the end eg, he probably thought Griffith would be better off with him and his thieves than with Guts and Casca as well as vice versa (and if Guts and Casca stayed together while taking care of Griffith he might’ve even been right, bc lbr that would’ve been a shitshow lol.) He’s likeable, and fun, and he has some great moments, like telling Guts he’s sure he’ll find what he’s looking for with the Hawks. Ngl his death scene always makes me cry lol, I do def like him overall, in part because he makes mistakes too.

Also I wonder if there isn’t a subtle indication from Miura that Judeau and Casca should’ve gotten together instead of Guts and Casca, and it’s its own little sub-tragedy based on stupid self-esteem issues that they didn’t. The way during the Eclipse Judeau does his best to save her and defends her with his own life while Guts is up on the hand still trying to “save” Griffith lol feels kind of starkly telling. I don’t ship them myself, I like their friendship and I kind of wish Judeau hadn’t had a crush the whole time lol, but it fits into the whole missed opportunity vibe of the Golden Age.

It is kind of a shame that the Golden Age side characters got way less backstory and development than the current RPG group, but the current group has so much more time. Like 200+ chapters vs 70. I did love the little enriching hints we got about the Hawks though, like Judeau feeling inadequate as a jack of all trades, the hints that Corkus is bitter about his own lost dreams. I’d say ‘etc’ but actually that’s about it really. Wish we got more on Pippin too.

Holy moly, what have we even been doing for the last 200+ chapters?? As much as I love the rpg group, nothing beats the original Hawks for me.

I definitely think that the Golden Age was all about people missing what was right in front of them, and losing their chances, or screwing them up on purpose. I mean, it can’t just be Guts and Griffith in this crapsack world that do it.

You mentioned how during the eclipse Guts was focusing of Griffith while Judeau was focused on Casca. Got me thinking about how his final acts were to be a literal shield over her body, and how he fell from her arm as he died. I don’t have the scans, but it reminded me of how Guts and Casca always compare themselves to swords. A sword and shield go mighty well together.

Lmao right? It really puts it into perspective when you realize the Golden Age was less than 100 chapters and we’re on 354 now.

Yeah that really sums up the Golden Age in a nutshell lol. And Judeau’s thoughts at the end do include, “I missed my chance to say it,” which fits.

tbh good call with the sword/shield imagery. Like yeah he does literally use himself as a human shield against that one weird apostle, and then Casca leaps up and kills it with her sword. I could def see that being purposeful. Also like… Judeau is Casca’s last real human interaction with someone before she’s driven insane. I’d love to see that acknowledged when she wakes up tbh.

You found the image I was talking about! I already put it on the post itself, but the way he fell off her arm reminds me of how shields are worn on the arm and get dropped when they’re broken!

This chapter was pure badassery on so many levels. I really hate that basically every female character is subjected to assault tho. All of them. (Sadly, I guess it’s not so different from the world we live in.)

On a GriffGuts note, I wonder if the reason Guts focuses so much on casca’s assault is because it drives home for him what Griffith has become. Griffith being his singular focus and all.

Whereas in the last chapter that got released, Casca’s memories encapsulate the whole Eclipse.

Yeah it’s genuinely fantastic, badass and touching and emotional and then it ends… like that :/

tbh ia. It’s like the way Guts wasn’t angry at Griffith, just sad and regretful, even while all his friends were dying and he was being attacked by a hoard of monsters, up until the rape scene. In a way it makes sense for Guts to focus on that since it’s like, the source of his violent rage that keeps him going and keeps him wanting to kill Griffith/Femto, as opposed to the rest of the Eclipse which is probably more a source of guilt (”was I the one who drove you…?”)

the beast of darkness pretty much suggests that this is why Guts was keeping Casca with him, basically so he could brood. (As did Miura in one interview :/)

Idk I wish it wasn’t so utterly manpain-y, with Guts being so focused on something that didn’t even happen to him, to the detriment of the person it actually did happen to, just so he can stay angry. You’d think his missing arm would be enough of a reminder. But it is what it is, and at least it’s not really portrayed in a positive light I guess.

babygriffith:

marley-manson replied to your post “・・・少々酷ってもんじゃねぇのか？　グリフィス・・・・・・ Ain’t that a little cruel, Griffith?…”

griffith thinks he’s cruel for letting someone – guts – in and hence dragging him through the dirt with him; guts thinks he’s cruel for /only/ letting guts in… i don’t have a conclusion but hmmmm

that’s a really good observation tbh

my guess is that it highlights how much they see what griffith is doing as dirty? guts like, let’s be honest, doesn’t really at all. griffith asks him to kill a man and he’s like pshh just order me like you always do 😉 hey why don’t you tell the rest of our pals about this?? meanwhile griffith thinks he’s a filthy monster

Yeah it shows how non judgemental Guts is about it, and that he expects everyone else to be similarly non-judgemental. Maybe indicates that Guts thinks Griffith is only keeping them in the dark for… convenience or whatever, and subtly shows that he doesn’t realize it’s because of shame. Griffith explains afterwards, sort of, in his prevaricating way (”they need only feel as though they’re rising up”). Idk but it’s another sign of the gulf of misunderstanding between them for sure.

babygriffith:

babygriffith:

・・・これが
お前の夢につながる道なんだろ？
そう信じてるんだろ？

何言ってやがるんだよ　今さら・・・

・・・・・・・・・
そうだな・・・

Ain’t this …
… part of the path to your dream?
You believe that, don’t you?

So what’s with this crap? Now, of all times …

… …
You’re right …

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa

お前の夢につながる道 → path tied to your dream (or, apparently, possibly also “path that leads to your dream” ??)

何言ってやがる → やがる is used to show contempt/anger, and is often translated using curse words as intensifiers. imo the official translation is really elegant because it conveys that annoyance while not making it too rude, because we all know that’s not guts’ tone here.

今さら → i like this translation too, but i wanted to point out that the original expression carries a meaning of it being too late to do/say/change/fix something. like, you would use it too say, “well even if you turn in your homework now, it’s no use. the deadline was a month ago.” and, actually, in the translated manga the “now” is bolded and italicised. 

and like. idk but the やがる combined with the 今さら must sound really accusatory to griffith, who is already feeling pretty vulnerable + shitty about himself right now. you done fucked up, guts.

babygriffith:

babygriffith:

image

オレは欲しいものは絶対手に入れる

I must obtain the things I desire.

image

オレはオレの国を手に入れる

I will get my own kingdom.

image

いつからだろう　手に入れたはずのあいつが
逆にこんなにも強くオレを掌握してしまったのは

How long ago did someone I was supposed to have in hand
instead gain such a strong hold on me?

image

・・・・・・・・・・・・それでも
手に入らないのならそれでも・・・！！

Even then …
If I can’t have him …!!

そいつは何一つ持ってはいなかった
そして　すべてを手に入れようとしていた
・・・いや　それを可能に思わせる何かが、あいつにはあった

He didn’t have anything.
Yet he was trying to take hold of everything.
… No. Something about him made you think it could happen

ironically, the one thing he wanted more than anything, and actually had at one point, slipped out of his grasp

chaoticgaygriffith:

ugh it just kills me how griffith comforted casca here, even though he must have been sick to his stomach as well

and then later. you know

agh a while ago I was going to post about how the fact that Griffith’s hand on Casca’s shoulder bookends this chapter, except the second time he is very clearly repressing his feelings to seem like a strong perfect person and reassure Casca, sheds a whole lot of light on how he was probably feeling the first time he put his hand on Casca’s shoulder in chapter 17 here.

image
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and then I forgot and this reminded me and now I’m sad again.

jyuanka
replied to your post “i want to like, write a longish meta about how guts’ “dream” ie his…”

also i think guts’s sword fixation has a lot to do with how much he humanizes the sword and dehumanizes himself. iirc miura makes a point about guts using the sword to protect others instead of fighting for its own sake, at which the sword is no longer a meaningful subject in itself but a means of protecting bonds he’s forged. the unhealthy part of it is, again, the way he objectifies himself through it (and one of berserk’s themes is human objectification)
it’s sort of a coping mechanism
backfiring on him. the sword is just an object; the unhealthy aspect of
it is that guts has been using it as a means of self-actualization for
his entire life. part of his development in the golden age is to derive
meaning and significance from his relationships with others, but he
never really addressed his issues so once the eclipse happens and
casca’s mental state is revealed he almost instantly reverts back to
that coping mechansim

Hmmm I think I pretty much agree with you. By objectifies himself through his sword do you mean like, when the Berserk armour takes over, when he becomes monstrous and consumed by rage even without it, etc? Because I definitely think there’s a strong theme of Guts becoming dehumanized through his sword, and the way you put it in contrast to Guts humanizing his sword (like considering it an extension of himself I assume?) is something I’ve never really thought of but it makes a lot of sense to me.

(lol I guess dehumanization is actually kind of a loaded term in Berserk where everything from monsters to gods are expressions of aspects of humanity, but ikwym and it’s definitely a theme regardless of semantics.)

nothing of importance to add i just wanted to say that i was washing the dishes today while thinking of your meta when i had a random flashback of casca saying ‘you’ve bled so much for me blah blah’ at guts and she was moved because of that because it was proof he cared, and like i remember guts before leaving griffith saying ”this is better than just saying goodbye because it means that for you i’m still worth shedding blood for” or something along these lines!

omg I didn’t even think of this possible connection, nice!

I remember a little while ago I discussed scars and wounds etc with @therainykitty as a somewhat sexual thing with comparing the Casca scene to a few things including “the wound Griffith left, because you want to keep feeling that pain he caused you,” here, but this is another potential application of that, and tbh it makes a lot of sense to me.

Thank you!

babygriffith:

babygriffith:

寝るの？
夢を見るの？
グリフィスの夢を

ねぇ どうして？
なぜあいつを追わないの？
やっと会えたんじゃない
もう少しじゃない　行こうよ あいつのところへ

鉄塊をくれてやろうよ

この女がいるから？
放っておこうよ
そんなに大切なの？

グリフィスよりも？

もうこの女はお前の知っている戦士なんかじゃない
ただの残骸　別人だ
それなのに大切なの？

思い続けることができるの？
この女を 今も
この女  の・み  で

グリフィスが残した傷口だから
グリフィスの残した痛みを感じ続けていたいから大切なんじゃないの？

この女はグリフィスを渇望（こがれ）続けるための生贄さ

消えろ・・・・・・

生贄ならもっといい使い道がある

ほら こうしてしまえば
もっと深く深くグリフィスと繋がる

やめろォォ

お前は望んでいる

Do you sleep?
Do you dream?
Dreams of him?

Why is it?
Why don’t you chase him?
You finally met with him.
Just a little farther. Let’s go to him.

Let’s give him a heap of raw iron.

Because of this woman here?
Leave her be.
Is she that precious?

More so than Griffith?

She’s no longer the warrior you knew.
Just a husk. Someone else.
And yet she’s precious?

You can continue thinking of her?
Of this woman, even now?
Of her alone?

Is she not precious only because she’s the wound Griffith left,
because you want to keep feeling that pain he caused you?

She’s a sacrifice so you can continue longing for Griffith.

Go away …

If she’s a sacrifice, there’s a better use for her.

If you just do this
you’ll get closer and closer to Griffith.

Stop iiit!

You desire this.

these pages were requested by the beloved @bthump

i have some … thoughts, so let’s go through this in order.

  1. this is nitpicky, but i can’t believe they translated 

    寝るの？ as “do you sleep?” i mean sure, i guess, but the hound is clearly asking him if he’s gonna sleep. i guess they wanted to make it sound more dramatic.

  2. also nitpicky, but even though there’s no desiderative in なぜあいつを追わないの？ i personally would have translated it as “why won’t you chase (after) him?” i feel like in the original there is no suggestion to chase griffith that can be felt in “why don’t you chase him?” instead, it’s like chasing griffith is a given and the hound is (childishly) confused about why guts isn’t doing it. that’s how it feels to me, anyway. i could be wrong, i’m still learning + i have no experience as a translator, but yeah.
  3. i’d just like to point out that in やっと会えたんじゃない, the verb 会う is in potential form. so it’s leaning towards “you finally got to (managed to, got a chance to etc.) meet with him”
  4. もう少しじゃない was translated as “Just a little farther,” which i understand, but you should know that the original says “isn’t it just a little farther,” as in, isn’t he just outside your reach, isn’t he right in front of our eyes, let’s go to him, why won’t you? again, i’m not a native or even fluent speaker of japanese, but i’m almost certain this is a really childish way of speaking, which really says it all i think.
  5. we’re getting into “who cares” territory but この女がいるから？ literally means something like “because this woman is here?” and … idk why i feel like that’s relevant, i think it maaaybe emphasises the feeling of her getting in the way? but yeah, do with that what you will.
  6. 放っておこうよ → “Leave her be” is of course accurate, but i wish there was a better translation for the nuances of this expression as used in this context, because the one they went with sounds a bit more like, you know, “give her some peace,” whereas i feel like what the hound was saying is closer to basically telling guts to abandon her. you know what i mean? “just leave her,” something like that.
  7. it’s a little hard to read some more complicated kanji with the quality of these images, but if the original really does say 残骸, then “shell” is a clever translation, but basically, the meaning of that word is like … something that’s been destroyed to the point of uselessness. google says even a corpse that was thrown away. dictionaries say “debris” “wreckage” “ruins.”
  8. i think 傷口 is specifically like the “opening” of a wound. google says, “Metaphorically, past mistakes and weak points that you do not want people to touch.” which, duh.
  9. グリフィスの残した痛み 

    → this is, again, the pain that he left. “caused” is very much a one moment thing, like griffith hurt guts in the past and now guts wants to go back to that feeling. but the original implies that the pain is constant, and what’s more, guts doesn’t want to stop feeling it.

  10. we’ve reached the meat of this post. the actual thing bthump asked me about. 「この女はグリフィスを渇望（こがれ）続けるための生贄さ」
    so you know how in manga authors like to use kanji for one thing but then add furigana for another, in order to create layered meanings? that’s what’s happening here, and boy is it layered. 渇望 (read as katsubou) is “craving,” “longing,” “thirsting.” google says “to desire from the heart, the way someone who is thirsty wishes for water. to long for*.” but furigana says こがれ (from the verb 焦がれる). the dictionary definition of this word is literally “to yearn for” “to be in love with.” google says “to earnestly hope for. to yearn for and fret.” bear in mind this “yearn for” is 恋い慕う = to love + to pine for. basically, these are some pretty charged words, which is why i pulled up all these various definitions, since i can’t feel all the connotations of various japanese expressions.
    (*this ”to long for” is, again, just the dictionary translation of that synonymous expression (待ちこがれる), but i looked for a japanese definition and it says “to keep waiting and waiting and feel restless”)
  11. excuse me? “you’ll get closer and closer to Griffith” doesn’t even cover もっと深く深くグリフィスと繋がる
    深い = “deep”, but also “close,” sometimes “strong/intense.” 
    繋がる = you know this word. “to be tied/linked together.” i think anime translators often use the word “bond.” it’s not just about getting closer to griffith, it’s about them getting tied closer and closer together, being more and more deeply connected to each other. there’s no happy solution in terms of translating, but this is definitely one of those lines that need translation notes.
image

lol I don’t have anything to add but this is some Good Shit.

babygriffith:

again per @bthump‘s request, we compare griffith’s “If I can’t have him I don’t care” with also griffith’s “That you, rather to have been with princess Charlotte, would have had her yourself?”

first, the duel.

image
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もし剣の接触する瞬間 やつの剣圧でオレの剣の軌道がわずかでもぶれたなら・・・・・・
本当に 殺してしまうことも・・・・・・！！

・・・・・・・・・・・・それでも
手に入らないのならそれでも・・・！！

かまわない！！

If in the instant our swords meet, the pressure from his alters the arc of mine even just a little …
… I might really kill him!!

Even then …
If I can’t have him …!!

I don’t care!!

here, the expression used is 手に入る, literally meaning “to enter someone’s hand,” with the actual meaning being “to obtain” “to get hold of” “to get one’s hands on.” i would have to check if it’s generally used for objects or people or both, but yeah.

another thing possibly of note is that there’s also 手に入れる (”to put into one’s own hand”) with pretty much the same meaning when translated into english–but clearly there are differences. for example, if something “entered your hand,” you didn’t do anything to obtain it, it just found its way there. likewise, if you “put something into your hand,” you did something to obtain it, you went out and got it for yourself.

bear with me though. there’s an issue here, and that is that when it comes to transitive/intransitive pairs of verbs (such as 入れる /

入る), in certain situations japanese speakers have a tendency to use the intransitive verb where speakers of other languages would more naturally use the transitive verb. for example, instead of asking “have you found your keys?” (mitsukeru, to find – transitive) they’ll ask, “have the keys been found?” (mitsukaru, to be found – intransitive). and i’m still not sure what the rules/patterns are here, really.

this means that i don’t know for sure if griffith using 手に入る instead of 手に入れる has any real semantic significance. but even if it really doesn’t, i still think it’s fitting, and interesting, since, as griffith understands it, guts is the one who won’t readily enter griffith’s grasp anymore (in fact, he wants to leave it: オレの手の中から出ていきたいのか！？)

and while we’re on the topic of grasps, if you’ll allow me to go on yet another tangent here,

image

いつからだろう　手に入れたはずのあいつが
逆にこんなにも強くオレを掌握してしまったのは

How long ago did someone I was supposed to have in hand
instead gain such a strong hold on me?

(i’ll talk more about this scene some other time)

now for the dungeon scene with the king.

image
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それならば・・・・・・・・・・・・
それならば、いっそ・・・・・・

いっそ・・・
私が・・・

抱きたいのですか？
シャルロット様を・・・・・・
いや・・・

あなたが・・・
抱・い・て・ほ・し・い・ のでは？

I’d rather …
… rather that …

… That you … 
rather …

to have been with princess Charlotte …
would have had her yourself?
No …

Don’t you …
… want her to have you?

here, the verb used is 抱く, which can mean “to hold/embrace” literally or in the sense of “making love.” according to my dictionary, it can also mean “to have” (e.g. ambition) but i don’t … know what else you can “have” like that (people??).

my guess would be that griffith is basically saying “you wanted to hold her … no … you wanted to be held by her,” but since the king was talking about griffith having taken her virginity before griffith said this, it makes sense to translate it as “to have her,” as in, “to have her first.”

sadly though that means there’s a parallel in english that isn’t there in the original japanese, but i still think your overall reading of this scene is accurate.

Thank you so much! This is only mildly disappointing lol, the similar wording in the english translation was one of those things I referred to in some earlier post where I’d written the entire section beforehand and only noticed something seemingly obvious w/ the wording afterwards, so I tacked it on. I think the parallel stands up fine without it.

Nice nice nice wrt the connection to “how long ago did someone I was supposed to have in hand,” tho. i’m looking forward to your further thoughts on that someday!

madchen
replied to your post “i want to like, write a longish meta about how guts’ “dream” ie his…”

and yea swords have always represented male power to a phallic degree even pre freudian analysis framework (broken swords symbolize impotence on the flip side) but the visualzzzz in berserk especially in the golden age is good. like griffs sword breaking and then guts shattering later at the eclipse. or the uh unfortunate realization that guts symbolically “castrating griffith” is both metaphorical and probably literal foreshadowing to what happens to griff a few chapters later.

yeah v v true, and ngl along the same lines i have a few (less than positive) Thoughts on Guts holding a broken sword while Femto rapes Casca.

@griff-guts said: oh mannnnn there’s a lot to say about
the broken sword thing lmao i might write a post about it….. same with
guts and griff symbols being a hawk (or white bird in general lol) and a
dog because there’s a LOT of medieval shit to do with that too…..
anyway for the sword thing a sword being broken basically amounts to an
“oh shit” moment where the person loses all ability to control their
situation, and acts of desperation ensue. it has a lot to do with fate
and human control being

ultimately helpless up against fate.

ohhh man I’d love to read a whole post on this sometime! this all seems extremely in line with Berserk and lol I kind of regret never taking any literature classes more advanced than 101 in uni.

chaoticgaygriffith:

@bthump i just wanna add that “i will decide the place where you die” can be read 2 ways: 1) i will tell you where to die and you will die there, and 2) you will not die until i’ve decided it’s the time and place for that

either way it’s a distancing tactic, yes, but i think most people read it as the first thing, which sounds creepy, instead of the second thing, which is just so clearly a hilariously bullshit way of saying “i won’t let you die”

like, considering the fact that griffith risked his own life to save guts and guts then confronted him about it, this is the perfect, cool-sounding cop-out. “i saved you because you’re my best soldier and you weren’t supposed to die yet. i’ll decide when it’s your time to die”

I actually hadn’t thought of that before! But damn you’re completely right, and it makes so much more sense to read it as the second when you read it as a continuation of him trying to justify saving Guts’ life. Fuck lol, I mean my point still works since yeah it is still a distancing tactic, and it’s still Griffith kind of owning the fact that he sends people to their deaths, but this is a much more natural way to read that part.