Welcome back to another edition of Comic Relief! where I talk about all the goings on in the world of nerd!
One of the things that I would really like to start doing more of is my character appreciation articles. Today I have a particular one that I want to focus on. A year or two ago, a close friend of mine was talking anime with me, and said: "Have you ever heard of Berserk?" to which I said no. In response to this, that friend sat me down and showed me the movie Berserk: The Golden Arc Pt.I Egg of the King. I fell in love, watched the other movies, and despite being significantly creeped out by a very uncomfortable rape sequence, have become a dedicated fan since. However, there is one problem, there is no lasting adaptation of this series. It had a phenomenal run back in the 90's that only made it to the end of the Golden arc (because that was frankly all that was probably written by that point), and then recently (after the movies) Berserk was revived in 2016 with an anime adaptation that relies on a rather poor 3D CG animation (meanwhile taunting us with a beautifully animated opening for both seasons), so over the past few weeks I started to read the manga which brings us here. Today's character appreciation is a double header (because honestly talking about one without the other is impossible): Guts (the legendary black swordsman) and Griffith (the White Hawk leader of the mercenary group: The Band of the Hawk), both of whom are respectively the property's protagonist and antagonist.
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| Griffith Top Banner, Guts Bottom Banner |
Beginnings: Guts
Gambino was a firm believer in the idea that every person pulls their own weight in the band and Guts would pull his, even if he wasn't even ten yet. However, Guts was determined to do Gambino proud, seeing him as a father figure Guts even trained with a sword the size of his own body, a thing that would become a staple of the character's fighting style.
While things seemed to go well for awhile for Guts, his fighting improved and he was improving with each battle, all would not stay that way. Gambino, his band leader and father figure, sold his surrogate son out to be sexually used by another troop in the camp. After the rape occurs, Guts is furious and encounters Gambino, however, the band leader feigns ignorance. Guts hunts down his rapist during the next battle and lights him up with crossbow bolts. However, while Guts was hunting down his assailant, Gambino was wounded in battle, losing a leg.
After having to rely on Guts for incoming pay, Gambino is driven mad. One night he tries to murder Guts for the misfortune the child has brought him, even revealing that he sold Guts out to his rapist. This results in Gambino's death by Guts' sword through his throat. When the rest of the mercenary band discovers the scene, they chase Guts from the camp and so Guts strikes out on his own, and that would be Guts' life for the next few years until the fateful siege that would result in him meeting Griffith and Meeting the Band of the Hawk.
The Warmth By The Fire
During this early time there was a century long conflict going on between the two nations Midland and Chuder. Both sides used mercenary bands frequently as it was quicker and cheaper than levying their own armies. Guts was one of those said mercenaries, and during a siege he distinguished himself by killing a Midland captain of great strength and renown named Bazuso. This fight is of little and great importance, as a fight it's not one of the greatest of the series, but it certainly showcases Guts' strength at such a young age. Most importantly, however, it's the first time he is seen by Griffith and his mercenaries: The Band of the Hawk.
After the battle, a small contingent of the Band of the Hawk make the mistake of trying to attack Guts and take his spoils of war. Guts more than handles himself adequately, killing at least 3 members of the band, and drawing out the Band of the Hawks female captain Casca. However, it's not enough to stand up to Guts, and Griffith comes down and ends Guts' rampage with one stroke of his sword.
Rather than have Guts killed, Griffith keeps him alive and brings him to his camp, ordering Casca to keep him warm throughout his fever. When the fever breaks and Guts wakes, the two start a dialogue during which Griffith states that he wants Guts for the Band of the Hawk (during this dialogue a very jealous Casca listens as she hears him say the words "I want you" for the first time ever). Guts declines and challenges Griffith to a duel, winner takes all essentially. Though Guts gets some good hits in, the duel is fairly one sided and Griffith handily defeats him. With that Guts was a part of the Band of The Hawk and he belonged to Griffith.
Gut's first mission with the Band of the Hawk would put him in charge of the unit's rear guard, a MASSIVE responsibility, but also a test of Guts' trustworthiness as it would put him in a position where he could easily flee. Guts does his duty and does it well, earning the trust and respect of his new comrades: the Band of The Hawk. After the Battle, Guts and Griffith have a conversation where Griffith reveals to his newfound comrade that his ambitions are to have his own kingdom one day, and Guts is swept up in that charisma and for a while it's enough.
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| FYI Manga is read Right to Left |
Three years later, the Band of the Hawk has endured much together, and Guts' strength has grown. With that strength and Griffith's tactics, the Band of the Hawk have become the increasingly more dominant force that the crown of Midland depends on. Serving exclusively to the kingdom, Griffith has begun to even get noticed by the King who raises Griffith to the nobility. After his knighting however, Guts and Griffith encounter a demon named Zodd who only spares the two after recognizing a necklace that Griffith wears called the crimson Behelit, or as Zodd calls it "The Egg of the King."
Zodd leaves with a cryptic warning to Guts that if he considers himself a true friend to Griffith, that he is doomed for a fate worse than death. This of course leaves much for Guts to think about while he and Griffith are brought back to the palace to recover from their wounds from the fight.
While in the palace, a political game begins when the King's brother, Count Julius, hires an assassin to kill Griffith (whose military prowess has become a threat to the Count's claim to the throne). The attempt is unsuccessful and in fact drives Griffith closer to the princess after seemingly "saving her life" (another step closer to his ambition). Griffith then asks Guts to assassinate Julian, and Guts does it gladly. However, things don't exactly go as plan when Guts also ends up killing the Count's adolescent son in his escape. Shell shocked from killing the innocent boy, Guts goes looking for Griffith, and finds him with the Princess. Before he can barge into their conversation, he's stopped by Casca who patches up a wound he sustained during his escape from Count Julian's castle.
While waiting, Guts overhears Griffith's conversation with the Princess, and what he says changes him. Griffith talks about the importance of his own dream and how it is the thing that drives him, but more importantly that The Band of the Hawk, while his comrades, cannot be his friends for they subsist on his dream. A true friend, to Griffith, must have his own dream that drives him, even if that should mean it puts the two at odds, a true friend must be an equal.
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| Just A Reminder: Right to Left |
The words that Griffith tells to the Princess Charlotte echo in Guts' head through the next battle. What was his dream? He struggles throughout it to find his dream. Guts even discovers Casca's dream, the female captain from before, to be Griffith's sword after saving her from a fall off a cliff caused by battle fatigue and her period. With everyone having a purpose to swing their sword, Guts was left wondering what his was besides survival. During the battle he earns the title the hundred man slayer after killing an ambushing force of 100 men all while he pondered what exactly drove him to swing his sword with such viciousness. There is a very big misconception about Guts: that he is one dimensional, dumb, and just a strongman. However, in the aftermath of that battle we get to see just how deep and developed he is. In this moment he talks to Casca about the dreams of his men, of the Band of the Hawk, and how they are all tiny little fires circling around the greater inferno that is Griffith's dream. As great as all that is, Guts' fire isn't there, and that perhaps he needed The Band of the Hawk "to just get warm for a little while." Guts may not have known his dream, but he was going to find it, he was going to leave the Band of the Hawk.
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| Last time I swear: Right To Left |
Beginnings and Rise: Griffith
I realize that many will probably get here and be confused as to why this is here. The reason is because before I get to the next chapter of understanding Guts, you need to understand Griffith better. These two characters are intertwined heavily and I felt that if I went back in forth between the two I couldn't draw you in. So here it is, the beginning of Griffith.
Even at the beginning Griffith was special, born to nothing Griffith was often so penniless that he could sometimes not afford to eat. However, even as this nothing street urchin, Griffith's ambition attracted others. He would play with the other urchins of the city and lead them, winning little trinkets that he considered victories and spoils. Still this wasn't enough to sate the young boy.
In the afternoons where the sunlight was blotted out by brothels and pubs, he would look to the towering castle of his city illuminated by the rays of the star. Griffith knew that having his own kingdom would be his true victory and so he dreamed of it. One day a gypsy merchant foretold his conquest for a kingdom to come true and gifted him the Crimson Behelit. She told him that whomever bears this egg will sit on a kingdom atop the world at the price of his own blood. Needless to say Griffith never takes the Behelit off. An odd bauble, it's a reminder to him of what his drive is.
As a young man, Griffith begins his mercenary band and starts to attract people from all walks of life: Pippin (a miner), Jeudeau (a tumbler), and Corkus (a former thief band leader), all swept up in the ambition of a boy with a powerful dream. Eventually he even helps a 12 year old Casca escape her own rape by throwing his sword down and telling her to take the strength she desires. She kills her assailant and joins Griffith's band so she can become strong and be by Griffith's side. However, mercenary business is a rough one and one that Griffith was not accustomed to yet. He had inspired people, but it was time to ride into battle and carve the reputation that the Hawks would come to have.
During the first missions of the Band of the Hawk, Griffith had allied himself with Chuder nobleman Gennon. Gennon was a man of particular tastes in that he kept very effeminate boy slaves around to sate those appetites. One of those slaves was granted leave to join Griffith's Band of the Hawk and the boy practically worshiped Griffith (not that that was unusual as Griffith was pretty much worshiped by all of his soldiers). However, the boy dies in battle and Griffith comes across the boys body while walking amidst the dead with Casca. He finds that the child had with him a toy of a knight on the battlefield. Without a doubt this reminds Griffith of the trinkets he would treasure as a child that he would win from the other urchins he played with.
Later that night Casca is on a walk and looks to a balcony to see Griffith, shirtless, and behind him is Gennon. Casca is confused, and a little jealous, so she confronts Griffith about it later while he is washing in a stream. Griffith tries to play it off all cool, saying that the two's interests coincided, he needed the money for the Band of The Hawk's continued success and Gennon wanted his body. However, Griffith sees it more of a way of atoning for those who have sacrificed for his dream, he is trying to wash clean and feels forever filthy.
Eventually this path would lead Griffith to Guts. With Guts, Griffith dreams are so close.
The Fall of Doldrey Fortress and Razing of the Hawks
At this point the conflict between Chuder and Midland had tipped heavily in Midland's favor. However, Chuder still held the strongest fortress Midland ever built called Doldrey. By possessing this fort, Chuder could maintain their presence in Midland and hang on. Doldrey, as a fortress, is seemingly impregnable, and despite the Midland war council's protest Griffith says he can take the fortress with just his Band of The Hawk. The King of Midland, who at this point has put his confidence in Griffith, gives Griffith permission to siege the fortress. However, there is a problem, the fortress of Doldrey is commanded by the great Chuder general Boscone, but more importantly the fort itself is governed by a dark spot in Griffith's past: Gennon.
Griffith uses diversionary tactics to draw out General Boscone from Doldrey with all his heavy cavalry, while Casca leads a small team into the fortress and secures the fortress. Gennon has denied Bascgone the right to kill Griffith as he wants to share his bed with the White Hawk once more, and so Gennon has overseen the battle personally as well. Guts and Boscone have a duel of titans, and in the closest fight that Guts has had since Bazuso in that first fight that got him noticed by Griffith. Guts beats Boscone, but not before his sword is split in two. When Boscone is defeated, Chuder's forces lose their heart and retreat, especially when seeing that the fortress now flew the banner of the Hawk from its ramparts. In the midst of the retreat, Griffith finds and kills Gennon, but only after he reveals how he used Gennon's lust against him.
With Midland seemingly victorious in their 100 year conflict, both Griffith and his Band of the Hawk were given incredible honors. Griffith was named a general of the White Phoenix knights and the Band of the Hawk were all given knighthoods, becoming members of the White Phoenix knights as well. A grand party is throne and Griffith's dream seems so close at hand. Guts on the other hand isn't interested in those honors, still haunted by those words Griffith said, Guts packs his things and decides to leave.
While he is approached by Judeau and Corkus about leaving, neither can sway him to stay. Guts is determined to not have Griffith look down at him from his dream. Guts would find a dream of his own and be Griffith's equal. However, Casca brings Griffith to stop Guts and just like their first meeting, what is taken by the sword must be recovered by it, Guts and Griffith fight for the 3rd time. This time Guts breaks Griffith's sword, defeating him in one giant swing and stopping right above Griffith's collarbone so that he does not harm his friend. Guts walks away, Griffith falls to his knees and begins a descent into the dark.
In the storm that was left in the wake of Guts' departure, Griffith climbs up the palace and sleeps with the royal princess Charlotte. Infuriated by this wanton disrespect, the King of Midland throws him in a dungeon and personally tortures him. However, during this exchange Griffith accuses the King of incestuous desires for his own daughter and this enrages the king even more. Griffith is handed over to the royal torturer. The torturer is allowed to do whatever he wants to Griffith except kill him, for the next year. Meanwhile the Band of The Hawk are ambushed by the Midland army and Casca takes command as the once revered mercenary band becomes hunted throughout the kingdom.
After about a year of training Guts has discovered that his dream is to become strong enough to kill the demon Zodd that so easily overpowered both he and Griffith earlier on. However, he is then visited by a shade with the appearance of a Skull Knight that his doom was close at hand, and when he learns of the fate of the Hawks he returns to help his comrades and discover the fate of Griffith. Without Guts, it would seem, Griffith fell apart and so Guts would stay to bring his friend back. However, Casca, hurt by Guts' initial departure, tries to fight him. This fight ends with the two ending up together as man and woman. Guts invites Casca to join him on his journeys afterward. Casca cannot give him an answer, and they are interrupted with news that information on the whereabouts of Griffith has been confirmed. They would embark on a rescue mission.
Betrayal to the God Hand
The rescue mission to save Griffith found a broken man. Griffith's tongue had been cut out, his tendons in his arms and legs severed, severely malnourished, face mutilated beyond recognition even, so that he would remain in his iconic hawk helm. Seeing Griffith this way enraged Guts, and he fights through hundreds of Midland soldiers, paving the way for their escape. They are pursued of course, however, the Band of the Hawk comes to the rescue and they get away. That is where the good news ends.
The Band of the Hawk immediately is disheartened by learning of Griffith's fate, and after closer inspection by Judeau, Griffith's condition is permanent. Griffith watches from a tent flap as he sees Guts kiss Casca (the woman who had been pining for Griffith for years), men from the band of the hawk flock to Guts to start his own mercenary band, and even watches Casca tell Guts he can't stay because of the words Griffith said long ago.
It is all too much for Griffith so he frightens one of the horses that pulls his cart, starting the cart off in an attempt to flee from the Band of the Hawk. He ends up at a river where he wounds himself, but is unable to kill himself. However, the blood finds its way to the recently reclaimed crimson Behelit, and as his comrades race toward him to help him, they are transported to a demon dimension.
5 major demons appear called the Godhand, and offer Griffith their power for a sacrifice (his friends and comrades). Griffith accepts and thus the slaughter begins. All the Band of the Hawk and Guts are marked for sacrifice and demons come out and begin eating and slaughtering the mercenary band.
Guts fights his way through them, as does Casca, but eventually Guts is pinned down and Casca is captured by a newly reborn, demonic Griffith. With Guts watching, the newly Born Griffith begins to rape Casca in front of Guts. Guts struggles to break free, losing an eye and an arm in the process, however he is beaten back by the psychic abilities of the new Griffith. Then out of a wormhole in the sky, the Skull knight that appeared to Guts earlier rides down and rescues both Guts and Casca. When Guts awakens he finds Casca a broken shell of who she was. In order to deal with her trauma her entire mind shut down and now she is mentally a child, and what's worse is that Guts terrifies her.
If that wasn't enough, since Guts was still marked with the brand of sacrifice, at night time dark spirits come forth to try and finish the job that should have been done in that dimension. This is how Guts becomes the Black Swordsman and how he travels to hunt Griffith's apostles and eventually hunt down Griffith.
I know what you're thinking...
So I get what you're probably thinking at this point, what else could I possibly have to say. I am fairly certain that this is the longest post I have written thusfar, so if you made it here: CONGRATULATIONS! I realize there was a lot of content, but in order for me to properly talk about these characters you had to know where they came from and as you can see, it's no small story. I did my best to condense and focus on the more important points so that even this little snap of what I showed you doesn't ruin the greatness that is the Golden Age story of Berserk. I hope you can also see why I felt like this wasn't just something I could do two character appreciations out of, Guts and Griffith are amazing characters that are conjoined. You cannot talk about one without talking about the other, and so I figured might as well do both at the same time. Ultimately I hope that this gets people interested in at least watching, if not reading Berserk. That is after all the entire point of my character appreciation posts. To get people invested so they can build upon the fanbase. This one is especially important because it gets so little love. These two characters are unarguably two of the best villain/hero duos in all of anime and yet they are often overlooked. Berserk is unique, it is not a happy story, it is a story that captures pain, strife, and even the futility in this man's struggle. Every time Guts gets stronger, it's still not powerful enough to take on Griffith, not yet anyways.
(PS Shout out to my bud David Devries who showed me this amazing series in the first place!)
This has been another edition of Comic Relief! I hope you enjoyed and we'll see you again soon!
Really nice write up. I enjoyed reading through. Would love to read more of this often.
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Glad you enjoyed the read! I hope you follow my page and if you are looking for more berserk I will post the website where I have been reading it in the comments! Thanks for the support
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