Berserk/Characters/Antagonists

This page is for the antagonists of Bererk.

For the main characters, go to Berserk For The Band of the Hawk, check out Berserk For everyone else, go to Berserk

The Godhand
The Big Bad Duumvirate of the story.

All of them used to be humans before becoming Godhands and are all unbelievably ancient, with the exception of their fifth and newest member Femto, who is born when the Eclipse goes down during the manga. Their powers are of course of godlike level. All Apostles refer to them as their masters.

Actually they all. Each one stands for a negative aspect of reality but none of them can actually appear in the mortal realm. They have to use the best material at hand, more often than not the most gruesome they can find.

They all

Since the creator Kentaro Miura is a huge sci-fi fan, all of them (except Femto) are named after classic sci-fi books.

Tropes that most God Hand have in common:


 * Big Bad Duumvirate: mostly to the story
 * Deal With the Devil:.
 * Demon Lords and Archdevils: The Godhand are the five most powerful demons in the Berserk universe, and are the rulers of all demonkind.
 * Devil but No God:.
 * Our Demons Are Different:.
 * Powers That Be: The ones who are responsible for pulling the strings of Causality upon the world, and thus the cause of so much of the utter misery that happens in that world.
 * Self Constructed Being: Since they are not part of the physical plane, the Godhand do not have physical bodies, and must manifest themselves by possessing some material (e.g. Slan possessing troll guts in order to manifest in Qliphoth). Otherwise, they have the opportunity to gain a new physical body every 1000 year during the Incarnation Ceremony (e.g. how Griffith re-entered the human world via his reincarnation during the mock Eclipse).
 * Vicious Cycle: The Eclipse, which happens once every 216 years, marks the birth of a new member of the Godhand.
 * Was Once a Man: Much like Apostles, all members of the Godhand were once human.
 * Was Once a Man: Much like Apostles, all members of the Godhand were once human.

Voiced by: Unsho Ishizuka(Japanese), John Avner (English)


""If fate is a principle beyond human comprehension which capriciously torments man, then it is karma that man confront fate by embracing sorcery.""

The leader of the group, he also seems to be the Skull Knight's Arch Nemesis. Able to control dimensions and void (as his name implies), he presides every ritual involving the instatement of a new Apostle and is the one who places the cursed Brand on those slated to be sacrificed.

The most philosophical of all Godhand members, he's also the most cynical and scornful. He appears as a nightmarish version of the aliens from Mars Attacks (Film) with his exposed, grotesquely oversized brain, his eyes sewn shut and his lips peeled back, displaying teeth and gums.


 * Arch Nemesis: To the Skull Knight.
 * Authority Equals Asskicking: Barring maybe Femto, he is the most powerful of the Godhand.
 * Black Cloak: A creepy one at that.
 * Evil Sounds Deep
 * High Collar of Doom
 * Homage: Like all Godhand members, his name is a homage to sci-fi book: in his case, Frank Herbert's Destination: Void.
 * Meaningful Name
 * My Brain Is Big
 * Narrator All Along (in the anime)
 * Nigh Invulnerability: It is almost impossible to hurt him since he can send any physical aggression right back at the opponent using his power over dimensions and nothingness.
 * Nightmare Face: Eeep!

Voiced by: Atsuko Tanaka(Japanese), C.L. Jones (English)


"Love, hate, pleasure, pain, life, death. Everything is here! The true nature of Man. The true nature of Evil."

A Vamp, Slan is lascivious and too kinky to torture. Similar to a succubus demon and a sado-masochist, she is the most seen of all Godhands and takes particular pleasure in tormenting Guts personally. She also owns a splinter cult of worshippers under the moniker "The Goddess of Blazes."

She appears as a practically nude woman with snake-like ropy green hair, a corset with an attached choker, a pair of large bat-like wings and the mandatory Femme Fatalons.


 * Badass: Anyone able to withstand a point blank thrust from Guts's BFS and a blast from his cannon arm owns the title, especially if they're female, yes!
 * Bloody Bowels of Hell: When she manifests in the real world (not the Eclipse or weird dimensions) while in Qlippoth using troll dung
 * Boobs of Steel: Hasn't really fought yet, but she's one of five demonic beings that warp reality by their mere presence, so she is probably the strongest female character of The Verse.
 * Combat Sadomasochist: She loves inflicting pain and receiving pain during battle.
 * Horny Devils: She personifies Lust among other things...
 * Femme Fatalons: Has them, but doesn't really need them as she is one of five Physical God BigBads
 * Fetish Fuel Station Attendant: Holy shit!
 * Gorgeous Gorgon: Without the petrifying vision as far we know so far.
 * Homage: Her name comes from A.E. van Vogt's Slan.
 * I Have You Now, My Pretty: The rare Gender Flipped version. She took intense sexual pleasure in dominating and torturing Guts while he stood helpless in her clutches during their encounter in the Qliphoth and made it all seem like they were having sex.
 * Nightmare Fetishist: She loves receiving pain, inflicting pain, and sees rape as a beautiful act.
 * Of Corsets Sexy: Not only an underbust corset does she wear, but a NECK corset too. Amp the sadomasochist look to eleven!
 * Red Baron: The Skull Knight calls her "Courtesan of the Amniotic Sea"....
 * Shameless Fanservice Girl: Being literally almost naked except for an armor/scale like corset and doesn't mind. However unlike most examples, this is not a fun person to be around.
 * Tender Tears: In a very twisted way, . She found the scene magnificent.
 * Too Kinky to Torture: You can cut her to pieces, blow off half her torso or impale her with a giant steel slab, but the only thing you'll succeed in doing is giving her an orgasm...
 * The Vamp: She may appear beautiful and enticing but her only purpose is doom.
 * Villainesses Want Heroes: Subverted. She desires Guts as her personal sex-toy but she has absolutely NO romantic interest in him.
 * We Will Meet Again: What she says to Guts after he destroys her physical manifestation in the Qliphoth.

Voiced by: Chafurin(Japanese), Christian Collingwood (English)


""When you sacrifice, you must cut yourself from Humanity...""

Ubik looks like a floating bluish face with atrophied tentacles. He is smaller thant Conrad but pretty similar in appearance and stance.

Ubik's main role among the Godhands is to play Mister Exposition in order to convince the applicant to accept their deal by deconstructing them and putting them face-to-face with their past, their desires and their darkest deeds. Since he never lies, his speeches are often all the applicant needs to be pushed over the edge and accept to sell his soul and offer their loved ones as a sacrifice.


 * Bald of Evil
 * Cheshire Cat Grin: His constant expression.
 * Hannibal Lecture: He is a master at this.
 * Homage: His name comes from Ubik by Philip K Dick.
 * Manipulative Bastard
 * Mind Rape: What he did to Griffith to convince him to accept the deal.
 * Red Oni, Blue Oni: Blue to Conrad's Red.
 * Sinister Shades
 * Those Two Bad Guys: With Conrad
 * Villains Never Lie: During his expositions, Ubik simply states the truth...

Voiced by: Toku Nishio(Japanese), Sean Schemmel (English)


""...so Causality can ruin your heart and possess your mind.""

Conrad looks like a giant fat woodlouse with a puckered human face. He and Ubik are pretty similar in appearance and stance, but Conrad rarely speaks.

The least seen of all the Godhands, Conrad's concerns is spreading diseases, outbreaks and pestilence in the mortal realm by using his plague-carrying rats and other vermin, which he can use to take a physical form in the real world.


 * Aerith and Bob: With Ubik
 * Animal Motifs: Rats, as a medium of causing outbreaks.
 * Bald of Evil
 * Homage: His name come from ...And Call Me Conrad by Roger Zelazny.
 * His appearance is also very similar to several HR Giger works, a trait the rest of the Godhand share much less obviously.
 * The Quiet One
 * Plaguemaster: Conrad's concern includes spreading diseases.
 * Red Oni, Blue Oni: Red to Ubik's Blue.
 * Satellite Character: The least seen of the Godhands.
 * Those Two Bad Guys: With Ubik.

Femto
See Griffith's entry.

Apostles
Former human beings who have met the Godhand and accepted their offer, all Apostles are One-Winged Angels. They are The Legions of Hell and follow the orders of the Godhand. Frequently, their human form has been modified slightly after they become apostles and their real form is an Eldritch Abomination. However, the most powerful (Zodd, Grunbeld, Rosine...) look scary but not as hideous in their Apostle forms. Many of them are Complete Monsters, were present upon the Eclipse and have participated in the massacre of the original Band of the Hawks. All Apostles revert to their original form upon dying.

Tropes that most Apostles have in common:


 * Conservation of Ninjutsu: Apostles were a major threat early in the series, with Guts needing to fight with everything he had to kill one, and Guts probably would have died fighting the Count if the Count's daughter hadn't conveniently burst into the room for Guts to use as a hostage. Now that all the Apostles in the world are serving Griffith, they've been demoted to Elite Mooks. Justified, since Guts has the Berserker Armor, which makes him much stronger and brings out his Superpowered Evil Side.
 * Deal With the Devil: Every Apostle is born by making one of these with the Godhand.
 * Despair Event Horizon: In order to become an Apostle, you have to have reached the lowest point of your life in order to activate that neato Behelit.
 * Dragged Off to Hell: This is what happens to any Apostle who dies in the series. It's the price you pay for dealing with demons.
 * Humanoid Abomination: Each one has a form that's generally more human-like in appearance, but there's often something very off about it.
 * I'm a Humanitarian: Many Apostles are not above chowing down on their former species.
 * The Juggernaut: Every Apostle is many times tougher than your average human, meaning that they are all quite hard to kill.
 * One-Winged Angel: When an Apostle wants to eat someone, horrify someone before eating them, or take the gloves off when their regular form isn't enough, they'll take on their true monstrous demonic form.
 * Our Demons Are Different: Every Apostle is different, owing to the fact that every one of them was once human and the circumstances surrounding their Despair Event Horizon are all different. They are not in the business of punishing sinners like many demons, but in doing whatever they please at the behest of the Godhand and their master. It is possible to kill them with physical weapons, but we wish you the best of luck on that.
 * This Was His True Form: Whenever an Apostle dies, in addition to their soul being Dragged Off to Hell, the body reverts to what he or she looked like when he or she was still human. This also applies to any Apostle spawns that they create, which has gotten Guts into trouble in the past.
 * Tragic Villain: Regardless of whether they are Complete Monsters now, one of the scariest things about them is that they couldn't have been Complete Monsters as humans, since the only way to become an Apostle is to sacrifice someone you genuinely care about, and therefore, someone who doesn't care about anyone couldn't become one.
 * Was Once a Man: Every single Apostle (and ) was once human.

Wyald


""Stand against me! We're gonna have FUN!!!""

Sent by the King of Midland after the Hawks after the Bakirakas' failure at preventing Griffith's escape, this grotesque Apostle looks like a humanized ape. Not much is known about him except that he is the leader of the Black Dog Knights, the most savage and brutal force in Midland. They consist of murderers and rapists who have been banished from the land but spared on the condition that they fight for Midland's King.

Perverted, hedonistic, evil to the point of stupidity and a bit of a Leeroy Jenkins, his motto is "Excitement and Enjoyment". He rules over his troops through terror, threatening to kill anyone who doesn't charge blindly into the battle just like he does, regardless of the danger. Believing himself invincible, he is extremely surprised to find his match in Guts and the Band of the Hawk.

His Apostle form is that of an enormous three-eyed ape monster with a second large mouth at the level of his shoulders.


 * Bad Boss: Taken to outright retarded extremes and the reason why the Black Dog Knights are so evil. Wyald's minions fear their boss so much they prefer to throw themselves head first on Guts' sword.
 * Belly Mouth: His Apostle form has one, but it's not used for eating people.
 * Blood Knight
 * Calling Your Attacks: WYAAAAALLD JUMP! WYAAAAALD BACKFIST!
 * Catch Phrase: "Excitement! Enjoyment!"
 * Card-Carrying Villain: He's evil and he LOOOOVES it
 * Dead Guy On Display: Not only does he, but he also.
 * Dirty Coward: Despite killing countless people, and forcing his own subordinates to ride into battle without any concern for their own survival, he ultimately shows himself to be this.
 * Hypocrite: He criticizes his own men for not wanting to ride blindly into battle(despite [[Stupid Evil how this is obviously a bad idea), but panics when threatened.
 * Due to The Dead: See above. Very much the evil version.
 * Everything's Better With Monkeys: Averted to an extremely squicky level.
 * : Before becoming an apostle,.
 * For the Evulz
 * : What ultimately happens to him at the hands of.
 * Groin Attack: At the end of his second fight with Wyald, . It is very satisfying.
 * Horny Devils: When he's not fighting, he is having sex with women at random. Willing or not.
 * I Have You Now, My Pretty: Oddly enough, it sorta plays out as a way more disturbing King Kong scene if King Kong were to do what he usually did with the  native girls used as sacrifices. When Wyald knocks the shit out of Guts while in his apostle form - which is a giant ape-like monster - Wyald takes some time aside from his murdering rampage in order to give Casca the "privilege" of feeling like a virgin again with his squicky large penis, since she was "just the right size" (after tearing off her clothes, of course).
 * Leeroy Jenkins: Plan? What Plan? Screw the Plan! I WANT TO KIIILLL!
 * Oh Crap: He has a very abrupt and extremely satisfying one . It's hysterical.
 * He also has two in such quick succession they count as one when he realizes that (A)  and (B)  . See it here, it's very enjoyable.
 * Rape, Pillage and Burn: His modus operandi of choice.
 * The Hedonist: His motto is "Enjoyment and Excitement!" And doesn't much care how he gets it.
 * The Unfettered
 * Weapon of Choice: A very crude block of wood.

Rosine


""It is a fairy tale. Yes. This is a fairy tale for children.""

This female Apostle is also the youngest one shown thus far and a clear example of a Killer Rabbit. Appearing as a cute cross between a young female elf and a Luna Moth, she certainly doesn't seem as threatening or disgusting as the other Apostles. Even when she reveals her true monstrous form, a Badass, demoniac luna moth capable of supersonic speed, she is still prettier than any other male Apostle in the same form. Formerly a peasant girl with huge dreams and an horrible luck, she became an Apostle upon sacrificing her parents to fulfil her Changeling Fantasy of becoming an elf.

Practically insane when Guts meets her, Rosine used her new powers to create her own race of demonic elves out of kidnapped children. She then used them to terrorize and massacre the people and livestock of nearby villages, in retaliation of her abused childhood. Against Guts, she proves being a particularly tenacious opponent,.


 * Abusive Parents (Her mom was okay. Her dad was an asshole. Who eventually paid for it the hard way!)
 * Anti-Villain
 * Bee People (Rosine's minions resemble cute bee-like humanoids when they're in normal mode, but when they get pissed off (or are "playing") -
 * Gosh Hornet ensues and they turn into demonic hornet humanoids!)
 * Break the Cutie: Of course required to use a behelith, but eventually it goes much MUCH further
 * Butterfly of Death and Rebirth (Yeah, she's a moth, but it can still be applied to Rosine's story, as she sacrificed her parents to the Godhand in order to be reborn into her dream life: a beautiful luna moth who is the queen over her elves. And then of course, )
 * Changeling Fantasy (Believes she is the centre of one due to parental abuse.)
 * Crap Saccharine World
 * Cool Big Sis (Rosine was this to Jill, who even referred to her as "sister" ("Rosine-oneechan", in the Japanese original).)
 * Cute Monster Girl
 * Cute and Psycho
 * Dark Magical Girl The abuse she went through made her wish for powers and happiness. Look where it got her.
 * Demoted to Extra: She has a minor role in the first anime, where she is responsible for the massacre of Rickert's unit.
 * Early Bird Cameo: She makes a brief appearance in the Golden Age arc before the chapter centering around her rolls around.
 * Enfante Terrible: Variation. She isn't exactly a psychopath but she is pretty much insane and truly dangerous, despite just how cute she is. Her pseudo-elves, on the other hand, qualify big time.
 * Evil Is Not a Toy: Behelits: Keep away from minors!
 * The Fair Folk (Rosine and her elves may look okay... but they're NOTHING like the true elves of the series.)
 * Fridge Horror: When you think about it, the reason why she wanted to take Jill with her at all costs might have been.
 * Another one; her elves play a game they call "Adult Attack" which involves  It has already been strongly implied that she is a , but that alone doesn't explain where she got the idea that adults do that to children...
 * Full Frontal Assault
 * Hair Wings
 * Innocent Fanservice Girl: Since becoming an Apostle, she eschewed clothing.
 * Killer Rabbit (She looks like a cute green fairy with moth wings, antennae and a furry collar...but her forehead proboscis is actually a Whip Sword and the dust of her wings is highly poisonous)
 * Les Yay: With Jill, her Morality Pet
 * Morality Pet: Jill
 * Onee-Sama: Rosine is this to Jill, since Jill regarded her more of an older sister since she was four years her senior.
 * Pet the Dog: She saves Jill from being sliced in half by Guts (who was trying to kill Rosine). She also saved Jill from a forest fire...started by Guts (who was trying to kill Rosine).
 * Pretty Butterflies (She's not a butterfly, but Rosaline's apostle form takes on a that of a luna moth, which makes her one of the more pleasant-looking apostles.)
 * Redemption Equals Death / Death Equals Redemption: Kind of a tricky one, but either of these might be seen as interpretations of her death.  It's absolutely heartbreaking.
 * The Runaway: She's the abused runaway case.
 * Spell My Name With an "S": Sometimes rendered in English as Roshinu.
 * Strange Girl
 * Sugar Apocalypse
 * Tomboy and Girly Girl
 * We Can Rule Together
 * We Have Reserves (Although she called her apostle spawn elves her "children", when pushed by Guts, who was destroying her "paradise" with fire, Rosine was willing to dump the place and start over again, letting all of her elves die.)
 * This is also the essence of her reply when Jill points out that her "friends" so-called games are actually killing them. Rosine cheerfully replies that it's all OK, because all she needs to do is transform more kids, and she'll have new friends to play with. Completely Missing the Point at it's most chilling.
 * Yandere.
 * This is also the essence of her reply when Jill points out that her "friends" so-called games are actually killing them. Rosine cheerfully replies that it's all OK, because all she needs to do is transform more kids, and she'll have new friends to play with. Completely Missing the Point at it's most chilling.
 * Yandere.

The Count


""Well you're a formidable opponent. But you're still just a human.""

The second Apostle to appear in the series, is a very complex character with a much more developed Backstory.

He used to be a happy family man who crusaded for the Vatican, but everything goes down the drain once he realizes his wife is addicted to orgies and pagan celebrations of demons. Mad with grief, he sacrifices his beloved wife and becomes a cruel and greedy Dark Lord who uses his subjects as guinea pigs for his experiments. He also becomes cannibalistic. His human form is that of a morbidly obese man while his true form is that of a disgusting, bloated, obscene slug with a human face. During the Eclipse, he attempts to trick Guts with Pippin's corpse and is seen eating it afterward.

The Count is one of the few Apostles shown to have Pet the Dog moments, especially towards his daughter, Theresia. Guts has a hard time dealing with him.


 * Aristocrats Are Evil: Possibly before becoming an Apostle (in-story accounts differ). Definitely after.
 * Bald of Evil
 * Church Militant: When he was a human he led crusades against pagans and heretics, which is why the discovery that  hit him so hard.
 * Demoted to Extra: He has a minor role in the first anime.
 * Dragged Off to Hell:
 * Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He genuinely loves his daughter, Therisia.
 * Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": He's only ever called by his title. We never do learn his name.
 * Evil Overlord (He becomes this after accepting the Godhands offer)
 * Evil Parents Want Good Kids: He takes some extreme measures to guard Theresia from the evils of the world.
 * Fat Bastard
 * Hidden Depths: Your first impression of the count gets an unexpected twist when he visits Theresia.
 * I'm a Humanitarian (He literally eats those unable to withstand his "experiments")
 * It Got Worse (Upon finding out his wife wallowing in an orgy.)
 * Knight Templar: Implied to have been this before becoming an Apostle, as he often led hunts for pagans and heretics. After, he mostly just kills and tortures for kicks.
 * Knight Templar Parent: And he becomes this after becoming an Apostle, partially to protect Theresia from the evils of the world, and partially to protect Theresia from the truth.
 * Mad Scientist (He used his subjects as guinea pigs for "experimentation")
 * Pet the Dog (He refused )
 * Ugly Guy, Hot Wife (Okay. We'll throw the poor bastard a bone: he was slightly less obese before he became an Apostle, as Ubrik mentioned.)
 * Redemption Equals Death

Swine Apostle
""EAT!!""

He tracks down Guts to Godo's place, by following his scent over a long distance. Guts breaks his new sword trying to wound the tough creature, and the fight would have gone badly for him if he had not discovered the two weapons which were to become his trademarks: the cannon arm and the Dragonslayer. By using these two new weapons, Guts manages to defeat the Swine Apostle rather easily.


 * Bald of Evil
 * Dumb Muscle: Can barely speak and just wants to eat people.
 * Messy Pig
 * Pig Man: as the name suggested and in his apostle form
 * Scarily Competent Tracker: He smells a branded sacrifice miles away.

Unnamed Female Apostle
""I've got you noww, boyy! It is fitting that you should fall to hell while tasting heaven!!""

The very first Apostle that Guts kills in the manga, the unnamed female Apostle appears as a beautiful naked blonde human woman who entices men to enter into her embrace before assuming her monstrous Apostle form and devouring them alive. During the Eclipse, she is the Apostle responsible for eating Corkus, but when she tries the same thing with Guts in the very first scene of the manga when he's having sex with her, Guts sticks his Arm Cannon into her mouth before unceremoniously blowing her brains out the back of her head with one blast.


 * Boom Headshot: How Guts disposes of this Apostle.
 * Death By Sex
 * Out With a Bang: Her modus operandi is to eat her victim alive during sexual intercourse.
 * Horny Devils: Very much so, as this is what she uses to lure men into her clutches.
 * Sorting Algorithm of Evil: Even lower than the Baron on the demonic totem-pole. She's practically a mook to Guts.
 * The Vamp: Lures men into her clutches and then eats them alive.

Voiced by: Kan Tokumaru(Japanese), Lex Wutas(English)


""Money...hostages...I don't care about such things. However...I would like to see humans running around in the midst of great flames...I would like to hear the sound of bones being crushed beneath the hooves of horses...I don't need a reason...such things don't matter to me...""

The first Apostle introduced in the anime is the Baron, the leader of an outlaw band of soldiers who were racketing the local population. He wears golden snake-like scale armor and his true Apostle form is that of a huge humanoid cobra. Guts makes relatively quick work of him compared to other Apostles.


 * Battle Amongst the Flames: The Baron's evil rampage through the village turns into this when Guts shows up.
 * Fangs Are Evil
 * For the Evulz
 * I'm a Humanitarian Like most Apostles, the Baron eats humans.
 * Eats Babies: He even snacks on a baby at one point during the evil rampage through the village.
 * Karmic Death: Guts Leaves him to burn to his Death by the flames of his evil rampage
 * Looks Like Orlok: Exactly What It Says On the Tin, only he has more snake traits than vampire or rat traits.
 * Loves the Sound of Screaming: His quote pretty much tells you all you need to know about him.
 * Pointy Ears
 * Satellite Character
 * Scaled Up: His One-Winged Angel form is that of a gigantic humanoid snake. It does help him, up until Guts unloads his cannon-arm right in his face at point blank range.
 * Smug Cobra: Sorry about that...
 * Sorting Algorithm of Evil: As demons go, he's one of the weaker ones compared to some of Guts's other enemies.
 * Starter Villain: The first serious Apostle that Guts fights in the manga.

The Egg Of The Perfect World (a.k.a. The Egg-Shaped Apostle, the Behelit-Apostle, the Nameless Apostle)


""But those threatened by the dark can by no means ever let go of a torch. All they can do is stare in blank surprise at their illuminated, disgustingly cruel selves and continue to suffer it.""

A horrifying version of Humpty Dumpty with his mouth on the side of his deformed face, this former outcast, shunned for his appearance, has been turned into a giant Behelit with tentacles. After giving demonic powers to Father Mozgus and his mooks, he remained in the shadows of the Tower of Conviction for a long time and contemplated the pain humans were willing to inflict themselves in the name of God. His wish was to give birth to a perfect world. Which he eventually achieves  He conveys his story and purpose to Luca, a prostitute who will be the only one to know about his existence.

He is the only Apostle so far whose death has not been brutal (mainly due to Guts not killing him), and one of the rare sympathetic Apostles along with Rosine, Locus and Irvine.


 * Anti-Villain
 * The Collector of the Strange: What he calls his "garden" is actually the well aligned decaying corpses of the tortured from the Tower of Conviction.
 * Dark Is Not Evil: Probably the least straight example, but his wish for the creation of a perfect world as well as a far less malign personality than the vast majority of the apostles probably make him at least much less evil than other dark based supernatural creatures in the series (sans perhaps the Skull Knight).
 * Egg MacGuffin: A literal one.
 * The Grotesque
 * Loners Are Freaks: As a human, he used to lurk in a collective ossuary and got shooed off viciously for his hideous appearance the only time he showed up. He even wonders what his life might've been like if Mozgus had found him before his transformation.
 * Man Behind the Man: He is the man behind Mozgus and his Mooks gaining powers.
 * My Death Is Just the Beginning: His death was the condition for Griffith's resurrection...
 * The Watcher: He used to remain in the shadows of the Tower and watch the events unfold without interfering.
 * The Watcher: He used to remain in the shadows of the Tower and watch the events unfold without interfering.

Apostle Spawn
Many Apostles have the ability to taint other life with their demonic powers. Some have even been known to raise the dead. While the typical transformation process gives the entity more strength, other methods are also known.

Bishop Mozgus


""How dare you stand in the way of God's will!!""

An Apostle Spawn Knight Templar, preacher of a Religion of Evil and a bishop in a Corrupt Church. Also, he takes in and cares for deformed orphans, treating them as his family when others did not even consider them human.

Guts meets Mozgus upon trying to retrieve Casca who had run away from the magical cave he had confined her in before going on his Roaring Rampage of Revenge. Believed to be "unnatural" due to her speech impairment, unwillingness to curse at other supposed heretics, and more importantly, her identification by various heretics as a witch, Mozgus had her tortured in the Tower of Conviction but her Fetus Terrible of a child summoned several ghosts to save his mother, draining itself out and convicting poor Casca of witchcraft in the bargain, for which she almost got burned at the stake. Mozgus and his torturers died in the ensuing battle against Guts.

Appearing as a square-jawed hulking priest in white robes, he eventually gains the ability to transform himself into a stone angel.


 * Anti-Villain: Less so than his torturers (see below), but Mozgus never gives any sign that he doesn't think what he's doing is A) right and B) good for the people it's inflicted upon. He wants to protect and save the people living at the base of the tower, and sometimes, he does a decent job of it. The problem is that he thinks finding and capturing heretics is the main way to do this, and he has a rather broad definition of heresy.
 * Arson, Murder, and Jaywalking: In Mozgus's worldview, what's even worse than murder, rape and robbery? HERESY! Unfortunately for the people of St. Albion, the charge of heresy could be as minute as refusing to shun other people charged with heresy. It didn't help his worldview that, on his first day at the refugee camp, he saw the flayed skin of a murdered priest.
 * Bald of Evil
 * Calling Your Attacks: Once he becomes an Apostle Spawn, he starts doing this.
 * Church Militant
 * The Dreaded: Everyone knows him. If you want to live, make sure he never even notices you.
 * Exalted Torturer: Torture is GOOD! Especially as a way of purifying sins! It's Mozgus' notion that torture cleanses the soul of the tortured that makes him particularly terrifying.
 * Gonk: In human form.
 * Gag Nose: It is square and flat, speculated by Serpico to be because he keeps banging his head against the floor repeatedly in ritualistic prayer.
 * Knight Templar
 * Large Ham
 * Light Is Not Good: His status as a church militant and his apostle spawn form - he even describes it as "a gift from God"!
 * Takes on distinct shades of Good Is Not Nice when Mozgus and his inquisitors are actively saving the refugees from the monsters and possessed. It's no wonder that they think he's become an angel.
 * Non Standard Character Design: Mozgus is just plain odd looking in his human form.
 * Definitely done to remind you that you should not take him THAT seriously.
 * One-Winged Angel: His apostle spawn form.
 * Pet the Dog: Horrific as he is, he actually picked his followers from people who needed a second chance.
 * Done periodically to show the frightening duality of Mozgus' faith. After a group of starving refugees are captured for having harried a cart bound for the tower, he saves the malnourished infant of a woman who had the courage to address him directly, and even says he's opened negotiations for more aid from the church for the refugees. These moments are shown mere seconds before he escorts the aforementioned mother off to torture for blaspheming during her impassioned plea, and all the while, Mozgus gives every sign that he wants her to emerge from it a better person.
 * Religion of Evil: He ruled over his people through inquisition and threat of torture if they showed the slightest sign of heresy, apostasy, witchcraft etc... In fact, just existing was enough a crime for them to be shoved into the torture chamber.
 * Throw the Book At Them: The picture of him smashing some poor fool's head in with his iron-bound tome and screaming "HERETIC!!" has almost reached Memetic Mutation levels.
 * Torture Technician: Came with the job. Mozgus just took it and ran with it.
 * Torture Technician: Came with the job. Mozgus just took it and ran with it.

Mozgus' Torturers
""Neither can I come to enjoy hurting people. I feel as if I really have become a monster.""

Bishop Mozgus' personal body guards and tortuers. All of them are deformed or suffer ailments that make them appear monstrous. Saved and given a purpose by Mozgus they serve him loyally even though they dislike their dirty work.

---
 * Antivillains: They're not exactly torturers because they want to be. They were all outcasts due to their assorted deformities, and only Mozgus saw them as human. Bird in particular stands out: he looks indistinguishable from a normal person, but his skin immediately burns upon contact with sun.
 * Beam Spam: Of a feather variety for Bird.
 * Bishonen: Bird is actually quite handsome under his mask. Serpico even notes this.
 * The Brute: Big, a mass of muscles.
 * Even Evil Has Standards: Small calls out Nina when she won't stick up for Casca.
 * Evil Albino: Bird, but a punch clock variety.
 * Expressive Mask: Bird's mask gets a lot more expressive...when it becomes his face briefly.
 * Eye Scream: The Small one tends to pluck out eyes with his pliers.
 * Determinator: Big and Tall take the most damage but keep fighting Guts.
 * Flight: After being tranformed.
 * Fragile Speedster: Small.
 * The Grotesque: Played with. They're all Torture Technicians who have enacted many cruel atrocities in life, but they never had any other choice thanks to their deformities.
 * I Am a Monster: Quoted above. Bird makes no justifications for his actions.
 * Improbable Weapon User: All of them, Bird's collar-staff, Big's crushing wheel, Twin's saws ect.
 * Light Is Not Good: Like Mozgus, they take on the appearances of angels when transformed into Apostle spawn.
 * Lightning Bruiser: Big is quite agile for being so large.
 * Off With His Head!: The Twins' demise.
 * One-Winged Angel: Courtesy of the Nameless Apostle (though they all have two wings).
 * Pet the Dog: Bird admitting they are monsters and the Twins playing with crows.
 * Punch Clock Villain: All of them, they see themselves as monsters but they owe their lives to Mozgus.
 * Quirky Miniboss Squad
 * Team Spirit: One of the few times Apostles actually work together.
 * "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Small calls out Nina twice, the second when she spills the beans on Casca's 'powers' after not even losing a finger nail.
 * Torture Technician: All of them.
 * Undying Loyalty: To Mozgus.
 * Variable Length Chain: Tall's weapon of choice with spiked clamps at the end.
 * Winged Humanoid: They all acquire angel wings after being tainted by the Nameless Apostle.

The Great Goat Head
The Great Goat Head was the leader of Slan's depraved cult near St. Albion. He was a tall human with a great goat mask on his head. He became an Apostle-spawn by the Egg-Shaped Apostle. His worshippers brought him Casca as a bride but Guts and Isidro rescued her just in time from an unholy mating ceremony. The Great Goat Head died in the ensuing battle, along with a good numbers of his worshippers.

He bears resemblance to the Templar Knights idol Baphomet.


 * Animal Motifs: The Goat
 * A Party - Also Known As an Orgy: What the rituals he presides are.
 * Eats Babies: Nina, the blonde prostitute who introduced her boyfriend to the cult, tried to make him drink a soup with parts of a cooked baby inside...
 * Expy: of Baphomet. Also a case of What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic
 * Fan Disservice: The orgies that he presides are anything BUT sexually appealing. Among other things, the worshippers eat babies during these celebrations. That's not even mentioning his penis...
 * Lightning Bruiser: There aren't many creatures in the Berserk-verse fast enough to dodge Guts' attacks. The Great Goat Head combines this with enough strength to land a blow that Guts himself says would have been fatal without his armour.
 * Male Frontal Nudity: Yes. Uncensored. And erect. You may faint now, Moral Guardians.

Captain Zondark
One of The Count's Elite Mooks, who was gravely injured after a battle with Guts and wanted to exact revenge. The Count agreed and gave him some of his powers... in a way you really don't want to know about.

When first shown, he is wearing large plated armor with a personalized faceguard in the shape of a male face complete with detailed nose, mouth, bone structure and eyes. His actual face is somewhat brutish with short, scraggly black hair. After becoming an Apostle-Spawn, his appearance alters to show sharp, demonic teeth and snake-like eyes...in addition to the multiple changes his body goes through as Guts damages him.

Guts might have taken much longer getting rid of him if Zondark hadn't told him how to destroy him.


 * Body Horror: At first is his arm and later he goes to this Horrific Form
 * Elite Mook
 * Giant Mook
 * Explaining Your Power to The Enemy: Was stupid enough to tell Guts of his one weak points. Which Guts immediately capitalizes on.
 * Mauve Shirt

Emperor Ganishka


""I am the King of Kings! In this world, I am the one absolute principle!""

The Kushan Emperor is a rogue Apostle, the only one refusing to submit to the Godhand.

Extremely powerful, he began his campaign by holding Charlotte as his prisoner so he could marry her against her will and claim the crown of Midland, since only a pureblood royal could contend for it. Ganishka then launched a genocidal war against Midland so the Godhand would be forced to confront him. Helped by his legions of Mooks, he has already personally fought Zodd and Guts in one of his many Apostle forms (that of a humanoid mist).

He appears as an overweight, bearded, turban-wearing Kushan ruler in human form with an unusually wide mouth and sharp teeth (though normally these are hidden by his moustache).


 * Attack of the 1000 Foot Tentacle Apostle Emperor!
 * Beard of Evil
 * The Caligula: Ganishka personifies this trope, and even manages to out-monster most of the other Complete Monsters of the series.
 * Devour the Dragon:
 * Eldritch Abomination: His final form, Shiva, is essentially this.
 * The Emperor: Literally
 * Evil Overlord: He rules his endless legions ruthlessly and cares nothing for them.
 * Evil Sorcerer: Him and Daiba, his elderly henchman, are particularly profuse with Kushan black magic.
 * Evil Versus Evil: His goals are just as grisly as those of the Godhand but he still believes his are better than theirs.
 * Fat Bastard
 * Large Ham: "I am the King of Kings! In this world, I am the one absolute principle!"
 * Ominous Fog: Whenever this appears, you know Ganishka's up to no good. He can take the form of a giant humanoid mist cloud with lightning powers, and he can also sense anything that happens within his fog, making it very difficult to surprise him.
 * Rebellious Rebel: He is the only Apostle who stands up to Griffith and refuses his authority. However, he is far, far from good.
 * Red Right Hand: He appears mostly human...until you get a good look at the large, toothy maw hidden within that beard.
 * Refusal of the Call: Due to the above.
 * Royally Screwed Up His backstory.
 * Sim Sim Salabim: Like all Kushans
 * Super Smoke
 * We Can Rule Together: Not necessarily "rule," but he tries recruiting Guts to his cause, knowing they have a common enemy in Griffith.
 * We Have Reserves: Ganishka almost always uses this tactic.
 * We Can Rule Together: Not necessarily "rule," but he tries recruiting Guts to his cause, knowing they have a common enemy in Griffith.
 * We Have Reserves: Ganishka almost always uses this tactic.

Daiba
A Kushan sorcerer under the employ of Emperor Ganishka, and the one behind most of the Kushan military's sorcery. Extremely knowledgeable about the inner workings of the world, he knows much about Apostles and Behelits, going so far as to create the Reincarnator, a "man-made" Behelit of sorts that can make demon soldiers.


 * Beard of Evil
 * The Beast Master: Most of his magic comes from the array of creatures, both normal and spiritual, he has at his command.
 * Black Eyes of Crazy: He has these very weird, almost completely pitch black eyes.
 * Black Mage
 * Bring It: Performs this gesture to Guts when they fight.
 * Common Tongue: Averted. When he speaks, neither Guts nor Serpico understand his language.
 * The Dragon: To Ganishka
 * Evil Old Folks
 * Evil Sorcerer
 * Evil Smoking: This is what his first appearance consists of him doing.
 * Sim Sim Salabim: He's Kushan after all.
 * Squishy Wizard: He relies entirely on his magic to fight. His scrawny build indicates he wouldn't last a second against Guts or Serpico in a hand-to-hand battle.
 * Toothy Issue: He’s missing a lot of teeth.

Silat


""Is it really a good thing to entrust oneself to what is beyond human comprehension?""

A Kushan prince, chief of the Bakirakas, that Guts met at a fighting tournament during his time out of the Hawks, pre-Eclipse. Using an array of exotic weapons, he still ends up defeated by Guts twice: once in a tournament and one more time upon the failed attempt to take down the Hawks by Midland's Army.

He is then seen after the time skip pose-Eclipse where he is seen watching Guts's moves from afar and also witnessed the rebirth of Griffith. After reuniting with the Kushan army and Ganishka. he gets berated for his inefficiency in stopping the growing influence of the new Band of the Hawk. He thus far has stayed in the background, watching the events unfold without interfering and has been seen briefly chasing after Rakshas, with whom he has some bad history. Despite his position in the Kushan army, he does not seem especially loyal to Ganishka.

At the onset of the Final Battle between Griffith and Ganishka, he clearly questioned Griffith's legitimacy as a messiah and told his fellow Kushans who allied themselves to him that he despises those who blindly follow so-called demigods.

His motives thus far, apart from returning his clan to its previous glory, are pretty unclear just like his allegiances, making him a Wild Card.

He appears as a dark-skinned Bishonen with long hair and is always surrounded by his bodyguards.

"Guts: "What are you up to?"
 * Agent Peacock: He uses graceful weapons such as his urumis, likes to perform and fights hand-to-hand in She Fu style. So yeah, he appears a tad fruity... but Silat is just another proof that judging a book by its cover is a very bad idea in the Berserk-verse.
 * Badass: Even if it happened pre-Eclipse, anyone who survives an encounter with Guts twice and who isn't an Apostle owns the title.
 * Badass Long Hair: As seen once Guts slices his turban open the second time they battle.
 * Bishonen
 * Exotic Weapon Supremacy: Subverted. Despite giving Guts a hard time with his weapons, he still ends up defeated albeit alive.
 * Fragile Speedster
 * So speedy  It all happened in less then a second.
 * Large Ham: Surprisingly enjoys dramatic effect during battles to the point that Guts calls him a "circus performer".

Silat: "Your DOOM!!""


 * Mask Power: Even though he can frequently be seen without it.
 * Mysterious Watcher: Doesn't interfere with the course of events and clearly waits for the right moment to act.
 * Razor Floss: The ability of his urumis.
 * She Fu: Rare Male Example. Yet it doesn't make him any less Badass.
 * Sim Sim Salabim
 * Weapon of Choice: He has a lot of exotic and weird - but nonetheless cool - weapons that deem him a circus freak. Most people from Kushan are notorious with these types of weapons.
 * We Wait: His default strategy at the moment.
 * Wild Card: Where his loyalties lie is still pretty unclear.