Berserk/WMG: Difference between revisions

It's been stated that the Dragonslayer grows in power with each entity it kills. Hence, if it kills something as horrifying as a God Hand, Guts would [[Took a Level In Badass|take a massive level in badass]]. But what's going to happen is that Guts will make a [[Dynamic Entry]] into the [[Amazing Technicolor Battlefield]], [[Killed Off for Real|kill Ubik, Kill Conrad, and then kill Slan]]. Void will attempt to project a shield, but to [[Curb Stomp Battle|no avail]]. Then Guts will be ready for the [[Final Battle]] against Femto and the {{spoiler|Idea of Evil}}....

Back when he started, Miura didn't figure that working on a manga with such explicit horrifying material could have serious consequences on himself. Working on Berserk for so long took a serious toll on Muira's psychological and emotional health, which is why he's taking so many long breaks; his employers are letting him recuperate so the guy ''doesn't fucking kill himself''. I mean, if I spent so much time living in the heads of fictional people who've lived through the deepest darkest bowels of human depravity and cruelty, I'd snap and turn into a moe-addict too.

== [[Go Mad From the Revelation|Griffith will realize that in the grand scheme of things, he's not that important]] ==

Yeah, yeah, I know. [[Dark Messiah|Falcon of Light]]. Chosen by the Idea of Evil and all of humanity. But is that REALLY so important when you look at the big picture? The Idea of Evil is a human invention, and humans haven't been around for that long. In the long run, humans are going to die out along with the Idea of Evil, and even the Earth itself and all life on it is going to disappear. Someday, Griffith is going to be completely forgotten because the will of mankind is so puny compared to the will of nature and the will of the whole universe. Somehow, this is all going to occur to Griffith, [[Despair Event Horizon|and that's]] [[Go Mad From the Revelation|when shit really starts to go wrong.]]

*** Well, Miura has a knack at [[Cast of Snowflakes|not making everybody a paper-doll cut out of each other]], even if they're from the same ethnic group. Silat has [http://www.mangakong.com/manga/Berserk/037.047/169 a lot of sharp features to his face], as well as a lot of the Bakiraka, which could reflect how [[Red Right Hand|they were perceived as not really good guys]] - and maybe even a bit stereotyped - while Casca's features are a lot more soft and "normal" which is probably how a lot more Kushan people look like, [http://www.mangakong.com/manga/Berserk/237.246/211 judging from the way the children look]. Personally, I always thought that a half-Kushan person would look like [http://www.mangakong.com/manga/Berserk/317/10 Guska], since he looks like both of his {{spoiler|supposed}} parents and thus has features of both [http://www.mangakong.com/manga/Berserk/237.246/49 a Kushan and a Midlandian] (or is it "Midlander"?).

*** Also with the Casca's true ethnic origin thing, I always imagined that Casca's home village was comprised of Kushan refugees: it's in a place that's technically a safe haven, but it's close to their home turf. Plus, it's possible that Casca's family was given the crappy land by the Kingdom of Midland because the government wanted to "assimilate" the Kushan immigrants into their society (or they were just cautious of their allegiance) - but from a confined distance which was basically an ethnic ghetto.

*** The bit with Wyald is true; his real form is a frail old man.

** This would also be an interesting twist since we know that most male apostles are horny and often force themselves on human women, and that people who have become apostles still have children from their human life. However, we have yet to see a case where an apostle procreated with a human and gave birth to a [[Half-Human Hybrid]] (or even apostles having little apostles with other apostles).

* For the record, I call [[Law of Inverse Paternity]].

== The series takes place on a forgotten Feudal World in the Imperium of Man from [[Warhammer 40000]]. ==

* The Skull Knight is really a manifestation of the God-Emperor,

Let's go through the checklist, shall we?

* [[BFS]]? Check.

* [[Badass]]? Check.

* Only one functional eye? Check.

* End up accompanying/being accompanied by a whiny kid who can barely fight? Check.

** By this theory, Isidro is a [[The Loonie]] player who took a ton of Flaws (Young, Short, etc.) without exchanging them for very good Feats, thus resulting in a goofy "kid warrior" character who survives on luck (which was probably one of the only useful Feats he took) and [[Hilarity Ensues]] / [[Rule of Funny]] for the GM and the rest of the players.

**** Plus, sacrificing a woman he's practically married to and then running off another person who was a little girl when they first met? [[Sarcasm Mode|Really, that's DEFINITELY not so many kinds of outrageously wrong and out of character.]] Plus, it's obvious Ishidro is the Guts to Schierke's Caska; trust me, she's far more likely to end up with him provided neither get killed.

* It is bound to happen. Silat has openly questioned Griffith's legitimacy as a Messiah and despises the blind following of a deity for the sale of an uncertain greater good. He has a bone to pick with Guts for both the defeats he suffered at his hands but if he has been kept around and not [[Put on a Bus]] like Rickert or Luca, it means he will have a role to play sooner or later. And since he doesn't seem to happy with Griffith, the logical choice is joining Guts and his [[True Companions]].

Guts is functionally constantly kicking the idea of fate in the teeth. Each time he would seem to be about to die he manages to get away from it, he also doesn't have any kind of reverence for the supernatural, instead seeing the world as kind of a 'it is what it is' kind of thing. Griffith became what he was by embracing a destiny and breaking when it didn't perfectly match what he saw. Guts just keeps struggling, that tears at fate, at the rules and principles the Idea of Evil maintains and lives off of. Given enough time he might be able to destroy the idea of evil, making people see that prophecy is just assumed goals and that sometimes things go wrong for no reason. The human subconscious changes and the idea of evil grows weaker, it NEEDS those of the Godhand and the various demons to maintain the suffering and torment, and they need it to maintain their power.

Karma bites back, and Griffith will find that he while he has removed the effect that Guts has on swaying him away from his goal, he now can't prevent him from dislodging his plans by killing him directly (thus committing patricide in the process)...

* On the flip side, this could pose a problem if Guts ever got the chance to take a stab at Griffith, since Griffith ''is'' using the body of Guts and Casca's child... Killing Griffith would mean killing his own son. I'd like to think that Guts isn't so implacable that he'd become a Gambino.

Come on guys, the animal motifs? It's obvious Miura drew some of his inspiration from at least an episode or two of The Mighty Morphin' Power Rangers. The Red (Angry) Ranger gets pissed that The White (Chosen One) Ranger stole his lady (The Pink Ranger). But back to the animal motifs. It's an interesting and refreshing spin on the idea. The various armors of the Berserk universe would be so much more bland if not for the prominent animalistic features they sport. As for the apostles, they would fit perfectly in with the monsters Zedd and Rita are always creating for The Rangers to fight. Though sinister and horrifying, their design formula is actually quite simple: add face where face should not be, mix with animal parts, then make it all turn out wrong. Though, in the case of the New Band of the Hawk, make it all go pretty alright. Also, The White Ranger was reincarnated very much like how Griffith was. However, instead of being initially evil and becoming good, Griffith was the opposite.

From the get go, Berserk established its style by drawing elements from high renaissance and protestant reformation art as well as The Bible. Griffith is obviously a deconstruction of the messiah archetype and follows nicely with Jesus's story of being the savior during a time of war and need. The only difference is that Berserk puts a spin things by making Jesus betray Judas in an actualized Abraham Issac Scenario.

Guts, Zodd, and The Skull Knight represent the three talent specializations available to the warrior class in Blizzard's vastly popular mmorpg. To explain for those unfamiliar with the game: Guts would be an arms warrior. He is incredibly strong and can move at lightning speeds. Warriors have a spell called charge that grants the same effect. Zodd is clearly a fury warrior. They are referred to as barbarians in [[WoW]] lore and Zodd fits the M.O. needless to say. He frequently dual wields and dresses in a loin cloth. Protection warriors are tanks and very survivable. The Skull Knight fights with sword and board, nothing flashy, but devastating by implementation. This Troper would also surmise that Griffith is/was a paladin turned wrong. The only difference is that in the Berserk universe, you can sacrifice your party for a wicked ass buff, as Griffith did.

** 1). Berserk began before the [[Warcraft]] franchise even came into being. 2). [[World of Warcraft]] did not invent any of these combat styles. 3). Neither did [[Dungeons and Dragons]].

In recent chapters a black haired kid has appeared on a full moon. This troper believes it is Guts and Casca's err.. son? The reason is that Griffith may not have been reincarnated because he still has the Femto form and it was Gutts' and Casca's child that was brought back instead.

It fits perfectly with Miura's contrasting origins and destiny approach toward the characters. Griffith was in a good position to become king with his Arthurian myth behind him and everything, however, he ultimately fell. The child's birth was literally tainted by evil, however, his actions thus far have been in service of good. Sometime after Griffith brings about an Age of Darkness, Guts will exact his revenge (most likely dying in the process) and the Child will appear as the true savior of Midland.

Yet ''another'' alternative theory of the appearance of the mysterious black-haired child is that it's purpose is to be the direct opposite of the Beast: while the hound-like creature is an entity that dwells in Guts' mind and represents the dark side of his heart, the child is the embodiment of everything good in Guts' heart. The force is so strong that it takes on a physical form in the image of the child that was meant to be Guts and Casca's son, which in itself represented the love that the two shared and how Casca is the only person who keeps Guts from succumbing to the Beast's influence.

Since the world of Berserk is filled with unnecessary evil and torment, I wouldn't be surprised that the innocent unborn child of a convicted woman would not be spared from execution of the mother. However, what if there was some prophecy going around that would involve the future Guts and some people didn't like it very much (whether they considered themselves "good" and wanted to prevent said evil (Guts) from rising, or they considered themselves evil and wanted to prevent said [[Anti-Hero|(semi) good]] from rising), so they decided to go all Sarah Connor on Guts' mama and killed her while Guts was still in the womb. [[Nice Job Breaking It, Herod|Unbeknown to them, the child lived....]]

You know how in ''[[Final Fantasy]]'', a red mage is practically a jack-of-all-trades but never really excels in magic or melee fighting? Well, being the mere figure head of a group of "knights" that have little to no real skill in combat, Farnese could become an archetype later. She's currently learning magic under Schierke, but even Schierke said that the best time to learn magic is when you're young, so Farnese will probably never become a grandmaster witch. Now, suppose that Casca gets better and continues to be the badass action girl that she once was, giving the [[True Companions]] one more fighter, but leaving Farnese kinda, there. Guts didn't recruit Farnese because she was some great fighter, but so that she could take care of Casca in her mental state. One of Farnese's purposes to learning magic was so she could better protect Casca, but when the time comes that Casca doesn't need to be protected that much, then Farnese will be feeling all the more useless - until Casca repays Farnese for taking caring of her by teaching her the way of the sword. She most likely will not be as good as Casca, but she'll have enough combined knowledge in magic and melee fighting to not be a faux action girl.

Just tracing back to the good ol' Scandinavian mythology motif throughout Berserk, could it be possible that Casca's character and imagery was ''loosely'' based off of the Valkyries? I'm just speaking in the context that Valkyries led the way to worthy warriors, but in this case, not necessarily to the afterlife after they chose which warriors would die. Casca, who was the series' only genuine [[Action Girl]], led her squad of warriors into battle, some of which would have obviously died honorable deaths. In her present state, she doesn't do any fighting.... but she continues to lead Guts's way as his [[Morality Chain]]. Who knows? In the future, Casca's role might very well be to lead Guts into some battle that will lead to his death - which would lead to the ultimate battle in the next plane (which goes accordingly to Norse Mythology). Heck - if she ever gets better and starts fighting again, the Valkyrie could become Casca's entire motif. Just sayin'.

** Definitely. Guts dismissed her threats as meaningless, so that's exactly why she will succeed in killing Guts. Bonus points if Theresia looks exactly like her dead mother and is now a countess. And for extra tragedy just when Guts finally won too. He will no longer be anything like the bastard who gave Theresia her reason to seek revenge.

Well, think about (even if you don't want to). Casca's baby was completely deformed because [[Touched by Vorlons|it came in contact with Femto's... ''essence'']]. They made bodily contact. And Casca of course had forceful bodily contact when he raped her (which is how her baby got tainted in the first place). Because the baby was developing as a normal human, but got affected by a supernatural entity, it was in between two planes of reality. We could say that the Child was practically an Apostle Spawn. But fully developed humans can also became Apostle Spawns, as we know from experience. Even though sperm can only survive in the female reproductive system for a limited amount of time, it probably doesn't apply to super evil demon sperm, so for all we know, Femto's cellular material can be having some latent effect on Casca as a whole - but it's only being held back because Casca's insane at the moment. So curing Casca could mean awakening her very own [[Super-Powered Evil Side]] (if said side will be, in fact, truly evil).

On a more optimistic level, since not all Apostles are evil (or at least, not down right evil), Casca could be the [[True Companions]]' trump card in defeating enemies and can thus [[Took a Level In Badass|get upgraded]] to [[Badass Abnormal]], since I've heard other fans talk about how Casca will be pretty much defenseless against the hordes of monsters roaming the earth, even with her swordsmanship.

** Nice and well thought out. But not possible. Casca is just like Guts: out of the stream of Causality because she's a sacrifice. By your reasoning, Guts would also be some sort of an Apostle Spawn, simply due to his own [[Super-Powered Evil Side]]. I agree that there are high chances for Casca to [[Came Back Wrong|Come Back Wrong]], but I don't think she will this way. If we're going to fear for anything, Puck has much more potential to turn evil than Casca. Why? The Beherit he so dearly holds onto.

What do you think will happend if Charlotte finds out that she is just a meal ticket to Griffith

Well, it already happened once: Griffith threw his first band away and made an entirely new one, each with an exact counterpart to the original lead members. Since Griffith is pretty much immortal, and stronger than his other Apostles so that he may [[You Have Outlived Your Usefulness|dispatch them]] when he sees it necessary, while other members are going to age and die, we could see a new Band of the Hawk being created a hundred years from now, considering that Guts fails to kill Griffith. Alas, this could mean that a hundred years from now Guts's descendent(s) will have to lay witness to every new band's formation, [[Sins of Our Fathers|and will continue this eternal struggle]].

My own theory on this is that Guts truly doesn't see Casca as just some object of possession between he and Griffith and that he does want to see her well again... but the Beast ''does'' want Guts to believe that, as we've seen in volume 23. I think that while Griffith/Femto has similarities with Guts' [[Enemy Within]] - that's just it. Femto and the Beast have similarities, but that doesn't equate to [[Red Oni, Blue Oni|Griffith/Femto and Guts himself]] having similarities. So, perhaps the Beast has an even more malevolent role to play in Guts' life. Maybe it doesn't just want Guts to kill Griffith: maybe the Beast wants Guts to actually ''become'' Griffith, or rather, a being very similar to Griffith. Hence all of the parallels between Griffith/Femto and Guts when he's being manipulated by the Beast. Maybe the hellhound has some future role to play with the Godhand??? It's pretty much a supernatural creature after all, so who knows?

During their love scene, when Casca is emotionally healing Guts of his childhood trauma, she says that she wants a scar from Guts, which more than likely signifies that she either wants to get a scar from protecting Guts, or that she wants a symbolic scar given to her personally by Guts. Even though this was back in volume 9, I always took this as a sign of [[Foreshadowing]]. So how is Casca going to get her scar on account of Guts? The best theory I've come up with is as followed:

So, Casca gets cured, and let us assume that everything turns out fine. Guts is as happy as can be - except the Beast still wants Guts to kill Casca, and perhaps it's the Beast's presence that will partially get in the way of Guts and Casca reaffirming their relationship (other than Casca having to come to terms with all that has happened to her), since he is still worried that he will succumb to its influence and turn on her. So Guts is still cautious when he is around Casca, which puts a road block in their relationship not only because Guts is going to such lengths to protect Casca, but because Casca herself might feel even more useless (and I don't mean that in the [[Chickification]] sort of way - HELL. NO.). Now cue in a dramatic turn of events. Everyone seems to like the "Elfheim is going to get destroyed" theory, so we'll go with that. Apostles are everywhere, the team is fighting amok, and Casca wants to participate in the action as well, but Guts adamantly tells Casca to stay out of it and that he'll protect her and blah blah [[Knight in Shining Armor]]-speech blah. Way to put a defunct [[Action Girl]] down. Amidst all of the carnage, Guts succumbs to the beast, and slaughters all of the enemies present. That's good and all, except now he's going to turn on his friends. Maybe he even strikes out against one of the team (probably Serpico), and Schierke can't get through to Guts in his subconscious. It's not a full moon, so the Child is not present. Crap. what's left for them to do?

Don't worry. She'll get better. AND she'll have a lasting reminder in the form of a bite mark, something that Guts will not be too proud of, but something that will give Casca a new found meaning in her life as well as giving her a more heroic [[He's Back|She's Back]] reintroduction as she and Guts take another step in their healing relationship.

And that's my theory, which hopefully encompasses the fact that Casca protected Guts (from himself) and that Guts gave the scar to her himself. {{spoiler|I had better not see this on Fanfiction dot net.}}

Reiterating some factoids above, it's possible that people with pointy ears might not be entirely human, and might actually be part of an ethnicity/nation of people who had an apostle as an apical ancestor. They're kind of like the "elves" of [[The Legend of Zelda|the Zelda-verse]]: they have pointy ears because of some meaningful lineage, but other than that, they're pretty much normal humans. Because of their demonic lineage, they've become pariahs and have no national boundary of their own, so they must live off the borders of other states as mercenaries (so, they're basically a combination of the [[Proud Warrior Race Guy|proud warrior race]] and [[Proud Merchant Race Guy|proud merchant race]]). If they stay in one place for too long, they're subjected to [[Kill'Em All|ethnic cleansing,]] which might have been the unfortunate fate of our hero's mother. So, maybe reason why we've been seeing less characters with pointy ears is because the story simply is not taking place in their territory.

Let's look at Guts in particular for a moment. We've discussed both here and in the headscratcher section that it's arguable that Guts isn't really a normal human anymore because of the influence that being a part of the nexus has on him. In essence, we can all argue that Guts has now attained another level of badassery: [[Badass Abnormal]]. But it's not just because he's in between the natural and the supernatural realms, but by being exposed to this is re-exposing him to his apostle ancestors, giving him a power boost. So Guts is technically [[You Are What You Hate|a self-hater]] if this is the case, but at the same time, what better person to hunt apostles than [[Hunter of His Own Kind|one who is part apostle himself?]]

Here's the kicker. The only other main person besides Guts who has pointy ears is Griffith (yeah he's not technically a human anymore). So that would mean that he and Guts are practically kin. Perhaps this partially explains their bond to one another... And a reason why Griffith was chosen by the crimson behelit. How creepy is that?

It was very brief, but Puck '''''did''''' mention that an Elf aura emanated from the Skull Knight. You know how Miura works, nothing in the manga is thrown just for the kicks of it. If Puck said something like this, it's [[Foreshadowing]].

However, the Skull Knight knows what Casca ''really'' wants and knows that this will cause Guts huge pain. I'm pretty sure he will tell him something around the lines of [[Be Careful What You Wish For]], because maybe it's better for everyone if Casca remains in her state. The Skull Knight definitely knows more than what he lets on, so I'm pretty sure he has something to do with Elfhelm in one way or another.

In the Falconia arc Gutts ends up fighting a sea God and almost gets taken over by his demon. However the child they found on the beach watches the sea god and we get multiple close ups of the child when Gutts is found safe. Considering Miura this is probably going to be realised when the child starts talking.

Not that Gambino didn't also hate Guts because he "supposedly" was the cause of Sys' death, but Gambino might have also have been jealous of young Guts due to the attention that Sys gave to Guts. Finding baby Guts spared her from insanity, so she must of put a lot more attention into him, aside from just taking care of him as a mother should. Even her last words were of Guts, not Gambino.

Wandering the world without a home or parents, it's unfortunate to think that little Theresia might have fallen on desperate times: after losing her home and possibly being forced out of the castle town that her father reigned, she might have possibly became a prostitute, but I think there's an even stronger chance that she might have followed in her mother's footsteps and became involved with pagan worshipers (orgies and all). Only Theresia takes it up a notch by becoming an actual sorceress.

And her magic, political power, husband, and children will all be her instruments of revenge against Guts.

Basically, I picture Theresia becoming this Morgan le Fey/Echidna/Elizabeth Bathory kind of woman, surely a deadly foe for Guts (I mention [[wikipedia:Echidna chr(28)mythologychr(29)|Echidna]] because I imagine Theresia's half human/half monster offspring being particularly difficult enemies for Guts if the "Guts is part apostle himself" theory is correct, since they would match him in power).

On a lighter note, this would make Theresia the "bread-winner" in her family, [[More Deadly Than the Male|as she is calling all of the shots]], making her apostle husband the [[Henpecked Husband]].

So along the storyline, Griffith does indeed dispose of Charlotte, since he had empty feelings for her to begin with. But he still needs "something." I know that half of the fanbase says that Griffith has no empathy for anything while the other half says that he and the rest of the Godhand have the most embodiment of human emotions... at this point, I just don't know what to think of Griffith's complex characterization. All in all, say that he still does have some feelings (be they of affection or of malice or both) toward both Guts and Casca. Guts just keeps getting stronger and stronger and has his own army of allies and can possibly out match Griffith, earning Guts more resentment from Griffith. That, and Casca is cured at this point and is at Guts' side again, which miffs Griffith even more (since you can interpret Griffith's deeds toward Guts and Casca during the eclipse as [[Star-Crossed Lovers|his own way of separating them]] [[Disproportionate Retribution|as what he saw as punishment for their actions]]). So if violating Casca wasn't completely successful at driving Guts into a pit of despair, what else can he do?

I always found the Griffith-getting-Casca-killed-so-he-can-officially-[[Dragged Off to Hell|take-her-to-hell]]-[[And Now You Must Marry Me|and-force-her-to-become-his-bride]] scenario plausible, since Griffith fantasized about Casca becoming his wife before he ever did with Charlotte (if he's ever done so with Charlotte). Of course, Guts probably isn't going to take this sitting down and he'll probably make the [[You Are Worth Hell|greatest sacrifice of getting killed (or even killing himself)]] [[Orphean Rescue|in order to go down to hell]] and defeat Griffith once and for all, which could be one possibility for a final showdown.

* Femto - War

[[Category:Berserk]]