The nature of Griffith... [Berserk Spoilers]

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Raven Faust

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Okay, this thread deals with Griffith from "Berserk." Both the end of the anime, and the most recent chapters of the manga. You have been warned.

So, who is Griffith? What is his nature now? While much has changed about him, a few things have remained consistent. He is charismatic, arabitious, and he wants his own kingdom.

Throughout "The Golden Age," he led the Band of the Hawk through victory after victory, raising his status from a mere commoner and mercenary to that of a noble.

But then, things went wrong, and after a series of tragedies that destroyed him, he ended up sacrificing his troops to become the fifth and final meraber of the God Hand, Femto. Afterward, he proceeded to brutally rape Caska in front of Guts.

Some time later, he was re-incarnated in a human body, and once again, as Griffith, he gathered a new Band of the Hawk consisting of both humans and Apostles, and proceeded to make war to save Midland from the Kushan Empire.

Along the way, he once again rescued Princess Charlotte; he gained the love and respect of the people; and the Pope declared him the messiah. The Hawk/Falcon of Light.

But, in the final battle against Emperor Gashinka, we witnessed him transform into Femto, and manipulate the Skull Knight into "opening the door." Now, the world looks like it's being overrun by demons and other creatures of legend.

I think it's safe to say that Griffith is no messiah. If anything he is the Antichrist. But, at his core, who is he? Is there any good or humanity left in him? Or is the man who once loved Guts gone, and replaced by the demon, Femto?

Considering his final glance towarRAB Guts and Caska on the Hill of SworRAB, there seems to be a spark of humanity still in there. Of course, he blamed the body he had possessed.

But, the question is, what is the nature of his soul now? Griffith or Femto? Is he truly the perfect tool of the Idea of Evil or not?
 
Well, since there's already spoilers in the title I won't bother with spoiler tags.

As I see it, there's no difference between Femto and Griffith. Same guy, mind and soul. Sure he got powered up by his transformation but that's it.

He's always been out for one thing and one thing alone: His dream of his own Kingdom. Everything he's ever done and everyone he's ever "befriended" are simply tools towarRAB this. Guts and Caska? Good soldiers but in the end they are his tools as well, his possessions. That's why he was so distraught at Guts leaving, one of his tools (his favorite one, but still a tool) left him and he couldn't stand that.

He still wants his own Kingdom, but his encounter with the Idea of Evil has twisted that desire into a darker one. So at his core he's always been the same guy, but the greater forces in the world (And the Idea of Evil pretty much telling him everything about him was a manipulation in itself) have in a way subverted him to an extent.
 
There's a flaw in the Idea of Evil's master plan. If Griffith became absolute evil by being reborn as Femto, then by being reborn yet again from Caska's deformed baby, Femto retained some of Griffith's humanity. Femto is the almost perfect tool. Which means he is not invincible.

What I want to know is, is there a real messiah and if so who is he? Is it Skull Knight or that kid Caska was temporarily taking care of?
 
I don't really buy that, and here's why:

In volume 3 of the manga, when the Count is dying, he tries to sacrifice Guts to the God Hand in exchange for being healed. The God Hand refuse and demand the Count's daughter. There reasoning being that you can't sacrifice someone you hate, or that you're indifferent to. It has to be someone you love so much that you're sacrificing a piece of yourself.

So, if we follow that train of thought, Griffith valued the Hawks, especially Guts, and probably Caska, more than he ever admitted... especially to himself. If they were just tools, it wouldn't have worked.
 
I mean the "good" messiah, the one who will defeat Griffith and God Hand. I don't believe true peace and prosperity will occur after their destroyed but all the Behelits will probably cease to exist.
 
A good Messiah probably doesn't exist in this universe, well, at least not a Messiah that's "fated" to arrive anyway (if that's what you mean), since the Idea is supposed to control the fate, everything that has, is, and will happen...... except stuff concerning Gutts anyway.
 
I believe that would be Guts, sure he's an anti-hero of the highest order but considering the fact he's been continuing defying the fate set for him and is the only one who can possibly defeat Griffth he's the closes thing the crapsack world of Berserk has to a true messiah.
 
Yeah, since Gutts exists outside of fate or goRAB plan or whatever, its pretty obvious he's going to be the one to throw the Idea's plans into the crapper, being the only one who can.
 
Messiah was probably the wrong word, rather the hero(es) who will oppose God/Idea and open up the door for others to do so. If Skull Knight and Guts can defy fate, so can others.
 
As viewers on the outside, it's logical to assume Guts will end up being the big hero, seeing as how he's the main character. As far as the Idea of Evil's plans are concerned, Guts has gone against quite a few master plans in the past, including the Mark of Sacrifice that would have killed him had he not been so powerful. Defying fate is what he does best. Then again, Miura could be leading us along for a nice little subversion, should Guts NOT be the big hero.

As for the main topic, the theory that's probably true is that Griffith has always been, and always will be, the same person the whole time. His arabitions are everything, and it's the beginning and the end of him. Had it not been for the Behelit and the Eclipse, he WOULD have killed himself, seeing as how his dream would never come to pass, and that alone tells us a lot.
 
Griffith was a flawed character even as a human. Now? He's without a doubt a self-centered monster.

The point on how much he valued the Hawks strikes me as purely academic. Ultimately, he still was willing to sacrifice them all in order to pursue his arabition. That was a betrayal that he decided on before he ever became Femto. From what I gather, he has since replaced the Hawks with super-powered minions, some of which seem to be deliberate mirrors. Zodd is his new Guts, another character follows him for reasons similar to Caska...

But if he needed to cast them all aside to further his goals, he would.

Griffith has always served himself, so I can't see him doing anything that would undermine the Idea of Evil--at least, not for any good reason or out of any compassion toward Guts. He's even mocked him, commented that he's not even worth noticing.
 
The real question is if there's really any need for the behelit anymore. The events and shots seen in the most recent chapter suggest that the Godhand are now closer to reality than they've ever been; they may even be part of the real world by now.

Then again, they may just be one step closer. During the Enoch arc, where Guts and Co. go into the forest and cross over into Qliphoth, Slan still has to manifest by twisting a pile of troll guts into her likeness. Ditto for Conrad needing to appear from swarming plague rats. So it may be that Qliphoth is now part of the real world, which just makes it easier for them to manifest. Either way, we'll have to wait and see.

As for Griffith, any ending where he comes around and becomes good again is going to feel like a gigantic letdown. When the Eclipse happened, his choice is laid out clearly: stay with his broken, useless body, give up on his dream, and go back to his men - who, Ubik is careful to point out, will still welcome him back and support him - or kill them all and walk on their corpses to reach his dream. He knew what he was doing.
 
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