The Final Battle: Bringing Griffith down out of necessity

Miura revealed in his interview with French journal La Figaro that the final is ending and the story will be back focusing on Griffith-Guts dynamics.

Which only means that as a writer, he has to provide motivations for both Guts and Griffith to meet, or make them meet by chance or “destiny” in one way or the other.

Edit 25th August 2019:
Because the new chapter is out, the predictions that appear to materialize in the story are marked with the 👍-emoji.

Possible Plot tools to achieve a Final Confrontation

Casca’s awakening

It is possible that Casca’s reaction will eventually trigger a chain reaction that leads to the final confrontation between Guts and Griffith. Let’s see what reactions from her perspective are possible:

• 👍 Casca wants to return the favor to Guts for protecting her and keeping her alive all this time 👍
• Casca wants Guts to stop consuming his own body and soul for her safety
• Casca wants to focus on healing together with Guts
• 👍Casca wants to get away from Guts which would be a form of rejection that has potential to make him go after Griffith again. 👍 Possible reasons for her to do this can be numerous, e.g. to protect him, 👍 because he is a trigger for her PTSD 👍, because she refuses to accept what he has become, Guts is no longer the man Casca loved, etc., perhaps even a little bit of everything.
• Casca wants the feud between Guts and Griffith to end and takes on the role of a mediator (she was already tired of fighting when Guts fought Wyald back in volume 11)
• Casca wants revenge for the Hawks and what Griffith has done to her
• Casca wants to confront Griffith in a similar fashion like Rickert did
• Casca wants to see Griffith’s kingdom of lies and charades fall. She would do this out of a couple of reasons: e.g. to spare the country of Midland the same fate as the hawks (empathy), attempt to restore her honor and pride given she was violated by Femto (healing), to show people the truth about Griffith and contribute to his downfall (truth-bringing)…

Griffith’s pursuit to become king of all beings

Right after the story was left on a cliffhanger in chapter 355, we see Griffith eradicating the King of Giants. The writer’s intent here is to show the reader that Griffith will not be satisfied just being King over Midland – he has to be King over all astral beings and will neutralize those who dare challenge his rule (or whose demise help him getting there: e.g. Ganishka). Guts has hinted for this in chapter 345 as well!

Here, we can already tell that this is going to with some of Casca’s goals and intentions I previously pointed out. Just imagine: you are Casca. Would you like that your sexual offender, who betrayed you, killed your comrades (some of which you witnessed dying to keep you safe) and destroyed everything that was dear to you, becomes King of Midland, or even rule over material and spirit world?

Not only seems that like an insult, but also must be extremely worrying: what will happen to those currently following Griffith? Will they meet the same fate? Can it be prevented? People have a right to know! Let this false snake burn in hell where he belongs!!!
Casca’s concerns may revolve around Charlotte as well, considering she does care about the princess and her safety.

There is NO way that someone with high empathy, pride and morals like Casca will let this stand and watch as the entire country of Midland (or even the entire world) gallop towards its doom. After a period of processing her trauma, I can totally see her go on a quest to save the world and humanity, it seems like a very Casca-like thing to do. Additionally, she’s likely going to drag Guts and his party along with her. The paradoxical part: Guts does not have that kind of ambition at all and possibly doesn’t even want to go after Griffith anymore (“Her wish may not be your wish” – “I let go of my obsession just to be questioned about Griffith at my destination.”).

So the theories that state Casca may revive the original Band of the Hawk in order to confront Griffith/Femto have become a possibility to be taken seriously.

Guts’ Life choices

I want to remind you people that Guts repeatedly chose to protect those he considers family over and over again throughout the manga. His choice has been challenged many times and will continue to be challenged in the future.

Sometimes, he needed his companions to remind him of this. Sometimes, fortunate circumstances prevented him from doing something he would have regretted.

If Casca decides to go after Griffith in her quest to save humanity (which I can see her doing), it’s going to go against Guts’ own goals, namely to protect his loved ones. Casca is going to be in great danger if she attempts this and Guts will NOT let her pursue Griffith just by herself alone.

Because let’s be real: Guts has already been there. He has tried fighting his own war against Griffith – an entity much more powerful than him – and didn’t get very far. He almost died multiple times in his carnage. The most important thing that pushed him to be a bigger, better person is his will to protect those he cares for – not the thirst for revenge. I believe to a degree, he realizes this.

---

Read: The tree as metaphor for Guts’ mental state

---

WHat could make Guts go and save the world together with Casca?

Guts has all the reasons to make Casca stop pursuing Griffith. But he may end up helping her (albeit reluctantly), if a couple of factors come into play.

• 👍 Guts likely would still follow and protect Casca, even if she didn’t want him to. 👍
• Guts and Casca cannot stay at Elfhelm if they choose to not depart with the course of time.
• Guts and Casca will never be able to live in peace because of their brand. They only will be safe once the curse has been lifted (e.g. by killing Femto or getting help from the powerful sorcerers at Elfhelm somehow).
• Because time flows differently, if either of them stays at Elfhelm, they will be separated permanently. Given they have feelings for each other and that they still need each other to heal, I don’t think this is going to happen.
• Griffith has always been threat to the existence of Casca and Guts’ companions. He is constantly getting rid of all threats to his rule even before he became Femto: e.g. General Julius, the Queen of Midland, Gennon, or the King of Giants; Ganishka and Flora to a lesser extent, as these were “collateral damage” in order to trigger world transformation (mercilessly killed for his goals). It’s not far fetched to think that he’s going continue this.
• If Griffith attacks other astral beings, he may end up attacking those who helped Guts throughout the journey (with Flora, he already did, it may happen to Elfhelm or the mermaids as well). If those allied to Guts are decimated, the chances of survival for Guts and his companions also decreases.

I think what’s going to happen is that Guts and Casca will both topple Griffith (or contribute to his downfall) out of necessity, not out of revenge or playing hero in a fairy tale.