So I received this message from Tumblr-User arimii.
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I just finished chapter 90, and I don’t quite understand many things. Especially Griffith’s mind is really unclear to me. Did he genuinely love Guts and Casca? I didn’t quite understand his actions in his weakened state…was he jealous because Guts got Casca or the other way around?! Was he scared he might end up alone and abandoned? what about the imaginary scenery where he lived a calm life with Casca and a son? …. After becommig demon, what might have brought him to do that to guts and casca?!well…sorry for bothering, I hope we can discuss about Berserk ( although I am still at the beginning of the story) ^^
Very good questions here! Let’s answer them first and then take a closer look at the manga to explain why.
Did Griffith genuinely love Guts and Casca?
Personally I doubt Golden Age Griffith is capable of voicing or acting on true love or friendship, but he may be able to feel/notice it. He was shown to value them at least, e.g. by insisting to go rescue them after both fell off a cliff. Part of this was because they were key in winning the battles required to end the war with Tudor. He couldn’t have his dream without Guts’ and Casca’s contributions. That being said, he may have valued both of them as friends, but never truly acted on it because 1) it was a very subconscious thing for him and 2) he is incapable of communication required for true friendship and intimacy.
Was Griffith jealous because Guts got Casca or the other way around?!
Honestly? I think Griffith was jealous of Guts being able to bond with Casca in a meaningful and emotional way, and Guts possibly was jealous of Griffith that Casca would look up to him in the way she did. However, Griffith’s relationships were always shallow and closely tied to whether a person is useful to his dream or not.
Was Griffith scared he might end up alone and abandoned?
Yes, he definitely was. He was scared that Casca – who was still loyal to the point of carrying on his dream – will end up abandoning him like Guts did. This is why he pushed himself onto her, while they were in the carriage alone. He didn’t want to be abandoned by someone he (subconsciously) thought of as friend (note: in my opinion, this contradicts his fountain speech and that contradiction is intended; detailing this more requires another article though!). It was also a good way to foreshadow the rape during the eclipse.
What about the imaginary scenery where he lived a calm life with Casca and a son?
I believe this was Griffith’s last resort plan or perhaps even a hallucination by the God Hand. If he cannot pursue his dream with Guts, he’s going to do it without him. But sadly, this is also when he realized he became a person that lives solely for the sake of living, the very thing he despises. This realization and despair that followed led to the events of the eclipse.
After becoming a demon, what might have brought Griffith to do that to Guts and Casca?!
The ultimate act of revenge from Griffith was raping Casca in front of Guts.
What he has done to Guts was a payback for abandoning him and sending his life into a downwards spiral (even though you can argue Griffith brought this upon himself).
What he has done to Casca was directed to Guts in order to harm him, but can also be seen as punishment for Casca who was considering to run off with him (and thus abandon Griffith as well).
What does the Manga Say
First off: Golden Age Griffith is very very unaware of his internal world, including his feelings, love or friendship.
Normally he is a very calculating manipulator, like a chess player carefully placing his pawns on the chess board. We see this when he crafted the intrigues to kill General Julius and the Queen of Midland. The thing is with him being utterly demobilized and unable to talk after being tortured, the chess player turned into a pawn. He is utterly helpless, and we see him picking up his sword but being unable to hold on to it. Because of his condition, Guts and Casca are now in control over him and his fate.
While Griffith was busy getting his throne, Guts and Casca bonded:
Rickert even notes that Griffith has drifted away from them!
Before the torture, Griffith was unreachable to Guts and Casca (including the Band of the Hawk as entirety).
Now, Griffith has become unreachable to them.
And suddenly, Griffith felt left out now that he has become observer rather than actor. With Griffith watching the comradeship, friendship and love that formed between them, for the first time he realizes what he has been missing out by relentlessly pursuing his dream. Of course he would be jealous of this. Maybe Griffith felt exactly like Guts here:
Read more: Guts and Griffith – Parallels and Differences
However, after Griffith pushed himself onto Casca, Casca and Guts have their discussion next to his carriage. Casca realized that it’d be selfish of her if she left Griffith behind in this state and is having a breakdown. May the Gods bless her precious soul.
Now: Guts has left the Hawks, with Griffith resorting to the knee-jerk reaction of sleeping with Charlotte. Fact.
The same happens when Griffith hears how Casca tells Guts to leave (note the parallels to the fountain-speech!). It’s basically reversed roles.
As Casca tells Guts: “You have to go, even if it’s alone”, it is Griffith who takes this advice to heart instead and runs off in the carriage! Again, note the parallels to Guts leaving the Hawks!
As the carriage crashes against a boulder, Griffith is being launched into the air and he has the dream with Casca taking care of him.
He has this dream because he realized he CANNOT do it alone. Which leaves the last resort that Casca would take care of him.
He is unable to move or speak.
He cannot pursue his dream in this state.
He has become a person that exists solely to survive.
He has become what he detested.
Continue to live like this would mean constant self-loathing in bitter remembrance of a broken dream for the rest of his life.
What makes his situation much worse now is that he also broke his arm during the fall. How is that ever going to heal properly with his tendons cut and almost no muscle to support…?
This is when he fully broke down and attempted to take his own life. But because he is so frail, he fails even doing that. He is so disabled and incapacitated, he cannot even decide over his own death. This is when he utterly lost control.
When Guts goes after him, he tells him to stay away. Griffith has disconnected himself from Guts and wants to focus on his dream. If Guts stays in his life it means that Griffith will continue to be unable to pursue his dream because Guts makes him forget it – or drive Casca away from Griffith.
Which is possibly also another convenient reason to sacrifice the Hawks: because it means getting rid of Guts too, AND obtaining ultimate power at the same time, so Griffith can regain all the might to pursue his dream.
So in summary, Griffith…
- is jealous of their bond since this isn’t something he could obtain for himself. This is the price of being consumed by your dream. Griffith has always used Casca, he was the one in control over her.
- with Guts and Casca having discovered their companionship and later love for each other, is afraid that Casca too slips out of his control.
- attempts to regain control over Casca in a rather desperate attempt (and succeeds doing so because she decided to stay).
I hope this clears up things. Thank you for the thought-provoking questions! Don’t hesitate to ask more if you have any. Berserk isn’t always obvious to the reader and it takes multiple reads to fully understand it.
Berserk Analysis 
Gosh I got completely differents conclusions on these chapters.
First of all, there’s no combined answer for the question if “Griffith genuinely love Guts and Casca?” because he just loved and admired Guts, for Casca insted Griffith’s feelings were completele indiferent, he couldn’t care less about Casca’s love to him and it’s kinda sad on even cruel due to the fact all Casca did and tried, and, was willing to do just for him. In other words Casca overpaid Grittith his first aid when she was about to be abused by that lord. I’ve reread volume 6 and there’s no single frame guide me to think Griffith care for Casca close to how he cares for Guts. I believe this as a fact in the whole Golden Age arc and in the whole manga indeed. There are insted plenty of images instead of Casca’s laments of Griffith non acknowledging her efforts towards him. Sad but true.
On the other hand Griffiths passion for Guts is surprising. It’s literally said in manga Guts was the only person who made Griffith forget about his dream. Think about that, it wasn’t Guts fighting for his own goal his life what made Griffith take him as a friend, may we say best friend indeed, it was Guts making Griffith forget about his dream what made him capable to acknowledge someone. What is the meaning of this? I have a hard time on it, I don’t know. It can be seen in different directions.
However I do believe Miura leaves the story many time open to diferent and plausible true interpretations. This may not be the case of Casca’s not corresponded love for Griffith, that’s one of the clearest fact I see. I will dig into it later, when I talk about Griffith’a dream with Casca and Guts as a child. Although he is trying to see the god side of it (it’s calm), I don’t feel Griffith happy with that end for him at all.
To write here I’ve reread volume 6, since Wyald is defeated by Guts and try to use Griffith’s behelit to the end. And it’s a constant fest of very important symbolic things to the story.
Griffith never was turned, and I even thing he indeed never felt, like a pawn. In his good old times he may act like a queen, being the most powerful piece on the table but now he isn’t a pawn. He has not have value as a sacrifice which pawns may have had, by killing him, no one gains nothing. Instead of that he has value for itself, he’s fuel for the hawks to fight for their survival and also important he’s the fifht, he carrier of the crimson behelit even if it isn’t in his hands. He has high value but he has not much mobility… He’s The King!
For the Band of the Hawk he clearly was the King, at least until Wyald breaks his armour apart and shows to the whole band how Griffith can not stil serve for their purposes. What happens next? We must distinguish two kind of people in the hawks, those who had followed Griffith for practical purposes, who are most of the band, they rapidly look after another goals or even ask guts to be their new leader; and those who trully appreciate Griffith and aren’t able to let him go. This is really sick because their wills aren’t compatible with Griffith’s… In both cases!! And Griffith’s will since he has the egg of the king, prevails.
Judeau, Casca and most importantly Guts are in those who truly developed a feeling of love towards Griffith, love which Griffith just corresponded to Guts but not at all to Casca, Judeau or any other hawk.
In anyway, this corresponded love it’s useless. Griffith neither wants to be a burden to Guts, Griffith doesn’t want that kind of life at all, and this is representated in the hallucination he had in which he was calmy with Casca. See how that hallucination is draw again, Griffith was completely in darkness with Casca not knowing if he is awake or not, he was completely motionless and their faces transmit nothing but sadness and frustation. That was a nightmare. See again Griffith face when he wakes up, he’s smiling, he’s happy of that being just a nightmare, his reality is much different and so is his fate.
What happened before that, the scene of Griffith and Casca in the tent. That was the trigger of that nightmare, why? Because Griffith finally realice he couldn’t do anything for Casca. Griffith didn’t meant to love Casca but he was happy to calm her down when she wasn’t well, I have to embrace here your thesis of this being quite similar as Guts have done with Farnese, it’s selfless help, not love. Why? Because Casca was trembling with sandess and despair while fiting the bandages to Griffith, then he tried to reconfort her (pounces over Casca) but then is he who was unable to do nothing and now is he trembling and Casca feel even worse. Noteworthy Casca here doesn’t understand Griffith. Griffith’s mind, Griffith’s feelings, values, intentions, it was all a big missunderstanding for all the hawks, and it’s plausible because when we try to understand others intencions or feelings, we beging with the basis of what would we feel in his shoes. This works well for similar people with similar personalities not when there’s an abyms between them.
Lets not forget also two important things:
Griffith’s will, ultimately the real and obvious reason why he sacrifice the hawks. He wanted to became King, and he’s willing to sacrifice whatever is need in the process (the child with the soldier toy) this is the way Griffith pays to the ones have serve him even if it’s a real hurt to him. Letting go his dream would make all previous sacrifices in vain, he must continue climbing, not for he, for all the people who believe in him, including those who is about to sacrifice. Noteworthy this is the sick view of Griffith and the God Hand, of course most of the people who served him aren’t happy to be sacrified, their were following him just for practical purposes; even Guts, Judeau or Casca aren’t happy to be sacrified, they though that wasn’t Griffith will because they’ve never understand the truly Griffith’s intentions. They prefere instead a calmy life caring Griffith but that is not what Griffith wants, and sadly, since Griffith had the crimson behelit, his wish prevail.
The other and very important thing is that Griffith was aware of the magical powers of the crimson behelit, he knew it. Lets not do like if we wasn’t listen to Zodd when he said how and when the crimson behelit will work and what will happen to him then, he say it twice in fact. (he will be the fucking king after a sacrificing his friends) –sidenote– I have the believe Griffith was visited by the Skull Knight during his conviction, making him even more aware about how things will eventually roll (sacrifices of Casca, and, Guts) —
Lets move on the following question, Griffth wasn’t jealous of Guts and Casca, he might be even happy for them. The problem is that when he listen the conversation Guts and Casca has outside the tent he realize they aren’t gonna let him go, they aren’t willing to help him to succeed in his dream, they want instead a life of calm and rest which gives Griffith nightmare.
What happened next is also remarkable, former Griffith steps in the tent and make him take the reins of the chariot, the reins of his life indeed. Is Griffith “just” doing that? No, Griffith is doing here the most important sign of love towards Guts and Casca he ever had.
What Guts & Casca conversation means to Griffith is clear, none of them will to be sacrifice for his dream, they will insted calm down and end their years in repose. Which again it’s obvios for us but not for the poor sick brain of Griffith. One could not understant these chapters without taking in consideration the abysm between Griffith mentality and the rest.
Taking the reins of that chariot Griffith move away from Guts and Casca, and the atemps to kill himself in order to active the behelit which he succeed!! He pierced his throat and from there on he is just alive because of the activation of the behelit, sadly for him and all the other he couldn’t have time enough to invoque the God Hand before Guts arrives. He shouts him to stay away because Griffith doesn’t want to sacrifice Guts, he loves him, he says, stay away from me, if you touch me here I couldn’t… –Miura doesn’t end this sentence– it’s down to your interpretation what Griffith couldn’t do, but more or less Griffith is trying to say he couldn’t be able to save his live, again, like he has done with Zodd’s incident.
Interestingly enough Griffith’s acts give Skull Knight enought time to come in and save Guts and Cascas live. Gosh, what am saying? Did Griffith raped Casca in front of Guts to save their lives? Yes, and I feel dirty by saying it but I trully mind it. I’m taking the Griffith did nothing wrong to a whole different level lol.
Once Guts and Casca were there in the ceremony he couldn’t avoid they will be branded but what he still could do is once in his demon form step in the fest and take Casca and Guts for him, giving Skull Knight enough time to come in and rescue them.
Of course I see how Griffith punish Guts and Casca, he is making clear that this is his dream, not theirs, no restly and calmy life awaits them, the complete oposite instead and if they what to stay around, they belong to him, even his son is now tainted with his sperm and also belongs to him.
In summary I believe you have done a great analysis but when it comes to conclusions you lack empathy with that beauty faced devil which is Griffith.
I’m open to corrections as well.
Have a nice day!
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My apologies for hundreds of tip and orthography errors. I can say in my defense english is not my mother tongue and I wrote that from my cell phone. Sorry 😥
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Thank you for your insightful comment!
I really really doubt Griffith was indifferent towards Casca. His feelings may have been indifferent, yes, but he still saw her value as commander. After Guts and Casca returned to the Hawk’s camp (that was after the 100 Man Slayer Scene) I was under the impression Griffith welcomed Casca rather warmly. You also see how Guts turned around (probably in jealousy) and thus left the both of them so they could spent some time together.
At least in the beginnings, Griffith also emotionally supported Casca (see the story with Gennon). However, as the Hawks grew, Griffith either mostly ignored her, or perhaps simply didn’t have the time to interact with her (or perhaps he “didn’t have the time” for his convenience…). He only interacted with Casca as he saw fit, because that’s who Griffith is.
But it’s true that Guts really did shake Griffith’s world a lot, and I think that was in part because of how powerful and independent he is. Perhaps Griffith thought of the Hawks as pawns for his goal: I mean after all, people flocked to him like sheep, intoxicated by Griffith’s charm and vision, and then later they would die for him in battle. Even if Griffith did try to reduce casualties among the Hawks as shown by the story with the young boy and the knight toy, individuals within their ranks were usually expendable.
Now Guts was different: he simply didn’t give a shit about those dreams or purpose and to a degree, he was very independent because of it. He could do whatever he wants and was not bound to a higher goal. He also refused to join the Hawks because he was fine without dream nor affiliation. I think this is at the core of the value that Griffith saw in Guts.
Casca was also inexpendable to Griffith, but that was more because of her capacity as leader, not because he thought of her as an equal, friend or potential love interest or whatever. So to him, Casca was more a tool for his ambition. She couldn’t match Guts’ importance to him at all though. Guts was so important to him he shook Griffith, Casca was not. But Griffith still saw value in her – that’s all I’m saying really.
Now I’ve written this article a while ago and I should probably update it. In the meantime I found out some more profound reasons why Griffith he pushes himself over Casca and why he later runs off in the carriage.
Consider for a moment you’re Griffith, and so far you’ve witnessed your unit getting slaughtered by monsters for your sake (during volume 11-12), without being able to do anything. You tried to pick up your sword during the fight, but you are to weak to even hold it. You’re absolutely devastated about your helplessness and relying on others to carry you. In this helplessness you also notice how Guts and Casca have formed a bond (Jealousy? Ain’t nobody got time for that).
After Wyald’s fight, Griffith notices the tone of Guts’ and Casca’s relationship changed. Casca tells Guts off while Guts is playfully pouting about it. In tears, Casca tells Guts to go die on the battlefield – something she has told him before – but the context changes the meaning of her words: she spoke precisely because she was so worried for Guts during his fight with Wyald, which is ALSO something Griffith has witnessed. He HAS seen her trying to slap Guts awake.
But what about Griffith? Did he have a bond with anyone, could he connect to anyone like this? Did he have a bond to anyone that *wasn’t* tied to his dream? Think of how Griffith bonded with Guts (waterbucket scene) and later the Princess (the boar hunt + leaf blowing, fountain speech) just to gain their favor. I was always under the impression it is just a means to an end for him.
Which makes the answer to these questions a very likely No.
Now that you have been reduced to your personality alone, without capacity to walk or talk properly, wouldn’t you be absolutely scared that you will be left behind by everyone? What value would people see in someone who is an empty shell without his capacity to pursue his dream? His dream literally was everything to him and he ignored the possibility to bond with someone to form a meaningful relationship with (like Guts and Casca did).
This is exactly why Griffith pushed himself on Casca on the carriage. He saw how much she still cared for him and was scared her too, would leave him, like Guts did a year ago. And given the bond Guts and Casca have formed, maybe he can make BOTH Guts and Casca stay if he manages to make Casca stay.
Now the real tragedy hits when Guts and Casca talk behind the carriage. Griffith is in hearing range when Casca actually brings up the Fountain Speech. Casca even says that they BOTH have heard what Griffith said to the Princess, and in order to be Griffith’s true equal, Guts has to go. (In some way Casca reminded Guts of his principles that were long outdated – I mean, who wishes to become like Griffith, unable to do anything?)
Wouldn’t you go absolutely crazy over this? All this bullshit happened BECAUSE your commanders heard you philosophize about “dreams”, “true equals” and “friends”. If you were simply bluffing to impress the Princess, that makes it SO MUCH WORSE.
But it’s not only that: remember how Griffith attempted to make Casca stay, and that if Casca stayed, Guts will likely stay too? Well, now Casca is telling GUTS TO GO. Griffith hearing that Guts would leave AGAIN very likely was unbearable for him. So instead of keep counting on Guts, who he probably realized he has no control over, Griffith attempts to disconnect himself from Guts completely.
Those are the reasons why I believe he ran off the carriage. This is an impulsive Griffith we have seen right after Guts left the Hawks. He’s done these acts of self-destructiveness before.
And is Griffith is imagining his future life with Casca being the only one taking care of him, that is a life he could not stand. Because as he said himself, “To live a life for the sake of living, I can’t abide such lifestyle”. At least this particular bit of the Fountain Speech was not a bluff for sure: he detests the idea of being an invalid for the rest of his life and refuses to continue living that way. That’s also why he attempted to take his life in the lake later.
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Sorry I can’t completely buy your arguments. They make a lot of sense but just in a bersekverse where the magic of the behelit doesn’t work or at least in a world where Griffith wasn’t aware that he is granted to be the fifht angel. Zodd told him two times, Wyald also did that and I also remeber a frame where Griffith tolds Guts he is happy to know supernatural creatures exist in fact and not just as a fairy tail, somewhere after the first fight against Zodd.
I like it how you are open to believe that hallucination prostrated in a chair with Casca wasn’t his dream. Good! And he try to kill himself after waking up from that, also good, agree!! Difference here is that I believe he didnt mean to die there, he mean to invoque the four angels, the god hand. By inflicting himself a deadly wound he thought he wouldn’t die, instead of that the crimson behelit will return to him and the four angels would be invoqued which is exactly what happened.
Griffith had witnessed how Wyald was in fact an old and weak man before turning into that monster, he didn’t need to be much more healthier. It doesn’t matter if he can’t walk or talk since he will be the fifht angel. He believed in that magic. Wyald itself was confident in Griffith being the fifht angel despite knowing his physical state. With that being known by Griffith he could rest confident, by that time his dream was seemingly granted by fate, he only needed only one thing left, the sacrifice.
Why do you think he pierced his throat and, after that being made care about what is Guts doing instead? Think about it, if he didn’t believe in the magic of the behelit, with his throat pierced that way he’s facing centain death in minutes, in fact he should be death instantly or at least left unconscious. If he meant to die there he just needed to sit and wait one or two minutes. Guts arriving there doesn’t change a shit, it’s to late, he’s wounded to death, that branch pierced through his neck side to side, I mean *side to side*! the work was done! (don’t try to do that at home kids)
The question for Griffith, if he indeed believe to be the fifht angel, was what to do with Casca and Guts in the eclipse. He couldn’t spare them since they happen to be there. That’s why he tried to run away from them and invoque the angels before they arrive to him, but that didn’t work, he couldn’t gain enough time.
The scene of him prostrated in a chair made Griffith realize Guts and Casca loved him but not in the way he need them. Griffith doesn’t need a family, he need sacrifies. That’s sad itself, specially for him, he can’t build a bond with anybody that way. He is doom to solitude.
So if he had some love back for them, which he had, he must invoque the four angels while being as much away as possible from them, to spare them from being sacrificed. I believe in this.
With the previous scene of the intent of Casca to make Guts away from them, I agree with you that’s the fuel Griffith needed, but to pursue his all live goal, being the King. He realizes he’s doing nothing there he’s just a burden to their comrades, the thing he detest the most, right. If Griffith want to consider them friends the way he said in the fountain, he must go, free them from the death weight he has become and let them pursue their own goal.
Notice how Casca and Judeau are willing to take care of Griffith alone, and by alone I mean willing that other two go away. EVEN GRIFFITH ran away alone in the carriage in order to free all the others goals and aspirations. See how sick is that. I mean they prefere break the “family” in order some of them could still pursue some/any dream. That contrast with Guts mentality, he don’t quite understand why they should broke the family. He wants to care about Griffith like the most but he doesn’t want anybody to leave, or at least he doesn’t specify that.
That made me wonder again why did Guts leave the Hawks, he may really wanted to start a family with Casca but didn’t realize his family was just there, all the hawks were his family. I think Guts was wrong there and his first instintive decision of leaving the hawks was the right decision.
Guts was right in the first place because Griffith mentality has rotten the Hawks. Both, Judeau and Casca had a Griffith like mentality, they give more value to archieve personal goals even if the person to archieve that goal isn’t you but another hawk and you are serving as a sacrifice (Casca and Judeau sacrifying theirselves in order to free the others). See how different has managed Guts that problem when he faced to care potato Casca. To Guts mantein the family its a goal by itself, he doesn’t look after any other greathest.
In order to form an stable family Guts needed to restart. Which was what he ended up doing.
How convenient to made Griffith unable to talk after his torture. We couldn’t have this conversation if he had talk and made his intentions crystal clear. Miura is genius.
And yes you’re right about Griffith caring about Casca I only meant to say he didn’t love her, as a woman and not in the same way as he loved Guts (but almost, or at least he shown some true feelings to her). About the water bucket scene I believe that was true love not means for ends as Griffith usually did, Griffith was quite sincere to Guts on regular basis, my view.
Also to be honest you are making me open my eyes to the possibility of believe that the CascaxGuts it’s not such a crazy thing as I thought. Reading and understanding berserk is not easy! Thank you for that!
Think about this, if Guts values family above all and Casca has been impregnated with that mentality, their obvious next step is to release their son from Femto’s domination, is not it?
At the beginning was Casca who care about the demon boy and Guts was willing to sacrifice him in order to have a easier life, how Griffith style was that? Exactly the same way Gambino wanted to sacrifice him.
I think Guts has changed and now he will understand Casca’s wish of regaining her son, their son in fact.
Overall it really looks like Guts and Casca are bound to end up together.
Bye bye :o) :o)
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If you think that Griffith in any way knew the Godhand existed, or even knew how to become one (or an apostle, for that matter), either of which is a prerequisite to believe in the magic of the stone in the first place, then you are horribly mistaken. There is no manual for doing a sacrifice and never will be. If there really was a way for a mortal to activate a behelit at his own discretion, Guts would have already used the Behelit in his possession to try and kill the Godhand.
It’s as Flora and Guts discussed during Volume 24, Chapter 202, where Guts asks Flora how to use the Behelit:
Guts: “You mean you don’t feel like telling me?”
Flora: “Not that. You think this is something that can be used if only you find the means, but it is not. A Behelit is a highly spiritual object that governs even human fate… perhaps an even greater existance sent it to the physical world. The object itself is as nothing more than a stone but the fate associated with it rests in the hands of its master who sent it. When the time is right, it will be in the hands of the person to whom it belongs. That’s the way it is”.
What you seem to think was Griffth’s conscious decisions is, in my opinion, more to be attributed to how causality itself works: it is a chain of events. In Berserk, it is being manipulated by the Godhand to create the circumstances to give birth to the next god hand member (imo, this includes the dream Griffith had when he was tortured, and the dream with Casca he has may be have been planted by the Godhand as well). The only thing Griffith knew at the time is that something out there existed that was trying to reach him, but he had no idea what it was exactly.
More quotes from Flora from volume 24 come to mind: To Schierke (who at the time despises the idea of aiding Guts in his travels) she says: “God bestows upon us fate, but it is the children of men who chose it. This is my belief.” and to Skull Knight, she states: “God bestows upon os fate. The fate called encounters”.
Funnily enough, I think that’s exactly what happened to Griffith before the eclipse. He was given the chance by fate (or more indirectly, causality, if causality is a chain of events that eventually leads to a certain fate), and received hints on that there is an escape route, something he can do as last resort (namely call the five angels, as Zodd told him after he killed Wyald). But Griffith did NOT have any control over it. He only took the chance when it was offered to him. He knew extremely little, but enough to know the behelit would activate if he called the five angels. That being said, he did NOT attempted suicide because he knew how to become a godhand. He did because he was desperate and wanted to end his life. At least this particular bit he said during the fountain speech was not a bluff: “Ultimately to be born and then to simply live for no better reason, I can’t abide such a lifestyle”
As for Guts and Casca ending up back together, I think there is hope given they are both family people, but it’s going to be a very bumpy road for the both of them. I see a a couple of green flags here, especially in regards to Guts, who has grown a lot, and Casca, who still appears to have feelings for him after she woke up. The big question is, whether their relationship will stand the tests to come (e.g, Casca being confronted with what Guts has done to her during volume 23). She’s going to be pissed. It’s going to be very interesting either way.
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You say that when Griffith told guts to stay away, that he wanted him be disconnected from him, because with guts in his life, he cannot have his dream of owning his own kingdom
But when Conrad brought Griffith to the altar, he saved guts from falling
Could you explain why he saved him if he wanted guts out of his life?
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Thank you for the comment!
I think it does make sense that Griffith is trying to save him. The fact Griffith wants him to stay away does not necessarily imply the intention to kill him or harm him. At least, he attempted to “save” Guts by simply reaching out his arm to him, which is probably a normal reaction or reflex given the extreme circumstances. But even if that wasn’t the case, Griffith still cared enough for Guts when they were both lifted up to the altair. Only later through the God Hand’s manipulation, he finally let go. You have to consider the order of events here:
1) The Hawks face the God Hand members. A short explanation of the situation and the Crimson Behelit follows
2) Conrad brings Griffith to the altair. An arm from the ground appears and grows into the sky
2) Guts falls down, Griffith reaches out to him with his left his arm and Guts grabs onto it. Griffith broke his right arm before this. The faces that scatter the altair hold his left arm tight in chapter 076.
3) Guts notices that his weight is straining Griffith’s broken arm, that we see bleed as a result (also chapter 076). It looks like Guts purposefully lets go of Griffith to prevent more damage (I mean Griffith already was suffering so much from his physical state as is),
4) Guts catches himself by ramming his dagger into the surface of the altair, then climbs his back way up to save his friend.
5) Simultaneously, Griffith is being manipulated by the God Hand members through a “vision” (they claim it to be a materialized form of the reality within his consciousness). This vision causes him to change his mind and eventually dump the Hawks – and Guts.
6) When Guts arrives back up on the altair, only then Griffith decides to sacrifice. Before that, he still had a reason to save him. After that, he finally let go of Guts and any emotional attachment he may have felt towards him.
I hope this answers your question!
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