Episode 364 not only was the last chapter Kentaro Miura (may the Gods bless him) worked on, it also left with a cliffhanger that may have felt like a punch to the face for some. Particularly the last page of Griffith crying may be very confusing.
Why is a Godhand member, supposedly devoid of any feelings, crying at all?
The short answer is that these are not Griffith’s tears, but the Moonlight Boy’s.
First, the Demon Infant or Moonlight Boy share the same body. How it came to that, you can read in detail here: Why the Demon Infant was reborn during the Birth Ceremony.
The first indicators for this we can see at the Hill of Swords scene (yes, it goes this far back!). Here, Griffith consciously notices the feelings of anxiety he has are likely that of the Demon Infant. His heart is pounding while Griffith was saving Casca, the Moonboy’s mother, from falling rocks.
It seems that something similar must have happened in Episode 364. While the Moonboy transforms back Griffith, he could register a lingering feeling of longing, which would disappear soon. He also describes this experience being similar to a dream.
If you wish to find more about the relationship of Demon Infant, Moonlight Boy and Griffith, you may want to check out this other post I wrote.
Episode 364 is an indicator that for Griffith these tears (perhaps also these actions in general) are an involuntary, visible bodily reaction. For the Moonboy, leaving his parents after full moon is over is like his world is shattering, being repeatedly denied the parental love he deserves. At least, he did manage to spend some valuable time with his mother and also warm up a little to his father.
Note how the boy usually shows no face expression whenever we saw him, either. But suddenly, as he transforms back to Griffith, he is showing emotion, namely tears. This might be due to Femto’s influence, who is completely unable to experience feelings of any sort.
Ergo, the moment the boy will smile will likely mark the moment he is set free.
Thank you for reading. Let me know what you think about this topic in the comments section below!
If you enjoyed this article, consider getting the book for more!
PS: Happy to report that my book is 90% complete, with mostly only editorial work left. I might actually finish it until Fall.
Berserk Analysis 
Hi 🙂 Nice to see you back and happy for the good news about your book. What puzzles me about the boy is the fact that he doesn’t talk like at all. Is Miura using hyper realism here? I mean, if a boy grow up in solitude like this boy, he won’t be able to learn any language making him impossible to talk. But the boy isn’t completely isolate, so I don’t know, maybe he has some sort of trauma like his mother. Also notice that technically Griffith is also his father, I don’t know what sort of feeling he may have towards him, I mean, he’s his father but he also uses like 27/28 of the time his own body making him impossible to have a normal life. It should be a difficult relationship for sure.
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Hey there Pere,
Thank you for the comment! The fact he doesn’t talk nor show emotions could be both attributed to Femto’s influence. Perhaps when the Moonboy is set free, if that ever happens, and he finally starts talking and showing emotion, would have been a cliffhanger just like Griffith crying here. At least that’s something would like to see.
I think biologically, Femto/Griffith isn’t his father, though he has at least been “influenced” by his demon powers: Consider that Femto did the horrendous deed to Casca on an astral realm and Femto is only an astral being, so I don’t think there’s a direct biological connection (He may have altered his DNA *at most*, through his spirit).
But back to your train of thought: How Moonboy feels about Griffith? He possibly is absolutely innocent about it. He doesn’t know how he came into being and why things are the way they are. He has no idea how children grow up normally. But he may learn viewing the World from Griffith’s eyes. And that might magnify his pain in the long run (seeing how children grow up around him can worsen it). Right now, there is no indication that the Moonboy views Griffith as his father, either.
Like even if we hypothesize that the Moonlight Boy were released from Femto/Griffith’s grasp, what if the Moonboy’s spirit would still leave his own body if there is no full moon, just like he disappeared as Demon Infant…? He is definitely no normal child.
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