Thought experiment about Berserk
I always think about intentions and how much they can be overlooked. It was clear Griffith was a flawed person from the first moment but his charisma and kindness along w success just erased everything.
Most people including me didn’t see what horrific acts came at the end of the 1997 anime (manga continues the plot thank god). What constitutes good because action doesn’t per se and the path to hell can be carved by good intentions(Count Dooku).
When was it clear the veil dropped and was it doomed to fail due to his flawed principles. If there wasn’t life destroying events maybe the charade lasts. What makes one good or evil. Circumstance or Choice. I say choice but a choice can seem to be the only way forward. Guts has so much story I can’t possibly cover it. Guts contrasts him so brilliantly. It’s so hard to understand morality.
Did anyone see the veil from the beginning it’s really human nature to not.
Most people including me didn’t see what horrific acts came at the end of the 1997 anime (manga continues the plot thank god). What constitutes good because action doesn’t per se and the path to hell can be carved by good intentions(Count Dooku).
When was it clear the veil dropped and was it doomed to fail due to his flawed principles. If there wasn’t life destroying events maybe the charade lasts. What makes one good or evil. Circumstance or Choice. I say choice but a choice can seem to be the only way forward. Guts has so much story I can’t possibly cover it. Guts contrasts him so brilliantly. It’s so hard to understand morality.
Did anyone see the veil from the beginning it’s really human nature to not.
Commentaires
Then let’s not forget he sold his ass for money and an army. Then killed the dude that helped his upstart. But to be fair he was a top merch by that point.
Griffith threw Casca a sword because while he was willing to provide an opportunity, he was insistent that she must be the one to win her own freedom for herself.
Griffith was willing to sacrifice the Band of the Hawk because his dream meant more to him than they did. Except Guts--because Guts was the only one capable of making Griffith forget aobut his dreams even for a moment.
Griffith isn't motivated by entertainment, or physical pleasure. Griffith wants to become a mythic hero and occupy the castle in the sky that symbolizes basically glory. He cared about that more than friendship, or camoraderie or any of the people in the Band of the Hawk. The one person who even made him hesitate was Guts.
Griffith is a monster of pride.
Circumstances played a role. Even after EVERYTHING, he was still considering rejecting Void’s offer. It took that entire year of torturing every little bit of potential from Griffith to tip him over the edge where he has lost all his strength, all his status, and even all his principles when he attempts to sexually assault Casca and fails.
Sure Griffith had some flaws from the start. He calls for the assassination of a child. He lies and manipulates. He is sexist. But considering the medieval dark age time period, his flaws are practically nothing and he has a lot of good stuff going for him. He saves his comrades lives multiple times. He sacrifices his body for the sake of obtaining needed money without bloodshed. He is playful, he encourages his comrades to be their best selves. He is principled. Out of everyone, Griffith before Guts left his side was one of the morally best people in the show to me because everyone else is either scheming, raping, backstabbing, wielding power carelessly, or killing for petty reasons. The last of those applies to Guts, he may be in a war zone, but he chooses to put himself there merely because “it’s his nature” which is horrific despite being understandable.
Of course people can argue that fantasy and fiction is exactly where it belongs and an author could theoretically create purely "evil" characters, but I never really see it in practice across works apart from perhaps the most fleeting nameless background generic villain fodder characters who aren't given enough depth and development to say anything otherwise.
For anyone and anything with any degree of depth, which Griffith as a character and Berserk as a story certainly has, it's insufficient.
He made certain choices because he felt cornered and didn't see a superior alternative within the situation he was in which he could psychologically accept and tolerate. Not after he had lived his entire life one way and in pursuit of the opposite. That's what it comes down to.
People will resort to extreme measures to achieve certain ends when faced with desperate and dire circumstances and tempted with a better alternative. If he were afforded a wider range of better options, then he would have pursued them instead, as he had throughout his life up to that point.
So I've always seen him as a ruthless and ambitious person, also selfish and with an ego for sure, but never as some monster.
If a guy looks like he spends more time on his hair than a woman might, he's probably evil.
Griffith is often described as a "pretty boy", or at least a very effiminate man. Now, consider the culture of the 80's, especially towards certain minority groups... I'll just say that Miura may have been HEAVILY hinting at Griffith being an Evil Bastard, especially given the relationship between that cursed trio.
(Or to put it bluntly: the 80's-when Berserk started- had a very strong culture of 'gay or queer is Very Bad', and I don"t entirely put it up to coincidence that Griffith is both effiminate -looking AND jealous of the relationship between Guts and Casca)