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Griffith’s Greatest Atrocity
This is a thread where I try to break down Griffith’s psychological characteristics and explain how it influenced what he did at the very end of the eclipse.
Griffith is one of the most nuanced characters in fiction so I wanna shed light on that.
This is a thread where I try to break down Griffith’s psychological characteristics and explain how it influenced what he did at the very end of the eclipse.
Griffith is one of the most nuanced characters in fiction so I wanna shed light on that.
After sacrificing the Band of the Hawk, Griffith reemerged as Femto and raped Casca which not only contextualized Guts’ deep hatred for him, but also explained why he’s one of the most despicable villains in history.
Having your own dream is a big theme in Berserk and Griffith’s character is the symbol of it. He believes that achieving his dream is the most important part of his persona.
While Griffith is extremely charismatic and inarguably unique in Berserk’s world, he has another side to him that is very childish and petty.
When Griffith first has to endure the emotional toll of the lives that were lost for his cause, he copes with it by trying to be more pragmatic. He prioritizes success over compassion and ironically expresses his compassion by suppressing it. This stunts his emotional growth.
Upon meeting Guts, something changes in Griffith and he finds the one person he loves deeply. Guts is someone who can shake up Griffith’s resolve and commitment to his dream and Griffith hates that. He hates not being in control.
Why Griffith feels this way for Guts is pretty ambiguous but I think it has something to do with Guts being different from everyone he met: not instantly falling for Griffith’s charisma or not instantly seeing him as a threat and hating him. Not sure but worth thinking about.
Anyway, remember that speech by the fountain to Charlotte? It’s all bullshit. Griffith was just convincing himself that he doesn’t need friends to achieve his goal because they’ll only get in his way.
By reducing Guts to one of his “followers without a dream”, Griffith tells himself that his dream takes priority over any kind of friendship. This is a guy who can’t process or deal with these complex emotions and he deals with it by shutting people out.
So Guts decides to leave and this is the first piece of evidence of how full of shit Griffith is. He decides to throw a tantrum and compromises years and years of work and thousands of lives lost just to get a quick fix by sleeping with Charlotte.
So far, I hope I established the following key points. Griffith is:
- Emotionally stunted
- A control freak
- Narcissistic
- Emotionally stunted
- A control freak
- Narcissistic
So there’s the eclipse and Griffith is Femto, who is an idealized version of himself lacking in empathy (you pretty much need to lack empathy to do something that horrible). And he’s remembering what he went through for a year, blaming Guts for it all, and decides to do this.
By raping Casca, not only does he hurt Guts, but he also makes himself the center of Guts’ universe. Casca is Guts’ entire world and Griffith stains that so Guts can’t think about her without remembering him. Griffith makes it so that Guts becomes just as obsessive about him.
This pretty much demonstrates that his evilness is beyond any pragmatic reason. While Griffith can fairly justify many of his actions (including the sacrifice), the only reason for this was to cause pain to others.
Another reason that @IamDeftly pointed out to me is that this is Griffith’s way of cutting all his ties to humanity. This is how Griffith makes sure that he no longer “has any weaknesses”.
The sad part is that Griffith still cares for them. He hesitates to kill them as Skull Knight escapes with them and demonstrates this again when at the start of the conviction arc.
Griffith reasons it out by saying the flesh used to reincarnate him had some sort of connection to Casca but who knows?
Point is, he still cares even after his ascension to Femto which is really telling of how fucked up this guy is.
Point is, he still cares even after his ascension to Femto which is really telling of how fucked up this guy is.
It’s interesting how with a little bit of analysis, Griffith goes from some otherworldly figure to just a fucked up guy.
As I understand Griffith more, I came to hate Griffith as a person but deeply respect Griffith as a character.
Miura wrote one of the most compelling characters of all time who went from charismatic hero to despicable villain not in one swoop, but a slow, subtle build up over time.
Tldr: Griffith’s a huge bitch who threw a temper tantrum over not getting something he wanted and Miura’s the goat.
Thank you to anyone that takes the time and reads this super long thread. Feel free to leave your thoughts, agreements or disagreements, and any feedback below!
I hope I was able to express myself clearly
I hope I was able to express myself clearly
