Berserk 361: A Chapter Analysis thread

This has been by far the best Berserk release I've had pleasure of experiencing. The chapter exceeded my and many people's expectations if you can understand all the info that Miura's providing here. This will be a thread of just my observations and thoughts so let's start

"Causality has yet to converge" This is Skully's cryptic way of saying the IOE is already on the move. Another temporal junction point is coming up soon. They're usually huge events like the incarnation ceremony, The eclipse, Astral merge etc so this is exciting.

(1/2) The most important part of the chapter are here. The name "Vid" seems to be a human abbreviation of "Void". Even the writing in Japanese is really similar ( ヴィド vs ボィド ). Knowing Miura, there is a high chance this was intended to be. Ged is probably Void's son.

(2/2)This also seemingly confirms that Void was probably a magic user focusing on forbidden magic resulting in the creation of the brand and hence, his introduction into the Godhand. Void being involved in Elfhelm opens countless possibilities about his past with the Skull knight

(1/2) Also in this panel, Gedflynn states when he was a boy, he used to accompany his dad to several audiences with SK. And now he oversees the village. SK replies with "that sly boy became an excellent man". This tells something because in the next few panels, we see that Morda-

(2/2) doesn't recognize who the SK is. And since the last time SK saw Ged was as a little boy, this means he hasn't been back to Elfhelm for a long long time. Ged is also like Flora, thousands of years old and a elemental maze.

"Hanarr" is a name take directly from Scandinavian Mythology. He's the creator of the Berserker armor and also Skull Knight's current one. Skully even calls him his friend.

(1/2) We see the mention of Barytes here again, the wind elemental. They were also mentioned back in episode 346. Barytes are extremely tiny to the point Ged can't even see them, but they can darken the sky, make things heavy, and cause negative emotions when they gather, such as

(2/2) depression or obsession. There is also a crazy speculation that the Vortex of Souls might be a concentrated mass of Barytes creating an inescapable gravity well.

The next few panels we see more of Morda's character and get some insight on the gloomy side of Elfhelm. She says no matter how bright and beautiful the queen of elves is some people prefer dimness to sunlight, perfectly explaining her character as an outcast.

(1/2) As they progress further, Schierke remarks that the atmosphere down here is different and strangely reminiscent of Qlipoth. And can we just appreciate this panel cause WOW

(2/2) We see Goblins, serpents and other evil creatures, a completely different side to what we know about Elfhelm. The centipede like design on the bottom was previously seen in episode 216, near Qlipoth and the wickermen were revealed from episode 343.

(1/3) Morda says the enemy soilders from a Great kingdom that tried invading the land were sacrificed to create the wickermen. The concept of sacrifice is again reminiscent of Void and dark magic. There for sure is a connection and we'll probably see it explored later on.

(2/3) About the actual kingdom, there is no doubt the one who attacked Elfhelm long ago was Gaiseric aka the skull knight. Think about it what other kingdom could have attempted at it? Kushan? Midland? This is obvious and we have different evidence from previous chapters as well.

(3/3) Chapter 359, casca gets ready to the fight some golems/ captured pirates known as Vikings that tried invading the land as well. Her sword had the symbol of Gaiseric's kingdom on it with the crescent moon.

(1/2) Both schierke and Morda head out to a cave where they find her teacher, Volvapa. Schierke introduces herself and she seems to know who Flora is. Volvapa notices she's made a new friend and is worried schierke's related to Flora, as well as SK's return on the island.

(2/2) Just some speculation but she's introduced to be a master of curses so y'all know what the most well known curse is? Hmm

(1/4) The girls get to the entrance of the stone forest. Morda explains they have to walk from here on as the concentration of Barytes is high and she especially has a disgust for dwarfs. They meet up with SK and Guts on the inside already having a conversation with Hanarr.

(2/4) Hannar asks what's a magician doing here referring to the girls and Guts gets reminded of Godo while talking to the blacksmith

(3/4) Hannar says it's nostalgic to see him here and refers to SK with his proper title as "King". He also comments on the fact he hasn't passed on to the other world, then says it's no suprise thanks to his skill. They go back and forth with SK considering him a close friend.

(4/4) Hannar turns his attention on Guts and doesn't seem to think he'd ever see that armour again. Guts thanks Hannar. He replies with how Guts is the owner of the armour now and it can devour the owner as the armour seems to be possessed. He strikes the armour to test it out

The last shot of the chapter is quite literally, Guts going berserk. I am predicting it's so he can gain complete control over the armour without schierke's help and that's where it ends, on a cliffhanger. A 10/10 chapter

Now to answer some common questions and confusions for people just catching up. Is Berserk on hiatus?

- Currently no it's not on hiatus. There is also no release date for next chapter either. It's a weird situation but we'll know in a few weeks for sure

When will we know the release dates for a new chapter?

- If a chapter is scheduled to be released, there will be previews for that Young Animal issue where Guts will be on that preview. They usually come out a month or so prior and we'll know for sure when someone posts them.

Is Berserk ending soon? How many chapters do we have left?

- Yes. The manga is entering it's final stretch now. Based on Miura's comments we can safely assume it'll go on for another 10-15 volumes. A common guess is a final arc after the current one, Fantastia ends.

If you've made it this far, Thanks for reading. I've never written an analysis before so the wording may be off and this is really just a simplified version so people can at least grasp and be up to date on berserk discussions. And so the waiting starts again till next time :)