#HHRRRRGGHHH THIS TOOK ME TOO LONG

[cecidesent-blog]

CHARACTER SOLIDIFYING  /  ACCEPTING

8) How does your character feel about religion?

To put it simply, Guts and religion do not mix. It’s like oil and water. He lived in a time where God’s name was thrown around to justify every horrible thing that happened, or every horrible thing that someone did. People cry out the same religious rhetoric, and they put their faith in something that Guts views as deplorable. He does believe that God exists, but that doesn’t mean he has any faith in Him. Firstly, in the world of Berserk, God is portrayed as a rather sinister being made up of the collective darkness from the consciousness of the human race. THE IDEA OF EVIL. The Godhand, as the name implies, are the five “angels” that carry out God’s will, altering fate / causality to achieve what God desires. Guts was a sacrifice to the Godhand and the apostles that remain in the darkest depths of hell, and ever since that accursed event, the idea of God has turned into something he heavily dislikes. Humans use religion and God to justify the massacre of hundreds, the most despicable and shallow human beings seem to believe in God... So Guts associates the two of them together. 

Father Mozgus was one such example, a priest that had a band of torturers to do his bidding, brutally torturing and murdering people for “blasphemy”, when they only wanted to avoid starving to death. Guts can’t believe that any benevolent being would allow the world to be the way it is, and the fact that GOD is allowing all of this? Just makes Guts despise religion in its entirety.

27. How do they relate to their appearance? How do they wear their clothing? Style? Quality?

Guts has never seen himself as handsome or attractive. He’s heavily scarred from battles he’s experienced since he was six years old, some are more faded than others, while others are quite gruesome due to the severity of the wound. Guts doesn’t feel truly safe without any sort of armor on, he primarily wears the Berserker armor ( it’s a double edged sword, it grants him power, but every time he uses it, he gradually loses his five senses, as well as his sanity ), and he rarely takes it off, unless Schierke / Farnese insists on him removing it to address the wounds he sustains during their battles against the supernatural every night. Underneath, Guts usually wears thin ( but usually warm ) linens that make it easy for him to move around, with bandages covering the entirety of his body, with the exception of his feet and digits. He’s never been one for anything fancy and he prefers simple clothing, as opposed to the fancy attire that nobles wear. 

29. What is your character’s weaknesses? Hubris? Pride? Controlling?

His greatest strength and weakness has to be his ANGER. While his wrath can be utilized in killing and destroying anything that gets in his way, particularly demons, it also blinds him from the things / people that matter the most to him. Guts’ anger is brutal, it’s wild, it’s a raging flame that consumes anything it touches... And when he lets loose, he can barely distinguish friend from foe. Ire is an emotion that blurs his judgement, he becomes so fixated on what he hates, that he forgets about the things that matter the most to him. Guts only realizes what he has when he’s away from them, as many other people do. Though he has become a lot calmer with age, he’s still susceptible to having outbursts of anger if he’s pushed enough.

Also, Guts does not know when to quit. He’s extremely obstinate and sometimes he overestimates himself and the limits his body can go to when he was human. Even when he’s aware that his injuries are still susceptible to reopening, he still pushes himself to fight when he is no condition to do so. This proves to be his undoing because he’s further weakening himself when he should be resting, and when his fatigue eventually catches up to him, it will be detrimental for him and the rest of the group he has to protect. 

30. Are they holding on to something in the past? Can he or she forgive?

Not only is Guts wrathful, but he’s extremely vindictive and he can hold grudges that will last for years. He rarely forgets when people have slighted him, and he always seeks to spite them in return, depending on the severity of what they have done. Guts holds onto memories of the people that he’s lost, and the bittersweet moments that occurred before he and his comrades from the Band of the Hawk, were offered to the apostles and the Godhand as sacrifices. He cannot forget nor FORGIVE how Griffith sacrificed his comrades without a second thought, and how Griffith sexually assaulted Casca right in front of Guts’ eyes after he was pinned down by apostles. For three solid years, Guts was trying to find a way to reach the Godhand in order to kill Griffith especially... Though his hatred has spread into any form of demons / horrific creatures that represent themselves as evil. Guts can forgive, but it’s extremely difficult for him to do so, and it all depends on what someone has done to him / someone he cares deeply for. 

32. How does your character react to stress situations? Defensively? Aggressively? Evasively?

It depends on the situation. In battles against humans, he usually feels calm and collected without any real sense of urgency. There are very few people that can match his inhuman amount of strength, and he can cleave through armor and flesh like a hot knife through butter with his sword, Dragonslayer. However, in fights with apostles / large supernatural presences, he definitely feels more of a sense of urgency and stress, especially when he has to protect the people he cares for. Guts is easily agitated in these scenarios, he vents his frustrations out through isolating and distracting himself at times, usually until he’s calm enough to rationally think about how to solve the problem at hand. It’s a combination of aggressiveness and evasiveness at first, but then he meets everything head on instead of running away like he used to.

42. What does your character want most? What do they need really badly, compulsively? What are they willing to do, to sacrifice, to obtain?

Primarily, Guts wants peace. He wants peace, not only for himself, but for the new group that has been with him for months on end. Killing Griffith has become secondary, a thought that comes up every now and then, but he primarily focuses on the people he cares for the most. Once, having Griffith’s head on a pike was the main thing he focused on... He was consumed by this desire, so much so that he isolated himself from people, surrounding himself in his wrath and hatred, being cruel and aggressive towards others so they won’t get in his way of slaughtering the man he despises the most. However, the urge to kill was put to rest for a while, and now more than anything, he wants to have a tranquil calm... A place he can rest, if only for a bit. Guts has become tired of constantly fighting every night for his own life, as well as the others. As he describes it, his sword has become heavy with the responsibility he has of helping the others survive every night. Having a place where he and the others could rest? It would be perfect.

@helseira + @warphantasm​