#casca after eclipse

[13eyond13]

Something I think fiction does sometimes is make sex represent the end goal for relationships so often that if two characters sleep together it causes readers to automatically see them as truly in love / that it would solve all problems for the pair to be together forever, even when that isn't necessarily what the narrative is trying to say / depict otherwise.

I am thinking about this because of Guts and Casca... to me they sleep together initially almost as an act of friendship? A way of experimenting with each other and learning about sex, perhaps of distracting themselves from the person they're both more actually into, and of course also because they do care about each other and maybe are attracted to one another on some level, and want to see what it would be like to try to get even closer together. But I think the story also makes it pretty clear that Guts is more emotionally invested in his relationship with Griffith than with Casca, in what you might call a narratively romantic sense... and Casca is shown sort of seeing the futility of her feelings for Griffith and eventually growing apart from him that way pre-Eclipse, even though she still cares for him the most out of everyone she knows (though I don't think he ever feels nearly the same way about her). So getting with Griffith isn't end game for Casca (and she herself eventually realizes that), but I also don't read Casca as a character for whom getting with Guts is the end game character arc-wise, either. I'm not sure Miura even had a concrete end-game character arc in mind for her, to be honest. I feel as though unfortunately she was written mostly as something to be used between Griffith and Guts rather than to end up having her own fully realized narrative journey in the same way that Guts (and maybe also Griffith) will. I want to see her and Guts as friends and at peace more than I want to see them live happily ever after together as a couple, because I feel like that's actually more how they really feel for one another than anything else. Granted, there's a bit of an interesting ironic twist in the story that happens during the Eclipse, where Griffith (unintentionally?) drives Guts and Casca closer together than I think they might have been otherwise with the trauma that he causes them both (even though I think their relationship is probably something he'd be jealous of and read as more romantic than it actually might be and wish to destroy, simply due to his own insecurities and his own possessive feelings for Guts). But I also didn't really read Guts' reactions in the Eclipse scene as Guts being jealous and possessive over Casca in a sexual / romantic sense - I read it more as him feeling empathy for her pain and desire to protect her from harm / from the darker side of Griffith he maybe knew about a bit better than anybody else. I DO care about Guts and Casca's relationship a lot, and find it one of the most emotionally compelling things in the story. But I don't think shipping them together for a happily ever after is really what I'd want for them, nor something that the narrative was actually trying to work towards / suggest to be the best ending for anybody involved? I don't know if I think shipping Guts and Griffith necessarily is either, particularly because of how irredeemably awful Griffith behaved during the Eclipse... but I DO think the story intentionally hinges more around the Griffguts relationship and their emotional journeys / character developments than it does about any other pair/relationship in the series, and that both of them have intense unresolved feelings for each other that come off much more suggestive and stronger than ones of just simply wanting to be friends. And I think all of these characters are pretty explicitly aware of that themselves even in the story as well.

Haha I don't even know what I'm trying to even say here except to work out some of my own thoughts about the main 3 that I care about, I suppose!

[petr1kov]

i do like berserk as a whole, but i'll be honest, part of me does sort of wish that the series had started and ended just with golden age. there is a reason why this part of the story is the most well known and it's not just because it's the one that got the most adaptations; it's because it just stands so well on its own. if you watch the movies or even the 1997 anime, infamous for its abrupt ending, you do get a complete, self-contained, coherent story - a complete tragedy, yes, but complete nonetheless. and given how we will never truly get the full, unadulterated ending miura had planned for the series, despite his crew's best efforts in completing what's left of it with what they have, i think that really means something

[silvermoon424]

It's genuinely fucking crazy how much GamerGate and its consequences have ruined internet/fandom culture and people's ability to enjoy things without falling for culture war bullshit (if you didn't know, there's a very good argument to be made that GG paved the way for all of the reactionary, far-right culture war bullshit that's everywhere online these days).

Like all you have to do is look at how characters like Casca, Ellen Ripley, Sarah Connor, etc were treated back in the day. Casca is widely regarded as a strong, capable, well-written character (at least during the Golden Age arc; Berserk fans have rightfully complained about how badly she was sidelined in the aftermath of the Eclipse). I'm sure there were always bigots who hated that Casca is a woman of color and a powerful soldier, but I don't think there was Discourse or anything.

If Berserk came out after 2016, I guarantee there would be hundreds of slop outrage videos and Reddit threads about how Casca's character is "forced diversity" and "woke." People would be outraged that, not only is Casca a non-white character in a medieval European setting, she's also a strong female warrior who inspires loyalty in her (male) troops.

Strong female (or queer, or non-white, etc) characters from an older era like Casca have been grandfathered in as "ACTUAL good representation" by chuds, but you will never be able to convince me that they wouldn't get waves of hate and backlash by culture warmongers if they were created today.

[deripmaver]

What does Kentaro Miura have to say about Casca?

I think, due to fandom's general preferences towards Guts and Griffith, there's been much more discussion of the relevant Kentaro Miura quotes about their characters and relationship. There also appears to be more translation effort made towards the parts of the interviews centered on Guts. This also means that a lot of discussion of Casca and her place in the narrative is filtered through the idea that he has had very little to say about her over the years.

While I do wish that Miura had more to say about her, and about her path in the narrative, he certainly hasn't been completely silent. I wanted to compile as many quotes directly from Kentaro Miura about Casca as possible in one place for anyone to refer to. I also wanted to provide my 2 cents on some of them, though with the disclaimer that neither I nor anyone reading a quote or soundbite can know they're fully correct about his meaning. After all, no one reading these quotes in an article or magazine knew Miura personally, myself included.

Most of these you can find translated on the Berserk fanwiki. I've linked to them all.

Cheating a bit by not including that quote from the 1996 fanmagazine that caused such an uproar a while back, where Miura said he thought Casca might feel pleasure during rape if the perpetrator was Griffith. TBT to that hot mess. I'm not including it bc it's a third party source from someone not particularly close to Miura and also because I've already discussed it in depth here.

So, moving on...

The source for this first quote is a bit... Tricky. It's not that I don't believe it exists, but because most of this is being done through fan translations, it's hard to provide a direct link. This one I've found which is apparently from an interview in 1996, but the only sourcing I've found is kojion on twitter and this reddit post. I think this might be from the Berserk Illustrations File interview from 1996, but if it is, then it's clear that interview has only been partially translated. I guess the translator wasn't interested in the parts involving Casca. Lol. Below is the translation from the reddit post:

Miura: I have never been in love. In the past I have only dated a woman I didn't like twice. I have never had a first love. I have never been in love. My image of women is made up of my sister and stories from my best friend who loves women very much. In the case of Casca, rather than portraying a woman, she’s a character made up of a collection of my own complexes and weaknesses. So I am not good at real women. I have a longing for love itself. But I have no time; there are only 24 hours in a day.

Interview with Yukari Fujimoto in 2000. Yukari Fujimoto is a feminist cultural critic/women's studies professor at Meiji University in Tokyo, which I always found very interesting.

Interviewer: Getting back to the topic of planning Berserk, though, there's a long flashback arc that starts in volume three, showing things like Guts' youth and leading up to the Eclipse. Did you at least have parts of that long story in mind when you started drawing, or did you just make it up as you went?

Miura: Back then it was more like I was making it up as I went, I'd say. I actually hadn't planned for Guts and Casca to get together, you know – it just occurred to me partway through that it'd be more dramatic that way. As I remember it now, all I'd really decided at the time was that there'd be about five characters, and I'd make them similar to five of my friends.

Interviewer: I see – so those five friends are the base models for the characters.

Miura: Pretty much. The only difference is, there aren't any Griffiths or Guts in our group. There really was a guy similar to Judeau. We had a Corkus too, and a Rickert. There's no Casca, though, since it was a group of guys. And then Pippin is me, in terms of physical appearance.

[...]

Miura: Yeah. It's sort of been vacillating back and forth up until now, but now Griffith is going to come to terms with having become a demon. I basically see it as the beginning of the relationship between the two of them having become adults. And also, the demon child that Casca gave birth to is going to become something of a key point – despite the fact that I didn't even plan for it to be Casca's baby when I first drew it.

Interviewer: Really?

Miura: I didn't even have Casca in mind at the time.

Interviewer: Ah, right. That means it wasn't supposed to be a fetus at the start, then. And I guess there was no plan to have Guts lose his eye and arm the way he did, either...

Miura: None at all. That part was left open. Basically, I had planned that he'd have it done to him somehow by Griffith, and then a love story came into the picture, and taking that to its extreme just happened to fit together nicely with the climax. It's not as though I had it planned from the start. And now it turns out that the demon child is similarly going to snap very usefully into place.

My own commentary: This interview is the source of a claim that I've seen around a lot, which is that Casca was an ad-hoc addition and that therefore undermine any importance she might have to the narrative. However, my personal interpretation is simply that these quotes exist to show how the general plot structure of Berserk came to be in Miura's mind, and how he sort of... made shit up as he went along. I think there are two ways to take "I actually hadn't planned for Guts and Casca to get together, you know – it just occurred to me partway through that it'd be more dramatic that way." Firstly, the way I've usually seen it, that Casca was added in thoughtlessly with no regard for her character just to be a tool for Guts and Griffith's stories. That's partly true, but I think additionally this indicates that Miura elevated Casca's narrative importance in order to create a better and more dramatic story. It's also easy to extrapolate Miura's love of shoujo manga to this point here, considering how shoujo's focus is so often the drama and tragedy of romantic love.

This next quote is another kojion/reddit combo, with kojion claiming its from 2013.

Miura: I had the idea that the medieval European period was a very male-dominated world. And I wanted to depict a girl who was working very hard in such a world. The female characters in Berserk are drawn with the hope that women of the same gender will like them. Female characters drawn by men tend to be somewhat convenient for men. I wanted to avoid that, so I drew them in a way that was not disrespectful to women, because this is a story about a male-dominated world.

[I initially had a picture of one of those gold star "you tried" memes here but then I felt bad about it lol. Honestly I can't help but feel some affection for Miura here for saying this, though there's a conflicting element here too, that he genuinely didn't consider that drawing so much explicit sexual violence might also be considered disrespectful to women (even though he's pretty obviously talking about outfits here). I also think that over-exaggerating Miura's views on women, making them seem worse than what they are is often done only in service of sidelining the women he has written, and written well in my opinion.]

Berserk Official Guidebook Interview, 2017

Interviewer: You put so much emotion into those characters, and when the Eclipse happens, they're all gone. That must have left some scars on you as the artist.

Miura: I was emotionally invested in each character, so I felt more depressed than scarred. And the story went way down in popularity with the readers around the time of the Eclipse [laugh]. Many readers were furious that I'd do such a thing to the characters they liked. My editor at the time was concerned but also of the opinion that we'd just have to follow it through to the end. The point I had to pay attention to was making sure the flow of the story wasn't completely severed with the Eclipse. That's why I spared Casca. If she had died and the serialization had continued for a long time, I feared the reason for revenge would become something of the past; and if Guts were to establish new relationships, then his incentive would waver. It may seem calculating and unpleasant, but it's because Casca's by his side that he can never forget the Eclipse.

My own commentary: this again shows the interplay between Casca as a plot device and Casca as inherently narratively necessary. Interestingly, this particular translation has it be slightly vague whether Casca's survival is to keep the memory of the eclipse alive for Guts or for the readers themselves. It seems to me that there's a little bit of both in this decision. Also of note - this interview was done in 2017. By this point, Miura must have had a decently clear picture of what he intended to do with Casca's revival. I think this interview would have implied something very different if it had been done during conviction arc or just post golden age.

[...]

Interviewer: After that, Griffith was resurrected and Guts picked up some travelling companions. One of them is Farnese. How did you go about creating her?

Miura: I imagined Farnese as the second heroine after Casca, but I had a little trouble. I simply crammed my own tastes into Casca to create her character. She's loaded with what I considered ideal: a warrior woman, dark brown, strong but with a womanly side [laugh]. When it came time to make a new heroine, I couldn't use the same method as with Casca. So I thought I might as well make a heroine with whom female readers could sympathize. Mori is popular with girls, so I asked for his opinion as I pondered. The concept was "a female office worker who's been in society for a year or two, may or may not be accustomed to her job yet, and is ill at ease in a masculine society" [laugh]. She's doing her best with a band of knights in a masculine society, but she's unsociable since she can't seem to fit in with those around her; and her frustration is moving in a sexual direction, although half of it includes my own delusions [laugh]. In the face of Mozgus' intense impact, such an ungrounded woman is sure to get hung up on religion. In other words, "an office lady who's caught up in a dangerous new religion." That's Farnese [laugh].

Interviewer: How about Serpico?

Miura: Serpico is those female readers' "dream". My intuition was that he's the kind of man they would want to have around. To be frank, he's André from The Rose of Versailles. For a woman exhausted by society, he sees to her needs and considers her before all else. I thought this might be a woman's everlasting dream. To take it further, I think there are three dream men that a woman has. Someone like Serpico who sticks close by, a prince on a lofty peak for whom she longs, and someone wealthy and down-to-earth who will come and woo her. And I recently saw the stage production of Onna Kaizoku Bianca – based on Glass Mask by Suzue Miuchi. In it, those three types of men show up around the heroine. I realized, oh, the same thing's happened by coincidence in Berserk [laugh]! Farnese has Serpico close by, Guts to long for, and Roderick the rich guy. That's all three present and accounted for!

Interviewer: Conversely, Guts has three heroines in Casca, Farnese, and Schierke.

Miura: Maybe it's just a good balance to have three members of the opposite sex around. Although it's a coincidence here, too [laugh].

I don't have anything really to say here lol I just think Miura's gender commentary is so funny. It reminds me a little of the way Terry Pratchett comments on dynamics between men and women in his books. I guess both of them are men who got their start in the 80s and continued writing into the 2010s where the treatment of women in fantasy became far more a part of the public consciousness, and it seems both of them tried to alter their writing accordingly. Up to the reader to what extent they succeeded though.

Kojion/reddit from 2017, apparently - is this possibly from the Berserk Official Guidebook interview as well?? Or did he do a second interview in 2017 that isn't listed anywhere?

Miura: In regards to Berserk’s Guts, Griffith is a character who draws out impatience, fighting spirit and loneliness, Puck is “relaxation, laughter and a “seriousness crusher”“, the current Casca is “a character who draws out feelings of guilt, uneasiness and pity”. By arranging the characters with the intention to pull a certain something about Guts to the surface, he becomes a multifaceted protagonist.

My commentary: Guts has complicated feelings on both Griffith and Casca due to the trauma of the eclipse. Just as Casca still associates Guts with her trauma, Guts too associates Casca with his. If his feelings towards Griffith were solely anger and his feelings towards Casca were solely caring that would be a much less interesting story. This quote is very frank about how Guts and Casca's relationship stands currently; it says nothing about its eventual outcome in the manga. It also says nothing about Miura's feelings towards Casca, or makes any comment on her importance to the narrative.

Interview with Comics Natalie in 2019

--So does that mean love is an important theme in "Duruanki"?

That's true. When I chose this androgynous character as the main character, I knew I had to depict a love story properly. I haven't been able to do that properly in "Berserk" yet, so I'm a little nervous and unsure of my chances.

-- Eh, what about the relationship between Guts and Casca...?

Even though they look like that, it's like the stage before they get to love is still going on forever (laughs).

My commentary: I already said a bit about this in previous posts. In my view, this is saying that Guts and Casca were beginning a relationship and in the beginning stages of falling in love prior to the eclipse. Then, of course, the eclipse happened, and it destroyed their budding relationship completely. Their relationship currently is defined by the tragedy of what could have been. I again think it's Miura taking a very realistic view of Guts and Casca's relationship as it stands currently, but it says nothing about how it will eventually end up, good or bad.

-- In the latest volume 40 of "Berserk," Casca finally regains consciousness. I'm sure there are many fans who have been waiting for this.

I'm also deeply moved. However, things get tougher for Casca from here on out. For Casca to truly recover, she must analyze and understand her experiences and resolve them herself. She must face what Griffith did and the monsters.

--So this is a necessary process for Casca to truly recover. I think there was also a route where Casca would fully recover once she regains consciousness, but Berserk doesn't let its characters take the easy way out. I think Miura-san also needs to be prepared.

It's a story about humans, so it's bound to be like that. If you don't do it properly, like what a human would do if this situation occurred, it won't be a compelling story.

My commentary: You've all seen this quote before lol. Well, this is the source. It's part of a larger interview about the future of Berserk and Duranki, and just a quick note that this version is from me using google translate on the Japanese website. There was a blog that translated part of it, in particular the above quote that "Casca must face what Griffith did", that now redirects to a 404 link because of course it does. It's up on the wayback machine here.

Now I have various undated quotes, most of which come from kojion and were compiled on reddit.

"I didn't want to make a sexy female warrior, which is often the case in fantasy films, although the idea of a female warrior is nothing new. But now I am not so particular. I am not restricted by the form of a female warrior, but am trying to depict her as a human being." (kojion alt source)

"Miura took on the apostle; I'm going to kill all the humans, I'm gonna mess them up. Mr. Miura has been working for months. Mr. Miura kept on drawing and Finally, he messed up Casca And then Mr. Miura, who had painted it all over After this, he actually suffer from depression." (kojion alt source)

"I want today's readers to experience what once shocked me when I read the manga. Last month, Mr. Mori revealed the scene in the Eclipse chapter where Casca is raped by Griffith. He was inspired by a manga published by Go Nagai in 1979. In this manga, the woman he loves is raped by a demon in front of the main character. Mr. Miura arranged and expressed this scene." (kojion alt source)

This is apparently a panel from that particular manga, btw. No explicit sexual assault, though there is clear implication.

One last third party quote, this time not directly about Casca, but about writing women on the whole. It's from this cute interview made into a comic by the interviewer:

It echoes a sentiment he's expressed in other interviews, that Miura himself doesn't feel like he understands the female mindset so he asks people he assumes know better - in this case Kouji Mori, his friend who is heading Berserk's continuation, and Chica Umino, another mangaka who was close friends with Miura.

Miura's such a mess of contradictions when it comes to women and his female characters. One of his most well known interviews is with a feminist cultural critic. He has said multiple times he's terrible at writing women. He thought deeply about writing Casca not just as a male fantasy. He literally designed her with all the traits he thought were sexy. He wrote a 20 page rape scene with Casca and then fell into a deep depression after.

What can you even say lmao.

[angelltheninth]

hello!! i saw your most recent post on berserk and i also saw that requests are open, so i wanted to ask for a headcanon for guts before the eclipse realizing that he fell in love with the female reader who even though she needs to fight with a sword, is also the kindest, most loving and adorable person that guts has ever met in his life

I hear you Anon. I just... all I can imagine is Casca when I read that. I'm sorry, I like her a lot lol. But not to worry, I will write your request!

Pairing: Guts x Fem!Reader

Tags: fluff, sparing, flirting, kissing, size difference, planning a life together, pre-Eclipse!Guts

Ko-Fi | Rules | Fandoms and Characters

A/N: He should be able to be relatively trauma free and happy. For once.

Sparing is one of the ways the two of you flirt

Because Guts is so much taller than you it's hard to kiss him if he doesn't lean down first

Unless you manage to trip him and get him on his back first

Could fight you off but he doesn't mind you being on top of him if you're gonna kiss him right after

Openly stares at you when you're borrowing one of his shirts, or his pants

He especially likes when you wear his shirts because your shoulders are bare more often than not

When he does pushups he wants your face bellow his so he kisses you every time he gets down

Both of you take great care of your weapons and armor, often in each other's company

Guts fireman carries you as often as he can

Missions together are almost like a big date, with extra danger involved

When he sees kids running around he gets this longing look on his face, and you can see his mouth moving, thinking of names

It's hard to plan to have a family when your lives are always full of danger but thinking of names becomes something akin to pillow talk

Certainly wants to marry you first, if only so he can brag about having a badass wife

A few parts of your armor and equipment are matching ones

Looks almost dumbfounded when you kiss him really hard after he's done taking a nap

Romance isn't his strongest suit but when he passes by a stand that has some nice flowers he buys at least one to bring back home to you

Does enjoy making up cool attack maneuvers with you

If you've lived in the city for most of your life and don't quite know as much about living on the road he will gladly teach you, although he wants to settle down with you eventually

Eats enough to feed a whole village since he has to keep up that muscle mass so he always makes sure pack extra food when he knows he's gonna be sparing with you

[papirouge]

*Black people watching every racist White person looking old & hagard at 21 years old*

the reason we Black people age so fine/like wine is because everytime a racist White person calls us "nigger" or any smartass alliteration of it there's a karmic energy transfer sucking their life energy maintaining our youth, while they age in dog years 🤎

[loneworldgazer]

would u be ok with writing a story of guts being a teen single dad having a daughter that he got as a result of one night stand mom dead by childbirth before he joined the band of the hawks then just show what life would be like if Guts had a kid before and after joining band of the hawk and pre-eclipse and post-eclipse I imagine her to be 1 years old when guts fought Griffith for the first time

break the cycle

pairing: Guts x Reader

a/n: hiii i made this into quite a scenario with some headcannons, enjoyyyy!!!

tags: a bit of violence, fluffy to angst, Gut's child is named, slight x reader (fic focuses more on Guts and his daughter)

This girl whose eyelashes flutter softly when his father had wiped the muck under her cheek, passing her an apple slice to cease the squirming that she was doing on Gut's back. His little girl was starved, he had counted the coins and it was enough for a meal tonight. He only managed to snag an apple from a vendor who was generous enough to congratulate him on his latest victory.

He pulled his daughter's hood down, shushing her when she starts whining again. She had a penchant for horses and Guts had walked past a farmer who brought his horses to a water trough, he had to avert things like this away from his needy daughter.

When he went the hill, he was cautious and tapped Eileen on the lips to stay quiet. There were knights and familiar to him was the hilt of the sword he held as he puts his daughter down to hide behind a bush. For good measure, he tied a cloth around her eyes; he didnt plan to show her any spilling of blood today and he hears the horses approaching. Their hooves thump against the ground and the swordsman struck when they come to him, he pursed his lips and hoped that Eileen didn't pull off her blindfold. The neighs of horses would peak that curiousity of hers. He tried to swiftly end their lives, more soldiers coming to each comrades before an arrow pierces his arm.

The chaos had turned silent when the leader emerged and Eileen whipped her head around under the blindfold. Her father had tied it efficiently which made her thrash around in the dark. The rustling of the bushes alerted the other soldiers that had not anticipated backup with how the bushes shook. Some soldiers had approached it, looking away at the spectacle of the rumoured swordsman and their esteemed leader in a show down.

They draw their arrows to the sound but got flung back harshly when Guts had clasped onto their throats, swinging them away from the little girl. The soldiers simply getting close to his daughter had disrupted the duel him and the leader were having and Griffith didn't show mercy. His sword gleamed in the sun, ready to continue the fight and he raises it to Gut's back. His shoulder pad had protected against and he blocked Eileen, growling at the men.

"Stay away from her!"

That anger had made his brows furrow and nerves stand on end. The clash of metal resumed and sparks fly, pushing back Griffith to the hill. The white haired man had nodded to his men to not touch the child, his fight would not be disturbed because of a minor issue and his eyes gleam with such intensity.

What was in front of Guts was hot stew, it was barely stew but Eileen was slurping it up messily. The woman called Casca had altered it so it'd be easier for the little girl to swallow it. Guts was still apprehensive towards these people who only look for his strength, he didn't quite care for himself but he had to for his kid. It was a pipedream to keep her safe all the time but he truthfully wished that he didn't have to teach her how to fight. He'll be stuck in many battles, trapped in the stench of blood and sin and he was forced to face his daughter in that state one too many times.

Guts gripped his sword, he'll fight until he wins, he will win.

------------------------------------

But he didn't, unfortunately. His groggy eyes opened and he sat up from his bed.

He thought about you, the person he let tangle his sheets and grab at the headboard. He wished he didn't went through with his base instincts or his curiousity. You were a cherished friend but was a baby really something he wanted to remember you by? She was a bundle of joy too bright for him and he was somebody that will fight hellfire for (change) but he wasn't sure anymore.

He was visibly frowning at his stew that Rickert lightly tapped him on the shoulder. Guts violently jerked back, kissing his teeth before he looked down at his daughter that was looking through his bag for an apple. He sighed, pulling his bag close to look through but Casca had already had one in her hand.

It was peeled, her knife hanging on her belt as she gifts the little one the treat she really wanted. Rickert's face lit up with a small smile, changing Gut's stew. There was no need for Rickert to do all of that, giving him a raised brow and his jaw clicks with tension.

"Relax, Casca said you should have a taste of the stew she made for the little one,"

Casca didn't turn her head, focusing on Eileen who nearly dropped her apple. Her body was rigid, still so enraged over Griffith's instruction on keeping Guts warm two days ago. She had a warm towel, wiping away at Eileen who was making a ruckus.

Guts stood up, carrying Eileen and snatching the towel from the ravenette.

"She prefers if I clean her up."

He marches off to the river far from camp and Casca could do nothing but grunt. Rickert puts a hand on her shoulder, he just tells her to let the swordsman be that it was quite normal for him to be quite standoffish. She turned up her nose, moving to dump back Gut's soup back in the pot to keep for later.

------------------------------------

Bathtime wasn't tedious. It was quick for the girl to jump out the water because of how cold it is. He stares at the bubbles that fell off her body and the soap he was holding, this was the soap you had made back then. Back then, being a soap chandler had been the moment where you have met Guts. The sweet smelling soap he had was one of your successful projects, spring blossoms being dried up for a long time and being mixed with lye he remembers. Your jumps for joy were ingrained into his head when it actually didn't crumble into his hands like the previous soaps you made.

You had always smelled so nice, spending lots of time collecting flowers and rocks instead of war and it gave him adifferent perspective even if he barely came to see you.

Eileen took a liking to it that it was hard for it to last, Guts chipped bit by bit but she always had some type of problem with being clean, using the soap from top to bottom. The soap was a slippery little thing as it tumbled down the stream. A figure had picked it up, carrying a kettle of hot water, the steam wafting up into the sky. Griffith had came.

He puts down the towels and opened his arms, Guts' eye twitched, was this some kind of joke?

But before he knew it, the little girl had ran into Griffith's arms and hugged him tight.

"Eileen..!"

He called out, her arms fell to her side and Griffith rubs at her back, grinning.

"There's no need for tension, Eileen would like her bath better with hot water."

He takes the time to mix the hot water and cool water together, making it warm enough for her before she pours it all over herself. Guts stayed near and his eyes were narrowed, assessing Griffith. He was too close to his daughter to his liking but Eileen seemed to trust him, tugging on Griffith's trousers for something.

The white haired man held the soap in his hand, washing the girl gently.

"You should stay here, Guts. For a place where you belong, for Eileen."

There was a sharpness in his eyes which meant he'll take no for an answer and suddenly the thoughts of his hands on his daughter made him grow tense. But the girl had nibbled on the leader's finger, wanting him to continue washing her and the light sound of water sloshing about resumed. Guts scoffed, his arms crossed against his chest. Nobody needed to order him around, nobody.

The Band of The Hawks had welcomed Eileen in with open arms

They feel a chill tingle down their spines if Guts regarded them with a threatening look to not fuck with him and his daughter

Casca adored the little one, seeing her to various crafts like origami, flower crowns and such she can do around camp. They didn't need to show violence in front of a child so she stayed here along with the others who opted to take care of her

She glares down at the men who roughhouse each other, not wanting to set an example for the child

Pippin would be used as a lift, the little girl babbling at him for uppies. Guts' job of carrying his child had ceased when the mountain of the man was a playground for Eileen

She liked Pippin's silence, nuzzling into him with incoherent mumbles and brushing into his side when she fell asleep

She was already farmiliar with Judeau when he had cleaned her father's wounds and wiped him in his sleep. He was fond of feeding her, spoon feeding her stew or finely slicing apples for her.

She had recognized him as the cook and he laughs when she points to her mouth, indicating that that was the role she had known him as

She saw Rickert as an older brother, gentle and kind as she walks with him around the camp. It was quite hard for Guts when he wanted to look for her considering they were both so short

Maybe Guts' aggression come from jealousy that his girl had run to and fro with these people and not with her father anymore

------------------------------------

Eileen couldnt keep still. She knew there was something wrong with her dad when he was unconscious for days. Her childish mind deemed him as sick but sick people could still talk, right?

Rickert consoled her, cheeks full of tears and puffy lips from being bitten down so many times from anxiety.

"Your papa's going to be okay, he's strong," Rickert wanted to be sure when he uttered those words but he couldn't swallow down the bile that was going to be coughed up by him, he didn't want Eileen to have another tantrum from him lying to her but saying the truth was far more terrible.

Tiny footsteps filed into the room and Erica was holding a pail of water.

"Eileen, do you want to see Casca?"

Rickert swallowed down a gulp as he squeezed the water from a rag to clean up Guts. She had been particularly scared of Casca because she was not acting like herself. He wasn't sure what had happened to these two but even Eileen could sense it.

Gut's daughter had some kind of strength that allowed her to know what others are feeling but a weakness to not know how to deal with it, this poor soul couldn't handle change. The sight of Casca not acting like the strong, fierce woman she depended on haunted her.

Miraculously, Eileen agreed and ran to Erica to hold her hand and closed the door behind them.

Guts had to slowly accept that Casca was a changed person due to what happened in the Eclipse

What had soothed him a little is his daughter who had hugged him tight when he came back from outside, she was so confused when he had disappeared from the bed and cried so heavily into his chest

He only rubbed at her back, whispering gently and resting his forehead on hers to stop crying and take a breath

Comforting wasn't his strong suit but he stayed with his baby girl until the sniffles she had disappeared

Though Casca had changed in Eileen's eyes, that caring, maternal affection she had was there but she could see the swordswoman was bearing so much pain from the meltdown she had regularly

When they walked away from the house, waving at Rickert and Erica, there was a chip in her heart when she asked herself what had really happened for her father to shield her away from the truth?

Everything was too conflicting for a mind like hers

Thankfully, she was around people who care about her. Erica made sure she was eating as well as Rickert interesting her in crafting again. She was just like her papa, making big swords out of paper and collecting pretty rocks around the house

He couldn't help but smile, she was still the same even if she grew a little taller or worked up a big appetite

Soon it was time for Guts to move on and she had to go but this time, Eileen pushed for him to bring her. She had been left for so many times because of the battles her father has endured and this time, she'll suffer with him too

[che-rrys-stuff]

I cannot emphasize enough how much I hate the treatment Casca gets as a character after The Golden Age (I have some problems even with her characterization after she fell for Guts during that same arc, but those are minor complaints compared to the state of current Casca).

The first complaint would absolutely be the treatment of her situation as an SA survivor. I don't think her trauma is ever explored on a deeper note, nor her actual pain for the whole situation she got trapped in. The focus of her rape isn't on her, it's always on Guts' pain and Guts' feelings about it, backed up by actual interviews in which Miura stated he made the rape scene just for the eclipse to be more painful for Guts. The rape itself is drawn in a way that makes it extremely uncomfortable to witness, not for its brutality nor because you feel the pain she's feeling, but because it's drawn as if it was a non-con hentai, something that always disturbed me. How come the same person who put so much heart and genuine care into realistically depict Guts' trauma as a survivor could do something so distasteful ?

That event would curse her character into becoming a complete tool for the story and its male characters to use. During the eclipse her body serves as a mere object for Griffith to project his pain onto Guts, the same Guts that thinks about raping her as a way to get closer to Griffith. The same Guts that on a lot of occasions thinks about abandoning her to chase after Griffith, and that a lot of times treat her as an inconvenience. Even after getting her sanity back, she can do nothing but become a narrative tool to give Guts' a reason to chase after Griffith again.

During the Golden Age she was interesting, but she's always been "a girl in love", always pining for some guys. Griffith didn't want her so she got with Guts instead, to cure their mutual obsession with the man. I hope the manga doesn't end with Casca staying romantically involved with Guts, because to me their relationship never felt genuine. Casca in the narrative is something Guts use to delude himself into thinking he would ever be able to just let go of Griffith and forget all that happened.

In the current arc, after being kidnapped, she's getting dressed in fancy clothes, dreaming and sleeping, while Guts is more concerned about his sword than he is for her. I don't think she would ever recover from this character assassination, but I do hope she gets a bit of autonomy in the end.

[griffithkisser]

it's insanely ironic to me how it didn't even take that much time for griffith to feel some consequences of his own actions grabbing him by the shoulders after the eclipse. like, imagine sacrificing your "only one" just to discover later on that since you're sharing a vessel with his child, you'll be coming back to him AND casca every full moon—you'll get close to them over and over again as a reminder of what you did. griffith literally doomed himself with longing, man.

[papirouge]

It's ok you can say Berserk

lmao it's hard to continue reading a series when one of your favorite characters is dead and you peeked ahead and know that a couple others get done real dirty :-/

[bthump]

Hi! I love your meta and your understanding of Berserk is just so sublime. <3 I apologize that the ask is so long and I totally understand if you don't have the time to read it.

I was re-reading the post-Miura chapters and I noticed some details that got me thinking. Griffith seemingly decides to go to Casca after seeing/sensing the Beast of Darkness (2nd page of ch367, it's kinda ambiguous tho) and then when Guts fails to strike Griffith while Griffith is holding Casca, Guts thinks "Wha...?!", we see his hands shaking and he collapses. What do you think that he's so shocked about? That he couldn't hurt Griffith because of some magical invulnerability? Or because he couldn't bring himself do it after all? Or was he somehow surprised that he couldn't risk killing Casca too even if it meant killing Griffith (which would be unhinged but possible considering Guts' history with letting Casca die/suffer when it comes to Griffith)? Or maybe he was shocked to see Griffith holding Casca, since he was shown to have complicated feelings about that when Griffith first reincarnated and Casca reached for him and then after the Hill of Swords when Casca reached for him again. Of course, it was actually the baby she was reaching for but Guts doesn't know that and he was angsting about it pre-eclipse too (although apparently then it was fine cause he was pining after Griffith even harder and arguably he still is, lol). It would be interesting if it was also one of the reasons Guts was so upset when Griffith was carrying Casca away (hopefully along with, you know, the fact that Casca is being kidnapped by someone who raped her), and it could partly explain why Guts wasn't focused on saving her (and in fact, hasn't mentioned her once) but on feeling bad about himself instead. Poor Casca, she was thinking about how she needs to get back to Guts and Guts hasn't even thought about her.

And why do you think Griffith went to hold Casca and then took her with him? Did he think he needed something to stop Guts when he sensed the BoD? But that doesn't feel likely to me bc he was dodging Guts' attacks so effortlessly before. Or could it be possible that he somehow felt like he needed to protect Casca from BoD!Guts? Which obviously would be super ironic but he has protected Casca before (probably because of the Moonlight Child but who knows). He provabably has some reason to keep her in Falconia we don't know about yet, but I'm wondering what his immediate reasoning was since it doesn't seem to me that he came to Elfhelm to do that (or that he came there intentionally at all since he came as the Moonlight Child). As a side note, I also find interesting that Griffith has snapped Guts out of the BoD!mode twice. Once as the Moonlight Child (and the Moonlight Child also later saved Guts from drowning, both of these happened when the MC was in a form with Griffith-like hair) and once in Guts' mind (I think) when he almost got up from his post-Elfhelm depression through accepting the Beast of Darkness, although that might have been more about him feeling powerless against Griffith. Or maybe it was how he looked directly at Griffith's dick in that panel, who can say lol.

In addition, I think there are visual parallels between how Griffith reaches to Casca and how he reached to Ganishka, how Guts almost sliced through Jill to kill Rosine and how he almost killed Casca here, and Guts' strike and its "wind effect" look almost identical to what was shown in his fateful duel with Griffith, but I suppose it could be a coincidence or that the illustrators are using Miura's work as direct references.

Thanks if you read this far! I appreaciate all your contributions to the fandom <3.

Sorry about the wait, work's been a nightmare the past few weeks lol so I haven't had the energy for meta.

I actually have a post about that scene where I speculate about Guts' reaction. In brief, I figure it's shock at not being able to hurt Griffith, given his subsequent breakdown about his sword and total lack of thought for Casca (and yeah ia that sucks for her, wow) and it's interesting in context considering Griffith is essentially protecting Casca from him in that moment.

And that's an interesting point about Griffith potentially perceiving the Beast of Darkness in Guts. I've been assuming that Griffith kidnapped Casca basically just to have a babysitter nearby for the moonlight boy lol, so he wouldn't go magically wandering across the country looking for her, but it would be interesting if there was more to it than that.

I like to believe that maybe Moonbaby is a justification for an intrinsic urge to protect her that comes from his unfrozen human emotions. I hope that fact that Griffith had to shield her from Guts comes back, at least thematically - Guts as a danger to Casca has been a consistent theme throughout the latter part of the story, and Griffith being the one to protect her could be interesting as a sort of thematic yin yang thing, like Griffith as a monster demonstrating humanity vs Guts as a human demonstrating monstrousness.

Honestly idk why Griffith would protect her in terms of pragmatism. Surely her being dead would also help solve the moonlight boy issue by removing the person he seeks out. (Assuming that actually is his motivation and Griffith didn't kidnap her for some as yet unknown reason.)

And ooh I did see the parallel between Guts and Rosine and Jill vs Guts and Griffith and Casca, which I get into in that post I linked, but I never considered a visual parallel between Griffith and Ganishka and Griffith and Casca, but yeah that makes sense and imo is potentially interesting thematically.

Like I see the Griffith and Ganishka encounter as a big high fantasy metaphor for a basic longing for human connection, and if Griffith and Casca mirror that at all then imo that's more evidence for Griffith being drawn to Casca because of his humanity and their former friendship, whether Griffith can admit that to himself or not. I mean, it could also be a suggestion that Moonlight Boy represents Griffith's humanity symbolically, but I don't like that concept (I want Griffith's human emotions to be real not symbolically expressed through a magic baby lol) so I'm all about finding alternatives.

Thanks for the ask, you raise a lot of good points!

[sheepwhosleeps]

The eclipse sa scene makes me so angry, and not because it happened but because of the potential it had to connect past story lines. Casca's past from Griffith saving her from the noble (and Casca's overall character in general since I fear that her character went so unexplored during/after it) Guts and his past and how that wasn't even mentioned and Griffith and his past sexual relationships. We could've had a Casca that was out for revenge, a Casca who's character was explored and how she deals with those feelings. We could've had a Guts dealing with his past instead of shoving it off to the side and acting like it never happened (and in a perfect world there would be greater consequences for the assult he did to Casca in later chapters). We could've had a deeper connection of Griffith and his struggle with sex as being a power thing (such as Gennon, the princess, and Casca from the wagon scene). ALL THIS POTENTIAL just for it to come off as some weird hentai and for it to be just about Guts when it could've been a great exploration for all three characters. Also that scene of Guts' dark thoughts wanting to sa Casca to get closer to Griffith is conviently never talked about when I see people hating on Griffith's character and acting like Guts was the perfect man for Casca. It makes me laugh. I hate when people take the asshole out of Guts' character, what makes him interesting IS those dark thoughts of how he's still not over Griffith despite what happened to a woman he supposedly cares about. Honestly I hope Casca kills them both atp or she becomes an apostle. Or she does SOMETHING to make her an actual character again.

[blazinginsquids]

How Berserk Inspired Arcane

Tw: Very brief mention of r*pe (Berserk)

Exhibit A: Jayce and Viktor being parallels to Guts and Griffith

I need to firstly clarify that Jayce and Viktor primarily parallel Guts and Griffith in season 2, NOT season 1. However, I do think that this was planned beforehand, for reasons I’m about to give

Looking at Viktor’s league character before Arcane, he was portrayed as this man who believed that human emotion was weakness and must be destroyed in order to create a perfect society. This lines up with Griffith (after eclipse), where he gave up his humanity in order to obtain godhood. Also Griffith has an entire monologue about how he wants his dream to hold dominion over the entire world, which is similar to how Viktor is in season 2 at the commune.

League Jayce was much more narcissistic and full of himself. I believe his change into Arcane was influenced by Guts. Starting off naive, and ending very cynical, driven to destroy Griffith. This would line up with Jayce in season 1, and Jayce post surviving the apocalypse.

Exhibit A-2: Jayce and Guts killing a child

Only noticed this while collecting screencaps for this. Guts and Jayce both accidentally kill a child and it marks a turning point in their character arcs.

Exhibit B: The Bonfire Of Dreams

The bonfire of dreams is a scene where Guts and Casca watch the rest of the mercenaries celebrate at a bonfire. They compare dreams to flames, saying that all the little flames (the individual’s dream) adds on to the bonfire, forming everyone’s hopes into the world we know.

I believe this scene was the inspiration for the scene where Jayce tells Mel “imagine the wonders they could create if we put magic in their hands”. Especially since the bonfire of dreams is supposed to be a scene building up to Guts and Casca’s romance, just as this scene (quickly) builds to Jayce and Mel’s.

Exhibit C: The Infamous Scene (TW)

There’s a very infamous scene in Berserk where, after Griffith becomes an apostle, he r*pes Casca in order to symbolize his complete loss in humanity.

I do think that Arcane was inspired by this scene, but I think they very reasonably changed the circumstances. After Viktor became the leader of the commune, he had Sky guiding him, acting as the symbol of his humanity, the symbol that he was still helping people because he believed in THEIR humanity. Ie, trying to “fix” them without yet turning them into robots.

I believe Sky disappearing was supposed to symbolize the same thing, just in a far less graphic manner. I also believe Sky and Viktor’s conversation proves it.

Viktor: I will miss our talks.

Sky: No, you won’t.

I’ve seen people interpret this as Sky acknowledging that Viktor never truly cared about her. I think there’s a decent argument for that, but I think she was actually getting at how the path Viktor is on will make him lose his humanity. Missing something, being sad, loneliness, these are human traits. Sky is saying that Viktor can’t miss her because that is an emotion.

[hostile-hostelry]

TW: SA DISCUSSION AND BERSERK SPOILERS

It’s so weird to me seeing people acting like Griffith was an Angel pre eclipse. Did you notice the way he treated people like objects? The way he manipulates people almost like it’s second nature? How he fucking raped Charlotte? How he went on a desperate spree of bad decisions to feel any amount of control after Guts decided he wanted to go do his own thing? The way after being rescued his first instinct was to choke out Guts and then try to rape Casca the way he did Charlotte so he could feel any amount of control and the only thing that stopped him was his lack of physical ability at the time because missing tendons?

And no the torture didn’t magically make him evil, it just brought out impulses that were already there, the worst of him. He was capable of the eclipse before the torture. It was merely a catalyst. Seeing Guts and Casca happy without him and the idea of never reaching his dream and instead having a simple happy life drove him to that.

[tortured-griffith]

Ideal GriffCas dynamic😍

lol i know i was the one who posted recently about how much of a double standard there is for when people post anti-casca vs anti-griffith stuff in the tags on tumblr but cmon man. lets all just smoke some weed. watch some slime videos on youtube. play some steel drum music.

[petr1kov]

what do you hope for casca in falconia? i don't feel confident in mori and co's execution but i'm happy to get the ideas at least. i think there's a bunch of things to explore now that her mind is back with incomplete memories of eclipse and elaine (e.g. gut's assault). luca, charlotte, and sonia are there too

ideally, i'd like to see how she reacts to falconia itself now. casca's great loyalty to griffith was always motivated by the type of future he represented and that she could help him bring about, so i imagine that seeing falconia would bring a lot of mixed emotions in her - that was her real dream, after all, but it should feel surreal for her to see that after everything it took from her and from everyone she knew. i would like to see her full anger at griffith, her conflicted emotions.

also, speaking of what ending they plan for her: although i'm not sure which route they'll go for (and though i do believe mori will try to stick with miura's plan as faithfully as possible, we'll never know for sure what he would've done differently or changed his mind about altogether, so there will always be that), whatever happens, i'd personally not like for her to get together with guts. i find their relationship interesting, and i do think they'll always care about each other and have an unbreakable bond, but i just simply cannot see them as a couple after everything that went on between them. i know many fans see guts' quest as a big tragic romance, but i really don't. i feel that having them end up together would be having them hold onto echoes of the past, of a relationship that irrevocably changed.

above all else, i would like for casca to live and find her own path, on her own terms. i'm tired of her being a plot device and little else.