#vritannis

[mugiwara-shuenobi]

[cacaitos]

also the schierke side of the troll arc is boring, i hate that arc because i hate all children.

[bscully]

At Vritannis Schierke released the hanged Kushan to "neutralize" the negative thoughts they died with so they may rest in peace

What if Griffith did the same as well, just with different means? Giving the dead some closure & a chance to say goodbye to family?

[palominocornliveblogs]

I strongly suspect that this is going to be the last arc of Berserk. Not even due to the whole "literal death of the author" thing, just, things were pretty clearly winding up to the final confrontation.

What I think will happen is that Guts, Casca, and co will cut a bloody swath through Falconia and kill Griffith, and with his death the whole "spectacular kingdom but everywhere else is full of monsters" thing will collapse into... well, not the old normal, because like Guts said, you can't force things back to how they were, but into something similar. (Time is a spiral not a circle and all that.)

I suspect Guts and Casca will ride off into the sunset together, horrifically fucked up but desperate to start their new life together. I give it 50-50 odds whether their son will somehow be saved from his body-share with Griffith, or if he'll end up dead as collateral.

I think Skully is going to finally kill Void (and the other three godhand), and then, as he's nothing but armor powered by rage, cease to exist. If he's lucky, he'll get to be with his beloved cherry blossom maiden in whatever afterlife.

I don't think Danann, Isma, and the rest of Skellig Island will return.

I'm guessing Isidro will go back to his hometown and make amends with his parents, happily settling down to a "normal" life with the memory of the most amazing adventure ever always staying with him. Schierke will become a village witch somewhere (maybe in Isidro's village, even, I'd like to see them become friends) like Flora used to be. Farnese will travel to learn and teach magic to more people. Serpico will finally disentangle himself from her and return to Vritannis, try and make amends for what he did during his time with the church. Roderick will return to Iith, maybe become a bit more responsible. Maybe even Magnifico will grow up and return to his family a better man.

I'm guessing Charlotte will die trying to save Griffith, and realize with her dying breath that he never cared about her as more than a meal ticket. Sonia... I think she might realize that Griffith only sees her as a tool and maybe even turn against him. The rest of his new Band will get killed, of course. Possibly Griffith himself will sacrifice them. Owen and Laban will probably live and continue to be Those Two Guys for whatever comes next. The pope is going to kick the bucket pretty soon, though I'm not sure if it'll be of natural or violent causes.

I bet Rickert, Erica, Daiba, Silat, and the Tapasa are about to meet up with Guts and co while they're at sea, and they can figure out a strategy together. I suspect Daiba will die in the final confrontation, but not without being critical to defeat Griffith. Silat and the Bakiraka will get the glory of taking down Griffith and Raksas, but choose not to return to the homeland that was so horrible to them and probably establish their own country. Rickert, well, if he lives (I give it even odds that he'll die) will settle down as a blacksmith somewhere, with Erica as his assistant. Luca and her girls are obviously going to help take down Griffith and in fact are probably going to meet up with Casca soon; they're resourceful, so I suspect they'll survive and build a new life in whatever future is in store.

Of course, what I WANT to see is Guts slaying god and bringing down the whole horrific system, being recognized as the ACTUAL hawk of light (but refusing the title), and then settling down in an honest profession (as a butcher or something, snerk) with Casca and some more children, both of them making progress on their trauma, with the Dragonslayer and Berserker armor both destroyed in the final confrontation.

[star-fiend]

[akavir]

:D!

[214c]

@ guts before they fight at vritannis

[midnight-in-town]

Hi. I wanted to know, what followers of Griffith's do you see as potential turncoats in the future of the story?

Hello! Well, I read your question in two different ways, because I guess it depends what you meant by “followers of Griffith”? :))

You wrote Griffith not Femto though, so can I assume that, besides the Apostles, you’re also counting all the humans that were blinded by his incarnation? 

Including the people who don’t follow him exactly, but who took refuge into Falconia, because this city that he brought back is for now the only safe place ever since the different planes merged?

Anyway, here’s the list of characters I could see being more than simple “followers” of Griffith/Femto in the story, if we’re going by the broader definition: 

Nosferatu Zodd

The most likely case, to be honest. He may have bowed in front of Femto and seems to obey his every word but, more than a master, what he seeks is…

And he doesn’t hesitate to safeguard his opponents at the end of a fight if that means more fun at a later time with them (see the Skull Knight post Eclipse).

You could say he doesn’t really care about which sides he picks during fights as long as he gets to face a strong opponent, as we saw when he and Guts teamed up against Ganishka’s attack on Vritannis. 

Anyway, my main point is that for now Zodd follows Femto, because he lost to him, just before his incarnation. However, it surely won’t last because…

…I believe there is foreshadowing that Zodd is drawn to both the Skull Knight and Guts, who may be the only ones able to rival with Femto’s strength (obviously, otherwise there would be no story).

So there is Sonia’s little prophecy (which isn’t just about Vritannis in my opinion) and there is also the first meeting with the Moonlight Child…

…because Zodd was watching the beginning. And now that… 

it was heavily emphasized that Femto/Griffith = Moonlight Child in episode 358 

also that we know that the boy’s one (the only?) of Femto’s weakness (because he can’t control the transformation + he can be affected by the boy’s feelings for his parents)

…the fact Zodd seems aware of this transformation (since he was there in vol28) might vouch that he’ll change his mind about dumbly following Femto, because Guts’/Skully’s/the Moonlight Child’s sides are more interesting.

Imagine this: if Femto is definitely the strongest, then how about teaming up with them to defeat him? For sure, that would be one hell of a fight for Zodd. :))

It’s my take on him because let’s just say that Zodd as someone’s follower (even if they’re as powerful as Femto) when he always seeks a rival doesn’t really suit him. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Irvine?

Putting a question mark on this one, because I just don’t know for sure. His character is mysterious and we haven’t seen a lot about him but…

…he sure doesn’t behave like his fellow Apostles and he acknowledges his condition of being “a beast”.

We know that Apostles are not simple monsters, they sacrificed what they held most precious to fulfill a wish or their dream: so we don’t know Irvine’s backstory, but if he enjoys being alone and can act nicely to a kid, there is a chance that there is more to him… 

Or so I say, but Griffith behaves kindly to kids too so ¯\_(ツ)_/¯. Still, if I had to bet on another Apostle besides Zodd, for now it would be him even if that might be too easy. 

Sonia and Mule

I could call Sonia a lost cause, but that’d be without Mule, who always has her back and also the weird encounter that Sonia had with Schierke, implying these two (with Mule and Isidro) will meet again, whether on opposite sides or not. 

Anyway I’m not Sonia’s biggest fan, but it’s clear that the story is not going to call for more kids to be destroyed because of Femto’s dream (y’know, getting his kingdom and all). We already had that, it was presented as a terrible feat and I honestly think that Sonia is meant as a parallel to this boy…

…because she looks at Griffith with undying loyalty, like he’s her hero, and it will kill her too if she refuses to face that he’s there to doom the whole world.

Thankfully for her, I believe Mule is capable of bringing her to this realization, that is if he can manage to reach it first, but I have no doubt that he will, because he questions the things he sees more than most.

Luca

Luca and the others found a haven within Falconia, but seeing how they supported “outcasts” like Rickert and Daiba…

…we can easily guess that they will be useful again once Guts and Casca’s side are to reappear, especially considering Luca’s previous bond with “Elaine”. 

Besides, just when it comes to Luca, she has a history of standing up against blind crowds…

…in that she’s a true hero, so I don’t see why this would not keep up in the future. Again, she proved she still had it in her after the Tower of Conviction arc, when choosing to believe in Rickert’s story about Griffith sending an assassin after his life, simply because he defied him. 

Charlotte?

Yet another question mark because I’m not sure about what exactly Sensei intends to do with her character. But for now, I truly want to believe in her. 

In one way or another, she’s loosely and indirectly related to Gaiseric (who’s Skully “the foe of all inhumans”) as the current official ruler of Midland after all.Secondly, she knows the previous Band of the Falcon, since she helped them saved Griffith:

So I can’t help but wonder about what she would think of her charming knight in shining white, armor once she finds out that he sacrificed all his old comrades to become a Godhand, after they endangered themselves (and her) to save him.

Lastly, even if she acts very innocent and often focuses on herself, I think she has it in herself to make a good Queen one day, at least once she gets a little more backbone and confidence:

I mean, this isn’t the topic but being coddled by a father who actually wanted to bed her is probably the main reason Charlotte never really had to worry about ruling her own country before the rise of Falconia. 

Even now, it seems that she’s perfectly fine with only being Griffith’s Queen (she’s truly madly in love with him), but here’s to hoping that she’ll realize that she’s the one who’s meant to be in charge.

If she can achieve that, then maybe she’ll have a role to play when it comes to defeating Griffith/Femto. 

That’s my take on it! I hope it answers your question Anon. :) As always feel free to disagree and have a nice weekend!

[skellig-island]

Alright, here we go ya’ll. Let’s read “The Flame Dragon Knight” together. Expect all the spoilers here. It’s 4 chapters long, with a prologue and an epilogue.

Under a cut just in case not all of you wanna spoil yourselves.

So the prologue is about how a bunch of female corpses have been showing up around the city of Nordcapity. We also meet Grand General Kirsten, the only genuinely good guy in this place, unfortunately he doesn’t get much focus, but he’s suspicious that the crime is being committed by some noble rank person. This part is pretty dumb since it doesn’t come up again until much later and it’s not really mentioned after this.

So chapter one starts with a description of the setting. “The Grand Duchy of Grant was an island nation, the island itself also called Grant. (...) Grant was shaped like a giant basic, dominated by a vast caldera (....) the capital city, Nordcapity, was situated in the center of the basin’s hollow.” To pass to the city you must also pass a citadel called “Fire Dragon’s Lair” which prevents Tudor (remember those guys from the Golden Age?) from fully invading the island.

We meet Grunbeld Ahlqvist (yeah, that’s his name) as a captain of the Fire Dragon’s Lair and he flashes back to 14 years ago when he was a whee lad. Not really, since at that age he “was already taller than an average adult man”. He also lives alone with his mom cause his dad died and his mom made sure to educate him in swordsmanship. 

It’s also explained that the people of Grant don’t subscribe to the religion of the Holy See, instead they’re essentially Norse pagans who believe in Odin, the valkyries and that “only the brave will be called to the Hall of the Gods”. They don’t say they’re Norse but you can draw some conclusions.

Grunbeld also fights a lot with the local kids and one day he gets beaten up by the older adult brother of one of the kids. A giant wolf finds him collapsed in the forest and this is how he meets Benedikte, who is blind. She tells the wolf, Ludvig, to bring Grunbeld to some springs and they talk there. Benedikte calls him a dragon and Grunbeld is like “wtf are you on kid?”

Some pages later, Tudor invades Grunbeld’s village and they rape his mom in front of him. Yeah, there’s a lot of rape in this novel. Also they cut off some other guy’s testicles and leave him to bleed to death.

So the Tudors gather all the children and lock them up into cells because they intend to give them conversion education to make them loyal to Tudor. The put Grundbeld in a restraining board cause he’s fucking huge even though he’s 14. This is where he meets Edvard, the son of the grand duke and Sigur who is also nobility; later on they’re revealed to be childhood friends.

The kids are educated by a guy named Abecassis who will get what’s coming to him at the end of the novel, don’t worry. He “educates” them also makes them spar with wooden swords against each other. 

One day, Abecassis makes Grunbeld (who by now had become a symbol of hope for the children) fight against an experienced soldier, hoping that he would lose and make the kids lose hope. But Grunbeld wins, so Abecassis decides to punish Sigur instead, they rape her and burn her back.

So 4 years pass and Grunbeld is even bigger now, so Abecassis decides to get rid of him for good and brings a tiger (the same kind that crashed the party in Vritannis) and tells the kids that anyone who volunteers can help Grunbeld. Edvard and Sigur volunteer and they hatch a plan to beat the tiger.

Night arrives and they try to use torches to keep the tiger away since they don’t have any weapons. Except a heavy war hammer that a normal man can’t lift, and was left there to mock them since they didn’t expect them to be able to raise it. But Grunbeld does, to the shock of everyone except the reader. Also Edvard’s left eye gets slashed by the tiger.

So Grunbeld kills the tiger and Kirsten arrives to finally save the children. Abecassis manages to escape. There’s a banquet later on to celebrate the victory and we meet Haakon, who is the grand duke (the boss of everyone) and Edvard’s dad. It’s made clear here that not a lot of people like Haakon cause he’s kind of an asshole and also wants to convert everyone to the Holy See religion.

Benedikte appear again and dances for everyone, cause she’s a priestess. Also it turns out she’s Kirsten’s granddaughter. And also Kirsten adopts Grunbeld cause Grunbeld is now an orphan and Kirsten is the best guy in this novel, he’s my favorite character here. Grunbeld and Benedikte talk some more after the party and that’s the end of chapter 1.

Stay tuned for the rest.

[berserktransparents]

schierke in vritannis, with and without the seagulls

[mugiwara-shuenobi]

[cacaitos]

im going to be honest with you since guts got his new travel party the only part i've liked is their stay in vritannis only.

[palominocornliveblogs]

A totally correct and accurate summary of the last two chapters

Griffith: I'm in charge here.

Midland nobles: How dare you!

Princess Charlotte: He's my fiance. He's in charge.

Midland nobles: ...okay.

Vritannis forces: But no, actually.

Pope: He's the second coming of Jesus.

Vrittanis forces: ...okay.

[akavir]

[lulalin]

Reading again the chapters in Vritannis made me realize how much I missed the dark, less fantasy, elements of Berserk.

The political intrigues, the last bit in the story where humans still acted by themselves, characters having some development, the gritty medieval aesthetic.

The Boat Chapters where too many and too fillerish ( Fuck those pirates. Just fuck 'em ) but I found Elf Island such a bore too.

Miura drew it in a cutesy artstyle I'm not a fan of, and the aesthetic was some old unoriginal, pure "fantasy" stuff.

I fucking hope Miura doesn't intend to add Morda to the RPG party too, cause we have just too many people here, and half of them matter literally nothing to the story. I don't care about the mages on the insland, I care about the shitty world that was left behind in Griffith's Fantasy Hell.

Speaking about Griffith, Falconia is boring as fuck too. The palace has a cool design, but the rest of the city is just Rome™, like, Miura researches so much, couldn't he take some inspiration from actual utopian cities imagined in the XV century? The City Of The Sun? New Atlantis?

Also when will Griffith's character come back? How much will I have to wait for him to finally do and say something that's not Causality? Do we need Rickert to slap him again? Guts? The fetus? (boo, the fetus is cheating)

Sorry, I'm just cranky cause we are on Hiatus after Casca came back.

[midnight-in-town]

how did you find about the story Berserk? did another blogger tell you about it?

Hi Anon! And nope, it was one of my best friends irl (see, I always love getting rec from people), two years or so before I ended up starting it.

He was really into it and was sure I’d love it too, but casually looking up for a summary or just opening up google image back then didn’t convince me. I found it way too violent on first glance and thought that I wanted something with more plot material than blood and monsters everywhere. 

How wrong was I, eh? xD

Then time passed by, at some point I read this interview of Isayama-sensei (the author of Shingeki no Kyojin) that said that he got inspired by Berserk’s heroine (Casca) for Mikasa, so I though ‘huh interesting’ because I love Mikasa and looked for a summary again.

And then, a few months later, circumstances made it that I ended up living through a pretty horrible week so I needed a very strong distraction and, thinking back about the summary I had read for Berserk, I thought this could be it. Voilà. 

The part with the Eclipse made me put the story on hold for a few hours tbh, but then again, I was such an emotional wreck because of the horrible week I was living through that I still kept reading because I needed to focus on something else. 

The longest stop I did while reading the series was after meeting the trolls (vol 23/24). Couldn’t handle that part of the story on the first try (and the funniest thing is that my best friend’s girlfriend had the exact same problem when she too read the series). xD Then I did another stop after the arc in Vritannis (vol30~), mostly because I was busy, so overall it took me like 4 months to read through the whole series the first time. 

Here’s my little history with the series Berserk, I hope it answers your question! Have a nice day Anon. :))