Montatez
Aero Fighters Flyboy
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Good news indeed.
Berserk Lost Children Arc Anime Coming
- Thread starter Taiso
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Aero Fighters Flyboy
Good news indeed.
- Joined
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- 17,425
So I guess this thread is as good a place as any to kick the tires on new Berserk discussion for anyone that cares.
For those that are interested but don't know, after Kentaro Miura died on 5/6/2021, the future of the series was very much in question. It's not unheard of for a manga to continue under new creators after the original's death but it's not very common.
The order to continue the series was going to be a tall one for anybody to fulfill satisfactorily, even if the people that ultimately decided to move forward were Studio Gaga (Miura's assistants), Hakusensha (the publisher) and Miura's dearest friend Kouji Mori, who claimed that Miura and he had discussed Berserk's direction in great detail privately.
Whether or not this is true is anyone's guess, but it's not an unreasonable thing to accept. After all, Miura himself (I believe) had verified that it was he and Mori that brainstormed details regarding the events of Berserk's key plot development, the Eclipse. It stands to reason, then, that Miura and Mori probably talked about a lot more as it regards Berserk's story beats. For purposes of my theorycrafting here, I'm going to write while taking this position.
The 'Continuation', as it's being named in various fan circles, has been well enough received by most of the audience but there are a group of hardnosed skeptics that adamantly refuse to embrace, accept or give very much credit to it. Largely, the complaints have been about pacing, inconsistent art, inaccurate representation of the characters and a fundamental inability on the part of Studio Gaga and Kouji Mori to understand exactly 'how' Miura told the story through a skillful mix of exposition and sequential art.
I think it would be foolish to argue against these criticisms for the very reason that neither Studio Gaga nor Kouji Mori are Kentaro Miura. No one is. To expect anything even close to MIura's grand vision of the greatest manga masterpiece of all time (a bit of hyperbole, but I believe it wholeheartedly) is to set one's self up for terrific disappointment.
Unfortunately, many of the 'hardcore' fans, especially the fellas over at skullknight.net, have done just that. They believe that Berserk is sacred, that they understand it better than anyone currently living (could be true), that no one should continue it if Miura is gone, and that the Continuation's inability to live up to the high standards of Miura's epic is nothing less than a mistake that should not have been actualized.
I disagree with that assessment wholeheartedly. Some of you may remember that I said back then-Berserk is something that Miura worked on for over three decades. There were many, many breaks between chapters and I consider that a grand waste of opportunity to progress the story further. But I also understand, being something of a creative myself, that at some point the greatest of us are essentially competing against our own works and legacies and that can take an enormous toll on one's energy and emotions.
We see it with George R.R. Martin, who frequently gets distracted from completing his opus by working on side jobs and pet projects and opening theaters and wolf shelters or whatever else keeps him going. At some point, even these creative titans hit a personal roadblock as they are unable, for whatever reason, to maintain the high quality that made them and their works famous. And despite what some will say while wearing the rosiest colored of glasses, even the Mona Lisa of manga has flaws.
It's true-Berserk isn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination. It meanders in places despite 'their' arguments that every panel had purpose, every word written down was transcribed from Buddha's soul to Miura's pen and that every single square millimeter of Berserk is another piece to the puzzle of understanding the universe.
Another thing I said back when Miura sadly passed away was that Berserk wants to live and it deserves to. I know this because there is no way on God's green earth that Miura would be okay with the work going into the grave with him. Or at least, I need to believe this. His death was, by all accounts, unexpected and he had every intention of continuing it.
Kouji Mori created a beautiful manga detailing the passing of his beloved friend, and the conclusion that he came to while writing and drawing it was that he knew Miura would be urging him to finish Berserk in his place. While we can never know if this is true, I again have no reason to doubt the authenticity of Mori's assumptions. He knew the man better than anyone. In fact, the two were so close that Miura and Mori had agreed that when the former retired, he would move in with the latter and his wife to enjoy the remainder of his days in the company of loved ones: Kentaro Mikura never married or had his own children.
Despite the supposedly rocky execution of the Continuation, recent chapters have me thinking that Guts' silence and inaction, which has frustrated so many of the hardcore naysayers who refuse to believe Guts would ever 'quit fighting', is not only an intentional choice by Mori and Studio Gaga, but they are necessary developments in order to move Guts to a place where he can transcend his limitations in order to truly be able to face Griffith as an equal. In truth, the two have never been on equal footing. Except for when he left the Band of the Falcon and crushed Griffith's psyche in the process, the one time leader of the mercenary company has always had the upper hand in nearly every way. They've never been equals. They've never been friends.
Guts' sword, the one thing that he has relied on and the one thing that seemed to save him even when he didn't want to save himself, has now failed him. He has been reduced to an emotional state prior to Gambino's betrayal and nothing seems to be able to break him out of his fugue
And I believe that this is exactly what Miura intended for Guts at this crucial juncture of the story. Looking deeper into these developments, I can't see the intended direction being anything OTHER than this.
When I have the energy, I will write more.
For those that are interested but don't know, after Kentaro Miura died on 5/6/2021, the future of the series was very much in question. It's not unheard of for a manga to continue under new creators after the original's death but it's not very common.
The order to continue the series was going to be a tall one for anybody to fulfill satisfactorily, even if the people that ultimately decided to move forward were Studio Gaga (Miura's assistants), Hakusensha (the publisher) and Miura's dearest friend Kouji Mori, who claimed that Miura and he had discussed Berserk's direction in great detail privately.
Whether or not this is true is anyone's guess, but it's not an unreasonable thing to accept. After all, Miura himself (I believe) had verified that it was he and Mori that brainstormed details regarding the events of Berserk's key plot development, the Eclipse. It stands to reason, then, that Miura and Mori probably talked about a lot more as it regards Berserk's story beats. For purposes of my theorycrafting here, I'm going to write while taking this position.
The 'Continuation', as it's being named in various fan circles, has been well enough received by most of the audience but there are a group of hardnosed skeptics that adamantly refuse to embrace, accept or give very much credit to it. Largely, the complaints have been about pacing, inconsistent art, inaccurate representation of the characters and a fundamental inability on the part of Studio Gaga and Kouji Mori to understand exactly 'how' Miura told the story through a skillful mix of exposition and sequential art.
I think it would be foolish to argue against these criticisms for the very reason that neither Studio Gaga nor Kouji Mori are Kentaro Miura. No one is. To expect anything even close to MIura's grand vision of the greatest manga masterpiece of all time (a bit of hyperbole, but I believe it wholeheartedly) is to set one's self up for terrific disappointment.
Unfortunately, many of the 'hardcore' fans, especially the fellas over at skullknight.net, have done just that. They believe that Berserk is sacred, that they understand it better than anyone currently living (could be true), that no one should continue it if Miura is gone, and that the Continuation's inability to live up to the high standards of Miura's epic is nothing less than a mistake that should not have been actualized.
I disagree with that assessment wholeheartedly. Some of you may remember that I said back then-Berserk is something that Miura worked on for over three decades. There were many, many breaks between chapters and I consider that a grand waste of opportunity to progress the story further. But I also understand, being something of a creative myself, that at some point the greatest of us are essentially competing against our own works and legacies and that can take an enormous toll on one's energy and emotions.
We see it with George R.R. Martin, who frequently gets distracted from completing his opus by working on side jobs and pet projects and opening theaters and wolf shelters or whatever else keeps him going. At some point, even these creative titans hit a personal roadblock as they are unable, for whatever reason, to maintain the high quality that made them and their works famous. And despite what some will say while wearing the rosiest colored of glasses, even the Mona Lisa of manga has flaws.
It's true-Berserk isn't perfect by any stretch of the imagination. It meanders in places despite 'their' arguments that every panel had purpose, every word written down was transcribed from Buddha's soul to Miura's pen and that every single square millimeter of Berserk is another piece to the puzzle of understanding the universe.
Another thing I said back when Miura sadly passed away was that Berserk wants to live and it deserves to. I know this because there is no way on God's green earth that Miura would be okay with the work going into the grave with him. Or at least, I need to believe this. His death was, by all accounts, unexpected and he had every intention of continuing it.
Kouji Mori created a beautiful manga detailing the passing of his beloved friend, and the conclusion that he came to while writing and drawing it was that he knew Miura would be urging him to finish Berserk in his place. While we can never know if this is true, I again have no reason to doubt the authenticity of Mori's assumptions. He knew the man better than anyone. In fact, the two were so close that Miura and Mori had agreed that when the former retired, he would move in with the latter and his wife to enjoy the remainder of his days in the company of loved ones: Kentaro Mikura never married or had his own children.
Despite the supposedly rocky execution of the Continuation, recent chapters have me thinking that Guts' silence and inaction, which has frustrated so many of the hardcore naysayers who refuse to believe Guts would ever 'quit fighting', is not only an intentional choice by Mori and Studio Gaga, but they are necessary developments in order to move Guts to a place where he can transcend his limitations in order to truly be able to face Griffith as an equal. In truth, the two have never been on equal footing. Except for when he left the Band of the Falcon and crushed Griffith's psyche in the process, the one time leader of the mercenary company has always had the upper hand in nearly every way. They've never been equals. They've never been friends.
Guts' sword, the one thing that he has relied on and the one thing that seemed to save him even when he didn't want to save himself, has now failed him. He has been reduced to an emotional state prior to Gambino's betrayal and nothing seems to be able to break him out of his fugue
And I believe that this is exactly what Miura intended for Guts at this crucial juncture of the story. Looking deeper into these developments, I can't see the intended direction being anything OTHER than this.
When I have the energy, I will write more.
Last edited:
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Continuing My Thoughts On The Continuation
So, as I said last time, we are seeing Guts on the precipice of a transformation of some kind. We know this because in the most recent chapter, he has been led to a remote stupa by Daiba and a group of Brahmins that have been chanting in order to keep him in a perpetual state of…something.
It’s been presumed by some readers that they are casting a spell on him to keep his personality suppressed…but why?
I’m getting ahead of myself.
Let’s roll it back to the very first complete chapter of the Continuation. Miura’s final chapter on the book, which had to be completed by Studio Gaga since he was never able to finish it himself, had Griffith showing up on Elfheim, right at Guts’ doorstep. The final words of the chapter, uttered by Griffith, are as follows:
I had a dream…a dream of being embraced by the warmth of a child…but when I awaken from it…only a faint sense of longing remains…and that, too, will soon disappear…with a single tear like morning dew.
Now, if I had to venture a guess as to what that meant, I’d presume that it’s his connection to the Moonlight Boy, the very last vestige of whatever humanity he has left. This did not exist when he initially became Femto, but was brought into the world when Casca’s malformed fetus (the result of Griffith’s violation) was engulfed by the Living Behelit, gestated during the finale of the Conviction arc and hatched as Griffith’s newly reformed body, a necessary component of his own ambitions for the coming creation of Fantasia.
Griffith knows that in order to truly achieve his dream, he must remove any potential for sentiment. The demon baby, now the Moonlight Boy, appears to Casca (and sometimes Guts, who he likes but also fears), and this forces a transformation in Griffith that gets in the way of his goals. By bringing Casca to Falconia, she is close enough to Griffith that the Moonlight Boy won’t go to see Casca. Essentially, keeping Casca close prevents the Moonlight Boy from manifesting. Thus, Griffith bids ‘farewell’ to the child and whatever sentiment arises within him as a result of their shared body by way of the quote above. Another sacrifice, as it were.
At any rate, the second Guts sees Griffith at Elfheim, so close to a freshly restored Casca, he draws steel and goes ham on Griffith. However, no matter how much he’s grown in skill and strength since the battle with Zodd at the Hill of Swords, he can barely touch his nemesis, managing only to cut a single strand of hair from Griffith’s head in the exchange. Griffith (seemingly) effortlessly takes Casca from Elfheim (physically located on the island of Skellig), not even giving Guts a second thought since he’s already dismissed him as a meaningful adversary.
Guts is incapable of stopping Griffith, and because the sanctity of the island has been compromised by Griffith’s arrival, Skellig breaks apart and sinks into the sea. Because those who are native to Elfheim no longer have a physical anchor to keep them in the world post Great Roar (Elfheim is moored to Skellig), they disappear. This includes the mermaid Isma, who had been bonding with Isidro up until this point.
There are questions about how some of the other characters, like Puck and Ivalera, could have survived this event, but these questions haven’t been answered by Studio Gaga or Mori as of yet. It’s unlikely they will be answered at all as they are no longer pertinent to what is happening, which is primarily about Guts as far as the narrative is concerned. There may be an explanation, there may not. Puck IS, however, changed as a character. He no longer transforms into his ‘chibi’ form on the page and it’s clear, to me at least, that Puck’s change has to do with Elfheim’s disappearance.
From there, it’s a mad scramble to board the Seahorse (Roderick’s ship) with whoever survived this Rapture-like event before the entire island sinks. Guts, however, has fallen into a total fugue following Casca’s kidnapping at Griffith’s hands and he and his weapon must be carried to the boat by other survivors. Guts’ sword has failed him utterly (or so he thinks) and he now sees the fathomless chasm in ability between them. For all of his ‘struggling’, he is still woefully inadequate to stop his nemesis from doing whatever he wants whenever he wants.
This is key to understanding the story where it currently stands.
So, as I said last time, we are seeing Guts on the precipice of a transformation of some kind. We know this because in the most recent chapter, he has been led to a remote stupa by Daiba and a group of Brahmins that have been chanting in order to keep him in a perpetual state of…something.
It’s been presumed by some readers that they are casting a spell on him to keep his personality suppressed…but why?
I’m getting ahead of myself.
Let’s roll it back to the very first complete chapter of the Continuation. Miura’s final chapter on the book, which had to be completed by Studio Gaga since he was never able to finish it himself, had Griffith showing up on Elfheim, right at Guts’ doorstep. The final words of the chapter, uttered by Griffith, are as follows:
I had a dream…a dream of being embraced by the warmth of a child…but when I awaken from it…only a faint sense of longing remains…and that, too, will soon disappear…with a single tear like morning dew.
Now, if I had to venture a guess as to what that meant, I’d presume that it’s his connection to the Moonlight Boy, the very last vestige of whatever humanity he has left. This did not exist when he initially became Femto, but was brought into the world when Casca’s malformed fetus (the result of Griffith’s violation) was engulfed by the Living Behelit, gestated during the finale of the Conviction arc and hatched as Griffith’s newly reformed body, a necessary component of his own ambitions for the coming creation of Fantasia.
Griffith knows that in order to truly achieve his dream, he must remove any potential for sentiment. The demon baby, now the Moonlight Boy, appears to Casca (and sometimes Guts, who he likes but also fears), and this forces a transformation in Griffith that gets in the way of his goals. By bringing Casca to Falconia, she is close enough to Griffith that the Moonlight Boy won’t go to see Casca. Essentially, keeping Casca close prevents the Moonlight Boy from manifesting. Thus, Griffith bids ‘farewell’ to the child and whatever sentiment arises within him as a result of their shared body by way of the quote above. Another sacrifice, as it were.
At any rate, the second Guts sees Griffith at Elfheim, so close to a freshly restored Casca, he draws steel and goes ham on Griffith. However, no matter how much he’s grown in skill and strength since the battle with Zodd at the Hill of Swords, he can barely touch his nemesis, managing only to cut a single strand of hair from Griffith’s head in the exchange. Griffith (seemingly) effortlessly takes Casca from Elfheim (physically located on the island of Skellig), not even giving Guts a second thought since he’s already dismissed him as a meaningful adversary.
Guts is incapable of stopping Griffith, and because the sanctity of the island has been compromised by Griffith’s arrival, Skellig breaks apart and sinks into the sea. Because those who are native to Elfheim no longer have a physical anchor to keep them in the world post Great Roar (Elfheim is moored to Skellig), they disappear. This includes the mermaid Isma, who had been bonding with Isidro up until this point.
There are questions about how some of the other characters, like Puck and Ivalera, could have survived this event, but these questions haven’t been answered by Studio Gaga or Mori as of yet. It’s unlikely they will be answered at all as they are no longer pertinent to what is happening, which is primarily about Guts as far as the narrative is concerned. There may be an explanation, there may not. Puck IS, however, changed as a character. He no longer transforms into his ‘chibi’ form on the page and it’s clear, to me at least, that Puck’s change has to do with Elfheim’s disappearance.
From there, it’s a mad scramble to board the Seahorse (Roderick’s ship) with whoever survived this Rapture-like event before the entire island sinks. Guts, however, has fallen into a total fugue following Casca’s kidnapping at Griffith’s hands and he and his weapon must be carried to the boat by other survivors. Guts’ sword has failed him utterly (or so he thinks) and he now sees the fathomless chasm in ability between them. For all of his ‘struggling’, he is still woefully inadequate to stop his nemesis from doing whatever he wants whenever he wants.
This is key to understanding the story where it currently stands.
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Guts has been reduced to that helpless, childlike state of utter despair. He is as helpless as when Gambino sold him to Donovan and he was unable to do anything to protect himself.
This is the beginning of Guts journey through a sort of existential hell. It is, absolutely, a parallel to what Griffith endured after he lost to Guts on the snowy hill. He tries to assuage his emotional pain and turmoil by bedding princess Charlotte but it is nothing more than a desperate attempt to grasp at his own dream and hope he can bring it back. But Guts leaving has shown him that he is utterly helpless and his dream can be taken away from him just like that.
Now that Guts has found something he wants to live for other than the ‘sparks’ that fly in the heat of combat, he has his own dream. This is something Griffith talked with Charlotte about at the fountain that night Guts assassinated Julius and, unfortunately, had to kill young Adonis because he saw his face after doing the deed. Griffith can’t respect someone as an equal unless they are pursuing their own dream. This hurts Guts deeply because he was so loyal to Griffith, and this begins the wheels turning that will eventually motivate him to leave the Band of the Falcon.
Consider: Guts’ life had been one of betrayal at the hands of others. He has grown a shell around himself because he doesn’t want to be hurt by anyone. It’s why he’s so isolated during the early time with the Band of the Falcon. It’s why he doesn’t want anyone touching him (although there is also the trauma he experienced at Donovan’s hands) without his permission. It’s why he never stays in any one place for very long. Self reliance has become his survival mechanism. It’s also been his prison, as it’s clearly not the life he wanted to live but the one he was forced to endure until it became second nature.
In all that time, up until being forced to join the Band of the Falcon, he has only ever relied on his sword.
Then, suddenly, he lets Griffith, Casca and the rest of the Band in. He begins to trust again. He begins to believe he has a place among them, only to discover that he’s seen as a tool by the person that he cares about the most in the world, maybe the person he trusts more than anyone he has ever trusted. Guts thought that WAS friendship, but that was ever only a one way sentiment. Griffith’s ambitions have no room for affection or friendship of any kind.
However, Griffith DOES have to choose to sacrifice Guts along with all the rest, and he is terrified of what will happen if Guts reaches him before he enters the chamber where he will be transformed into Femto. Griffith chooses to sacrifice Guts and, therefore, his own humanity. The Moonlight Boy is just another sacrifice to him. It’s easy for Griffith now.
There is a reason, in a literary sense, why Guts has carried a belehit around with him since the early chapters. It is a question of sacrifice. The entire story, up to now, has been building to the circumstances that will force Guts to consider whether or not to sacrifice his own humanity and give in to the Beast of Darkness (surely the source of his survival instincts up until now). Now, after Guts giving up on himself completely, the Beast of Darkness is unchained, free of Guts and seemingly waiting for him to crawl back in desperation and despair. There is no other reason, in a narrative sense, for the behelit to even be a part of Guts’ inventory than this.
More to come when I have the energy.
This is the beginning of Guts journey through a sort of existential hell. It is, absolutely, a parallel to what Griffith endured after he lost to Guts on the snowy hill. He tries to assuage his emotional pain and turmoil by bedding princess Charlotte but it is nothing more than a desperate attempt to grasp at his own dream and hope he can bring it back. But Guts leaving has shown him that he is utterly helpless and his dream can be taken away from him just like that.
Now that Guts has found something he wants to live for other than the ‘sparks’ that fly in the heat of combat, he has his own dream. This is something Griffith talked with Charlotte about at the fountain that night Guts assassinated Julius and, unfortunately, had to kill young Adonis because he saw his face after doing the deed. Griffith can’t respect someone as an equal unless they are pursuing their own dream. This hurts Guts deeply because he was so loyal to Griffith, and this begins the wheels turning that will eventually motivate him to leave the Band of the Falcon.
Consider: Guts’ life had been one of betrayal at the hands of others. He has grown a shell around himself because he doesn’t want to be hurt by anyone. It’s why he’s so isolated during the early time with the Band of the Falcon. It’s why he doesn’t want anyone touching him (although there is also the trauma he experienced at Donovan’s hands) without his permission. It’s why he never stays in any one place for very long. Self reliance has become his survival mechanism. It’s also been his prison, as it’s clearly not the life he wanted to live but the one he was forced to endure until it became second nature.
In all that time, up until being forced to join the Band of the Falcon, he has only ever relied on his sword.
Then, suddenly, he lets Griffith, Casca and the rest of the Band in. He begins to trust again. He begins to believe he has a place among them, only to discover that he’s seen as a tool by the person that he cares about the most in the world, maybe the person he trusts more than anyone he has ever trusted. Guts thought that WAS friendship, but that was ever only a one way sentiment. Griffith’s ambitions have no room for affection or friendship of any kind.
However, Griffith DOES have to choose to sacrifice Guts along with all the rest, and he is terrified of what will happen if Guts reaches him before he enters the chamber where he will be transformed into Femto. Griffith chooses to sacrifice Guts and, therefore, his own humanity. The Moonlight Boy is just another sacrifice to him. It’s easy for Griffith now.
There is a reason, in a literary sense, why Guts has carried a belehit around with him since the early chapters. It is a question of sacrifice. The entire story, up to now, has been building to the circumstances that will force Guts to consider whether or not to sacrifice his own humanity and give in to the Beast of Darkness (surely the source of his survival instincts up until now). Now, after Guts giving up on himself completely, the Beast of Darkness is unchained, free of Guts and seemingly waiting for him to crawl back in desperation and despair. There is no other reason, in a narrative sense, for the behelit to even be a part of Guts’ inventory than this.
More to come when I have the energy.
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Good observations.
It's funny to think how many years (decades) people have been talking how the story will end. I can only hope the team will gives its fans the peace they deserve and finish it within a few years.
Griffith has become the savior of humanity and a ruler that people love and respect, yet Guts needs to kill him.
It's funny to think how many years (decades) people have been talking how the story will end. I can only hope the team will gives its fans the peace they deserve and finish it within a few years.
Griffith has become the savior of humanity and a ruler that people love and respect, yet Guts needs to kill him.
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I'm still processing my thoughts. There is more to come. But yes, that juxtaposition of Griffith as a false savior and Guts as the hero we 'need' is one of the things I was going to touch on but I'll just say it here briefly:
Griffith is the absolute worst kind of leader for anyone to follow. Promising the falsehood of security and peace but it's all a childish pipe dream because in order to become the king of his own land, he had to create the circumstances wherein that was even possible. As we know from the omitted chapter regarding 'the idea of evil', people are essentially conditioned and condition themselves to need saving. They become 'less' so that they can have 'more.'
Guts, on the other hand, isn't interested in saving anyone just because they exist. He instead wants to live in the world as it is and survive on his own strength and merits, and grow and learn from it so that he can continue to move forward.
There is something that Augustine said and while I don't believe Miura was a Christian, there are certain universal principles that can apply whethere you are religious or secular. Let's call it 'secular utility.'
Paraphrasing here, Augustine said 'Be IN the world, not OF the world.'
One exists within it and perseveres, never being corrupted by it and surviving within it. The other is influenced by it and makes decisions based on the fear, prejudice and cowardice resulting from it. The world is imperfect and always will be. People are already imperfect. Why invite more imperfection in simply because it is there, affecting your senses?
You can certainly learn FROM the world. Even Guts does that. But he has learned not to let it change him, although that's currently being tested. Will Griffith dictate who he is going to be? Or is Guts going to decide who he is going to be?
Griffith was subject to Causality and embraced it. Destiny. Fate. Predetermination. Of the world. He made a world specifically so that he can rule over it. He is dominated by the world around him. The God Hand manipulated him. He is subject to their whimis even if he's gaslit himself into thinking he needed a healthy, evil body to find happiness.
Guts has always been outside of Causality. Free will. Walking the dangerous earth and enduring everything it throws his way and remaining steadfast. In the world. Of course he's been influenced by it but he refuses to submit to it. He doesn't really want anything from the world. He just wants to prove he can maintain himself within the spiral. It's a very spiritual literary concept.
Guts' vision for the world is that there isn't one. One of the things Berserk taught me is that freedom is dangerous. Lethal. Those that would have you submit will try to kill you just to drag your corpse back into the bucket. It's also the world I'd rather live in. This isn't just something I say. I'd rather die free than live safe.
Griffith is the absolute worst kind of leader for anyone to follow. Promising the falsehood of security and peace but it's all a childish pipe dream because in order to become the king of his own land, he had to create the circumstances wherein that was even possible. As we know from the omitted chapter regarding 'the idea of evil', people are essentially conditioned and condition themselves to need saving. They become 'less' so that they can have 'more.'
Guts, on the other hand, isn't interested in saving anyone just because they exist. He instead wants to live in the world as it is and survive on his own strength and merits, and grow and learn from it so that he can continue to move forward.
There is something that Augustine said and while I don't believe Miura was a Christian, there are certain universal principles that can apply whethere you are religious or secular. Let's call it 'secular utility.'
Paraphrasing here, Augustine said 'Be IN the world, not OF the world.'
One exists within it and perseveres, never being corrupted by it and surviving within it. The other is influenced by it and makes decisions based on the fear, prejudice and cowardice resulting from it. The world is imperfect and always will be. People are already imperfect. Why invite more imperfection in simply because it is there, affecting your senses?
You can certainly learn FROM the world. Even Guts does that. But he has learned not to let it change him, although that's currently being tested. Will Griffith dictate who he is going to be? Or is Guts going to decide who he is going to be?
Griffith was subject to Causality and embraced it. Destiny. Fate. Predetermination. Of the world. He made a world specifically so that he can rule over it. He is dominated by the world around him. The God Hand manipulated him. He is subject to their whimis even if he's gaslit himself into thinking he needed a healthy, evil body to find happiness.
Guts has always been outside of Causality. Free will. Walking the dangerous earth and enduring everything it throws his way and remaining steadfast. In the world. Of course he's been influenced by it but he refuses to submit to it. He doesn't really want anything from the world. He just wants to prove he can maintain himself within the spiral. It's a very spiritual literary concept.
Guts' vision for the world is that there isn't one. One of the things Berserk taught me is that freedom is dangerous. Lethal. Those that would have you submit will try to kill you just to drag your corpse back into the bucket. It's also the world I'd rather live in. This isn't just something I say. I'd rather die free than live safe.
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Both are Griffith because America isn't really a 'free country'.
I'd even say that there can't be anything called a 'free country', if we're really looking at it from a more profound perspective.
We are all indentured, all marked for sacrifice, so long as we fear for our flesh and blood. In the old days, before Charlemagne instituted voluntary serfdom to a given fief, you didn't have to give your allegiance to any particular lord. After Charlemagne died, the people that took over the Empire made serfdom mandatory. You had to be beholden to SOMEONE. You couldn't just live on your land and do what you wanted (which also, understandably, comes with its own risks, as all true freedom does).
Where in the so called 'civilized' world are we free to live without being dominated? Where in America? Where in China? If they find you on 'government property', you'll get Ruby Ridged unless you submit.
I'm not even talking about anarchy. The order we impose (read: spiritual, universal or holy) on ourselves in service to a higher cause is one we choose. The order of the state is accepting your brand and submitting to Causality. You are born into this world as apostle food unless your soul is free of it.
I've been accused of 'black pilling' the world's political order. I say it's a white pill. Knowing how far from Heaven (or something akin to it if you're agnostic or an atheist) you actually are lets you know how much work you have to do. That you can start being IN the world. Attributing free will and predetermination to any nation is already being OF the world.
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- Dec 29, 2000
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Continuing on the Continuation
I tried to consolidate the events that follow the Seahorse’s escape from Elfheim in as compact a fashion as I can in order to get to the meat of the apologia that I’m composing here. Surprisingly, it’s a bit more complicated to do that (for me, anyway) than I first anticipated. Still, I think I did all right.
After the Seahorse escapes Elfheim and the crumbling Skellig Island to which it is mystically tied, the cast and crew are wondering what has happened to Guts to make him so unresponsive. I honestly can’t remember if anyone knows what’s happened to Casca as Studio Gaga is really rushing through this part of things. It’s obvious they’re still struggling with pacing and exposition, although it could also be a directive from Mori to stick to the original mission statement: only tell the story that Miura told to him.
At any rate, Guts just sits in the hold of the ship in a state of unresponsive, impenetrable misery. His sword is laying next to him but he is not touching it. The metaphor is clear here: his last, most steadfast ally will not help him. It cannot save him or the things he cares about. What matters it if he can slaughter a dozen apostles or a hundred or a thousand? He can do nothing to Griffith and, as before, the one time leader of the Band of the Falcon can take anything from Guts at his leisure.
The Beast of Darkness is shown sitting nearby, its shackles broken and the tie severed between him and Guts. It almost looks pacified without his ‘host’ to goad into vengeful acts. Another obvious reference that the source of Guts’ seemingly indomitable vengeance has been cast aside. He has given up on himself so he has given up on the Beast as well.
I’m led to wonder if the Beast of Darkness gained the ability to manifest more strongly not only by way of the Berserker armor but also through the cursed aura the Dragonslayer developed as Guts killed more and more demons with it. I think it’s a fair argument to make, but by no means a certainty, that the Beast of Darkness is the spirit that has possessed him whenever he needed his sword arm to rise in order to protect Guts’ life when he couldn’t do it on his own. It may be more than a manifestation of his vengeance and rage: it may have been with him longer than most people realize.
Elaborating on this point, Guts was found beneath the hanging corpse of his dead mother. We have always seen this as a cruel sign under which to be born but I have to wonder….why was she hung? Was she merely a victim of circumstance, murdered after some meaningless bandit raid or vindictive act of ‘the king’s justice’? Or was there an actual reason why she and the others were executed in this fashion?
Traditionally, such grisly displays are a sign of what happens to those who have been judged deserving of a hideous end or as a demonstrative act of dominance. Whatever the case, groups of people don’t just end up swinging from tree limbs because that was the most efficient way to be rid of them.
Tahe Idea of Evil (omitted chapter 083) was Miura’s attempt to explain much about the metaphysical realm that governs the world of Berserk, which has rendered the installment apocryphal at this point: it may or may not be a canonical explanation (although I suspect elements of it still hold true). In the chapter, the Idea of Evil explains to Griffith that it was created by the collective consciousness of mankind as way to accept and explain the suffering they endured. The ultimate coping mechanism for a populace that needed to believe there was a reason life was so painful.
It makes me wonder: was the Beast of Darkness similarly manifested by all of those hanging corpses with their dying breaths? Or, at the very least, did Guts’ mother somehow take all of that suffering and channel it into her infant son as a means of protecting him from Causality itself?
It’s just a theory, but consider: if this is the case, then Guts was burdened by something before he even drew his first breath of air. It would be a parallel, in some respects, to the same Causality that put Griffith on the road to his ambition. But I don’t believe that the Beast of Darkness is an aspect of Causality. Under the rules of Causality or ‘causality’ (big or small C), Guts should already be dead many times over.
But we know from the Eclipse that even the God Hand is surprised he survives the sacrifice that gave birth to Femto and then immediately dismiss him as a small fish jumping out of a raging river: too insignificant to make any real difference. The Beast of Darkness, according to this theory, could be a response to Causality itself. For if the fates of all men are written by the Idea of Evil from the moment they are conceived, then the death of Guts’ mother and her fellow victims would have to be predetermined simply by way of the laws that govern Causality.
What if their response to predestined suffering was to manifest a being that wouldn’t be subject to the rails-on existence that everyone else had been consigned to and that Guts was now carrying that burden for, literally, all of humanity?
This last bit is just me playing with the concepts in Berserk and may not be anywhere close to the reality of the storyline. But it is an interesting idea, and would explain a lot about Guts’ strength, perseverance and will. Unbound from fate, what COULDN’T such a man do?
Whether my musings are true or just autistic ramblings, it is true that without the Beast of Darkness, Guts in his current state may as well just be that baby beneath his mother’s corpse, waiting to die.
However, let me posit one more theory that should be obvious to everyone that has actually read Berserk but haven’t succumbed to the same frustrating cynicism as the stodgy skeptics continuing to decry the Continuation: when Schierke and Farnese were putting Casca’s shattered psyche back together, they came across a casket bound in chains being dragged by a three legged feral dog.
Inside the casket was the remaining shred of Casca’s sanity, and if there is anyone that can’t draw the parallel that the dog was her distorted interpretation of Guts, escorting her to wherever they were going and keeping her from wandering off into the whole wide dangerous world, then that person simply has no business analyzing Berserk. It is one of the most transparent allegories in this series.
What if the shattered chains laying at the Beast of Darkness’ feet as it sits passively watching Guts are a metaphor not for Guts connection with the Beast but instead one for the bond linking Guts (and therefore, the Beast) to Casca? What if, without Casca and seeing no way to ever keep her safe, Guts doesn’t feel a need to hold on to the Beast of Darkness?
I tried to consolidate the events that follow the Seahorse’s escape from Elfheim in as compact a fashion as I can in order to get to the meat of the apologia that I’m composing here. Surprisingly, it’s a bit more complicated to do that (for me, anyway) than I first anticipated. Still, I think I did all right.
After the Seahorse escapes Elfheim and the crumbling Skellig Island to which it is mystically tied, the cast and crew are wondering what has happened to Guts to make him so unresponsive. I honestly can’t remember if anyone knows what’s happened to Casca as Studio Gaga is really rushing through this part of things. It’s obvious they’re still struggling with pacing and exposition, although it could also be a directive from Mori to stick to the original mission statement: only tell the story that Miura told to him.
At any rate, Guts just sits in the hold of the ship in a state of unresponsive, impenetrable misery. His sword is laying next to him but he is not touching it. The metaphor is clear here: his last, most steadfast ally will not help him. It cannot save him or the things he cares about. What matters it if he can slaughter a dozen apostles or a hundred or a thousand? He can do nothing to Griffith and, as before, the one time leader of the Band of the Falcon can take anything from Guts at his leisure.
The Beast of Darkness is shown sitting nearby, its shackles broken and the tie severed between him and Guts. It almost looks pacified without his ‘host’ to goad into vengeful acts. Another obvious reference that the source of Guts’ seemingly indomitable vengeance has been cast aside. He has given up on himself so he has given up on the Beast as well.
I’m led to wonder if the Beast of Darkness gained the ability to manifest more strongly not only by way of the Berserker armor but also through the cursed aura the Dragonslayer developed as Guts killed more and more demons with it. I think it’s a fair argument to make, but by no means a certainty, that the Beast of Darkness is the spirit that has possessed him whenever he needed his sword arm to rise in order to protect Guts’ life when he couldn’t do it on his own. It may be more than a manifestation of his vengeance and rage: it may have been with him longer than most people realize.
Elaborating on this point, Guts was found beneath the hanging corpse of his dead mother. We have always seen this as a cruel sign under which to be born but I have to wonder….why was she hung? Was she merely a victim of circumstance, murdered after some meaningless bandit raid or vindictive act of ‘the king’s justice’? Or was there an actual reason why she and the others were executed in this fashion?
Traditionally, such grisly displays are a sign of what happens to those who have been judged deserving of a hideous end or as a demonstrative act of dominance. Whatever the case, groups of people don’t just end up swinging from tree limbs because that was the most efficient way to be rid of them.
Tahe Idea of Evil (omitted chapter 083) was Miura’s attempt to explain much about the metaphysical realm that governs the world of Berserk, which has rendered the installment apocryphal at this point: it may or may not be a canonical explanation (although I suspect elements of it still hold true). In the chapter, the Idea of Evil explains to Griffith that it was created by the collective consciousness of mankind as way to accept and explain the suffering they endured. The ultimate coping mechanism for a populace that needed to believe there was a reason life was so painful.
It makes me wonder: was the Beast of Darkness similarly manifested by all of those hanging corpses with their dying breaths? Or, at the very least, did Guts’ mother somehow take all of that suffering and channel it into her infant son as a means of protecting him from Causality itself?
It’s just a theory, but consider: if this is the case, then Guts was burdened by something before he even drew his first breath of air. It would be a parallel, in some respects, to the same Causality that put Griffith on the road to his ambition. But I don’t believe that the Beast of Darkness is an aspect of Causality. Under the rules of Causality or ‘causality’ (big or small C), Guts should already be dead many times over.
But we know from the Eclipse that even the God Hand is surprised he survives the sacrifice that gave birth to Femto and then immediately dismiss him as a small fish jumping out of a raging river: too insignificant to make any real difference. The Beast of Darkness, according to this theory, could be a response to Causality itself. For if the fates of all men are written by the Idea of Evil from the moment they are conceived, then the death of Guts’ mother and her fellow victims would have to be predetermined simply by way of the laws that govern Causality.
What if their response to predestined suffering was to manifest a being that wouldn’t be subject to the rails-on existence that everyone else had been consigned to and that Guts was now carrying that burden for, literally, all of humanity?
This last bit is just me playing with the concepts in Berserk and may not be anywhere close to the reality of the storyline. But it is an interesting idea, and would explain a lot about Guts’ strength, perseverance and will. Unbound from fate, what COULDN’T such a man do?
Whether my musings are true or just autistic ramblings, it is true that without the Beast of Darkness, Guts in his current state may as well just be that baby beneath his mother’s corpse, waiting to die.
However, let me posit one more theory that should be obvious to everyone that has actually read Berserk but haven’t succumbed to the same frustrating cynicism as the stodgy skeptics continuing to decry the Continuation: when Schierke and Farnese were putting Casca’s shattered psyche back together, they came across a casket bound in chains being dragged by a three legged feral dog.
Inside the casket was the remaining shred of Casca’s sanity, and if there is anyone that can’t draw the parallel that the dog was her distorted interpretation of Guts, escorting her to wherever they were going and keeping her from wandering off into the whole wide dangerous world, then that person simply has no business analyzing Berserk. It is one of the most transparent allegories in this series.
What if the shattered chains laying at the Beast of Darkness’ feet as it sits passively watching Guts are a metaphor not for Guts connection with the Beast but instead one for the bond linking Guts (and therefore, the Beast) to Casca? What if, without Casca and seeing no way to ever keep her safe, Guts doesn’t feel a need to hold on to the Beast of Darkness?
- Joined
- Dec 29, 2000
- Posts
- 17,425
Back on track, the Seahorse is somehow discovered by Kushan sailors that seemingly appear out of nowhere so it just has to be accepted that they’ve been looking for Guts and crew. They storm the ship and take everyone captive. Rickert is with the Kushans, along with Daiba and Silat and his Tapasa. They are all shocked to discover Guts in his current emotionally void state, but he is nevertheless taken prisoner along with all the rest of the survivors of Skellig’s destruction.
Curiously, Puck doesn’t acknowledge Rickert during this exchange. This could be a mistake by Studio Gaga and Mori or it could be an indication that as Guts’ emotional state goes, so too does Puck’s. Or, as I suggested earlier, it could be a side effect of Elfheim’s fate. There are, admittedly, a lot of gaps in the narrative here. How did the Kushans find the Seahorse out in the middle of nowhere? What is Silat, an exiled Kushan prince, doing with them? Why is Puck so distant from Rickert? There are many survivors that lived on Elhfeim that are still aboard the ship. How have they not faded away along with Elfheim itself-are they not native to the fairy world?
There COULD be explanations for all of this, and these are normally elements of the story that Miura would have justified and gone into great length about. But Miura is gone, and we are left with Studio Gaga and Kouji Mori and their self imposed directives to carry on. Again, Mori stated from the beginning that he would only tell the parts of the story that he remembered from the conversations he had about Berserk with Miura during their time together.
This, necessarily and logically, would mean that there were MANY details that Miura developed without Mori’s input and which he never shared with him. If this is the case, and once more I have no reason to doubt Mori’s statements on the matter, then he is doing what he said he would do and not actively inserting himself into Berserk’s plot. Of course, it is inevitable that Studio Gaga and Mori will engage in SOME creative license because they have to in order to achieve their stated goal. There is some noticeable connective tissue missing in between the story beats and while it is fair to criticize this, getting so hung up on them that you miss the story now being told is a disservice to one’s self. I might even describe it as something akin to self-inflicted misery.
Back on track, the appearance of Kushan sailors, Daiba, Silat and all the rest leads me (and everyone else reading) to wonder: how did the Kushan Empire survive the Great Roar after Ganishka’s death and the creation of Fantasia? The entire empire survived on his strength, but when he was killed by Griffith, it was assumed that any resistance in the old world was wiped away by the realization of the new. Griffith had seemingly conquered everything. Yet when the Kushan sailors bring the Seahorse back to their kingdom, we find it doing very well post Fantasia.
It was naturally assumed that Griffith wouldn’t have tolerated the existence of the Kushan Empire since Ganishka opposed the God Hand. But we also know that Griffith still has work to do even after establishing Fantasia. He still has to consolidate his kingdom and that there could very well be opposition out there in the wilds that he had to deal with. If it’s reasonable to recognize that, then perhaps it’s also logical to assume that somehow, Daiba and his Brahmins protected the Kushan Empire through one means or another in a way that hasn’t been revealed yet. He was in Falconia when he came across Rickert and Erica and together with Silat, they all escaped to somewhere after the young blacksmith wanted to leave following the ‘slap heard ‘round the world’, one of the absolute highlights of Berserk in the entirety of its magnificence. Perhaps we will never know how the Empire survived.
At any rate, the Kushan lords and their new emperor are deliberating on what to do with Guts and his allies when the apostle Rakshas appears in the council chamber and begins murdering nobles. He has brought an army to Kushan, perhaps as a preamble to a full scale invasion or perhaps to keep tabs on Guts and company for Griffith, although I can’t imagine why Griffith would want this done since he is no longer concerned with his one time raider commander.
Meanwhile, Guts has been stripped of his armor and weapons, which is essentially leaving him entirely naked and helpless (one could say an ‘infant state’) and chained to the wall of a cell in a clear parallel to Griffith’s own incarceration in the Tower of Rebirth during the Golden Age arc. Silat and the Tapasa marshal the people and the Kushan army to fight back and with their military strength and mystical powers, along with the help of Guts’ allies, and they are able to repel the invaders. Farnese, in particular, plays a major role in matters by summoning the Four Kings of the World (last summoned by Schierke to protect Enoch Village) to help with the defense of the palace. She also contributes defensive magic in many other ways and is a key player in the victory. Our girl’s come a long way from the tortured zealot we first knew her as.
A side tangent is occurring while all of this is playing out. Shortly before the battle begins, Schierke is determined to find out what happened to Casca and goes on an astral journey to find her, wherever she is in the world. This is dangerous not only because her search will inevitably lead her to Falconia (eventually), but if Guts somehow regains his wits and dons the Dragonslayer armor again (they can’t assume he won’t come out of his funk, since he’s been so reliable up until this point) and she isn’t around to bring him back to his senses, he could end up trapped in the armor forever, consumed by the Beast of Darkness. So there are some timers ticking on these events.
There was also a chapter earlier in the Continuation where Casca was shown in captivity in Falconia awakening in her full capacities in a beautiful dress (clearly part of Griffith’s design) and fighting to escape her captors. She was eventually stopped and returned to captivity and put back into a mystical slumber and this is the last we’ve seen of her in the story. As has been discussed previously in my dissertation, Casca must be kept close to Griffith to prevent the emergence of the Moonlight Boy. Keeping her asleep is a good way to keep her in captivity, since we know that Griffith is not omniscient: people that could be a threat to him have already escaped his city. However, he may have allowed this specifically in order to create some kind of vulnerability in Kushan: perhaps he needed them to escape in order to begin his assault on the Kushan Empire’s capital.
Or maybe Daiba is working with him and we just don’t know yet. Or maybe Daiba is only pretending to work with him but is actually conspiring against him. Or maybe Daiba is pursuing his own ambitions and is just repurposing Guts in order to get him into a state where he can kill Griffith and get him out of the way. We know Daiba wants to establish a kingdom of magic where people are free to pursue and research the mystical arts that exist in the world. We know he’s interested in seeing how the witches from Elfheim can be of benefit to him towards that end. His intentions are not quite clear yet, if they will ever be made so at all.
More when I have energy and time.
Curiously, Puck doesn’t acknowledge Rickert during this exchange. This could be a mistake by Studio Gaga and Mori or it could be an indication that as Guts’ emotional state goes, so too does Puck’s. Or, as I suggested earlier, it could be a side effect of Elfheim’s fate. There are, admittedly, a lot of gaps in the narrative here. How did the Kushans find the Seahorse out in the middle of nowhere? What is Silat, an exiled Kushan prince, doing with them? Why is Puck so distant from Rickert? There are many survivors that lived on Elhfeim that are still aboard the ship. How have they not faded away along with Elfheim itself-are they not native to the fairy world?
There COULD be explanations for all of this, and these are normally elements of the story that Miura would have justified and gone into great length about. But Miura is gone, and we are left with Studio Gaga and Kouji Mori and their self imposed directives to carry on. Again, Mori stated from the beginning that he would only tell the parts of the story that he remembered from the conversations he had about Berserk with Miura during their time together.
This, necessarily and logically, would mean that there were MANY details that Miura developed without Mori’s input and which he never shared with him. If this is the case, and once more I have no reason to doubt Mori’s statements on the matter, then he is doing what he said he would do and not actively inserting himself into Berserk’s plot. Of course, it is inevitable that Studio Gaga and Mori will engage in SOME creative license because they have to in order to achieve their stated goal. There is some noticeable connective tissue missing in between the story beats and while it is fair to criticize this, getting so hung up on them that you miss the story now being told is a disservice to one’s self. I might even describe it as something akin to self-inflicted misery.
Back on track, the appearance of Kushan sailors, Daiba, Silat and all the rest leads me (and everyone else reading) to wonder: how did the Kushan Empire survive the Great Roar after Ganishka’s death and the creation of Fantasia? The entire empire survived on his strength, but when he was killed by Griffith, it was assumed that any resistance in the old world was wiped away by the realization of the new. Griffith had seemingly conquered everything. Yet when the Kushan sailors bring the Seahorse back to their kingdom, we find it doing very well post Fantasia.
It was naturally assumed that Griffith wouldn’t have tolerated the existence of the Kushan Empire since Ganishka opposed the God Hand. But we also know that Griffith still has work to do even after establishing Fantasia. He still has to consolidate his kingdom and that there could very well be opposition out there in the wilds that he had to deal with. If it’s reasonable to recognize that, then perhaps it’s also logical to assume that somehow, Daiba and his Brahmins protected the Kushan Empire through one means or another in a way that hasn’t been revealed yet. He was in Falconia when he came across Rickert and Erica and together with Silat, they all escaped to somewhere after the young blacksmith wanted to leave following the ‘slap heard ‘round the world’, one of the absolute highlights of Berserk in the entirety of its magnificence. Perhaps we will never know how the Empire survived.
At any rate, the Kushan lords and their new emperor are deliberating on what to do with Guts and his allies when the apostle Rakshas appears in the council chamber and begins murdering nobles. He has brought an army to Kushan, perhaps as a preamble to a full scale invasion or perhaps to keep tabs on Guts and company for Griffith, although I can’t imagine why Griffith would want this done since he is no longer concerned with his one time raider commander.
Meanwhile, Guts has been stripped of his armor and weapons, which is essentially leaving him entirely naked and helpless (one could say an ‘infant state’) and chained to the wall of a cell in a clear parallel to Griffith’s own incarceration in the Tower of Rebirth during the Golden Age arc. Silat and the Tapasa marshal the people and the Kushan army to fight back and with their military strength and mystical powers, along with the help of Guts’ allies, and they are able to repel the invaders. Farnese, in particular, plays a major role in matters by summoning the Four Kings of the World (last summoned by Schierke to protect Enoch Village) to help with the defense of the palace. She also contributes defensive magic in many other ways and is a key player in the victory. Our girl’s come a long way from the tortured zealot we first knew her as.
A side tangent is occurring while all of this is playing out. Shortly before the battle begins, Schierke is determined to find out what happened to Casca and goes on an astral journey to find her, wherever she is in the world. This is dangerous not only because her search will inevitably lead her to Falconia (eventually), but if Guts somehow regains his wits and dons the Dragonslayer armor again (they can’t assume he won’t come out of his funk, since he’s been so reliable up until this point) and she isn’t around to bring him back to his senses, he could end up trapped in the armor forever, consumed by the Beast of Darkness. So there are some timers ticking on these events.
There was also a chapter earlier in the Continuation where Casca was shown in captivity in Falconia awakening in her full capacities in a beautiful dress (clearly part of Griffith’s design) and fighting to escape her captors. She was eventually stopped and returned to captivity and put back into a mystical slumber and this is the last we’ve seen of her in the story. As has been discussed previously in my dissertation, Casca must be kept close to Griffith to prevent the emergence of the Moonlight Boy. Keeping her asleep is a good way to keep her in captivity, since we know that Griffith is not omniscient: people that could be a threat to him have already escaped his city. However, he may have allowed this specifically in order to create some kind of vulnerability in Kushan: perhaps he needed them to escape in order to begin his assault on the Kushan Empire’s capital.
Or maybe Daiba is working with him and we just don’t know yet. Or maybe Daiba is only pretending to work with him but is actually conspiring against him. Or maybe Daiba is pursuing his own ambitions and is just repurposing Guts in order to get him into a state where he can kill Griffith and get him out of the way. We know Daiba wants to establish a kingdom of magic where people are free to pursue and research the mystical arts that exist in the world. We know he’s interested in seeing how the witches from Elfheim can be of benefit to him towards that end. His intentions are not quite clear yet, if they will ever be made so at all.
More when I have energy and time.
- Joined
- Dec 29, 2000
- Posts
- 17,425
You are free to not read it whenever you want to look at other threads.
No one is forcing you to be here.