Berserk Characters - Guts, Griffith, Casca

Guts

"I'd rather fight for my life than live it."

Guts (a.k.a. the Black Swordsman, Struggler) is the main character of Berserk. Hugely built, Guts is one of the most skilled and powerful warriors in Berserk. Although very heroic, Guts is a loner with a dark nature due to his harsh past.

Guts was born an orphan and taken in by a group of mercenaries. Because of this, he had to learn to fight from a young age using swords as big as he was. When Guts grew up he kept this habit, carrying a huge sword called the Dragon Slayer. After he accidentally killed his adoptive father in self-defense he was thrown out of the mercenary group and had to survive alone while still a boy. Griffith later recruited Guts into the Band of the Hawk. As second in command, Guts helped lead the Hawks to many victories during their rise to fame.

During the eclipse when Griffith betrayed the Hawks, Guts lost his left forearm and the sight in his right eye. Afterwards he replaced his arm with an iron prosthetic which has a magnetic grip and a hidden cannon inside. Guts also wears the Armor of the Berserk which gives him incredible power when fighting. However, like the Viking berserkers, the armor makes Guts crazed and a danger to friend and foe alike during battle. Guts now hunts Griffith on a quest for revenge. He is accompanied on his journey by Casca and several others who are trying to save Midland.

Griffith

"A dream... It's something you do for yourself, not for others."

Griffith (a.k.a. Femto, White Hawk) was the leader of the original Band of the Hawk. Griffith's dream is to one day be King and everything he and the Hawks did was aimed towards achieving this goal. People are drawn towards Griffith's extreme charisma and good looks. He is also a brilliant strategist and because of this the Hawks became famed for being unbeatable, dubbed "the death on the battlefield". It also led to Griffith winning the favor of the King of Midland and subsequently Griffith winning the Hundred Year War for Midland, after which he was appointed supreme commander of the entire army.

Griffith admires Guts more than anyone else and much of the Berserk anime is about the relationship between the two. It was his despair at losing Guts from the Hawks which began a chain reaction where the Hawks were made outlaws and Griffith was imprisoned and tortured until he could no longer walk or speak. This in turn led to the supernatural eclipse when all the Hawks ended up in hell.

During the events of the eclipse Griffith chose to sacrifice the lives of all of the Hawks in order to make his dream possible. He was then reborn as a winged demon called Femto, who is the fifth member of the God Hand. Two years later he became reincarnated as a human and started a new Band of the Hawk. He is now served by supernatural monsters called apostles. His new goal is to defeat the Kushan, a huge army that is invading Midland, and become King.

Casca

Casca was a commander in the original Band of the Hawk, along with Guts, and was the only female in the mercenary group. Among the Hawks, her skills with the sword were only surpassed by Guts and Griffith.

Casca joined the Hawks when she was a young girl after Griffith saved her from being raped by a nobleman. Because of this, and also her love for Griffith, she was very loyal to him and the Hawks. After Griffith was imprisoned and Guts left, Casca became the leader of the Hawks. When Guts returned the two began a romantic relationship despite the fact that Casca originally hated him.

After the eclipse when Griffith raped her, Casca lost her mind because of the trauma of the events. She is now travelling with Guts and his companions. Part of Guts' quest is finding a cure for Casca's insanity.

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