True Love and the Eclipse
In 1989, manga artist Kentaro Miura started work on one of the most potent love stories of all time: Berserk; a dark fantasy set in the medieval-Europe-inspired world of sempiternal darkness and horror. In this story, there are two pivotal characters that typify all true friendships; these characters are Guts, the hero of the story, and Griffith, the (spoilers) villain of the story, among many other villains, but Griffith is – the – villain; “you were always the one.” Griffith wasn’t a villain at first; yet, the die had been cast and he was destined to become one, forevermore. Griffith and Guts were best-friends for the longest time; sharing the best of times and, absolutely, the worst of times. At an early age, Guts joined Griffith’s “Band of the Hawk,” what started out as a roaming mercenary group led by Griffith, who was, by all means, a gifted youth with an undying dream of creating his own kingdom of light within the dark; a genius both on and off the battlefield, and an expert swordsman, practically undefeated; Guts was all of these things as well, but less refined, a rabid beast with no purpose.
Griffith recruited those he believed had talent and identified Guts as one of those people immediately. Guts was a stubborn youth and, believing himself better than Griffith, immediately picked a fight with him. Guts was clearly outclassed but overconfident and, being like a rabid beast, had a level of unpredictability that gave him an upper hand. Guts was a street fighter compared to Griffith, who was elegant, outwardly honorable, and trained in classical combat (particularly fencing). During a pivotal moment when it appeared Griffith would win the duel, Guts threw sand into Griffith’s eyes as a distraction, then landed a critical blow that ended up with Griffith in the dirt, getting his stomach kicked in. This was the first time the Band of the Hawk had seen Griffith vulnerable, and Griffith knew this too, secretly embarrassed and forever changed by this little defeat, but never showing it; knowing he had to turn the tide of the duel in his favor or lose the respect of his mercenary band, and by extension: his dream of Arcadia, Griffith quickly turned this fear of rejection into strength, using his superior martial training he subdued Guts in an armlock and forced him to submit.
Guts, from that moment onward, believed in Griffith as a warrior and a leader, even though he didn’t immediately admit as much; Griffith, from that moment onward, believed in Guts as an equal and a friend, even though he didn’t immediately (ever) admit as much; both men were stoic in their own way. It would be a long time before Guts and Griffith would get into another fight, and with time, Guts became Griffith’s most trusted warrior, Griffith’s right hand. “You are mine,” Griffith would say with an air of authority, but what he really meant was, “I love you and cannot live without you.”
Griffith and Guts are both fiercely independent Ravens who bond due to mutual unrequited respect for each other. In simple terms, they are in love. Not romantic love, not even platonic, something more, something that transcends the word itself; yet neither can truly express how they feel due to their own mental hang-ups; the ego. Time passes, and Guts begins to feel more like a tool for Griffith’s dream of Arcadia, and Griffith goes on taking Guts for granted, oblivious to his concerns. One fateful day, Guts overhears Griffith talking to a Princess at night in a courtyard. Griffith expresses his idealism to her, grandstanding in an overt show of charisma, as Griffith had a penchant for. The Princess asks Griffith about his mercenaries, and Griffith responds:
“They are my able soldiers, it’s true. They are dedicated comrades who sacrifice themselves for my dream so that it might be real but that does not make them friends. In my mind, a true friend never relies on another’s dream. The man who would be my friend must have his own reason for living, beyond me; and he should put his heart and soul into protecting his dream; he should never hesitate to defend it, even against me. For me to call a man my “friend” he must be equal to me in all respects.”
— Griffith, Berserk (TV Series 1997–1998)
Guts is devastated. He has no dream of his own; it’s clear now he’s a pawn of Griffith’s Arcadia; of course, Guts only believes this because Griffith has never expressed his (very real) love for Guts; something that is shown only through actions and Griffith’s inner dialogues that Guts is not privy to. Griffith, in his idealism, outwardly says things he does not mean, his actions and feelings betraying his grand words. In many ways, Guts is Griffith’s only true friend. Guts is envious of Griffith’s dreams and resolve, but at the same time, Griffith is envious of Guts’ martial prowess and strength of will; both men see each other as a potential threat, someone to “watch out for because, if they wanted to, they could destroy me,” in other words: a friend, an equal.
Guts decides to leave the Band of the Hawk shortly after these events, but to do so, he must defeat Griffith in battle; their love still unrequited. On a snowy field under a dead tree, the two warriors duel, and in the blink of an eye, one move, it’s over. Guts brings his massive Dragon Slayer down, breaking Griffith’s blade in the process, but stops just short of crushing Griffith’s shoulder. Griffith knows it’s over; he falls to his knees, bested by his only true friend. Guts walks away in silence, shedding his obligations to Griffith to pursue his own purpose, becoming a free Raven once again.
This destroys Griffith, who goes on to make mistake after mistake, wallowing in the selfish despair of having lost his only true love. Sinking lower and lower into sempiternal darkness, with no hope of recovery, Griffith, seeing no other path to achieve Arcadia, trades his humanity for power in a demonic ritual that would forever be known as the Eclipse; sacrificing every member of the Band of the Hawk, his trusted warriors, in a demonic bloodbath of tentacles going into holes that they shouldn’t, headcrabs that crawl up the nose and expand until the eyes pop out and the brains blow up and the skin bursts like a popped balloon, and everything-evil. In the culminating moments of the ritual, Griffith slowly rapes Gut’s romantic partner, Casca, right before his eyes; a final act of humiliation to seal Griffith’s transformation into everything-evil. Casca, now comatose from the torment, and Guts, now incensed with an undying thirst for revenge, are the only members of the Band of the Hawk left alive; doomed to travel the world, branded and hunted by demons of the night forevermore.
All pretense of elegance and grace dropped; jealousy, despair, and lust for revenge helped Griffith take that final step into sempiternal darkness, and the world was never the same. Griffith achieved something akin to Godhood that day: power unimaginable, transformed into his darkest-self; an indifference to the perceptions of others in favor of pure giving-in; the type of ego-death that Buddhists are afraid of.
(Originally published 10/7/2024)