Berserk Volume 6: Who is Griffith, and Who is Guts?

Political strategy, debate, and having Guts. All remaining things Griffith needs to achieve his goal. The art is again tame this time around with nothing highly notable, but nonetheless it’s stunning. Miura is keeping an consistent art style, and while I appreciate that, I wish he evolved more.

Starting off this volume, we arrive at the politics I was mentioning. Griffith is having to get up in society. You see this immediately with Griffith’s alertness, whereas Guts is aloof to the whole ordeal of meeting the king. Where Guts could see this moment as true of Griffith’s nobleness, as despite embarrassing him, Griffith keeps him by his side. But in reality, Griffith loves to use him because of it. Guts is a good pawn since he works outside norms. We even see Princess Charlotte appear, and Griffith either naively or not so innocently helps her as she trips. Griffith does not need a reason to save Guts, but does he for those he must step above to achieve his ends? Later, Guts aims his motivation: he is there for Griffith’s will, and Griffith alone. While this all occurs, we can see those around the King trying to eliminate this new enemy.

This beginning does an excellent, subtle job of laying everything out on the table. While only Casca is missing from this buffet of setup, I found that brilliantly intentional. It helps to demonstrate how Griffith lures those in despite possible affection. He moved from Casca to Guts to now Charlotte but keeps Guts at play for when he’s needed. Griffith lives by strategy, not by others, and it’s all getting laid out. The next chapter plays at this, with Griffith playfully delighting Princess Charlotte, to Guts boredom and Casca’s quiet hurt. Which may be an intention of his, to keep Casca close to him but always make her want more, but before this can be further pondered, he is hit with an arrow. Which serves even more in his plan to get with Charlotte to rise in the ranks, as was his entire mission. This only proves he would die for the charmed princess’s hand. What we learned from this: Griffith uses his enemies to not only prove himself but serve himself all the same. He wants them to believe he is invincible, but furthermore, that they made him the man of steel. Your ends serve my purpose, is his call, and it’s hard to deny.

Meanwhile, the weird necklace he had on is mysteriously an object he holds close as Guts notices. Didn’t Zodd say something about that? We even see afterwards a deeper comparison between Casca and Charlotte’s love for Griffith. Whereas Charlotte is in a naive, artificial love, Casca is in a raw, displaced relationship. She loves a man who can never love her until he has nothing else to serve himself, so she attempts to service his needs. It’s pitiful, but a road she is knowingly heading down. We additionally see Griffith spot the perpetrator for this arrow and realize the roles are reversed. While those who contributed to this arrow attack mourn their failure, Griffith spots a good anomaly. Guts. As said before, he is an outsider, so he works out the know. He is a good pawn, which Griffith takes advantage of, asking him to kill a man for him. As expected, he agrees but accidentally kills the man’s son additionally. We can see here his mission to follow Griffith having its blows; he questions his purpose, who he’s become, but only in a moment’s haze. In this state, he asks where Griffith is, to which Casca, likely from jealousy, reveals he’s at a party with Charlotte, allowing Guts to leave. But her noticing his state, trails behind.

And here we arrive at Griffith’s downfall.

This quote is what leads to everything falling apart. Guts realizes no matter what he does, it will never be enough for the man he wants to stand beside. To be beside this man is to lose to him. Yet, the tragic part is Griffith can’t have an equal without Guts, as without him by his side, he is lost. What’s worse is that Griffith could’ve been lying here, and we will never know. He could’ve said what Charlotte would want to hear, full of truth and contradiction. What probably confirmed it to Guts is when Griffith hears the news of the death’s he’s conducted, including the kid. Guts sees Griffith then as the Griffith he knows but fears. He is the man that asked him to kill, the one who stood by his side, and the one who felt nothing hearing he murdered a child. They’re all the same, so that quote is too. To Casca, she may realize half of it, but to someone following him so long, it’s another moment for him. Or she is blocking off what she knows to be true to let herself be happy one more time.

The next chapter is a tad more forgettable, with Griffith keeping in check everyone and Guts still pondering what he said. Additionally, the mind games in the castle rage on, but with Griffith seizing control of the deck. The follow-up to this can be described by the last panel with Guts stating outright he will fight to clear his mind. A solid way to show him coping with Griffith, but the only memorable moment in an unimpressive chapter. The next part is a lot more substantial, with Guts and Casca falling off a cliff, with Guts trying to keep Casca warm in the freezing cold. After this, we arrive at how Casca met Griffith. He saved her, so she spent her life as a dedication, fighting and serving his living memory. And that ends the volume. Despite innumerable blemishes, it’s one of the best efforts yet for Miura.