 |
"Mature Content!" |
| NOTE: The heroic deeds from this profile only covers Griffith before he became Femto and not any time after, as anything "heroic" Femto did was purely out of pragmatism. |
| “ | I will get my own kingdom. You will fight for my cause, because you belong to me. I will decide the place where you die. | „ |
| ~ Griffith claims his possession of Guts. |
| “ | I feel no responsibility to comrades who've lost lives under my command. Because they chose to fight in each battle.. Just as I chose this. But if there is something that... I can do for them. Something I can do for the dead... Then it is to win! I must keep winning to attain my dream. The same one they clung to, and risked their lives for!!! To realize my dream, I will perch on top of their corpses. It is a blood-smeared dream, after all. I don't regret or feel guilty about it.. But to risk thousands of lives while never getting myself dirty. It's not a dream that can be so easily realized! | „ |
| ~ Griffith explaining to Casca why he sold his body to Gennon. |
| “ | It is my perception, that a true friend never relies on another's dream. A person with the potential to be my true friend, must be able to find his reason for life without my help. And, he would have to put his heart and soul into protecting his dream. He would never hesitate to fight for his dream, even against me. For me, a true friend is one who stands equal on those terms. | „ |
| ~ Griffith describing his ideal company to Charlotte. |
Griffith is the main antagonist of the Berserk franchise, and the deuteragonist of the Golden Age Arc.
Originally the founder and leader of the Band of the Hawk, Griffith used to be a heroic character despite having his moments of ruthlessness, helping various people to gain a place in his mercenary group, including Guts and Casca. After being tortured by the King of Midland and losing his power, Griffith sacrificed his entire army to the Apostles to become Femto, the Fifth Godhand, and raped Casca to spite Guts, becoming his arch-enemy.
He is voiced by Toshiyuki Morikawa (who also voiced Dante in Devil May Cry) in the 1997 series and Takahiro Sakurai (who also voiced Suzaku Kururugi in Code Geass) in Berserk (2016).
His Good Ranking[]
What Makes Him Admirable?[]
- Though his goal of getting his own kingdom was admittedly selfish, he genuinely believed that merit mattered more than noble birth and wanted to achieve his dream partially to show that. Furthermore, he was born into poverty which is also the central reason for his dream for a kingdom.
- He formed the Band of the Hawk, a highwayman-turned-mercenary group, and helped various people.
- He accepted various individuals from various corners, regardless of their background and past, gaining their loyalty.
- He saved Casca from being raped by a nobleman, giving her a sword to defend herself as she saw fit. After Casca decided to join his group, he accepted her request to become a soldier in his ranks.
- Despite using his men for his goals, he cared for them and was saddened when a young boy in his command died in battle.
- When the Band of the Hawk was in a precarious position, he accepted an offer from the pedophilic rapist nobleman Gennon and sold his body to him all so that he could gain more resources for his army without having to get more of them killed in battle.
- He accepted Guts into the Band of the Hawk due to seeing him as a fellow individual looking for his place in life, and despite being possessive of him, he (initially) accommodated Guts as per his request.
- He tried to break ice with Guts by having fun and engaging in a water fight, thus lightening Guts's mood.
- He accepted the King of Midland's request and helped to end the Hundred-Year War between Midland and Tudor, thus finally bringing long-awaited peace to the lands after a century of bloodshed.
- He helped Guts fight against the overwhelming apostle Zodd.
- He killed Gennon, who was a pedophile that rapes dozens of young boys and was able to easily get away with his crimes due to his high status (although he mainly did it to prevent the latter from spreading rumors about him).
- He spared any Tudor soldiers that surrendered after taking their castle.
- He expressed remorse for several of his morally questionable actions like involving Guts in a scheme to kill the Queen of Midland and noblemen who conspired against him, even asking Guts if he was cruel in doing so.
- After ordering Guts to kill the kidnappers he hired, Griffith ordered him to leave the coins he gave them with their bodies, claiming that they deserved it for their hard work, showcasing some honor over their deaths.
- In his last moments before becoming a Godhand member, he tried to save Guts from the rising hand lifting him up, despite being severely injured.
What Makes Him Inconsistent?[]
- Even before his fall, his goal of getting his own kingdom was self-admittedly selfish, since he pursued his dream in order to obtain the shiny castle he admired during his youth.
- Although he is shown to feel remorse over the deaths of his men, he also appears to be quite dismissive of them, as seen in his conversation with Casca where he tries to rationalize their deaths by saying that they chose to follow him. Meaning that even though he feels guilty over their deaths, he much rather prefers to delude himself and repress his feelings over holding himself accountable for driving his men to their demise.
- He is cold and callous to his enemies, which gets much worse when he becomes Femto.
- Despite ordering Guts to only kill Lord Julius, he smiled in satisfaction after hearing that Adonis was also killed by him, only thinking about how it eased his path to becoming Princess Charlotte's suitor rather than caring about how it affected Guts.
- He kidnapped Minister Foss's daughter so that Foss would cooperate with him, forcing him to betray his queen and assassinate queen and all of his fellow conspirators. Despite not harming her, he still threatened her well-being to do so. He later had Guts kill the kidnappers so that nobody would find out about his deeds.
- The words he said to Gennon before killing him displayed sense of superiority in viewing others as stones beneath his feet. While Gennon is a terrible person, Griffith doesn't resent him because the evil deeds Gennon has done, but rather seeing him as a simple pawn and kills him after he outlives his usefulness.
- Despite he genuinely cared about Guts, this care is already twisted and toxic from the very start, which foreshadowed how his care would turn into hatred after Guts left him.
- He was rather possessive of Guts, having him join his mercenary band through a duel and openly saying Guts was his.
- Despite proclaiming that he doesn't see people who blindly follow his orders without thinking for themselves as his friends, he was extremely angry at Guts when he decided to leave the Band of the Hawk, and was willing to kill him to prevent him from leaving, showing himself to be an extreme hypocrite.
- During his rescue from the Midland dungeons, he weakly tried to strangle Guts before giving up due to being unable to do so.
- He is a misogynist who disrespects women, especially Casca. Since this is something very common and widespread in the universe of Berserk, with even Guts showing some misogynistic tendencies, this is arguably a minor prevention that was later doubled-down when he became Femto.
- He ordered Casca, explicitly against her wishes, to sleep with Guts to keep him warm, claiming that this was "a woman's duty".
- After Guts left the Band of the Hawk, the depressed Griffith went to Princess Charlotte's bedroom and had sex with her. He thought about Guts's departure while having sex with Charlotte, taking Charlotte as a substitute for his obsession with Guts. His selfish actions of having sex with the princess ended up getting the Band of the Hawk turned into outlaws, and more than half of them were killed.
- When Casca was trying to bandage the incapacitated Griffith, he pushed himself on top of Casca and pinned her to the ground, heavily implying that it was an attempt to rape her. He did this to establish control and assert his dominance over her in his mutiliated state.
- But even with all of the above issues, Griffith's single greatest prevention is undoubtedly that he's a fallen hero who lost all of his redeeming qualities and became Pure Evil. During the Eclipse, he infamously crossed the Moral Event Horizon with these acts:
- After losing his mobility, ability to talk and will by getting tortured by the King of Midland, Griffith subverted his care for his men by sacrificing the remaining members of the Band of the Hawk to the Godhand and the Apostles, getting them mercilessly killed by them all to achieve his ambitions.
- After reincarnating as Femto, he pinned Guts to the ground using his Apostles and raped Casca in front of him to spite Guts for leaving the Band of the Hawk, causing him to lose an arm and an eye, and driving Casca to insanity.
- Years after the Eclipse, when Guts asked him if he feels anything about betraying all of his comrades, Griffith showed that he was beyond redemption by replying that he will not betray his dream and that's all that matters.
Trivia[]
- He is one of two Berserk characters to be Inconsistently Admirable, with the other being Guts. Ironically, after turning evil, he also became Guts' arch-nemesis.
- Despite having far more severe preventions than Guts, he officially on the Guidebook has much greater sociability than him.
- He is one of the only seven Inconsistently Admirable fallen heroes to have become Pure Evil, with the other being Light Yagami (Manga Version), Dr. James Sheridan, Prince Dios, King Edward V, Bayformers Sentinel Prime and the Unicron Trilogy Megatron.
- His God Hand self Femto cannot count as Inconsistently Admirable due to losing all the redeeming qualities Griffith used to have. Although Femto defeated Emperor Ganishka and protected citizens in Falconia from astral creatures, this is only to achieve his dream of getting his own kingdom, as well as to be worshiped by people to fuel his ego.
External Links[]
- Griffith on the Berserk Wiki
- Griffith on the Villains Wiki
- Femto on the Pure Evil Wiki
- Femto on the Entertainingly Detestable Wiki
- Femto on the Conflicting Good Wiki
- Griffith on the Moral Ranking Wiki
- Griffith on the VS Battles Wiki