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| NOTE: The heroic deeds from this profile only covers Griffith before he became Femto and not any time after, as anything "heroic" his Pure Evil Godhand self 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. |
| “ | 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. |
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 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, it wasn't entirely so, as 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.
- Created Band of the Hawk, a highwayman-turned-mercenary group, and helped various people.
- He accepted various individuals from various corners, despite their background and past, gaining their loyalty.
- 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, Griffith accepted her request to become a soldier in his ranks.
- Despite manipulating his men for his goals, Griffith cared for his soldiers and was saddened when a young boy in his command died in battle.
- When the Band of the Hawk was in a precarious position, Griffith accepted Gennon's offer 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, Griffith (initially) accommodated him as per his request.
- 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 stop the Hundred-Year War between Midland and Tudor, thus finally bringing long-awaited peace to the lands after a century of bloodshed.
- Helped Guts fight against the overwhelming apostle Zodd.
- Killed Gennon, who was a pedophile that rapes dozens if not hundreds of young boys. It should be noted that Gennon is the powerful nobleman in the Tudor Empire, who was able to easily get away with his crimes due to his high-ranking status, Griffith finishing him off was considered to be a feat that was unlikely to achieve.
- Sparing 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, even asking Guts if he was unnecessarily 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 handicapped.
What Makes Him Inconsistent?[]
- Even before he fell, Griffith's goal of gaining a castle was self-admittedly selfish, since he started his dream in order to obtain the shiny castle he'd admired during his youth.
- He has been cold and callous to his enemies, for instance the words he said to Gennon before killing him was part of his superiority nature in viewing others as ants beneath his feet, which gets much worse when he becomes Femto.
- Although he's shown to feel remorse over the deaths of his men, Griffith 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 were necessary to achieve his dream. 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 several men to their demise.
- Despite ordering Guts to only kill Lord Julius, Griffith smiled sadistically after hearing that Adonis was accidentally killed by him, only thinking about how it eased his path to becoming Princess Charlotte's suitor than caring about how it affected Guts.
- Kidnapped Minister Foss's daughter so that Foss would be loyal towards him, forcing him to betray his queen and Lord Julius. Despite not harming her, Griffith still threatened her well-being to do so.
- He later has Guts kill the kidnappers so that Midland won't find out about his deeds.
- Regardless of Griffith proclaiming that he doesn't respect people who blindly follow his orders without thinking for themselves, he was extremely angry and jealous of Guts when he decided to leave the Band of the Hawk, showing him to be an extreme hypocrite.
- Tried to kill Guts to prevent him from leaving Band of the Hawk.
- After getting rescued from the Midland dungeons, Griffith weakly tried to strangle Guts before giving up due to being unable to do so. In that same occasion, he also pushed himself on top of Casca and pinned her to the ground as she was trying to bandage him, heavily implying that it was an attempt to rape her.
- But even with all of the above issues, Griffith's single greatest prevention is undoubtedly that he's a fallen hero who loses all of his redeeming qualities and became a Pure Evil villain. During the Eclipse, he infamously crossed the Moral Event Horizon with these acts:
- After losing his mobility, speech and will by getting tortured by the King of Midland, Griffith subverted his care for his men by sacrificing the entire Band of the Hawk to the Godhand and the Apostles, getting them mercilessly killed by them all to regain 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 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 socialability than him.
- He is one of the only five Inconsistently Admirable fallen heroes to have become Pure Evil, with the other being Light Yagami, Dr. James Sheridan, Prince Dios and King Edward V.
External Links[]
- Femto on the Pure Evil Wiki
- Griffith on the Villains Wiki
- Griffith on the Berserk Wiki
- Griffith on the Moral Ranking Wiki