"Griffith Did Nothing Wrong."

Griffiths did nothing wrong this statement has become increasingly popular in recent times due in part to its use as a pseudo mean and its utility as a rallying cry for those who sympathize with Griffiths actions and find them understandable and maybe even justifiable as far as I can tell the phrase shouldn't end isn't meant to be taken literally as Costco would attest you were she able but the fact that stances on Griffith are so divisive and have been debated upon for decades is a testament to the nuance that mirror established in the creation of this character so much can be interpreted from this story and Griffith himself is the most contentious aspect of it so suffice it to say that anyone's view on his morality or lack thereof will be brimming with subjective connotations there are no concrete facts that prove Griffith to be a wholly good or wholly evil character especially when good and evil themselves are constrained by one's own personal definition of them views on Griffith tend to be limited to opinions on the relevance of his motivations fuels and tinted by one's own philosophies or moral standpoint interestingly enough I've never found myself really taking a stance on him as so many others tend to in my opinion whether Griffith leans on the side of good bad or neither is irrelevant and an exercise in moral relativism the more interesting topic for me is why and how he stimulates so much of this debate what in his narrative design makes Griffith evokes such a myriad of opinions and interpretations in more specific terms this video will be examining the fasts of Griffith that make him so explicitly human in a way that will hopefully explain why the man has so many convinced that he did almost nothing wrong how can someone who committed such inhuman acts be so distinctly human at the same time the devil is in the details and today we're going to take a look at the specific characteristics of the white hawk that make him so intricate note that I will be drawing attention to the reasons that make Griffith a nuanced man rather than an evil monster so there could be a risk of the tone of this sounding a little bit sugarcoating rest assured I acknowledge all the horror of the Eclipse and why Griffith is one of the most hated manga characters of all time but the purpose of this is to display why he is so polarizing when one might think that he'd be unanimously hated for his actions so the emphasis will be on the humanizing traits that Griffith apologists will point to Griffith betrayed the one closest to him sacrificed his own allies and raped a woman who had given her life to serve him the less you think about him the worse he seems and that's because of how terrible what he did was actions define people so Griffith is considered evil because of his actions however there was a multitude of motivation and reason behind Griffith doing what he did and Miura leaves it up to the audience to decide whether any of it matters and if the ends justify or at least contribute to the means or if none of it makes any difference when you look at the bigger picture the nature of Griffiths story is a huge part of the legacy that he leads within and outside the story of berserk itself a larger-than-life Dark Messiah otherworldly and his superiority who began his life as nothing more than a street brat altered the script in a few places and you'd have one of the most heartwarming and inspirational underdog stories ever told but internally Griffith is plagued by turmoil Edward appearances don't change the fact that Griffith always felt lonely until he began to subconsciously grow dependent on the presence of a certain someone and in losing that someone he broken every sense of the word in a world that punishes mistakes this led to him taking the only path that would have reimbursed the sacrifices that were made in his name and in doing so he committed an incredibly brutal act all the while being wholly convinced that this is both the right and necessary thing to do this is the story of Griffith tinted with a more sympathetic stance but some had difficulties in coming to view this stance as a reasonable one how can one even begin to try and see things from his point of view why would one want to given what he's done what makes him special and why do people flock to Griffith like moths to a flame the truth is Griffith is so magnetic because of what he represents to state the blatantly obvious characters and fictional landscapes tend to stick out because something about them started Lee contrasts everyone and everything else in their respective settings Ned Stark stands out in Game of Thrones because of how out of place his honor is in such a cynical world Hisoka stands out and hunter hunter because of how distinctly onenote and primitive he is compared to all of the gray and layered characters Okabe stands out in steins gate because he really goddamn weird and Griffith contrasts everything in berserk in a similar fashion which is the root of so much of his symbolic and in-universe importance allow me to take a step back for a second and draw attention to the fact that every single person in the band of the hawk except Gus in the beginning is they're out of choice they're drawn to Griffith but why is he so charismatic first of all he has a huge ego despite his worries and anxieties Griffith has unflinching confidence he can be cold and cruel like others in this setting are but unlike others he directs every aspect of himself to something beneficial and substantial perhaps rising as a development from his emotional distancing Griffith believes that the only people worthy to be called friend by him are those who live for their own ideals and are bold enough to challenge him for that dream regardless of how cold that may seem there's an incredible impressiveness surrounding that statement although it indirectly proves to be instrumental in Griffiths downfall these words proved to be inspirational enough to alter guts his life path and that in itself is a display of the gravitas of the man but a subtler reason for his followers devotion is a more symbolic and arguably more alluring one despite how charismatic he seems to be Griffith for reasons we'll get to in a bit is guarded and not very authentically personable his men simply cannot understand the type of man he is and the confidence in his convictions alone isn't enough to garner the type of support that Griffith has gotten in beserk so what draws people to him charisma is defined as a compelling attractiveness or charm that can inspire devotion in others and in terms of anime inspiration through charisma can easily be applied to characters infectious personalities characters like fade zeroes writer Gurren Lagann zkk amina or ping-pong spake oh but Griffith could not be more different from these characters in terms of personality so why exactly is he so charismatic the answer is that his compelling attractiveness comes in his attitude and ideals and what they represent for his followers in the context of this setting to put it plainly Griffin has ideals in contrast with what the setting seems to allow in a world built on fate and causality full of existentialism and nihilism Griffith is the shining light for the people in this setting because he harbors what would seem like hopeless dreams that have no place in this dark universe but he continuously strives and makes progress towards his goal with relentless determination I can't really describe it but I think Chris really believes in something beyond battle beyond victory now it's probably something he won't realise in his lifetime but something drives in it it's something ordinary people like us can never understand a belief in what in everything his goal itself is as simple as lifelong goals get to become a king in a castle but what the goal is is immaterial it's the goal itself and the way Griffith continuously passionately drives towards it that's the key here Norm's be damned Griffith is too determined to conform to society's limitations and instead built his life around transcending and dismissing those limitations he stands for true equality and hates entitlement and even with his motivations being selfish Griffith personifies the idea of rising above corruption through sheer power of will while Gus's past circumstances conditioned him to be strong in a very Darwinistic fashion Griffith taught himself to be strong through discipline and passion regardless of his upbringing and this is why Griffith never discriminated and always gave everyone an equal chance to prove their worth to him because he knows that anyone can be capable of anything perhaps unintentionally Griffith rebelled against the idea that certain things can't be achieved due to how the world works he doesn't care about societal hierarchy he's an unflinching idealist who efficiently uses all that he can to a Shiva's goal with the hopes of so many weighing on his shoulders because of his idealism his confidence in his endeavors is so otherworldly that it shatters the perception of what's possible for others around him in a very calm Yuna s Quay and the insane thing is that this is all founded from pure belief and passion mankind is drawn to passion both because it's respectable and because of vicarious gratification the most dominant leaders throughout history drew people to their cause partly due to their passion and Griffith is passion for sana fide which in itself is admirable we're put in the perspective of guts someone who has been dealt an awful hand in life and who is resigned to the cruelty and hopelessness of the world but through Griffith we begin to believe in a meaningful existence in this setting and this paints him in a favorable light he resonates with the audience in this aspect because he represents a struggle against causality in a war-torn and depressing world fate is a terrifying concept at times because it's uncomfortable to think of a world in which we are not in control of our future because of this I believe that we subconsciously seek out evidence for the possibility of free will as such we as the audience want dare I say need Griffith to succeed in the Golden Age a common and very human fear stems from thoughts that we will never achieve our goals and ambitions as if fate or the universe has made our dreams too difficult for us to achieve to be happy but Griffith strikes a chord because berserk is fatalism yet he represents choice in a seemingly predestined universe however his role as a struggler against the seemingly inevitable is just that a role and it wouldn't have seemed like such a substantial thing if Griffith himself weren't so intensely human this charisma of his draws people to him in admiration but he has perceived as so superior that people like judo and Korkis abandon their shorter term pursuit of longer term broad goals and make their endeavors synonymous with Griffiths staking their hopes of achieving their far-off dreams on the success of Griffith and ever of course it's not like these people have no dreams of their own but they're so taken in by Griffiths dream that their own ambitions take us sometimes permanent backseat this puts a huge weight on Griffiths shoulders because so many people lay down their lives to make his dream a reality and at his core he is a human being more than susceptible of crumbling under the pressure the easiest part in humanizing Griffith for me comes in establishing a base idea that completely shifts how Griffiths actions can be perceived the idea that Griffith does care for others it's beyond doubt to me that Griffith does indeed care for people despite some of his actions and behaviors and despite what I've said in past videos about him his bond with guts was on a completely different level to anything that he had experienced but his care for others wasn't limited exclusively to guts independent from the comparatively small level of affection that Griffith had for his men he is considered narcissistic by many and by definition this means that he would likely not be able to care for others but Griffith is not technically a narcissist the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders state that someone can be diagnosed with narcissistic personality disorder only when the subject has psychological issues that manifest through self entitlement attention-seeking looking to others for self esteem regulation or looking for approval from others and impairments in empathy or intimacy empathy is defined as the ability to understand and share the feelings of others and I personally believe that Griffith has this as evidenced by any number of situations where he guiltily sadly laments the pain deaths and broken dreams of his comrades empathy was something that Griffith had but consciously had to bury to pursue his dream effectively what I'm getting ahead of myself here regarding the other requirements Griffiths whole ideal centers around the idea of rejecting self-entitlement he does not go seeking attention more than the average person and he does not look for others for self esteem or approval so I would say that any notion of Griffith being a classified narcissist would be incorrect and while Griffith does have problems with intimacy it is not due to a lack of care but something else now an easy rebuttal could be produced by a quote that Griffith says himself I'm sure your friends are equally as awesome you decided I'm gonna track thank you they are my able soldiers it's true but that does not make them friend however it's impossible to accurately judge Griffiths words here by our own moral standards he doesn't consider his men friends but his definition of a friend is much different than ours whereas someone might have a hundred friends a very distinct possibility exists that only two or three of these would be Griffiths definition of a friend as such it's very easy to identify that just because the band of the hawk are not Griffiths friends does not mean that he doesn't care for them and he does care for them he likes being depended on and he likes being the focal point of their admiration but he also reciprocate some small amount of affection with them Griffith cared for a number of childhood friends in his early life and for his men as well but he had to compartmentalize and separate himself from emotional attachment to them at the beginning Griffith began getting to know his soldiers personally and to an extent he still does in the golden age argh but he had to change his approach in realizing the sheer amount of death that would befall the band of the hawk as he progressed towards his dream if he allowed himself to personally know each man then the inevitable amount of death that would surely come would destroy him this much is obvious when Griffith grieves over the death of a young soldier wondering what could have become of his life as a leader Griffith knows that he cannot allow himself to care as much as he would like to because that care would lead him to devastation and not allow him to carry out his duties so he distances himself not because he wants to but because he has to and decides that there is only one way to respect the individual lives given to him in his dream victory total achievement and this motivates Griffith even further sowing the seed for his betrayal at the Eclipse which we'll discuss shortly but the tragic irony of the entire situation is that his suppressed empathy is the major contributing factor to his downfall from a certain point of view Griffith can be an example of a classic Shakespearean tragic hero with his suppressed and personally misunderstood emotionality being his tragic flaw apart from his paradoxical I care therefore I can't care stands on his men or if it saved the young Kosta a weak and defenseless little girl from being raped and attacked a girl who at this point would be little to no use for his army he definitely didn't save her because he thought that she would be an asset to the band of the hawk seeing as he does tell her that she can just walk away after he takes care of the situation he saves her because he cares further down the line Griffith sells his body to Lord Gannon in order to provide provisions for his men and elevate his army to a level that would have otherwise only been attainable through much sacrifice in doing this he admittedly furthers his cause but he's also very motivated to save the band of the hawk from possible bloodshed I know we could earn the money you need we just have to keep winning that would take a tremendous amount of time and the more battles we fight the more people we lose at first he downplays Lord Gannon as a man not worth pondering or reacting to acting as if the deed was a no big deal but as Koska witnesses Griffith finds himself unable to wash the trauma away so he literally resorts to self-harm to turn this pain into a concept that he can comprehend and subdue this is by far the weakest and most vulnerable we have seen Griffith at this point and the most human but the scariest thing about it is that he successfully buries as emotional pain in realizing that it's unsuitable for a leader to conduct himself this way he is able to switch from traumatized to completely in control and all smiles in an absolute instant it isn't natural or right to keep things repressed yet Griffith does it because he has grown to believe that this emotional weakness is something to disregard and stunt he needs to be a shining optimistic light for others to follow free of blemishes so he suffers alone and he keeps up the facade to keep spirits high now tell me is this what someone who doesn't care for his men would do Griffiths offset and segregated behavior leads to the impression that he is somehow robotic or inhuman but even in addition to his care and compassion there are a few characters in a story more human than Griffith and nearer gives us a wealth of evidence as to why as soon as we can work through and understand the reason for this odd demeanor Griffiths single biggest failing is his lack of a broad self comprehension he is so inept at understanding his own emotions and the type of person he is the only thing that he knows about himself for sure is that he will do anything for kingship and the fact that he has such a red-hot motivation for this means that he perceives it as the only true part of his personality he has spent his whole life thinking that he was solely defined by this goal and this is a double-edged sword his fierce determination and dedication to this goal meant that he was able to attract the necessary resources he needed but this also meant that he was unable to leave room for and therefore unable to understand any other aspect of his personality so he completely falls short and handling many other aspects of his psyche he doesn't properly comprehend love or anger or desire one of the only emotions that he can understand is a simple care for another human being and even that is suppressed as a byproduct of his position perhaps as a result of this Griffith is largely asexual only engaging in sexual acts as a display of power or compensation rather than a true desire and the effects of this extend even further Griffith is characterized as creepy or inhuman because of the way in which he switches from a cold and ruthless demeanor to a childlike one but this is all because the narrow focus on his dream along with his tendency to distance himself from social situations completely limited his emotional growth aside from rare instances his social intelligence is like that of a kid swinging from one extreme to another and leading to an outward appearance of some sort of split or bipolar personality but this isn't the case it's just that a combination of narrow self-awareness and emotional detachment has caused his outward personality to manifest in this way underneath the oddities of his behavior Griffiths men see a sincerity of ambition and they are not mistaken now this part is up to interpretation and there are plenty who believe that Griffith thought of guts solely as a tool but in my eyes and due to the formerly presented evidence I believe that he ends up loving guts because of his narrow focus he cannot identify this attachment and tries to suppress those feelings but it doesn't work in Enza being his tragic flaw and he's left emotionally traumatized when guts leaves partly because he's been dealt a blow in his quest for kingship but also because he cares for him I just can't get behind the notion that Griffith was so devastated purely because he was losing a part of his army especially when the war was over and especially when Princess Charlotte was his last obstacle to kingship know he felt abandoned and heartbroken and empty for emotional personal reasons Griffith was not accustomed to rejection so he took the presence of people for granted the end result was predictable when you think about it and sequentially there's a definite act of humanity in Griffiths next actions whether you perceive Griffiths Knight with Charlotte as a need to feel in power a display of pure lust or an irrational move to further his dream after losing such a valuable cog in his army there was an inherent humanity to his act a very revealing nod to Griffiths humanity for me was his ability to maintain his compassion after the torture after being rescued by guts his skewed perception means that he blamed the man for his downfall and subsequently he tries to strangle him but after a few seconds of trying he softens his stance and his affection for guts overpowers his hatred he can't stay angry to add to the theory that Griffith cared for his men and thought of them as more than tools there's also the fact that the sacrifice at the Eclipse would literally not work unless the person or people sacrificed or close to Griffiths heart as said in the manga as a sacrificial offering for the invocation of doom not just any lump of flesh and blood will do it must be someone important to you part of your soul someone so close to you that it's almost like giving up a part of you by making such a sacrifice to demon kind you'll be able to sever any last remnants of your own humanity in addition to this this quote also says that by making the sacrifice you abandon your humanity now humanity itself is a very broad term but in this context I think it's safe to say that meera was referring to a light humanity morality love empathy etc and to abandon one's own humanity one must first have humanity ergo Griffith had light humanity within him before the Eclipse I am buried under the weight of all those bodies how strange I can't feel anything this is what Griffith was thinking in witnessing the savagery of the Eclipse he found it strange that he didn't feel anything when witnessing the destruction of the band of the hawk meaning that he was expecting to feel sympathy or self hate for what he did meaning that he had previously felt something akin to affection for them to convince Griffith the Godhead emphasized his obsessive ambition but deliberately leave out mentioning any other aspect of his personality and they notably convinced a torn man that his followers would approve of this decision because it in essence is what he needed and wanted to hear being a man burdened by the weight of a thousand corpses and since he justified his decision with the reasoning that the band both former and present would think the sacrifice worth it then Griffith was clearly invested in their interests had the God had not been so devious in their manipulation and reasoning and had Griffith not been shown as blunt and allegory of his path to greatness as a road composed of corpses leading to a castle we may not have even had an eclipse, but sadly this wasn't the case and the Eclipse was a known link on the chain of causality the simple fact that Griffith is so much colder when he transforms into femto proves that a change has occurred making him less human than he was before something has been lost here and it has had a large knock-on effect but I somewhat adhered to a theory that this something is a lot smaller than it might seem some believe that godhood has transformed Griffith into a cold completely unfeeling robot but part of me believes that Vento is simply Griffith without any ability to care for the feelings of others a being without any sympathy and without a great deal of empathy now he had suppressed his empathy but it had broken through on several occasions and was still very much a part of him until the Eclipse however there is a functional amount of empathy left within him used for terrible purposes as we can see immediately after his read earth his rape of Costa while disgusting and undeniably wrong lend some insight into this and can be explained inconsistency with this theory the obvious motivations for this word that he wanted to establish power once again wanted to spite guts and Kostka out of jealousy for their relationship and wanted to get back at guts for hurting him by leaving one year earlier and these are completely human motivations founded in empathy a cold unfeeling and robotic God would dismiss and dispose of these lowly humans not try to psychologically and emotionally hurt them that's something a human would do it can also be argued that Griffith doing this was him jumping the shark into godhood cutting his ties from his old life and proving to himself that he was ready for this leap he wants to believe that he has overcome his emotions and what used to be his weakness he plays this up so much and I have a sneaky feeling that he doesn't actually feel as maniacal and mustache twirling as he lets on in the black swordsman arc he taunts guts with lines like still squirming around in your pitiful existence I see and his petty existence is beneath our notice but there is an air of artificiality to these words in my opinion almost like femto is trying to put on a show and make it seem like guts is beneath his notice even if he really isn't and this all comes from the idea that Griffith only lost his ability to understand feel and care for the pain of others in his transformation this would also lend evidence to the theory that Griffith did care for others seeing that the moment he transformed into a non caring being he was very visibly changed even though Griffith was destined to betray the band of the hawk the emphasis was always on the fact that it was his choice to do so not that he was forced and this is very important while Griffith does conform to fate he is still an active participant in this fate he doesn't do all this because destiny chose for him while the universe is deterministic he did it because he sees it as the only way to make sure his past deeds and sacrifices meant something and while it makes no difference to the face of the story whether or not Griffith chose to do this and why he chose it does make a difference to the essence of Griffiths character many great works and great thinkers of the last century have proposed the idea that mankind is more or less defined by our ability to make choices and Griffith was very much a chooser this will probably be a controversial opinion but even post Eclipse I believe Griffith slash Vento to be human or at least partly human people tend to look at horrible cruel acts and respond with an exclamation of what an inhuman monster I specifically had conversations with people who read berserk and say that Griffiths acts mean that he simply can't be any part of human anymore but I doubt that I'm the only one seeing the contradiction in this so according to this way of thinking because of his cruelty Griffith is not part of the human race the very same humans who are capable of committing genocide of taking part in animal cruelty up are taking an axe just as bad as Griffith within the same setting and story Griffith is still human he's just a part of humanity that we try to pretend doesn't exist every human has darkness inside of them it's the black side of humanity well documented throughout history and within fiction this darkness is balanced out by morality and caring and life lessons to keep it at bay but what happens when regardless of reason that lightness and morality is suppressed what's happened with Griffith is that due to the change that occurred his darkness has taken over I believe that there's a sort of parallel between Griffiths femto and the representation of guts 'as darkness the hellhound we've seen what happened when Gus's hellhound took over he nearly raped Kostka rings a bell doesn't it these dark egos are a part of guts and Griffith a part of everyone but in most of the Golden Age art they're suppressed by lighter aspects because they haven't yet been unlocked this is why I don't feel like sento is characterized by a lack of humanity but rather everything that's wrong with humanity and it all stemmed from Griffiths tunnel vision and lack of self understanding and progressing to his goal not because he ever wanted it to be this way it's a sad thing because a lot of Griffiths own problem come from his inability to understand himself and this makes him incredibly relatable I spent a good portion of my own life struggling to come to grips with the type of person I was and I know a huge amount of people who feel the same so this asset of Griffith is so personal and can be applied to roughly as many of the audience as the number who relate to guts his quest for meaning he's incredibly humanized by his consistent subconscious fixation on human emotion as well regardless of his lack of understanding and this instantly makes him more substantial a final reason as to why Griffith is such an important character and Eastern fiction can be found in dissecting what he symbolizes in the context of Nietzsche and philosophy and this reveals perhaps the biggest reason regarding why Griffith resonates with so many and is relatable in a way that is sometimes difficult to understand Griffith and guts are synonymous with fundamental niche and philosophical concepts more specifically berserks two main characters can be applied to the concept of Nietzsche's pardon my pronunciation ubermensch to put it simply nietzsche proposes the ubermensch as a goal for Humanity it opposes nihilism which is a doctrine essentially believing that all life is meaningless and it can be described as the concept of imposing one's own values and living for oneself to break away from conservative morals and ethics to find purpose the ubermensch denies both slave and master morality by living purely for themselves and not imposing their will on others in essence an example of the ubermensch would be someone who ignores fate and customs and decides their destiny for themselves on the other hand a false example of the ubermensch would be someone deciding to accept destiny and not make any efforts to fight against it Gutzon griffith represent both the example and false example of the ubermensch at different parts of their lives centering on a distinct turning point in the story at each point opposing what the other represents we can start at the beginning of this story despite personally believing in the concept of fate Griffith goes against it by constantly progressing rejecting the proposed limits of the setting exerting his will not to control others excluding his duties but to push himself ever closer to his goal he is the ubermensch guts have succumbed to nihilism due to his early childhood trauma believing that there's nothing to life and no point to anything other than fighting he is the falsification of the ubermensch however as the story progresses these roles begin to shift as a Griffith slowly becomes dependent on guts and guts starts to longed for a true purpose until we reach the story point where guts leaves the band of the hawk here guts has become independent not believing in nihilism anymore and setting out search for meaning and Griffith has found himself shackled and controlled because of his emotions the role reversal is concluded at the Eclipse where Griffith willingly submits to fate for his own gain and guts begins his agonizing mission of fighting against the tide of fate Griffith is now the fall super mensch and guts the true representation it's a thematic and symbolic shift here that sums up the tragedy of Griffith he was on his desired path and even taught guts how to walk that path but was unable to deal with the ramifications of this and ended up becoming a falsification of what he originally strived for Nietzsche states that one must gain power from others to benefit oneself but remain reliant on one's own strength and not become dependent Griffiths stopped being a representation of the ubermensch because he became dependent on guts and this emotional dependency is sadly an ever-present element in modern society an entirely intimate concept to cling to others in fear of being left alone to not be able to fathom the terror of true isolation while the subtleties of Griffith situation are a bit different the concept is very much the same and one that the audience will likely be familiar with humans are social beings and a life without others to care for is not natural at the end of the day Griffith is so divisive because his actions and motivations give evidence to those on either side of the fence as well as those on the fence he is very much the villain and antagonists of the story but in berserk the line between moral wrongs and rights is blurred to the point of irrelevance in the midst of his journey Griffith tells Charlotte that he can only respect someone as a friend if they were to follow their own ambitions for for most alter the circumstances just a little bit and we can envision a man proclaiming the same train of thought to his inspired and enamoured band of the hawk saying that every individual should follow their own dreams before anything else this would lead to a prosperous kingdom in which Griffith would be viewed as not a traitor or a rapist or a murderer but as the hero of this story and that is what makes berserks Griffith a truly special character thanks so much for watching again I was not justifying Griffiths actions and I would never defend rape or murder but instead I wanted to analyze why Griffith is a human emotional resonance character whose nuance makes him a transcendent antagonist there are going to be plenty who disagree with a lot of what I've said here but that's totally okay and completely expected when it comes to a character like Griffith I can only hope that I've backed up my position well and that you can respect where I'm coming from let me know if you agree disagree or think that I'm a massive pleb if you enjoyed this video and want to see more like it consider giving this video a like subscribing to my channel or enhancing my ability to make these by supporting me on patreon you can always catch me on Twitter or my anime list but that's all for now thanks again and I'll catch you guys later

Channel: Aleczandxr

Views: 1,747,681

Keywords: anime, animation, manga, miura, berserk, analysis, review, reaction, golden age, arc, guts, casca, eclipse, behelit, griffith, black swordsman, conviction, sacrifice, 1997, theme, story, character, best, ever, all time, dark, fantasy, battle, fight, nietzche, judeau, god hand, song, ost, band of the hawk, 2016, music, symbolism, tragedy, tragic, hero, movie, movies, doldrey, schierke, serpico, puck, dub, sub, series, scenes, isidro, rickert, corkus, pippin, farnese, apostle, scene, action, wrong, did nothing, fantasia, empire, ganishka, swordsman

Id: A4JVtQwWHBk

Length: 34min 33sec (2073 seconds)

Published: Fri May 19 2017

Reddit Comments

[u/Huaun]

This guys Eyepatch wolf'd the shit out of Griffith.

[u/Chemical_Cris]

Time to get the stabbin' knife.

[u/[deleted]]

The only thing worse than a Nazi is a Griffith apologist!

[u/[deleted]]

Interesting watch. He doesn't at all approach the topic of "Griffith did nothing wrong" so the title is very misleading.

I agree with a lot of what he said. Pre-eclipse Griffith is a very human character and his analysis is spot on. Not only did he love Guts I think he loved Caska as well.

"How can you do that to someone you love?" Some people might ask. And it's because he loved his dream above everything.

It makes the eclipse and his existence as a villain so much more worse. He was smiling when he said he would make the sacrifice.

He's fucking gross.

[u/[deleted]]

Not yet but plan on it. However my statement stands.

[u/Jiko27]

Because Berserk never ends, but more specifically as an example, because the Golden Age Anime follows a set story path, the narrative is left as a kind of... criticism of Neitzsche's Ubermensch philosophy.
The idea of it is that after the death of god (the influx of atheism/nihilism), each man could decree his own values and work towards those consciously (in a sense becoming their own god).
That's simplifying it down a hell of a lot and not doing the idea any justice, but it's a good enough representation to get whoever's reading this thinking.
In the pursuit of power, Griffith's values jettisoned his worldly compatriots, allowing him to ascend to a kind of godhood. Now, you need to ask, "At what cost?"
Guts becomes a worldly man who decrees his own values. Griffith becomes a bitter man who decrees his own values. The point at which they break off into individuality from the Band of the Hawk kind of presents that duality. And the one who breaks off and becomes bitter destroys the one who becomes worldly. It's a criticism of the individualist philosophy, the loss of shared value.

In that way, it also plays with an idea Neitzsche seemed to put forth that in this world the State holds back the individual's true potential, and that the State was inextricably related to religion and faith. A kind of extreme individualism.

I mean, I hope I've gotten the gist right, there.
Perhaps the entire manga is meant to try to reconcile the Ubermensch part of Neitzsche's work, rather than criticise it, or find an answer to make it functional. Perhaps the lack of ability to do that is why the author cannot write more chapters.