Was Ganishka a sorcerer, or just a unique Apostle?

Kind of an old topic, but in reading through older threads I saw a lot of old speculation that Ganishka was a sorcerer in addition to being an apostle. This would explain a lot of his more unique qualities, as well as knowledge. Perhaps this will never be clearly defined as the series goes on but I was wondering what the consensus is.

Reasons why he might be a magic user seem to be as follows:
-He had a form of astral projection at Vrittanis (After Guts and Zodd hit him, he suddenly reverts back to his carriage)
-He seemed to be in the fog that Daiba used when controlling pischacha and Makara. We see little Ganishka sprites come out of Kushan monks when Serpico kills them at the beach.
-The Pichacha, in general, seem to be either a spell used on animals or some form of pseudo-apostle ability. It's a bit unclear.
-His knowledge of the astral realm, in general, allows him to create the artificial beherit that he uses to create Daka as well as use it on himself to become Shiva. Run of the mill apostles don't seem to know this level of the inner workings of God Hand blood magic.

Perhaps it was simply the alliance between he and Daiba that allowed all this to happen with Ganishka supplying the means to Daiba's methods. Perhaps his unique fog properties in combination with an Empire's resources are all the explanation that we need. Still, the idea of an Apostle magic-user was an interesting one. Perhaps an imitator of what Aaz speculates Void's origins to be.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Yes, he was a sorcerer in addition to being a pretty unique apostle. I originally thought Daiba was merely a lackey but it turned out he's the one who likely taught magic to Ganishka (after he became an apostle) and engineered the Pishacha and Daka.
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
Consider all the unique ways that Ganishka employed his fog form to create minions, control people, cast his eyes wide like a surveillance network, broadcast his voice across the distance, etc. Those are all incredibly advanced for "just" an apostle. So yeah, like Aaz said, while it's not explicitly explained in them manga it seems that Daiba's magical knowledge was able to harness and extend Ganishka's natural apostle abilities.
 
I thought as much. It makes him a much more interesting character to know that he didn't just rely on his 'natural' Apostle gifts, but worked with Daiba to create ways to expand on them in order to create a vast Empire in which he could extend himself. Even Wyndham is covered in fog, apparently as a way to scry on all within it. He really is a great foil for Griffith to have to overcome, at least from the perception of everyone else.
 

Fancypantaloons

Trapped in time. Surrounded by evil. Low on gas.
He could easily be the main villain of another medieval-fantasy manga and I would be cool with that. Unluckily for him, he was in Berserk, and there were more powerful villains than him.

Thanks for posting this, it clears up some stuff in my head aswell.
 
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