Hello, I am a new member of this community and I would like to first thank you all for having built such a nice and active place for Berserk fans. This is my first post, I will try to make it worth reading. English is not my native language, please be forgiving if my writing is messy.
Here is my theory : the Berserk world goes through cycles of God Hand births, fifth member incarnation, age of darkness, God Hand purge. And then back to the beginning. The whole process taking about a thousand years.
I had a hard time picking a title and hope this one is satisfying.
First point : Recurring symbolism
Having recently (this month) reread Berserk entirely (for about the sixth time), some details caught my attention during the Tower of Conviction arc. On the walls of the room where Mozgus talked to Farnese in the 18th volume. Here is a picture. It reminded me of recurent symbols of Falconia. Here is a picture of episode 307.
A circle with wings. A half circle under a circle (the lower part being more "feathery" in Falconia). Falconia has many times been compared to the legendary city under Wyndham and the tower of conviction is supposed to (as far as I know) be contemporary with the old city.
Second point : The fusion of the world.
People were supposedly used to spirits (like elves). In the past the layers may have been merged (Griffith coming back to the world already started doing it, even before the world helix tree) when the previous God Hand incarnated and people got used to interacting with spirits. Then religion spread and people stopped believing in spirits, helping separating the world's layers in time for the next incarnation that would merge them.
Third point : The age of strife and the age of darkness
I will not elaborate too much on this as I can't provide reliable strongly translated quotes.
The context in which Gaiseric's rule rose seems close to how I envision the world some time (decades, centuries) after Griffith's complete defeat (killed along the helix tree, putting an end to the forcecul merge of the layers). I call this the age of strife.
Humanity is reduced to small tribes (the survivors of the world outside Falconia, considering that if a final battle takes place in Falconia it most likely was messy for the population), the church being weakly established, if not nonexistant, most of the people believing in spirits (after all they were "real" not so long ago, when the world was merged).
Then a great conqueror could unite the world, use Falconia (maybe in ruins) as a capital (and maybe renovate it).
An eclipse occurs, bringing a new God Hand and destroying the city, upon which a new Wyndham-like kingdom and capital rises. The old religion rises from its ashes.
I'll try to wrap this up here and wait for your opinions before elaborating more. To finish I will put a few facts I did not manage to write down earlier.
My theory has most likely been influenced by the Mass Effect universe and The Matrix series. Even though I like this theory, I am absolutely not convinced that it is true, and many elements (especially timeline-wise about Gaiseric's empire, even though all we know about it is mere untrustworthy legends passed down through centuries) bug me. So I am more hoping to discuss it rather than see you agree.
I thank you for having read me and eagerly wait for your answers. Have a nice day.
Here is my theory : the Berserk world goes through cycles of God Hand births, fifth member incarnation, age of darkness, God Hand purge. And then back to the beginning. The whole process taking about a thousand years.
I had a hard time picking a title and hope this one is satisfying.
First point : Recurring symbolism
Having recently (this month) reread Berserk entirely (for about the sixth time), some details caught my attention during the Tower of Conviction arc. On the walls of the room where Mozgus talked to Farnese in the 18th volume. Here is a picture. It reminded me of recurent symbols of Falconia. Here is a picture of episode 307.
A circle with wings. A half circle under a circle (the lower part being more "feathery" in Falconia). Falconia has many times been compared to the legendary city under Wyndham and the tower of conviction is supposed to (as far as I know) be contemporary with the old city.
Second point : The fusion of the world.
People were supposedly used to spirits (like elves). In the past the layers may have been merged (Griffith coming back to the world already started doing it, even before the world helix tree) when the previous God Hand incarnated and people got used to interacting with spirits. Then religion spread and people stopped believing in spirits, helping separating the world's layers in time for the next incarnation that would merge them.
Third point : The age of strife and the age of darkness
I will not elaborate too much on this as I can't provide reliable strongly translated quotes.
The context in which Gaiseric's rule rose seems close to how I envision the world some time (decades, centuries) after Griffith's complete defeat (killed along the helix tree, putting an end to the forcecul merge of the layers). I call this the age of strife.
Humanity is reduced to small tribes (the survivors of the world outside Falconia, considering that if a final battle takes place in Falconia it most likely was messy for the population), the church being weakly established, if not nonexistant, most of the people believing in spirits (after all they were "real" not so long ago, when the world was merged).
Then a great conqueror could unite the world, use Falconia (maybe in ruins) as a capital (and maybe renovate it).
An eclipse occurs, bringing a new God Hand and destroying the city, upon which a new Wyndham-like kingdom and capital rises. The old religion rises from its ashes.
I'll try to wrap this up here and wait for your opinions before elaborating more. To finish I will put a few facts I did not manage to write down earlier.
- Flora said that causality is not a circle but rather a spiral. If it was a circle the events would repeat themselves, as the Skull Knight seemed to think, but a spiral allows for differences. If Guts ends up winning against causality/destiny, he breaks the cycles. Destinies are not fulfilled, and a new future comes up. Of course this may all come down to a mistranslation.
- I understand that by becoming Femto, Griffith embraced causality. He embraced the pattern, fulfilling it along his dream.
- As a hand has five fingers it makes sense that the God Hand is composed of up to five members (considering that if they are not the God Hands there's supposed to be a single hand, hence five fingers). To keep up with the new members every couple centuries and incarnations every millenia a of purge seems legit.
- The actual cycle may be unusual, be it through Griffith's actions, the Skull Knight's actions (maybe during the previous cycle) or Guts' actions (or his child's).
- The Skull Knight's visit to Guts before the eclipse may point to the idea that there is a "struggler" every cycle destined to bring the incarnated (and maybe the whole actual God Hand) down. The brand may be the tool to make this possible (Flora and Schierke may have been talking about this when discussing the curse). The Skull Knight may have been the previous one, or the result of the previous one's actions (the child may become the next Skull Knight but this speculation is not my point). It could also be that there are strugglers at most eclipses and that the Skull Knight has seen a few of them by now and is able to predict Guts being the next one. But I'm loosing myself on something different here.
- The "age of darkness". An age has a beginning and an end. There must be something after the age of darkness, it is only an age. The black hawk does not bring "eternal darkness" to the world.
- The prophecy of the black hawk, known to both the church and witches, may refer the pattern.
My theory has most likely been influenced by the Mass Effect universe and The Matrix series. Even though I like this theory, I am absolutely not convinced that it is true, and many elements (especially timeline-wise about Gaiseric's empire, even though all we know about it is mere untrustworthy legends passed down through centuries) bug me. So I am more hoping to discuss it rather than see you agree.
I thank you for having read me and eagerly wait for your answers. Have a nice day.