The story of Guts becoming a monster in the Black Swordsman days is obviously a big part of the first section of Berserk, but I think during, "The Golden Age," Miura brilliantly reverse-engineered his own writing from, "The Black Swordsman," and "The Brand," so that Guts was, metaphorically, right on the brink of becoming Griffith.
The biggest, least ambiguous example of this is when Guts claws at himself after explaining to Puck how he doesn't care about anyone dying in his revenge quest. Griffith did exactly that in the seventh volume, while explaining to Casca how he didn't have any regrets about people dying as part of his quest to reach his dream.
It's the same, but it's also different. Guts was just talking people who, "get caught up in someone else's fight," while Griffith is talking about people who, "themselves chose to fight." Guts just about comes across as worse than Griffith here--yet, his goal is to destroy something fundamentally evil, while Griffith in that scene openly admits that his beautiful dream, "can only be realized by building on their corpses." Griffith is fundamentally responsible for the deaths of those he asked to risk their lives for him, but Guts is creating a situation where people will still have some level of agency. But then again, Griffith never forced anyone to join up, while Guts is disrupting the lives of bystanders.
Both men feel such anguish about the consequences of their actions that they actually harm themselves. But Griffith pushes Casca away when she tries to comfort him, while Guts experiences his overwhelming pain after accidentally pushing Puck away. Griffith's pain is the result of the choices that he himself has made, while Guts's is largely the result of choices others made. The scenes show that both men arrived at the same emotional place, not being as uncaring as they claim, but the paths they took are radically different. I'd argue there's still hope for Guts, but Griffith (as he usually does) chooses an even darker path.
There's also another big parallel that I haven't seen mentioned anywhere (sorry if I missed it): the torture scenes. Have a look at this:
Taken from the scenes where Guts and Griffith are hanging up.
Those scenes actually follow the same basic script. G does something that we as readers wouldn't consider that bad. G gets hung up and tortured by a short, fat, mostly naked guy. The ruler comes in and accuses G of unnecessarily destroying the peace. G tells the ruler that he's full of shit, really he's a selfish bastard--basically G speaks truth to power--and G has no regrets. The ruler tells G he doesn't understand the burdens of power. G then gets tortured to the point of near-paralysis for provoking the ruler.
But once again, the differences matter and show how Guts still has hope, while Griffith is just going lower and lower. Firstly, the reason Griffith is here is that he was being selfish and stupid and he's derailed his own plan. Guts got here by killing assholes everyone hated in order to provoke a monster into coming for him, and his plan still has a shot. Additionally, Griffith's version of the, 'truth,' is the worst possible interpretation of the situation, while Guts's is completely on target. Still, the end result is the same, and both men wind up in the same place.
There's a few other places where the parallels line up neatly. Puck and Casaca align at the prisons, both holding the keys that get G&G out of prison. Guts incidentally saved Puck, and Griffith saved Casca to prove a point, but here the tables are being turned. There's also places that invert the parallels really well. My favorite is Griffith standing on top of a pile of corpses in his vision at the eclipse, against Guts hiding under and then climbing up on top of the corpses to fight the Baron. There's also (a bit thin, but still) the fact that Griffith's destination is a castle, while Guts's goal in the first episode is to get the Baron to come down from the castle.
The core of this parallel comes down to, 'the meaning of life.' Guts's life at this point is entirely about Griffith, who he was and who he became. He has fully internalized all of what Griffith once said about dreams and their importance, to the point where he believes it more than (arguably) Griffith did. Take this parallel:
Griffith is speculating, and his next statement is, "or was death the end of his dream?" But Guts seems to believe this utterly, and to believe that the same principle applies to his life. It is a moment of affirmation for Guts, but of hesitation for Griffith. Yet, Griffith kept going on the same path. Guts, however, is really just still reacting to the choices Griffith made. Griffith is going to buy into his own bullshit completely, but Guts is going to escape.
Here's the most important bit, I think:
Both Guts and Griffith are, in this moment, making a conscious choice not to care about a dead child. But Griffith is responding to being told he's always known he was responsible for that child's death and that if it didn't stop him then, it shouldn't stop him now. Guts is responding to being told by Puck that this wasn't his fault, and the glint of madness in his eye suggests even he can't believe what he's saying. Griffith is setting aside his last doubt, but Guts isn't that far gone. He still feels responsible, even though he (mostly, not entirely) objectively isn't. Other people (Collette, her father, even Griffith making the brand) made choices here, not just him.
The fact that there's still hope for Guts even at his worst, at the very beginning of the Black Swordsman, is really highlighted by this key difference:
Guts and Griffith are both visited by demonic emissaries here, and I think there's a pretty clear visual parallel between the Demon Child and the creature that touches Griffith. One thing the dialogue here shoes is that Guts actually has an unfair advantage over Griffith when it comes to turning back from this path: he knows what he's dealing with Griffith didn't, and so was much more easily manipulated. But the fundamental difference between these demons is, of course, that Griffith is being visited by creatures who worship him and want something specific from him, and Guts is being visited by what remained of his son after the eclipse. Guts's son is, presumably, trying to help him, while as far as these creatures are concerned Griffith is on the right path.
This also shows the different ways that Guts and Griffith had of interacting with the people around them, and how that directly led to different consequences. Griffith spoke of the people who followed him as fundamentally lesser, and worked hard to keep an emotional distance from them. That directly led to his overreaction when his only friend left, and to the fact that no one knew where he was in time to help him before he was practically beyond all help. Guts, however, instinctively sees everyone as fundamentally the same, and is equally rude and honest to all of them. That allowed him to have actual meaningful relationships. That's why he has a son here, no matter how messed up the poor kid is, and that's part of why this becomes the first of many times Puck saves him. And while Griffith's release of his relationships will send him finally, forever, into the dark, Guts's eventual choice to hold on leads him into the light.
So, that was fun to write! I'm a new fan, and I'm super grateful to have found this community--looking forward to chatting about if I missed or misinterpreted anything! Thanks for reading!
Late edit: assuming that I'm correct in saying that Miura did this deliberately, it forms a decent foundation as far back as the first episode for how the Beast of Darkness tells Guts several times that he should be more like Griffith in order to beat Griffith! Case in point:
The biggest, least ambiguous example of this is when Guts claws at himself after explaining to Puck how he doesn't care about anyone dying in his revenge quest. Griffith did exactly that in the seventh volume, while explaining to Casca how he didn't have any regrets about people dying as part of his quest to reach his dream.
It's the same, but it's also different. Guts was just talking people who, "get caught up in someone else's fight," while Griffith is talking about people who, "themselves chose to fight." Guts just about comes across as worse than Griffith here--yet, his goal is to destroy something fundamentally evil, while Griffith in that scene openly admits that his beautiful dream, "can only be realized by building on their corpses." Griffith is fundamentally responsible for the deaths of those he asked to risk their lives for him, but Guts is creating a situation where people will still have some level of agency. But then again, Griffith never forced anyone to join up, while Guts is disrupting the lives of bystanders.
Both men feel such anguish about the consequences of their actions that they actually harm themselves. But Griffith pushes Casca away when she tries to comfort him, while Guts experiences his overwhelming pain after accidentally pushing Puck away. Griffith's pain is the result of the choices that he himself has made, while Guts's is largely the result of choices others made. The scenes show that both men arrived at the same emotional place, not being as uncaring as they claim, but the paths they took are radically different. I'd argue there's still hope for Guts, but Griffith (as he usually does) chooses an even darker path.
There's also another big parallel that I haven't seen mentioned anywhere (sorry if I missed it): the torture scenes. Have a look at this:
Taken from the scenes where Guts and Griffith are hanging up.
Those scenes actually follow the same basic script. G does something that we as readers wouldn't consider that bad. G gets hung up and tortured by a short, fat, mostly naked guy. The ruler comes in and accuses G of unnecessarily destroying the peace. G tells the ruler that he's full of shit, really he's a selfish bastard--basically G speaks truth to power--and G has no regrets. The ruler tells G he doesn't understand the burdens of power. G then gets tortured to the point of near-paralysis for provoking the ruler.
But once again, the differences matter and show how Guts still has hope, while Griffith is just going lower and lower. Firstly, the reason Griffith is here is that he was being selfish and stupid and he's derailed his own plan. Guts got here by killing assholes everyone hated in order to provoke a monster into coming for him, and his plan still has a shot. Additionally, Griffith's version of the, 'truth,' is the worst possible interpretation of the situation, while Guts's is completely on target. Still, the end result is the same, and both men wind up in the same place.
There's a few other places where the parallels line up neatly. Puck and Casaca align at the prisons, both holding the keys that get G&G out of prison. Guts incidentally saved Puck, and Griffith saved Casca to prove a point, but here the tables are being turned. There's also places that invert the parallels really well. My favorite is Griffith standing on top of a pile of corpses in his vision at the eclipse, against Guts hiding under and then climbing up on top of the corpses to fight the Baron. There's also (a bit thin, but still) the fact that Griffith's destination is a castle, while Guts's goal in the first episode is to get the Baron to come down from the castle.
The core of this parallel comes down to, 'the meaning of life.' Guts's life at this point is entirely about Griffith, who he was and who he became. He has fully internalized all of what Griffith once said about dreams and their importance, to the point where he believes it more than (arguably) Griffith did. Take this parallel:
Griffith is speculating, and his next statement is, "or was death the end of his dream?" But Guts seems to believe this utterly, and to believe that the same principle applies to his life. It is a moment of affirmation for Guts, but of hesitation for Griffith. Yet, Griffith kept going on the same path. Guts, however, is really just still reacting to the choices Griffith made. Griffith is going to buy into his own bullshit completely, but Guts is going to escape.
Here's the most important bit, I think:
Both Guts and Griffith are, in this moment, making a conscious choice not to care about a dead child. But Griffith is responding to being told he's always known he was responsible for that child's death and that if it didn't stop him then, it shouldn't stop him now. Guts is responding to being told by Puck that this wasn't his fault, and the glint of madness in his eye suggests even he can't believe what he's saying. Griffith is setting aside his last doubt, but Guts isn't that far gone. He still feels responsible, even though he (mostly, not entirely) objectively isn't. Other people (Collette, her father, even Griffith making the brand) made choices here, not just him.
The fact that there's still hope for Guts even at his worst, at the very beginning of the Black Swordsman, is really highlighted by this key difference:
Guts and Griffith are both visited by demonic emissaries here, and I think there's a pretty clear visual parallel between the Demon Child and the creature that touches Griffith. One thing the dialogue here shoes is that Guts actually has an unfair advantage over Griffith when it comes to turning back from this path: he knows what he's dealing with Griffith didn't, and so was much more easily manipulated. But the fundamental difference between these demons is, of course, that Griffith is being visited by creatures who worship him and want something specific from him, and Guts is being visited by what remained of his son after the eclipse. Guts's son is, presumably, trying to help him, while as far as these creatures are concerned Griffith is on the right path.
This also shows the different ways that Guts and Griffith had of interacting with the people around them, and how that directly led to different consequences. Griffith spoke of the people who followed him as fundamentally lesser, and worked hard to keep an emotional distance from them. That directly led to his overreaction when his only friend left, and to the fact that no one knew where he was in time to help him before he was practically beyond all help. Guts, however, instinctively sees everyone as fundamentally the same, and is equally rude and honest to all of them. That allowed him to have actual meaningful relationships. That's why he has a son here, no matter how messed up the poor kid is, and that's part of why this becomes the first of many times Puck saves him. And while Griffith's release of his relationships will send him finally, forever, into the dark, Guts's eventual choice to hold on leads him into the light.
So, that was fun to write! I'm a new fan, and I'm super grateful to have found this community--looking forward to chatting about if I missed or misinterpreted anything! Thanks for reading!
Late edit: assuming that I'm correct in saying that Miura did this deliberately, it forms a decent foundation as far back as the first episode for how the Beast of Darkness tells Guts several times that he should be more like Griffith in order to beat Griffith! Case in point:
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