Skull Knight's missing spike

I spotted something a while ago, and on a random re-read, I saw that he was missing the front left big horn (Volume 26, page 67 when he appears before Slan and Guts), and it looks like it was cut/ broken/ damaged in battle. Later on, we see it's fixed or regenerated to the original form. What're your theories on who he may have fought for that to have happened? I don't know if there was a reference for it. Also, notice how the art in the beginning showed his lower big thorns a lot shorter than they currently appear. Does that mean his suit is somewhat evolving or is it a simple way to show he's older or is it just the art that's improved?
 

Walter

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IncantatioN said:
I spotted something a while ago, and on a random re-read, I saw that he was missing the front left big horn (Volume 26, page 67 when he appears before Slan and Guts), and it looks like it was cut/ broken/ damaged in battle. Later on, we see it's fixed or regenerated to the original form. What're your theories on who he may have fought for that to have happened? I don't know if there was a reference for it. Also, notice how the art in the beginning showed his lower big thorns a lot shorter than they currently appear. Does that mean his suit is somewhat evolving or is it a simple way to show he's older or is it just the art that's improved?
In vol 26, he actually throws that spike at Slan's wing, which is what announces his presence. By the time we see him in vol 28, another spike is there. I don't think that necessarily means the armor regenerates organically, because there are other, less fantastic explanations for fixing superficial damage like that.

Seeing as the guy is 1,000+ years old, I'm sure he has some way of crafting/fixing armor. His shield takes damage from time to time (see vol 13, 27), but it's always fixed the next time we see him. No big deal for a guy with a millennia of experience living in an armor.
 
You're right! I just saw the prior page a bit properly, and notice that definitely is the horn he throws at her. Cool beans Walter.

It got me thinking about his horse. We see the horse wear armor of perhaps similar significance in terms of power which allows it to fly. Now, like SK's suit which sort of ate him up/ his skin (shoot, I can't recall all those conversations in the manga about these suits and their side effects), would it also apply to the horse? If it does, do you think he changes horses every set of years? From the looks of it, I couldn't tell if he ever used a different horse. What do you guys think?
 

Walter

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IncantatioN said:
It got me thinking about his horse. We see the horse wear armor of perhaps similar significance in terms of power which allows it to fly. ... If it does, do you think he changes horses every set of years? From the looks of it, I couldn't tell if he ever used a different horse. What do you guys think?
Look closely at his horse, particularly its eyes. It's not just an average beast. The thing looks undead, or something. I really don't think he needs to replace it with a spare. It looks pretty hardy to me. It's probably some awesome, legendary horse :SK:

Now, like SK's suit which sort of ate him up/ his skin (shoot, I can't recall all those conversations in the manga about these suits and their side effects), would it also apply to the horse?
That's a misconception of the effects on the user of the Berserk Armor. The armor doesn't gobble up the user, but pushes them to their physical limits by entrancing them with its Od. If any bones are broken in combat, the armor forcibly repairs them by jabbing spikes into the bones. The loss of blood is what looks like killed the former user (likely Gaiseric). You can actually see a spray of blood in that panel.

But in short, no, I don't think the horse is also wearing Berserk Armor.
 

Aazealh

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IncantatioN said:
Also, notice how the art in the beginning showed his lower big thorns a lot shorter than they currently appear. Does that mean his suit is somewhat evolving or is it a simple way to show he's older or is it just the art that's improved?

Those are just variations in the artwork. Guts' face also looks different now from the way it did at the time.

Walter said:
In vol 26, he actually throws that spike at Slan's wing, which is what announces his presence. By the time we see him in vol 28, another spike is there. I don't think that necessarily means the armor regenerates organically, because there are other, less fantastic explanations for fixing superficial damage like that.

That being said the Berserk's armor does repair itself magically (see the damage done by the Makara in episode 270 for example), so I think it's possible for the Skull Knight's own magical armor to be able to do it as well.

IncantatioN said:
We see the horse wear armor of perhaps similar significance in terms of power which allows it to fly.

We don't know why the Skull Knight's horse is able to do all that it does.

IncantatioN said:
Now, like SK's suit which sort of ate him up/ his skin (shoot, I can't recall all those conversations in the manga about these suits and their side effects), would it also apply to the horse?

Well you should re-read them. Like Walter said we know that the Skull Knight once wore the Berserk's armor Guts is currently using. According to Schierke its previous owner fought to the death because of it, but that's all we're told. There's no eating of anything involved here. The theme of the Skull Knight's armor's is just based on, well, a skull and the accompanying skeleton, like how the Berserk's armor's theme while worn by Guts is based on the Beast of Darkness.

IncantatioN said:
do you think he changes horses every set of years?

Nope.
 

Truder

"I frown at Griffith's nipples" -Aazealh
i think when the skull knight first appears (his very first appearance) he is missing a horn or two, and in the next page he has all of them. but i just figured Miura messed up.
 

Aazealh

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Truder said:
i think when the skull knight first appears (his very first appearance) he is missing a horn or two, and in the next page he has all of them. but i just figured Miura messed up.

No, you're mistaken, the number of spikes is consistent from one page to another when he first appears (in episode 37).
 

Truder

"I frown at Griffith's nipples" -Aazealh
Aazealh said:
No, you're mistaken, the number of spikes is consistent from one page to another when he first appears (in episode 37).

i was mistaken about the order of his appearance then. its on volume 9 (episode 53?) for the rest of the episode he had the right amount
Berserk-v09c01p017copy.jpg

here he has 7 spikes instead of the usual 9
 

Aazealh

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Truder said:
i was mistaken about the order of his appearance then. its on volume 9 (episode 53?)

No, that's episode 37.

Truder said:
here he has 7 spikes instead of the usual 9

Oh, you mean the spikes on his helmet. Ok, my bad then, since we were talking about those on his neck guard I thought you were referring to them as well. You should have specified!
 

Truder

"I frown at Griffith's nipples" -Aazealh
Woopsie daisy, I thought all of you were talking about the spikes on his head. :schnoz:

I'm just tired is all. :troll:
 
Hey, everyone. My apologies if this has been addressed already in the last few years elsewhere. In Ep. 303/4 SK's missing neck guard spike is once again present after having thrown it at Slan in Qlipoth. Maybe he repaired it himself. Fine.

Fast forward, Ep. 361/2, the same neck guard spike is missing once again. Is its presence in 303/4 simply an error?
 

Aazealh

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Hey Proj! Yeah we talked about that when he first showed up in episode 360.

Fast forward, Ep. 361/2, the same neck guard spike is missing once again. Is its presence in 303/4 simply an error?

The Skull Knight's collar spike is shown to be back a bunch of times after the time he threw it at Slan. With Guts and Schierke on the beach, for example. I don't think the fact it's broken again indicates that Miura repeatedly made an error. I think SK has used the spike again and we've yet to learn why or how.
 
I thought it was this 'damage' that he needed repairs for in the latest episode. And wasn't it missing again in 362?

I have to ask in response to what has been said in this topic, not if it was a mistake or how/why he used it again (I mean, WHY use that kind of piece if you don't have to? Was it designed for that purpose? I'd think there'd be more missing in that case.), but if it can regenerate or the like, what kind of repairs would he need from the guy who originally crafted it?

It's pretty clear he hasn't been back in quite awhile; it's not that common of an occurrance. Unless he wants to make sure he's tip-top for the upcoming final battle or whatever is slowly coming up; which, that at least makes the most sense to me.
 

Aazealh

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And wasn't it missing again in 362?

Well yes, the spike was missing in episode 360 and was still missing in episodes 361 and 362. No change in-between those last two episodes, as expected. It will surely be missing in episode 363 too.

if it can regenerate or the like, what kind of repairs would he need from the guy who originally crafted it?

We don't know what happened to the spike, but there's no lack of possibilities. Maybe he just had to use it again recently for some unknown purpose, and the repairs are about the general state of the armor. Maybe he used it too many times and it won't regenerate anymore. Or maybe old damage that the armor had self-repaired is showing again because its power is waning. Could be because he's storing beherits inside, because it's showing its age, because of Fantasia... Either way, we'll probably know soon enough.
 

Walter

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(I mean, WHY use that kind of piece if you don't have to? Was it designed for that purpose? I'd think there'd be more missing in that case.)
It appears to be ornamental. But with Slan, he used it as a distance weapon, not unlike how Guts uses throwing knives. What's unclear is how he replaced it after Slan in Vol 26, and what he used it on since we saw him with Femto in Vol 34. Though given all the unanswered questions with SK, I don't really regard the spike as a huge storytelling priority, and we might not get a direct answer.
 
It appears to be ornamental. But with Slan, he used it as a distance weapon, not unlike how Guts uses throwing knives. What's unclear is how he replaced it after Slan in Vol 26, and what he used it on since we saw him with Femto in Vol 34. Though given all the unanswered questions with SK, I don't really regard the spike as a huge storytelling priority, and we might not get a direct answer.
What else would he have needed to use the spike again for though? Because it's not like it's particularly useful in battle, besides as a distraction maybe, and why use the exact same one everytime?

Like you said, imo it's just an ornament on his armor that he used as a distance weapon to help Guts in that specific situation(it freed Guts' cannon arm from her wings' grasp.) The same spike seems to appear and disappear because it's just simply a continuity error.

Well at least it's what makes the most sense, especially when we consider the Skull Knight's line about repairs to his armor in episode 361(he could also be talking about more serious repairs, I know).

And of course it could be a deliberate move by Muira-san, but like you said, I doubt it's that huge a storytelling priority.
 
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Walter

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why use the exact same one everytime?
Because he's right-handed, and that's the natural one to grab?

The same spike seems to appear and disappear because it's just simply a continuity error.
Even with all of those italics, I'm unconvinced. That would be a prominent error, and Miura's historically pretty careful about details. If he regarded it as an error, he could always revise in in volume form as he's done in the past. But as of the latest digital version of v34, no change.

Muira-san
Just FYI, his name is spelled Miura.
 

Aazealh

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What else would he have needed to use the spike again for though?

Any number of things? Use your imagination.

The same spike seems to appear and disappear because it's just simply a continuity error.

It doesn't "seem to appear and disappear". The Skull Knight uses it against Slan, and it remains broken until Guts' group escapes. Then when we see him again on the beach (almost a month later), his armor has been repaired. That also includes the claw marks Zodd left on his shield when they duked it out at Flora's mansion. The spike is there in each panel of him afterwards until episode 360. There's simply no reason to assume it's a "continuity error".

And of course it could be a deliberate move by Muira-san

Aside from the correct spelling of the name that Walter highlighted above, if you're actually going to use honorifics to refer to Miura, the correct one is "sensei".
 
Even with all of those italics, I'm unconvinced. That would be a prominent error, and Miura's historically pretty careful about details. If he regarded it as an error, he could always revise in in volume form as he's done in the past. But as of the latest digital version of v34, no change.
Oops my apologies on sensei's name. But it's also not like Miura's not prone to the rare continuity error. Like on the cover of volume 39 for example, Guts' hair is completely black.

And also I remember one episode where Guts' slash mark on his nose disappeared for a panel or two.(though I'm not too sure if it was later fixed in the volume)

Any number of things? Use your imagination.

It doesn't "seem to appear and disappear". The Skull Knight uses it against Slan, and it remains broken until Guts' group escapes. Then when we see him again on the beach (almost a month later), his armor has been repaired. That also includes the claw marks Zodd left on his shield when they duked it out at Flora's mansion. The spike is there in each panel of him afterwards until episode 360. There's simply no reason to assume it's a "continuity error".
Maybe while on his way to Elfhelm he used it to help some humans fend off astral creatures, who knows..

3 interesting question:

1) How much time has passed between the troll cave and his appearance at the beach? (roughly 1 month you said)

2) How much time has passed between the blast of the astral world and his appearance at Elfhelm? (though we don't know when he used it)

3) How much time does the armor need to automatically repair itself? (shorter than ~1 month)

But you are probably correct, sensei's attention to / focus on details is too great to simply assume it's an error. We'll just have to wait and see what happens.
 
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Aazealh

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But it's also not like Miura's not prone to the rare continuity error. Like on the cover of volume 39 for example, Guts' hair is completely black.

I know a lot of people have a problem with the hair in that illustration, but honestly I don't think it was a mistake so much as Miura not caring to add it in. He's always taken liberties with paintings, like on volume 7's cover where you see Guts with a shield. Anyway, it's not like there are no drawing mistakes at all in Berserk, but they're typically about a minute detail in a single panel, not something that was clearly a conscious decision like showing SK with a broken off spike.

Maybe while on his way to Elfhelm he used it to help some humans fend off astral creatures, who knows..

Or even more simple: used it to fend off some astral creature himself. Maybe some critter intruded while he was opening a rift with his beherit sword and he used a spike to keep it at bay. Honestly it could be a lot of different things, and we might still learn about it in the future. As for the time aspect, I'm not sure it matters all that much. We'll know soon enough when he tells Hanarr about it.
 
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