With Father's Day approaching, I thought I'd take the opportunity to mention the dads of Berserk. Once I started listing them all I was surprised by how many Berserk Dads there are.
Traveling priest – Collette's father – Seems like a decent and well-intentioned guy. I have doubts about his judgement, though. He insists on giving a shady looking stranger who claims he's being pursued by legions of evil spirits a ride in his wagon with his young daughter.
The Count – Sadistic, people-eating slug apostle though he may be, you certainly can't say he doesn't care about his child, Theresia. Faced with death and being dragged into hell, the Count is clearly terrified for himself, but his love for his daughter is stronger and he chooses not to sacrifice her to save himself.
Vargas – Formerly the Count's physician. He appears to feel a lot of guilt that when his wife and two sons were murdered his overriding emotion was fear. He seems like a pretty brave person to me, though. Even when being attacked by Zondark, who turns into a horrifying monster, Vargas is not frozen by fear, but protects Puck at the risk of his own safety.
Gambino – The leader of a mercenary band and Guts' father figure. Gambino's not all black, but I'd say a pretty dark shade of grey. He's good at being a mercenary, but definitely not at being an adopted father to Guts, not that he asked to be.
The King of Midland – He seems pretty cool....at first. He's a very progressive ruler who values results over status. I never had cause to think he harbored perverted desires for his daughter, Princess Charlotte, until Griffith opened that can of worms and the King attempted to rape her while she was asleep. I'm not saying that Griffith bringing it up caused this. The King must have had those desires already in order for him to be capable of doing that.
Julius – The King of Midland's younger brother, and second in line to the throne. He wants his son, Adonis, to be ready to take his position as a noble and leader of the White Dragon Knights when his time comes. However, Julius is overly rough and harsh with Adonis and it seems like his methods create more harm than they do progress.
Casca's father – A father of six children in a hardscrabble village plagued by border skirmishes, crippling taxes, and starvation. At least when a nobleman offered to take Casca off his hands her father was reluctant about it and didn't just boot her out the door as fast as he could.
Minister Foss – A cunning schemer in the King of Midland's court. When his daughter, Elise, is kidnapped Foss sacrifices his comrades in Griffith's assassination plot in order to secure her safe return. Foss is shown to be extremely shaken upon receiving the news of her kidnapping and when Elise is let go father and daughter run to embrace each other in a tearful and loving reunion.
Guts – Father of the moonlight boy. This father and son got off to a pretty awful start, to say the least. The child has shown interest in his father as well as a desire to protect him, although Guts doesn't know that the being that has manifested to help him when he's been in dire straights is his child. I'm hoping that some day this father and son can come to share a good relationship.
Godot – Brought up to be a blacksmith, he says that working steel was all he knew until he adopted Erika. Raising her gave humanity and warmth to his life that he'd never had before. Not only is he an adopted father to Erika, but becomes a mentor for Guts and Rickert.
Rosine's father – Is a bully who physically and mentally abuses his wife and daughter. He questions whether Rosine is his child because her mother was raped. As shown in a flashback Rosine remembers, the family must have had some happy times together, but overall it seems like a pretty dysfunctional situation.
Zepek – Jill's father. A cowardly, lazy, selfish drunkard and abusive negligent husband and father. Sheesh, can you tell I don't think much of this guy? Anyway, he only seems to want to complain, drink, and hang out reminiscing about the past with his old war buddies, one of whom makes attempts at molesting Jill.
Lord Vandimion – Giorgio, Poliziano, Magnifico, Serpico, and Farnese's father. Head of the extremely wealthy and influential Vandimion family. He is an iron-willed and calculating man of business who wants to have everything under his control, including his family.
Ganishka – The Kushan Emperor. Growing up in an environment filled with assassination plots and backstabbing, Ganishka trusts no one. An air of paranoia pervades his life and he fears his own father and son and is feared by them in return, with deadly consequences.
Isma's Pa – Fell in love with a merrow who swam off, leaving him their daughter Isma to raise. Because of his relationship with a merrow he and his daughter were shunned by the other villagers and lived apart by themselves. He passed away after a fishing accident, which left Isma alone. He must have done a good job teaching her how to fish and survive because she's able to make it on her own.
Dotard Daddy (from flashback with Chich) – A nobleman with some pretty questionable ethics who dotes excessively on his son. The boy seems to be quite a brute, but not in daddy's eyes.
Do you have a favorite or least favorite among the dads of Berserk? Any thoughts on them, favorite moments, or other good stuff like that?
Godot is my favorite, aside from Guts. Godot and Erika seem a lot alike to me, both have a plucky and outspoken way about them. Godot has a crusty exterior and a dry sense of humor, but underneath it all he cares deeply. He is very observant and philosophical in a practical, down to earth kind of way. I just like his personality!
One thing that interests me is the scene where Guts gives Gambino the first money he's ever earned as a mercenary. Gambino seems genuinely surprised. I guess he thought Guts would just keep his money. It's to Gambino's credit that he didn't think of exploiting Guts by making him give him his pay at least. Guts just does it on his own, very much a show of how much he looks up to Gambino and wants to earn his approval. Gambino just has such an “every man for himself” attitude that maybe it's not something that would have even crossed his mind for someone to willingly give their money to someone else out of loyalty or gratitude or whatever. Then I think it's really ironic that Gambino repays this respect Guts shows him with the ultimate disrespect and betrayal to Guts, selling him to Donovan for the night. It's like Gambino can't accept or doesn't want for Guts to look up to him and so he does that. Anybody have any thoughts on this? I think it's a really complex situation that Miura puts forward here and I'm not sure I'm completely grasping it, but it's definitely interesting. Once again I'm impressed with how he handles his characters and plots.
Wanted to give a shout out to Walter. I really enjoyed the character analysis in his thread about Gambino.http://www.skullknight.net/forum/index.php?topic=13493.0
Traveling priest – Collette's father – Seems like a decent and well-intentioned guy. I have doubts about his judgement, though. He insists on giving a shady looking stranger who claims he's being pursued by legions of evil spirits a ride in his wagon with his young daughter.
The Count – Sadistic, people-eating slug apostle though he may be, you certainly can't say he doesn't care about his child, Theresia. Faced with death and being dragged into hell, the Count is clearly terrified for himself, but his love for his daughter is stronger and he chooses not to sacrifice her to save himself.
Vargas – Formerly the Count's physician. He appears to feel a lot of guilt that when his wife and two sons were murdered his overriding emotion was fear. He seems like a pretty brave person to me, though. Even when being attacked by Zondark, who turns into a horrifying monster, Vargas is not frozen by fear, but protects Puck at the risk of his own safety.
Gambino – The leader of a mercenary band and Guts' father figure. Gambino's not all black, but I'd say a pretty dark shade of grey. He's good at being a mercenary, but definitely not at being an adopted father to Guts, not that he asked to be.
The King of Midland – He seems pretty cool....at first. He's a very progressive ruler who values results over status. I never had cause to think he harbored perverted desires for his daughter, Princess Charlotte, until Griffith opened that can of worms and the King attempted to rape her while she was asleep. I'm not saying that Griffith bringing it up caused this. The King must have had those desires already in order for him to be capable of doing that.
Julius – The King of Midland's younger brother, and second in line to the throne. He wants his son, Adonis, to be ready to take his position as a noble and leader of the White Dragon Knights when his time comes. However, Julius is overly rough and harsh with Adonis and it seems like his methods create more harm than they do progress.
Casca's father – A father of six children in a hardscrabble village plagued by border skirmishes, crippling taxes, and starvation. At least when a nobleman offered to take Casca off his hands her father was reluctant about it and didn't just boot her out the door as fast as he could.
Minister Foss – A cunning schemer in the King of Midland's court. When his daughter, Elise, is kidnapped Foss sacrifices his comrades in Griffith's assassination plot in order to secure her safe return. Foss is shown to be extremely shaken upon receiving the news of her kidnapping and when Elise is let go father and daughter run to embrace each other in a tearful and loving reunion.
Guts – Father of the moonlight boy. This father and son got off to a pretty awful start, to say the least. The child has shown interest in his father as well as a desire to protect him, although Guts doesn't know that the being that has manifested to help him when he's been in dire straights is his child. I'm hoping that some day this father and son can come to share a good relationship.
Godot – Brought up to be a blacksmith, he says that working steel was all he knew until he adopted Erika. Raising her gave humanity and warmth to his life that he'd never had before. Not only is he an adopted father to Erika, but becomes a mentor for Guts and Rickert.
Rosine's father – Is a bully who physically and mentally abuses his wife and daughter. He questions whether Rosine is his child because her mother was raped. As shown in a flashback Rosine remembers, the family must have had some happy times together, but overall it seems like a pretty dysfunctional situation.
Zepek – Jill's father. A cowardly, lazy, selfish drunkard and abusive negligent husband and father. Sheesh, can you tell I don't think much of this guy? Anyway, he only seems to want to complain, drink, and hang out reminiscing about the past with his old war buddies, one of whom makes attempts at molesting Jill.
Lord Vandimion – Giorgio, Poliziano, Magnifico, Serpico, and Farnese's father. Head of the extremely wealthy and influential Vandimion family. He is an iron-willed and calculating man of business who wants to have everything under his control, including his family.
Ganishka – The Kushan Emperor. Growing up in an environment filled with assassination plots and backstabbing, Ganishka trusts no one. An air of paranoia pervades his life and he fears his own father and son and is feared by them in return, with deadly consequences.
Isma's Pa – Fell in love with a merrow who swam off, leaving him their daughter Isma to raise. Because of his relationship with a merrow he and his daughter were shunned by the other villagers and lived apart by themselves. He passed away after a fishing accident, which left Isma alone. He must have done a good job teaching her how to fish and survive because she's able to make it on her own.
Dotard Daddy (from flashback with Chich) – A nobleman with some pretty questionable ethics who dotes excessively on his son. The boy seems to be quite a brute, but not in daddy's eyes.
Do you have a favorite or least favorite among the dads of Berserk? Any thoughts on them, favorite moments, or other good stuff like that?
Godot is my favorite, aside from Guts. Godot and Erika seem a lot alike to me, both have a plucky and outspoken way about them. Godot has a crusty exterior and a dry sense of humor, but underneath it all he cares deeply. He is very observant and philosophical in a practical, down to earth kind of way. I just like his personality!
One thing that interests me is the scene where Guts gives Gambino the first money he's ever earned as a mercenary. Gambino seems genuinely surprised. I guess he thought Guts would just keep his money. It's to Gambino's credit that he didn't think of exploiting Guts by making him give him his pay at least. Guts just does it on his own, very much a show of how much he looks up to Gambino and wants to earn his approval. Gambino just has such an “every man for himself” attitude that maybe it's not something that would have even crossed his mind for someone to willingly give their money to someone else out of loyalty or gratitude or whatever. Then I think it's really ironic that Gambino repays this respect Guts shows him with the ultimate disrespect and betrayal to Guts, selling him to Donovan for the night. It's like Gambino can't accept or doesn't want for Guts to look up to him and so he does that. Anybody have any thoughts on this? I think it's a really complex situation that Miura puts forward here and I'm not sure I'm completely grasping it, but it's definitely interesting. Once again I'm impressed with how he handles his characters and plots.
Wanted to give a shout out to Walter. I really enjoyed the character analysis in his thread about Gambino.http://www.skullknight.net/forum/index.php?topic=13493.0