I've searched through the forums and didn't find a specific topic about this.
We've only seen Griffith's metamorphosis from human to God Hand, and we know what Rosine and the Count were like before their transformation too. Because of this, the topic is purely speculative given that we don't know enough about what apostles were like when they were human.
That said, I think that there is a clear correlation between willpower and the eventual strength of an apostle. "Evil Power" obviously has a large degree of influence on this as well, and it might be related. Regardless of that, we see that the most powerful apostles (Ganishka, Zodd, Locus, Grunbeld, and Irvine) are all willful and somewhat a-typical apostles (with Ganishka being a-typical because of his refusal of Griffith rather than his specific behavior). I don't believe that any of them are "good" in a traditional sense, but they are all able to resist the more base urges which dictate the actions of the lesser apostles. They aren't bloodthirsty beasts who feast on flesh. They may very well desire such things but they either suppress those urges or don't let them dictate their behavior (We don't know if Ganishka, Locus, Grunbeld, or Irvine were present during the eclipse, but I find it unlikely). This is because they all have clear goals, beyond simply living in a way in which they couldn't while they were human. So were these men exceptional specimen before they became apostles (most likely) and if so, does that mean that they are like Guts? As in, were they men driven by inhuman willpower to reach their physical limits and achieve their goals, and then driven by the flows of causality to make the sacrifice in order to reach these goals.
Ultimately, I find them to be uniquely compelling characters given what we have seen of apostles to this point. Could the shift from Apostles simply being bloodthirsty monsters be a narrative tool to give more character to the villains, or will it lead to some greater plot significance involving the beherit in Guts' possession? Will a certain willful character in Guts' party use the beherit to become another upper tier apostle, to further complicate the line between good an evil?
We've only seen Griffith's metamorphosis from human to God Hand, and we know what Rosine and the Count were like before their transformation too. Because of this, the topic is purely speculative given that we don't know enough about what apostles were like when they were human.
That said, I think that there is a clear correlation between willpower and the eventual strength of an apostle. "Evil Power" obviously has a large degree of influence on this as well, and it might be related. Regardless of that, we see that the most powerful apostles (Ganishka, Zodd, Locus, Grunbeld, and Irvine) are all willful and somewhat a-typical apostles (with Ganishka being a-typical because of his refusal of Griffith rather than his specific behavior). I don't believe that any of them are "good" in a traditional sense, but they are all able to resist the more base urges which dictate the actions of the lesser apostles. They aren't bloodthirsty beasts who feast on flesh. They may very well desire such things but they either suppress those urges or don't let them dictate their behavior (We don't know if Ganishka, Locus, Grunbeld, or Irvine were present during the eclipse, but I find it unlikely). This is because they all have clear goals, beyond simply living in a way in which they couldn't while they were human. So were these men exceptional specimen before they became apostles (most likely) and if so, does that mean that they are like Guts? As in, were they men driven by inhuman willpower to reach their physical limits and achieve their goals, and then driven by the flows of causality to make the sacrifice in order to reach these goals.
Ultimately, I find them to be uniquely compelling characters given what we have seen of apostles to this point. Could the shift from Apostles simply being bloodthirsty monsters be a narrative tool to give more character to the villains, or will it lead to some greater plot significance involving the beherit in Guts' possession? Will a certain willful character in Guts' party use the beherit to become another upper tier apostle, to further complicate the line between good an evil?