A Griffith Assertion

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
The actual limitations of God Hand's and the reincarnated Griffith's powers are a common misconception. First and foremost, we don't know them. Id also like to point out that despite the God Hand are nearly Gods, you dont see them tossing a fireball at Guts. In fact, they dont lift a finger during the apostle ceremony in volume 3.

The God Hand are spiritual entities that manipulate (or simply oversee) Fate. Thats pretty much all we know. This is cited in volume 18 by Skully. And though Ill prolly get banned from my own bbs for the sheer horrendosity of it, Ill cite Aclimate Solutions translation of the scene (parts of it anyway):

Starting on page 198 of Volume 18:

Skully: "You know I always stand against evil. My purpose has always been the same."
Guts: "You mean that THEY'RE around?!"
Skully: "Or, their boss. My aim is also your aim."
Guts: "What? What the hell is that supposed to mean?! You mean the God Hand are in the tower?" [tower of albion]
Skully: They are everywhere in the world. If they find evil in a human's mind, they will appear. But, because they have such a great spirit, they can't have bodies in the real world"

As for Griff's powers? Just like the above, we don't know a whole lot. So far we've seen him perform 3 'miracles' (even THESE are debateable)
  • 1) Swooped down from a great distance away and saved Casca from falling boulders. (ch 182)
  • 2) Dodged Kushan arrows (ch 185?)
  • 3) Was able to summon souls of the dead for a short period of time (ch 195)
  • 3.5 [hard to classify]) Was able to gather and govern Apostles under an army...
Despite all of this, Zodd seemed to play an important role in all of this. Especially at Griffith's reincarnation ceremony (ch175-176). If Griff is so powerful, what does he need Zodd there for? My personal assertions are as follows:
  • a) Griff didn't want to show off his powers on so great an audience (Berserk readers included) ... yet
  • b) Griff physicall (spiritually?) couldn't use any of his "powers" yet. They had to be manifested.
  • c) He chose Zodd as his servant merely for the intimidation that follows with his name.
  • d) Griff had no say, nor motivation. Zodd's purpose is to accompany the next reincarnated God Hand. His 'charge' if you will. It sure would explain the "ultimate strong one" fiasco.
Bring it on debaters.
 

roberto999

The Black Chick of Darkness
The members of the God Hand are decisively not gods. Urbick himself stated it at the end of the eclipse:
Slan : It impossible to foresee everything
Urbick: and we are not even gods

However Phempt in the same ceremony crushed a host of apostles with a simple grabbing motion of his hand in the attempt to crush Skully and Void reflected, there is not a better word for it, Skully's sword back to him and Skully was saved only by his own shield. Not to quote the encounter between Guts and Phempt in volume 3 where Phempt had Guts flying back several meters by simply lifting his hand and without even touching him.

It is true that the members of the godhand, unlike the apostles, are not prone to use their powers against anyone except in seldefense, apparently, and that in the eclipse they didn't materialy partecipate in the massacre
of the hawks but they seemed, to me, very interested in the  emotions that the other partecipants displayed and maybe this is what they are really after.

The rapport between Zodd and Griffith seems to me the same that between Mandrake and Lothar : That is Zodd is there to avoid that Griffith soils his hands with trifles. In fact with the superhuman speed that Griffith had displayed in the two occasions, quoted in your post, plus the fact that for him to withstand the boulders that were raining on him and Caska he should be very tough indeed, he could have  easily faced Guts without need for help whatsoever. Plus to defend Midlands from the Kushans he (Grifith) needs a army and if he  needs a army, he needs generals to control it , especially a army with that kind of members. And Zodd is the "man" for that job.
 
In fact, they dont lift a finger during the apostle ceremony in volume 3.

That's because they didn't even consider Gatts to be even worth killing. I forgot which one said that... probably Femto.

It's really hard to make any assumptions about the powers of God Hand other than they're not really gods and that they're not omnipotent. Other than a few things that were revealed, not much is known about them.

As for Zodd, all I could add about him is that he's following Griffith of his own free will. I think Wilde said something like, "We apostles were granted the freedom to do as we will" before he was ripped in half by Zodd.
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
The members of the God Hand are decisively not gods. Urbick himself stated it at the end of the eclipse:
Slan : It impossible to foresee everything
Urbick: and we are not even gods
Hence why I called them "almost gods", not "Gods". :-/
However Phempt in the same ceremony crushed a host of apostles with a simple grabbing motion of his hand in the attempt to crush Skully and Void reflected, there is not a better word for it, Skully's sword back to him and Skully was saved only by his own shield. Not to quote the encounter between Guts and Phempt in volume 3 where Phempt had Guts flying back several meters by simply lifting his hand and without even touching him.
Each of your examples took place during an eclipse, not the real world. Of cource the God Hand have powers during an eclipse, thats not debateable. What Im debating is how much power they have over the actual world.
The rapport between Zodd and Griffith seems to me the same that between Mandrake and Lothar : That is Zodd is there to avoid that Griffith soils his hands with trifles. In fact with the superhuman speed that Griffith had displayed in the two occasions, quoted in your post, plus the fact that for him to withstand the boulders that were raining on him and Caska he should be very tough indeed, he could have  easily faced Guts without need for help whatsoever. Plus to defend Midlands from the Kushans he (Grifith) needs a army and if he  needs a army, he needs generals to control it , especially a army with that kind of members. And Zodd is the "man" for that job.
Sounds good to me!
 
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