The white hair

Tristram

100% Germ Free Manure
Aazealh said:
Hey! You know what? The post you just replied to was written in 2003.

Ugh what is with people reviving these old threads? I thought it was a new thread and was amazed, so I humped right in. I should read the dates on these things considering I always check the exp. date on my milk at least twice (to make sure it's not sour).

Anyways, it's been THAT LONG since Guts' hair turned white splotchy? I guess this thing does move along kinda slowly...
 
Also, is it just me, or has nobody else noticed he has white hair. Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't remember Farnese, Serpico, Isidro, or Puck saying anything about "hey, how come you have white hair?" It's not like it's a small thing and hard to notice.
 
Guts' hair (white streak)

I'm a bit new to this whole Berserk obsession, so I'd like to see if anyone has any idea as to why Guts's hair has a white streak after he wears the berserk armor. It really bothers me! He was verging on hot before :p (yes, I'm a chick!)
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
Re: Guts' hair (white streak)

emlan_xyu said:
I'm a bit new to this whole Berserk obsession, so I'd like to see if anyone has any idea as to why Guts's hair has a white streak after he wears the berserk armor. It really bothers me! He was verging on hot before :p (yes, I'm a chick!)
White patches of hair are _rumored_ to spring up on persons who have suffered intense trauma in a short period of time. In Guts' case, it would be his complete usurpation by the Beast in volume 26-27, and a result of strength he had to summon to get out of the "trance".

But I did a bit of research and found something more interesting than that urban myth.

Can you "go grey overnight"?
Yes, probably. Alopecia areata is a disease affecting the hair follicle, which causes bald patches or even total loss of body hair. In some individuals non-pigmented hairs are not affected or not as badly affected. Someone with Alopecia areata with rapid onset will selectively shed their pigmented hairs, the white hairs remain. Hence the person goes "grey" overnight. There is no evidence that a shock or trauma can have this effect.

As we know from Skull Knight, Berserk's Armor is draining Guts of his senses and apparently, his pigment too. Makes some sort of strange, dermatological sense, really.
 
Yeah, I've heard of that as well but I was sort of hoping it would have some deeper meaning. Now that I think about it, though, you're probably right. It's probably nothing. (but gosh darn, it looks horrible on him.)
 
It doesnt look too bad to me, and ya I think it is just a result of the berserker armor and all the trauma and such he has been going through, the armor is in a sense draining him of his viatlity slowly...
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
emlan_xyu said:
Yeah, I've heard of that as well but I was sort of hoping it would have some deeper meaning. Now that I think about it, though, you're probably right. It's probably nothing. (but gosh darn, it looks horrible on him.)
I didn't say it mean't nothing. And there is a deeper meaning. Read my post again.
 
Walter said:
I didn't say it mean't nothing. And there is a deeper meaning. Read my post again.

I read it and you said, in a dermatological sense and due to his trauma and the experience with the berserker armor.

I was looking to see if it had some sort of spiritual meaning, which seemed to make sense to me in the context of the last few volumes [the witch, the trolls, the explanations, etc]
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
Its the first visual cue to the loss of his humanity, I'd say that's pretty spiritual.
 
I'm not a fan of the white hair either. I think it would've looked okay on Guts in earlier parts of the story, where he was drawn as more lean than he is now, but the way he's currently drawn is much larger and more squared off, I just don't think it works well.

I'm hoping that the Elf king restores his hair color somehow... Or at least gives him some hair dye.

A minor aside, not a big fan of the picture in your sig, emlan_xyu. Metrosexual Guts?! Heh.
 

Griffith

With the streak of a tear, Like morning dew
Denial said:
A minor aside, not a big fan of the picture in your sig, emlan_xyu. Metrosexual Guts?! Heh.

Someone stole my Wally Szczerbiak Guts idea! >:(
 
hey, first time posting, i guess the white hair is because the armor is "consuming him", the white hair ias a way to show it, and his face, im my opnion, after he use the armor, and it is showed, it looks older, its is like the armor is consuming his life, that is an exenge for the new abilities he gets, it is like the "fuel" for the armor, his life, until the day he dies, and the armor waits for another one to use it ( its like to overclock your pc, it gets better, but reduces the life of it)
 
Yes, the Berserker armor is a double-edged sword, it drains the wearers sense of sight, smell, and touch I beleive, in exchange for its power.
 

garlicthethird

Gormem, Duymam, Soylemem
As an idiot I have to say this. When Guts got that fleck of white hair I immediately thought of the seen in Evil Dead two where Ash gets a fleck of grey hair after seeing the "rotten apple head monster". There I said it. Bleah.

PS. doesn't Guts becoming scarified make him ugly? I mean isn't a guy with a lawnmowered face worse than a white haired guy.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Ziegfried said:
its is like the armor is consuming his life, that is an exenge for the new abilities he gets, it is like the "fuel" for the armor, his life
Zelz said:
Yes, the Berserker armor is a double-edged sword, it drains the wearers sense of sight, smell, and touch I beleive, in exchange for its power.

You guys both talk about exchanging power against something, and while the actual situation isn't far from it, I think there's an important albeit small difference. It's not really like the armor literally gives him power in exchange of his life or senses, the damage he gets is more of a side effect, from what we can see. The armor alters the flow of Od around the wearer so that his body can overcome its own limits, which results in the user not feeling pain nor fear anymore. As SK told Guts, the armor's Od burns like a massive flame and can't be extinguished, so by using it and traveling instead of staying in bed and resting, his body slowly gets worn out. It's not a deal like "ok you get twice power for a minute then lose half your health".

garlicthethird said:
As an idiot I have to say this. When Guts got that fleck of white hair I immediately thought of the seen in Evil Dead two where Ash gets a fleck of grey hair after seeing the "rotten apple head monster". There I said it. Bleah.

I don't know about being an idiot, but this is certainly a tired subject... It's very common in all kind of legends and myths for people to get white or grey hair, so I'm not sure there's a point in citing every single time it occured. Here's a quote about it from nearly 2 years ago:

Wereallmad said:
Intense fear has traditionally been the most common cause.

Also to consider is that in Abrahamic religions, having white hair is a sign of having come in contact with God. Moses, and I believe elijah were said to have glowing faces and white hair. Christ is said to have looked this way at his baptisism, ascention, and later in dream of John which comprises most of the book of Revelation. I wouldn't be surprised if Mohamed is said to have had his hair turned white after leaving the cave where he wrote the qu'ran.

I'm not trying to suggest that Guts has come in contact with God, but trying to suggest the possibility of some underlying dogmatic/mythological element (berserk is no stranger to these).

This was all discussed a while ago, and someone actually mentioned Evil Dead 2 at the time.

garlicthethird said:
doesn't Guts becoming scarified make him ugly? I mean isn't a guy with a lawnmowered face worse than a white haired guy.

He's been covered by scars since forever, but yeah, I hardly see how a white patch of hair makes him "ugly". That's a matter of opinions in the end.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Re: Guts' hair?

Only a patch of his hair turned white, during his fight with Grunberd. It was because he used the Berserk's armor extensively.
 

Skabbius

Rotting Flesh
I, for one think Gatts' white/grey patch makes him look awesome. Total black is a bit cliche for a hero.

But I believe it is a result of the berserker armor slowly devouring him and/or simply from a stressful situation. I have grey hairs from stress. I also have notice that Gatts has started having trouble with his nervous system such as the lack of touch and movement. Of course Aazealh has already mentioned that.

There is nothing we can do but just wait and see what Miura has planned for this situation.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Skabbius said:
Total black is a bit cliche for a hero.

Total black is the hair color of most Asian people you know, I'm not sure it can really be called a cliché... Plus the choice is relatively limited from the beginning (there aren't a lot of distinct natural hair colors...). Anyway, I also like the white streak to some extent.

Skabbius said:
But I believe it is a result of the berserker armor slowly devouring him and/or simply from a stressful situation.

I don't think saying the armor "devours" him is very appropriate apart from the nice metaphor it makes. And I don't see how it could possibly be the result of the armor slowly consuming him considering that he's only got it recently (a month or so), and that this patch of his hair turned white the first time he ever used it, no more hair becoming white since.

Skabbius said:
I also have notice that Guts has started having trouble with his nervous system such as the lack of touch and movement.

Yeah, that's indeed because of the armor, he's losing all his senses little by little (see what SK tells him on the beach).
 
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