What exactly does it take for someone/thing to be influenced by the interstice?

Guts and Caska are both tied to the interstice because of their brands, thus allowing Guts to sense apostles and other magical creatures with his brand and also one of the reasons for his increased abilities. Flora and Schierke are both magic users (with Farnese learning) and thus they are knowledgable about magic, the other layers of reality, and so forth, not to mention being able to use magic. The apostles, while not human anymore, were once human, and now are both of the real world and the other lower layers of reality.

I was wondering though, what exactly does it take for someone, on in the case of the Dragon Slayer, to be able to interact with the interstice. For example, by using and gaining a better control of their magical weapons and in Serpico's case, cloak, could him and Isidro become influenced by the interstice or something of the sort?

Re: What exactly does it take for someone/thing to be influenced by the intersti

Well, I suppose the first thing would be knowledge of it, even if that knowledge is rather suddenly thrust upon you such as in Guts's case. Also perhaps a tool, such as the Behelit, or intervention by a being already there. I'm not sure if there's a hard and fast rule.

Re: What exactly does it take for someone/thing to be influenced by the intersti

HawaiianStallion said:

Guts and Casca are both tied to the interstice because of their brands, thus allowing Guts to sense apostles and other magical creatures with his brand and also one of the reasons for his increased abilities.

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Well, they're not really "tied" to the interstice, they're in it. And Guts being able to sense apostles and other astral creatures is specific to the Brand, it doesn't directly relate to being in the interstice, even if one implies the other. As for his "increased abilities"... That's still a debatable topic, we're only assuming that it plays a role.

HawaiianStallion said:

I was wondering though, what exactly does it take for someone, on in the case of the Dragon Slayer, to be able to interact with the interstice.

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Like Woland said, there really isn't a set of clear rules about this. The interstice is the border between the corporeal world and the astral world, that's where its name comes from. It's a part of the world in which material and ethereal beings can interact. Branded people, apostles, elves, Flora, Skull Knight... They're all in it. The Dragon Slayer acquired astral properties after years of slaying evil astral beings, but don't be mistaken, it was in the interstice before that (because Guts carried it).

I think "being in the interstice" is like some kind of aura. Specters and incubi, pure astral beings, are able to materialize themselves and to possess people when they're near Guts. It means that they can interact with the surrounding area, people, objects, anything. Another example is how Guts' band could enter Flora's domain because Guts and Casca were in the interstice. It wasn't just the two of them that could enter, the others did too.

So to answer your question, being near an astral being or someone that lives in the Interstice is all it takes to be exposed to it yourself. The question is: to what extent?

HawaiianStallion said:

For example, by using and gaining a better control of their magical weapons and in Serpico's case, cloak, could him and Isidro become influenced by the interstice or something of the sort?

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I think so, yes. By using magical equipment and travelling with Guts and Casca, Serpico and Isidro are exposed to the Interstice. Now, whether they might end up as permanently living in it or not after a long enough time is hard to say.

Re: What exactly does it take for someone/thing to be influenced by the intersti

Aazealh said:

So to answer your question, being near an astral being or someone that lives in the Interstice is all it takes to be exposed to it yourself. The question is: to what extent?

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I cannot call upon episode numbers or direct quotes, this is just from memory: When Guts captured Farnese (when he was carrying her on the horse), Farnese was unable to see Puck. What I'm getting at is that it must be to a greater extent than just being around someone.

If I'm correct, I believe also that Puck mentions something about how astral beings cannot be seen by people who do not accept them. I.E Children are able to see elves, but adults are not due to their more down-to-earth, "elves do not exist" mindset.

In elves(and alike)case I can't find a better word than "faith" to describe the process to how to see them, what I try to say is that if you don't believe in them you wont/can't see them BUT not being able to see them don't mean you can interact at all(or rather they interact with you) with them in the same Puck case that you mention Puck can touch Farnese for exemple...
As for "being in the interstice" it is IMO a little more subtle than being on the beach...

Guts for exemple is "in interstice" due to his brand so he can see,feel and touch astral being like they were in the physical world but he is "in the interstice" no matter where he is.
Now considering Flora's mansion it is LITTERALY in the interstice like one side is in the physical world(beach) and the other in the astral world(sea)

Considering those exemple I can't be sure of what is "being in the interstice"  but I'd say that being aware of the astral world(accept it as your reality) and able to reach it is already being in the interstice, and you must not need to be somewhere precisely to reach the astral world(it's the way magic work in Berserk world)

Now about the topic I'd say that as long as you consider something as real you are influenced by it in any possible way...here we are talking about the "supernatural" property acquired being in the interstice but really I don't think that it's just the fact to be in the interstice that make Guts(or the DS) stronger but the fact that they interact with astral being(more precisely by slaying them )IMO you must see it like if you cut something so this thing taint you and the more you cut the more tainted you are and so does the DS become what it is(IMO!!!)
I hope that I've been clear about this but if I'm wrong...

Re: What exactly does it take for someone/thing to be influenced by the intersti

madd.dawgg said:

When Guts captured Farnese (when he was carrying her on the horse), Farnese was unable to see Puck.

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But she saw the specters, and they touched her face.

madd.dawgg said:

If I'm correct, I believe also that Puck mentions something about how astral beings cannot be seen by people who do not accept them.

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It's different. What Puck explains is that people like Farnese (not all adults, it doesn't have anything to do with being down-to-earth, a lot of adults can see Puck) who refuse to admit the existence of elves for example subconsciously ignore them, and don't keep any memory of encountering them (although Farnese did remember seeing Puck that day, in volume 19). They forcefully don't pay attention to them, if you want.

But that doesn't mean that elves or other astral beings can't interact with them... Puck does toy with Farnese on the horse, which always cracks me up BTW. And like I said, a specter touches Farnese' face right after that, she even gets possessed later on. While Farnese could block Puck out of her mind, she couldn't do the same with evil beings (more aggressive in manifesting their presence I guess), and even if she had, they would have still been there and interacting with her.

Mad Angel Loki said:

if you don't believe in them you wont/can't see them

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It should be noted that you have to be really indoctrinated not to see elves... It's not like just not thinking they exist is enough, you have to convince yourself they don't. From what we know though, living in a big town helps. Anyway I'm afraid you're confusing different notions in your post, Farnese' case of not noticing Puck doesn't really relate to the rest. Whether she believed it or not, she was "exposed" to the Interstice when the specters attacked them (Guts and her).

Mad Angel Loki said:

As for "being in the interstice" it is IMO a little more subtle than being on the beach...

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Why? I think it's a good example. I also think I pretty much nailed it down with my previous post. The only thing to stress is that "normal" people can't evolve into the Interstice by themselves.

Mad Angel Loki said:

Now considering Flora's mansion it is LITTERALY in the interstice

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Guts is also "literally" in the Interstice... It's just that Flora's mansion was situated deep, closer to the astral world, and that their corporeal forms (her and the tree) should have died long before we see them in the story. There's no difference other than that.

Mad Angel Loki said:

being aware of the astral world(accept it as your reality) and able to reach it is already being in the interstice, and you must not need to be somewhere precisely to reach the astral world

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But you're missing an important point here. Being aware of the astral world is nothing, almost everybody is, or is able to. At most some people from the Holy See or living in big cities manage to block elves and small stuff from their minds, but that's as far as it goes. When trolls come to plunder their town, they see them. As for being able to reach the astral world, people normally can't. That's why they need to be in the Interstice, the border in which astral and corporeal beings can interact. See my previous post for that. Then there's the case of magic users like Schierke, who can venture into the astral realm in their ethereal forms, meaning without their bodies (by entering a trance).

Of course, now that the layers of the world are merging, astral beings have an easier access to the material world, like the Qliphoth connecting with the forest in past volumes. For now this is an isolated case, but who knows how it will be later on. One sure thing is that you don't need to "accept the astral world" as your reality to interact with it. Closing your eyes and believing very much that Ogres don't exist won't make one disappear if he's about to eat you. That's what ultimately showed how flawed Mozgus' view of the world was (if that ever needed proof), when supernatural events did happen he was lost and put on a "let's die for God" act (before the Beherit-Apostle stung him).

Mad Angel Loki said:

Now about the topic I'd say that as long as you consider something as real you are influenced by it in any possible way...

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Not necessarily.

Mad Angel Loki said:

here we are talking about the "supernatural" property acquired being in the interstice but really I don't think that it's just the fact to be in the interstice that make Guts(or the DS) stronger

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I already said that the Dragon Slayer acquired its "astral properties" because Guts killed a lot of astral beings with it. It's different for Guts, being in the Interstice for a long time can free you of some of the corporeal world's barriers. It's in the manga, and the tree in which Flora's mansion was built is a good example of this (not to mention Flora herself).

I don't think these elements needed further comment, especially not as confusing as that.

Tought I understand what you are saying I still don't consider that being on the beach is litteraly true when you speak about being in the interstice it is a little more complex than that;I cant be more clear than the comparison between Guts's case and Flora's mansion case so... anyway my vision of this topic maybe blurry so I'll go with you

Re: What exactly does it take for someone/thing to be influenced by the intersti

Mad Angel Loki said:

Tought I understand what you are saying I still don't consider that being on the beach is litteraly true when you speak about being in the interstice

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Obviously it's not literally the same since it's a metaphor, it's figurative.

Mad Angel Loki said:

I cant be more clear than the comparison between Guts's case and Flora's mansion case so... anyway my vision of this topic maybe blurry so I'll go with you

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Well, no offense but even if you didn't agree, I'd still take Flora's word over yours.