Will Guts and Casca be able to travel together short term

After the latest episode, it is clear that Casca is still facing intense emotional hurdles and will need time to process everything that has happened to her during and after the Eclipse. The question for me is how long will it take?

It seems obvious that the Moonlight Boy is on his way and that he will help facilitate that healing process. But will his coming visit expedite things to the point where Guts and Casca can travel together on the mainland? I cannot imagine them travelling through the radically transformed enviornment of the mainland with the threat of Casca being paralyzed by the trauma of her experiences.

Also because of the flow of time being different in Elfhelm, I would imagine that Guts would need to leave Elfhelm as soon as possible to prevent any further advancement of the God Hand’s plan.

I’m a relative newcomer to Berserk and the long time readers may disagree, but I do feel that the emotional obstacles both Guts and Casca have to clear are pretty serious. Can the arrival of the Moonlight Boy enable them to at least travel together? If Guts and Casca cannot travel together, will Guts go back alone to the mainland to carry out his declaration of war alone, or perhaps with Skull Knight? His original plan was to get Casca to Elhelm as a safe place for her to reside. He’d be going back on his word if he left her on Elfhelm even with his friends, but if they can’t travel together what other choice will he have?

Anyway just wanted to see what the other readers impressions were
 

Fancypantaloons

Trapped in time. Surrounded by evil. Low on gas.
If Casca stays on Elfhelm and Guts goes alone, I don't know what would happen because of the time thing, that flows different. They would grow apart much more.

I think that if they are going to travel together it will not be by choice, they will have to.
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
I’m a relative newcomer to Berserk and the long time readers may disagree, but I do feel that the emotional obstacles both Guts and Casca have to clear are pretty serious. Can the arrival of the Moonlight Boy enable them to at least travel together? If Guts and Casca cannot travel together, will Guts go back alone to the mainland to carry out his declaration of war alone, or perhaps with Skull Knight? His original plan was to get Casca to Elhelm as a safe place for her to reside. He’d be going back on his word if he left her on Elfhelm even with his friends, but if they can’t travel together what other choice will he have?

Well sure the obstacles are serious. But as I've said a few times, most of us don't believe Miura is going to have made Guts endure all this pain for more pain in return. So, their dilemma is likely short term in the full context of the series. Otherwise, what would the message of that struggle be? "Don't try to fix things that are broken?" Instead, it seems like it's going to be a painful story of coping with the losses they've endured, and moving forward together by leaning on each other.
 
Yeah important part that I left out... I dont think the gulf between them is permanent by any stretch. That would be a horrible direction for the story to go in. I could just imagine a period of moderate length (perhaps a volume) where they cannot be together... only because Casca still hasnt come to grips with what happened during the Eclipse. I thought it would be a painful process, but seeing her collapse on the ground just by seeing Guts was just so shocking and severe. I knew there would be ground to cover even after the Cooridor of Dreams, but I never thought simply looking at Guts would reduce her to that state.

I know the Moonlight Boy is on his way, but I'm just not sure to what extent he can facilitate the healing process and if it will be enough for them to travel together (not forever, but at least a moderate period of time).
 

Walter

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Staff member
I could just imagine a period of moderate length (perhaps a volume) where they cannot be together... only because Casca still hasnt come to grips with what happened during the Eclipse.

Yep, sounds about right. That being said, as we talked about on the podcast, they might be forced into a scenario where they have to fight together sooner than they'd prefer to otherwise. That's just good drama :void:
 
Yeah I remember you guys mentioning that... I really do hope its sooner rather than later. Its one of those things where I'm marveling at Miura's writing but crushed by Guts' and Casca's reaction, anything to help bring them back together ASAP. I dont know how you guys deal with it as long term readers. I'm in agony! lol
 

Aazealh

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Replying to this a bit late, sorry. The actual question in the thread title is easy to answer, like Fancypantaloons and Walter pointed out. There's just no way Guts will leave Casca alone in Elfhelm, so yes, they will travel together whenever the group leaves the island. That being said, the real question here is: when will Guts and Casca be lovers again? That one is a lot more difficult to answer. Like you said, her current trauma is severe. I expect it will get better progressively, through individual character development, mutual rediscovery and group support. Progress will be precipitated in part by outside forces, i.e. high stakes (saving their son... and the world) and the group being in dire situations (combat).

I'll end this by quoting what Danan said in episode 359: "To confront it, or to wait until time and destiny heal her… No matter how deep of a wound it is, at least the current Casca can bring it to an end."
I believe Casca will rise to the challenge.
 
Replying to this a bit late, sorry. The actual question in the thread title is easy to answer, like Fancypantaloons and Walter pointed out. There's just no way Guts will leave Casca alone in Elfhelm, so yes, they will travel together whenever the group leaves the island. That being said, the real question here is: when will Guts and Casca be lovers again? That one is a lot more difficult to answer. Like you said, her current trauma is severe. I expect it will get better progressively, through individual character development, mutual rediscovery and group support. Progress will be precipitated in part by outside forces, i.e. high stakes (saving their son... and the world) and the group being in dire situations (combat).

I'll end this by quoting what Danan said in episode 359: "To confront it, or to wait until time and destiny heal her… No matter how deep of a wound it is, at least the current Casca can bring it to an end."
I believe Casca will rise to the challenge.
I think one of her biggest challenges will be remembering and overcoming the damage that Griffith caused her. By the way I think this will also be the final challenge before she can interact with Guts.
 
Hey Aazealh. Yes I remember on the podcast when you said that you think Skull Knight will basically tell Guts "The situation is not perfect, but you and Casca are the only oneswho have a chance to defeat Griffith (due to dual existence of Griffith/the Moonlight Boy). Its not perfect but its the only way." The scenario you described is 100% what I believe will happen in the end. But in the short term the thing that I'm hung up on, is how are Guts and Casca going to be able to travel together when Casca cant even look at Guts or possibly even hear his voice without being paralyzed with trauma?

Do you think the pending arrival of the Moonlight Boy will help Casca integrate what has happened enough to at least be able to look at Guts? The only reason I hesitate to say yes, because there is so much more for her to process and with the passage of time on Elfhelm things seem super pressing and the mainland is so dangerous now. I cant imagine her traveling there and not being able to even look at Guts and be rendered paralyzed like that again. But maybe like you said the group dynamic will have to tighten up even more and they'll have to be on double guard while they travel on the mainland to protect Casca should the trauma resurface.

Like I said originally, I knew there was going to be a challenging healing process... but never this challenging. In answer to your question I feel like its going to be a long road for Guts and Casca relationship to be restored... and that pain is probably going to truly reignite Guts desire for revenge against Griffith all the more (reminding me of the Beast of Darkness warning to Guts). Its just crazy how much has been put into motion, how much has been put into question. I thought my Berserk obsession was at all time high, before these chapters were released, but its been thrust to a whole new level now. Its agonizing, but the storytelling is just phenomenal.
 

Aazealh

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But in the short term the thing that I'm hung up on, is how are Guts and Casca going to be able to travel together when Casca cant even look at Guts or possibly even hear his voice without being paralyzed with trauma?

Things will evolve before then. But you know, even if they had to go on a journey right now, he could just walk behind the group instead of in front of it, and generally stay out of the way. This won't happen of course, but it's not like it would be impossible, just very inconvenient.

Do you think the pending arrival of the Moonlight Boy will help Casca integrate what has happened enough to at least be able to look at Guts? The only reason I hesitate to say yes, because there is so much more for her to process and with the passage of time on Elfhelm things seem super pressing and the mainland is so dangerous now.

I think the situation will definitely evolve before they leave. It could be due to the Moonlight Boy's intervention, alone or compounded with other factors. It could also simply be her own development whenever the situation will require it. There's a lot of avenues Miura can choose from.

Anyway, she does have a lot of things to process, and I do think it will be dealt with over time, but simply being able to look at and talk to Guts isn't that big of a first step. Actually being happily in love with him again and able to face what Griffith did, what he's become, what's happened to her son, all the while fighting apostles, that's the real, big, and hard to achieve goal.

Lastly, the way time flows in and around Skellig isn't entirely clear at this point. So far the group hasn't even spent a full day there, so they have some leeway. How pressing it is for them to get off the island will basically depend upon what the story requires. I also expect that some time will pass (up to a few years) in the outside world, so that when the group gets back on the mainland, they first encounter the wild, chaotic world of Fantasia, then eventually come across the Empire and are equally shocked at how transformed the world is.

that pain is probably going to truly reignite Guts desire for revenge against Griffith all the more (reminding me of the Beast of Darkness warning to Guts).

I think Guts' motivations will become more complex going forward.
 
But you know, even if they had to go on a journey right now, he could just walk behind the group instead of in front of it, and generally stay out of the way. This won't happen of course, but it's not like it would be impossible, just very inconvenient.

I think it would be more than very inconvenient. If only seeing and hearing Guts makes her freeze in place what would happen once danger inevitably befalls the group and he has to enter the front lines to fight. Would they risk Casca going into a panic in the middle of enemy territory and endangering herself and everyone else if they have no other choice? I don't really think that would cut it, Guts would not want to go into this knowing what could happen and repeating the same mistake three times, so I have to second that something more will develop about her condition in rapport to Guts before they leave. I have a feeling the Skull Knight might provide some useful information or advice, Guts could definitely use his help about now.
 

Aazealh

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I think it would be more than very inconvenient. If only seeing and hearing Guts makes her freeze in place what would happen once danger inevitably befalls the group and he has to enter the front lines to fight. Would they risk Casca going into a panic in the middle of enemy territory and endangering herself and everyone else if they have no other choice? I don't really think that would cut it, Guts would not want to go into this knowing what could happen and repeating the same mistake three times, so I have to second that something more will develop about her condition in rapport to Guts before they leave.

Did you read my post? I start by saying the situation will evolve before they leave, which I then reiterate and expand on. I just also provided an alternate scenario for if they had no choice but to leave right away. As for how they would manage: use your imagination. Obviously Casca would have to overcome some of her trauma at that point, as opposed to before it. Because in any case she wouldn't be staying in that state forever. You've brought nothing of value to the discussion here.
 
Did you read my post? I start by saying the situation will evolve before they leave, which I then reiterate and expand on. I just also provided an alternate scenario for if they had no choice but to leave right away. As for how they would manage: use your imagination. Obviously Casca would have to overcome some of her trauma at that point, as opposed to before it. Because in any case she wouldn't be staying in that state forever. You've brought nothing of value to the discussion here.
Of course, I've read it and I agree with what you've said. You can see at the end there that I second your initial statement about things evolving. My comments weren't meant to go against yours, but alongside them by reinforcing the likelihood of a scenario where Casca gets better before the group takes off due to how (basically) impossible it would be for them to realistically travel and function together in that state if absolutely nothing changes, which we know it will. They weren't necessarily needed, I just wanted to emphasize it even further. Sorry if it came off too confrontational or redundant.
 
Guts could leave the island and fight apostles and the god hand on his own, which would be a throwback to the letter chapters at the beginning of the series which we didn't get enough of, so I'd say it's not too improbable that Miura will go down this route.

I doubt that casca will be paralyzed by other memories being unlocked by her travelling with guts after she has unlocked her eclipse memory.
 

Walter

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Guts could leave the island and fight apostles and the god hand on his own, which would be a throwback to the letter chapters at the beginning of the series which we didn't get enough of, so I'd say it's not too improbable that Miura will go down this route.

It's probable because it's been done before? I'd say that the reverse is true, given how Miura has approached the evolution of Guts' character.
 
It's probable because it's been done before? I'd say that the reverse is true, given how Miura has approached the evolution of Guts' character.

No but because for a series as long as berserk, we didn't get that many chapters where guts fights apostles by himself (the period where he leaves casca after the eclipse)
 

Walter

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No but because for a series as long as berserk, we didn't get that many chapters where guts fights apostles by himself (the period where he leaves casca after the eclipse)
Vols 1-3 + 14-16 is not an insignificant chunk of the series. I feel like Miura was able to express that part of Guts' life pretty well in those sections (which between them encompass 4 apostle hunts). If there were even 2-3 more stories of "and in the next town... there was this kind of apostle" it's fairly easy to see how repetitive that mold would become.
 
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