Thoughts on Casca's trauma response?

Recently caught up to berserk, and i'm still a bit confused as to what the writer was trying to do with "crazy" casca. Initially it seemed like Casca was just in shock after the eclipse and we would gradually see her overcome her trauma with bad ptsd attacks every now and again, but the more the story went on it seemed more like she was now just mentally retarded? Now the only way to fix her mental health problems is with magic some 200 chapters later? It doesn't really make any sense unless griffth literally put some kind of spell on her.
It seems to me like the writer didn't exactly know what to do with this story element, being able to read it all at once the issues seem to glare out.
Just curious on everyones general thoughts on this story element in general, did you think it was good, poorly handled etc
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Initially it seemed like Casca was just in shock after the eclipse and we would gradually see her overcome her trauma with bad ptsd attacks every now and again, but the more the story went on it seemed more like she was now just mentally retarded?

Casca is never presented as just having "bad PTSD attacks". It's shown and explained from the beginning (in volume 14) that she doesn't remember people anymore and is in a regressed mental state. That's because her mind was literally broken by what she endured during the Eclipse. That stays consistent until she's restored.

Once her mind is mended (in volume 40), she does experience panic attacks when her repressed memories surface. Miura intended for her to have to directly face what happened to her and her friends in order to finally surmount it.

It seems to me like the writer didn't exactly know what to do with this story element, being able to read it all at once the issues seem to glare out.

You can opine that the journey which began in volume 22 took too long to conclude, but Miura knew exactly what he was doing with it.
 
Casca is never presented as just having "bad PTSD attacks". It's shown and explained from the beginning (in volume 14) that she doesn't remember people anymore and is in a regressed mental state.
Her "regressed mental state" or inability to "remember people" is what i'm confused about, like these are symptoms of literal brain damage, its not how people react to traumatic experiences. For example we have women and children who've survived the rwandan genocide alive today who endured sexual assault as their men and sons were brutally murdered in front of them and none of them present trauma how the writer does. These are people with the most traumatic experiences on the face of the earth, and the response is nothing like what happens to casca.

Which makes me infer that the only coherent of logical explanation for this new character development is that casca is under some spell, or griffith
caused damage to her soul or something
That's because her mind was literally broken by what she endured during the Eclipse. That stays consistent until she's restored.

"her mind was literally broken", okay yeah this is the part that doesn't make any sense, and i'm assuming you didn't actually mean to use the word "literally", like if it was literally broken she'd be dead, but then you explain her recovery as "mending", as if her mind was broken and then put back together.
It seems more like she was broken on an etherial plane, but then written as if she had brain damage, which just doesn't make sense.
Miura intended for her to have to directly face what happened to her and her friends in order to finally surmount it.
This comment also doesn't make any sense, she doesn't directly face anything, she regains sanity before even recalling the eclipse, also it was the actions of others that allowed her to regain sanity again in the first place. I know you said this was like the plan all along but a lot of your explanations don't seem to add up, which makes me further believe this was just a plot point that wasn't fully thoughtout, and kind of clumsily resolved after going on for far longer then expected.
 

Aazealh

Administrator
Staff member
Her "regressed mental state" or inability to "remember people" is what i'm confused about, like these are symptoms of literal brain damage, its not how people react to traumatic experiences.

Berserk is a fantasy story. Casca was raped by a monstrously powerful supernatural entity in an alternate dimension while having just received the Brand of Sacrifice that curses her soul to go to hell upon death. In that context, the fact her mind was broken by the event, resulting in those specific symptoms, is not particularly unbelievable to me.

You may also have noticed that as she and Guts are carried out of the Eclipse by the Skull Knight (a soul in an empty suit of armor) on his magical horse by flying into the sun, they emerge from a magic tornado and then we see Zodd, a giant monster, reattach his severed arm which immediately regenerates. That's also not something people can do in the real world.

Which makes me infer that the only coherent of logical explanation for this new character development is that casca is under some spell, or griffith
caused damage to her soul or something

She was not under a spell. Like I said, the best analogy is that her mind was shattered by the experience. Look no further than the Corridor of Dreams sequence for a depiction of what her psyche was like. As for the precise, "technical" details of how said shattering occurred, they are left to the reader's interpretation. Given the context, it is possible there was a supernatural aspect to it.

"her mind was literally broken", okay yeah this is the part that doesn't make any sense, and i'm assuming you didn't actually mean to use the word "literally", like if it was literally broken she'd be dead, but then you explain her recovery as "mending", as if her mind was broken and then put back together.

No, I meant to use the word "literally" literally. Again, refer to the Corridor of Dreams sequence where Schierke and Farnese literally gather fragments of her ego, associated with memories, and put her back together.

Also, I don't see why you say "her mind was broken" means she would die. The mind isn't an organ. It can be impaired (even severely) without that having an effect on bodily functions. And that's without getting into the fact that, again, Berserk is a fantasy story.

It seems more like she was broken on an etherial plane, but then written as if she had brain damage, which just doesn't make sense.

No, what happened to her has nothing to do with the Astral realm. It is quite specifically a mending of the mind, performed by her friends through the magic of the Queen of the Elves (who are natural healers as demonstrated by Puck in the world of Berserk). You seem to be specifically attached to physiological details, like how she must have suffered brain damage, but that doesn't actually matter at all. The details of her condition are never specified, which means that you can imagine it to have a physiological component if you want to. It doesn't affect the story one way or the other.

This comment also doesn't make any sense, she doesn't directly face anything, she regains sanity before even recalling the eclipse, also it was the actions of others that allowed her to regain sanity again in the first place.

Please re-read what I said: "Once her mind is mended (in volume 40), she does experience panic attacks when her repressed memories surface. Miura intended for her to have to directly face what happened to her and her friends in order to finally surmount it."

She has not faced those memories yet. As you may have heard, the author of Berserk, Kentarou Miura, passed away last year before he could finish the story. That means Casca has not overcome her trauma yet as of volume 41 of the manga.

I know you said this was like the plan all along but a lot of your explanations don't seem to add up, which makes me further believe this was just a plot point that wasn't fully thoughtout, and kind of clumsily resolved after going on for far longer then expected.

You don't seem to have read the story very carefully, nor do you appear to be paying much attention to what I'm telling you before responding, which is unfortunate. I would recommend you to re-read the manga more attentively. Either way, there is no doubt whatsoever that her condition was deliberately conceived to be that way from the beginning. It's right there on the page and stays consistent throughout the story. Your attempts to frame it otherwise are frankly weird and come off as being disingenuous.
 
Recently caught up to berserk, and i'm still a bit confused as to what the writer was trying to do with "crazy" casca. Initially it seemed like Casca was just in shock after the eclipse and we would gradually see her overcome her trauma with bad ptsd attacks every now and again, but the more the story went on it seemed more like she was now just mentally retarded? Now the only way to fix her mental health problems is with magic some 200 chapters later? It doesn't really make any sense unless griffth literally put some kind of spell on her.
It seems to me like the writer didn't exactly know what to do with this story element, being able to read it all at once the issues seem to glare out.
Just curious on everyones general thoughts on this story element in general, did you think it was good, poorly handled etc
She went crazy because of the Eclipse itself (whole Band of the Hawk being wiped out) and...being raped by her idolized figure in front of her lover.

It's a fantasy story so it's not going to be entirely realistic.

Whether or not was poorly handled is up to you.

I personally think the journey could be shorter and with more surprising moments such as when she killed some bandits (post Eclipse).
But overall it was great.
And the Passage of Dreams is one of my favorites parts of Berserk.
 

Rhombaad

Video Game Time Traveler
Aaz isn't being facetious. You should definitely re-read the story. I've done so multiple times over the years, and I always discover something new, or something I misunderstood at the time. Berserk is extremely layered and well-thought-out. Miura was a literal genius, and that's not just me blowing smoke up his ass. He meticulously planned out plot elements, and even when he didn't, his retconning was so good that it seemed like he had it all figured out from the start (the three-part episode story about Chich and Guts, for example).

Something that I've always appreciated over the years was that, despite the utterly dark situation Casca is left in post-Eclipse, Miura still found a way to make her an element of comic relief. Her interactions with Puck while mentally regressed are some of the funniest moments of the series. Miura was a comic genius, as well. I miss him more and more as time goes on.
 
If a woman were raped in real life by a demon in the middle of a demonic ritual filled with dark magic, while thousands of other demonic beings watched, the shattering of her mind would be the least of your worries.

Also, the fact that Femto corrupted Guts and Casca's child with his demonic spirit while he performed the act does not make literal sense physiologically/biologically speaking. Someone cannot corrupt a pregnant woman's baby by having intercourse with her. Still, again, you have to remember this is a fantasy story, with many elements taking a poetic interpretation.

Miura has a non-intrusive storytelling method, so he does not explicitly says: "Casca has a dark curse after the event", but that is the realization you come to once Guts wakes up and finds her in the cave.

Do you know how someone would respond after being raped by a demon? No one does.

And yet, in this real, observable world: Magic does not exist, nor do trolls, elves, witches, giant swords, cursed armors, demons, etc. It is odd that you are only worried about Casca's behavior post-eclipse.
 
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Her "regressed mental state" or inability to "remember people" is what i'm confused about, like these are symptoms of literal brain damage, its not how people react to traumatic experiences. For example we have women and children who've survived the rwandan genocide alive today who endured sexual assault as their men and sons were brutally murdered in front of them and none of them present trauma how the writer does. These are people with the most traumatic experiences on the face of the earth, and the response is nothing like what happens to casca.
Not going to manpile. I don't like upvote systems for reasons like that but I have to correct (perhaps helping would be a more charitable way to phrase it? Helping your immersion, I mean) you here even though I'd normally agree with a lot of things that point to Berserk's creative liberties with reality. They can bother me about as much as you. I tend to evaluate realism by how few changes you could make to ensure it's fully believable so it stings in the few cases Berserk doesn't score well for me on that scale. I feel he does realistic concepts so well besides Guts plus his entire arsenal. An intentional liberty on his part yes, I know. Yet, in this case, it is actually true that you can lose your memory in response to trauma, one student apparently saw a murder overseas and just forgot who they were for a whole year. I might be wrong but you can look it up, dissociative identity does exist and has some sway over where your memories are kept

I've not been in her EXACT situation but I've experienced similar things on a lesser scale. I've witnessed even more than that among the truly psychologically dilapidated of us. She is my favorite character and the one I see myself in the most for many reasons, even as a dude. I never felt her reputability as an analogue for trauma took a hit from Elaine's existence

This is even discounting how much of it you can attribute to the curse and how much such supernatural mechanics do or do not work as stand ins or metaphors to represent or amplify demonstrable phenomena we experience with clarity in our world. I just don't think that behaviour is unimaginable even by itself. Rare, yes, but remember Casca was an emotionally tumultuous individual to begin with.
 
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