Griffith's Spell of Charisma

Just thinking about how Griffith's ability to charm people might be countered before the end of the story
I mean I'm sure Gut's probably would not hesitate to hack through any human's or apostles that stand between him and Griffith but Guts massacring Half of Midland seems unlikely even with the Berserker armor
I mean I guess this could be avoided if the final battle took place somewhere else like Elfhelm but barring that I believe Griffith's hold on the people is going to have be severed somehow
Personally I think Casca or more specifically her memories of Griffith's(Femto's) Heartless nature if relayed by Sonia to the populace might be enough to break the spell but who knows
either that or someone else would have to unite the populace in opposition the only person I can think of who could do that(with the help of others) would be Charlotte
on that note I also think Farnese(after she has learned the truth about Casca, Guts and Griffith) needs to speak to Charlotte at some point to try and convince her the mistake in placing her faith in something she truly does not understand
anyway that's my two cents
 

Walter

Administrator
Staff member
Griffith's influence over people isn't an active spell in the sense that you mean, though. As member of the God Hand incarnated into flesh, there's a powerful aura that surrounds him and influences others. You could say that it's his very being that has that effect. Schierke says as much in Vol 24.

But even without that, Griffith has successfully won the people's hearts, minds and souls through a series of heroic acts, that culminated in ending the reign of a tyrannical ruler at the heart of the continent. Even if one could somehow cancel out the natural effect of his aura, it's not like his willing subjects would suddenly think: "Hey, I hate this guy!"
 
I know Griffith dosen't replenish an altar every night to keep the people in in a haze but he does have the ability to charm people it gives his heroic image the extra push it needs to secure his followers
Taking Mule for example he probably would have joined Griffith's forces eventually yet he was pulled ever so much quicker because of Griffith's ability, charm, aura, charisma whatever it may be called

and while you are correct this ability simply vanishing would not turn the people against him that is why I suggested Casca's memories of Griffith as the diabolical Femto I figured if the population saw him as such it would shatter the whole heroic savior image of him that he has built up from reclaiming Midland
 

Gobolatula

praise be to grail!
Griffith was always a charming, handsome, heroic dude, but now it's so much more than that.

Owen's reaction to reuniting with Griffith is probably one of the best in terms of the bystanders of Midland. I forget the exact quote, but he said that Griffith was always amazing, but now it seems like he's otherworldly.

You know, when Griffith "came back" in volume 21 / 22, I wonder if it was his God Hand power that sorta lulled Guts into hesitating to attack? Or was it just a surge of nostalgia.
 
Griffith's "charm" is one of the things I love about Berserk. So often in stories we see characters that are just 100% good and loveable "likeable" as a TV producer would say, and they really turn out to be that way. Though, in Berserk we have a character that CLEARLY is the main antagonist and he's the one that gets that threatment, his transformation to Femto was perfect too, you could clearly see the logic of what Griffith did, I mean you can almost agree with the guy when he meets Guts at the hill of swords.

ANYWAY, back on topic by now Femto's charm has CLEARLY been shown to be causality. I think this one of the main reasons his meeting with IOE was removed from Cannon. if there were one character in the whole story who cold be thought of as Miura himself, it would be IOE. IOE has the power of a writer in a story, he can arrange all of the backstories all of the events all of the motivations to set up the events that he needs to see happen, and his words to Griffith are "Do as You will"...the bastard has the writer on his side! I think this is really awesome about Berserk, everybody has basically some free will but clearly some people's will have more priority than others, I think we can all relate to that notion in our own lives, nay?

Now, IOE has been cut but that exchange still defines the universe of Berserk and that has been clearly shown by how things go for Femto. Femto simply has everything happen in the most absurdly favorable way for him, I mean he's always had the skills to make that happen himself, as he's always been a genius strategist (after all IOE used causality to make him the perfect actor of his will, the index finger to lead the way for his God Hand), but before being Femto he still had to face some incredible difficulties such as sacrificing his dignity with Gennon, almost being killed by Zodd, the impact of Guts'es decision, not to mention the Midland King's retribution against him. I think this contrast was most clear when he was appointed Emperor by the Pope. No matter what happened everything was perfectly arranged so that not he, but the whole fucking universe presented argument after argument for how appointed he was for being an emperor, despite Federico Vandimion's best efforts. Griffith said much less than Vandimion but the princess showed up at the PERFECT time to counter Vandimion's arguements, as did the Pope, it was fucking ridiculous.

Now, it has to be said that with the Apostles he does seem to have a special command, Ganishka no matter how opposed to having anyone else's will before his simply bended at his sight. Femto's biggest confrontation was nothing of the sort as is usual, but there was a special sort of "charm" going on here. Humans still dont seem to be completely taken by his charm though, when the Demon Knights were revealed to be Apostles people still questioned Griffith's nature, Sonia still had to speak in his favor before the humans.
 
Top Bottom