Hopelessly Romantic Ending - "Too In Love To Die" and Fate

[hey_aussin]

Long time lurker, new to posting.
I'm coming in with an entirely out of left field take here. I'm relying heavily on hitting the overall themes of the story rather than a straight interpretation of the lore we have learned so far, so I'm 99% positive this WON'T happen, but wouldn't be nice if it did?????

Re-reading the manga again recently, I'm leaning into the Guts / Casca / Moonlight Boy / Griffith relationship here.

What we just saw in the latest chapters is Griffith showing his hand. The Moonlight Boy's love for his parents is the true weakness to Femto and his plans for world domination. This is why Griffith captures (and doesn't just kill) Casca. The Moonlight Boy will not allow Griffith to kill his mother or father and Griffith can't stand being ripped away from his work due to TMB's emotions towards them. Griffith, in abandoning his humanity, wanted to leave these petty human feelings behind (as he states to Guts at the hill of swords) but TMB keeps bringing him right back.

So as Guts makes his way to Falconia to confront Griffith and rescue Casca, I think the end goal is to rip Femto's astral form out from "possessing" TMB's physical body, freeing TMB and banishing Femto back to the astral realm. I don't know if Guts will face Femto in the Astral Realm or not. Honestly I don't think he should.

Guts' motivations are to not lose the things he has when he finally recognizes he has them, not revenge. He is a human through and through, so will rely on his humanity and human-level types of happiness, namely living in peace with his family.

I think he'll achieve this impossible task BECAUSE of causality. Guts is either the most unlucky or the most lucky protagonist ever devised. Griffith used the Crimson Behelit to achieve his destiny of having his own kingdom and that has already happened. Guts' destiny is to swing his sword for the people he loves and his struggle is the proof that he is making his actual fate a reality. In other words, if he wasn't fated to live happily ever after, he would have been killed 1000 times over already. He's not actually a fish leaping out of the river. He is a fish being battered down a vicious whitewater rapid. His fate is to struggle. But he is not struggling against fate, if that makes any sense.

His love for Casca and his son is his truly human power. Beneath the astral realm is the realm of IDEA and it's here that his overwhelming love is going to shake loose Femto's grip (with help from Shierke) to separate the ultimate evil from his pure-hearted son. Perhaps at this moment, Skull Knight is able to strike a blow against the GodHand and specifically Void to break the Brand and truly set the family free. (Otherwise they would be doomed to the maelstrom when they died, not a very happy ending).

By the way, this all came to me while listening to Julia Jacklin's song "Too in Love to Die." She is convinced the strength of her love will change fate, make cars swerve, luck to come through. Her love is so powerful, it will change fate. Guts' devotion to Casca allows him to escape the inescapable, to defeat the inhuman, to survive.

 

[Aazealh]

Hi and welcome!

That's not at all out of left field! In fact I've speculated about roughly the same scenario for at least 10 years. The boy is definitely a big weakness to Femto, and I do think that when Guts (with his friends) finally confronts and defeats Femto, it won't be just for revenge, but to free his son. That's rooted rather deeply in the story as it was told up to episode 364. Separating Femto from the boy also feels like a given if we want the story to have a happy ending. Surely that kid, who's had it worse than anyone in the story, wouldn't meet a tragic end.

The rest of your post is less solid in my opinion.

I think he'll achieve this impossible task BECAUSE of causality. Guts is either the most unlucky or the most lucky protagonist ever devised. Griffith used the Crimson Behelit to achieve his destiny of having his own kingdom and that has already happened. Guts' destiny is to swing his sword for the people he loves and his struggle is the proof that he is making his actual fate a reality. In other words, if he wasn't fated to live happily ever after, he would have been killed 1000 times over already. He's not actually a fish leaping out of the river. He is a fish being battered down a vicious whitewater rapid. His fate is to struggle. But he is not struggling against fate, if that makes any sense.

That's not really how it works. "Destinies" aren't prewritten in Berserk. It'd be more exact to say that in accordance with the principle of causality, Griffith used evil power to trump the tragic fate that he had been met with (see what Void tells Griffith in volume 12). But of course, it's also true to say that his entire life was engineered (through causality) to reach that specific point in the first place. That's because he was meant to become the fifth member of the God Hand. It's different for Guts. It isn't "his fate" to swing his sword or whatever else, in the sense that "fate" isn't a mystical force in Berserk (unlike in Greek mythology, for example). Instead, it's more like he has to deal with his lot in life, but how he deals with it is his choice (see what Flora tells Schierke in volume 24).

His love for Casca and his son is his truly human power. Beneath the astral realm is the realm of IDEA and it's here that his overwhelming love is going to shake loose Femto's grip (with help from Shierke) to separate the ultimate evil from his pure-hearted son.

That's not very likely to happen, IMHO. I mean, the title of the manga is "Berserk" after all. Even though I think Guts will move past "pure revenge", he isn't going to win just through the power of love. That simply wouldn't fit the character or story. And I don't think it'll involve the realm of ideas either. However I do believe the boy himself will play a key role in Femto's defeat in the end.

 

[hey_aussin]

Yeah I'm definitely just riding the vibes of this song and my personal affection for Guts and Casca, so this is definitely just my head-canon/fan fiction.

10-4 on the fate re: Guts. If there was some prophecy that the White Hawk would find some downfall, then maybe my idea would make more sense, but there isn't.

That's not very likely to happen, IMHO. I mean, the title of the manga is "Berserk" after all. Even though I think Guts will move past "pure revenge", he isn't going to win just through the power of love. That simply wouldn't fit the character or story. And I don't think it'll involve the realm of ideas either. However I do believe the boy himself will play a key role in Femto's defeat in the end.

Of course the BERSERK is going to be there because Guts has to get through Pandemonium first. So there will be plenty of time for bad ass fights on his way to Griffith. And I absolutely think Guts will move past pure revenge. That's the whole point of his long character arc I think.

Re: power of love, what I mean is the final "blow" so to speak won't be with his sword. He won't pull out a magical girl transformation and shoot hearts from a wand, but his and Casca's emotional connection to TMB and his to them is what is going to hold back Femto. The power of love will triumph here! So I think we're both thinking similar things.