Ralwatt said:The key point for me is that early on he was basically living for revenge, unlike now. I think that back then it might have happened if things had gone far enough.
Well, I don't know. Even back then, getting a beherit was a way for him to gain a means to confront the God Hand, not to become an apostle. Don't forget that they're his real enemies, not the apostles. He lived for revenge, so asking Femto (among others) for power so that he could get his revenge against him... Yeah, doesn't seem very plausible.
Ralwatt said:It's really the existence of the crimson Beherits that made me think of the idea, since we know that they are more powerful, or at least different somehow.
Why do you use the plural? If beherits can be reused, then nothing prevents the same crimson beherit to have been used by all five members of the God Hand.
Ralwatt said:Yeah, I agree that the person's mind is the most likely source of the variation, but that itself appears to be a little problematic as some apostles don't actually seem to entirely match their forms or characters. Zodd doesn't seem to have a strong will or any especially powerful emotions that drive him. He reminds me a lot of Guts as he was with the Band of the Hawk - strongminded but without any particular goal or desires. Of course it may be that simply having a 'strong' mind was what gave Zodd his power. Another possibility is that his lust for battle lies behind his power.
I think Zodd does have a strong will. Though he decided to serve Griffith in the end (after having been defeated), he's the only one other than Ganishka that tried to fight him. And his desire was apparently to find the Ultimate Strong One, which coincidentally ended up being Griffith. Other than that, we don't know enough about him to really comment on his feelings and personality. But I think that to attribute his strength to the beherit he used as if it were just a stroke of luck is quite depreciating of his character.