Main Antagonist of the Series?

[Branded_Saiyan27]

Hi all, I'm not even really sure that a "main" antagonist has been defined yet in the story, but it came up in a conversation with a guy on FaceBook who was telling me Void is the main villain of the story. I asked him what makes him think that, and also asked what about the Idea of Evil? Not really making an argument one way or the other. He went on to say that Femto is following the will of Void and Void is the main antagonist and if I can't see that then he can't help me. He also said the Idea of Evil has been retconned and he doesn't think Miura has any intention of bringing it back. I thought his theory was pretty bizarre, he gave no examples to show why he thought Femto was following Voids will, and if anything my thought would be that Femto is the most established antagonist this far, with some looming theories about the Idea of Evil as well.

I'm curious to hear the community's thoughts on this? Void certainly has a big role in the story and is a big player but idk if you could call him the main antagonist, at least nothing that we've been shown as of yet could lead us to conclude that. I'd love to hear some thoughts (especially Aazealh's )

 

[Walter]

He went on to say that Femto is following the will of Void and Void is the main antagonist and if I can't see that then he can't help me.

Well, that first part is just nonsense. Griffith/Femto has agency. He chose his path. But I don't think he's wrong about Void.

I think it depends on your point of view. The emotional core of the story is Guts vs Griffith, not the other bad guys that propped Griffith up to a place of power. That makes Griffith the only antagonist that really matters in terms of Guts' personal story. And because he's the protagonist, that's a big factor for readers.

If we're limiting it to the framework of the story, it might make some sense to blame everything that's happened on the Idea of Evil. But while it's true that the God Hand serve it, the IoE was created out of man's subconscious desire to be part of a destiny that transcends their intellect. It's hard to get mad at a computer for putting out bad results from poor input. It's also an incredibly powerful non-human entity, so when you add that all together, it shapes up to be a strange, impersonal villain.

In the absence of that, I would probably point to Void. It depends on how things actually went 1,000 years ago. As it stands, we know that he was involved in Gaiseric's death, and the fact that he survived to help raise up four more God Hand members means that he could be the primary author of the events in the current era, laying the foundation for what Griffith would ultimately do in the world. That's a pretty compelling case for him being "the" antagonist of the story of Berserk as we know it. But there are still many unknowns.

 

[Aazealh]

I'm not even really sure that a "main" antagonist has been defined yet in the story

The main villain absolutely has been established, and it's Griffith. How do you define these things? Simple: you look at what (and who) the story focuses on. And Berserk revolves around the conflict between Guts and Griffith.

This is a really simple matter. Why is Guts the protagonist? Because 90% of the story is told through his perspective. Why is Griffith the antagonist? Because he's the protagonist's sworn enemy. And incidentally, because he gets the most focus after Guts. I mean, I love Void, but he hasn't had a lot of screen time in the series. From that standpoint you could say he's a minor character. It's even worse for the Idea of Evil, since it plays the role of an unseen, unnamed orchestrator.

If Berserk were the story of Gaiseric/SK, and revolved around his life and (un)death, then Void would be the main antagonist.

He went on to say that Femto is following the will of Void and Void is the main antagonist

As far as we know, Void is the leader of the God Hand. From that standpoint, he's an important character. However, nothing in the series indicates that Femto is following Void's orders. That is not the way the God Hand functions as a group. See what Slan tells the Skull Knight about it in the Qliphoth.

He also said the Idea of Evil has been retconned and he doesn't think Miura has any intention of bringing it back.

Many people seem to be confused by the removal of episode 83 from the series. While that episode isn't part of the story anymore, the God of the Abyss can be seen at the end of episode 82. It is also referenced later on in the story, most notably by Flora.

Miura has said that he doesn't know if he will ever feature it prominently again like he did with episode 83. However its existence is not in doubt. The "God Hand" acts as the "hand" of the God of the Abyss, hence its name.