In Episode 83, the Idea of Evil tells Griffith: "... by creating influencing the lower levels of human consciousness and merging blood with blood, I created the lineage that would give birth to the man you are. To pave the way for the times you would be born in, I manipulated history and created an appropriate context for you. All the encounters you have had so far were a part of the destiny that led you here." Many obscure things for us readers are made clearer as we learn of this mighty entity that has been secretly manipulating the major events in Berserk, but in a way that raises questions we had not yet thought of. How deep is the Idea's influence over the individual mind? What important decisions of the main characters were directly influenced by it? Take, for instance, Guts decision to leave the Hawks – I understood his reasons, but it did seem a bit out of proportion as a response to Griffith's speech about friendship and the value of a man's dream, particularly because Griffith's actions betrayed his own words: he clearly thought of Guts as a friend and perhaps even an equal, having endangered his own life for him a great many times, frequently sought his counsel, cared for his judgment etc. Guts should know this, but he still resolved to retire despite his friends' pleas and Griffith's desperate attempt to stop him. So yeah, I think the Idea of Evil influenced his decision, as it had probably influenced Griffith's feelings toward Guts and the former's self-destructive way of coping with loss. This influence matters because Guts blames himself for what happened to the Band of the Hawk, but if his actions were subconsciously ordained by a force he was unaware of, then he has no guilt whatsoever. Hell, even the Skull Knight, whose power and knowledge of causality are second only to the God Hand, was manipulated into merging the astral plane with the real world.
(Nice to meet you all, by the way. I have never posted here, but I always read the excellent stuff you guys write when I have the time. )
(Nice to meet you all, by the way. I have never posted here, but I always read the excellent stuff you guys write when I have the time. )