The Odic Scar: Slan's curse or gift?

We all remember Guts encountering Slann in the qlipoth. It is at that place that the devilish temptress, composed of Trollish intestines, left a terrible mark upon our tragic hero's spirit, seemingly as the unforeseen consequence of the marking of his flesh by her wings.

But I wonder, was her intention then to slowly kill him and regal herself on his death throes, or was the scar the true purpose of her visit?

I say this because that very scar may have some future "advantages" as it is possible that Guts' sensitivity or affinity to the Supernatural has increased considerably due to this wound. The first "benefit" from this is the Berserk armour's attunement to Guts' own inner beast, and its more recent absorbtion of Schierke's soul.

With this in mind, it is possible that Slann may be
assisting the demonslayer in her own strange way.

Any thoughts?

There's nothing beneficial about the huge scar across Guts' chest. And while it occured just before Guts recieved Berserk's Armor, I'm not so certain they coorelate to the degree you imply ("supernatural affinity" and whatnot... unless by supernatural you mean he'll DIE XD). Because of the scar, and the armor, Guts is now skirting the line between life and death far more than he ever has. Furthermore, wearing the armor has severe consequences, as told by Skully in ep 237. Continued use will make Guts a shell of a man. I wouldn't consider these gifts.

And after reading the translation of ep 222 again (when Flora is preparing the Armor), sounds to me like Flora would have given him the armor even without the scar. While Skully could have given her the lowdown on Guts situation, all Flora says about it is: "I believe it could become necessary for them on their journey." She knew the armor would be necessary against the increasing dangers of the future.

But in the end, it doesn't really matter. The armor is keeping him alive on the battlefield, but it and the scar are slowly killing him.

IgnusDei said:

But I wonder, was her intention then to slowly kill him and regal herself on his death throes, or was the scar the true purpose of her visit?

Click to expand...

I doubt she had expected SK to appear and help Guts defeat her... And without his intervention Guts would have died. Actually, since she didn't know about SK's Yobimizu no Tsurugi she really had no reason to believe Guts would survive at all. It just looks like she wounded him for fun to me (to feel his pain, etc), not caring about the consequences.

IgnusDei said:

I say this because that very scar may have some future "advantages" as it is possible that Guts' sensitivity or affinity to the Supernatural has increased considerably due to this wound. The first "benefit" from this is the Berserk armour's attunement to Guts' own inner beast, and its more recent absorbtion of Schierke's soul.

Click to expand...

Much like Walter, I fail to see how those wounds (he has two) are aiding Guts. He doesn't get any benefit from them, and entrusting himself to the Beast as opposed to using the armor while sane certainly isn't a good thing. Keep in mind that without these wounds, he might have been able to use the armor like he did in the last few episodes, but without the need for Schierke to keep him from losing control of himself in permanence. Don't forget either that in episode 237, a mere allusion to Griffith resulted in the armor almost taking control, and if it hadn't been for the Moonlight Child Guts would have killed his friends in episode 242... Those wounds are pretty much just a hinderance to his use of the armor. And where did you get that they increased his "affinity with the supernatural"?

As for Schierke being absorbed into the armor, it has nothing to do with the wounds as far as we know.

IgnusDei said:

With this in mind, it is possible that Slann may be assisting the demonslayer in her own strange way.

Click to expand...

I very much doubt that to be honest.

Walter said:

after reading the translation of ep 222 again (when Flora is preparing the Armor), sounds to me like Flora would have given him the armor even without the scar.

Click to expand...

Yeah, she even carved the promised talisman on the inner side of the breastplate (which from what she said took some time). I think Guts would have received the Berserk's armor either way.

Yea, and he probably wouldn't have survived grunbeld without it either, he would have received it either way, and I don't even see what the scar has to do with the berserker's armor or him receiving it.

Slan may find Guts "amusing," but I somehow doubt she's out to help him. If any good comes from that encounter, you can bet it wasn't her intention.

She's more than "amused" by Guts, though. Personally meeting him in the Qliphoth (well, in troll-intenstine form anyway), sensing his hatred and pain in the 2 years Guts had been wandering. Certainly kissing and calling him "the best" would at least qualify more than just being "amused".

I would say she has an attraction, albeit perversed, for Guts. It's her own way of showing her feelings, so to speak, to Guts. In the same way that Zodd showed his respect by fighting him to the death (both times being stopped prematurely by Griffith), Slann showed her affections by giving and receiving pain.

Evil, in its own sick little way, bears love just as much as good does.

yota821 said:

She's more than "amused" by Guts, though. Personally meeting him in the Qliphoth (well, in troll-intenstine form anyway), sensing his hatred and pain in the 2 years Guts had been wandering. Certainly kissing and calling him "the best" would at least qualify more than just being "amused".

Click to expand...

Oh really? Being what she is, don't you think her actions toward him are just whimsical? I do think she's amused by Guts, in the primary meaning of the term. Yeah, she said he was wonderful, but she almost killed him too, and was basically just toying with him before SK arrived. She asked him to struggle, to pierce her with the DS, even tempted him with the mention of a sacrifice... And she got what she came for. The way I see it she just wanted some fun to change her from whatever she spent the last hundred of years doing. And you can bet the God Hand doesn't come across a man like Guts every decade. Your comparison with Zodd works well in that sense because it's not unlike Guts' first encounter with him. Zodd played around with him for a while, but when he found that Guts couldn't fight anymore he just decided to kill him.

yota821 said:

I would say she has an attraction, albeit perversed, for Guts. It's her own way of showing her feelings, so to speak, to Guts.

Click to expand...

I think you're seeing too much into this. Guts is a special man and Slan pays him a particular attention because she's totally into the whole pain/rage/fear thing, but I don't adhere to the "she has feelings for him" theory.

Aazealh said:

I very much doubt that to be honest.

Click to expand...

Is it possible perhaps that Slann being impaled with the Dragon Slayer has taken it's power be more effective against powerful etheral beings? We know that the Dragon slayer has become more powerful since cutting through countless demons and such.
It's probably a long shot but I can't help but wonder if using the DS on her has amplified it's effectiveness against such powerful beings, she is afterall the most powerful being to be impaled by the DS. Even if that is the case I don't think she did it to try and help him.

As for her feelings towards Guts, I'm not saying it's Love or anything but she has some sort of obsession for him to come to the physical world to "play" with him. I don't think she was out to kill him.
She was suggesting him impale her in the first place, or to use the Beherit if he wasn't capable of doing so. Also, unless it's a bad translation she suggested in Volume 3 that she wanted him to become a demon of sorts after he tried to attack Femto.
She may have killed him if Skully had not got in the way, but when he used the arm cannon and DS on her she far from bothered to avoid it. She will probably go out of her way to see him again eventually anyway...

Sparnage said:

Is it possible perhaps that Slann being impaled with the Dragon Slayer has taken it's power be more effective against powerful etheral beings? We know that the Dragon slayer has become more powerful since cutting through countless demons and such.

Click to expand...

Well, it's possible of course but I don't think it did anything significant to it. Guts just drove her away but he didn't slay her nor did he damage her actual self, it's more like it expelled her out of that troll innards makeshift body. If it had had repercussions I think Miura would have definitely said so, while in this case he just used the event to show that the DS had already acquired certain properties (sort of the other way around of what you're saying). Now if Guts actually killed a member of the God Hand with the DS, I can't imagine what it'd do to it.

Sparnage said:

I'm not saying it's Love or anything but she has some sort of obsession for him to come to the physical world to "play" with him.

Click to expand...

She pays him a particular attention, like I said (it may be a bit too early to call it an "obsession" in the current state of things). She seems to be fascinated by the strength of his emotions, that's what comes out of all her speeches about it. Nothing too incredible for a member of the God Hand since human emotions are pretty much their field. Ubik also expressed enthusiasm about Guts' strength of will whenever they met. I think it's relatively natural considering the fact that Guts is an exceptional individual.

Sparnage said:

She was suggesting him impale her in the first place, or to use the Beherit if he wasn't capable of doing so. Also, unless it's a bad translation she suggested in Volume 3 that she wanted him to become a demon of sorts after he tried to attack Femto.

Click to expand...

She didn't suggest him to use the beherit, let's be precise about this. She just teased him, asking if he wanted to make a sacrifice, like Griffith did. And in volume 3 she said it'd be wonderful if "that boy" could join them, but that doesn't mean much in the context of the scene IMO. One could even argue that it's a simple plot device to explain why people have to be chosen by Causality. And sure, she told him to struggle, to pierce her with his sword, if he could as a human. But she was holding both of his arms. That's asking to be entertained when you're an infinitely superior, quasi-immortal being.

Sparnage said:

She may have killed him if Skully had not got in the way, but when he used the arm cannon and DS on her she far from bothered to avoid it.

Click to expand...

Guts would have probably died after she left the Qliphoth anyway, since the place would have imploded without SK's intervention. He was also losing a lot of blood, so staying with her too long would have been fatal too. And there were still a few trolls left who could have killed him while he was stunned. The point isn't that she wanted to kill him, but that she didn't care whether he'd live or die. As for the cannon, it had no effect on her, she just enjoyed the feeling but apart from that her "body" instantly started to reform itself, so she had no reason to mind it or try to avoid it at all. Besides Guts took her by surprise so... If the DS had been a "normal" weapon he would have been done for, save for a hypothetic direct intervention of SK (like defeating Slan himself). I don't think she expected things to turn out the way they did, and that's why she was literally jubilating when Guts managed to hurt her.

Sparnage said:

She will probably go out of her way to see him again eventually anyway...

Click to expand...

Go out of her way? Who says what's out of her way or not? She relates the Qliphoth to her "womb", so what are you basing yourself on, when she stated that the other God Hand members were spending time in their favorite sephirah (implying that she's doing the same)? From her discussion with Guts, it just looks like she was expecting him to show up there. Anyway as she left she told him they'd meet again, so there isn't a lot of doubt about it (but then again, don't you expect him to encounter the other GH members in the future too?).