"Griffith Did Nothing Wrong." 

Rest In Peace, Kentaro Miura. An absolute legend whose storytelling transcends and will continue to transcend forever. It’s impossible to put into words how much he touched my life with Berserk and that is also true with countless others around the world. Thank you❤️

Griffith: "Only someone who forges their own path can truly be my friend" Guts: *Leaves to forge his own path* Griffith: "Wait that's illegal"

Imagine a character so charismatic that they give an entire fandom Stockholm Syndrome

Ironic how Griffith saves Casca from an act that he then commits against her.

The worst part about Griffith betraying Guts to me that the main reason Guts left in the first place was because of his sincere will to be Griffith's friend. In hope to achive that, he bailed on the glory he had in order to find his own dream and be able to be beside Griffith as a true friend. That wouldn't have been possible if Guts didn't trust Griffith as a leader and was so sure he will be able to continue through his dream after he leaves. Bearing in mind it was the best time to leave as the band had gained enough status to go on with their plans smoothly with no complications. The band didn't really need him anymore. But Griffith ruined it all and blamed it on Guts due to his sick and self-rightouse mind. Guts only mistake was expecting too much from Griffith, and trusting him, only to be betrayed just like how Gambino did to him.

Do I agree that Griffith is a beautiful and complex character? Yes. Do I desperately want to see him torn apart by the Dragonslayer? Also yes.

My stand on Griffith is: While it is explainable why he did what he did, it's still inexcusable.

Bro literally sacrificed the band of the hawk for a fucking castle.

People defending Griffith usually build an argument on one of two bad foundations. 1. “He does bad stuff for the greater good.” By his own admission Griffith does everything in order to rule his own kingdom. He’s only good to people as long as it benefits his goal, as evidenced by the eclipse. If he thought he could sacrifice Falconia to rule an even bigger empire he would do it in a heartbeat. And even if he ruled the world and there was no greater empire to sacrifice his people for there’s still no guarantee he wouldn’t find something else he wanted more. He isn’t sacrificing for the greater good, he’s sacrificing for his own gain. It just happens to benefit the people…for now. And it doesn’t entirely benefit them, which brings me to my next point. 2. “He’s bad but his kingdom is the only safe haven.” This is built on a broken window fallacy where causing problems creates opportunities to fix them. All the demons roaming around were his doing. He’s a solution to a problem he created. Yes, there were human wars before him but they were arguably better than demon wars. Greater good my ass. He’s causing greater harm to look good in comparison.

Griffith be like: "I can't believe you had the Guts to leave me"

Literally all Griffith had to do to achieve his dream was keep it in his pants regarding the princess, wait a couple years for the king to die (or assassinate him) and swoop in for the easy marriage

I NEEED Casca to have her darkness come out bc she done been through it all, she been through too much, she's finally hit rock bottom and I want her to start ripping heads off

The argument that he did nothing wrong is defeated by the simple fact that Griffith didn’t create Falconia for the sake of humanity. He did it for himself. Not to mention, he literally created the problems he’s protecting his people from. They just don’t know it.

"Griffith is still human. He is just the part of humanity that we try to pretend doesn't exist" This is probably the best quote in this video.

That white haired chick looks hot

The story of one man escaping fate, and another embracing it. Berserk truly is a masterpiece.

As a wise man once said : *Inhales* "GRIIIIIIFFIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITH !!!!!!"

"Griffith is still human. He’s just the part of humanity that we try to pretend doesn’t exist." Instant chills at that line, holy fuck.

Griffith gets prettier and prettier as the manga continues.

The Godhand brings up a good point, every member of the Band Of The Hawk pledged their lives to Griffith in order to see him become a king. Whats greater than a king? A god. So its understandable that Griffith would see this as an acceptable sacrifice that the Band signed up for in a way Raping Casca though, was purely to hurt Guts, and is irredeemable.

What if the reason Griffith is still human is because Casca and Guts are still alive and the Sacrifice is to some extent still not complete?

Griffith sacrificing the band of the hawk had a bigger, logical motive behind it. Raping Casca was out of pure spite towards Guts for almost making his unattainable.

what a lovely day to have such an iconic username

I personally think Griffith's fatal flaw is his lack of introspection and internal understanding. I think that's the case for many owners of behelits. Griffith's goal was to become king, but behind that goal were other desires, a desire for control over his life, a desire to do right for the people under him, all those desires made him human, made his goal a sympathetic one. But the godhand demands you give up what makes you human, and so he shed all the roots of his ambition. Griffith wanted freedom from what he was told was his lot in life as an impoverished child, but in the end he only fell unquestioningly into another birthright. He wanted to be a good leader, who cared for his people, but in the end he led his people to their death. He wanted to feel a connection to someone he could call his equal, but in the end he betrayed everyone with a claim to that title. And for what? A pale imitation of those things, "freedom" to act out his fate ordained role, "leadership" based on lies and suffering, and the company of "equals" that have all become just as much empty inhuman shells of their former ambitions as he has. I don't think Femto has the ability to be sad about that, but I think Griffith would be sad, and I don't think he would really know why.

I honestly think Griffith pre "year of torture" wouldn't have sacrificed the band of the hawk. Hell, he might have even tried to slay the demons alongside his men. Just one more kingdom to conquer. But then he spent a whole year receiving the worst forms of pain and torture imaginable. Even if his men's absence is understandable from a logical mind, after only weeks of torture, it's hard to stay logical. I imagine he began to resent them and question where the hell they all were. Griffith is not the same man after they rescue him. Memories of his former ambition is poison in his mind.

band of the hawk: we would die for you griffith! griffith: ok then die everyone: *surprised pikachu noises*

The fact that debates about Griffith still rage to this day, 30 years later, is evidence of what an incredibly nuanced and brilliantly-written character he is.

I've been traumatized by the eclipse ever since I finished 97 series a few weeks ago. Your explanation puts me to me peace. Thank you!

It's easy to say he did nothing wrong when your not the one being sacrificed, people who agree with what he did are literally insane.

"the road to hell is paved with good intentions"

Griffith is a Luciferian character. Beautiful, powerful, talented, and charismatic, with the fatal flaws of being self-absorbed, arrogant, and envious. His actions are unjustifiable, morally speaking - but they make absolute narrative sense, and that's what makes him a great character.

I think Griffith is supposed to be the embodiment of a perfected self, and how perfection is destined to fail over it’s own weight

The moment Griffith sentenced the Band of the Hawk as a sacrifice, changed a lot of what I understood about the Griffith character. Reading Berserk myself I couldn’t tell why people believed that Griffith was a connectionless man who only just used people, everything you stated in the video was concrete and perfect, put together Griffith’s resolve and strength of will but also his guilt for the people who have died for him, it makes sense. When you explained the reasoning for why Griffith violated Casca, I half agreed with you because I would’ve completely believed Griffith raped her to spite Guts, if it wasn’t for Griffith seeing Guts on Skull Knight’s horseback and refraining from further attacking Skull Knight, I couldn’t see the spite Griffith had especially considering Griffith’s addressing Guts as the only who made him forget his dream packed with that endearing smile, I did however agree when you stated Griffith basically wanted to test his newfound will and identity by purging himself of Guts and Casca the way he did, he chose them not because of spite in my outlook but simply what you also said, wanting to carve a new identity and test his resolve.

Griffith was always an asshole, but he was so handsome, confident and charismatic, no one could see it. In a world of listless characters with no ambition or education, he offered meaning and purpose. No one stopped to ask whether his goals were moral or good- that didn't even enter their heads. He offered them a path in a pathless world and they took it, but, they didn't understand him, didn't understand his boundless ambition might crush them too someday. Now guts isn't exactly a paragon of virtue either, and up to a point, even he was taken in by Griffith. Guts was a blunt instrument when Griffith found him, but over time he began to want more, something beyond endless battle for another man's dream. Guts began to develop as a human being, morally and as an individual...and then the eclipse came and fate took over.

Griffith didn't save Casca, he showed her that she can save herself, which is why he means so much to her. If she wasnt capable of saving herself, she would have been killed. Basically in that one moment Griffith taught Casca how to catch a fish so she can eat for the rest of her life, instead of just giving her a fish for one night, only to be hungry the next day. The most important thing parents are supposed to teach their children, yet most of them never do or don't know how.

Griffith:Talk shit about what true friend is. Guts:Left to find his goal to become a man who can be his true friend* Griffith:Surprised Pikachu face*

Griffith is, from start to finish, the most well fledged out and accurate portrayal of an acrual real life psychopath I have ever seen. He is not the hollywood edgy psychopathy based bad guy. He is the pure realistic version of psychopathy.

Griffith betrayed those who were loyal to him, rewarding them for their loyalty by having them all slaughtered for the sake of his own dream. Then he raped Casca as Femto. He stated he wouldn’t be able to see someone as a friend or equal unless they were able to live for their own ideals and follow their own dream, even if it meant challenging him for that right. Yet when Guts did just that and left the Band of the Hawk he had an absolute breakdown. Griffith is an amazing antagonist, because what he did was so fucked up and his shift from ally to enemy was so extreme. I started to view Griffith differently the moment he sent Guts to do his dirty work and he ended up accidentally killing a literal child because of him, that’s when I started to realize how selfish he was. What he did during the eclipse was absolutely unjustifiable. And I believe even if he never went through the torture that he did, never possessed the behelit, or never activated the eclipse, he STILL would have ended up sacrificing many of those loyal to him for the sake of his dream in different ways. Griffith has always been selfish

Griffith was the greatest Mount and Blade player

I seriously think we terrifyingly underestimate the effect the Egg of the King does psychologically to Griffith's character.

Griffith, to this day, is the fictional character I despise the most by far. A further testament to the masterful work of its creator.

Love the video. Love Griffith as a character. Still want Casca and Guts to tear him limb from limb. Cute couple bonding!!

Guts losing to Griffith when they met then defeating him easily before he left shows how much he grew. Griffith originally saving Casca from being defiled but then being her defiler as Femto shows how far he’d fallen

Also the Godhand offered him the choice when Griffith was at his lowest point, he'd just been held captive and tortured maybe even raped for a year, after in his mind his best friend left him, he was not in the right state of mind to make that decision, if he had received that offer back during the good days with Guts and the hawks, he may have denied the offer.

While I do agree that Griffith cared deeply for Guts, I don't think he was emotionally devastated just from having to lose him and face rejection for the first time--I think that Guts' leaving was also a blow to Griffith's self-esteem. The reason Griffith took such an interest in, and ended up growing close to Guts was a respect and admiration in Guts' unwavering grit, but even if he was able to recognize that Guts was special he still owned Guts as long as Guts was in the Band of the Hawk. Griffith could still view their relationship as one of superior and subordinate. This is important, because throughout the story I don't think there's a single character Griffith meets that he isn't completely confident he can handle. He needs to be sure in his dominance of everyone around him to achieve his dream. This, I think, is why in that conversation before that fateful duel Griffith opens up with something like, "I didn't say you could leave." It gets even worse when you consider that Guts flat out beats him fair and square. Guts asserts his superiority over Griffith; even if it's just for an instant, and it puts a crack in Griffiths perception of himself, and makes him doubt himself. Not only did he lose a valuable asset and a friend, but he also lost a small piece of his radiant charisma. This is why he needs to visit the princess immediately and rush things: to, like you said in the video, compensate, and prove to himself that he's worthy of his dream. This is also why I think he rapes Casca. It's just a dominating physical statement of, "this belongs to me, not you" and "you're beneath me." Lashing out in retaliation of how fucking shitty Guts made him feel. I haven't watched the Guts and Griffith video yet so I have no idea if you said all that already. I just wanted to type it out while it was still in my head.

Heard this from somewhere “Griffith had one bad day and he turned into a villain, Guts had a lifetime of bad days and still a good guy” Edit: I know guts is not a good guy, but still think he’s better than griffith 😂

Griffith is, in many ways, the definition of a paper tiger. He's an absolute monolith of charisma and confidence until he loses. When he loses he absolutely crumbles and destroys everything he struggled for and falls to ruin. What comes out of the Tower of Rebirth is exactly what he always was inside: weak, selfish, desperate, and greedy. Reminds me of that old Spenser quote, "He who strives to touch a star oft stumbles at a straw".

what if Griffith's monologue to Charlotte was false; just to gain her affection and respect.. and it really wasn't his truth and he really did love Guts and considered him his friend.. 😭😢

At the end of the day it wasn't Griffith's evil that lead to his downfall and betrayal, it was his emotional weakness. At the end of the day he is a phenomenal character

Whenever Griffith shows up in the manga he’s drawn so brightly I have to turn down my brightness.

The very essence of humanity is a constant struggle. It is a paradoxical dance between the Will and the Absurd, between despair and rebellion, between passion and ruin.

Griffith accepted the magnificent persona people attributed to him. He claimed to value friendship but all he was used to was a master-servant relationship. The moment Gutz and Casca were moving away from him, his self-concept was destroyed. He broke down. People's true nature comes out in times of difficulty, for Griffith, it was the realisation that he was no longer the center of the universe for "friends".

Still waiting for the moment where guts kills griffith

I knew he became Crazy the moment he said to Guts that he belonged to him

My read on griffith is probably the exact opposite lol to me he seemed like someone who only ever cared about himself, anything he did for someone else he did for himself. And him losing guts wasn’t about him losing a part of his army it was about him no longer having control over someone who he saw had potential. If he was not better than guts than his whole philosophy on life crumbles. He thinks it’s okay to step on anyone’s dream because he believes he is better. I think on the night of the eclipse he does have his most human thought’s because he has been entirely humbled, due to the state of his body.

"I want wings" This is the wretched truth of Griffith. He wants wings. He wants to soar above humanity. Everything he does, and everything he strives for is merely a manifestation of his own selfish desires.

Sees "Griffith did nothing wrong" and clicks

Guts: leave the band of hawks Griffith: *we don’t do that here*

I love this video so much it’s very well thought out and helps me understand berserk at an even deeper level

Bro killed his whole family and Raped his Best Friend's Girlfriend in front of him while also torturing him at the same time for a walmart version of a Batman costume.

Griffith/Femto is one of the greatest and most complex villains in fiction.

Griffith is the living manifestation of hypocrisy.

Griffith was given the choice we all like to think we would choose right. At his lowest point he was offered the world in exchange for everything he held dear. We all think we would be strong and reject it. He wasn't, he was weak.

just seeing the title sends chills down the spine

Griffith lost because he acept his fate and in berserk the moral is fight against fate

So Griffith said he can only call someone a friend who follows his own dreams. Guts leaves to do just that and Griffith fucking broke like a glass jaw. He's a great character and all...But he is a walking contradiction for the way he acted when Guts finally wanted something for himself to achieve.

Thanks!

Just finished the anime last week and have been struggling to finish a video focusing more on Griffith. I despised him at his worst but was inspired at him at his best, which made that betrayal of his friends that much worse. This was pretty much the perfect summary piecing together my mixed jumble of thoughts on him especially at 17:29 so thank you. Now maybe I can give him *a sliver* more of sympathy.

when gutz leaves. grifith throws a hissy fit.

I love how Griffith literally becomes a Demon King, and yet he is nowhere near one sided, he can still be humanized. Miura is so talented

#griffithdideverythingwrong

Griffith was morally grey until the eclipse. He had understandable motives and very clearly cared for his men. He only became truly deplorable when he chose to sacrifice his men for his dream.

I actually agree with most of this. Doesn't make me hate him less tho

Just got home from buying about 7 volumes of Berserk for dirt cheap to find this. This is an amazing day filled with early birthday presents.

The ends never end with Griffith, his ambition will only fly higher like Guts said in Elfhelm. And Griffith also admitted he pretty much just want the one empire to rule them all on the planet.

I get it. I respect it. And I dug the video. That said, Griffith can go to hell impaled on the Dragonslayer.

Griffiths childish actions lead to him being tortured by the midlanders. If he had just accepted the fact that guts had left and not acted out, he would have been okay

I watched a vid about Griffith and it basically said when he was talking to Charlotte about his philosophy about friendship it was all bullshit in order to impress her, he really did care about Guts and everyone else

SIX YEARS AGO

When I feel misunderstood, and at the end of my road, I come back to watch this video. So far it's been 4 times, and each time it's better than the last

... No, he had to tell himself, those days are gone. The realization twisted in his belly like a knife. They had chosen him to rule. The Wall was his, and their lives were his as well. *A lord may love the men that he commands, he could hear his lord father saying, but he cannot be a friend to them. One day he may need to sit in judgement on them, or send them forth to die.”* ― George R.R. Martin, A Dance with Dragons

I don't understand Griffith stans at all. I found him repulsive all throughout the Manga, even when he was "human" it was obvious he was a narcissist and a psychopath, willing to destroy everything just for his own goals. He never saw Guts as a friend, just a toy he wanted to control. When things don't go his way he self destructs and everything around him. He's just an evil piece of shit and his behavior is predictable even when he turns into an actual demon.

There comes a point of leadership that you simply can't escape hypocracy. His rise and downfall was his passions.

I do refrigerate Tabasco sauce. No, I don't know why.

Your comment about Griffith/Femto still being human actually fits something Slan said when Femto was doing what he did to Casca, “Such beauty...It touches me. Love, hatred, pain, pleasure, life, death. All are there...THIS is to be human. THIS is to be evil.”

"Griffith Did Nothing Wrong" - Griffith

I don't think it was ever an issue of whether or not Griffith cared about people. He definitely did. He's a monster because he chose to do what he did anyway. Humans can be monsters too. That doesn't make him less of a monster. I love the character arc he goes through though. It's totally believable. I love to hate him. Because he's not evil. He's just human and monstrous because of it. He's a tragic character first and foremost.

I hate how much I love Griffith. Miura made the most wonderful antagonist known in fictional history with Griffith, and all I can do in response is to simply... stare, in awe and horror and yet a sick fascination.

"You were the only one who made me forget my dream" - Griffith

If he needed Guts and was dependent on him for him to feel great it speaks volume to his weak fragility. If you are strong you let go.

Griffith is best trap... As in... If you love him you’ll be surprised not only because he’s a guy but because he’ll use your love as a pawn for his prideful dream.

Going off of what you've suggested, I think I've begun to see the Sacrifice as the final nail in the coffin of Griffith's philosophy. It was the moment he gave himself to fate, and in a way, became fate, taking all that he dreamed of and his friends dreamed of, and throwing it all away in a pool of blood. It was the easy way out. He may have wanted everyone to live for themselves but he also wanted to be powerful. He forgot, or choose to forget, for what reason he wanted power, because in that moment he was weak, in mind, body and spirit. And then he looked upon the easiest thing to blame for this weakness, and decided to spite him.

In a sense, if you listen to the god hand, they manipulated history to get Griffith to the place he needed to be to make the sacrifice, however I think this is a cop out for Griffith, as ultimately he had to make the choice. He sacrificed his army to gain his kingdom, his justification is that his dream is more important or the ends justify the means. In many ways he is lazy when compared to Guts, he hasn’t really had that much go wrong in his life, other than a few emotional moments. When it comes to the final test, he decides to just be taken with the currents of fate, where as Guts has the conviction and determination to struggle and try to form his own destiny. I believe Guts made Griffith feel human, made him realise that he needs or wants friends to come along with him whilst he accomplishes his dream. However his own emotional instability (possibly on the autistic spectrum) makes him see friends and colleagues as tools or possessions, Guts leaves as he does not want to be a tool for somebody else. If Griffith had a better outlook to life, then I do not think Guts would have left. In the end however, he sacrifices those closest to him and is hated by the survivors, he gains his kingdom, but for what, he has no friends to enjoy the spoils with, his emotions and morality have been dulled, he is alone, is strongest emotions come vicariously via the infant body he inhabits. His victory is hollow, where as Guts has found a new purpose and new friends, and again looks to be changing his own fate.

omg thank you for answering so many burning questions!!

Griffith is a character that is tragic but not at all sympathetic. People often get confused between them. More often than not, stories these days can intertwine these two aspects into one (which is completely alright) but berserk is not one of those shows. The golden age arc was a tragedy not only for casca and guts but also for Griffith, or we can say for Griffith’s humanity. He was a person who thought himself in a highly idealistic way in a cynical world like that of berserk. When he came to grips with his own faults, then he couldn’t defeat his inner demons and gave in- the reason why so many people hate him so much. At the end , we cannot sympathise with him at all but because of the downfall of his humanity, his story is a tragic one .But trust me, looking only at his part of the story makes him a heck lot understandable and we almost sympathise with him , which is the reason why he’s such a scary character for me. In the story, he maybe a beautiful lie for others , but he can also be a hard truth for us ,the readers . He teaches us in the most painful way that in order to get something u need to sacrifice a lot of things or u’ll struggle even more ...

You know Griffith only saw Casca as one of his men... Not a lover or anything. And he saw Casca as an obstacle to Guts.

Hey, now that I watch your video and with recent experiences with my life I think Griffith must have some kind of BPD mostly due to well his repression in trauma and the view of "absolutes" in life, great video!

I know this video is old but I have many thoughts about this topic, so here goes nothing: - The fact that Griffith has a fanbase despite all is very telling of how well written he is. Setting aside the current state of the character, where I believe his malicious intent is much more noticable, up until the eclipse he really is written as "the chosen one" archetype. - Theres a quote that really reminds me of Griffith because of his last moments before the Eclipse. "“Someone once told me the definition of Hell: The last day you have on earth, the person you became will meet the person you could have become." - The quote reminds me of him partly because I've heard some psychologist say that the only thing worse than going through hell is knowing that this is a hell created by your own wrong doing. In the case of Griffith, there isnt really much negative to say about him up until the moment where he is willing to kill Guts rather than letting him go. If anything you can understand that his emotional disconnect from his army is a direct way of dealing with the many lives that this costs and the huge burden this means for him. He does some shady things dont get me wrong, but even those are somewhat justified (the murder of the people that were trying to get rid of him at several points for example). - The point of no return for disliking Griffith, for me personally at least, is the way he goes about this personal hell of his. It almost seems like once Guts has earned his way out fair and square, Griffith not only goes on to make a very out of character decision that could (and did) bring him dire consequences that could cost him YEARS of work, but it's almost like no matter what happens, its never his fault but rather Guts fault. - Once Guts hears him on his speech about the pursuit of a dream and finally decides to go and pursuit a dream of his own, mind you not even a dream that goes directly or indirectly against Griffith's, it is not his fault (even if it's a positive thing to inspire on someone) that Gut gas a dream or wants to have a dream because of how influential he has been to him, but rather its Guts fault for not being willing to forget about all of this for the sake of Griffith. - His imprisonment and torture are not his fault for taking said decision and costing him everything, but it is rather Guts fault for not thinking about how much this could potentially cost Griffith (although at this point you could argue that everything was laid down for him to become King eventually). But it is rather Guts fault for pushing him to take said decision and in the process make everything fall apart. Even though we always have a choice and Griffith is the one taking this decision, it is almoat like he is already predisposed to blame it on Guts by way of consequence. - He never gives him and Casca a chance romantically due to his leadership position, so when he sees Guts and Casca's relationship it's not his fault for never trying, but rather Guts fault for having developed a meaningful relationship with her. - As you mentioned in the video, even though his whole army is willing to out their lives down for him, it is not the fact that lives were lost for him that was bad, but that he didn't hesitate to just take these lives himself. Griffith just gives himself the liberty of taking the lives of hiw whole army with his own hands, rather than letting them give out their lives by their own free will in the field of battle. - Lastly, I believe that Guts development goes directly against Griffiths. Guts continuously grows to become a character that takes responsibility for his decisions and actions even though literally all of his life has been nothing but hell and injustice for him. He understands that his decisions have consequences, and at times very negative and isolating ones, but not only is he willing to take said risks but openly deal with the consequences of his actions and decisions. Anyway, I know it isna long comment thats just going to get lost in the sea kf RU-vid, but still wanted to share. Great video!

"Humans can be better than Angels or worse than Demons." Something that I have always thought. and I find Guts and Griffith to be heavy proof of that. And no matter what, Griffith did do something wrong because that last choice was the single choice he had just as much a reason to decline as he did to accept, but he made the human choice, the selfish one.

Griffith post the Eclipse became a beautiful, almost perfect being with divine like presence. Although his heart was rotten, dark, and evil. Just like Lucifer