@@yourlocalpunkposer8107 I know this probably isn't true, but I honestly wouldn't be surprised at this point. There's only so much time one can selectively put off from completing (and unarguably so) their most famous work before unfortunately becoming dull to the idea of actually "doing" the work necessary to see it ultimately finished. Likewise, there's only so many years one can stand to wait for their favorite series to (finally) update before eventually becoming gradually apathetic towards the main author themselves - even more so when there's no stated reason as to why it is exactly the author/creator behind said series has just seemingly halted all of their work. Granted, I still love Berserk for what it is - though I'm a bit partial when it comes to Guts' earlier forays as the Black Swordsman rather than these most recent arcs. However, I refuse to hold any foolhardy (or indeed, extremely zealous) illusions that Kentaro Miura will ever bother to finish the truly unique tale of Berserk sometime within the near future (as his overall passion for the series itself has generally seemed to have dulled through the years, if his unnaturally long hiatuses are anything to go by, let alone release dates), if at all. Instead, it is far more likely that he will die before the end of Berserk can be seen, as so many others who have patiently waited for that well-desired triumphant or dark conclusion to inevitably come. Perhaps I'll be proven wrong (and hopefully so), but I sincerely doubt it.
dude kushans directly spoke hindi in the manga itself, and their religion and magic were distincly hindu as well, I don't know where you got the idea that they were inspired by ottomans
kushans were nomads of obscure origins, who ruled northern India (and Iran and central Asia). Hindi for them was learned, they were not hindi themselves. Why pointing it out? Ottomans have also origins in the steppes (altough much, much later).
Miura has said that he mixes and matches historical weapons, tactics, etc. to make up the world of Berserk. Some stuff is from the 1300s, some the 1500s, he goes for whats cool over what's historically accurate per se. So there is no way to "date" the world of Berserk. Still a cool video and some good stuff to think about though, great job.
He introduced the age of cannons just to give Guts a hand blaster. He expressed wanting to make a history manga but wanted more fantasy in his first attempt.
The Kushans are not Turkic, at all. They're Indian, 10,000% Indian Subcontinent. Their armor, their dress, unusual weapons, and use of Tigers and Elephants are all Indian. I know this is ahistorical as hell but there is literally no ties between them and the Ottomans beyond "They came from the east."
I highly doubt kentaro had all of this in mind when writing berserk , I think he just informed himself in some medieval warfare and how they actually were like and just wrote cultures and events based on history , the fact that there's a "100 year war" is just there because these long wars are important and remembered in our own world so we are influenced to write about long ass wars when we want to convey that some conflict in our story was important . In the same way the kushan are a mixture of various cultures of southern west asia but I doubt kentaro
@@fdumbass Well its one of those names with difficult translations. Happens with a lot of languajes based on characters. In my story books its Ganiska as you read it so,,,its complicated
Daiba, that water mage guy, also refers to Guts and Serpico as Kshatriyas, which was the warrior caste in India. I actually think it's a mix of the two, which isn't too out there since the Ottomans were loosely related to the Mughals, a Turkic tribe that invaded North India. The Kushan empire was an earlier empire that covered a similar area, and was founded by Buddhists from Central Asia, which were Indo-European. With all this in mind I'm pretty sure the Kushans in Berserk were supposed to be a mix of the Ottomans, the Mughals and the Indians. On the topic of Daiba, you remember Kundalini, too? That's a chakra you're supposed to activate with tantric practices. You know, yoga.
I love Skull Knight being Charlemagne. It makes a lot more sense than him being the historical Gaiseric. The historical Gaiseric was more of a raider than a uniting king. Though I think Miura might have wanted Skull Knight to be a mix of the best qualities of both.
17:07 Guts was surrounded. For every apostle he felled, three more seemed to take its place. All was lost. Death and damnation seemed assured... THEN THE WINGED HUSSARS ARRIVED!!!
@@heathenpride7931 lmfao when Rome feel we entered the dark ages and it brought misery over the whole continent. It wasn't "great" at all, it certainly was inevitable but not something to celebrate. The earlier roman empire was a great nation with revolutionary science and culture just like the ancient greeks. Our modern society is an abomination of nature.
jonas jonas We went into the dark ages because of Christianity and the church forcing everyone but themselves to be uneducated, conducting “witch hunts” to eliminate everyone knowledgeable person not directly under their control, just like a dictator eliminating citizens with brains that didn’t fully devote themselves to the state. They then preceded to keep all that knowledge to themselves and sparsely use it to ensure they stayed in power. That Catholic mindset of domination came from Rome itself (hence Roman Catholic), which was a mainstay from the Roman Imperialist mindset. The Romans were deadset on crushing all threats to their empire and massacred scholars such as the Celtic Druids in Britannia and the Jewish Rabbis. They then forced the populace - now devoid of their societal brain - to adopt the Roman standard of living and belief system. The Romans were a fucking abomination against nature and I celebrate their demise. Fuck your “Great Nation”
I just always imagined that Berserk was set in medieval central europe, like eastern france, southern germany, and northern italy.. Guess I was correct?
Wallatoria sounds similar to Wallachia (Southern Romania). It would make sense since said country battled the Ottomans (Prince Vlad IV, or the impaler, being a specific example). Which would make Morgar Hungary since the two nations had an alliance together.
It would make sense if the placing of the nations are as this guy says. Also you have to assume the Kushan are Ottoman. It's stretching it a lot in my opinion.
There is another thread discussing the culture of the Kushan, but regardless of their inspiration, the Kushan invasion is definitely inspired by the Ottoman invasion.
You should really consider making a series off of this. Taking manga/anime and finding their inspired source. I found this to be very interesting as a lover of history.
Geiseric is supposed to be a gaul/celt warlord (like real life Vercingetoric), mixed with some carolingian elements. The illustrations are celtic warriors and oppidums (celt forts).
alhesiad that’s why in the 90s anime they had bagpipes in the soundtrack I think guts sword is based on the Scottish claymore I think that’s why it’s as big as it is I could be way off though also during the hundred year war the Scots were mercenaries that we’re fighting along side the french
Also backing up Lith and Roderick. From wiki, "Roderick's appearance appears to be based on the character of Long John Silver from Robert Louis Stevenson's novel Treasure Island, and more specifically, the character's depiction in the 1978 anime adaptation of the same name - Takarajima. The two have similar facial features and both are experienced sea-faring men. Puck even references the resemblance while aboard the Seahorse, cementing that it is intentional."
The Franks came from _Franconia_ , in central Germany. Oh, and The Kushan Empire was a real thing. One of the Silk Road empires of Turania/central Asia.
Could be that in the Berserk world the Kushan Empire got their hands on some serious Mystic Mojo and conquered the Ottoman Empire and decided to follow the Ottoman's expansionist policy. As the Kushan's religion in Berserk seems to combine Arabic Paganism and Hinduism, and has very little of Islam in it. I think.
The Kushan's use of war elephants and strong Indian/Hindu aesthetics and terms also lends well to them not being based on the Islamic Ottoman Turks, though they do clearly share their role as the Great Scourge Of Christendom… or whatever the Holy See's faith is called in the world of Berserk.
There is one important piece of lore you have missed - Vritaniss is said to be ex-kushan holding, which looks more like Spain, especially Valencia. And the other one - obvious Indian vibe that Kushan Empire has. I myself imagine it being some sort of amalgamation between several eastern countries - Caliphate, Ottoman Empire, Persian Empire and different Indian states. Some kind of huge state that stretches from Indochina to Europe, enveloping whole India, Middle East, parts of Central Asia and parts of Europe. They sure engage in effective magical warfare and have an immortal demon-emperor to build such thing. That would lessen the problem of keeping political line straight through ages and keeping Empire's subjects in line. Something that real life empires would only imagine.
I think it would make a lot more sense for Wallatoria to be the equivalent to Wallachia (slightly east of Hungary), mainly because of the name. Wallachia also had quite a lot of history with the Ottomans, while Lithuania never even made contact with them I think. Edit: Now that I think about it, Morgar might be Moldavia or Hungary, since they're stated as "small nations" and Poland-Lithuania was absolutely massive in our timeline
I’m almost certain that morgar and wallatoria would be Moldavia and wallachia, both countries were in the far easy and were known for the hatred of the ottomans. One of the kings of Wallachia impaled so many people he’s what the dracula myth of is based on
go back and read history, they allied with the ottomans against the Catholics who would have butchered them during the inquisitions. Also Vlad the Impaler was ethnically Turkic too. They hated the catholics hell of a lot more then the Muslim Turks hence why they made their lands vassals of the Ottomans. The Ottomans didnt need to conquer those lands, their leaders submitted to the Turks voluntarily. BTW Orthodox Christians are known for their hatred of the Catholic christians. Likewise Catholics despise Orthodox Christians.
hon hon hon! But more seriously, I'm pretty sure Charlemagne spoke a Germanic tongue on a day to day basis (did the "French" language as we understand it today even exist back then?)
Actually Charlemagne spoke Latin ( vulgar latin that would go on to become french ) , franconian (old high german ) and a bit of greek . So really I think he was as much french and German...but since France formed earlier than germany I would say french anyway .
basicly charlemagne (or Karl der Große) was something like a french and german forefather country wise. At his time the concepts of french and german were only slowly beginning to form. Before him their wasnt realy anything remarkable of France or germany as we know it today. Just different tribes, some formerly occupied by rome, some not. But correct me if I'am wrong
At the time, there were a ton of languages that were widely spoken throughout France. The Occitan languages as well as some remenants of Celtic used to be spoken for a long time, but due to French becoming the standard language during the last few centuries, speakers of those languages are now quite rare. I seem to remember from somewhere that for quite a while during the High and/or Late Middle Ages, French was spoken by about one fifth of the population.
I know I'm coming almost a year late on this but, the equipment on those warriors in 6:40 isn't early medieval equipment. They are most likely supposed to be ancient Celts, looking at their Boar-Standards, and especially that high crested helm worn by the guy 2nd from the right, looks really similar to those worn by northern italic celtic tribes.
6:45 the horned helms, boar iconography, tunics, short swords and most especially the standards (carnyx horns) are all Iron Age Celtic. But the empire that lasts only as long as the king is a pretty good Charlemaign parallel.
The ruins could be a leftover of a previous empire, like for example even today there are remnants of the Roman Empire and the Greek City States, like the Coliseum, the Parthenon, the Roman roads, etc.
Actually there was really an empire named kushan in India. It came after maurya empire and ruled a huge chunk Of north India and the most popular king was kanishka from whom ganishka is derived.
I wish berserk would get a live action adaptation like imagine a berserk with game of thrones budget it would be dope and probably get more people into the manga. Also lith would just be England and Wales because Scotland and Ireland were still independent during the 100 year war
Well done for the work you put in this video. Besides the Kushan being more of a mix between Ottomans and Moghols, which many comments already picked up, I don't see why all of your geographical choices make chronological sense but for Chuder and Midland being West and Middle Francia. This division immediately led to further fragmentation and it is only to the price of intense internal struggles with local leaders that the kings of Western Francia unified a country. They had no time to really fight with the remnants of Middle Francia that quickly integrated the Holy Roman Empire. All the other countries you identified cohabited more or less during the 15th and 16th centuries, which seems in line with many of Miura aesthetic choices. It looks to me that, for the sake of your narrative, Chuder and Midland would rather be identified as Habsburg Spain and late Capetian France. The rivalry between Francis I and Charles V that brought unprecedented continent conflicts where mercenaries, the Holy Seat, central Europe and the Ottoman Empire all played a role.
It could be that Chuder/Tuder is actually both Western France and Great Britain, as the possible result of GB winning the Hundred years' war. Iith may be Norway, Iceland or Ireland.
6:53 the equipement is clearly bronze age celtic (helmets directly inspired by arcgeological finds) . You can see the typical celtic carynx warhorn and an celtic Oppidium (fortified city) .
Geiser-Reich, eh? BTW Gaiseric/Geiseric/Genseric is actually a real person from history, look him up. He was the king of the Vandals and the Alans who established the Vandal kingdom in the 5th century, which also was a major trouble for the western roman empire.
Although I find the thought of the Skull knight speaking with a French accent rather amusing, you have to consider that Charlemagne lived at a time way before modern France, thus the way he spoke would be drastically different than a modern french person and so would his accent. I mean, he was king of the Franks, not king of France. Even when I look at french texts from the late medieval period (I'm french by the way) it is incredibly different from modern french, to the point that it is practically gibberish to the average french person... And Charlemagne was 800 years before that, so you can imagine how different his speech would have been!
Most of you probably know this already but Guts is based on a real German mercinary knight, Gotz von Berlichingen. He had his arm from the elbow down blown off by a canon and had a prosthetic made that had mechanisms so he could hold a sword or a quill. It was the most advanced prosthetic of the time. I believe he was alive around 1550.
I really have to disagree with this theory. First, the warriors shown in Gaiseric's period are in my opinion far more similar to those of keltic and early germanic warriors. Mainly based on the weapons they are using, and those poles adorned with heads (dont remember the name of those) The fortress in the back is also much more similar to an oppidum. But the main thing I have to disagree with the setting of Midland in the middle Francia, is because the ground zero for the explosion, which would have to be Wyndham's location, is nowhere near that location. If you draw a line between the fjords of Norway and the western cape of Asia Minor, the ground zero would be somewhere on that line. Which would put it somewhere closer to Prague, Bratislava, Vienna or even Warsaw or Krakow. There is also the fact that we have structures from Rome and Vatican located in Wyndham, and the Mosque-Cathedral of Córdoba is fused together with Palazzo Vecchio of Florence, one being from Spain, the other from Italy, in the palace of Vritannis. While trying to figure out the borders of the berserk universe is really fun, I think it is contra-productive to try and force it into specific historical borders.
Bo this is such a great video, I'm also a student and admirer of History and you are making a lot of sense, I can't stop nodding my head in approval, like, yep, yep this is correct, and this too, and this and that
I think you can't compare them because their work is too different. If we only speak about writing tho, i think Martin have the upper hand because he created a more complex world with a more restrictive media (book vs manga). Don't get me wrong, berserk is a real piece of art and it is really hard to find something as meticulously crafted but i think the world of Martin fall into this categroy. On the other hand i think Miura did a better job at exploring the motivations and psyche of his characters but since there is far less characters in berserk than Asoiaf it is also easier to do that. So i would say that if a comparison is to be made, it would probably fall flat shortly because both writers have their strenght and weaknesses in their method of storytelling. In the end it is more a matter of what you prefer than what is better and if you like berserk more than asoiaf, that's great. Ps : Sadly something both writers have in common is that they will probably never finish their stories
@@clementbeziat7198 but berserk is a mix of european history, hellraiser, devilman and tolkien.( miura inspired himsalef from all of them (except for tolkien idk about it))
@@burner1303 it seems I'm the only one who thinks George is a shit writer. Half of the shit he writes is useless world building or everyone dies at the end.
Will be nice that you can do a video about where the arcs of Berserk could locate following your idea of this map... Or also from where are some main Apostles...
6:40 The helmets (if you omit the horns which are romanticized like for the vikings) and the weird horses head (actually a windpipe called a carnyx) are typical from gaullish equipment in the times of the roman conquest :)
Farnese is the name of an influencial medieval Italian Family Magnifico is likely a reference to Lorenzo "Il Magnifico" De' Medici (Lawrence the Magnificent), famous lord of Florence Poliziano was a scholar at the court of Lorenzo Giorgio and Federico (the rest of the Vandimion family iirc) are two very common Italian names, well used already in medieval times
It seems like the architecture and some of the design of Gaiseric at least take inspiration from Alexander the Great, since Miura pulls some things from different time periods here. Great video!
All the similarities between Berserk's world and the real world are quite evident, but I wouldn't say they're literally the same. It's just a matter of some heavy inspiration, like in Warhammer fantasy and Attack on Titan. Also, some people have already pointed this out but Morgar and Wallatoria most likely have more in common with Hungary than the Polish-Lithuanian Commonwealth. Morgar sounds like Magyarország which means Hungary in, well... Hungarian. And Wallatoria sounds similar to Wallachia which was a Hungarian vassal state in what is now Romania. Also, the Kushan empire is based more on a real ancient Indian state called...the Kushan empire. Ganishka is named after a Hindu deity called Ganesha, for example
A small addition to the identity of Skull Knight (and by identity I mean accent:) Charlemagne, while he was emperor of the francs, was a Karling. The Karling Dynasty actually comes from Karl Martell, who was Belgian. And anything I’ve searched of their actual ethnicity says they were of Germanic descent. So there go some other accents you can try if French isn’t to your taste!
The timeline of Berserk seems to take inspiration in late rennaisance and early modern period around 15th-early 17th century although the 2012 series of berserk depicts itself around the transitional period of armour, 14th century
You should've mentioned how the Kushan used demon spawn from Midland women in their armies, which parallels to the Ottoman exploitation of the occupied Christian peoples by the Devshirme system
-In the Golden age arc, it is said that the baron in Dolrey castle is the commander of northern Chuda, so maybe Chuda is south of Midland ? - On the panel with Gaiseric, the warriors are clearly gauls, you can see some Carnyx and in the background it’s an Oppidum, it’s antic, not medieval. As you said, this Empire is 1000 years old and the architecture is roman/hellenic, so it’s more likely the roman Empire. - Like others said, Kushan are clearly hindi, but in the geopolitical setting they clearly take the role of the Ottomans.
On elf island we get more reference to real world agency in the form of warriors called "Veykhins" invading from the North... and matching armor and weaponry of course
About what you said around 7:00 ... well, the men in the manga have carnyxes (the big boar headed trumpets) and are clearly attacking an oppidum (like Old Oswestry for example), so the action would take place somewhere between 400 BC and 0. One of them even has a villanovian helmet, which is from around 700 BC... also, some helmets seam to be Spangenhelms, which means they come from the early middle ages as you said. Considering this, I think Miura wanted to represent the whole pre-Gaiseric world in one picture, with elements from different contexts in antiquity. The point was not to represent an accurate scene but to evoke the pre-imperial world in just one picture. Also, Gaiseric is named after Geiseric, a Vandal king who has sacked Rome in 455 AD... maybe if berserk really take place in our world, it would just be a world where the roman empire never existed.
I see Randel as fitting more of as the Netherlands of Berserk; gained independence from a greater empire though a fairly recent war(Dutch War of Independence from Spain), is a republic, and is basically a giant swamp. I also see one big issue with placing Valancia as Genoa, or any other Italian(or even just Mediterranean in general) city, is that that would mean that the Seahorse would have had to pass the Straights of Gibraltar to get to Skellig(unless the island in in the Mediterranian, which doesn't seem to fit with the vary Gaelic stylings of the Sea God's island), and it's implied that the Sea God's island is the only land the crew see during the voyage. this necessitates that this port be on the Atlantic coast.
Gaiseric seems almost like a vague "best hits" album of some specific imperial leaders over time. It could also be argued that his story alludes to Alexander the great. In fact while I can see where the helmets and armor in the one image of the past empire could be norman/frankish I feel the way in which the cuirass is build seems closer to the Linothorax armor of that period of Greek history, but also it appears to be built of individual plates like a Coat of Plate from the late crusade period of the middle ages. To be fair I don't think you are wrong necessarily on your theory. What I would posit though is that Muira made the imagery vague in terms of time period to encompass the way in which scholar attribute the retelling of mythology from ancient and early middle ages periods. By being vague it could be 500 years ago, or longer and the legends surrounding Gaiseric could be based on the kernel of truth but has had both retelling and perhaps the deeds of forgotten heroes attributed to this legend.
I've seen it stated many times that Miura once confirmed in an interview that Midland is Denmark and Chuder is France, but I'm unable to find the actual interview.
0:12 I remember seeing that shot and the Moon and going "wait, what? Space exists in this fantasy setting?! ...And the moon's relative position to Earth is still magical in nature?"
I went to read the golden age arc and the arc after that. Seeing a skullnight as French and speaking in that nazle tone. It made it so weird and hilarious. "Our paths will cross again, Struggler." I can never read it normally again.
the franks were quite germanic in their history and it takes a long time for the ruler of a region to be around the same culture as the home region. also, their capital was in aachen
I think Wallatoria and Morgar are Wallachia and Moldavia, because they were more involved, smaller(Poland Lithuania are too big), they sound more similar and are closer to the Kushan.
Gaiseric is pronounced GUY-ZER-RICK; it also happens to have been the name of the historical leader of the Vandals in the 5th Century AD, Gaiseric, who conquered Roman North Africa (most of modern day Morocco, Tunisia and the Libyan coastline) alongside his son, Huneric.
Franks weren't quite French, Geiseric also existed. And the Kushans being the Ottomans makes literally no sense. Not only did there exist a real Kushan Empire in our world, the Berserk one also has Hindu elements, and not a lick of Islamic. The Kushan Empire in Berserk probably just got extremely lucky somehow and conquered its way west whilst somehow staying stable and not falling apart. I don't think they could've been driven into Anatolia, they would be absorbed by the Anatolian cultures rather than the other way around, I think it's gotta be a contiguous empire going all the way to India.
