Regrets of a Foolish King (Berserk) 

A moment of silence to all the strugglers who didn't make it to this chapter

Really just continues the parallels between SK and Guts. They're both going down in history as horrible men whilst their hated enemies get treated as saints.

This chapter really REVITALISED the entire community

The Skull Knight is such a sweetheart for rescuing Guts AND Casca. He didn't want the same thing to happen to them that happened to him

When I first read this chapter I just sat there for a solid 40min re-reading that scene

Wow. I just got that. Skull Knight's legacy is mirrored by his existence; an empty version of all his glory. People remember him as a Demon King and a Mad Man. But not all his sacrifice and his humanity. Because he lost his battle with Void. Void then shaped the world and its history further destroying whatever Skull Knight had left. Now, he's doomed to walk a long road of regret with nothing but his physical power. His armor carries nothing inside much like his legacy carries no more meaning.

Hey everyone. Apologies for the 7 month Hiatus. Combined with Lockdown, getting a new job, mental health struggles and just general life stuff I found it really difficult to actually make a video. I had around 2-3 scripts that I canned because I thought they weren't good enough for release. I'm feeling better now and want to make this a lot more frequent. I want to say how much I appreciate everyone sticking around. My videos still have a lot of engagement despite me being inactive and it amazes me the amount of support I've been getting. I may be a bit rusty after this long hiatus but hope you enjoy the video regardless!"

I’m surprised you didn’t touch on how similar Skull Knights girl looks looks to Danann. She even has “elven” imagery all over her jewelry.

ITS A MOUTH I REALISE THE ERROR OF MY WAYS LET ME BE A BIG DUMB IN PEACE

You said the woman Skull Knight is holding can’t be related to Void becoming a god hand because she is still alive with the brand, but I thinks that’s exactly what it is. Remember Casca and guts are branded and yet Griffith became Femto without them being sacrificed. Also the backdrop of the landscape being one massive brand is the kingdom becoming THE sacrifice that made Void. So I believe this event is indeed the moment that created Void. You see Void is in the centre as the main Godhand, like Femto in his eclipse, perhaps another indication. It’s strongly indicated that Skull Knights demise was in line with Voids creation, just like Guts and Griffith becoming Femto.

it all looks like a Ceremony for Void. remember, femto was transformed without guts and Casca being sacrificed

I Love how skull knight and Guts are humans that Just refuse to surrender on a fight that they can(not) win (yet?)

+ Void was seemed to be the new leader of an era, just like Femto as the last member & the leader of Fantasia era. + SK is King Gaiseric is pretty much confirmed imo. + Now my there is a high possibility that the Holy See/White Falcon (pseudo christian) religion is very much Void's creation as he was the mysterious sage/prophet, sacrificing a whole kingdom to be godhand member. + SK lover that being branded/sacrificed is likely a princess/queen of elven or fairy or even an extinct race. That's my best guess. her jewelry also have crescent moon symbol, akin to the symbol of moon goddess Selene/Luna. + MAYBE, this SK memories depicted a PROTO GODHAND era, where the ultimate force/magic of evil yet being established clearly. It's when we finally get the births of behelits & apostles for the age of dwindling magics (gone into rigid system beliefs like white hawk religion). Here is a possible comparison between god hands: 1. Void/Femto: themes about faith, religions, & messiah complex 2. grape-like female god hand/slan: themes about sexual desires, between fertility/motherhood & sadomasochism 3. O face lion/Ubik: themes about manipulation, deception, hungry for control?? 4. Crystal Zeus- Ganishka/Conrad: Stoistic, wrath, natural disasters, plagues & diseases?? 5. Mouth head & skeleton body: empty, braindead, undead, famine, desperation?? (also, kinda remind me the state of Griffith after being tortured for years/before his eclipse. No face, just dried mouth & broken body)

Plot Twist: Void is the main villain and consumed/killed the other godhand members over hundreds of years, explaining why Gaiseric has been unable to kill him after such a long time, and why Void is the only member still present from what seems to be the original godhand. After all his brain's big enough he probably has some sort of master plan tbh

You know it's a good chapter when Spired returns!

Forget my rakshas point. I forgot that Rakshas mask is just that.. a mask. It gets replaced when Silat breaks it so that's a moot point.

My theory is that these four God Hand members are the originals, and unlike the current reincarnates, may have always existed, like the Four Kings. My reasoning is that they lack the human/demon fusion designs of the current God Hand, they look too abstract. Also one of them looks an awful lot like the Venus of Willendorf, a goddess statue dating back to the stone age, which would imply that these entities have been around for most of human history. It also hints at why, despite weaving mans destiny, the God Hand began only 1000 years ago.

The Berserker armor is the perfect encapsulation of if you want to fight the darkness, you also must become it

This manga is an experience. A moment of silence for those who’ve lost their lives before this chapter came out 😔 Edit: Rest In Peace kentaro Miura, you absolute legend. Your works will continue to inspire artists & storytellers alike..!

Want to respectfully disagree. The scene is absolutely an eclipse sacrifice.

This is clearly Void's Eclipse. The beings he is standing next to are probably Godhand as well, but the difference here might be that they were never human before, unlike Void (theory: Void being the first human to undergo the ceremony). Their absence from the rest of the story makes it clear that they were replaced somehow. Either Skull Knight actually succeeded in killing four Godhand members (badass), Void replaces them, or something else entirely. The monsters here don't seem to be Human Apostles, but merely monsters of the astral world (similar to the Sea God, for example). Both Gaiseric and the High Priestess die here in this memory, and it is heavily implied that Flora is the one who brought them back. Flora placed Gaiseric's soul (or something similar) into the Skull Knight armor created by Hanarr. How she brought the High Priestess back is unclear, but it seems like some sort of reincarnation where the High Priestess became the Flower Storm Monarch Danann. Both are no longer human, being only remnants of their former selves. This forbidden act would have resulted in her banishment from Elfhelm, which is why she resided in the tree that Guts met her in.

This chapter was exactly what we all needed after being starved for ages. Despite how short it is, it's brought a lot of life back to this community of strugglers

Something to take note of is the amount of angels that came down that erased SK's kingdom in a single night. One said 5 angels, but another corrected and said 4 angels. This was likely Void's ascend to Godhood. The brand is on the foreheads of all the skulls in the tower of conviction, which is strange... unless it was possibly another artificial ritual like the previous arc. Maybe the previous Godhands were incarnated one at a time then replaced

8:13 it only has a mouth, though it is sideways.

Historically, Gaiseric was a Vandal king who sacked Rome at it's end and the term to vandalize became a bad thing, as destroying something. I like how at the end he said that Gaiseric was remembered as a bad king, which in reality he really was a cruel one

About the "vagina" apostle. Before you mentioned it i thought it was a sideway mouth more than a vagina. Like, he communicated that way, with a sideway mouth speaking by itself. It's more creepy and makes more sense than a random female organ placed on its face :)

I think this memory is from the king's final battle with the Godhand. The end of his journey. He killed 4 of them but lost his humanity in return.

What if Skull Knights memory is Void’s induction into the godhand, like with Griffith? What if they had a parallel, with void being one of Skull Knights closest allies, and then sacrificing everything for his ambition. It would explain the brand of sacrifice on the womans arm in the memory, and why Skull Knight went berserk in the past. Skull Knight could be the Guts that never came out of black swordsman mode, it would explain his eternal hate for the godhand with him being “one who opposes the five angels”

I'm gonna cry, my favorite RU-vidr

The jokes in this video were lackluster, but it's okay Spired, you will get points for effort.

What really interests me is the fact that the godhand's ranks have changed over time. What happened to the old godhand that we see in this chapter? Were they somehow killed? Did they simply choose to be reincarnated in new forms? Considering that before Femto was initiated there were only 4, does this indicate that that the godhand can/have been defeated, at least partially? Also, I think it's worth talking about the similarities that each godhand member shares with gods of various pantheons. While the current godhand members mimic Christian-esque sins/disasters mimicking the Christian-esque following of humanity in the story at this point (Conrad = plague, Slan = adultery/sadomasochism, Ubik = greed, Femto = pride/idolatry), the old godhand share similarities with seemingly Greco-Roman pantheons, which based off of the Hellenic art seen on Gaiseric and his lover, might reflect the beliefs of that age as well. We can immediately recognize the Zeus/Poseidon and the archaic Venus figure, while perhaps the remaining two godhands are linked to Erebus/Nyx (gods born directly from chaos, representing darkness and night, which is thematically similar to the design of the 4th old godhand) and Dionysus (notice how the 2nd old godhand's face is much larger than the rest of his body and his expression is very exaggerated - just like a Greek comedy mask, which relates this godhand to Dionysus who was a god of theater, but also according to Wikipedia "The cult of Dionysus is also a "cult of the souls"; his maenads feed the dead through blood-offerings, and he acts as a divine communicant between the living and the dead. He is sometimes categorized as a dying-and-rising god" which totally makes sense for a godhand member). What's interesting is the duality of each member/god pair - the Christian sins/disasters are related to indulgence and the wrath it brings, while the Greco-Roman figures represent gods who are known to have vicious uncontrollable tempers despite being protectors. This would also explain how the godhand always accrue followings of apostles, because they tempt humanity with protection, yet the godhand themselves embody the dual nature of these sinful themes of plague, adultery, greed, pride, idolatry, vengeance, lust, sloth, and reckless abandon. Perhaps returning to the first paragraph, could the ties between human belief/faith and the godhand indicate a weakness of the godhand? That they are formed out of the need for human faith for higher beings, but once humanity changes beliefs (Greek to Christianity) the godhand can no longer exist as nobody believes in them/their values anymore?

Okay I know that this video came out a year ago and I don't know if someone will read but here's my theory. Skull Knight might indeed be King Gaiseric and the Druid he emprisoned is indeed Void. Skull knight used to be thirsty with power just like Griffith and built the very first Kindom which we later see Griffith saying 'Let's build a second' Skull Knight past life might have been a mix between Griffith and Guts. And the druid sensed bad in Skull Knight and most likely knew dark magic and is the one responsible for sending the 4 angels which I believe are 4 god hand members with void becoming the 5th. During the destruction of Gaiseric (SK) kingdom he probably cared more about seeing his lover dying than seeing his Kingdom being destroyed so he wore the Berserker armor and it was said Gaiseric was a powerful warrior so I can imagine with the Berserker armor he was even more powerful than he already was and fought his way out of the eclipse. Because or else I don't see how he would've survived the eclipse. Just my theory tho, Skull Knight is trying to redeem himself because of the mistakes he did in his past life because he did many bad things and was punished for it

One thing I noticed is that the "female" Godhand has fins/tentacles around her neck exactly like the ones Ubik has. The left most Godhand is probably a giant like Grunbeld, the one next to him doesn't look like the horse's armor motif to me but looks like an ancient fish/dinosaur thing, the "female" Godhand is most likely based on the Artemis of Ephesus and is a "goddess" of fertility I also think that Gaiseric's "queen" looks a lot like an elf, maybe like Danann

I am so stoked to finally get some back story for skull night but... I need more lol

Yes He’s back!

I just saw this comment on a group page I was in. "Guts can only see the woman clearly is due to his right eye's blind spot"

Nietzsche's philosophy has been very influential in Berserk and I think we are now seeing the Eternal Return (which actually is much older than Nietzsche). Looks to me as if the world of Berserk is caught in a Ouroboros spiral, a gnostic world.

this is actually the only video about this chapter that wasnt producte in high speed to be the first one reporting about it with spoilers in title etc to gain as many views as possible this is just amazing to watch

One thing to say about the girl not being a sacrifice to Void's transformation. Just because we see Void as a member of the God Hand doesn't mean that she can't be a sacrifice to him. I mean, Griffith turned into Femto, but both Guts and Casca are still branded. It could still be possible that during this "eclipse" if it is one, that Gaiseric started hunting down and barreling towards the old god hand, but then turned his attention to this woman once he saw her in danger. He gets to her, but it's just too late and she's gone forever.

Elfish woman blackout begs the question of what happened right after SK died. Did the consumed armour destroy the elf? Could be an important hint with respect to armoured Guts and Casca's fear. Also the final SK quote is a nice literal callback to how SK could only materialize during the full moon night until a year before the eclipse. I think the Tower of Death, the astronomic tie to the moon, and the tie between the armour and the idea are the main missing pieces left to solving the mystery element of Berserk.

9:38 hey do you remember when the sacrifices at the bottom had the brands on their foreheads to call forth the angels? I think those were self inflicted so they could use THEMSELVES as a sacrifice. Speaking of sacrifices, doesn’t SK gf resemble an Elf to a degree? Maybe that’s why Puck senses elf aura on him

I think the reason SK attacked Void at the Eclipse Guts went through, is that the Void is the reason behind all, he could be the right hand of The Idea of Evil, it is possible that SK managed to defeat all previous God Hand members, but not Void, he could be the reason There is a new God Hand with Femto as a member.

In retrospect i have to go with Void = the Sage and what Guts sees in Ch 361 being the eclipse right after Void had become the 5th "angel"

its finallly confirmed skull knight is our lord and savior

This chapter while short was so good. Really brought back the hype for this manga.

Good use of ico sound track. Collapse is one of my favorite songs from it, recognized it immediately.

Quality over quanity huh.. wish you uploaded more :(

Just found your channel, and i am amased by the quality of the review and the attention to detail. You just got a new sub!

"The year is 1995, I had not yet been born into this world" .... Came for Berserk, left feeling mad old...

It's an honour for me to live at the time when I can see by my own eyes new chapter and already one of the best in the whole Berserk series. And I'm sure it will remain so by the end of this millenium story. Miura's bonfire is still flaming.

About the part with the lady with the brand, it still could be voids 'ascension' still and that she stayed alive long enough to witness it, much like guts and casca, i can imagine SK going absolutely ham on demons to get to her/protect her, and they were both still alive when his transformation was complete. However i feel like a massive curveball could be that SK accidently killed her while trying to protect her in the armour because as you said, the only thing he could focus on was the godhand.

I think you definitely made the most interesting video discussion about the new chapter in RU-vid atm. I have to say I am amazed at how many fine details you manage to remember from previous chapters. And I would love to hear more of your theories. Cheers.

Also, I think the Incarnation ceremony and the Eclipse was for King himself. My theory is that he found out about the "power of abyss" from his sage and wanted it for himself. Sage knowing what kind of terror it would unleash on the world refused to say anything to protect people of the kingdom, hance he was tortured. But then similarly as with Griffith, God Hand appeared and offered him a way out by revealing the secrets of abyss to the King. So he forced everyone to carve a mark on their forehead, those were the taxes mentioned in story. Eclipse then consumed the entire kingdom thats why everything is covered in tentalces, which the King was okey with until he saw mark on his wife/daughter. Then the Sage revealed that if you want to ascend to ranks of God Hand you have to sacrifice everything precious to you. Which Sage already did by telling the King about the Abyss and dooming the entire population of the kingdom. King then realized what a catastrophe he started, he was fighting to stop the Eclipse started because of him. He obviously failed, but with help of elves and dwarfs he stopped Void's incarnation into the mortal realm by incarnationing his defiance of God into the armor. Thus creating Skull Knight.

3 chapters in one year and it gave us a damn endless buffet of stuff to sift through.

Thank you for the chapter commentary , made my day.

One thing to remember: The skull knight told Guts multiple times: "You have to choose to either fight or protect her", and he was referring to the incarnation of Griffith where he had to either protect Casca or fight. With help of his friends he did both. If that memory was Void's incarnation ceremony, and skull knight chose to "fight", it's how his woman died, it's why he kept warning Guts. Dunno makes sense to me.

Your analysis of the chapters are some Of the best on RU-vid. Would love to see your analysis of the final chapter.

You put so much work into this it literally breaks me

Feels sort of simple, it mirror's Guts'/Casca's Story but isn't anything we've seen, it showcases where Guts will inevitably find himself next time he sees all 5 God Hand. King Gaiseric's kingdom was destroyed by the 4 god hand in an eclipse ceremony where the sage(void?) became the fifth member. Both Gaiseric and his beloved managed to escape the sacrifice with brands after-which SK commissioned Hanarr to make him a suit of enchanted plate armour so that he could challenge the god hand/void. While combatting them in the midst of some kind of ceremony he loses the woman he loved and falls into his final rage where the armour takes over. This sequence is sometime after the eclipse that caused Gaiseric to rampage and I imagine it's related to the death of the four unknown god hand members, perhaps at the hand of a fully lost berserking SK. I can't imagine SK used an armour that could kill him until after his kingdom was already gone, in some ways it is a behelit, where you must sacrifice in order to acquire extreme power, you'd only use it out of desperation.

11:25 During the Eclipse Femto manifested without Caska being killed yet. Remember that the brand alone is evidence of being a sacrifice, they don't necessarily need to die, as they're forever marked for the dead. So this unnamed woman still being alive after Void has manifested doesn't rule out this event as a Void-creation event. It'd just make it an even stronger parallel to Gut's experience. Although I think it's strange that Gaiseric would have berserker armor as early as his first eclipse event though, so I do think there's still big questions left as to the timeline of this. I'd argue maybe it's Gaiseric finally at the 'end boss fight' of his revenge story, facing the Void and the God Hand in the deepest levels upon the Abyss. However that'd make the brands and woman weird inclusions. Perhaps he had to offer her as a sacrifice to obtain the opportunity of this fight? I think I remember dark spirits suggesting Guts use Caska for that purpose before too. Prehaps in an ironic twist of fate, he killed her himself his berserker rage. Completing the sacrifice ceremony and cementing his fate as some form of apostle-like immortal.

8:03 this one give me a very strong nyarlathotep vibes

Maybe SK godhand were members of his inner council? Generals he considered friends? Whom he trusted above all else. And they betrayed him (that would fit with the, you have to betray someone you love) and then sacrificed his WHOLE kingdom to become godhand members... Or, it was jst void, instead of the rest.

Happy to see you back man! you might wanna start a Patreon so we can show more appreciation towards your work and passion in these exceptional breakdowns.

great review bro your channel is underrated

It seems the skull knight is pursuing the endless darkness, meaning Evil or that entity that is behind the God hand which perpetuates never endless evil. Furthermore, it might be that the skull night was going to be initiated by the God hand but changed his mind last minute 🤷🏻

I love the fact that this was a chapter with so much info but barely any words.

Welcome back man! So excited to watch this

ur videos r excellent. truly some of the best analysis on yt 🔥

So happy to see you again!

I can't help but think that the visuals of the tendrils and the woman SK is holding are somehow related to Slaan

I really hope Wits studio adapts the rest of Berserk.

About possible connection between the Tower of Albion and 1000 yers old events - Conviction happened right after Eclipse, Fifth Angel of the Hand of God was first chosen and then incarnated into flesh. So, it is possible that old Eclipse happened and Void became the Fifth Angel, then old Conviction-esque events happened and Void gained flesh. Thus the cicle of the God Hand would be: becoming of First, Second, Third and Fourth Angels, Eclipse of Fifth Angel, followed by Conviction-esque events of Fifth Angel and then some unknown yet events that would surround Falconia, after which either Fifth becomes the First with other four dying then new ones becoming in their stead, or Fifth returns to Astral World and Angels getting replaced one by one. Although Conviction itself may be something that only Girffith experienced, some completely new, non-cylclical event that would change the world as it is. After all, even with mankinds' forgetfullness and possible Idea's of Evil manipulations it is hard to believe that something like merging of Physical and Astral Worlds would not leave an immense and unforgettable mark on remembered history. After all, such merging have alreadyt led to fall of existing civilization due to scores of supernatural events.

Great video, it really helped me out!

*its been 84 years* just kidding! Glad to see you back pal. Great content like you never missed a beat. Can’t wait to see what’s next.

Now that's how you do a (Berserk)chapter analysis. Great video!

With how similar that scene of the godhand with Void in front is to how Femto’s ascension pose was I think that scene is Void undergoing his own ascension.

Great video once again. Spired! Please don't go back to hiatus again.

Best berserk channel that uploads frequently

Best analysis on yt so far. Congratulation

Such a good read down of this magna chapter ty so much :)

The artwork is insane!!! 🤩

Thank you for this new video.

Your videos are SO good.

Thanks for this one!

An here we are 27 years later... missing kentaro miura forever...

Am I the only guy who thought the scene where SK was holding someone was actually Guts holding Griffith? For a moment it looked like that, couldn't have been unintentional.

I'm glad that I wasn't the only one making the link between the the first GH mentioned and Geiseric's armor.

1:31 OGs know what Guts said, it was an F word, but it sure as heck wasn't freaks

Hey, I was thinking what we are seeing could be an eclipse, an incarnation or a third large sacrifice. The third sacrifice being the start of a new 'spiral' ''the end' I.e: Griffith/Void- are imprisoned/tortured-- then Incarnate by sacrificing the people in the tower and descend to Earth as an angel--Then have a third and final sacrifice (once gathering all the people like what Griffith is doing) to start humanity over again and return to the God hand to ensure the same thing happens in 1080 years or whatever.

Wow this is a master piece

You're back!

You also forgot to mention that skull knight 1V5 the god hand and killed four of them like a gigchad🔥🔥

I am baffled at how attention much you've payed to every single panel... I didn't knew those details even existed before you mentioned them... Great work sir!!

Such a bomb shell, didn't even know a new chapter would be coming out until RealLifeRyan mentioned it was out in a RU-vid post

Amazing video spired!!

The woman looks so similar to the Elf King Dannon and a little like Griffith...🤔

Great video bro

THIS VID WAS SO GOOD

Part of the reason i think the scenery looks so different and evokes so much of the astral plane is that Gaiserics capital got burried not just underground but deep in the astral plane too, as it reemerged alongside the World Tree when Griffith reunited the planes of reality. Maybe in order to contain the mass hysteria from the event they sealed away the capital somehow and that's why SK has no magical support to go along with the Berserker Armour, and if you go by the logic that the whole kingdom was sacrificed that would explain why only the capital was affected instead of the sacrifice wiping out the whole continent of midland, as that's the size of Gaiseric's empire

03:36 that's how skull Knight defeated 4 god hand but failed defeat Void