Healing from complex trauma and PTSD. The power of love.
Have you ever noticed how Guts fought and risking his life because he wanted to win, especially in the golden age arc? See 100 Man Slayer, see Wyald.
Now if you look at berserker armor chapters and onwards, he fights because he has to if he wants Casca be safe.
At Vritannis, he only fought the Daka because there was no other way than to slay through them. Guts with the help of Zodd then defeated Ganishka because he was a threat to the journey. After that, he’s even rejecting Zodd.
Similar can be said about the sea god. Letting the sea god alive during the festival would have risked the sea horse and everything that’s inside getting eaten. Here too, a threat to the journey.
Guts telling Zodd to get the fuck outta his face is pretty savage though.
Guts found something he loves more than fighting and that shit is heart warming
Femto commented on feeling the demon infant’s fear for his parents, so we know the infant always seeked to protect them and that’s also exactly what the moonlight child did with Guts and Casca every time he appeared
(the demon infant also knew that Guts loved Casca dearly, that’s why he warned him about going to save Casca, and so does the moonlight child, since that’s she he used to bring Guts back from the berserk mode twice)
he’s notan envoy of Danan, Gedfryn confirmed as much in ch344
bonus: like mother, like son?
(Side note but whenever he materialized, Casca acted more rational and like an adult than when he wasn’t around: she would feed him or be scared of him climbing up, when usually she couldn’t even eat by herself or realize whenever she did something dangerous)
So anyway, it’s nothing new that there are too many similarities between the demon infant and the moonlight child, which is why a lot of readers (not everyone, I’m aware of that) think the two are the Gutsca baby.
Previously I proposed that the moonlight child could be some kind of ‘incarnated dream’ of the demon infant, but it’s not certain that it would make sense with the child disappearing inside of the World Tree, which is a “dragon’s road” between different realms? At the same time, in vol28, the World Tree wasn’t a thing yet either so…¯_(ツ)_/¯
These days now though I’m wondering more generally about what if the moonlight child is the demon infant’s ego?
Because this would solve why he can only materialize corporeally during the full moon, “the nights magical forces are at their strongest”, while the demon infant remains Femto’s vessel at any given time.
In other words, Femto possesses the body of the demon infant in order to exist in the corporeal world, but the child’s ego disappears/disappeared:
either after what happened in vol22 (because Femto found him to be a liability after baby literally influenced him to go save Casca for example)
or only when the full moon comes because strong magical forces give him the chance to materialize elsewhere to see his parents.
That could explain why he appears/disappears randomly exactly where Guts and Casca are, as well as why he’d be naked when showing up. What I mean is that I doubt the moonlight child exists corporeally elsewhere aside from the full moon where he is with Casca and Guts.
Besides, I find the way the moonlight child appears to Guts when in Berserk mode is quite similar to what Schierke saw the first time Guts used the armor:
And so I’m wondering if the similarities aren’t on purpose.
It’s also obvious that the moonlight child is related to Light in general, if just as the light bringing Guts back when he lost himself to the armor’s power, which is why I also proposed previously that he may be the real hawk of light that everyone sees in Griffith 2.0.
Another important point to mention is that the moonlight child apparently grew up in just one lunar cycle and there again, I wonder if this isn’t related to how Femto’s power is rapidly expanding, like with the World Tree for example.
The more Femto achieves victory, the more his influence and thus probably his power grow (and the more chaos grows closer), so if the moonlight child is linked to the demon infant who himself is Femto’s vessel, then this might explain why he’s visibly growing up along with Femto’s influence over the human world.
I guess this point might also explain why the second time the moonlight child
could remind us of Griffith 2.0 (if just with the hair), which is in my opinion one way that Sensei has to hint that the moonlight child is related to Griffith 2.0…
who, again, is the result of Femto fusing with the demon infant’s flesh.
Finally, Sensei creating two entities for just one character (demon infant + moonlight child = Gutsca baby) would make sense considering certain… upcoming problematics, like, when Femto does get married to Charlotte for example which should probably be soon in the narrative.
I mean, the body Femto is inhabiting is the demon infant’s, the body of Guts and Casca’s child who should be like… 3 years old???
So in case something like a wedding night happens, well, I’d rather Sensei found a way to make it clear that Femto is 100% the one who has sex with Charlotte instead of the child himself, if you know what I mean? The moonlight child being everything that used to be the demon infant (so his ego), besides his own flesh that now belongs to Femto, could solve this.
Same for when Guts and Casca will ultimately face Femto in order to kill him. That way there could be hope left for their child’s survival.
An ego represents a person fully enough in any case, as we could see with Guts’ when he used the armor for the very first time:
That’s why I’d enjoy the idea!
I hope it was clear enough considering how complex the universe of Berserk is. Thanks for reading!
Hi Anon! Okay so, no offense, I already did a post on the topic in the past, but I feel like there is something that’s amiss in your reasoning otherwise you possibly wouldn’t have reached these conclusions.
So first thing first, Guts doesn’t not love his son. Especially after the tower of conviction arc. And I’m sure of this because…
he couldn’t kill him from the moment the Skull Knight made him realize that this was his baby.
Afterwards, I agree with you, Guts’ behavior with his baby was a clear parallel to Gambino’s despicable attitude towards Guts himself, the difference being that we have to consider how Guts’ trauma from the Eclipse factors into this. Look…
After this happened, Guts went on this hellish journey to pursue revenge and target every damn thing from the underworld that the brand would attract. That’s how he became the Black Swordsman and all this hatred and violence he lived with for several years is what ultimately gave birth to “the beast of darkness” within himself.
All that to say, because of the Eclipse, Guts’ hatred (and fear) of anything demonic is the reason his behavior towards his own demonic baby was particularly aggressive. That being said, his baby is also the only one Guts could never kill and not just when he was born…
…and that during a part of Guts’ life where he wouldn’t trust or care about or depend on anyone but himself.
Then the conviction arc happened, but that’s when the baby warned him about Casca, which changed everything between them…
…because Guts definitely realized that it’s thanks to their child that he managed to rescue Casca.
From this point onward, between what the baby did for them and also Guts switching objectives after getting Casca back and new friends in his life, he started to show regret about his child’s fate…
which proves in my opinion that Guts does love his baby. And this breaks the parallel with Gambino indeed, because Guts having mixed feelings all this time about his son, despite the baby being (in theory) demonic, is probably related to how he suffered from the lack of parental love as a child too.
So I think it’s important to always consider what part of the story you would include this kind of reasoning in, because Guts’ attitude/feelings towards his child definitely changed throughout the story. There is even a lot to bet that, once Guts learns that Femto was given his baby as a vessel, he’ll be extremely pissed off at Griffith again.
Also to add, if you believe in the theory that demon infant => moonlight child like I do, I’d say that the child’s apparently wary attitude towards Guts is the consequence of Guts’ previous behavior towards his demon counterpart…
…just like the reason he clings so much to Casca is possibly because when he was a demon he could never approach her due to the brand hurting her.
However once again…
our little boy here is clever and curious (”all children yearn for their parents”), so he totally played a little game to see if his dad would yell at him should he annoy him just a little like he did in the past…
but I’d say that what this boy saw of his parents’ attitude towards him after this little test…
…pleased him a lot, enough so maybe that he’d then make sure to constantly help them the two times he materialized during the full moon.
TL;DR yes, Guts initally was very aggressive towards his own child, but in my opinion, rather than no love, that was the result of the trauma brought by the Eclipse, since things got better between them from the moment his son helped him get Casca back.
Afterwards, Guts was even shown to be thinking about his baby, wondering how he was doing (since he doesn’t know yet about him becoming Femto’s vessel), and overall I’d say that Guts’ previous attitude bears no real consequence to his relationship with his son because:
Femto mentioned feeling the demon infant being afraid for both his parents’ in vol22
the moonlight child, who is most likely what’s left of the demon infant after Femto’s rebirth, tested the water with his dad and seems to be comfortable enough with the situation that he would save him plenty of times afterwards.
I hope it helps Anon! Seriously, Griffith did fuck everything up for the entire Gutsca family, but it seems that, no matter what, these three (Guts, Casca and Baby) will always manage to watch out for one another. :)) Let’s hope it will last!
…because the Berserker’s armor is to be used with caution. ://
Have you never seen this illustration that Sensei made for the lulz about Berserk within universe 20 years later?
Well, look at Guts being older than everyone because he keeps using the armor too much. xD This illustration is a joke but the issue depicted is real: the armor is very useful but dangerous.
That being said, I do agree with you that the trip to Skellig is possibly about more than just bringing Casca back. Originally, the whole journey there was only for Casca’s sake, but now that they finally arrived, I’d say we could stay there for a while and for other reasons.
The first reason is that the magic community took a hard blow because of Griffith
…and the remaining sorcerers are possibly interested in fighting back against him one way or another.
The other reason is Guts himself: there is what you proposed indeed, but besides the physical changes, Guts has so much to solve.
there is what Slan did to him (the wound to his ethereal body, I don’t think it was ever 100% healed iirc?)
and there is the beast of darkness (that is staying low for now), which is related to his own trauma regarding the Eclipse
Casca is not the only one who needs to face what happened during the Eclipse.
In fact, Guts’ sanity so far rested on the only hope that Danan might be able to bring the woman he loves back. He clang so much onto it that he even disregarded his revenge against Griffith to will himself into trying to get her back. And even if he’s constantly reminding himself of what the Skull Knight said on the subject, I’m pretty sure a part of him is hoping Skully was wrong.
So now that Casca is back, no matter how she and Guts will behave around each other, Guts is without a goal and, for a man as tormented as him, I believe that can be extremely threatening (”hello darkness my old friend”).
That’s why I think Guts could have his own personal moment on Skellig where he might finally agree to look back onto everything that happened, in order to finally learn to cope too. Besides, if not on Skellig, where/when is he ever going to get the chance to reflect onto all that he went through?
Besides Guts and Casca, I also guess that their time on Skellig could trigger development for the rest of their friends: Farny and Schierke could train a little with other witches for example?
More than anything though, I wonder how likely it would be for Griffith’s army to target Skellig Island next. I mean, I still can’t give an explanation to this…
because I doubt Isma’s mom was worried about her daughter getting into trouble with Danan’s people or the sorcerers, so… Well, since Griffith targeted a lot of spirit woods previously (like Flora’s), who knows what he might have planned for Danan’s kingdom?
The fact we even switched to him recently in the narrative must also be for a reason, but it’s not like he’s getting really slowed down by other enemies…
…so eventually -maybe after he marries Charlotte?- he could decide to attack Skellig Island while Guts, Casca and their friends are still there.
Still on the same idea, but I just recently made a post about Guts having a tie to Elves according to the Skull Knight and this could also be expanded on while Guts stays on Skellig, especially if he ends up having to protect them should Griffith launch an attack.
Finally, an attack by Griffith could also lead to the Skull Knight showing up once more (since he’s the foe of all inhumans) and I find this would be extremely relevant considering that…
this is what Puck once thought about him (vol 18).
TL;DR everyone fighting on Skellig could be a way to conclude the arc on Skellig? And until we get there, I guess we could focus on Guts’ own trauma as well as Casca slowly getting used to being back, while Griffith chases monsters around, possibly gets married and decides that he will target Skellig next.
That’s my take on it. Rather uncertain because we switched to Griffith and don’t know why exactly for the moment, so we’ll need more content to be surer!
I hope it answers your question Anon. Thanks again for the kind words and have a lovely day. ❤
Hi Anon! Not sure I 100% understand what you’re asking so feel free to tell me if that’s not what you meant.
Of course it depends on where you’re at in the story, since the cast does get bigger with every arc, but as of the latest update, yes there are different groups of characters that we can follow in the story.
There is Guts’ and Casca’s party, currently on a place called Skellig Island…
There is Griffith’s army (the villains, so to speak) that we’re currently following:
And we had a few recurring secondary characters that we could follow sometimes here and there in the story, but recently they all formed one group…
…in order to escape Griffith and to possibly rejoin later with Guts and Casca.
We might follow other recurring secondary characters in the future (I’m thinking of the city of Vritannis in particular), but so far there are “only” three groups of characters.
I hope that’s what you were asking about. Have a nice day!
Berserk fandom: Casca will never wear a dress! Give her the armor!
Canon Casca:
Idk how much more clear she should say it that she LIKES dresses, but can’t afford to wear them on a battlefield and is insecure that she doesn’t look good when wears them.
She is obviously pleased and relieved to hear Guts dispels her suspicions.
Move on from whatever misogynistic bs you built around the character.
THE NEW BERSERK CHAPTER WAS AWESOME! A good belated birthday gift for me. (^3^)/
First thing first, it’s definitely possible we’re on hiatus yes, but when it comes to having a chapter the following month or going on hiatus, either way it’s usually clearly written on the last page and yet this time it wasn’t so
¯_(ツ)_/¯
are we on hiatus/is Sensei just taking a shorter break this time? I’m not sure for now.
As for Casca, it always was obvious, considering how big her trauma was, that she wouldn’t automatically be okay with everything upon waking up, especially since the Skull Knight had warned us (and Guts) from the beginning:
Thus it’s normal that now she needs time to process and cope with remembering everything, even more so when she described herself post-Eclipse as “Elaine”, a woman she initally sees as being distinct from her…
…at least until the memories start flooding back to her.
However, we didn’t spend almost 20 volumes on getting her back to have her being unable to cope with what happened during the Eclipse again, so I’m sure that with time, comfort and talking it through with Guts
(because he too still has a lot of issues that he completely locked deep within himself), she’ll find a way to slowly feel better.
Speaking of Guts, for now I disagree with the general idea I could see in the fandom after the new chapter came out that she’s going to associate him with being a reminder of the Eclipse and that she’ll be disgusted/scared of him again
for a while. I mean, of course it’s a possibility but frankly, since the memories were flooding back to her before she even saw Guts, I’d rather say that he simply was the trigger to Casca remembering the Eclipse and what happened with Griffith.
TBH, Casca has no real reason to be mad at Guts when it comes to the Eclipse. She already chided him for leaving the Hawks before they went to get Griffith back and anyway, Griffith is the one who decided to sacrifice everyone and hurt her and Guts.
So at first I guess she could irrationally be pissed at Guts for bringing her back and for having to cope with everything when she couldn’t before, but I wouldn’t bet for this to last. Similarly, she could understandably be mad at Guts for what almost happened during vol23, but it’s something that he already loathes himself for + anyway, as a parallel to when they made love the first time…
it would make sense that they find a way to both get over it.
Don’t get me wrong, I’m not in any way trying to dismiss Casca’s trauma, or Guts’ for that matter, but narratively speaking they’re stronger together when it comes to facing Griffith, as Guts’ recent sanity 100% resting on his hope to see the woman he loves coming back is proving. Besides, Guts and Casca becoming very close is what led Griffith to become beyond pissed at them in the first place, which is also why he did what he did the moment he became Femto, so it’d make sense that together they strive to be Griffith’s downfall.
Anyway, all that to say that Casca coming back isn’t supposed to kill the Gutsca dynamic forever or to make either character stagnate. They’ll both have some tough time becoming as close as they used to be and the end of ch355 is literally leading us to that, but ultimately they’ll find a way, if just because…
there is still someone who binds them and that’s without mentioning all the previous foreshadowing of Casca taking both her sword…
and her mantle of leader again.
TL;DR tough awakening for Casca for sure, but she’ll slowly find a way to cope with everything for her sake and the sake of the people she still loves. 🙂
Sorry for rambling! xD I hope it answers the few questions you had about the new chapter!
midnight-in-town 