OMG THIS NEW CHAPTERRR. What will happen to Casca? Is she going to have a mental breakdown because of her traumatic memories? Are we on hiatus again? Soooo many questions O_O

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!

Have a nice weekend Anon. ^_^

terato-chan:

Fellas, is it gay to think about your best friend leaving you while you have sex with the princess of Midland?

omghealthdrink:

Oh man, this part is so important.

Casca literally did not care for anything that was beyond Griffith or his dream. She cared for the Hawks. She cared for Griffith. The old band of the Hawk were an extension of Griffith’s dream. She was a sword. No more, no less.

But Guts, an outsider, was always challenging how everything worked. Griffith’s word was always absolute. Until he came.

Griffith embraced that trait of his, alternating his plans according to how Guts would act in battle. Casca hated Guts for that. It made her feel worthless.

Worthless as a woman AND as a sword.

When Guts left, she should’ve been happy.

Everything will now go back the way it was.

Except that Casca wanted Guts to stay.

Not once did she think of Griffith in this entire scene.

She picked that sword up for herself.

From this point onward, Casca was no longer Griffith’s property.

Because she was no longer a sword.

Source: ichise

setsunafexia:

setsunafexia:

i never paid enough attention to this until i suddenly remembered the scene when griffith tried to raise his sword, but the sword symbolism and how it represents the casca x guts x griffith relationship and how it developed through the golden age arc and how griffith lost casca’s admiration and devotion???
i mean

i keep thinking about it

if you had to describe Casca’s role in the series, what would you say?

… 😀

The truth is…

all the characters describe her…

better than I ever could, Anon. ^3^

Frankly, one thing that always baffled me in the fandom is how some readers consider that Berserk is about Guts vs Griffith and like…

I just don’t get it?

I mean, sure, since Casca had a few years of absence, she certainly can’t have become as good as Guts did or as powerful as Femto became, when they were more evenly matched in the past, but nonetheless, Berserk always has been and will be about their trio and my proof…

is right here, because that baby is the biggest link (aside Casca and Guts surviving the Eclipse) between the three of them right now.
Besides, would Miura have spent 17 volumes reaching Skellig if Casca’s character wasn’t of the utmost significance to the story?

So I’m sorry that I can’t explain it in a different way xD but for me, Casca is one of the three main characters of Berserk and as such, her role is the same as Guts’ and Griffith’s: she’s partially the reason the story exists, thus she’ll drive the story forward until its end. 🙂

That’s my opinion and I’m afraid I’ll never agree with anyone who considers that Casca is secondary or not relevant anymore, same for the Gutsca dynamic.

I hope it answers your question, have a nice day Anon! :))

Before the Eclipse starts, Griffith said mentally to Guts: »Stay away, If you touch me right now, I’ll never again with you… » What did he mean with that ? Do you think he knew something bad was going to happen ?

Hi Anon! And good question. 🙂 I think the fact that Griffith didn’t finish his thought led to some awkward translation because the translator understandably didn’t have any way to know what Griffith meant.

However I think you’re close enough. 🙂 Upon finding the beherit again, Griffith remembered about what it meant…

…so I think he was ready to call them (remember that he was trying to kill himself just a moment before that, so he was really desperate because everything was getting out of his reach), although probably not knowing how, which is when Guts showed up.

I definitely think that a part of Griffith knew there would be bad consequences if Guts were to reach him because…

he knew of the legend surrounding what he was hoping to do.

Also, this is how Griffith was thinking about Guts, just before he was rescued:

so I think another possible interpretation would be to say that he was afraid that Guts would find a way to bring him back from the brink of despair he was currently drowning in and that, as a result, the Godhand wouldn’t answer his call.

One thing I think is very important to understand about Griffith’s character is that there is no doubt, even though he saw most of them as his pawns, that only a real and deep desperation led him to sacrifice all of his comrades, because that was the only way he had left not to let his dream get out of reach (Griffith’s dream >>> everything else).

You can also see this in how his feelings towards Guts drastically changed between when he was still human (see above), when he was about to become Femto…

and after he became Femto:

And I don’t think he’s lying or wrong in vol22.

As a human, he had the luxury to have mixed feelings because humans are always considered to be on the grey spectrum of characterization (they can waver between white and black). As a Godhand though (an “all black and no white” character), he had no doubt anymore, hence saying that he was “free” (as in, free from the possibility of Guts making him forget about his dream again).

TL;DR it isn’t particularly surprising to see Griffith having mixed feelings about losing Guts up until he’s presented with the megalomaniacal idea to achieve his dream more easily and quickly than ever before. He was only human and Guts was actually the only person he couldn’t see as just a pawn.

Sorry for rambling, I hope it makes sense! Have a nice weekend 🙂

Hello! I hope this isn’t a forbidden question. I was wondering what you meant when you said in a post last week that Femto « hurt » Casca (you know the r word) as a punishment for Casca and Guts?

Hello Anon, no worries at all. 🙂 Did you mean when I said this? [x]

Okay so, it comes from the fact that ever since Casca and Guts realized that it was okay for them to accept their feelings for each other before the Eclipse, things changed so much so quickly that basically everyone noticed.

Judeau, Pippin… even Charlotte (who basically indirectly told Casca “hey so, love totally changed you????”) did, so you can be sure that one year of horror wouldn’t have stopped Griffith from noticing that the dynamic amongst their little trio had changed too, because:

Griffith used to be the one Guts followed and the one Casca was clearly devoted to
then Guts left because he decided not to abandon his own goal for the sake of Griffith’s dream
but after vol9, it turned out Guts was actually very happy to follow Casca while Casca’s heart now belonged to Guts.

And Sensei really insisted on the fact that Griffith instantly realized things were different, by showing him staring very intently at his friends more than once, which was extremely creepy. Two examples amongst many:

Basically you see the current twisted sort of love triangle [Roderick => Farnese <= Serpico] and Sensei always drawing a panel of Serpico staring most of the time Farnese interacts with Roderick?
It was the same back then with Griffith, except that I have high hopes that Serpico won’t become an Apostle over his codependency with Farnese.

Anyway, Griffith stared and stared until it led to this…

Fortunately, he was so weak that nothing happened at the time but it’s really impossible to misinterpret that he was basically trying to gauge or reenact Casca’s old devotion to him by showing some… affection.

If this doesn’t make a lot of sense, just think that Griffith was definitely aware of Casca’s feelings for him in the past but he never addressed them on purpose, because Casca’s devotion made her a skilled blade and right-hand woman and it also meant not giving her an opportunity to move on (at least until she herself fell in love with someone else).

So Griffith, who totally noticed how close Casca and Guts got, tried to see if he could shift Casca’s focus over Guts onto him again, which obviously didn’t happen and which led to…

another very pivotal moment.

Moving on to the Eclipse and to Griffith becoming Femto, in that aspect it’s not so surprising that, after becoming so very powerful and invincible, his prideful demonic ass decided to make Guts and Casca pay for excluding him out of their little trio (especially when he used to be the center of that trio) while he was being tortured for a whole year.

Call that pride, jealousy or whatever else you want, he suddenly had the power to make them pay for moving on without him and so he did just that.

From the moment he always made sure to give Guts a very clear sight of him hurting Casca when she herself was begging Guts not to look, that’s how you know the main point of Femto doing what he did was to punish both of them for choosing the other over him.

I hope it’s clearer that way. For a more detailed interpretation of what happened during the Eclipse, please check this post.

Have a nice weekend!

BTW I love how Casca appears to be completely insane and yet she is hyper-aware of everything around her on a completely meta level, more so than any characters, since everything is truthfully depicted in her dreams.

This makes me love her even more because I don’t know how many Berserk readers called her useless or not plot-relevant anymore over the years, but Sensei proved them all wrong with just how freaking accurate her dreams turned out to be.

We’re heading towards Berserk’s ending when Casca comes back guys, she’s definitely going to lead that magic army right up to Falconia and demand her son back. Griffith will regret having taught her to use a sword to get what she wants.

midnight-in-town:

midnight-in-town:

A few months ago I was joking as I added to someone else’s post that a neutral ending to the possibilities for who lil Casca was talking about previously was her son (compared to ‘good ending: Guts’, ‘bad ending: Griffith’) but…

frankly now I wonder if that really wasn’t who she was talking about from the beginning, especially if you consider that lil Casca is a direct representation of current!Casca.

It would explain why the Skull Knight insisted so much about Casca and Guts having different wishes when she comes back: maybe what will motivate her to come back isn’t even Guts in the first place but her son because she’ll want to save him from Griffith/Femto. I mean, ever since the Eclipse, she always was the most “aware” whenever her son was around.

Even in this state, she knows he’s inside of Griffith 2.0 (when no one else does, just saying), which is probably why the last fragment took this form in the first place. Her son turning out like that is a direct consequence of the Eclipse and so is him being used for Griffith’s rebirth during the tower of conviction arc.

@lenok993

aaahh OMG, but you’re right, I had forgotten:

I had always assumed this cover was in relation to the fact that her son became the receptacle of Griffth 2.0 (and maybe it’s also what it means), but now that I saw your tags it really reminds me of what Rickert (in vol 38) and Judeau (before dying) basically implied about Casca remaining their leader because, as long as she survived, their group would too.

So, despite her probably intense fear of Griffith, maybe Casca will go back to being a leader, except that she will do it all for her son’s sake and, in that case, her “Band of the Hawk” will mean something in relation to her son and not Griffith.

Besides, looking at the Moonlight Child…

it’s probably because of the current link between the demon infant and Femto, but he certainly shines bright like the Hawk of Light, just like the demon infant does in Casca’s dreams:

TL;DR maybe the “Hawk of Light”, the true savior of humanity that the Pope sees in Griffith 2.0 actually is the Gutsca baby, as foreshadowed by the cover of vol 20, because his parents will save the day and the rest of the world all for his sake.

Such a development would be so fitting when that poor baby was cursed before it was even born. ;_;

Ahh, my bad Anon! Basically, it’s more “true Hawk of Light = Gutsca baby (demon infant + moonlight child)”, thanks to @lenok993 making me realize something.

Let me reexplain in different terms:

Casca and Guts will never give a single care that Griffith/Femto/the God Hand decided to cast an era of chaos and darkness upon the world.
They aren’t going to save the world just because “they’re the only ones who might be able to stop Griffith”.
However, what they will care about, especially Casca, is the fate of their son who’s currently trapped within Griffith 2.0.

Now, considering the following:

I always thought that the Pope was manipulated like the rest of the world by Femto, but maybe he’s not completely wrong when he says that “the Hawk of Light you see here is our savior” because the Griffith we see in this scene = Femto + the demon infant.

We know Femto is never going to be anyone’s savior but rather the one who brings doom to the whole world, however, here’s what Rickert said…

meaning that there currently are two bands of the hawk: the new one led by Griffith 2.0 (made of humans and apostles) and the old one, which survived and is still led by Casca because…

So, symbolically speaking, couldn’t we say that there might be “two hawks”? Maybe “the White Hawk” and “the Hawk of Light”? And one of them is Femto obviously but what if the other is…

…the Gutsca baby, because he too is constantly associated with a shining light and Griffith?

All in all, the reason we could consider the Gutsca baby as the possible Hawk of Light is that, beyond being currently associated with Femto, it was said that “the Hawk of Light would be humanity’s savior”.
So either Miura-sensei is just enjoying dark humor here, since Griffith is not going to save anyone, or he is actually double-trolling us because there is going to be a Hawk of Light that will (indirectly) save humanity, however it’s just not going to be Femto but the other part of Griffith 2.0, a.k.a the Gutsca baby.

Again, Guts and Casca probably won’t care about saving the world, but they will surely want to try and save their son. And if they do and get rid of Griffith/Femto at the same time, then humanity will be saved, indirectly making the Gutsca baby the hawk of light and humanity’s savior.

So, looking at the cover of vol 20…

you can interpret it in two ways:

Casca gave birth to the demon infant and Femto used him to be reborn into this world and become “the Hawk of Light”.
Casca gave birth to the true “Hawk of Light”, because it’s not Femto but rather her and Guts’ son and his parents rescuing him will be what is going to save humanity.

Finally, I also like this theory because the demon infant was cursed from before even being born and yet…

he constantly saved his parents, which is slightly contradictory to having the nature of a demon. Of course, the Skull Knight said it might happen but still, he never ever was even slightly aggressive towards them, so… maybe this kid will really indirectly save humanity, because his parents will have to get rid of Griffith/Femto in order to save him.

Is that… more understandable? 🙂 I hope so in any case, but keep in mind it’s just a theory, it really doesn’t have to turn out like that, haha.

Please have a nice weekend Anon!

Source: midnight-in-town

midnight-in-town:

A few months ago I was joking as I added to someone else’s post that a neutral ending to the possibilities for who lil Casca was talking about previously was her son (compared to ‘good ending: Guts’, ‘bad ending: Griffith’) but…

frankly now I wonder if that really wasn’t who she was talking about from the beginning, especially if you consider that lil Casca is a direct representation of current!Casca.

It would explain why the Skull Knight insisted so much about Casca and Guts having different wishes when she comes back: maybe what will motivate her to come back isn’t even Guts in the first place but her son because she’ll want to save him from Griffith/Femto. I mean, ever since the Eclipse, she always was the most “aware” whenever her son was around.

Even in this state, she knows he’s inside of Griffith 2.0 (when no one else does, just saying), which is probably why the last fragment took this form in the first place. Her son turning out like that is a direct consequence of the Eclipse and so is him being used for Griffith’s rebirth during the tower of conviction arc.

@lenok993

aaahh OMG, but you’re right, I had forgotten:

I had always assumed this cover was in relation to the fact that her son became the receptacle of Griffth 2.0 (and maybe it’s also what it means), but now that I saw your tags it really reminds me of what Rickert (in vol 38) and Judeau (before dying) basically implied about Casca remaining their leader because, as long as she survived, their group would too.

So, despite her probably intense fear of Griffith, maybe Casca will go back to being a leader, except that she will do it all for her son’s sake and, in that case, her “Band of the Hawk” will mean something in relation to her son and not Griffith.

Besides, looking at the Moonlight Child…

it’s probably because of the current link between the demon infant and Femto, but he certainly shines bright like the Hawk of Light, just like the demon infant does in Casca’s dreams:

TL;DR maybe the “Hawk of Light”, the true savior of humanity that the Pope sees in Griffith 2.0 actually is the Gutsca baby, as foreshadowed by the cover of vol 20, because his parents will save the day and the rest of the world all for his sake.

Such a development would be so fitting when that poor baby was cursed before it was even born. ;_;

Source: midnight-in-town