Do you think Guts gets too much criticism for leaving Casca in the cave and his overall behaviour post-Eclipse, without people understanding his psychological trauma and caretaker fatigue or is the criticism warranted?
I only ask this because, while yes, I understand the criticism is valid, a lot of the fandom likes to reduce his actions to him being an uncaring partner or that he never loved Casca, which is far from the truth. I wanted to know your thoughts because your answers are always thoughtful, layered and delicate!
Ah, the last part is high praise, especially since any sort of meta and analysis are not my forte, and it's always difficult for me to articulate my thoughts well. Everything always sounds better in my head.
I'm not sure what I have to say will be the answer you're looking for, and it might not even make sense or really even answer your questions, but it is honest.
And I apologize that this took me far too long to answer. I hope you end up seeing this.
This ended up being far longer than I anticipated as well, so I've put everything under the cut.
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I truly do feel that criticism is indeed warranted and valid. My love for Guts as a character does not blind me to his flaws and the most egregious of his actions. Yes, there is his trauma, caretaker fatigue, and the influence of the Beast of Darkness, but I feel like that really can't excuse him. Yes, they were all key factors and explain why he's done what he's done, but that doesn't take away from the fact that those things were very very bad.
Guts' choice to abandon Casca in Godot's cave is something I think about often, but have never really discussed. Yes, it was a terrible thing for him to do, especially since he was not the only person traumatized and hurt from the Eclipse. And he does realize this eventually, too little too late as it is.
The thorough verbal lashing he received from Godot was exactly what Guts needed to hear. However, I genuinely do not want to imagine how a Guts at the beginning of his Black Swordsman arc would have treated Casca if he'd brought her along on his bloody quest for vengeance. At least the cave kept her safe from anything drawn to her brand and at least Erica & Rickert, two people Guts trusts, were there to see to her needs as best they could. Was that a better alternative to him taking her with him or having a very angry, hate filled, and vengeful Guts continue to stay with her in cave?
And of course, we cannot ignore him becoming physically violent with her and then very nearly sexually assaulting her during the Winter's Journey. At that point he's been bone-deep tired from chronic lack of sleep, he hasn't been eating enough, and he's constantly having to fight to not only keep himself alive but also Casca. And then of course there's the BoD. All unfortunate factors that caused him to hurt the person he cares about most. At least he was able to snap out of it before anything went further, but the damage has been done at that point.
I thought about these panels, shortly after he grabs her by the throat:
It always breaks my heart knowing it was a losing battle right from the start. 💔
Now that I've rambled enough on all that, I can move on to the other part. And I realize what I have to say now will sound rather ridiculous, given what I'd been talking about prior. But his and Casca's relationship is immensely complicated and nuanced, as is the way Guts shows his love and care for her, so I'm not really sure what I was expecting.
To say that Guts doesn't love Casca makes me realize that some people have truly read a different manga than the rest of us, and it is extremely...annoying, to put it mildly. There are many moments of affection, tenderness, and longing.
And so much of the Conviction Arc is about finding Casca and protecting her after they reunite!!!!!
Then there's this pivotal moment:
He'd had every intention of trying to kill Griffith, but he instead chose Casca over vengeance.
And this is worthy of noting as well:
While Guts is clearly not happy, he was at least willing to try living as much of a normal life with Casca as possible.
Him entrusting Farnese with Casca, is to me, one of the most important choices he makes. He realizes that he can no longer protect her nor see to her needs on his own. And that he especially recognizes he is a danger to her and she is much safer at Farnese's side.
And of course, there's the look on his face when presented with the possibility of her mind being restored:
Even after hearing the devastating possibility of "there's no guarantee her wish will be your wish", his number one priority is still getting Casca safely to Elfhelm.
There's this moment with Roderick, even if we'll never know what Guts intended to say:
Here's a Guts, who's still bandaged and healing from a borderline cataclysmic battle, not even hesitating to jump in after she fell overboard:
Guts after getting confirmation upon their arrival to Elfhelm that the Corridor of Dreams can be used to restore her mind:
There are also some other moments I wanted to note visually as well, but I'm posting from mobile, and can't add more than ten images to a single post. Oh well.
I genuinely don't know how people can read all of that and think reducing his actions by saying he's uncaring and doesn't love her is in any way fair. I thankfully don't see that take all too much, as I am very fortunate to have the best Berserk mutuals and have managed to curate my fandom space pretty well after all these years.
I reblogged a post not too long ago talking about how Guts holds back because of respect, fear of inadequacy, and the circumstances he faces. And that is something I wholeheartedly agree with.
Anyway, all of this is to say that I think the most important thing to acknowledge with the criticism is all of the things Guts has done since then to try and be a better person and atone as best he can, and his actions through the Millennium Falcon arc and onward show that. Some of the things he's learned include that living solely for revenge only gets you so far and the importance of relying on other people for help. And remember, the Guts that's initially being criticized is not the same person now.
(If you managed to make it this far, I salute you hahaha)
idk what the literature conversations surrounding Berserk are, bcz I'm waiting to be caught up in the manga before diving into the analysis, but I do hope that people are talking about how one of the main themes is about how men are conditioned to be “inherently” violent through no other means than being subjected to violence themselves by other men for the sole purpose of “one upping” the other
Manga panels that live rent-free in my head, Berserk edition: Guts and Casca stand back-to-back in the battlefield, after being discovered by Adon's soldiers (from episode 18 "Prepared For Death (1)").
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