#theme: ending

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Heyy , Given the new chapters post the Authors death, do you have any theories about berserk ending?

My theories/hopes haven't really changed, except I guess that now we know the behelit will play a role in the ending, rather than a potential second act downturn.

I'll link a few posts with some speculation on the ending that I generally still think is plausible, mostly thematic:

straightforward response about my ending theories how parallels with ganishka figure into my ending theories spring flowers of distant days as foreshadowing quick list of ideas about how other characters' stories might end casca opening the behelit at the climax + why i think it's casca's behelit in the first place

Thanks for the ask!

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Casca should be the one to kill Griffith not Guts.

A possible scenario is Griffith hesitating or being genuinely shocked when Guts doesn’t fight back and lets the sword pierce him. (Just like it happens with Casca many chapters ago). Which gives Casca an opening to kill Griffith just like she did to that nobleman when she was first recruited by the hawks. I’d be poetic. All the parallels are right there.

That or Griffith’s gets to live as a monster and his kingdom eventually collapses after his real nature is revealed, making people abandon it. Now everyone leaves just like Guts once did. But now it isn’t out of respect, but out of true disgust. Maybe the kingdom still stands, but with no inhabitants. In the end he is a king of nothing and remained a monster. Maybe the consequences of his actions finally down on him.

I want him to realize he threw away something invaluable when was still within his reach (the band, Guts and Casca) similar to Guts’s realization. I really want Guts and Casca to haunt him the way his actions haunted them. Is only fair.

I really want Griffith to feel the weight of his guilt and shame over what he did to the band, Guts and Casca. And I want everyone to see him for what he really is, not a savior, but a broken and fragile man who committed unredeemable acts of evil on moments of desperation. There’s no way midland will stand by his side once they discover he was the reason the world went into decay and his kingdom is a fake paradise build on corpses. Not to mention he killed the Queen, Charlotte has to know the truth, about how Griffith killed her mother

Apologies if you're not the same anon, but these asks are similar enough that I'm gonna group them together.

I do love the idea of Casca being the one to kill Griffith or Griffith living but being haunted, both great possibilities! I can never really buy the idea of Falconia's residents like, turning on him when his "true nature" is revealed though - I don't think there's a whole lot to reveal, and nothing that would have an effect on a city's population. They're already cohabiting with reformed monsters, Griffith having a cool goth look and some dead and traumatized friends behind him isn't gonna change anyone's opinion. Even if it's somehow revealed and universally believed that he flooded the world with monsters on purpose, they're still gonna pick awesome city with indoor plumbing over hungry dragons.

If he survives, I'd prefer him to just lowkey be trapped in a loveless stasis while ruling the world, never truly fulfilled or happy. But I also like subtle angst more than big dramatic gestures tbf lol.

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I just can't think of why Miura would create the Moon Child vessel twist unless he intended to have Guts and Griffith reach an emotional resolution and possibly somehow reconcile in the ending, even if only in death and defeat. Since there is an influence on Griffith, it's almost like the Moon Child carries symbolism of Griffith's "unfrozen" humanity and innocence resurfacing. And when Griffith says it's just the Child's feelings at the Hill of Swords, it just reminds me of what he always did as a human, downplaying his humanity/emotions. The Slug Count could still feel love for his daughter. The way Miura depicted and talked about Guts and Griffith, it hasn't felt like this would all end with Guts just offing him and moving on. The recent chapter with how he still sees Griffith beautiful and shining as his Golden Age self, at the upper-centre of the page and taking up more of it, it feels like Guts just wont be able to rest until he reaches some sort of peace over Griffith. It's so interesting how Miura describes their hearts and tears as "frozen" and not "destroyed". Has the Moon Child been unthawing Griffith's humanity, since he said his blood "should have been frozen" and his heart pounds... Would love to hear your thoughts on this and how they might tackle some sort of resolution between them.

Yeah it makes perfect sense from a characterization and a storytelling point of view for NeoGriffith's "unfrozen" feelings being his real actual feelings and not a magical baby's. So if the moonkid is relevant to Griffith having feelings then yeah I think it's more along the lines of: sharing a body with it has unfrozen Griffith's own feelings or something like that, rather than the kid's feelings just like, infecting him or whatever.

I've got a few posts that go into more specific reasoning for why I think Griffith's feelings are his own if you're interested.

The griffguts resolution I envision is one or both of them dying at the hands of the other in a parallel to Griffith killing Ganishka/Shiva at the climax of the Millenium Falcon arc, where hate and animosity was just replaced with a desire to join together in some way.

Here's a post about those parallels and how they could inform a homoerotic ending.

And I have a lot of griffguts-y posts theorizing about the ending in this tag if you want to check out more concrete ideas I've had over the years. Here's one post where I talk about a few specific ending ideas.

Thanks for the ask!

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I hope griffguts has a similar ending like ryokira

Yeah I'd definitely be into a Devilman-esque ending for Guts and Griffith, it's one of my preferred possibilities.

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What would be like you're dream manga scene to happen in Berserk? Cause personally my favorite would be Casca leaving Guts behind and making her own life.

Yeah I would definitely love to see that. If they both survive at the end I think that could be a great ending tbh.

As for me, I have a few possibilities I'd love to see near the end. One scene is Guts realizing that Griffith still has irrational feelings for him in the middle of a climactic fight, maybe surfacing from his beast of darkness side if he's succumbed to the armour at this point, or maybe he only realizes because Griffith failed to bring himself to kill him and took a fatal blow from him instead.

Another is a reprise of Guts hanging off of a tall structure after Griffith has caught him, and dragging Griffith down with him instead of letting go this time - or Griffith letting himself fall rather than let go of Guts' hand, or both.

A parallel to the end of the Millenium Falcon arc with Griffith vs Ganishka, but with Guts in place of Ganishka, and both of them seeing the other as the only light in the world, metaphorically or maybe literally if Guts is seeing through the armour. And the two of them dying/joining together in a way that brings about a great metaphysical change to the world again, paralleling all the high fantasy paradigm shifts to Guts and Griffith's ultimately mundane but persistent love for each other.

Yk, that kind of thing lol. I know what I'm about, I guess.

Thanks for asking!

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"and ideally they’d semi-purposefully die together. Would love to see this happen in canon."

Aww no, that’s such a heartbreaking ending. Even at the end, they continue to hide their true feelings? I can’t handle it. They suffered so much just because they weren’t honest from the beginning. This would definitely make me cry.

I mean dying together because neither could fully commit to kiling the other is kind of a confession of feelings, and one that seems particularly well-suited to these two lol

I'm a big fan of heartbreaking bittersweet endings though tbf

I think an actual confession of sorts could work as well though. I don't think like, a full on heart to heart would likely make sense for them, but something like NGriff admitting he didn't successfully destroy his feelings, and/or Guts saying something like I only ever wanted to be your friend, or something like that, could be believable and pretty cathartic.

Really I guess it depends what the vibe of the climax is and whether Guts is even capable of speech since he could be in full Beast of Darkness mode.

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people want to see griffith obliterated by guts, casca killing him also seems to be a popular prediction. I keep thinking of Anna choosing to forgive Johan and a similar ambiguous ending. but guts being how he is how can he actually find any peace any way? what could be his happy ending ?

Dying is a possibility for Guts' happy ending imo.

I mean, it'd be a cynical, bittersweet happy ending, because I don't think we're meant to take this sentiment as a good thing. This quote is basically saying that sword swinging is a compulsive response to trauma lol. But yk, I think it's a perfect set up to Guts dying shortly after killing Griffith, potentially, or at Griffith's hand (a la Ganishka parallels as well).

I think his less cynical, more genuine happy ending would be hanging up his sword and retiring. In this case I think a prerequsite is letting his obsession with Griffith go, ie choosing not to pursue revenge. Pretty much the whole point of the post-eclipse stuff is that Guts' revenge obsession makes him a shitty person, and finding a new goal with new friends makes him a less shitty person, so yeah. Plus you have Godo's advice, telling him instead of staying with the precious remnants of the Hawks he abandoned them to indulge his own rage, so yeah I think retirement is kind of framed as a missed opportunity for growth post-Eclipse, and maybe something he'll have a second shot at?

But at this point in the manga, now that he's having a whole breakdown due to not being able to hit Griffith and Elfhelm was a bust, idk if that's feasible. I feel like Guts bringing Casca's mind back but not being able to get back together with her was kind of an indication that settling down isn't in the cards for him. I'm betting on the cynical bittersweet ending where he and Griffith kill each other in a moment of mutual fulfillment.

Thanks for the ask!

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I always think about how miura based griffguts relationship on akira and ryos from devilman crybaby and now my question is : how do you think berserk will end ? Will guts get killed by griffith since he believes he doesn't love guts anymore (self manipulation btw) and will he regret it like ryo did ? I am hoping for a bittersweet ending between them. To throw their dynamic out of the window would be such a waste imo but for a happy ending is berserk too dark.

Yeah I'm into the idea of a bittersweet ending. Ideally I want them to die together after a world-changing moment of connection in a parallel to this scene. Ultimately what I want is for their relationship back in the Golden Age to have a positive impact now, whether that's giving Griffith a moment of weakness so he can be killed, or again the two of them dying together in a way that impacts reality, or Guts being able to die happy knowing Griffith never did stop caring, etc.

And yeah I think Griffith killing Guts and living miserably ever after similarly to Devilman would be a very appropriate ending for Griffith, though I wouldn't place a bet on it being the ending to Berserk, just because I'm not sure how all the other characters would fit into an ending where Griffith succeeds but loses his last emotional connection.

I have more thoughts on possible endings in this tag if you're interested.

Thanks for the ask!