Berserk Wiki
Register
Advertisement

"Boy in the Back Alley" is episode 72 of the Berserk manga series.

Synopsis[]

Griffith, not really asleep overhears Casca and Guts' conversation. A vision then overtakes his senses.

He finds himself in an endless white void, wearing his hawk mask and bandages, lying as he did in the cart. A shadow is then cast over his body, and when he looks up to see its source, he finds that it is a healthier, prideful version of himself, in his armor, exactly as he was in his prime. The fuller Griffith draws his falchion and stabs it into the ground, then points to a distant castle, the same one Griffith had seen in his childhood.

The current frail Griffith uses the sword as a crutch to lift himself off the ground. As he does, his child self runs past, and tells him that they're not done playing. Suddenly, the white void takes on the form of the city he lived in as a child. His child self runs into a bright light in the distance. The current Griffith moans loudly, trying to get his younger self's attention.

Guts and Casca are shocked to see that Griffith's cart is suddenly being drawn away by the horses. Casca realizes that Griffith may have heard them speaking and taken the reins to run away. Despite Guts' disbelief that Griffith mustered the strength to make the horses go, he mounts another cart to give chase while Casca runs to inform the other band members of the situation.

Griffith managed to make the horses go on his own. With the riding crop between his teeth, he chases after the vision of his younger self. Eventually, one of the cart's wheels collides with a large rock, sending Griffith flying out of the wagon. As he soars through the air, he has another vision.

GriffithsVision

Griffith's second vision, in which he and Casca have a child and live a peaceful life.

Awoken by a sudden burst of light, a healthy-looking Griffith sits at a table, covered with a blanket. He looks at Casca, who apologizes for letting some breeze in. She asks if he's been daydreaming about the past, and laments not seeing the Band of the Falcon members much those days. The insignia of the Band of the Falcon hangs on the wall behind Griffith. Casca wonders what the rest of the band members are up to, wondering if Guts is still swinging his sword somewhere.

A sudden noise outside their house alerts Griffith to a boy, playing with their dog. Casca calls the boy, named Guts, to come inside to eat. He obliges, leaving to wash his hands. Casca tells Griffith that she's better suited to this lifestyle. She kisses Griffith on the cheek and feeds him a spoonful of soup. Just as Griffith decides that this peace and quiet isn't so bad, he sees a Beherit emerge from the soup.

GriffithSuicide

Griffith positions himself over the log, ready to kill himself.

Griffith wakes suddenly from his vision. He is lying in a shallow river, where he landed after being thrown from the cart. He forces himself into a sitting position and notices that his arm is broken, with the bone jutting out of his elbow. He bursts in a fit of laughter before noticing a nearby log with a particularly sharp branch emerging from the water. He makes his way over to it and positions his neck over the sharp branch.

He slowly pushes himself down onto the branch, and with a sudden burst of energy, forces himself quickly downward onto it. He has not killed himself, having moved away from the branch's point from the last second with only a shallow puncture in his neck. Griffith begins to break down, trembling and thrashing about in the water, creating small splashes as the sun slowly sets over the horizon.

Griffith looks down into the water and recognizes something familiar on the riverbed. He puts his hand over it and yanks it out of the water.

Griffith has found his old crimson Beherit, and it hangs from his wrist by the string he once wore as a necklace.

Appearances[]

  1. Casca
  2. Guts
  3. Griffith

Navigation[]

Advertisement