Hate is a place where a man who can't stand sadness goes.
– Godo
Godo is a blacksmith living in a remote mountainous area near Midland.
He has made countless weapons and sets of armor over the course of decades for many mercenaries. Primarily, he's known as the man who forged the infamous Dragonslayer, a greatsword of impossible weight which requires inhuman strength and serves as Guts' primary weapon.
Appearance
Godo is an elderly man with a strong physique due to his profession as a blacksmith. He has long, grey hair and a messy beard that reaches down to his chest. Often seen without a shirt on and wearing a white bandanna on his head, he still maintains his robust appearance, even when extremely ill.
Personality
Godo is gruff, standoffish and rather rude. However, he is shown to be rather kindhearted despite his grumpy exterior, as he takes in an orphaned Erica and raises her as his very own daughter. Furthermore, Godo mentors his apprentice, Rickert, when the young boy has nowhere else to go following the Eclipse.
Godo is also moralistic; he lectures Guts on his dubious decision of leaving a helpless Casca behind in favor of waging a vengeful war against the apostles. Believing revenge to be a fruitless endeavor that only results in breaking the pursuer, Godo tells Guts that it is better to immerse oneself in sorrow with others than to die alone.
Being a passionate blacksmith to the very end, Godo chooses to repair Guts' equipment one last time before he succumbs to illness.
Abilities
As a human, Godo possesses no supernatural abilities, but he does demonstrate a near-legendary ability in the field of smithing, armoring and engineering. Regarded as one of, if not the greatest blacksmith in Midland during his prime, Godo forged several weapons for royalty before creating his life's work, the Dragonslayer. Despite it being too heavy for normal men to wield, Guts later uses the greatsword to its full capabilities. Godo also crafts Guts' mechanical prosthetic arm, proving that he has some degree of medical knowledge, which is necessary to make the prosthetic functional. He later imparts this knowledge to his daughter Erica, which allows her to tend to the injured.
History
Background
As a young man, Godo lived in a castle town far from the hut he would one day call home. When the castle town's sovereign, a king, sends out a proclamation to all of his vassals to forge a sword that would be capable of killing a dragon, Godo's liege lord entrusts him with the task of doing so. Tired of crafting ornate weapons for nobles who seek elegance in their armaments, Godo takes the task seriously, creating the huge, but unusable, Dragonslayer. Offended at how crude and impractical the Dragonslayer is, Godo's liege lord threatens the blacksmith's life, forcing Godo to flee the castle town and settle down at his mine.[2] Godo would keep the Dragonslayer in storage for many years to come.
As the One Hundred Year War continues on with no end in sight, Godo finds new clients in the form of mercenary bands and small armies, which allows him to earn a modest living. A small hamlet close to Godo's mine is destroyed during the war, with Godo happening to be in town shortly after the destruction occurrs. Paying no mind to the carnage, he comes across the cries of a young girl named Erica. Godo's hardened heart softens at the sight of the girl, now orphaned after the attack. Taking it upon himself, Godo relents and takes Erica back to his hut, where he nurses her back to health and later adopts her.[3]
Golden Age Arc
After the One Hundred Year War, Godo continues to live peacefully with his daughter. He first meets Guts after his departure from the Band of the Hawk, nursing him back to health and forging him a new sword after Erica injures the swordsman sending logs down the nearby waterfall. Curious, Guts asks the blacksmith why he chose his profession, to which Godo replies that his family has always been of the trade since his great-grandfather's days. Guts spends the next year at Godo's homestead, before returning to the Hawks.[4]
Later, during a solar eclipse, Erica happens upon the unconscious bodies of Guts and Casca. She takes them back to Godo's hut, where she cares for them with the help of Rickert.[5] During this short period before Guts regains consciousness, Rickert begins to show an interest in Godo's skill as a blacksmith.
Once Guts awakens from his ordeal after the Eclipse, Godo converses with him. Deciding that helping the man after what happened to him is the best thing he can do in his old age, Godo proceeds to forge Guts a set of black-iron armor to aid the swordsman fighting in the darkness, and a black-iron prosthetic arm to match. Rickert, now an apprentice under Godo, tinkers with the arm, weaponizing it by adding a crossbow and cannon.[6] Godo then finishes the arm by forging a powerful magnet within the palm. After the initial sword Godo gives to Guts breaks during a fight against the Keeper of the Hounds, Guts is thrown into Godo's storage shed and happens upon the Dragonslayer, which he uses to slice the apostle apart in a single swing. Realizing that Guts is the only man capable of wielding such a colossal weapon, Godo allows him to take the greatest sword he has forged in his entire career along on his journey to look for any leads on the God Hand and Griffith's whereabouts.[7]
During this short lapse of roughly two years, Godo trains Rickert in the art of smithing while his daughter watches over Casca, bonding with the woman. Around this time, Godo begins to feel his age catching up with him and suffers from illness and fatigue.
Conviction Arc
Upon Guts' return two years later, Godo is fully bedridden due to his illness, with Rickert taking over his business for him. Guts walks to Godo's room to greet his old friend, and Godo inspects the swordsman's prosthetic arm, now damaged and rusted from constant use. Godo chides Guts for his foolish actions of abandoning the now missing Casca along with Rickert, and warns him that his quest for revenge will only lead to him becoming consumed with madness and despair.[8]
Despite this, the old blacksmith comforts Guts afterwards and decides to personally reforge and temper the Dragonslayer, along with making him a stronger set of armor. After a full night of working non-stop with Rickert, Godo finishes the last of Guts' upgrades and bids him farewell for the final time.[9] After Guts' departure, Godo returns to his bed where his illness only gets worse. Erica spends most of her time tending to Godo, who is glad that Guts isn't there to see him at his weakest. Shortly afterwards, Godo passes away peacefully and is buried outside his hut.
Falcon of the Millennium Empire Arc
After the resurrection of Griffith, Guts returns to Godo's mines where he is surprised to find Godo's headstone. Guts briefly mourns for his armorer and friend shortly before Erica informs him of Godo's last words.[10]
Gallery
Trivia
- Godo has made countless sets of armor and weapons for various mercenary bands, which is how he earns money and a living. Interestingly, gear that appears to be Template:W equipment is present in his armory, seen right before Rickert discovers the Dragonslayer.
References
- ^ a b c Shikaisha., Nakajima, R., Shimizu, Y., Mochizuki, M., Okada, M., Suzuki, M. (2016). "Berserk Official Guide Book". Tokyo: Young Animal Comics.
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