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Guts (aka Gats, Gatts, Gattsu, depending on translation, though it has been confirmed by Muira his name is Guts) is the main protagonist of Berserk, he is a man who seeks vengeance against Griffith

for the ones he lost.

Contents 1 Life 1.1 The Black Swordsman 1.2 The Golden Age 1.2.1 Band of The Hawks 1.2.2 Leaving the Hawks 1.2.3 Guts' Return 1.2.4 The Eclipse 1.3 Conviction Arc 1.3.1 Chapter of the Lost Children 1.3.2 The Tower of Conviction 1.4 Millennium Falcon Arc 1.4.1 The Hill of Swords 1.4.2 The Witch of The Forest 1.4.3 Berserker Armor 1.5 Present 1.6 Characteristics 1.7 Supposed character inspiration 1.8 Ashley J. "Ash" Williams 1.9 "Mad" Max Rockatansky 1.10 Götz Von Berlichingen 1.11 Notes

[edit] Life

[edit] The Black Swordsman

In the first three volumes, he was depicted as a tall, muscular male with a huge sword called the Dragonslayer, and a prosthetic left mechanical arm that has a magnetic grip and also conceals a cannon & repeater crossbow. He is obsessed with his task, having no feelings or sympathy for any others who came across his path or get caught in the cross-fire. Guts did not flinch from using the Count's daughter as a hostage to kill him. He was always attacked by evil spirits at night, which gave him no rest due to the sacrificial Brand on his neck. However this is continued in the later volumes.

In the Golden Age Arc, more of Guts' past was revealed, explaining why he had become so obsessed with killing and revenge. He is born as one who may be able to struggle against causality.

[edit] The Golden Age

[edit] Band of The Hawks

The Golden Age story arc of the series revolves around Guts' turbulent childhood and adolescence in mercenary bands. Including his reluctantly being adopted by the first unnamed band's leader Gambino at the behest of his lover, Shisu, and his subsequent joining with, and departure from, the Band of the Hawk. The dynamic relationship between Guts and Griffith, the leader of the Band of the Hawk, forms the primary focus of the manga for the first thirteen volumes.

Griffith won Guts' service upon defeating him twice, instating him as the Raid Leader of the Band of the Hawk. For three years, Guts befriended Judeau, Pippin, Rickert, and various other members of the band. Together, they won countless battles, the final and most important being the Battle of Doldrey, which extraordinarily (because of his status as a commoner) propelled Griffith to the position of Lord Protector of Midland.

[edit] Leaving the Hawks

During this time, Guts encountered Zodd, an Apostle, who predicted that Griffith would sacrifice him "when his dream comes crashing down". Guts also overheard a talk between Griffith and Princess Charlotte about friendship, saying that a true friend would have his own dream and become his equal. This upsets Guts and made him determined to find his own dream and become Griffith's equal. Guts decided to leave the Band of the Hawk after the battle at Doldrey, despite Casca's (whom he grew to be very close with) and others' effort to dissuade him.

Noticing his departure, Casca then ran to bring Griffith, desperately hoping that he could stop Guts from leaving. Meanwhile, after speaking with Judeau, Guts realized for the first time how he felt about Casca, but he knew she praised Griffith, which is his reason that he refused to take her.

Upon leaving the outside of town, Griffith awaited for Guts and agreed he could have his freedom back if he won a duel. Guts won easily with a single swing, leaving Griffith shocked and shattered as he had become completely dependent on Guts. Because of this, Griffith turned careless and depressed, sharing a night with Princess Charlotte to find comfort. Griffith was captured the next morning, being punished by the king, and left in a prison with a torturer. The Band of the Hawk was outlawed, hunted and nearly reduced to a group of robbers if not for Casca's leadership.

[edit] Guts' Return

After Griffith's capture, Guts was visited by the Skull Knight who called him "struggler" and predicted the destruction of the Band of the Hawk. This omen was still unclear to Guts, leaving him with questions.

Guts spent a year in training in the mountain with Godo, to search for his dream, and then left only to hear about the remaining forces of the Band of the Hawk at the border. He rescued them from a local militia attack and soon consummated his love with Casca, which after Guts asked her to come with him on his travels. He then decided to help the Hawks on a mission to rescue Griffith.

After taking Griffith from the prison, the King was aware of the rescue mission and sent five Bakiraka assassins. Guts and his party defeated them and escaped the Tower of Rebirth. The Black Dog Knights were then sent after them and they caused great damage to the Band of the Hawk, only to be eliminated as well. Guts had his own fight against Wyald, the apostle leader of the Black Dog Knights, who was horribly injured, but victorious.

After realizing that there was no hope for the crippled Griffith to lead the Band of The Hawk anymore, Casca refused to go with Guts and decided to help Griffith.

[edit] The Eclipse

Griffith's dreams were crashing down after foreseeing his future, a vision came to him and made him drive the carriage to follow it. After crashing it on the river, Griffith obtained his Behelit that was found on the stream. He then calls up the God Hand that coincided with the Eclipse. Griffith sacrificed the whole Band of the Hawk to become Femto, the fifth God Hand, in order to fulfill his dream of his own kingdom. The demons and Apostles then feasted on the soldiers, leaving only Guts and Casca to fight for their lives. Failing to fight back, Casca was then stripped of her armor and captured. Guts tried to reach her in time but an apostle caught his left arm, immobilizing him.

Soon after, Femto flew down to Casca and began raping her. In an attempt to save his lover, Guts stabbed his left arm multiple times with a broken knife until it finally separated. He ran for her, but was held down and was forced to watch until it was finished. Guts' final vision was Casca lying on the ground before his right eye was punctured and completely covered in blood. When they both passed out, the Skull Knight saved them and brought them to Godo's place. Guts wakes up days later to find Rickert and Casca have been saved as well, while still not knowing how. When Guts meets with Casca, she is timid and scared of his actions toward her. Rickert comments about Casca not remembering anything to to her memory loss. Guts is then runs out in the fields to release his anger. While running in rage he remembers his friends from the band of the Hawks. He later stops and is confronted by the Skull Knight, and is attacked by demons attracted by the brand of the sacrifice. The Skull Knight gives Guts a thorn sword and defeats the demons that appears. He then makes a vow to kill all demons in his path. Guts then gets a ride on the Skull Knight's horse.

They arrive in front of Cacsa to only see her give a premature birth. Her child is formed in a small state of pure evil. Guts comment about it being a hell-spawn and tries to kill it. Cacsa protects it, and Skull Knight says it's Guts child tainted by Fernto's rape. Guts ensnares the child to only male it disappear in the light. Guts sets out to later on an adventure. Preparing to leave, Guts wore the black armor, saying that he will "Fight in the dark a lot" and Rickert gives Guts a mechanical arm to use on his adventures. He is about to leave, but is attacked at Godo's place by a demon. Guts is pushed to his limit and thorn sword is broken. He uses the canon hidden in his mechanical arm to fend off the demon until his eyes meet the Dragonslayer. He picks up the sword and finishes the demon in one sweep of the blade. Godo stunned and surprised that Guts could wield the sword. Guts leaves to start his quest to slay all the God Hand's.

[edit] Conviction Arc

[edit] Chapter of the Lost Children

Traveling for two years, he killed a number of enemies and Apostles, including the Snake Baron and Rosine

[edit] The Tower of Conviction

When Guts received a vision from the Child that Casca was being burned on a pole, he came rushing back to Godo's place, only to find out that she was missing for 2 months. Godo, on his death bed, reprimanded him for coping with grief in his own way, and leaving Casca, the person he cared about the most, behind. Guts reflected on this and decided that being with Casca was much more important than revenge. He went to St. Albion, which was the only clue he had, to rescue her. Along the way to Albion, Guts met the boy Isidro, who had followed him after witnessing his unbelievable sword skills against the Kushan Bakiraka assassins.

Upon searching for Casca, Guts was told by the prostitute Luka that she was held in the Tower of Conviction. There he fought the Priest Mozgus and his personal guards, which he defeated. Guts was then caught up in the Incarnation Ceremony, orchestrated by the Apostle-Behelit and the God Hand to bring Griffith back to the human world, using the Child's body. That night, nearly everyone was consumed except Guts and a few other survivors, including Caska, Isidro, Farnese, Serpico, and Jerome. Throughout the night, they fought the darkness with fire.

[edit] Millennium Falcon Arc

[edit] The Hill of Swords

During the early sunrise, Guts, Serpico, Azan, and Isidro fought off Bakiraka assassins, only to be disrupted by the appearance of Zodd. After wondering why Zodd was in such a place, Guts saw Griffith in the distance, who was reincarnated.

Rather than chasing Griffith, Guts chose to protect Casca and brought her back to Godo's place. Here he found Griffith on the Hill of Swords, speaking to Rickert. Guts grew with anger after hearing Griffith say he was free from everything. As he charged Griffith, his sword was blocked by Zodd, who now belongs to the White Hawk. Guts and Zodd broke into a fight and brought down the old elf-mine, but soon Griffith asked Zodd to leave, considering Guts now irrelevant.

[edit] The Witch of The Forest

Seeing that Guts and Casca could not stay at Godo's place, he decided to take her with him, but found that protecting someone is an unfamiliar and over-demanding task. During Guts' travels, his Inner Beast almost took complete control before finding Casca injured by him, and he was overwhelmed with guilt afterward. Casca started hating him after the experience, as Guts could not trust himself either.

He wasn't able to defend Casca the whole time, so he realized help was required. As a result, he accepted Farnese's request to follow him, so there was someone to look after Casca, Isidro and Serpico joins as well. They eventually came across a Tree Mansion, where the Witch Flora and her apprentice Schierke resides. He agreed to allow Schierke to join him, as she is useful with magic. With his new party, Guts saved the Enoch village from the Trolls, and he once again learned to live and fight for others.

[edit] Berserker Armor

As they returned to the Tree Mansion, Guts and his party noticed it was being burned by the Apostles, led by Zodd and Grunbeld. Guts was given the Berserker armor, and he fought "care free" against Grunbeld, who was forced to change into his Apostle form. While enabling him to defeat Apostles with much more ease, it unleashed his inner beast, the battle-lust Hellhound, endangering everyone in vicinity. Schierke found a way to protect his consciousness, by merging with hers, but using the Berserker armor was still walking a knife edge.

[edit] Present

They came through many ordeals, particularly when caught up by the Kushan's attack on Vritanis, but the companions helped Guts take care of Casca and are finally on their way to Elfhelm, where its King is known to be capable of curing her. Guts was no longer interested in "a fight between monsters", refusing Emperor Ganishka's offer to join forces against Griffith.

[edit] Characteristics

While sometimes described as a monster who kills monsters, Guts came through as a heroic man who struggled against insurmountable odds. Despite his apparent lack of sympathy, he does care about his companions and friends. Guts' love for Casca served as the vital anchor which prevented him from losing his humanity in his quest of revenge.

As a fighter, Guts is more than just brawn. Kentaro Miura is a master of mind trick, giving Guts inhuman strength and sword skills, but time and time again Guts wins impossible battles using his quick-wit and sheer determination. The epic feeling of Berserk owes a great deal to the impossibility of Guts' victories.

[edit] Supposed character inspiration

In theory, Guts may have been based on one (or possibly all) of these three characters

• Ash (Evil Dead series)
• Mad Max (Mad Max series)
• Kenshiro (Hokuto No Ken, though the character of Kenshiro was largely inspired by Mad Max as well)

[edit] Ashley J. "Ash" Williams

Ashley J. "Ash" Williams is the hero of the Evil Dead series and may have been an inspiration for Guts. Ash is a store clerk whose friends are killed by supernatural creatures known as the Deadnites and he is force to make a stand in a cabin using a sawed-off shotgun and a chainsaw. In the second Evil Dead movie Ash's hand is possessed by a demon, like Guts he cuts it off (using a chainsaw), later on he fashions a fake hand out of the same chainsaw. In the third movie he travels back in time into the middle ages where he replaces his chainsaw hand with a mechanical one almost identical to Gut's but without the installed cannon.

He is cursed in having to be constantly hunted by demons in all three movies. Guts methods and curse are similar to that of Ash's, but instead of a chainsaw and a sawed-off shotgun, he uses an arm canon and a huge sword. Guts is also continuously hunted by all types of supernatural creatures.

[edit] "Mad" Max Rockatansky

Max Rockatansky is a highway patrol officer in a chaotic future who world comes crashing down after a biker gang kill his wife and child. The devastating results turned Max into a vengeful road warrior. During the three installments, Max is seen using a saw-off shotgun as well as being a leader to a band of children in the third sequel. Inspiration from the Mad Max movies may have influenced Guts evolution into the character he has become as well as the story environment. After the eclipse and the re-emerging of Griffith, the land becomes a bit more chaotic and Guts dawns a black outfit similar to Max's costume.

[edit] Götz Von Berlichingen

(1480–1562) Götz von Berlichingen was a German knight and a leader of a band of mercenary soldiers. In 1504, his right arm was struck by an enemy cannon fire and a prosthetic iron arm was developed to replace it. Guts' iron arm, in his original character concept, is very similar to Götz's iron arm kept in the Nürnberg Museum.

Ironically enough, Guts was not based off of Götz as stated by Miura in an interview, Miura did not know about Von Berlichingen until after several volumes of the manga had been published.

 

[edit] Notes

• Guts also bears a likeness to two Norse gods, Odin and Tyr. Tyr lost his arm to Fenrir, a giant wolf, and Odin gave up his eye for ultimate wisdom. Odin is eventually killed by Fenrir at Ragnarok, the end of the world. Guts is also reminiscent of berserkers (this is where the title comes from), a group of warriors who idolized Odin and went into furious trances during battle.

• Guts carries the Behelit that used to be owned by the Count.