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The story of a former mercenary and branded wanderer, Guts from Berserk.
Younger Years[]
Guts was born from the corpse of his hanged mother beneath a tree, left to die alone in a mire of blood and afterbirth. A mercenary group led by a man named Gambino eventually happened upon the site, presuming the infant to be dead. When the baby began wailing, to the mercenaries' surprise, an acquaintance of Gambino's, Shisu, immediately took to the child and came to his aid. Gambino allowed the woman to keep Guts for her own personal consolation, despite his cohorts considering the circumstances of Guts' birth ominous. Three years later, Guts' surrogate mother contracted the plague and died as he watched on.
Under Gambino's tutelage, Guts began honing his swordsmanship at six years of age. He joined the mercenary band three years later at nine years old, looking up to his leader as a father figure. On the night following Guts' first skirmish, a mercenary named Donovan ambushed and raped him in his tent, revealing he bought the boy for a night from Gambino. In a following skirmish, the young mercenary isolated Donovan and eliminated him, refusing to believe the man's claim from the previous night.
When Gambino lost his leg in battle, his relationship with Guts rapidly deteriorated. Guts was subjected to various forms of verbal and physical abuse for two years following Gambino's injury, culminating in Gambino making an attempt on his life. Believing Guts to be the cause of his misfortune, Gambino revealed he had sold Guts to Donovan, expressing his disgust for the boy's existence. Devastated by this revelation, Guts retaliated in self-defense and killed Gambino — the closest thing to a father he had ever known. Consequently attacked by Gambino's men and branded a father killer, he fled with aggressors on his tail, eventually running into a dead end and being shot off a cliff. From his high fall and a bout with a pack of wolves below, he fell unconscious and was eventually discovered by another mercenary band, that enlisted him as a child soldier.
Spring Flower of Days Long Passed[]
As a result of being on the losing side of a battle, Guts and his fellow mercenaries were captured and intended to work as laborers for their captors. On their way to the castle they were to help construct, Guts met a man named Martino, who befriended the injured young mercenary and seemingly aided in his escape. However, Martino used Guts' escape attempt as a decoy to make his own, leaving Guts to be recaptured and imprisoned.
In a frigid cell, Guts met the forlorn spirit of a lone flower named Chitch, who nursed him back to health as he prepared for a bout with his captor's son. In the process of healing Guts, Chitch expended all of her remaining petals and ceased to be. Grateful for her aid, Guts decided to take Chitch's remains to a valley of other blooms like her after his escape. Following his eventual defeat of his captor's son and the subsequent storming of the castle by his mercenary band — who had been notified by Martino of the castle's location and potential spoils — Guts fulfilled his resolve to lay Chitch's remains in a valley of radiant flowers.
Story[]
Golden Age Arc[]
Meeting the Band of the Falcon[]
During the siege of a military garrison defended by the Band of the Falcon mercenary group, Guts, now fifteen, joins the fray alongside a mercenary band and narrowly defeats an enemy leader named Bazuso, lowering the enemy's morale and allowing for the fort's capture. In his travels, he is attacked by several Band of the Falcon members seeking to claim his reward and exact revenge for his earlier interference. He easily eliminates most of them until he encounters Griffith, who quickly incapacitates him and has him brought to the band's encampment.
Waking several days later, Guts is given the option to join the band by Griffith. He promptly refuses and challenges Griffith to a duel, stipulating that Griffith can claim him if he wins. Harboring an interest in Guts, Griffith agrees, and the two engage in battle. Griffith ultimately defeats Guts and enlists him as a member of the Band of the Falcon. During the night, Corkus and a few others attempt to kill Guts, only to be stopped by Casca. While Guts expresses his thanks, Casca shrugs him off. During a night raid with the Band of the Falcon, his horse is killed and he is nearly attacked by enemies until Griffith, Judeau, and Pippin come to his rescue as the rest of the band drives off the enemy.
During a victory celebration, Pippin drags Guts to join the others, with Rickert and Judeau welcoming his company. The next day, Guts chats with Judeau about the nature of Griffith and the Band of the Falcon before being summoned by Griffith. He finds Griffith showering, and the two engage in a water fight. Griffith explains his necklace is a beherit given to him by an old fortune teller and tells Guts he will one day attain his own kingdom, additionally affirming that Guts "belongs to him".
At an unspecified later time, Griffith pulls Guts from a large pile of enemy corpses. Griffith muses about his role in the world and what it means to be the "true elite", noting that Guts is the first person he has spoken to about these things.
Encountering Nosferatu Zodd[]
In three years' time, Guts, now eighteen, is promoted to the Band of the Falcon's raiders captain, and for their efforts against the Black Ram Iron Lance Knights, the band is formally recruited by Midland in its century-spanning campaign against Tudor. Later, amid seizing a Tudor stronghold, the Band of the Falcon finds itself at a standstill while making its final push into the fortress, with roughly fifty of Guts' raiders being slaughtered by a single enemy burrowed within the inner citadel. Fed up with these results, Guts ventures into the citadel himself, where he meets the monstrous apostle Nosferatu Zodd and engages in battle with the demon. Initially taken aback by his opponent's overwhelming aura and daunted by Zodd's bone-rattling strikes, Guts ultimately gambles his life on one swing, landing a gashing blow on the apostle. Zodd is only further excited by the injury — having after 300 years finally found a human capable of injuring him — and subsequently assumes his behemoth released form.
Petrified by Zodd's transformation and completely outclassed, Guts is thrashed around and nearly crushed by the apostle before Griffith and Band of the Falcon reinforcements intervene. When Griffith comes to Guts' aid, Zodd blocks their path of escape, forcing them to execute a pincer movement on the apostle, in which both of them deal substantial damage to the demon. In retaliation, Zodd tail whips Griffith into a column, but immediately ceases his onslaught upon sighting Griffith's Crimson Beherit. The beast leaves Guts with a prophecy, warning the swordsman of an inescapable death that shall befall him should Griffith's dream ever collapse, before flying off.
Precious Thing[]
For the Autumn Hunt in Wyndham, the Band of the Falcon acts as the king of Midland's guard in place of General Julius' White Dragon Knights. During the hunt, Griffith is shot by a stray arrow but avoids injury due to his beherit taking the brunt of the blow. Sometime after, Griffith, having deduced Julius as the culprit behind the murder attempt, asks Guts to kill the general in retaliation. Guts invades Julius' manor in the dark of night and swiftly eliminates his target. When the door to the general's room opens, Guts, assuming it to be a guard, pierces through in advance, killing Julius' son, Adonis. With the guards alerted, a distraught Guts battles his way off the premises and escapes through the Wyndham sewers.
Making his way to Primrose Hall, where Griffith is set to be in attendance, Guts first meets with Casca, and together they overhear Griffith giving his interpretation of what a friend is to Princess Charlotte:
| “ | They [the Band of the Falcon members] are... excellent troops. Together, we have faced death so many times. They are my valuable comrades, devoting themselves to the dream I envision... but... to me, a friend is... someone who would never depend upon another's dream... Someone who wouldn't be compelled by anyone, but would determine and pursue his own reason to live... And should anyone trample that dream, he would oppose him body and soul... even if the threat were me myself... What I think a friend is... is one who is my 'equal'. | „ |
With the conclusion of Griffith's monologue, Guts leaves the scene, upset by the implication that he too, ultimately, is nothing more than an asset to the realization of Griffith's dream.
Hundred Man Slayer[]
The Band of the Falcon shortly after sets out to combat the Blue Whale Knights of Tudor. During the engagement, noticing the trouble Casca is having with an enemy commander, Guts intervenes and battles the spearman Adon. After candidly defeating his opponent, Guts notices a fainting Casca staggering off a cliff edge. He breaks her fall but is shot off his horse and subsequently off the cliff by a desperate Adon. The two mercenaries free fall into the river below, with Guts pulling them ashore and finding shelter from the chill rain. Believing Casca to be feverish (which he soon realizes is actually her menstruation cycle), he removes her drenched clothes and rewarms her with his body heat while waiting out the rain.
When the rain ceases, Casca wakes and immediately attacks Guts, flustered by her womanly shortcomings as a soldier. Subduing and tiring her out, Guts asks why she became a mercenary to begin with, to which she explains her idolization and devotion to Griffith as his sworn sword, as well as the jarring effect Griffith's desire for Guts had on her. Their conversation is interrupted by the movements of Tudor troops near their location; realizing enemy forces will soon home in on the area, they decide to leave after sunset.
During their escape, the two mercenaries are surrounded by a swarm of Adon's troops. Together, they mount a counteroffensive, with Guts eventually killing Adon's brother, Samson. Acknowledging Casca's weakened condition, Guts decides to stay behind to buy time for her escape, telling her to return to her metaphorical sword master, Griffith. In an arduous battle, Guts single-handedly defeats approximately 100 Tudor soldiers in the forest.
After Guts is found and carried to a Band of the Falcon encampment, he reveals to Casca his admiration for her, Griffith, and the rest of the Band of the Falcon's commitment to realizing their collective dreams. Furthermore, he reveals he does not feel his place is with their "bonfire of dreams", strongly alluding to his forthcoming departure from the band.
Battle for Doldrey[]
With his injuries nearly healed, Guts assembles in front of the fortress of Doldrey alongside the rest of the band — their goal: recapturing the fortress for Midland. Griffith splits the Band of the Falcon's forces into two groups: one accompanying him and Guts to lure Tudor's forces toward a river, and the other an infiltration force led by Casca to retake Doldrey itself.
When the Band of the Falcon successfully lures the Purple Rhino Knights to the river, Guts engages in a fierce duel with General Boscogn, during which his sword breaks, worn from his previous 100-man slaughter. Put in peril with only a knife to wield, a large cleaver sword suddenly lands in front of him, which he uses to behead both Boscogn and the general's horse. No sooner after Boscogn's defeat, the victory cries of Casca's unit roar on from inside a recaptured Doldrey, as Band of the Falcon flags wave in celebration. With the loss of both their general and the fortress, the remaining Tudor forces scatter in defeat.
The Band of the Falcon receives profuse praise from Midland citizens and officials alike upon their triumphant return, and a victory ball is held in celebration. Guts attends the ball, despite his aversion to the aristocracy, to see the culmination of the band's achievements, but also to help Griffith enact a scheme to that does away with his political adversaries. He ties up loose ends by killing all of Griffith's accomplices.
Morning Departure[]
One month later, having contributed significantly to the Band of the Falcon's success, Guts finally decides to leave the band, unable to cling to Griffith's dream any longer. On the morning of his departure, Judeau, Corkus, and a frantic Casca intercept him as he leaves Wyndham. Judeau and Corkus take him to a tavern to question his reasoning. There, Guts reveals that he wants to attain a dream of his own and stand beside Griffith as an equal. After a fierce reprimand from Corkus and a solemn farewell from Judeau, the latter sees him off. They are intercepted at the outer wall of the city by Griffith and several other band members.
Griffith questions if Guts truly intends to leave the band, and Guts confirms his intent. Rattled by this affirmation, Griffith draws his sword and demands that Guts duel for his freedom as he did three years prior. Unmoved, Guts draws his sword and clashes with Griffith, breaking Griffith's blade in a single swing and leaving his former leader kneeling in defeat as he departs from the band.
On the night of his departure, at his campfire, Guts is met by a Skull Knight, who warns of the "Eclipse" set to take place in a year's time — "A torrent of madness, a tempest of death for which the human body could never atone" — before vanishing into the night.
A Year After[]
| “ | I've made up my mind. I'll never entrust my sword to another again. I'll never hang from someone else's dream. From now on... every battle will be my own. | „ |
| ~ Guts decides to find his own purpose in life. |
In search of a purpose of his own, Guts spends his time training in the mountains and frequenting the hut of a blacksmith named Godot. Eventually, he realizes that his sword is an extension of his passion for battle — more precisely, an extension of himself. He resolves to improve his skills with the blade and face increasingly stronger adversaries to further hone his craft.
Roughly a year after his departure, Guts, now nineteen, enters a combat tournament hosted by a Midland noble. He offers to fight a foreigner named Silat, proposing he would provide the tourney winner with better competition, to which the man accepts. Evading the rapid strikes of his opponent, Guts overpowers Silat with relative ease and wins the bout. The amazed tournament host offers Guts a job while alluding to the Band of the Falcon's continued activity with Casca as their leader, much to Guts' surprise.
Soon after, Guts tracks down the band's location and intervenes in an enemy raid led by Silat, defeating the foreigner once again and forcing him and his forces to withdraw. Guts is met with open arms and informed of Griffith's capture and year-long imprisonment, the band's newfound status as enemies of Midland, Casca's terrific leadership, and the plan to break Griffith free. Afterward, Casca takes Guts to a waterfall, where she expresses her anger over his decision to leave a year prior. Emotionally drained from her year-long leadership of the Band of the Falcon, she attempts to commit suicide by falling off a cliff, but Guts saves and embraces her, leading to the two making love.
Rescuing Griffith[]
Following Guts' return, a rescue team is formed to free Griffith. In three days, they infiltrate Wyndham through the sewers. With the aid of Princess Charlotte, the group makes their way to the ancient Tower of Rebirth, where Griffith is held. After a deep descent to the lowest prison cell beneath the tower, the party is appalled at the sight of a crippled, flayed Griffith — a shell of his former self. Overcome with emotion, Guts hugs his fallen comrade — unaware of Griffith's feeble attempt to choke him — before mercilessly killing the tower jailer responsible for Griffith's ravaged state.
Fighting their way through a wave of alerted soldiers, the rescue team reenters the sewers, thwarts an ambush by Bakiraka assassins sent to kill Griffith, and escapes Wyndham to a farm outside the city. En route to the Midland border, the group realizes they are being pursued by the dreaded Black Dog Knights. Though their laid traps fail to deter the Dogs, the rescue team eventually rejoins another Band of the Falcon unit and combats their pursuers. Guts clashes with the Black Dogs' apostle leader, Wyald. Excited by his battle with the swordsman, Wyald transforms into his monstrous released form. After a fierce engagement, Guts temporarily incapacitates the beast. Wyald rises again, however, grabbing a defenseless Griffith in retaliation and dealing a critical blow to the band's morale by revealing the full extent of Griffith's grievous injuries. The dying, desperate apostle demands that Griffith summon the "God Hand", but is dismayed to find that Griffith is no longer in possession of the Crimson Beherit. In an abrupt intervention, Zodd tears Wyald in two and tells Griffith that his beherit will soon return to him before flying off.
Eclipse[]
At the Midland border region, the remnant Band of the Falcon comes to terms with the severity of Griffith's injuries, acknowledging that he will never lead them again, and decides on its future. In a tender moment with Casca, Guts is urged by his lover to leave Griffith's side once again if he is to truly fit Griffith's interpretation of a "friend" as described at Primrose Hall. Without warning, the overhearing and distraught Griffith, having mustered enough strength to commandeer his resting carriage, flees from the area, with Guts and the other band members in pursuit. When Griffith wrecks the carriage and lands in a lake, Guts and the others rush to his location. As soon as Guts reaches him, the mercenaries are transported to an interdimensional space by Griffith's returned Crimson Beherit.
Numerous anthropomorphic beings welcome the band members to the nocturnal feast they refer to as the "Eclipse", much to Guts' shock. Four profound entities emerge from within the dimension, introducing themselves as the God Hand and revealing the purpose of the Eclipse: for Griffith to sacrifice them in exchange for being reborn as a demon of the God Hand, as preordained. Proving to indeed be an inevitability, Griffith, after reaffirming his ambition and the pursuit of his dream, offers his comrades as sacrifices, causing the branding and unilateral slaughter of the Band of the Falcon.
Guts fights relentlessly against the ravenous demons, driven by bloodlust as he witnesses the merciless feasting on his comrades. Eventually, he is restrained by a demon biting down on his left arm, as a bared Casca is summoned by a reborn Griffith — now rechristened "Femto" — who proceeds to rape Casca. Even after severing his arm and managing to free himself, Guts is immediately pinned to the ground and forced to witness his lover's violation, all while the restraining demon slowly gouges his right eye.After Femto finishes with Casca, the Skull Knight breaches the Eclipse, retrieves Guts and Casca, evades Femto's space-manipulating attacks, and escapes the Eclipse with the two unconscious sacrifices in tow.
Having been brought to Godot's cave, Guts wakes four days later to the sight of a mentally regressed Casca. Overwhelmed, he runs off to a moonlit valley, only to be met by specters attracted to his brand, and by the Skull Knight, who informs him of his new life as one branded and now residing in the Interstice. Guts declares war on all of demonkind, hellbent on exacting revenge against his enemies. The restless spirits begin to flee soon after, and the Skull Knight warns that the spirits have merely found another torch in the darkness to feast on, alluding to Casca's endangerment. The two move with haste toward her location, and upon arriving, witness a spectre-surrounded Casca giving birth to her and Guts' demon child — the infant having been tainted by Femto's violation of Casca — before it fades away into the Astral World at sunrise.
After roughly a month of recuperating and training, Guts sets to combating demonkind, brandishing a new set of armor along with a cannon-equipped artificial arm in place of his severed left arm. To his delight, a roaming apostle attracted to his brand homes in on his location. When his newly-forged sword breaks on the transformed being, Guts wields Godot's long-forsaken Dragon Slayer and with it eliminates the first apostle in his hunt. Realizing the Dragon Slayer suits him better than any normal sword ever would, he keeps the enormous broadsword and embarks on a war against the inhumans.
Black Swordsman Arc[]
For two years, Guts continues his warpath against demonkind, becoming renowned as the "Black Swordsman" in his hunt for apostles. At some point, he makes his way to the town of Koka, killing an unidentified female apostle one night while en route. Upon arriving in the town, he immediately makes his presence known by killing several thugs in a tavern, leaving one victim alive to send word of his approach: "The Black Swordsman has come." Unintentionally, he gains an invaluable ally by freeing an elf named Puck, who in return frees and heals Guts when he is caught and imprisoned in a Koka jail. Receiving word of the Black Swordsman's presence, the bloodthirsty Snake Lord rides through Koka in search of his aggressor, burning down everything in his path and leaving a trail of corpses. Guts intercepts and engages in fierce battle with the Snake Lord, ultimately incapacitating the apostle and interrogating him for the God Hand's whereabouts before leaving him to burn to cinders.
Sometime later, during the trial of supposed heretics, Guts seeks out an apostle known as the Count, who serves as the ruler of a territory. The alerted town guards, led by Zondark, pursue Guts, though he easily eliminates them and disfigures their commander before escaping to a lab with the help of a diminutive man named Vargas. Inside, Vargas informs the swordsman of a secret passage into the Count's castle and reveals the beherit he stole from the apostle seven years prior. They are soon ambushed by a transformed Zondark, who ruins the lab in a fierce bout with Guts, forcing them to flee. Guts eventually parts ways with Vargas but not before taking the beherit in the man's possession for himself.
Following the capture and execution of Vargas by the Count, Guts vows to succeed where his late accomplice could not. Using the secret passage, he infiltrates the Count's castle. Storming the premises, Guts finishes off the transformed Zondark and fights his way to the Count's quarters, where the apostle assumes his massive slug-like released form. Initially overpowered by the transformed Slug Count, Guts manages to deal a crippling blow to the apostle with his cannon arm, thanks to Puck's intervention and the hostage-taking of the Count's daughter, Theresia. Fearing for his life, the Count activates his returned beherit — dropped by Guts during their battle — and summons the God Hand.
The sight of Femto enrages Guts, spurring him to attack his nemesis, though his assault ends in vain as Femto casually repels him. After the Count fails to offer his daughter as a sacrifice, he is dragged by damned souls into the Abyss, and so too is Guts as one branded. However, the swordsman manages to free himself with a blast from his cannon arm as the temporal junction ends. Returned to the Physical World, Guts prevents a suicidal Theresia from falling to her death. He sows within her a hatred directed toward himself, as the primary reason for the loss of her father and all she has ever known. Theresia declares revenge on the swordsman, her will to die extinguished. Guts nonchalantly accepts her declaration and takes his leave; however, Puck observes that the typically stoic swordsman is noticeably upset by her words.