List of Berserk characters

The Berserk manga and anime series features a cast of characters designed by Kentaro Miura. The series takes place in a fictional version of medieval Europe.

It centers around the life of Guts, an orphaned mercenary warrior, and Griffith, the leader of a mercenary band called the Band of the Hawk (鷹の団, Taka no Dan^?).

The Hawks (Original)

Guts

Voiced by: Nobutoshi Hayashi (Japanese, TV series), Hiroaki Iwanaga (Japanese, movies), Marc Diraison (English, TV series), Michael Bell (Sword of the Berserk English)

Guts
Berserk character
First appearance	Vol. 1 Chapter 1: "The Black Swordsman"
Created by	Kentaro Miura
Voiced by	Anime: Nobutoshi Canna (Japanese, TV series) Hiroaki Iwanaga (Japanese, movies) Marc Diraison (English) Sword of the Berserk: Michael Bell (English)
Profile
Aliases	Hundred Man Slayer Branded Swordsman Black Swordsman Heartless Swordsman
Notable relatives	Sys (adoptive mother, deceased) Gambino (adoptive father, deceased) Casca (former lover)
Affiliations	Band of the Hawk (raid leader)

Guts (ガッツ, Gattsu^?) is a fictional character and the main protagonist of the anime and manga franchise Berserk written and illustrated by Kentaro Miura. In the series, Guts is a Mercenary who travels from company to company so he is always fighting. After meeting Griffith, Guts is defeated in battle by Griffith and is forced to join the band of the Hawk. As the main character of the series, Guts has appeared in every Berserk video game.

Role

Considered by many as the pure personification of strength and will, Guts is a Byronic hero who is born as one who may be able to struggle against causality but who is unable to maintain it indefinitely. The first story arc of the series revolves around his childhood and adolescence in a mercenary band after being adopted by the band's leader Gambino, and his later joining of, and departure from, the Band of the Hawk.

The dynamic and turbulent 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. After the events of the Eclipse, during which he loses his left forearm and right eye, Guts seeks revenge on Griffith, who is now Femto. In the process, he is reunited with Casca after a separation of two years.

Following the Incarnation Ceremony at Albion, Guts travels with a new group of companions.

Guts can be seen as the exact opposite of Griffith in just about every way. Guts is a tall, muscular warrior with short black hair, a body full of scars and wields a monstrous weapon. Griffith is of average height, thin, has long white hair, no scars and wields an elegant sabre. Guts wears tattered black clothing and, though incredibly skilled, fights like a barbarian; winning by any means necessary. Griffith wears white armor and has a much more refined style resembling fencing. In addition they usually have the exact opposite effect on everyone they meet. Most people are naturally drawn to Griffith upon first meeting him and would die for him without hesitation. Guts however is usually feared and detested by just about everyone he comes across. This extends to their morals and intentions as well. Guts usually refrains from involving others in his plights whereas Griffith rarely dirties his own hands. Griffith freely manipulates others, caring only for his ultimate goal, while Guts (though he would never admit it) values the lives of others and strives to protect them.

Characteristics

Guts is depicted as a tall, muscular man, standing at 6'3" (190 cm)^[1] with short, spiked, black hair in a crew cut. He is missing his left forearm and right eye due to an encounter with the God Hand and is covered head-to-toe in scars, with the most notable being a lacerated scar on his nose. Also notable is a large, horizontal scar on his chest which he received during his encounter with Slan in Qliphoth.^[2] After receiving the Berserker Armor, Guts receives a small fringe of white on his hair, presumably due to the stress brought on from wielding the armor. Guts' tendency to wear black clothing while hunting the Apostles gained him the nickname 'The Black Swordsman.' Aside of all this, Guts has a brand on the back right side of his neck that attracts demons and evil spirits to him at night, as a result of the Eclipse.

Guts' original design, featured in the Berserk Prototype, had him wearing an eye patch.

Because he is just a normal human, the strength to carry, much less to use and wield a sword of such magnitude with finesse and dexterity makes Guts a grandmaster swordsman of no ordinary level and skill, which shows up in every battle or duels that he partakes, especially when he is engaged with demonic beings. He is also skillful at using many bladed weapons, has knowledge on how the mechanism of complicated firearms work and is also an excellent equestrian. Despite his large frame he is very fast, dexterous and agile for a human of his size and stature which can be seen when he is engaged in combat with multiple enemies.

Guts' ferocity, fury, aggressiveness, and strength do much to conceal the cunning person within him. He is very perceptive, quick witted, clever, and a skilled strategist, all of it goes hand in hand with his strength. These are major reasons of why he had survived the countless encounters that he so far had faced. A good example of his tactical prowess is his fight with the apostle Rosine. During the fight Guts was severely outnumbered by Rosine's demon elves but managed to kill them by lighting himself on fire when they got too close then quickly dousing himself by slicing open the cocoons that were in the process of turning more children into elves. Though not much of a talker, Guts is also shown to possess astute logical reasoning which can be seen in some of his conversations within the manga.

Equipment

As a youth, Guts lived in a mercenary camp where he was forced to learn to use full sized weapons. This and his natural physical size and strength enabled him to wield larger weapons than most. Throughout the Golden Age arc, he primarily uses a variety of large swords, along with various other weapons when necessary.

In the (chronologically) later arcs, Guts wields the Dragon Slayer, a zweihänder or two-handed sword about 7' long and 12" wide at its base. It is more than an inch thick at the middle of the blade, giving it incredible weight and power. Described in the manga as more of a table-sized slab of iron than a blade, the Dragon Slayer's massive size makes it the ideal weapon for slaying apostles of the God Hand. After killing many apostles, the sword retains properties of the apostles' blood, making it more effective against them. In addition to his blade, Guts' left forearm is prosthetic with a magnet to help grip weapons, a replacement for the one he lost when Griffith attempted to sacrifice him to the denizens of hell; it folds back to expose a hidden cannon within. Guts also carries throwing knives, miniature bombs, a dagger, and even a repeating crossbow that can be mounted onto his prosthetic arm. While not innately magical, Guts' sword, the Dragon Slayer, was recently shown to have become a cursed blade after absorbing the evil within so many apostles slayed by him; enabling it to kill creatures of a non-corporeal nature and even possibly kill, or at least, seriously injure members of the God Hand.

One of Guts' most powerful assets is the Berserker Armor, an ancient, cursed suit of armor that allows the wearer to overcome his physical and mental limitations in combat but at the cost of damaging his already-weakened body and allowing his inner Beast, in Guts' case a feral dog-like creature, to take over and endanger everyone in the vicinity, friend or foe (hence, berserk). The Armor has deadly effects on its user. After using the armor once, Guts lost some of his sense of taste, became slightly colorblind, and the stress of using it caused a patch of his hair to turn white, among other things. The armor can pierce his flesh from within (similar to an Iron Maiden) to reinforce broken bones, enabling him to continue fighting long after his body is broken to the point of exsanguination.

Abilities

Guts has incredible strength and physical resistance, even though he is a regular man with no powers. Due to his extensive training since a very young age, his strength and endurance could be classified as superhuman. He is able to swing the 7' long Dragon Slayer with incredible speed, even with just one hand. He has also survived impacts that would kill a regular man, even with the protection of armor. This might be due to The Brand, which, according to the Skull Knight, places Guts a half step outside of reality, where it is easier for will to affect reality.

He also has an incredible resistance to pain as shown when he cuts off his own arm trying to stop Griffith from raping Casca.

He is able to come up with strategies very quickly and thanks to his experience in battle he can realize very quickly the best way to fight, like when he used a sword with his feet to impale Zodd.

It has been a matter of some discussion by fans of the series whether or not Guts is entirely human. In addition to his feats of superhuman speed, strength, and resolve, he is the only human character in the series shown to have pronounced canine teeth (fangs) and slightly pointed ears. As Guts is an orphan, born of a hanged corpse on a battle field, his true paternal lineage is currently unrevealed.

Griffith

Voiced by: Toshiyuki Morikawa (Japanese, TV series), Takahiro Sakurai (Japanese, movies), Kevin T. Collins (English, TV series)

Griffith (グリフィス, Gurifisu^?) is the main antagonist (and early on the romantic hero) of the series. He was the founder and leader of the mercenary unit known as the Band of the Hawk, named for his helmet which was forged in the shape of a Hawk's head. Extraordinarily charismatic, intelligent, and handsome, his skill with his sabre and tactics gives him and his band the reputation of invincibility, making him the favored choice of the Midland King, who was locked in a century long war with the Empire of Chuder. Believing that he is destined for greater things than the average man, Griffith is willing to sacrifice everything for the dream of his own kingdom and only values others so far as they are useful to him. The one exception seems to be Guts and Casca, both of whom he confides to in private moments. The source of his ambition is a Behelit given to him by a fortune teller she claimed was "The Egg of the King," which could lead an average person to becoming King himself.

After he won the war for Midland, he discovered Guts' intention to leave the Band of the Hawk. Intending to stop him from leaving or kill him altogether, Griffith decides to battle Guts a second time. However, he was instantly defeated when Guts broke his rapier, leaving him in disbelief and in turn crushing Griffith's morale. Later that night, Griffith went to Princess Charlotte's room and slept with her. The affair was discovered by a maid and later the Midland King, after which Griffith, unable to defend himself without his sword, was captured by the king's guard. The king ordered that Griffith be imprisoned and tortured but kept alive. A year later, Griffith was rescued by Casca, Guts, Judeau, and Pippin, but he had already been physically crippled and mentally broken. After Wyald's attack and the further realization of his current state, Griffith attempts to flee the Hawks' camp, crashing his carriage into a lake. Guts comes to his aid, despite Griffith's unheard plea for him to stay away. The crimson Behelit is triggered, and Griffith and the pursuing Hawks are drawn into another dimension where they are greeted by the demons known as the God Hand. They declare that Griffith has the opportunity to become one of them, but only if he sacrifices the Hawks who followed him to the lake. Convinced by Ubik that dying would invalidate all that he had done and that a few more corpses wouldn't matter considering all the enemies he had killed and strolled over in search of his kingdom, he agrees to the God Hand's terms and is given a new body with black hawk armor, clawed feet, and a wing-like cape. Renamed Femto by the Idea of Evil, his first action is to viciously rape Casca in front of Guts; both of whom are rescued by the Skull Knight before they can be killed.

Two years later, the Incarnation Ceremony occurs at Albion, an event that happens once every thousand years, allowing a being from another dimension to be reborn into a human body. At the end of the ceremony, Griffith is reconstituted into his original form but given the gift of supernatural charisma in addition to other as yet to be specified powers. He now leads a newly formed Band of the Hawk and is still in pursuit of his dream to obtain a kingdom. This band's strongest members are a group of Apostles who view him as their god in addition to humans that are drawn to him as the original Hawks were.

Griffith recently fended off an attack by invading Kushans at the city of Vritannis. Afterwards, Charlotte, elevated to the status of queen by the death of her father, acknowledged the Band of the Hawk as the official army of Midland. He has taken the Princess Charlotte as his fiance again effectively putting him in a high position of power within the government.

Casca

Voiced by: Yūko Miyamura (Japanese, TV series), Toa Yukinari (Japanese, movies), Carrie Keranen (English, TV series), B. J. Ward (Sword of the Berserk English)

Casca (キャスカ, Kyasuka^?) was the only female soldier in the original Band of the Hawk and is behind only Griffith and Guts in swordsmanship. Her ambivalent relationship to both of them makes her moody and capricious. Casca joins the Band of the Hawk after Griffith empowers her to save herself from a sexual assault by a nobleman.

After Griffith is imprisoned, she becomes the leader of the Band of the Hawk, proving useful in fending off the constant assaults issued by the Midland King. After Guts return and the strengthening of their relationship together (which culminates in the two spending the night with each other), they embark on a rescue mission to recover Griffith. However, after the trauma of the Eclipse, especially her rape at Femto's hands, Casca has seemingly lost her memory and speaking abilities. In addition to being Guts's lover, she also gave birth to their child, which had become tainted during Femto's rape becoming a misshapen fetus. This child seems to track down his parents till his apparent death he protects his mother a couple of times from other creatures of the night.

During her travel with Guts, the strain of watching over her in her state and fighting against malicious spirits for nights on end drove Guts to succumb to his inner beast and possibly rapes her (he experiences a vision of raping, biting, and killing her, and subsequently realizes that at least the biting actually occurred). Consequently, she now detests Guts and has found comfort in the only adult female traveling with them: Farnese. As Casca travels completely oblivious to her surroundings, Guts and company keep a close watch over her. She has put herself in grave danger many times but Guts' group has yet to fail to come to her rescue and protect her. She seems to slowly be warming up to Guts again even coming to his side when he is unconscious to watch him.

Casca's well being is the driving force for Guts to keep himself from reverting back to a revenge-obsessed wanderer. While outside Vritanis, the Skull Knight revealed that her mental state may be cured at their final destination, Elfhelm, by the King of the Flower Storm.

It should be noted during the ending events of the non-canon Dreamcast game, Casca briefly regained her sanity due to her ordeal with the mandragora. She remembers Guts and the love they had prior to the Eclipse.

Judeau

Voiced by: Akira Ishida (Japanese, TV series), Yūki Kaji (Japanese, movies) Christopher Kromer (English, TV series)

Judeau (ジュドー, Judō^?) was part of the original Band of the Hawk and was a former circus performer, which was the background for his prowess in knife-throwing. He was one of Griffith's most valued fighters, but his greatest strength came from his ability to read the emotions of other people, as shown by him being the first to notice the growing bond between Guts and Casca, even before the two themselves. Quiet, calm, and practical, Judeau was often the voice of reason when handling the more volatile Hawks like Corkus. Noble and generous, Judeau usually put his companions in the band above him, showing himself to be at ease with understanding matters of the heart and inquiring the true intentions of those who surround him. Judeau himself admitted that he was pretty good at a lot of things but was not a stand-out in any of them. His honesty and down-to-earth personality made him a kind of "average joe" character that people could easily identify with. Throughout his tenure with the Band of the Hawk, he was secretly in love with Casca, but he never acted on it out of respect for Guts and Casca's feelings for each other. He died during the Eclipse, sacrificing himself for Casca in order to keep her, the leader of the Hawks, alive. In his final moments, Judeau questions what his last words should be, and settles with telling Casca that it is ok to cry. As he falls down he mourns over the fact that Casca never saw him as anything other than useful.

Pippin

Voiced by: Masuo Amada (Japanese), Jeff Ward (English)

Pippin (ピピン, Pipin^?) is a massive man who wields an equally massive mace. A former miner who lent his strength to the old Band of the Hawk, his fast reactions and raw strength save the skin of the Hawks on many occasions. Despite his massive physical stature, Pippin proves to be a kind and patient individual, as shown when he dragged Guts to the festivities, keeping his cool even when Guts hit him and made him bleed. A man of few words, which, along with his appearance, might have others wrongly doubt his intelligence. He was often associated with Rickert, who he seemed to share a big-brother relationship with. During the Eclipse, he held off an Apostle while Casca and Judeau tried to escape. Pippin's hollowed out, lifeless corpse was seen by Guts one last time before the Count rips him in half.

Corkus

Voiced by: Tomohiro Nishimura (Japanese), Marc Sebastian (English)

Corkus (コルカス, Korukasu^?) was a loud-mouthed ex-thief fond of delusions of grandeur, and was constantly at odds with Guts. He was the leader of his own band of thieves before he joined the old Band of the Hawk, being one of the longest running members. He was the one who first tried to assault Guts in order to rob him of the money earned defeating Bazuso, but failed miserably, making Casca, followed by Griffith, step in. Because of that, he always held a grudge against Guts and never fully accepted him as a Hawk. Surprisingly, when Casca and Rickert blamed Guts for Griffith's capture, Corkus refused to agree with them due to his belief that they overestimated Guts' importance to the Band. Despite his unappealing nature, he was one of the most loyal members of the Band of the Hawk, staying with them until his death during the Eclipse, where he convinces himself that everything had been a dream, since it had been just too good to be true. In his final moments, he encounters an apostle disguised as a beautiful naked woman. Believing he is dreaming, he embraces the woman, who transforms into an apostle and kills him. Guts takes the life of the apostle who killed Corkus in the first scene of the manga.

Rickert

Voiced by: Akiko Yajima (Japanese), Michelle Newman (English)

Rickert (リッケルト, Rikkeruto^?) was the youngest in the old Band of the Hawk; he was just a child. He is one of the few surviving members of the original Band of the Hawk. After the Eclipse, which he wasn't present at, he lived with Godo, the smith who created Guts' Dragon Slayer, and became his smith apprentice. For the next two years, Rickert's talents as a smith grew. He tweaked Guts's armor and replaced his old crossbow with a repeating crossbow. During his stay with Godo, Rickert had remained completely unaware of what transpired at the Eclipse. He was thus able to put the past behind him. It wasn't until after Guts, Griffith and Casca were reunited at the Hill of Swords that he learned of the original Band of the Hawk's fate. Even still, Griffith offered Rickert a position in the new Band of the Hawk. After the death of Godo and the destruction of his mine by Zodd, Rickert travels with Godo's adopted granddaughter, Erica. In the anime, possibly due to English errors, Rickert's name is given as "Ricket", lacking the "R", and is addressed as such in the show.

Guts' Party

Puck

Voiced by: Yuriko Fuchizaki (Japanese), Cam Clarke (English)

Puck (パック, Pakku^?) is a Wind spirit from Elfhelm, a utopia on Skellig Island in the Western Sea. Elves in Berserk can only be seen by the open-minded; the devoutly religious cannot see Puck at all, though he can play with their face unbeknownst to them. Puck can secrete a powder from his wings to quickly heal wounds and can emit a bright flash to blind enemies. On occasion, he also resorts to his "Bloody Needle" attack, tossing a chestnut at someone. It deals no injury, but is painful enough to prompt most victims to cry out. Puck was the first to join Guts' journey, and is starting to show a strange attachment to the Behelit Guts took upon his battle with the Count.

Puck often serves as comic relief along with Isidro. The two are frequently drawn in an exaggerated manner. He is very angry when he ever is mixed up with a Pixie or Fairy quick to state the difference. He also seems to have a brother-sister relationship with the newest comic relief character the female elf Evarella.

Farnese

Voiced by: Yūko Gotō

Farnese (ファルネーゼ, Farunēze^?) is a noblewoman who led the Holy See's ceremonial guard, the Holy Iron Chain Knights. Since this position has been traditionally held by a woman, Farnese was appointed during her stay at the convent she was sent to by her father, Federico Vandimion. A bit of a pyromaniac (and possibly a pyrophiliac), Farnese's habit of maniacally burning things she didn't like, along with her lack of empathy due to her poor upbringing provoked her to hunt down and burn supposed witches and pagans at the stake. This fueled a secret sadistic pleasure that she constantly tried to deny. She and Serpico left their Holy See positions after her faith was shattered during the devastation of Albion and the events surrounding Griffith's reincarnation. She then chose to follow Guts in hopes of learning more about the world and has changed into a more sympathetic human being. Since then, Farnese has begun to study witchcraft under Schierke's tutelage. Farnese also seems to have developed a crush on Guts which becomes evident in chapter 287 and 288 of the manga. Farnese is primarily Casca's care taker and thus rarely involves herself in battles. She and Casca both received enchanted chain mail shirts made of silver as well as a silver short sword for protection against creatures from the astral plane. During Ganishka's raid on Vritanis, she also received a trio of snake-like homonculi created by Schierke from thorn vines which Farnese remote controls with a vine ring.

Serpico

Voiced by: Takahiro Mizushima

Serpico (セルピコ, Serupiko^?) is Farnese's companion and unbeknownst to her, her paternal half-brother. During his time with the Holy See, Serpico was Herald for the Holy Iron Chain Knights. When aggressive, Serpico belies his meek appearance and is comparable to a fox due to his shrewd observation and speed with a rapier. Despite Farnese's childhood abuse and her forcing him to burn his own mother at the stake, he cares deeply for his half-sister. Serpico was her servant since she found him beaten on a snowy street over a decade ago. Serpico's relationship with Guts has forever been plagued with animosity, due in large part to the dangers that inevitably surround Guts and anyone he takes into his Band. After a duel with Guts in the underground pillars of Vritannis, Guts spared his life. Their bond rekindled, and Serpico has since learned to trust Guts to protect her when he can not. Serpico uses two items blessed by the wind spirit Sylph in order to battle with tolerance alongside Guts: a rapier that can generate razor sharp gusts of wind; and a cloak that constantly generates a swirling vortex around its wearer which can deflect projectiles, assist in jumping, and slow falls from great heights.

Isidro

Voiced by: Hiroyuki Yoshino

A young runaway and petty thief, Isidro (イシドロ, Ishidoro^?) left home and family behind in order to become a swordsman. After Guts saves him from an attack of Kushan Bakirakas, he follows him around "to spy out his technique". Although Isidro greatly lacks in swordsman skills, he is an exceptional thrower, managing to kill two pidgeons with a double-handed throw at great distance. It is suggested that he has underlying issues regarding his parents, when they are inquired about he becomes more stiff, defensive, and belligerent, and avoids the topic completely. What these issues are have yet to be revealed. He later receives from Flora the Salamander dagger, a weapon blessed by the spirits of fire which sears whatever it cuts. and also receives an inherited cutlass from an old villager as a gift. He often bickers with Schierke who finds him reckless and ill-mannered.

Like Puck, Isidro serves mostly as a comic relief character. He's most likely inspired by Dororo.

Schierke

Voiced by: Yukana

Schierke (シールケ, Shīruke^?) is a young witch-in-training, a disciple of the witch Flora. She is accompanied by an elf, Ivalera. She aided Guts's group with a troll infestation in the nearby village Enoch, where she showed how powerful magic can be in Berserk. After a series of events, Schierke was forced to leave her home and Flora behind forever when they faced an attack Griffith ordered. Schierke, having lived a sheltered life, doesn't like the Human world or the Holy See's religion, but she finds life outside bearable due to her companions. Her magic skills and knowledge of the world are impressive for a child her age. One of her most used and handiest spells is the ability to hypnotize or temporarily desensitize others. But due to her youth, she tends to exhibit dangerous overzealousness. Her ability to sense "Od" (life force or spirit energy) means she can sense the power, intent, and alignment of all creatures and artifacts.

As she sees Isidro as an incompetent monkey, there is some friction between the two, which frequently lends itself to comic situations. Though she initially couldn't stand Guts, Schierke has developed a slight infatuation with him and both now share a father-daughter relationship. When Sonia gave her an offer to join the Band of the Hawk, Schierke thought of Guts before declining. Their journey together constantly brings them into ever deeper understanding.

Evarella

Voiced by: Yukari Tamura

Evarella (イバレラ, Ibarera^?), is an elf who was tasked by Flora to oversee Schierke during her time as an apprentice. She has remained with Schierke since Flora's demise. She often provides information about Schierke's state to the other members of Guts' party while Schierke is in a spell trance. She has slightly diminished from this role and become a third comic relief character. She especially enjoys teasing Shierke about her crush on Guts and has common minor feuds with Puck with whom she has developed close a brother-sister relationship.

The Hawks (New)

Zodd

Voiced by: Kenji Utsumi (Japanese), J. David Brimmer (English) Peter Lurie (Sword of the Berserk English)

Zodd (ゾッド, Zoddo^?), also known as Nosferatu Zodd, or Zodd the Immortal, an apostle who has lived for three centuries fighting countless battles in search of worthy opponents. Zodd has the ability to transform from his bestial human-like form into a more menacing creature, resembling that of a Baphomet with the face and tail of a tiger along with a pair of bat-like wings that he can retract and grow at will. Zodd first encountered and defeated Guts and Griffith during a castle raid, ultimately deciding to spare them upon realizing Griffith's crimson behelit and Guts' inevitable fate. Zodd has had a long standing rivalry with Skull Knight, along with Guts as he increasingly became a more capable opponent - this went to the extent of throwing his sword to Guts when Guts' own was destroyed in a duel with General Boscogn of the Purple Rhino Knights of Chuder. Zodd eventually found the "Ultimate Strong One" in Griffith, instantly being defeated by the Hawk of Light within a dream and costing him his left horn. Afterwards, his search for his ultimate opponent was over, he swore his servitude to Griffith in the new Band of the Hawk. He serves the new Band in many of the same roles that Guts served in the old one, including being Griffith's right hand man, most trusted confidant, and strongest warrior. Zodd's ability to fly made possible both Griffith's rescue of Charlotte and Guts' attack on Ganishka at Vritannis.

As both a reminder of his defeat and to make the fact he is a replacement of Guts in this new band of Hawk very clear, his left horn has never regrown like Guts' missing right eye. His reason for joining the band of Hawk is much like Guts' also mainly because he was defeated by Griffith.

Grunbeld

Voiced by: Tesshō Genda

Grunbeld, known in Japan as Gurunberd (グルンベルド, Gurunberudo^?), is a member of the reformed Band of the Hawk, and an exceedingly strong apostle. He is a giant, red-haired man in scale plate armour that resembles a dragon and armed with a warhammer and a shield containing a hidden cannon. He is renowned as a famous war veteran in the northern part of the continent where he apparently held ground against a superior, overwhelming force of three thousand from Chuder, lasting for months on end. He fought Guts at Flora's manor; at first easily defeating Guts already battle ravaged body but was forced to reveal his Apostle form after Guts became possessed by the Berserker Armor. In this form, Grunbeld is a quadruped dragon whose outer shell is composed of stylized corundum crystal formations harder than steel and is able to exhale flames from his mouth.

Being a towering and hulking warrior and the strongman of the new hawks, he could pose as a counterpart to Pipin.

Locus

Locus (ロクス, Rokusu^?), known as the Moonlight Knight, is another of Griffith's new generals in the Hawks. He is undefeated in jousting and was too proud to serve anyone until he swore loyalty to Griffith, who was the object of a vision he experienced. In addition to being an apostle, he also leads the Band of the Hawk's demon lancer division. He seems, however, to retain the most humanity among the Apostle Army. His Apostle form merges him with his horse to form a metallic centaur, and his lance is transformed into a very long double-ended spear.

Noble, chivalrous and daring in battle, he could be a reversed counterpart of Corkus, as it would also be suggested by the inversion of the first syllabe ("l" and "r" being the same in Japanese).

Irvine

Irvine (アーヴァン, Āvain^?) is a prominent archer in the new Band of the Hawks. He has never spoken to anyone on page but Sonia. His eyes have neither pupils nor irises. (His monstrously shaped bow has a demonic eye in the middle of its handguard.) A self-described hunter and loner, he prefers to camp out in the woods whilst indulging in his only known pleasure: playing the lute by the campfire. Irvine's precision with the bow is peerless. He is able to fire off several arrows simultaneously with unerring accuracy. The bow itself seems to funnel quite a bit of power into its arrows; foes hit at the neck find themselves headless. In his Apostle form his legs are replaced by a large wolf creature with horns and the same demonic eye as his bow and his body is now covered in fur and his face looks similar to that of a werewolf. In this new form he is able to remove and twist his tail hairs in to arrows and his horns can be used as a crossbow with string made from the horns. Once these arrows from his tail pierce the target they suddenly grow unusually large spikes with the shape of a root that perforate the target's body completely. He has formed a close bond with Sonia, who has taken to riding him as a mount during the final battle with Ganishka.

Rakshas

Rakshas (ラクシャス, Rakushasu^?) is a leader within the new Band of the Hawk, with a history as an exiled member of the Kushan Empire's Bākiraka Clan. He covers his entire body with a black cloak and his face with a white mask with three holes for eye sockets. It was he who exposed Silat and his two bodyguards to Emperor Ganishka's horrific process for the creation of his demon soldiers, the Dāka, and informed them their emperor isn't even human. His motives for doing this are unclear; he himself has admitted that he only joined Griffith's cause as to make sure no one would kill Griffith but him.

Sonia

Sonia (ソーニャ, Sōnya^?) is part of Griffith's reformed Band of the Hawk and is extremely devout in her admiration of him. Her parents were killed when Kushans came to her village. She was held prisoner by them until Griffith, with his apostles, rescued her and others in an assault against the invading Kushans forces. Sonia, despite being surrounded in a surreal and sometimes horrific world, remains abnormally calm and shows no sign of fear for her life. On the contrary, she is amazed and cheerful about her position in the Hawks. She is gifted with the power of clairvoyance, which is amplified when she is near Griffith, with whom she has a childish infatuation and, because of this, is very jealous of Charlotte for being betrothed to Griffith. Sonia uses her ability to sense people's emotions and see visions of the future to aid in the new Band of the Hawk's campaigns. She befriended Schierke when they met in Vritanis and foresees they'll meet again: referring to Schierke as an owl and herself a kite playing in a moonlight forest. She also struck a close relationship with the distant Irvine.

Recently, when the human followers of Griffith refused to join Griffith's apostles in battle, Sonia charged heedlessly into battle and was saved only by a timely intervention by Irvine. Her brave deed rallied the others, and she now rides Irvine as a mount.

Sonia is a very clear cut counterpart of Casca: both have been rescued by Griffith, and both have had crushes on him.

Mule

An adolescent Midland noble, Mule (ミュール, Myũru^?) ran into Sonia after his group of soldiers was saved by Irvine and the new Band of the Hawk from Kushans. Sonia brought him to meet Griffith; like most people who do so, he was amazed and immediately attracted to Griffith. Ever since that day, he has been Sonia's guardian, a role in which he endures constant frustration. Sonia referred to him as the "duck knight" and offered to promote him to "wild drake" class if he bested Captain Sharkrider.

He is this Band of the Hawks' equivalent to Rickert, a child who is not fully aware of what Griffith's intentions are and is given the duties of a squire.

Other Apostles

Wyald

Wyald (ワイアルド, Waiarudo^?) was the leader of the Black Dog Knights, a battalion composed of criminals which is the most brutal and savage force in Midland. His apostle form was a massive primate-like creature. Wyald was charged by the King of Midland to hunt down Griffith and his rescuers, the Band of the Hawk. Badly injured by Guts, he believed that his death could be averted if Griffith could be persuaded to use the crimson behelit to summon the God Hand; however, the king's torturer had taken it and thrown it away. Soon after, Wyald is killed by Zodd, and it is subsequently revealed he was a frail old man before he became an apostle. In the anime, he does not appear (the entire volume devoted to his battles removed or shortened for explicit content), but some of his lines are given to a human character who leads an attack on Griffith's rescue team and Corkus' relief corps.

The Baron

Voiced by: Kan Tokumaru (Japanese), Lex Wutas (English)

The Baron was an apostle who lived in Koka Castle. As an apostle, he had the form of an anthropomorphic snake with his human face set inside the flesh of the snake's lower with the snake's tongue jutting from his own mouth. He convinced the mayor of the nearby town to provide him with shipments of people for his consumption. In the manga, Guts indifferently rescued Puck from some of the Baron's men. Guts used one of these men to send the message, "The Black Swordsman has come," which appears to contain Guts' first use of his title. Guts is imprisoned and flogged by the mayor's men, but he escaped after Puck provides him with the keys to his cell. He then confronted the Baron, crippled him, and demanded to know the location of the God Hand. When the Baron could not provide an answer, Guts left the Baron to die in a rapidly spreading fire. In the anime, he rescued the girl Collette instead, and his "message" provoked the Baron into attacking and slaughtering the village. Guts killed off the Baron's remaining men who didn't flee after seeing the Apostle assume his true form, and then the Baron himself, taking the Apostle's light green behelit as a prize. He appears primarily in the first manga chapter and the first episode of the anime.

The Count

The Count appeared as an extremely obese man in his human form who had an obsession with hunting down heretics. He became an apostle after he found his wife participating in a pagan orgy. He invoked his behelit in order to escape the pain of her betrayal, gaining a monstrous form akin to a giant slug with a toothy maw at its front end and the Count's human face embedded in the flesh of its 'forehead', as well as several tentacles behind the head and several pairs of stunted human arms further down its body, like a caterpillar. Guts obtained the Count's behelit, which he intended to use as a tool to find Femto, from an enemy of the Count's named Vargas. Vargas was soon after caught and beheaded on the Count's orders. After a series of battles, Guts mortally injured the Count. The Count's blood flowed onto the behelit, and in answer to his desire to avoid death, the God Hand was summoned. The Count attempted to offer Guts as a sacrifice, but his suggestion was rejected due to the fact that Guts was already a sacrifice prior to the summoning and because a sacrifice must be a friend or loved one. The God Hand demanded instead that he sacrifice his daughter, Theresia. He refused and his soul was dragged to hell by a group of condemned souls that included Vargas. The Count makes a cameo before the eclipse as one of the apostles who devour the wounded Hawks left behind by Casca and Guts, and a second cameo during the eclipse when he cuts Pippin in half.

Rosine

Rosine (ロシーヌ, Roshīnu^?) was a young female apostle who sacrificed her parents to obtain the form of a female elf with the wings and antennae of a luna moth, as well as a small pair of moth-like limbs near her hips and a 'helmet' similar to the head of a luna moth. Her motivation for doing so was the legend of a child named Peekaf who believed himself an Elf and in doing so lost his human parents. She referred to herself as the Queen of the Elves and her true form is a monstrous female Luna Moth. Rosine is first seen by Rickert, who spots her hovering over the middle of a lake before the camp is attacked by other apostles, and she is seen standing apart from the horde as they devour the wounded Hawks and beckoning at her fellows to attack Rickert.

Dwelling in the Misty Valley, Rosine terrorized a nearby village, sending an army of insect demons disguised as elves to eat the town's livestock and people, as well as capturing children that she would transform into more insect demons via cocoons. Guts, Puck, and Rosine's former friend Jill travelled to the Misty Valley to confront Rosine, who offered to make Jill an elf apostle. Jill was tempted by the promise of flight, but was uneasy with the warlike ways of the elf demons who would kill each other for fun. Guts found and destroyed the elf demon cocoons, and an enraged Rosine battled Guts until she was so badly injured that she could no longer fight. As Guts was about to deliver a killing blow, Jill shielded Rosine with her body. It did nothing to stop Guts, but before he could act, Jill's father arrived and shot him with an arrow. Guts was then attacked by the Holy Iron Chain Knights, led by Farnese. Mortally wounded, Rosine finally understood the moral of Peekaf's fable and in her delirium attempted to return home to her parents but ultimately succumbed to her injuries and fell from the sky to her death. In some translations, she is referred to as Roshinu.

The Egg of the Perfect World

The Egg of the Perfect World was an outcast who survived by scavenging the refuse at the base of the Tower of Convictions. Shunned by others for his appearance, he dug a deep pit into the earth to hide himself from the world which the tower refugees used as a dumping hole for those who had died in the camp. As he was being crushed beneath the bodies, the Behelit he found summoned the God Hand who showed him how the outside world clung to the falsity of religion whereupon he offered both his own existence and his world (specifically the land surrounding the Tower) in exchange for the chance to give birth to a new world. He was then transformed into a living Behelit which moved about on a pair of insect-like legs while his tongue was branded with the mark of sacrifice. During the conviction arc, the Egg used his powers to turn several people around the tower into pseudo-apostles (including Father Mozgus and his torturers) before revealing himself to one of the camp prostitutes so that at least one person would know that he existed. As the time for Griffith's Resurrection neared, the Egg found Casca's tainted child lying near death at the tower's top and in a moment of pity took it inside himself so that it could die in peace just before his body split open, allowing the reborn Griffith to "hatch" back into existence.

Emperor Ganishka

Emperor Ganishka (ガニシュカ大帝, Ganishuka Taitei^?) was the supreme monarch of the Kushan Empire, based both visually and spiritually on the Indian kingdoms of old. He was one of two brothers, sons of the past king, and as a child he witnessed his mother poisoning his brother, as she favored him over the other. His father was assassinated soon after, and he became ruthless and paranoid as a means to survive the constant backstabbings, allegiance shifts and treachery of the courts of his kingdom. After becoming king, he waged wars continuously, establishing himself as a ruthless warlord and a powerful leader. Nevertheless, he took a woman from another country as a wife, who bore him a son which, ironically, tried to have him assassinated. It was in his desperate grasp for life that Ganishka became an Apostle, thanks to a Behelit donated to him by a fakir who later became one of his confidants and sorcerers.

An imposing and intimidating man with a large black beard which concealed an unnaturally large and menacing grin, he was the one who managed to make the Kushans rise again into a powerful empire after years of struggles. However, while other monarchs, like the king of the Midlands, ruled their kingdoms through politics and were lauded by their people, Ganishka enforced a domain of terror. He was an uncommonly brutal man who, while praised for giving prosperity to the Kushans, was also loathed and especially feared, even by the ruthless Bākiraka, exiled assassins led by Silat, due to his exceptional cruelty.

In his apostle form, Ganishka transforms into a towering humanoid shaped cloud; thus making him immune to physical attack and allowing him to hurl lightning at his enemies. However, Schierke figured out his weak spot was right between the eyes, the location of the astral core body that is vulnerable to weapons with strong spiritual presence, such as Guts' Dragonslayer. Griffith later exploited another weakness he had in his mist-like form, that of how his body can simply be scattered by the wind. An uncommonly powerful sorcerer, he was said to be invincible and set himself aside from the other Apostles in that he didn't seek Griffith, instead making him his most hated enemy, declaring himself to be Emperor of all. He had his sorcerers, notably Daiba, the same fakir which gave him the Behelit long before, build a massive monstrosity from Apostles' bodies sewn together, so as to create his own army of monsters and beasts through the abomination, and his sorcery allowed him to create a gigantic avatar of himself made of lightning.

Having conquered Midland following the King's death, Ganishka sees himself as the rightful ruler of the world and thus rejects Griffith's claim as leader of the inhumans. After turning Wyndham, the capital of the Midlands, into his demonic base, he covered the city with dead bodies, heads, piles of skin, and viscera, turning it into a city of horrors filled with monstrous beasts and perpetually covered by mist. Ganishka next turned his attention to the Holy See's stronghold of Vritanis; but his forces were driven off and thus Ganishka struck a deal with Griffith for a final battle in Wyndham. He then returned to his capital to perform a ritual described as "An Artificial Behelit" involving the absorption of the strength and lives of everyone nearby in order to "Transcend the Apostles" and reincarnate as a being far superior to what it formerly was.

However, he grossly overestimated himself: not only was his avatar defeated numerous times, namely by Guts and Zodd (whose combined strength managed to actually wound the Emperor through his apparition) and then by Griffith, who dissolved it with little to no effort, but in the mere presence of the Hawk, Ganishka was completely overwhelmed and humiliated. Driven by anger and fear, now aware of Griffith's power, he entered the monstrous organic factory of monsters he had Daiba build, and emerged a withering, horrifying creature as massive as a mountain, so large that its head is well above the clouds, and a single footstep can crush hundreds of soldiers. Dozens of writhing tentacles extend from his shoulders, and he is able to rain down explosive fire from above. However, having absorbed so many souls and having attained such power, he no longer seemed capable of clear, rational thought, daring the Hawk to challenge him now that he too had, as he believed, the power of a god.

Sonia called him the "King of the Crows".

The God Hand

Powerful entities who manipulate the world of Berserk, messengers of the Idea of Evil (the God created by Man). The God Hand themselves were once humans who were chosen by the Idea of Evil to serve its purpose of giving reason for humanity's suffering. Note the God Hand can't take corporeal form in the mortal plane; if they do appear there, it is a construct, formed by whatever is at hand. Most of the God Hand's names are inspired by Science-Fiction novels.

The God Hand is summoned whenever new Apostles are born, however such scenes have only been witnessed twice in the manga, first by Griffith's crimson behelit, and later by the Count's behelit. The God Hand appeared in shadowy form at Albion, although Guts discovered that he could not physically touch them. In chapter 306, the God Hand reappeared in Griffith's new and fantastic world after Ganishka's defeat.

Femto

Femto (フェムト, Femuto^?) is the incarnation of Griffith as a member of the God Hand. During the Incarnation Ceremony, he is reincarnated with a human body but given unknown powers, continuing to chase his dream of a kingdom backed up by his new Band of the Hawk. Femto's body appears as dark armor with cape-like wings on the back, with a demonic version of Griffith's familiar hawk-beak helmet. Femto is capable of flight via his wings. He also has the ability to manipulate matter, and distort space. His name is either derived from the technical principle PHEMT, or from the metric unit index corresponding to 1x10^-15.

In terms of character, Femto is Griffith stripped of all humanity and both are now one and the same. His first act as a member of the God Hand was to rape Casca as retribution for Guts' abandoning of the Hawks and afterwards takes exceptional pleasure in taunting Guts, referring to Guts' wrath as being beneath his notice and calling his existence worthless. He has made very few actual appearances as himself since Griffith reappeared in human form at Albion, but Griffith can assume his Femto persona at will as could be seen during his fight with Ganishka's Shiva form.

Void

Voiced by: Unshō Ishizuka (Japanese), Jon Avner (English)

Void (ボイド, Boido^?) is a member of the God Hand with a large, exposed brain, eyes stitched shut and lips peeled back. He is the most philosophical God Hand member and is primarily concerned with analyzing and controlling the course of destiny. Void is the one who brands the sacrifices made by tortured souls in order for them to become apostles and achieve their dream. His cloak and body seem to be distorted and he has the power to open up a sort of interdimensional mirror portal at his own will. Also notable, he has six fingers on each hand. An interesting thing to notice is that, apparently, the Skull Knight views in Void an archnemesis or, at least, a sworn enemy. The heavily suggested, but never fully revealed, fact that as a mortal Void could have been a powerful prelate, possibly the same Cardinal that sacrificed the Skull Knight and the first Midland Empire to become one of the Hand of God could explain such a rivalry. In the anime, Void also has the role of narrator, introducing each episode and previewing the next.

Slan

Voiced by: Atsuko Tanaka (Japanese), C.L. Jones (English)

The female member of the God Hand, Slan (スラン, Suran^?), also known as the Whore Princess of the Uterine Sea, takes on the form of a naked woman with black leathery wings and vine-like hair. She is a sadomasochist who thrives on cruelty and the effect it has on those who observe it. She appears to have a fascination with Guts when she manifests in the Qliphoth to confront him and feed on his negative emotions, having as well shown an interest in his incredible strength and survivability when the Count summoned the God Hand. Her interest is probably derived from her sadomasochistic tendencies from how much Guts suffers in his journey. She also owns a splinter cult of depraved worshippers under the moniker "The Goddess Of Blazes". Her name is borrowed from A. E. van Vogt's Slan.

Ubik

Voiced by: Chafurin (Japanese), Christian Collingwood (English)

The God Hand Ubik (ユービック, Yūbikku^?) has the form of a small floating demon wearing glasses and having tentacle-like legs. Ubik appears to be a deceiver; he is able to conjure up images from the past to persuade potential Apostles to fulfill the ritual of sacrifice. It is he who convinced Griffith to continue walking towards his dream as a demon. His name is borrowed from Philip K. Dick's Ubik.

Conrad

Voiced by: Toku Nishio (Japanese), Sean Schemmel (English)

Conrad (コンラッド, Konraddo^?) is concerned with inevitability and doom and appears as a puckered human face with the body of a massive wood louse. He summoned the mound that lifted Griffith skyward, above the rest of the Hawks. In a town in Western Midland he is shown as having destroyed the populace with the Black Plague, his head materializing from the plague-carrying rats that infested the town. His name is borrowed from Roger Zelazny's ...And Call Me Conrad.

The Royal Court of Midland

The King of Midland

Voiced by: Tamio Ōki (Japanese), Jeff Swarthout (English)

The elderly ruler of Midland who had been fighting a century long war with the neighbouring kingdom of Chuder. Burdened by the demands and responsibilities of his throne, the King's only comfort was his daughter Charlotte whom to him was the sole source of warmth in his existence. Due to the Band of the White Hawk's victories on the battlefield, the King supported Griffith despite his common heritage and the disapproval of the nobility and eventually bestowed upon him command over all of Midland's armies. However, after Griffith slept with Charlotte, the king became enraged and ordered that Griffith be imprisoned and tortured. He also ordered an attack on the leaderless Band of the Hawk, resulting in the Band's numbers being drastically reduced over the following two years. Driven to the brink of insanity by the fear of losing his only comfort, the king then proceeded to attempt to rape Charlotte who barely managed to fight him off. Afterwards, the guilt over what he had nearly done caused the King's health to slowly degrade to the point that his hair turned white and his body wasted away to skin and bones. When Griffith was rescued a year later by Guts and the surviving members of the Hawks; the king sent first a group of five Bakiraka, and then the Black Dog Knights led by Wyald to kill Griffith. Shortly before Griffith was reincarnated on Earth, the King's health had further faded to the point that he was unable to leave his bed anymore. In his final moments, he demanded to see his daughter, but Charlotte no longer recognized him as her father and refused to see him. Before he died, the King had a final vision of Griffith being reunited with Charlotte whereupon he realized the real reason he had supported Griffith was his hope that Griffith would take his place and free him from the cold loneliness of the throne.

Charlotte

Voiced by: Yuri Shiratori (Japanese), Rachael Lillis (English)

Formerly the princess of Midland, Charlotte (シャルロット, Sharurotto^?) fell in love with Griffith almost at first sight. After Guts defeated Griffith in their duel, Griffith slept with Charlotte and was imprisoned and tortured for a year as a result. During that time, Charlotte continued to pine over Griffith and eventually was the one who provided the route for the Hawks to rescue him from prison. In the manga, she accompanied the rescue party with her maid Anna, but was poisoned by a dart from one of the Bakiraka and was brought back to the king. In the anime, however, Charlotte stayed behind. Two years after the Eclipse, Midland was conquered by the Kushans and she was taken prisoner by Ganishka with the view of becoming his wife. Even in captivity, she spent all of her time making embroidery portraits of Griffith, dreaming of his return. Soon after the events at Albion, Griffith did return for her and used Zodd to fly her and Anna out of captivity. She is currently traveling with the new Band of the Hawk alongside Griffith. She recently declared The Band of the Hawk to be Midland's Regular Army after their resounding victory against the Kushans in Vritannis. Sonia referred to her as the "Queen of the Ducks".

Julius

Voiced by: Ryūji Mizuno (Japanese), Dick Bunting (English)

Julius (ユリウス, Yuriusu^?) was the brother of the king and the leader of the White Dragon Knights. He resented the rise of Griffith and the Band of the Hawk in the favor of the king, especially given Griffith's common heritage. As a result, he plotted with Minister Foss to kill Griffith by arranging for a stray arrow to be fired during a hunt. The plan went awry when the arrow struck Griffith's crimson behelit and the king concluded that the attack was meant for Princess Charlotte, who was accompanying Griffith. In retaliation, Griffith sent Guts to assassinate Julius. Guts managed the deed, but as he was escaping, Julius' son Adonis discovered him. Guts killed the boy before fleeing into the sewers. Julius' name is translated as Yurius in the anime.

The Queen of Midland

Voiced by: Toshiko Sawada (Japanese), Suzanne Gilad (English)

The queen was Charlotte's step mother. She disapproved of Charlotte's interest in Griffith and became angry at Griffith for plotting the death of her secret lover Julius. She agreed to a plan conceived by Minister Foss to poison Griffith's wine at a royal party. However, due to the manipulations of Griffith, the minister betrayed her and used a nonlethal drug to make Griffith only appear dead. As the queen and a group of co-conspirators celebrated Griffith's death at the top of a tower, Foss suddenly left and silently secured the door. The queen and the others began to panic as they realized that the tower was on fire. Glancing out a window, she saw Griffith, alive and well. The queen protested that Griffith, a commoner, could not be allowed to kill royalty. Griffith replied that on the battlefield, heritage does not matter, but only who is defeated. She dies after being crushed by falling debris.

Minister Foss

Voiced by: Masato Tsujimura (Japanese), Greg Miller (English)

Minister Foss (フォス, Fosu^?) is a master of court intrigue. He conceived of plots with both Julius and the queen to kill Griffith. However, after the death of Julius, Griffith discovered Foss' involvement with the queen because he detected a hint of fear in the look of the minister's eyes. Griffith kidnapped Foss' daughter Elise in order to insure the minister's cooperation. After Foss helped Griffith end the queen's life, Griffith returned the minister's daughter to him, declaring that there should be no more enmity between them. After the Eclipse, Foss predicted that the visions of the White Hawk signify that Griffith will return. More recently, he has been seen in the company of Laban, discussing Griffith's return and upcoming confrontation with Ganishka.

Sir Laban

Voiced by: Tōru Ōkawa (Japanese), Sean Elias-Reyes (English)

Sir Laban (ラバン, Raban^?) was an early supporter of Griffith. He agreed with the king that Griffith should be judged on battlefield merit. After the Eclipse, he traveled about assisting victims of the plague. He is now assisting Griffith in his battle against Ganishka. Most recently, he led a rescue of a group of women who had been held prisoner by the emperor. His name is translated as Raban in the anime.

Sir Owen

Voiced by: Naoki Bando (Japanese), Jason O'Connell (English)

Sir Owen (オーウェン, Ōwen^?) believed that he could advance in the court by aligning himself with Griffith. On the eve of the king's death, Owen showed great concern about Charlotte's well-being, but he was denied permission to see her. At Vritanis, only Owen recognized Guts as the leader of the Hawk's Raiders. When Charlotte declared that the new Band of the Hawk was to be Midland's regular army, and Griffith Midland's general, Owen supported her, declaring to the other nobles that Griffith had a right to the position as Midland's former hero during the war with Chuder, and that Charlotte was well informed about Griffith's tactical ability.

Other characters

Gambino

Voiced by: Norio Wakamoto (Japanese), Robert Krakovski (English)

Guts' adoptive father, and leader of a mercenary band, Gambino (ガンビーノ, Ganbīno^?) trained Guts to be a mercenary like himself and even gave Guts his first scar (across his nose) during a practice fight. Gambino sold Guts as a sex slave one night to Donovan, a pederast soldier, who anally raped young Guts and whom Guts brutally murders afterwards. Gambino was later hit by a cannon blast in battle and lost his leg and the ability to fight. This incensed his anger towards Guts even further, as he also blamed Guts for the death of his lover, Sys. Gambino became drunk one night and tried to kill Guts in a fit of rage. He admits he sold Guts to Donovan for three silver coins right before Guts killed him in self-defense. He constantly haunts Guts during his early years before the massacre of the original Band of Hawk.

Adon Coborlwitz

Voiced by: Tesshō Genda (Japanese), Mike Pollock (English)

Adon (アドン, Adon^?) was a principal opponent of the original Band of the Hawk during the war between Midland and Chuder. He commanded the Blue Whale Ultra Heavy Armored Fierce Assault Annihilation Knight Corps (referred to in the anime as the Blue Whale Super Strong Heavy Assault Knights). He regularly bragged about special attacks and defenses that he called "Coborlwitz family secrets", such as "Bakuretsu Funsai", a 300 year old fleeing technique, and "Ressha Jinrai", a 1000 year old crossbow sneak attack. After Adon fought Casca and goaded her with sexist comments, she fell off a cliff, dragging along Guts, who was trying to prevent her from falling. Adon and a hundred of his men, including his much bigger and stronger little brother Samson Coborlwitz, eventually located Guts and Casca. Guts managed to kill most of them by himself, earning the nickname "The Hundred Man Killer". Adon escaped but was sent away from the main battlefield because of his disgrace. As it turned out, he was well positioned to thwart Griffith's true aim, the capture of the castle of Doldrey. A force under Casca attacked the lightly defended castle. She dueled with Adon, and he succeeded in poisoning her. In desperation, she leaped over him, turned around, and cut him down. Casca's forces captured the castle, allowing Griffith to claim victory. In the anime, Adon has two additional scenes. In the first, he attempted to lure Griffith in range of a hidden explosive cache; however, Guts warned Griffith in time and the plan was foiled. In the second, Griffith sent Guts into a castle occupied by Adon's men, with orders to open the gates from the inside. When Guts succeeded, a force led by Griffith rode through the opened gate and took control of the castle.

The Skull Knight

Voiced by: Tsutomu Isobe

The Skull Knight (髑髏の騎士, Dokuro no Kishi^?) is one of the most mysterious and prolific characters introduced in Berserk, a towering warrior dressed in full armor whose ornaments, especially his helmet (if it even is a helmet, or his own head), are shaped as parts of a human skeleton, hence his moniker, who rides a massive, ghostly black horse. Though ominous and macabre, he is an enemy of the Godhand and its acolytes, hunting down Apostles and devouring their Behelits; especially bitter is his rivalry with Zodd the Immortal, whom he was often showed to overwhelm with ease. He wields a powerful sword that, when stuck down his throat, becomes a terrible, Behelit-coated blade capable of slashing rifts through reality itself, thus allowing the Skull Knight to move freely around the world or even between different dimensions. This enigmatic knight saved Guts in more than one occasion, notably during the infamous Eclipse which saw Griffith become a member of the Hand of God or when Slan almost slaughtered him, though he never explained why, simply declaring that the Struggler (the way he calls Guts) has to keep following his fate. It is heavily speculated that, during his life as a mortal, the Skull Knight was in fact Gaiseric, the warlord that unified the Midlands and became its first Emperor, notorious for his helmet whose shape was that of a human skull and whose ambitions 'prompted God to send four Angels' (most likely the four members of the Hand of God) to punish him. He was the wearer of the Berserker's Armor, and knew the witch Flora. During the duel between Griffith and Ganishka he suddenly appeared out of thin air through a dimensional rift, trying to land a fatal blow on the Hawk, only to see it diverted on the writhing body of the Kushan Emperor.

Silat

Silat (シラット, Shiratto^?) is a highly skilled and agile Kushan fighter first encountered by Guts in the Golden Age arc. He wields exotic weapons including chakrams, Katara's (कटार) and urumi. His combat style is similar to kalaripayat, though Guts has referred to him as a circus performer due to Silat's exotic appearance, acrobatics and his almost theatrical tendency to call out his attacks. Silat and Guts first met prior to the Eclipse in a fight tournament at a carnival to determine who would lead a band of mercenaries to finish off a very battered and demoralized Band of the Hawk. When a victorious Guts refused to claim the prize, Silat, as runner-up, took on the job, which led to his second defeat. Years later, it is revealed that Silat is the leader of the Bākiraka clan, and that he is working under Emperor Ganishka in order to restore his people to their rightful place. To do this, he has tried to find and capture Griffith, but was unsuccessful in the task. However, after he witnessed how his emperor creates his demon soldiers, the Dāka, and saw Ganishka's frightening sorcery while the emperor himself fought off Griffith's apostle lancers, he may be questioning his sworn allegiance. A Kushan engineer of Griffith's named Jaris offered Silat a position in the Band of the Hawk, but Silat has thus far not accepted, showing an apparent disdain for blind obedience in demi-gods. His name is borrowed from the martial art silat.

His clan almost all utilize the same style of acrobatics and precision attacks with exotic weapons, such as toothed-swords, bladed discs, and the like, and defeat Midland infantry with ease, only meeting their match (understandably) against foes such as Guts, or, on one occasion, the Apostle Zodd. Among the clan, however, are four men who fight in a dramatically different style more suiting their towering frames and nubs of swollen bone near their big toes, index fingers, knees, and elbows (the striking points in their attacks). They are shown not only to be blindingly fast, but also capable of smashing through bone and steel armor alike with their strikes, much of which resembles the real-world Hung Ga fighting style, which emphasizes low stances and powerful hand strikes, though they use their legs as well. Two of them are present at the time when Silat is shown the Apostle-construct that creates the Kushan monsters, but a total of four have been shown at a single time. None have ever been shown killed in combat.

Guts and Casca's child

A nameless entity who was conceived by Guts and Casca shortly before the eclipse. Due to Casca's rape at the hands of Femto/Griffith, the child was born prematurely as a disfigured fetus-like abomination the size of a rat who disappeared before Guts could kill it. The creature acts more out of instinct than intelligence and as a result is compellingly drawn to its parents. It also possesses unknown magical powers as during the Tower of Convictions Arc, it appeared to Casca several times to erect a barrier that repelled whatever demons or undead that were threatening its mother, igniting suspicions that Casca was employing witchcraft. Doing so however drained it of energy and placed it on the brink of death where it was found by the Egg of the Perfect World who took it inside of itself. The creature disappeared following Griffith's resurrection but later, along the sea shore, Guts' party came across a young child who not only looks similar to Guts and Casca but shows an attraction to both of them. When Guts began to be consumed by the Berserker Armor during a fight with Ganiska's monsters, the child was able to telepathically call him back to his senses before vanishing as mysteriously as he appeared.

Azan

Azan (アザン, Azan^?) is a former member of the Holy Iron Chain Knights who served as Farnese's second-in-command. He was named to this position because Farnese was not considered to be sufficiently experienced to lead without supervision. He is a round, bald and bearded middle aged man devoted to chivalry and duty, but he nevertheless questioned the Holy See's methods of dealing with supposed heretics. Effectively wielding a metal quarterstaff, he has shown great skill with it in combat against Guts and various other abnormally skilled or strong fighters. He also shows a great sense of chivalry, as he challenges Guts to a one-on-one duel and, afterwards, when the other members of the Holy Iron Chain Knights wish to kill the incapacitated Guts for having killed their comrades, Azan lambastes them for having such a weak sense of honor, stating specifically that, "If a man has collapsed with his sword still drawn, he is the same as a man who has sheathed his sword."

Guts reveals upon their first encounter some information of Azan's former life: even before joining the Vatican forces, he was an exceptionally noble knight with very virtuous intentions at heart. He earned his nickname (and the fame that came with it) 'The Bridge Knight' (as well as the decidedly less-savory nickname 'Iron Staff Demon Azan') after he came across an old man defend a small bridge, harassed by bandits. He fought the bandits for hours, laughing all the while, only stopping once they retreated. This feat earned him a reputation comparable to that which Guts earned by slaying one hundred of Adon's mercenaries, but Azan had given up that title, along with his formal knighthood, when he joined the Holy Iron Chain Knights.

At Albion, Azan fought alongside the surviving knights to try and hold off the hordes of crazed cultists and flesh-consuming blobs, and survived only because falling debris from the crumbling tower knocked him unconscious and buried him. Since Griffith's reincarnation at Albion, he parted ways with Farnese and Serpico, only to re-emerge in Vritanis, still staying true to the noble and proud virtues of a knight: to defend the weak and punish the wicked without question. He was expelled from his Order (and possibly excommunicated) due to the disastrous events that took place at Albion. Presently, he accompanies Guts and company on their sea voyage, earning his spot on board by swabbing the deck, and taking some time off to train young Isidro in the ways of combat.

Jill

Jill came from a village terrorized by Misty Valley demons the villagers identified as elves. Her father was drunken and abusive to her and her mother. Guts and Puck rescued her from a man who was about to try out an old sacrifice ritual on her. She took them to her village, where the villagers became alarmed by the appearance of Puck. Jill met up with Guts and Puck after they fled and told them the elves eat livestock and people and carry away children. After the elves attack the village and Guts uses a village boy to lure them into a trap, Jill identifies their leader as her childhood friend, Rosine. When the villagers turn on Guts again, he pretends to kidnap Jill, allowing him to leave peacefully. Jill and Guts set forth separately for the Valley, but Jill arrives first. Rosine takes Jill for a flight and offers to make her an especially powerful elf, but Jill puts her off due to the reckless savageness the elves exhibit. When Guts arrives, he burns Rosine's elf cocoons, hunts down the elves, and fights Rosine until she falls to the ground. When Guts tries to deliver the killing blow, Jill shields Rosine. Jill's father arrives, along with the Holy Iron Chain Knights, and Guts is driven away. Jill catches up to Guts, and asks him to take her with him. Guts tells her to go back to her father because the danger is too great. Puck gives Jill a stinging weapon she can use to keep her father in check as a parting gift.

Mozgus

Mozgus (モズグス, Mozugusu^?) was a fanatical priest whose symbol was a set of wheels, signifying his preferred method of execution. Mozgus had a smooth, blocky-looking face (which was due to a prayer ritual he performed every day that required him to slam his head upon the ground repeatedly) which became extremely wrinkled when he begins showing strong emotions. Extremely zealous, he captured and tortured large numbers of supposed heretics, forcing them to "confess" before summarily being executed. Mozgus was accompanied by a squad of disfigured or otherwise disabled torturers who double as his bodyguards. The torturers were unquestionably loyal to Mozgus who embraced them as being chosen by God where before they had known nothing more than scorn as social pariahs. During the Resurrection Arc, Farnese and the Holy Iron Chain Knights were assigned the task of guarding him after they allowed Guts to escape but Farnese gradually grew more and more disenchanted with Mozgus's methods. On the day of the Incarnation Ceremony, Mozgus announced his intention to burn Casca as a witch, causing Guts to attack him and his torturers. During the battle, the Egg of the Perfect World turned him and his torturers into pseudo-apostles resembling bird-like humanoids, which gave them and the onlooking crowd the illusion of their having been turned into angels. However, despite their newfound power, their transformation failed to save them as Guts killed first the torturers and then Mozgus himself. His body is last seen (reverted to human form with his death) engulfed in the fire he had been able to breathe while in his pseudo-apostle form, around which a handful of the refugees are crowded. The flames, even in death, provide them protection from the flesh-consuming mass that was consuming the area, and it is remarked that Mozgus seemed more a guardian angel in death than in life.

Luca

Luca (ルカ, Ruka^?) is the leader of a band of prostitutes at Albion. Red-haired and fiercely loyal to her charges, she is romantically linked to the Holy Iron Chain Knight Jerome. When Jerome gave her a necklace of pearls, she divided them evenly among her girls, believing that they could only survive the hysteria of the heretic hunts by eliminating any cause for jealousy. Luca took in the wayward Casca, calling the mute former Hawk commander Elaine. She covered Casca's face in bandages, pretending that Casca had contracted syphilis. When the cowardly prostitute Nina visited the nearby goat worshiping cult, and she threatened to turn Luca over to the worshipers, Luca smacked and then spanked the blond haired girl, causing her to submit. When Pepe, one of her prostitutes, was accused of heresy, Luca came to her defense. Luca and Pepe were saved from arrest by a timely appearance by Guts. When Guts discovered that Luca had seen Casca, Luca attempted to reunite him with Casca, but she could not since Nina had taken the mute girl to the cult. When Casca and Nina were taken to Mozgus, Luca bribed a guard to allow her to enter the monastery. While Guts was looking for Casca, Luca released Nina from her imprisonment. After Isidro challenged Mozgus to release Casca, one of the priest's torturers attacked, causing Luca to fall. Nina grabbed Luca and tried to hold her, but Luca let go. Luca was spared injury because she was caught by the Skull Knight. She then met the Egg of the Perfect World, who explained his purpose to her. When Albion was being overrun by monsters, Luca hid Nina in a barrel and herself in a well. As a result, Luca and Nina survived the carnage.

Flora

Voiced by: Sumi Shimamoto

Flora (フローラ, Furōra^?) is Schierke's mistress, who taught her in the arts of magic and Od. In addition to being a powerful witch of indeterminate age, she is an old friend of the Skull Knight, whom she sees as "still having a human heart." This would imply that Flora knew the Skull Knight before he took on his current ghoulish form. Prior to her living in the woods outside Enoch village, she wandered the land, helping people with her magic until the Holy See's influence drove her into reclusion. During their journey to the sea, Guts and his party were recruited by Flora to aide in the extermination of a troll infestation that threatened the nearby villages and forest. In exchange, she provides them with several magical items as well as special tattoos for Guts and Casca which dampen the signal transmitted by the brand of sacrifice. She dies when Griffith sends apostles to hunt down anyone powerful enough to oppose him, her spirit appearing a final time before Schierke as she possessed the flames the Apostles had lit to consume her and her home to create a barricade between them and Guts's party, thereby allowing them to escape.

Federico de Vandimion

Federico de Vandimion (フェデリコ・ド・ヴァンディミオン, Federiko do Vandimion^?) is the head of the illustrious Vandimion family, the wealthiest noble clan in Berserk. He is father to Farnese, Serpico, Manifico, Georgio and Politiano. Apparently a cold uncaring man, he was always working hard to ensure his vast fortune is secure, leaving no time to raise Farnese properly. In truth, he was actually frightened of his ill-tempered daughter, as revealed by his wife to Farnese. His uncaring behavior towards his family is likewise returned to him, with the exception of Farnese, who asked Guts to protect her family when Kushan beasts invaded a ball to massacre the attending nobility. Years ago he had an affair, the result of which is none other than Serpico: he granted him a noble title in exchange for his silence on the matter of their relation.

Manifico de Vandimion

Manifico de Vandimion (マニフィコ・ド・ヴァンディミオン, Manifiko do Vandimion^?) is the son of Federico and the brother of Farnese. Federico considers his other sons to be more competent than Manifico, and he has given Manifico the less important family duties as a result. Manifico arranged a marriage between Farnese and his friend Roderick in the hope of improving his standing. When Guts left for Elfhelm, Manifico accompanied him on board Roderick's ship. He has recently revealed to Roderick a plan to capture and breed the tiny inhabitants of Elfhelm for commercial purposes. Roderick has refused to aid his scheme, but Manifico has persuaded Puck to help by offering to make the elf the king of Elfhelm.

Roderick of Staufen

Roderick of Staufen (ロデリック・オブ・シュタウフェン, Roderikku obu Shutaufen^?) is the third prince of the island nation Eath, and is in a similar situation to his college friend Manifico de Vandimion in the sense that he does not get the respect he feels he deserves from his peers. As a sailor, he sees vast potential in the exploration of the seas, unlike his peers, who focus internally to the point of stagnation. As part of Magnifico's plan to join the Vandimion name with the royal Eath family, Roderick agreed to be Farnese's fiancé. His obvious motivations for this arranged marriage are the vast opportunities and support the Vandimion name could bring him, but he seems to take a personal interest in the heiress as well due to her reputation. Roderick, with his long black ponytail, his good looks and devil-may-care attitude, is an excellent charmer and a decent blade, and demonstrates a willingness to brave demons, even though he is ill equipped to take them on. He is currently ferrying Guts and company aboard his ship, on their way to Skellig.

Roderick and his crew also have a claim to fame on the high seas: His ship, the Sea Horse, downed 5 Tudor vessels on its own, thus earning Roderick the title of "Prince of the Seas".

Captain Sharkrider

Captain Sharkrider is the commander of a pirate ship. The stereotypical pirate captain, he attempted to go legit by trading in Kushan child slaves, putting him at odds with Schierke, who had decided to free them. Isidro, who was trying to keep the bold young witch from being burned at the stake, joined her crusade. Sonia admired her effort and joined her as well, bringing her guard Mule along. Mule attempted to fight the captain but was ill-suited for fighting on the swaying boat. The nimble Isidro fared much better and the captain offered to let the boy thief serve on his ship. Azan, asleep on the boat, was awakened and joined in the melee. Ultimately, the whole group of them forced Sharkrider to give up his slaves.

Once Roderick's ship was at sea, Sharkrider ordered an attack on the warship, ignorant that his enemy was much more than he could handle. Hopelessly out-gunned, Sharkrider was forced to retreat, his ship maimed almost to the point of sinking. In his lack of luck, he was caught in the wave of paranormal phenomena that flooded the world after Ganishka's death, and his whole crew was apparently massacred, turning into a band of pirate Apostles. He became something of a ghost, keeping his ship afloat even if totally destroyed and making it sink at will, only to have it travel underwater. Also, he gained the power of bizarre creatures of the seas, which he used in the second assault he led to Roderick, seeking vengeance. However, the plan fails, again, and Sharkrider orders his ship to submerge and escape destruction after Guts easily kills the massive kraken-like creature that Sharkrider commanded.

Humorously, his name is made reality by the figurehead of his ship: a skeleton pirate captain riding a shark. Also, it's revealed by Sharkrider himself that he became an emotional wreck following his defeat at the docks by Azan and Schierke, having failed to become a legitimate businessman (though via slave trading), he found that he'd lost his touch with piracy, as well. Guts party, particularly Isidro, are disgusted by how pathetic Sharkrider appears despite his ghoulish form, as he is reduced to hiding behind one of the gunwales of his ship and gnawing on a banister.

Daiba

Daiba is chief among the sorcerers under Emperor Ganishka, and probably the very one responsible for his monarch's descent to darkness as an Apostle. A thin old man dressed as an Indian fakir, he was once a nameless ascetic who gave a Behelit to Ganishka, probably in full knowledge of the artifact's powers, wishing for a powerful kingdom ruled by magic. He challenged Guts' group by conjuring a storm and summoning monstrous beasts from the seas, but even through his greatest sorceries, which included summoning tornadoes and a gigantic water spirit, he was defeated by the combined efforts of Guts and Shierke. He was the one responsible of creating the horrific organic device that granted the Kushans an endless stream of monsters and other bizarre creatures for their army. He is last seen riding atop a pterodactyl-like creature (one of Kushan's many artificially-created beasts) during Ganishka's attempt to ascend into godhood, but his status is unknown, though given his potent magical abilities, it is likely he is still alive despite the world's descent into fantastic chaos.

Video game characters

For more details on this topic, see Sword of the Berserk: Guts' Rage.

For more details on this topic, see Berserk: Millennium Falcon Hen Seima Senki no Shō.

Rita

Voiced by: Yuri Shiratori (Japanese), Paula Tiso (English)

Rita (リタ, Rita^?) is a travelling performer skilled in throwing knives and juggling. Her accomplice, Job was infected with Mandragora and her performing days were cut short when Guts killed him. Reluctantly at first, she eventually helps Guts out throughout the Chapter. She appears on the Dreamcast game version of Berserk.

Balzac

Voiced by: Kenji Utsumi (Japanese), Earl Boen (English)

Balzac (バルザック, Baruzakku^?) is the baron of a village. Once a benevolent and protective leader to his subjects, he became obsessed with research on Mandragorans in process of finding a cure for his ailing wife, Annette. At the climax of the game, he turns into an apostle which is a multiple-headed monster.

Eriza and The Great Tree (Niko)

Voiced by: Sumi Shimamoto (Japanese), Paula Tiso (English)

Eriza (エリザ, Eriza^?) is a mysterious nun working with the Mandragoras. She opens up to Guts about the story of Niko, a child peasant who visited her cathedral regularly. She reveals that Niko dies on her doorstep, after being attacked badly by the bullies from the village. Eriza tells Guts and Rita of her distaste with normal human beings, and tries to reason with Guts, to stop him killing any more of the Mandragora people. Guts however, refuses her plea. She then runs to the Great Tree for help. The Great Tree is hidden in the Cathedral, who is revealed to be Niko. Sister Eriza is a Mandragora. A battle ensues in which both Niko and Eriza are beaten by Guts. Eriza attempts to flee with Niko, only to find the Mandragora village in flames. In desperation, she takes her own life, by running into the fire, with Niko in her arms.

Charles

Voiced by: Megumi Toyoguchi

Charles (シャルル, Sharuru^?) is a noble kid and an apostle original character created for the Berserk: Millennium Falcon Hen Seima Senki no Shō 2004 game.

References

1. ^ Young Animal ads for vol. 26 release of Berserk
2. ^ Miura, Kentaro; Berserk vol. 26, p 65. Digital Manga Publishing, 2008. ISBN 978-1-59307-922-2

External links

Official website(Japanese)