Griffith (Berserk)
Leader of the Band of the Hawk who becomes a demon.
Griffith, the main villain of Kentaro Miura's Berserk, leads the Band of the Hawk as its brilliant and magnetic commander. After besting Guts in combat, he claims ownership of him, sparking the series' central, volatile bond. To fulfill his ambition for a kingdom, Griffith sacrifices his followers during the Eclipse, transforming into the God Hand known as Femto.
Quick Facts
- Series
- Berserk
- First
- Berserk chapter L0:; "Golden Age (4)" (1991)
- Creator
- Kentaro Miura
- Also known as
- Wings of Darkness
- White Hawk
- Hawk of Light
- Hawk of Darkness
- Blessed King of Longing
- The Absolute
- Relatives
- Charlotte (fiancée)
Facts from the source article.
Concept and creation
Kentaro Miura based the dynamic between Guts and Griffith partly on his own friendship with fellow manga artist Kōji Mori. The author did not initially intend for Griffith to become an antagonist; that shift began during the third volume. Miura reasoned that if Guts was going to be angry, he needed a target for that anger. Because friendship was deeply important to Miura, it felt natural to make that target a friend or someone of a similar age. Originally, Miura planned for Femto—Griffith’s God Hand form—to be Guts’s enemy. However, after completing the Golden Age arc, Griffith’s character had become so prominent that Miura wanted him to face Guts in that same human-like shape, only more powerful, to make their conflict easier to communicate. When it was pointed out that Griffith started to resemble a protagonist during his battle with Ganishka, Miura explained that he designed Griffith to rarely discuss his own feelings. By surrounding him with characters who openly express their emotions, Miura found that this indirectly elevated Griffith’s presence and complexity.
Appearances
Griffith began life as a homeless child, driven from an early age by the singular goal of ruling his own kingdom. He grew into a brilliant strategist and an exceptionally skilled swordsman, founding and commanding the mercenary group known as the Band of the Hawk. His striking beauty and magnetic charisma inspired intense loyalty and desire in everyone around him, regardless of gender. After besting Guts in single combat, Griffith forced him to join the Band of the Hawk. Three years later, under Griffith's command, the group ended the Hundred-Year War and secured peace for the kingdom of Midland. Guts then defeated Griffith in a duel and left the band, having heard Griffith speak of his ideal of friendship and choosing to pursue his own dream instead. Devastated by this loss, Griffith acted impulsively and slept with Princess Charlotte, resulting in his arrest and a year of brutal torture that left him crippled and broken. After the Band of the Hawk rescued him, Griffith, now unable to walk or fight, despaired over his lost dream. During a solar eclipse, he activated the Crimson Behelit he had carried since childhood. At the Eclipse, he was confronted with his true nature and chose to sacrifice the entire Band of the Hawk to become the final member of the God Hand, learning that his entire life had been orchestrated to make him a messiah destined to judge humanity. Reborn as the demon Femto, he raped Casca before Guts, corrupting the child she carried. Two years later, Griffith incarnated into the physical world by possessing the tainted child of Guts and Casca during the millennial Incarnation Ceremony at Albion. He then formed a new Band of the Hawk, composed of both humans and Apostles, to fight the invading Kushan army, leading Midland's forces with the support of the Holy See Church. After mortally wounding Ganishka and creating a global interstice that merged the physical and supernatural realms, Griffith founded Falconia, a dictatorial kingdom presented as humanity's final refuge. Griffith appears as a playable character in the game Berserk and the Band of the Hawk, serves as a main antagonist in Berserk: Millennium Falcon Hen Seima Senki no Shō, and is a guest character in Shin Megami Tensei: Liberation Dx2.
Reception
Griffith's characterization has been analyzed in scholarship, including whether his betrayal at the end of the Golden Age Arc was an autonomous decision or caused by external factors. Natalia Kućma discusses Griffith in her analysis of transhumanism and its ethical issues in Berserk, mentioning the modification of his subjectivity and physicality in exchange for the realization of his dream of his own kingdom. Anne Lauenroth of Anime News Network called Griffith the perfect villain, praising the human aspect of his character and his hamartia that leads to his choice in the Eclipse. Griffith placed second in Paste's list of the 20 of the Greatest Villains in Anime, with Toussaint Egan calling him the perfect foil to Guts and a villain of Luciferian proportions. Daniel Briscoe of The Fandom Post noted Griffith to be an enigmatic character for being incredibly skillful yet compassionate. LaNeysha Campbell praised Griffith's development in Volume 4, saying his devious side and its lead up to his heinous betrayal solidifies him as a formidable antagonist. Skyler Allen praised Miura's execution of the Eclipse, stating that Griffith betraying everyone who ever cared for him serves as a final statement on ambition, and that his ambition took him to great heights but also turned him into a literal and metaphorical monster.
More in Fictional Characters Who Have Made Pacts with Devils
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