Griffith, as an invoker of the Eclipse, is compelled by the God Hand to sacrifice.
At this great time of blessing... I bid thee welcome to this distant setting, this abstract time. [...] Thee, honorable child consecrated by the laws of causality. [...] We art kinsmen...
– Void, to Griffith[1]
The Eclipse (蝕) is a rare sacrificial ceremony occurring once every 216 years, during which a new member of the God Hand is to be born.
Elaboration[]
Only those possessing the Crimson Beherit can trigger the Eclipse. Apostles eagerly anticipate the Eclipse, traveling to the designated site of the "promised time" in advance, ominously awaiting the event at its predestined setting.[2] Upon reaching a point of profound despair, the Crimson Beherit's owner activates it, manifesting an interdimensional space where the Eclipse takes place. The bearer is then given the choice of offering as sacrifice what is most precious to them in exchange for kinsmanship with the God Hand as a demon. The event's demonic conductors compel the invoker to realize their pre-ordained decision. With the utterance of "I sacrifice," the rebirth of the invoker as a God Hand member is initiated, and their sacrificial offerings are marked with the Brand of Sacrifice.
In the case of Griffith's occultation, as the feasting on his sacrificed comrades proceeds, he undergoes his rebirth as a demon. He is overwhelmed with sensations derived from the slaughter of his sacrifices[3] — this confrontation freezing his heart — before assuming his new proper form.[4] After his rebirth is complete, the Eclipse soon nears its end,[5] concluding only after the final acts conducted by the newly born God Hand member.[6]
Background[]
According to legend, in the ancient Midland empire ruled by Gaiseric, disaster destroyed the imperial capital city and was brought forth by four or five angels. All that remains are traces of the fallen kingdom that were buried under the land which Wyndham would come to be built upon. The ruins of the ancient imperial city and its littered dead, all bearing the Brand of Sacrifice on their foreheads, could be found at the bottom of the Tower of Rebirth.[7]
Void alongside four inhuman beings at an event believed by Guts to be an Eclipse.
In the distant past, Void manifested at an event alongside four inhuman beings distinct from his later kinsmen and was witnessed by an unidentified man clad in the Berserker Armor.[8] Having experienced the aforementioned event as a phantasm by way of a "blood memory" imbued in the Berserker Armor, Guts is personally confident that the event was an Eclipse.[9]
Story[]
A sudden solar eclipse and the gathering of apostles signify Griffith's imminent occultation ceremony.
Griffith's occultation is alluded to in a Holy See prophecy which states that the appearance of a red lake when the sun "dies five times" heralds the birth of an angel signaling the beginning of an "age of darkness".[10] In a fierce battle with Guts and Griffith, Zodd recognizes Griffith's importance after noticing the young man's Crimson Beherit and spares him.[11] The Eclipse occurs a year after Griffith is rescued by the Band of the Falcon from his crippling imprisonment in the Tower of Rebirth.[12] On the eve of the occultation, apostles pilgrimage to the event's pre-ordained setting, killing part of the Band of the Falcon on the way.[13] After reaching a point of despair so great as to make a failed attempt at suicide, Griffith activates his Crimson Beherit after Guts commits what Griffith, in that moment, considers the unforgivable act of touching him.[2]
The beherit transports Griffith, Guts, and the Band of the Falcon members into an interdimensional space where the God Hand manifests,[2] with Zodd seemingly being the only apostle to remain outside the tornado-like portal. Though the intervening Skull Knight believes Zodd remains at the Eclipse's gateway to hold him off, Zodd clarifies that he also has no interest in the "indulgent spree".[14] After the God Hand separates Griffith from the rest of the band, they show him the "reality within [his] conscious realm", relying on his distressed mental state and most burgeoning desire to compel his offering of the Band of the Falcon as a sacrifice.[15][16] Consequently, the band members are marked with the Brand of Sacrifice by the God Hand member Void, and the present apostles assume their monstrous released forms to slaughter and devour all band members except Guts and Casca.[17] When Griffith's transformation is complete, he emerges as the fifth and final God Hand member, christened Femto.[6]
The "red lake" of prophecy, containing the ravaged remains of sacrificed Band of the Falcon members.
Though the Skull Knight defeats Zodd and manages to rescue Guts and Casca,[5] Guts loses his left arm and right eye while attempting to stop Femto from raping Casca.[18] When the Holy Iron Chain Knights discover the "red lake" of the ravaged Band of the Falcon members' remains, their commander, Farnese, considers it the fulfillment of the Holy See prophecy.[10] The mage Flora also senses the occultation and sends her pupil Schierke to confirm the aforementioned prophetic fulfillment.[19] Days later, Guts awakens and learns that Casca's mind was broken by what she endured during the Eclipse.[20] The ordeal sparks Guts' rage-fueled quest for revenge against the God Hand and apostles, especially Femto.[21] Having transcended his human form, Femto exists as an incorporeal being in the Astral World unable to manifest in the Physical World.[22]
The scenery of Griffith's occultation is revisited several times. One such instance is when Schierke attempts to reach Guts' ego during his battle with Grunbeld at the Mansion of the Spirit Tree.[23] Another instance is when the Flower Storm Monarch, Schierke, and Farnese delve into Casca's mind, wherein Casca's dreamscape contains various indicia of the Eclipse as she experienced it.[24]
Notes[]
Trivia[]
- 216 is a lunar number. 216 = 63 = 6×6×6, with 666 being the number of the beast. 216 is also double 108, a significant number in Buddhism.
References[]
- ^ Berserk :: Volume 12, "Advent"
- ^ a b c Berserk :: Volume 12, "Eclipse"
- ^ Berserk :: Volume 13, "God of the Abyss (1)"
- ^ Berserk :: Volume N/A, "God of the Abyss (2)"
- ^ a b Berserk :: Volume 13, "Escape"
- ^ a b Berserk :: Volume 13, "Birth"
- ^ Berserk :: Volume 10, "Thousand-Year Fiefdom"
- ^ Berserk :: Volume 41, "Vision of Death"
- ^ a b Berserk :: Volume 41, "Leaping Monkey"
- ^ a b Berserk :: Volume 14, "Black Swordsman, Again"
- ^ Berserk :: Volume 5, "Nosferatu Zodd (4)"
- ^ Berserk :: Volume 9, "Fugitives"
- ^ Berserk :: Volume 10, "The Eve (2)"
- ^ Berserk :: Volume 13, "Storm of Death (1)"
- ^ Berserk :: Volume 12, "The Castle"
- ^ Berserk :: Volume 12, "Parting"
- ^ Berserk :: Volume 13, "Quickening"
- ^ Berserk :: Volume 13, "Afterglow of the Right Eye"
- ^ Berserk :: Volume 24, "Magic Stone"
- ^ Berserk :: Volume 13, "Awakening to a Nightmare"
- ^ Berserk :: Volume 14, "One Who Hunts Dragons"
- ^ Berserk :: Volume 18, "Spirit Road (2)"
- ^ Berserk :: Volume 27, "Depths of Hellfire"
- ^ Berserk :: Volume 40, "Awakening"
Appendices[]
| God Hand |
| Apostles
Zodd · Wyald · Unidentified Roaming Apostle · The Count · Borkoff · Rosine · Unidentified Female Apostle · Snake Lord · Egg of the Perfect World · Rakshas · Locus · Grunbeld · Irvine · Ganishka |
| Pseudo-Apostles
Zondark · Elves of Misty Valley · Great Goat · Mozgus · Mozgus' Disciples · Ganishka's Spawn |
| Phenomena
Abyss · Brand of Sacrifice · Sacrificial Ceremony (Eclipse · Incarnation Ceremony) |
| Others
Beherit · Man-Made Beherit · Sea God · Daka · Dead Spirit · Demon Child (in essence) |
| Abyss · Apostle · Astral World · Beast of Darkness · Causality · Eclipse · Evil · Falcon of Light · Fantasia · Forest of Spirit Trees · God Hand · Great Wave of the Astral World · Idea of Evil · Ideal World · Incarnation Ceremony · Interstice · Magic · Mana · Od · Physical World · Prophecy of the Falcon · Pseudo-Apostle · Sacrificial Ceremony · Temporal Junction Point · Timeline · Universe · World Tree |