Guts

Guts
Series	Berserk
Age	24 (as of Fantasia)
Birthday	N/A
Sex	Male
Species	Human
Height	6'8" (204 cm)
Weight	253 lbs (115 kg)
Alignment	Chaotic neutral/True neutral

Guts is the main character of the manganime series Berserk. Nicknamed the Black Swordsman, he was the leader of a raiding unit in the mercenary group known as the Band of the Falcon.

“	Look. Take a look around us. A good hard look at the shadows. At the darkness around me. You said "somewhere that's not here". This is that somewhere. The verge of our world. This place is a drift where the deead cling to the living, drowning in jealousy and yearning. A garbage heap of losers. You said you don't care where. Well, what you see is what you get. This is your paradise. There's no paradise for you to escape to. What you'll find... What's there... is just a battlefield.	„
	~ Guts

Background

Guts was found shortly after being born of his mother's corpse, which was hanging from a gallows tree, by a group of mercenaries. His birth from a hanged woman was a bad omen and the superstitious members wanted to kill him and move on. He was adopted by Shisu, a woman close to the group leader, Gambino. A plague began spreading throughout the lands a few years after his birth and adoption, with his adopted mother dying of it and leaving Guts behind with the abusive and manipulative Gambino. Shisu’s death made Gambino even angrier and meaner than before, mostly towards Guts because he believed that Guts is cursed, and the only reason he doesn’t kill him is because Shisu begged him to take care of him. Gambino began to train Guts into a warrior at the age of 6. When he was 9, he killed his first man. Shortly after when Gambino’s abuse began to worsen, another member of the band, Donovan, paid Gambino to sell Guts as a sex slave for the night, resulting in Guts being raped and with the man telling Guts that it was Gambino who sold him out. Guts bided his time and when he had the chance he killed the man during a battle. After that, Guts decided to see if what he said was true and ask Gambino himself only to be shocked to find out it was. Gambino then tried to strangle him to death, but Guts got his sword and beheaded his adoptive father. The mercenary band branded him as a patricider and chased him out with the intent to kill him.

Guts escaped and set out to venture the free world as a free agent mercenary, battling in many different battles until his fight with a knight named Bazuso, where he killed the man with a lucky strike after putting a crack in the massive axe Bazuso wielded. Shortly after he was attacked by and recruited by an up-and-coming band of mercenaries, the Band of the Falcon. He declined the offer and battled Griffith, their leader, for either his freedom or indentured servitude. He was beaten by Griffith after an intense fight, and forced to join. Eventually after a few years, he was able to become comfortable and to relax with them. Guts eventually became a major asset of Griffith, and the captain of the band’s raiders. He was often at odds with Casca, a fellow woman member who was infatuated with Griffith. She believed Guts caused Griffith to be put in unnecessary danger. During one the battles against the Tudor Empire that they fight for the Kingdom of Midland, Casca has extreme cramps and hot flashes due to her period’s ill timed arrival and falls off a cliff, with Guts grabbing her and falling with her. They land in a river and Guts finds a large hollowed out tree and takes care of her. Casca awakens and is angry at being naked, even though Guts removes her clothes because they were soaked and he didn’t want her to catch hypothermia from them. He reveals that he’s been taking care of her and angrily exclaims that “This is why women should be in battle.” This deeply hurts Casca and she reveals to Guts that she was saved from a rapist nobleman by Griffith and that she’s been fighting alongside him ever since. Eventually the enemy army begins to close in and Guts sends Casca off to get help from the Band. She returns with the band and Griffith in tow, only to find all the enemy soldiers dead. They find Guts standing and leaning against a tree propped up by his sword, and sustaining extremely heavy wounds, though still far more than okay for a human being. These moments bring Guts and Casca much closer than before, and also earn Guts his first nickname “The Hundred-Man Slayer”.

After 3.5 years of undefeated battles, the Band is set to become the Kingdom of Midland’s standing army, renamed as "White Phoenix Knights". Guts feels as if he has no purpose or grand dream like Griffith’s of getting own kingdom, and sets out to find what his purpose is. Griffith attempts to stop Guts from leaving and is soundly beaten by a single swing of Guts’ sword, with Griffith having his blade sundered in two, and his head mere centimeters from being decapitated. Guts, having won his freedom sets out on his own personal journey. Griffith, in a state of depression and loss, seduces Princess Charlotte and is caught the morning after. He is sentenced to life imprisonment and torture. The rest of The Band is ambushed and labeled fugitives, with Casca taking over command in the absence of Griffith and Guts. A year later, the Band is attacked by Kushan exiles, with Guts appearing shortly after the beginning of the attack and defeating the enemy leader. Casca attempts to kill Guts after asking to speak with him alone, only for Guts to shrug off her attacks. She tells him that Griffith was captured and is imprisoned because he left and caused Griffith to lose himself in his grief. She shallowly stabs Guts in his lower left quadrant, with Guts grabbing and holding her sword there as he tries to comprehend why Griffith would do such a thing due to his departure from the band. Casca eventually pulls her sword out, cutting Guts’ hand. She then attempts suicide by throwing herself off a cliff by a waterfall, with Guts once again saving her and pulling her back to flat land. They eventually have sex, both Guts and Casca’s first time. Guts first has a few flashbacks to his rape, but Casca is able to calm and help him through them. TheY have sex a few times and eventually Casca falls asleep. Guts, however, does not and comes face to face with the Skull Knight, a skeletal figure in armor astride a skeletal-fashing armored horse. He warns Guts of an impending doom and disappears shortly after.

Guts, Casca, and the rest of the band begin a mission to break Griffith out of jail with help from a new informant, who turns out to be Princess Charlotte. She leads them to Griffith's cell, deep in the heart of Windham’s jail. They find a very different Griffith: emaciated, no tongue, no tendons, whose most of his back has been peeled and skinned away. His once beautiful face is now marred and scarred by boiling water. Guts then brutally murders Griffith’s torturer-jailer, impaling him on his massive sword and dangling him over the pit leading to the ancient city, and cuts his tongue out before making him fall off his sword into the pit. They fight their way out of the city and begin to realize just how bad Griffith is injured. Guts decides he is going to stay with Casca and the band to help take care of Griffith, who has been having visions for the last last year. At one point, Griffith gets atop Casca and dry humps her. Casca allows him to lie on top of her out of pity. Griffith then steals his carriage away using his mouth to hold the reins and wounds up crashing into a pond where he attempts to kill himself but ultimately gives up. Guts and the rest of the Band, except Rickert, are shortly behind and arrive just in time for Griffith to find his formerly lost beherit, the Egg of the King. He then unknowingly triggers an event that only happens once on an eclipse every 216 years, prompting him to sacrifice the band in exchange to ascend as a God Hand member.

Powers & Abilities

• Peak Human Condition: Guts has been a struggler of the battlefield since the raw age of nine, and as such, has had nearly two decades to refine himself into the formidable warrior he is. During his days as a mercenary in the Hundred-Year War, he became famed for single-handedly slaying 100 Tudor soldiers, and even garnered the respect of the legendary swordsman Nosferatu Zodd for being the first human in three centuries to wound the apostle. Following the Eclipse, his strength and reflexes improve drastically even still, honed to their peak in his constant struggle against otherworldly creatures as one branded. Guts' combat prowess becomes so great as to rival the normal forms of the most formidable apostles, allowing him to contend with them on equal footing. On the Hill of Swords, Guts demonstrates the ability to contend with Zodd's released form, with the match ending in a draw after Griffith orders Zodd's retreat. During her first occasion watching Guts fight, Schierke noted to herself that Guts does indeed possess superhuman capabilities, and theorized that it was due to existing in the Interstice, where the mind can easily influence matter.
  • Superhuman Conditioning: With the power of the Berserker Armor, Guts is able to ignore the physiological and subconscious safety mechanisms of his own body. In this state, he already superhuman physicality is tremendously amplified. During his fight with Grunbeld, he was able to match the apostle's enormous draconic release form and even crack Grunbeld's corundum skin despite having begun the fight badly weakened. While utilizing the armor, Guts has also demonstrated the ability to both catch and toss aside a ship's falling main mast, which Roderick noted would take dozens of men and a crane merely to lift.
• Master Swordsman/Tactican: Ever since he was 6 years of age, Guts has wielded oversized swords, culminating in his incredible strength and master swordsmanship. Despite his Herculean stature, Guts is notably dexterous and agile in the heat of battle, capable of dodging and countering even the most rapid strikes. He is a combat pragmatist and versatile improviser, capitalizing on any opportunity available to surmount opposition; on several occasions, he has used children to bait and distract enemies when overwhelmed. Even combatants known for their keen combat intellect, such as Silat and Serpico, have fallen prey to Guts' adaptive capacity and combative wit.
• Pressure Point Strikes:
• Analytical Prediction:
• Non-Physical Interaction:
• Acausality/¨The Struggler¨
• Indomitable Will: Guts possesses an indomitable will which enables him to persevere in the face of seemingly insurmountable obstacles. His force of will is so great that he has unconcernedly mutilated his own body in pursuit of his goals, and let himself be injured in order to create openings and execute counterattacks on opponents. It is specifically his personal determination that pushes him forward in the face of opposition as one branded, and factors greatly into his retention of his humanity.
• Pain Tolerance:
• Statistics Amplification:
• Death Defiance: Though much of his survival is predicated on his sheer determination and willpower, Guts' life has been littered with instances where his survival was largely coincidental. For an unspecified amount of time, he is left to die beneath the corpse of his hanging mother, yet he still releases a healthy cry upon randomly being discovered by Gambino and his mercenaries at a later point. The Skull Knight notes that Guts "began [his] life from death", and as such possesses a flair for escaping it. Such instances include, but are not limited to:
  • During one of Gambino's mercenary operations, Guts is the only survivor of a decoy charge, where his fellow mercenaries are all killed by a volley of arrows.
  • After being shot off a cliff by Gambino's mercenaries, he survives the high fall, fends off an attack from a pack of wolves and is by chance taken in by another mercenary band.
  • During his hostage taking of a noble's son, he reaches out for Chitch's unclasped flower, resulting in the archer behind him missing a shot aimed at the mercenary's back and instead hitting the noble's son.
  • In his duel with Bazuso, his survival is heavily dependent on Bazuso's ax cracking before it can cleave his head.
  • During an unspecified time between his enlistment into the Band of the Falcon and reappearance as the band's raiders captain three years later, he was involved in a battle where he was the sole survivor amongst a myriad of fallen soldiers, leading Griffith to marvel at his "luck of the devil".
  • Despite Zodd's prediction of Guts' demise during the Eclipse, the struggler still contends against the hordes of apostles – even after nearly all of his comrades are slaughtered – and ultimately survives the sacrificial ceremony.
• Brand of Sacrifice: The brand Guts receives during the fifth Eclipse sets him apart from those residing solely in the Physical World; as a resident of the Interstice, Guts exists "outside the reason of the [Physical World]", giving him a "half-step" over most others in the current of causality. The brand also allows Guts to sense the approach of certain astral creatures, as it starts to bleed and ache if entities such as incubi, spirits, apostles or a God Hand member is nearby. It has also reacted to Flora and Daiba, as well as events such as the Incarnation Ceremony or the advent of Shiva.

Equipment

• Dragon Slayer: Having been made with the "ultimate steel", Guts uses this enormous sword to cleave through humans and demonkind with ease. In conjunction with the Berserker Armor, the cutting power of the Dragon Slayer increases significantly. During the Berserker's bout with Grunbeld, Guts is able to shatter the knight's cannon fire-deflecting shield and the corundum skin of the apostle's released form. It also has defensive uses, broad enough to act as a shield from arrows and bolts, and capable of diverting lightning into the ground as a lightning rod. Guts also uses it to mitigate blows by holding the sword level with his body and letting it absorb the brunt of impact.
  • Air Redirection:
  • Astral Properties: The Dragon Slayer has been tempered by the malice of the innumerable inhumans slain in Guts' journey, and is capable of harming both astral and physical beings.
• Prosthetic Arm: Ever since Guts lost his left arm during the Eclipse, Rickert created a mechanical hand to replace Guts' lost arm. With it, Guts has better grip with the sword and increase the power of his strikes that are able to kill humans in one hit. The prosthetic arm also contains some ranged weapons:
  • Cannon Gun: The cannon in Guts' mechanical arm is one of Rickert's inventions, given to him for his hunt on demonkind. It has been of invaluable use to the swordsman, having saved him from peril many times in his journey. The cannon has a highly effective blast radius, capable of tearing into even the most sizable of monsters and apostles. When unable to use his right arm, Guts instead uses his teeth to pull the cannon's ignition cord, often fooling enemies into believing he has been outdone before blasting into them. He has also used the velocity produced by the cannon's recoil to blast into one target and perform a reversing slash into another with the Dragon Slayer, effectively eliminating two enemies in a single motion. He has also made use of the cannon on occasion to deal lethal internal damage to an opponent already pierced by the Dragon Slayer, bypassing what would ordinarily be armor or hide too tough or thick to penetrate effectively with the cannon.
  • Magnetizer: To better grip the sword.
  • Repeater Crossbow: This is another weapon Guts receives before setting out on his war against demonkind. He uses the crossbow by attaching it to his mechanical arm and filling its magazine full of bolts, releasing a volley of bolts upon turning its crank. The repeater crossbow is wielded extensively up until Guts' acquisition of the Berserker Armor, at which point its use is seemingly deferred. However, he does still make use of it against human or humanoid foes on occasion, so long as he is not facing a horde of them.
  • Flame Gun:
• Miniature Bombs: These are a later addition to Guts' arsenal, fashioned for his by Rickert. These small, mine-shaped bombs are remarkably powerful for their size, but within a very contained radius, usually only killing targets if vital areas are hit. As such, they are typically used only to slow down or distract larger enemies. Against such foes, such as the makara pishacha, he uses the bombs to target their eyes in a similar manner to the way in which he uses his knives against smaller creatures. Guts has given a number of these bombs to Isidro.
• Throwing Knives: Having been taught the basics of knife throwing by Judeau, Guts has acquired remarkable accuracy and precision with them over the years. Their effectiveness is dependent upon vital points being hit, being of minimal effect against larger foes; against smaller targets, they are quite lethal. More often than not, the knives are used to target the eyes of larger targets, or when precision strikes are required.
• Short Dagger:
• Salamander Dagger:
• Elf Dust:
• Berserker Armor: Given to him by Flora, the Berserker Armor acts as the Black Swordsman's last resort against overwhelmingly powerful enemies. The armor's primary function is to allow Guts to override the physiological mechanisms that prevent the human body from using enough force to damage itself. Functionally, this enhances his already prodigious physical capabilities to an unarguably superhuman level. While utilizing the armor, Guts becomes capable of annihilating swarms of mammoth monsters and even decisively defeating apostles in their released forms.
  • Night-Vision:
  • Berserk Rage:
  • Fixing Wounds:
  • Inner Darkness:

Feats

Strength

• Easily swing his Dragon Slayer with one arm easily.
  • Even carrying it with his mouth and jumping with it.
• Easily sliced through armored men and monsters with ease.
• Busts through steel swords and steel maces.
• Can lift monsters that larger and heavier than him. Can lift up a giant apostle and throw him off the edge.
• Effortlessly punch through human heads, even if armored.
• At the age of six, he could easily wield swords larger than him in training.
• Traded blows with Wyald's human form, who can punch a falling boulder to pieces.
• Traded blows with Zodd, who can easily slice through stone and concrete with ease.
• Ripped a horn off an apostle's head.
• Can easily pierce through the skin of Zodd, which is immensely durable.
• Pushed aside the massive Grunbeld, who weighs 3624 lbs (according to Berserk Official Guidebook) in his apostle form.
• Punched a hole clean through a wall even while injured.
• Able to shatter pillars.
• Shattered Grunbeld's shield, which is sturdy enough to repel cannonball fire.
• Bursts through a door that is four times thicker than the average one.
• Generates enough air pressure to negate the centripetal force of Silat's Urumi.
• Can smash through debris that's thrown at him.
• Blocked a javelin that was thrown at him with enough force to ricochet around the surrounding wall.
• Shatters an ogre's club that was about to swing at him.
• In his Berserker Armour, push the mast of a ship that was about to fall on him.
• In his Berserker Armour, can cut through a water spout.
• Kicked off some metal bars
• Defeated Griffith and cut through his sword near the end of the Golden Age
• Blocked attacks that would have destroyed any other person’s sword with a single strike
• Killed a man in one punch
• Smashed a giant boulder to pieces
• Sliced the Snake Count in half with one swing of Dragonslayer
• Cut through four men fully decked out in armor
• Shattered a helmet with a single blow
• Sliced a horse in half along with the stone floor
• Fought Ganishka in single combat
• Physically contended with Zodd in his Apostle form and stalemated him
• In a combined effort with Schierke, vaporized the head of a giant water snake (22.7 tons of TNT each)
• Cracked skin tougher than steel

Speed

• Can swing his Dragon Slayer like a blur.
• Able to move faster than the eye can track.
• Zodd couldn't keep track of Guts.
• Casually dodge and block arrows fired.
• Easily dodge sword swings from Casca.
• Reacted and caught Serpico's sword swing with his bare hands.
• Kept up with Wyald and blitzed him.
• Dodged sword swings from soldiers that surrounded him.
• Caught two discs flying at him at the same time.
• Said to fight like a tornado.
• Can stab his Dragon Slayer into the ground while in a crouching position before lightning can hit him.
• In his Berserker Armour, evades lightning strikes, dodged water spouts and is able to run at supersonic speeds.
• Avoided Rosine’s head skewer technique (Mach 4.8)
• Dodged five spear strikes at once
• Dodged a pointblank Crossbow bolt
• Blitzed Grunbeld in his Berserker Armor
• Sliced an ax mid swing

Durability

• Stood up after Griffith dislocated his arm.
• Survived having one of his eyes gouged out.
• Survived falling off a cliff.
• Withstood strikes from Wyald.
• Jumped through a wall of fire just so he can burn an apostle-spawn that clung into him.
• Survived getting punched a thousand times from Mozgus, which pulverise bricks the size of adults.
• Took punches from Zodd.
• Took stabs from Griffith.
• Took a stab to the mouth.
• Survived getting rammed by Rosine.
• Survived crashing into bridges.
• Withstood two of Ganishka's lightning, which is stated to be powerful enough to "nigh-incinerate apostles".
• Got smashed through a pillar by Zodd
• Endured the full power of Mozgus’ God Breath
• Withstood his arm being cut off…by himself
• Took a stinger through the jaw and didn’t even scream
• Has survived falling hundreds of feet
• Took hits from a Sea Monster that’s bigger than buildings
• Survived a scream that could kill normal people twice

Skill

• Fend off a pack of wolves as a child when he was emotionally distressed and injured.
• Has fought in numerous wars and managed to come relatively unscathed.
• Defeated strong human foes, including Bazuso, a soldier who defeated thirty men at once and a bear unarmed.
• Was recruited and allowed into Griffith’s Band of the Falcon.
  • Alongside them, ended the Hundred-Year War.
• Slew a hundred men in one night while injured.
• Surpassed Griffith in swordsmanship and defeated him in a duel.
• Took down several apostles and pseudo-apostles.
  • Survived several encounters with the apostle Zodd.
  • During his encounter with the apostles that had congregated during the Eclipse, he managed to slaughter or maim dozens with only a knife, a blunt sword, and a horn he ripped from an apostle’s head with his bare hands. This allowed him to become of the only survivors of the Eclipse until he was saved by the Skull Knight.
  • Killed an apostle disguised as a human woman while having sex with her.
• Through sheer will power, he cast away vengeful spirits that were trying to possess him.
• Capable of lifting and wielding the Dragon Slayer sword.
• Got away with wounding the makeshift troll-guts body of a God Hand member.
• Killed a so-called sea god from within by stabbing across its heart.
• Swam to shore while wearing his heavy armor, carrying the Dragon Slayer and holding an unconscious person.
• Stated to be more powerful by himself than an entire warship.

Weaknesses

• Recklessness: though he might be a formidable foe, Guts always takes risk, often resulting in harming himself.
• Berserker Armor: The drawbacks of the armor are at least as numerous as its advantages. The primary downside to the armor is a malicious magical od that gives the armor its power. Combined with Guts' own inner turmoil, if used in a serious battle, the od will overwhelm Guts' psyche, turning him into a feral monster with no ability to distinguish friend from foe. The only currently demonstrated way to bring him out of this state is with a powerful magical projection into his mind such as Schierke's luminous body or the Moonlight Boy's interference, which can suppress the armor's od and allow Guts to take conscious control of himself. However, even when under control, Guts is at constant risk of losing bodily functions and even his life due to the armor's suppression of his ability to feel pain. Additionally, when a debilitating injury such as a broken bone is sustained, the armor extends metal spikes deep into the wearer's flesh, forcibly reconstructing the impairment while causing significant blood loss in doing so. From using the Berserker Armor, Guts has developed a progressive and noticeable visual impairment.
• Beast of Darkness:
• Brand of Sacrifice: Guts' brand attracts all manner of evil entities whom he must fend off incessantly if no intervening method is employed. Additionally, when near an immensely powerful demon, such as a member of the God Hand, Guts' brand bleeds profusely and can induce a nigh-crippling amount of pain in him. Many of the brand's primary effects can be subdued via the application of a magical talisman to the spot of the brand; however, a member of the God Hand -even if using a temporary means of incarnation- can break down such a talisman entirely.

Trivia

• Guts' age, height and weight data are provided by the Berserk Official Guidebook, released circa the Fantasia Arc. It has to be noted that said guidebook is highly questionable in its veracity. However, the manga provided ways to deduce Guts' ages throughout the Golden Age Arc, with the mercenary being 19 at its end. As two years pass from then, he is 21 during the Black Swordsman and Conviction arcs.