Guts | Griffith / Femto | Casca | Guts's Companions | Band of the Hawk | Kingdom of Midland | Antagonists (Godhand and Apostles) | Other Characters | Video Games
BEWARE OF UNMARKED SPOILERS! While we make an effort to cover some of the most important spoilers, we cannot guarantee that every potential spoiler will be hidden, or that those that are will be hidden consistently. Character bios in particular are likely to discuss late events in the manga. Lastly, some tropes are going to be spoilers because of their mere presence. You Have Been Warned!
This page is for the original characters introduced in Sword of the Berserk: Guts' Rage and Berserk: Millennium Falcon Hen Seima Senki no Shō. Characters who first appeared in the Berserk manga should not be added, as they are covered by that work's character pages.
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Sword of the Berserk: Guts' Rage
Rita
Voiced by: Yuri Shiratori (Japanese), Paula Tiso (English)
Rita (リタ Rita) is young street performer who meets Guts after he (indirectly) saves her and her troop from some bandits who were also trying to mess with Casca. Afterward, they meet Rita in the nearby castletown where one of her companions, who was infected by the Mandragora, turns into a monster and Guts kills it. When Balzac comes and greets Guts with a possible cure for Casca's insanity, Rita is taken to his castle as well - as a hostage.
- Action Survivor: An innocent bystander who gets sucked into a dangerous situation despite not being an action hero, yet survives multiple life-threatening perils with bravery and a bit of luck.
- Audience Surrogate: Being a relatively naive person with no previous knowledge or connection with Balzac, Guts, or the supernatural aspects of the Berserk world, Rita serves as the stand-in for players that are unfamiliar with the franchise.
- Canine Companion: Has a little dog that follows her around and performs tricks in her act. It also helps Guts find Casca later in the game.
- Circus Brat: Grew up as a traveling circus performer. As a result she has some obscure skills such as throwing knives, and has rather different ideas about diversity and acceptance than the more insular villagers.
- Damsel in Distress: Despite being handy with her knives, she can't deal with the bandits or Balzac's soldiers and needs to be rescued.
- Girlish Pigtails: She's the youngest female in the cast, and her girlish pigtails emphasize her relatively naive and idealistic nature.
- Knife-Throwing Act: Her circus act involves throwing knives, and she has really good aim. When she gets really mad at Guts, she even throws one at him!
- Nice Job Breaking It, Hero: She never becomes aware of it, but she's the one responsible for delivering a Behelit to Balzac.
- Plucky Girl: By the game's end she's decided that in spite of what she's been through, she will struggle for what she thinks is right no matter what lies ahead.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: When she finds Guts again after being separated from Casca, she tells Guts that despite his ruthless attitude he's unable to protect those closest to him.
- What the Hell, Hero?: First she calls Guts heartless for killing John, her travelling partner and friend who was also a Mandragoran, and showing no remorse for it. When she catches up to him again and tells him that Casca has been captured, she calls him out for being nothing more than a sword-swinging brute who acts tough but can't even defend one woman who is supposed to be the most important person to him. OUCH.
Balzac
Voiced by: Kenji Utsumi (Japanese), Earl Boen (English)
The noble ruler of a city that's come under the siege of Mandragoran creatures in recent years, Balzac (バルザック Baruzakku) claims he is trying to fight and understand them. However, he also has to contend with rebels among his subjects led by Dunteth who call him a tyrant and accuse him of conducting sinister experiments to weaponize the mandragora for his own ends. Taking notice of Guts' prowess in battle, he makes an offer to cure Casca's madness if Guts retrieves the heart of the Mandragora.
- Aristocrats Are Evil: Aristocratic ruler of the town, Man of Wealth and Taste, and Obviously Evil. He used to be a good or at least reasonable aristocrat, but had a Face–Heel Turn.
- Beard of Evil: In contrast to Perma-Shave Anti-Hero Guts, villainous Balzac has a thick beard (sans moustache). Although not unkempt, it's part of the lion-like mane that makes him look threatening and ferocious.
- Beard of Sorrow: Since he was clean shaven in the old portrait painted in happier times, the huge beard he has now coincides with the increasing sadness and depression he experienced.
- Blood Knight: After suffering so much tragedy and disappointment, there came a point when fighting and killing were the only things that gave him pleasure. However, eventually even this gave him no satisfaction."To spill the blood of men, that was the only thing that excited me! Blood smeared everywhere, bathing in it's warmth! Spilling endless blood, that is all I wanted. But now, that joy seems to be at an end."
- Botanical Abomination: Briefly becomes part-plant upon ingesting Mandragora extract for his first fight with Guts.
- I've Come Too Far: Even though he acknowledges how far he's fallen, he intends to walk his bloody path to the bitter end.
- Dual Wielding: After mutating first into a Mandragora, and later into an Apostle, he wields two halberds at once!
- Evil Old Folks: An aging man with grey streaks in his hair, he's only become more bloodthirsty and ruthless over the years.
- Evil Overlooker: On the North American box art for the game, his face looms in the background behind Guts.
- Evil Red Head: Possesses a great mane of flaming red hair, and is the main villain of the game. It might signify his rage and bloodlust.
- Face–Heel Turn: He was originally an enlightened ruler who cared for his realm and people and wanted to do what was best for them, but was driven to villainy by his personal tragedy.
- Final Boss: He is the last in the game.
- It's All About Me: Despite originally caring for his people, he decided to disregard their welfare in pursuit of his own selfish goal. In the end he even uses his wife as a sacrifice to become an Apostle, thus throwing away the only thing that he was still doing for someone else's sake.
- I Was Quite a Looker: The old portrait in the castle reveals that he was actually quite handsome in his youth, and that he has only become ugly with age.
- Lightning Bruiser: In the first boss fight he lands heavy hits while dashing and jumping rapidly, and absorbs a lot of punishment before going down.
- Mad Scientist: Conducts questionable research on Mandragora, locking them in cages and dissecting them to extract their secrets. He is pursuing a medicine that can cure all physical and possible mental ills.
- Magic Pants: When he transforms from ingesting mandragora extract, he loses his clothes above the waist but keeps his pants and boots.
- Man of Wealth and Taste: Not only the main villain, but the most richly dressed character in the game and inhabitant of a castle filled with grand architecture and art objects.
- Motive Rant: When Rita asks him what made him change from an enlightened ruler to a tyrant, Balzac narrates how he started as a young man confident he could bear every burden, but over time the burdens grew and grew while the things he loved only gave him sorrow instead of comfort.
- Normal Fish in a Tiny Pond: He's such a tyrannical ruler that there's an entire resistance devoted to toppling his regime, which would qualify him as the Big Bad in most fantasy stories. However, in comparison to the Apostles, God Hand, and other supernatural entities plaguing Berserk's world, Balzac's a speck, neither he nor his soldiers pose a threat to Guts, and even his research into the Mandragora yields little fruit. Balzac doesn't even make for an impressive Apostle when Guts fights him one last time, especially in comparison to Zodd.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Toward the end of the game and near the final confrontation, Balzac tells Guts why he became the person he is today, and it's revealed that his wife had become deathly ill, and in attempt to cure her with the Mandragora, she became insane, having no memory of her husband and behaving in a child-like demeanor. This has left Balzac heartbroken and emotionally shattered, since his wife was physically close but mentally gone, and all he has are the memories with her. Rita and Puck immediately relate Balzac's story to Guts' broken relationship with Casca.
- One-Winged Angel: Twice. First he turns himself into a Botanical Abomination to fight Guts. Then he turns into a monstrous Apostle.
- Clipped-Wing Angel: The Apostle form is much easier than the Mandragora form.
- Reasonable Authority Figure: According to Dunteth he used to be an enlightened ruler, but at some point he turned into a tyrant.
- Slouch of Villainy: Guts and co. burst into his throne room, and find him slouching on his throne in a regal and sinister manner.
- Slowly Slipping Into Evil: He did not become evil from one specific event. It was a long, gradual process where years of attempting to care for his people and tend to his sick wife steadily eroded his idealism until he was reduced to a bitter empty shell of a man.
Annette
Voiced by: Sumi Shimamoto (Japanese), Paula Tiso (English)
Annette (アネット Anetto) is pretty young woman in much the same state of mute insanity as Casca, who is discovered by Puck and Casca in one of the castle's rooms. She is the last loved one that Balzac has left.
- Amnesiac Lover: Along with everything else, the mandragora extract made her forget about her time with Balzac.
- Cute Mute: A childlike and innocent person who doesn't speak.
- Delicate and Sickly: Perfectly healthy now, but that wasn't always the case: She was incurably ill before Balzac gave her the mandragora extract, which restored her physical health but erased her memories.
- Mad Scientist's Beautiful Daughter: Beautiful and innocent, she is apparently Mad Scientist Balzac's only child and he keeps her sheltered from the outside world. Subverted; she's actually not his daughter but his wife.
- Morality Chain: Balzac's care for her is his only sympathetic quality. When he sacrifices her, it represents his wholehearted embrace of evil.
- Older Than They Look: Looks young enough to be Balzac's daughter, but she must be significantly older considering how much Balzac has aged since their portrait was painted together. Because of the mandragora extract, she doesn't look a day older than she did in the picture.
- The Ophelia: A beautiful young woman who is charming and innocent even in her insanity. On the other hand, unlike many examples of the trope she is not disheveled, and isn't actually as young as she appears physically.
- The Ugly Guy's Hot Daughter: Puck wonders aloud how a mean guy like Balzac could have such a sweet daughter, and says she's lucky to have inherited her mother's looks instead of his. Subverted, since it turns out she's actually his wife.
Gyove
Voiced by: Yasuhiko Tokuyama (Japanese), Paul Eiding (English)
Gyove (ヨブ Yobu) is Balzac's elderly henchman who carries out his dirty work. He commands the regular soldiers, masked assassins, and the experimental mandragoran troops.
- Beard of Evil: Has a pointy, sinister goatee and moustache.
- Evil Old Folks: An elderly man who has no compunction about massacring his lord's enemies whether they are monsters, humans, or just know too much for their own good.
- The Dragon: Balzac's enforcer and second-in-command, who has to be defeated before Guts can face him directly.
- Faux Affably Evil: Sometimes affects mocking false politeness while toying with his victims.
- Flunky Boss: When eventually fought he is barely any stronger than a regular enemy apart from his health pool, but has many minions of all strengths to unleash on the player.
- You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Tries to dispose of Guts and Rita after destroying the resistance hideout and the Mandragora village, but Zodd chases him off.
Dunteth
Voiced by: Takahiro Yoshimizu (Japanese), Paul Eiding (English)
"Rita, you're still young. There will come a time when you will shed blood for your own cause. I just hope that it's something worthy of that blood."
Dunteth (ダンテス Dantesu) is the leader of the resistance movement among Balzac's subjects, who leads Guts inside their hideout to explain Balzac's sinister plans and the grievances his subjects have against him. He is in a bind, however, because he and his wife have a baby boy who is infected with the early stages of mandragora possession. Guts tells him about the cure that Balzac has promised him, but Dunteth cannot stand the idea of having to negotiate with the very tyrant he's been rebelling against. It is only his wife and Rita's persuading that make him change his mind, and agree to accompany Guts to the infested village in search of the heart of the great tree.
- Mr. Exposition: Explains the perspective of Balzac's subjects to Guts as a corrective to Balzac's self-serving narrative.
- Rebel Leader: Leads the underground resistance of the commoners against Balzac's rule.
- Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: Dunteth looks middle-aged and rather homely while his wife, though plain, is noticeably younger and better-looking than him.
Eriza
Voiced by: Sumi Shimamoto (Japanese), B. J. Ward (English)
Eriza (エリザ Eriza) is a nun who lives in a village inhabited entirely by Mandragorans, and seems to be the only human who coexists with them. After replanting the mandrake that one of Dunteth's men unwittingly uprooted, she accuses Guts of killing the Mandragorans needlessly and tries to explain and defend the mandragorans' behavior to him. Recounting the tragic story of a boy named Nico whom all the villagers turned away when he was cold and starving, she asserts that the Mandragorans are innocent and harmless as long as they and their flowers are not disturbed, and entreats Guts to leave them alone. Rita objects that if left alone the mandragora will only spread and infect everyone, but Eriza insists the Mandragoran's peaceful and happy existence should be embraced rather than the lives of violence and suffering that most humans lead. After failing to persuade them, Eriza retreats to the Church.
- Anti-Villain: There's not a cruel bone in her body; everything she does is because of love. Still, she's an antagonist to Guts because she refuses to let him take the heart of the great tree.
- Better to Die than Be Killed: Finding that Gyove and his henchmen have massacred the mandragorans, burned down the village, and are coming for her next, she dives into the burning church with Nico in her arms to prevent the heart of the great tree from falling into the humans' hands.
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: Argues that the Mandragorans shouldn't be blamed for killing people who have unwittingly uprooted their flowers, since they never use violence unless they are attacked first or their taboo is broken, and that humans should join them instead of trying to exterminate them.
- Botanical Abomination: When Guts faces Nico, she reveals that she too was a mandragoran all along.
- Cutscene Boss: The player isn't in control of Guts when he fights her, and wins by succeeding at two button prompts.
- Declaration of Protection: She vows to safeguard the Heart of the Mandragora Tree (Nico) at all costs.
- Despair Event Horizon: Reached this when Niko died and was reborn as an Apostle and vowed to protect him in a fanatical devotion to spreading happiness after seeing how horribly unfair his death was.
- Mouth of Sauron: None of the Mandragora are capable of speech, including the Great Tree, so Eriza does the talking for them.
- Not Quite Dead: Guts seemingly cuts her down before fighting Nico, but after he wins that boss fight she turns up still alive.
- Nuns Are Spooky: Aside from her nun's habit and uncanny demeanor, she's the only human in a village of Mandragoran-possessed people and a little too easy being in their presence. Except that it turns out she's one as well, which may have been hidden by her long robes.
- Press X to Not Die: The entire fight against her consists of two timed button presses to avoid her attacks.
- Riddle for the Ages: She's the only Mandragoran to retain her human personality instead of becoming a mindless monster. We never find out why.
- The Evils of Free Will: She certainly believes the world would be a better place if everyone was brainwashed into childlike innocence by the Mandragora instead of being free to make their own decisions and eventually feel negative emotions.
- Totalitarian Utilitarian: Wants to make everybody in the world happy and get rid of suffering. She thinks that letting the Mandragora take over everything is the best way to do this, even if it results in people being transformed against their will.
- Well-Intentioned Extremist: Feels compassion for all creatures and wishes for a perfect world, but the method she espouses leaves Guts with no choice but to oppose her.
- What the Hell, Hero?: She calls Guts cruel for slaughtering the Mandragora, who only turn violent when provoked. However, he doesn't buy her argument and refuses to apologize.
- Zombie Advocate: Advocates for the mandragorans to be left alone.
Nico
Nico (ニコ Niko) was a simple-minded young boy who lived as a vagrant in the village where Eriza's church stands, apparently with no family or companions except for his loyal dog. The other villagers never seemed to like him, often resorting to beating him with sticks and stones. He eventually became an Apostle, taking the form of a Mandragora tree.
- All of the Other Reindeer: He was a pariah at the village, with only Eriza seeming to care for him.
- Botanical Abomination: His Apostle body consists of two stalks ending in Venus flytrap mouths, and what remains of his human body stands like the stamen in the middle of a giant flower covered with eyes.
- Canine Companion: He's shown having had a puppy once. Using the Behelit requires one to sacrifice one close to him. The dog never appears again outside the flashback, possibly implying he sacrificed it.
- Cheerful Child: No matter what his misfortune, he always smiled.
- Children Are Innocent: Deconstructed. He is childishly innocent, and as an Apostle, spreads it to everyone else whether they want it or not. And while they normally act like playful children, they have destructive tempers, and their lack of mature emotional restraint means it takes little to set them off, which doesn't bode well considering how strong Mandragora are compared to humans.
- Creepy Child: Presumably the townsfolk saw him as one out of prejudice against him being "different". He became one for real by becoming an Apostle.
- The Heavy: The Mandragora represent the biggest threat in the game and are the reason why Balzac is so dangerous. For there to be any peace in the realm, Nico has to die.
- Living Macguffin: Nico himself is the Mandragora heart that both Guts and Balzac need to accomplish their respective goals.
- Obliviously Evil: He's too innocent to realize how much damage he's really doing. Or that he's even fallen to evil in the first place by becoming an Apostle.
- One-Steve Limit: Averted. The manga also has a minor character featured briefly named Nico.
- Super-Scream: His signature attack is a piercing, potentially lethal scream.
- Too Good for This Sinful Earth: Exploited Trope. Being an innocent who was mistreated and left to die by a world that rejected him for being different was used to turn Nico into an apostle.
- Walking Spoiler: Knowing anything about him reveals the game backstory.
- Woobie, Destroyer of Worlds: Nico is ultimately just another victim of a cruel and uncaring world that beat him down and left him for dead just for being different. Even as an apostle, he still doesn't have the mental capacity to realize that what he's doing is wrong.
Berserk: Millennium Falcon Hen Seima Senki no Shō
Charles
Voiced by: Megumi Toyoguchi
"If you can erase my world, then it can also happen the other way around."
"I give form to human thoughts. What you saw is the nightmare hidden in the depths of your heart. They are the regrets that haunt you, like a shadow follows its owner."
Charles (シャルル Sharuru) is a young noble who used to live happily in a beautiful mansion with his parents and his sister, Marien. One day, attackers burned the mansion down and killed everyone inside, except for Charles and Marien who escaped. In the ruins of their home, Charles found a Behelit that he used to turn himself into an Apostle and reclaim what he had lost, creating an illusory world of his own where he could live with Marien undisturbed. However, he either lost or repressed his memory of what he gave to the God Hand as a sacrifice. Many years later, Guts, Casca, and Puck happen upon his mansion, and Guts enters the Great Hall despite Charles' voice warning him to turn back. Charles curses Guts for shattering his world with his presence and causes the Band of the Hawk to appear before Guts and fight him.
When Guts meets him again in Qliphoth, Charles explains that the Hawks are projections of the fears and regrets inside of Guts' heart, and fights him using his magical powers after Guts succeeds in defeating the apparitions. Guts figures out based on what Charles has told him that he sacrificed his sister in order to become an Apostle, and that the girl following Charles is merely a shadow of Marien that he created. When Guts spells it out to him, Charles refuses to accept the truth, transforming into his butterfly-shaped Apostle form as he screams that he's going to kill Guts. Guts mortally wound him in their battle, and Charles dies while slipping back into the illusion he created in his mind.
- Adult Hater: Charles despises adults, trusting nobody except his sister Marien, and calls Guts no different from the ones who ruined his life.
- Alas, Poor Villain: Even though he was irredeemably evil and needed to be put down, his death is depicted as sad and pathetic because beneath it all he was just a child who couldn't bear the loss of his home and family.
- Awful Truth: Sacrificed Marien, but deluded himself into thinking she was still with him. When Guts tells him to confront the truth, his sanity breaks down.
- Blood from the Mouth: When he collapses at the end of the last battle, there are no obvious wounds on his body but there's a trickle of blood from his mouth, signifying that he's about to die.
- Butterfly of Death and Rebirth: His butterfly form relates to how he was reborn as an Apostle after giving up his humanity, and he transforms into it in the fight where Guts kills him, thus passing out of life into whatever comes after death.
- Butterfly of Transformation: Became a butterfly much like Rosine, symbolizing his metamorphosis from a human into an Apostle.
- Creepy Child: From the first meeting, something is unnatural about Charles. He seems too knowing and lacking in innocence for a child, has an eerie expression, and expresses sinister intentions.
- Energy Ball: Shoots balls of dark magical energy as projectiles.
- Enfant Terrible: A child who corrupted himself by becoming an Apostle, he pursues revenge on Guts with sadistic glee.
- Evil Laugh: Laughs with cruel amusement each time he attacks, which is especially creepy in the voice of a child.
- Eyes Do Not Belong There: His Apostle form has no eyes on its head, and instead has giant eyes on its wings.
- Freudian Excuse: Became what he is because of the trauma of losing his family and home.
- The Heavy: While not the overarching Big Bad of the story, Charles is the villain the game focuses on most and he takes the most active interest in opposing Guts.
- I Know What You Fear: Has the ability to perceive and show Guts what he fears most through his powers of illusion.
- That Liar Lies: Calls Guts a liar over and over again in response to being told that he sacrificed his sister, to the point that it becomes a Madness Mantra.
- Lone Wolf Boss: Not in league with Griffith or anyone else's villainous agenda, and despite being an Apostle he seems to have kept to himself before Guts happened to antagonize him.
- Magic Missile Storm: One of his attacks consists of multiple converging streams of light.
- Man of Wealth and Taste: A richly dressed boy raised in luxury and refinement, as well as the featured villain of the game.
- Master of Illusion: The focus of his powers is giving form to people's thoughts, making things that don't exist seem real. He makes the burned-out ruins of his mansion seem to be still standing and inhabited, and torments Guts with illusions of his fallen comrades.
- Mind Rape: Torments Guts by forcing him to fight illusions of the Band of the Hawk conjured from inside his own mind. He claims that Guts was the one who invaded his mind first by breaking the illusion he had created in the mansion, and that he's merely getting even. Guts gets the last laugh in the end by delivering a Breaking Speech about how he sacrificed his precious sister and deluded himself because he couldn't face the truth, which has the same effect.
- Motive Rant: Explains his tragic backstory and accuses Guts of ruining the perfect world he created for himself an his sister, vowing to destroy Guts' world in revenge.
- Never Grew Up: Looks the same as he did in the painting in his house, suggesting that he is permanently stuck at the age when he became an Apostle, probably by his own choice. During his battle with Guts he says that adults disgust him and he never wants to be one.
- Never My Fault: Declares that he would never have sacrificed Marian, and that it must somehow all be Guts' fault.
- One-Winged Angel: After being defeated in human shape, he turns into a butterfly or moth-like Apostle for the final confrontation.
- Power Floats: Has the ability to levitate himself and float around the room as part of his magical powers which include teleportation and shooting balls of magical energy.
- Power Glows: Radiates a purple aura while his magic powers are activated.
- Projectile Spell: His offensive spells take the form of magical projectiles that can be blocked or dodged.
- Recurring Boss: Pits Guts against the Band of the Hawk three times throughout the game, and personally fights Guts more than once non-consecutively.
- Teleport Spam: Teleports around the Boss Room while fighting Guts in human form.
- Villainous Breakdown: Completely loses his composure after Guts succeeds in defeating his human form and confronts him with the truth of what he did, entering a spiral of rage and denial as he finds himself losing both the fight and the lies that he told himself to cope with his loss.
