History Berserk / TropesAToD

* AllGirlsWantBadBoys: Played straight with Sonia, the DarkChick in Griffith's new Band of the Hawk. She has a thing for morally dubious guys, be it Griffith or Irvine.

* AngerBornOfWorry: Both Guts and Casca do this to each other ''right'' before their RelationshipUpgrade, Guts being more irate and Casca being a lot more tearful. But hey - TheyDo!

** Suggested between Guts and Casca at one point, when she uses a scrap of colorful cloth from her blouse to bind a wound in his arm... exactly where a knight would traditionally display a favor from a noble lady. Ultimately averted when TheyDo, and neither of them were ever much like a proper knight or lady in any case.

* DidYouJustHaveSex: After initiating the Griffith rescue operation, Judeau eyes Guts and Casca together and notices how happy they are (especially Casca, since she has not been herself since the downfall of the Band of the Hawk a year prior). Guts and Casca indeed became "[[TheyDo official]]'' the previous night. Bonus points in that the night before, Judeau was more or less hinting at Guts to "cheer Casca up."

* BeautyBrainsAndBrawn: Subverted in Guts' new group with the three ladies (excluding Ivalera). Schierke is TheSmartGuy, always formulating the plans but doesn't use physical action. Farnese would be the brawn, though she isn't an experienced fighter, but she's the most willing to put up a fight when necessary. And Casca is the beauty, as she is the most beautiful in the group, [[DistressedDamsel can't fight in her current condition,]] [[TheHeart but is the person that everyone in the group wants to protect.]]

* AsskickingEqualsAuthority: When the King of Midland created the Black Dog Knights out of the kingdom's [[ArmyOfThievesAndWhores worst convicts]], the sadistic Apostle Wyald successfully {{Invoked|Trope}} the trope by persuading the King to make whoever proved himself the toughest the leader of the others. Wyald gave the only guy big enough to challenge him a CruelAndUnusualDeath, cowing the rest and giving the King no doubt about who was fit to lead. Subsequently {{Deconstructed|Trope}} in that Wyald has no qualification to lead besides being the strongest fighter, causing his men to die using LeeroyJenkins tactics and by killing anybody who annoys him.

* AluminumChristmasTrees: Miura uses RuleOfCool to sprinkle his fantasy world with weapons, armors, costumes, architecture, and technology from various real life cultures and eras, to the point where it's hard for the layperson to distinguish between what he made up and what he borrowed from history.
** An unintentional example happened right from the beginning, when he made the main character Guts a HandicappedBadass with a pretty sophisticated prosthetic iron hand, and only later found out that--by astonishing coincidence--there was a ''real'' German knight and mercenary named UsefulNotes/GotzVonBerlichingen (1480–1562): not only did he have a very similar name, but he was also known as [[RedBaron Götz of the Iron Hand]] because he had a prosthetic that looked remarkably similar to the one Guts uses.
** Miura loves to draw elaborate and fantastical armors with animal-shaped parts and other decoration, many of which did not exist but are inspired by almost equally wild parade and costume armors that survive in museums; he even directly copies some museum pieces, such as the armor worn by lord Gennon in the Battle of Doldrey which is shaped to simulate puffed-and-slashed clothing of the early 16th century. For the Kushans, a FantasyCounterpartCulture of [[MysticalIndia India]] with some ArabianNightsDays thrown in, he depicts real weapons and armor that most Western readers have never even heard of: examples include Silat's [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urumi urumi]] swords, with multiple [[WhipSword flexible whip-like blades]], and the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maduvu maduvu]] used by the monstrous Daka soldiers, which consist of two blackbuck antelope horns pointing in opposite directions and connected by two crossbars which serve as grips.

* ArtEvolution: The artwork in the manga was merely average in the beginning, with some characters looking [[UncannyValley rather odd]], and now arguably has some of the best artwork of any manga.

%%ZCE* {{Bishonen}}: Griffith, Rickert, Adonis, Serpico, and Mule are some examples.
* BitchSlap: Doubles as an ArmorPiercingSlap as well. But after Rickert realizes that Guts was right about all the shit Griffith pulled, he angrily slaps him over the atrocities he committed for the sake of his ambitions. Regardless of how graceful he may be, that is still something that will leave a mark on his ego.

* CrusadingWidower: Guts. Though he didn't marry Caska and he wasn't the dad to the Hawks, but this is essentially what he becomes.

* DwindlingParty: After Guts' departure and [[spoiler:Griffith's arrest]], the Band of the Hawk began to dwindle little by little, some of them being killed in ambushes, others simply abandoning the band. Luckily, [[NumberTwo Casca took over and held the Hawks together as best as she could]]. The real kicker came when [[spoiler:Griffith, having made his FaceHeelTurn, [[HumanSacrifice threw the Hawks to the dogs]] [[EatenAlive and allowed them to be eaten by voracious Apostles]], '''[[KillEmAll one by one.]]''']]

* AmbiguouslyEvil: Sonia, who has yet to cross a MoralEventHorizon, despite her rather amoral nature.

* CouldHaveAvoidedThisPlot: [[spoiler:It's implied that if Guts had chosen to stay with Casca post-Eclipse, he could have helped her through the trauma they had experienced. By choosing to deal with his own pain the same way he had always done (leaving the source of his heart-ache behind and engaging in mass slaughter) he doomed Casca to the near child-like state she is in now.]]
** Similarly, the Godhand outright tell Griffith that while he has [[spoiler:already doomed most of the Band of The Hawk to be devoured by the Apostles,]] the fate of [[spoiler:Guts and Casca]] is still his choice to make.
** Griffith’s torture, which triggers a lot of hardship on everyone. The King of Midland wanted nothing more than to step away from the throne. Griffith’s very existence centers around getting a throne. The king was already fast-tracking Griffith to what could have easily made him eligible to marry the daughter. Upon hearing of the one-night stand between Griffith and Charlotte, rather than torture Griffith outright, the king could have turned it into a “shotgun wedding.” Then, if Griffith was still pining over Guts, Griffith could have used his own resources to finance Guts for whatever he decided on, thereby pulling Guts back into the fold without being an official member. Then, the king could step down and chase just about any female who wasnt his daughter.

** [[spoiler:The King of Midland]] becomes one to his daughter after he starts [[SanitySlippage losing his mind]], at one point [[AttemptedRape attempting to rape her]].

* BerserkButton: [[{{Pun}} Well DUH!!]] But more seriously, there are two things that cause Guts' instant UnstoppableRage: a) Meeting a Godhand or [[spoiler:post-Eclipse Griffith]]. Period. b) Anyone trying to hurt Casca only has a few seconds left to live. And these seconds will be filled with pain.
** Actually anybody who tries to rape a girl in Guts presence tend to be this. [[spoiler:He lost his cool and almost beheaded Farnese, while rescuing her from being raped by a possessed horse]].
** If you hurt a kid, Guts will end you. It's tied back to his own childhood and not wanting to see a kid suffer like he did. Guts himself is particularly infuriated when kids die [[spoiler:at his own hand, being broken and disillusioned when he accidentally kills Adonis, and vomiting and going into a terrifying rampage when he instinctively bisects the possessed corpse of the dead Collette.]]
** It don't stop with daddy. The Child, a being that was originally thought to have no real emotion or thought, was seen with a pretty damn scary DeathGlare when some pagan worshipers tried to rape Casca. They paid for it dearly.

** And then subverted a [[UpToEleven THIRD TIME]] later when Guts faces Griffith again in order to win his freedom from the Hawks. Guts is doing it because he feels he's dishonoring Griffith as a friend by simply following him without a dream of his own, not because he's unhappy there. Griffith, already semi-consumed by his ambitions and needing Guts as a LivingEmotionalCrutch sees this as a betrayal. Their fight ultimately ends with [[spoiler:Guts' victory]]. [[DespairEventHorizon It doesn't end well...]]

** Similarly, the Godhand outright tell Griffith that while he has [[spoiler:already doomed most of the Band of The Hawk to be devoured by the Apostles,]] the fate of[[spoiler:Guts and Casca]] is still his choice to make.

* AdultFear:
** No one is going to sacrifice their loved ones and turn into a demon in {{real life}}, but this series gives you the unpleasant feeling that even your best friends and family members are just [[DespairEventHorizon one bad day]] away from [[HumansAreBastards stabbing you in the back]]. By the way: YOU, dear reader, might do the same as well. However, this is always a [[EarnYourHappyEnding choice]] you make, [[spoiler:as proven by the count who would rather go to hell than sacrifice his daughter to survive]].
** The whole series in general runs on this stuff. [[ChildSoldiers Children being forced to become soldiers]], [[AbusiveParents abusive and]] [[ParentalNeglect negligent parents]], childhood sexual abuse, [[DomesticAbuse general domestic and spousal abuse]], [[BodyHorror realistic body horror]], [[SexSlave sexual slavery]], [[ReligionOfEvil religion that has too much power over the people]], [[ThePlague disease and pestilence]], [[RapePillageAndBurn horrible war and war crimes]], [[AttemptedRape rape]], [[NearRapeExperience rape]], [[RapeAsDrama more rape]] (most of it [[HornyDevils isn't done]] [[FaceFullOfAlienWingWong by monsters either]]), [[BreakTheCutie and its]] [[BrokenBird after effects]].... Geez.
** Think about it. All that hard work and effort, and all that struggle? [[YetAnotherStupidDeath What it would take]] [[LuckBasedMission for for you to fail,]] and anticlimactically? [[HeroicRedRingOfDeath Something as stupid as lack of sleep]], or [[MoralEventHorizon all that long term struggle finally taking a mental toll on you.]] Even losing the trust of comrades is detrimental.

** Miura loves to draw elaborate and fantastical armors with animal-shaped parts and other decoration, many of which did not exist but are inspired by almost equally wild parade and costume armors that survive in museums; he even directly copies some museum pieces, such as the armor worn by lord Gennon in the Battle of Doldrey which is shaped to simulate puffed-and-slashed clothing of the early 16th century. For the Kushans, a FantasyCounterpartCulture of [[SimSimSalabim India]] with some ArabianNightsDays thrown in, he depicts real weapons and armor that most Western readers have never even heard of: examples include Silat's [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Urumi urumi]] swords, with multiple [[WhipSword flexible whip-like blades]], and the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maduvu maduvu]] used by the monstrous Daka soldiers, which consist of two blackbuck antelope horns pointing in opposite directions and connected by two crossbars which serve as grips.

* AmbiguouslyBrown: In the world of ''Berserk'' there seems to be two "races" under this category: individuals such as Pippin and Donovan have more [[DarkestAfrica African features,]] while people like Silat and Jarris (Griffith's new chief engineer) have more [[SimSimSalabim south Asian features.]] The former is played straight as they are less prevalent, especially in recent arcs, but the latter group has been subverted as they come from a country that is based off of south Asia called Kushan. Special mention goes to Casca, in which she is implied to be Kushan, but it is never outwardly stated and [[FacialProfiling she has generic phenotypes that could make her belong to either group]], leading fans to categorize her in a real world context, ranging from Indian, African, Middle Eastern, mulatto, Afro-Asian, even ''Tibetan.''

* TheCavalry: In chapter 330, [[spoiler:when Guts is being held by the lord in his castle as a gladiator and is holding the lord's son as a hostage to make his escape, Martino, the old man from earlier, storms in with his comrades before the the lord's soldiers have a chance to shoot him.]]

** Although it is difficult to know for certain what Femto is thinking, his plan appears to have relied on having one of his enemies [[spoiler:become so desperate to win that he goes through a radical ritual to turn himself into an embodiment of hell]] while at the same time predicting that another enemy will [[spoiler:execute a trans-dimensional sneak attack on Femto as soon as his guard appears to be down]], so that he can [[spoiler:re-direct the attack to deal a killing blow to the first enemy, releasing a world-altering energy wave]]. {{Justified}} as he is canonically and literally TheOmniscient, or at least very close to it since Slan acknowledged that the Godhand does not know everything.

* CollatralAngst: One of the rare cases where the target ''survives''. [[spoiler:Casca is raped into insanity, and now has the mental abilities and speech of an infant. She requires constant babysitting, whereas before she was once one of the leaders of the Band of the Hawk. [[note]]Doesn't count as {{Chickification}} because we ''saw'' all of this ''brutal'' BreakTheCutie happen '''with all kinds of details''', whereas Chickification is an invisible and unjustified shift in the story.[[/note]] As a result of her insanity and depowered status, Guts uses her fate as [[RapeAndRevenge the greatest justification for his revenge against Griffith and the God Hand]] and her [[TheLostLenore condition continues to anguish and cause great pain for Guts.]] The trope was played straight a few weeks after the Eclipse, as Guts was so consumed in his sadness and anger over the event that he [[ForgottenFallenFriend actually abandoned Casaca and disregarded the trauma that she herself was going through]] and left to pursue his revenge for two years. The trope was later [[DiscussedTrope discussed]] when Godo confronted Guts on the matter, which actually resulted in Guts giving up his revenge on Griffith in order to stay near Casca (though the trope is still occasionally discussed by the Beast who torments Guts). The overall use of the trope in the story has drawn some criticism from fans, [[TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter since Casca's character arc was greatly diminished when she became insane]] and many events surrounding her status (an example being the demonized child that Casca bore) serve to aid in Guts' and even Griffith's character arcs more than her own.]]

* CourtlyLove: Griffith, of course, [[InvokedTrope toyed with this concept]] concerning his relationship with Princess Charlotte, who was the quickest way to the throne of Midland if he were to succeed in wooing and earning her hand in marriage. The guy was doing a damn good job at it too, [[WhatAnIdiot until he messed it all up]] [[BreakTheHaughty in a moment of despair.]]

* ColorAnimalCodename: The White Dragon Knights, the White Tiger Knights, the Black Ram Knights, the Blue Whale Knights, the Purple Rhino Knights, the White Phoenix Knights, and the Black Dog kKnights

* CosmicPlaything: *FacePalm*. Okay. Where would you like to start? The part where Guts' life sucked even BEFORE he was born and how he narrowly escapes death every twenty-five minutes or how Casca has an invisible blinking sign that says "Rape me!" [[AllMenArePerverts to all men]] in a ten mile radius? Why even bother explaining it here? [[CrapsackWorld See below]].

* AnimalMotifs: Quite a few troops in the Goldren Age arc are named after an animal and [[ColorAnimalCodename a colour]]. The Purple Rhino Knights, the Black Dogs, The White Phoenix Knights (renamed from Band of the Hawk), etc. Much later, Sonia expands on Griffith's hawk symbolism by identifying several characters in the story as different types of birds.

* AwkwardlyPlacedBathtub: During their stay in Vritannis, Casca is given a bath by Schierke - in the cramped room that they paid for at an inn with Guts and Isidro still present in the room, veiled by only curtain and Schierke's attempt at tying Isidro to a chair so that he won't peek. Much HiHilarityEnsue

* BarbieDollAnatomy: Zigzagged. Males are drawn without nipples in the manga and 1997 anime, while they ''do'' have them in the movies. Miura never draws penises or vaginas in the original manga as explicitly as you would see in uncensored ''{{hentai}}'' because of Japanese censorship laws, but BarbieDollAnatomy is only one of multiple techniques he uses. Puck is always naked but has no visible genitals. His female counterpart Ivalera...well, we don't know because she wears a dress. Various male characters including Guts and Griffith are drawn like Ken dolls at times, with shadows covering a noticeable lack of private parts. Women are sometimes drawn like Barbie dolls from a distance, whereas closer up he usually draws them with nipples but avoids detailing the pubic area. On the other hand, sometimes he draws male or female organs in silhouette instead of omitting them altogether, or suggests pubic hair with some subtle texturing. At one point in volume 18 he was even bold enough to draw Joachim explicitly penetrating Nina, albeit with very few lines and no shading. It's not entirely consistent by any means. There are parts featuring characters like Ken dolls next to relatively explicit MaleFrontalNudity in the same panel! The anime and the theatrical cut of the movies generally censor genitals more. The ''WebVideo/BerserkAbridged'' series parodies this with Gut's complaints about his lack of genitals in the anime, for which he [[RageAgainstTheAuthor beats up the character designer]].