History Berserk / TropesAToD

* ActionFilmQuietDramaScene: The scene where the Hawks are on the border of Midland after the Griffith rescue operation. It is actually their DarkestHour moment and the scene is very much dramatic because of this since it's building up to the much more dramatic ending [[spoiler:[[{{Foreshadowing}} such as when Griffith desperately threw himself upon Casca,]] [[BrosBeforeHoes and Casca resolving that she couldn't leave with Guts]]]]. However, there are [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments still softer moments]], such as Guts and Casca reassuring each other that they want to be there for each other as friends and as lovers, when the Raiders tell Guts that they are willing to follow him wherever he goes, and Judeau telling Guts to be with Casca no matter what. These moments reinforce the theme of friendship and the bond that the Hawks have with each other; thus, reassuring that [[{{Tearjerker}} our eyes weren't going to dry anytime soon]] after watching the [[DownerEnding final three episodes.]]

** Gut cries the first time he has sex with Casca because [[spoiler:doing so triggers the memories of his [[RapeAsBackstory childhood abuse]]. She gives him a CooldownHug and tells him that [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments she feels closer to him, knowing his traumatic backstory and now they're finally open with each other]]]].

[[Manga/{{Berserk}} Main Page]] | [[Berserk/TropesAToD Tropes A-D]] | [[Berserk/TropesEToH Tropes E-H]] | [[Berserk/TropesIToP Tropes I-P]] | [[Berserk/TropesQToT Tropes Q-T]] | [[Berserk/TropesUToZ Tropes U-Z]]
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** In the "Lost Children" arc, Mr. Zepek is a good-for-nothing [[DrowningMySorrows alcoholic]] who beats Jill when he isn't completely [[ParentalNeglect neglecting]] his duties as a parent. Rosine's father also beat her and [[MamasBabyPapasMaybe questioned]] whether she was his daughter, since she was conceived after her mother was [[ChildByRape raped]].

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** [[ZigZaggedTrope Zig-Zagged]] as, aside from its most infamous arc, the body count of primary characters is actually much lower than comparable hyperviolent {{Seinen}} series, and even many newer {{Shonen}} series.

** Gambino started exposing Guts to the dangerous life of a mercenary when he was [[ChildSoldier six years old]], sold him to a rapist when he was nine, and even [[OffingTheOffspring tried to kill him]] when he was eleven. He blamed and hated Guts for everything bad that happened including the death of Sys, and was [[UngratefulBastard never grateful]] for Guts' love and obedience.

** The whole series in general runs on this stuff. [[ChildSoldier 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.

* ChildrenForcedToKill: Guts and Casca were both forced to kill somebody in self-defense when they were kids. For Guts it was Gambino when he tried to kill him, and for Casca it was the nobleman who tried to rape her. Guts had already been killing men on the battlefield since he was [[ChildSoldier nine]] because of Gambino's insistence that Guts should earn his keep by fighting.

** [[AntiHero Guts]] was born from the womb of a hanged woman and adopted by the lover of the mercenary Gambino. When she died Gambino raised him as a ChildSoldier from the age of six, [[RapeAsDrama sold him to a rapist]] for three silver coins when he was nine, and two years after that tried to [[OffingTheOffspring kill Guts]] in a drunken rage because he [[YouShouldHaveDiedInstead blamed Guts for her death]]. Guts killed Gambino in [[KillingInSelfDefense self-defense]] and ran away, living as a lone mercenary and not allowing anyone to get [[HatesBeingTouched close to him]] until Griffith persuaded him to join the Band of the Hawk. In the course of events he grows to trust and admire Griffith, finds love with Casca, and manages to put some of his childhood trauma to rest, but then Griffith betrays them all by sacrificing them to horrible deaths in the Eclipse so that he can ascend to Godhood. The memory of having his eye gouged out while being ForcedToWatch as Casca was assaulted and driven insane by the man he once called a friend torments him without end. Unable to face Casca and his own sadness, he goes on a two year RoaringRampageOfRevenge in which he almost loses his humanity before stopping and returning to protect Casca. Even after getting his priorities straight he has to deal with the EnemyWithin that possesses him to attack her, and he is only now keeping a lid on his inner demon with the help of Schierke.

** Guts probably has the neatest ensemble. His first few helmets are similar, reminiscent of Rutger Hauer's character in ''Film/LadyHawke.'' When he gets the berserker armor, [[AdaptiveArmor it assumes the form of a dog's head]], very similar to the Beast (which makes sense, since whenever his helmet looks like this, [[SuperPoweredEvilSide you're in trouble]]). But when Guts has control over the berserker armor - hey! [[WholeCostumeReference He kinda looks like a medieval Batman!]]

** Disturbingly, [[TheScrappy Puck]] treats [[ArtifactOfDoom the Behelit]] that Guts picks up early in the manga as one. [[TheDitz He does not seem to realize just exactly what it is.]]

** The ''Lost Children'' chapter is focused around Rosine and includes her two [[EliteMook insect henchmen]], who were earlier introduced when they attacked Rickert's camp with the Count just before the Eclipse. Furthermore, ''Lost Children'' broadly follows the pattern of the ''Guardians of Desire'' run from volumes 2-3 using different characters in similar roles. Rosine takes the place of the Count and Jill takes the place of Theresia. Just like ''Guardians of Desire'', it closely explores the backstory of one apostle and their MoralityPet as well as Guts' attempts to both pursue {{Revenge}} and scare away said MoralityPet with his JerkassFacade.

** Gut cries the first time he has sex with Casca because [[spoiler:doing so triggers the memories of his [[RapeAsBackstory childhood abuse]]. She gives him a CooldownHug and tells him that [[HeartwarmingMoments she feels closer to him, knowing his traumatic backstory and now they're finally open with each other]]]].

** [[ZigZaggedTrope Zig-Zagged]] as, aside from its most infamous arc, the body count of primary characters is actually much lower than comparable hyperviolent ''seinen'' series, and even many newer ''shounen'' series.

** [[ZigZaggedTrope Zig-Zagged]] as, aside from its most infamous arc, the body count of primary characters is actually much lower than comparable hyperviolent ''seinen' series, and even many newer ''shounen'' series.

* DubInducedPlotHole: The ruler of Elfhelm is called ''"Hanafubuku Ou"'', which roughly means "ruler of the flower storm". Not only did the Dark Horse Comics translator for the English manga volumes leave "Hanafubuku" as untranslated GratuitousJapanese, but they translated the gender-neutral title ''"ou"'' as "king", an assumption that turned out to be incorrect when episode 346 not only revealed that the ruler in question was female, but it wasn't even a plot twist: she was ''supposed'' to be female from the beginning. How they're going to explain this in light of their previous error is anyone's guess.

* BigDamnReunion: While it's really one-sided due to Casca's insanity and inability to recognize Guts, it still counts as this between the two of them when Guts manages to find and fight his way through to her again after she disappeared during the Conviction arc.

** Count Julius berates and injures his son Adonis in [[TrainingFromHell brutal sword practice]], and holds him to an impossibly high standard while [[WellDoneSonGuy never praising him]] or showing affection even though the boy recently lost his mother. He wants his son to toughen up to prepare him for his responsibilities as a royal, and tragically [[spoiler: both father and son die without reconciling]].
** [[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]].

* ActionFilmQuietDramaScene: The scene where the Hawks are on the border of Midland after the Griffith rescue operation. It is actually their DarkestHour moment and the scene is very much dramatic because of this since it's building up to the much more dramatic ending [[spoiler: [[{{Foreshadowing}} such as when Griffith desperately threw himself upon Casca,]] [[BrosBeforeHoes and Casca resolving that she couldn't leave with Guts]]]]. However, there are [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments still softer moments]], such as Guts and Casca reassuring each other that they want to be there for each other as friends and as lovers, when the Raiders tell Guts that they are willing to follow him wherever he goes, and Judeau telling Guts to be with Casca no matter what. These moments reinforce the theme of friendship and the bond that the Hawks have with each other; thus, reassuring that [[{{Tearjerker}} our eyes weren't going to dry anytime soon]] after watching the [[DownerEnding final three episodes.]]
* ActionGirl: Casca shows this in irregular spurts [[spoiler: after she's lost her mind. Trying to assault her when she's in reach of a sword turns out poorly for several bandits even while she's incoherent.]] Before then, she was the only straight example in the series.

** No one is going to sacrifice their loved ones and turn into a demon in [[RealLife 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: [[OhCrap 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]].

* AlasPoorVillain: The death of Rosine, one of the Apostles. [[spoiler: After Guts mortally wounds her, she manages to fly away from him and finally realizes that elves are real indeed but she just isn't one of them. She then feels regret for sacrificing her parents to demons and in her delirious state, tries to return home, but falls to her death.]]

--> "The look in your eyes, filled with vengeance. I won't fail...like you."

** Guts himself acknowledges his need for armor even though he's MadeOfIron, crediting Godo's armor with protecting him against the goat-cult leader and remarking while fighting Grunbeld that without armor he doesn't have a chance against such a strong opponent. The Berserker armor that he acquires later not only unleashes his offensive power, but is also tough enough to protect him from the jaws of an Apostle. Perhaps more importantly, [[spoiler: it's magical nature is the only thing keeping the wound inflicted on his soul by Slan from killing him.]]

* BabiesEverAfter: How Griffith envisioned life with Casca if his original plans did not go accordingly [[spoiler: right before he activated his crimson behelit via DespairEventHorizon when he saw Casca in love with Guts.]] Downplayed in that [[spoiler: it's heavily implied that the baby in that vision was Guts', not Griffith's.]]

* BadDreams: Guts is tormented by bad dreams related to the events he's suffered, [[FlashbackNightmare first due to his childhood trauma]], and then after the events of the Eclipse. What's worse is when people, specifically Puck and Schierke, go into Guts' inner memories, they are bombarded with horrific images of the Eclipse. Also, in ''VideoGame/SwordOfTheBerserkGutsRage'', when [[spoiler: Casca briefly regains her sanity, she said that she was having bad dreams.]]

-->"My sword's dull. It don't cut too well. Although it's over [[{{BFS}} three times thicker and heavier]] than a regular one... if one hit don't kill you, you'll '''wish''' it had."

-->'''Adon''': [[ThisCannotBe Im-Impossible! With one arm...!!]] He's killed half of a hundred men!! This isn't just a fluke!
-->'''Guts''': ''[SlasherSmile]'' Whaat? There's still that many left? The sun's gonna come up before I finish splittin' your heads.
* BadassCape: Oh yeah, Guts has one all right, huge, sweeping, black, tattered, and always billowing at just the right times for maximum effect.

** And the Skull Knight's got one too.

* BeCarefulWhatYouWishFor: All Casca wanted in life was to serve Griffith, both as a warrior and a woman. She ultimately gets her wish in a cruel twist of irony during the Eclipse, where [[spoiler: Griffith rapes her in order to cause Guts great suffering, since she is Guts' greatest weakness.]] [[GoMadFromTheRevelation As a result, Casca is driven insane.]]

* BeingTorturedMakesYouEvil: Arguably justified with [[spoiler: Griffith]], though it's not quite the torture that sends him over the edge, but more the consequences that followed afterwards.

* 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.

* BigGood: Schierke's teacher, Flora. [[spoiler: After her death,]] the Skull Knight, the most powerful opposition to the Godhand, may qualify, although his true motives remain unknown. Potentially also the Four Elemental Kings, if they ever actually show up to do anything.
** On a more personal level, the strongest force of good is definitely [[spoiler: [[PowerOfLove the love between Guts and Casca.]]]]

* BodyHorror: Surprisingly used sparingly. A notable example is [[spoiler: Gaston's]] death during the Eclipse.

* BreakableWeapons: This common video game trope is played straight in ''Berserk.'' Even though freakishly large, Guts' original {{BFS}}s are, in essence, really big broad swords and do have their limit at how much stress they can handle. After fighting a hundred soldier a few nights prior, Guts' sword conveniently breaks at the worst possible time during the Battle of Doldrey. Luckily for him, a mysterious benefactor *coughZoddcough!* donates his freakishly large scimitar in order for Guts to finish the battle. We see a few more of the swords that Godo made for him break under the stress of training, but the audience is given a wake-up call that [[SortingAlgorithmOfWeaponEffectiveness not just any sword is able fight monsters]] during the Eclipse [[spoiler: when Casca tries to defend herself against the apostles, who end up shattering her sword into a hundred pieces, and when the sword that Guts was using to fight off apostles was of utterly no use when trying to rip through the hide of an apostle that had [[LifeOrLimbDecision glommed down on his arm]]]]. To fight these fiends, [[ChekhovsArmoury you would need a weapon that is capable of slaying a dragon...]]

* BreakingTheFellowship: After Guts leaves the Band of the Hawk, the rest of the Golden Age Arc is spent detailing how the original band is fragmented until [[spoiler: the whole band with the exceptions of Guts, Casca, Rickert, and Griffith is obliterated during the Eclipse.]] It's a bit eerie in that Rickert, through his teary-eyed and child-like idealism, actually lampshaded that something bad would happen if Guts left the Hawks.

** Or for that matter, poor [[spoiler:Charlotte]]. She loses her virginity in a very unromantic way to a man exorcising his (at that point) worst demon, and though she was in love with him, she has to stand and watch when he is arrested and tortured for a full year because of it, pining over him all the while. [[spoiler: And then there was that time ''her own father'' tried to rape her. She managed to fight him off, but still...]]
** Theresia learned the AwfulTruth about her mother's death and her father's transformation into an Apostle, almost got killed, lost her dad, and was nearly [[spoiler: DrivenToSuicide]].

* BrokenTears: Used during the very horrific and very emotional climax of the Eclipse where [[spoiler: Griffith is raping Casca as Femto. Guts is crying streams of tears and blood at a man he considered a friend forcing him to watch as he raped the woman that he loved to insanity. Casca, in turn, is crying from being subjected to excruciating pain that the brand is causing her from being in such close contact with a powerful demon and also because she is being physically, sexually, and emotionally violated by the man that she looked up to in front of the man that she loved.]]

* BrotherSisterIncest: [[spoiler: Serpico is Farnese's half-brother. She isn't aware of this, and she developed feelings for him in their teenage years and even made a very emotionally charged advance on him. Serpico being in the know, he resisted.]]

* BurnTheWitch: Casca gets herself into this predicament when she is suspected of having evil supernatural powers thanks to the brand on her breast that attracts evil[[spoiler: it was actually the presence of she and Guts' corrupted child that sparked the accusations both among the pagans who wanted to rape her and the Holy Iron Chain Knights who wanted to torture her, since the child summoned the demons in order to protect her in both situations]].

* CanNotSpitItOut: [[spoiler: During the Eclipse Judeau attempts to confess his love for Casca but is only able to say "I'm glad to see you cry," before dying in her arms, lamenting that she never thought of him as more than a valuable ally.]]

** Even better, [[spoiler: the Idea Of Evil itself presents itself to Griffith with its very name when they meet]].
* 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.]]

* CockFight: A strange variation. It happens between Guts and Casca over Griffith in the first part of the manga but the object of the fight turns about in an ''very'' dark twist during the Eclipse [[spoiler: when Griffith rapes Casca in front of Guts]].

* ColdBloodedTorture: This happens ''a lot''. [[{{Kick the Son of a Bitch}} Guts to the Apostles]], the Apostles to humans, Mozgus to everyone he encounters (because maybe they might have been having some heretical thoughts at some point in their lives), [[spoiler: the King of Midland to Griffith]], so on and so forth.
** The most vile example is what Casca and Guts went through [[spoiler: when Griffith horrifically raped Casca during the Eclipse. Not only is she being horribly violated, but the brand on her chest is causing her ''excruciating pain'' during every waking moment, since Casca is most likely the closest ''any'' human has ever been to a Godhand. This is also a very cruel form of torture for Guts, since he's being ForcedToWatch all this happen to the love of his life by his best friend and he can't do a damn thing about it, even after chopping off his arm [[HopeSpot to try and save her]]. And it's made even worse since Griffith is ''[[KubrickStare smiling at him]]'' while he's doing this.]] It's no wonder that Casca's [[GoMadFromTheRevelation mind just shattered after the events]] and Guts [[WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds virtually hates the entire world now.]]

* ContentWarnings: Pretty regular with ''Berserk'' media, since the manga will most likely have shrink wrapping and parental advisory stickers wherever they are sold. Special mention, of course, goes to volume 13 of the manga, which has a ''very'' obvious advisory sticker over the depiction of [[spoiler: post rape and mutilated Guts and Casca]] on the cover, and the upcoming movie ''Descent'', which will receive the Japanese equivalent of an ''NC-17'' rating for "strong depictions of sexual activity." In fact, the theatrical release had to be ''edited down'' to an R-rating, since the original cut was considered too graphic to release to regular audiences. Alas, [[TakeOurWordForIt rumor has it]] that even the R-rated version was too much for some viewers to handle.

** Griffith's helmets always take a hawk-like form. They're pretty cool-looking during his glory days as a human... but when he becomes [[spoiler: Femto, the Wings of Darkness]], the image can [[EvilIsCool potentially]] become NightmareFuel. [[invoked]]

* 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.

** A cover during the [[spoiler: Eclipse shows Guts holding Casca while fiercely protecting her. Wow, if only...]]

* '''CrapsackWorld''': Oh yeah. Some people manage to survive and better themselves, but for most, it's a nightmarish existence topped off by a nightmarish death. To put it simply, life in Midland sucks.

* CreepySouvenir: The torturer in the Tower of Rebirth [[spoiler: [[TongueTrauma cut off Griffith's tongue]]]] and made it into a ''necklace.'' [[KarmicDeath But he got his.]]
* CrouchingMoronHiddenBadass: Serpico gives off the aura of being a clumsy and care free lieutenant to an over zealous commander. [[EyesAlwaysShut Until he opens his eyes]] and becomes a terrifyingly cunning and skilled swordsman

* CryingAfterSex: Gut cries the first time he has sex with Casca because [[spoiler:doing so triggers the memories of his [[RapeAsBackstory childhood abuse]]. She gives him a CooldownHug and tells him that [[HeartwarmingMoments she feels closer to him, knowing his traumatic backstory and now they're finally open with each other]]]].

* CurbStompBattle: After the [[spoiler: hundred man slaying incident]] groups of human enemies, no matter how well trained or numerous, just stopped being a problem for Guts (as long as he is in sufficient fighting shape of course). An especially awesome example comes when a group of Kushan assassins try to kill Guts...who just had his sword upgraded and was eager to give it a try...[[spoiler: After seing the resulting pile of gore, Silat wisely decided not to waste his best mooks on an unwinnable battle.]]

** BlessedWithSuck: However, there seems to be [[PowerAtAPrice a lot more disadvantages to the Berserker armor than advantages]] in the long run, such as gradual loss of color vision, sense of taste, sanity, and the fact that the armor literally causes the wearer to go berserk, meaning that they won't be able to distinguish who is a friend and who is foe. Not only that, but the armor "repairs" the wearer's injuries by driving splinters into the body much like an Iron Maiden, so there is a chance that the wearer will die of blood loss along the way. Also, since using the armor puts a lot more stress on Guts' body, his recuperation period is much longer now.

* DarkMessiah: [[spoiler: Griffith after he uses the Crimson Behelit to become the fifth member of the Godhand.]] However to the people of Midland it is [[spoiler: Guts.]] This is not going to end well.

* TheDarkSideWillMakeYouForget: Invoked by the Beast and enforced by the Berserker armor. The armor itself is [[PowerAtAPrice a mixed blessing at best]], [[CursedWithAwesome as it has great potential to the wearer]] [[BlessedWithSuck but comes with a plethora of baggage]], one that includes causing the wearer to gradually lose their mind and quite possibly fragment their memory. Now just add an already present SuperPoweredEvilSide who [[TheCorrupter constantly goads]] the [[ByronicHero morally-divided hero]] to succumb to complete and total darkness so that [[SplitPersonalityTakeover it can take over his soul]] to the picture and just think of what might possibly happen.

* DeclarationOfProtection: Half of Guts' motivation is to kill the Godhand; the other half revolves around protecting Casca. Guts protects Casca when she was a capable ActionGirl and after he [[MyGreatestFailure failed to protect her]] during the Eclipse and vows to do so from now on, especially after [[spoiler: he rescues her from Mozgus]]). As noted above, you hurt Casca, you '''die'''. Simple as that.

** 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...]]

* DepravedBisexual: [[spoiler: Griffith.]]
** If he does qualify for this trope, then it would be the milder variety where he uses sex as a means to manipulate others, be they [[spoiler: young princesses]] or [[spoiler: ugly, depraved old men--who happen to be very rich]].

* {{Determinator}}: Guts is essentially the poster boy for the trope. Beat him, burn him, even impale him, he will ''not'' let go of that sword. And let's not forget Griffith, who's willing to achieve his childhood dream even if it means [[spoiler: everyone close to him being eaten by demons... and becoming one himself]].
* DeusAngstMachina: After [[spoiler: losing all his friends and 15% of his body in the Eclipse and having to watch helplessly while Femto raped Casca to the point of madness]] Guts understandably [[{{Freakout}} loses it]]. Ok, that was pretty bad. [[{{TemptingFate}} This must be the bottomline!]] Of course [[spoiler: the Skull Knight promptly arrives to inform Guts about the more unpleasant properties of his brand that will keep him from ever sleeping again and finally it is revealed that Casca was pregnant with Guts's child and the embryo was corrupted by Femto into a ghastly demon.]] And that's just the beginning...

* DidIJustSayThatOutLoud: In chapter 290, after a battle with the pirates, Farnese and Roderick have a heart-to-heart talk about how each person on board has a special role, and Roderick let it slip that she's taking care of Casca, the most important person in Guts' life. He then thinks to himself that that was probably [[PrecociousCrush not the best thing to say to her]]...
** Casca also does this in volume 10 during the Griffith rescue operation. She wound up telling Guts that she was more or less jealous of Princess Charlotte and her affection toward Griffith... even though she and Guts had just shared [[spoiler: an entire love scene together a few nights previous.]] You can guess that Guts wasn't too happy at hearing this tidbit and Casca immediately regrets saying it and tries to apologize, but the damage has already been done.

* DirtyBusiness: Guts left the Band of the Hawk partly because he was uncomfortable with being [[spoiler: Griffith's personal assassin and having accidentally killed a child in the process.]] Griffith himself regretted asking Guts to do his dirty work while keeping his own hands clean, but said that he didn't want the other Hawks to know about that side of him, and just wanted them to feel like they were rising up together.
* DisappearsIntoLight: This is what happens to [[spoiler: Ganishka]] at the end of the Millennium Falcon Arc.

* DistantReactionShot: See WorldWreckingWave.
* DisturbedDoves: A flock of white birds takes to the air when [[spoiler: Griffith appears after being reincarnated in human form on Earth.]]

* DontLookAtMe: These are pretty much Casca's last words as a sane person [[spoiler: while she is being horrifically raped in front of Guts who is being {{forced to watch}} anyway.]] After that, she's [[CuteMute a mute]].

* DownerBeginning: The manga starts off at the point in his life where Guts is at his most hopeless, ruthless and on the verge of turning evil. [[spoiler: Rickert later points out that if Puck hadn't teamed up with Guts at that time, he probably would have lost his humanity completely.]]

** People such as Rickert and Wyald play this straight. Rickert, being the good character, pays his respects to [[spoiler: the fallen Hawks]] by making a commemorative graveyard for them [[FieldOfBlades made up of swords]]. Wyald, the despicably evil character, maims and desecrates the bodies of the people whom he previously [[spoiler: raped and tortured]] and [[DeadGuyOnDisplay set their dismembered corpses on pikes as they ride into battle.]]
** Guts, being an AntiHero, falls in-between. In the recent Boyhood arc, Guts [[spoiler: pays his final respects to the child elf who sacrificed herself in order to heal him by spreading the remaining petals of her host flower in the field of the same flowers. At this time, Guts is still the anti-social and arrogant teenager that we were introduced to at the beginning of the Golden Age arc, but the gesture reveals that, throughout the crap he had to put up with in his childhood, Guts still has a softer, emotional side to him that he's willing to show [[BecauseYouWereNiceToMe to people who treat him with genuine kindness.]]]] However, throughout his Black Swordsman days, Guts is repeatedly shown desecrating the deceased, unanimated or not. This isn't on the same level as Wyald, since Guts isn't evil, but it does show that Guts is rather ruthless and that he is in a dark, dark place at this time.
** Griffith, the ambiguously evil character, plays it straight once when he is paying his respects to the un-named boy who died in his company, and he genuinely felt sad over his death [[spoiler: to the point where it was half of the motivation for him whoring himself out to General Genon.]] He later subverts this trope, starting with the fact that he attended the funeral of the Queen of Midland [[spoiler: when he was the one who orchestrated her death.]] The example the cut the deepest was upon his [[spoiler: reincarnation into the real world, where he visited the hill of swords for the fallen Band of the Hawk. However, he visited not so he could pay any respects or admit any regret for being the cause of their deaths, but to validate that he ''had no regrets for his actions during the Eclipse.'']] Big OUCH.

** Guts gets them when he goes through his HeroicBSOD after [[spoiler: assassinating Count Julius and, by accident, his young son]]. Also, the eye-shine never quite comes back to Guts' eyes after the Eclipse, save for one moment when [[spoiler: the Skull Knight tells him of the possibility of Casca being cured at Elfheim.]]

* 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.]]''']]

* AllGaysArePedophiles: There are only two expicitly homosexual characters in the Golden Age saga and unfortunately both are shown raping young boys.

* DoubleStandardRapeFemaleOnMale: Well not so much rape as unwanted sexual contact. When Guts first encounters the Red Tailed Hawks and loses to Griffith, he apparently loses enough blood that he starts shivering and going into shock, resulting in Griffith telling Casca to lie with him to share body heat. Casca was apparently ''extremely'' uncomfortable about doing this and upon Guts waking up, punches him in the face. Three years later, Guts finds himself forced to do the same thing to save her, only willing to do it because she did it for him before. When she wakes up later and learns what he did, she proceeds to punch him in the face, throw all of her armor at him, and ''try to kill him with a knife that barely missed his forehead''. The implication seems to be that only a woman has any reason or right to be uncomfortable with this sort of situation. Played with, however, in that, at least in the latter incident's case, the audience is clearly expected to sympathize with Guts and see Casca's actions as extremely unreasonable.

* BatmanGambit: One of Griffith's trademark stratagems both before and after his ascension to the GodHand is to set up a complex plan that anticipates how his opponent is going to react based on his knowledge of their personality:

** 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.