History Berserk / TropesUToZ

** [[spoiler:Griffith's Behelit was the cause. In order to bring him the glory he sought, they needed suitable challenges that bordered on the impossible to achieve the miracles needed to get him to within sight of his dream, so that fate could then crush it utterly to the point he'd give up ANYTHING to reclaim it. (The Idea of Evil tells him straight up that everything that had happened to them up to that point was all part of it's plan to make him the man he had become.]]

** After waiting for over 20 years, chapter 354 ends with a panel fans have been waiting for since 1997: [[spoiler:Casca seemingly regains her mind!]]

* WouldHitAGirl: Justified. Guts has no compunction fighting aggressively with female enemies. To be fair, refusing to fight full force against females like [[KillerRabbit Rosine]] and [[GorgeousGorgon Slan]] would only guarantee him a ''very'' painful death. To throw the guy a bone, Guts really isn't the type to backhand women and girls as he pleases - [[WifeBasherBasher and sticks up for them on occasion]] - but he has no reserves at sticking a knife to their throat (or in their mouth in Farnese's case) to get the [[IHaveYourWife upper hand in certain situations]]. However, there is an exception to the rule.

** Wile fighting Rosine, Guts is hindered a lot by this sentiment. After all: he is essentially trying to butcher a cute teenage girl...that has the combat abilities of a ''fighter jet'', but still isn't entirely evil. He ends up holding back every time he can land the killing blow, taking in insane ammount of punishment himself. [[spoiler:This makes Guts completely give in to his bitter hatred, officially giving birth to the beast of darkness. It never leaves afterwards.]] Counts as a total [[DeconstructedTrope deconstruction.]] And then there was ''another'' time that this happened during Guts' [[TookALevelInJerkass Black Swordsman days]], when he hesitates to kill the resurrected corpse of the daughter of the priest that he was traveling with. He takes a hit because of it before chopping off her head. He vomits afterward.

** The Skull Knight says that he and Guts seem to be outside the realm of fate (though after [[spoiler:[[NiceJobBreakingItHero accidentally merging the layers of reality for Femto/Griffith]] ]] it's unclear with this is true) and that because Guts was born from a hanged womans womb and bears the mark of Sacrifice it's easier for his will to effect reality

* WhyCantIHateYou: Casca has this with Princess Charlotte during her GreenEyedMonster moment after learning about [[SexForSolace the truth of what happened between she and Griffith.]] However, Casca admits to herself that she felt bad for hating on Charlotte since [[SpoiledSweet she was so sweet]] [[ActionGirl to a woman of her kind.]] That, and she already had Guts.

* WorfHadTheFlu: Casca became so disoriented when her time o' month came along in the midst of battling [[LargeHam General Adon]], and was fatigued for nearly two days because of it; she practically had to be saved and cared for by Guts [[spoiler:who she had a [[BelligerentSexualTension rocky relationship with at the time]]]] and nearly got raped. But after her cycles passed, Casca wiped the floor with Adon so hard that he was more dumbfounded than usual to finding out that her poor performance from their previous battle was only due to her being on her period. This led to [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments hilarity]] when he announced it right in the middle of their fight, gaining the notice of ''every single'' soldier around them.

* YouAreNotAlone: During the mock Eclipse, the [[spoiler:Egg of the Perfect world spots the Child on a ledge, alone and [[HeroicSacrifice depleted of strength from protecting his mother.]] Knowing how it was like to be alone and unloved, the Egg takes the child into him so that he could feel one moment of tenderness before dying.]] Total [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments heartwarming]] TearJerker. Though it is heavily implied that by doing so [[spoiler:the child was reformed into the powerful mute child that appears to help Guts whenever the full moon is out.]] [[EpilepticTrees Maybe.]] [[{{Fanon}} Probably.]] [[WildMassGuessing It's mysterious.]]

* UglyGuyHotWife: Jill's mom is reasonably attractive for a woman her age, headscarf and all. Jill's dad on the other hand.... [[RunningGag His head looks really disproportionate]] to say the ''most'' among other attributes.

* UncannyValley: When he and Guts were up against Rosine's elves for the first time, Puck said that they looked similar to elves such as he, but that there was something "off" about them, and was quite disturbed by their presence. Later revealed that [[spoiler:the elves weren't real elves, but rather apostle spawn that were children that Rosine kidnapped.]]

[[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]]

* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds:
** Guts. ''Heavy'' emphasis on the "destroyer" part. He just wants to destroy every demon and [[spoiler:his former friend Griffith]] after years of suffering at their hands.
** Rosine. She snaps and becomes evil after years of abuse by her father.

*** In ''Lost Children'', when Rosine and her pseudo elves show up and begin massacring Jill's town, Guts takes a little boy named Thomas who is running from the elves and uses him as live bait to lure them into a barn which he burns down with them inside. The poor boy is utterly traumatized, but Guts [[PetTheDog makes sure he's ok]] afterwards, and when the villagers come out of their houses and call what he did heinous, Guts [[ShamingTheMob shames them]] by reminding them that he actually saved Thomas' life while they were cowering behind locked doors. Things go FromBadToWorse when the burning corpses of the elves [[ThisWasHisTrueForm turn back into children]], making ''Guts'' look like a child-killing monster, so Guts puts a knife to Jill's throat and gets the villagers to let them through. From then on he turns up his JerkassFacade to make Jill stop following him for her own good, and alternates between [[PetTheDog saving her life]] and acting like he's [[KickTheDog prepared to kill her]] if she tries to get between him and Rosine.
*** Lastly, Guts is [[JustifiedTrope Justified]] in taking the gloves off when fighting monsters that [[WasOnceAMan used to be children]], but which are now trying to kill him and other humans. Rosine in ''Lost Children'', Nico in ''VideoGame/SwordOfTheBerserkGutsRage'', and Charles in ''VideoGame/BerserkMillenniumFalconHenSeimaSenkiNoSho'' are all Apostles who became EnfantsTerribles after they were DrivenToVillainy by the mistreatment they suffered from adults. Guts hates them as he would any other Apostle, and makes it his mission to kill them. It's not as if he doesn't feel any guilt, however, even if he tries to supress those emotions behind a JerkassFacade: When he sees that Collette's corpse is possessed by an evil spirit in episode 2, "the Brand", he goes into a HeroicBSOD and doesn't strike her down until she's already stabbed him in the side. In ''Lost Children'', when the elf children he burned in a barn came back as crying ghosts at night, he lets himself go LaughingMad in order to get through the fight.

** Downplayed for Guts. He is not proud of the fact that he's sometimes harmed or endangered children in pursuit of his goals. In fact, he tends to be much more sympathetic toward children than he is toward adults because of his own abused childhood, and Jill is drawn to him despite his JerkassFacade in ''Lost Children'' because he's the only grown up who's ever protected her ''at all''. Just how much of a KickTheDog it comes across as and how Justified it seems depend on the situation:

* UncannyValley: When he and Guts were up against Rosine's elves for the first time, Puck said that they looked similar to elves such as he, but that there was something "off" about them, and was quite disturbed by their presence. Later revealed that [[spoiler: the elves weren't real elves, but rather apostle spawn that were children that Rosine kidnapped.]]

* UnfamiliarCeiling: [[spoiler: After being rescued by the Skull Knight while still unconscious during the Eclipse]] Guts wakes up in Godo's elf mine.
* UnfriendlyFire: After [[spoiler: being raped by Donovan]], one of Gambino's soldiers, as a kid, Guts murders him during the next battle.

--> '''Skull Knight''': "It begins. From this moment until the Eclipse occurs one year from now... you and your friends... right now are walking blindly to [[DoomyDoomsOfDoom your doom!!]]"

* ViciousCycle: The Eclipse, which happens once every 216 years and marks the birth of a new God Hand.
** Another one: [[spoiler: People's suffering and need for something to blame for it creates [[TheHeartless The Idea of Evil]] -> Idea of Evil creates the Godhand -> Godhand uses Behelits to turn people into demons and new Godhand members -> demons make life even shittier for everyone else -> people's suffering sustains The Idea of Evil]]...and so on and so forth.

* WeaponTombstone: [[spoiler: The Band of the Hawk are memorialized with a FieldOfBlades, each one forged by Rickert, the only member of the Hawks who wasn't there when the Eclipse went down.]]

** [[spoiler: Griffith's Behelit was the cause. In order to bring him the glory he sought, they needed suitable challenges that bordered on the impossible to achieve the miracles needed to get him to within sight of his dream, so that fate could then crush it utterly to the point he'd give up ANYTHING to reclaim it. (The Idea of Evil tells him straight up that everything that had happened to them up to that point was all part of it's plan to make him the man he had become.]]

** Chapter 307 was a pretty big wham in our face when [[spoiler: Femto used the Skull Knight's Sword of Resonance to merge the supernatural world and natural world together, [[NothingIsTheSameAnymore thus changing the world forever]].]]
** After waiting for over 20 years, chapter 354 ends with a panel fans have been waiting for since 1997: [[spoiler: Casca seemingly regains her mind!]]

-->'''Griffith:''' "Among thousands of comrades and ten thousand enemies, only you...only you...only you made me forget my dream. [[MoralEventHorizon I sacrifice.]]"

* WhenSheSmiles: Discussed by Guts in his inner monologue and played for drama. After he nearly strangles Casca in a possessed rage in volume 23, she begins to detest Guts, which drives Guts into more despair. He comments on how he only wants to make her smile but can't as she won't even allow him to touch her with tenderness anymore [[spoiler: it escalates even further when the beast almost gets Guts to ''rape her'']]. Seeing a smile on Casca's face is the only thing that makes Guts himself smile, next to hearing about the possibility of her being cured of her insanity for good.

-->'''Puck''': "Jill, when he looks like that, it's time for us to leave!" ''Chapter 110''
* WifeHusbandry: Played very disturbingly with [[spoiler: the King of Midland's relationship with his daughter, who has the spiting image of her mother, the first queen.]]

-->'''Guts''': "Amazing! No wonder you're higher than us humans — you don't know how to fucking die!"

** While running with Roderick and his crew, [[spoiler: Guts ended up doing battle inside a giant sea monster.]]

** Guts. ''Heavy'' emphasis on the "destroyer" part. He just wants to destroy every demon and [[spoiler: his former friend Griffith]] after years of suffering at their hands.

* WorfHadTheFlu: Casca became so disoriented when her time o' month came along in the midst of battling [[LargeHam General Adon]], and was fatigued for nearly two days because of it; she practically had to be saved and cared for by Guts [[spoiler: who she had a [[BelligerentSexualTension rocky relationship with at the time]]]] and nearly got raped. But after her cycles passed, Casca wiped the floor with Adon so hard that he was more dumbfounded than usual to finding out that her poor performance from their previous battle was only due to her being on her period. This led to [[SugarWiki/FunnyMoments hilarity]] when he announced it right in the middle of their fight, gaining the notice of ''every single'' soldier around them.
* WorldOfBadass: In this world, it's absolutely essential for four out of five people to have some amount of badass in them in order to survive. There is badass littered EVERYWHERE in the world of Berserk. Even small, [[CreepyChild mysterious]], [[TheVoiceless silent]] children have [[BadassAdorable badass in them]] [[spoiler: especially if their implied parents are badasses themselves.]]!

* WorldTree: The concept seems to have been introduced in chapter 333 with [[spoiler: the Helix Tree that is nearby Falconia. All of the plants and crops in its vicinity are flourishing... this has potential for catastrophe since the tree seems to be a remnant of Emperor Ganishka.]]

** Good 'ol Griffith. [[spoiler: Not only rapes his former commander, but taints her baby and then uses said baby to reincarnate himself into the real world to further his own desires.]] Yeah. "[[MessianicArchetype Jesus loves the little children]]" my butt.

** Wile fighting Rosine, Guts is hindered a lot by this sentiment. After all: he is essentially trying to butcher a cute teenage girl...that has the combat abilities of a ''fighter jet'', but still isn't entirely evil. He ends up holding back every time he can land the killing blow, taking in insane ammount of punishment himself. [[spoiler: This makes Guts completely give in to his bitter hatred, officially giving birth to the beast of darkness. It never leaves afterwards.]] Counts as a total [[DeconstructedTrope deconstruction.]] And then there was ''another'' time that this happened during Guts' [[TookALevelInJerkass Black Swordsman days]], when he hesitates to kill the resurrected corpse of the daughter of the priest that he was traveling with. He takes a hit because of it before chopping off her head. He vomits afterward.

* YouAreNotAlone: During the mock Eclipse, the [[spoiler: Egg of the Perfect world spots the Child on a ledge, alone and [[HeroicSacrifice depleted of strength from protecting his mother.]] Knowing how it was like to be alone and unloved, the Egg takes the child into him so that he could feel one moment of tenderness before dying.]] Total [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments heartwarming]] TearJerker. Though it is heavily implied that by doing so [[spoiler: the child was reformed into the powerful mute child that appears to help Guts whenever the full moon is out.]] [[EpilepticTrees Maybe.]] [[{{Fanon}} Probably.]] [[WildMassGuessing It's mysterious.]]

** The Skull Knight says that he and Guts seem to be outside the realm of fate (though after [[spoiler: [[NiceJobBreakingItHero accidentally merging the layers of reality for Femto/Griffith]] ]] it's unclear with this is true) and that because Guts was born from a hanged womans womb and bears the mark of Sacrifice it's easier for his will to effect reality

* YouCantGoHomeAgain: Guts couldn't return to his original mercenary band after he killed Gambino, Casca couldn't return to her village after she killed the nobleman who tried to rape her, and the whole Band of the Hawk got exiled from the Kingdom of Midland after Griffith got arrested. Guts and Casca have to find another safe place to live after Godo's elf mine got destroyed, Schierke's [[DoomedHomeTown home went up in a blaze after]] [[spoiler: Griffith sent his Apostles to kill Flora]] and there's a close bet that [[spoiler: after that Kushan invasion]], Farnese is out of a home too (but she only dropped by anyway).

-->"Uh...I'm not very tasty. E-elves aren't very good for your digestion, y'know, not to mention we're high in calories."

** After waiting for over 20 years of waiting, chapter 354 ends with a panel fans have been waiting for since 1997: [[spoiler: Casca seemingly regains her mind!]]

** After waiting for over [[ScheduleSlip 20 years of waiting]], chapter 354 ends with a panel fans have been waiting for since 1997: [[spoiler: Casca seemingly regains her mind!]]

** chapter 307 was a pretty big wham in our face when [[spoiler: Femto used the Skull Knight's Sword of Resonance to merge the supernatural world and natural world together, [[NothingIsTheSameAnymore thus changing the world forever]].]]

* WallPinOfLove: Related to the above trope, when Guts is about to actually enter Casca, she nervously tells him to be gentle with her. Surprisingly, Guts gives her a rather intimidating glare while he has her pinned against the tree right before hastily initiating coitus. Despite her shock, Casca is too caught up in Guts' vigorous lovemaking to protest any further.

* WallBangHer: The sex scene between [[spoiler:Guts and Casca]] in the manga's Golden Age Arc starts with the former holding the later pressed against an obliging tree. This first part of their lovemaking takes place when they're caught up in the passion of the moment, but it also leads to the guy being too rough; an intermission follows, and when they resume it is in a different position that allows them to be more affectionate and tender.

* YouMustBeCold: Guts does this often with Casca, usually because she is lacking clothes at the time so he either give her his shirt or cape to cover herself. Deconstructed in volume 23, where Guts had a slight moment of being DistractedByTheSexy when he sees Casca's breasts peak from under his cape. Casca being an InnocentFanserviceGirl and Guts still yearning for Casca's intimacy, the Beast begins to tempt Guts from this point on.

** Guts himself isn't above doing this. Although the first instance of this was rather an accident, he showed no qualms about brutally slaughtering Rosine's demon-elves, even knowing that they were all kids. Rosine herself who, for being an Apostle, is still a little girl. This can be a situation where [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman if you're clearly not a human anymore, then you lose any amount of sympathy that Guts could possibly have for you]] and said children were trying to devour him and the whole town, while he tries to hold back in his fight aginst Rosine as much as he could, but in the end had to kill her or let her kill him and kidnap more children.

* YouAreNotAlone: During the mock Eclipse, the [[spoiler: Egg of the Perfect world spots the Child on a ledge, alone and [[HeroicSacrifice depleted of strength from protecting his mother.]] Knowing how it was like to be alone and unloved, the Egg takes the child into him so that he could feel one moment of tenderness before dying.]] Total [[SugarWiki/HeartwarmingMoments heartwarming]] TearJerker.
** Though it is heavily implied that by doing so [[spoiler: the child was reformed into the powerful mute child that appears to help Guts whenever the full moon is out.]] [[EpilepticTrees Maybe.]] [[{{Fanon}} Probably.]] [[WildMassGuessing It's mysterious.]]

* WouldHitAGirl: Justified. Guts has no compunction fighting aggressively with female enemies. To be fair, refusing to fight full force against females like [[KillerRabbit Rosine]] and [[GorgeousGorgon Slan]] would only guarantee him a ''very'' painful death. To throw the guy a bone, Guts really isn't the type to backhand women and girls as he pleases - [[WifeBasherBasher and sticks up for them on occasion]] - but he has no reserves at sticking a knife to their throat (or in their mouth in Farnese's case) to get the [[IHaveYourWife upper hand in certain situations]]. However, there is an exception to the rule where...
** WouldntHitAGirl: ... Casca is involved. Earlier in the series, Casca attacks Guts after he saves her, and he yells that if she wasn't a woman, he'd slug her. Considering that he was already developing feelings for her, it's just as likely he just said that because he was frustrated and angry with her violent reaction to his (well-meant) IntimateHealing, and to him, insults are the only acceptable way to express hurt feelings. Again, Guts really isn't the type to go around slugging women here and there.
** Wile fighting Rosine, Guts is hindered a lot by this sentiment. After all: he is essentially trying to butcher a cute teenage girl...that has the combat abilities of a ''fighter jet'', but still isn't entirely evil. He ends up holding back every time he can land the killing blow, taking in insane ammount of punishment himself. [[spoiler: This makes Guts completely give in to his bitter hatred, officially giving birth to the beast of darkness. It never leaves afterwards.]] Counts as a total [[DeconstructedTrope deconstruction.]]
*** And then there was ''another'' time that this happened during Guts' [[TookALevelInJerkass Black Swordsman days]], when he hesitated to kill the resurrected corpse of the daughter of the priest that he was traveling with. He took a hit because of it before chopping off her head. He vomits afterward.

* WouldHurtAChild: Apostles consider human as food or toys, or a combination of both. Children? No special treatment. If they are edible, they ''will'' be tortured, abused and then eaten.
** Guts himself isn't above doing this. Although the first instance of this was rather an accident, he showed no qualms about brutally slaughtering Rosine's demon-elves, even knowing that they were all kids. Rosine herself who, for being an Apostle, is still a little girl.
*** This could be a situation where [[WhatMeasureIsANonHuman if you're clearly not a human anymore, then you lose any amount of sympathy that Guts could possibly have for you]].
*** In Gut's defense said children were trying to devour him and the whole town, while he tried to hold back in his fight aginst Rosine as much as he could but in the end had to kill her or let her kill him and kidnap more children.

* YouMonster: Another one of those phrases that gets thrown around a lot between [[HeWhoFightsMonsters Guts]] and apostles. It's not just from the former either. Guts is BadAss enough and [[SociopathicHero ruthless]] enough in his apostle-killing methods to even have the monsters or a witness saying this to him.

* WorldOfBadass: In this world, it's absolutely essential for four out of five people to have some amount of {{Badass}} in them in order to survive. There is badass littered EVERYWHERE in the world of Berserk. Even small, [[CreepyChild mysterious]], [[TheVoiceless silent]] children have [[BadassAdorable badass in them]] [[spoiler: especially if their implied parents are badasses themselves.]]!

* UncannyValley: {{Invoked}}. When he and Guts were up against Rosine's elves for the first time, Puck said that they looked similar to elves such as he, but that there was something "off" about them, and was quite disturbed by their presence. Later revealed that [[spoiler: the elves weren't real elves, but rather apostle spawn that were children that Rosine kidnapped.]]