History Characters / BerserkKingdomOfMidland

[[caption-width-right:300:Click [[labelnote:here]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/anna_dungeon_250.jpg[[/labelnote]] to see her in ''Anime/BerserkTheGoldenAgeArc III - Advent.]]

Laban and Owen are two Midland nobles who are close friends and confidants. Unlike most of midland's aristocrats, they are willing to put aside the interests of their class for the good of the kingdom and are early supporters and admirers of Griffith. Laban speaks up before the King and noble generals in favor of Griffith's plan to recapture Doldrey, and between themselves they agree that Griffith is Midland's best hope. At the victory ball afterwards, they discuss whether Griffith will be able to continue his rise in conditions of peace. When the kingdom begins collapsing because of the King's pursuit of Griffith, Laban and Owen do their best to alleviate the people's suffering. Owen concentrates on rescue missions, while Owen tries to wake up the Kingdom's corrupt and foolish politicians to the urgency of the situation.

* ArtEvolution: The author subtly changed how he was drawing her over the course of voulme 10. At first she looks rather more haughty and strict, but he changed her lines to make her look more plain and humble.

Julius is the Brother of the king of Midland, uncle of Princess Charlotte, and general of Midland's most prominent army, the White Dragon Knights. He secretly had an adulterous affair with the current Queen of Midland, and his own wife recently died, leaving him in sole care of their teenage son Adonis. Himself the product of a hard upbringing, he treats his son coldly and tries to harshly prepare him for the responsibility of taking his place as head of the White Dragon Knights. According to the gossip of courtiers in ''Anime/BerserkTheGoldenAgeArc I'', he was recently captured in battle against the Tudor Kingdom and ransomed for a large sum, which may account for his being out of favor with the King.

* {{Cuckold}}: Both literally and later symbolically.
** The queen of Midland is revealed to be having an affair behind his back with his brother Julius. The fact that the King doesn't actually love her and views her as only a political marriage of convenience, he doesn't seem to care either way.
** On the opposite end, the way the King ''internalizes'' Griffith and Charlotte's affair, viewing Griffith as stealing his happiness really has shades of this. Between Griffith explicitly ''taunting'' him on his incestuous feelings for his daughter, and the King becoming prematurely old and feeble after learning the truth, [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything this may have been the intention]].

* YoureNotMyFather: Ashamed and horrified with what kind of a monster the King has become, Charlotte says that she doesn't consider him her father. She does, however, cry out "father" after he dies.

* YourCheatingHeart: Secretly turned to Count Julius for warmth because her marriage to the King was loveless. Although their relationship was purely physical, she realizes [[spoiler:after his death]] that she was in love with him.

* YourCheatingHeart: He slept with his brother's second wife, possibly while his own wife was still alive.

[[Characters/BerserkGuts Guts]] | [[Characters/BerserkGriffithFemto Griffith / Femto]] | [[Characters/BerserkCasca Casca]] | [[Characters/BerserkGutsCompanions Guts' Companions]] | [[Characters/BerserkBandOfTheHawk Band of the Hawk]] | '''Kingdom of Midland''' | [[Characters/BerserkAntagonists Antagonists]] | [[Characters/BerserkOther Other Characters]] | [[Characters/BerserkVideoGames Video Games]]]]-]]]

* GoodPrincessEvilQueen: The sensitive, gentle Good Princess to her WickedStepmother's Evil Queen.

* PrincessClassic: As beautiful, kind, and innocent (mostly) as any fairy tale princess. Consequently her outfits qualify for the following tropes: ErmineCapeEffect, PrincessesPreferPink, PrettyInMink and PimpedOutDress.

* SpeechImpediment: In the Dark Horse translation, his speech is rendered as a cross between FangThpeak and PorkyPigPronunciation.

* EverythingsBetterWithPrincesses: For the setting and for the purposes of the plot, having a princess is as good as it gets. For the purposes of the happiness and welfare of her kingdom, on the other hand? Even though she's a PrincessClassic, the fact that she falls for a ManipulativeBastard and eventual DarkMessiah means her impact on the story is unlikely to be positive in the long run.

** The sparring session shows that he is physically weak and tempermentally unsuited for fighting, and his expression while Hassan is trying to comfort him implies he resents his father's harshness, especially at a time when he's just lost his mother.

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: He appears just as Count Julius is fuming over Griffith's advancement. He seems like a smarmy, harmless little man, but right off the bat he gives a little winking KubrickStare that shows his ObfuscatingStupidity is a mask. He speaks about Griffith's achievements in a matter-of-fact manner, carefully provoking Julius' anger bit by bit. Then when he's got Julius where he wants him, he gives him the idea for killing Griffith with a HuntingAccident, implying rather than saying it outright but giving a devious look so Julius can't escape his meaning. He smiles as Julius leaves, pleased that he's used his manipulation abilities to target an opponent without directly involving himself.

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: He appears just as Count Julius is fuming over Griffith's advancement. He seems like a smarmy, harmless little man, but right off the bat he gives a little winking KubrickStare that shows his ObfuscatingStupidity is a mask. He speaks about Griffith's achievments in a matter-of-fact manner, carefully provoking Julius' anger bit by bit. Then when he's got Julius where he wants him, he gives him the idea for killing Griffith with a HuntingAccident, implying rather than saying it outright but giving a devious look so Julius can't escape his meaning. He smiles as Julius leaves, pleased that he's used his manipulation abilities to target an opponent without directly involving himself.

* SpoiledSweet: Being the princess and sole heir of an entire kingdom, Charlotte has the finer luxuries in life. Though she might be naive about the world due to her sheltered life of royalty, she is one of the few genuinely nice aristocrats presented in the series and has a sweet and kind personality. Casca even admitted to herself that [[WhyCantIHateYou she felt bad for]] [[GreenEyedMonster getting jealous]] over Charlotte because of [[MealTicket her relationship with Griffith]] since Charlotte treated her with kindness despite her being a commoner AND a warrioress.

When the King imprisons and tortures Griffith for deflowering Charlotte, the extent of the King's mental issues are revealed. Because he never got over the death of his first wife, he has projected his love for her onto Charlotte even to the point of subconsciously lusting for his daughter. In order to cope with the stress of running the kingdom, he has clung to Charlotte as his only joy in life, and cannot forgive Griffith for taking her from him. When Griffith forces him to realize that he would have rather taken Charlotte's virginity himself, the King begins to lose his sanity and attempts to rape Charlotte, unsuccessfully. Meanwhile, the army carries out his orders to ambush the Band of the Hawk, leading to the death and desertion of most and forcing the rest into hiding. One year later, Griffith is broken out of imprisonment by the remaining Hawks and the King goes so far as to send Bakiraka professional killers and the Black Dog Knights led by Wyald in pursuit of him. Two years later, with the kingdom in ruins because of his mad pursuit of Griffith, he dies in loneliness with the realization that he supported Griffith because he did not want to be king.

* TheGoodKing: Deconstructed. He is initially portrayed as a very capable ruler who places little stock in tradition and ceremony, and values competence over birth. However his devotion to good rule has alienated him from his wife, and he [[spoiler: lusts after Charlotte]] due to him having never gotten over the death of his beloved first wife and the stress of being a king. Eventually the rigors of rule cause him to snap and become TheCaligula, and [[spoiler:as he dies]] he realizes that he supported Griffith because he no longer wanted to be king.

* [[IllGirl Ill Guy]]: After his mental breakdown, he suffers from rapid aging and a general decline in his health.

* DisproportionateRetribution: As punishment for having sex with his daughter, the king had Griffith imprisoned in the lowest dungeon in Midland, sentenced to three years of torture, and commanded that the entire Band of the Hawk be exterminated.
* DrivenToMadness: Once Griffith deflowers Charlotte, he descends into outright madness.

** This trope is plated to the fullest in the animated adaptations, however, as Griffith never taunts him on that... [[ParentalIncest despicable subject]].

* YoureNotMyFather: Ashamed and horrified with what kind of a monster her father has become, Charlotte says that she doesn't consider him her father. She does, however, cry out "father" after he dies.

* EstablishingCharacterMoment: When her father introduces her to Guts and Griffith, she hides behind a pillar out of shyness. Then, as she follows her father down the stairs, she trips and gets caught by Griffith, causing her to blush. She meets Griffith's gaze for a significant moment before she turns to go. Thus, we know our princess to be a ShrinkingViolet, FragileFlower, TheIngenue, and a NaiveEverygirl who is susceptible to being charmed off her feet by someone who fits her idea of a KnightInShiningArmor.

* FragileFlower: Has a very sensitive personality that makes her dislike soldiers and war. She is even upset by cruelty to animals, and cries easily.

* {{Leitmotif}}: Her introduction in ''The Egg of the King'' is accompanied by the track, ''"L'Amour Impitoyable"'', which first comes in as a sweet, delicate piano solo that reflects her FragileFlower personality and the sense of LoveAtFirstSight between her and Griffith when they meet on the staircase. It comes back again during the hunt when Griffith teaches her how to play the leaf, signifying their growing connection. The title is an ominous bit of foreshadowing about how this ill-fated romance is going to turn out, since it means "Pitiless" or "Ruthless Love".

* ShrinkingViolet: We were first introduced to Charlotte when - [[SelfDemonstratingArticle hey, where is she?]] Oh, there she is: hiding behind that pillar. Anyway, this princess might have all of the riches in the world, but one thing that she doesn't appear to have is a lot of [[NoSocialSkills social experience.]] {{Squick}}ily justified in that her father kept her close to home, commenting that big men and soldiers [[FragileFlower frighten her]] and she even said that she didn't like going to balls and other aristocratic gatherings much. Charlotte came out of her shell when she started interacting with Griffith.

* FragileFlower: Adonis is both physically and emotionally delicate, much to his father's dissatisfaction.

** On the opposite end, the way the King ''internalizes'' Griffith and Charlotte's affair, viewing Griffith as stealing his happiness really has shades of this. Between Griffith explicitly ''taunting'' him on his incestuous feelings for his daughter, and the King growing old and impudent after learning the truth, [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything this may have been the intention]].

* ParentalIncest: [[spoiler:Poor Charlotte barely escaped her father's lewd intentions after Griffith's arrest.]]

* ThePromise: To Charlotte, of not chasing Griffith anymore. [[spoiler: He didn't keep it.]]

* YoungerThanTheyLook: The king is probably in his 50s or early 60s judging by his first appearance, as he has a wrinkled face and a receding hairline but has kept his black hair and is otherwise in good health, in addition to being a skilled ruler. Two years after his breakdown he looks as if he is at least 90 years old, having become so decrepit and infirm that he needs page boys to help him walk.

* PrincessClassic: As beautiful, kind, and innocent as any fairy tale princess. Consequently her outfits qualify for the following tropes: ErmineCapeEffect, PrincessesPreferPink, PrettyInMink and PimpedOutDress.

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