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10[[WMG:[[center: [- ''Manga/{{Berserk}}'' '''[[Characters/{{Berserk}} Main Character Index]]'''\
11[[Characters/BerserkGuts Guts]] | [[Characters/BerserkGriffithFemto Griffith / Femto]] | [[Characters/BerserkCasca Casca]] | [[Characters/BerserkGutsCompanions Guts's Companions]] | [[Characters/BerserkBandOfTheHawk Band of the Hawk]] | '''Kingdom of Midland''' | [[Characters/BerserkAntagonists Antagonists]] ([[Characters/BerserkGodhandAndApostles Godhand and Apostles]]) | [[Characters/BerserkOther Other Characters]] | [[Characters/BerserkVideoGames Video Games]]]]-]]]
12
13'''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. Administrivia/YouHaveBeenWarned!''
14----
15This page is for characters affiliated with the Kingdom of Midland, namely members of the royal family, prominent nobles, and retainers who owe their primary allegiance to the first two.
16----
17[[foldercontrol]]
18
19!Midland Royal Family
20[[folder:Princess Charlotte]]
21!!'''Princess Charlotte Beatrix Marie Rhody Wyndham (シャルロット, ''Sharurotto'')'''
22!!! '''Voiced by:''' Creator/YuriShiratori (Japanese, ''Anime/Berserk1997''), Creator/AkiToyosaki (Japanese, ''Anime/BerserkTheGoldenAgeArc'', ''Anime/Berserk2016'', and ''VideoGame/BerserkAndTheBandOfTheHawk''), Creator/RachaelLillis (English, ''Anime/Berserk1997'', and ''Anime/BerserkTheGoldenAgeArc I - The Egg of the King''), Gina Bowes (English, ''Anime/BerserkTheGoldenAgeArc II - The Battle of Doldrey'' and ''Anime/BerserkTheGoldenAgeArc III - Advent''), Creator/CarmenAmbros (Spanish, ''Anime/BerserkTheGoldenAgeArc I - The Egg of the King'' and ''Anime/BerserkTheGoldenAgeArc III - Advent''), Creator/CarmenCalvell (Spanish, ''Anime/BerserkTheGoldenAgeArc II - The Battle of Doldrey'')
23!!! '''Guidebook Stats:'''[[note]]As of Chapter of Elf Island[[/note]] Height: 162 cm (5 ft, 4 in); Weight: 50 kg (110 lb, 4 oz); Age: 20
24
25[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/charlotte_300.jpg]]
26[[caption-width-right:300:Click [[labelnote:here]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/char_hunt.jpg[[/labelnote]] to see her in ''Anime/BerserkTheGoldenAgeArc I - The Egg of the King''.]]
27
28-> ''"Today is the first time I have come to the hunting grounds. My father invited me, so I felt I ''must'' accompany him. But I do not think I will grow to like hunting. It is ''cruel''. War is the same way...why is it that men enjoy little more than shedding blood?"''
29
30The King of Midland's only child with his late first wife, Charlotte is nothing if not a PrincessClassic. [[NaiveEverygirl Meek, cute and rather capricious]], she immediately falls in love with Griffith [[LoveAtFirstSight upon meeting him]]. Despite the disapproval of her stepmother, she continues to see Griffith which culminates in Griffith taking her virginity, bringing down the King's wrath upon him. Wishing to free Griffith and escape with him from her father, she helps the Hawks to enter Midland's castle and rescue him but is prevented by the circumstances from leaving herself. As a result of the Kushan invasion of Midland that followed her father's death, she is held captive and almost raped by Emperor Ganishka. She spends her imprisonment embroidering images of Griffith, wishing for him to come back and rescue her.
31
32After Griffith is incarnated, one of his first acts is freeing her from Ganishka's grasp. Since Charlotte is the [[LastOfHisKind last pure royal of Midland]], Griffith's plan is to marry her so that he can access the throne legally.
33
34----
35* ActionDressRip: A variation. As it says above, she's no ActionGirl, but when she tagged along with Guts and Co in the Griffith retrieval arc, she ripped off her dress so as to run and move more easily.
36* ActionSurvivor: Subverted. Even though she [[TakingTheBullet did shield Griffith from a poison dart]] and easily could have died during the encounter with the Bakirakas, she didn't survive because of any ability or luck she could have had back then. She was spared (along with Anna) only because she's the king's daughter.
37* AttemptedRape: [[spoiler:Her father]] and Emperor Ganishka tried to rape her on separate occasions. The first one she fought off by herself, while the second changed his mind when he found out that she was Griffith's lover.
38* BewareTheNiceOnes: You know, for as much as some people complain that she's a doormat, it's worth pointing out that she's one of the very few female characters who've unequivocally ''fought off'' someone who tried to attack them sexually, to the point where [[spoiler:she completely ''wrecked her father's face with nothing but her bare hands and feet''. Granted the king isn't quite of the same caliber as some of the other perverted monsters which populate this story, but that's still impressive.]]
39* DaddysGirl: Zig-zagged. The king dotes upon his daughter [[spoiler: though it's debatable if his affection toward her was always [[ParentalIncest a platonic father-daughter relationship]]]], but Charlotte's feelings about the king prior to Griffith's downfall are not really examined. She never forgave him after [[spoiler:he tried to rape her and put Griffith through hell, and she refused to come to him on his death bed, but she still cried when he died]].
40* DarkMistress: Loves the villain, Griffith, who in turn is pursuing her so that he can marry into royalty. She has no clue about Griffith's evil nature because she's naive and a HorribleJudgeOfCharacter.
41* 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, ProneToTears, TheIngenue, and a NaiveEverygirl who is susceptible to being charmed off her feet by someone who fits her idea of a KnightInShiningArmor.
42* FeminineWomenCanCook: She's quite girly and feminine, and despite lacking many practical skills she is apparently good at baking sweets. In contrast, the more tomboyish Sonia is jealous of her ability to get to Griffith ThroughHisStomach, and Farnese who is both aristocratic and a tomboy is a disaster at cooking.
43* FriendlessBackground: It's implied that Charlotte never really had any friends. Anna, her handmaid, is likely her OnlyFriend.
44* GildedCage: During her captivity by Ganishka, she is allowed to keep her maid, maintain a luxurious room, and is allowed to spend her days doing as she pleases.....but is still confined to said room and under guard.
45* GirlInTheTower: Where Ganishka held Charlotte captive after he took over Wyndam.
46* GoodPrincessEvilQueen: The sensitive, gentle Good Princess to her WickedStepmother's Evil Queen. And ironically, this is also just what she might end up seen as, given the nature of Griffth.
47* HandGagging: Played for laughs during her uncharacteristic temper tantrum during the Griffith rescue. ''Everyone present'' excluding Pippin partake in this. Guts suggested that they [[BoundAndGagged gag her.]]
48* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: Even if we admit that Griffith is most charming and subtle, Charlotte deserves some blame for never once questioning the motives of a suitor with an obvious political incentive to seduce her, and who unbeknownst to her even assassinated several of her family members (though two out of three deserved it). And she has no idea that now he's practically the DarkMessiah of the world, [[spoiler: as GodIsEvil in this story, Griffith ''does'' qualify as a Messiah]] who freaking ''created'' the mess the world is facing right now, and personally [[spoiler: raped one of her former guards, maimed another and killed all the rest]]. Oh, ''if only'' she knew!
49* IWillWaitForYou: Spurns all courtship and marriage offers after Griffith's flight from Midland, and spends her imprisonment by Ganishka sewing embroideries of Griffith until he comes to rescue her.
50* LadyAndKnight: She and Griffith are a zigzagged example. Charlotte fits the bright lady character type and Griffith acts as the knight who (literally) looks bright but has dark intentions.
51* TheLadysFavour: She gives Griffith a magnetic doll that belongs in a set with a lady and a knight that [[MementoMacGuffin once belonged to her mother]], hoping that Griffith would take it with him into battle. Griffith said that he couldn't take such a valuable item... so he swears to return it to her.
52* LastOfHerKind: By the time she reenters the story after the Eclipse she is the last of Midland's royal line.
53* {{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 ProneToTears 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".
54* LivingEmotionalCrutch: Charlotte's father coped with the death of her mother partly by burying himself in work, and partly by treasuring Charlotte as a reminder of her. [[spoiler:After their relationship is destroyed beyond repair, the King loses his [[SanitySlippage sanity]].]]
55* LonelyRichKid: She lives in luxury, but apart from Anna she has no friends and rarely goes outside.
56* LordCountry: Has the name of her country's capital city, Windham, as part of her OverlyLongName.
57* LoveAtFirstSight: Started falling for Griffith upon their first meeting when he caught her to keep her from falling down the stairs.
58* MealTicket: Griffith is only courting Charlotte because marrying her is his means to obtaining his own kingdom. Lampshaded in WebVideo/BerserkAbridged.
59* NaiveEverygirl: As far as princesses go, she's not that different from your typical naive and insecure teenage girl. She lacks self-confidence, gets victimized because of her trusting nature, and sometimes ends up taking her friends for granted despite her heart being in the right place. We'll have to wait and see if things will turn out well for her in the end.
60* NeverASelfMadeWoman: Take away her birthright and Griffith and she's nothing.
61* NotEvenBotheringWithAnExcuse: Played with. When her father barges into her bedroom to see if Griffith has really taken his daughter's virginity, Charlotte attempts to drive him away by saying that coming into her room is an invasion of a teenage girl's privacy. While correct, it doesn't help that the floor is visibly wet from Griffith coming in from the rain, Charlotte's neck and chest are covered in lovebites, and - most damning of all - her bedsheets are stained with blood.
62* ObliviousToHints: Sonia makes it quite clear through her constant DeathGlare around her that she cannot stand Charlotte. Charlotte in turn, never seems to notice Sonia's hateful gaze or any other thing coming from her, which infuriates Sonia even more.
63* OverlyLongName: Charlotte Beatrix Marie Rhody Wyndham. Yeahhhhh. We're going to just keep calling her "Princess Charlotte".
64* ParentalNeglect: Her father is probably too busy running the Kingdom to spend much time with her, and her stepmother the Queen mostly ignores her apart from occasionally scolding her for being too friendly with commoners like Griffith.
65* 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. Subverted in that the fact that she's the consort of a Dark Messiah reduces the probability of her having a positive role in the end by a dramatic margin.
66* ProneToTears: Has a very sensitive personality that makes her dislike soldiers and war. She is even upset by cruelty to animals and cries easily.
67* SatelliteLoveInterest: Her only actual role in the series is being Griffith's LoveInterest / MealTicket. She pretty much thinks about nothing but Griffith and how happy she is when she is around him.
68* ShelteredAristocrat: 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.
69* 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 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.
70* SingleWomanSeeksGoodMan: {{Deconstructed}} with her relationship with Griffith. She sees him as a perfect gentleman, but his true self is far from that.
71* SmittenTeenageGirl: Falls quickly and intensely in love with Griffith, to the point where she constantly can't wait to see him and thinks of him as the only man for her.
72* StrongFamilyResemblance: To her late mother, [[spoiler:which is the source of her father's lust]].
73* TakingTheBullet: During Griffith's rescue one of the Bakiraka shoots a poisoned dart aimed at Griffith, but Charlotte takes the dart for him. Luckily, since the King told them to bring her back unharmed under pain of death, the Bakiraka pause the fight so that Anna can take her away to receive the antidote.
74* TheUglyGuysHotDaughter: While the King's unattractiveness is more from his age than being particularly ugly, Charlotte looks nothing like him. Instead, she's the spitting image of her beautiful mother.
75* UnknownRival: Is completely unaware of the fact that Sonia is vying for Griffith's affections against her and that Sonia hates her for being Griffith's fiancée.
76* YoureNotMyFather: Ashamed and horrified with what kind of a monster the King has become, Charlotte doesn't think of him as her father any longer. She does, however, cry out "father" after he dies.
77[[/folder]]
78
79[[folder:The King of Midland]]
80!!'''The King of Midland (ミッドランド王, ''Mīdorando Ō'')'''
81!!! '''Voiced by:''' Tamio Oki (Japanese, ''Anime/Berserk1997''), Nobuyuki Katsube (Japanese, ''Anime/BerserkTheGoldenAgeArc'' and ''Anime/Berserk2016''), Jeff Swarthout (English, ''Anime/Berserk1997''), Creator/ChristopherCoreySmith (English, ''Anime/BerserkTheGoldenAgeArc'' and ''Anime/Berserk2016''), Rafael Calvo (Spanish, ''Anime/BerserkTheGoldenAgeArc III - Advent'')
82!!! '''Guidebook Stats:'''[[note]]As of Chapter of Elf Island[[/note]] Height: 173 cm (5 ft, 8 in); Weight: 70 kg (154 lb, 5 oz); Age: 53
83
84[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/midland_king_300.jpg]]
85 [[caption-width-right:300:Click [[labelnote:here]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/doldking.jpg[[/labelnote]] to see him in ''Anime/BerserkTheGoldenAgeArc II - The Battle for Doldrey''.]]
86
87-> ''"I anticipate that rather than noble generals who are bound to old customs, it is common soldiers such as yourself, not taken in by status, who will help form the cornerstone of this kingdom."''
88
89The King of Midland and Charlotte's father. His entire rule has taken place during the Hundred Year War, and he fully realizes the suffering this places upon his people. Therefore, he wishes to win an honorable peace as soon as possible. Unlike his elitist brother, Julius, the King is willing to let commoners lead the war effort as long as it gets results.
90
91He was famously devoted to his first wife, Charlotte's mother, who tragically died young. He remarried for political reasons but never stopped loving his first wife, and utterly devoted himself to running the Kingdom's affairs in order to escape his sadness. This alienated him from his second queen, who secretly sought comfort in the arms of Julius. He adores Charlotte because she is all that he has left of her mother, and despite the possible advantage to be gained in marrying her off he prefers to keep her close. Admiring Griffith ever since the Band of the Hawk routed the Black Ram Iron Lance Heavy Cavalry, he bestows knighthood and a noble title upon him and begins to favor the Hawks even over Julius' White Dragon Knights. When Griffith finally succeeds in capturing the castle of Doldrey, thus enabling a negotiated end to the war, the King is so grateful that he grants the Hawks the supreme title of "White Phoenix Knights" and confers nobility upon all their leaders.
92
93When 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 will not 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.
94
95----
96* AbusiveDad: [[spoiler:He eventually tries to rape Charlotte.]]
97* AdaptationalHeroism:
98** ''Every'' adaptation outright ditches [[spoiler: his AttemptedRape on Charlotte.]]
99** Due to the Black Dog Knights being AdaptedOut from all of the anime adaptations, he never gives the orders to send them out to kill Griffith and the Band of the Hawk.
100* AlasPoorVillain: [[spoiler:Even though he lost most of his sympathy after he betrayed both Griffith and Charlotte and turned to madness, his death is depicted as more pitiful and sad as he dies cold and alone, his daughter refusing to see him even in his final moments.]]
101* BaitTheDog: His first few appearances establish him as a ReasonableAuthorityFigure who considers valor and competence greater virtues than birth or status, but he's revealed to be a deeply flawed character whose reign has left him bitter and miserable.
102* BeingGoodSucks: All he ever got from sacrificing his personal happiness and devoting his life to the smooth running of the kingdom was disappointment and ungrateful people trying to mess up his plans. Finally, he decides that he's fed up with being the good king, and descends into tyranny.
103* BewareTheNiceOnes: He's a pleasant guy when you stay on his good side, but you do ''not'' want to make him angry. After Griffith pushes him too far he [[SanitySlippage permanently snaps]].
104* BigOlEyebrows: Of the 'wise old man' variety, although he is implied to have been kind of a badass when he was young.
105* TheCaligula: After his mind cracks, he devotes all of the kingdom's resources into searching for Griffith to the expense of everything else, ultimately leaving Midland vulnerable to the Kushan Empire.
106* 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. A devil's advocate might say that it's treason under a monarchy to deflower and potentially impregnate a royal princess without the sovereign's consent, and that the king had to neutralize Griffith's followers before they could attempt to rise up against him, but even so the king is clearly motivated by revenge rather than his duty to lay down the law.
107* DrivenToMadness: Once Griffith confronts the king with his impure feelings for Charlotte, he descends into outright madness.
108* DyingAlone: [[spoiler:Even on his deathbed, Charlotte refuses to see him.]]
109* DyingDream: [[spoiler:On his deathbed, he dreams that he is sitting on a throne being protected by armored guards and impenetrable castle walls, but freezing to death from the cold. His guards ignore his pleas for someone to bring fire, and when he sees Charlotte and tries to go to her they block his path. Griffith appears in the form of a white hawk and covers Charlotte with his wings, and the King dies with the realization that all along he wanted Griffith to rescue him from the responsibility of being king.]]
110* ErmineCapeEffect: His clothing is always rich and formal, even on more casual occasions. Heck, he dresses in furs and jewels even when he goes to the dungeon to torture Griffith!
111* EstablishingCharacterMoment: The King is first shown on a hilltop command post watching his troops being swept by the Black Ram Heavy Cavalry, and out of despair and frustration he says anyone will do if they can "stop these black devils of Chuder." Griffith and the Band of the Hawk swoop in to save the day, and immediately afterwards the King rewards Griffith with knighthood and ranking in court despite the grumbling of the entrenched nobles. Thus, we learn that in a story where AristocratsAreEvil more often than not, he is a rare ReasonableAuthorityFigure who is personally invested in protecting his subjects and rewards ability regardless of birth or social status.
112* EtTuBrute: He reminds Griffith that he rewarded him well for his battlefield victories, and rebukes him for his "betrayal".
113* EvenEvilHasStandards: Subverted. He's shown musing on how uniquely violent and destructive Wyald's group is, but eventually decides that turning them loose is worth it, just so long as Griffith dies at someone's hands.
114* EvilMakesYouUgly: He initially looked like a normal man who was beginning to age gracefully into his golden years. But after [[spoiler:his feelings toward Griffith and Charlotte turn vengeful and lustful respectively]], his appearance and health decline rapidly, until he's nothing more than a weak, wrinkly old man with perpetually mad, bloodshot eyes.
115* EyeScream: [[spoiler: While defending herself from him, Charlotte]] crushes his left eye with a kick.
116* FaceHeelTurn: He starts as a benign ReasonableAuthorityFigure, but becomes a villain after Griffith deflowers Charlotte.
117* FeelingTheirAge: The King often comments on how he is no longer able to do the things he enjoyed when he was young, such as fighting in battle or taking part in the hunt. He wisely decided to acknowledge his age and let the next generation have their turn.
118* FisherKing: While the Kingdom of Midland wasn't perfect, Wyndham was a pretty nice place to be, and the king was a reasonable and benevolent ruler. By the time [[spoiler: [[KingOnHisDeathBed the King is on his death bed]]]], being DrivenToMadness, pestilence, plague, and death has taken over the kingdom, and the Kushan Army is right at Wyndham's doorstep.
119* GoMadFromTheRevelation: He gets angry when he learns of Griffith's night with Charlotte, but he descends into outright madness when Griffith tells him [[spoiler:that he's lusting after his own daughter]], and he realizes that it's ''true''.
120* 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 second 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.
121* HowTheMightyHaveFallen: He shoves this into Griffith's face at the beginning of his imprisonment.... and then [[{{Irony}} the same begins to happen to him at the same instance]], [[IShallTauntYou thanks to Griffith.]]
122* KingOnHisDeathBed: [[spoiler:As he lies dying in his bed, the rest of the Midland court is in turmoil about who will be appointed as Charlotte's regent, and the matter of an invasion looming due to Midland's collapsed state.]]
123* KnightTemplarParent: Pretty much threw the efforts of a century-long war away and ruined his own kingdom just to get revenge on Griffith for deflowering Charlotte.
124* LonelyAtTheTop: Described how being the king of a nation was a lonely existence.
125* MarriedToTheJob: After his first wife's death, he hid from his sorrows by immersing himself in the work of governing. As such he had no time for his family, which led to his second wife's infidelity with Julius.
126* TheMourningAfter: He didn't get over the death of his first wife, and while he remarried for politics he couldn't love his second queen. [[spoiler:Over time he became infatuated with his own daughter, in no small part because she was so like her mother]].
127* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: After [[spoiler: his attempted rape of Charlotte]], he admits that what he did was despicable and wishes he could take it back since it drove her further away from him. However, he still holds Griffith to blame and refuses to abandon his revenge.
128* NoNameGiven: To Charlotte, he is simply "father", and to everybody else, he is "The King of Midland".
129* NothingCanSaveUsNow: The King's first appearance in volume 5 has him saying, "Is there no one in Midland who can stop the black devils of Tudor?!" Cue in [[BigDamnHeroes Band of the Hawk.]]
130* OhCrap: He's understandably shocked when he realizes that Griffith took Charlotte's virginity after lifting up her bedsheets.
131* PapaWolf: Likes to think of himself as this, especially when he has Griffith imprisoned and tortured after he deflowers Charlotte, but he has ulterior motives and eventually takes it to insane extremes.
132** This trope is played to the fullest in the animated adaptations, however, as Griffith never taunts him on that... [[ParentalIncest despicable subject]].
133* ParentsWalkInAtTheWorstTime: Or, near to the worst time. After Griffith is captured on the palace grounds, the king storms into Charlotte's room to confront her on the accusations. Charlotte tries her best to tell her father to go away, but when the king sees a trail of evidence left over by Griffith, it prompts him to lift up the bedsheets and - boom. [[OhCrap Bloodstains of virginity.]]
134* ParentalIncest: [[spoiler:Poor Charlotte barely escapes her father's lewd intentions after Griffith's arrest.]]
135* PervertDad: Not at first, but [[spoiler:eventually his repressed lust comes to the surface and he tries to rape his daughter]].
136* ThePromise: When Griffith escapes from Windham, the king promises Charlotte. He never intended to keep it.
137* RapidAging: Though he already acknowledged his age at the beginning and commented how he was no longer able to do the things he enjoyed when he was younger, after his breakdown, his body deteriorates as fast as his mind and he becomes geriatric and decrepit within just two years.
138* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: He was able to acknowledge Griffith and the Band Of The Hawk's achievements for his country and was willing to grant them titles for it despite the corrupt aristocracy criticizing him for doing so. Unfortunately, he became anything ''but'' reasonable after Griffith caused him to snap.
139* RoaringRampageOfRevenge: What that relationship changed into when Griffith went too far.
140* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: He is pragmatic and hardworking, and before his break with Griffith he is considered an effective ruler. He recognizes talent whether common or noble, doesn't stand on ceremony, and keeps Midland as a pretty good place to live. In his younger days, he led from the front of the army and now continues to command in the field although he is too old to take part in the fighting.
141* SanitySlippage: After Griffith forces him to acknowledge his dark desires and he [[spoiler: attempts to rape Charlotte]], he becomes obsessed with destroying Griffith and acts increasingly paranoid and violent.
142* ATasteOfTheLash: Personally wields the whip to torture Griffith when he first visits him in prison.
143* ThisIsUnforgivable: He tells Griffith that what he did was unforgivable, and spends the rest of his life pursuing him to the ends of the Earth in retaliation.
144* UnwittingInstigatorOfDoom: [[spoiler:His DisproportionateRetribution against Griffith and the Hawks eventually kick-starts the Eclipse and Femto's Rise into the Godhand.]]
145* WifeHusbandry: [[spoiler:He remarked about how much Charlotte began looking like his beloved deceased wife, and then Griffith clued in that he probably kept Charlotte at home and didn't arrange her to be married to a principality of the Tudor Empire for a reason.]]
146* {{Yandere}}: For [[spoiler:his daughter]]. Oh ''God''. Beats even Griffith effortlessly.
147* YouHaveFailedMe: Kills the Bakiraka woman, after the squad [[PapaWolf almost killed Charlotte by accident]] and failed to capture Griffith. He also tells the guards who know that Griffith deflowered Charlotte that he will kill them and their families if that information becomes public.
148* YoungerThanTheyLook: After his rapid aging, specifically. The king is probably in his 50s or 60s judging by his first appearance, as he has a wrinkled face and a receding hairline but has kept his black hair and is reasonably healthy for his age to begin with. His freakout over Griffith and Charlotte is what causes his body to fall to pieces; just one year later he could be mistaken for a centenarian, having become so prematurely decrepit and infirm that he needs page boys to help him walk.
149[[/folder]]
150
151[[folder:The Queen of Midland]]
152!!'''The Queen of Midland (ミッドランド王妃)'''
153!!! '''Voiced by:''' Toshiko Sawada (Japanese, ''Anime/Berserk1997''), Suzanne Gilad (English, ''Anime/Berserk1997'')
154
155[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/midland_queen_300.jpg]]
156
157-> ''"I will never forgive you, Griffith. Not as the Queen of Midland, but as a woman will I take my revenge!"''
158
159The queen of Midland and Charlotte's stepmother. Some ten years ago she came from another country to be married to the King of Midland, whose first wife had died young. Finding that the King buried himself in work to escape his sadness and was unable to love or satisfy her, she entered into an affair with Count Julius. Being of like mind with Julius regarding the place of commoners, she disapproves of Charlotte's interest in Griffith and plots against him. Helped by Minister Foss and spurred to vengeance after [[spoiler: the assassination of Julius]], she assembles a noble conspiracy to have Griffith poisoned during his own victory celebration. [[spoiler:Her victory is short-lived since Griffith only pretended to be dead and took advantage of all conspirators being together at the same place to have them die in a massive fire, including the queen herself.]]
160
161----
162* ArrangedMarriage: Her marriage to the King of Midland was entirely political, and she did not have any say in the matter.
163* AvengingTheVillain: She wanted to avenge [[spoiler:Julius, her lover and Griffith's main contender for the crown, who was assassinated on Griffith's orders]].
164* AwfulWeddedLife: Downplayed. She doesn’t hate the King and outright calls him a good ruler. However, she says his difficulty bearing the weight of the crown made him an absentee husband and drove her into Julius’ arms.
165* BelatedLoveEpiphany: Doesn't realize her love for Julius until after he's gone.
166* BlueBlood: She is very conscious of her royal pedigree and looks down on commoners.
167* DeathByLookingUp: The last we see of her is her looking up just as [[spoiler:several burning rafters come crashing down on her]].
168* DemotedToExtra: She does briefly appear beside the King in ''Anime/BerserkTheGoldenAgeArc II'' when he bestows the title of White Phoenix Knights on the Hawks at the victory ball, but gets no lines and has her whole subplot dropped.
169* ErmineCapeEffect: Her usual attire is a PimpedOutDress and some kind of crown or fancy headdress.
170* EstablishingCharacterMoment: From her first appearance, she gives off icy elegance and reserved poise. She warns her stepdaughter Charlotte against being too familiar with a lowborn man like Griffith and reminds her to act appropriately for her royal blood, establishing her a strict and detached parent in contrast to Charlotte's doting father, as well as a pure elitist. Charlotte doesn't take it well and goes off in a huff, establishing that they have a poor relationship and don't see eye to eye. Lastly, the way she holds her fan over her mouth after Charlotte turns her back, with a VisibleSilence speech bubble and a KubrickStare, implies she's calculating and scheming.
171* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: For all her faults, she truly did love Julius, a fact that surprised even her.
172* AFamilyAffair: Is carrying on an affair with Count Julius, her husband's brother.
173* GodSaveUsFromTheQueen: A typical example of how Queens in fiction are evil more often than not, for some reason. She is actually a queen consort rather than a queen regnant, but still has enough of her own influence with the nobles to engage in some nasty plotting under her husband's nose.
174* HoistByHerOwnPetard: [[spoiler:Thanks to her conspiracy, Griffith was able to kill her and all of the nobles opposed to him in one stroke, and by pretending to fall unconscious after drinking their poison he made it seem like he couldn't have been the one responsible for the fire.]]
175* KillItWithFire: [[spoiler:Griffith kills her by setting fire to the building where the conspirators gather.]]
176* PaperThinDisguise: At the conspirators' first meeting she wears a black veil, which does nothing to conceal her enormous headdress.
177* ParentalNeglect: Other than when she's chastising her for conversing with commoners, she completely ignores Charlotte.
178* PimpedOutDress: Each of the dresses she wears looks expensive enough to feed a small country.
179* RichBitch: Her wealth and status have made her pretty mean, although it might have something to do with her lousy marriage.
180* SparedByTheAdaptation: [[spoiler:Since her subplot is cut out of the film adaptation, she doesn't try to assassinate Griffith and therefore doesn't get killed by him either.]]
181* ThisCannotBe: Her feelings about [[spoiler:dying in a fire arranged by Griffith]]:
182-->'''Queen''': A mere commoner like ''you'' is going to [[spoiler:burn me, the queen of Midland, to death]]?! I won't allow it...''I won't acknowledge it!!!''
183* UnwittingPawn: Foss manipulates the Queen into doing his dirty work for him, and [[spoiler:ends up betraying her to save himself and his daughter.]]
184* VillainousBreakdown: She hits this ''hard'' upon realizing that [[spoiler:she's about to burn to death in the tower, ranting on about how she refuses to acknowledge the notion of dying by a commoner's scheme - as if it's something she actually has any control over.]]
185* WickedStepmother: She's a real jerk to Charlotte, besides being wicked in general.
186[[/folder]]
187
188[[folder:Count Julius]]
189!!'''Count Julius (ユリウス, ''Yuriusu'')'''
190!!! '''Voiced by:''' Ryuji Mizuno (Japanese, ''Anime/Berserk1997''), Creator/RikiyaKoyama (Japanese, ''Anime/BerserkTheGoldenAgeArc''), Dick Bunting (English, ''Anime/Berserk1997''), Jesse Corti (English, ''Anime/BerserkTheGoldenAgeArc''), Alfonso Vallés (Spanish, ''Anime/BerserkTheGoldenAgeArc'')
191
192[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/julius_300.jpg]]
193 [[caption-width-right:300:Click [[labelnote:here]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/58ac89d64a5d7d684b8432114b46458b.jpg[[/labelnote]] to see him in ''Anime/BerserkTheGoldenAgeArc'']]
194
195-> ''"A stray arrow, eh? Interesting... A fitting way for a commoner to die!"''
196
197Julius 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 Empire and ransomed for a large sum, which may account for his being out of favor with the King.
198
199Believing adamantly in the superiority of nobles over commoners, he is outraged by Griffith’s rising prominence. Seeing Julius' anger, Minister Foss goads him into attempting to [[HuntingAccident assassinate Griffith during the royal hunt]]. The plan would have been successful, had not Griffith's Crimson Behelit miraculously prevented the poisoned crossbow bolt from even scratching him. Griffith traces the poison back to Julius and orders Guts to infiltrate his castle. During the mission, Guts sees Julius sparring with young Adonis and is reminded of his own childhood with Gambino. Guts succeeds in killing Julius, who recognizes Guts' face as he dies and mistakenly kills Adonis who discovers his father's corpse. Julius' councilor Hassan weeps at the sight of father and son both dead, lamenting that Adonis never had a chance to make his father smile.
200
201----
202* AbusiveDad: Downplayed. He does subject his thirteen-year-old son Adonis to [[TrainingFromHell brutal sword training]] in order to prepare him to take his place as general of the White Dragons, in which he cuts him pretty seriously on the arm and calls him weak. His methods remind Guts of his own abusive parent. Unlike Gambino, however, he seems to genuinely want what he thinks is best for his son. Outside of sparring, he doesn't act particularly abusive to Adonis and even expresses some Saturnine love for him.
203* AdaptationDyeJob: He has reddish-brown hair in the anime and manga supposedly, but has blonde hair in the movie.
204* AnimalMotifs: He's the commander of the White Dragon Knights, the mightiest of Midland's formal military force. Julius himself is a ruthless man who exudes an aura of power and adheres to a view of self-appointed supremacy and supremacy of all in his social class that can easily be described as draconic.
205* AristocratsAreEvil: He refuses to allow a filthy commoner like Griffith to become the most powerful general in Midland, and will stoop to murder to prevent it.
206* BlingOfWar: He has a shiny suit of Maximilian-style three-quarter plate armor complete with a cape, jewelry, and ruff. It seems like he sometimes wears it even off the battlefield.
207* EstablishingCharacterMoment:
208** In the manga his first line is to express outrage that Guts did not immediately kneel before the King; he objects to the King's permissive manner with them and scoffs when Griffith introduces himself. Then when Griffith catches Charlotte as she trips, he ignores the fact that Griffith protected her and instead strikes his face for daring to lay a hand on the Princess. Thus, we learn that he is a reactionary noble who believes commoners should learn their place and that he won't take a threat to aristocratic privilege lying down.
209** The movie gives him a head start by introducing him during the Black Ram battle. While the King is impressed by the Hawks' performance, Julius dismisses the idea that a small group of common mercenaries could have turned the tide.
210** The 1997 anime also gives him a couple of quick cameos; first during Griffith's initial knighting, where he coldly derides the Hawk commanders as commoners (in place of a throwaway background noble in the manga) and later during a war council where he, albeit mostly civilly, tries to talk his brother out of using the Hawks for a castle siege only to be rebuked and glower in resign.
211* EvilUncle: He's Princess Charlotte's Jerkass, scheming uncle. He actually wants to prepare his son for the possibility of marriage to Charlotte and therefore the Kingship of Midland, which is the cause for his great strictness with the boy.
212* HuntingAccident: He tries to orchestrate one for Griffith at the royal hunt as suggested by Minister Foss, but the Crimson Behelit stops his assassin's crossbow bolt.
213* JapaneseRanguage: In the English dub of the 1997 anime, his name is mistranslated as "Yurius," presumably for this reason.
214* {{Jerkass}}: Between berating commoners for not knowing their place, chewing out his assassin for failing, and giving his son training from hell, he seems not to have any time for being nice.
215* JerkassRealization: After Hassan tells him not to be so hard on Adonis, Julius admits that he was taking out his anger about other matters on his son and went too far.
216* NiceJobFixingItVillain: [[LampshadeHanging Acknowledged]] by the man himself when venting to Hail about the failed assassination, noting that said attempt made it look like that Griffith took the arrow for Charlotte and had ''further'' glorified the hawk in Midland's eyes...[[EpicFail including the king's]].
217* PoliticallyIncorrectVillain: His enmity for Griffith mainly stems from his belief that commoners have no place in the Midland Royal Court and discourages his brother (the king) from personally conversing with a unit commander. He's completely aghast when Foss informs him of the Hawks' guard assignment to the autumn hunt usually assigned solely to his White Dragon Knights. There's also his deriding a trio of handmaidens as "gossiping hens" for negatively comparing the conservative statesmen to Griffith's social graces.
218* SmallRoleBigImpact: He is only around for a few chapters, but Guts' assassination of Julius and his son eventually leads to his leaving the Band Of The Hawk to do some soul searching and ultimately instigates Griffith's fall from grace and transformation into Femto. Besides that, the Queen plots to avenge his death and is killed herself, leaving nothing to stop Griffith's wedding Charlotte, the last of the royal family.
219* SpellMyNameWithAnS: The anime gave his name as "Yurius." Also, nobody seems to be able to decide whether he is a ''duke'', an ''earl'', a ''count'', or a ''lord''.
220* UnwittingPawn: To Minister Foss, who goads Julius into trying to kill Griffith by staging a hunting accident. All to ensure there will be no evidence implicating himself.
221* VillainHasAPoint: While his enmity with Griffith is mostly based on his pride being wounded, he has been serving the kingdom far longer and the Falcon is hardly the most trustworthy guy to begin with. And that's not even mentioning what Griffith eventually [[SatanicArchetype becomes]] and [[TranshumanTreachery does]] meaning in a sense Julius' attempt to kill him may have been better for everyone after all.
222* WellDoneSonGuy: The disciplinarian father for whom Adonis's best is never good enough. While the manga shows Adonis's resentment about this and only implies his desire to impress his father, the movie makes it more clear that Adonis wants his father's praise and approval.
223[[/folder]]
224
225[[folder:Adonis]]
226!!'''Adonis (アドニス, ''Adonisu'')'''
227!!! '''Voiced by:''' Creator/MayumiAsano (Japanese, ''Anime/Berserk1997''), Maki Mizuma (Japanese, ''Anime/BerserkTheGoldenAgeArc''), Kathryn Kapinski (English, ''Anime/Berserk1997''), Colin [=DePaula=] (English, ''Anime/BerserkTheGoldenAgeArc''), Creator/AriadnaJimenez (Spanish, ''Anime/BerserkTheGoldenAgeArc'')
228
229[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/adonis_unedited_300.jpg]]
230 [[caption-width-right:300:Click [[labelnote:here]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/c8981aff8384c5c8b6445b593cb48221.jpg[[/labelnote]] to see him in ''Anime/BerserkTheGoldenAgeArc I - The Egg of the King''.]]
231
232-> ''"Father! I can continue!"''
233
234The son of Count Julius, nephew of the King of Midland, and a cousin to Princess Charlotte, Adonis is a delicate and sensitive boy who struggles to measure up to his father's harsh standards. His mother the Countess recently died, and his father is determined to train him into a proper knight so that he can lead the White Dragon Knights when he grows up, and possibly marry Charlotte and become king of Midland. When Guts sneaks into Julius' castle he sees Adonis sparring with his father, reminding him of his own brutal sword practices with Gambino. Hassan, Julius' councilor who seems to have a role in raising Adonis, tries to comfort him and reassure him that his father means well, but Adonis looks hurt and resentful. After Guts kills Julius, Adonis sees his father's corpse and gives himself away by making a sound. Attacking on reflex before he can see who it is, Guts is [[MyGodWhatHaveIDone shocked and horrified]] to find that he has run through Adonis with his sword. Guts holds Adonis's hand as he cries and gasps out his life, and escapes in HeroicSafeMode. Hassan finds the bodies of both Julius and Adonis, and regrets that Adonis was never able to make his father smile.
235
236----
237* AdaptationExpansion: In ''Anime/BerserkTheGoldenAgeArc I'' he is introduced earlier than in the manga, in the scene where Guts and Griffith meet the King after the fight with Zodd, and is shown as one of two page boys accompanying the King. There's a moment where he and the other boy look at each other and giggle at Guts' lack of manners, expanding his characterization a little. Additionally during the sparring scene he says ICanStillFight, making it more like he's [[WellDoneSonGuy trying to impress his father]].
238* BloodFromTheMouth: [[spoiler:Coughs up blood after his stabbing.]]
239* DiesWideOpen: [[spoiler: His eyes still wet with tears remain open after death, and Hassan sorrowfully closes them for him when he is discovered.]]
240* DontLeaveMe: [[spoiler: Despite killing him, Guts still held his hand as he died.]]
241* EstablishingCharacterMoment:
242** The sparring session shows that he is physically weak and temperamentally 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.
243** In his earlier movie appearance he and a fellow page boy giggle at Guts' lack of manners, emphasizing his innocence.
244* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: [[spoiler:While usually a bladed weapon wouldn't qualify, being stabbed with Guts' {{BFS}} takes it into this territory. Even in the film where a normal sword is used, the wound is quite large.]]
245* IMissMom: His mother's death has been hard on the poor boy.
246* InnocentBlueEyes: In the film, he has blue eyes, which fits his naive and innocent characterization. However, the 1997 anime depicted him with brown eyes.
247* KillTheCutie: [[spoiler:The fact that he was just a child who missed his mother and wanted his father's love makes his death that much sadder.]]
248* LonelyRichKid: Implied. He was probably close to his mother, and there is no evidence in the manga that he has any friends his age.
249* PrettyBoy: Has angelic, feminine features and would have been future bishonen material [[spoiler:if not for his untimely death]].
250* ProneToTears: Adonis is both physically and emotionally delicate, much to his father's dissatisfaction.
251* SmallRoleBigImpact: He has only a couple of scenes and says only a handful of words before he dies. But the sheer guilt Guts felt from killing Adonis sets in motion the series of events that would lead to his decision to leave the Hawks, which would, in turn, have its own consequences.
252[[/folder]]
253
254!Midland Nobles
255[[folder:Minister Foss]]
256!!'''Minister Foss (フォス ''Fosu'')'''
257!!! '''Voiced by:''' Mahito Tsujimura (Japanese, ''Anime/Berserk1997''), Creator/TomomichiNishimura (Japanese, ''Anime/Berserk2016''), Greg Miller (English, ''Anime/Berserk1997''), Doug Stone (English, ''Anime/Berserk2016''), Antonio Moro (Spanish, ''Anime/Berserk1997'')
258
259[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/foss_resistance_300.jpg]]
260 [[caption-width-right:300:Click [[labelnote:here]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/foss_anime_b.jpg[[/labelnote]] to see him in ''Berserk (1997)''.]]
261
262-> ''"Hunting is an inherently dangerous thing. [[HuntingAccident One never knows what kinds of beasts may be concealed in the forests and thickets]]."''
263
264A Midland noble, Foss is a diminutive old man whose obsequious and oily manner belies his devious mind. Recognizing that Griffith's success will only continue and therefore threaten the established order in which the nobility controls affairs, he suggests the idea of assassinating Griffith during the royal hunt to the disgruntled Count Julius. When Julius fails, Foss is confident that there is no evidence that can implicate him but gets a disturbing premonition that Griffith sees right through him. After Griffith returns victorious from Doldrey, Foss allows the Queen to discover Griffith's responsibility for the death of Julius, knowing that she and Julius had secretly been lovers. He assists the Queen in assembling a conspiracy of nobles discontented by Griffith's royal favor, which schemes to assassinate Griffith by poison at the victory ball.
265
266At the conspirators' meeting, Foss receives a message whose contents make him lose his composure and subsequently act suspiciously ill-at-ease at the ball, despite Griffith's apparent death. [[spoiler: This message informed him that Griffith had taken his daughter Elise as a hostage to ensure his cooperation in gathering the conspirators in one place. Once Foss had done this and excused himself, Griffith burned the structure to the ground, killing those inside. Foss was left with nothing to do but submit himself to Griffith and agree not to reveal that night's events, and Griffith allowed him a tearful reunion with Elise. After the assassination of the Queen, Foss retired from the court's factional politics and was rumored to have lost his influence, as he was not considered a candidate to be Charlotte's regent in anticipation of her father's death. After the Kushan invasion of Midland during which Windham is occupied by Emperor Ganishka, Minister Foss is seen leading a small group of survivors who have not yet been caught, and he informs Laban and Owen of what has transpired in their absence.]]
267
268----
269* AdaptedOut: Foss is absent from ''Anime/BerserkTheGoldenAgeArc'', along with the assassination conspiracy subplot. You are missed, you [[Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire Varys-looking]] ManipulativeBastard you. Although he does appear at the end of episode 3 of the 2016 anime.
270* AffablyEvil: A scheming politician willing to murder or manipulate others to get what he wants, who is nonetheless very cordial and polite in all of his dealings.
271* AristocratsAreEvil: How aristocratic he is is ambiguous, as discussed under DeliberateValuesDissonance, but his underhanded plotting is for the sake of maintaining aristocratic control over the kingdom's politics.
272* BaldOfEvil: His head is as smooth as an egg, and he is one ManipulativeBastard.
273* DefeatEqualsFriendship: Griffith invokes this after [[{{Outgambitted}} outgambitting]] him. [[spoiler:When they see each other again for the first time after the Eclipse, Foss kneels down before him in reverence.]]
274* DeliberateValuesDissonance: Foss appears to honestly believe that it would be bad for the country if commoners were allowed to rule. He himself appears to be of no more than low nobility and possibly completely common (he is always referred to as "minister," never "lord" or any other title), and he never attempts to climb the social ladder, merely to keep Griffith from doing so. And when Midland is invaded by the Kushan Empire, he puts himself at considerable personal risk to resist them rather than fleeing or collaborating. He may be loyal to what a democratically-minded modern audience would consider a corrupt system, but he's a true patriot, not a hypocrite.
275* DidntSeeThatComing: Admitted upon the Band of the Hawks' return from Doldery that he never expected the queen to come to him for help in assassinating Griffith, though he apparently was going to turn to her anyways. The bigger more notable instance is him learning that Griffith was onto him from practically the moment the latter was deployed for Doldery, kidnapping his daughter to ensure he'd change sides and aid in the queen's assassination.
276* DotingParent: He is a loving father and showers Elise with affection.
277* 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 suggests that Julius arrange for Griffith to die in a HuntingAccident, not saying it outright but making a devious expression so that Julius can't escape his meaning. He smiles as Julius leaves, pleased that he's used manipulation to target an opponent without directly involving himself.
278* EvenEvilHasLovedOnes: When Griffith reveals he has taken his daughter Elise hostage, Foss immediately switches sides to protect her, and after her release, he is deeply grateful to see her safe and sound.
279* EvenEvilHasStandards: In his view assassinating other generals or politicians can be justified and necessary, but he WouldntHurtAChild.
280* FriendToAllChildren: You really wouldn't expect it from such a sneaky politician, but during the [[spoiler:Kushan occupation]] he is seen going out of his way to reassure and protect the children in his care. If he's good with kids he can't be ''[[PetTheDog that]]'' bad, right?
281* HeelFaceTurn: Kind of. Since getting beaten at his own game by Griffith, Foss more or less retired from politics. [[spoiler:When the Kushan Empire invaded the country, he led a small group of survivors.]]
282* HuntingAccident: The plan to assassinate Griffith during the hunt was attempted by Julius, but it was Foss' idea.
283* LaResistance: [[spoiler:He became the leader of a resistance group when the Kushan Empire overran Windham. However, it is a resistance in name only, since all he’s really capable of doing is keeping the few survivors he’s gathered hidden and alive.]]
284* ManipulativeBastard: He manipulates Julius into assassinating Griffith to ensure no evidence can be pinned on him, and does the same thing with the Queen of Midland when his first plan fails.
285* MoralityPet: Despite his machinations, he cares about his daughter Elise more than any political ambitions, and seems to be a kind and doting father.
286* {{Outgambitted}}: Griffith suspected Foss was plotting against him, and pulled off his own {{plan}} to get him under control. Indeed, Foss is made to realize that he was dancing to Griffith's tune from the moment their eyes met before the battle of Doldrey.
287* SmugSnake: He twice attempted to kill Griffith, confident that even a battlefield hero wouldn't be able to outsmart his plans. Not only do both attempts fail, but the aftermath of both worked in Griffith’s favor.
288* TookALevelInKindness: After Griffith outmaneuvers and defeats him, Foss morphs into a kinder character and displays more of his positive traits. [[spoiler:When Kushan invades he tries to protect a number of civilians]]. When the new government is being drawn up, Foss admits to his advisors that he's proud that the other Nobles are putting aside their self-interests for the good of the people, further admitting that he was probably the worst of the lot.
289* VillainHasAPoint: Even back then Griffith would have been a terrifying noble.
290* VillainousBreakdown: He barely manages to contain himself when he finds out that Griffith kidnapped his daughter, and his breakdown becomes complete when Griffith explains that he had no evidence connecting Foss to the plot, but figured out his intentions merely from the look of fear in his eyes. He starts to tremble not because he fears for his life, but because Griffith is just ''that'' scary!
291* WouldntHurtAChild: After the assassination of [[spoiler:Julius and his son]], he remarks to Griffith that you would have to be a monster to kill a child. It would be easy to dismiss this as a hypocritical statement meant to get under Griffith's skin, except that his later interactions with children imply that to some degree he [[FriendToAllChildren really meant it]].
292[[/folder]]
293
294[[folder:Laban and Owen]]
295!!'''Sir Laban (ラバン, ''Raban'')'''
296!!! '''Voiced by:''' Creator/ToruOkawa (Japanese, ''Anime/Berserk1997''), Creator/HochuOtsuka (Japanese, ''Anime/BerserkTheGoldenAgeArc'' and ''Anime/Berserk2016''), Sean Elias-Reyes (English, ''Anime/Berserk1997''), Creator/MarcThompson (English, ''Anime/BerserkTheGoldenAgeArc''), John [=DeMita=] (English, ''Anime/Berserk2016''), Santi Lorenz (Spanish, ''Anime/BerserkTheGoldenAgeArc I - The Egg of the King''), Jordi Nogueras (Spanish, ''Anime/BerserkTheGoldenAgeArc II - The Battle of Doldrey'')
297!!'''Sir Owen (オーウェン, Ōwen)'''
298!!!'''Voiced by:''' Naoki Bando (Japanese, ''Anime/Berserk1997''), Jason O'Connell (English, ''Anime/Berserk1997'')
299
300[[quoteright:350:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/brofist_350.jpg]]
301[[caption-width-right:350:Owen, left; Laban, right.]]
302
303-> ''"The mist veils him, like some momentary passing glimpse of the sun. No, I want to believe that it's not just the past, or some illusion. That, as in that revelation, one day those wings of light will sweep away the darkness covering our kingdom"'' -'''''Owen'''''
304
305Laban 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 afterward, 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.
306
307The Kushan Empire's sudden conquest of Midland forces Laban and Owen into exile along with many of Midland's nobles. The two temporarily split up, with Laban going to visit Minister Foss' resistance cell in occupied Windham, while Owen ends up in Vritannis trying to rally Midland's bickering exiled nobles and prevent the alliance from dividing up what's left of Midland among themselves. There he recognizes Guts and asks him of Griffith's whereabouts, but is told that Griffith is closer than he thinks. The next day he bears witness to Griffith's return along with Charlotte and the Pope and convinces his peers to accept Griffith as their leader. Shortly afterward, Laban infiltrates Windham and rescues the city's women and children with Owen's support. Following the defeat of Emperor Ganishka and the founding of Falconia, Laban leads a patrol that rescues Rickert and Erica's refugee group and brings them inside Griffith's shining city. There Rickert also meets Owen, who has been made captain of the Falconian palace guard.
308
309----
310* AdaptedOut: While Laban still appears in ''Anime/BerserkTheGoldenAgeArc'' and ''Anime/Berserk2016'', Owen appears to have been left out of both.
311* BigDamnHeroes: Laban tries to save commoners from natural disasters and other perils, although often he arrives too late. Eventually, he pulls off a huge rescue by [[spoiler:leading his Arklow Knights into Kushan-controlled Windham, and evacuating the ''entire'' population imprisoned there in one night.]]
312* DividedWeFall: Owen's main concern is trying to unite the nobles and politicians whose bickering is preventing the Kingdom from getting back on its feet.
313* GreekChorus: Their role during the Golden Age arc is mostly to comment on Griffith's progress and discuss current events with each other from a relatively neutral perspective. Later in the story, they continue to do this while taking a more active role in the action.
314* HelmetsAreHardlyHeroic: Laban takes off his foreign helmet as soon as he's finished using it as a disguise and doesn't wear it during the battle against [[spoiler:Ganishka's ultimate form]], but in the same scene Owen [[AvertedTrope averts]] this by wearing a full helmet with his visor closed.
315* HeterosexualLifePartners: The two are lifelong friends who trust each other enough to speak their minds about sensitive political matters. You can feel their joy when they are reunited after a long separation.
316* KnightInShiningArmor: Both of them are paragons of courage and chivalry, who place protecting the innocent above all other priorities.
317* OnlySaneMan: Among the Midland nobles, Owen and Laban seem to be the only ones actively trying to find a solution to the kingdom's various crises (e.g. ThePlague, floods, worsening economy), especially after [[spoiler:The King]] [[SanitySlippage loses his mind]]. The rest all do nothing but concern themselves with self-preservation and other selfish desires.
318* ReasonableAuthorityFigure: Laban and Owen wholeheartedly support Griffith, regardless of his common status. Furthermore, they staunchly support him despite the doubts of Midland's exiled nobility when he returns to lead the Midland Regular Army.
319* RoyalsWhoActuallyDoSomething: In the days leading up to [[spoiler: the King's death and the Kushan invasion of Midland]], they are among the only leaders trying to deal with the kingdom's humanitarian crises such as refugees and plague. Both participate in [[spoiler: the resistance to the Kushan occupation, and help to smuggle out the entire population of occupied Windham from under the Kushan army's nose.]]
320* StupidSexyFlanders: As Griffith departs from the Midland war council on Doldrey, Owen admits to admiring his beauty and Laban agrees that they are probably looking at the greatest hero of their time.
321* SurroundedByIdiots: How they feel regarding most of their noblemen peers. Can't blame them...
322* ThoseTwoGuys: During the Golden Age arc they are always seen together and have little direct influence on the plot. Afterward, however, they grow out of this role both by splitting up and by taking a far more active role in the story's events.
323* [[TokenGoodTeammate Token Good Teammates]]: Pretty much the only members of Midland’s aristocracy who aren’t corrupt backstabbers, and who clearly care about their people.
324[[/folder]]
325
326
327!!Royal Servants
328[[folder:Anna]]
329!!'''Anna (アンナ, ''Anna'')'''
330!!!'''Voiced by:''' Kumiko Kizuki (Japanese, ''Anime/Berserk1997''), Ayako Takeuchi (Japanese, ''Anime/BerserkTheGoldenAgeArc'' and ''Anime/Berserk2016''), Creator/TaraSands (English, ''Anime/Berserk1997''), Creator/LisaOrtiz (English, ''Anime/BerserkTheGoldenAgeArc''), Creator/EricaMendez (English, ''Anime/Berserk2016''), Creator/CarmenCalvell (Spanish, ''Anime/BerserkTheGoldenAgeArc II - The Battle of Doldrey''), Yolanda Gispert (Spanish, ''Anime/BerserkTheGoldenAgeArc III - Advent'')
331
332[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/anna_tower_300.jpg]]
333[[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''.]]
334
335%%-> ''"Whatever happens, I, at least, will never leave your side."''
336
337Anna is Princess Charlotte's dutiful maidservant and companion. She had been serving in the palace for five years while sending money back to her parents, and finally earned the honor of attending to the princess, when her safe life was turned upside down by Charlotte roping her into helping Griffith break out of prison. She's really just an ordinary girl who happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. Rule-abiding, high-strung, and easily scared, adventure is the last thing she wants. Nevertheless, she devotes herself to taking care of Charlotte no matter what happens.
338
339
340----
341* ArtEvolution: The author subtly changed how he was drawing her over the course of volume 10. At first, she looks rather more haughty and strict, but he changed her lines to make her look more plain and humble.
342* CowardlyLion: Despite being scared out of her mind most of the time, she faithfully stays by Charlotte's side instead of running away, even risking the King's wrath in the process.
343* DemotedToExtra: Her involvement in the 1997 anime is minimal to put it lightly. She appears before the Hawks alongside another unnamed maid in place of Charlotte and just guides them to the Tower of Rebirth before departing, never to be seen again. She's depicted with her "strict" design and is only credited as "Woman".
344* LovableCoward: Nobody can really blame her for being a scaredy-cat, since she's just a regular girl who didn't sign up for the level of excitement and danger that Charlotte attracts. In fact, it's kind of endearing.
345* {{Meido}}: As you might imagine, she takes being a maid very seriously. Always obedient, and plain in a sort of cute way, she appeals to the Japanese idea of a housemaid even though she's in a Western setting.
346* NervousWreck: Jittery, easily frightened, and a bit pessimistic, she'll always be the first one to freak out when something scary happens.
347* OnlyFriend: Since Charlotte's painfully shy and a tad over sheltered, Anna is the only girl her age that Charlotte regularly interacts with. She may not like her mistress' insistence on getting into trouble, but she really loves and cares about Charlotte, and Charlotte loves her back.
348* PrimAndProperBun: Always wears her hair tied back in a neat little bun with a cloth, which represents her neat and orderly personality. The only time we see her without her hair undone is when she's roused from her bed in the middle of the night, and almost the first thing she does is tie it back.
349* ResignedToTheCall: As much as she hates being part of a dangerous adventure, she won't abandon her duty to Princess Charlotte and figures it can't be helped.
350* ShipperOnDeck: As of chapter 250, following their dramatic rescue, Anna has started encouraging Charlotte's efforts to win Griffith's heart ThroughHisStomach. This is a pretty big reversal from before, where she was trying to convince Charlotte not to give up her future for him, but Anna's opinion of Griffith has improved and she is glad that Charlotte is happier now than she's ever seen her.
351* WeirdnessCensor: When Nosferatu Zodd [[spoiler:transports her and Charlotte out of Windham on a flying bed]], first she completely panics, then she decides to go back to sleep because it's much easier to pretend it's just a dream.
352[[/folder]]
353
354[[folder:Midland Torturer]]
355!!'''Midland Torturer'''
356!!! '''Voiced by:''' Yutaka Aoyama (Japanese, ''Anime/Berserk1997''), Creator/{{Chafurin}} (Japanese, ''Anime/BerserkTheGoldenAgeArc''), Kan Tanaka (Japanese, ''VideoGame/BerserkAndTheBandOfTheHawk''), Greg Miller (English, ''Anime/Berserk1997'', credited as Christian Collingwood), Creator/LiamOBrien (English, ''Anime/BerserkTheGoldenAgeArc''), J. Ignacio Latorre (Spanish, ''Anime/BerserkTheGoldenAgeArc'')
357
358[[quoteright:300:https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/torturer_manga_300.jpg]]
359 [[caption-width-right:300:Click [[labelnote:here]]https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/midland_torturer_250.jpg[[/labelnote]] to see him in ''Anime/BerserkTheGoldenAgeArc''.]]
360
361-> ''"Hee-hee. Y-you're amazhin'. Th-thish much torture, and you haven't made a peep. I-I've never sheen shuch...Th-that'sh the leader of the Hawksh for ya. I-I'm sho moved. L-lettin me do whatever I want with shuch a beautiful, splendid one like you...Th-the King'sh sho gracious."''
362
363The deformed torturer employed by the King of Midland who mutilates Griffith in the dungeons below the tower of Rebirth. Having been permitted by the King to mutilate Griffith to his heart's content as long as he kept him alive, he treats Griffith as the most valuable specimen he's ever been given. He admires both Griffith's perfect body and the stoic dignity that enables him to endure any torture without crying out even once. During one of these sessions, he notices Griffith's Crimson Behelit and tries to take it for himself, but when it stares back at him he becomes alarmed and accidentally drops it down a floor grate, where the drainage current sweeps it away. When the remaining Hawks come to break Griffith out of jail, he locks them inside Griffith's cell and gloats to them about how he tortured Griffith for a year. This backfires on him by enraging Guts, who breaks down the door and brutally ends his life.
364
365
366----
367
368* AdaptationalAttractiveness: He's a deformed DepravedDwarf in the manga, but in ''Anime/Berserk1997'', he's depicted as a normal LeanAndMean man. ''Anime/BerserkTheGoldenAgeArc'' sets him back to his manga character design.
369* BigWhy: His dying words in the 1997 anime's English dub after Guts impales him by shredding the prison door that he just claimed the latter couldn't break.
370* ColdBloodedTorture: His occupation, and his greatest joy.
371* CruelAndUnusualDeath: Dies by having a {{BFS}} thrust through his body, getting his tongue cut out, and being dropped down a precipice. Not that we feel very sorry for him.
372* DepravedDwarf: Stunted, hunchbacked, and ''extremely'' depraved.
373* DepravedHomosexual: [[AmbiguouslyGay Implied]]. He brags about how he spent so much time with Griffith that they were almost like husband and wife, suggesting that he had sexually molested, or even ''raped'', Griffith, however, the story leaves that ambiguous, for better or worse.
374* EvilLaugh: A nasty little "ee-hee-hee" that lets you know he's enjoying himself.
375* HateSink: A character so repulsive and vile that you'll want to see him killed off in the most brutal way possible, and that's exactly what happens.
376* HeterosexualLifePartners: Describes himself and Griffith as a twisted version of this, saying that having spent so much time together they were almost like a husband and wife. He even nursed him and treated his wounds to prevent him from dying so that the torture could continue. It is disturbingly ambiguous whether he did anything sexual with his prized captive.
377* {{Jerkass}}: That's... probably putting it a bit too mildly to describe this character.
378* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler:As soon as he's finished gloating about his torture of Griffith, Guts smashes through the cell door, [[ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice runs him through]], cuts out his tongue, then kicks him down a pit.]]
379* LackOfEmpathy: He is completely unrepentant over the fact he tortures people, making him all the more loathsome.
380* ReminiscingAboutYourVictims: He giddily recounts everything he did to Griffith to Guts and Casca, even proudly revealing that he cut out Griffith's tongue and turned it ''into a necklace''.
381* SmallRoleBigImpact: Oh dear what an impact. Only appears physically for a few panels before is killed off, but it was his cruel torture and disfigurement of Griffith that pushed him past the breaking point and caused him to sacrifice his Band for power.
382* TheSociopath: He wouldn't be a sadistic torturer if he wasn't this.
383* SpeechImpediment: I-in the Dark Horsh transhlation, h-his shpeech is rendered ash a c-crosh between FangThpeak and PorkyPigPronunciation.
384* TemptingFate: [[spoiler:By repeating to Guts that there was no way he could break the door down, he pretty much sealed his fate.]]
385* TongueTrauma: He cut out Griffith's tongue and wears it around his neck as a trophy. [[spoiler:Guts cuts his tongue out in turn.]]
386* TooDumbToLive: He thought it was a good idea to taunt Guts about the fact he tortured Griffith and all the pleasure he got from it, which ultimately leads to his own death.
387* TortureTechnician: He considers himself an artist who truly appreciates the beauty of the human body beneath the skin.
388* ToThePain: Implied. While we don't actually see him describing his torture techniques to Griffith while he's doing it, the fact that he enjoyed talking to Griffith suggests he probably did it at some point.
389* UnsexySadist: As ugly as he is sadistic.
390* WeHardlyKnewYe: [[spoiler:Appears in all of three scenes in the manga before getting killed off.]]
391* VillainsWantMercy: In the final ''Golden Age'' movie, he begs Guts not to let him fall despite A. he taunted Guts and company over Griffith's dismemberment and B. he does so after being impaled and de-tongued so even if Guts had been in a lenient mood, he was screwed.

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