Tropes A to D | Tropes E to H (Famous Last Words, Fan Disservice, Foil) | Tropes I to P | Tropes Q to T (Shout-Out, Shown Their Work) | Tropes U to Z
In Berserk, there is an intense focus on character relationships, and one of the ways the manga allows for these relationships to be as enthralling and engaging as they are is to have the characters be complete opposites of one another.
- Guts and Griffith are the two primary examples of Foils in the series, and their dynamic is truly something to behold in how many differences the two have.
- We are shown Guts' entire childhood and his past, while Griffith's is mostly shrouded in mystery and seen in small glimpses through flashbacks.
- In their youth, Guts would use a massive, unwieldy sword to cleave through foes while Griffith would use a small but effective saber. Nowadays, Guts uses an even bigger sword bathed in the blood of demons, while Griffith doesn't even need to use a sword anymore.
- Guts has a Hair-Trigger Temper and gets angry fairly easily, but when Griffith gets mad, he smiles and slowly bides his time for the perfect chance to strike.
- Guts is a burly manly man while Griffith is an impossibly effeminate Bishōnen.
- Guts dons black armor in his journeys as the Black Swordsman, while Griffith wears pure white gear (while not Femto, anyway).
- Guts is painfully honest in dealing with other people, while Griffith uses honeyed words to ensure good PR.
- Guts has No Social Skills at all, being extremely curt and rough around the edges in conversation, while Griffith is extremely charismatic and persuasive.
- Guts has short, spiky black hair while Griffith has long, wavy white hair.
- Guts was raped as a child by the lowly mercenary Donovan, while Griffith sold himself to the pederast noble Gennon to get more weapons, rations, and soldiers for his mercenary band.
- Guts has extreme hangups about sex, while Griffith has used sex primarily as a tool to get himself up in the social ladder.
- Guts is uncultured and unrefined in etiquette. Griffith is one of the most sophisticated mercenaries Midland has ever seen.
- Guts HATES rape and rapists in general, due to his very traumatic backstory. Griffith became a rapist himself.
- Guts initially just focused on surviving, living for the next fight, uncaring of the future and not having any real dreams or aspirations of his own beyond getting money for food. Griffith has been single-mindedly devoted to his dream of getting himself a kingdom since he was a child.
- Also, while Guts eventually experienced a lot of Character Development, changing from a anti-social nameless mercenary to a reflective dreamer to a devoted protector of his lover, the only thing that really changed for Griffith is that he's become even more driven to get a kingdom.
- Guts is capable of compassion and love beneath his cold and rough exterior; Griffith seems affable and charming on the outside, but is very cold-blooded and ruthless when the chips are down. This has to do with their attitude toward other people. Guts' desire for human closeness remained under the surface after his traumatic experience with Gambino, and came out again when he was a member of the Hawks. While he buried those things very deeply in the two years after the Eclipse, he's made great strides in opening up again. He is also burdened and tormented by all of his past mistakes, from the knowledge that he originally ran away from his responsibility to Casca to the malevolent force of the Beast of Darkness which tempts him to return to his old ways. At one time Griffith was capable of empathy and caring about others, but this was precisely what he feared would hold him back from his dream, so he deliberately made himself cold and calculating. Guts was able to stir his heart, but Griffith couldn't deal with being that dependent on another person, and he sacrificed Guts along with all his followers in order to cut himself away from his human weaknesses. His transformation into Femto and rebirth into the physical world seemingly enabled him to become The Sociopath that he'd always wanted to be, charming his followers with outward concern for their well-being while feeling no pangs of remorse for his betrayal of the Hawks or for the crimes he's committed since. So you might say that both Guts and Griffith came to a similar crossroads where they wanted to throw away their attachments to others and become The Unfettered: the difference is that Guts, unlike Griffith, turned back before it was too late.
- Guts is extremely passionate about protecting those he cares about, even willing to risk his own life to ensure his friends' and loved ones' safety. Griffith cares about no one and only experiences passion when it's centered around his dream.
- Really, Guts' actions are centered around protecting Casca, the only person he's ever really romantically loved; Griffith is all about himself, and only himself.
- Guts is a lowly human who has had to struggle in order to achieve anything in his life, while Griffith is literally a god whose successes have all been ordained by the forces of the universe.
- Likewise, when Guts gets into a scrap, he often emerges victorious, but having lost gallons of his own blood in the process. Griffith, on the other hand, always wins without any casualty on his end whatsoever.
- Griffith was The Chosen One of the Godhand and the Idea of Evil, while Guts was meant to die in the Eclipse, only surviving through his own sheer willpower and determination.
- In the anime and the films, Guts' voice is portrayed as deep and raspy while Griffith is a Soft-Spoken Sadist.
- Guts is seen as an object of fear and horror, a symbol of the end times and an icon of all that is evil and wrong in the world...while Griffith is seen as the messiah of the world who is destined to bring about an age of peace and salvation to all who bow before him. All the while Guts has literally been slaying
Chaotic Evil demons for a big portion of his life, demons which, by the way, serve Griffith. The world sucks that much. - Guts had to work to get his companions to trust him and see him as less of a monstrous killdozer and more of an actual human being. Griffith is immediately beloved by everyone he meets because they see him as a god, set up on a pedestal so high even his bride-to-be sees him as untouchable.
- Guts' comrades have always been human beings. Amazingly skilled human beings, but human beings nonetheless. Griffith sacrificed his human friends in exchange for power, and now has demonic comrades at his disposal who all serve him out of a sense of duty and honor.
- Guts values camaraderie and companionship so much it can be adorable. Griffith used his companions to further his own goals, and now could care less about who wants to serve him so long as they serve him well.
- In the Hundred Year War, Griffith would win his battles and intrigues by planning ahead, while anticipating and manipulating the actions of his enemies. Guts would always fight in the moment, and whenever he met an opponent against whom his normal fighting style wasn’t enough, he would improvise a solution in the heat of battle. Griffith would focus on the tactical and strategic considerations the Hawks faced, while the main contribution of Guts was always in personal combat.
- Guts is in constant danger of giving in to his inner demons and falling prey to He Who Fights Monsters, while Griffith gave in and became a monster himself in the pursuit of power.
- The Eclipse was Griffith's highest point in life. It was Guts' lowest.
- Upon his reincarnation to the mortal plane, Griffith performs miracles for the people, such as reuniting them with their dead loved ones' souls for one final goodbye, reclaiming Midland from the mad king Ganishka, establishing a safe haven in a world of monsters, etc. Griffith is performing these miracles, however, to curry favor with the people—not necessarily to make the world a better place. In fact, his actions have doomed the world at large—those who do not live within Falconia's walls are essentially condemned to die in fear and agony. Griffith blinds people to the ugly truth of the world by dazzling them with miracles—distracting them, not helping them. Guts, on the other hand, despite being bloodthirsty enough to crush a man's skull and consider it an ordinary Tuesday, actively encourages people to see the ugliness of the world. He pushes for people to face cold, hard reality by the horns rather than have them ignore it or accept falsehoods. And so, on the surprising occasions when these two deeply flawed individuals do end up inspiring hope in others, it's clear that Griffith's hope is founded on an artifice while Guts' is founded on accepting reality for what it is—and dealing with it in your own way.
- There are even some interesting parallels between Guts' Beast of Darkness and Griffith's predicament of sharing a body with the Moonlight Boy: the Beast is ultimately Guts' worst aspects personified that goads him into indulging in his anger and lust, and Guts is in a near-constant battle for dominance over it; the Moonlight Boy is the lingering soul of Guts and Casca's child (which was conceived out of a loving, consensual relationship) and despite being tainted by Femto, the Boy is entirely innocent, is hinted to have a positive and humanizing influence on Griffith’s actions, and actually takes over his body once a month.
- Guts and Puck are both Foils to each other as well. Guts is a brooding Tall, Dark, and Handsome Blood Knight Sociopathic Hero with a massive sword and kill count to match, having been tempered from a life defined by constant conflict into one of the most proficient warriors in the Berserkerverse. Puck, on the other hand, is a Keet Motor Mouth Nuisance Fairy Companion who specializes in healing wounds and is defined by his remarkably upbeat nature through all the starkly depressing things he witnesses as Guts' first companion.
- Also, while Guts dresses in all black, Puck glows a bright yellow.
- Casca and Guts have a bit of this going on as well. Both have somewhat low opinions of themselves and have had to actively fight for their needs to prove themselves to themselves, once found themselves utterly enraptured by Griffith, and both were malignantly betrayed by him in the Eclipse. And, more tragically, both of them are rape victims. But Casca's dream centered around being at Griffith's side and serving his dream, while Guts sought his own dream and left the Hawks to pursue it. That, and while Guts' own traumatic experiences had made him hate being touched, detest the idea of working with others, and a massively selfish Social Darwinist, while Casca couldn't bear her own suffering and became insane to escape the horrors of the world.
- Casca and Sonia. While Casca fell for Griffith because of his determination to fulfill his dream and how he managed to help her awaken her own inner strength, she, in the end, understood that she would never be his equal, since his dream is what he prioritizes above all (which is partly why she ended up falling for Guts, who did treat her as an equal). However, Sonia does believe herself to be Griffith's equal by virtue of him being a godlike figure and her being a psychic.
- Casca and Farnese. Both characters found themselves dealing with some severe self-worth issues before encountering a person who would help them both grow and become much more capable of surviving in the world. But Casca was raised in a poverty-stricken village while Farnese was raised in luxury. Casca found her inner strength when she encountered Griffith (and fell in love with him) while Farnese sought out Guts as a way to find her own inner strength (and in turn, also fell for him). And Farnese grew from an Ax-Crazy Pyromaniac into a kinder and more introspective person after meeting Guts, while Casca devolved from a capable warrior into an insane mute after her...experiences with Griffith.
- Casca and Charlotte. Casca was born into poverty and hunger, exposed to horrific things at a young age, and began learning at the age of twelve to defend herself with a sword. Meanwhile, Charlotte was the only daughter of a king and brought up as a Sheltered Aristocrat. In the Band of the Hawk, Casca became a tomboyish Action Girl who is decisive, aggressive, and a hardass about enforcing the rules, while Charlotte is a feminine Shrinking Violet and Fragile Flower. They both love Griffith, but mean something very different to him: he values Casca as his most loyal soldier and has been through more with him than Charlotte will ever understand, but he cannot marry her or see her as a woman because she lacks what Charlotte has: noble blood that would allow him to obtain his kingdom through marriage. On top of all this, you could say they have inverse and complimentary Hidden Depths and Character Development. Casca, who seems so tough and confident, reveals more of her inner vulnerability and insecurity over time, opening her heart to Guts while becoming less blindly dependent on Griffith. On the negative side, she was progressively traumatized by the strain of holding the Hawks together as well as being torn between Guts and Griffith; the Eclipse was more than she could take and she reverted to the mind of a child, completely helpless and dependent on others. Meanwhile, the seemingly meek Charlotte grew braver and more determined to stand up for herself. Aki Toyosaki, the Japanese voice actress of Charlotte in Berserk: The Golden Age Arc, says she tried to keep in mind how Charlotte was the opposite of Casca and to show her maturing from a cute, innocent girl into a woman with strong convictions.
- Nosferatu Zodd and Wyald. Both are inhumanly strong and durable beast Apostles who revel in battle and fight on any side that let's them slay as many foes as possible. But while Zodd has a sense of honor and doesn't indulge in needless cruelty, Wyald is the exact opposite and commits horrible atrocities with no restraint. Zodd's Apostle form is a chimera like beast resembling a Minotaur, being a Noble Demon, while Wyalds' is a surreal multi-eyed monstrosity to fit his horrible, twisted nature. And while Zodd is seeking the ultimate opponent to meet his end in battle, Wyald in the end is terrified of his impending death. There's also the fact that both serve to foreshadow Griffith's fate, and recognize him as the prophesied fifth Angel.
