Does Guts Kill Griffith in Berserk?

One of the best manga released in the last three decades is Berserk. The unique story and astonishing world of dark fantasy world that holds tortured souls of Guts and other unfortunate people. Guts is the main protagonist of Berserk, and since his birth, he’s been leading an extremely hard life that made him the warrior we know he is today. We know Guts meets Griffith in his youth and joins the mercenaries known as Band of Hawk. Through the series’ progression, Griffith becomes the show’s antagonist and sells his closest friends and allies to become one of the members of the God Hand. Since then, former friends and allies have sought revenge against each other. In this article, we will discuss if Guts kills Griffith in Berserk and why he still hasn’t done it.

Guts haven’t killed Griffith because he is weaker than him, especially after the latter became a demon known as Femto, a new member of the God Hand, after the Eclipse. Despite Guts always beating Griffith in their years in the Band of Hawks, notably during the Demise of the Dream arc, as Femto, Griffith overwhelmingly beats Guts during their encounters. Griffith was skilled in combat before his rebirth, but as a demon and a member of the God Hand, he has gained almost god-like abilities like Nigh-Absoluteness, which prevents him from getting hurt by any mortal forces.

We will discuss this topic more by mentioning Guts and Griffiths’ encounters throughout the Berserk series and the powers they gained between their fights. Moreover, we will speculate if Guts will finally beat his former friend and ally, who destroyed his life. If you are interested in this topic, stay with us until the end of the article.

Guts and Griffith’s origin story and their first meeting in Berserk

People who read Berserk or watched anime know the origin stories of Griffith and Guts. The former was a poverty-stricken child who had big dreams – to live in the sun-coated castle and be the kingdom’s ruler. Of course, Griffith being the misfortunate soul he was, couldn’t get there without sacrificing himself. Griffith was a gorgeous man with unusual beauty who realized he needed to give parts of himself to achieve his dream.

Throughout the manga series, Griffith is shown sleeping and surrendering his body to ugly, old kings and royalties, which skews him mentally even more. He wasn’t an innocent, poor child with big dreams anymore but a young man who sold himself for glory. During those years of misfortune, Griffith is approached by an old gypsy fortune teller, who gives him the Crimson Beherit, also known as the “Egg of the King.” The Beherit warps one’s faith, giving them everything they wanted, but for the exchange of the owner’s flesh and blood. Of course, the wish must be granted when the owner sacrifices his most precious people.

The Eclipse happens every 216 years when the owners of Beherit have the choice of becoming members of the God Hand as demons. This part of the story is important for this duo much later in their story, and it is the event that propelled Berserk as the most astonishing and controversial manga series of all time.

We also know that Griffith forms a Band of Falcons to help him achieve his dream, which will also be “the bridge” of Guts and Griffith’s meeting in the series. On the other hand, Guts’ childhood is unbelievably tragic. He is born from the corpse of his lynched mother and left to die as an infant under her body. The mercenaries eventually found baby Guts, and the Gambino took in the little boy.

He raised Guts and taught him swordsmanship; however, Guts didn’t know that Gambino paid a mercenary, Donovan, to rape a little boy. Guts sought out revenge and killed the man. After that exchange, Guts goes through a lot – he needs to kill Gambino because the man attempts to murder him, escapes the murderers, and is eventually captured by another mercenary group.

His life is full of tragedy, and he finally meets a Band of Falcons and Griffith after Guts and his group attack the Band and the military garrison they protected. The Band sought revenge against Guts, who dismantled most of the Band, until Griffith incapacities the swordsman and captures him. Griffith then asks Guts to join the Band – Guts challenges him to the fight, and Griffith wins, prompting Guts to join the Band of Falcons.

Does Guts kill Griffith in Berserk?

After Guts and Griffith meet, the Band of Falcons is a really strong group that only a few can match. They fight the apostle Zodd and beat it, but not until the creature sees Griffith’s Beherit and warns Guts of his dark future.

In the Berserk manga and anime, Guts and Griffith fought a few times – two times Griffith won when Guts joined the Band of Falcons and before leaving the Band, which Guts won. However, Guts never killed Griffith in the Berserk series. After Guts left the Band of Falcons, Griffith decided to sleep with Princess Charlotte and was eventually captured by her father, who imprisoned him and viciously tortured Griffith for a year.

Guts eventually reunite with the Band and go on to rescue Griffith, who is on the brink of death. However, Guts doesn’t know about the Crimson Beherit, and Griffith activates it during the Eclipse and sacrifices the Band of Falcons. As a demon Femto, Griffith rapes and tortures Casca (Guts’ lover) in front of the swordsman and decides to kill them. He fails because the supernatural creature Skull Knight saves Guts and Casca from definite death.

Technically, Griffith died, but Guts never killed him or anyone else – he died from injuries inflicted by the torture, activated the Crimson Beherit during the Eclipse, and sacrificed his most precious friends to ascend as a demon of God’s Hand.

The Berserk manga is still ongoing, so why hasn’t Guts killed Griffith? Let’s find out.

Why Guts still hasn’t killed Griffith in Berserk?

After analyzing their fights and happenings throughout the Berserk manga, we realized that Guts could not kill Femto, the demon version of Griffith. He gained the abilities and powers only God Hand members have.

With ascending as a demon of God Hand Femto, Griffith gained powers that would stop any mortal from harming him. Femto’s biggest and most powerful ability is Nigh-Absoluteness – Griffith doesn’t exist in the means of the mortal world, which means he is invulnerable to mortal opposition. The manga suggests that “Femto is akin to the story’s author – only he can play with his destiny.”

In the manga series, Guts encounters Femto after Eclipse’s events, and he cannot do anything against him – the demon easily disposes of Guts. However, what Berserk always did best was storytelling, which Kentaro Miura did all these years beautifully. The fans are expecting a proper ending to the Berserk manga despite the author being gone.

Guts might be weak to Griffith now and cannot kill him, but the demon doesn’t know the power of Dragon Slayer, Guts’ weapon of choice. Its power is measured and increased by the number of entities Guts kills with his sword on his journey. The fans believe if Guts continues slaying demon creatures and apostles, the Dragon Slayer will reach its final power – to beat the demon of the God Hand, Femto.

Skull Knight is another ally Guts will treasure in the hunt for God Hand members, and the final battle of the Berserk series will be against former friends, allies, and now enemies. Femto will be the last slayed God Hand – by Guts, and his Dragon Slayer.