Berserk is arguably one of the finest manga series ever created. The late Kentaro Miura wasn't afraid to dive deep into the darkest aspects of humanity and fantasy alike to paint a grim but ultimately hopeful storyline about loss, ambition, tragedy, courage and self-worth. Many of these themes are tied closely to Griffith, who aspired to become a god.
Ambition is one of the biggest themes of Berserk, along with the conviction to make one's dreams come true. During the famed Golden Age story arc, Griffith really did follow through, summoning the terrifying God Hand to realize his most burning desire. Here's how he did it, and whether someone else could potentially do the same.
Griffith And The Egg Of The King: The Key To A Grand Future
Ever since Berserk's hero Guts first met Griffith, he noted an odd little pendant that Griffith always wore. This was no ordinary jewelry -- he had a small but potent behelit about his neck, an egg-shaped device that would one day alter the course of both men's lives forever. Guts thought little of it at the time, but Griffith held that behelit dear, and it later became the key to his incredible ambitions.
Eventually, a frustrated Griffith betrayed the Midland king and ended up in the dungeon, where his behelit fell into a sewer drain. But this was not the end. Griffith was destined to join the fearsome God Hand, and even after he lost the behelit, he saw a vision of the four current God Hand members calling to him through a tiny portal. Guts and Casca rescued Griffith, and in an open plain he recovered his behelit, known as the "egg of the king." Sure enough, this egg would soon hatch as Griffith's destiny emerged.
Griffith exposed the egg of the king to some blood and held it up as the world's fated eclipse began. This was a historic moment in the making in Berserk, and Guts and the others could only watch in horror as countless monsters approached from the horizon. Then, a great whirlwind descended to trap everyone inside a nightmarish alternate dimension, and the four God Hand members arrived to get the process started. They explained the basics to Griffith, then urged him to view his fellow mercenaries and declare "sacrifice." Griffith did so, and everyone received the brand of sacrifice somewhere on their bodies.
One by one, the Band of the Hawk members were devoured, save for Guts, Casca and the timid Rickert, while Griffith was enveloped inside a transparent egg. He emerged reborn as Femto, a humanoid being with a black, falcon-like helmet and wing-like arms. Griffith/Femto was now the fifth and final member of the God Hand and exploited the helpless Casca in unspeakable ways until the Skull Knight arrived and rescued both Casca and Guts. The maelstrom finally withdrew as Nosferatu Zodd watched from outside, and Femto vanished with the other four God Hand members. He would appear again chronologically in Berserk's Black Swordsman arc, an aloof and cold version of his former self.
The Price Of Femto's Ambition in Berserk
What Griffith did was a somewhat special version of what is otherwise a shockingly routine procedure. Most behelits don't allow their users to join the God Hand, but Griffith's egg of the king was different as it coincided with the fated eclipse. Aside from that, practically anyone can repeat the sacrificial process that Griffith underwent, and it is surprisingly easy in some regards.
Using a behelit means embracing one's inner darkness and realizing that greatness comes at a steep cost. Thus, Berserk echoes a major theme of another philosophy-heavy manga series, Fullmetal Alchemist: the law of equivalent exchange. One cannot obtain something without offering something else of equal value, to maintain the balance of the world. Behelits are not mere transmutation circles, however -- they demand more.
To purchase the incredible powers of an apostle from the God Hand, the behelit's user must deeply yearn for that power and offer one or more sacrifices in the process. In particular, the sacrificed person(s) must be dear to the behelit's wielder, otherwise, it's meaningless. When the Count consorted with the God Hand, he learned to his dismay that he (an apostle at the time) would have to sacrifice his beloved daughter Theresia to gain more power, a price he was unwilling to pay. Had he done so, the Count would have proved the true evil and darkness in his heart, which is how the God Hand operates.
Griffith and the Count aren't alone. In the Lost Children sequence of Berserk's Conviction arc, an impoverished and tormented village girl named Rosine used a behelit and offered her parents to the God Hand, thus becoming a powerful, moth-like apostle who fancied herself the Queen of Elves in the Misty Valley. No power comes without a heavy toll, and the God Hand's members are deal brokers, not benevolent angels.
