There are actually three main characters in Berserk. Guts and Griffith are two, but the other is Casca, the fiercely loyal female commander of the Band of the Hawk.
“He looked divine, and the moment was unreal. God mercifully sent an angel to this pathetic, powerless girl. I really believed that for a moment.” –Casca on Griffith
Casca was just a peasant girl when she was sold as a servant to a passing noble. He tries to rape her almost as soon as he gets her away from her family, but is stopped by Griffith. “Just because you were born a noble, do you believe you’re chosen by God?”
Not a word is spoken by Casca until Griffith arrives, and he doesn’t step in to defend her. Rather, he throws his sword into the grass between them, “If there is something you wish to protect, take up that sword!” And in the scramble that follows, she picks it up and cuts through her attacker. She then speaks for the first time, “Hey, wait…!”
We come to realise, then, why Griffith has as an almost divine presence in Casca’s life. In her lowest moment, he was the one who raised her up; it was his sword that gave her the strength to fight back. The trouble is, Griffith is not divine.
“One who plans to achieve great things inevitably endures terrible things. He is not innately strong. I want to stand by him. If he dedicates himself entirely to his dream, If he has to fight to create his dream, I want to be a sword for him.” –Casca
“Griffith had already recovered by the time he put his hand on my shoulder. And it made me very sad. Most people have abandoned their dreams long ago, but Griffith is still trying to realise his.” –Casca
There is this moment when Casca sees Griffith on the balcony of an ill-reputed noble known for engaging in pederasty, with the clear implication being that Griffith had sold his body for funds for his then fledgling Band of the Hawk. The following morning, she finds Griffith bathing alone in a forest stream, naked. He’s obviously feeling low and needs someone to talk to.
“But if there something that I can do for them. Something I can do for the dead. Then it is to win! I must keep winning to attain my dream, the same one they clung to and risked their lives for! To realise my dream, I will perch on top of their corpses. It is a blood-smeared dream, after all. I don’t regret or feel guilty about it. But to risk thousands of lives while never getting myself dirty… It’s not a dream that can be so easily realised!” –Griffith
He’s clenching his fists so tightly that blood runs from his arms, and yet all Casca can say is, “Stop it. Don’t talk like that any more.” She hugs him from behind, his back facing her. “Griffith had already recovered by the time he put his hand on my shoulder. And it made me very sad.” He needed a friend, but all Casca could see is Griffith the hero. A hero shouldn’t be frail or weak, but perfect, a role model, never to be taken over by despair. He leads from the front, with Casca following in his wake.
By the time he’s turned to face her in the stream, he’s back to being ice-cool Griffith, realising that Casca could never be his friend, for she relies on him too much. Her icon, her God. Deep down, she knows this, too. “If he has to fight to create his dream, I want to be a sword for him.”
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