Griffith

"I feel no responsibility to comrades who've lost lives under my command. Because they chose to fight in each battle.. Just as I chose this. But if there is 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 realize 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 realized!"

- Griffith "In life, unrelated to one's social standing or class as determined by man, there are some people who, by nature, are keys that set the world in motion. They are the true elite, as dictated by the golden rule of the universe."

- Griffith

Griffith is the main antagonist of Berserk. He is the founder and leader of the mercenary army known as the Band of the Hawk. As a mercenary, Griffith fought in the Hundred Year War and restored peace to the wartorn kingdom of Midland and was once a close friend and ally of Guts. After being tortured however, he used the eclipse to sacrifice his entire army and later was reborn as Femto, the fifth, newest and final member of the God Hand. He is the arch-nemesis of Guts and Casca.

Background
Extraordinarily charismatic and handsome, his tactical skill gave him and his army the reputation of invincibility, and the favor of the King of Midland, who was locked in a century-old war with the Empire of Tudor. Due to his many important victories in this war, he is made Lord Protector of Midland by the king, despite his common ancestry. Griffith was willing to sacrifice everything for the dream of his own kingdom, believing that he is destined for things greater than the average man.

Meeting Guts
Early in his career, he won Guts' service in a duel and Guts became his sword in both the battlefield and in his political fight with disgruntled Midland nobles. A large part of his success was due to Guts' fighting ability and Griffith grew to be dependent on Guts, although their relationship was not exactly friendship. After the assassination of General Julius, Guts heard Griffith saying to Princess Charlotte that a friend must be someone he considers his equal. Guts reflected upon this and decided he would live his own dream rather than Griffith's, so that one day they could be equal friends. After winning the war for Midland, Griffith loses to Guts in a duel which stipulates that Guts remain in his service should he lose and freed if he wins. This loss results in Guts' desertion from the Hawks.

Post-Guts
Stunned and feeling betrayed, Griffith sought comfort in a one-night stand with the king's daughter, and sole heir to the throne, Princess Charlotte. The affair was discovered, after which Griffith was imprisoned and tortured for a year. He was rescued by Guts along with the primary members of the Hawks. Seeing Guts and Casca loving each other finally drove him insane (in his final moments before the Eclipse, he dreamed of a normal life, with children and Casca as his wife). Despairing the loss of his dream at Guts' influence, his state of madness that coincided with both the reappearance of his lost Behelit and a solar eclipse. It was during this event that Griffith gave into his despair and submitted himself to become the fifth member of the God Hand, sacrificing the Band of the Hawk in order to be reborn as Femto. His first act upon his transformation was to rape Casca before Guts' eyes; the two survived the events of the Eclipse, however, due to the intervention of the Skull Knight.

Appearance
Griffith is a very handsome man, with flowing white hair and beautiful blue eyes. Many more masculine men often remark on his beauty and how he looks like he stepped from a painting. Some go so far as to lust over him, including a man who he later faces as an enemy, however some people had resisted his charms such as Rickert, the former member of the Band of hawk, he slapped Griffith on the face and walked away.

Personality
Griffith was once a fair, honorable and straightforward man. However, as a mercenary, he is also extremely opportunistic and manipulative. Still, when not on the job, he does have a less serious, more playful and joking side. This side of him is usually reserved for Casca or Guts, especially the latter. However, Griffith is also quite psychopathic, manipulative, and obsessive to the point that he was willing to strike Guts down than to let him go when the larger man muses about leaving. After being reborn as Femto, all traces of his morality, emotions and conscience have been completely erased. Griffith has now become an extremely narcissistic, callous, pitiless, remorseless, sadistic, and uncaring monster, as he sees Guts and the Hawks as nothing but tools and he discards them like garbage when they are no longer useful. He even went so far as to rape Casca purely out of revenge, and did not show remorse or feeling ever since.

Powers and Abilities

 * Fighting skills: Griffith was an extremely skilled swordsman, beating Guts twice when they first met, and managing to cut Nosferatu Zodd's arm off while working together with Guts. Griffith has also shown to be skilled in unarmed combat, managing to easily put Guts in an arm lock and dislocate his shoulder when the latter tried to punch him.

After joining the God Hand:
 * Telekinesis: Griffith is capable of manipulating matter. Right after his rebirth as Femto, he was able to crush a group of apostles into nothingness by just closing his hand, and when Guts tried to attack him after he and the rest of the God Hand were summoned by the Count, he sent Guts flying with just a glance. He also blocked a shot from Guts' canon arm effortlessly.


 * Space manipulation: When the Skull Knight tried to attack Griffith with his space-cutting Sword of Actuation, Griffith was able to warp space so that the attack wouldn't hit him.


 * Causality manipulation & perception: Being a member of the God Hand, Griffith can see the flow of Causality and use it to further his goals. Because fate itself is on his side, even after regaining corporeal form, he cannot be harmed by physical means, as any physical attack headed his way is fated not to connect.


 * Flight: In his Femto form, Griffith has wings that look like a cape when unused. Being wings, they can be used to fly. However, Griffith usually relies on Nosferatu Zodd for air travel, so his ability to fly may be limited.


 * Supernatural charisma: Although he was already highly charismatic when he was human, after joining the God Hand, and after regaining physical form, Griffith's utilizes what is described as "an enormous flow of od that engulfs and charms people", making it very easy for him to charm people and rally them to his cause.


 * Teleportation: Griffith also seems to possess either super-speed or teleportation, since he managed to reach Casca in time to shield her from falling boulders, even though he was standing on top of a hill a fair distance away only a moment before, and he was also able to move past Silat and the Tapasa without them even noticing he had moved.