腸

the first thing that sprang to mind was religion . there are several occasions in which guts expresses irritation and at times outright rage for mentions of religion, religious figures, and religion when used as justification. it’s not difficult to understand why piety was never in the cards for guts. he led a cruel and godless childhood with no sense of divine path / direction (a sentiment he continues to struggle with the entirety of the story). i won’t get into religion as a philosophical tool in the overarching story, simply because i am still not yet confident in my full understanding of its symbolic meaning to berserk and am sure to do it injustice at the moment, however on a characterization front, his disdain toward religion is clear throughout. these feelings strengthen, of course, as the course of his dynamic with griffith plays out re: the godhand. i think it’s safe to assume that witnessing griffiths transformation to femto, and rightly a “god”, lends his perhaps former minor irritation an entirely new meaning given the atrocious acts to follow. he witnessed the horrifying sacrifice of his comrades (and, in all regards, family) that was made for the transformation of a god to take place, and he finds it morally and viscerally repugnant.

fear and anxiety are certainly reoccurring emotions within his dreams. i imagine guts experiences nightmares consisting of semi warped realities that relay events of past traumatic experiences (ie, nightmares regarding the eclipse, his father, etc). i can see him dreaming of battle scenes quite often, as battle / war has encompassed his life from childhood. like anyone else, people that he encounters in his life day to day are also likely common subjects of his dreams. casca, griffith, farnese, serpico, etc. this isn’t something ive put a lot of thought into, but overall i figure he either has dreamless nights, or dreams consumed by fear / sorrow / anxiety that vary in intensity. given his history i can’t imagine guts sleeping particularly well at night.

if you can’t see your character functioning in a like - world, it’s unlikely we will be able to interact for the time being. if you’d like to plot and establish a fantasy verse for your character set within the dark age or otherwise, id love to plot or help rattle off some ideas!

“ —- y’know , ” he takes his time with his words , gazing out beyond the stone balcony of their sleeping quarters , sweeping his eyes vacantly over a night whose snowfall changed and softened all of the earths shapes . he surprises himself by the dispassion of his own voice , relieved that it did not seem interested in betraying him . “ not used to all this luxury . aristocrats make me itch . . . it’s almost more than my head can take . ” @grififth

hey! thanks for asking; berserk plays around various philosophical themes & ideaologies, many of which im still working to break down. among them ive found some of the most predominant to guts’ character are absurdism, nihilism, existentialism, machiavellianism, & of course fatalism / causality.