#valarinde

Hi!

Well first I want to say that I loved your recent fic's branching off point, that's one that hadn't occurred to me before and it works so well!

In general if we're going for a happy AU I think Guts just successfully killing Julius and never hearing the Promrose Hall speech is probably the most convenient and the best way to keep things going on in a positive direction, since that's when everything changes.

I'm a sucker for the "do you think I'm cruel?" conversation going differently, Guts giving a different answer, recognizing Griffith's self-doubt and vulnerability and realizing he's human after all, etc. I think that would be a good scene to like, insert an impulsive kiss under the right circumstances.

Griffith winning the second duel is an interesting one imo, because then you get a starting point with a lot of confusion, resentment, self-loathing, and betrayal that has to be worked through. At some point they have to be forced to confront their issues and recognize their misunderstanding, but you can have a lot of painful sad awkward build up to that first.

Guts learning about the Hawks' exile after a month instead of a year and racing back to save Griffith a lot earlier could be interesting. All of the proof of Griffith's feelings, some of the loss of dream since Griffith is a traitor now, but he still has a tongue and can maybe heal and hasn't spent a year imagining Guts to escape torture so there's less despair and maybe a little self awareness. Would Griffith give up the dream or would he try to find another way to gain a kingdom? What would Guts say when Griffith can say something back?

And of course, Casca not telling Guts to leave again in front of Griffith's wagon, averting the Eclipse but solving zero other problems, forcing the characters to deal with the circumstances they've found themselves in. This might actually be my favourite canon divergence branching point in theory, I just love the particular blend of despair and hope. They've lost everything except each other. It's good stuff.

And post-Eclipse, well, I feel like NeoGriffith kidnapping Guts instead of Casca would be one of those firmly established fanon AUs if Berserk fandom was bigger lol. Other than that though, it's hard to think of good canon divergence scenarios post-Eclipse lol, at least simple straightforward ones.

Like I have had the idea that the behelit is Casca's, and it opens when she sees Guts and remembers the Eclipse, and she sacrifices Moonlight Boy/Griffith as like a dual thing, which alters Griffith's relationship to fate because he's now a step outside of fate as a sacrifice and basically cancels out his godlike untouchability, and things unfold from there. But that's pretty specific lol.

thank you so much for the very kind words on my piece!! ;w; i'm very glad my passion shows through...

In a universe where ostensibly everyone’s choices are predetermined by an external force (however that happens - by putting characters in specific circumstances, by “shaping” who they become through “encounters”), how do you understand Guts’ role specifically? There’s a lot of framing him as someone who exists “outside of fate” (born of death, survived the eclipse when he shouldn’t have). Do you interpret that as him actually having the power to defy/disrupt fate’s plan/order?

And if the answer to that question is yes, then do you think one could argue he specifically could’ve had the power (however unfulfilled) to stop the eclipse altogether?

In chapter 142 Skull Knight says that the brand is what puts Guts into the interstice and therefore a step outside of causality, a fish that can breach the current and all that. So I do think he has the potential to defy fate now, but I don't think he had the power to avoid the Eclipse. It doesn't sound like something he was born with, but a result of escaping the Eclipse once before and gaining a little bit of access to the astral plane.

Ironically I think that means he was fated to escape the Eclipse and obtain the potential to defy fate lol, however that works. Since two sacrifices needed to survive to bring NeoGriffith into the world at the shadow Eclipse in the Conviction Arc, and also I think Slan musing that it could've been fated to happen followed by a silent shot of Void seeming like he knows something implies that it is indeed part of the grand plan, in a way that I think is foreshadowing for Griffith's resurrection, and maybe more later on.

In chapter 237 Skull Knight also says that this is why witches are a threat to Griffith and he had a bunch of them killed, which makes me wonder how many things out there also have the power to defy fate lol, if all it takes is being a step outside the physical world. Like, do apostles? Does the Godhand? Does Skull Knight? Elves?

(It also makes NeoGriffith not killing Guts multiple times when he easily could have extra interesting, since theoretically Guts could be a threat the same way witches are.)

Anyway despite Guts having that ability, I don't think we've seen it happen yet. Everything seems to be going according to fate's plans so far, based on the fact that he's carrying a behelit for someone (or was recently, idk who has it now while he's a prisoner) and the fact that he failed to touch Griffith during their first confrontation.

But considering all the foreshadowing, I'm sure we'll see some fate defiance happen at the climax of the story, maybe resulting in Griffith's death. Maybe it takes a really extra intense act of will or something, or it has to happen in the right moment to have enough of an affect on fate to be more than a blip fate can, like, incorporate into its plans or whatever.

Idk, that's my theory at least, but we don't get a whole lot of concrete information on how fate works, so there's room for other ideas too. Like, it's maybe implied that Guts and Casca both surviving the climax of the Conviction arc was somehow defying fate, with the repetition of Skull Knight's "maybe you aren't a shadow on the water but a fish breaching the water's surface" line in chapter 166? Which would also imply that the two of them surviving the Eclipse was defying fate. But if that's the case then it seems NeoGriffith's rebirth is defying fate too since that relies on Guts and Casca surviving long enough for the tortured angry souls to "sacrifice" everyone in the vicinity, which seems unlikely since Skull Knight talks about his rebirth like it's part of a fated thousand year cycle he's fully aware of.

Or maybe Guts and Casca weren't meant to survive but fate works like a gps system and recalculates after a wrong turn lol. Like, maybe Guts has been defying fate constantly by surviving when he's meant to die, and forcing "recalculations" or something, and it takes something really huge to throw fate off its track entirely.

But if I had to make a bet then I'd say that Guts and Casca's survival is a part of fate's plans so far, and no one's defied fate yet, but someone probably will before the story's over.

🛠What tools/programs/apps do you use to write?

SCRIVENER. You know what it means for me to spend money on a paid app. @ everyone else who doesn't know how stingy I am: Scrivener really is that bitch

🧐 Do you spend much time researching for your stories?

It'S THE BEST PART. Spreadsheets my beloved

🤩 Who is your favourite character to write?

I already said Ianthe so. TLT Mercymorn. You would understand what this means if you had read The Locked Tomb. Which you haven't. Sad.

🤭 Do you have a favourite tag to use when posting your works?

Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence (used 27 in 149 public works). Power dynamics is ofc another big fave

@valarinde NO!!!! the 10th generation muskers are the refugees that John is relentlessly pursuing through the galaxy in his never-ending quest for empty revenge. though, I mean who could blame him

lol honestly in my ideal alternate version of that scene that’s when Guts kisses him.

Well, maybe not immediately after that question. But like, if Guts had never overheard the Promrose Speech, say, so he never got obsessed with Griffith having a dream and feeling like he’s inferior for not having one, but he still fell down a cliff with Casca and heard all about Griffith’s backstory and Casca’s jealousy issues (I’m laying that potential context out because I think it’s the easiest way to get a good ending AU going lol), then I could definitely see “do you think I’m cruel?” leading to a revelatory conversation.

In this version of events Guts considers Griffith his friend and is maybe mentally dancing around the implication that Griffith’s feelings are even stronger than that after his talk with Casca. Guts hasn’t put Griffith up on a godlike pedestal so he recognizes Griffith’s insecurity when he asks the question, and also recognizes that Griffith must trust him a lot to ask him that.

I could imagine lots of ways for their conversation to go when you get down to the details, but I want to suggest that maybe Guts brings up the thing he was thinking about earlier - that Griffith not telling the Hawks what he’s doing and faking his death in front of them is what’s cruel, rather than defending himself by killing people who’ve been trying to kill him. And Griffith is like, tf are you talking about, they’re going to be knighted with or without me now so my supposed death will barely affect them, and Guts is like holy shit you really have no idea that people care about you. (Though like, yk not that straightforward in actual dialogue lol, but this is the implication.)

And idk as the conversation goes on maybe at some point Griffith is like ‘if they do care they shouldn’t bc look at all these cruel things i do blah blah blah’ (ooh maybe like, pointing out that Charlotte loves him and he just murdered Charlotte’s stepmom so how’s that working out for her?), and ofc this leads to Guts all, ‘so I shouldn’t care about you?’ and Griffith like ‘no’ and Guts like ‘well tough bc i know all this about you and i do anyway’ and Griffith throws out some kind of denial and that’s when Guts kisses him without thinking first, like well let me show you how much I care.

And when they return to the rest of the Hawks they’re all weeping over him and Griffith is like, hmm, and this time Guts stays and Griff starts the long arduous process of growing a better sense of self-worth.

Maybe also add some stuff about Griffith having the power to send Guts to his death in battle as a reason Guts should keep his emotional distance too. And/or Griffith reminding Guts he won him in a duel lol. Yk, you can throw a lot of stuff into an emotionally fraught discussion like this, go a lot of directions with it. But yeah that’s what I’ve come up with.

I had this in my inbox for days because my feelings for Jon/Gerry are SO vague. They're broadly cute and I ship it in the AU where they met pre-Institute! But don't make me think Too Hard about TMA details. Ily.

sam/vetinari

What made you ship it? Night Watch, ngl. Like, a lot of things but especially Night Watch.

What are your favourite things about the ship? Tyrant Of The City / The One Guy Who Calls Him Out On His Shit. All the times Vimes arrested Vetinari. Vetinari's transparent crush for broody older time traveller Vimes. THE YEARNING. THE MORALS. THE LOYALTY. The fact that Vetinari is obviously glad for Sam's happiness but jealous of Sybil... friend. If u call her up I think she'd be up for sharing.

Is there an unpopular opinion you have on your ship? Honestly no! Every take on Vimes/Vetinari I've seen around was GOOD

laurent/jord

What made you ship it? That time I wrote a 30k exchange fic for an uber rarepair and you left a shakespeare-themed comment in my google doc <3

What are your favourite things about the ship? THE LOYALTY KINK OF IT ALL. HE'S HIS PRINCE! HE CHOSE HIM! HE'S THE ONLY ONE LAURENT CAN TRUST