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Berserk is a manga and anime series created by Kentaro Miura. This series has a low Admirable Standard which is severely overshadowed by the superior Heinous Standard. However, this doesn't mean it has no potential candidates.
Plot[]
Berserk follows the journey of a young man named Guts during the Hundred-Year War between Midland and Tudor. Since joining the Band of the Hawks under the leadership of the charismatic Griffith, Guts and the Band of the Hawk have completed missions in Midland. When Guts chooses to leave the Band of the Hawk after overhearing Griffith's ideals on what a friend is and returning to save Griffith after the latter was made handicapped, Griffith decides to summon the God Hand. Through Griffith's heinous betrayal of the Band of the Hawks and ascension to the role of the God Hand as Femto, Guts personally vowed to destroy the God Hand and the Apostles that he encounters. On his new journey, Guts meets new companions and is considered the Black Swordsman while Griffith takes over the body of Casca's and Guts's child to masquerade as the Hawk of Light while continuing his villainous agenda.
Potential Candidates for the Ultimate Good[]
Skull Knight[]
Skull Knight is an undead skeletal warrior implied to be King Gaiseric, the founder of the Kingdom of Midland. He is undoubtedly the most powerful and influential hero in the series, has been fighting against the God Hand for over 1,000 years and can directly confront each member of the God Hand multiple times, wields the Sword of Actuation which can slice dimensions and destroyed the Shiva form of Emperor Ganishka by one hit; has vast knowledge of events surrounding the world and seems to be able to predict causality's next move. Throughout the series, Skull Knight serves as an instructor to Guts and saves his life multiple times.
However, for now he is still too enigmatic of a character to count, as his motives and past are largely unknown, with lots of information about him relying on speculation. Since his story arc is ongoing, it is possible he would qualify as the Ultimate Good in the future.
Guts[]
The main protagonist of the series, Guts is a former mercenary who is betrayed by his former best friend Griffith, who sacrificed Band of the Hawk during the Eclipse to become Femto, and branded the mark of sacrifice on him and Casca. Guts then started his journey of revenge, wielding his Dragonslayer Sword and Berserker Armor to hunt down apostles and try to revenge against Femto. Guts has performed many admirable acts throughout the series, slaying multiple vile Apostles like Snake Baron and The Count which saved many people from their threat, rescuing Casca from being burned alive by Bishop Mozgus. Despite being a lethal anti-hero, Guts is gradually shredding his morally ambiguous traits to become a full-on hero, who is willing to prefer protecting his friends rather than blinded by revenging wrath.
As the story progresses, it is possible that he would eventually defeat Femto and the God Hand, which would make him admirable and influential enough to be the Ultimate Good.
Schierke[]
Schierke is a young witch-in-training and a member of the Black Swordsman Party. Schierke is an intelligent witch who is capable of use various type of magic and used her magical powers to save Guts from the Berserker Armor multiple times, teach Farnese how to use magic and healed Casca's mind with Farnese. Schierke is also one of the most noble and selfless heroes in the series and has no corrupting qualities or anti-heroic traits unlike Guts or the Skull Knight.
Since her story arc is ongoing, it remains to be seen whether she would play an important role in defeating God Hand that make her influential enough to count as the Ultimate Good.
Moonlight Boy[]
The Moonlight Boy is the unborn child of Guts and Casca, currently a vessel for Griffith's human form who takes over his body to go to help Guts and his party out when they are in grave danger and disappears. His control over Griffith's body and connection with the Astral Plane makes him highly influential and an important character to potentially putting a stop to Griffith, and his moral agency issues are not affected by his affiliation to Griffith. He can exercise control over the Astral Plane and whose behavior is resembling of a shooting star and is able to ride the branches of the World Spiral Tree. He is also very admirable as he freed Guts from the Berserker Armor's influence on him, and guided Guts through the dying sea god's inner heart chamber to safety, put a crocodile monster to sleep to protect Guts, and warned Guts about Casca to prevent Mozgus from burning her alive. He appears to be very pure and selfless as he is able to set foot of Skellig due to having no evil intent and keeps helping Guts in spite of him rejecting his son.
While he is one of the few characters with no discernable corrupting factors, he is still a child and too enigmatic to qualify, as the story has not revealed much about his personality, making him unable to qualify for the Ultimate Good at this point in time. However, this could change as the story goes on, and as he plays more of an upfront role in the battle against the God Hand and in stopping Griffith.
Close Contender for the Ultimate Good[]
Flora[]
She is the former instructor of Schierke, teaching her all the spells she needed to become a formidable witch, and by extension Farnese, who is currently learning from Schierke and trying to redeem herself from her past atrocities, making Flora one of the most influential and resourceful characters. She is also very knowledgeable as she is a powerful mage and possesses knowledge of Beherits and the God Hand and was capable of magically dampening the effects of the cursed Brand of Sacrifice with a talisman and houses many powerful weapons in her sanctuary. She is also arguably one of, if not the most, noble character in the work as she was willing to let in Guts to her sanctuary despite his destruction of their golems, and travels everywhere helping anyone in need, and is very compassionate and empathetic, and has lived long enough to have been an ally of the Skull Knight, meaning she has spent longer than Guts and any other character's lifetime helping others. She also sacrificed herself protecting Guts and his party against Griffith's siege causing several apostles to plague the forest, and buys time to save Guts and his party to retrieve his Berserker armor. Lastly, she has no hatred toward the Holy See individuals, despite their teachings driving her away and leading people to fear and hate mages.
Because of her death and her being somewhat enigmatic, she is unable to qualify for the Ultimate Good, as more characters may outshine her in admirability as the story continues. In addition, she fails in influence on the Skull Knight, who has a much more direct role in fighting the God Hand and was implied to be King Gaiseric and is thus far more powerful than her both in his past life and current form.
See Also[]
- Berserk on the Ultimate Evil Wiki