Find the Berserk connections (Symbolism thread)

[eldur]

About that pictures over there, Miura said once in an interview that he liked Dali. So I think is obvious that he used some pictures from that painter (by the way I'm from his land!! Catalunya!!! lol).

[Rolos]

If you are from Cataluña, then you probably know how to talk in catalán. Care to show me?
Is it really like a weird cross between Spanish and French, as described in the "Count of Monte Cristo"?

[eldur]

Nope, Catalan it's not a mix of french and spanish, but it comes from latin language as well. If you want to hear some of it, the best thing could be the catalan himn, the song "Els Segadors" ("The Reapers"). The name comes from a bloody conflict in Catalonia history, "The Reapers War".

http://youtube.com/watch?v=IHHmTKUb9so&feature=related

[eldur]

And of course, I can speak in catalan.

El teu comentari no m'ha ofès, ni de bon tros. Alexandre Dumas no era cap lingüista, fins on jo sé. Si algun dia tens temps, m'agradaria que anessis a Catalunya a veure que no som pas francesos. Espanyols potser si, però Espanya és un país, i moltes nacions diferents.

"Your comment didn't hurt me, not even a bit. Alexander Dumas wasnt a linguist, as far as I know. If someday you have time, I would like you to go to Catalonia to see we are not french. Spanish maybe yes, but Spain is one country, and a lot of different nations."

And please, lets talk about berserk.

[DrPepperPro]

It's not really symbolism since it was just a random cloud.


[spoiler]It looks like the god hand altar that appears at eclipses and the birth ceremony[/spoiler]

[Facade19]

I am not sure whether this has been mentioned, or not, but as I am reading through Volume 13 again, I thought about something so obvious.
Gutts' right eye is taken from him during the eclipse. Now, never having noticed it before, but I asked why the right eye and not the left?
Maybe I am reading too much into this, but in Islamic eschatology , the Dajjal, meaning the Anti-Christ, is blind in one eye and the right eye is the one.
Now, I am sure there is either another meaning behind this, or just something else, but I found it interesting, and hence am sharing it here.

[DrPepperPro]

Well I always just thought that it wouldn't have been as cool when Miura created the character design to have both the left eye and arm gone, so he went with the right instead.

What is the reason that the Dajjal is blind in the right eye? If it's just blind from the beginning of whenever, than it would be a bit too coincidental, there's only two eyes for Miura to choose from.

[Facade19]

I am not exactly sure was to why the Dajjal is suppossed to be blind in the right eye specifically, that aspect I have failed to research in more minuet detail. What I can narrate is that many Muslim scholars (or suppossed scholars) interpret that the one eye physical characteristic of the Dajjal is a metaphor for the World System. For instance as an example, many conspiracy theorists identify the eye in the one dollar to be a secret symbol of the Freemasons, or something to that like; and their master plan for one world government. Certain Muslims associated that one eye of Osiris as the Pharaonic system of domination and oppression and understand the Dajjal not to be an actual man, but rather a system meant to profess the inferiority and uselessness of G-d. Now, do you ask me whether I believe that? My reply would be there is as much possibility of this being true as much as the Idea of Evil and the Demon Kings.

[01010111]

On the Hellraiser-Cenobite tip, just read this on Wiki:

Pinhead’s head is gridded with incisions, but his counterpart in the novella has a grid tattooed on his head and is also said to have the voice of an excited girl. This counterpart is not the leader of the four initial Cenobites. The leader in the novella is a character whose wounded eyelids and lips are held open by hooks on chains that are woven through the bones of its skull.

I can definitely see Void coming out of this description.

Also, great thread!

[The Herald]

I just have all of the same astrology as Griffith, in reality I'm nothing like him. I'm more like half way between Roderick and Isidro. Smart and calculating like Roderick, but still a clutz like Isidro and I always need to prove myself to my superiors like him.

A likely story. You're probably very similar to Griffith, but want to lure us into lowering our guard so that you can betray us at a later date! Admit it, you fiend!!!

what happened to you Istvan? you usedto be fun

[GutsFTW]

Since I'm from India,I've noted that the Kushan army has derived heavily from Hinduism.Especially during the fight between Guts and that magician,he refers to Kshatriya,Durga and Vayu.In the olden times India was divided into 4 class systems Brahmin,Kshatriya,Vaishyas and Shudras.Kshatriyas were basically warriors and kings.Durga is a Hindu Goddess which in mythology fierce warrior who fights demons.And Vayu is the Wind God.Also,the magician refers to Pishacha which basically means demons.

[Born_Loser]

I think the Right Eye part is more of a bone tossed to Odin.
He gave his right eye up for knowlege and power(Wisdom). Now, Gutz didn't exactly give up his right eye, but he certainly had an... eye opening... experience that left him with more knowlege and power than he had before. Kay, probably not the best line to draw between these two guys.

[Aetherfukz]

I too think that the right eye and left arm are both just coincidence, or rather design choices. Could probably have been the left eye and right arm too. I'd say the left arm was chosen because the right hand is usually used to grip a sword, while the left holds a shield, blocks, tightens the sword grip, or in this case, kills stuff with fire. From that its natural to go for the right eye to make the character not look like split in two, but rather asymetrical with a diagonal between the wounds.

Interesting theories here though.

[Born_Loser]

There was a Norse god that was missing his left hand... but I forget which one. I'd have to dive into lore to find out which one it was.

[Istvan]

There was a Norse god that was missing his left hand... but I forget which one. I'd have to dive into lore to find out which one it was.

That would probably be Tyr, the Norse god of war (the Norse had so many different gods of war it isn't funny) and justice. As I recall Tyr's hand was bitten off by Fenrir when the gods chained him.

[Aetherfukz]

There was a Norse god that was missing his left hand... but I forget which one. I'd have to dive into lore to find out which one it was.

That would probably be Tyr, the Norse god of war (the Norse had so many different gods of war it isn't funny) and justice. As I recall Tyr's hand was bitten off by Fenrir when the gods chained him.

Tyr's Hand was one of the best farming locations for level 60s in Vanilla WoW

Anyway, probably a fact older than dirt: Götz von Berlichingen was a german knight who had one of the first prosthetic limbs. A metal left arm. Though, according to Miura-sensei, he only read about him some time after the manga started.

[The Herald]

Do you have any idea how many time von Berlichen has been mentioned when regarding Berserk? He just is Guts, no matter what Miura says.

[Istvan]

Do you have any idea how many time von Berlichen has been mentioned when regarding Berserk? He just is Guts

...except way less awesome, of course.

[Starnum]

Okay, I got some good stuff this time. I looked back in the thread, and we've discussed the Behelit very little.Some of you might already know some of this, but check it out. I've had my suspicions that this word might be borrowed as well. Sometimes it's called Beherit, which is probably a more correct spelling, but I haven't seen how it's written in the licensed manga. Does anyone have a copy with the word in it, how does Dark Horse translate it? Anyway, I've seen a couple things over the past couple years that keep leading me back to the word Beherit. Since L's and R's are often interchangeable in Japanese romanization, I think this might be the word Miura was intending. First I noticed there's a Black Metal band from Finland named Beherit. They're all about Satanism, the occult, and those such things. Sounds about right. Then, while looking around earlier, I found this.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beherit

I had never seen this before, but I wouldn't be surprised if this was part of the inspiration for the Behelit in Berserk. Sounds pretty good to me. Notice that the demon has red skin, and the word means to form a covenant, just like the Behelit/Beherit is used to form a blood covenant in Berserk.

[War Machine]

The dark horse manga says "Behelit", but it could still be true that he took the word from Beherith.

[Rolos]

Remember this scene?




and then later on:




The prophecy is pretty much self-explanatory, which is why I want you to ignore it for a minute and focus on the tree instead. Apart from the obvious (the tree's trunk at one point is divided into two different mini-trunks, which only then start sprouting out branches, a crystal clear analogy to Zodds' dilemma and the possible ramifications of his actions), there's also the fact that, well, it is a tree.
Lone trees and mountains have always held deep religious significance as places on which personal contact with the supernatural is achieved. Mountains are less personal, they are just the place in which the god dwells (which is why many ancient temples were so massive, it was an attempt to reconstruct the feelings mountains produced in our primitive transhumant ancestors), while lone trees were places were the supernatural came, and established contact with a lone wanderer. You go to the mountain looking for revelation, you stumble upon the tree.
Compare Moses' first and second encounter with the judeo/christian god. In the first one the burning tree marked him as the chosen one, he received a revelation. In his second encounter, when he receives the commandments, he went looking for god.
Anyway, my point was, the imagery chosen by Miura in that scene was pretty rich in cultural significance.
Oh, and there's that Buddha/tree thing, too.


PS: I fucking knew that semestral class of theology was going to be useful at some point! In your face, Joaquin, IN YOUR FACE!
PSS: Holy shit, holy shit! I know this is probably just a stretch, but right now the whole world is under the Ganishka tree! Think about it!

[Aetherfukz]

Sometimes, a tree is just a tree, though

[Istvan]

Sometimes, a tree is just a tree, though

Ooooo. Freud references.

[Rolos]

Damn you all, vile apostles of tobacco! Damn you all to hell!

[Istvan]

Damn you all, vile apostles of tobacco! Damn you all to hell!

...Where you are already...because you're demons.

P.S. Berserk abridged FTW!