Find the Berserk connections (Symbolism thread)

[Hyuri]

It appears Miura has a fixation with the works of M.C. Escher.

Edit: Oops.

[Rolos]

I don't feel particularly articulate today, so I'll just say the words:
Laplace Demon. Idea of Evil. Causal Determination. Berserk Universe.

You fill in the blanks.

[Rolos]

Remember how Shiercke, just after flooding Enoch, teaches the local priest the value of WMD-grade magic (and tolerance) by telling him (among other things)that the four elemental gods are the "pagan" equivalent of "the four cardinal angels of Scripture"?
Well, I did some research and it turns out that in judeo-christian cosmogony there are cardinal angels.
Their names are Haniel (East), Kafziel (North), Azriel (South) and Aniel (West).
Ezequiel saw them in a vision he had in Babylon, and described them as four-faced creatures. "Wither the spirit was to go, they went" and "When they went, they went upon their four sides so high that they were dreadful" is how he described their actions.
The Zohar (book of splendors) adds that they are "descended from a higher sphere, crowned with symbols".

Miura seems to have a knack for incredibly obscure mythological creatures. Remember the Devil-Whale?
I found more information about it.
Its actual name is Fastitocalon and it appears to have been really big in the middle ages, almost as famous as the gryphon and the dragon, but very few written accounts of the thing remain. In the Codex Exoniensis, an old anglo-saxon bestiary, it is described like this:

Now again I sing
about the fishes' kind;
I will in poetry,
by words, make known,
through the understanding,
concerning the great Whale,
which is unwillingly often met,
cruel and fierce
to seafarers,
to every mortal,
to which the name is given,
to the ocean-floater,
Fastitocalon.

The poem goes on and on about how cruel the whale is, how it pretends to be an island to make people land on it and how it then goes underwater, killing everyone in the vicinity just for kicks.
Here's the whole thing, for those interested: anglo-saxon is weird.

[Istvan]

Nice find on the whale, I hadn't known about that; although in regards to the angels, the way I've usually heard it (in quite a few different references) is that the four cardinal angels are Gabriel, Michael, Urial, and Rafael, although I can't off hand remember which one corresponds to which direction.

[Starnum]

Interesting.

[Billabong]

Newbie inc!

Isma is a Arabic girls name, the meaning of the name is "Safe", related to Ismat, meaning "Safeguard" (may be wrong on that one), considering the considerable amount of research Miura puts in to Berserk, i don't think that's a coincidence.

Worth note, the name shares similar roots to Ishmael, Orginally "Ismaeel".

[Rolos]

I don't know about you guys, but if there's one thing I always thought was undoubtedly fictional in Berserk, it was Gutts' repeating crossbow. Such a game-breaking device could not possibly have existed, right? It's just a dumb weapon Miura decided to equip Gutts' with because it looked mind blowingly cool, right? No basis on reality whatsoever, right?
Yeah...no.

http://www.cracked.com/article_18687_6- ... z0whTcNDPY

[Starnum]

I don't know, I think the monsters are what have always stood out to me as the most undoubtedly fictional thing in Berserk, lol. It's not like the story is set in the real world or in any particular time period, so the repeating crossbow has never really seemed that outlandish to me.

[Hyuri]

Notice something?

[Istvan]

Ok, that's an interesting find. Where's that picture from, Hyuri?

[Hyuri]

Ok, that's an interesting find. Where's that picture from, Hyuri?

Metamorphosis of Narcissus by Salvador Dalí.

Dalí said that it was all about the death and petrifaction of Narcissus, who fell in love with his own reflection and was transformed into the flower that bears his name (According to greek mythology).

And speaking of Dalí.



"Geopoliticus Child Watching the Birth of the New Man"

This reminds me of that apostole which looked liked a behelit, who, by serving as a surrogate womb for the reincarnated body of Griffith, created a new world.

[Venezuelan]

The intellectual level here is very fascinating. I have not found much symbolism in Berserk besides the idea that the way we view life is perverted and the people we hold true are the liars. An inverted broken world created by people in their self made Hell.

[Rolos]

That painting is by far one of the most awesome things I've ever come across in all my years lurking around the Internet.
And the best part is that the painting by itself looks like your random generic Daliesque painting, and it is the painting's name that somehow transforms it into art, adding it depth, meaning, a message.
Beautiful.
"The birth of Diogenes" would have been a good name too.

P.S. I know this is kind of a stretch, but I've always thought that Ganishka's ultimate form (shiva-i-shka?) looked a little like Thomas Hobbes' "Leviathan".

[EvilDmitri]

Being an audiophile, I was flipping through my progressive rock and hit upon a favorite.. and something was oddly familiar. Miura might have been a fan! The titular track is fantastic btw, wonderful imagery and vocals by Greg Lake (of Emerson, Lake and Palmer)

[Azraelalpha]

I don't know about you guys, but if there's one thing I always thought was undoubtedly fictional in Berserk, it was Gutts' repeating crossbow. Such a game-breaking device could not possibly have existed, right? It's just a dumb weapon Miura decided to equip Gutts' with because it looked mind blowingly cool, right? No basis on reality whatsoever, right?
Yeah...no.

http://www.cracked.com/article_18687_6- ... z0whTcNDPY

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

actually the device is pretty much an adaptation to what we have in the real world. instead of using a lever to activate the firing mechanism, a "crank" method was implemented to make Gutt's accessory a lot more badass!

[Rolos]

Being an audiophile, I was flipping through my progressive rock and hit upon a favorite.. and something was oddly familiar. Miura might have been a fan! The titular track is fantastic btw, wonderful imagery and vocals by Greg Lake (of Emerson, Lake and Palmer)

Dude, I can't believe no one ever made that connection in this thread. I think it's been mentioned before, though (it's at the bottom of the page).
Ah, it's such a good album... Have you ever listened to "21st Century schizoid man"? I love that song. "In the court of the Crimson king" beats its ass, though. I actually use it as a soundtrack when I read Berserk (and the lyrics, man, the lyrics! They mix so seamlessly with the rhythm it's beautiful).
That doesn't mean it's their best album, Lizard is way better.
Oh, and by the way, Do you have any good recommendations on progressive music? I've been listening to pretty much the same for months now.

And now for something completely different:

Has it been mentioned how much Miura's drawings of death, farm-life and towers resemble the works of Pieter Bruegel the Elder focused on the same subject?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Piete ... 4._076.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Thetriumphofdeath.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Piete ... ._103b.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Piete ... ._106b.jpg

The farmers are always contrasted with a vast, seemingly endless background, the tower's size is accentuated by drawing small cliffs around them, etc...
He may be trying to imitate the style of the epoch, though it's probably just a coincidence.

[Azurian]

I'm not certain about this, but since Guts seems to share similarities with both Odin (Right eye missing, sacrificed for his infinite wisdom) and Tyr/Ty (missing arm, which he willingly sacrificed to Fenrisulven/Fenrir) Norrøn/Norse Mythology:
Guts' inner rage resembles that of Fenrir/Fenrisulven (a large, ferocious wolf with jaws big enough to devour a man whole)). It's the first thing that popped into my mind when I first read the manga years ago and had just reached that part of the story.

It may just be coincidence, but who knows, it's Miura. The guy is an all knowing genius.

Edit: Also, at Ragnarok (end of the world) in Norse mytos, Odin is killed by Fenrir. The Berserker armor when active, it takes form of Guts inner rage (fenrir) and slowly starts killing him. It's probably a completely wrong assumption that Miura thought of this, but interesting nonetheless.

[Starnum]

Well it is called Berserk, which is also of Norse origin. So yeah, I think you're probably right about that. Guts is totally a Berserker, and I'm sure Miura had those kinds of things in mind when he came up with Guts' character design.

[shcnoff]

i was just reminiscing about simon's quest for the nes with a friend earlier today, and it struck me that the night/day mechanic in that game is pretty much identical to the first three years of gutts' branded life. right?

[Starnum]

Heh, yeah pretty much, but I doubt there's any correlation there, lol.

[Boxy]

i was just reminiscing about simon's quest for the nes with a friend earlier today, and it struck me that the night/day mechanic in that game is pretty much identical to the first three years of gutts' branded life. right?

What a horrible night to have a brand.

[DrPepperPro]

Playing Golden Sun: Dark Dawn. See this. What do? (post on this thread apparently)


If I remember correctly there was one in the 2nd game too, I think it was already pointed out in this or some other thread.

[Starnum]

Heh, giant swords have become even more popular since Berserk was first made.

[TheParagon]

yeah big swords are popular (this is not the Dragon slayer, its the Dragon bone smasher)

"It was much too big to be called a sword. Massive, thick, heavy, and far too rough. Indeed, it was a heap of raw iron"

[Istvan]

yeah big swords are popular (this is not the Dragon slayer, its the Dragon bone smasher)

"It was much too big to be called a sword. Massive, thick, heavy, and far too rough. Indeed, it was a heap of raw iron"

What's the pick from? I can't seem to place it.