I was hoping to cover Conviction quickly, but the next section is really long. Seriously, the Birth Ceremony Chapter is basically the entire arc. So… yeah, that ain’t happening.
Today, we’re covering:
- Revelations 1-3
I would cover a lot more, if we weren’t coming up on a massive chapter. So for now, these three will do.
All of Midland shares in a dream: when a terrible shadow falls over the land, the Hawk of Light will appear and bring salvation. A fitting dream, given the growing darkness swallowing the land. In a distant, lonely corner of this dying land, Guts lays down for a rare moment of rest. One cut short by a dire warning.
This is where the scope of Berserk expands dramatically. Up until now, the series has largely focused on Guts and those immediately surrounding him. Now, the story zooms outwards. From here on out, this series is a full-blown fantasy epic!
If you thought Berserk’s world was rough and brutal before, you’ll be horrified to discover the series is just getting started. Gruesome plagues and oppressive storms leave the land dark and bloody. It all sets the tone for the rest of the arc perfectly.
More than that, it raises the stakes. This isn’t just a pandemic or bad weather. It’s them. Our villains are finally making their move.
Lords Laban and Owen make a surprising return here. You remember them? They were a pair of background characters in the Golden Age who actually respected Griffith. Now here, we get to see them take the forefront, essentially becoming our windows into the current landscape of Midland.
And it ain’t very pretty.
We even catch up on Charlotte and the King of Midland. Which… yeah, goes about as well as you’d expect, considering how they were when we left off with them in the Golden Age. Though I find myself fascinated with the king’s final dream. Is he looking back at his decisions with regret, his old mind fracturing in his final moments? Or is Griffith using his divine powers to torment the man who tortured him for so many years? Either way, the King meets a suitably dramatic and grim end.
And not even five seconds later, a fucking army marches on Midland. But forget about that! It’s time for Zodd!
This is one of my favorite Zodd scenes. As he sits there, surrounded by corpses, he reflects on just how profoundly boring his life as an Apostle has become. The only two people left worthy of his attention being the Skull Knight and the Black Swordsman. And it is in this moment of disappointment and longing that the Hawk of Light appears before the Immortal and brutalizes him. Zodd awakens from the dream, only to find himself truly bleeding, one of his horns severed. And it’s in this moment, faced with overwhelming strength, that Zodd the Immortal looks up to the crows flocking overhead and realizes what he must do.
Finally, after all that, we catch up with Guts again. In a rare moment of rest, he’s assaulted by two dire and immutable warnings, each pointing to the same thing: Casca is in danger. And for the first time since his quest began, Guts looks not forward, but back.
This segways perfectly into the next chapter, ‘Cracks in the Blade.’ A chapter that I genuinely believe to be one of the most emotionally impactful and important chapters in the entire series. So much so that it alone deserves an entire article dedicated to it.
In the meantime, I’d like to discuss the visuals of this section. Saying that the art is jaw-dropping simply isn’t enough. It’s Berserk. The art is amazing and will only continue to become better and better.
No, I’d like to discuss something else entirely. Let’s look at the symbolism.
Revelations has some truly jaw-dropping panels in it. It’s grotesque and surreal, which gives this whole arc a wholly unique tone. Much like the Eclipse, it feels very nightmarish.
Just look at this panel. A white hawk, crucified to a makeshift cross, it’s snow-white feathers soaked in blood. Below, the intertwining symbol of the Holy See. Finally: the behelit. Resting. Inactive. Just waiting for the blood to fall upon it.
There’s so much going on here. It’s the perfect image to represent what Griffith and the god hand are doing. The Hawk of Light is a beautiful lie, it’s magnificent form distracting you from the bloody truth. It’s a twisted version of the Holy See’s symbol, turning the people’s faith against them. The behelit is a grim promise of the dark, terrible future that lies in wait.
These chapters, as well as the whole Conviction arc, is full of symbolism like this. It gives the whole arc a unique visual flare that stands out from the rest of Berserk. It fits the series really well, and I can’t wait to dive deeper into it as the story progresses.
Particularly with the next chapter. Brace yourselves, folks. We’re about to get one of the most jaw-dropping moments of character development in manga history.
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