Gatzu - good or bad

[FriendlyEL]

For anyone who has read Berserk, do any of you have an opinion of how bad Gatzu is of a person. Sure, he's a sadistic killer, and kicks old people around when they ask for help, but he also has a caring side.

Any people want to share their opinion of him, or at least what exactly happens to him at the end?

[Alathon]

This is my interpretation going by the Anime. Which I've been told did an 'okay' job of rendering part of the manga, but not a great one.

Guts strikes me as a classic 'Lawful Evil' type. He has some standards, and knows how to conduct himself public-wise, and doesn't go out of his way to hurt people for the sake of hurting them. However, he seems to relish combat and killing, seems like he only really feels alive when he's fighting and killing, and has pretty much based his whole life around being a damned good killer.

He's not without morals, he can tell good from evil.. he didn't like killing the king's brother in cold blood, and he really didn't like killing that guy's ten year old son. But, he did both; he killed the father because he was asked to, and the son because he was a witness. And he didn't scruple to butcher their house guards on the way out, whose only crime was being in his way.

[Shadell]

Hmm.... Just out of curiousity is there a uniform way to translate that name? I've seen Guts, Gutts, Gatts, Gats, and now Gatzu.

As for Guts, I'd say he doesn't have a problem with killing, but he doesn't seek it out either. Most of the fights that he gets in are reactive. People attack him as he heads toward a goal, and he slaughters them all. He doesn't appear to hold grudges. (Farnese) nor does he just abandon a person unable to defend him or her selfs to his or her fate, at least not always.

Guts is quite a gray character. Furthermore, he's also quite dynamic. At the beginning of the series, Guts is quite different from the one I've mentioned above. Without Puck or any of the others around, he succumbed entirely to the urge for revenge. As the story progressives, Guts becomes steadily more humane then he started off as. By the current story arc, he goes out of his way to help Farnese and even gets into a few fights to save her family. Early Guts wouldn't have cared about anyone's life.

[FriendlyEL]

But, he did both; he killed the father because he was asked to, and the son because he was a witness.

I thought he killed the kid completely by accident. I guess I should reread it.

But wasn't the fact that he was forced to kill the kid the main reason he decided to leave Griffith?

[Shadell]

I thought he killed the kid completely by accident. I guess I should reread it.

But wasn't the fact that he was forced to kill the kid the main reason he decided to leave Griffith?

Not at all. (Just reread last week) and from what I remember he left Griffith because of Griffith's speech about having a dream. Griffith said that he could only consider someone who had a dream like his to be his friend. Guts realized he didn't have a dream and decided to leave until he could find one.

[Cheb]

Guts is not a bad person. It's the world he lives in, where human life is worth less than dirt.