Requiem of the Wind
At the Midland border, Casca finally explains the truth of Griffith’s condition and it starts to truly sink in – the Band of the Hawk is finished. Someone mentions that Casca could still take command, but Judeau says that’s asking too much of her after everything she’s done already. However, she says she’ll think about it until they meet up with Rickert’s group.
Guts wants to tell everyone not to give up, but Casca stops him, telling him afterwards that such words hold no weight with Griffith the way he is. From inside his wagon, Griffith sees them as Casca rests her head on Guts’s chest.
The Warriors of Twilight
As Casca tries to change his bandages, Griffith throws himself against her, and she realizes just how fragile he’s become. Meanwhile, Guts and Judeau discuss the future. Judeau says he plans to take the survivors and start a band of thieves, which will allow them to look after Griffith. Guts says he’ll come too, but Judeau reminds him he’s following his own path now. Sure enough, the remaining Raiders ask to start a new mercenary company under Guts’s command. However, Judeau does think he should take Casca with him, because living as an outlaw wouldn’t suit her. But when Guts goes to ask her how Griffith is, she breaks down and says she can’t go with him; she’s realized that Griffith needs her more.
Back Alley Boy
Griffith sees a vision of himself as a boy and remembers his vow to claim the castle for his own. Dragging himself to the front of the wagon, he gets the horses moving, startling Guts and Casca, who realize he must have overhead them.
Thrown from the wagon as it strikes a rock, Griffith has a vision of himself living in a humble cottage, cared for by Casca. The Behelit appears in his porridge, sending him back to reality as he lands in a small lake. Not wanting that to be his future, he cuts his throat on the jagged edge of a nearby log. As the blood flows out he finds his Behelit in the water beside him, and the clouds part to reveal the sun.
Eclipse
Guts and the others arrive in pursuit, but stop short as a solar eclipse begins, and strange naked figures appear in the lake. As Guts runs to Griffith the Behelit rearranges itself into a face and begins to cry tears of blood. Everyone is suddenly in a strange place where the ground and sky are made of faces.
The Promised Time
Rickert is seen off by the leader of an entertainers’ troupe that gave him a ride to the border. He is given a small pouch the troupe leader says contains special medicine which can heal any wound. Everyone is puzzled about why he looked so pale and distracted.
Inside one of the wagons, an old fortune-teller reads Rickert’s fate and is shocked to find he will have a crucial role in the great calamity that’s about to occur. Puck, the wagon’s other occupant, is unhappy when she says it’s fated and they cannot intervene, and he flies outside, where everyone is mesmerized by the eclipse. He calls it a hole some great god or devil must be looking through.
Casca tries to restore order as the Hawks begin to panic, and Guts realizes that everything started to become strange when Griffith retrieved the Behelit. The naked figures declare that the time of the Eclipse has come.
Advent
The four members of the Godhand appear, and Archangel Void hails the arrival of Griffith, the Chosen One, whom they call their kinsman. Guts refuses to believe such claims, but is told the Hawks will serve as sacrifices so Griffith can become a demon.
The Inhuman Host
The naked figures are Apostles, who gained their current form through Behelits. But Griffith’s is no ordinary Behelit but the Egg of the King, which proves he is worthy of becoming not an Apostle but a member of the Godhand. Guts is horrified that they’d turn Griffith into one of them, but is told that only Griffith’s consent can do that. A giant hand rises up into the air, and Guts loses his hold on Griffith as the latter is propelled towards the Godhand.
The Castle
Griffith is shown a vision the Godhand claims is his own conscious mind. As the boy Griffith hurries towards the castle, he suddenly finds himself surrounded by the corpses of all who have died so that he could fulfill his dream. He breaks down in despair, but the Godhand reminds him that he must create many more corpses if he is to reach the castle lest he become one of them. They remind him that he knew this was happening; if he cannot handle it he shouldn’t have striven for the castle in the first place. Griffith declares that he’ll no longer feel remorse for what he’s done.
Parting
The Godhand tells Griffith that if he wants to reclaim his dream he needs only to truly offer those left to him as sacrifices. Guts makes it to the top of the hand in time to see him swallowed by darkness as he utters the fateful word. Void declares that the promised time has come, and the Brand of Sacrifice flies forth to mark the Hawks.
The Feast
Transformed into their monstrous shapes, the Apostles rush forward to feast and begin to devour the Hawks. Guts tries to free Griffith from the shell that’s enveloped him, but the Godhand tells him it’s useless; this is what Griffith wanted – he was close enough to hear his last word, after all. Guts refuses to believe it, but then he remembers the things Griffith has said before and can no longer be sure. Outside, Rickert arrives to find a massive whirlwind where the others should be, Zodd and the Skull Knight locked in combat at its base.
Commentary
Isn’t the Chosen One usually the hero? Sorry, that’s not how things work around here; the ones “ordained by the laws of causality” are the self-serving types. Or at least, the only beings that seem interested in singling out people for boons of power are likely to choose that kind of person. And if you’re the right person, the key to summoning them will always find you, so unless the Behelit can be destroyed (I kind of doubt that), it’s only a matter of time before you use it. Have I mention this series is bleak and cynical lately?
It’s depressing, but the Eclipse also demonstrates a key theme of the story – that ambition has a price, often with hidden consequences, and how you respond to it says a lot about your true self. The Godhand doesn’t actually force anyone to accept their covenant, but they’re sure to make the offer when you’re at your most vulnerable. Last time we saw how Griffith was having difficulty accepting his situation, putting on his armor and trying to draw his sword, nor is everyone’s attempts to dance around the issue when he’s within hearing helping matters, and who can blame him, really? It’s hard enough to lose everything you’ve worked so hard for even when you can pick yourself up and start over, but Griffith can’t even do that. Instead, he has no real option other than what he saw in his vision, a life where he’s dependent on another – not an easy thing to do when you’ve gone so far with your own talents. What’s more, he’s dying, so it’s a limited time offer as well.
They don’t make it easy to refuse either. Even if his life wasn’t on the line, there’s no way Griffith can walk away from what they show him. It’s a chilling reminder that actions have consequences, often far beyond what we envision. Griffith’s choice to climb to the top means perpetuating the suffering caused by war, since it’s the only way for him to gain the necessary recognition to advance in status. Similarly, I’m sure most of us haven’t left a mound of corpses behind us but have all done things we regretted, wished ill of others and meant it, and are at least tangentially aware of what the “Made in China” labels on our clothes mean. We’ve all got a dark side we don’t always like to admit to, and the world is too complex for us not to perpetuate its’ unpleasant side even without meaning to at times. There’s no telling how any of us would react if we were forced to see any of this illustrated so vividly. Unfortunately, sometimes the only way to handle it is to embrace it. It’s what happens with the Apostles – we now know that every demon was human once, and it’s the path Griffith was already on.
Of course, there’s still the fact that he gave the go-ahead to sacrifice the remaining Hawks. These are people who’ve risked their lives for him, remained loyal to his cause when things were at their bleakest, and are still willing to stick by him even though things can never go back to the way they were (at least that was what Judeau has in mind, although Griffith’s vision suggests he and Casca haven’t seen the others in some time, but at least they stuck things out as long as they could). And what does he do in return? Condemn them to be demon chow. He didn’t have any other choice, not if he doesn’t want to die, but that doesn’t make the act any less reprehensible. The thing is, he’s an exceptional leader, who has no pretensions concerning class or social status, treats his followers well, and genuinely earns their loyalty, and while we know he’s an adept general but have seen no evidence he’d be just as capable as a statesman, his shrewdness and leadership qualities would certainly serve him well. All things considered, he probably had the potential to be a great king. The problem is the underlying motives beneath the charm and charisma. It’s the great paradox of his character: on the surface, he’s a wonderful person, but underneath he’s a monster. But that’s the duality of all human beings writ large, which is what this series is all about.
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