In hindsight, I probably shouldn't have said "definitely."
What Happens
Monster
Jill’s father (his name is Zepek) and the Holy Iron Chain Knights arrive at the site of Guts’s battle with the guardians, who are so thoroughly scattered and mutilated it’s initially taken to be the work of cannon and a whole squad of soldiers. Serpico, one of Farnese’s lieutenants, deduces that nope, it’s actually one man with a really big sword. The Knights are now convinced Guts is the prophesied Hawk of Darkness.
The elves swarm Guts, but he kills them by diving into the flames, extinguishing himself with the fluid from a cocoon.
Sky Demon
Rosine tries to attack Guts, but the trees prevent her from maneuvering. Amidst the flames she transforms into her full Apostle form. Everything is in ruins, but she vows that she’ll fly elsewhere and start anew, so long as she has Jill. But first, Guts has to pay.
A Bloody Night Sky
Rosine is now too fast for Guts to dodge, so he allows her to pierce his right arm with her central antenna, now a lance-like stinger, stopping it with artificial arm. She flies him up into the air to tear him to shreds at full flight, but he shoots her with his cannon.
The Space Between Demon and Man
Guts desperately ties his sword to his injured hand with bandages, wondering how he could have blown his chance to kill Rosine, who’s still alive.
As Rosine saves Jill from being crushed by a burning branch Guts skewers her from behind, cutting open a cocoon to save Jill from the flames. Puck realizes he exploited the knowledge that Rosine would save Jill to get his chance.
Firefly
Rosine skewers Guts again and he cuts clean through her right shoulder, using their momentum to kick himself free again.
As Rosine falls to earth she remembers finding the Misty Valley. She waited for days, but no elves came. Then her parents found her, her father furious at her for running away, and delaying the harvest, for a superstition she’s too old to believe in. As she wept in despair at seeing her parents fight in the Misty Valley, where such things weren’t supposed to happen, blood from her mouth fell on, and triggered, her Behelit.
As she lies dying on the ground Jill and Puck find her. She tells Jill there were no elves here because, of course, they’re just a made-up fairy tale like Peekaf. Jill shows her Puck, who tells her that elves did once live here; they’re gone, but he can sense traces of their presence.
The Way Home
A blood-stained Guts stumbles into view and Jill pleads desperately with him not to kill Rosine, throwing herself on top of her friend. He refuses to listen, but then a crossbow bolt strikes him in the stomach. Zepek is ecstatic that he hit the Black Swordsman, who flees with the Holy Iron Chain Knights in pursuit. Zepek makes to follow, but Vice Commander Azan tells him he has no need to risk his life further and is free to enjoy the reunion with his daughter. He’s less than pleased.
Rosine gets to her feet, saying she has to go home, and flies into the air. She dies wondering what’s for dinner.
Blue Sky Elf
With Puck’s help Jill tracks down Guts and begs him to take her along with him. He forces her to look into the shadows, at the spirits of the Interstice that always surround him in the dark. If she comes with him she won’t find escape, only a battlefield. He leaves as the sun breaks through the clouds.
With the mist cleared by the fires the blue sky shines through. Jill realizes she might not have what it takes to be violent like Guts, or run away like Rosine, but if she keeps up the fight she just might change things for the better. She says goodbye to Puck and heads home, ready to fight her own battles.
Beast of Darkness
The Skull Knight arrives at the burnt-out wreckage of the Misty Valley and wonders how long Guts can continue down the dark path he’s on. He finds Rosine’s Behelit where she fell and eats it (???).
The badly-injured Guts stumbles through the woods, the spirits of the Interstice taunting him for killing children and justifying it in the name of his personal goal. They say a beast lurks within him, always hungry, nourished every time he kills, and soon it will consume him, a monster in the form of a man. Or perhaps he can become a real monster, like his friend…
He finally collapses of his injuries, but Puck finds him and drives off the spirits as he wakes up. He insists he’s no monster, just a man, and he will make his way back to Griffith. Puck settles into his satchel, offering to heal his wounds once he’s washed off the blood. Guts accepts this and uses Puck’s name for the first time. But the Holy Iron Chain Knights have found him.
Holy Iron Chain Knights, Chapters 1-2
The Holy Iron Chain Knights, inexperienced sons of high nobles who joined for status, are no match for Guts in spite of his injuries, his only new wound a crossbow bolt to the leg.
Vice Commander Azan, who joined the Knights already a battlefield veteran, decides to intervene. Guts realizes he has no strength to fight a skilled opponent and decides to go after Farnese. Vaulting over Azan, he is about to parry Farnese’s sword when a thrown piece of wood strikes his injured leg, causing him to stumble, Farnese’s sword piercing his shoulder. He finally collapses.
Hollow Idol
Guts is brought in chains to Farnese’s tent. She asks him questions – who is he, why is he a walking arsenal, what’s this weird stone? When he mocks her she takes the lash to him in anger, but Azan enters and reminds her that what she’s doing is unauthorized. She angrily dismisses him and orders the guards to take Guts away. She begins to pray, visibly shaken.
Guts has been locked in a cage outside, still in shackles, and now it’s almost nighttime…
Commentary
And there goes Zepek’s last shred of credibility. Not like it wasn’t obvious already, but his family had nothing to do with his going to war; it was all about the “glory of the battlefield.” I doubt he’d have come home at all if it wasn’t for his lame leg.
Fortunately, inability to handle disappointment doesn’t seem to run in the family. Jill was unhappy with her situation too, and that’s why she followed Guts and even begged to go with him even though she’d “almost died plenty, [her] old friend was killed, and [she’s] soaked in bloody sludge,” because it seemed to offer an escape from a seemingly hopeless situation. But she’s able to learn from her experiences and accept when things can’t, or shouldn’t, go a certain way, which is more than her father can say.
When you get right down to it, this story arc was basically Jill’s coming-of-age story. She already has the courage to stand up to her parents, or to Rosine when she finds out what really goes on in the Misty Valley, but no one takes her seriously, which leaves her feeling frustrated and helpless, desperate to leave it all behind. Only by seeing the consequences of letting her feelings turn to anger, through Guts, and of running from her problems, in Rosine, is she able to realize it’s not for her and gain an appreciation of her own strengths. Not only is she capable of seeing what’s wrong with a situation and pointing it out, she loyal to and willing to forgive those she cares about. He may be pathetic and a terrible father, but she still calls Zepek “dad” regardless; she doesn’t hate him, just wants him to take some responsibility for himself. And, barely recognizable or not, Rosine is still her friend. Putting herself in harm’s way to save her when Guts is in kill-‘em-all mode (and that seriously looked like a point where he might make good on his “next time, I’m not stopping my sword threat” threat) speaks volumes and shows a lot of, well, guts on her part.
Going over things again for this reread, I have to say she’s one of the best characters so far. She has no supernatural powers, isn’t at the peak of human physical strength or skill; she’s just an ordinary girl who expects better from her lackluster parents and wants to find out what happened to her best friend. She’s still brave enough to go into dangerous situations, speak up when she sees something wrong, and doesn’t let frustration at her circumstances or others consume her. That takes courage, easily more than it does for Guts with his giant sword, great physical strength, and burning anger. She may not be confident in her abilities or fully appreciative of them, but who was at fourteen (still don’t know her exact age, but that seems about right to me)? There’s no guarantee of how things will turn out, but I like to think she has what it takes to change something for the better. She’s easily one of the most mature characters in the series (and the closest contenders are Rickert and Puck – what does that say about the adults!?)
It’s kind of a shame Guts won’t have such a positive influence around, but he does have Puck to act as his conscience like some weird mix of Navi and Jiminy Cricket. He may be goofy and even a bit obnoxious, but as he said last volume “without we this story’d be way too dark.” His silliness might be annoying to some, his willingness to constantly remind Guts when he’s crossed the line is definitely something the guy needs. He knows that too. If the mere sight of elves, let alone listening to them chew you out when you step out of line really did make Guts “wanna crush ‘em,” things would have gone “Hey! Listen! Hey! Listen!” *SQUASH!* a long time ago. He’s had plenty of opportunities for it. But he hasn’t done it, and he may act like it’s because a bottomless healing potion is a useful thing to have around, but it’s really because he knows that by being there unconditionally, Puck is one of the few real friends he has at the moment, and he’s not too far gone that he doesn’t appreciate that.
But boy oh boy is he on a slippery slope. He did, after all, just kill children. Demon-elf children who eat people and livestock and gleefully kill each other while “playing” at war, but children nevertheless. Their actions seemed to be motivated by innocence rather than malice, and as the spirits of the Interstice point out, they didn’t become that way by choice. He didn’t do it to save the villagers either, but because of his personal hatred for Griffith, the Godhand, and Apostles, which has become so central to his existence that he’s willing to justify anything that brings him closer to his goal. It’s true that the Brand makes him a target for the forces of darkness, but he’s still actively seeking out and let’s his anger run wild when he confronts them. He’s so destructive the Holy Iron Chain Knights think he’s an entire squad with cannons. Heck, both the last two Valley guardians from last volume and Rosine herself feel compelled to ask “are you even human?” When that’s going on you know things are bad.
He isn’t completely gone yet; he’s keeping an eye out for Jill’s safety even as he skewers Rosine, but he’s still travelling through what the Skull Knight aptly calls “an overly cruel night,” one so immersed in pain, suffering, and cruelty he’s at risk of being consumed by it. The “beast of darkness” the Interstice spirits refer to isn’t just a metaphor for his anger; he becomes much more inured to what he’s doing and he really might become “a monster in the form of a man” or even “a real monster…like [his] friend.” Don’t forget, he has a Behelit on him. And for all the ambiguity of fate vs. choice in this series, one thing that’s clear is that a Behelit is never anywhere by chance.
Then there’s poor Rosine. For all that’s wrong with what she did, she’s the most tragic Apostle yet and it’s still possible to feel sorry for her. She wasn’t after power, on a misguided vendetta, constantly seeking stronger opponents, or just plain sadistic; all she wanted was for her parents to love and accept her. Even if her father wasn’t her real father she didn’t chose to be born into that situation and just wanted what any normal kid should expect regardless of their actual parentage. Granted, her father had ample reason to be mad at her when they found her in the Misty Valley; running away and holding up the whole village trying to find her was incredibly selfish and irresponsible of her, but he pushed it too far by bringing in the humiliation he feels raising what might be the child of a man who raped his wife.
But that doesn’t seem to be the whole story. Her parents were obviously sufficient sacrifices, and after she dies we do see of an image of her talking and laughing with her father as her mother brings dinner, which suggests he was a decent man so long as that one particular button wasn’t pushed. She must have cared for him as much as Jill cares for Zepek. And even if there wasn’t that, she still had Jill. The main tragedy comes from how she failed to understand the moral of Peekaf’s story – you need to cherish what you have or else you’ll lose it. By giving the story a different, happier ending to give herself hope she ended up fulfilling its warning, not realizing it until it was too late. At least Jill was able to learn from her example, even if she wasn’t trying to warn her away, so in some small way she still ended up doing some good in the end.
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