Griffith (Berserk)

Griffith is the main antagonist from the Berserk anime and manga.

Griffith is the current leader of the reborn Band of the Falcon and Supreme Commander of the Midland Regular Army. As the messianic "Falcon of Light", he has been at the fore of many battles, having amassed a reputation as a savior across the continent.

As the leader of the previous Band of the Falcon, he and his mercenaries are able to end the Hundred-Year War and bring peace to the war-torn kingdom of Midland. With the momentous desertion of his most trusted confidant Guts, however, Griffith beds Princess Charlotte on impulse, bringing about his imprisonment, year-long crippling torture, and the seeming demise of his dream. Though he is eventually rescued by the band, his state of extreme invalidity and undying desire to obtain his own kingdom compel him to sacrifice his comrades during the fifth Eclipse, for kinsmanship with the God Hand as their fifth member Femto – a demonic, idealized version of himself stripped of his empathy and human inhibitions. In time, he is reincarnated into the Physical World, concerned solely with the realization of his dream, which comes to pass with his thwarting of the Kushan invasion of Midland, the Blast of the Astral World he brings forth, and the remarkable rise of his utopian capital city, Falconia.

Appearance
Griffith is a very handsome man, with flowing white hair and beautiful blue eyes. Many more masculine men often remark on his beauty and how he looks like he stepped from a painting. Some go so far as to lust over him, including a man who he later faces as an enemy, however some people had resisted his charms such as Rickert, the former member of the Band of hawk, he slapped Griffith on the face and walked away.

Personality
Griffith has always carried himself in a well-mannered, exemplary fashion almost indistinguishable from that of nobility; his mannerisms, coupled with his keen intellect, often leave people astounded at his humble origins. His most notable trait, however, is his otherworldly charisma. Leadership has always come naturally to him. Those who choose to follow Griffith typically are overcome with emotions upon their first encounter with him, either entranced by the thought of splendor and grandeur at his side, or reeled in by his strong sense of ambition and conviction.

Even as a child, Griffith's strong sense of self and ambition were apparent. It is in the back alleys of his childhood city where he first sets his sights on acquiring his own kingdom. He has a multi-faceted demeanor during the earlier years of the band, at times appearing carefree, and almost child-like, while other times demonstrating ferocious killing intent and deadliness. This juxtaposition of undeniable distinction and common-born idiosyncrasies is what attracts people of varying walks of life to his mercenary band. In spite of his large following, in his earlier years, Griffith's ego is never noticeably inflated; after one of the Band of the Falcon's earlier skirmishes, he even takes the time to lament the death of a ten-year-old Falcon-in-training, remembering the boy's name and expressing regret over compelling the young soldier to join his cause.

The deaths of those fighting for his dream take a toll on him, however. In order to cope with the loss of them and ensure their deaths aren't in vain, Griffith begins relying on cold logic and reasoning, placing higher precedence on success than compassion – paradoxically expressing compassion for his comrades by suppressing it. It is not long before he is completely apathetic to his comrades' deaths. Even then, he still possesses his humanity, and questions his immoral schemes, at one point inquiring of Guts if he is a cruel person. The high esteem to which he is held does eventually have an effect on his ego, however. Despite the affection he displays towards some comrades, Griffith comes to believe they are beneath him, nonetheless, considering them nothing more than tools for achieving his dream, with none of them fitting his criteria of a true friend.

Among the tens of thousands of allies and enemies he encounters, Guts is the only one who manages to stifle Griffith's ambition and make him forget about his dream. He explicitly displays care for Guts, on several occasions risking his life to save the swordsman and even losing his composure upon Guts' endangerment. It is because of this that his ego crumbles after Guts' departure; so accustomed to seizing all of his desires, Griffith forgoes all logical reasoning upon losing his most treasured soldier, throwing away all he has achieved and endangering the Band of the Falcon after suffering merely one loss. When he invokes the Eclipse and is presented with a reflection of his true self, he comes to terms with who he sees – a slave to the god named dream, first and foremost – and accepts the consequences of his ambition.

Griffith's rebirth as Femto brings about the crystallization of his ambition, rendering him undeterred by moral inhibitions and focused solely on the realization of his dream. He has stated that, save for the residual feelings of his infant vessel, he is now "free"  – his heart frozen as a member of the God Hand. As a consequent of his ascension, Midlanders often remark that Griffith now possesses an untouchable, inhuman presence. Regardless, Femto is still, in essence, pre-Eclipse Griffith, devoid only of some fundamental human emotions while still possessing his memories, ambition, and ego.

Swordsmanship
Griffith has always been an expert in the field of swordsmanship. With his precise piercing, he has swiftly dispatched enemies with one stab from his sword, capable of easily puncturing vitals if he so chooses. To combat denser, larger swords, he uses a skillful parrying technique, which involves using the opponent's sword weight against them, deflecting the larger blade down the side of his lithe sabre to create openings for offensive strikes. Griffith's cutting power is also considerable; he is able to completely sever Nosferatu Zodd's arm in a pincer strike with Guts, making him the second man in 300 years to wound the apostle.

Charisma
Even prior to his rebirth, Griffith is a magnetic figure who easily reels in admiration and devotion. His angelic beauty in conjunction with his allure and persuasiveness make his presence undeniable and his ambitious dream ever so captivating. The range of his charm is only enhanced by his legendary success, with people of all walks of life admiring his high climb from nothing. Among even the Midland nobility, Griffith operates as efficiently as he does in battle, his illustriousness winning over the affection of nobles and commoners alike.

Griffith's reincarnation brings about the tenfold increase in his already staggering charisma. With his return to the physical realm, the idolization he once garnered warps into exaltation, his presence now rightly described as inhuman by affected devotees. Inducing submission into others has become an effortless task for him; even highly revered individuals collapse to their knees upon their first encounter with him. Most telling of his newfound influence is the alliance he has formed between demonkind and humanity, leading both the sinful black and blind white sheep, in accordance with the prophecy of the Holy See's scriptures.

Divinity
After his transcendence into Femto, Griffith no longer exists within the reasons of the Physical World, and as such, is invulnerable to mortal opposition – an existence no single man alone can rival. His absolution is akin to that of a story's author; those partaking in his fable have no chance of ever challenging him. Fate and fortune are therefore on his side, which alongside his now overwhelming charisma and enormous od, make his dominance in the physical realm absolute.

More glaringly astral is his telekinetic ability to manipulate gravity and space. He has manipulated repulsive force to repel physical attacks, as well as created gravity wells to catch enemies with an invisible attractive force capable of crushing the afflicted into oblivion. Most notable is his ability to warp and distort space, which he has used to easily grab a space-cleaving tear from the Sword of Actuation and redirect it entirely.

Additionally, Griffith has displayed the ability to commune with the souls of the dead, and is able to manifest their lost consciousnesses to provide them one last opportunity to bid farewell to the world.

Trivia

 * Griffith's God Hand name "Femto" is a mathematical prefix for 1/1,000,000,000,000,000. That is one quadrillionth, or one millionth of one billionth of the measurement unit this prefix is used for (a femtosecond is one quadrillionth of a second, a femtometer is one quadrillionth of a meter, etc).
 * Griffith reads up on varying fields of study in his downtime during the original Band of the Falcon's golden age, including history, religion, philosophy, chemistry, tactics, cosmetics, cooking, et cetera; his reason for doing so being that, "To become great, one has to be able to do more than fight."