Guts

In the border region of Midland, the remaining members of the group come to terms with the severity of Griffith's injuries and discuss their future. In a tender moment with Casca, his lover convinces Guts to leave Griffith again if he truly lives up to Griffith's interpretation of a "friend," as the White Falcon described at Primrose Hall. Without warning, Griffith, having gathered his strength to seize the remaining carriage, flees the area, with Guts and the Falcons in pursuit. When Griffith crashes the carriage and lands in a lake, Guts and the others rush to his aid. However, just as Guts reaches him, all the Falcons are whisked away to another dimension by the Crimson Beherit, Griffith's reclaimed one.

Numerous anthropomorphic beings welcome the group to a nighttime feast they call "The Eclipse," much to Guts's shock. Afterward, four profound beings emerge from the dimension, introducing themselves as the God Hand and revealing the purpose of the Eclipse: for Griffith to sacrifice his comrades to join their divine ranks, as destined. Seemingly inevitable, Griffith, weighing his options as a disabled person and reaffirming his dreams and ambitions, offers his former comrades as sacrifices, thus initiating the branding and one-sided slaughter of the falcons.

Guts possesses immense physical strength, endurance, agility, and reaction speed—the result of endless, rigorous training since childhood. Guts has successfully defeated larger, more massive human warriors such as Bazuso, Zondark, and Boscogn, as well as demonic beasts such as apostles and their spawn, in combat. He has also prevailed over groups of ordinary, unskilled soldiers and bandits—one of Guts' most famous feats was single-handedly facing off against a hundred soldiers during the Hundred Year War. By the age of twenty, Guts seemed to have reached the peak of his physical fitness and martial prowess; however, after losing an eye and an arm, he managed to recover and become even stronger than before, making him a kind of apex predator among humans.

After surviving the Eclipse, Guts becomes vengeful, wanting nothing more than to hunt down and kill any apostle he encounters and, more importantly, to exact revenge on Griffith and the God Hand. He leaves the regressed Casca behind for two years to embark on the warpath against demons. During his two-year hunt, Guts becomes largely selfish and antisocial, indifferent to the suffering of others and disgusted by those he perceives as weak. His withdrawn nature and hostility toward those who attempt to connect with him stem from a fear of forming new emotional attachments; a fear of making new, precious companions like the ones he lost in the Eclipse. At that time, he could even be considered villainous.

Above all, Guts embodies perseverance and resilience. Despite his many trials and tribulations, he never gave in to fate and persisted despite seemingly insurmountable obstacles. Indeed, Guts is a staunch opponent of ideas such as causality and fate, believing his decisions are ultimately made by his own free will and disregarding such beliefs. But after Guts's strength and abilities proved insufficient to fight Griffith, resulting in his failure to save Casca from him a second time, Guts was broken for the first time in his life, leaving him unhinged and incapacitated.

Known for his sternness, Guts is a gruff, cynical man who holds a generally bleak outlook on life. This is a result of the constant waves of suffering and numerous betrayals since his youth, with nearly all of the highlights of his life becoming minimal over time. Despite his cautious, brooding exterior, he displays a calmer, more compassionate side towards the people he trusts, appearing noticeably less reclusive and distant, yet still retaining his dry frankness. Even as his inner darkness festers deep within him and its temptation becomes increasingly difficult to resist, he retains his empathy and compassion, refusing to completely cast aside his humanity.

During his formative years, Guts is bereft of a true purpose in life, killing mercenaries as a child simply to survive. A blank slate, he often seeks approval from those he respects most, content with only "having one person look his way." His insecurities gradually blossom into individuality upon meeting Griffith, someone he ultimately strives to stand next to as an equal instead of being looked down upon. The swordsman then embarks on a journey of self-discovery, where he realizes his eternal connection to and passion for the sword. With this realization, he begins to hone his craft and fight even stronger opponents, with a new purpose in life.

A very tall, broad-shouldered man with well-developed muscles. Although he looks thirty, he is only in his twenties. He has been hardened and aged by a life of war. During the events of the Eclipse, Guts lost his left arm up to the elbow and his right eye. His right eyelid is permanently closed, hiding the gouged out eye; only in the manga "Prototype" is Guts shown wearing an eyepatch. He is covered from head to toe in scars and burns - the most noticeable of which is on the bridge of Guts's nose, from a blow he suffered from Gambino as a child. The largest scar is a horizontal one across his chest, received from an encounter with Slan in Qliphoth. The brand of sacrifice on the back right of his neck is more than a scar - it is a witchcraft sigil (the mark of sacrifice) that attracts demons to the hero and makes Guts aware of their approach: it begins to ache and bleed when evil is near.
Guts has brown eyes and coarse black hair; after acquiring the Berserker Armor, Guts gained a streak of gray above his forehead, likely from the strain of wearing the ominous armor. Guts's penchant for wearing black clothing and armor during his apostle hunts earned him the nickname "The Black Swordsman," a tradition continued with his acquisition of the Berserker Armor. During his Golden Age, Guts wore a distinctive helmet with a massive visor protecting his upper face. Guts discarded this helmet when he left the Falcons and never wore any other helmets until acquiring the Berserker Armor.