Skull Knight

An Apostle (使徒 "Shito"?) is a demonic being that was once human. Apostles are among the most powerful inhabitants of the world of Berserk and are generally the bitterest enemies of Guts and his comrades. Apostles are embodiments of evil, rejected by humanity and having rejected humanity.

Apostles are closely connected to behelits: every Apostle was once a person who possessed a behelit and, in a moment of extreme despair, used it—consciously or not. A behelit allows one to summon the Hand of God and strike a bargain with it: supernatural powers and wish-fulfillment in exchange for a sacrifice. This sacrifice can be someone dear and close to the Apostle—by condemning them to death, the Apostle renounces their own humanity.

Apostles can assume the form of enormous monsters, endowed with immense strength and unique abilities that vary from Apostle to Apostle. They can also revert to human form at will—many Apostles prefer to hide among humans, revealing their monstrous nature only when absolutely necessary, though many retain beastly features even in human form. Only a few Apostles, like Rosina and Beherit-Apostle, have never reverted to human form.

The Hand of God is a quinquerat (five-member alliance) of sovereign demons who act as executors of the will of the Idea of ​​Evil (chapter 202) due to their desires being inextricably linked to this entity. (chapter 83) They rule over the apostles as lords and are responsible for facilitating the demonic reincarnation of beherit owners during sacrificial ceremonies. (chapter 76) They have orchestrated numerous significant events that have greatly influenced the course of humanity and the state of the universe.
Each member of the God's Hand was once human and the previous wielder of the Crimson Beherit, marking them as individuals destined to be reborn as the demon lords they now are. 216 years apart, each of them attained their true form during a festival known as the Eclipse. (Chapter 76)

Hanarr is a dwarven blacksmith who lives in the stone forest beneath Skellige. He forged both the Berserker Armor and the Skull Knight armor.

Story
Fantasy Arch
Hanarr meets with Gedfring, the Skull Knight, and Guts shortly after the Skull Knight's arrival in Skellig. He asks what a sorcerer like Gedfring is doing deep in Skellig and greets the Skull Knight as "king." After the Skull Knight expresses gratitude to Hanarr for the armor the dwarf forged, keeping him in good health, Hanarr is pleased with the Skull Knight's "good health" as he makes noise in his coffin. Turning his attention to Guts, Hanarr is surprised to see the Berserker Armor again and notes that Guts has used it extensively as his master. Hanarr warns Guts that his use of the armor's power does not mean he has mastered it, and that he can still wield it and absorb it as his master. Without warning, Hanarr wields his hammer and strikes the Berserker Armor with great force, causing it to activate and begin absorbing Guts.

Flora is an old witch and Schierke's mentor. Her home is in the woods near the village of Enoch. As a master of the Od and the art of magic, Flora possesses extraordinary power. She has a kind manner and is always ready to help those in need; she harbors no ill will toward the secular authorities or the Holy See, although it was their persecution of "heretics" that forced Flora to settle in the remote forests. Flora treats Schierke with particular warmth, more like an adopted daughter than a student.

Flora is much older than she appears—perhaps several centuries old. Old Morgan, fifty years ago, as a teenager, visited Flora for medicine for his ailing mother, and when he encountered her again during the events of Berserk, he was surprised to note that the witch hadn't changed at all in appearance. Flora had met the Skull Knight in the past—they are old acquaintances, and it was the Skull Knight who left Flora his old Berserker Armor for safekeeping. Flora's storeroom also contains many wondrous items, amassed over the years—some of which the witch shared with Guts and the members of his party.

According to Flora, the Skull Knight smiled shyly before taking on his current form.
The Skull Knight states that, like Guts and Casca, he also resides in the Between.
Flora claims that Guts is the Skull Knight's "comrade in suffering."
Puck states that the Skull Knight "kind of feels like an elf" when he first meets him.
Despite the Skull Knight's position as an enemy of the Inhumans, he spared the apostles, particularly Count Slug and Rosina, after they killed the Band of the Falcon members traveling with Rickert.

Almost always mounted on his horse companion, all of the Skull Knight's final battles have been fought from horseback. His mount is both fast and agile, capable of swift and precise movements, leaping great distances, and even running up and down vertical surfaces. While rescuing Guts and Casca while simultaneously being attacked by the newly born Femto, the Skull Knight effortlessly captures two mercenaries interfering with Femto's efforts and escapes unharmed from the Temporal Knot. However, he himself has demonstrated superhuman speed and strength, traversing a vertical tunnel, leaping from its walls, and moving so quickly that even over great distances he appears a blur.

Most unusual is the Skull Knight's exceptional foresight; he possesses vast knowledge of what has yet to be revealed.

In "Elfhelm," when the restored Casca suffers a panic attack upon seeing Guts, the Skull Knight watches from afar as the swordsman flees the scene. Shortly thereafter, the Skull Knight meets Guts on a cliffside and reveals that what lies at the end of the swordsman's journey is more than just a pretty scene. He then speaks briefly with Gedfring and subsequently accompanies him before descending into the stone forest to seek repairs for his armor from its creator, the dwarven blacksmith Hanarr. There, Guts is shown bloody memories ingrained in the Berserker Armor, of the moments of its previous owner's death, to which the Skull Knight asserts that what Guts saw was "the end of a foolish king and the beginning of a dead man haunting the endless night."

Fencing
The Skull Knight's sword skills are shown.
The Skull Knight's sword skills are shown.

The Skull Knight's mastery of swordsmanship is his most distinctive skill, allowing him to easily dispatch apostles with a single strike of his sharp sword. Relying solely on his basic swordsmanship and wit, he was capable of severing Zodd the Undying's arm in combat. Despite his sword being normal-sized, he demonstrated the ability to cleave through numerous apostles in their monstrously large true forms.

After swallowing his spiked sword and coating it with swallowed Beherits to create his Beherit Sword, his swordsmanship capabilities are increased tenfold. A single strike from his Beherit Sword affects the dimensional scale, as seen in Qliphoth; during the collapse of a domain, he can use his newly formed sword to not only lure a horde of demons into a bottomless vortex but also cleave open space-time portals for near-instantaneous travel. On the head of Ganishka's Shiva form, a strike from the Skull Knight's Beherit sword intended for Femto is controlled by the angel and redirected at the apostle—its large-scale space-splitting properties ultimately trigger the Great Roar of the Astral World.

Soon after, Grunbeld and Zodd arrive on the mansion grounds in search of Flora. While Grunbeld confronts Guts, Zodd chooses to restrain his rival, ordering lower-ranking apostles to bring him Flora's head. When the Skull Knight attempts to shift his attention elsewhere, Zodd obstructs him, finding it odd that the knight would be interested in a woman in the middle of battle and claiming he is the only one capable of restraining the knight. The knight responds that they both have different reasons for opposing each other this time. During the battle, Zodd witnesses Guts donning his berserker armor, recalling previous battles between himself and his rival, and surmises that the Skull Knight must want Guts to follow the path of a knight.

Some time later, on a moonlit beach, the Skull Knight appears before Guts, warning him of the harm that befalls those who wield the Berserker Armor and revealing that he was its previous owner. He admonishes Guts to never neglect the armor if he wishes to continue living as a human. After receiving this advice, a curious Guts asks the knight about the reason for the apostles' attack on Flora's mansion. The Skull Knight reveals that Griffith likely considered Flora an obstacle in his quest for worldly supremacy due to her powerful use of magic; and that only those who exist beyond the Physical World can resist the Falcon of Light. The Skull Knight later informs Guts of the Flower Storm Monarch in Elfhelm, suggesting that the elf may be able to restore the regressed Casca to her former self, but warns that Casca's desires may differ from what the swordsman desires.

The Skull Knight tries to kill Femto.
The Skull Knight tries to kill Femto.

At the climax of the Battle of Wyndham, after Griffith assumes his true form as Femto and approaches Ganishka's head, the Skull Knight appears and attempts to strike the angel from behind with his Beherit sword. However, his arrival is anticipated, and Femto manipulates the sword's strike through a spatial distortion, which then redirects it at Ganishka. This triggers a chain reaction with Ganishka's twice-reincarnated form, resulting in the Great Roar of the Astral World, giving birth to the global Fantasia Gap and manifesting the World Spiral Tree in the apostle's place.

After hinting that he was the one who told Flora that Guts and his group would be visiting her, the Skull Knight arrives at the witch's door after Guts's group leaves the Spirit Tree Mansion for Enoch Village. When Flora suggests he has a favor to ask, he replies, "Even if I don't do it myself... that factor may also be a factor governed by the law of causality..." He later comes to Guts's aid in Qliphoth when Slan defeats the swordsman, disappointed to see only her and not the other God Hand angels. When Guts finally musters the strength to damage Slan with his cannon arm, the Skull Knight assures him that his Dragon Slayer—"tempered by the malice of hundreds... thousands of the dead"—will be able to run through the angel. Heeding the Skull Knight's advice, Guts stabs Slan in the stomach, causing her assumed form to decompose. Slan's sudden disappearance has a negative impact on Qliphoth, as the heart of the region becomes chaotic and the lair begins to collapse. This forces the Skull Knight to swing his Beherit Sword, which he uses to trap the growing swarm of fallen beasts in a deep vortex and return Guts to safety.

Later, at the Spirit Tree Mansion, the Skull Knight oversees Flora's finishing touches to the Berserker Armor, declaring that she must understand the danger it poses and its karmic nature. She agrees with his first point, but states that it will be necessary for the intended user's journey, and that the choice she and the Skull Knight made is not doomed to be repeated. Suddenly, both are alerted to the apostles' invasion. They emerge onto the mansion's balcony, from which the Skull Knight leaps, landing on his horse. A surprised Flora asks if the knight intends to fight for her, given her imminent death, to which he confirms, stating that her death should still be easy.

Stepping away from the beginning of the ceremony, the Skull Knight warns Luka not to return to the tower if she cares for her well-being, though she does so anyway. As Luka leaves, the Skull Knight muses on her "ignorant stupidity," somewhat perplexed by her calm outlook on the situation and the fact that she doesn't ask for his help. Despite this, he notes that he won't be able to help her, as "Everything moves as if parallel to that time." Soon after, Zodd meets him.

At dawn, the Skull Knight reappears atop the tower wall in the midst of battle, signaling his enemies to look toward the recreated Griffith. After a while, the Skull Knight looks down upon the ruins of a city atop a distant cliff, contemplating the events that will unfold after Griffith's return.

In the scorched land that was once the Misty Valley, the Skull Knight strides through the ruined valley, realizing that Guts played a role in its destruction. Concluding that Guts has not fallen to evil, the Skull Knight wonders how long the swordsman can continue his path of slaughter. Approaching Rosina's tree, he dismounts and reaches into a small crevice between the tree's roots, extracting Rosina's Beherit, which he then swallows.

Later, the Skull Knight appears to Guts and explains the significance of the Tower of Condemnation in the God Hand's design: the entire area is a haven for the restless dead, as it is the stage of the Incarnation Ceremony, where Femto will regain his corporeal form as Griffith. He states that the Incarnation Ceremony cannot be stopped, as it was predetermined by fate. However, Guts is skeptical of the supposed ultimate nature of causality, pointing out that both the Skull Knight and Zodd predicted his own death during the Eclipse, yet he still survived. The Skull Knight, impressed by Guts's resolve, explains that the Incarnation Ceremony could have been different from the Eclipse and that Guts could indeed have been a "leaping fish" in a river, representing causality. Before departing, he leaves Guts with a parting message: "Fight or be saved." Your beloved will be left alone. It won't be as easy as catching two birds."

At the very last moment, as the Tower of Conviction partially collapses, the Skull Knight saves Luka from falling to her death and leads her to the Tower of Conviction's burial site. When the two encounter the Egg of the Perfect World, the Skull Knight continues to strike the apostle; his attack fails to kill the egg, causing him to momentarily doubt the reliability of his sword before concluding that it is simply not time for the apostle to die. Shortly after their encounter, they witness a massive manifestation of malice permeating Albion. Realizing that malice takes form without temporal transition, the Skull Knight realizes that the Incarnation Ceremony has begun.

Bypassing the attack, holding nothing back, the Skull Knight captures Guts and Casca and emerges from the temporal junction.

Returning to the Physical World, the Skull Knight instructs Rickert to tend to Guts and Casca's wounds. The bloodthirsty Zodd returns to resume the battle, but the Skull Knight requests that he postpone their confrontation. Seeing that Guts has survived the Eclipse and confirmed his prediction, an intrigued Zodd agrees to the knight's summons out of respect for Guts's "insane luck." After tending to Guts and Casca's wounds, the Skull Knight takes Rickert and the surviving Branded to a nearby elven refuge.

Four days later, in a moonlit valley near Godot's cottage, the Skull Knight appears before Guts and informs the swordsman that, having been branded, he now lives in the Between and will be constantly haunted by both demons and evil spirits. He continues his monologue as night specters begin to stalk Guts, but after Guts silences them for his references to "destiny" and "sacrifice," and at the sight of a demon fighter declaring war against the demons, the Skull Knight begins to understand how Guts survived the Eclipse. When the spirits finally cease their attack, the knight informs Guts that the specters were not defeated, but simply found another "torch" in the Between to hunt, hinting at Casca's danger. After he and Guts arrive at Casca's location, the Skull Knight notices that spirits are simply surrounding her as she gives birth to a creature he realizes is Guts's tainted child. As the sun rises and the child dissolves into the Astral World, the knight advises Guts to follow the guidance of his mark and heed the darkness he will inevitably encounter, lest he be consumed by it. He then wishes the struggling man luck and bids him farewell.

Golden Age Arch
On the night of Guts's departure from the Band of the Falcon, the Skull Knight approaches him for the first time to leave him with an omen. Upon approaching Guts's campfire, his aura alone initially repels Guts, causing the former Falcon to become restless and anxious. He begins to speak of a dangerous event called the "Eclipse" that will occur in a year, declaring that Guts and his comrades will be swept away by a tide of madness and death. Further, warning the "struggler," the Skull Knight urges Guts to fight and survive, despite certain death, before leaving the camp and disappearing into the night.

As the eclipse approaches a year later, the Skull Knight reappears to aid Rickert when his group is ambushed by Slime and Rosina, among other apostles. As Slime prepares to devour Rickert, the Skull Knight intervenes and demands the apostles stop the slaughter. Naturally, the threatened apostles flee the scene, and with their departure, the Skull Knight also departs into the night.

On the day of the Eclipse, the Skull Knight encounters his longtime rival, the Nosferatu Zodd, whom he believes guards the dimensional gateway to the Interstice where the Eclipse is occurring. However, Zodd's true purpose in being there is to engage in combat with the Skull Knight. Recognizing that his encounter with Zodd was within the realm of causality, the Skull Knight engages Zodd, deftly outpacing his rival and then breaking through to the nearest temporal junction.

Manga E88 Skull Knight Attacks Void
The Skull Knight attacks Void.
Upon entering the Eclipse, the Skull Knight immediately attacks Void, who counters by creating two linked portals. After blocking his own attack and briefly glimpsed with Void, the Skull Knight sets his sights on rescuing Guts and Casca, quickly dispatching the apostles in his path. In his approach, the Skull Knight is targeted by Femto, who uses his newfound powers to form a compacting sphere of demons around the knight.

The Skull Knight's past is shrouded in mystery. He harbors a particular animosity toward the God Hand. Some people have addressed him as "king" and "your majesty." He also confirmed that he previously wore the Berserker Armor, and the armor's adaptive helmet was shaped like a skull before Guts donned it. Furthermore, according to Schierke, the previous wearer of the Berserker Armor fought until he bled to the last drop of blood. At some point, his current armor was crafted by the dwarven blacksmith Hanarr. He also has a history with several very old people, such as the Immortal Zodd and Flora, the latter of whom he considers dear.

Combat data
Weapon
Skull Knight Sword
Fighting style
Swordsman
Strengths
Spatial Manipulation (Beherit's Sword)

Allies
Flora
Gedfring
Haran
Guts and his companions
Among his activities, he hunts non-humans and apostles.
Enemies
Hand of the Lord.

The character is undead

The skeletal man wears heavy, pointed armor, has glowing red eyes, and rides a dark horse dressed in bony armor.

The Skull Knight is a mysterious figure and self-proclaimed enemy of the Inhumans, waging war against demons for millennia.

Approximately 1,000 years old, he possesses extensive knowledge of world events and remarkable precognition regarding the flow of Causality. It is the Skull Knight who breaks through to the Fifth Eclipse and saves Guts and Casca from their deaths. He later appears during the Kushan invasion of Midland, atop the twice-reincarnated Ganishka in an apparent attempt to kill Femto, and with his Beherit Sword, creates an astral rift used by angels to unleash the Great Roar of the Astral World.

Personality
An ancient being, the Skull Knight is aloof and enigmatic, acutely aware of the flow of cause and effect and able to foresee events that have yet to occur. As such, he possesses a brutally realistic worldview, frequently citing the inevitability of the flow of Causality. Despite this worldview, he has proven himself quite heroic, repeatedly saving Guts, his comrades, and Luka. However, Flora doubts whether his actions are motivated by genuine concern or simply a means of advancing his own interests—a question the Skull Knight ignores. He ultimately values ​​the human desire to survive and defy fate, encouraging Guts to fight against causality and aptly calling him a "fighter." He is also quite insightful, warning Guts that Casca's true desire may differ from the Black Swordsman's.

Skull has a long-standing rivalry with the Nosferatu Zodd, who is always happy to duel the knight, calling him an "old friend." He is generally indifferent to Zodd, though he openly acknowledges their history and rivalry. He also knew and apparently had a close relationship with the witch Flora for at least several hundred years.