Do we like them?

Do we like Griffith?

A character from Berserk (1989–present)

Our score: 1 out of 10. Dazzling, inspiring, and dangerous to trust. His dream matters more to him than the people who follow it, so we wouldn't back him.

Griffith leads the Band of the Hawk, a mercenary company that he built from nothing. He is beautiful, brilliant in battle and politics, and able to make people believe in him. Berserk follows his rise through a brutal medieval war-torn world. He wants a kingdom of his own, and he is fixed on that goal.

He wins over the wandering swordsman Guts, and the two become the center of the Band. Griffith's charm is real, and his soldiers would follow him anywhere. Under the warmth is a man who sees people mainly by how useful they are to his dream, and the story keeps asking what that dream costs.

We score him low because the leader we admire early on turns out to put his ambition above every bond he forms. When the dream is threatened, he is willing to betray the people who trusted him most, and he later returns as a monstrous figure. That is the betrayal that drives the rest of Guts's story.