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== References == |
== References == |
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== Appendices == |
== Appendices == |
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Revision as of 01:13, 30 September 2017
An inactive beherit.
Beherits are stone fetishes of unknown supernatural origin said to govern the fate of humanity.[1] They are used primarily for summoning the angels of the God Hand, at which point their owners are granted a wish in exchange for a sacrifice. The fabled Crimson Beherit (or Egg of the King) stands out among others, appearing only to individuals qualified to be reborn as the God Hand's kinsman.[2]
Overview
An active beherit.
A beherit resembles an egg, covered with human facial features arrayed across its surface, giving it a rather disconcerting appearance. While seemingly inanimate most times, beherits appear to be living things, possessing an aura of unspecified dread about them. On occasion, one of a beherit's eyes may open and stare at an examiner, though this is usually disregarded as an illusion. Notably, when Puck carries the Slug Count's beherit by one of its nostrils, it tears in discomfort.[3]
The purpose of a beherit is to create an Interstice between the Physical World and part of the Astral World where the members of the God Hand reside, granting their owners an audience with the angels. A beherit belongs to a predestined owner and therefore, no matter the circumstances, will always find its way to them when said owner's desire is great enough.[1] Upon activation, the fetish rearranges its facial features, forming a distressed face which sheds tears of blood and emits a low scream before creating a temporal junction.[4]
Beherits are not rendered null after activation, and at any time can be used to escape death by summoning the God Hand and offering another sacrifice.[3]
Crimson Beherit
The Crimson Beherit, also known as the Egg of the King, is the most distinguished of the arcane artifacts, said to grant one the world in exchange for the owner's flesh and blood.[5] Appearing once every 216 years,[6] when the time of the Eclipse draws near, owners of Crimson Beherits are destined to discard their humanity in exchange for being reborn as an angel of the God Hand.[2] It is unknown whether there were five different Crimson Beherits or if the same beherit came to each of the God Hand members in turn.
Notes
A blue-gray beherit, featured in artwork for the Berserk Visual & Story File.
- While "behelit" (a popularized alternative name for the artifact) has no meaning beyond the context of Berserk, "beherit" is the Syriac word for "devil", commonly ascribed to the Syrian culture's concept of hell.
- Additionally, "beherit" translates to [ベヘリット] in Japanese, or "beheritto".
- As evidenced by the Slug Count, who couldn't bring himself to sacrifice his daughter Theresia, apostles who activate a beherit a second time without offering a sacrifice are in turn dragged into the Vortex of Souls.[7]
- Guts currently possesses the beherit that belonged to the Slug Count,[8] which he took as a means of reaching the God Hand.
- Puck affectionately refers to the beherit in Guts' possession as Betchi,[12] and considers it his own.[1][13]
- The Skull Knight has ingested a number of beherits from slain apostles, which he uses to coat his thorned sword with the molten fetishes and create his Sword of Actuation.[14]
- A blue-gray beherit appears in artwork for the Berserk Visual & Story File, having been in a deceased young boy's possession.
References
- ^ a b c Berserk :: Volume 24, "Magic Stone"
- ^ a b Berserk :: Volume 12, "All the Inhuman Monsters"
- ^ a b Qref not found
- ^ Berserk :: Volume 12, "Eclipse"
- ^ Qref not found
- ^ Berserk :: Volume 12, "Promised Time"
- ^ Qref not found
- ^ Qref not found
- ^ Green colored beherit in the 1998 Berserk calendar
- ^ Blue-green colored beherit in Berserk Illustrations File artwork
- ^ Turquoise colored beherit in Berserk dust jacket artwork
- ^ Berserk :: Volume 15, "Girl I Remember"
- ^ Berserk :: Volume 39, "Great Gurus"
- ^ Berserk :: Volume 26, "Companions"
