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The Hand of Causality

In this world, is the destiny of mankind controlled by some transcendental entity or law? Is it like the hand of God hovering above? At least, it is true that man has no control, even over his own will.

Causality (原因結果, Gen'in Kekka) is the principle of cause and effect in the world of Berserk. On its own, causality is simply an abstraction and is divorced from destiny/fate (運命, unmei), which is an arbitrarily powerful enforcement of predetermined events in conjunction with the inevitable events predetermined by such an enforcement. It is also unrelated to karma ("業"), a term referred to by Flora when discussing which places people reach after death.[1]

The Idea of Evil applies causality in its dictation of humanity's destiny.[2] According to the fortune teller in the troupe of travelling performers, humans cannot interfere in "God's grand scheme", especially if it involves the whole world.[3] The God Hand, despite being cognizant of causality's flow and having great foresight for most possibilities, are not omniscient and cannot anticipate everything.[4]

According to Flora, causality is a spiral, not a circle; although some events may appear to be recurrences of others past, they are not subject to happen exactly as before.[5] She also believes that fate is bestowed by "God", but humans are ultimately the ones that choose it.[6]

Notes[]

  • When discussing with Luca the events that led to the Incarnation Ceremony, the Egg of the Perfect World points to how elements like his pseudo-apostle siring or the way Luca took Casca to Albion are part of what humans would call "the guidance of a greater will" or, possibly, "the gears of fate".[7]
  • After being told by Jarif that the war between the Kushan Empire and the Holy See domain is but a single event within an "unbelievable, inescrutable, tremendous current" guided by "the Falcon", Silat claims that the Bakiraka have caught glimpses of an "inescrutable current" and wonders whether it is right to yield themselves to something inescrutable.[8]

References[]

  1. ^ Berserk :: Volume 24, "Astral World"
  2. ^ Berserk :: Volume N/A, "God of the Abyss (2)"
  3. ^ Berserk :: Volume 12, "Promised Time"
  4. ^ Berserk :: Volume 13, "Escape"
  5. ^ Berserk :: Volume 26, "Claw Marks"
  6. ^ Berserk :: Volume 24, "Magic Stone"
  7. ^ Berserk :: Volume 20, "Omen"
  8. ^ Berserk :: Volume 33, "Exodus"

Appendices[]

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