"Skull Knight" is episode 37 of the Berserk manga series.
Synopsis[]
Alone, Guts camps out in the woods for the night. A noise in the shadows startles him, and when he draws his sword to fight the threat, it turns out to only be a wolf. Guts considers that being alone after years of sleeping among an army of people has put him on edge. He begins to doubt himself and his decision to leave.
Suddenly, Guts feels an enormous presence coming from behind him. He draws his sword to face what he assumes to be a monster, but nothing is there. His mind immediately conjured images of Nosferatu Zodd. No time to relax, however, as again Guts feels a menacing presence from behind his back. He swings his sword wildly, but it only cuts through the air. Hearing a noise from the dark brush, Guts steels himself for the appearance of Zodd, but instead, a mysterious horseman seems to materialize, and it is wearing unsettling skeleton-themed armor, giving a sense of otherworldliness. He speaks in a hollow voice, and despite his malignant presence, he does not attack. The Skull Knight addresses Guts as the Struggler, and tells him of an event which will take place in one year's time, known as the Eclipse. Displaying an odd knowledge of Guts' past, he says that Guts, having been born of a dead woman, and having spent his entire life on the battlefield, and thus on the verge of death, has gifted Guts with the ability to escape it. He also tells Guts that he and his friends will also face unimaginable tragedy and death. The Skull Knight then turns and leaves, his presence vanishing into the night.
On the same night, in Wyndham, Princess Charlotte looks longingly outside her window into the rainy night. Her handmaidens consider her apparent depression to be the result of the cumulative deaths of Julius, Adonis and the Queen of Midland. The handmaidens leave, and when Charlotte turns away from the window, she is startled by a knock. Outside, Griffith is standing in the branches of a nearby tree and wordlessly asking to come in through the window.
Charlotte opens her window, and Griffith greets her cordially. He asks to be invited into her room, and for her to keep his visit a secret, lest their reputations be tarnished. He jumps through the window, soaking wet, but he is nevertheless hugged by Charlotte, who tells him that she feared for his life every day while he was in battle. She laments that, upon the happy event of his return, her stepmother had died on the same night.
As she breaks down in his chest, and a possessed look comes over his face, Griffith holds her tightly and kisses her.
Appearances[]
- Guts
- Corkus (Flashback)
- Casca (Flashback)
- Pippin (Flashback)
- Rickert (Flashback)
- Judeau (Flashback)
- Zodd (Flashback)
- Skull Knight
- Charlotte
- Griffith