A single, shining falcon, sundering the thick darkness... They believed instinctively: this was their "desired".
The Falcon of Light (光の鷹) is the name given to a luminous metaphysical avian manifestation that appears in the minds of people as a guiding beacon of salvation. Griffith is widely acknowledged to be the Falcon of Light incarnate,[1][2][3][4][5][6] and the manifestation often shares his facial features.[7][8]
Story[]
Conviction Arc[]
Two years after Griffith escapes the Tower of Rebirth, calamity befalls Midland.[1] People from Midland and each land of the Holy See territories[9] share a dream prophesying the coming of a shining falcon,[1][7][4] with priests believing this to be a good omen and a revelation from god about the one who would save people.[7] The Miracle Recognition Department of the Holy See, though, intends to build a discourse around the dream, seeing that certifying and controlling the power coming from the miracle becoming reality is the Holy See's obligation.[9] The king of Midland succumbs to illness. On his deathbed, he has a vision of the falcon in a dream. In his delirious vision, he sits on his throne, his soldiers keeping him from his daughter, Charlotte, as the falcon appears behind her, wraps its wings around her, and bears the visage of Griffith. The sight makes the king wonder, in his dying moment, if what he truly wanted was for Griffith to free him from the burden of his rule.[7]
This falcon appears before Zodd in a vision. After stating the Immortal seeks not words and Zodd corroborating it as he assumes his released form, claiming he only seeks the absolute strongest, the falcon metaphysically wounds the apostle and instructs him to travel to Albion, where he will find what he is looking for.[10]
Millennium Falcon Arc[]
The Pontiff's Revelation[]
The pontiff of the Holy See, ill and resting during his journey to Vritannis, overhears cardinals discussing his potential death and successor. Reflecting on his unremarkable life, he feels regretful and insignificant. As he drifts into a vision, he sees an enormous white falcon with a man's head and long white hair. The pontiff reaches out to touch the falcon's feathers as if destiny itself was reaching out to him, but the vision vanishes before he can make contact.[8]
Awakening, the pontiff hears new voices and a message meant for him: "If you would grasp destiny in your hand, follow the guidance of the feathers of light." Letting the new arrivals into his tent, the pontiff meets Mule and Sonia, who tell him they have been ordered to escort him to their lord. Despite the cardinals' skepticism, the pontiff decides to join the youths and orders the cardinals to keep silent about his decision. A messenger arrives bearing news of the Kushan attack on Vritannis, strengthening the pontiff's resolve. The pontiff sees this as an opportunity to finally give his life meaning, believing the signs are falling into place to show his path of destiny. He entrusts himself to the guiding hands of the "feathers of light", stating it is a divine revelation.[8]
Precognitive Dream[]
In a Kushan-occupied Wyndham, Foss' daughter, Elize, reveals that she and other children have been having a dream about the Falcon of Light. The dream foretells a night of the new moon when all of the obscuring fog will clear, taking with it Kushan men and beasts alike, making it safe, until morning, for the surviving Midlanders in Wyndham to make their escape. As the Arklow Knights decide how to relay this to all the surviving Midlanders in Wyndham, Laban mentions that if the children's dream is similar to the one Midlanders had at the beginning of Midland's fall, most of them should already be at least aware of the foretelling. When asked what will happen come morning, Elize describes a morning that comes but doesn't due to an enormous shadow hiding the sun. She reassures them that the Falcon of Light will call upon a storm to blow the shadow away, bringing the salvation of the "true dawn" everyone has desired. As Laban ponders,[5] the rest of sleeping denizens share this dream.[11]
Fantasia Arc[]
Erica speaks of a rumor that, from a capital city, a hero known as "the Falcon" protects people from monsters. She adds that though people initially only half believed the rumor, after one day when all children in a town had the same dream of a "shining falcon" flying toward the capital city in a manner as if guiding them, everyone became fully convinced of the rumor and decided to leave for the capital city, Falconia. Luca states that, in fact, all refugees who have come to Falconia have been guided to the capital city by the Falcon of Light.[12]
Notes[]
- Due to an oracle received by the Kushan high priest,[13] the Bakiraka clan was sent on a scouting mission to find the falcon[14] and the "land of oracle".[15] The oracle proclaimed "something" would happened in that "pagan land".[13] Apostles such as Rakshas and Locus also received an oracle that guided them to Shet and the Falcon of Light.[2][3]
- Griffith is associated with the Falcon of Light by non-Midlanders or associated with the Holy See, such as Benedikte [16], Silat and the Bakiraka[2][17], Kushan's current emperor,[18] Schierke.[3], Gedfring or Kukka[6] It is unknown if they ever dreamt of the avian representation.
- When Guts meets the Skull Knight as the former was en route to Albion, the latter asks the Black Swordsman whether he had had the "dream of the shining falcon" (輝く鷹の夢を), to which Guts does not not respond. The knight then posits that it was likely that people all over the world witnessed the same thing. He calls it a "revelation", with a vignette displaying the avian shape alongside the insignia of the Holy See.[19]
- Similar imagery can be seen when Emperor Ganishka reflects on the relationship between apostles and Griffith and that his appearance signifies the transfiguration of the world.[14]
- Farnese did not dream of the Falcon of Light.[9]
Gallery[]
References[]
- ^ a b c Berserk :: Volume 17, "Revelation (1)"
- ^ a b c Berserk :: Volume 22, "War Cry of the Wind (1)"
- ^ a b c Berserk :: Volume 22, "War Cry of the Wind (2)"
- ^ a b Berserk :: Volume 32, "Hero"
- ^ a b Berserk :: Volume 33, "Precognitive Dream"
- ^ a b Berserk :: Volume 39, "Great Gurus"
- ^ a b c d Berserk :: Volume 17, "Revelation (2)"
- ^ a b c Berserk :: Volume 30, "Divine Revelation"
- ^ a b c Berserk :: Volume 17, "To the Holy Ground (1)"
- ^ Berserk :: Volume 17, "Revelation (3)"
- ^ Berserk :: Volume 33, "Silent Darkness"
- ^ Berserk :: Volume 38, "Capital City of Humanity"
- ^ a b Berserk :: Volume 21, "Dawn"
- ^ a b Berserk :: Volume 27, "Dread Emperor"
- ^ Berserk :: Volume 18, "Kushan Scouts (2)"
- ^ Berserk: The Flame Dragon Knight
- ^ Berserk :: Volume 23, "Flag of the Flying Sword"
- ^ Berserk :: Volume 43, "A Viper in the Bosom"
- ^ Berserk :: Volume 18, "Spirit Road (2)"
Appendices[]
| Abyss · Apostle · Astral World · Beast of Darkness · Causality · Eclipse · Evil · Falcon of Light · Fantasia · Forest of Spirit Trees · God Hand · Great Wave of the Astral World · Idea of Evil · Ideal World · Incarnation Ceremony · Interstice · Magic · Mana · Od · Physical World · Prophecy of the Falcon · Pseudo-Apostle · Sacrificial Ceremony · Temporal Junction Point · Timeline · Universe · World Tree |