The following is a timeline of events occurring in the manga Berserk.
Events in this timeline are formatted according to their relative position to "Before the Birth of Guts" (BG), "Before the Eclipse" (BE), and the "Age of Darkness" (AD).
Prehistory[]
- The Idea of Evil was birthed from humankind's need for reasons to explain negative events in their lives.[1]
The Age of Man (Before the Birth of Guts)[]
Circa 1000 BG[]
- A warlord named Gaiseric unified the western continent, with Midland as the center of his empire. However, the ancient city that Gaiseric made his capital was subsequently destroyed. Though the cause of that destruction is unknown, a fairy tale speculates that God sent four or five angels to punish Gaiseric and the city disappeared due to lightning and great earthquakes.[2] According to Holy See lore, Gaiseric's fall was related to a sage who he had imprisoned in the Tower of Conviction that made an angel come forth as he proclaimed the king's sins to God in the midst of every possible torture.[3]
- Members of Gaiseric's bloodline apparently survived the destruction of his kingdom and were said to have become the ancestors of the current royal family of Midland.[2]
- The warrior known as the Skull Knight started waging war against "the inhumans".[5]
Circa 864 BG[]
- The second member of the God Hand was born.[4]
Circa 700 BG[]
- The Holy See was established, repurposing sanctuaries devoted to the elemental spirits into churches and demonizing those who refused to be converted, such as witches. At that time, the Holy See also built the city of Albion around the Tower of Conviction. In time, the area amassed large amounts of restless spirits due to the atrocities committed inside and outside of the tower.
Circa 648 BG[]
- The third member of the God Hand was born.[4]
Circa 432 BG[]
- The fourth member of the God Hand was born.[4]
Circa 300 BG[]
- The mighty warrior known as Zodd relinquished his humanity to become an apostle.[6] At this time, he became a rival to the Skull Knight.
- The Skull Knight met the witch Flora, from whom he acquired the Berserker Armor.
- Skull Knight, now reduced to a spectre [7], relinquished the Berserker Armor back to Flora.
Circa 100 BG[]
- Wyald was alive, either as a man or already having relinquished his humanity to become an apostle.[9]
The Age of War (Before the Eclipse)[]
Circa 80 BG[]
- Tudor conquered the fortress of Doldrey, sparking the Hundred-Year War with Midland.[10]
Circa 70 BG[]
- The blacksmith Godot was born.
Circa 30 BG[]
- Magic had been reduced to mere superstition.
- Godot was commissioned to forge a sword fit to slay a dragon.
- At risk of being killed, Godot fled the castle to the mountains, where he set up a forge near a mine rich with elven minerals.
Circa 15 BG[]
- The Vandimion Bank, owned by the wealthy Federico de Vandimion III, provided money to Tudor. However, this failed to resolve the situation between them and Midland.
Circa 19 BE[]
- Griffith was born.
- Guts was born from the corpse of a hanged woman. He was quickly found by a mercenary group led by Gambino.[12]
- Casca was born.
18 BE[]
16 BE[]
14 BE[]
13 BE[]
- Gambino reluctantly trained Guts to use a sword after the six-year-old starts helping in battles.[12]
10 BE[]
- Nine-year-old Guts was raped by fellow mercenary Donovan. Guts later killed Donovan during a mission in revenge.[15]
- Gambino lost his leg during a battle, becoming crippled, bitter, and weakening his group.[15]
08 BE[]
- Guts confronted his foster-father, Gambino, over the latter's machinations, and was later forced to kill him in self-defense at eleven. Guts runs away from Gambino's group. For four years,[16] he went from battle to battle[17] serving different mercenary armies.
- With Charlotte's mother dead, the King of Midland married another woman, who had a secret affair with the king's brother, Julius.[18]
07 BE[]
- The three sons of Federico III, Giorgio, Poliziano, and Magnifico, struggled for the succession to their father, while Farnese, his daughter, neglected and restless, was calmed down only by Serpico, her servant and secret half-brother.[19]
- Fueled by his desire to find glory, Griffith established the Band of the Falcon.
05 BE[]
- As a prisoner of war, Guts had his first encounter with the supernatural while meeting a flower spirit named Chitch, who he initially suspected to be a hallucination.
- Recruited by Lord Gennon, a perverted squire of Tudor, the Band of the Falcon began to gain fame. Devastated by the death of some of his soldiers, Griffith spent a night with Lord Gennon, sleeping with him for money that he would use to turn his band into a more effective militant group, and thus, prevent deaths from occurring.
- The King of Midland placed the Bakiraka in his services alongside many militant factions: the White Dragons, the White Tigers, Arklow, and Toumel.
- The Count became an apostle by sacrificing his wife, pretending her death to be the work of the heretics as he ordered unjustified executions of anyone accused of heresy.
- Vargas, a royal doctor, learned of the Count's transition and was forced to watch his family die before he escaped with the Count's beherit, but not without being horrifically disfigured.
04 BE[]
- Guts maims and injures some members of the Band of the Falcon in a lone field. Griffith defeats Guts twice, then forces him to join the Band of the Falcon.[21] Roughly two weeks later, Guts fights alongside the Band[22] -which housed about five hundred mercenaries- and ten men are placed under his command.[17]
- In a village destroyed by flames, Godot saves a girl named Erica and adopts her as his daughter.
- In order to compensate for the shortage of soldiers in the Hundred-Year War, the King of Midland founds the Black Dog Knights led by Wyald, a prisoner and apostle of the God Hand.[23]
02 BE[]
- Rosine, tired of living in a violent environment and obsessed with the tale of Peekaf, decides to leave her house and heads to the Misty Valley, where she becomes an apostle in exchange for her parents' lives.
- Due to their crimes, the Black Dog Knights are sent to remote battlefields so that the King does not have to bear with Wyald.
01 BE[]
- The Band of the Falcon's mercenaries defeat the Black Sheep Iron Spears Heavy Knights of Tudor and are recruited by Midland for the Hundred-Year War.
- The patriarch of Vandimion sends his daughter, Farnese de Vandimion (now sixteen and having burnt part of the Vandimion Holy City mansion), to a monastery. Farnese becomes the commander of the Holy Iron Chain Knights. Serpico burns his insane mother at the stake as a heretic, pressured by Farnese and worried that he too may be killed.[24]
- Guts at eighteen[25] confronts Nosferatu Zodd for the first time during a siege,[26] whose presence cements the existence of the supernatural to Guts.
- Minister Foss succeeds in setting Julius against Griffith, but a failed assassination attempt results in the death of the noble with his son and heir to the throne, Adonis, both killed by Guts.
- Griffith discusses with Charlotte his criteria for a true friend. Guts accidentally overhears this conversation, leaving him deeply unsettled by the revelation.
- The Band of the Falcon is dispatched to a campaign which could end the Hundred-Year War.[27] The campaign lasts for half a year.[28]
- The King of Midland carries out a final attack on Tudor, which has been weakened by internal problems. During the battle against the Blue Whale Knights, Guts and Casca manage to forge a deeper bond.
- Guts is pitted against one-hundred of Adon Coborlwitz's mercenaries and prevails, making him a legend on the battlefields as he is eventually dubbed The Hundred Man Slayer.
- The King orders the Band of the Falcon to recapture Doldrey. They defeat the Purple Rhino Knights of Lord Boscogn and Governor Gennon, and conquer the fort using stratagem. Midland wins the Hundred-Year War.
- Griffith foils another conspiracy against him, led by Foss and the Queen of Midland, who is eventually killed as a result.
- Guts announces his departure from the Band of the Falcon, seeking to follow his own dream.
- Griffith, failing to stop Guts,[29] has intimate affairs with a seventeen-year-old Charlotte,[13] leading to his arrest.[30] Half a year has passed since the Band of the Falcon was dispatched to the campaign that ended the Hundred-Year war.[28] Griffith is incarcerated and tortured in the Tower of Rebirth[13] and the Band of the Falcon is accused of treason.[23] Consequently, the band members become fugitives under the command of Casca.[31]
- Guts meets the Skull Knight, who foretells the Band of the Falcon's demise during the Eclipse.
00 BE[]
- Guts spends a year training in the mountains[32] and living with Godot and Erica.[33] He confronts and defeats a Kushan man named Silat in a tournament, and learns that the Band of the Falcon members are now a gang of robbers in hiding.[34] Soon afterwards, he reunites with the remaining Band of the Falcon members and temporarily rejoins them to rescue Griffith and restore their forces.[33]
- In a heart-to-heart, Guts and Casca have sex and unknowingly conceive their child.[35]
- Helped by Charlotte and Anna, Casca, Judeau, Pippin and Guts rescue Griffith from the Tower of Rebirth. However, Griffith's physical anatomy and mental stability has become severely compromised due to prolonged torture.[36]
- A now-wizened King employs the Bakiraka[37] and the Black Dog Knights[38] to wipe out the Band of the Falcon.
- Part of the Band of the Falcon are slaughtered by Rosine and the Count. Only Rickert survives the ordeal when the Skull Knight intervenes.
- The Black Dog Knights are defeated by the Band of the Falcon and their leader, Wyald, is killed by Nosferatu Zodd.
- Rickert is found by a company of circus performers and meets an elf called Puck.
- Griffith attempts commit suicide in a lake, only to rediscover his crimson beherit. As his comrades arrive to help him, Griffith unknowingly triggers the Eclipse's sacrificial ceremony.
- The Band of the Falcon, along with Guts and Casca, are transported to a temporal interstice where they are introduced to Void, Slan, Conrad and Ubik.
- Void and Ubik manipulate Griffith into accepting the God Hand's proposition. Every member of the Band of the Falcon is branded by Void for sacrifice. Only Guts and Casca survive.
- Griffith is reborn as the final member of the God Hand, Femto.
- Guts loses his right eye and part of his left arm trying to defend Casca, who is raped by Femto. The ordeal causes her to lose her sanity.
- Skull Knight enters the temporal junction point and rescues both Guts and Casca from the God Hand, returning them to the mortal realm.
- Farnese de Vandimion and the Holy Iron Chain Knights discover a red lake. Finding the remains of the Band of the Falcon, they conclude it to be a sign of the advent of the "Falcon of Darkness".
- Guts awakens four days later in Godot's mine, attended to by Rickert and Erica, and learns of Casca's condition. Guts runs away in intense grief and declares war on demonkind.
- Casca gives birth to a deformed infant: Guts' prematurely born child tainted by Femto's demonic essence.
- Guts leaves Casca to Erica and Rickert to start his hunt for the apostles. As a farewell gift, Rickert gives Guts a fake left arm with a built-in cannon and a repeater crossbow.
- Guts finds the Dragon Slayer inside Godot's armory and uses it to kill an attacking apostle. Godot allows Guts to take the sword with him on his journey.
The Age of Darkness (After the Eclipse)[]
01-02 AD[]
- Guts mercilessly hunts and slaughters apostles, becoming renowned as the "Black Swordsman".
- Rickert constructs a memorial to his fallen brethren, the Hill of Swords.
- The King of Midland dispatches seven tenths of Midland's military in order to pursue Griffith.[39]
02 AD[]
- Guts kills the Snake Baron at the village of Koka and saves Puck, who becomes his first traveling companion.
- Guts arrives in the city of the Count, and takes a beherit from Vargas.
- Guts battles Commander Zondark and enters the apostle’s castle, where he mortally wounds the Count in front of his young daughter Theresia.
- The Count activates his beherit and Guts finally comes face-to-face with the God Hand again, only to be unable to kill Griffith.
- The Count is dragged into the Abyss after hesitating to sacrifice his only daughter. Theresia swears revenge to Guts, who leaves, emotionally affected.
- Isidro runs away from home, dreaming of following the Band of the Falcon and its raider captain. In the 2016 anime only, he encounters Guts in Koka by chance. An impressed Isidro then attempts to follow after the swordsman when he leaves the village, only to lose him during a heavy rain storm.[40]
03 AD[]
- Guts saves Jill from a gang of bandits and a spectral tree, and soon learns that the nearby villages are being assaulted by the apostle Rosine and the "elves" that she sired from children. It is autumn.[41]
- Guts is branded a mass murderer after the Holy Iron Chain Knights witness the aftermath of Guts' battle against Rosine and her elves, whom they mistake to be human children.
- Guts' inner darkness manifests as a result of his incessant killing and sleepless nights.
- The Holy Iron Chain Knights capture and imprison Guts at their camp. With Puck's help, Guts escapes and takes Farnese hostage.
- Farnese has her faith shaken after witnessing apostles for the first time. The next day, Serpico rescues Farnese and has a brief scuffle with Guts.
- In the outskirts of Albion, a person on the fringes of society invokes the God Hand and becomes the Egg-Shaped Apostle by offering the world as his sacrifice. Soon after, everyone in Midland has a prophetic dream of the coming of plague, invaders, and their savior: the Falcon of Light.
- Zodd receives a visit from the Falcon of Light where he is easily defeated in battle and receives an oracle about his upcoming advent in Albion.[42]
- The King of Midland dies, leading to Wyndham being taken over by the Kushan army.
- Casca runs off from Erica. One month later,[43] she and ends up in the company of a woman named Luca, who is among the refugees to Albion. Once there, and now a harlot, Luca keeps her from being violated by her clients.
- The Holy See places the Holy See as guards for the inquisitor Mozgus. There, they oversee chaos that has risen in Albion due to heretics, such as the Cult of the Goddess of Flame. Crimes include committing murders of the Holy See's priesthood.
- Guts has a vision of Casca being burned. The Demon Child appears to beseech him to go the location where its mother may die.
- Guts returns to Godot's house. Learning the blacksmith's health is failing[43] as his arsenal is refined, he realizes that he once again abandoned Casca like he did years ago.[44] The following day, Guts begins his journey to Albion.[45]
- Guts reunites with Isidro before leaving the youth to spare him from attacks by the restless spirits of executed victims.[46]
- Guts reunites with the Skull Knight, learning that Griffith is to regain corporeal form and that he must make a choice: to stop him, or to save Casca.
- Casca follows one of Luca's harlots, Nina, who is abducted by heretics who believe her to be a witch. Casca's presence stirs the restless spirits within the cave just as the Holy Iron Chain Knights enter.
- Guts kills the cultist leader before facing Serpico in a duel, which he narrowly wins. Despite Guts' efforts, Casca and Nina are both captured and taken to the Tower of Conviction.
- Casca's presence at the Tower signals the beginning of the Incarnation Ceremony, summoning the tormented spirits of the tortured to attack and kill the Tower's inhabitants. Casca herself is protected by the Demon Child.
- Godot dies.
- Guts puts together a rescue party consisting of Isidro, Luca, and Jerome. They storm the Tower and form an alliance with Farnese and Serpico to save Casca and Nina.
- Mozgus and his disciples are reborn as Pseudo-Apostles. With newfound power, Mozgus takes Casca captive.
- Guts kills Mozgus and rescues Casca while the Tower of Conviction collapses, killing everyone inside.
- The Egg of the Perfect World, having swallowed the dying Demon Child, completes the Incarnation Ceremony and ceases to be as an incarnated Griffith emerges from the lifeless shell.
- Silat arrives at Albion with orders to capture Guts; however, Griffith escapes on Zodd while Guts flees with Casca.
- Farnese abandons her faith and duty, deciding to follow Guts while accompanied by Serpico. Azan, for his part, decides to use the chance to "take responsibility".[47] Three years have passed since Farnese burnt down a house in the Vandimion Family's Holy City mansion.[24]
- Griffith visits Rickert atop the Hill of Swords, leading to Guts' encounter with Griffith. An ensuing fight with Zodd destroys Godot's mine before Griffith orders Zodd to withdraw due to more pressing matters. The destruction of Godot's mine, Casca's sanctuary against bad spirits and demons, forces Guts to take Casca with him to protect her.
- Puck advises Guts that they should travel to his home, Elfhelm, where Casca would be safe. When winter comes and after alienating Casca, Guts crosses paths with Farnese, Serpico, and Isidro as he allows them to join him to better protect Casca.
- Griffith reforms the Band of the Falcon with Zodd and various other apostles that include Grunbeld, Locus, Rakshas, and Irvine as members. The group also gains human members like Sonia, a girl with telepathic powers, and a Midland noble named Mule Wolflame.
- Schierke, sent to Midland by Flora, feels that Griffith is the reincarnation of a high-level spirit while sensing his true nature.
04 AD[]
- Guts and his traveling companions come across Morgan and help him reach the home of Flora despite Schierke's attempts to drive them off.
- Guts meets Flora, who crafts a protective talisman for Casca and him to conceal their presence from restless spirits. Flora then reveals the nature of the God Hand, Beherits, and the Astral World to Guts.
- Schierke joins Guts' party to assist him in defending Enoch Village from a troll infestation. Beforehand, Guts and his comrades are all given magical relics to help them in future encounters.
- Farnese and Casca are kidnapped and taken by the trolls to their den within a dark layer of the astral plane known as Qliphoth. Casca and Farnese are rescued, but Guts finds himself facing Slan, who attempts to force him to activate the Beherit on his person. Near death, Guts is saved by the Skull Knight, who repels Slan.
- Griffith orchestrates an assault on Kushan-occupied Wyndham as a distracting manoeuvre to rescue Charlotte. He saves her with the help of Zodd.
- Emperor Ganishka defends his castle from the reborn Band of the Falcon, while Rakshas reveals to Silat and the tapasa the true nature of Ganishka as a rogue apostle and the monstrous armies of pishacha and daka that he had created.
- Griffith orders the execution of Flora and the burning of the Mansion of the Spirit Tree,[48] sending a platoon of apostles led by Grunbeld and Zodd to assassinate the witch.
- Near death after his battle with Grunbeld, Guts is outfitted with the Berserker Armor for the first time.
- After dying, Flora transcends her existence to hold off Grunbeld so Schierke and her new friends can flee.
- Guts learns from the Skull Knight the dangers of the Berserker Armor. He is also told that the Flower Storm Monarch can restore Casca's mind, but gives Guts a word of caution if it is best to restore Casca's sanity.
- Casca meets a mysterious youth on the shore before the group is attacked by the Kushan empire's possessed animals, part of an advance force under Daiba, who Ganishka dispatched.
- As the full moon increases the Berserker Armor's potency, Guts loses control and nearly kills his allies.
- The group decide to make their way to Vritannis. At this point, Azan has become a hunger-stricken knight in the streets and port of the city.[49][50] There, Farnese intends to use her familial ties to get them a ship, where she reunites with her brother Magnifico.
- Daiba attacks Vritannis with his armies of monsters while Ganishka projects himself in the city to declare war on the Holy See itself.
- Guts and his friends escape to the port while Guts uses the Berserker Armor to combat the monsters. There, Guts forms an unlikely truce with Zodd to defeat Ganishka. Later on, Guts and his party escape Vritannis aboard Roderick's ship, the Seahorse, and embark on the sea-bound journey to Elfhelm.
- At Wyndham, Ganishka enters the man-made beherit. His fog sucks the life force of all nearby living creatures before gathering evil power from the Abyss despite Daiba's protest.
- A now-colossal Ganishka destroys the city of Wyndham.
- Griffith reaches Ganishka and kills the rogue apostle, causing a Great Wave of the Astral World and the creation of his kingdom: Falconia.
05 AD[]
- After the Great Wave of the Astral World, the layers separating the Natural plane from the Astral World dissolve; leading to a new world where humans and magical creatures co-exist.
- Guts slays the Sea God with the help of Schierke and the merrow, allowing safe passage to continue their journey.
- Rickert and Erica travel to Falconia, now a haven from the horrors of the world. Reuniting with Griffith, Rickert strikes his former leader before fleeing the city with Erica, Silat, and Daiba.
- Guts and company finally end their long voyage, docking at Skellig.
- Guts and his party are led to Elfhelm by a band of witches. One of the witches named Danaan reveals herself to be the Flower Storm Monarch in disguise.
- The Flower Storm Monarch confirms to Guts that she can heal Casca's mind and sanity. Instructing Farnese and Schierke to aid her, the trio enter the Corridor of Dreams to begin the healing process.
- Farnese and Schierke heal Casca and she regains her sanity, fully aware of what Guts and the rest of the party did in order to keep her safe. Remembering past events related to the Band of the Falcon and seeing Guts brings her to a panic. It has been about three months since Farnese took up magic.[51]
- The mysterious youth is revealed to be Griffith. He then kidnaps Casca alongside Zodd, leaving Guts distraught. As a consequence of his appearance, Skellig is destroyed. Its astral inhabitants retreat to a deeper astral layer whilst its mage inhabitants are evacuated via Seahorse.
References[]
- ^ Berserk :: Volume N/A, "God of the Abyss (2)"
- ^ a b Berserk :: Volume 10, "Thousand-Year Fiefdom"
- ^ Berserk :: Volume 18, "Zealot"
- ^ a b c d Berserk :: Volume 12, "Promised Time"
- ^ Berserk :: Volume 13, "Storm of Death (1)"
- ^ Berserk :: Volume 5, "Nosferatu Zodd (2)"
- ^ Berserk :: Volume 27, "Fire Dragon"
- ^ Berserk :: Volume 27, "Dread Emperor"
- ^ Berserk :: Volume 11, "Mortal Combat (2)"
- ^ Berserk :: Volume 7, "Battle to Capture Doldrey (1)"
- ^ Berserk :: Volume 24, "Mansion of the Spirit Tree (2)"
- ^ a b c Berserk :: Volume 3, "Golden Age (1)"
- ^ a b c Berserk :: Volume 9, "Fallen Falcon"
- ^ Berserk :: Volume 6, "Assassin (3)"
- ^ a b Berserk :: Volume 4, "Golden Age (2)"
- ^ a b Berserk :: Volume 4, "Golden Age (3)"
- ^ a b Berserk :: Volume 5, "Golden Age (8)"
- ^ Berserk :: Volume 8, "Triumphant Return"
- ^ Berserk :: Volume 29, "Ball"
- ^ Berserk :: Volume 10, "Bakiraka (1)"
- ^ a b Berserk :: Volume 4, "Golden Age (4)"
- ^ Berserk :: Volume 5, "Golden Age (7)"
- ^ a b Berserk :: Volume 11, "Demon Dog (1)"
- ^ a b Berserk :: Volume 22, "Snow, Flames, and ... (2)"
- ^ Berserk :: Volume 5, "Sword Wind"
- ^ Berserk :: Volume 5, "Nosferatu Zodd (1)"
- ^ Berserk :: Volume 6, "Departure for the Front"
- ^ a b Berserk :: Volume 9, "Skull Knight"
- ^ Berserk :: Volume 8, "Morning of Departure (3)"
- ^ Berserk :: Volume 9, "Beginning of the Endless Night"
- ^ Berserk :: Volume 9, "Fugitives"
- ^ Berserk :: Volume 9, "Comrades in Arms"
- ^ a b Berserk :: Volume 10, "Sparks from a Sword Tip"
- ^ Berserk :: Volume 9, "Tournament"
- ^ Berserk :: Volume 9, "Wound (1)"
- ^ Berserk :: Volume 10, "Reunion in the Abyss"
- ^ Berserk :: Volume 10, "A Way Through"
- ^ Berserk :: Volume 10, "Flower of the Royal Palace of Stone"
- ^ Berserk :: Volume 17, "Revelation (1)"
- ^ Berserk 2016 anime; Episode 1 (2016 Anime)
- ^ Berserk :: Volume 15, "Misty Valley (1)"
- ^ Berserk :: Volume 17, "Revelation (3)"
- ^ a b Berserk :: Volume 17, "Cracks in the Blade"
- ^ Berserk :: Volume 17, "Feeble Flame"
- ^ Berserk :: Volume 17, "To the Holy Ground (1)"
- ^ Berserk :: Volume 18, "Spirit Road (1)"
- ^ Berserk :: Volume 21, "Determination and Departure"
- ^ Berserk :: Volume 39, "Great Gurus"
- ^ Berserk :: Volume 29, "Warrior"
- ^ Berserk :: Volume 29, "Meager Supper"
- ^ Berserk :: Volume 41, "Cherry Orchard"
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 |