Berserk/Tropes U-Z

"Skull Knight: "It begins. From this moment until the Eclipse occurs one year from now... you and your friends... right now are walking blindly to your doom!!""
 * The Ubermensch: Griffith
 * Guts is one too since he couldn't care less about the laws of mortals And he only follows his own rules.
 * Uncanny Valley: Invoked. When he and Guts were up against Rosine's elves for the first time, Puck said that they looked similar to elves such as he, but that there was something "off" about them, and was quite disturbed by their presence. Later revealed that
 * Unfamiliar Ceiling:  Guts wakes up in Godo's elf mine.
 * Unfriendly Fire: After, one of Gambino's soldiers, as a kid, Guts murders him during the next battle.
 * Unstoppable Rage: Guts taps into this during emergencies, and the series is named after it.
 * The Usual Adversaries: The Apostles. It can't just be a straight shot to Elfheim, can it?!
 * Vagueness Is Coming:

"Griffith: "Among thousands of comrades and ten thousand enemies, only you...only you...only you made me forget my dream. I sacrifice.""
 * ... Thanks for the heads-up.
 * A Storm Is Coming: A literal example, as the chapter when the Eclipse begins to take place is called "Storm of Death."
 * Vicious Cycle: The Eclipse, which happens once every 216 years and marks the birth of a new God Hand.
 * Another one: ...and so on and so forth.
 * Villainous Rescue: Zodd does this twice, first when Guts is about to get his head handed to him by General Boscone, and then the second time when Wyald is about to rip crippled Griffith in two. Of course, he only does this in order to save the lot for the up and coming Eclipse.
 * Vomit Indiscretion Shot: Frequent in the Lost Children Arc. Comes in the, um, smooth and liquid flavor for the most part (a special blood flavor in the case of Guts). Happens a few times during the Black Swordsman Arc too.
 * Walking the Earth: What Guts does until the "Conviction" arc focuses him.
 * Wall-Bang Her: 'Cept it was a tree. *ahem!*
 * War Arc: This is pretty much the secondary plot line of the Golden Age Arc, with the Band of the Hawk being hired by the King of Midland to fight in the kingdom's ongoing war against the Tudor Empire.
 * War Elephants: The Kushan army loved these guys.
 * Was It All a Lie?: While Corkus was busy asking if the Eclipse was All Just a Dream, Casca's inner monologue asked if everything that the Band of the Hawk went through was all just a grand scheme so that Griffith could throw them into hell for God knows whatever reason.
 * Watching the Sunset: When Guts and his new group reach the ocean outside of Vritinnis, Guts finds a small amount of solace while watching the sunset, which he never really got to enjoy in his life, especially after the Eclipse.
 * Waterfall Shower: Combines this with Shower of Angst with.
 * We Used to Be Friends: Guts and Griffith. Hooooooooooo boy...
 * Weapon, Jr.: Guts still uses a full sized sword as he grows up...but as an adult he also scales up his weapon and uses a BFS.
 * Weapon of Choice: Even when offered a magical axe to carry, Guts sticks with the more or less non-magical Dragon Slayer, since it's 'what his hand knows best.' (Of course, Schierke quickly realizes it's the best weapon for him anyway.)
 * Weapon Stomp: Guts didn't lose his weapon when he fought Griffith that first time, but Griffith attempted to win the fight by jumping up and balancing on Guts' sword, trapping it against the ground.
 * Weapon Tombstone:
 * Weird Moon: You might have never noticed it, but Miura is as meticulous with the moon as he is with every other detail in the story, and he has captured just about all of the moon phases.
 * Weirdness Censor: When concerning the less-antagonizing beings like elves, this was justified through Pucks explanation about exactly why normal people can't see beings like him. He says that even if a person is technically looking at an elf straight in the eye, they only try to remember what they can explain or the better parts of that event. Of course, some experiences are a bit TOO much to handle, and that's when people snap out of it.
 * Weirdness Magnet: Guts and Casca, because of the Brand of Sacrifice
 * The Original Band of Hawks had a tendency to run into the weirdest, strongest, and nastiest monsters, demons, and just plain fucked up people. It happened so often that Corkus lampshaded it here.
 * Welcome Back, Traitor: Played with and zigzagged. Guts didn't epically betray the Band of the Hawk: he just sort of wanted to do his own thing with his life that could only have been accomplished with his departure, but some individuals didn't want that, and some very unfortunate events soon followed. After Guts came back, the Hawks are more or less happy that Guts returned - well, except Corkus for obvious reasons. Casca was more pissed that Guts only decided to come back just then when the situation was already shit-tastic and the effect that his departure had on she and Griffith (but she had already had her Love Epiphany, so she didn't stay mad). Rickert, being the crying kid of the Hawks, was more upset that Guts left and broke up their family but he forgives him.
 * Wham! Episode: The end of the Band of the Hawk arc may or may not qualify because the whole thing was a flashback.
 * The new movies seem to start at the point where Guts and the hawks meet, without a black swordsman scene. This will certainly ramp up them wham factor a lot for those who watch them uninitiated.
 * But chapter 307 was a pretty big wham in our face when
 * Wham! Line:

"Puck: "Jill, when he looks like that, it's time for us to leave!" Chapter 110"
 * Gulp.
 * Son of a...
 * What Could Have Been: As mentioned on previous pages, Berserk could have ended up being a Shonen manga where Guts is a more light-hearted vagabond on a quest to avenge the death of his mother and possibly fight the not-so-ambiguous Ultimate Evil, Varna, had Miura stuck to his plans in The Prototype. For more info, go to the The Prototype stub here.
 * What Do You Mean Its Not Symbolic: As mentioned in chapter 287 of the manga, Guts always seems to be saving Casca whenever she is near water. Whether this is suppose to mean something or just a Running Gag has not been explained yet...
 * What Happened to the Mouse?: The lack of Skull Knight in the anime means that when Rickert's never seen again, even in the beginning when Guts is shown with all his new gear.
 * What the Hell, Hero?: Guts gets called out on his rather assholish behavior post-Eclipse by Godo, which starts him back down the road to how he used to be. Trust us when we say he's done a lot to deserve said calling-out.
 * What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Said squarely by Guts in the non-canonical video game Sword of the Berserk: Guts' Rage, though it still applies to the main storyline: if you're a monster in any way, shape or form, Guts shows no mercy for you. Bummer.
 * To be fair, most non-humans are actively trying to kill him.
 * When She Smiles: Discussed by Guts in his inner monologue and played for drama. After he nearly strangles Casca in a possessed rage in volume 23, she begins to detest Guts, which drives Guts into more despair. He comments on how he only wants to make her smile but can't as she won't even allow him to touch her with tenderness anymore . Seeing a smile on Casca's face is pretty much the only thing that makes Guts himself smile, next to hearing about the possibility of her being cured of her insanity for good.
 * Wide Eyes and Shrunken Irises: If you see Guts' eyes look like this, you should run. Fast, far, and never EVER turn your back, because if Griffith isn't in the immediate area, Guts is about to fuck you up if not outright kill you, which is much more likely. If he goes beyond this level and skips straight to Blank White Eyes, you will not survive the hour.
 * Even Puck, Guts's Morality Pet, knows by now not to mess around with this:

"Guts: "Amazing! No wonder you're higher than us humans — you don't know how to fucking die!""
 * Win Your Freedom: Griffith played this very seriously when it came to Guts. Before he was comrade, Guts was considered his "property."
 * White-Haired Pretty Boy: Griffith
 * Why Won't You Die?: In a series where the world is filled with juggernaut monsters and a determinator anti-hero who fights them, you'll get this a lot from either side.


 * World-Wrecking Wave
 * Womb Level: While running with Roderick and his crew,
 * Worf Had the Flu: Casca became so disoriented when her time o' month came along in the midst of battling General Adon, and was fatigued for nearly two days because of it; she practically had to be saved and cared for by Guts  and nearly got raped. But after her cycles passed, Casca wiped the floor with Adon so hard that he was more dumbfounded than usual to finding out that her poor performance from their previous battle was only due to her being on her period. This led to a Crowning Moment of Funny when he announced it right in the middle of their fight, gaining the notice of every single soldier around them.
 * World of Badass: In this world, it's absolutely essential for four out of five people to have some amount of Badass in them in order to survive. There is badass littered EVERYWHERE in the world of Berserk. Even small, mysterious, silent children have badass in them !
 * World of Snark: The predominate source of humor amongst the characters and seems to be the only thing that keeps spirits afloat in this world.
 * Would Hurt a Child: Apostles consider human as food or toys, or a combination of both. Children? No special treatment. If they are edible, they will be tortured, abused and then eaten.
 * Guts himself isn't above doing this. Although the first instance of this was rather an accident, he showed no qualms about brutally slaughtering Rosine's demon-elves, even knowing that they were all kids. Not to mention Rosine herself who, for being an Apostle, is still a little girl.
 * Of course, this could be a situation where if you're clearly not a human anymore, then you lose any amount of sympathy that Guts could possibly have for you.
 * In the "garden" of the Nameless Apostle, we clearly see the cadavers of young children among that of adults, meaning that Mozgus himself wasn't above killing and torturing children. But to some fans, he's a Well-Intentioned Extremist...Sure!
 * Would Hit a Girl: Justified. Guts has no compunction fighting aggressively with female enemies. To be fair, refusing to fight full force against females like Rosine and Slan would only guarantee him a very painful death. To throw the guy a bone, Guts really isn't the type to backhand women and girls as he pleases - and even sticks up for them on occasion - but he has no reserves at sticking a knife to their throat (or in their mouth in Farnese's case) to get the upper hand in certain situations. However, there is an exception to the rule where...
 * Wouldn't Hit a Girl: ... Casca is involved. Earlier in the series, Casca attacks Guts after he saves her, and he yells that if she wasn't a woman, he'd slug her. Of course, considering that he was already developing feelings for her, it's just as likely he just said that because he was frustrated and angry with her violent reaction to his (well-meant) Intimate Healing, and to him, insults are the only acceptable way to express hurt feelings. Again, Guts really isn't the type to go around slugging women here and there.
 * Wile fighting Rosine, Guts is hindered a lot by this sentiment. After all: he is essentially trying to butcher a cute teenage girl...that has the combat abilities of a fighter jet, but still isn't entirely evil. He ends up holding back every time he can land the killing blow, taking in insane ammount of punishment himself.  Counts as a total deconstruction.
 * And then there was another time that this happened during Guts' Black Swordsman days, when he hesitated to kill the resurrected corpse of the daughter of the priest that he was traveling with. He took a hit because of it before chopping off her head. He vomits afterward.
 * Wound That Will Not Heal: Once branded with the mark of the sacrifice, you're branded for life. That, and it bleeds, so it's never completely closed up.
 * Wrong Genre Savvy: Isidro thinks he's in a Shonen manga of which he's the main character. To be fair, he's been getting more and more useful as the series goes on.
 * You Can't Go Home Again: Guts couldn't return to his original mercenary band after he killed Gambino, Casca couldn't return to her village after she killed the nobleman who tried to rape her, and the whole Band of the Hawk pretty much got exiled from the Kingdom of Midland after Griffith got arrested. Not to mention that Guts and Casca have to find another safe place to live after Godo's elf mine got destroyed, Schierke's home went up in a blaze after  and there's a close bet that , Farnese is out of a home too (but she only dropped by anyway).
 * You Monster!: Another one of those phrases that gets thrown around a lot between Guts and apostles. It's not just from the former either. Guts is Badass enough and ruthless enough in his apostle-killing methods to even have the monsters or a witness saying this to him.
 * You Shall Not Pass: A few times. Guts and Pippin singlehandedly facing down the Black Dog Knights to buy the rest of the Griffith rescue squad time to escape, until the bridge blows. Captain Azan of the Holy Iron Chain Knights, in his youth, holding an entire troup of knights at bay until a wounded old man can cross the bridge. And for a villain example, one could say that the first encounter with Nosferatu Zodd invokes this trope, as he massacred at least fifty members of the Raiders in a long hallway while fighting on the side of Chuder, delaying what would have been an easy victory for the Band of the Hawk.
 * Your Head Asplode: Gaston's eventual demise.
 * Zany Scheme: Magnifico wants capture the elves on Elfheim and sell them as pets to rich aristocrats on the mainland, and tries to persuade Roderick and Puck into helping him by promising Puck the position of King of the Elves. Not so sure if Puck takes him seriously, though.
 * So he is basically Gargamel being lost in the Berserk verse?
 * Zero-Approval Gambit: In the Black Swordsman arc, after Guts defeated the Count, he tells his young daughter Theresia that she mind as well commit suicide since she has nothing to live for now and he even throws her a knife. Instead, she gives him a nasty Death Glare and vows that someday she would kill him. With her vow of vengeance, Guts knew that the girl wasn't planning on dying anytime soon, so he knew that his plan for saving her had worked.