GRATIDÃO NO SOFRIMENTO: O ESTOICISMO NO FIM DE BERSERK

Berserk is full of remarkable moments that are extremely well-known by the public. Among these moments is Guts’ famous quote; I’m grateful! And as simple as it may seem, this single passage can indicate not only how the manga will end, but also be one of the greatest teachings about life. And that’s exactly what we’re going to analyze in today’s video, so let’s go! In order for us to understand this section as a whole, we will need to open our minds and look at more than just the manga. First of all, let’s understand the context in which Guts was when he said this sentence. Next, let’s get to know Stoicism, a very popular philosophical current today. And yes, I know, maybe you’re wondering what one thing has to do with the other, but calm down, give me this vote of confidence and I promise everything will make sense. And if you don’t, you can charge me in the comments. After knowing these two themes, we will understand the relationship between them and how they can indicate how the end of the work will be. Ah, just a reminder, if you like the channel’s content but are not yet subscribed, sign up my friend, give a helping hand to support the production of content here and you will be very welcome. Now that you’re part of the group, let’s go! Guts is known to be one of the characters who suffered the most in any work of fiction, and this is almost a consensus. He had no parents, friends, childhood, nothing. He was abused, abandoned, betrayed, he saw all his companions die right in front of him without being able to do anything. He was forced to watch the only woman he ever loved in his life be raped by several monsters and then by his best friend. He lost an eye, an arm and probably part of his sanity through it all. And even later, after surviving all of this, he had to deal with the fact that his loved one was mentally broken, practically a child. Guts had lost everything. But still he continued. Seeking revenge, of course, but he continued. Guts faced great challenges, became stronger and grew in the process. As we saw in the last video, he changed completely when he realized that taking care of Casca was his duty. He even made friends, something that was completely impossible for him. Guts discovered there was hope to cure Casca, a way to bring her back and perhaps have a life again. Obviously he wasn’t going to let this chance pass him by. He gathered a crew, got a boat and traveled to the island of elves where Casca could theoretically be cured. Speaking like that, it seems like the trip was easy, right?! But it was not. The group went through storms, pirate attacks, faced evil creatures and even the god of the sea, a species of gigantic Kraken, probably one of the strongest creatures in the work. Still they got there. And upon arriving, the priority was to cure Casca, so they prepared for the magical ritual in which they would enter the destroyed mind to perhaps fix everything. The elf queen, Danan, explains that to successfully enter Casca’s mind, it would have to be someone close to her. Guts quickly responded to this, since he was obviously the closest to her. But Danan denies it, saying that although they are indeed close, Casca feels a great fear of Guts. Which certainly hurts him a lot. But it’s understandable, since it attacked her before, when it was possessed by her shadow beast. Because of this, Guts understands the situation, and entrusts the task to Farnese, who was the person who took care of Casca while she was mentally broken. Furthermore, she was learning about magic with Schierke, so the duo was the best option to face the spiritual challenge that was approaching. And here we can already see a big change in Guts. Someone who learned the hard way never to trust anyone, who was always betrayed and hurt when he tried to connect with other people. But now, she took a deep breath and trusted her companions. He asks them to take care of Casca, knowing that she was the most important person to him. The last good thing he had left, the person who kept him from becoming a complete monster. They turn away and move on to the final mission, the goal they strived for for so long to achieve. The curious thing is that in the most important moment of all, which would define everyone’s destiny, Guts was useless. There was nothing he could do there but stand back and watch. He was clearly worried, rightfully so of course. And it is at this moment that Serpico and Roderick approach each other with drinks and a proposal for conversation. The three spent some time together during the trip, in Serpico’s case they had already faced each other a few times over Farnese. And Roderick had already had a deeper conversation or two with Guts. So at that moment they were the closest Guts had to friends. They fulfilled their role perfectly, distracting Guts from that anxiety that completely consumed him. Roderick reassures Guts, saying that he understands that he is worried, but that it was time to leave it to Farnese and Schierck, that this was the reason for the whole trip after all. Serpico adds while observing Guts; “Still, you don’t seem very comfortable doing that” Which Guts agrees, saying is true. Or at least it was true, but a lot had changed during his trip. He continues, explaining that before, while he was alone, it was only his life that was at risk. As long as it was just him on the battlefield, it was okay to break down and almost die, after all it didn’t matter. But when you have someone to take care of, everything changes. The blade becomes heavier. Fighting without caring about death becomes a thing of the past. And it was at that moment, while trying to protect Casca alone that he realized he couldn’t handle everything on his own. I threw away my solitary lifestyle… I trusted in the strength of others. And somehow I managed to get here. I… I’m grateful… This was the moment when Guts realized that even after a life full of tragedies, trusting people could be good. That it had taken him further, and most importantly, that it could mean getting Casca back. It’s like the saying goes, if you want to go fast, go alone, if you want to go far, go together. This was exactly what Guts realized, and because of this he chose to be grateful for the small spark of hope he had, even in the midst of so much suffering and chaos. Well, now that we understand the context in which Guts said the famous phrase, we can move on to the next topic, which will complement the main idea of ​​the video, so let’s go. “What matters is not what happens, but how you react” Epictetus Stoicism is about self-discipline, self-control and rational acceptance of destiny. It is probably one of the most applicable philosophical currents in real life, and not just in theory. Proof of this is the fact that among his main followers were Marcus Aurelius, a Roman emperor, extremely rich and the most powerful man of his time, and Epictetus, a crippled slave. Completely opposite people, but who shared belief in the same principles. Stoic philosophy encourages apathy, not in the negative sense of not caring about anything as we normally think. But rather in the sense of no and letting go of the pleasures and passions, as all this passes. And also don’t despair with the sadness and suffering of life, as this too shall pass. From a Stoic point of view, there is no reason to suffer for something that is beyond your control, lamenting over a sadness will not make it go away. Much less filling yourself with momentary goods and pleasures will guarantee eternal peace and satisfaction. Life is totally out of our control, and we need to be aware of that, and not let something that doesn’t depend on us, define how we will live from then on. Maybe at this point you are thinking; Okay, but that has nothing to do with Guts And yes, you’re right, almost. Guts really doesn’t have any self-control or apathy, he’s certainly not an example of stoicism. He gets angry, suffers and exerts his emotions to the maximum, even if this hurts the people around him and even himself. Still, there is a link that unites the gratitude passage we have just analyzed with Stoic philosophy. From the beginning of his journey, the moment Guts decided to move forward, he hardly felt happy. Quite the contrary, his entire trajectory was marked by sadness and hatred, which makes sense when we think about everything she went through. But upon arriving in Elfheim and realizing that he had changed, Guts felt gratitude, and for his expression; happiness. Nothing in his reality had changed, the traumas still happened, he was still injured both physically and emotionally. Still he was happy. Why? From my point of view, the answer to this question comes precisely from the idea of ​​not letting yourself be overwhelmed by things that are beyond your control. One of the pillars of stoicism. In this passage, Guts understands that nothing bad that happened could be changed That that situation was no longer in his hands, that all he could do is appreciate the little good things that had happened so far. He decided without even realizing it, to find peace in the midst of the hell he lived in all that time, Guts created his own happiness. A comment that always appears in videos about Berserk is precisely about the end of the work; “How will Berserk end?” “Will Guts survive?” “Is it going to be a happy ending?” Well, I think that after the arguments I presented it should be easy to know what I think about the end of the work. I believe Guts can defeat Griffith, and maybe even the hand of god, but he’s unlikely to change anything in the world itself. The idea of ​​evil must continue to influence everything and everyone, even because it is the result of human evil, something that will not disappear anytime soon. Still, I believe (and hope lol) a happy ending for Guts and Casca. Not a fairytale ending, of course. But I believe Guts will eventually be confronted again about his revenge, whether he would rather take revenge and not have a life, or move forward choosing to have peace over revenge. Maybe he needs to choose between killing his own son, the moonlight boy, to defeat Griffith. And at that moment he needs to decide if he really wants to become that person. Who killed his own father and also his son. Especially if we consider that Gambino’s death had a big impact on Guts, imagine killing your own son, what you won’t do to his head. But regardless of what happens, the fact is that revenge alone won’t be enough for Guts to have peace. Godo has already warned about this. For Guts to be happy, he needs to let go of the tragedies he suffered. Find peace within yourself. Guts will need to be more stoic than he was in the section about gratitude. He can mourn and live trapped in hatred and suffering, or try to make the most of the company of Casca, his friends, and perhaps having a family. Otherwise he will just run from one goal to another, thinking that the next one will finally be complete, when that is clearly not the answer. Or to sum it up in a single sentence; “Do not seek happiness outside, but within yourself, otherwise you will never find it.” Fortunately, it seems that Guts is also starting to realize this. Let’s hope that this path really has a happy ending, regardless of where our Gustavão’s happiness lies. I hope you enjoyed this content, and that it helped you in some way. Of course, I only touched on the more philosophical topics, both because I’m not an expert and because it’s not the focus of the video. So if you want to know more about stoicism, I will leave two videos in the description and on the card that talk specifically about the topic. There are two channels that I really like, Ciência todo dia and Epifania Visão, I really recommend them. As I said, I’m not an expert on any of this, and everything I said here is purely my opinion, with research of course, but still, it’s my perception. So if you don’t agree with anything I said, please feel free to comment. Furthermore, if you liked the content, subscribe, give it strength! Here we talk about manga, anime, everything with a pinch of reflection when possible. So if these topics interest you, you will definitely enjoy following the next videos. But anyway, once again, thank you very much for your attention and time. Here’s to us and I’ll see you in the next video, thanks!