Why would you do that with him?!
GriffithFor the money. Maintaining an army is quite costly. Soldiers, horses, provisions and equipment - none of these are free. The Hawks will grow even larger, and so will their expenses. I must help my army grow, and that, I'm afraid, takes tremendous funds. So I found someone who is as interested in me as I am in his substantial fortune. So we have come to an agreement.
Even so, you can't! Why can't things just stay as they are? I know we could earn the money you need! We just have to keep winning!
Griffith
That would take a tremendous amount of time, and... the more battles we fight, the more people we lose.
You're thinking about that boy, aren't you, Griffith?
Griffith
I'm not. I came to this conclusion rationally. Which is the lesser risk for me? Losing hundreds of my men in tens of battles, or receiving what I need from some rich old man? Listen, Casca: I feel no responsibility to those comrades who've lost their lives in my service, because they chose to fight those battles... (grips his arms with his hands) just as you chose, just as I.
Griffith
Just as I have chosen this, but... if there is one thing I can do for them, for the dead, it is to win, and keep winning until I obtain my dream. (his fingers start to tear bloody gashes in his arms.) A dream they clung to and risked their lives for.
Griffith
I can't just step over the bones of the dead in order to realize it. My dream... my dream is already smeared with blood! I don't regret, I don't feel guilty, but I'd rather sacrifice myself than watch any more innocent children die in the name of my dream!
(running over and embracing him) Stop it... please, stop it...
QQueen
Griffith, if you think you can burn me, the Queen, you are mistaken! You can't kill me! You're common. I won't allow it!
Griffith
Death on the battlefield comes regardless of class, royal or common. The loser must die!
Griffith
Do you think me a dreadful man? I had you take such a part in my affairs, while never getting my own hands dirty. I left the most difficult and dangerous tasks to you alone. Do you then not, resent me?
You do realize you're talking to the man who slaughtered a hundred men. I think it makes your question kind of pointless. You're just following your path, you still believe that, don't you?
Griffith
(after receiving a vision pertaining to his childhood dream of ruling a castle) Was that...an illusion?
No illusion. We're merely holding a mirror to your own consciousness and allowing you to witness the reflection. You yourself stacked the cobblestones to reach the castle in the sky. That was and always has been your destiny.
CConrad
Without doubt, you stepped over the thousands of dead, whose bodies made up the stones to pave your way! And they, for you, have done the same to those before!
Your minds fixed on a single ideal.
And now, before you reach the end of your magnificent journey - behold! (points at the Hawks) The gifts that await you, at the summit of your bloody quest! Your comrades, each a feather in your wing, have carried you to your great cause. They will surely forgive you. Though they may feel engulfed in a shadow of despair, they will forgive you, for they have always loved you. Entrust your wounded soul and tattered body to them, and you shall have life everlasting! Think not of your past, let it moult like old feathers, and consume yourself in the aftermath of your dreams!
Griffith
The aftermath... my dreams...
That is the sentence of God. But if your dream still lives, if that castle still gleams just as brightly in your eyes, then it is your obligation to lay the stones that surround you now. Let us begin the chant of offering. Stray from the path, and you will not be granted the black wings that will carry you to the heavens. Fate has set you free from human reason, and by providence, embrace your inner evil. Now stand, and face your future!
Griffith
You. Out of all the thousands of comrades and tens of thousands of enemies, only one, only you, and you alone, obscured the vision of my dream. I submit.
Griffith
Why do men like to shed blood, you asked. You are right in saying that it is one of the facets we, men, possess. However, it is but a tool to obtain what our heart desires and keep it from harm's way. I believe it to be a double-edged blade.
CCharlotte
What your heart desires... Lover? Honor?
Griffith
Both are important, aren't they? Fighting and dying for love and honor is what a knight desires above all else. But there exists something even more important than that. You know of it, I believe.
CCharlotte
More important?
Griffith
It is a dream formulated and fostered for your own sake. Men are entranced by their dreams regardless of birth, rank or social standing. Dreams breathe life into men and can cage them in suffering. Men live and die by their dreams but long after they're abandoned, they still smolder deep in men's hearts. A life spent as a martyr...to the God named "Dream". I find it abhorrent to simply live my life for no reason other than I was born into it.
OWOld Woman
What are you shouting about?
Young Griffith
All these people are dead!
OWOld Woman
Weren't you the one who killed them? None of them would have died had you not claimed to be on your way to the castle.
Young Griffith
But I didn't force anybody...
OWOld Woman
Silence! You should have known from the start. You should have known what kind of place you'd come to.
Young Griffith
Known?
OWOld Woman
Listen here boy, the only path that leads to the castle is by paving a road of corpses. Stop here and you'll end up a corpse yourself.
Young Griffith
I... I'm...
OWOld Woman
You're such an idiot. Now you regret what you once thought was a good idea. Just looking at the castle from the alleyway couldn't satisfy you, could it?
GGriffith (thinking)
I knew the consequences. But... I cannot apologize. I will not. If I should apologize or feel regret, then everything would have been for naught. I will never reach the castle if I do.
Pile them up. Take all you have left. All you need to do is chant the phrase... "I sacrifice." And you shall be granted raven-black wings upon which you shall soar the heavens.
(Suddenly, Guts arrives.)
Griffith! (pants) Griffith.
GGriffith (while looking towards Guts)
Yes... amongst the thousands of comrades... and the tens of thousands of enemies... there was only one man... you were the only one... who ever made me forget my dream.
(A long pause...)
Griffith
...I sacrifice.
(The hand-like altar begins to close its fingers around Griffith. Griffith smiles.)
(Griffith is encased in the hand. Guts frantically starts to try and pry the gigantic fingers open, calling Griffith's name.)
The threads of Causality have now been bounded. The promised time has come.
(Void casts the branding spell, marking everyone in the Band of the Hawk with Brands of Sacrifice. The Apostles transform and begin to attack the Band, overwhelming and slaughtering them.)
The lives of those who bear the brand, from the last drop of blood to the last moment of your agonizing death, will feed life to the new child of darkness.
Griffith
I came here to know for certain whether anything will shake my heart. While I stand before you in this new body of flesh...it seems...I am...free.
You mean after what you did, after all those you betrayed, you don't feel anything!?
Griffith
I'll not betray my dream. That is all. I told you once, I will get my own kingdom. Nothing has changed.
You say nothing's changed...! After everything you did, you say nothing's changed!?
Griffith
You should have known. This is the man I am. You, of all people.
Berserk · 128 quotes
