Trees as one of the guides in the world of Berserk

If you've read Berserk manga at least once, you can't help but notice the depth and detail of Kentaro Miura's work. This manga deservedly ranks as one of the most iconic and significant works that influenced not only the manga/anime industry, but even Western cinema. After years of familiarity with the universe and world of Berserk, I am still discovering many non-obvious details that go unnoticed due to the reader's distraction to the plot and characters. Today I want to share one such detail that you probably haven't noticed.

Trees are often glimpsed in key scenes in Berserk, and for good reason. The average reader doesn't think about the entourage the first time they read it, but as they reread the manga such details begin to surface.

• Guts birth. This is impossible and unthinkable. The hanged mother and the infant who appears on the spot below the dead mother next to the tree where others close to her were hung. Trees are said to grant life, but this scene both proves and disproves it.

• Throughout the anime/manga, trees accompany Guts as a companion. During the Golden Age episode, we see Guts resting or taking shelter under a tree. This is as a metaphor for Guts struggle with his own nature. Later on, he himself declares this. He became soft and tries to get rid of the weak parts of his personality.

• When Guts fought and defeated a hundred men in the woods, he was thereby fighting not only physically, but also fighting his inner demons, his nature, after which he symbolically leans on the trees, as if to symbolize his victory over himself.

• In the duel with Griffith, the lonely tree also has its own meaning. It symbolizes Guts loneliness and his desire to go his own way.

• After returning to Band of the Falcon, Guts and Casca confess their feelings to each other and make love. At this moment, the tree they were under symbolizes the new life budding in Casca's womb and the intimacy between the two heroes, who become a true family for each other. Trees are a guide to the world of the Berserk.

• The fact that Ganishka took the form of a giant tree makes even more sense given the similar examples listed above.

Kentaro Miura not only put his life into Berserk, but also created a unique and distinctive world that people will remember and cite as an example for years to come, and maybe even years from now people will still find new references and ideas in it.