I'm really interested in trying to get more information about Void, and one angle I haven't read much about is this: does the amount of people sacrificed, and their strength, influence the power of the resultant godhand member?
There definitely seems to be some kind of correlation between sacrifices and power, since Slan states in chapter 82: "It's ironic though. The stronger his life force and the greater his anguish, the more they become precious bread for the new life of darkness". From this we can at least deduct that a strong sacrifice makes the new member stronger than a weak sacrifice.
Now the question is: shouldn't this mean that Void is much, much more powerful than Griffith currently is? After all, he sacrificed not just a band of mercenaries (who have some very strong members, albeit only few due to the year before), but an entire kingdom. I do think the average sacrifice was much weaker for Void (as they were most likely not warriors, but intellectuals), though it's difficult to say since we know very little about his eclipse. But nonetheless I definitely think there is some correlation here.
This of course leads to some interesting possibilities for what Griffith is currently up to. Is he planning to somehow ascend further by making another, much bigger sacrifice? Do the godhand members have a hierarchy which he is trying to climb (almost certainly)? Could he be trying to surpass the Idea of Evil itself?
I always believed that the biggest the desire or goal, bigger the sacrifice, as it would be a sort of "payment". Also think that Void is the most powerful one. I've read that Miura said that the key to berserk's ending lays with Void
One thought about the ending - Miura said that Void is key. Are we 100% sure that this refers to Void the God Hand member? If I understand correctly, some cultures have void as the 5th element in the classical water, fire, earth and air cycle - which maps to the 4 cardinal kings suspiciously well, who are one member down compared to the God Hand. It could make a lot of sense that they lent Gaiseric their power to unite the people, but he abused it and hurt his people instead. The evils of humanity, too concentrated for the first time, created the Desired God. He influenced the kings to create a 5th member, supposed to guard against the problems of Gaiserics Kingdom, and chose the man who never stopped proclaiming Gaiserics sins. But after his ascension, he did not join them, as he was angry about the torture he's been put through, and lost his connection to humanity - only being fuelled by hate for Gaiseric. Since then he's been creating the first God Hand, with Femto being the completion. The four kings regret their actions and are helping humanity as best they can since then. The end goal of Berserk might just be a 5th cardinal king, born from the ambitions of the Griffith to ascend, but instead having ascended Cascas and Guts child to the role of the promised Void.
Hm, that's an interesting thought. I'm not sure which way around is it - does the desire determine the amount of sacrifices, or is it the other way around? I think that, as with apostles, all those tethering the to-be godhand member to their humanity will be sacrificed. This would mean that it's less a specific price they pay, and more going all-in. But it's of course possible that the threads of causality are woven such that the right price is paid every time...
Regarding Void - I can't wait to see how he factors into the ending. I suspect that the reason we don't see the four godhand members from the Gaiseric flashback is due to him (e.g. he might have sacrificed them). This would make for an interesting climax for Falconia, since Griffith seems to believe himself to be in charge of his decisions, but this might not be the case.
That makes sense to me. That would mean that, even if little, Griffith cared about every single soldier of his. In a way, he sacrificed himself, his humanity, with the band of the hawk.
That will be one of the most memorable factors from the whole series. Will we get a confirmation on Skull Knight being a type of Guts and Void being a type of Griffith, or will it be an entirely different thing? Miura really built an entire world to be explored and in a fantastic way!
I'm a 100% certain this is the case. After all, he is horrified thinking about their deaths in the child scene while he's still being convinced, and just before the panel with the crystallized tear in chapter 82 he says: "All their deaths are piercing through me! I wished for it. I killed them. It's strange... I don't feel anything."
Absolutely! I'm sure it won't be a direct parallel - as far as we know Gaiseric and Void despised each other before Voids ascension (since Void was spreading the sins of Gaiseric, who was torturing him). Griffith and Guts loved each other, although Griffith hated him for making him forget his dreams. Maybe we'll learn more about Voids and Gaiserics history prior to the stories we've heard so far?