Highlights

Skull Knight, an enigmatic and mysterious character in Berserk, seeks to take down the God-Hand by attacking crucial events in history.
He warned Guts about Griffith's Eclipse, survived fights against powerful foes, and formed a weapon using collected Behelits.
Theories suggest Skull Knight could be King Gaiseric, aligned with Guts, and a pivotal player in the cyclical world of Berserk.

Berserk is a legendary series that houses some of the most memorable and important characters in all of anime and manga. The main character, Guts, has a wide array of allies that have helped him in his journey, as well as a host of terrifying villains for him to go up against. The most interesting, and mysterious, of all of his friends is the infamous Skull Knight, an ancient and powerful former master of the Berserker armor.

Although he has been guiding Guts from the shadows for a very long time, his origins largely remain a mystery. In spite of this, he is one of the franchise's most beloved characters and one who has been there since the early stages of the series. So, let's take a look at the elusive Skull Knight from Berserk and see what his goals are!

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Who Could Skull Knight Be?

First Appearance	Berserk, Episode 37, "Skull Knight"
Debut Date	June 10, 1994
Story Arc	Golden Age Arc

Skull Knight is an extremely enigmatic and mysterious figure in the world of Berserk. Within the community, there are quite a few memes pointing towards how cryptic his conversations with Guts are, as everything he says seems to just confuse Guts and the readers even more. Despite this, his presence in the series is always felt as he has singlehandedly waged a war against the God-Hand.

Though his origins have not been confirmed yet, Skull Knight is approximately 1000 years old and throughout his life, he has been on a one-man crusade to fight against the God-Hand, dubbing himself as a 'foe of the inhumans'. Due to his centuries of experience, he has gained an incredible amount of foresight and has great knowledge of the inner workings of the flow of causality.

Skull Knight knew of Griffith's Eclipse before it even happened, forewarning Guts about the incoming event. It was due to his involvement in the Eclipse that allowed Guts and Casca to survive, and he later resurfaced during the Kushan invasion of Midland. He proved himself to be strong enough to engage both Femto and Void in a fight using the extremely powerful Sword of Actuation to cut tears through layers of the Astral World.

Possible origins of Skull Knight:

All that is known about Skull Knight's past is that he holds a deep grudge and hatred towards the God-Hand, and it is all but confirmed that they have had a major part to play in his story. Due to him being referred to as 'King' or 'Your Majesty' at many different stages, many believe Skull Knight to be King Gaiseric. This is further compounded by his distinct enmity towards the leader of the God-Hand, Void. The parallels of Skull Knight being Gaiseric run very deep, as Gaiseric's kingdom existed 1000 years ago and the armor he donned was very similar to Skull Knight's current one.

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Since Skull Knight is confirmed to be over 1000 years old, his and Void's origins seem to line up perfectly with the events of what happened to Gaiseric's kingdom. When a priest made the sacrifice during an Eclipse to ascend to the ranks of the God-Hand, he sacrificed the entirety of Gaiseric's kingdom. If Skull Knight truly is the king and Void is the priest, it would give him the perfect reason to seek eternal revenge against the God-Hand.

Moreover, Skull Knight is also confirmed in the series to be the previous wearer of the Berserker Armor. Schierke even claims that the Armor bled the previous owner of every drop of blood in their body, which connects to Skull Knight needing a different armor to house his soul now. His history and interactions with other older characters, such as Zodd and Flora, make his ancient nature as a king of a destroyed kingdom far more compelling.

What Are His Goals?

Featured Characters Power Mystery Berserk Guts Skull Knight

As confirmed before, Skull Knight's ultimate goal is to see the downfall of the God-Hand by any means necessary. This is also the reason why he has been helping Guts out so much from the start, as he recognizes the Black Swordsman to be someone who has once escaped the plans of causality, putting him in the unique position to help Skull Knight's crusade against the God-Hand.

To battle against them, Skull Knight attacks them at 'temporal junction points', which are vital events in the world where the future hangs in the balance, such as the Eclipse. Just as he tells Guts, causality is not something that can be taken advantage of easily, so he chooses to make his move at those points in history where the flow of causality is at its weakest.

When you confront those who lurk in the darkness, you also envelop yourself in it.

This may also explain the current nature of the God-Hand itself. In Chapter 362, Voids' ascension to becoming a member of the God-Hand is shown, where he stood with 4 other demonic beings. However, this God-Hand was vastly different from the one during Griffith's ascension, which has made fans theorize that Skull Knight had killed the previous 4 at different moments in time.

He has been able to do this over centuries. By collecting and eating Behelits, Skull Knight forms the Sword of Actuation, a weapon that allows him to harm even the strongest characters. There are many more theories about who he is and what he plans to do, with a popular theory owing to the cyclical nature of the world of Berserk. This theory states that Gaiseric, Skull Knight, and Guts are all different versions of the same character, with Guts eventually taking the position of Skull Knight to fight against the villains of the series.

Berserk can be streamed on Netflix and Crunchyroll.

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