Why did Griffith betray Guts in Berserk? Explained

Kentaro Miura's Berserk presents Griffith as a seemingly noble figure: platinum-blond hair, white armor with gold accents, and a flowing cloak. Beneath this image lies an ambition born of poverty and a childhood vision of a distant castle, a dream that drove him to form the Band of the Hawk.

Each victory and alliance only magnified that vision, turning a youthful wish into a near-sacred mission. Unlike lords content with land, Griffith sought a kingdom shaped by his will, turning even friends into tools. His angelic image hid a calculating mind that weighed lives against stone and throne.

Miura contrasts Griffith’s radiant beauty with the encroaching darkness of his schemes, foreshadowing the Eclipse. The betrayal of the Band of the Hawk was not sudden but the inevitable outcome of ambition that allowed no equal. Long before Midland’s banners flew, their fate had already been sealed in Berserk.

Disclaimer: This article contains major spoilers from the Berserk manga.

The deep bond and rivalry between Griffith and Guts in Berserk

Griffith as seen in the Berserk (1997) anime (Image via OLM)

Within Griffith's story, Guts enters as a tall, strong mercenary with a huge sword whose raw power accelerates Griffith's early plans and creates a tense but effective partnership.

From the moment Guts cuts through several fighters, prompting Griffith to challenge him to a one-on-one fight, the latter sees a strength that cannot be easily controlled or predicted. Their fight, using a thin sword against a large piece of metal, represents a clash between skill and raw power, control and disorder.

Griffith wins not because of greater strength but because of careful and legendary accuracy; still, he lets Guts live, making him join the Band of the Hawk in a move that looks like kindness but feels like taking ownership.

The quiet that spreads across the battlefield as Judeau watches Griffith take control of the giant swordsman marks the start of their connection with a feeling of fate and worry. As battles mount, their bond grows beyond commander and soldier, blending fatherly, brotherly, and rivalrous tensions.

A late-night conversation with Princess Charlotte on a palace terrace, which was secretly overheard by Guts, reveals Griffith's core philosophy on friendship and equality. Meanwhile, Guts' strong defense in dangerous situations suggests a mutual respect that goes beyond just ranks in the group.

But a hidden imbalance affects their closeness: Griffith always sees Guts as a very useful part of his plan to achieve his dream, while Guts starts yearning for acknowledgment not as a helper but as someone on the same level.

In Berserk, Miura's artwork gets more intense and close-up whenever the two men talk, highlighting small changes in their faces that show love, pride, ownership, and deep fear. Their powerful bond carries the seeds of ruin, since true equality threatens Griffith’s control.

The eclipse and Griffith's choice as Femto in Berserk

The complicated relationship falls apart when Guts, influenced by Griffith's own words about friendship requiring independence, prepares to leave the Band of the Hawk in Berserk.

Griffith's calm front breaks during their duel on a windswept hillside, revealing an angry reaction that frames leaving as a worse betrayal than any in battle. At that point, Griffith faces the scary idea that his well-planned dream could be thrown off by the unpredictable nature of what people want.

The emotional effects appear soon afterward: an impulsive encounter with Princess Charlotte, which leads to his capture and imprisonment, where torture turns his body into a broken shell. His injuries strip away speech and movement, forcing him to confront the cost of what he once took for granted.

Unable to talk, he looks at the crimson Behelit like someone deep in thought; the castle that was once just an idea now appears as an endless emptiness that requires a cost. When the Behelit activates, enveloping the Band of the Hawk in an otherworldly dimension, the Apostles appear and the place of sacrifice is prepared.

Griffith faces the final calculation: the lives of the Band, who will be branded as sacrifices upon his agreement to the offering, against gaining the status of a god-like being through his dream.

The short pause, shown almost gently with Guts' urgent yells and Casca's pained reactions, proves that the decision is not forced by fate but a choice he makes purposefully. By saying "I sacrifice," Griffith surrenders his last humanity, casting the Hawk’s members into a storm of blood and body parts.

The body of the human Griffith changes into the clawed shape of the new Femto, a visual moment that highlights how betrayal becomes simple when ambition turns into an absolute belief. The Eclipse makes the betrayal clear, not as anger but as the logical end of a dream that always compared human lives to structures.

Conclusion

Griffith's betrayal of Guts and the Band of the Hawk in Berserk cannot be seen as just one cruel action; it is the planned high point of an ambition that always treated friendships as something that could be lost, the deadly completion of a bond whose strength only exposed its own unevenness.

From the distant outline of the castle in his childhood to the branded place of sacrifice under a crimson sky, Kentaro Miura follows a path whose moral directions grow from battles in the Middle Ages to events involving demons on a cosmic scale.

In Berserk, Guts' decision to leave only catalyzed the process; the capacity to betray was part of Griffith's dream with white wings long before any weapon was used or any sadness happened.