In my personal opinion? No reason at all, he fell in love because love happens sometimes without rhyme or reason. You can’t control with respect to whom you fall in love. Guts isn’t really special, there’s nothing super unique about their relationship, they just instantly clicked. Like they both felt that initial spark of attraction, and it spiraled from there .
But I’ve always been a fan of romance in stories not really needing an explanation beyond visible chemistry.
And in Berserk I don’t really think Miura gives a reason. Griffith is already interested enough in Guts to piss Casca off by ordering her to cuddle him to save his life and then make Guts the first person he’s ever said “I want you” to after watching him fight one dude and not even exchanging a word with him.
I think there’s maybe an argument to be made that on a symbolic level he’s drawn to Guts because Guts can ~defeat~ him lmao, but that’s not an actual character-based emotional reason, that’s more just like, drawing parallels between how Guts makes Griffith vulnerable and more emotionally open and destroys him and how Griffith is entranced by watching him fight and reminisces about their duel where Guts nearly won and Guts winning the waterfight and that kind of thing. Sort of a physical conflict as a metaphor for emotional vulnerability thing.
Also I like that because it has good implications for their relationship as enemies js.
But yeah on a pure emotional/character level I don’t think there is a reason Griffith falls in love, he just does. Like, there’s a reason this question isn’t ever actually answered imo, and it’s because there is no answer:
It just is.
To me Griffith pretty much says it at the eclipse. “Among thousands of comrades and tens of thousands of enemies. You’re the only one, who made me forget my dream.” Whatever it was about Guts only him was the one who freed Griffith from the burden his dream caused him. Maybe because Guts doesn’t live his life bound to a dream and all that entails and perhaps part of Griffith found that liberating. With Guts he doesn’t have to be the white hawk, he can just be Griffith his authentic self.
Also he feels he can trust Guts with his own darkness because Guts is “rough enough to share this with to the end.” Being in love means knowing both the worst and the best of another. Griffith knows and accepts the worst and the best of Guts without a desire to change him (unlike Casca constant desire to change Guts but that a different story) and trust the worst and best of himself to Guts in turn.
And in contrast to my response to that last ask, this is also a good point. I suggested that they were drawn to each other based on a similarity, but another way of looking at it is Griffith’s goal orientedness vs Guts’ aimlessness. You could argue that Griffith’s relationship with Guts was liberating for him while Guts’ relationship with Griffith gave him purpose, and they started to meet somewhere in the middle before everything went wrong.
lol and true, Griffith did accept and love Guts without wanting him to change despite the speech and it just makes Guts leaving to change himself for him all that more tragic. Though also kind of ironic, since Guts didn’t actually change when he left lol despite that being his intention, he just kept doing the exact same thing (fight ppl) and decided to call that his dream.
By Casca’s desire to change Guts, do you mean when she scolds him for fighting and not running away? Bc idk I think Casca’s right lol, Guts absolutely should learn to say no to a fight. But at the same time I think it’s telling that Guts insists on fighting a giant monster despite Casca asking him to run and it leads to her sobbing about it, while Guts was entirely willing to run from Zodd with Griffith, and never even harboured resentment about losing that fight - until he lost his faith in his relationship with Griffith. But idk I’ve mused about that before here if anyone’s interested.
With Casca wanting to change Guts I’m mostly talking about the reckless behaviour and disregard for the rest of the band as well as running into fights with Zodd and getting Griffith hurt. I do think she is right but it is about her wanting to change him and it’s coming more as her desire rather than Guts own desire or him reaching those conclusions himself. Unlike Griffith who works around Guts inclinations and accepts Guts.
Griffith is just cool with it and still happy with whatever Guts choose to change of himself and I think it’s Griffith’s respect for people’s free will and his tendency to taking Guts as he is. With Casca she is just not enough for Guts to want to change here and well he is not sorry but when he apologies to Griffith it’s out of his own volition not because Casca yells at him but because he is genuinely sorry (esp to Griffith). It comes from him not from anyone wanting to change him.
And this is one of the things about Guts.While he needs a good kick up the ass it never really comes from himself (The guy is not so good at self reflection tbh.) And he kind of lets others decide his priorities in life. The one thing he decides from himself (and yes it’s for Griffith’s sake but it comes from Guts own desire)
is crushed by what others say when the above is challenged, be it by Griffith at the fountain, Casca’s “you’re not good enough for Griffith so change" attitude, Corkus you know nothing but fighting, Judeau shoving Guts into a sexual relationship with Casca etc. Which all play apart in creating the eclipse.
So part of Guts “chasing one thing while missing out on what he has” behaviour to me is lack of conviction in his own desires and this allows for him to be led by what others think he should be focusing/doing/behaving and less about really what Guts wants.
Which still happens after the eclipse. Going after Femto and Godhand, leaving behind the others then Guts comes back Godo scolds him Guts realize he shouldn’t have left, now holds on to Casca as the last light of the band of the hawk and original Griffith and he has to be reminded by Godo that those are irreplaceable things and I don’t think he would have concluded that without Godo.
Then when NeoGriffith comes backs he basically says he is over Guts which deflates in Guts all that I’ve search so many nights for ya Griffith. So yeah he distracts himself with Casca from his real desire and becomes blind to what he wants and once again not choosing what he wants. Guts buries his desire for Griffith.
Guts becomes a man with no convection to his own desire and Griffith is now the blooming king (angel) of granting mankind’s desire. Even with his feelings for Guts, Guts really doesn’t give an angel of desire any damn reason to give Guts his time of day.
I know this started out about Casca’s desire to change Guts but I feel it’s all tied together. When others try to change Guts because of how they believe he should be or what they think his desires should be (regardless of them being right or wrong about the issue) things tend to go bad vs when Guts happy with himself or makes his own choice for himself.
So in conclusion Griffith was pretty happy with Guts the way he was, Guts was pretty happy with the way things were, while everyone else tries to change him this leads to Guts leaving, Griffith’s torture, the eclipse and in a strange way everyone became an architect of their fates.
