If there’s one thing Berserk is known for, it’s its gruesome imagery. Battle is shown in horribly realistic detail, and the ugly side of war and death is well-conveyed through the series. Among Berserk’s blood-stained pages are accurately frightening depictions of death that showcase both Kentaro Miura’s beautiful artwork and his terrifying attention to detail.

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Berserk is not supposed to be pretty; it shows the darker side of life - the reality that life doesn’t always have a greater purpose or higher meaning and that gods can be just as horrifying as demons. This ideology is perfectly depicted in Berserk’s most gruesome moments within what has become its most infamous arc, The Golden Age.

10 Bazuso Served Only To Demonstrate Guts's Strength

Guts fighting Bazuso in Berserk

Guts's first display of exceptional strength and promise on the battlefield was in his fight against Bazuso. Bazuso was a giant of a soldier who known as the 30-Man-Killer; carrying an intimidating presence wherever he went.

Guts showed his fearlessness and confidence when he stepped up to face Bazuso, and that confidence didn't prove unwarranted. Bazuso ends up being nearly cut in half by Guts’s sword - no small task considering the sheer size of the man. This single event serves as a brief preview at the kind of individual strength and resolve Guts would go on to demonstrate throughout the rest of the series.

9 Guts Kill 100 Men Single-Handedly

Guts The 100 man slayer in berserk

After staying behind so Casca can escape, Guts faces off against a huge band of Tudor mercenaries by himself. In a sign of things to come, Guts mercilessly cuts through the enemy group with his huge sword until he’s surrounded by nearly a hundred bodies.

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Guts's sheer resilience and unmatched courage in this battle were only a test run for what he would have to put up with following the eclipse, but he did it all without even falling to his knees. In the end, the Band of Hawk finds him in utter awe of their captain's indestructible will to survive.

8 Nosferatu Zodd Foreshadowed The Murderous Powers Of Demons

Nosferatu Zodd in Berserk.

Guts entered the lair of the legendary Nosferatu Zodd uncertain of what to expect being that the first group that entered never returned. Unfortunately, all his fears were realized when he came across the fallen members of the Band, and eventually Nosferatu Zodd himself.

Zodd's incredible size and strength proved overwhelming for both Guts and Griffith combined, though they put up a good fight. While their comrades' deaths weren't directly shown, Zodd's lair riddled with the bodies of their fallen allies told the story well enough.

7 General Boscogn Chops Down The Hawk’s Chances Of Success

Boscogn fighting Guts in Berserk anime

In the middle of Guts’s fight with General Boscogn, things were beginning to look bleak for Guts. Boscogn was a seasoned veteran in battle with incredible skills with his battle axe. Though the two were traded blows for some time, Boscogn began to gain a noticeable advantage.

In recognizing Gut’s precarious situation, some of his comrades rushed over with the hopes of assisting their captain. However, Boscogn was way out of their league. In one swing of his humongous axe, Boscogn took out four members of the Hawk simultaneously as Guts looked on in horror.

6 General Boscogn's Death Signified The Hawk's Victory

Boscogn dies to Guts’ sword in Berserk Golden Age arc

The leader of the Holy Purple Rhino Knights, General Boscogn, was a devastating force to be reckoned with. His rhino knights consisted of a heavily armed cavalry whose horses wore helmets with the horns of rhinos.

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While the Tudor forces seemed to be overwhelming in terms of sheer numbers, Griffith’s Hawks had other plans. While Casca’s squad infiltrated the city’s walls, Guts faced Boscogn in an all out brawl. While it was a hard won victory, Guts won the only way he knew how, by taking out both Boscogn and his horse in one powerful blow.

5 Adonis Wasn't Supposed To Die

Guts after killing Adonis in Berserk.

Witnessing the death of a child is never easy, but it becomes unfathomable when it's at one's own hand. Sadly, that’s exactly what happened to Guts during his assassination mission to take out the leader of the Phoenix Knights, and it had a profound effect on his development as a character.

As Guts saw someone entering the room where he had just taken out his target, Guts acted swiftly in killing the intruder without a second thought. Unfortunately, Guts didn't realize that it was none other than the Knight's son; a young boy no older than 13. It was one of Guts's lowest moments as he watched the light fade from the boy's eyes.

4 Griffith’s Torturer Got A Taste Of His Own Medicine

Griffith’s torturer in Berserk

The depths of depravity that the torturer at Windham goes to in his treatment of Griffith is boundless. After Guts finds Griffith and witnesses his horrible condition, he has no restraint upon finding the devilish being that tortured him.

Guts beaks through the door of the prison with his sword and gives the fiendish man a taste of his own medicine before dropping him to his doom. It’s nowhere near as gruesome as Griffith’s treatment was, and fans would find it difficult to empathize with The Torturer, but he still met with a pretty harsh end.

3 Guts Took His Anger Out On The Soldiers At Windham

Guts finds Griffith in Windham in Berserk Golden Age Arc

After killing the man who tortured Griffith, Guts goes on a rampage within the castle’s walls. Though numerous soldiers do their best to contain the Band of The Hawk in the dungeon, Guts cuts through them all as though they weren’t even there.

As terrible an image as it is, this moment represents a small fraction of Guts’s despair at seeing his only friend reduced to a skeletal shadow of his former self. It shows how deeply Guts still cared for Griffith despite leaving the Band of the Hawk.

2 Corkus's Death Was The Stuff Of Nightmares

Corkus during the eclipse in Berserk

In disbelief over what he is witnessing during the eclipse, Corkus wonders when he will wake up from this nightmare. However, in true Corkus fashion, he tells himself to keep i dreaming a bit longer when he sees a beautiful naked woman up ahead.

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Little does Corkus know, he is either being deceived by a demons powers, or is hallucinating out of pure shock. As he falls into what he is certain is a woman’s arms, the creature shows its true form and devours Corkus before he even knows what happens.

1 Gaston Fought Until The End

Gaston from the berserk anime

Gaston was a strong companion to Guts in the Band of the Hawk and was a fighter up until the very end. When Guts saw Gaston standing in front of him during the eclipse, he was glad to see his friend still fighting. However, things weren't as hopeful as they seemed.

While Gaston looked okay at first, no one could have expected that there was an apostle burrowing within Gaston's body, ready to burst out at any moment. Gaston's death hit even harder due to how close he was to Guts, and the dreams he shared with him.

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