The iconography and symbolism of berserk They’re often a source of discussion and speculation in the community, and among the most intriguing elements is the victim character that turned Gatsu and Caska’s lives upside down. We try to do this by analyzing the possible inspirations behind the shape of the brand understand what the berserk symbol means.
Kentaro Miura incorporated many references to human history into his work, and one of the greatest sources of inspiration was Norse mythology. From the spiral tree, similar to Yggdrasil, to the call of the Norse warriors in the title, the master seems to have erected the mark of sacrifice inspired by the runes of ancient Futhark.
No direct description of the symbol is given in the series, but we could define it the mark of sacrifice as a condemnation to face evilCreatures of darkness, incessantly imprinted on the bodies of those who manage to survive a sacrificial ceremony summoned by someone in order to rise to become an apostle or member of the Hand of God. However, this meaning can be enriched by hypotheses put forward about the futhark runes.
If one imagines placing the rune Algiz ᛉ, meaning divine protection, on the inverted alan ᛟ or loss of all good, the result is a symbol very similar to the mark and by combining the respective meanings of the characters could we say that the mark of sacrifice is the loss of all good and protection. Another interpretation instead focuses on the loss of a life protected or guarded by divine beings, which could refer to the amounts of blood that flow from the mark when the condemned approach an apostle or the hand of God.
A second hypothesis instead sees the convergence of the rune Berkanan ᛒ and its reverse, i.e. personal growth and obstacles, again connected in the center by Algiz ᛉ. A combination of what The mark of sacrifice would indicate a struggle for improvement under divine supervision, perhaps the architect of the problems that constantly crop up in the lives of the damned.
Then to sum it up The mark of sacrifice represents an eternal struggle with evil to better oneself despite the heavy losses sufferedunder the supervision, positive or negative, of divine beings.
