I know people are being subversive in the "Anime Betrayal" thread when they mention Guts leaving the band of the hawk as a betrayal, but it did get me thinking back to the Golden Age Arc and Griffith's character arc. I'm partway through Volume 29 now, so I'm sure there is more development for Griffith's character ahead, but I kind of just want to talk about how beautifully flawed and human he is (or was, at least) as a character.
In the Volume 6 chapter "Precious Thing", Griffith talks to Charlotte at length about dreams and ambition, going so far as to say that he could only ever define someone as a friend if they pursue their own dreams and are his "equal." However, when he's actually confronted with the reality of someone close to him wanting to leave to find and pursue their own ambition, he falls apart. Now it's entirely possible he was being duplicitous in his conversation with Charlotte, but based on the way he talks about his ambition throughout the arc I doubt that's the case. I think Griffith actually believed his definition of a true friend in his mind from a logical/theoretical perspective because he had never grown truly close with anyone up until that point. He had an idealized version of friendship that didn't actually match up with reality. This is such a human thing...we experience this in our own lives with personal relationships and romance, shifting political beliefs, religion, etc.
His subsequent breakdown is in that respect really understandable, though his actions are not really justified and are completely unhealthy and self-destructive...fucking the daughter of a monarch on the rebound was obviously a bad move to say the least.
In the Volume 6 chapter "Precious Thing", Griffith talks to Charlotte at length about dreams and ambition, going so far as to say that he could only ever define someone as a friend if they pursue their own dreams and are his "equal." However, when he's actually confronted with the reality of someone close to him wanting to leave to find and pursue their own ambition, he falls apart. Now it's entirely possible he was being duplicitous in his conversation with Charlotte, but based on the way he talks about his ambition throughout the arc I doubt that's the case. I think Griffith actually believed his definition of a true friend in his mind from a logical/theoretical perspective because he had never grown truly close with anyone up until that point. He had an idealized version of friendship that didn't actually match up with reality. This is such a human thing...we experience this in our own lives with personal relationships and romance, shifting political beliefs, religion, etc.
His subsequent breakdown is in that respect really understandable, though his actions are not really justified and are completely unhealthy and self-destructive...fucking the daughter of a monarch on the rebound was obviously a bad move to say the least.
