Hello, long time lurker here, first post on the forum. Searched for the topic but couldn't find about this specific idea so here it goes.
On episode 183 (volume 22) Griffith finally reveals himself to the world, he does that scene recruiting Locus and Grunbeld, slaughtering the Kushans and saving the civilians, like a painting, a legend. It seems pretty clear to me that the intention of that whole theater is solely to imprint himself on Sonia, like he did with Casca but a 100x times more effective.
I guess only if a person read the Berserk manga to her she would change allegiances, even if a mage telepathically showed her the whole occultation ritual including the rape, i think she would still be loyal to Griffith, that kind of loyalty can only be lost if she sympathizes with the Guts and Casca. Griffith really did a number on her with the whole "serving aside with lord Griffith, is to dwell in legend" shtick (episode 357), also he showed her the extent of her powers, the girl loved the concept of magic and being a witch, she is a large contribution to that legend and she knows it, she knows shes way more important than the queen. Poor thing should be living in Skellig becoming a savant guru
Probably that was his only chance to get a person with magical abilities, no mage was gonna be on his side. Sonia was a freakishly gifted kid, raised under the tyranny of the holy see, without any previous knowledge of magic of any kind. Were talking about genes here, even the Idea Of Evil cant control that, how many matings did it pre-arrange in the web of causality just to try to score that specific DNA, in that specific time and place.
Making a Griffith is easy, context its what makes 80% of him, physical abilities and appearance is easy to genetically manipulate in couple of hundred years. Now making a Sonia is in a whole another level, the Idea Of Evil was probably stalling its grand scheme until Sonia was born, people like that are super rare, anyone can become a mage, but magic is all about visualizing and sensing Od and her natural ability is off the charts, she can do stuff too advanced compared to a normal mage like Schierke can do, even while living in the west under the holy see which is supposed to nip that ability in the bud
Sonia is the most important ally Griffith has, without her, his farse of the Hawk Of Light would have been severely shaken, specifically as soon as the demon army was finally unleashed in the battle against Shiva, that was the critical moment where he would have been questioned as a figure of light and benevolence, Sonia was able to immediately communicate with everyone who was watching that grotesque scene and dispel any doubts they had, Griffith's supernatural charisma can only go so far, without that single message people would start talking.
Don't know if the translation or the version i read was right but they were thinking if the Hawk himself was a creature that hid his real dark nature behind a facade. His supply lines and war economy are maintained because greedy merchants and politicians aid him out of pure belief in his holy image.
The illusion is maintained because they believe he is 100% human, but Holy. He only flies with Zodd (even though he specifically asked for wings when reincarnating lol), only displays power by using his fortune to avoid damage and cutting straight into enemy lines to directly hit their leader, cutting all enemy morale, does practically nothing but gains all the glory.
All the magical stuff he does which are perceived as miracles are very carefully selected, like the ritual of returning the souls of those departed in battle to say goodbye to their families, only done to increase his image of holiness, like Griffith actually cares for a common soldier, they'll probably go straight to the vortex of souls afterwards. Racing through the tree branches its just something that was there and he used it because he can sense it, like Sonia
He rules by illusion not by force, he has all the force he wants. Sonia is the reason he wins battles so easily, he can pummel Giants and Dragons as Femto, but he needs to appear as just a very good leader who does surgical strikes and then cleans up after enemy morale is reduced to zero, the soldiers conviction and spirits and they need the camaraderie with the apostles instead of fear and doubt . All that is done by Sonia, she can sense the enemies will, can show a live feed of the battle from any person to everyone, also is the only one besides Griffith with the ability to sense Od (dont know it the apostles can do that too, but i doubt they can navigate the tree branches)
The Band Of The Hawk can only face threats from the Astral world in this form because Sonia is almost omnipresent, she warned Mule about incoming boulders (episode 356) but how many times does she do that with everyone in the field of battle? how many apostles and soldiers lives she saved with her precognition, that demon army is finite, losing too much of them means one day the astral world will throw something their way which will require Femto to use his powers and reveal himself, but that wont happen because Sonia can predict incoming attacks at critical moments, which will keep the key players of man and demon army alive.
Imagine If Irvine, Locus, Zodd, Grunbeld and so many other useful apostles died, without that manpower Griffith will need to use more and more demonic power. How will a weakened Band Of The Hawk fare against a being on par with Sea God? of which i'm sure there are lots out there, and Griffith plans to conquer them all. Only with a strong army, well feed, well supplied and alive.
As soon as Femto is revealed the illusion is broken, literally the hawk of darkness, that prophecy is probably not well known amongst the populace,but hes clearly demonic in that form and jet black, its over. No longer holy, just another monster, who lied to everyone. Griffith is a narcissist who dreamed since he was a child of having his own kingdom, I think he does not want to rule as a tyrant, because he craves admiration, recognition and love. I Think his fantasy is not actually about power but endless adulation. Ganishka is the one who coveted power above all else and didn't hesitate to show his demonic nature and cruelty. Griffith can feed his cravings with the illusion in which Sonia had a huge part in creating and is still maintaining, He is powerful and can manipulate gravity and maybe by extension all barytes but that kind of telepathic power, only Sonia has, or why does he needs her and is she written into the story?
Take her out of the equation and what good is the queen? the pontiff? the demon army, the threats of the astral world are looming outside Falconia and as Guts stated, having a kingdom, its just a small step in his personal campaign. So just ruling Falconia would bore him out of his mind and be worthless, he wants to expand and conquer the whole world under his banner but for that he needs supply lines, steady income, soldiers, being a legitimate king who is holy, who has the divine right of kings etc. That is only worthy if he can maintain the illusion of being the hawk of light, nobody can know that he is a demon and he can only do those incredible feats in combat because he has an omnipresent seer that turns the tide of battle easily for him, without having to lose powerful apostles or having to reveal his true form
Sorry for any mistakes in grammar, im not a native English speaker. And for talking so much about Griffith in a topic intended for Sonia, this aint nothing new for people here, but just to reinforce how important she is in the grand scheme of things, thats why i think she is Griffith's most important ally
On episode 183 (volume 22) Griffith finally reveals himself to the world, he does that scene recruiting Locus and Grunbeld, slaughtering the Kushans and saving the civilians, like a painting, a legend. It seems pretty clear to me that the intention of that whole theater is solely to imprint himself on Sonia, like he did with Casca but a 100x times more effective.
I guess only if a person read the Berserk manga to her she would change allegiances, even if a mage telepathically showed her the whole occultation ritual including the rape, i think she would still be loyal to Griffith, that kind of loyalty can only be lost if she sympathizes with the Guts and Casca. Griffith really did a number on her with the whole "serving aside with lord Griffith, is to dwell in legend" shtick (episode 357), also he showed her the extent of her powers, the girl loved the concept of magic and being a witch, she is a large contribution to that legend and she knows it, she knows shes way more important than the queen. Poor thing should be living in Skellig becoming a savant guru
Probably that was his only chance to get a person with magical abilities, no mage was gonna be on his side. Sonia was a freakishly gifted kid, raised under the tyranny of the holy see, without any previous knowledge of magic of any kind. Were talking about genes here, even the Idea Of Evil cant control that, how many matings did it pre-arrange in the web of causality just to try to score that specific DNA, in that specific time and place.
Making a Griffith is easy, context its what makes 80% of him, physical abilities and appearance is easy to genetically manipulate in couple of hundred years. Now making a Sonia is in a whole another level, the Idea Of Evil was probably stalling its grand scheme until Sonia was born, people like that are super rare, anyone can become a mage, but magic is all about visualizing and sensing Od and her natural ability is off the charts, she can do stuff too advanced compared to a normal mage like Schierke can do, even while living in the west under the holy see which is supposed to nip that ability in the bud
Sonia is the most important ally Griffith has, without her, his farse of the Hawk Of Light would have been severely shaken, specifically as soon as the demon army was finally unleashed in the battle against Shiva, that was the critical moment where he would have been questioned as a figure of light and benevolence, Sonia was able to immediately communicate with everyone who was watching that grotesque scene and dispel any doubts they had, Griffith's supernatural charisma can only go so far, without that single message people would start talking.
Don't know if the translation or the version i read was right but they were thinking if the Hawk himself was a creature that hid his real dark nature behind a facade. His supply lines and war economy are maintained because greedy merchants and politicians aid him out of pure belief in his holy image.
The illusion is maintained because they believe he is 100% human, but Holy. He only flies with Zodd (even though he specifically asked for wings when reincarnating lol), only displays power by using his fortune to avoid damage and cutting straight into enemy lines to directly hit their leader, cutting all enemy morale, does practically nothing but gains all the glory.
All the magical stuff he does which are perceived as miracles are very carefully selected, like the ritual of returning the souls of those departed in battle to say goodbye to their families, only done to increase his image of holiness, like Griffith actually cares for a common soldier, they'll probably go straight to the vortex of souls afterwards. Racing through the tree branches its just something that was there and he used it because he can sense it, like Sonia
He rules by illusion not by force, he has all the force he wants. Sonia is the reason he wins battles so easily, he can pummel Giants and Dragons as Femto, but he needs to appear as just a very good leader who does surgical strikes and then cleans up after enemy morale is reduced to zero, the soldiers conviction and spirits and they need the camaraderie with the apostles instead of fear and doubt . All that is done by Sonia, she can sense the enemies will, can show a live feed of the battle from any person to everyone, also is the only one besides Griffith with the ability to sense Od (dont know it the apostles can do that too, but i doubt they can navigate the tree branches)
The Band Of The Hawk can only face threats from the Astral world in this form because Sonia is almost omnipresent, she warned Mule about incoming boulders (episode 356) but how many times does she do that with everyone in the field of battle? how many apostles and soldiers lives she saved with her precognition, that demon army is finite, losing too much of them means one day the astral world will throw something their way which will require Femto to use his powers and reveal himself, but that wont happen because Sonia can predict incoming attacks at critical moments, which will keep the key players of man and demon army alive.
Imagine If Irvine, Locus, Zodd, Grunbeld and so many other useful apostles died, without that manpower Griffith will need to use more and more demonic power. How will a weakened Band Of The Hawk fare against a being on par with Sea God? of which i'm sure there are lots out there, and Griffith plans to conquer them all. Only with a strong army, well feed, well supplied and alive.
As soon as Femto is revealed the illusion is broken, literally the hawk of darkness, that prophecy is probably not well known amongst the populace,but hes clearly demonic in that form and jet black, its over. No longer holy, just another monster, who lied to everyone. Griffith is a narcissist who dreamed since he was a child of having his own kingdom, I think he does not want to rule as a tyrant, because he craves admiration, recognition and love. I Think his fantasy is not actually about power but endless adulation. Ganishka is the one who coveted power above all else and didn't hesitate to show his demonic nature and cruelty. Griffith can feed his cravings with the illusion in which Sonia had a huge part in creating and is still maintaining, He is powerful and can manipulate gravity and maybe by extension all barytes but that kind of telepathic power, only Sonia has, or why does he needs her and is she written into the story?
Take her out of the equation and what good is the queen? the pontiff? the demon army, the threats of the astral world are looming outside Falconia and as Guts stated, having a kingdom, its just a small step in his personal campaign. So just ruling Falconia would bore him out of his mind and be worthless, he wants to expand and conquer the whole world under his banner but for that he needs supply lines, steady income, soldiers, being a legitimate king who is holy, who has the divine right of kings etc. That is only worthy if he can maintain the illusion of being the hawk of light, nobody can know that he is a demon and he can only do those incredible feats in combat because he has an omnipresent seer that turns the tide of battle easily for him, without having to lose powerful apostles or having to reveal his true form
Sorry for any mistakes in grammar, im not a native English speaker. And for talking so much about Griffith in a topic intended for Sonia, this aint nothing new for people here, but just to reinforce how important she is in the grand scheme of things, thats why i think she is Griffith's most important ally