Which Berserk Anime Characters Die In The Golden Age Arc?

That Eclipse sequence in 'Berserk' is the kind of thing that sticks in your chest. To be direct: during the Golden Age arc most of the Band of the Hawk are killed in the Eclipse ritual. Notable named casualties shown in the anime include Judeau, Pippin, and Corkus, plus numerous unnamed Hawks and soldiers. Griffith’s human identity effectively dies as he becomes Femto, while Rickert survives by being absent from the sacrificial site and later returns as a shattered witness. Casca survives physically but is left mentally broken after what happens to her during the Eclipse, and Guts survives too but loses almost everyone he loved. There are also earlier tragedies in the flashbacks—Guts’ childhood guardian Gambino dies before the Band fully forms—so the Golden Age arc mixes battlefield losses with deeply personal deaths. Watching it is rough, but it’s also why 'Berserk' hits so hard emotionally; the massacre isn’t just spectacle, it rewrites every character’s path, and I still think about it long after the credits roll.

There’s a brutal clarity to the Golden Age section of 'Berserk' — it happily lures you into a glorious medieval saga and then rips the rug out from under you. In my view the core of what “dies” in that arc isn’t just bodies but an entire set of hopes: the Band of the Hawk as people, Griffith’s dream in human form, and the innocence of the characters who survived the carnage. If you want the concrete, on-screen deaths the anime makes obvious, the biggest ones are the mass slaughter during the Eclipse where most of the Band are sacrificed. That includes many named Hawks—Judeau, Pippin, and Corkus are among the prominent members shown being killed—and countless unnamed soldiers and comrades who are torn apart in the ritual. Griffith’s human life is extinguished as he is reborn as Femto, which functions as both a death and a grotesque rebirth. Outside the Eclipse, there are earlier deaths in the Golden Age flashbacks, like Gambino, whose abusive presence in Guts’ childhood ends violently and shapes much of Guts’ later pain.

Different anime adaptations depict these events with varying levels of explicitness. The 1997 series and the movie trilogy both center the emotional beats: the comradeship, the rise of the Hawks, Griffith’s fall, and the Eclipse’s nightmare. The newer 2012–13 adaptation revisits the same beats but with different pacing and visuals; either way, the take-away is the same — almost everyone who was close to Guts in that era is wiped out. Rickert is one of the few core Hawks who survives the Eclipse (he’s absent from the sacrificial scene and later returns as a devastated survivor), and Casca survives physically but loses her sanity after suffering the most personal horror of the ritual. Guts himself survives, but at immense cost.

If you’re asking this because you’re bracing to watch or rewatch 'Berserk', prepare for a story that deliberately massacres attachment to build its central tragedy. Those deaths aren’t gratuitous for me; they’re the narrative engine that forces the characters into who they become. Even years after seeing it, the weight of that arc still sits heavy — it’s one of those stories that keeps echoing back when you least expect it.

The deaths also serve to isolate Guts completely. Before, he had a band of comrades. After, he has only himself (and later, Puck). Casca is unable to be the partner she was. Rickert is elsewhere. By killing Judeau, Pippin, and the others, the story strips Guts of every social tether. He becomes the ultimate lone wolf, and his journey is defined by that solitude imposed by their deaths.

Hmm, I've only seen the movies, not the full '97 series. The deaths seemed pretty clear there—Judeau, Pippin, Corkus gone. The impact was huge, even in the condensed format. Makes me wonder if the longer build-up in the series makes it even more painful. Probably. More time with the characters means their loss hits harder. Might have to brace myself and watch the original.