Casca

**Casca** is one of the main characters from the *Berserk* anime and manga.

Born into a poor peasant family with too many mouths to feed, she became Griffith's most devoted follower after he saved her from attempted rape at the age of twelve by throwing her his sword to defend herself with. For being a consummate professional as a leader and second only to Griffith at swordsmanship before the arrival of Guts, she is highly respected by her fellows among the Hawks and affectionately called "Big Sis."

In the AWA fics, Casca is a student at the AWA Academy.

## **Appearance**

Casca is a dark-skinned young woman with a short brown hair (which later grew past her shoulders) and has brown eyes.

## **Personality**

Prior to the events of the fifth Eclipse, Casca proves a determined and capable leader within the Band of the Falcon who merits the respect of her comrades in arms. So great is her leadership that she is able to rally the Falcons behind her in their moment of utmost peril and prevent the complete annihilation of the fugitive band for a year following Griffith's imprisonment. She fosters morale among the rank and file of the band, who, in turn, affectionately call her "Big Sis". Even in the midst of the Eclipse, Casca does not allow the Falcons to panic, commanding them to assume formation and contribute what they can.

Casca's hardened appearance and austere attitude can be seen as unfeminine, prompting Judeau's initial observation that she "gave up on being a woman in order to become a mercenary". In actuality, her womanhood forms an integral part of her identity; she wears men's clothing for its practicality in battle, rather than because of any inherent desire to do so on her part. Occasionally, her status as a woman is the source of her perturbation, though she masks such doubts with an exterior of sternness, lashing out with physical violence in moments of vulnerability. Beneath this guarded exterior, however, Casca yearns for acceptance as both a warrior and as a woman, which she originally desires from Griffith.

Her loyalty and devotion to Griffith seed within her a yearning for strength, wanting to serve as his able sword in the pursuit of his dream. Because of this, she initially harbors resentment for Guts, jealous of the swordsman's superseding importance to her idolized leader. Eventually, Casca comes to acknowledge the unrequited nature of her admiration for Griffith, while also developing equal affection for Guts, growing beyond her dependence on Griffith's dream. Notably, when Griffith resolves to duel Guts in an attempt to prevent him from leaving the band, Casca interjects, questioning her leader's challenge – an action Judeau notes she would have never taken previously, as she considered Griffith's will akin to gospel. She later begins falling in love with the swordsman after his acknowledgment of her as both a capable warrior and as a woman, cultivating a relationship based on mutual honesty rather than one-sided reverence.

Femto's rape of Casca during the Eclipse inflicts severe psychological trauma upon her, which causes her to regress to a largely mute, infantile state in which she is unable to truly think or feel. Though capable of a primitive form of empathy, she is left unable to process people's feelings beyond immediate situations; she does, however, display motherly affection for her demon child and the Moonlight Boy, becoming distressed when they suddenly vanish or are in harm's way. In fragmented form, Casca remembers fondly her days as a Falcon, though deeper within her psyche, her mental imagery becomes starkly hostile and revolting – a defense mechanism safeguarding her most repressed memory fragment.

## **Abilities**

In the days of the original Band of the Falcon, Casca is respected by her comrades as both a leader and formidable warrior, said to only be surpassed by Griffith in sheer skill prior to Guts' enlistment. Her expert swordsmanship, honed reflexes, natural agility, and above average strength allow her to battle and defeat male opponents much larger than herself. For a moment, a sleep-deprived Casca is even able to hold her own against the highly-skilled Bakiraka assassin Silat.

Though mostly defenseless in her puerile state, she has displayed spurts of her former self in precarious situations; such instances include manifesting her inborn agility to deftly traverse down the side of a cliff, and rediscovering her swordsmanship to swiftly dispatch a group of would-be bandit rapists, even though she has not practiced in years.

## **Trivia**

* The Berserk Official Guidebook states that circa the Fantasia Arc, Casca is 24 years old, 165 cm, and 50 kg.
* Casca is the only known female member of the original Band of the Falcon.
* Casca was conceptualized as Kentarou Miura's ideal woman – a "brown female warrior" who is "strong, but still feminine", qualities Miura found attractive at the time.
* Casca lacks confidence in dancing, having only ever danced at her village festival as a child.
* Casca has several symptoms of dissociative amnesia, including the fragmentation of her memory disruption of her perception and sense of self, and intense recollection of a traumatic memory when in thematically-similar situations.
* Casca's puerility manifests as a fascination with animals and shiny objects, including Puck.
* Casca has repeatedly fallen near bodies of water, causing Guts to note that "anytime she stands next to water... nothing good ever comes of it."