Summary
The Kushan Empire fromBerserkwas one of the most powerful armies in the world, despite suffering a crushing defeat from Griffith and his forces. However, at the height of their power within Midland, they were ruled by one of the series' most terrifying characters who was also an incredibly powerful Apostle who went by the title of Emperor Ganishka.
Emperor Ganishka was one of the strongest characters throughout all ofBerserk. He would leave destruction and devastation in his wake, driven by his insatiable greed of conquering and controlling the entire planet. In order to defeat him, Guts had to work closely with his greatest foes, so let’s take a look at this monstrous Emperor and see why he was one of thegreatest antagonists in the entire story.
Story Arc
Millennium Falcon Arc
Debuting in the Millennium Falcon arc, Ganishka was introduced as the ruler of the entire Kushan Empire and was revealed to beone of the most powerful Apostlesin the entireBerserksetting. To properly understand Ganishka and how powerful he was, one must understand the nature of the Apostles themselves. These are essentially demons who were once human and summoned the Godhand by making a personal sacrifice in exchange for becoming incredibly powerful inhumans with a thirst for bloodshed and control.
These Apostles join demonkind and work directly under the Godhand themselves. Ganishka, however, was perhaps the only Apostle to work against the wishes and plans of the Godhand and particularly opposed Griffith. His main goal was to exert his influence onto every corner of the globe to control the entire planet and, while doing so, also somehow transcend the Godhand to become the greatest demon of them all.
In his youth, Ganishka was shown to be a shrewd and conniving prince who survived all the scheming of the other Kushan royalty to eventually become the Emperor. He was ruthless in his ascent to power, as he brought about the deaths of his own parents and younger brother to consolidate his power. As a young ruler, he believed that the only way to rule was through fear, which made him a warmonger who wanted to conquer the entire world, all while having deep fears of his own that he believed would only go away once hecontrolled everything on the planet.
He believed that only he was capable and deserving of ruling the world, even above the Godhand, making him the only known Apostle who outright refused them and their power over him. His enmity was particularly focused on Griffith after the While Falcon began to get in the way of Ganishka’s full invasion of Midland. However, the gap in power between him and Griffith was far too great as the Falcon defeated him and forced him to retreat, following which Ganishka underwent another rebirth through the man-made Behelit to get even stronger.
I control the vastest territory in the world. I will not relinquish it. Even if it is smeared with blood and defiled, this world belongs to me.
This led to Ganishka’s second rebirth asperhaps the most powerful Apostle of them all, second only to the members of the Godhand. In exchange for such incredible power, which gave him a gigantic form, Ganishka essentially overloaded on excess power and lost all rational thought and sense of self, turning to kill just about everyone and everything he possibly could, even turning on his own army by crushing them under his feet.
This form of Ganishka was so powerful that Zodd and Guts put aside their differences to team up against him, although it wasn’t them who hit him with the killing blow. When Femto went to his head to stop him, Skull Knight suddenly appeared and swung at the Godhand member with his sword, to which Femto opened an astral fissure to redirect the slash to Ganishka’s head, initiating the Interstice and creating the World Spiral Tree from Ganishka’s body.
Ganishka’s Powers And Abilities
How Strong Was Ganishka?
As stated previously, Emperor Ganishka is perhaps the most powerful Apostle in the entire setting after themembers of the Godhand themselves. One of the greatest examples of his might came when he was able to dominate and overpower many Apostles under him, even in the form he took before his second ascension. His initial Apostle form looked like a mass of fog that resembled his face, in which he could control some elements and use them for offensive purposes, such as transforming into a cloud and using lightning strikes or even devouring those encompassed within his fog.
Ganishka at his most powerful was in his twice-reborn form, where he turned into a giant, easily eclipsing and crushing entire armies and cities under his feet. However, his power was so immense that he began to lose all of his sanity and sense of self. In this form, he could even make new pseudo-Apsotles from all the people he crushed and spawn them from the various mouths located on his body.
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Berserk
In his quest for revenge, Guts confronts sinister forces, including violent criminals, evil spirits, and a devout adversary. Despite the immense personal cost, he fights relentlessly, relying solely on his human strength and swordsmanship to face enemies with unnatural powers.
