Why Griffith Is The Best Anime Character Ever Created

Griffith isn’t just a character — he’s an emotional event. No other figure in anime commands love and hatred with such equal force. His elegance blinds, his ambition corrodes, and his choices haunt every character touched by his dream. The horror of Griffith is not that he changes — it’s that everything monstrous about him was always there, hidden beneath beauty and brilliance.

A Face That Disarms the World

Griffith’s appearance is central to his power. His silver hair, flawless skin, and almost celestial androgyny make him look more like an angel than a commander. His presence suggests purity, nobility, and fate itself molded into flesh. People trust him instinctively because evil rarely comes in such a beautiful form.

Women are enchanted. Men are transfixed. Nobles see a prince where there is none. His soldiers follow him with religious loyalty before he even proves himself. His beauty is not passive — it’s a weapon crafted by nature and used with intent.

The Charismatic Philosopher-Warlord

Griffith doesn’t lead through fear. He leads through ideology. He is eloquent, well read, perceptive, and disturbingly calm. His worldview — that a dream justifies any sacrifice — is dressed in poetry and certainty. On the battlefield, he is elegance incarnate. He turns the Band of the Hawk from nobodies into legends, not by brute strength but by calculated brilliance.

His men don’t just fight for him. They believe in him with the kind of devotion usually reserved for gods and martyrs.

A Mentor and Lodestar for Guts

Before the betrayal, Griffith isn’t just Guts’ commander — he becomes the center of his world. Guts is a weapon when they meet, but Griffith gives him direction, camaraderie, and identity. He treats Guts as more than a sword — he makes him feel chosen.

• Guts learns purpose through Griffith.

• He grows as a warrior and as a person under his influence.

• His loyalty is not duty — it’s emotional conviction.

This makes Griffith’s betrayal not just tragic — but personally shattering. The man Guts trusted, admired, and evolved because of becomes the architect of his deepest trauma.

Darkness Existed Long Before Femto

People often assume Griffith “became evil,” but his ambition was always ruthless. The God Hand don’t corrupt him — they recognize the evil already present in him. He openly admits early on that lives, even those of his own men, are insignificant next to his dream.

Right from the start, he has no problems being ruthless with his enemies. He manipulates Guts to assassinate a man who wants him dead, and feels no remorse when Guts accidentally kills the man’s innocent son. When the Queen and some courtiers make another assassination attempt, he unflinchingly burns them alive, not even giving them a slow death.

His predatory relationship with Princess Charlotte is one of the clearest red flags. She is young, naive, and sheltered — and he uses her vulnerability to his advantage. His charm masks manipulation. His tenderness is rehearsed. He grooms her in a manner that is on the verge of pedophilia. Even in his human form, morality was never his compass.

Guts’ Departure — The First Crack

When Guts walks away, it is the first time Griffith loses something he believed he owned. His composure fractures. His belief in his untouchable future wavers. In desperation, he seeks Charlotte not out of love, but to reclaim a sense of control and invincibility. What’s even worse is that he does this after killing her mother. That act — impulsive, selfish, and reckless — leads to his imprisonment.

Torture as Acceleration, Not Creation

The dungeon does not birth evil — it strips away civility. The beauty that shielded him is broken. His body is ruined, his voice stolen, and his pride mutilated. What remains is not humility, but a dream fermented into vengeance and desperation.

Flirting with the Occult — The Behelit's Purpose

Griffith didn’t stumble into the supernatural. He carried the Behelit long before understanding it, drawn to destiny and forces beyond comprehension. When the Eclipse begins, he does not hesitate. He sacrifices the very people who built his legacy — the Band of the Hawk. Not with regret. Not with conflict. With resolve.

Femto — Griffith Without Restraint

His transformation is not corruption — it’s revelation. The assault on Casca in front of Guts is the moment his remaining humanity dissolves completely. The act isn’t sexual — it’s domination, cruelty, and erasure. He destroys the two people who loved him most in a single stroke.

Femto is not a new being. It is Griffith freed from every mask.

The Most Loved and Hated Character in Anime

Fans still admire his vision, beauty, and brilliance. Others loathe him with unmatched intensity. Most feel both. And that is the paradox.

He is salvation disguised as ruin. He is ambition draped in elegance. He is betrayal delivered by the person you trusted most.

No other anime character embodies love, awe, disgust, tragedy, and wrath in equal measure. Griffith is fascination and horror sharing the same face — and that is why he remains unforgettable.