Mind
Heart in Darkness
Sep
Discuss this post in RPG FitGroup!
A Dark World
Guts’ world is already metaphorically dark before we even get close to the Eclipse event which literally (temporarily) darkens it. The guy is born, left lying on the ground, and somehow survives to be raised by a band of mercenaries. From the moment he can walk he’s basically lived with a sword permanently attached to his hands. As a child he ran up kill counts higher than many adult soldiers can sport. That’s not to say he was always the victor, however. He was abused, attacked, and betrayed by some of his fellow mercs, and even his own mentor. Again, this was all when he was still a child.
Yes, it’s a dark fantasy manga, but you can still get some perspective from this. I know that I personally have a tendency to wallow in my own misery once in a while when I’m feeling really down. The thing is, though, even on my worst day, my life isn’t that bad. Guts had things worse than I do, every step of the way in his life. Yes, my life may be challenging at times, sometimes extremely challenging…but I will never have it as bad as Guts has had it.
Perspective is key in life. Feeling down sometimes is a part of life, but wallowing in it and feeling sorry for yourself is not. Yes, things may be hard, but they will get better.
Unkillable
Guts’ signature trait is probably his durability. The guy survives things that you straight-up should not be able to survive, both physically and psychologically. Dismemberment, partial blinding, corruption by evil spirits, multiple near-death experiences, close encounters with demons and demi-gods… I could keep naming stuff that he’s survived, but honestly, we’re getting a bit redundant here.
We talked in Becoming the Berserker about cultivating determination, but it’s worth reiterating here. Determination and tenacity come from an intrinsic belief that you always have control and influence over your own situation. Your locus of control remains within yourself at all times. Remember, when Guts was restrained and couldn’t break free, he cut off his own damn arm to get out.
Self destructive tendencies are not something I would endorse, but that’s probably the single biggest indicator of how powerful Guts’ own locus of control is, and how singular his determination is to retain personal autonomy, even from the grasp of death itself.
Progressive Overload
Progressive overload is typically a term used to refer to increasing intensity in strength workouts to trigger muscle mass growth. However, Guts seems to practice progressive overload in every aspect of his life. He continually trades up to larger and larger swords throughout his life. He seeks out stronger and more terrifying foes to strike down. He takes more and more people under his wing to both lead and protect, and gains their assistance in return. Every single thing this man does is about developing larger force multipliers.
Overloading yourself, in a literal sense, is unhealthy. However, progressively increasing the “difficulty setting” of your life can, in many ways, help you improve it. Taking on more responsibilities (as long as it’s a gradual increase) can increase your capability of handling more things. This can result in pay increases at work, or pay off in dividends in your personal relationships in life. Pushing yourself further outside of your comfort zone every day by trying new things will trigger personal growth, and instill great character. Continually questing for new things to learn, be it languages, areas of study, or physical skills will increase your overall capabilities as a human being.
Don’t shy away from driven growth. Welcome it with open arms.
That’s it for our time with Guts. I’m kind of sorry to say this is our last psychological profile of a character, at least for a little while. Why, you ask? Check out the video here! Don’t worry, there will still be regular posts to the blog, but we’re shifting almost entirely to character workouts and some nutrition stuff, for the time being at least.
I’ll see you again on Monday with a new character workout. Until then, as always, remember to live boldly, change the world, and continue to be awesome!
