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Continuation discrepancy: How did Zodd use the World Spiral Tree to get to Skellig?
🕑 Added 2023-12-24 13:03:17 +0000 UTCThis begins a new series of posts penned by Walter about various major discrepancies in the Continuation compared to Miura's Berserk. As always, don't hesitate to share your feedback in the comments!
[366] How did Zodd use the World Spiral Tree to get to Skellig?
In Episode 331, we saw the Boy in the Moonlight fly away from the Sea Horse through the World Spiral Tree’s branches. In Episode 357 we saw a similar technique of transportation—Falconians soaring through the sky using the branches. By galloping through the dolmens, they were whisked up into the branches, enabling transportation across great distances very quickly. However, Sonia stated that this method can only be navigated by herself or Griffith.
From Puella’s translation of Ep 357:
Sonia: Yes! A person who doesn't have special senses like Lord Griffith or I do would get lost in endlessly dividing branches and might pop out into an unexpected place. If anything goes wrong, they might even end up in the sea or underground.
Griffith: But we can at least march if I lead them.
And yet, in Episode 366, Zodd splashes out of the World Spiral Tree’s branches above Skellig, and he wasn’t led through by Griffith or Sonia. He came there on his own, explicitly breaking the rule Sonia had established less than 10 episodes before. For the next episode or two after Zodd appeared, I kept expecting to see Sonia’s head poking up from between his ears, with a dizzied expression on her face from the quick flight. But alas, it was never addressed.
Puella’s translation of 366: Puck: I sense it…! Something…Something is!! Coming…!!!
Of course, the question of “How did Zodd get there?” isn’t as instructive as “Why is Zodd there?” Because as with many riddles introduced by the Berserk Continuation, one answers the other. Zodd was just a prop, serving as an escape route for Griffith and Casca. And that need was deemed more important than rule consistency.
The problem goes beyond the rules, though. When you play a card like a fight between Guts and Zodd, it should be a standout moment. These fights are momentous and among the best in the series. But here it occurs across 3 pages and doesn’t develop anything for either characters or address Guts’ growth over time, his adoption of the Berserk Armor, etc. It’s an absolutely huge missed opportunity. Worse: It’s not even important, because Zodd is only there as transportation.
