In a world increasingly exposed to narratives of conflict and aggression, violence is often glorified as a quick and definitive solution to problems. From blockbuster movies to trending video games, the portrayal of revenge as a form of justice has left a great impact on the mindset of a generation. It’s not uncommon to see protagonists who channel their pain into acts of destruction, celebrated as heroes for their relentless pursuit of vengeance.
This fascination with violence is manifest in entertainment, but it reflects much more in how people handle personal and societal conflicts. The belief that retribution offers a path toward resolution is dangerously appealing since it provides an immediate response to feelings of betrayal, anger, and injustice. But does violence really yield closure, or does it perpetuate a cycle of pain and suffering, etching deeper scars?
This blog looks at how four seminal works – Vinland Saga, Vagabond, Berserk, and Attack on Titan – try to break this train of thought. Despite the dark themes and brutal settings, these narratives really get deep into the aftermath of revenge and violence to actually preach forgiveness, understanding, and personal growth. These series remind us that the glorification of violence comes with a price as it calls upon a generation to reconsider the approach to conflict resolution.
Musashi’s Journey in Vagabond: From Violence to Inner Peace
In Vagabond, the story of Miyamoto Musashi is not just about a powerful warrior, but about a gradual transformation from a violent warrior to a thoughtful person who seeks meaning beyond the battlefield. Musashi begins his journey seeking strength and domination, believing that violence is the key to his survival. He meets a monk named Takuan who helps him understand the true meaning of kindness and forgiveness.
Quotation: “There is no light for those who do not know darkness.” -Takuan
Musashi experiences intense guilt as he begins to understand the gravity of taking a life. This realization starts to weigh on him as he encounters the families of those he has killed. As he faces the consequences of his actions, including the lives he’s taken, he pays with his body as countless samurai try to bathe their swords with his blood. As Musashi progresses he starts to question his goal, which was to kill the swordsman to become invincible under the sun. But after climbing a mountain he sees many other mountains in front of him touching the clouds, his ego begins to dissolve. He understands his desire to be invincible under the sun is pointless in front of the tall mountains in front of him. This humbling moment leads him to question the meaning of his struggles, ambition, and his relentless pursuit of strength.
Musashi throws away his pride and recognizes the futility of violence as a means to dominate others. Musashi learns that true strength lies in forgiveness, self-awareness, and inner peace, not in the strength you have to conquer others. Takuan’s teachings help Musashi to realize that kindness is not a weakness but a form of strength. This journey into the darkness within him, going forward with humility and forgiveness, reflects much of the struggles of so many in today’s world as a path of hope and redemption.
Thorfinn’s path to salvation in Vinland Saga
Thorfinn’s path to salvation is probably the most straightforward illustration of his change of direction from revenge to forgiveness. Thorfinn initially begins as a young fellow fully filled with hatred and the desire for revenge against a man named Askeladd, who killed his father. His whole being revolved around this particular mission.
Quote: “A true warrior needs no sword.” — Thors
It is one of the strongest moments in the series, when Thorfinn gets the revenge that he wanted and then felt it had neither given him peace nor satisfaction. But instead, it just had left him empty inside. Thorfinn’s later decision to forsake the violence and search for peaceful life shows his change monumentally. Growth from vengeful boyhood into a man seeking to create rather than destroy goes much deeper into modern minds. This evolution taps into timeless human struggles while addressing concerns particularly relevant to contemporary life: the search for purpose, the cycle of violence, and the yearning for peace and fulfillment. And instead of forgetting his past Throrfinn carries his past ( the people he killed ) on his back and decides to move forward to create a world without violence, where everyone can be happy without having a weapon in the Viking era.
The Twisted Revenge in the Attack on Titan
Attack on Titan, by Hajime Isayama, begins with Eren Yeager’s pursuit of vengeance against the Titans as they destroy his home and kill his mother in front of his eyes. His declaration, “I’ll kill every last one of them!”, captures his rage and sets the tone for the early series. However, as the story unfolds, the narrative shifts to explore the cost of vengeance and how cycles of hatred perpetuate conflict.
Quotation: “If you win, you live. If you lose, you die. If you don’t fight, you can’t win!” – Eren Yeager.
As Eren’s goals shift from the Titans to the Marleyans” normal humans in the world of attack on titan they are hungry for power over the eldians. They were the rulers of the outside world. They wanted to have control over all the Titans and Eldians. Eldians were nothing but mere slaves to them. Eren’s obsession with revenge leads him down a dark path, climaxing in the catastrophic Rumbling. Forced to consider the difficult questions it throws out, one finds oneself being compelled to question whether revenge ever truly brings justice, and at what cost. The Rumbling, at first presented as a survival of the Eldians, were the people who could transform into the Titans and some of them lived inside the walls and others lived as a slave of Marleyans. Later on, it turns out to be a grim reminder of how vengeance usually consumes the innocent together with the guilty.
Quotation: “The world is cruel, but it’s also very beautiful.” — Mikasa Ackerman
Through Eren’s descent and the insights of other characters, such as Armin who shared the dream of seeing the outside world with Eren. As they both see the sea together, for Armin the ocean is a step toward achieving peace and understanding, but for Eren, the ocean is just another barrier to overcome in his relentless pursuit of freedom. Their shared dream illustrates their contrasting philosophies, with Eren embodying the destructive cost of freedom and Armin symbolizing the hopeful pursuit of coexistence. The other was MIkasa who was saved by Eren in her childhood after that she always cared for Eren and protected him at every stage of his life. Eren was a family to her, the family she had lost. Attack on Titan shows the necessity of release from the chains of hatred. It encourages readers to reflect on empathy and comprehension instead of revenge, something that is very relevant in today’s divided world.
Furthermore, at the start of Attack On Titan Isayama shows Eren as a sweet innocent 10 year old child who wanted to see what is beyond the wall. But instead of seeing his dreams, Eren sees the brutality of nature and the death of his loved ones, as the door of violence opens up to Eren he gets filled with hatred and in the future, through violence, he takes his revenge and makes the world experience a horror like rumbling. People tend to say that take a movie, a show, or anything with violence as entertainment or a piece of art but they tend to forget that these will affect a large portion of the audience and they will think that killing people is an act of heroism. They tend to make an excuse that they are doing this for their loved ones which does not make any sense. The people they harm or kill have loved ones waiting for them at their homes as well, just like the killer. While doing the heroic act of violence today’s generation tends to forget about the consequences which can be their death which will just leave their loved ones in despair.
The Cycle of Revenge in Berserk
Created by Kentaro Miura, Berserk is a dark and heartbreaking tale of a man named Guts, fueled by rage and vengeance. Guts’ life is consumed by a quest to seek vengeance against Griffith, his former friend and the one who betrayed him and his friends in the most horrific manner by sacrificing them to the god hands, the devils of the world of berserk just to rise again as a devil to achieve his dream to be a king of the kingdom. Griffith goes a step further, assaulting the girl who Guts loved and making her a vessel of his devil seed that leaves a scar on Casca’s mind as a result she forgets about everything she experienced from birth. His is a relentless spiral of violence, which, in the early parts of the story, seems to offer a clear answer to suffering: revenge is the ultimate form of justice. “He makes new friends and he cares about them like he did with his old ones”. He tries to save them from the horror he himself can bring upon them by chasing his goal of revenge. But as the story progresses Guts changes his goal from killing Griffith to saving Casca and his new friends from himself and the brutal world of devils.
On the other hand, Guts’ path is paralleled by the enigmatic Skull Knight, a character whose existence is deeply connected with the aftermath of revenge. Much like Guts, the Skull Knight was once a man who sought revenge against those who had betrayed him. But in his unending pursuit of vengeance, he was transformed into a supernatural being, an empty shell of his former self, existing only to fight against the God Hand and the cycles of causality that entrap humanity.
Quotation: Skull Knight, “Revenge is just the part of the cycle of causality.”
The Skull Knight serves as a haunting warning to Guts of what he could become if he allows his thirst for revenge to consume him wholly. While Guts fights to preserve his humanity, finding solace in his companions, especially Casca, the Skull Knight stands as a tragic figure, a reflection of what happens when revenge becomes one’s sole reason for existence.
A Lesson for the New Generation
The juxtaposition of Guts and the Skull Knight shows a crucial theme in Berserk: the cost of vengeance. Guts’ journey reveals that revenge ultimately leads to more pain and isolation. The Skull Knight shows the long-term consequences – a life with no peace, fueled only by hatred for hundreds of years.
Through these two characters, Berserk sends a strong message to the new generation: vengeance may feel like justice, but it comes with a heavy price. This price can be hurting the ones you loved and tried to protect which can lead to their demise. This can lead you to the abyss where you can not see anything but your loved one getting tortured because of your actions. The dream of seeing them happy will soon turn into a never-ending nightmare for you. The path to healing lies not in the eternal cycles of violence but in finding strength through forgiveness, compassion, and the courage to move forward.
Quotation: Guts, “Even if we painstakingly piece together something lost, it doesn’t mean things will ever go back to how they were.”
A Common Theme: The Plea for Forgiveness by the New Generation
What binds these four works together is their investigation into one central question: Is revenge worth it? Each protagonist, Guts, Musashi, Thorfinn, and Eren, enters their journeys with a singular focus of vengeance, only to learn that it is not the solution to their pain. Instead, they find out that peace comes from within and is achieved through forgiveness, understanding, and acceptance of one’s past actions, journeys and memories.
Quotation: “The moment you start a war, you must not cry about the consequences it brings upon you.” – Armin Arlert (Attack on Titan)
In a world today engulfed in conflict and controversy, these works have issued a powerful reminder that one should forgive not out of weakness, but out of strength. A new generation comes with awareness of the psychological damage unresolved anger and vengeance can reap. These stories encourage a more introspective, empathetic approach to handling conflict, reminding us that healing comes not through fighting, but through growth, understanding, and the willingness to let go of past grievances.
Conclusion: A New Path Forward
In a world where revenge tales are pretty much the staple of popular culture, Vinland Saga, Vagabond, Berserk, and Attack on Titan speak volumes about forgiveness and self-improvement. All these works have captured many fans’ hearts because the stories are not only enchanting but also carry a life lesson that goes against the grain.
These stories made a generation to reimagine, through their protagonists’ journeys, that it is possible to move forward from the past, by forgiveness, and grow stronger – not through violence but through understanding yourself and others.
What would you choose when faced with betrayal – revenge or the strength to forgive?
Ohh my god i really love the idea of this blog. I really love this all these mangas are super great for today’s generation.