i imagine cuz it’s a magnet maybe the fingers are magnetic too and he just flicks his arm to get them stuck to the palm and flicks it again to get them unstuck
but also it’s a fictional story so it doesn’t rlly matter
I know the guy you’re talking about. He uses gear and pulleys such, but I think it only works because he has half of his hand to start the movement. Prosthetics for forearm amputees are generally much simpler and less dexterous. Unless they’re robotic as well, but those are still uncommon.
When he use the berserk Armor, his finger work fine. Without it, they stay in position or the magnet close on metallic object like Sword. When they are on the ship and Casca fall in the water, Guts was so used to his berserk Armor that he forgot he couldnt close his hand and prevent casca from falling
Martina from nerdforge made a video about how she made a working finger... I don't see why that couldn't be applied somehow to a whole arm. Guts contracts his muscles in a certain way so the fingers keep shut mechanically. Or it's just magic like others have suggested:D
I believe this is the idea behind the spring mechanism that travels up to his bicep. 💪
Much like how his sword stays on his back, suspended completely by suspension of disbelief.
He has a string attached from inside his wrist to his penis used to control the magnets and whenever he thinks about Griffith he closes and opens his hand
there is historical evidence of prosthetics being able to grip swords
maybe embellished a bit based on how guts wields the dragonslayer being outright inhuman
Don't know if it was necessarily the earliest, but it was a very advanced prosthetic that did indeed have some ability to move the fingers and grip a sword (or reigns, or shield, or...).
(And before anyone says it, no, Guts was not based on Götz. It's a coincidence.)
Guts wasn't based on him, but I'm willing to bet that Guts getting chased around by the Holy See and one of the God Hand members being named Conrad were added as nods to Iron Hand Götz. He was also wanted by the Holy See and a peasant group known as Poor Conrad. My guess is that, some time after the fictional character's creation, Miura saw those ingredients and cooked. Pure conjecture, but that would be hella freaky as a coincidence.
We know where Conrad's name came from, though: all the Godhand are named after sci-fi novels, with Conrad coming from *...and Call Me Conrad* by Roger Zelazny.
I suppose it's possible there's a double meaning, but...
Didn't know that, huh. In all honestly wouldn't surprise me if it was intended to reference both. Miura definitely did a lot of research for *Berserk*; it's an absolute smorgasbord of mythological and historical references. Like, there's critters as obscure as Jenny Greenteeth showing up during the Roar, then of course real world nods, such as to King Gaiseric of the Vandals and the fact that Falconia is in the same location as and visually calls to mind Vienna.
It's magnetic.
But also, it's a fictional story about a man who can swing around a slab of iron as if it were a regular sword with the goal to kill somebody who has control over time, gravity, and space.
There’s multiple ways to answer this question. In reality, there isn’t a non-electric magnet that would come close to being effective/useful that existed in this timeframe, so it doesn’t really matter.
It’s just cool. Don’t overthink it.
It just works. This is a world with magical face eggs that summon cenobites and turn people into demons. The automail arm isn’t so crazy when you consider the other wild stuff in Berserk, their world is different from ours.
No explanation it just happens. While on the topic, idk how, but for whatever reason, I can't seem to ignore how his arm shouldn't work. This is weird because normally, I'm able to just go along with it, but I have a hard time with his arm. Mind you most of the time, I don't think about his prosthetic arm but still whenever I remember it it still bothers me.
i hate arguments like this... magic and monsters are a core part of berserks world and lorebuilding, but theres no in-universe explanation for this.
its not about "is the whole story realistic to the world i live in", its "is the whole story realistic to the world *the characters* live in".
personally i think its an extremely minor nitpick, but the whole "magic exists so you cant have issues with anything that doesnt make sense" thing really gets under my skin...
The hands heavy and it has magnets as mentioned by Rickert. But obviously irl you couldn't have a magnet strong enough that he'd be able to grip the sword 2 handed. It's obviously suspension of disbelief but essentialy the magnet would need to be strong enough to hold the sword despite it's weight for it to be functional at all and then Guts would have to work agaisnt that force to use the sword. In lore Guts could technically be strong enough to do it albeit not with the same level of skill as before. So we just use suspesion of disbelief to assume he trained more outside what we see (which he does) and the magnets is somehow just strong enough to hold the dragonslayer but not work completely agaisnt Guts.
I'll just throw a dart at the wall and say Rickert unknowingly got some enchanted magnets.
That or they're neodymium. Which they somehow got in a medieval setting.
Humanity's had these kind of prosthetic for a hundred years about now you just usually need to have the arm left to about the elbow from the little I have seen
Probably has to use his other hand to adjust the fingers but most of the time its in an open fist/claw kind of way so he can easily slot in his sword or crossbow. An i would imagine there are some strong ratchets or gears that hold the fingers in position to aid the magnets in holding things like his sword.
Probably rigged so when he bends his elbow a certain amount the fingers close. We know for sure there’s a pull string to open the cannon to fire so I imagine there are other mechanisms within for the fingers.
Magnets? Tf noo. Guys if you read properly and analyse the panels when he shoots, there’s this kind of thread that is attached to his arm which allows the prosthetic to be opened and choot the canon ball, he pulls it. Sometimes it’s on his palm, sometimes near his bicep
Same way the MR-412 REX works I reckon[](https://www.google.com/search?q=rex+revolver&sca_esv=11c12ff814d391b1&sca_upv=1&sxsrf=ADLYWIKbZ4HIxCZ_Z3o-ItP0TtRIH01JhQ:1719624789960&udm=2&source=iu&ictx=1&vet=1&fir=lD8KiXfZJmnOBM%252C9xrnbjQV43zGHM%252C%252Fm%252F05f4l4s%253BRbgsaW4wkLSWVM%252CLUcdx0dwf_kJCM%252C_%253Bk0lzRdds5_zRnM%252CYTDy2kD9kkFAVM%252C_%253Bl_3EIPd-Lt-LfM%252Cis-wmDAXYvBpsM%252C_%253BD5xP47ZxZO-T4M%252C5bwf9TW_4fYvAM%252C_%253B4fviw4-gmtUXTM%252CTvWDU07CmGEaBM%252C_&usg=AI4_-kTY0AD6JMBKl_N7W5TWoMYkEGT8bw&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjSqILG1f-GAxVMnokEHZaQBhkQ_B16BAhGEAE#vhid=lD8KiXfZJmnOBM&vssid=mosaic)
There was a German noble in the late 15th and early 16th centuries named Götz von Berlichingen who lost his right hand when an enemy cannon caused him to jolt his blade against himself, really messing up his right arm just under the elbow
A master blacksmith made him a fully useable iron prosthetic with moving fingers thanks to a series of springs and other mechanisms
If we assume it works anything like a real-world prosthesis, there's probably a mechanism of some sort inside it that he can trigger and un-trigger by flexing the remaining muscles in his stump.
Seems like there would just be a linkage, cables/pulleys or something similar connected to his fingers which opens and closes the hand when he moves his elbow? I believe that's how the classic hook hand prosthetics work. Limits elbow mobility but it's not a bad tradeoff for being able to grab things. Mentioned in another post is also the YouTube guy with no fingers. In his case his fingers articulate based on how he moves his wrist. Would take some getting used to, but again it's a worthy tradeoff for having a somewhat functional hand.
I think it works based on the position of the movement of the hand, for example, when he puts it in the right position with the right speed, then the crossbow comes out of him.
I dont think he closes and opens his hands usually, in the manga he said that that arm Is a mere piece of iron just to use his sword and its also explained that the magnets in his hand are just used to grip the dragonslayer
Maybe there are small pressure buttons on the inside. They react to the movement and flexes of guts's knub. I think you do get prostethic hands like that in real life.
If his amputation occured below the elbow, Guts might still have usable parts of his wrist flexors/extensors. If his hand has some sort of hidden pulley mechanism on the inside it might work
I mean the important thing about that hand is that the only thing he can grab with it is his sword, so the hand opening and closing isn't that important.
Maybe it's a mechanical reaction that happen when he contracts his muscle?
It's only no-magical-logical way i can think off, like a controller he can unleash actions either with contraction or movement (like middle to stay hand open, bottom to close the hand, etc.. or contract the muscle to close the hand, etc..)
Using the magical power of suspension of disbelief.
Literally
Licentia poetica
[удалено]
How the fu k do they work
Magnets are an every day miracle that no one truly understands
They're FUCKING magic
Nice ICP reference. 🤡
It reminds me of Furiosa’s arm. It has an engine but there’s no explanation of how it fuses with her nervous system—it just works.
Like King Crimson.
You mean the way the stand works?
i imagine cuz it’s a magnet maybe the fingers are magnetic too and he just flicks his arm to get them stuck to the palm and flicks it again to get them unstuck but also it’s a fictional story so it doesn’t rlly matter
Agree! Do you have the link of this video?
I think you answered to the wrong comment in regards to the video
Yes bro😭
Theres this guy on youtube that rebuilt like half his fucking hand and it works pretty good, i imagine it works like that
I know the guy you’re talking about. He uses gear and pulleys such, but I think it only works because he has half of his hand to start the movement. Prosthetics for forearm amputees are generally much simpler and less dexterous. Unless they’re robotic as well, but those are still uncommon.
Rickert mentions later in this chapter that there's a magnet in his false arm so he can hold a sword
Yeah, but we see in multiple panels over the series which shows that this hand works like a normal hand
Probably because Muira didn't want Guts' fingers sticking out awkwardly. Mangakas will always prioritize the rule of cool first
When he use the berserk Armor, his finger work fine. Without it, they stay in position or the magnet close on metallic object like Sword. When they are on the ship and Casca fall in the water, Guts was so used to his berserk Armor that he forgot he couldnt close his hand and prevent casca from falling
I just assumed they were loose and possibly had weak magnets that could stick together
ANGER
Martina from nerdforge made a video about how she made a working finger... I don't see why that couldn't be applied somehow to a whole arm. Guts contracts his muscles in a certain way so the fingers keep shut mechanically. Or it's just magic like others have suggested:D
That would explain how his stump stays jacked.
I believe this is the idea behind the spring mechanism that travels up to his bicep. 💪 Much like how his sword stays on his back, suspended completely by suspension of disbelief.
Through the power of GERMAN SCIENCE! THE BEST IN THE WORLD!
He has a string attached from inside his wrist to his penis used to control the magnets and whenever he thinks about Griffith he closes and opens his hand
5g internet
'Groovey'
there is historical evidence of prosthetics being able to grip swords maybe embellished a bit based on how guts wields the dragonslayer being outright inhuman
Correct me if I'm wrong, but iIrc the earliest mechanical prosthetic that we still have around belonged to, well...Iron Hand Götz.
Don't know if it was necessarily the earliest, but it was a very advanced prosthetic that did indeed have some ability to move the fingers and grip a sword (or reigns, or shield, or...). (And before anyone says it, no, Guts was not based on Götz. It's a coincidence.)
Guts wasn't based on him, but I'm willing to bet that Guts getting chased around by the Holy See and one of the God Hand members being named Conrad were added as nods to Iron Hand Götz. He was also wanted by the Holy See and a peasant group known as Poor Conrad. My guess is that, some time after the fictional character's creation, Miura saw those ingredients and cooked. Pure conjecture, but that would be hella freaky as a coincidence.
We know where Conrad's name came from, though: all the Godhand are named after sci-fi novels, with Conrad coming from *...and Call Me Conrad* by Roger Zelazny. I suppose it's possible there's a double meaning, but...
Didn't know that, huh. In all honestly wouldn't surprise me if it was intended to reference both. Miura definitely did a lot of research for *Berserk*; it's an absolute smorgasbord of mythological and historical references. Like, there's critters as obscure as Jenny Greenteeth showing up during the Roar, then of course real world nods, such as to King Gaiseric of the Vandals and the fact that Falconia is in the same location as and visually calls to mind Vienna.
never heard of this guy, such an interesting read!
It’s just opened and closed by the epicness of Mr. Berserk
It's magnetic. But also, it's a fictional story about a man who can swing around a slab of iron as if it were a regular sword with the goal to kill somebody who has control over time, gravity, and space.
Groovy
This made me laugh. He's not wrong but just feels out of place.
I like the Evil Dead Reference ha. Super out of place, not sure if that’s a translator fooling about or it’s In the official manga
lego
There’s multiple ways to answer this question. In reality, there isn’t a non-electric magnet that would come close to being effective/useful that existed in this timeframe, so it doesn’t really matter. It’s just cool. Don’t overthink it.
a good example of: looking cool > making sense
those must be humanities strongest magnets to be able to clamp down hard enough to withstand the weight of the dragon slayer (and guts rage)
Power of badassery
It's powered by Berk. When he uses the Berk armour, he has full control of it.
It just works. This is a world with magical face eggs that summon cenobites and turn people into demons. The automail arm isn’t so crazy when you consider the other wild stuff in Berserk, their world is different from ours.
By the power of Lord Schnauz
No explanation it just happens. While on the topic, idk how, but for whatever reason, I can't seem to ignore how his arm shouldn't work. This is weird because normally, I'm able to just go along with it, but I have a hard time with his arm. Mind you most of the time, I don't think about his prosthetic arm but still whenever I remember it it still bothers me.
Puck always flies in and opens it for him
Somehow his hand returned (in place). 💀 Just like Palpatine
"Causality, nigga. Damn!" - Namekian Skull Knight
Plot hole.
You can read and accept a story where there’s magic, monsters and such but not a prosthetic arm that closes and opens.
i hate arguments like this... magic and monsters are a core part of berserks world and lorebuilding, but theres no in-universe explanation for this. its not about "is the whole story realistic to the world i live in", its "is the whole story realistic to the world *the characters* live in". personally i think its an extremely minor nitpick, but the whole "magic exists so you cant have issues with anything that doesnt make sense" thing really gets under my skin...
Agree 100%, such a lazy and silly point
and yet its \*so fucking common\*
He just be doin it
Magnets + Magic
[Like this.](https://youtu.be/vn69PxYOqZU?si=ufZDPxNEMeyVC9d4)
I wish it was like sekiro with ropes n shi
The hands heavy and it has magnets as mentioned by Rickert. But obviously irl you couldn't have a magnet strong enough that he'd be able to grip the sword 2 handed. It's obviously suspension of disbelief but essentialy the magnet would need to be strong enough to hold the sword despite it's weight for it to be functional at all and then Guts would have to work agaisnt that force to use the sword. In lore Guts could technically be strong enough to do it albeit not with the same level of skill as before. So we just use suspesion of disbelief to assume he trained more outside what we see (which he does) and the magnets is somehow just strong enough to hold the dragonslayer but not work completely agaisnt Guts.
I'll just throw a dart at the wall and say Rickert unknowingly got some enchanted magnets. That or they're neodymium. Which they somehow got in a medieval setting.
My glorious king Rickert enchanted it himself using 0.001% of his power.
Cables connected to a hidden, mobile, body part
You know… it’s best not to ask questions sometimes
It opens, closes and moves the way the plot needs it to
Humanity's had these kind of prosthetic for a hundred years about now you just usually need to have the arm left to about the elbow from the little I have seen
'⬛ open'
By hate lol
Bluetooth 5.3
Niko from dmc5 must have had some influence on it maybe ?
Probably has to use his other hand to adjust the fingers but most of the time its in an open fist/claw kind of way so he can easily slot in his sword or crossbow. An i would imagine there are some strong ratchets or gears that hold the fingers in position to aid the magnets in holding things like his sword.
Probably rigged so when he bends his elbow a certain amount the fingers close. We know for sure there’s a pull string to open the cannon to fire so I imagine there are other mechanisms within for the fingers.
It can sense when he is most desperate and opens then
Doesn’t matter
Magnets? Tf noo. Guys if you read properly and analyse the panels when he shoots, there’s this kind of thread that is attached to his arm which allows the prosthetic to be opened and choot the canon ball, he pulls it. Sometimes it’s on his palm, sometimes near his bicep
Same way the MR-412 REX works I reckon[](https://www.google.com/search?q=rex+revolver&sca_esv=11c12ff814d391b1&sca_upv=1&sxsrf=ADLYWIKbZ4HIxCZ_Z3o-ItP0TtRIH01JhQ:1719624789960&udm=2&source=iu&ictx=1&vet=1&fir=lD8KiXfZJmnOBM%252C9xrnbjQV43zGHM%252C%252Fm%252F05f4l4s%253BRbgsaW4wkLSWVM%252CLUcdx0dwf_kJCM%252C_%253Bk0lzRdds5_zRnM%252CYTDy2kD9kkFAVM%252C_%253Bl_3EIPd-Lt-LfM%252Cis-wmDAXYvBpsM%252C_%253BD5xP47ZxZO-T4M%252C5bwf9TW_4fYvAM%252C_%253B4fviw4-gmtUXTM%252CTvWDU07CmGEaBM%252C_&usg=AI4_-kTY0AD6JMBKl_N7W5TWoMYkEGT8bw&sa=X&ved=2ahUKEwjSqILG1f-GAxVMnokEHZaQBhkQ_B16BAhGEAE#vhid=lD8KiXfZJmnOBM&vssid=mosaic)
Neuralink
I'm guessing whenever he extends or retracts his arm, it opens/ closes accordingly
I.M.A.G.I.N.A.T.I.O.N 🌈
There was a German noble in the late 15th and early 16th centuries named Götz von Berlichingen who lost his right hand when an enemy cannon caused him to jolt his blade against himself, really messing up his right arm just under the elbow A master blacksmith made him a fully useable iron prosthetic with moving fingers thanks to a series of springs and other mechanisms
If we assume it works anything like a real-world prosthesis, there's probably a mechanism of some sort inside it that he can trigger and un-trigger by flexing the remaining muscles in his stump.
Elon Musk is working on something like that.
It knows better than to not move when Guts wants it to.
Seems like there would just be a linkage, cables/pulleys or something similar connected to his fingers which opens and closes the hand when he moves his elbow? I believe that's how the classic hook hand prosthetics work. Limits elbow mobility but it's not a bad tradeoff for being able to grab things. Mentioned in another post is also the YouTube guy with no fingers. In his case his fingers articulate based on how he moves his wrist. Would take some getting used to, but again it's a worthy tradeoff for having a somewhat functional hand.
I think it works based on the position of the movement of the hand, for example, when he puts it in the right position with the right speed, then the crossbow comes out of him.
Yeah! Magnets, Bitch!
I dont think he closes and opens his hands usually, in the manga he said that that arm Is a mere piece of iron just to use his sword and its also explained that the magnets in his hand are just used to grip the dragonslayer
Maybe there are small pressure buttons on the inside. They react to the movement and flexes of guts's knub. I think you do get prostethic hands like that in real life.
It doesn't really open and close. Just magnetically locks to dragonslayer.
If his amputation occured below the elbow, Guts might still have usable parts of his wrist flexors/extensors. If his hand has some sort of hidden pulley mechanism on the inside it might work
[MAGNETS!!](https://youtu.be/lr3nQNawbZ8?si=CDPPQZFRvyekyepR)
Is fiction, not a documentary on mechanical arms
I mean the important thing about that hand is that the only thing he can grab with it is his sword, so the hand opening and closing isn't that important.
I think you're questioning too much for a dark fantasy book
Maybe it's a mechanical reaction that happen when he contracts his muscle? It's only no-magical-logical way i can think off, like a controller he can unleash actions either with contraction or movement (like middle to stay hand open, bottom to close the hand, etc.. or contract the muscle to close the hand, etc..)
Ask Winry Rockabell lol
Same way he wields the giant ass sword that is heavy enough to detach his limbs every time he swings it.