The 100-man battle is raw brutality rendered frame-by-frame, but the real weight comes after, when Guts realizes what he's willing to sacrifice for a man who doesn't deserve his loyalty. The movie knows the prettiest lie in your life is believing the person you follow actually sees you. By the end, you understand that Griffith's ascension and Guts' breaking point were always the same story told from opposite sides.

The Band of the Hawk stands at the height of their power. Under Griffith's command, they win one battle after another, and their reputation across the kingdom of Midland keeps rising. Now they face their greatest test: Doldrey, a fortress that has defeated everyone who tried to take it. Yet with Guts leading the Hawks' raiders, his massive blade able to cut down a hundred men, the Hawks achieve what seemed impossible. Once the fighting ends, Guts decides to go his own way. He leaves the Hawks to follow a dream of his own and says goodbye to his comrades, even as Griffith tries to keep him. The departure shakes Griffith's composure and pushes him toward a decision that will change his fate and the fate of the Hawks for good.