“Man wields the sword so that he might die smiling.”

Those words cover most of one page in the fifth volume of Berserk, right as the heroes of the story—Guts, Griffith, Casca, and the rest of the Hawks—all prepare to do exactly that. Their mercenary band fights not merely to kill, but to perhaps even guarantee themselves a happy death, something they have a far better chance of seeking as a group than any of them do alone. Thus is explained the motives of any clan, any city-state, any nation that ever existed.

It’s heady stuff for a manga, but the consistently amazing thing about Berserk is how it can tackle these massive ideas and somehow come out on top, and not be defeated by them. On the surface, it’s a bruising adventure story of blood and ambition, and just under that it’s something else entirely—an epic about one of the biggest questions we ask ourselves: Are we really “the masters of our fate and the captains of our soul,” or are we just the puppets of unknown gods? (And if we did find out, could we stand up under the weight of the truth?)