On the more headcanony side I think that like, Guts would be possessive but he wouldn’t really think of it as possessiveness – it’d feel like a natural extention of their v exclusive, v intense relationship. Griffith would be possessive in turn ofc.
And it wouldn’t manifest in like, being jealous of Charlotte if Griffith still plans to marry her for power. I figure they’d talk about that and Guts would understand it’s business lol, he wouldn’t be threatened by Charlotte. But at the same time he would demand Griffith’s attention and time. Maybe not literally demand lol, but he’s really emotionally needy lbr and I think he’d get sulky if he didn’t get enough time with Griffith bc he’s busy being a king or w/e. We see that in canon even, when he tries to visit him after Zodd but can’t bc of the nobles.
But then like in canon Griffith would reassure him and go out of his way to give him that time and attention because well, he’s also needy and they’re both obsessed with each other and neither wants to spend time apart.
So things like Griffith putting off some king stuff to laze around in bed with Guts would be perfect for Guts. Or things like having sex on the throne at three am when the room’s empty lol, or leaving tea with Charlotte early because the Raider Captain has something important to “discuss” with him. Guts would want to make his claim on Griffith, and have Griffith show that he’s the most important.
But again like, he wouldn’t express that, and Griffith (unless something drastic has gone down) wouldn’t admit to himself that Guts is the most important aspect of his life. But it would still show through in little moments and Guts would notice them (yk assuming no Promrose Hall speech colouring his perception etc etc).
Sexually you got leaving marks under clothes, fucking him hard enough that he still feels it the next day, teasing and drawing it out as a way of focusing Griffith’s attention wholly on him. Like, considering how needy they both are when it comes to wanting the others’ attention and regard and desire, sex could get ridiculously intense lol. We’ve talked about this before a bit but yk it holds true. They just both want to be wanted by the other so badly lol.
On the more meta-y side, I’d argue that their relationship comes with a side of possessiveness from both – again, as a kind of natural byproduct of the singular intensity of it. They are each others’ only one, and they both want to be each others’ only one. I don’t think there’s a lot of like, canon elements that demonstrate Guts being possessive to the same explicit extent of eg Griffith’s “if I can’t have him, I don’t care,” but imo it’s there under the surface.
Guts wants to make Griffith look at him. At first that’s the whole quest for a dream thing, but after the Eclipse it’s his revenge quest. He wants to kill him because, more than anything else, he wants acknowledgement that he matters to him.
This hold on Griffith is exactly what Guts wanted, and still wants.
It doesn’t manifest as jealousy, like we see him trying to set Griffith and Casca up for a while, but it’s more like, yk, that need for attention. He’s possessive of Griffith’s priorities. The reason I think he’s ok with setting Griffith and Casca up is because lover isn’t a category he can see himself fitting into, and moreover, true friend and equal trumps lover anyway as far as he’s concerned. His competition is Griffith’s dream, not Griffith’s other relationships.
I mean you can split hairs on the definition of possessiveness and whether Guts’ feelings count if it’s less jealousy and more wanting to be the most important person to Griffith, but yk I think it’s an element.
whew ok this is a question that requires a long and complicated answer. i actually plan to make a more intricate analysis of griffguts as a relationship and how it affects the story soon, but i’ll answer in short hand for now. these are the three main components as to why i think guts is attracted to griffith, making their attraction reciprocal:
1. griffith is guts “special person”, and vice versa. what i mean by this is that griffith is the one person guts has continually wanted to impress and keep a part of him. as guts himself says the morning before leaving the hawks, griffith is the one person he wants to look at him. the relationship guts has with griffith holds a lot of parallels to his relationship with gambino – guts wants to prove himself and be valuable to them. guts driving goal, even at this point in the series (tho miura has sort of veered off the path of the main storyline right now) is to be special to and worthy of griffith. his choice to leave the hawks was a result of thinking he wasn’t good enough to be griffiths friend, and that he needed to become worthy of that distinction – unlike the others in the hawks, guts isn’t satisfied with just following griffith. he really has no investment in griffiths dream as a concept or ideal, he just cares about it because griffith does. guts wants to be an equal and a friend to griffith, and leaving the hawks seemed to him the only way it was possible to do that. post eclipse, guts still strives for griffiths attention. his revenge isn’t really about avenging his friends, it’s about getting griffith to look at him again. that’s why hearing femto say “his petty existence is beneath our notice”, and hearing ngriff say he “feels nothing” towards him are such strong triggers for guts rage. he wants griffiths attention and to be something to him.
2. guts is framed in the narrative and through artistic emphasis as being physically attracted to griffith. if you sift through the manga and look at the panels (i can’t add visual aides for this bc i’m on mobile now lol) where guts reminisces about griffith, griffith is actually drawn as being MORE BEAUTIFUL than he was drawn from a neutral perspective when the event guts is flashbacking to actually happened. i don’t think this reflects miuras change in style or anything like that, i think it’s a purposeful insight into how heavily romanticized griffith is in guts eyes (also the majority of guts major recurring flashbacks are shots of griff naked ie. the “i will get my own kingdom” when they have the water fight, neogriffith riding away naked after the rebirth, etc so do with that what you will lol)
3. guts still has difficulty separating “his” griffith from the new griffith. the first and perhaps most overlooked example of this is the beast of darkness. as a representation of guts darker side, the beast basically encompasses guts feelings of rage, hatred, isolation, and betrayal. it also represents the love he had for “his” griffith that has now been corrupted by the events of the eclipse. the beast of darkness is very sexual in tone, even in the words it uses to describe guts feelings. i could say a lot about this but the one thing i really do want to point out are the similarities between guts encounter with slan and the way the beast words how guts should kill griffith – both of them involve guts “thrusting” his sword into them. which is so unsubtle lol but who ever said miura was subtle. the beast urges guts to kill the “distractions” that are acting as a salve to his rage, aka his new friends and casca, and to go after griffith and force griffith to look at him again, ultimately culminating in griffiths death. again, this ties into the two points i made above – guts craves griffiths attention, and he finds griffith attractive. instead of, say, chopping griffs head off, the preferred method of death the beast gives is one that is very personal, and reflects a highly sexualized situation guts was in before where he wounded slan. i refuse to believe it’s a coincidence that the beast, and therefore guts, chooses to make griffiths potential death a sexualized event. but this violent, highly sexualized, animalistic dark side of guts is at conflict with guts higher self. when guts sees griffith on the hill of swords, looking so similar to how he did back when he was “his” griffith, he “[forgot his] urge to kill.” despite the deep wound of betrayal griffith has inflicted guts with, and the rage guts feels over it, his feelings of love for griffith block out his hatred. and isn’t it sort of tragic, that after all that’s happened, guts can’t even really hate griffith? just like how even after being betrayed and tortured for a year, griffith couldn’t manage to reach up and choke guts when he first saw him again in the tower. their feelings of love for each other drown out the hate and betrayal.
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