these spoilers do kind of stick in your head. I read that Guts beats Griffith in a battle and leaves the band of the hawk. Then griffith loses his composure and does something with the princess and is sent to jail. He is then beaten to the point where he is crippled. And he sacrifices his band and gets reincarnated as a type of god. And somewhere along the lines, Guts rapes Caska.

I've never enjoyed reading manga because it seems so cut dry, but beserk really seems like a good story to follow.