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Berserkers or
figures influenced by the concept or mythos of the Berserker
sometimes appear in modern popular culture, although they are
rarely based off of historical depictions.
Depictions in
modern popular culture
Comics
There is a manga series
(and subsequently anime) entitled Berserk.
The
Marvel
Comics character Wolverine is known to go into "berserker
rages". In combination with his adamantium claws and his healing
factor, he is known to be an unstoppable, unkillable killing
machine. Marvel also has a character known as Berzerker, who
has a quick temper and possesses powers over electricity.
Gundam Seed's
Kira Yamato is
called a berserker and in battles is completely ruthless and his
skills increase. In the series it says that berserkers are peaceful
and good-natured until they get into battle and then become
war-like, vicious, and lose sight of everything outside of the
battle.
A robot known as the "Berserker" was excavated by
British army scientists in the manga Spriggan.
In the manga/anime Record of Lodoss War, Orson, a
main character assumes a beast-like state and is referred to as a
"Berserker".
In the manga/anime Weiß Kreuz, Jei Farfarello, member
of the antagonist assassin team Schwarz, is code-named
"Berserker".
In Kevin Smith's first film, Clerks., Olaf, the cousin of Silent
Bob (Kevin
Smith) makes numerous comical references to Berserkers. Comical
for the word's juxtaposition to seemingly unrelated things, he is
quoting lyrics from the song Berserker by Love Among
Freaks, which is also featured on the movie's soundtrack.
In
a Thundercats
episode, laser toting pirates called "Berzerkers Berzerkers
Berzerkers" were featured.
Games
The Dungeons and
Dragons Monster Manual gave statistics to battle Berserkers in
the game and later manuals added the Barbarian as a
player class with a berserk rage ability. The 3rd Edition
supplement Deities and Demigods presented a new Berserker prestige
class meant to be used in pseudo-Norse settings.
There's a "Berserkr" enemy in Capcom's RPG
Breath
of Fire III. The Berserkr enemy is a black robot who starts the
battle confused, and when is about to die cast the spell "Berserk"
on himself, gaining strength at the cost of death 3 turns
later.
In Lost Kingdoms(Japanese
name "Rune") for Nintendo Gamecube the Berserker is one of
the usable and enemy monsters. It indiscriminatly attacks any other
creature. In the sequel, Lost Kingdoms II, the berserker could be
upgraded to a Berserk Master which made every nearby creature
attack the creature closest to it.
In the space combat game
Space Wolves,
Berzerkers are a race of combat machines turned against their human
creators.
In Quake
II and Quake 4,
Beserkers are powerful Strogg enemies. Their arms have been
replaced with mechanical counterparts with two distinguishing
features: the left arm ends in a large mace (club) where the hand
should be, and the right forearm has been replaced with a massive,
sharp spike.
In Kingdom Hearts II, the Organization XIII
member Saix fights as a berserker, focused completely on offense
with absolutly no worries about keeping himself alive beyond
endurance.
In the PC game Age of Empires 2: Age of Kings, a
Berserker is a historially accurate unique unit available to the
Viking race.
In Diablo
2 the class Barbarian has a skill named Berserk which negates
all armor while doing extreme damage.
In the Doom series, there was an item called "berserk"
that would increase the player's health to full and temporarily
increase the effectiveness of melee attacks.
In Lineage 2 the class Prophet has a
positive (but also negative) buff called Berserk which increases
physical/magical damage, attack speed, magical cast speed and run
speed while decreasing magical and physical defence.
A species
of The Uruk hai is known as a berserker in the game Lord of the
Rings: The Third Age.
In Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds the
Wookiees have Beserkers as their special unit.
In the
Fallout
series, one can acquire the reputation of "Berserker" by often
resorting to violence.
Literature
Fred Saberhagen wrote
a number of stories about robotic self-replicating spaceships which
seek to destroy all organic life, which he called Berserkers, in reference to their
violence and singleness of purpose.
Beorn in J.R.R.Tolkien's The Hobbit seems to be modelled on
legends of berserkers; in the Battle of Five Armies, he goes
into a berserker rage, and can literally turn into a bear.
His name also hints to this.
Daniel Hecht in his 1998 "Skull
session" novel writes about berserkers being
hyperkinetic/hyperdynamic individuals who can control their
transformation into hyperventilating killing machines via a range
of stimuli.
In N.M. Browne's novel "Warriors of Alavna", the
character Dan becomes a berserker, or 'Bear Sark' as it is referred
to by the other characters.
Music
Berserker was
the title of an album by Gary Numan in 1984. The title track was also a Top 30 UK hit
single.
The
Berzerker is the name of an Australian death metal
band.
Zakk Wylde's Black Label Society wear
patches on the front of their leather vests that say "BERSERKER"
which is an indication that they are either a member of the band, a
member of the road crew or one of Zakk's inner circle. Black Label
Society released a song by the name of "Berserkers" on both the
album 1919
Eternal, and on the Ozzfest CD from the 2002 tour.
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