Donovan

The source records little of Donovan's looks beyond that of a grown mercenary. What it stresses instead is his brute physical power, enough to hew down enemy soldiers and to pin a nine-year-old boy with little effort.

Donovan is a merciless fighter who kills even those fleeing a battlefield. A child predator, he assaulted the young Guts and showed not a flicker of guilt for any of his cruelty.

After a campaign, Donovan approaches Gambino and, that night, forces himself on the young Guts, who cannot reach his blade in time. He reveals that he handed Gambino three silver coins to have the boy for the night, brushing the act off as commonplace among soldiers. Gambino, it later emerges, sold the child out of a festering grudge, blaming him for Shisu's death and resenting how he kept tagging along.

On a later mission Donovan leers at Guts once more. Watching the mercenary finish off stragglers, Guts shoots him in the back with a crossbow, buries a second bolt in his open mouth, and demands to know who betrayed him before driving a sword down his throat to end him. The assault leaves lasting damage: Guts carries a dread of being touched into adulthood, which resurfaces during his first night with Casca and nearly leads him to strangle her.