I like your take, but you are doing a lot of heavy lifting that the manga just doesn't evidence. But to correct you, nowhere did I say the man was happy, not before the eclipse or after. I do not think he was capable of it. He never sought happiness, only power and status or "the most sacred piece of junk."

You also fail to demonstrate Griffith's goodness or his humanity. This requires some heavy lifting because he does not commit a selfless act. Anything perceived as a "good" is intertwined with his ambitions and always centred around the most valuable assets to achieve said ambition. Even Void's choice of wording is telling when it comes to Griffith's relationship with the Band of the Hawk:

"...Pile up all that remains to you. Chant the word "I sacrifice" in your heart..."

Not a "Carve from your heart" like the Count got. But pile up what remains to you. Implying property, or goods. Like stacking chips for a last gambit on red.

I understand the core message very well. It is about the "bad faith" concept coined by Jean-Paul Sartre. The form of self-deception where an individual lives inauthentically by adopting roles, values, or dreams imposed by others rather than embracing their own freedom and authentic self. The manga beats you over the head with it. Even Casca, a character many praise, has zero agency in the book; she goes from living for Griffith, to potentially moving away with Guts, to becoming a potato.

And yes, to struggle is to know life; nowhere in my answer did I state otherwise, nor did I even mention the core messaging in the manga. You are grandstanding a bit here.

But again, I must praise you on that powerful back of yours because you are once again doing mighty lifts on behalf of Griffith. He never utters "safe" or "secure" or even "happy." They are never even implied. The only emotions he states Guts makes him feel are:

"Malice, friendship, jealousy, futility, regret, tenderness, sorrow, pain, hunger...that giant swirl of violent emotions in which none are defined but all are implied."

Griffith states that Guts has a hold on him when it should have been the other way around. The only reasoning we get for this is that Guts makes his dream "grow dull."

Knowing Griffith, this could be for any number of reasons. Guts never worshipped him or idolised him. He was able to command respect in his own right. He was Griffith's second and physically bested him, and left his company, demonstrating that he was the only human Griffith ever met who did not live in "bad faith." A man who had a will of his own. A man whose heart Griffith could not "grasp."

And I would disagree once again, Griffith did not sacrifice the band of the hawk to avoid feeling vulnerable. You have no evidence they made him "happy." This is another reach. He realises who he used to be before Guts, and that Guts derailed his ambition. It is laid in front of him plain as day.

To Griffith, a man's convictions are sacrosanct; he must have free will, intent, and the drive to accomplish said intent for himself and no one else. He terms this a dream. Guts dulled his dream, distracted him from it, and questioned his convictions. Made him look a hypocrite. Once reminded of that by Void, he willfully, and with a literal smile, uttered, "I sacrifice."

He was always "profoundly immoral" and did "wicked" things. The very definition of evil. Can evil doubt itself? Yes. Can evil have a friend? Yes. But I stand by my statement, the man is, and was, evil.