Fate stay night/Characters/Servants

This is a page about the Heroic Spirits appearing in the Visual Novel turned Anime Fate/stay night. Contains a LOT of spoilers.


 * For the Masters, see this page.
 * For the other characters, see this page.
 * For their appearances in Fate/hollow ataraxia, go here.
 * For their appearances in Fate/Zero and other servants exclusive to the fourth war, go here.

Saber
""I ask of you. Are you my Master?""


 * Voiced by: Ayako Kawasumi (JP), Kate Higgins (EN)

The main heroine of the Fate route. Saber is the Servant summoned by The Hero, Shirou Emiya. Being a Saber class, she excels in many areas of fighting and has a very high magic resistance. She is often considered the best Servant type, but due to Shirou's shortcomings as a Master, she cannot reach her full potential.

Saber possesses several quirks for a Servant: For one, she cannot dematerialize into a spirit form like other Heroic Spirits. She was also a participant in the Fourth Holy Grail War as the Saber-class Servant of Kiritsugu Emiya, and somehow retains her memories from that encounter despite the fact that she should not be able to. Whereas the former is initially blamed on an imperfect summoning, both are eventually revealed to be

Her true identity is. She joined the Holy Grail War Her Noble Phantasms are  and the barrier magic Invisible Air, a barrier which makes her sword invisible and can be used as a single use projectile.


 * Action Girl
 * A-Cup Angst: Though anxieties do not play up until she actually falls in love with Shirou.
 * Animal Motifs: Saber is often given a lion motif.
 * She also has a dragon motif, including a dragon-shaped prana source.
 * Anti-Magic: An innate ability of the Saber class is practical immunity to magic.
 * Badass
 * Badass Adorable: While more beautiful and dignified than actually cute, Saber's sincere and honest personality is very endearing; along with that, she also has many Adorkable moments in the Visual Novel.
 * Badass in Distress:
 * Bad Liar: She's not used to being embarrassed, so when she lies about something embarrassing it's really obvious. Like saying that she was trying to take Shirou's pulse to cover up a handshake.
 * Battle Ballgown
 * Berserk Button: Played for Laughs: do not deny Saber lunch or feed her bad food. It does not end well.
 * Bifauxnen:, she can pose as a man, although a very Bishonen man.
 * Big Eater: It becomes very clear that she happens to like food a lot. Well-cooked food mind you. At one point, remembering the highly inadequate skills of the chefs of her era has her briefly let off a killing aura. However, except for in the Anime, the volume of food she eats is not that great. Food is simply very important to her.
 * Broken Ace
 * Broken Bird:
 * Cain and Abel: While she may be this does not mean that her family was any different.
 * Chaste Heroine: A rare female version.
 * Chekhov's Gun: Saber mentions having lost
 * Cheshire Cat Grin: Not nearly as often as Rin, she does occasionally hide her anger behind a seemingly innocent smile, the most notable being the Fission Mailed spar while wearing armor.
 * Cuteness Proximity: Mild, but she has a notable soft spot for stuffed animals, especially lions.
 * Defrosting Ice Queen
 * Don't You Dare Pity Me!: In Fate, Shirou attempts to defend her from harm, This does not have the intended effect.
 * Failed a Spot Check:
 * Foregone Conclusion:
 * Green Eyes
 * Hair of Gold
 * Heroic Self-Deprecation: Her wish is full of this. Unlike most examples of the trope, Saber tends to shut up about her self-esteem issues unless people specifically push the issue.
 * Hot Chick with a Sword
 * Honor Before Reason: Much like her Master, to his relief, though she's not as bad about it as he is.
 * I Am Not Pretty: The second time Shirou comes in on her when she's bathing, she's clearly worried about this for the Hot Amazon reasons: She thinks her body is too muscular. Readers may raise an eyebrow at this considering that her figure is that of a twig.
 * I Can Still Fight: When attempting to rescue Shirou despite her non-existent mana supply.
 * Idiot Hair: Memetic Mutation turns it into such things as a third hand, an oven timer, and the infamous Ahogecopter. Plus, if by poor luck you pull it off, out comes
 * Image Song: "Tooi Yume" ("Distant Dream")
 * Immortality: Granted by, although in two out of three routes she doesn't have it, and in the third she doesn't have it for long enough to matter. Either way,.
 * Innocent Fanservice Girl: And by "fanservice", we mean "softcore porn"!
 * After she falls for Shirou, she becomes bashful about him seeing her body.
 * I Will Wait for You: In Realta Nua's Last Episode.
 * Jack of All Stats: Only if her Master is Shirou. On her character sheet, all her attributes (except for her Noble Phantasm) are "B"- or "C"-rank. The other servants are much less balanced.
 * Jeanne D'Archetype: She's unexpectedly a very straight example. She is an expert swordswoman, was born humble, . It's often the first guess as to her true identity, including in-story.
 * Kicking Ass in All Her Finery
 * Knight in Shining Armor
 * Lady of War
 * Lawful Good: In-Universe alignment.
 * Leitmotif: "The Sword of Promised Victory"
 * Lonely at the Top:
 * Older Than They Look: Saber was around 25 when she died, but she looks around 14/15.
 * Pimped-Out Dress
 * Red Baron:
 * Spell My Name with an "S": Fate/complete material gives the official romanization for her name as
 * Sugar and Ice Personality
 * Lawful Good: In-Universe alignment.
 * Leitmotif: "The Sword of Promised Victory"
 * Lonely at the Top:
 * Older Than They Look: Saber was around 25 when she died, but she looks around 14/15.
 * Pimped-Out Dress
 * Red Baron:
 * Spell My Name with an "S": Fate/complete material gives the official romanization for her name as
 * Sugar and Ice Personality
 * Sugar and Ice Personality

"Saber: "R-Rin! What is it? I-It's not like I'm surrendering to Shirou!""
 * Suspiciously Specific Denial: In Fate..
 * Suspiciously Specific Denial: In Fate..
 * Suspiciously Specific Denial: In Fate..
 * Suspiciously Specific Denial: In Fate..
 * Suspiciously Specific Denial: In Fate..
 * Suspiciously Specific Denial: In Fate..
 * Suspiciously Specific Denial: In Fate..
 * Suspiciously Specific Denial: In Fate..
 * Suspiciously Specific Denial: In Fate..
 * Suspiciously Specific Denial: In Fate..
 * Suspiciously Specific Denial: In Fate..
 * Suspiciously Specific Denial: In Fate..
 * Suspiciously Specific Denial: In Fate..
 * Suspiciously Specific Denial: In Fate..
 * Suspiciously Specific Denial: In Fate..


 * Theme Music Power-Up: Whenever "The Sword of Promised Victory" plays, something is
 * Time Travel Escape: An unusual example. It works like this:
 * Tomboy and Girly Girl: Although Saber does have Lady of War elegance, she still acts very tomboyish. She contrasts with Rin's girlishness (she even laments not being as girlish or shapely as Rin later on in Fate).
 * They Call Her Saber
 * Tranquil Fury: Played for laughs. You know that Shirou has managed to piss her off if she shows up to their daily sparring sessions smiling, happy... and wearing her armor. Cue ass-kicking.
 * Waif Fu: Played with, depending on how you look at it. Without buffing herself with magic, she has the physical strength of someone befitting her size; she is quite a bit weaker than Shirou and Rin but has still exceptionally good sword skills and tactical mind. And she still delivers some ass-kicking.
 * Wave Motion Sword:
 * What Beautiful Eyes!: Saber's eyes are lovingly described often in both Shirou and Rin's narration/internal monologue.
 * When She Smiles
 * Worthy Opponent: Assassin considers her to be this, very much. If not for the fact that she is a woman, Gilgamesh would also consider her a worthy opponent, but
 * Worthy Opponent: Assassin considers her to be this, very much. If not for the fact that she is a woman, Gilgamesh would also consider her a worthy opponent, but
 * Worthy Opponent: Assassin considers her to be this, very much. If not for the fact that she is a woman, Gilgamesh would also consider her a worthy opponent, but

Archer
""Well well... it appears I've been summoned by a strange little girl.""


 * Voiced by: Junichi Suwabe (JP), Liam O' Brien (EN)

Servant of Rin and one of the more popular characters in the show. Sarcastic but serious, he tends to look down on Shirou's ideals and usually dispenses either cryptic advice or razor-sharp putdowns. He is obedient to Rin, although to what extent nobody really knows; though he carries a semblance of loyalty, Rin has to use one of her three Command Spells shortly after summoning him in order to force Archer into submission.

Unlike other Heroic Spirits, his identity is. He joins the war so he can His main strength lies in Projection Magic, augmented by  He most commonly Projects the twin Noble Phantasms Kanshou & Bakuya, a pair of swords.

A major character in all three routes, but Unlimited Blade Works is the route in which he takes center stage.


 * Anti-Hero: Type IV.
 * The Archer: Subverted in that he himself states that he isn't one. It's just something he's good at.
 * Awesomeness By Analysis: His "Eye of the Mind" skill compensates for him having the worst Luck rank possible.
 * An especially Egregious example: during his battle with in Unlimited Blade Works, ; Archer manages to hold him off by deliberately making holes in his defense and then parrying every time his foe attacks those holes, effectively fighting the whole battle a step ahead of him.
 * Badass: The man the word "GAR" was invented for, folks.
 * Badass Longcoat: Though it's more like a Badass Skirt.
 * Badass Normal: Only when compared to the other Servants.
 * Batman Gambit: Depends a lot upon these. The entirety of Unlimited Blade Works is arguably Archer playing a one-man round of Xanatos Speed Chess against everybody at the same time...
 * The Blacksmith: Also known as "The Blacksmith Heroic Spirit."
 * Big Damn Heroes/Not Quite Dead:
 * Bow and Sword in Accord
 * Casual Danger Dialog: Archer speaks to everyone with the same bored indifference, even if they are much stronger and on the verge of attacking him. The craziest example was
 * Charles Atlas Superpower: Archer was an ordinary person with average magical aptitude (100 times less than prodigy Rin) but through rigorous training he became able to hold his own with sword and magic against Servants and whole armies.
 * : In Unlimited Blade Works, Archer doesn't have allies, Archer has goals.
 * Confusion Fu: Archer depends heavily on the fact that none of the other heroes can identify him, which usually leads to them underestimating his abilities.
 * Dark and Troubled Past
 * Dark Messiah: In a matter of speaking. Archer hates being.
 * Dark-Skinned White-Haired: Though it's not natural.
 * His coloring is stated to be a side effect of long use of his Projection Magic.
 * Deadpan Snarker
 * Deconstruction:
 * Deflector Shields: Rho Aias.
 * Dual-Wielding: Kanshou and Bakuya.
 * Dying Alone: In his back-story.
 * Enigmatic Minion: In Fate and most of Unlimited Blade Works.
 * The Gadfly: Archer continually tests Shirou's, Saber's and Rin's ideals and personalities with jokes and barbs and is at the same time capable of claiming with a straight face that he would use the Grail for "World Peace".
 * Funny Aneurysm Moment: Once we learn
 * The Gadfly: Archer continually tests Shirou's, Saber's and Rin's ideals and personalities with jokes and barbs and is at the same time capable of claiming with a straight face that he would use the Grail for "World Peace".
 * Funny Aneurysm Moment: Once we learn
 * The Gadfly: Archer continually tests Shirou's, Saber's and Rin's ideals and personalities with jokes and barbs and is at the same time capable of claiming with a straight face that he would use the Grail for "World Peace".
 * Funny Aneurysm Moment: Once we learn

"."
 * Gratuitous English: The activation speech for his Noble Phantasm. The Engrish is used in the Visual Novel as well but is also accompanied by a proper (and quite different) Japanese version that clarifies its meaning.
 * Gray Eyes
 * Hero with Bad Publicity: Well, more like no publicity. Nobody has any clue at all who he is..
 * This is somewhat intentional, however, since his method of fighting involves using a form of magic that is forbidden by the Magic Association. So, not only can he not tell normal people about his actions (because magic must be kept secret), he can't tell other magi either.
 * Hyperspace Arsenal: Justified by Projection magic.
 * I Let You Win: In a manner of speaking.
 * Image Song: "Rise"
 * Ironic Hell
 * Hyperspace Arsenal: Justified by Projection magic.
 * I Let You Win: In a manner of speaking.
 * Image Song: "Rise"
 * Ironic Hell
 * Ironic Hell


 * It Got Worse: Practically his entire back-story.
 * Jade-Colored Glasses
 * Jerkass: Badassery aside, Archer can be a real dick sometimes.
 * Jerkass Facade
 * Knight in Sour Armor: Saber, and to a lesser extent Lancer, recognize him as a knight, but both are rather appalled at his manipulative nature, cynicism and Shoot the Dog attitude.
 * Leitmotif: "The End of Reminiscence" serves as a de facto leitmotif for Archer, especially in the Fate route.
 * Lonely at the Top: Archer followed his ideal to the end, and look where it took him. No wonder he's so bitter.
 * Manipulative Bastard
 * Mathematician's Answer: When asked if he could to the end without regrets he evades the question by saying it's meaningless: He already met his end.
 * My Greatest Failure:.
 * Nerves of Steel: Archer's strongest combat ability allows him to plan out strategies while trading blows and work out the most effective path to victory.
 * No Good Deed Goes Unpunished: Archer is the freaking patron saint of this trope.
 * Non-Indicative Name: While his name is Archer, he doesn't really use bow and arrows much at all, being a swordsman instead. He does use a bow from time to time, but he shoots SWORDS with it instead.
 * Precision-Guided Boomerang: Kanshou and Bakuya, again.
 * Sarcastic Devotee: To Rin.
 * Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids: Drown in your ideals and die!
 * Sour Supporter/Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: To Shirou, whenever they're forced to work together.
 * Storm of Blades: While it's not his trademark, Archer is fully capable of this.
 * Stupid Sexy Flanders: It's hardly uncommon to hear men claim that they are GAR for Archer...
 * Tall, Dark and Handsome AND Snarky
 * Theme Music Power-Up: Badassery will ensue whenever
 * Note that this only applies to the anime;
 * Throwing Your Sword Always Works: Completely and thoroughly Justified. He can make his sword-arrows explode and can create an essentially unlimited amount of them to mind-bullet at you.
 * Tragic Hero: This is a guy
 * Tragic Hero: This is a guy


 * Trick Arrow: He uses various legendary swords (that EXPLODE) as arrows.
 * True Neutral: In-Universe alignment.
 * Unusual Eyebrows: Of the kinked type. He and Shirou are the only characters drawn with such eyebrows,.
 * Used to Be a Sweet Kid:
 * Weak but Skilled: Archer is the worst of the Servants statistically, and depends on to make up for it.
 * This is explained by the Visual Novel as Archer having none of the "natural talent" that legitimate heroes like Saber or Lancer are born with, or the blessings of higher entities like Berserker's and Gilgamesh's divine heritage; he had to Level Grind his abilities by living through thousands of battles.
 * His projection magic also counted, being the only magecraft in the modern world capable of matching heroic spirits in power output, but at the same time being reliant on his almost inexistent prana reserves.
 * White-Haired Pretty Boy

Lancer
""It should be natural for you to drink until dawn with someone you get along with, even if he may be your enemy.""


 * Voiced by: Nobutoshi Canna (JP), Tony Oliver (EN)

Lancer is a carefree, laid back Servant always eager to get into a good fight, and will never back down unless commanded. When not being an enemy, he shows a playful attitude and loves to tease. He is most often seen fighting Archer throughout the whole story. Although at first he was dismissed as a mediocre Servant, the release of an Unlimited Blade Works translation patch boosted his popularity,.

His identity is revealed early on as one of the greater heroes of Irish Mythology, Cu Chulainn. Thus, his Noble Phantasm is easily guessable: The Gae Bolg, which kills its target instantly by automatically piercing the victim's heart and then reversing cause-and-effect to create a reason for it.


 * Animal Motif: Dogs, as per his legend. Being called such becomes a bit of a Berserk Button in Carnival Phantasm.
 * Anti-Villain: Due to Deliberate Values Dissonance, he is a Type IV.
 * Badass
 * Berserk Button: Comparing him to a dog is a bad idea, but heaven help you if you're a traitorous sort.
 * Blade on a Stick
 * Blood Knight: A surprisingly non-Ax Crazy version . He actually doesn't care about getting the Grail at all; he just wants to fight. Hence his frustration...
 * Boisterous Bruiser: Especially in Unlimited Blade Works, whereas he's shown to love teasing both Rin and Saber, and he fights for the fight itself.
 * Body Paint: Well, it's full-body spandex, but it's generally considered a nod toward the popular perception of Celtic warriors fighting in the nude in blue body paint.
 * Boring but Practical: Despite being not very flashy and useless against multiple foes or fortifications, Gae Bolg can potentially One-Hit Kill servants and uses extremely little mana. Saber states he could probably use it six or seven times for the same amount of mana that an equally decisive blow from an "A"-rank Noble Phantasm would consume, and likens it to a man who can use a single arrow to win battles while other Servants can only settle with artillery cannons.
 * Chekhov's Skill: The Athn Gabla spell.
 * Deadpan Snarker: Can be almost as snarky as Archer, but gets far less screen time to showcase it.
 * Deliberate Values Dissonance: His attitude towards killing and being a Friendly Enemy somewhat alienates the others, who are antagonistic towards him for it. In Unlimited Blade Works, spending time with him causes both Shirou and Rin to start respecting him and his values, especially after
 * Dogged Nice Guy: Towards Rin in Unlimited Blade Works. Never goes beyond mild teasing since he's perfectly aware that Rin isn't interested.
 * Enemy Mine: Teams up with Shirou and Rin in Unlimited Blade Works to
 * Fragile Speedster: In Fate/unlimited codes. Also has one of the longest reaches in the game.
 * Friendly Enemy: He actually prefers this kind of relationship and finds it odd when people feel they have to be antagonistic towards people they might end up killing. On the flipside is the fact that this does not get in the way of the fact that anyone who is an enemy is to be killed.
 * The Gadfly: Only really apparent in Unlimited Blade Works, but Lancer is shown to get a great deal of amusement from teasing girls he finds interesting. "Even Rin?", you ask? Especially Rin.
 * Geas: It's mentioned on the weapons page that he is under a geas to lose to a man wielding Caladbolg if he comes from Ulster. It never comes up, though.
 * Honor Before Reason: Lancer really doesn't like traitors.
 * Jack of All Stats: In the Visual Novel. He is the fastest Servant, but can't walk on walls or attack from multiple directions like Rider. He is good offensively, but not as skilled as Saber or Assassin or as strong as Berserker. He is good defensively, but lacks Berserker's toughness and special defences. He knows some magic runes, but not specialized offensive and defensive magics like Caster and Archer. His Noble Phantasm is Boring but Practical and not as flashy or destructive as Saber's, Rider's or Gilgamesh's. Like Berserker he could also qualify for several Servant classes in addition to Lancer.
 * The Lancer: Not just by name. His personality also fits the mold somewhat.
 * Lawful Neutral: In-Universe alignment.
 * Normally I Would Be Dead Now: Lancer has the "Battle Continuation" ability, which allows him to fight effectively even when mortally wounded..
 * Offing the Offspring: Killed his son without knowing his identity until after the fact. It's his own fault.
 * One-Hit Kill: The entire point of Gae Bolg's activated ability.
 * One-Man Army: Literally. As told in the story of his life he tells to Shirou, he was the only person able to fight for Ulster due to a Geas on the male populace that he escaped via loophole. And he won the war, killing thousands of people per day or winning every duel he came upon.
 * Red Baron: "Cú Chulainn" means "Culann's hound". In-game, he's also referred to as "Ireland's Man of Light" on top of this. Caren amuses herself by referring to him as "dog".
 * Red Eyes, Take Warning: Ultimately subverted, though at first he looks like he's playing it straight. He may have quite a bit of bloodlust, but he's actually not a bad guy.
 * Semi-Divine: Divinity Rank B, being the son of Lugh, although it doesn't come into play.
 * To be fair, it's what allows him to.
 * Spam Attack: He has a penchant for rapid-fire spear thrusts.
 * Stupid Sexy Flanders: A number of people (the artist behind the Fate manga in particular), have declared him "The sexiest man in the game". Just look at his super tight outfit. It feels like he's wearing nothing at all! Nothing at all! Nothing at all!
 * Tall, Dark and Snarky
 * The Tease: In "Unlimited Blade Works", he flat out says to Shirou and Rin they're already in love, much to their embarrassment.
 * They Killed Kenny: Since Lancer survives none of the scenarios, Type Moon decides to take the tragedy and run it into comedy territory by having Lancer die in every episode of the Affectionate Parody Carnival Phantasm.
 * The Worf Barrage: For all its reputation as a One-Hit Kill weapon, Gae Bolg has a really poor track record at actually doing this. The primary reason for this is because everyone he uses it on happens to have some way to survive it (due to their Character Shields). Basically, Lancer has really bad luck with actually using Gae Bolg on people.
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair
 * They Killed Kenny: Since Lancer survives none of the scenarios, Type Moon decides to take the tragedy and run it into comedy territory by having Lancer die in every episode of the Affectionate Parody Carnival Phantasm.
 * The Worf Barrage: For all its reputation as a One-Hit Kill weapon, Gae Bolg has a really poor track record at actually doing this. The primary reason for this is because everyone he uses it on happens to have some way to survive it (due to their Character Shields). Basically, Lancer has really bad luck with actually using Gae Bolg on people.
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair

Rider
""You appear to be a brave person, unlike my master. I shall kill you kindly.""


 * Voiced by: Yuu Asakawa (JP), Karen Strassman (EN)

A tall, dark, silent, gorgeous Servant, controlled by Shinji Matou. Rider is always seen with a blindfold and very long hair. Unlike Shinji, she is a little amiable; in fact, she dislikes him,. She wields a very long chain in battle, and these chains make sounds like slithering snakes.

Her identity was rather surprising:.

Her main combat Noble Phantasm is. She can also use her blood as a material component in a Noble Phantasm called Blood Fort Andromeda, which dissolves its victim into a slurry that Rider can then absorb as Mana.

She also has a more "public" appearance where she dons a pair of glasses, which provide the same function as her blindfold.


 * Animal Motifs: Rider gets motifs for both horses and snakes.
 * Anti-Magic: Rider has innate magic resistance as part of her class, although it's not quite Saber's level..
 * Audio Erotica: Shirou thinks her voice is incredibly beautiful.
 * Badass Bookworm: The only thing preventing her from showing how Badass she is was Shinji's uselessness as a master.
 * The Beast Master: she has the ability to summon some types of beasts to aid her and is capable of riding them.
 * Big Damn Heroine: Twice in Heaven's Feel:
 * Blindfolded Vision
 * Blood Magic
 * Boobs of Steel: She has the largest bust of any female servant and is the physically strongest female servant, even if she can't match Saber in close combat.
 * Broken Bird
 * Chain of Command: Wears a leather collar on her neck as part of her standard battle costume.
 * Chaotic Good: In-Universe alignment.
 * Dark Action Girl
 * Dark Is Not Evil: Everything about her, just screams DARK CREATURE, but once you get to know her, she's really not.
 * Detached Sleeves: Another part of her standard battle costume. Her sleeves are tight.
 * Evil Eye
 * Facial Markings
 * Fetish Fuel Station Attendant: Other than her fetish-loaded appearance, she also tends to make suggestive poses. Ooh...
 * Fragile Speedster: In Fate/unlimited codes.
 * Friendly Enemy: The only times she is hostile is when Shinji orders her to be. When she escorted Shirou out of the Matou Household she was... Pretty friendly.
 * Glowing Eyes of Doom:
 * Hellish Pupils: Rider has unusual, square-shaped pupils that are used to identify her Glowing Eyes of Doom.
 * Huge Schoolgirl: In Heaven's Feel she's revealed as being conscious of her height.
 * Image Song: "Shunji no Uzu" ("Instant Vortex")
 * Impossibly Low Neckline: Shockingly averted. Looking at it in front and sideways, the dress covers about 80% of her breasts, leaving almost no cleveage. It's only when she is in her animal pose that it looks like the above trope.
 * Kiss of the Vampire: In particular, one Bad End in Unlimited Blade Works has her do this to Shirou.
 * Magic Skirt: This applies to almost all Fate/stay night media, but it's worth emphasizing with Rider's Stripperific fighting outfit.
 * Meganekko: In her casual clothes.
 * Poisonous Friend:
 * Power Limiter: Her blindfold, which prevents her from using her Glowing Eyes of Doom. Later on, she gets a pair of glasses similar to Shiki's, the same ones fashioned by Touko Aozaki, so she can have a more public appearance.
 * The Quiet One
 * Rapunzel Hair
 * Restraining Bolt: Shinji would have died a long time ago if it hadn't been for his possession of the Book of False Attendant,.
 * Semi-Divine: Divinity Rank E-; she originally had a higher rank, but having been turned into a demonic beast, Rider's divinity was reduced to E-.
 * Statuesque Stunner: By far the tallest female in the game. Just look at her.
 * The Stoic
 * Stripperiffic: A short modfied greek mythology short black dress with cutoff black legging with magenta armor to the legs, and black shoes. Although, due to her Detached Sleeves and Zettai Ryouiki, the actual raw amount of flesh exposed is barely worth mentioning but, it exposes exactly enough to be sexy.
 * Sugar and Ice Personality: She's actually an incredibly loyal and kind person... but she does not look it. Plus, the first impression Shirou has of her is that she reeks of blood.
 * Super Strength: She typically doesn't use it, though, favoring her agility. Reason being that if she overdoes it
 * Sweater Girl:
 * Tall, Dark and Bishoujo: And she even has the Pigeonholed Voice Actor best known for Tall, Dark and Bishoujo characters (see above)!
 * Weapon of Choice: A pair of giant nails chained together and wielded like daggers.
 * You Gotta Have Light Magenta Hair
 * Zettai Ryouiki: Not as high-level as Rin's, but...
 * You Gotta Have Light Magenta Hair
 * Zettai Ryouiki: Not as high-level as Rin's, but...

Berserker
""▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅!""


 * Voiced by: Tadahisa Saizen (JP), Michael McConnohie (EN)

A very huge and very un-Gentle Giant. This is the Servant of Ilyasviel von Einzbern, and being a Berserker class, he is stripped of his sanity and ability to coherently speak in exchange for extreme boosts in all other stats. Despite his bouts of insanity and the Berserker class' reputation of killing their own Masters, Berserker is pretty dedicated to his Master, to the point it's almost heart-wrenching.

His identity, immediately told by Ilya, was in fact Greek Mythology's World's Strongest Man and all around Badass: Hercules. Due to his wide range of talents, Hercules could fulfill the role of any of the seven Classes (except Caster) if it wasn't for his fact that Ilya forced him into insanity shortly after summoning him. Due to this, he is unable to use his Noble Phantasm Nine Lives (the bow and arrows that he used to slay the Hydra).

However, his sheer original strength, demigod status and fame (the more well-known a Servant's legend is, the stronger they are) more than makes up for this. His other Noble Phantasm,

Despite all of this, he is always Killed Off for Real in every scenario, primarily because he is the Nasuverse's poster boy for The Worf Effect.


 * Adaptive Ability:
 * Attack! Attack! Attack!
 * Ax Crazy: Pretty obviously.
 * Berserk Button: Somewhat Lampshaded by the fact that it's Berserker who seems to go into a mad rage whenever you get near Ilya.
 * It is implied that Berserker would be MORE BERSERK if not for Ilya. Let that sink in for a moment.
 * The Berserker: Well, obviously.
 * Blade of Fearsome Size: Referred to in-game as an axe-sword, and for good reason.
 * Blessed with Suck: The "Mad Enhancement" ability of the Berserker class increases all their stats in return for taking away their sanity and making them uncontrollable. Being that Berserker is Heracles, the stat gains are likely minimal in comparison to the loss of at least one Noble Phantasm and the inability to fight tactically.
 * Character Alignment: In-Universe alignment is Chaotic Insane, which probably pegs him under Chaotic Neutral. He lacks the rationality to make moral judgments, but apparently under normal circumstances he would be Chaotic Good.
 * Disc One Final Boss: In Fate.
 * Gonk: Somewhat. The whole "Berserker" thing has some effect on his physique, notable after things like his head explodes, re-grows, and looks somewhat normal for a moment.
 * Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Extreme height difference between him and his Master, Ilya. Guesstimating by comparing her size with Saber's, Berserker towers roughly one and a half meters over Ilya, and is about 5 times as broad.
 * Mighty Glacier: He avoids this trope in the original novels, being noted as having incredible strength and speed. Fate/unlimited codes has him as a proper Mighty Glacier for the sake of Competitive Balance.
 * The Unlimited Blade Works movie shows Berserker as a full on Lightning Bruiser in his fight against Saber.
 * Won't Work On Me: According to Word of God, God Hand works by denying the very concept of an attack below 'A' rank being able to harm Berserker, meaning that as long as an attack isn't high enough rank Berserker won't even register it no matter how much power is behind it or how much collateral damage it does.
 * Normally I Would Be Dead Now: Like Lancer, Berserker has "Battle Continuation"..
 * Pet the Dog: Contributing to that heart-wrenching moment in Unlimited Blade Works.
 * Protectorate: DO. NOT. mess with Ilya.
 * Razor Wind: The usual result of a missed swing.
 * Restraining Bolt: Ilya herself acts as this for him, which says a lot about how powerful she must be in order to keep freaking Heracles on a short leash.
 * Semi-Divine: Divinity Rank A, the highest rank, being the son of Zeus and having ascended to the Olympic pantheon. Comes to bite him back in Unlimited Blade Works where it allows.
 * Simultaneous Blade Spam: Nine Lives (Japanese gloss: "Shooting Hundred Heads"), Berserker's second Noble Phantasm, which he can't use it in-story because his class ability Mad Enhancement won't let him; the actual Noble Phantasm itself, derived from Herakles' feat of defeating the many-headed, nigh-immortal Hydra with his bow and arrows, was never used by Berserker himself in Fate/stay night, . The Fighting Game spin-off Fate Unlimited Codes resorted to depicting Nine Lives as butchering an enemy by hitting them one hundred times in a short span of time.
 * Spell My Name with an "S": Though most people use the more common spelling of "Hercules," Berserker's name is pronounced in the Visual Novel like the original Greek name "Herakles."
 * Super-Powered Evil Side:
 * The Law of Diminishing Defensive Effort: Berserker is completely immune to all attacks beneath "A"-rank and consequently never bothers to go on the defensive except in the most extreme cases. He also has Mind's Eye (the ability to supernaturally sense harm), but can't use it because of his insanity.
 * The Speechless: While insane, he only roars -- and the visual novel makes a point of emphasizing the wordlessness of his roars by always denoting them with "▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅!". No "GRAAHH", no "RRAAARR", no any of the usual "stock" SFX for screaming/yelling/roaring. Just blank rectangles. He only speaks twice in the entire Visual Novel, when.
 * Screaming Warrior: To the point that he punctuates practically every other blow with a roar.
 * The Worf Effect: He's freaking' Hercules, explicitly stated to be the strongest of all the Servants, yet he gets schooled in every single path to show off how awesome someone else is, and almost every significant power upgrade across all three routes for Servants is either used on him, or explained by the commentators as meaning they could now easily defeat him. Even Assassin, the weakest Servant, is mentioned as having repulsed him offscreen just to showcase his freakish sword skills.
 * Unskilled but Strong: Being incapable of any strategy more complicated than Attack! Attack! Attack! usually doesn't matter when you can shatter buildings with a single blow and move faster than the human eye can follow. In theory, anyway.
 * The Worf Effect: He's freaking' Hercules, explicitly stated to be the strongest of all the Servants, yet he gets schooled in every single path to show off how awesome someone else is, and almost every significant power upgrade across all three routes for Servants is either used on him, or explained by the commentators as meaning they could now easily defeat him. Even Assassin, the weakest Servant, is mentioned as having repulsed him offscreen just to showcase his freakish sword skills.
 * Unskilled but Strong: Being incapable of any strategy more complicated than Attack! Attack! Attack! usually doesn't matter when you can shatter buildings with a single blow and move faster than the human eye can follow. In theory, anyway.
 * Unskilled but Strong: Being incapable of any strategy more complicated than Attack! Attack! Attack! usually doesn't matter when you can shatter buildings with a single blow and move faster than the human eye can follow. In theory, anyway.

Caster
""If the Holy Grail has infinite wealth, it should not run out no matter how much we split it. Then can you not share the Holy Grail with those you trust?""


 * Voiced by: Atsuko Tanaka (JP), Tara Platt (EN)

A mysterious wizard who is the Servant of. She had a previous Master, but due to his abuse she killed him and seized her own Command Spells. Starved of a source of mana, she was about to fade away when she was rescued by her current Master. She pledged a contract, and later fell in love with him.

She only wishes to preserve her time with her Master, but to do so she is all too willing to absorb fatal amounts of mana from everyone in Fuyuki City. She also breaks the laws of the Holy Grail Wars by summoning her own Servant (Assassin) to guard her stronghold in Ryuudouji Temple.

Caster is the physically weakest Servant (apart possibly from Assassin) and relies mostly on her powerful anti-Army magic, her magically-enhanced Master and her skeletal Mooks. She does less well in single combat. She also has a Noble Phantasm called.


 * And I Must Scream: Let's just say, agreeing to Caster's proposals are a very bad idea.
 * Anti-Magic:
 * Awesome but Impractical:  meaning she has to get close to her opponent to use it when she has the physical defense of a wet paper bag.
 * Beam Spam: For best effect, combine with...
 * Death From Above: One of her favorite tactics is to Beam Spam anti-army class spells from overhead.
 * Beautiful All Along: She looks very mysterious with that hood. But if you see beyond that, she's... gorgeous. I mean, look at her picture above!!
 * Carnival Phantasm LAMPSHADES this completely in the Tennis portion of the Fifth Grail War Game Show.
 * Being Tortured Makes You Evil: She tries this in Unlimited Blade Works.
 * Boring but Practical: The above mentioned . A twisted, brittled and blunt dagger which can't even kill a human. Also
 * Brains and Bondage: Being a Squishy Wizard, her attacks focus more on the mental than the physical, but that certainly doesn't stop her from enjoying seeing.
 * Combat Pragmatist: Seeing as she is in the lowest tier among Servants, Caster is not above fighting dirty. Swarming you with her familiars, attacking from where you can't reach her, taking hostages, Playing Possum, among others. She might as well be Archer's equal in this aspect.
 * Depraved Bisexual: Caster manages to prove both aspects of the trope in one scene, as she gets aroused by.
 * Does Not Like Men: Hates them and in fact uses wormwood on some men she drains of energy, apparently making them impotent or something. However, she's highly devoted to her Master.
 * Familiar: She herself is a familiar, technically, but this is referring to the dragon tooth golems she uses.
 * Good People Have Good Sex: Subverted. Caster isn't the nicest person, but she and her Master have quite the sex life.
 * Then again, if you consider the fact that she at her absolute nicest around him it might actually be played straight.
 * Go-Go Enslavement: In the Anime, she puts Sakura in black leather.
 * Homoerotic Subtext: With . She really seems to enjoy dressing her up. Fate Hollow Ataraxia and Carnival Phantasm have a lot of fun with this one.
 * Hot Witch
 * Image Song: "Sasoi" ("Temptation")
 * In the Hood: Most of the time.
 * Instant Runes: She can make 'em, easy.
 * Knife Nut:
 * Lady of Black Magic
 * Load-Bearing Boss: In the Anime, her elaborate temple turns out to have No Ontological Inertia.
 * Love Makes You Evil: All the atrocities she committed were just a desperate attempt to prolong her time with her Master.
 * Neutral Evil: In-Universe alignment.
 * Pointed Ears
 * Power Floats
 * Smug Snake: Arguably Subverted:.
 * Squishy Wizard: Gloriously proven in Unlimited Blade Works.
 * Unholy Matrimony:.
 * Vancian Magic: While she can mostly avoid this thanks to being a true sorcerer from the age of the gods, she does have to verbally invoke her strongest spells. Its just that the language she uses to incant them just makes it take nowhere near as long as it would for a modern day magi to do so.
 * Weak but Skilled: The Caster is considered the weakest of the seven servant classes due to their overreliance on magic and the fact that out of the six remaining classes, four have natural magic resistance. Nonetheless, she still manages to be a very dangerous antagonist thanks to her cunning and resourcefulness.
 * We Can Rule Together: She tries to recruit Shirou and Archer to her side during Unlimited Blade Works. For Shirou, agreeing is not a good idea.
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair
 * Weak but Skilled: The Caster is considered the weakest of the seven servant classes due to their overreliance on magic and the fact that out of the six remaining classes, four have natural magic resistance. Nonetheless, she still manages to be a very dangerous antagonist thanks to her cunning and resourcefulness.
 * We Can Rule Together: She tries to recruit Shirou and Archer to her side during Unlimited Blade Works. For Shirou, agreeing is not a good idea.
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair

Assassin
""My role is to guard this gate. I won't let you through alive, nor shall I let you out alive.""


 * Voiced by: Shinichiro Miki (JP), David Vincent (EN)

A Servant summoned by Caster to guard the gate of the Ryuudouji Temple. Assassin is a solemn character who delights nothing more than having a good fight. He was, however, an incomplete Servant, thus he is linked with the gate and cannot travel further than the areas in the vicinity of the gate.


 * Anti-Villain: Type IV, arguably Type II
 * Badass Normal: he nearly manages to defeat Saber in a duel TWICE, even trough Saber was summoned wrong and forbidden to use her Noble Phantasm so it wasnt a actually power fight but more of a fencing duel.
 * In Unlimited Blade Works, it was all but outright stated Assassin fended off Archer, Berserker, Lancer, and Rider as well.
 * BFS: His Monohoshizao, which is 170 cm long.
 * Bishonen
 * Blood Knight: Justified. All he has is the satisfaction he gets from fighting a Worthy Opponent.
 * Casanova: To the point of flirting while battling, even tough he does admit that he isn't very lucky with the ladies.
 * Charles Atlas Superpower: Tsubame Gaeshi. While acknowledging that cutting a swallow out of the air would be impossible, he just kept practicing...and eventually, he got it to work. The final version of the technique somehow intruded into the territory of magic.
 * Composite Character: Sort of.
 * Deadpan Snarker: Only around Caster, and it really pisses her off.
 * Every Japanese Sword Is a Katana: Averted: Assassin uses a nodachi just like his historical rival did.
 * Katanas Are Just Better: Also averted:.
 * Extreme Doormat: Beyond his desire to duel Saber, he has practically no drives or desires of his own. He allows his master to walk over him (although not without a certain amount of snark) and seems to treat his life as expendable.
 * Face Death with Dignity: A big-time believer in this trope.
 * Failure Is the Only Option: Quite literally. Assassin, unlike the other Servants, is physically incapable of winning the Holy Grail War: Even if all the other Servants killed each other off he'd be unable to move from his summoning spot and reach the location of the Grail -- nevermind that it wouldn't respond to him without his master.
 * Friendly Enemy: Mainly towards Saber.
 * Glass Cannon: His defining sword technique is pretty much an instant kill attack if all three blows land. On the defensive side he has no armor, an "E" rating in toughness, and dies more or less instantly if struck even once. Good luck actually hitting him though...
 * Master Swordsman: Probably the greatest one in the game, skills-wise.
 * Neutral Evil: In-universe alignment.
 * Noble Demon
 * Samurai
 * Sarcastic Devotee: Assassin doesn't particularly like his master and makes no attempt at hiding this.
 * Simultaneous Blade Spam:
 * Charles Atlas Superpower: Before he became Servant Assassin, he created Tsubame Gaeshi, a sword technique that He did this by... swinging his sword. A lot. And kept doing with utter determination until reality essentially gave up and granted him what he wanted, via  In his own words, he simply had nothing better to do. Saber's reaction to this story makes it very clear that this is as insane in-universe as it sounds like in real life.
 * Spirited Competitor: Arguably even more this than a Blood Knight. Assassin seems to relish the act of competing with Saber (lethal swordplay being the medium) more than he does the actual act of battle itself. Dueling people he don't consider worthy competitors, like Archer, offers him no enjoyment.
 * Unusual Eyebrows
 * Weak but Skilled: Possibly an even better example than Archer.
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair
 * Your Days Are Numbered: Having been summoned into the world without a Master granting him mana and only a limited supply by Caster, Assassin is slowly wasting away and fully aware of it.
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair
 * Your Days Are Numbered: Having been summoned into the world without a Master granting him mana and only a limited supply by Caster, Assassin is slowly wasting away and fully aware of it.

Gilgamesh
""'All the evils in the world'? Bring thrice as much if you want to stain me!""


 * Voiced by: Tomokazu Seki (JP), Grant George (EN)

An Archer-class Servant from the previous Holy Grail War who doesn't bother to hide his identity as the famous Babylonian king. Overconfident and full of himself, he believes the world rests in the palm of his hand and is his to rule as he pleases. In the Fourth Holy Grail War, he was the Servant of Kirei Kotomine and sought the Grail in order to cleanse the world of the "lowly, weak humans" that inhabited it, leaving only those strong enough to be worthy of his rule.

At the conclusion of the Fourth Holy Grail War he was drenched by the pollution within the Holy Grail, which is supposed to give a Servant a true flesh-and-bone body at the cost of their mind and sanity. However, Gilgamesh's ego was too strong to be corrupted, and with a physical body he could continue existing in the world. He collaborates with Kotomine to hide his existence from everyone, and continues on his merry path to seize or destroy anything that takes his fancy.

Has a big rivalry (as well as a deadly infatuation) with Saber. His Noble Phantasm is the Gate of Babylon, a portal which leads to a storage of the hundreds upon hundreds of Noble Phantasms that he collected in his lifetime as the king of Babylon. Lacking the proficiency or will to actually wield most of them, he mainly just shoots them at people (hence his Archer class). The only Noble Phantasms in his collection that he can truly call his own are the "sword" Ea, which he uses for his Enuma Elish Finishing Move, and.


 * All Your Powers Combined: Gate of Babylon is basically this, since the numerous weapons are all Noble Phantasms in their own right, albeit this is more like "ALL Powers combined" (his appearance in the game dumps a number of weapons from various heroes into the encyclopedia, some of which never appear in *any* fate/). Also, he is only classified as Archer since he shoots people with them. That said, he shoots people with all their powers combined? What the heck?
 * Anti-Magic: Although he lacks the innate magic resistance of the Saber and Rider classes, Gilgamesh possesses so many anti-magic wards, charms, and amulets that he's nigh immune to it anyway.
 * Armor Is Useless: Averted in the Fate scenario, where Gilgamesh's first fight with Saber has him simply standing there and shrugging off blows with his armor (using his gauntlets to ward of the occasional strike at the head). He mentions that it's nearing its limit after a little bit and opens the Gate of Babylon to attack her. The anime chooses to go with the Rule of Cool and instead has Gil summon swords directly from his vault to block incoming strikes without lifting a finger.
 * Attempted Rape: Even if he never actually succeeds, it's made very, very clear that he intends to have his way with Saber. One of the verbs he uses in Japanese even means both "to trap" and quite literally "to rape", and his description of what he's going to do with Saber once he beats her is pretty sickening.
 * Badass: He isn't called King of Heroes for nothing.
 * Badass Finger-Snap: The gesture he uses to activate his Gate of Babylon barrage.
 * Berserk Button: He actually has several, which is quite fitting given that his Pride is his most defining characteristic and Fatal Flaw. Some relate to criticising But by far the biggest button is that pressed by both  .  That pisses Goldie off.
 * Big Bad: In Unlimited Blade Works.
 * Bishonen: Sakura notes that he "looks like a model".
 * Even more so when he's got his hair down in the UBW route.
 * Blond Guys Are Evil
 * Born Winner
 * The Caligula
 * Catch Phrase: "Mongrels!"
 * Chaotic Good: In-universe alignment... and let's just leave it at that.
 * Conflict Killer: In the Fate route. Caster has just made her first attack and seemingly has the heroes at her mercy. How are they going to get out of this one? Answer: They're not; Gilgamesh is going to drop by and kill Caster deader than dead.
 * See his quote up there.
 * The Dragon: In Fate.
 * Dragon with an Agenda
 * Even Evil Has Standards: Although he's taken a liking to Saber, in Unlimited Codes Gilgamesh is outright hostile to Saber Alter because she's corrupted and abandoned her ideals..
 * Also his attempt to kill Sakura in Heaven's Feel, although in this case his issue is more with the idea that someone else might dare to kill his "subjects" (entirely unintentionally, at that...).
 * Everything but the Girl
 * Evil Laugh: Especially in Unlimited Blade Works.
 * Failure Is the Only Option: In some ends, despite all his efforts, much like at the conclusion of his own legend, he never gets what he wants.
 * Fan Nickname: "Kin-Pika/Goldie", thanks to an In-Series Nickname by Rin.
 * He's also referred to in certain circles as "Gil Howard" and "Not-Rock" due to his civilian form bearing a striking resemblance to Rock Howard.
 * Fatal Flaw: Gilgamesh's pride keeps him from ever going completely all-out against anyone, because he is so secure in his superiority. It always comes back to bite him in the ass.
 * Fiction 500: His trademark ability is based on the premise that he owned everything in the world at one point.
 * In fact, one of his secondary abilities, Golden Rule, specifically measures a character's ability to attract wealth to himself. His is "A"-rank, meaning money basically falls into his lap with little to no effort from him.
 * The Fighting Narcissist: Oh yes.
 * Fur and Loathing: His pimp-tastic civilian dress.
 * The Good King: If he was in life anything like the legend he's based on, he certainly wasn't always that way (screwing everyone's wives), but after he met Enkidu, he was a fair and just king who generally ruled over everyone by being more awesome than everyone else. Fits his character, really.
 * Go Out with a Smile: "King of Knights, it was... truly fun."
 * The Hedonist
 * Heroic Willpower: More like Heroic Ego. Its what prevented him from getting corrupted by Angra Mainyu's curse.
 * Hidden Depths: He's a lot smarter than he appears, and understands a surprising amount about magic and human nature. The parts where he reveals his intellect are overshadowed by the parts where he's being a jerk.
 * Hyperspace Arsenal: His Noble Phantasm, Gates of Babylon, is an extra-dimensional storage space.
 * I Love You Because I Can't Control You
 * It's All About Me: Ah yup!
 * Jerkass: Yeah, Gilgamesh is sort of a douche bag.
 * Karmic Death: In Unlimited Blade Works..
 * The Killer Becomes the Killed: Gil finds himself on the losing end of Eviler Than Thou in Heaven's Feel.
 * Light Is Not Good: He's a blonde-haired, brightly-colored armor-wearing legendary hero who is mostly a divine being. Too bad about the whole planning mass-genocide thing...
 * Nietzsche Wannabe
 * The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: Gilgamesh does this with all of humanity. He states quite plainly in the Heaven's Feel route that he does not like it when people are killed by someone besides him.
 * Person of Mass Destruction
 * Possession Implies Mastery: Averted. Gilgamesh owns all the world's treasures, but he isn't particularly skilled with using any of them in melee.
 * Pride: His Fatal Flaw.
 * Powered by a Forsaken Child: Because being converted to a flesh in blood body by the grail apparently means that Gilgamesh is no longer capable of receiving prana from his Master or generating his own, Gilgamesh stockpiles prana drawn from the consumed souls of the orphans of the Fuyuki fire that Kirei rounded up afterwards and sacrificed to him.
 * Pure Is Not Good: Let us reiterate: Gilgamesh got the concentrated form of all humanity's evils and sins combined poured onto him. He didn't even flinch.
 * Red Baron: "King of Heroes".
 * Red Eyes, Take Warning
 * Relationship Voice Actor: He's voiced by Tomokazu Seki, who has several times played roles of villains that lusts over the character played by Ayako Kawasumi (Saber's seiyuu).
 * Another voice actor Tomokazu Seki has a good relationship is Shinchiro Miki who is Assassin's seiyuu.
 * The Rival: To Saber
 * Semi-Divine: Divinity Rank B, originally Rank A since he's two-thirds god, but his divinity suffers a rank-down since he himself hates the gods.
 * Slap-On-The-Wrist Nuke: Ea is classified as an "Anti-World" Noble Phantasm, but due to Gilgamesh's immense pride, he does not use it at its full potential. Even during the Beam-O-War he has with Saber's Excalibur, he only uses a fraction of Ea's strength, which is still enough to overpower Excalibur. Full power usage breaks reality to the point a rift is created that shows the world before it was even created.
 * Smug Snake: His colossal strength and power could transform him into a much more successful villain. However, his ego manages to be even more powerful and domineering than either of those combined, leading to his downfall in all three routes.
 * Social Darwinist
 * Storm of Blades: Gate of Babylon.
 * Story-Breaker Power: No matter who he's fighting, he's almost guaranteed to have at least a dozen weapons specifically designed to exploit their weaknesses, and as a fallback he always has Ea, which is so unstoppably powerful that even Excalibur itself pales in comparison and . Were it not for his colossal ego ensuring that he never takes advantage of this, there is really no reason he should ever be defeated by anyone.
 * Superpower Lottery: The fact that he's the King of Heroes and has access to almost every other Noble Phantasms, in addition to his demigod origins, makes him a prime case of this. According to Word of God, Gilgamesh is as powerful as five regular servants combined.
 * Super Prototype: His Gate of Babylon holds the "perfect prototype" of every Heroic Spirit's Noble Phantasm. By Nasuverse rules (i.e. Older Is Better), this gives all of the Gate's prototypes one rank in power above the versions that are actually in use.
 * This Is a Drill: Enuma Elish, a drill-sword. Complete with spinning segments.
 * Unskilled but Strong: Due to his powerful armor, possessing hundreds if not thousands of weapons he can launch like missiles, a chain that can bind gods, and a sword that can tear holes in reality, Gilgamesh is the most powerful person in the game by a considerable margin. He could easily defeat anything he encounters during the Fifth War just by blasting it into oblivion with his full strength right off the bat. But of course, nobody he meets is worthy of seeing his full power, and inevitably he gets killed by underestimating his opponent.
 * Wave Motion... Drill-Sword: Enuma Elish, which lead nicely into...
 * Word of Dante: The sword's actual name is Ea, "The Star of Creation that Splits Apart Heaven and Earth". Enuma Elish is in fact the activation phrase, but many people get it confused because of the way most Noble Phantasms are activated. Also, let's face it: Enuma Elish just sounds cooler.
 * Well-Intentioned Extremist: Pretty much the only way that "Chaotic Good" thing could possibly make any sense. Frankly, his worldview seems to be "I'm the most awesome being on the face of the Earth, so anything I decide to do is automatically for the world's own good".

True Assassin
""It looks like your weapon is a projectile weapon as well. Would you like to try a match?""


 * Voiced by: Tetsu Inada (JP)

An Assassin-class Servant who was meant to be summoned for the Fuyuki Holy Grail War, but was denied because Caster broke the rules and called in her own Assassin. He is only summoned in Heaven's Feel by Shinji and Sakura's distant relative Zouken Matou in order to take the Holy Grail for themselves and grant their shared desire for eternal life. Because Assassin has the physical body meant for him, True Assassin's first order of business is to attack him and then eat him from the inside out, using Assassin's corpse to construct his own form.

His true identity is one of the nineteen original assassins, Hassan-i-Sabah. His Noble Phantasm -- a form of the Noble Phantasm Zabaniya, shared by all True Assassins -- is the curse-like Delusional Heartbeat, which uses the arm of Satan himself to crush a duplicate of the target's heart, crushing the real one as well.

This incarnation of Hassan-i-Sabbah is different from the one appearing in Fate/Zero. Go to that work's character page for that character.


 * AcCENT Upon the Wrong SylLABle: Only at first, when he was still unstable. After devouring he begins talking normally.
 * Badass Long Robe: He wears a tattered black one on a few scenes.
 * Body Horror: How he gains a physical body.
 * Did Not Do the Research: While most aspects of True Assassin -- his appearance, his Noble Phantasm and his behavior -- can be attributed to Artistic License, Hassan-i Sabbah was never known by the title of "old man of the mountain"; said title belonged to Rashid ad-Din Sinan, another famous assassin. This conflation could be intentional, though, considering his motivations and the nature of the True Assassin class.
 * Evil Duo: With Zouken.
 * Genre Savvy: True Assassin more than once states that he thinks Zouken's screwing around with Dark Sakura and refusal to just wipe out the heroes when he has the chance are probably not smart. Zouken does have logical reasons for both, but considering that his plans utterly fail and get both him and Assassin killed horribly, one can't help but think maybe the Servant had a point...
 * Only Sane Man: On Team Matou.
 * Heart Trauma: The usual result of Zabaniya. Subverted in that having the heart ripped out really does kill people here.
 * Historical Villain Upgrade
 * I'm a Humanitarian: Increases his intelligence by eating other Servants.
 * Immortality: His stated goal.
 * Invisibility Cloak: His Presence Concealment skill.
 * The Killer Becomes the Killed:.
 * Knife Nut / Flechette Storm: His normal method of fighting is to throw out multiple knives with the speed and precision of bullets.
 * Lawful Evil: In-universe alignment.
 * Legacy Immortality: According to True Assassin's back-story, anyone who becomes leader of the Hashashin takes on the name and persona of Hassan-i-Sabah. Thus, the True Assassin Heroic Spirit is a compound being made up from the deeds of all the Hassan-i-Sabahs.
 * Red Right Hand: Just look at the picture above.
 * Also uses a literal one as part of his finishing move.
 * Stealth Expert
 * The Blank:.
 * Why Don't You Just Shoot Him?: He asks Zouken this exact question when the latter is amusing himself by watching Shirou and Rin's futile attempts to find a solution to the predicament involving the "Shadow" consuming people left and right. Zouken replies that it would be more fun to let Sakura's Super-Powered Evil Side do the job for them.