Fate stay night/Characters/Servants

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.


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


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 caused by the fact that Saber is still alive: On her deathbed, she pledged a contract with The World to allow herself to enter the Holy Grail Wars as a Servant in exchange for eternal service as a Counter Guardian upon her victory. Thus, her true self is frozen in time moments before her death, and she will continue to reincarnate until she achieves her goal or gives up.

Her true identity is a Gender Flipped King Arthur, Arturia Pendragon. She joined the Holy Grail War to repeat history so Britain could have a better king in her stead, as she thought she only caused her kingdom suffering. Her Noble Phantasms are the Wave Motion Sword Excalibur and the barrier magic Invisible Air, a barrier which makes her sword invisible and can be used as a single use projectile. Her last Noble Phantasm -- which she seems to have lost -- is Avalon, the scabbard of Excalibur that bestows a powerful Healing Factor, a boost in mana when held by Saber, and the ability to negate all attacks.

  • 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. After all, the lion is the King of Beasts in the western world.
  • Anti-Magic: An innate ability of the Saber class is practical immunity to magic.
  • Badass
  • 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: Having been stopped in her natural growth at around the age of fifteen, 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: Her behavior in the Fourth and Fifth Grail Wars is not actually what King Arthur was like even In-Universe. Rather, on her death bed, the long suppressed personality of Arturia wishes to save her country while the perfect King Arthur is satisfied with the job 'he' did. Thus, Arturia is sort of flailing about trying to fix things that can not and should not be fixed.
  • Cain and Abel: While she may be a gender flipped King Arthur this does not mean that her family was any different. Indeed, her sister is still responsible for her downfall because she was jealous of her. She appears to have been a magus and created Mordred as a homunculus as a kind of male copy of Saber. Mordred wanted King Arthur's approval but he never obtained it.
  • Chaste Heroine: A rare female version.
  • Chekhov's Gun: Saber mentions having lost her scabbard and final Noble Phantasm, Avalon. It was inside Shirou the whole time, keeping him alive through injuries that should have killed him. It is also the reason why Shirou unconsciously summoned her.
  • 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
  • Died Happily Ever After: With Shirou in Realta Nua's Last Episode.
  • Distress Ball: Much to her consternation in Unlimited Blade Works.
  • Don't You Dare Pity Me!: In Fate, Shirou attempts to defend her from harm, and does things for her (such as going out on a date) to get her to give up seeking the grail, and admits that this is because he feels sorry for her because of her death and her current situation. This does not have the intended effect.
  • Failed a Spot Check: She fails to notice Rider latch onto Shirou and give him erotic dreams in order to absorb his mana in Heaven's Feel. This was with her standing near him at Kotomine Church, and she never even realizes exactly why he’s so drained the next day thinking he’s just gotten a minor flu, courtesy of Sakura.
  • Foregone Conclusion: It's impossible to save Saber from dying because it happened about 1500 years ago from Shirou's perspective. However, this doesn't mean she can't live out a full life here and then simply return on the verge of death back to the battlefield and then die there. This only happens in one ending, though.
  • Gender Flip: King Arthur as a girl.
  • Green Eyes
  • Hair of Gold
  • Heroic Self-Deprecation: Her wish is full of this. She basically wants to ensure that the legend she comes from never existed in the first place because she believes she did an inadequate job at it. 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 Saber Alter...
  • Image Song: "Tooi Yume" ("Distant Dream")
  • Immortality: Granted by her Noble Phantasm Avalon, 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, it stops her from aging and gives her an incredibly powerful Healing Factor. She wouldn't have fallen in battle if she hadn't lost the thing. Which is precisely why some unnamed traitor stole it from her before the Battle of Camlann.
  • 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. Her soul waits forever for Shirou until they are finally reunited.
  • 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.
    • If Kiritsugu is her master, all other stats are A with exception of Strength=B and Luck=D.
    • If Rin is her master, all her stats are A except for Endurance=B and Agility=B.
      • Theses first two make her an overwhelming Lightning Bruiser. It was even said during the Unlimited Blade Works route that if Saber fought against Berserker (with Rin as her master), she could defeat him easily.
    • If Sakura is her master, her stats are all A with exception of Agility=D and Luck=C.
      • The last one makes her a very powerful Mighty Glacier. During the Heaven's Feel route, she easily defeated Berserker.
  • Jeanne D'Archetype: She's unexpectedly a very straight example. She is an expert swordswoman, was born humble, but became the leader of her people, pretended to be male, and was eventually betrayed by her people. 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: Saber was the king of Britain, but she had to throw away all human bonds in order to rule.
  • Older Than They Look: Saber was around 25 when she died, but due to the fact that she stopped aging once she obtained Avalon, she looks around 14/15.
  • Pimped-Out Dress
  • Red Baron: "King of Knights"
  • She Is the King: The Once and Future King, yet.
  • Spell My Name with an "S": Fate/complete material gives the official romanization for her name as Altria, while mirror-moon's translation gives Arturia.
  • Sugar and Ice Personality
  • Super-Powered Evil Side: Saber Alter.
    • Big Eater: Still a big eater as Saber Alter, but manages to destroy Shirou's pride in his cooking with her attitude about it.

Saber Alter: Lunch. NOW! <munch> Like always, your food is terrible.

  • Suspiciously Specific Denial: In Fate. After a rather serious monologue with Saber contemplating about protecting Shirou, and eventually having the brief thought of her feeling like a girl in love like in the story books, Rin walks by asking where Shirou is.

Saber: "R-Rin! What is it? I-It's not like I'm surrendering to Shirou!"

  • Theme Music Power-Up: Whenever "The Sword of Promised Victory" plays, something is getting Excalibur'd.
  • Time Travel Escape: An unusual example. It works like this: Saber is destined to die on that hill. It has already happened from our standpoint, it just hasn't happened to her yet.[1] Assuming that as a Servant she's still capable of aging, she could grow old and die and she would still end up at the battlefield immediately after that, where she would really die. However, Unlimited Blade Works Good End gets around this by the realization that it doesn't matter if she ends up on that hilltop on the end because she will still have been able to lead that normal life here.
  • Together in Death: Again, with Shirou in Realta Nua's Last Episode.
  • 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: "Excalibur, The Sword of Promised Victory". She also once possessed Caliburn, which had a similar but lesser effect. However, that sword was broken.
  • What Beautiful Eyes!: Saber's eyes are lovingly described often in both Shirou and Rin's narration/internal monologue.
  • When She Smiles
  • The Woman Wearing the Kingly Mask: Aided by a Gender Flip illusion cast by Merlin. Unfortunately it works too well, and a rebellion rises up against Saber because some see her as an inhuman demon that doesn't care for her people.
  • 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 he instead only considers her sword Excalibur to be worthy of using Ea on.


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 not a figure from the past. In fact, he is an Alternate Universe Future Badass version of Shirou Emiya, who achieved his dream of becoming a selfless Hero of Justice but was slammed with nothing but betrayals to his ideal, eventually becoming trapped in eternal service to The World as a Counter Guardian. He joins the war so he can kill Shirou (or at least spare him from the harsh fate that awaits him if he continues his naive idealism) and consequently cause a time paradox that would remove Archer from his contract to The World. His main strength lies in Projection Magic, augmented by the powerful Reality Marble magic Unlimited Blade Works, which reduces the mana cost required for Projection to nil. 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.

  • Abstract Apotheosis: His contract with the World, but he ended up regretting it.
  • Anti-Hero: Type IV. Just like dear old Dad.
  • 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 Lancer in Unlimited Blade Works, Lancer is moving and attacking at speeds so inhumanly fast that even other Servants couldn't keep up with him; 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.[context?]
  • 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... And basically winning. Even if he gives up on his primary objective, he's basically one step ahead of everyone else for the entirety of the scenario.
  • The Blacksmith: Also known as "The Blacksmith Heroic Spirit." His version of "Unlimited Blade Works" has steam and gears in the background, resembling that of a workshop. He likes to make weapons, LOTS and LOTS of weapons; it defines his very existence.
  • Big Damn Heroes/Not Quite Dead: For the finale of Unlimited Blade Works.
  • 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 when he, near the end of his route, calmly threatened Gilgamesh with death at 1/10 of his original strength.
  • 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.
  • Chronic Backstabbing Disorder: 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 a Counter Guardian but still intellectually recognizes that it's the best way to keep Earth safe.
  • Dark-Skinned White-Haired: Though it's not natural.
    • His coloring that so drastically changed from his past self Shirou Emiya is stated to be a side effect of long use of his Projection Magic. Shirou probably would end up looking like him despite them being a different existence.
  • Deadpan Snarker
  • Deconstruction: He's a Wide-Eyed Idealist who naively tried to save everyone he could see. You know, superheroes? You'd end up like this, too, if you found out that your ideal is inherently paradoxical and that everything you've been fighting for the whole time amounted to nothing.
  • 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.
  • Fallen Hero
  • Field of Blades: So, as I pray... Unlimited Blade Works.
  • Future Badass
  • 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 Archer's true identity, motives and back-story his stated wish for "World Peace" becomes all kinds of depressing.
  • Generation Xerox: His foster father, Kiritsugu Emiya, started out wanting to be a "hero of justice" but learned things the hard way, and ended up sacrificing the few to save the many in his actions. Like father, like son, so much that Fate/Zero's opening description of Kiritsugu exactly fits Archer as well.

Let us tell the story of a certain man. The tale of a man who, more than anyone else, believed in his ideals, and by them was driven into despair.

  • Go Out with a Smile: In Unlimited Blade Works.
  • 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
  • Guile Hero: In Unlimited Blade Works, at the very least, he displays profound manipulative skill.
  • Heel Face Revolving Door: In Unlimited Blade Works, he works only and only for himself... And Rin's sake, even if she would end hating his actions.
  • Hero with Bad Publicity: Well, more like no publicity. Nobody has any clue at all who he is. Both in the time of the Fifth Grail War, because he's from the future, and in his own time, because he rarely spoke to people. Simply going around saving people with no explanation made people very suspicious of his motives. Eventually this distrust culminated in him being executed for supposedly starting a war that he'd gotten involved in and ended.
    • 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.
  • Heroic Sacrifice: In Fate against Berserker. Though he absolutely mangled Berserker, killing him six times before falling himself.
  • Hyperspace Arsenal: Justified by Projection magic.
  • I Hate Past Me: To say the very least.
  • I Let You Win: In a manner of speaking. The game makes clear that his battle with Shirou in UBW ended at a point where Archer could still have killed Shirou. But once Archer realizes there's no way he could make Shirou give up his ideal in the process and has 'lost' the battle on the ideological level, he gives up.
  • Image Song: "Rise"
  • Ironic Hell

Rin (narrating): The boy who stated that he just doesn't want to see anyone cry... could only see crying humans forever.

  • It Got Worse: Practically his entire back-story. His ideals keep getting trampled on over and over until he becomes bitter and cynical. He gets turned into a scapegoat by the very people whose lives he saved, and is executed for it. After death, The World forces him to betray his ideals again and again in his service as a Counter Guardian, which lasts for eternity. No wonder he banks everything on a crazy plan to cause a time paradox.
  • Jade-Colored Glasses
  • Jerkass: Badassery aside, Archer can be a real dick sometimes. Even before going through the Heel Face Revolving Door.
  • 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. "Emiya" also counts for obvious reasons, but that's more of a Theme Music Power-Up, and only in the Anime.
  • 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 follow his ideal to the end without regrets he evades the question by saying it's meaningless: He already met his end. The answer is both yes and no. He can meet his end without regrets, but after the end he sees the inevitable conclusion, which leaves him lashing out in ways he doesn't even fully understand.
  • My Greatest Failure: As the supplemental materials reveal, Archer's back story had him saving Ilya just like Shirou did in Fate, only to see her waste away and die a year after the end of the Fifth Grail War due to her Homunculus body. It's one of the first real dents in his idealism, and the main reason why Archer never considers attacking Ilya directly as an option.
  • 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. He willingly gave both his life and his afterlife for the sake of other people and it never brought him anything but pain and betrayal.
  • 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. Eventually Subverted in Unlimited Blade Works as he ends up betraying her to fulfill his own objective.
  • Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids: Drown in your ideals and die! He is telling that to his past self though.
  • 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 by invoking his Reality Marble.
  • Stupid Sexy Flanders: It's hardly uncommon to hear men claim that they are GAR for Archer...
  • Tall, Dark and Handsome AND Snarky
  • Temporal Paradox: Archer's goal involves killing Shirou, and supposedly the paradox will be greater if he does it himself.
  • Theme Music Power-Up: Badassery will ensue whenever "Emiya" plays.
    • Note that this only applies to the anime; the visual novel only ever uses "Emiya" for Shirou.
  • 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 whose original desire was to save everyone.

Archer: Conflicts come into my view as long as I'm alive. It was endless. I didn't dream of a world without conflicts. I just wanted people in my view to not cry.
... That's right. This is wrong. This is not what I wished for. I did not become a Guardian for this!

  • 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, which is actually a rather subtle hint of his true identity.
  • Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Again, just like dear old Dad.
  • Weak but Skilled: Archer is the worst of the Servants statistically, and depends on several lifetimes' worth of hard work and experience 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 both in life and after it.
    • 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. After making the contract with Alaya, he gained prana reserves sufficient for its continuous use, but it had only happened shortly before his death.
  • 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)

Formerly the Servant of Bazett Fraga McRemitz, she was abruptly killed by Kirei Kotomine, who in turn took her Command Spells to control Lancer. 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, thanks to his Dying Moment of Awesome.

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 even though he himself explained that he can also fit the role of The Berserker. 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 he saves Rin from both Kotomine and Shinji.
  • Dogged Nice Guy: Towards Rin in Unlimited Blade Works. Never goes beyond mild teasing since he's perfectly aware that Rin isn't interested.
  • Dying Moment of Awesome: In Unlimited Blade Works.
  • Enemy Mine: Teams up with Shirou and Rin in Unlimited Blade Works to defeat Caster.
  • 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.
  • Heel Face Turn
  • Honor Before Reason: Lancer really doesn't like traitors. That doesn't stop him from disobeying a direct non-magical order from his second "Master" in Fate, though it still qualifies under the trope heading.
  • 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. He uses it to his advantage in Unlimited Blade Works, allowing him to live for a few minutes after having had his heart removed from his body.
  • 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 be effectively immobilized by Gilgamesh's Enkidu.
  • 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!
  • Taking You with Me: He kills Kirei after being ordered to kill himself for refusing to rip out Rin's heart in Unlimited Blade Works.
  • 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). Shirou gets hit by a regular blow and is healed up by Tohsaka. Saber has a ridiculous Luck stat and basically wins the coin toss. Archer just happens to have a shield specifically made to counter missiles, just at the time Lancer decides to use the spear's thrown version on him. Basically, Lancer has really bad luck with actually using Gae Bolg on people.
  • 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, her loyalty instead lying with his sister and her true Master, Sakura. She wields a very long chain in battle, and these chains make sounds like slithering snakes.

Her identity was rather surprising: She is in fact a different (but still accurate) take of Exclusively Evil Greek Monster Medusa. Screwed over in her past life, she just wanted to live together with her Master and protect her. Unfortunately, Sakura didn't want to fight Shirou, so she was pressured into giving Rider to Shinji. He frequently abuses and rapes Rider, greatly holding back her strength to the point that she's the first Servant to be eliminated, except in the Heaven's Feel scenario where Sakura eventually regains control of her. She still retains her petrifaction eyes, but uses her blindfold (actually a Noble Phantasm called Breaker Gorgon) to restrain their always-on power.

Her main combat Noble Phantasm is the Bellerophon bridle, which she uses to summon, control and power up legendary mounts, such as a Pegasus. 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.


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, God Hand, nullifies any attack of "B"-rank or below and gives him eleven additional lives (in correspondence with his Twelve Labors). It is later shown that he can even activated his power boost even with the lack of sanity, and can do so to become even more powerful.

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: God Hand renders Berserker immune to any attack that has killed him before, as long as he's got a life left to use for a regeneration. It's more of an Informed Ability than anything since nobody ever tries to use the same attack on him twice on-screen.
  • 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.
  • Died Standing Up: In all three routes.
  • 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". Like Lancer, he gets to showcase it in "Unlimited Blade Works" where it allows him to stand up to Gilgamesh long enough for Ilya to die in peace.
  • 1-Up: His "Twelve Labors" gives him eleven of these.
  • 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 Gilgamesh to restrain him with Enkindu and impale him with Gate of Babylon.
  • 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, but when Shirou in the Heaven's Feel route used his Projection magic to adapt the Noble Phantasm for his own use, the resulting "Nine Lives Blade Works" was composed of eight simultaneous slashes from different directions in one instant, followed by a stab to the center, all done with Super Speed. And each strike was considered a lethal A-ranked blow to Black Berserker. 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: Averted. Heaven's Feel sees Berserker corrupted by The Shadow like Saber, but Black Berserker is blind, lacks his noble phantasm and his weapon, and is slower and weaker than regular Berserker. He doesn't even have an in-game character sheet like all the other Servants.
  • 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 Saber kills him in the Fate route, and only for the half minute he has before his body completely vanishes and when he tells Ilya to "Run." away from Dark Sakura in Heaven's Feel.
    • 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.
  • The Unfought: In Unlimited Blade Works, done just to show off how dangerous Gilgamesh really is.
  • 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

Yes, that's Caster without the hood

"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 Kuzuki Soichiro. 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.

Due to the tainted Grail allowing the summoning of anti-hero and villainous Heroic Spirits, her identity is the archetypical witch Medea (who got screwed over by Jason in his quest for the Golden Fleece).

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 Rule Breaker, a dagger which can dispel any sorceries on anything it pierces, including contracts between Servants and Masters.

  • And I Must Scream: Let's just say, agreeing to Caster's proposals are a very bad idea.
  • Anti-Magic: Her Noble Phantasm, Rule Breaker.
  • Awesome but Impractical: Rule Breaker. You have a noble phantasm that can null any and all contracts, but its a dagger 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...
  • 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!!
  • Being Tortured Makes You Evil: She tries this in Unlimited Blade Works. Her victim? Saber. It doesn't work.
    • It works temporarily in the Manga, but Shirou breaks Saber out of it right quick. However, Caster's smart enough to notice this and immediately use a Command Spell on Saber.
  • Boring but Practical: The above mentioned Rule Breaker. A twisted, brittled and blunt dagger which can't even kill a human. Also a powerful Anti-Magic weapon which Caster can use to steal the Command Spell from other Masters and take control of their Servants.
  • 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 Saber tied up and tortured.
  • 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 magically torturing Saber into obedience (having put her in a revealing white dress) and contemplates exactly how far she can get Saber to be a slave to her lust.
  • Disc One Final Boss: In UBW.
  • 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. Also, she turns Shirou into a familiar in a Bad End or two and has some Servants herself in Unlimited Blade Works.
  • 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: After capturing Saber, Caster naturally decides to stick her in a sexy dress while she's tied up with magic and being tortured. In the Anime, she puts Sakura in black leather.
  • Homoerotic Subtext: With the captured Saber. 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: Rule Breaker
  • 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: While she acts like a Smug Snake, she knows what she is doing is wrong and doubts that it will actually work out. Her one interlude even reveals that the forbidden magic she’s using is something she would normally never use if she wasn't so desperate to stay with Kuzuki.
  • Squishy Wizard: Gloriously proven during Rin's counterattack in Unlimited Blade Works.
  • Unholy Matrimony: With Kuzuki.
  • 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. Even if Archer accepts, he's just using her and it comes back to bite her.
  • You Gotta Have Blue Hair
  • You Have Outlived Your Usefulness: Done to her by Archer. Unlike most example he was the underling, but still counts in that joining her was part of his plan, and when he gets what he wanted he cautiously (and casually) dispatches her.


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.

He claims the identity of Miyamoto Musashi's rival Sasaki Kojirou. However, in the Nasuverse, Kojirou does not exist, he was in fact a fabrication of various swordsman's skills and the name of a person who really existed to create the image of a Worthy Opponent for Musashi. Assassin himself was a nameless swordsman who, through blood and sweat and tears, managed to obtain the godlike sword technique Tsubame Gaeshi. As he is the only spirit who holds the technique Kojirou is famous for, the Grail called for him to play the part of Kojirou in answer to Caster's summons. As he isn't a heroic spirit, he has no Noble Phantasm; however, his Tsubame Gaeshi skill is said to be as powerful as one.

  • Anti-Villain: Type IV, arguably Type II
  • Badass Normal: Stated to be a nameless samurai, he developed an ultimate technique on level with an anti-personnel Noble Phantasm simply by practicing. And with his lack of Noble Phantasm, 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. Because of his circumstances, every deed he accomplishes is attributed to the name "Sasaki Kojirou" and not himself. 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. There never was a "Sasaki Kojirou"; he's simply a folkloric figure and any basis in reality is simply due to conflating several of Miyamoto Musashi's actual opponents into one person. Adding another level to this is the fact that Assassin is a real person who achieved Sasaki's signature Tsubame Gaeshi; based on this the Grail apparently decided he'd be the next best thing to an actual Sasaki.
  • 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: Just like real-life Japanese swords, his sword chips and breaks much easier than the other Servants' magical weapons, ultimately leading to his defeat in his final duel with Saber in Unlimited Blade Works.
  • 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...
  • Go Out with a Smile: He does so in Unlimited Blade Works, having fulfilled his wish of having a climactic battle with Saber.
    • And again in Heaven's Feel, although this is less because he's actually happy and more because he's being devoured from the inside and smiling is his way of showing contempt for his killer and going out with dignity.
  • 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 twists dimensions so that he can strike from three directions at the same time. 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 partial access to "multi-dimension refraction phenomenon", known also as the Second Sorcery. 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.


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 (though he was originally the Servant of Rin's father, Tohsaka Tokiomi) 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. Whether or not this is true is debatable. It is actually stated by Kotomine that he only lost his way when the contents of the Holy Grail spilled on him and corrupted him, which makes sense considering his Alignment is in fact Chaotic Good. However, he was perhaps even more sadistic in Fate/Zero, though he lacked the fixation with unleashing the Grail on 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 his chains, Enkidu.

  • 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 his kingship (Saber and the Fourth War's Rider are good at this), and his superiority (in power and age/originality). Archer really gets on his nerves as a 'faker' that devalues Gil's original/prototypical weapons by reproducing them. But by far the biggest button is that pressed by both Shirou and Fate/Zero's Berserker. They essentially steal his treasury - his weapons, the representation of the strength of his historical rule - via their own Reality Marble/Noble Phantasm. And then they use them against him. That pisses Goldie off.
  • Big Bad: In Unlimited Blade Works.
  • Bishonen: Sakura notes that he "looks like a model".
  • 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.
  • Death by Irony: See his quote up there. In Heaven's Feel, he is defeated and consumed by Sakura's Super-Powered Evil Side, the embodiment of "all the evils in the world", Angra Mainyu, when he attempts to defend his territory from the Shadow.
  • The Dragon: In Fate.
  • 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. He also finds himself somewhat regretting corrupting Saber himself with the grail in his ending, as he likes her best when she's both idealistic and resisting him.
    • 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. After having gone through the whole route Sword Spamming people to death, he' s killed when a Not Quite Dead Archer nails him right between the eyes with a duplicate of one of his own swords.
  • The Killer Becomes the Killed: Gil finds himself on the losing end of Eviler Than Thou in Heaven's Feel when Sakura's Super-Powered Evil Side, the embodiment of 'All the Evils in the World' Angra Mainyu, eats him.
  • 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 even Dark Sakura, who is almost perfectly specialized for defeating Servants, most likely couldn't survive a direct hit from it. 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...
  • 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.

  1. ↑ Her personal timeline is separated from that of the world, so that no matter what happens to Saber, she goes back to that hilltop and dies as Arturia, but for her personally she has never died.
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