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Saber

Richard the Lionheart

Almost, but not quite, entirely unlike King Arthur

Voiced by: Yuki Ono (Japanese), Ben Balmaceda (English)

Ayaka's Servant. Due to the nature of the War, there is no Saber-class Servant, but Ayaka Sajyou somehow summons a Saber separate from the system, who claims his purpose is to return the false war to the path of a real Holy Grail War.

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• Animal Motifs: Saber is likened to a cat on occasion, and Watcher describes him as "a lion in a man's skin," which is why he earned the title of Richard the Lionheart.
• Antiquated Linguistics: Saber is prone to using somewhat archaic language and speech patterns which, while not reaching the level of full-blown Flowery Elizabethan English, still earn him a few confused stares at times.
• The Atoner: As cheerfully reckless as he remains, Saber is aware and deeply ashamed of being a lionized war criminal in life and is thus making an active effort to temper his worst tendencies and genuinely embody the noble Knight in Shining Armor he's perceived to be.
• Badass Crew: Saber has the ability to call upon several of his fellows such as Robin of Loxley from the Throne of Heroes to assist him in various ways via his second Noble Phantasm, Rounds of Leonheart. However, they manifest in a very weakened state and consume a lot of mana, so it's unfeasible to fully summon them.
• Beethoven Was an Alien Spy: False Caster describes Saber as someone who rides the line between history and myth. While he's a real historical figure who more or less did all those things history said he did, he "had one foot in an age when faeries and runes were still out in the open" and did a little vampire slaying on the side.
• Beware the Nice Ones: He's an absolute sweetheart, but he does come from an age of great bloodshed and strife, and makes no bones about being a creature of violence. He's also a Stepford Smiler: Beneath his cheery, charming persona is a deep guilt and shame that gives one the impression that he's a landmine waiting to be stepped on.
• Bling of War: Saber's armor is very elaborately decorated, complete with a Pimped-Out Cape.
• Blood Knight: His reign was defined by endless war and bloodshed, which he's not proud of in hindsight. But even with his worst tendencies reined in, he's highly prone to picking fights just for the excitement of it.
• Blue Blood: Ayaka immediately pins him as a member of European royalty or aristocracy. He's actually a king, specifically King Richard I.
• Broken Ace: Saber is charming, handsome, witty, chivalrous, talented... and almost spectacularly bad at kingship due to his eccentricities. Not only does he admit that Prince John was justified in trying to usurp the throne from him, but it's implied that Pierre probably killed him for good reason due to his tendency for expensive, ultimately pointless military endeavors such as the Third Crusade.
  Saber: War. You see, that was the only thing I could do.
• The Caligula: In life, Saber was dangerously eccentric, spending much of his kingdom's money on expensive, bloody military campaigns to chase the shadow of his hero simply so he could prove they actually existed. He's not exactly proud of his actions.
• The Champion: Ayaka's safety and well being come before the Grail War, whether she likes it or not.
• The Charmer: He takes this to the point of a superpower, and perhaps his most dangerous one. Saber was able to maintain popularity in life and be revered posthumously as a hero despite his bloody and disastrous reign because he was just that damn charming and charismatic.
• Clap Your Hands If You Believe: As it turns out, Saber's Noble Phantasm isn't actually Excalibur, but rather the ability to wield any vaguely blade-like object as if it were Excalibur by insisting it is.
• Cloud Cuckoolander: By his own admission. He takes it as a compliment.
• Contrasting Sequel Main Character: To every protagonist Saber that came before and after the original Fate/strange fake light novel since it has only been developed legitimately after Fate/Apocrypha ended. He modeled his life after Artoria's and was similarly betrayed by his lieutenants, but for much more legitimate reasons. He's a mentally unbalanced lover of the arts like Nero, but he's a genuinely talented musician who is well-aware of his illness. Like Mordred, he adored Artoria and loved fighting, but he's so much more mature than her that he ought to have known better than to squander his people's wealth in pursuit of it. And very dissimilar from Siegfried, he was painfully selfish during his adventures. And like Arthur, he comes not to put stock into redoing his time as king, but whereas Arthur had the prerequisite Historical Hero Upgrade to match this, this Saber did not, and bitterly understands why things went south for him.
• Cool Sword: His Noble Phantasm is a red Palette Swap of Excalibur. It turns out to be a completely ordinary sword — his actual Noble Phantasm is the ability to wield anything as if it were Excalibur.
• Cultured Warrior: An insatiable fan of music and theater. He has even composed and played some music himself. When asked what he wants with the Holy Grail, he replies that he might wish for reincarnation so he could study the present day's songs and plays and take those memories back with him to the Throne. He also knows his mythology. When his party is attacked by Cerberus, he talks to it and points out that they are not in the underworld and are not Hades' subjects, so Cerberus should have no quarrel with them. Cerberus stops. Everyone else was confused by his words.
• Declaration of Protection: Decides to protect Ayaka since she unwillingly became his Master, making her a target that other Masters would want to take out. Also serves as a Mythology Gag to Fate/Prototype.
• Determinator: One of his Skills, Lionheart, gives him the bravery to fear nothing, frightening enemies and raising ally morale.
• Effective Knockoff: His Excalibur can never reach the same level of power as the original, but it doesn't stop being really strong and extremely versatile besides.
• Exact Words: Uses Ayaka's Refusal of the Call as a loophole when he makes his Declaration of Protection, because if she's not his Master then he doesn't have to obey her protests on the matter, now does he?
• Expy: He's heavily based on Fate/Zero's Rider, which is lampshaded when the Count of Saint Germain convinces him to hear him out by telling him that Alexander the Great would.
• Fatal Flaw: Saber has utterly terrible impulse control and entirely too much power to adequately temper the consequences of his actions.
• Fan Boy: A major one of King Arthur. He's such a fan, that he wants the Grail to prove that Artoria's rule wasn't a waste.
• Fish out of Temporal Water: Does not make any attempt to blend in or hide as he and Ayaka roam Snowfield, walking the streets in full regalia. Eventually, he switches over to some modern clothes borrowed from a local band in volume 3.
• Foil: To Gilgamesh as they are both blond, crimson-eyed, lustrously decorated kings who both achieved fame at the End of an Era. However, while the twilight of the Age of Gods brought Gilgamesh unfathomable opportunity and power, the transition from the more mystical high-concept period of the previous millennium to the more mundane one he was born into left Saber strapped for heroic trials to overcome and he was encumbered by the ambiguity of whether or not paragons of old like King Arthur or even the supernatural entities he did manage to come across during his crusades were real or not. Whereas Gilgamesh eventually attained enlightenment of a sort and spent the rest of his days as a wise and just king, Saber died prematurely and in the midst of his mania for war after he was assassinated by one of his own subjects. Gilgamesh is painfully aggressive and pompous, but transparently so, while Saber's warmth and humility belie darker and bloodier depths. The Gate of Babylon gives Gilgamesh access to a wide variety of weaponry he has limited expertise in wielding while Saber's Noble Phantasm just lets him use Excalibur by turning anything he wields into Excalibur, but he's very, very good at using it. Gilgamesh proudly flaunts his chain, Enkidu, as a tribute to his cherished friend; in contrast, Saber taps into the skills of his old companions through his shadow and keeps his reliance on them a secret.
• Friendly Enemy: Often tries to strike up friendly conversation with his opponent even in the middle of a fight to the death, much to the bafflement of his more serious competitors in the War—not that that's stopped him from getting results.
• Gathering Steam: One of his Skills, Godspeed, increases his Agility the longer the battle continues.
• Gentleman Snarker: A dignified gentleman who delights in teasing and riling people up.
  Saber: I think I'll use that 'right to remain silent.' It's my favorite sword; I'd be in trouble if there was a flood of customers and they sold out.
  Cop: You've got quite a mouth on you for a guy dressed up as a king or knight or something.
  Saber: Quite perceptive. I see the officials of this country are of a superior order.
• The Gift: As represented by his Servant skill Talented in Every Field. Ayaka hypothesizes that some of his craziness came from a serious case of Gifted Child Syndrome.
• Hero with an F in Good: Saber means well, but his eccentricities made him a fairly poor king in life.
• Hero-Worshipper: Idolizes the King of Knights, Arthur Pendragon, though he doesn't know that said king is female. Or so he pretends.
• Historical Badass Upgrade: While the real Richard I was known to be a total badass on the battlefield, he probably couldn't shoot Excaliblasts from his sword.
• Historical Hero Upgrade: Subverted. While Saber looks and acts the part of a chivalrous Knight in Shining Armor, he does not bother to sweep his more questionable actions as King Richard I under the rug, and admits to Ayaka that he's a reckless warmonger who deserves whatever comeuppance he gets. By extension, this casts his historical nemesis, his brother Prince (later King) John, in a more positive light in this vein.
  Saber: The way I've lived, it's no surprise when anyone betrays me, or sells me out, or runs off on me. I doubt I have to worry about this, but you haven't mistaken me for a good person, have you?
• Honor Before Reason: Goes out of his way to take care of Ayaka when he could easily have abandoned her to pursue his goals unhindered. When Gilgamesh impales him several times, Ayaka tries to carry him to safety, but he objects, manages to stand under his own power, and says it is not right for a knight to be helped by the person they are protecting.
• Idiot Hair: Just like his idol. His is more indicative of his nature than hers was, however, as he tends to be flighty and eccentric.
• Indy Ploy: Saber tends to get by on spur-of-the-moment improvisation rather than long-term planning.
• Instant Expert: Takes no time at all to master the electric guitar. He attributes it to his extreme familiarity with earlier stringed instruments. This turns out to be the effect of one of his Servant skills, Talented in Every Field.
• Irony: He tells Ayaka that while he was good at French, Italian, and Persian, he was bad at English even though he was the King of England.
• Jack of All Stats: Traditionally, the Saber class is the strongest in a Holy Grail War, barring some extreme exceptions. And in any other given War, summoning this one in particular would be like winning the lottery. But, in the False/True Holy Grail War, where the roster of Servants range between demigods, Eldritch Abominations, and things that just plain don't make any sense, he's actually surprisingly middle-tier at best. That being said, he's quick, hits hard, exceptionally skilled, almost impossible to disarm (one of a Saber's biggest weaknesses), and has a second Noble Phantasm that allows him to deal with pretty much any disadvantage in a jiffy. Much like Astolfo in Fate/Apocrypha, a combination of these attributes allows him to punch way above his weight.
• Knew It All Along: Francesca's attempt to break his hero worship had a secondary purpose: to determine how much he already knew about Artoria's real life. It turns out to be quite a lot, including her actual gender, though he denies Francesca's suspicion that he found and spoke to Merlin himself.
• Knight in Shining Armor: At least on the surface, as it quickly becomes apparent that he's too unstable to truly fit the mold.
• The Knights Who Say "Squee!": A giant fanboy of King Arthur. He's even capable of turning whatever he wields into Excalibur simply because he insisted in life that every blade he wielded — from his sword to his butterknife — was the legendary Excalibur out of fannish mania. When True Caster and his Master show him a recording of the Feast of Kings from Fate/Zero, thinking it would break him to learn King Arthur was really a flawed woman, he instead gets excited and thanks them for showing him a new side to his favorite character.
• Large Ham: Saber is, in his own words, a man of extremes.
• Last Request: Gilgamesh impales him several times, prepares to kill him, and asks if he has any last words. He asks Gilgamesh to spare Ayaka. Gilgamesh shrugs and says he'll consider it.
• Leeroy Jenkins: While perfectly capable of carefully strategizing and planning, Saber admits that he prefers to just act on his ridiculous impulses such as picking a fight with another Servant while neither armed nor armored.
• Lonely at the Top: He was skilled at pretty much every activity even as a child, but this made everyone resent him and refuse to be his friend.
• The Mad Hatter: Saber is quite happy to confirm any doubts of his sanity.
• Manic Pixie Dream Boy: Effectively serves as one for Ayaka, although their relationship has yet to become romantic.
• Mistaken for Terrorist: After he accidentally blows up an opera house while fighting off False Assassin, he and Ayaka are arrested, with the media calling them terrorists.
• Modern Major General: In life, he was good at just about everything except governance and English. Too bad he was the king of England.
• Nerves of Steel: Nothing seems to rattle Saber. His personal skill Lionheart actually makes his legendary courage somewhat infectious, boosting the morale of his allies.
• Nice Guy: He is a Leeroy Jenkins Blood Knight with absolutely zero impulse control who is, probably, at least a little bit Ax-Crazy too. He is also incredibly sweet, noble, loves helping strangers, is extremely chipper, and a chivalrous knight down to his core. Ultimately, partly subverted, as his Nice Guy persona is a mask he wears to cope with his self-perceived flaws and inadequacies. He is more melancholy and ruthless than he lets on, but is actively making an effort to change.
• Noodle Incident: Apparently, he once teamed up with his rival, Saladin, and one of the Nineteen Hassans in order to take down a Dead Apostle together.
• No Place for Me There: If there's one thing he's certain of, it's that he has no right to rest in any sort of heaven, much less reach the Avalon of his idol.
• Not Even Bothering with an Excuse: Makes no effort to hold up The Masquerade, publicly presenting himself on live TV in full armor to announce he will make amends for accidentally destroying an opera house.
• Omniglot: The Gift extended to a gift for languages, and he achieved full fluency in every language he set out to learn... with one embarrassing exception: English.
• Overused Copy Cat Character: Saber is a bit of a jab at Type-Moon's self-acknowledged "Saberface" problem wherein every Saber-class Servant is some sort of Artoria expy or lookalike. While a rather stark contrast to Artoria Pendragon save for passing resemblance to her male Prototype design, Saber really, really wants to be Artoria to the point of wielding an entirely ordinary sword he insists is Excalibur.
• Past Experience Nightmare: As with all Servant-Master pairs, Saber shares his dreams with Ayaka. This includes Saber's memories the aftermath of his Massacre at Ayyadieh, which are horrific enough that Saint-Germain took the opportunity to Write Back to the Future just to give his future Master a Content Warning.
• The Performer King: He has a great passion for music and leaps at the opportunity to play an electric guitar when given the chance. He's impressive enough that the band that lent him the guitar uploads his performance to their Youtube channel, much to the Clock Tower's horror.
• Power Perversion Potential: The description for his Talented in Every Field skill helpfully notes that it extends to sex.
• The Power of Rock: The moment he lays eyes on an electric guitar, it's love at first sight. His performance quickly ends up on Youtube and goes viral, with the Mage's Association promptly freaking the fuck out. His civilian clothes can also be roughly described as a glam-rock outfit.
• Pretty Boy: He's described as a beautiful man with blazing, bestial eyes.
• Red Eyes, Take Warning: They're bright crimson and described as "shining like a beast."
• Reformed, but Not Tamed: He may have tempered his lifetime bloodlust, but he's still a reckless engine of chaos.
• Royal "We": Uses it when making important declarations.
• Self-Restraint: When he and Ayaka are arrested for blowing up an opera house, he makes no effort to escape. When the police try to interrogate him, he demonstrates that they can't hold him, and explains that he respects the police who were only doing their jobs. He only decides to escape because Ayaka is in danger.
• Smarter Than You Look: Ayaka is surprised to discover that, for all his impulsivity and apparent disregard for long-term strategy, Saber is not only well-read and witty, but also surprisingly tactical in his actions even when he's completely winging it. One of his Skills is even Talented in Every Field, which lets him use any of the skills he gained in life at a high rank and pick up new skills with extreme ease.
• Stepford Smiler: Saber tends to hide the immeasurable guilt he feels over his actions in life behind a facade of almost pathological optimism and facetious self deprecating humor.
• Stiff Upper Lip: Cheerfully unconcerned with danger and talks of horrible past experiences such as being sold to his enemies by his own brother as if they were mild inconveniences at worst.
• Super-Speed: Saber's agility rises the longer he remains in battle, already starting off with a reasonably impressive B. He also can apparently cheat momentum and, as Flat puts it, "animation cancel" in the middle of any motion he makes, making him insanely hard to hit even if you throw Gilgamesh's entire arsenal at him.
• Taking the Bullet: During a fight with Gilgamesh, Gil aims his Storm of Blades at the church Ayaka is in. Saber blocks it with his body and is impaled in several places. Gil is amazed he didn't die.
• Taught by Experience: He's able to dodge and block attacks from the Gate of Babylon partly because he already sparred with Enkidu, who fights in a similar way with their earth constructs.
• Taught by Television: He incorporates some boxing moves into his fighting style after watching it on TV, though he admits he's far from an expert.
• This Banana is Armed: If he can swing it, he can turn it into a Beam Sword, as he proves with a stray tree branch.
• Universally Beloved Leader: With a twist—Saber was quite loved by his people, but this was due entirely to personal charisma rather than anything resembling good policy. This only further enabled his destructive tendencies, as coups against him such as Prince John's could never garner the support needed to be successful.
  Watcher: He's a lion in a man's skin, but the people still loved him. He might have some secret trick for manipulating the human heart. Keep a wary eye on him.
• Unexpected Character: In-Universe example. The Summoning Ritual was apparently supposed to be for King Arthur, not Richard the Lionheart. On a second level, the Saber template was supposed to be lost to begin with; his summoning marks the beginning of the True Holy Grail War.
• War Crime Subverts Heroism: The biggest stain on his seeming shining armor is the Massacre at Ayyadieh.
• Warrior Poet: Along with being a fearsome warrior, Saber is an amateur bard and passionate thespian so enamored with Chivalric Romance that he tried to turn his life into one.
• Wave Motion Sword: Has the NP, Excalibur: The Sword of Eternally Distant Victory, a red Palette Swap of Artoria's Excalibur. Volume 3 reveals that technically, his Noble Phantasm is to turn anything he grabs into an "Excalibur", referencing how in life he gave a sword to the Spanish King, claiming it to be Excalibur.
• Worthy Opponent: He attempts to form an alliance with Enkidu, but Enkidu spars with him to test if he is strong enough to be a good partner. Both are impressed by the other's strength and skill.
• Would Hurt a Child: While he says it would leave a bad taste in his mouth and he would prefer other options if possible, he says he would kill a child like Tsubaki Kuruoka if it was the only option to save others.
• Wrong Genre Savvy: In life, Saber was determined to make himself the protagonist of a Chivalric Romance much like his idol, King Arthur. This did not do his kingdom any favors.

True Archer/Avenger

Alcides

Divine Hero Made Distorted

A mysterious yet undeniably powerful hero, who is seemingly capable of fighting even Gilgamesh on equal terms. He wields a bow as his primary weapon, and his face is obscured by a cloth. He wears another cloth on his arm, a Noble Phantasm that he shares with True Rider.

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• 1-Up: Although he doesn't possess the eleven extra lives that comes with Godhand, one of the Noble Phantasms he gains with King's Order is the immortality of Chiron, which acts as a single resurrection.
• The Ace: Archer's true name is Alcides, better known as the original name of Heracles. He even proves to be more dangerous than his Berserker self, fighting equally with Gilgamesh of all people.
• Achilles' Heel: His Pelt of the Nemean Lion only makes him invulnerable to weapons. Non-weapon attacks like punches, claws, and energy blasts can hurt him.
• Apathy Killed the Cat: He tells True Rider that he doesn't know what the Black Mud is or where it came from, and he doesn't care. All he cares about is that it is a power that came from man that he can use.
• Assimilation Backfire: Normally, his Rank A Magic Resistance means even a magus of Flat Escardos' caliber can't hurt him with spells. However, when he steals From Hell and turns into a demon, his demon parts are not covered by the Magic Resistance, allowing Flat to attack and almost kill him.
• Awesomeness Is Volatile: When first summoned, everyone but Bazdilot was horrified by his aura and power.
• Barbarian Longhair: Artwork of him with part of his face cloth slipping off his head shows him to have unkempt, shoulder-length hair. It's a trait that carries over from Berserker Heracles.
• The Beastmaster: He can summon and control various creatures involved in his Twelve Labors, like the Stymphalian Birds, Cerberus and the Mares of Diomedes.
• Because You Were Nice to Me: Despite his corruption, he still remembers his time with Jason and doesn't like someone else insulting him, since Jason treated him like a human being despite his monstrous strength.
• The Big Guy: He clocks in at 203 cm and 141 kg. His size might be a way of foreshadowing his true identity as an aspect of Heracles.
• Blindfolded Vision: The cloth over his face is to make sure the "works of man never again enter [his] sight." He has no trouble moving around or fighting.
• Bloody Murder: When True Rider manages to stab him in the arm, it turns out his blood has the Black Mud inside it, allowing him to animate it to attack her.
• Broken Ace: He's a version of Heracles who's been forced to relive the traumas of his past, twisting him from a mighty, upstanding hero into a hateful half-Avenger.
• Brought Down to Badass:
  • As Alcides, he is a version of Heracles without his divinity or God Hand. Nonetheless, he puts up a much better fight against Gilgamesh than his Berserker counterpart ever did, due to his Nemean Lion pelt making him immune to Gilgamesh's weaponry.
  • His Cerberus is also not as powerful as it would normally be as Alcides prevents it from receiving the blessing of Hades, but it is still extremely powerful.
• Chaotic Evil: His In-Universe alignment due to his exposure to All The World's Evils.
• Combat Pragmatist: He will do anything to win a fight, including killing child Masters to make their Servants easier to defeat.
• The Corruption: He's been exposed to All The World's Evils, which is one of the factors that has led him to renounce his divinity, and manifests as both an Archer and an Avenger.
• Curb Stomp Cushion: As obscenely overpowered as he is, the War keeps tossing equally frightening and deadly foes at him, and with his foul temper and cutthroat morals, he's usually the one inviting it upon himself.
• Discard and Draw: He doesn't have God Hand, but since he needs a Noble Phantasm that acts as proof of his conquering the Twelve Labors, he instead gains King's Order, which allows him to use all the tools that he gained during the Twelve Labors. So far it's known that he has the Pelt of the Nemean Lion, a copy of True Rider's Goddess of War, a quiver full of Hydra venom-tipped arrows, the Stymphalian Birds, Cerberus, Chiron's immortality, and the Mares of Diomedes.
• Do Not Call Me "Paul": He hates being called Heracles, preferring to be called Alcides. His wish for the Holy Grail is to erase his old name from history.
• Fallen Hero: Thanks to his Master's corruption, he goes from an Ideal Hero to a twisted man who hates everything he once stood for.
• Forced into Evil: The story makes clear that True Archer is not genuinely evil, and the only reason why he is acting the way he is is because of the combination of Bazildot's Command Seals and Grail mud.
• Freudian Excuse: He's become extremely hateful and a Nay-Theist because Bazdilot forced him to remember constantly being treated like a freak for being the Son of Zeus and his various tragedies like the deaths of his children and his wife Deianeira betraying him.
• Ideal Hero: When first summoned, Heracles was pretty much the honorable Greek hero. Unfortunately, that did not sit well with Bazdilot, so he proceeded to re-mold him into his more ideal vision of a Servant, the hateful, evil one.
• Implacable Man: Was able to deflect Gilgamesh's Gate of Babylon effortlessly. He also survived being knocked into an erupting volcano - while this feat normally isn't that impressive for Servants, who can No-Sell anything that isn't magical in nature, True Archer's corruption via All The World's Evils makes him lose this immunity, so his ability to survive that volcano anyways is a testament to his innate durability.
• Improbable Aiming Skills: He can fire arrows at targets from over 20 kilometers away.
• I Shall Taunt You: While fighting Gilgamesh, he mocks him and calls him weak. Though Gilgamesh is angered, he keeps his cool and keeps fighting normally. Later, he tells his Master that he was trying to goad Gilgamesh into losing his temper and making a mistake, and that Gilgamesh is a Worthy Opponent because he didn't fall for it.
• Kryptonite Factor: Since Hydra venom killed him in life, he is really vulnerable to it. In Volume 5, when John Wingard stabs him with a dagger laced with Hydra venom, he only barely survives it with the help of the Black Mud and Chiron's immortality. He mentions that if he still had God Hand, the venom would have taken all twelve of his lives.
• Living on Borrowed Time: He's not technically dying, but after being poisoned with Hydra venom, he uses Chiron's immortality to survive it. The problem is that the venom is still in him and really, really hurts. He warns his Master he can only last about three to four days before the pain drives him to madness.
• Mythology Gag:
  • His fight against Gilgamesh is almost like a twisted reversal of Gilgamesh's fight against Heracles in the Unlimited Blade Works route of Fate/stay night. Whereas Gilgamesh encumbered Heracles by attacking his small girl of a Master and steadily overwhelmed him with the Gate of Babylon, True Archer just shrugs off the Gate of Babylon after initially taking shots at Gilgamesh's small girl of a Master in an attempt to encumber him. Considering how Alcides is a transformed Heracles, this may have been intentional.
  • His first fight with Gilgamesh has him mock the Gate of Babylon for just shooting random weapons, saying only weaklings or mindless beasts would be killed by such an attack. Berserker Heracles was defeated by such an attack and was stated in Stay Night to be essentially just a beast due to the Berserker class robbing Heracles of his intellect. Adding to that Alcides loathes his name as Heracles so he would take a pot shot at that version of himself.
  • In addition to this, Alcides' clear distaste for his reputation as Heracles and going full Combat Pragmatist on anything he fights is clearly taking a page from the Archer he fought in the 5th Grail War—Counter Guardian EMIYA.
• Nay-Theist: He hates all gods and anything related to them. This drives him to attack Gilgamesh for being Semi-Divine. He has Hippolyta's sash, Goddess of War, which can augment its wearer with divine energy. He chooses to only power his weapons with it because he doesn't want the divine energy to enter his body. He declares he makes its power submit to him while he proves he can win with the power of man alone. He's perfectly fine with powering himself up with the Grail Mud and later Jack the Ripper's From Hell because those powers both came from humanity, not the gods. He later says he does not regret accidentally poisoning Chiron and forcing him to give up his immortality because he freed Chiron from his connection to the gods.
• Normally, I Would Be Dead Now: Has the Battle Continuation skill ranked at A+, which allows him to survive getting shredded by demon form Jack the Ripper's claws and heat beams. This durability also allows him to survive an attack from a weapon with Hydra poison long enough to activate his 1-Up Noble Phantasm.
• No-Sell: Zig-zagged. He pulls it off against Gilgamesh because his Nemean Lion pelt makes him immune to weaponry made by humans, but is immediately decked in the face and sent flying like a ragdoll by True Rider as he's trying to play it cool.
• Oh, Crap!: He is completely horrified and jumps back when John Wingard draws a dagger laced with Hydra venom, since that stuff contributed to his original death.
• One-Winged Angel: After stealing Jack's From Hell, he immediately activates it and transforms into a huge demon.
• Poisoned Weapons: His arrows are tipped with the toxic blood of the Lernaean Hydra.
• Power Parasite: His third Noble Phantasm, Reincarnation Pandora, allows him to steal a Servant's Noble Phantasm from them and claim it as his own. This is demonstrated in Vol. 4 when he steals Jack's Noble Phantasm, From Hell.
• Rage Against the Heavens: He declares he will destroy everything related to the gods.
• Smug Super:
  • He claims that Gilgamesh needs Ea - quite literally the most powerful Noble Phantasm of all time - in order to make them equal in a clash. Considering how he had just shrugged off the Gate of Babylon's finest weaponry as if it were nothing, he might have a point.
  • This was actually a deliberate bluff to try and trigger Gilgamesh's Fatal Flaw, and he admits he'd need a massive mana supply and a full day to stand a chance at actually bringing Gil down. Him having a chance at all still makes him one of the strongest Servants in existence, though.
  • Since his Noble Phantasm Pelt of the Divine Beast (the pelt of the Nemean Lion) rejects the works of humans, any weapons made by humans would not harm him and only natural weapons and divine constructs like Ea could bypass the defensive powers of the pelt. There is also the possibility that egging Gilgamesh to draw out Ea was part of his plan to steal it with Reincarnation Pandora.
• Spell My Name With An S: His true name can fall victim to this. Alcides is the Latinized version of his name, with the Greek being Alkeidēs. The katakana for his name is romanized as Arukeidesu.
• Supernatural Floating Hair: True Archer's hair seems to be perpetually flowing, even back when he was alive. It only settles down when he is turned into an Avenger.
• That Man Is Dead: When True Rider angrily asks him why he, an honorable hero in life, would perform such unheroic acts, he coldly states that he was no longer that sort of man.
• Tragic Monster: Because of Heracles' refusal to kill children for his Master, Bazdilot used his Command Spells to force him to live through his worst memories and then corrupted him with Angra Mainyu's curse, twisting him from the noble Heracles into the amoral and hateful Alcides. This is reflected in his simultaneous manifestation as an Avenger; as Fate/Grand Order shows, pretty much every member of the Avenger class is a Tragic Monster of some kind.
• Wouldn't Hurt a Child: Upon being summoned by his master he declared this when asked. Inverted as he was then immediately corrupted by All The World's Evils. Now he very much would, and doesn't hesitate when his Master orders him to kill Tine and Tsubaki.
• Worthy Opponent: Generally, he seems to like human opponents that are willing to go against him without invoking divine help.
  • He admits to his Master that Gilgamesh is strong and that he admires him for not losing his temper when he tried to goad him by calling him weak.
  • Before attempting to land the killing blow, he and Jack are very civil towards one another despite their fight, with Alcides even showing Jack respect despite his own corrupted state.
  • Likewise, he acknowledges Saber as a good opponent when he sees him swat away a volley from the Gate of Babylon.
  • He gives John Wingard some props for having the stones to actually try to bar his path when he's heading to kill Tsubaki, though True Archer mostly feels pity for the guy before he swats him away and breaks his neck. When John is revived and empowered by False Caster and becomes strong and fast enough to hurt him, and has a dagger laced with Hydra venom, he declares John a foe worthy of his attention. He again praises him when John manages to stab him with it.
  • He acknowledges Flat Escardos when Flat takes advantage of the From Hell he stole to inflict serious damage to him.
• You Are Not My Father: Since he hates everything to do with the gods, he refuses to call Zeus his father. Instead, he declares himself the son of Amphitryon and Alcmene.

True Rider

Hippolyta

Queen of the Amazons

True Rider is a woman younger than twenty years old, estimated at around sixteen to eighteen years old. She wears her long hair in a bun. She has a "lively peach-colored body" dressed in a unique style of clothing of soft cloth and leather. She wears a Noble Phantasm cloth on her arm, just like True Archer.

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• Action Girl: She's Hippolyta, the Queen of the Amazons. She's the elder sister and predecessor of Penthesilea who appears in Grand Order, though their designs are quite different.
• Amplifier Artifact: Her sash, Goddess of War, fills her body and weapons with divine energy to greatly increase all their physical attributes, which is what makes her strong enough to fight True Archer.
• Badass Adorable: She punches True Archer (Who can tank weapons from the Gate of Babylon) so hard that he crashes into a nearby mountain and it erupts as a result. At the same time, she's apparently described as being rather young, with her height and weight topping out at 159cm and 50kg respectively.
• Broken Pedestal: In life, she admired True Archer and may have even been in love with him. She's heartbroken to find he's become hateful and willing to do unspeakable things like kill children.
• Horse Archer: Along with her horse, Kalion, she is armed with a bow and arrows and a spear.
• It's Personal: She clearly has a personal vendetta against True Archer. This is at first assumed to be because in Greek Mythology, Heracles killed Hippolyta in his ninth labor to obtain her belt. However, it's not because he killed her, but more due to the fact that he targeted a child (Tiné Chelc) instead of Tiné's Servant.
• Know When to Fold 'Em: Despite her grudge against True Archer, she agrees to retreat when her Master orders her to. She and her Master agree he is too powerful and they must wait for an opportunity.
• Older Is Better: She has the original Goddess of War sash, which is said to be superior to True Archer's copy of it.
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: She swears she will be the one to defeat True Archer and orders Gilgamesh not to interfere, which just annoys Gilgamesh and makes him attack both of them.
• Only Sane Man: Her grudge against True Archer aside, she's the only "True" Servant who stands out because of how normal she looks and how rationally she acts.
• Overused Copy Cat Character: Subverted. While she wears her hair similarly to Artoria (minus Idiot Hair), Narita has said that she does not have Saberface and that the reason for her hairdo is sillier. It's because Rin was the one who did her hair.
• Red-Headed Hero: Coloured illustrations reveal that she has dark red hair.
• Semi-Divine: She has Rank B Divinity, since she's the daughter of Ares.
• Undying Loyalty: She says her Master proved herself worthy of her loyalty, so she will serve her even if she runs out of Command Spells.

True Caster

François Prelati

The Immortal Trickster

François Prelati was an Italian cleric in France during the fifteenth century, living at the same time as the famous Jeanne d'Arc. He was a friend of Gilles de Rais, and was in fact the one who conducted the demon-summoning rituals that Gilles participated in. He was summoned by Francesca.

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• Big Eater: Spends a lot of time eating, pleased with how good modern food has gotten.
• Born-Again Immortality: But only his first one qualifies as a Heroic Spirit.
• Break Them by Talking: He and Francesca tried to do this to Saber via showing an edited version of the events of the Fourth Holy Grail War. Both versions were flummoxed by Saber actually thanking them for the new story featuring the King of Knights.
• Divine Parentage: Ishtar calls him "a descendent of those Mycenaean freeloaders", implying a connection to the Greek gods. It is eventually revealed that Prelati is really the child of Até, the goddess of mischief and madness, who was thrown to earth by Zeus and had a hand in the events of the The Trojan War.
• Evil Mentor: To Gilles de Rais of Fate/Zero. He was quite delighted to discover that Gilles was summoned as a Caster due to his influence.
• Eviler than Thou: Has actual talent as a magus and is infinitely more depraved than the already wicked Gilles.
• Greater-Scope Villain: He gave Gilles his spellbook, corrupted him, and as revealed in an Interlude during Fate/Grand Order, has a direct line of communication with him from the Throne of Heroes, presumably goading his former student into perpetrating even further vileness.
• Higher Understanding Through Drugs: It's noted in his profile that Prelati's Spellbook was written after conducting magecraft while deliberately hallucinating from taking drugs of his own creation. In that drug induced state, he achieved the astronomically small chance of linking to a different plane of existence and inscribed what he saw in a book before sealing it away and entrusting it to Gilles de Rais. Due to the ludicrously specific circumstances under which it was written, Prelati is incapable of pulling that trick ever again and requires Gilles as a Servant to access the book.
• Kick the Dog: After encountering a child looking for his mother in a war zone, he mocked them by showing him a woman's rotten corpse.
• Master of Illusion: When confronting Gilgamesh, True Rider, and True Archer, he conjures up a snowfield that looks and feels real to normal humans like Tine, but Servants like Gilgamesh quickly see through it. He later tricks Bazdilot, his mooks, True Archer, Filia, Haruri, and True Berserker into thinking they are falling into a Bottomless Pit until they agree to a truce. He can even make illusions that feel solid and can last for days before disappearing, using them to make entire destroyed city blocks look intact. It's his Noble Phantasm, Grand Illusion: The Sunken Spiral Castle Does Not Exist, Therefore, There is No End to This World's Madness. The illusions are advanced enough to deceive the World... but they can only last a few days before it realizes it's being fooled and the illusion is dispelled.
• My Future Self and Me: Thanks to Born-Again Immortality, he and his Master Francesca are actually one and the same. François is them as they appeared during their first life, while Francesca is the most recent.
• One Degree of Separation: His teacher was taught by Merlin.
• Past-Life Memories: But only her first one.
• Pretty Boy: He's noted to be quite a pretty boy, if you can ignore the perpetually creepy look in his eyes.
• Semi-Divine: He has Rank E- Divinity, in life having made contact with Beelzebub and sharing some of the demon's blood and power. He also shares the blood of an unnamed deity who was "banished" and is called "descendent of those Mycenaean freeloaders", which may hint at a connection to a Greek deity. In truth, his Divinity comes from being the actual child of a Greek goddess, Até.
• Shapeshifter Guilt Trip: He tries to fool Gilgamesh with an illusion of Enkidu, but Gil just gets pissed off and strikes it down.
• Shipper on Deck: Outright tells Jester that he and Francesca ship him with Fake Assassin.

True Assassin

Hassan-i-Sabbah (Hassan of the Fathomless Rift)

The True Old Man of the Mountain

One of the nineteen Hassan-i-Sabbah, summoned by Faldeus in an effort to remake the False Holy Grail War into true Holy Grail War. Upon meeting his Master, True Assassin questions Faldeus' convictions and whether or not they are worth taking the lives of others for, declaring that is what it is to form a contract with him. He agrees to be his Master's Shadow so long as he does not abandon his convictions.

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• Apologetic Attacker: He takes the time to meet one of his victims, Galvarosso Scladio, to apologize for killing him, and makes sure it is painless.
• Due to the Dead: When Galvarosso gave a Last Request to eliminate the evil members of his organization, he follows it and starts killing them and the mental Galvarosso clones they made.
• The Hashshashin: One of the leaders. Or, rather, the shadow of the founder.
• Living Shadow: The type of being he essentially is, living through shadows and even able to hide within the shadow of the world itself. Based on his backstory, he was this way even when he was alive through some unknown means: when he met the Founder, he already was a shadow.
• One Hero, Hold the Weaksauce: Since he can draw energy from the darkness itself, he can function without draining Faldeus' reserves.
• The Quiet One: While he can talk, he prefers to communicate with Faldeus through writing.
• Shadow Walker: He can quite literally become one with darkness.
• Stealth Expert: Has Presence Concealment ranked at EX. When he begins to attack, it drops to A+. In effect, he's basically able to hide behind a blade of grass when he's trying to not stand out, and is still nearly invisible when he's trying to stab you to death.
• Taking You with Me: His Noble Phantasm- the true version, instead of the one No Name uses, that is- works like this. If True Assassin is dying, either due to a critical attack or his Master dying, he will connect with the "shadow of the world", effectively becoming Death for the remainder of the Noble Phantasm, and drag his opponent with him to hell.
• Technopath: He seems to be able to control a building's lights and monitors without touching them.

True Berserker

Huwawa

The Beast Of The Cedar Forest

A robot-spider-tank-lion creature. Summoned by a girl with a grudge against all magi.

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• Ambiguous Gender: Huwawa is usually referred to with female pronouns, but considering that it is a collection of 2,891 human children souls with only one girl having retained their sanity, not to mention the new robotic body, Huwawa's actual gender is merely listed as "???".
• Animal Motif: Possesses lion motifs and mechanical spider legs.
• The Assimilator: Can absorb machinery, circuitry, and rubble to increase its size and strength.
• Breath Weapon: Has fire breath.
• The Dreaded: Gilgamesh fears it.
• Emotion Bomb: Has the skill Scream of Fear, which true to its name is a scream that fills the listener with fear.
• Gate Guardian: Has the skill Guardian Colossus that increases its stats when guarding a place. Fillia and its Master make it guard Fillia's temple.
• Invisibility: Can turn invisible, allowing it to make surprise attacks.
• Mind Hive: Enkidu's second interlude in Fate/Grand Order reveals that the Mesopotamian gods created Huwawa by fusing together the souls of over 2,000 human children. Most of them went insane during the process and became a cacophopny of screaming hatred, except for the soul of one little girl through which Enkidu was able to befriend Huwawa.
• Mythology Gag: The lion motifs initially seemed to be a tip-off that he's an aspect of Thomas Edison, whose Fate/Grand Order version also shares this trait. Edison in FGO claims that he has a One-Winged Angel form dubbed "Thomas Mazda Edison", and True Berserker was summoned with a Mazda light bulb as a catalyst. However, it turns out to be a Red Herring.
• Ninja Pirate Zombie Robot: Described as being a robotic-spider-tank-lion creature.
• Person of Mass Destruction: Can trigger calamities like earthquakes and floods.
• Red Herring: Early on it's implied that this servant is Thomas Edison, who has lion motifs and is a known Berserker candidate. It's possible that Haruri intended to summon Berserker Edison, as the catalyst was a Mazda lightbulb.
• Samus Is a Girl: When Enkidu recognizes it, they reveal it is female. Enkidu's interlude in GO elaborates that of the thousands of human souls within it, a single little girl was the only one to retain her sanity.
• Semantic Superpower: Huwawa exists as a calamity as defined by humans, with the melammu it has containing multiple definitions to the word "calamity". And since humanity has turned their own civilization into a "calamity" with the implementation of electricity, gunpowder and similar, Huwawa has taken more of a modern look to match the calamity humanity themselves have created.
• Sizeshifter: Huwawa grows the more magical energy it has, going from being the size of an elephant to dwarfing a processing plant.

Watcher

Watcher

The Shadows

^{True Watcher}

^{Captain Ahab form}

^{Asclepius form}

Instead of True Lancer, this group of irregular entities was summoned instead. They mention that Watcher is not their normal Class; a proper summon would give them the Gatekeeper Class. They claim to be the shadows of a Heroic Spirit and that the true Watcher remains concealed, but declare that Sigma will become the True Lancer of this False Holy Grail War.

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• Alternate Self: The people Watcher can transform into are not exact copies of what they are as Heroic Spirits, having different appearances and personalities. This is seen with the Asclepius form being very different to what he is in Fate/Grand Order, with Narita using Assassin Jack and Berserker Jack as a comparison.
• By the Eyes of the Blind: Sigma is so far the only character who can see and hear the shadows.
• The Hero's Journey: One of Watcher's Skills can alter the target's Luck, though not its destiny. Meant to be used on Watcher's Master, it means Watcher can send "unreasonable trials" for Sigma to overcome in order to shape him into "somebody" - the True Lancer Watcher hopes to make of him.
• I Can't Sense Their Presence: Hardly anyone can detect their presence. Not even Sigma can sense their magical aura. Only False Lancer and False Caster can vaguely tell they are there.
• Intangibility: The shadows don't seem to be able to interact with the physical world. However, when one puts their hand on Sigma's shoulder, he is able to feel it. The true Watcher's form has the Dweller of Another Phase skill, making it nigh-impossible to actually manifest in reality, especially since Watcher's existence contradicts the current world.
• Not-So-Imaginary Friend: At first, Sigma thought the shadows were hallucinations, but accepted they are real when they reveal information he could not possibly know.
• Power at a Price: Watcher's main Skill is displayed as ○○○○○○○'s Trials - a variant of an Anti-Humanity Skill that bestows "trials" upon lifeforms born from wombs by altering their Luck. Due to its limitations (You Can't Fight Fate being specifically mentioned), it can only be used on Watcher's Master... who's extremely likely to die in the course of the "trials".
• The Power of Hate: Watcher's Captain Ahab form mentions that if he were to be summoned as a proper Servant, his class would most likely be Avenger.
• Shapeshifting: Watcher can take the form of figures they have killed as punishment for having "overstepped their bounds". Asclepius, Icarus, Ahab, and a female aviator are just a few examples. Watcher itself is described as an abnormal phenomenon that's extremely hard to define as a hero, god, or demon, though it's noted she's female.
• Shipper on Deck: Teases Sigma about a possible attraction to the Beautiful Assassin.
• Surveillance as the Plot Demands: True to their name, they have the ability to observe everyone and everything in Snowfield through the Universal Bird's Eye Skill, though since it's Rank B, it has its limits.
• The Watcher: Since they are intangible and Sigma is the only person who can see and hear them, all they can do is observe the Grail War and then have the shadows report back to Sigma.