Full title: "6.5 - Realm of the Thanatos Impulse, Traum [Life and Death of an Illusion]".
After preventing the Collapse Event of the British Lostbelt and defeating Beast IV at Tunguska Sanctuary, Chaldea is finishing work on the Excalibur Armament and preparing for the assault on the seventh and final Lostbelt, when they suddenly detect the largest Singularity ever recorded. Even on the bleached Earth, this new Singularity's effect on Proper Human History is so intense that it threatens to tear apart the present day. It's vastly different than the past Singularities they've encountered: its date is supposedly around the 17th century yet there's a margin of error of 100 years, its location cannot be pinned down accurately, and its Humanity Foundation Value cannot even be measured, simply being returned as "ERROR".
With Novum Chaldea's base destroyed in the aftermath of the Tunguska operation, even with the revival of Kadoc as an additional Master, Chaldea doesn't have the resources to invade the Singularity and the Lostbelt at the same time. They decide they'll have to deal with the Singularity first, entering a world of Servants divided into three kingdoms. The first is ruled by Kriemhild, the vengeful widow of Siegfried, and aided by the General of Heaven Zhang Jue. The second is ruled by the apocryphal Pope Joan and her loyal right hand Constantine XI, the last emperor of Byzantium. The third and final is ruled by first Holy Roman Emperor, Karl der Große and his Twelve Paladins. As Chaldea sets out to stop the warring three kingdoms, they must also solve the mystery of these Servants rebelling against their own Human Order, and how this bizarre Singularity came to be.
Watch the trailer here
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Tropes in this episode:
- Alien Sky: Kriemhild's Realm is marked by its skies colored a permanent shade of ominous red.
- Ambiguously Evil: Zhang Jue is the only Servant contracted to an antagonistic Master (or as much of a "Master" as a Dying Curse can be). It's not clear how willing Zhang Jue's cooperation is.
- Awesome, but Temporary: While impersonating Karl the Great, you get access to the Der Große Mystic Code, with Skills that provide the entire party with various buffs. Unfortunately, you cannot keep it after the Singularity is resolved.
- Badass Army: It's hard to get more badass than three armies composed entirely of Servants.
- Big Bad Duumvirate: Twofold. On the surface, the three-way conflict is perpetuated by Kriemhild, Constantine, and Karl der Große (Don Quixote) with the last one being on Chaldea's side while the former two are rebelling against Proper Human History. Behind the scenes, Zhang Jue orchestrates the war under Subject E's orders, and Ruler Moriarty directly opposes Chaldea.
- Call-Back:
- It's revealed here why Kadoc's restraints were frozen and shattered and what exactly the cold voice that woke him up was all the way back in the prologue for the second Lostbelt. Anastasia left behind Viy to protect Kadoc until the very end. It dutifully does so by protecting Kadoc from a Class Assassin soldier and Moriarty, fading away during the fight with the latter.
- Ruler Moriarty defeats Holmes handily and forces his Laser-Guided Amnesia to be undone, outing him as an Apostle of the Foreign God... but Holmes responds by hurling himself off a waterfall before he can turn on them, at the same time reenacting his death at Reichenbach Falls to sabotage Moriarty's Spirit Origin so the Protagonist can defeat him. Just like in the Shinjuku Pseudo-Singularity, Moriarty wins the battle but loses the war due to laser-focusing on Holmes and underestimating the Protagonist.
- In the prologue for Atlantis, it's revealed that Area 51, where David Bluebook was attempting to investigate an apparently-alien corpse and was fatally shot for his trouble, was mysteriously spared from the Earth's bleaching. As Chaldea discovers in the conclusion of the chapter, said alien probably has something to do with that: Area 51 is the source of the Traum Singularity, and the alien's hatred of humanity was its catalyst.
- When Holmes figures out why he made a contract with the Foreign God, he quotes an odd off-kilter version of the Animusphere speech.Holmes: Singularity. Proper Human History. Lostbelt. Tree of Emptiness. The shape of stars. The shape of space. The shape of gods. Celestial bodies become unobservable, and countless galaxies rise atop the surface. How lonely. How isolated. As if this planet has been cut off from the cosmos. Our world is already hollow, empty, void, and yet—.
- The ending text initially appears as "Quod Erat Demonstratum" ("which was to be demonstrated") like in the Shinjuku Pseudo-Singularity, before it gets warped into "Ex Falso Quodlibet" ("from a false proposition, anything follows").
- The Cavalry Arrives Late: The Counter Force wasn't idle during this Singularity, having summoned many more Servants than usual to combat the ones rebelling against it long before Chaldea arrived. Unfortunately, the Counter Force lost.
- Central Theme: As the name of the chapter suggests, Dreams and Fantasies. From the major players such as the three Realm leaders to the supporting characters such as Salome, a lot of the motivation characters have is due to either the dreams or fantasies they have, and the conclusions to their arcs are about how they will face reality. In fact, the whole Singularity itself is a creation of Subject E as a way to fight back against the world that made it suffer.
- Child Soldiers: While none are shown, it is mentioned that child Servants exist in this Singularity, and they are expected to fight should the situation call for it.
- Cliffhanger: Moriarty brings the protagonist, Kadoc, and Mash to an operating room deep below in Area 51 where Subject E has been for a hundred years. He fades away and the trio are left speechless at the baffling sight of a twig on an operating bed and a humanoid nervous system propped up besides the table. Cue ending screen and the player's Grail rewards, with no clear indication on how this ending will be followed up on.
- Dark Reprise: The Shinjuku map music plays when Ruler Moriarty introduces himself as a thoroughly antagonistic enemy of Chaldea rather than the seemingly friendly ally his Archer counterpart was in his debut story.
- Dreaming of Times Gone By: The protagonist has glitched dreams of David Bluebook's narrative while in the Singularity despite never being in contact with him during the story.
- Eldritch Location: Area 51 has been transformed into this for an unknown reason. At one point Chaldea and Moriarty walk through a corridor of stars as they travel to Subject E's room which Kadoc implies looks just like the time the Foreign God revived the Crypters from stasis.
- Et Tu, Brute?: Defied when it comes to Bradamante choosing to side with Restoration Realm instead of joining the other Paladins in the Via Regia Realm. Charlemagne tells her that she is right to side with any side as she wants as long as she follows her heart like she has always fought for. Bradamante herself also believes that Astolfo and Roland will welcome her back in open arms if she chooses to join back with them, which they do to Johanna's confusion.
- Foreshadowing:
- Sion is able to narrow down the Singularity's location to be somewhere in the United States. The ending reveals its location to be Area 51. Likewise, the date of the Singularity is XX17 and not 1617 despite Sion estimating it to be in the 17th century. Her estimation is actually way off as Moriarty says the date is actually 2017, meaning this Singularity takes place during Epic of Remnant and long before Bluebook had a chance to visit it in 2018. Whether or not this Singularity has something to do with the Bleached Earth Phenomenon which took place at the end of 2017 and started in Area 51 which itself is untouched remains to be seen.
- Chaldea frequently discusses the bond of Servants and Masters and how the former is dependent on the latter for determining purpose or direction when summoned throughout the Singularity. This culminates in the reveal that Holmes had been summoned by the Foreign God for her unknown plans.
- Holmes comments on Vlad's forethought to not only isolate himself but create defensive barriers to prevent anyone from retrieving him after being corrupted by Moriarty into going against PHH that he would likely seal himself away in the same situation, but would not have put more thought into it than that. The ending reveals this is the issue Holmes faces on a mental ground as he sealed away his memories of the Foreign God to ensure that he would not go against humanity but has no contingency for what would happen if they were to be unsealed.
- Godzilla Threshold: As revealed in Fate/Extella Link, Charlemagne is a fictionalized version of Karl der Große, the King of the Franks, so Charlie can't exist without Karl, and any attempts to directly summon Charlie will end up with Karl instead. That the Composite Character Charlemagne exists in this Singularity is a result of the World throwing up its hands in desperation and saying, "We need the King of the Franks, I don't care which one it is!".
- Hidden Agenda Villain: All of them. Despite the purpose of the Singularity being a full-on rebellion against the Human Order, Ruler Moriarty and the three faction leaders have no desire to do so, only taking part in the Singularity for their own reasons.
- Kriemhild is the primary focus of the war because she's actively trying to get Chaldea involved, in the hopes that they summoned Siegfried. The "Revenge" she wants is the one she never could have because it would be against Siegfried. She otherwise has zero interest in destroying Proper Human History.
- Constantine participates solely for Pope Johanna's sake, whose sheer existence is a hotly-debated topic because she was allegedly erased from history after being outed as a female Pope. Constantine is trying to fix this by having her recorded by the Throne of Heroes, and can only do that while the Singularity allows her to exist.
- Karl der Große would have a very trope-subverting desire to conquer the other factions if he was, y'know, actually Karl der Große and not Don Quixote. The delusional knight was summoned into the Atlantic Lostbelt with many other Alaya-loyal Servants, ran away from the slaughter of said Servants and into this Singularity, and is just trying to generally survive. He subverts the trope in a different way because he's not a villain at all, and jumps at the prospect of allying with Chaldea to stop the madness.
- Ruler Moriarty is honestly only antagonistic because Holmes is on your team, and all of his malicious intent is reserved for the detective and not Chaldea — because Holmes is a Manchurian Agent for the Foreign God, and Moriarty was summoned by the Foreign World to stop his sabotage of Chaldea (the God and the World apparently don't agree).
- His Story Repeats Itself: As pointed out in his profile, Roland's final moments echo back to his demise in Roncevaux, where he is left fighting against seemingly impossible odds, this time trying to break through Revenge Realm's gate that not even Durendal seems to be able to destroy. The difference this time is that Roland throws his Honor Before Reason out and sacrifices his everything to call upon a miracle through Durendal, avoiding the repeat of the tragic fate he once experiences.
- Internal Reveal: Kadoc learns that his old team member Hinako was actually the historical figure and Elemental Consort Yu all along and has ascended to the Throne of Heroes after he wakes up from his coma. He's still processing the shock of this when he talks about it with the protagonist and Mash.
- Leaning on the Fourth Wall: Zhang Jue does some fortune telling and finds that the protagonist's luck in encounters is somehow both absurdly lucky and abysmal at the same time, reflecting most players' luck with the gacha.
- Locked Out of the Loop: Villainous version. Kriemhild's sole purpose for stirring up trouble is hoping that Chaldea will respond by summoning Siegfried, but little does she know he was already summoned by the Counter Force... but Zhang Jue doesn't tell her that and keeps Siegfried confined in a remote location so that Kriemhild will continue the war.
- Mauve Shirt: The various Class soldiers in the three factions have certain troops that are given enough focus to make them more than just your typical Red Shirt, as they are still forgotten Heroic Spirits.
- Meet Cute: Johanna unintentionally charms Constantine with her tragic inevitable fading from existence and spunky personality when they meet by chance on the battlefield, convincing the emperor that he should personally lead an army to allow her to exist in Proper Human History and devote himself fully to her life.
- Mêlée à Trois: This Singularity involved a three-way war between Kriemhild's faction, Constantine's faction, and Don Quixote's (under the guise of Karl der Große) faction.
- Minion with an F in Evil: As you might expect from Servants, beings meant to protect the Human Order, suddenly being made to destroy the Human Order is met with apathy and half-hearted effort by the vast majority. Out of the Singularity's entire population, only Zhang Jue and Constantine have motives to rebel against history (and that's being generous towards the former).
- Mooks: Hundreds upon hundreds of Servants have manifested in this Singularity. The twist is that most of them are forgotten soldiers from various armies, regions, and eras who had the potential to become Heroic Spirits, only to be overlooked by humanity and history and appropriately used as such by the three faction leaders. Most of them look like the figures from the seven standard Class cards, only distinguished by the Realm crest they bear on their armor. Others are just recycled NPC sprites from previous story chapters.
- Nostalgia Level: Subverted. With three warring factions, the marketing of Charlemagne, and the presence of Karl der Große, it initially looks like this Singularity is a retread of Fate/Extella: The Umbral Star and Fate/Extella Link. This quickly proves not to be the case when "Karl" is revealed to actually be Don Quixote and the Singularity has no connection to Extella whatsoever.
- Paper Tiger: The Via Regia Realm is by far the weakest of the three kingdoms, and the only thing keeping the other two from conquering it is Karl der Große's reputation as a Heroic Spirit more powerful than any other in the Singularity. Should it be revealed that "Karl" is actually Don Quixote, the Via Regia Realm will surely fall.
- Quantity vs. Quality: Part of the deadlock in the three Realms' war before Chaldea rolls in stems from how Restoration has very high quality Servants but less Servants while Revenge has less quality Servants but makes up for this by having higher numbers that allow them to simply keep going by throwing cannon fodder at the enemy, allowing each side to compensate for the other's flaw and be evenly matched.
- Ragtag Bunch of Misfits: The Revenge and Restoration Realms are highly disciplined and militarized factions fielding some big-name Servants all capable of using great and mighty Noble Phantasms and has been steadfastly united since they were created. In contrast, the Via Regia Realm is a kingdom held together by string and paperclips with the smallest number of Servants, has only five notable Servants all of whom are quirky in their own way, and can't risk revealing Don Quixote's identity or intent behind its creation when the minority of Servants who don't wish to destroy Proper Human History are outnumbered by those who do. Naturally Chaldea ends up aligned up with Via Regia and has to figure out a way to leverage this faction into being able to beat the other two.
- Recycled with a Gimmick: This Singularity is the closest Fate has gotten to doing Romance of the Three Kingdoms with Servants, as Zhang Jue this time deliberately invokes a war between three kingdoms made up of Servants for his Master rather than posthumously causing one in the aftermath of his rebellion.
- Reluctant Monster: Almost all Servants summoned to the Singularity are told by their collective Master to destroy Proper Human History. While all of them agree to do so, they soon come to realize that destroying Human History would mean destroying the Throne of Heroes, which would be collectively bad for all of them. The Revenge Realm and Restoration Realm both came up with a reasoning to fight against Human History that isn't merely determined by their Master, while the Via Regia Realm is composed of Servants who are unwilling to fight against it.
- Serial Escalation: The reason this is stated to be the biggest Singularity ever is there are three Grails powering it, an escalation from previous Singularities or Lostbelts just having one Grail or similar object to be classified as such powering it. Completing this Singularity also rewards the player with all three Grails.
- Stealth Sequel: Just as Heian-Kyo is Shimousa's sequel, Traum is the sequel to Shinjuku. Moriarty makes his return as a major antagonist and has another go at defeating Sherlock Holmes. A plot to infiltrate Chaldea's good graces as an amnesiac and then betray them afterwards is exposed with the mole's loss coming from their inability to hurt the friends they made. The Archer of Shinjuku briefly returns to lambast his younger self's recklessness as well.
- Spotting the Thread: Every party in the Singularity suspects the Karl der Große in the Via Regia Realm is a fake since he's such a powerful Heroic Spirit that he could end the war by himself, yet he hasn't made a single move. They're correct, as it's actually Don Quixote using his name.
- Take a Third Option: Moriarty implants a mental command to rebel against PHH in Chaldea's Vlad with the implied dilemma of either kill the Protagonist's group or be killed by them, but Vlad opts to use his Noble Phantasm on himself, effectively leaving him unable to act on this new impulse by being pinned on his own stakes.
- Theory of Narrative Causality: Moriarty is foiled by it again as Holmes takes advantage of the fact that the final confrontation in this Singularity takes place besides a waterfall to recreate the setting of "The Final Problem" and allows himself to be killed and fall off the waterfall. This creates the ideal conditions for Moriarty to be taken down as he canonically died at the Reichenbach Falls with no further appearance in the Doyle books and no longer has any possible role to be told in the story the Norns have created for him.
- Triumphant Reprise: The original Chaldea menu theme from Observer on Timeless Temple plays for Kadoc's new outfit reveal and the announcement that he'll be joining the protagonist for this mission, underlining how Kadoc actually gets to be on a Rayshift mission to fix a Singularity without being killed by Lev's interference this go-around.
- Two Lines, No Waiting: In section 7, the protagonist is a prisoner by Kriemhild's forces while Kadoc and Holmes make their way to Karl's kingdom. The section alternates between what's happening to the protagonist as they bond with Salome while Kadoc and Holmes try to meet Karl and his knights.
- The Unreveal: The chapter ends with multiple questions unanswered, especially the ones raised by the cliffhanger ending.
- Holmes' true nature as an amnesiac Apostle of the Foreign God was laid on thick. Just what he was supposed to do to Chaldea or the gods merged into him like other Apostles, however, is rendered as unreadable garbage text. Holmes also puzzles out why he would agree to the summoning and contract, but does not elaborate upon this to anyone.
- Subject E is revealed to be the creator of the Singularity as an act of revenge against Proper Human History. It summoned every single one of the rebelling Servants, but then Xu Fu's divination revealed that each of the Servants were summoned by a different person. Furthermore, the divination revealed that Subject E is angry at Proper Human History for killing so much of humanity, but Subject E is an alien who was tortured by humans, which makes no sense on multiple levels. Finally, Moriarty reveals it's been on Earth for 100 years, when the audience saw in Bluebook's story that it should be 1 year. The significance of all these contradictions are not explained.
- Wham Episode: The ending provided two huge ones.
- It's revealed that Holmes was an amnesiac Disciple of the Foreign God with Moriarty being sent as a Disciple of the Foreign World (as in the World's own will, not the Foreign God), and Holmes made a Heroic Sacrifice to ensure that he won't be Chaldea's enemy once his memories returned.
- Moriarty reveals that Zhang Jue is the mastermind behind this Singularity's creation, who did it on behalf of his Master Subject E. Moriarty takes Chaldea to the true location of the Singularity, Area 51 in the year 2017, to show them Subject E's corpse and then says that Subject E has been on Earth for 100 years despite how David Bluebook's dialogue implies that the alien landed in the year 2016.
- Wham Line: Xu Fu gives two in her final scene regarding the mysterious Master that summoned the Servants.On the Master's identity: It is my belief that each Servant has a different Master.On the Master's motives: "I won't forgive you for killing so many humans."
- Xanatos Gambit: Kriemhild's grand plan is simply to have a confrontation with her worthless husband Siegfried. She'll cause whatever ruckus she needs to until either Chaldea or the World itself summons him against her, which will happen eventually.
