Fate/Characters/Re:Trace
The Characters of Fate/Re:Trace
Masters
Ayaka Millsbury/Master of Saber
“To set right what once went wrong.”
an adopted Japanese girl with a troubled past, Ayaka is eighteen years old and a senior in high school. Her usually quiet demeanor hides her passion for magecraft knowledge. Sadly, her thirst for the arcane has led to the already shy girl becoming even more socially withdrawn. In reality much of her ‘shyness’ is Ayaka’s conscious attempt at keeping others away from her. Witnessing the death of her parents in a fire more than a decade ago led to her believing herself to be dragging down everyone around her, a proverbial ‘vampire’ and ‘leech’ unable to survive without making others suffer for her sake. Her hobbies are reading and researching more magecraft knowledge. While an amateur at best, Ayaka is quick to understand the concepts behind Formalcraft and Witchcraft, her sole arcane ‘specializations’.
- Awesome but Impractical: It may be in a roundabout way, but she can actually use Verg Avesta. The bad thing is she has to accumulate enough damage first and still be conscious to activate the curse.
- Blood Magic / Bad Powers, Good People: Aya’s main battle strength lies in her curses, the strongest of which need blood of the victim or something similar to work.
- Buxom Is Better / Big Breasts, Big Deal: Type 1: Out of the teenaged characters, she is actually the bustiest. Her clothes just don’t show it off.
- Chess Motifs: The Pawn
- Curb Stomp Battle: on the receiving end by Meissa, who wasn’t even trying. The only reason they tied was her using Verg Avesta to reflect the accumulated pain onto her opponent.
- Dark and Troubled Past
- Dark Magical Girl: in a way, she a close thing to what one in the Nasuverse would be. Her main strength are her curses, she watched her real parents burn and then ran away without trying to help them, her Servant is a Black Knight and she is quite cynical, too.
- Despair Event Horizon: the Fuyuki fire in which she lost her parents. Like Shirou, the old Ayaka ‘died’ there but the new one embraces the past and her mistakes instead of letting them go and her only goal in life is to undo them and bring back her real parents.
- Determined Defeatist: Deep down, and especially after Saber pointing it out, Aya is fully aware her skills are more than lacking to win any kind of magus duel. She knows she has almost no chance at even making it through the War alive but she is determined to correct her past mistakes by getting the Grail.
- Distaff Counterpart / Expy : of Shirou, with Aya being his sister and surviving the fire on miracle alone as well. Both of them are rather lacking when it comes down to magic circuits or prana but make up for it by specializing in an otherwise obscure field of magecraft- in Aya’s case this being Witchcraft and Formalcraft.
- Doomed Hometown
- Foil: to Shirou’s total selflessness. Aya’s selfishness is her determination to blindly follow her goal to undo the last decade and so of history just to bring her parents back, blaming herself for not even trying to save them.
- Happily Adopted: the Millsburys really care for their daughter and always try to break her out of her shell and make her more sociable.
- Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: Aya is rather petite and Saber, being a black knight, has quite the imposing stature.
- Meganekko
- No Social Skills: by her own choice. Thinking of herself as a ‘leech’ who hurts others to survive, she willingly distance herself from others. Her only friend is Jed. Who’s, well, Jed.
- Ordinary High School Student: what Aya actually is outside her dabbles in Formalcraft and Witchcraft and her participation in the War. Having never being trained as a magus proper, she considers her powers unusual, much as anyone who suddenly learn they could do magic would.
- Parental Abandonment: lost her biological parents in the fire at the end of the 4th War.
- Set Right What Once Went Wrong
- Shrinking Violet
- Survivor Guilt: Aya blames herself for surviving the fire at the end of the 4th War when her family and so many others didn’t. She thinks of herself as a ‘leech’ who can only live off of others and considers her life built atop stolen lives, hence she wants to use the Grail to stop the fire from ever happening.
- Sweater Girl
- The Three Faces of Eve: as the most caring and down-to-earth out of the three female Masters, Aya fits the Mother part.
- What Kind of Lame Power Is Heart, Anyway? / Heart Is an Awesome Power / Weak but Skilled / Awesomeness By Analysis / Magikarp Power: Witchcraft and Formalcraft are considered sub-par arts by most mages but Aya’s innate ability to understand the workings of spells and magic makes them perfect for her. If she manages to actually apply them in-battle that is.
Meissa Scintillare/Master of Lancer
“To prove I’m the strongest!”
known under the moniker of ‘The Shining Valkyrie’, Meissa is a third-generation mage and the daughter of one of the most influential men in Hartcroft. Denied the position of future Head of the family, she spends a great deal of her time studying and enhancing her family’s sorcery treat- the Jupiter Pulse. While a dangerous and accomplished mage at the tender age of eighteen, the constant comparisons to her more talented cousin and future patriarch of the family have made her bitter and overbearing. To her, everything in life is a challenge and she despises those who choose to remain weak instead of striving to achieve their goals. To Meissa the world’s merely a stage meant to show her shine. Perhaps most of all she despises her arranged marriage with Glen, which cemented her opinion that her father would never see her as a mage and not as a daughter whose sole purpose is to be married off. Meissa has a strained relationship with her father, blaming him for the death of her mother she witnessed at a young age and even more for giving her twin sister to the Aylesburries when the old family suffered a succession crisis.
- A-Cup Angst
- Action Girl: Even putting destructive power aside, by channeling lightning through the wire of her blade-pendulum she can make it vibrate fast enough it cuts through solid concrete. Plus, her strongest spell is her ability to use lightning to boost up her speed to such levels she seems to be teleporting. The downside is she can’t use it for too long, else her nerves and magic circuits would burn out.
- Absurdly Powerful Student Council: as a Prefect, she is on one of those at Dodgson Private Academy
- Always Someone Better: feels this way about her cousin Sirius.
- Arranged Marriage: to Glen. Mentioning it is guaranteed to bring the worst out of Meissa.
- Attention Whore: originates from Meissa being denied the position of next family head by her father. She’s dead set on proving to everyone her strength and she demands they witness it.
- Blue Eyes: the icy, electric blue type.
- Broken Bird: witnessed her mother being killed in front of her eyes by a supposed ally of the Scintillare family, which made her distrustful of everyone but her family. To Meissa, that trust has been betrayed as well when her father agreed to let the Aylesburrys adopt her twin sister during their succession crisis. Hence, she has trouble trusting anyone and actually put most faith in Lancer, as his goal to get the Grail at all costs makes it apparent that he would betray her for it if need be, thus making at least his actions predictable.
- Chess Motifs: The Queen
- Expy: take a wild guess...
- Glory Seeker
- Hair of Gold: platinum blonde
- Impossibly Cool Clothes: Meissa’s choice of attire on account she wants everyone to pay attention to her. Good thing she has her lightning magecraft to keep her from freezing.
- Kung Fu Wizard
- Magic Skirt
- Meaningful Name / Stellar Name: a theme shared with everyone in her family.
- Ms. Fanservice / Show Some Leg
- The Ojou
- Rapunzel Hair: reaches past her waist
- The Rival: to Ayaka. Meissa has some trouble accepting their ‘draw’.
- Shock and Awe: although she needs a conductor to direct and focus her powers.
- Stay in the Kitchen: thinks this is probably the main reason for her father denying her the birthright to succeed him. In reality, after losing his beloved wife and having to give one of his daughters to the Aylesburrys to protect the Scintillares from becoming enemies with the one of the two founding families left standing, Scorpius just doesn’t want to risk giving her such a dangerous position.
- The Tease
- The Three Faces of Eve: since she Meissa is rather provocative in her quest for attention, she fits the seductress part best.
- To Be a Master: Meissa sole reason to take part in the War is to prove to the everybody how strong she really is and earn the right to become the next family head by winning the Grail for the Scintillares.
- Tsundere: …duh.
- Weapon of Choice: her blade-pendulum.
Graham Crowley/Master of Archer
“To put an end to this foolish War.”
London’s Jack of All Trades, Graham escaped his home at the age of twelve when his power manifest for the first time. Falling in with the wrong crowd, the teenage mage quickly grew from a simple errand boy for the mafia to a leader of his own little gang. It’s a mystery among the mages in the Clock Tower how on Earth did he end up Velvet’s protégé but most attribute it to Waver’s preference for low-generation mages. Graham himself despises the nobles, as he is looked down on as a first generation mage and a self-taught one to booth. Favoring instant magecraft, he studied Runelore and inscribes playing cards with Runes for quick use. While only average prana-wise and relying more on wits and street-smarts then on superior magical powers, Waver has some doubts about the boy’s true origin as he can control all five of the natural elements and possesses the Mystic Eyes of Charm.
- Attention Whore
- Big Damn Heroes: part of his arsenal in his never-ending quest to woo the ladies.
- Blue Eyes: deep blue, of the partial mind-control variety.
- Bunny Ears Lawyer: similarly to his teacher, but of a different kind. His ‘womanizing ways’ and nonchalant, positively un-magus attitude leads to the majority of the mages at the Tower to declare him merely a magic user, despite being the apprentice of a Lord. What qualifies him for the trope is that although they despise him, they know his versatility makes him the second-best choice for a Master in the War, after his own teacher.
- Chaotic Selfish / Neutral Good: flip-flops between the two.
- Chess Motifs: the Rook
- Combat Pragmatist: everything goes.
- Curtains Match the Window
- The Dandy: has shades of it
- Death Dealer: inscribes runes on playing cards so he can cast a spell instantly and uses different combinations of them when he wants a specific effect.
- Elemental Powers: as an Average One, he can control all five of them
- Evil Eye: possesses Mystic Eyes of Charm. Somehow even they can’t get him even a date.
- Full-Contact Magic
- Functional Magic / Transmutation / Equivalent Exchange: like his teacher, he compensates for his lacking number of m-circuits by drawing prana directly out of his surroundings, in his case directly turning a quantity of one element into another, using the Circle of Five Elements and the Fie-Point Star of Elemental Negation tattooed on the back of his right and left hands, respectively.
- Gentleman Thief: likes to think of himself as such. Luvia refused to give him prana-filled gems when he requested them for the War. She refused. Graham stole them half an hour later.
- Jack of All Trades: due to his versatility. Although Graham is more than happy to remind anyone pointing this out that he is, thanks to being an Average One specializing in Runelore, actually a master of one- elemental magic.
- Kung Fu Wizard: spending the majority of his teens as a mafia errand boy and leader of a gang of his own has taught him more than a few tricks.
- The Mafia: used to work for it
- Meaningful Name / Shout-Out: to Alistair Crowley
- Loveable Sex Maniac / Handsome Lech / Casanova Wannabe / Chivalrous Pervert: for all his bravado and dirty suggestions, Graham actually shows that he isn’t willing to go too far with his advances- or that’s what at least Waver thinks of his student, considering that somehow Graham always tries to use his Eyes of Charm on girls who just happen to be able to resist them.
- Power Crystal: the ten prana-filled gems he stole from Luvia
- Power Tattoos: on both of his arms
- Reformed Criminal
- The Trickster: he shares it with his Servant
- Trying to Catch Me Fighting Dirty: again, shared with Archer
- White/GangBangers- had his own gang before running into Waver
- You Gotta Have Blue Hair
Glen Grimaldi/Master of Rider
“To free myself from these poisoned chains.”
The Crest-bearer of the Grimaldis- one of the five founding families and one of the oldest known families of magi in the world. Glen is technically the youngest child of the family (he was the second twin born) but after the disappearance of his elder brother and proving himself more capable than his twin sister, Glen’s heart was removed and replaced with his family’s Crest. Inside it is stored an enormous amount of prana and a millennia worth of Fleshcrafting spells- but since the patriarch of the family uses the Crest to prepare younger host bodies for himself, Glen never activates his magic circuits because every time it’s activated, the Crest overtakes his body more and more. After being saved by his elder brother, he was taken to Hartcroft and left under the official care of Scorpius Scinitillare and the unofficial care of Nia Smith. His experiences in life have made Glen bitter and sarcastic and the continued betrayal by those close to him had led him to become withdrawn and selfish. With the power of his Crest and the millennia of Fleshcrafting spells stored in it Glen can even face off against average Servants under the right circumstances but since activating the Crest means certain death, he is forced to participate in the War more as an ordinary human than a super-powerful mage. Glen is arranged to be married to Meissa in exchange for the protection offered by her father, who agreed to it in hopes of the three-generation Scintillares to acquire a Crest of their own.
- Alliterative Name
- Anti-Hero / Villain Protagonist: skirts between the two. To Glen, reaching the goal is the only thing that matters- and the way to said goal might involve not merely fighting dirty but actually assaulting innocents as well. The only reason he isn’t ordering Rider to kill humans to get the needed prana is because he knows he’d have to waste a precious Command Spell to make Rider listen to him.
- Arranged Marriage: to Meissa. Neither is too happy about it.
- Big Screwed-Up Family: even before Albus became the family patriarch around half a millennia ago and started to use the Crest-bearers as his host bodies, thus making the family tree loop back through himself several times over, the Grimaldis had already practiced brother-sister incest, a form of cannibalism and actively introduced various vampiric, demonic and fantastical blood into the family. Every Grimaldi is some kind of crazy, some can just hide it really well.
- Bloody Murder / Combat Tentacles / Shapeshifting / Spider Limbs / Touch of Death / etc
- Blue and Orange Morality / Grey and Gray Morality: he may seem to fit human moral standards at first glance but being raised a Grimaldi, his moral code is skewered a whole damn lot. Being forced to live as an ordinary human for about a decade has just made him hide it better because he realizes he is useless without his powers.
- Chaotic Selfish: Glen cares only about his own survival in general.
- Chess Motifs: the Knight
- Combat Pragmatist: he sees this as the only plausible way to win, considering he can only use his magecraft twice. And that’s if things go really well.
- Deadpan Snarker / Jerkass: surviving a month in the Feasting Halls and six more trying not to be eaten alive by his own heart and having being forced to run away from his own home and live in exile have understandably made Glen rather… bitter.
- Debt Detester
- Determinator: a trait Glen shares with his Servant and mirrors that of his grandfather Albus. Glen may not be as boastful as Rider about it, but he is actually relentless at reaching whatever goal he sets his sights on. Glen’s Origin is actually ‘Resolve’.
- Drama-Preserving Handicap: Glen is unable to use his Crest or let prana run through his circuits, lest he awakens it and allows it to devour him from the inside out so Albus could use him as his next host body.
- Evil Redhead / Redheaded Hero: meant to be uncertain- his actions during the War may end up being or looking heroic, only just because he knows doing them is the only ways to succeed or the ‘good’ way happens to be the one he need to take to reach his goal.
- Green Eyed Red Head
- Green Eyes / Sickly Green Glow: a trait shared by all Grimaldis- it’s meant to intimidate others at first glance and show-off that a Grimaldi is something different from a mere human. They don’t actually glow brightly or something.
- Half-Human Hybrid: borderline. There’s so much vampiric, demonic or otherwise fantastical blood in the Grimaldi bloodline that they are not even fully human anymore.
- Jade-Colored Glasses
- Lovecraftian Superpower: one way to look at the magecraft of the Grimaldi family:
- Meaningful Name / Shout-Out: named after another character from a screwed up family whose patriarch lives on by choosing a new host- Glen from Pandora Hearts. The names also ties to Glen’s color motif- crimson- as another way to say Glen in Japanese is Guren, meaning crimson.
- Nigh Invulnerability / Healing Factor: the first being achieved only by masters of the Grimaldi art such as Albus or with the help of the Crest. In the Crest-bearer’s instance, destroying the Crest would mean their death as it is the core of all their magic circuits.
- Nom De Guerre: as a potential candidate for a place among the seven AESIR of Hartcroft, he is known as The Shackled King. Despite the potential for being classified as a rank EX, however, he is far from it as long as his Crest-problem inhibits all his powers.
- Superpower Lottery: somewhat won it by being a Grimaldi and being chosen as the Crest-bearer. Sadly, he can’t sue any of his powers without risking absorption and death.
?/Master of Caster
Alexander Portia/Master of Assassin
“To share my pain with the world.”
perhaps the most dangerous man in Hartcroft, Alexander was raised and trained in the deepest and most secret facilities of VEXA Corp, under the watchful eyes of the White Queen herself. One amongst the many orphans picked off the streets, he is the sole survivor of the mysterious Project ‘MERCURY’, which led to the start of the cold war between VEXA and Elysion. An oddity amongst oddities, Alexander’s power is comparable more to an innate bounded field constantly trying to expand itself than anything else. The crystalline substance he controls has frequently been compared to a cancer that devours anything it touches- including Alexander himself, but never to his face- it’s whispered that he has killed for lesser reasons. Bearing the pain of the alien substance devouring him from within for nearly three decades, Alexander rose from a simple guinea pig to Chairman of VEXA Corp, showing that his is also shrewd enough to lead and not just strong enough to destroy. Alexander gained entrance to the War by unknown means, somehow managing to get a hold of a Class Card despite VEXA and Elysion’s mutual agreement to stay out of it. Portia, as the Spider King, holds the position of Fifth Throne amongst Hartcroft’s AESIR and his is the only magic Norman Drake has never destroyed, despite all his efforts.
- Animal Motif: like with TYPE Mercury, a spider
- Blade Below the Shoulder- covering his whole lower arm with a blade-shaped crystal is a favorite of Alexander’s.
- Catch Phrase: variations of “I’m furious, but you know what? I’m angry with myself”
- Chess Motifs: the Rook
- Corrupt Corporate Executive
- The Corruption: that constant pain he is feeling is just a symptom of the part of TYPE Mercury implemented into his body eating him from the inside out. His only way to deal with it is to project it on someone else, leading to their death.
- Faux/AffablyEvil: Alex has his mood swings.
- Gemstone Assault / Powered Armor / Power Crystal: all thanks to the web-like crystalline substance he can control.
- Half-Human Hybrid: injected with cells derived from the crystalline matter that form the web surrounding TYPE Mercury as a child.
- The Juggernaut: nothing VEXA threw at him has been able to pierce his armor yet. Not to mention it has stopped even attacks from the likes of Sirius Scintillare and Hanzo of the Bladestorm and remained unscratched.
- Long-Haired Pretty Boy / White-Haired Pretty Boy: he suffered from loss of pigmentation due to the experiments done on him as a child, so he now has white-grey hair and grey eyes.
- Meaningful Name: one chosen by Alexander himself: Harway gave him his new given name but Alex chosen the one of the Portia spider as his last name.
- One-Man Army: he is, after all, one of the seven EX ranked AESIR. Furthermore, his power is the only one amongst the other AESIR that Norman Drake can’t nullify, because its origin is literally alien and outside human logic and perception. Paired with Assassin, as giving him any other Servant when the only other Master in the War who stands a chance against him is a Crest-powered Glen, would be overkill.
- The Red Baron: The Spider King
- Sharp-Dressed Man
- Stockholm Syndrome: partially a reason why he calls Harway ‘Mother’ and actually obeys her to an extent
- Super Soldier: he was raised to become this for Harway
- Superpower Lottery: can be considered a victor. Aside from the drawback of having to withstand enormous pain for the majority of his life and even more every time he uses his powers, the crystalline substances Alex controls and shapes is possibly the hardest and strongest substance on the planet. His crystal armor can react to danger without him even knowing it.
- Touch of Death: a variation of it. He kills everyone he projects his pain and corruption on.
- Shadow Archetype: to Glen.
- Fake Defector / Double Reverse Quadruple Agent: Harway thinks he is the first under her orders and the board of directors at VEXA suspects he is the second. In reality, Alexander plans to use the Grail for himself to finally get rid of all the pain and corruption ‘by sharing it with the world’.
- Tranquil Fury
- Villain Protagonist
- Villain with Good Publicity: as a member on the Board of Directors of VEXA. Although as VEXA’s popularity is waning even amongst the technomages in the city, this may no longer be the case.
Shinosuke Hasegawa/Master of Berserker
“To find the one strong enough…”
a Japanese pretty-boy in his twenties. Shinosuke, while exceptionally polite and quite smart, is in reality a vicious murderer who seems to derive extreme pleasure from his killings. The type to compliment a woman on her looks even as he is vivisecting her, he has no standards by which he chooses his victims. As long as it bleeds, it’s fair game to him. Shinosuke is a prodigy with the katana, having spent almost his whole life in a mountainous village under the care of a weapon master’s family, after they found the then young boy wandering aimlessly around the wilderness, on the brink of death. The weapon master, a retired member of the Demon Hunting Association, taught the boy everything he knew in hopes of Shinosuke becoming his successor and he was the one that helped the boy accept the curse of his eyes. Unfortunately, that idyllic lifestyle ended when one morning Shinosuke just butchered his adoptive family and the whole village for seemingly no reasons at all. A miracle-worker with the blade, Shinosuke now roams the world in search of the strongest opponent- and the Grail War is the place he thinks he’ll find that opponent.
- Absurdly Sharp Blade / Ancestral Weapon: ‘inherited’ from his adoptive family
- Affably Evil: being a vicious killer isn’t an excuse for not being polite, at least according to Shino
- Anti-Hero / Villain Protagonist
- Arrogant Kung Fu Guy: polite he may be, but even though he doesn’t show it much, Shino feels somewhat appalled an offended when he manages to stumble across opponents who can actually stand more than a minute against him, much less actually injure him.
- Big Damn Heroes / Bad Guys Do the Dirty Work: it’s only briefly mentioned in-story but he is the one who saved Graham from the three Buriers and gave him enough time to summon Archer while fending them off.
- Bishounen
- Blindfolded Vision: somewhat capable of it. He can fight relying only on hearing, feeling the way the air moves around his opponent and predicting the opponents moves and style but against truly dangerous and fast ones he removes it.
- Blinding Bangs: to cover his always active
Servants
Saber/Mordred
- Anti-Magic: due to both being a homunculus and possessing the draconic blood of the Pendragon lineage, his Magic Resistance ranks at A++
- Attack! Attack! Attack!: his primary ‘strategy’ while using Spawn of the Dragon Kin
- The Atoner
- Black Knight
- Casual Danger Dialogue: Saber doesn’t deem it necessary to break out of his sarcastic deadpan even in the middle of battle. The exception being when he is part-time taking the role of the:
- The Berserker: one of his Noble Phantasms, which allows him to gain power from his draconic heritage but strips him off common sense. Using this Phantasm for too long may lead to him ending up stuck in this state permanently.
- Cool Sword / Evil Weapon: the corrupted version of Clarent Saber wields
- Deadpan Snarker / Sarcastic Devotee: All. The. Time.
- Evil Albino: or at least history says so.
- Fallen Hero
- Historical Villain Upgrade: what his legend eventually turned into, thus leading to him suffering the effects of Innocent Monster
- Huge Guy, Tiny Girl: not a shocking height difference, but his does tower over Ayaka.
- In-Series Nickname: a derogative one- The Judas of Knights. Even his own corrupted sword has one- the Coward’s Blade.
- Jade-Colored Glasses
- Jerkass: not the nicest of all Servants.
- Knight in Sour Armor
- Lawful Evil: in-universe alignment
- Master Swordsman: managed to inflict a mortal wound on the King of Knights herself in single-combat.
- Normally I Would Be Dead Now: has the Battle Continuation Ability, which is ranked B
- The Oathbreaker: one of the most infamous historical examples. His rebellion against King Arthur and his subsequent slaying of the King of Knights led to his own sword becoming corrupted and his own legend ending up twisted and so corrupted, that any Heroic Spirit can sense his foul aura and those who are his contemporaries can even recognize him on the spot.
- Set Right What Once Went Wrong: similarly to Ayaka. The sole reason he answered her summons was because their goals were so alike. Saber wants to use the Grail to stop himself from rebelling against his father, appalled by what his little rebellion turned into- the end of the Arthurian era and the Pendragon lineage along with all famous knight of the Round Table.
- Shadow Archetype / Foil: to the Saber Arturia. Has his own one in the face of Lancer, who has accepted and embraced the image molded for him by history for a long time now.
- Wave Motion Sword: again, [spoiler=Clarent].
- White-Haired Pretty Boy- loss of pigmentation due to being a homunculus
- Worf Had the Flu: as Lancer pointed out, he really is the worst possible match for Saber, considering the properties of Lancer’s Noble Phantasm- Kazikli Bey.
Lancer/Vlad III Trepes
- Anti-Magic: an average-ranked skills of his, due to him being of the Lancer class.
- Blade on a Stick: tons of them. Has access to all the spears, lances and halberds he has used in life via his Noble Phantasm.
- Black Knight
- Blood Splattered Warrior: one half of his armor is covered in dried blood.
- Brutal Honesty
- The Butcher / The Red Baron / Names to Run Away From Really Fast: Again, ‘The Impaler’
- Combat Pragmatist: very much so. Lancer has a rather realistic view of combat and would much prefer not to take any chances and take out his opponent as quickly as possible.
- Field of Blades: well, spears actually, but still counts. This is the crystallized image of his internal world and Noble Phantasm- Kazikli Bey, The Fortress of Impalement
- Foil: to Saber. Unlike Mordred, who so far has only worked towards gaining the Grail to go back in time and try another way to earn himself the right to succeed the King of Knights, Vlad has long since accepted his image of a Black Knight and acts accordingly.
- Historical Villain Upgrade: as evident by Innocent Monster. Trying to protect his country and follow his faith, Vlad was forced to use more and more dire measures. In the end, the man who gave his life for the lonesome cause, halted the onslaught of the Ottomans and uprooted the traitors in his midst ended up being declared the greatest monster of them all.
- Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: after all, there was a reason he was called‘The Impaler’ when he was alive.
- Knight Templar: it was his blind devotion to his faith which lead to Vlad’s overzealousness turning into monstrousness in the eyes of others. With his legend twisted by history, even Lancer himself began to believe in and accept the accusations thrown at him.
- Religious Bruiser: most certainly. It was his unwavering devotion which led him to mete out ‘justice’ on sinners.
- The Stoic: his sad life and twisted legacy have made Lancer bitter and relatively unemotional- there’s seemingly no trace left of the passion with which he pursued his ideals in life.
- Super Smoke: one of the few upsides Lancer gained from the far-fetched legend attached to his name. As a Heroic Spirit he has access to some of the vampiric powers attributed to him- in this case, turning into elemental mist and becoming intangible
Archer/?
- Anti-Hero: Type I- his goal and reason he answered Graham’s summons is because they both want to stop the War. Archer intents to either win it and destroy the Grail, in fear it is a corrupted version like the previous one, or at least prevent anyone evil from getting a hold of it. Archer’s also willing to cheat his way through each and every battle, too, honor or betrayals be damned.
- Anti-Magic: has an above-average Magic Resistance, granted him by the gods who watched over him when he was alive.
- The Archer: actually uses a bow and arrows, unlike some Archers of FSN fame…
- Beard of Evil: subverted. He has a goatee but he is just a dirty fighter and certainly not evil.
- Blow You Away: ‘gifted’ with limited control over the wind by a god from the Age of Heroes. Due to it being a ‘borrowed’ Noble Phantasm, it ranks only C
- Chaotic Good: In-Universe Alignment
- Chivalrous Pervert: Archer is of the opinion that Graham’s methods of chasing girls are comparable to that of a blinded bull in heat. Finesse is not one of his Master’s strong points, Archer admits.
- Chick Magnet: was one when he was alive.
- Cold/FriendlySniper: quite cold during battle but otherwise a friendly guy.
- Combat Pragmatist: big time. He even challenges the boastful and hyperactive Rider to a fistfight but still uses his wind-controlling Noble Phantasm to get the needed edge.
- Dark-Skinned Redhead
- Foil: to Rider, who- for all of his talk of honor and righteousness, adores a good fight and thinks everyone should fight for their dreams until the very end.
- Guile Hero: according to Archer, the end justifies the means.
- Heart Is an Awesome Power: while weak compared to his true Noble Phantasm and limited, Archer has found a variety of uses for his control over the wind. Enhancing his speed, strength, twisting the air around objects to turn them invisible, creating vacuums and enlarging the reach of his attacks are all part of his arsenal.
- In-Series Nickname: The Trickster King
- Razor Wind
- The Stoic: during battles only. Otherwise he is quite laid-back.
- The Trickster: duh.
- War Is Hell: his main reason for joining this War is to prevent it from going off the rails. Having taken part in one of the biggest wars in the history of mankind, Archer has become disgusted how thousands of years later, humanity insists on killing each other off for petty reasons.
Rider/?
- The Ace: able to win by sheer determination alone, has three Noble Phantasms- one of which is possibly the strongest in the War- and is capable of being three out of all the seven classes. Now, if only Glen could actually provide him with the needed prana to use any of these…
- The Berserker: could have been a Berserker, too.
- Boisterous Bruiser: one way to look at his behavior. Actually covering for him being a:
- Blood Knight: Rider adores fighting. It’s not that he enjoys hurting others, he just feels at home in the thrill of combat.
- Catch Phrase: “Even if my chance of succeeding is zero, then I’ll take this zero and turn it into infinity!”
- Chaotic Good In-universe alignment. Rider’s approach involves not directly helping others but forcing them to get strong enough to help themselves, rules and laws be damned in the face of righteousness, he understandably falls hard on the Chaotic side.
- Cool Horse: comes with being a Rider
- Cool Sword: a Noble Phantasm of his.
- The Determinator: perhaps his strongest tie to his Master and one of the reasons he answered his call. Just like Glen, Rider’s sheer stubbornness and ‘courage bordering on recklessness’ are capable of leading him to victory despite even overwhelming odds.
- Foil: to Archer. Unlike the ‘grizzled veteran’, Rider beliefs battles are fought for a reason- so the men who are determined enough and adamant in their beliefs can earn the right for a better tomorrow.
- Honor Before Reason: With some small exceptions. Rider doesn’t outright announce his identity merely out of pity for Glen. His Master needs all the Command Spells he can get, so Rider admits it would be stupid to waste one by making Glen order the knight to shut up.
- Keet
- Knight in Shining Armor- very much so.
- Master Swordsman: could have been summoned as a Servant of the Saber class as well.
- Must Have Caffeine: being summoned into the modern world led to Rider discovering the wonders of coffee. Glen is not amused in the least.
- Never Tell Me the Odds: it only makes him try even harder.
- Normally I Would Be Dead Now: has a whooping A ranked Battle Continuation..
- Odd Friendship: has one in development with his Master. Glen and Rider are different like night and day, both in behavior, heritage and methods and yet they somehow make it work out.
- Right Makes Might: a strong believer of it.
- Story-Breaker Power: actually possesses probably the strongest Noble Phantasm out of all the Servants in the War. Alas, not only Glen can’t provide him with the needed amount of prana, the Phantasm’s activation would inevitably lead to Rider’s death as well
Caster/?
Assassin/Hassan-i-Sabbah
- Boobs of Steel
- Buxom Is Better
- Chaotic Evil: in-universe alignment
- Dark Action Girl
- Depraved Bisexual: fondled Ayaka and was about to ‘transfer some prana’ but Saber unleashed his Noble Phantasm on her, ‘spoiling her fun’.
- Dual-Wielding: her own preferred way of utilizing her powers.
- The Faceless: as with the other Hassans, her face is hidden behind a bleach-white skull mask.
- Femme Fatale: certainly acts like one… when she isn’t just outright stabbing her victim in the back
- Hellfire: the physical form of her Noble Phantasm- Zabaniya- is the smokeless flame from which the devilish jinn in Arabic mythology are made. It’s also her hair.
- Invisibility Cloak: as an Assassin, she has access to a high-rank Presence Concealment skill.
- Legacy Character: one of the 18 known leaders of Alamut, who have worn the mantle of the Hassan
- Made of Iron: an inherent quality in being a Servant, yes, but she has also so far survived going up against Saber, Lancer, Berserker and a Crest-powered Glen.
- Ms. Fanservice: main source of it
- Possession Implies Mastery / Instant Expert: due to Eternal Arms Mastership, a skill she developed thanks to the variety of weapons capable of being conjured with the black flames of her Zabaniya.
- Rain of Swords: and whatever the hell else she can conjure with Zabaniya
- Rapunzel Hair: made out of black hellish fire!
- Sinister Scimitar: her favorite kind of weapon
- Stealth Expert
- Stripperiffic
- The Tease- somewhat of a hobby of hers
- Villain Teleportation- one possible use of her variation of the Noble Phantasm Zabaniya.
- Yes (Wo)man- Assassin is actually completely submissive to Alexander, afraid of being forced to ‘share’ her Master’s pain once again
Berserker/?
- Armor Is Useless: especially if your Endurance is ranked EX
- Attack! Attack! Attack!: a valid tactic when you possess EX-ranked Strength
- Ax Crazy
- Berserk Button: one can anger him pretty much by just breathing. Or existing. Berserker isn’t picky.
- The Berserker: Well, duh.
- Blessed with Suck: Mad Enhancement may have boosted all his stats immensely, but robbing him from the ability to think also rendered him unable to use any of his Noble Phantasms.
- Character Alignment: Chaotic Insane, as with most other Berserkers.
- Expy: of Herakles
- Gonk / Body Horror: for some reason his image is even more twisted by Mad Enhancement than it is normal.
- Lightning Bruiser: normally a Mighty Glacier, but the combination of Mad Enhancement and Brawler’s Fury (his physical stats are raised while unarmed), boost his Agility all the way up to B rank
- Normally I Would Be Dead Now: has Battle Continuation… as if Strength and Endurance ranked EX weren’t enough.
- Screaming Warrior: more like roaring, actually
- Unskilled but Strong- Mad Enhancement has brought him down to the level of a raging predator.
- The Voiceless: again, due to the effects of Mad Enhancement. The only exception is his limited mental connection with Shinosuke.
The Burial Agency
Mr. Kane
The hulking man is the only official Burier of the group, holding the position of 4th member in the actual Agency. Mr. Kane lacks both the usual fervor with which Executors usually hunt heretics and the signature attitude of the heretical Buriers. He just claims hunting down demons is his job and does it with frightening success, considering that he is only an ordinary human specialized in modern weaponry. He doesn’t look like a member of the Church, being always dressed in a business suit, but he does carry a small cross around his neck. The usual opinion about him is that Kane acts more like a contractor than a Burier. He gets the job done with as less fuss as possible, frowns upon the ‘zeal’ attitude of others and just spends time with his weapons. Which he loves enough to give them female names.
- Badass in a Nice Suit: Dressed like a business man with a small cross around his neck
The Cyrus
A carefree man in his twenties who looks like a Church member as much as a purple platypus bear with silver horns and golden wings does. He dresses like the most stereotypical Hawaiian tourist possible, wears sunglasses 24/7 and acts like your run-on-the-mill surfer dude. No one actually knows why he even works for the Church and if he even has a motive at all. All that is known is that The Cyrus is the only one capable of using the Eleventh Holy Scripture- a book capable of imprisoning any demonic or mythological creature in its pages and then summoning them under the controller of the user.
- Cool Shades
- Evil Eye
- Sunglasses at Night
- Surfer Dude: The way he dresses and acts like one to hide his true nature.
The Crimson Hellequin
A mysterious man who is, by his own admission, ‘a devil that hunts fellow sinners’. His reasons for becoming an Executor are unknown but everyone admits that he is one of the most dangerous Church members out there. Incorporating magecraft and more heretical Executor techniques with the deadly scythe-like cross he carries, the Hellequin is a very dangerous opponent, indeed. He always speaks in a calm and cool tone, even when others are ridiculing his choice of attire- a black priest’s frock with red fluffy sleeves and a red jester’s hat. No one has seen his face- it’s always hidden by the crimson frowning mask he wears.
Gideon
An unfortunate man who had the Egg (a soul shard) of the 12th Dead Apostle Ancestor placed inside him as a child. Due to this he still possess his child-like appearance, even though he is well into his forties. Imprisoned by the Church for nearly three decades after they put an end to his rampage, Gideon now helps them in hope of finding a way to destroy the Egg inside him or at least get rid of it. He possesses immense speed and physical power, enhanced senses and incredibly fast regeneration rate. He also possesses the toned-down abilities of the 12th DAA, namely his Mystic Eyes and the ability to turn his skin into diamond-hard black scales. Alas, all this comes with the price of an insatiable thirst for blood and the every-day risk of the Egg possessing him fully. The Ninth Holy Scripture- Reins of Seven Heavens- entrusted to the 5th Burier is the only thing capable of suppressing his vampiric transformations and impulses.
- Older Than They Look: He may look like a kid, but...
- Really somewhere in his 40s
Lucinda ‘Lucy’ Smith
An ordinary girl born into an ordinary family, Lucy’s life was destroyed when a renegade mage killed off her family and used her in his experiments of forcing a human’s mind into Akasha. After years of both mental and physical abuse the girl was saved by a group of Church Executors, leading her to embrace their goal and ideals. All four limbs she lost during her captivity were replaced with artificially enhanced prosthetics. She now hunts mages with unending hate and vigor and has trained herself to a level where she is faster than even the vampiric Gideon at his finest. She is the one entrusted with Gideon’s chains- the Ninth Holy Scripture.
- Artificial Limbs: Lost ALL four limbs from a horrid experiment from the past, now were replaced with artificially enhanced prosthetics.
Michael Norcroft
A young and idealistic Knight of the Church. While being the scion of a wealthy and noble family, Michael is very down-to-earth. He dresses casually, prefers the company of ordinary people and actually became an Executor and a Burier because he really wants to rid the world of evil and not because of some misguided sense of revenge. He has gotten in trouble several times for letting some more harmless Dead Apostles go but both his family name and the fact that he is a prodigy have protected him from any harsher punishment. Michael believes fiercely in the Code of Knights and refuses to fight unfairly or to harm anyone innocent just because they were turned into a vampire for example. Much of his fame comes from being the first one in his family after thirteen whole generations to wield the Conceptual Weapon entrusted to the Norcrofts- the trident sword Abdiel.
?
Other Characters
Nia Smith
The leading information broker in Hartcroft. An attractive woman in her twenties, she is- by her own admission- a mystery wrapped in a riddle inside an enigma. No one knows if that’s actually her real name, where she comes from and what are her goals. Everybody knows, however, that whatever information they require, Nia has it- for a price. A wild card without a clear allegiance, she is both an ally and an enemy to all the power groups and cliques in Hartcroft. Her only distinctive motivators seem to be money and saving her own skin- goals which usually remain well-hidden under her cheerful attitude and cat-like personality. Her interest in the War is currently unknown but as she likes to put it, “information equals power”. And since she happens to rather like power, no one is surprised to learn how much she actually knows of what transpires behind the scenes and those smarter than average usually suspect she happens to be more than the bit player she pretends to be. Many a urban legend are told about how exactly she gathers all her information- but to this day no one has managed to learn her secret. In some kind of twisted parody, she’s the closest thing Glen has to a family now. Nia, while technically not his guardian, is the one that acts the role.
Jedediah ‘Jed’ Rosenstein
A teenage boy Ayaka’s age, who seems to be her only friend at school. Jed is a… peculiar person. While incredibly friendly and almost childishly idealistic, people’s common impression of him is that he is a few Marbles short of a Phantasm. Still, his status as a social pariah doesn’t bother him in the least. There’s always a goofy smile on his face and there’s always something whacky happening around him. Most of the time the motormouth spends retelling the tales of his travels across the universes, claiming to be able to jump dimensions and slide into new worlds. No need to mention, his ludicrous claims are usually ignored and outright ridiculed. But Jed still keeps going strong, braving the ‘boring’ world with a wide smile on his face.
Waver Velvet (Lord El-Melloi)
Having gained fame (mostly among the young female mages) and recognition (mostly among the other noble families who despise the ‘adopted’ noble for his achievements), Waver now works as the Head of the Spiritual Evocation Department, researching the means through which a Heroic Spirit can be summoned into our world even without the help of the Grail. Even though he is a Lord, Waver is a walking contradiction to his title. While somewhat sarcastic, he has none of the arrogance of other nobles and some mages in the Clock Tower seem to think that half of his day he sets aside specifically to annoy the higher-ups on the hierarchy. Embracing modern technology more than any other Old World mage (to the point that he one day just up and left to places unknown when he was told he couldn’t keep the enormous video game system set up in his chambers) and working highly in favor of the younger generations of mages, Waver Velvet is a favorite to many of the lower classes in mage society. His closest pupils, like Graham, know what kind of goofball the otherwise imposing-looking man is on the inside. Upon learning of the emergence of a new Grail, Waver sets out to Hartcroft along with his apprentice, dead-set on uncovering whatever conspiracies lie hidden below the surface.
Father Luciano
The supervisor sent by the Church to act as overseer in the Sixth Grail War. Luciano tries to be fair to all the participants and makes sure they enter the War on equal terms, knowing full well what being a Master means. He is an aged, white-haired man of the classical grandfatherly type but he is far from afraid of chastising those who go out of their way to harm innocents during the War. Despite his age he still has an imposing figure, proof of his days as an Executor for the Church. Luciano is fully aware of the hypocrisy of his former job. He considers taking possibly innocent lives just for what they are a necessary evil and, according to him, he is ready to face whatever punishment awaits him in Hell.
Scorpius Scintillare
The father of Meissa and CEO of Nebula Industries. He is the Second Owner of Hartcroft, the Scintillares having inherited the title from the last ruling family during their rise in the 1920s, but since such things are considered too archaic for the City of Free Mages, the title is only technical. As a mage, he is only of average skill but Scorpius’s real power comes from being cunning and shrewd enough to elevate a mere three generation magus family to a position where their title as Second Owners can be backed up by the real power of business connections and money. His attitude is usually ‘strictly business’, the only exception to this rule being the only daughter he has left. But even while satisfying most of her whims, he isn’t willing to compromise when it comes to the good of the family. And thus Meissa’s arranged marriage with Glen continues to loom over their heads. Scorpius considers the millennia-old Crest Glen carries inside him to be the Scintillare’s ticket to full control over Hartcroft. Scorpius is Glen’s legal guardian, but aside from providing housing, money and education for the boy, he rarely acts the role.