Fate/hollow ataraxia

Fate/hollow ataraxia is the sequel to Fate/stay night and one of numerous works that take place in the Nasuverse. It is based on an unusual version of events: The Grail War has ended, Kotomine and Gilgamesh have been defeated and all is well. Only... all the Servants are still around and everyone seems to be alive. Well, okay, reasonable enough if you can't follow just one ending. But it's not that simple: Apparently thanks to Tohsaka's attempts to create a magical item based on dimensional hopping, all the different continuities have been mingled including ones we never saw. So what really happened and what's going on?

And that's not all there is to it. While Shirou and the Servants and Masters are leading their oddly domestic lives together, something darker is going on. Strange beasts are spotted and an unfamiliar magus appears to have restarted the Heavens Feel. That said, none of the Servants seem to actually care since they've settled into their new lives. Yet while this is going on, time seems to be looping in an odd manner, lasting four days before the world resets back to the first day with no apparent sign of any continuity between cycles.

On top of all that, no one seems to have informed Bazett Fraga McRemitz that the Fifth Grail War ended six months ago. She's not really sure why, but rather than the Servant she intended to summon she seems to have ended up with someone... darker. Meet the eighth Servant whose identity was only hinted at in the first installment: Avenger, the Spirit of Vengeance. Avenger seems completely psychopathic but utterly weak... but is that really all there is to it?

An English patch for Fate/hollow ataraxia was completed in 2014, available at TLWiki.

Please do not add details that relate to Fate/stay night and reserve this page for those dealing only with this story.

Tropes used in Fate/hollow ataraxia include:

• All Just a Dream - Or Was It a Dream?
• All Myths Are True - The wide variety of legendary heroes who can be summoned as Servants. Partly explained by Assassin, who is by his own admission a fictional character, as a reverse of the hero making the legend. This still doesn't explain how a mage is able to acquire the legendary artifact needed to summon the specific hero, such as Gilgamesh's: the fossilized remains of the first snake to shed its skin (tied to a legend about his quest for immortality).
• Alternate Continuity - Essentially all routes and endings of Fate/stay night have been mixed together. So for the final battle Saber beat Gilgamesh and Shirou killed Kotomine. However, Rin's command seal was the one used to destroy the Grail and Saber appears to be sticking around as her Servant. Heavens Feel route, however, does not quite fit in as neatly as the other two and thus there is no True Assassin present and Zouken and Shinji have been cowed into submission rather than killed.
• Art Shift - A movie seen in hollow ataraxia is presented with live action pictures of different types of dolls instead of the usual art style. Doubles as a Crowning Moment of Funny.
• Back-to-Back Badasses - Assassin and Souichirou
• Badass - Nearly everyone.
• Body Horror - Spikes erupt from Caren Ortensia's skin in the presence of evil.
• Broad Strokes - Enough of the Fate/stay night continuity is fleshed out that you realize that one single story couldn't possibly hold it at all.
• By the Power of Greyskull - When a Servant uses what's usually their most powerful weapon or distinctive skill -the Noble Phantasm- they shout its name. All Noble Phantasms must be called out to be used. This is explained as being required to unlock their power in the Holy Grail War system.
• Chekhov's Gunman - Avenger and Angra Manyu were both mentioned in passing in Fate/stay night but the concept of the anti-hero^[1] was never explored apart from some implications that both Rider and Caster fit into that class. Though Avenger denies being the Angra Manyu.
• City of Adventure - Fuyuki City, which is based on Kobe. However, there isn't a single character with the Kansai Regional Accent one would expect almost everyone to have in the heart of that region.
• Continuity Snarl: If you keep track of everything that is mentioned in the story, you'll note that Shirou has to remember an impossibly complicated and possibly contradictory series of events. For example, he remembers Tohsaka beating Caster in close range combat in the church like in Unlimited Blade Works but he also remembers her being impaled by Gilgamesh outside his house. Thankfully, this is the Nasuverse, so all routes are canon (even ones that were never shown).
• Death Is Cheap - Thanks to the time loop. The first couple times you go to the bridge, Shirou gets sniped. Bazett is also killed multiple times in fights against Servants and uses the resurrection to her advantage.
• Demoted to Extra - While some Servants and Masters get larger roles than they had previously such as Lancer, Kuzuki or Caster, others don't fare so well. Here's to you, Shinji, who broke the fourth wall to state it outright.
• The Devil - Subverted. Avenger states that his identity is that of Angra Manyu, but that he is not the demon god of legend. Rather, it's just a title that was given to him when his old name was taken away. He says he would rather be the god of something more mundane like pots or something since he isn't that special.
• Doorstopper
• Dysfunction Junction - This has actually been glossed over to a large extent. For example, Ilya has mostly relaxed, Shinji has stopped being quite so horrible and Sakura has grown a lot bolder, meaning while all the bad stuff is noted as still having occurred, people have mostly moved on.
• Empathic Weapon - Zeltrech's Kaleidostick. An incredibly powerful magical device capable of channeling enormous amounts of Mana and giving its wielder powers and knowledge pulled from alternate realities, with the drawback being that it derives considerable joy from humiliating said wielder and forcing them into ridiculous Magical Girl costumes.
• Familiar - All the Servants are a type of Familiar. Shirou wonders why Lancer is still around since his Master died. As established in Kagetsu Tohya only the most powerful familiars can stay alive even a little while after their master dies.
• Fan Translation - There is currently a project to translate Fate/hollow ataraxia that is only about half done, but you can read some translated scenes to get an idea of what kind of game it is.
• Filler - A large amount of scenes have little to do with the main plot. Special mention goes to the numerous early Shirou/Sakura scenes which seem to mostly consist of nothing but talking about cooking, blushing and similar things. Presumably a result of Sakura not having much to build off of that isn't depressing thanks to Heavens Feel's rather grim nature. Which is not to say that those are the only filler scenes, just the ones that receive the most complaints.
• Fission Mailed - Sneaking into Sakura's room with Shinji to look at her diary results in this.
• Food Porn - Ooh yes.
• Fountain of Youth - Gilgamesh did this with a youth potion because, apparently, "this whole mess is stupid, screw you all". All the more hilarious, considering that he's been an Evil Overlord (in the past), not to mention a dog-kicking Big Bad who wanted to unleash a terrible curse on humanity because only those who could survive it were worthy of being ruled over; when he reverts, he turns into a cute little kid that everyone loves.
• Friendly Enemy - Lancer sees no reason not to get along well with his enemies, but on the flipside is that if you're an enemy then you are perfectly fair game to be killed no matter how much he may like you.
• Good People Have Good Sex: See The Heartwarming Moments tab for more details.
• Gotterdammerung - Modern Magecraft vs. the Age of Gods. Though Caster notes that the likes of Sakura and Tohsaka have some absolutely amazing potential and in her age it seems there were no True Magics like what Zelretch can do.
• Groundhog Day Loop - Surprisingly, apart from the gameplay functions of the four days continuously looping for Shirou's half of narration Avenger admits outright after the first time he and Bazett are killed that the four days will keep looping even if they're killed.
• Hentai - Some people are very surprised when they find out that the original Fate/stay night was an H-game. This is no exception.
• Ho Yay - Issei seems to have a bit of a crush on Shirou, though no one instory seems to notice. Shirou also notes that Rider seems 'fascinated' by Ayako.
• Hyperspace Arsenal - Servants can have their Noble Phantasm coming out of thin air. Justified by the Holy Grail War system. Lancer pulls out Gae Bolg at one point to show to Ayako. And also chop flowers for a get well bouquet
• Jackass Genie - The Holy Grail, due to Angra Manyu's influence, will twist any wish made to it in a way that will kill or hurt as many humans as possible. Angra Manyu doesn't qualify: his will to realise truly one wish is why Bazett survives.
• Kung Fu Wizard - Tohsaka beating up Caster in hand to hand combat is mentioned and then averted for Caster herself, who does not have super strength. Though she's probably still fairly strong considering all the stuff she was carrying.
• Lighter and Softer - The story has its dark moments and is still a Nasuverse work, but is more character-driven, doesn't always take itself seriously and uses and abuses the Trope Death Is Cheap.
• Limited Wardrobe - Almost everyone has, at most, two sets of clothes (typically school, armor, armor/casual, or school uniform/casual, or in Ilya's case, cold-weather/normal). Other non-standard outfits are Dark Sakura, Ilya's Dress of Heaven, Rin's bedclothes, and the occasional birthday suit.
• Loads and Loads of Characters
• Lost Forever - Triggering some of the ! (plot) scenes will sometimes take your ability to see certain ? (daily life) scenes.
• Luminescent Blush - Among others, the three main heroines, Saber, Rin and Sakura, are prone to this.
• Magic Wand - The Kaleidostick
• Moment Killer - Sakura does it all the time for Rider, killing many a moment with Shirou.
• Mundane Utility - Lancer picking flowers and showing off for girls with Gae Bolg, an imagine spot of Rider petrifying policeman who are after her, Saber unleashing the Barrier of the Wind King when Shirou teases her about her stuffed lion and more.
• No Ontological Inertia - All the Servants being able to stick around is odd, but has some precedent with the Unlimited Blade Works good end and Heavens Feel true end, but Shirou wonders why Lancer is still around after the death of Kotomine.
• Not Himself - Many of the characters are nothing like they were in Fate/stay night, which is actually an early clue that something's wrong with this reality besides the whole Groundhog Day Loop thing.
• Older Than They Look - Saber, who is said to look a couple of years younger than Shirou, but is actually around seven years his senior due to the age-stopping effect of Avalon when possessed by its rightful owner. Gilgamesh also appears in child form and Ilya is a homunculus and thus has what has been called 'unusual growth patterns' and thus looks around ten.
• One Hundred Percent Completion - There's an actual meter for it. Try to see all the ? scenes before the ! ones or you may miss out on them forever.
• The Real Remington Steele - A major plot point.
• Road Cone - Ataraxia ignores the sometimes large contradictions between routes and throws almost all of it in.
• Root of All Evil - Supposedly, Angra Mainyu. Avenger states outright that he is not the god and just a guy that had the title bestowed on him for having some similarities to the god in question.
• Shout-Out - Sakura gives an almost perfect description of Akiha and even says the person she's talking about is named Tohno. She's actually talking about Tohsaka, but it's amusing nonetheless. There's also a scene called Kagetsu Tohya, though it has little relation to that story. Neko-Arc is also referenced as the title of a completely nonsensical movie that is currently showing.
• Spell My Name with an "S" - Among other things, Fate/hollow ataraxia uses a different spelling of Ilya's name than Fate/stay night did. They used Illya instead.
• Tenchi Solution - In this continuity Shirou does not seem to have settled down with anyone in particular, though sex scenes are still implied to have taken place.
• Third Option Adaptation - Fate/hollow ataraxia is a sequel, not an adaptation, but it essentially mashes together parts of all the routes in the original, while removing or ignoring things that would be contradictory or difficult to handle on a fandisc, such as most of the traumatic bits of Sakura's backstory mostly being glossed over. This is probably justified by Rin accidentally almost merging all realities a month before Ataraxia takes place, as well as the nature of the Groundhog Day Loop occurring in the story.
• Transformation Sequence - Rin's Magical Girl transformation
• Two-Teacher School
• Unwanted Harem - The story does not have Shirou paired off with any one character. Instead, he now has Tohsaka, Saber and Sakura plus the addition of Rider and Ilya while Ayako and the three track girls also seem attracted to him to varying extents. A particularly entertaining scene opens up in Eclipse after you get One Hundred Percent Completion, where Bazett and Caren both also try to move into the Emiya household, and each of the heroines vigorously protests.
  • Averted with: Bazett, even if the heroines protest about her moving in for a week, it's clear she's in love with Lancer. Caren, on the other hand, seems mildly taken with Shirou's resemblance to Avenger.
• Verbal Tic - Normally averted, but when the crowd gets a hold of some Einzbern spirits, each drinker gets a verbal tic based on their preferred animal. Rin talks like a cat-nya, Saber like a lion-gao, and Shirou talks like a dog-wan. In general, though, at least in the original Japanese, one can reliably distinguish almost every character simply by their natural speaking patterns, without needing to involve a lot of odd speech or particles (Himuro's odd use of archaic honorifics notwithstanding).
• Will Not Tell a Lie - Shirou says that he's learned that Servants generally never lie outright as a matter of pride. If you look back at Fate/stay night you'll see the evidence supports this conclusion. Even Archer, who says he has no pride at all, does not seem to care for lying so much as being misleading.
• World of Badass

1. ↑ Which here means the complete opposite of a hero rather than a hero with a Shoot the Dog mentality