History Literature / FateStrangeFake

** Gray from the ''Literature/LordElMelloiIICaseFiles'' series, though unnamed, is heavily implied to be the female student who helps El-Melloi II up after he faints from learning that Flat participated in the Grail War in the first volume. She appears again in volume 5 to suggest that El-Melloi II call [[VisualNovel/FateStayNight Rin]] in to help Flat.

It was announced on September 24, 2022, that it would receive an anime special, ''Fate/strange Fake -Whispers of Dawn-'' by Creator/A1Pictures, to air on December 31, 2022, but it was subsequently delayed to July 2, 2023. Music/HiroyukiSawano will be working on music. Creator/{{Aniplex}} has released a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGD1NPn0kGg trailer]]. At the Anime Expo 2023, it's been confirmed that there will be a TV anime adaptation.

It was announced on September 24, 2022, that it would receive an anime special, ''Fate/strange Fake -Whispers of Dawn-'' by Creator/A1Pictures, to air on December 31, 2022, but it was subsequently delayed to summer 2023. Music/HiroyukiSawano will be working on music. Creator/{{Aniplex}} has released a [[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DGD1NPn0kGg trailer]].

A LightNovel and manga series set in the ''Franchise/{{Fate|Series}}'' universe, written by Ryohgo Narita (author of ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'') with art by Shizuki Morii (who both illustrates the novels and adapts them to manga), which began in January 2015 and is currently ongoing. Eight volumes of the light novel have been published as of February 2023.

The story centers around a False Holy Grail War, faultily copied from the Third Holy Grail War, in Snowfield, a small town in Nevada (California in the previous version), years after ''VisualNovel/FateHollowAtaraxia''. Seventy years before the events of ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'', at the time of the Third Holy Grail War, a group of mages separate from the London-based Mage Association decided that they would copy the ritual. Okay, they were only able to steal parts of it, but they could fill in the blanks for the rest. (Yes. They're ''fudging'' a ritual that involves a hole in reality, the most powerful and bloody legends brought to life, and a fight where ThereCanBeOnlyOne.) They completely lost the Saber template, the definition of "Hero" gets even more blurry, and the participants are less sane. And nobody paid attention to the clusterfucks that were the Third, [[LightNovel/FateZero Fourth]], and [[VisualNovel/FateStayNight Fifth Grail Wars.]] Oh, and most of the participants seem to have missed the memo that Holy Grail Wars are supposed to be a secret.

* AscendedExtra: Mary Lil Fargo, who originated as a one-off character from the ''LightNovel/LordElMelloiIICaseFiles'' anime for a mystery of the week episode, appears here as [[spoiler:one of the collective Masters that is the El-Melloi Classroom for True Rider.]]

* BitingTheHandHumor: Jack the Ripper makes a passing mention to one time where they absentmindedly turned into what ''[[LightNovel/FateApocrypha Apocrypha]]'' or ''[[VideoGame/FateGrandOrder Grand Order]]'' fans would recognize as the "real" Jack the Ripper of the Fate universes. Flat's response is to freak out, immediately cover them in a blanket, and demand that they change into literally anything else before [[MistakenForPedophile someone sees them and calls the cops]].

** Gray from the ''LightNovel/LordElMelloiIICaseFiles'' series, though unnamed, is heavily implied to be the female student who helps El-Melloi II up after he faints from learning that Flat participated in the Grail War in the first volume. She appears again in volume 5 to suggest that El-Melloi II call [[VisualNovel/FateStayNight Rin]] in to help Flat.

* GreatOffscreenWar: It's mentioned that somehow Fuyuki's Third Holy Grail War was even ''worse'' than its successors in terms of both damage and cheating. It's no big surprise, considering it featured the Edelfelt sisters cheating by using their Ore Scales ability to summon two incarnations of the same Saber, the Master of Lancer ([[LightNovel/FateApocrypha Darnic Prestone Yggdmillennia]])'s attempt at stealing the Grail with Nazi help, the Master of Assassin turning out to be a spy scoping the ritual for reverse engineering, and the Von Einzbern attempt at summoning a GodOfEvil as their Berserker. However, even after all these years, it's still key in explaining the irregularities of Snowfield's Grail War, as the conspiracy studying the War for replication had the misfortune of trying to copy precisely the War in which everything went wrong.

* ICantSenseTheirPresence: Said in much the same words by [[LightNovel/LordElMelloiIICaseFiles Svin Glascheit]] at the end of volume 6, who says that it feels like "a smell that was all over disappeared". [[spoiler:He's unknowingly sensing the moment Flat is killed.]]

* MugglesDoItBetter: Played with. Faldeus has some non-mage subordinates shoot Rohngall, an Association investigator, full of holes and discusses how the right modern weaponry can overcome magic defenses such as [[LightNovel/FateZero a shield of mercury]] or [[VisualNovel/FateStayNight the transmission of consciousness into insects]]. On the other hand, since Rohngall's "corpse" was actually a remotely-controlled doll, shooting it full of holes does little more than inconvenience him.

* OffTheRails: At first, it looked like it was going to be two different teams vying for the Grail, much like in ''LightNovel/FateApocrypha''. However, instead it turned out that the flawed ritual used to trigger the appearance of the Grail instead allowed for two entirely separate Holy Grail Wars, collectively referred to as the Snowfield Holy Grail War. The False Holy Grail War was only intended to attract fools to generate the necessary power to kickstart the True Holy Grail War. As such, the former is more flawed, using only six classes, while the True Holy Grail War does use the seven standard classes, and might even require the summoning of Ruler. How the failed ritual, the participants of both Wars and the Holy Grails interact and the fallout from the Wars affects the world is an important theme in the novels.

A LightNovel and manga series set in the ''Franchise/{{Fate|Series}}'' universe, written by Ryohgo Narita (author of ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}'') with art by Shizuki Morii (who both illustrates the novels and adapts them to manga), which began in January 2015 and is currently ongoing. Seven volumes of the light novel have been published as of March 2022.

* GodzillaThreshold: Apparently the risk involved in the Snowfield Holy Grail War is so high, [[spoiler:[[RealityWarper Zelretch]] and his fellow Dead Apostle Alcatraz]] have actually decided to intervene, even if only indirectly. The first even implies there's the possibility of [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt ORT awakening prematurely]].

* HistoryRepeats: A major plot point in the series is how almost every major characters from ''Literature/TheEpicOfGilgamesh'' have been reunited again for this one Grail War in this one city. At first it's Gilgamesh and Enkidu, but then the moment True Berserker [[spoiler:(aka Humbaba)]] is summoned, it is followed by [[spoiler:Ishtar and Gugalanna]]. As noted in the seventh volume:

* AscendedExtra: Mary Lil Fargo, who is a one-off character from the ''LightNovel/LordElMelloiIICaseFiles'' anime as a supporting character in a mystery of the week episode is [[spoiler:one of the collective Masters that is the El-Melloi Classroom for True Rider.]]

It was announced on September 24, 2022, that it would receive an anime special, ''Fate/strange Fake -Whispers of Dawn-'' by Creator/A1Pictures, to air on December 31, 2022, but it was subsequently delayed to summer 2023. Music/HiroyukiSawano will be working on music.

* TranslationConvention: Though the series is written in Japanese, most of the characters are noted to be speaking in English. There's even an InUniverse example -- when Ayaka has a dream about Saber's past, she takes note of how everyone appears to be speaking in modern Japanese rather than Old English.

A LightNovel and manga series set in the ''Franchise/{{Fate|Series}}'' universe, written by Ryohgo Narita (author of ''LightNovel/{{Baccano}}''), which began in January 2015 and is currently ongoing. Seven volumes of the light novel have been published as of March 2022.

It was announced on September 24, 2022, that it would receive an anime special, ''Fate/strange Fake -Whispers of Dawn-'' by Creator/A1Pictures, to air on December 31, 2022, but it was delayed to summer 2023. Music/HiroyukiSawano will be working on music.

** When Hansa Cervantes takes over, he's on a much more even footing with Jester. Hansa explains that due to being an Executor, his weapons were made to kill beings like Jester, Hansa even makes a point of saying it was just a good match up for him and not that the Clan Calatin are weak.

* AlternateUniverse: Most Fate titles are alternate universe to each other, but Fake is special in that it is a hybrid of [[{{Franchise/Nasuverse}} The Fate and Tsukihime timelines]] with the ability to summon Servants combined with existence of The 27 Dead Apostle Ancestors.

* AuthorTract: Narita must have been pleased he could finally give his opinion of the King's Banquet scene from ''Fate/Zero'' through True Saber. He had to be, considering the events of ''Zero'' shouldn't have any bearings on ''Strange Fake'' to begin with.

* BitingTheHandHumor: Jack the Ripper makes a passing mention to one time where they absentmindedly turned into what ''[[LightNovel/FateApocrypha Apocrypha]]'' or ''[[VideoGame/FateGrandOrder Grand Order]]'' fans would recognize as the "real" Jack the Ripper of the Fate universe. Flat's response is to freak out, immediately cover them in a blanket, and demand that they change into literally anything else before [[MistakenForPedophile someone sees them and calls the cops]].

** In the fifth volume, Flueger, also from 'Case Files'', has been hired by El-Melloi II to infiltrate Snowfield to watch the proceedings and report back to him.

* GreatOffscreenWar: It's mentioned that somehow, Fuyuki's Third Holy Grail War was even ''worse'' than its successors in terms of both damage and cheating. It's no big surprise, considering it featured the Edelfelt sisters cheating by using their Ore Scales ability to summon two incarnations of the same Saber, the Master of Lancer ([[LightNovel/FateApocrypha Darnic Prestone Yggdmillennia]])'s attempt at stealing the Grail with Nazi help, the Master of Assassin turning out to be a spy scoping the ritual for reverse engineering, and the Von Einzbern attempt at summoning a GodOfEvil as their Berserker. However, even after all these years, it's still key in explaining the irregularities of Snowfield's Grail War, as the conspiracy studying the War for replication had the misfortune of trying to copy precisely the War in which everything went wrong.

* NearVillainVictory: [[spoiler:It turns out the Kuruokas were, indeed, on the verge of summoning ''something'' with Qin Shihuangdi's crossbow, before False Rider killed them. The incomplete entity would later help Tsubaki and hand the weapon to Sigma before disappearing.]]

* NuclearOption: [[spoiler:Code 983 "Aurora Fall", which is a measure by the organizers to wipe Snowfield off of the map in 48 hours and make it look like it was destroyed by falling meteorites. It is enacted after Thia Escardos "emerges" and fight with Enkidu, causing the organizers realize the situation has gotten too out of hand and to [[KnowWhenToFoldEm cut their losses]]. There was also another contingency plan, Code 982 "Abyss Rise", which consisted of overcharging the Grail and the {{LeyLine}}s, triggering a volcanic eruption]].

* OneHitKill: No-Name Assassin's good at this. She can use all eighteen Zabaniya techniques through her own Noble Phantasm, Zabaniya: Phantasmal Pedigree, from [[YourHeadASplode Cyber Phantasy]], through [[BeatStillMyHeart Delusional Heartbeat]], [[NighInvulnerable Febrile Inspiration]], [[PrehensileHair Raving Shadow Flash]], to [[SonicStunner Ichor of Reverie]].

* PetTheDog: During Bazdilot's dream, he saw a vision of True Archer and [[spoiler:Jason during their time as an Argonaut. For all the kind of douchebaggery of Jason we've known since ''VideoGame/FateGrandOrder'', he considered True Archer/Heracles a true friend and his goal was to make a kingdom where everyone is equal and even monstrous people like Heracles can live and be loved. When Bazdilot woke up and chided Jason as a fool, Alcides (who was already deprived of his honorable traits) only agreed for a half of it: He may agree that Jason was foolish, but he was one of the few people that treated Alcides as a human being, so he didn't take the insult towards Jason that well.]]

* UnexpectedCharacter: InUniverse, this is the case for most of the False Masters - Orlando was the only one of the mages originally chosen to join in, as False Archer's Master was killed by Tine, the Wolf summoned False Lancer itself and its creator got killed by Faldeus, the Kuruokas were killed by False Rider, False Assassin killed Cashura, who was supposed to become Saber's Master, and Flat and Jester summoned their Servants before Faldeus' cronies managed to.
* UngratefulBastard: How do [[spoiler: [[AbusiveParents The Kuruokas]] react after their daughter frees them and others from Pale Rider’s dream world? They try to steal her Command Seals. [[RageBreakingPoint Sigma is notably enraged by this]], [[LaserGuidedKarma and leaves them both crippled]]]].

It was announced on September 24, 2022, that it would receive an anime special, ''Fate/strange Fake -Whispers of Dawn-'' by Creator/A1Pictures, to air on December 31, 2022, but it was delayed. Music/HiroyukiSawano will be working on music.

It was announced on September 24, 2022, that it would receive an anime special, ''Fate/strange Fake -Whispers of Dawn-'' by Creator/A1Pictures, to air on December 31, 2022. Music/HiroyukiSawano will be working on music.

* NuclearOption: [[spoiler:Code 983 "Aurora Fall", which is a measure by the organizers to wipe Snowfield off of the map in 48 hours and make it look like it was destroyed by falling meteorites. It is enacted after Thia Escardos "emerges" and fight with Enkidu, causing the organizers realize the situation has gotten too out of hand and to [[KnowWhenToFoldEm cut their losses]]. There was also another contingency plan, Code 982 "Abyss Rise", which consisted of overcharging the Grail and the LeyLines, triggering a volcanic eruption]].

* GovernmentConspiracy: [[spoiler:Apparently, the US Government sent an agent, one of Faldeus' ancestors, to Fuyuki, in time to participate in the utter disaster that was the Third Holy Grail War, hoping to analyze enough of the ritual to [[StartMyOwn make their own]], and then ''someone'' came forward with additional information as to how they could get started a bit faster...]]

* ShoutOut: Dumas mentions [[Anime/TheThreeMusketeers a Three Musketeers adaptation that genderbent Aramis]] while complaining about an american edition missing the point of the end of Literature/TheLittleMatchGirl.

** Caubac Alcatraz has spent centuries trapped in his labyrinth, yet he's still able to converse with Zelretch via magical phone and even send a flip phone (presumably Mr. Cellphone) straight into El-Melloi II's cigar case.

** Caubac Alcatraz has spent centuries trapped in his own labyrinth, yet he's still able to converse with Zelretch via magical phone and even send a flip phone (presumably Mr. Cellphone) straight into El-Melloi II's cigar case.