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The Human Characters
Shirou Emiya
Shirou Emiya
"AH DON'T KILL ME I'M A HERO!"
Voiced by: Matthew "YamatoSFX" Kok
- Adaptational Wimp: While he wasn't exactly the picture of Hercules in the original, Shirou is more cowardly here, as shown when he runs off screaming from Lancer.
- Beware the Nice Ones: He's fully determined to be a hero and is just as self-sacrificing as you'd expect, but he's more than willing to get his hands dirty in pursuit of that goal. The moment he catches wind of Sakura being abused by Shinji, he's absolutely ready to tear his head off...just not enough to deny Shinji's request to clean the archery dojo.
- Broken Pedestal: Played for Laughs in regards to Rin. Shirou admits in Episode 4 that he felt self-conscious around Rin since she is one of the most popular girls in school, but later finds that it's difficult to worry about looking cool around someone who is an overly competitive psycho hellbent on trying to kill him.
- Catchphrase: "I WANT THAT!"
- Chronic Hero Syndrome: His stated goal is to "save everyone in front of him", without exception. Logical arguments presented against this goal aside, he's very dedicated to it and will agree to just about any request made to him.
- Conditioned to Accept Horror: Saber is dumbfounded that he's barely affected by having his insides torn out, and even more so when he rationalizes it as having seen worse.
- Crippling Overspecialization: He has trained his Reinforcement magic on pipes to be perfect. Anything else...They blow up in his hands.
- Didn't Think This Through: No matter what, his plan is simply becoming a hero. It's clear he has no other plan. Archer constantly calls him out on this.
- Extreme Doormat: His Chronic Hero Syndrome has caused this in him, to the point that he lets Shinji get away with abusing Sakura while cleaning the dojo in exchange and offers to buy Rin a coat by using money which he would get by selling his house.
- Heroic Wannabe: It's real tough to stand out as a hero when you're surrounded by the ghosts of far stronger heroes from throughout history. However, Shirou does eventually start growing into a proper hero himself.
- Honor Before Reason: Even when Saber points out it is logical for her to carry the group's bags because she has Super-Strength, Shirou insists on carrying them because he's Shirou. Later, when Caster holds Taiga hostage, he insists on surrendering Saber to her to save Taiga, despite Saber and Rin pointing out they have many other options. He later lampshades his stupidity.
- Idiot Hero: Zig-zagged - weirdly enough he's less of an idiot than his canon counterpart in someways, while being more in others. He's still a massive dingus, but he's also much more self-aware about it and he's more on the ball with some things than his canonical counterpart is. And unlike most adaptations of the visual novel, this series actually at least kinda explains that he's a psychological mess of a person.
- Innocent Bystander: To Archer and Lancer's duel, which sets off his involvement in the Holy Grail War.
- Insistent Terminology: Due to his lack of magical education, he doesn't understand the difference between magic and magecraft and calls his magecraft "magic" even after being corrected.
- Insecure Love Interest: Starts out convinced that Rin wouldn't give a plain weirdo like him the time of day.
- Mr Fix It: Thanks to his magic, Shirou can fix up just about any kind of mundane appliance.
- Naïve Newcomer: Shirou's known about magic for a long time, but the Holy Grail War is a whole different kettle of fish from what he's used to.
- They Just Dont Get It: Feels this way about his dream of being a hero. Literally everyone tells him it's stupid.
Rin Tohsaka
Rin Tohsaka
Voiced by: Corey Woods
- Adaptational Dumbass: Rin might still be one of the smartest students at school and an incredibly talented magus, but here, she's severely lacking in common sense and generally acts more like an unhinged lunatic.
- Adaptational Intelligence: That being said, there are also a few times where Rin proves to be quite a bit sharper then her canon counterpart. In particular, she's able to piece together Archer's true identity MUCH earlier.
- Adaptational Jerkass: This Rin is far more open to the idea of slaughtering innocents (ex. her classmates) and manipulating others to get her way than her canon counterpart. For instance, there's a rumor that she broke a kid's legs to win a foot race, but she clarifies that she might have killed him instead.Rin: If I don't get to be a monster, no one gets to be!
- Alpha Bitch: Rin is well aware of how many of her fellow students are attracted to her as well as how proficient she is at magic without any hint of delusion, which she admits she very often uses to her advantage to get what she wants.
- Amazon Chaser: Much of her attraction to Saber is built upon her incredible ass-kicking skills. She's very openly attracted to Saber, unlike in the original canon, where she only discovered her own bisexuality during the Fate route's main sex scene in the original visual novel.
- Ax-Crazy: She sure is thrilled about being in this year's "Murder Death Kill".
- Birds of a Feather: With Shirou, as Rin so eloquently explains it.Rin:...we're both pretty single-minded idiots with daddy issues and bad reasons to fight in this thing.
- Blue-and-Orange Morality: Much of Rin's decisions seem to revolve around her competitiveness and desire to win at everything no matter what. She can and will do almost anything to come out on top, such as trying to steal "Baeber" away from Shirou by trying to murder him.
- Catchphrase: A hundred percent maximum no chill!
- Cloudcuckoolander: Rin isn’t entirely alright in the upperstory, to say the least.
- Hidden Heart of Gold: As much as she loves being the baddest bitch around, she never actually goes through with any of her insane plans. Sure, she might claim it was for selfish reasons, but she'll always do the right thing.
- Hopeless Suitor: Saber feels indifferent towards Rin's advances, likely because in their first meeting Rin yelled at Shirou "IwantyourServantgivemeBaeber!"
- Insane Troll Logic: To give an example, her first reaction to the thought that another Magus might attack her school is to take it as a challenge and kill everyone first before they get the chance to.
- Insistent Terminology: Several:
- She refuses to call the Holy Grail War just that since it doesn't make sense to her. So she instead calls it "Murder-Death-Kill."
- It takes her a while to admit she summoned an Archer and not a Saber, and she continues to believe he's "Actually Satan."
- Saber is Baeber.
- I Love You Because I Can't Control You: What sets off Rin's attraction to Shirou is the fact that he's one of the few people who refuses to put up with her shenanigans. By comparison, most of her classmates will do anything for Rin, including punch themselves simply because she joked about it.
- I Reject Your Reality: For a while, she's convinced that Archer is actually Saber, despite his insistence that he isn't. It takes the real Saber showing up to finally convince her.
- Jerkass Has a Point: She points out the Holy Grail usually bring in random people who have little talent. Saber agrees with this.
- Jerk with a Heart of Gold: She can't even go through the pilot episode without saving someone's life, which runs counter to her generally deranged behavior.
- Laser-Guided Karma: In ways both good and bad.
- The boy she exhausts a superweapon of sentimental value to save turns out to be the love of her life (or one of them, anyway).
- Her being a Bad Boss does not motivate Archer to betray her, as it seems at first, but it means he pretends to do so in a much more hurtful way than he otherwise could have.
- Episode 7 opens with her gleefully exploiting Shirou's mental illness to make him give her money and carry things. By the end of that same episode, said illness gets Saber captured and their team almost massacred, an obvious display of why reinforcing trauma is not a good idea.
- Mundane Utility: Takes much pride in making "Actually Satan" do her household chores.
- Mundane Wish: She has no desire to make a wish to the Grail, she just wants the Grail itself.Rin: I just want to stand over the corpses of six fallen heroes drinking ginger-ale from a goblet touched by the blood of Christ. Teenage girl stuff.
- Not a Morning Person: Starts the series throwing an alarm clock in frustration.
- Oblivious Guilt Slinging: Exploited in episode 8. While she hasn't told Archer that she's figured out his identity, she'll certainly use it against him.Rin: I think Shirou's a good person. A dumb person, but a good guy. I trust Shirou Emiya because I know he'd never betray me. He's proven to me I can trust him. In fact! Being around him makes me feel grounded and mutually depended upon. I trust Shirou Emiya!
Archer: Okay.
Rin: WHY DO YOU HAVE AMNESIA!? - Tsundere: At one moment, she says she'll kill Shirou, another she'll admit he's got a rockin' bod.
Kotomine Kirei
Kotomine Kirei
Voiced by: Al Dales
- Badass Preacher: A former and current Master, skilled martial artist, and recognized by Rin as one of the toughest people alive.
- Boring Insult: He's let down that Shirou is not a Serial Killer like Ryuunosuke was, and that he wants to quit before the War even starts.
- Card-Carrying Villain: He positively revels in being an all-around douchebag. Shirou saying his name in a suspicious tone is like music to his ears.
- The Dreaded: Rin, Saber, and Archer groan at bringing him into their arguments.
- Even Evil Has Standards: He finds Rin calling Saber "Baeber" to be disrespectful.
- Evil Is Petty: The moment he realises he's face-to-face with the son of his old Arch-Enemy, Kirei immediately goads him into joining the War just to put him through the same hell his father went through.
- Hated by All: Pretty much everyone short of Gilgamesh hates Kotomine, especially the ones who've had to deal with his bullshit before. Kotomine, for his part, fully embraces his role as the dickhead nobody likes.
- Manipulative Bastard: He tells Shirou why the participants in the Holy Grail War are fighting the goal (the winner getting a wish) so that Shirou will stay in the war and Kirei can amuse himself with his misery. Later, he convinces Shinji to stay while lying to him about Gilgamesh acting as a replacement Servant for Rider.
- Not Quite Dead: Nobody really believes that Caster successfully killed him in episode 7.
- Obviously Evil: Even more than his canon counterpart! He states his disappointment that Shirou isn't a Serial Killer and expresses joy when Shirou says his name in a suspicious tone. Despite this, none of the human characters realize he is evil.
- Phrase Catcher: Every time someone mentions him, he's automatically described as some variant of "he sucks" or he's "the worst".
- Sadist: Nothing excites him quite like horrific emotional turmoil, except for maybe horrific physical turmoil.
- Serious Business: Proper terminology for the Holy Grail War. Despite his villainy, he calls out Rin for calling Saber "Baeber" because he feels it's rude, and despite hearing Rin's reasoning for calling the Holy Grail War the "Murder Death Kill," he "disagrees on principle."
- There Is a God!: The bright-eyed, untraumatized son of Kiritsugu Emiya suddenly coming into his life renews his faith in the Lord.Kotomine: Oh God above, I have seen Your wisdom and my faith is renewed.
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Unlike their canon counterparts, Kirei and Gilgamesh do not appear to get along, with Gilgamesh threatening Kirei for his tone and later expressing his disapproval of the idea of pretending to be Shinji's Servant.
- Troll: He's even worse than canon Kirei (which says quite a lot) and verbally provokes or goads practically everyone in sight while relishing in their negative responses. He even trolls Gilgamesh by assigning him Shinji.
Illyasviel von Einzbern
Illyasviel von Einzbern
Voiced by: Mimi Mimoa
- Adaptational Jerkass: She is much more of the creepy brat she pretends to be in canon. Her reaction to Gilgamesh killing Sella and Leysritt is to get angry that he killed her maids and she'll now have to cook her own food.
- Card-Carrying Villain: She really enjoys playing up the Creepy Child bit.
- Creepy Child: She looks like a little girl and revels in bloodshed.
- Designer Baby: Claims to be one to diss Rin, but she was naturally born.
- Enfant Terrible: She's Tiny Murder Machine to her family.
- Familiar: Her main magic. Each of her familiars are described as "mini mages".
- Go Out with a Smile: It's implied that she survives just long enough after being blinded and stabbed by Gilgamesh to hear Heracles shatter Enkidu and charge the King of Heroes one last time.
- Smug Super: She's the immensely talented scion of an extremely prestigious mage family, and she's all too happy to rub this into Rin's face. She even tries to be smug against Gilgamesh, only to realise she's badly outgunned in both smugness and super-weight.
Shinji Matou
Shinji Matou
Voiced by: Ken Tynan
- Asshole Victim: Kirei assigns Gilgamesh to Shinji as a makeshift servant; Gilgamesh is an even worse sociopath and bully than Shinji himself, so it's one very nasty taste of his own medicine.
- Big Bad Wannabe: Shinji tries to be a threat but gets knocked out of the Grail War almost immediately. When convinced to stay in by Kirei with the pretense of Gilgamesh acting as Shinji's Servant, Shinji winds up serving as little more than a lackey for Gilgamesh to push around.
- Big Brother Bully: Trust us, you don't want to know the things Shinji's done to Sakura.
- Butt-Monkey: Absolutely no one respects Shinji, least of all Gilgamesh, who repeatedly offers to let Rin and Shirou kill him.
- The Dog Bites Back: When Shinji learns Gilgamesh—who has spoken to him with nothing but disgust and degradation since arriving at the Matou mansion—intends to kill his hateful grandfather (being revolted by the family's Crest Worms), he's so happy he starts singing under his breath.
- Hated by All: Nobody can stand him, except Shirou (and he likes pushing the limit).
- Hate Sink: Rin does not hide that she thinks he's a rapist. We all know he is, though.
- Inferiority Superiority Complex: Breaks down into hysterics when Shirou simply explains what he was doing in Episode 1.
- I Love the Dead: He's almost as enthusiastic about raping Rin's corpse as the actual living girl."Hot dog!"
- Jerkass: He's just as much of a slimy bastard as ever.
- Laughably Evil: Shinji is the same ill-tempered smug loser as his canon counterpart, but his hysterics and stupidity make him downright hilarious.
- Smug Snake: He can't even manage THAT right. He attempts slimy smugness, but frequently breaks down into hysterics at the slightest provocation. If a Smug Snake is a "wannabe
Magnificent Bastard", then Shinji is a wannabe SMUG SNAKE. - The Sociopath: Shinji has no concept of ethics or the feelings of others, leading to incidents such as his reaction to Gilgamesh being revolted by the family's penis-bug magic.Shinji: Isn't it great? They're called Crest Worms.
- Vile Villain, Laughable Lackey: How Shinji ends up when Gilgamesh pretends to be his Servant while calling the shots. Both villains are Laughably Evil, but Shinji is no threat and spends his screen time being humiliated, while Gilgamesh is a genuine threat.
Sakura Matou
Sakura Matou
Voiced by: Carrie "xbubblemunkyx" Johnston
- Adaptational Jerkass: Whereas the original Sakura was cowed into a state of miserable compliance, this Sakura responds to her horrific circumstances by sniping at random people, even the boy she's got a huge crush on.
- All Love Is Unrequited: It's obvious that she's smitten with Shirou, but her Demoted to Extra status as well as his complete lack of awareness of her attractions drives her to frustration.
- Berserk Button: Despite her clear interest in Shirou, she finds his obsession with fixing things annoying. She likes to make special mention when the thing she wants to fix involves pipes.
- Deadpan Snarker: Her comments come across as this.
- Hope Crusher: Says Shirou's dream is stupid right to his face.
- Morality Chain: Downplayed. She gets her life threatened by Rin in Episode 0 but within the same episode Rin saves Shirou because she's aware of Sakura's crush on him.
- Out of Focus: As with canon, but here, she's very much aware of her status and none too happy about it, which explains her Adaptational Jerkass tendencies.
- Passive Aggressive Combat: She's not as blatantly aggressive as Rin, but she definitely makes her fair share of mean comments.
Taiga Fujimura
Taiga Fujimura
Voiced by: Cassandra Cavalli
- Adaptational Angst Upgrade: She doesn't look back on times when Kiritsugu was around as fondly as her regular counterpart, clearly being very hurt and bitter about his random leaves of absences.
- Adaptational Badass: A minor case. In the original series she was banned from tournaments due to a non-regulation charm on her shinai. By her own words, here she was banned because she was too good (at owning bitches), though knowing Taiga, that might just be a lie and neither Shirou nor Sakura are bothering to correct her. Additionally, her threat level is evidently enough to scare even Kuzuki's employers.
- The Dreaded: Her ties to Kiritsugu, the yakuza, her own martial prowess, and her teaching abilities are apparently scary enough to warrant Kuzuki's constant oversight.
- Skewed Priorities: In episode 1, she says that she was worried sick about Shirou's absence because him dying would have meant Sakura wouldn't have come over to serve up some of her tasty cooking.
Issei Ryudou
Kiritsugu Emiya
Kiritsugu Emiya
Voiced by: Logan Laidlaw
- Hero of Another Story: The events of Fate/Zero still happened in some capacity, and Kiritsugu still lived through them.
- Sidetracked by the Analogy: Goes into a long and detailed description of the events of Fate/Zero after making a marble analogy.
Souichirou Kuzuki
Souichirou Kuzuki
Voiced by: Jesse Inocalla
- Adaptation Name Change: Subverted. He's known as Mr. Yamashiro until it's revealed this is merely an alias and he still has his original name.
- Affably Evil: He may be a former assassin and Caster's master, but he's pretty friendly. His reaction to Shirou projecting noble phantasms is to mentally note he's proud of him and call him a good kid.
- Closet Geek: He knows what a Manic Pixie Dream Girl is without having to be told, and when dueling Shirou in the church responds to Shirou's "trace on" with a "fists on", despite his enchantments not requiring activation.
- Cold Ham: Delivers even the most mundane statement with the gravitas of a Shakespearean villain, complete with the purplest of Purple Prose, but rarely, if ever raises his voice, even in anger.
- Do Not Call Me "Paul": Does not like anyone but Caster calling him "Kuzuki", referring to it as his slave name.
- The Dreaded: The whole school is terrified of him due to his imposing nature. It's why he still has his job.
- "Facing the Bullets" One-Liner: "Well, then. Class dismissed." (is crushed under the collapsing ceiling)
- Kill and Replace: Killed Kazuki Yamashiro, the original drama teacher, and took his identity. Unfortunately, he never learned what class he ran before he did it.
- Manic Pixie Dream Guy: Archer explains how he's one for Caster, giving her a source of love and emotional escape so she can keep her sense of immaturity.
Archer: You are a Manic Pixie Dream Girl! Medea unknowingly needs you to push her pursuit of her own happiness, and in doing so, you enable her to not graduate beyond her own immaturity and biases. You abandoned your own pursuit of happiness so she could be happy. You may not be manic, you may not be a pixie, you may not be a girl, but you, Souichirou Kuzuki, are a Manic Pixie Dream Girl in a suit and dress shoes.
- Not So Stoic: When Medea dies, he says he feels angry for the first time and his voice goes from monotonous Purple Prose to practically growling out his lines in a Tranquil Fury.
- Obfuscating Stupidity: During his talk with Archer, he admits that he knows that he isn't supposed to talk so floridly, it's just that by the time he realized that that's not how normal people talk everyone just thought it was his thing, so he steered into it.
- The Pirates Who Don't Do Anything: Despite officially being the drama teacher, he's been banned from teaching it due to scaring off all the students. The school's too scared to fire him so he mostly just wanders the halls.
- The Remnant: Like in the original, he picks a fight with Medea's killer despite knowing he had no chance whatsoever of winning.
- Shipper on Deck: When he thinks Shirou and Saber are an item, he congratulates him.
- The Stoic: He reacts to everything from schoolwork to attempted murder with stolid gravitas. Only Archer's guy talk manages to throw him off.
- Tranquil Fury: Once Caster dies, he remains as calm and collected as ever. He does, however, drop the flowery speech as he prepares to avenge her.
Kuzuki: I have no time for pointless elaboration. Medea is gone. My purpose is gone. For the first time in my life, I'm feeling genuine anger.
- Unholy Matrimony: He and Caster are in a romantic relationship, with him being open to a throuple with Saber.
Sella and Leysritt
Sella and Leysritt
Voiced by: Lindsay Navarro and Carrie "xbubblemunkyx" Johnston
- Blood Knight: Sella presses Ilya to take a more active role in the War, and Leysritt constantly asks if she can "engage axe mode". The latter's refusal to wait for orders means she dies quickly to Gilgamesh.
- Speaking Like Totally Teen: Sella tries to use slang like Ilya and Leysritt do, but her stern demeanour means it fails embarrassingly.Leysritt: Sella, please don't.
- Those Two Guys: They exist mostly to provide insight into Ilya's character and the few bits of comedy her subplot has.
Atrum Galliasta
Atrum Galliasta
Voiced by: Chase “Coffinjockey” Corbin
- Adaptational Dumbass: Canon Atrum wasn't smart, but in the sense that he didn't bother to rein in his ego to stop ticking off Caster, and underestimated her abilities such that he wasted Command Seals in his attempts to control her. This Atrum is even dumber, with decisions brought about by his pride being instead caused by cluelessness, and he never even bothered using Command Seals despite ticking off Caster in all the same ways.
- In-Universe Factoid Failure: His belief that Caster could summon and control the dragon of Colchis is emphasized as dumb, as she had no control over it in her myth and such an ability would be more suited to a Rider Servant.
- Kill It with Fire: Caster burned his body to a crisp while his mind was trapped in a nightmare of being stuck in a labyrinth.
- Posthumous Character: He is long dead by the events of the series, with Caster telling Archer about him (and Archer wishing she had eaten his soul).
- Who Names Their Kid "Dude"?: While telling Archer about her first Master, Caster mocks him and asks what kind of a name is Atrum.
The Servant Characters
Saber
Artoria Pendragon
Voiced by: Ariel Hansen
- Berserk Button: She's got an entire panel of these, no thanks to Kiritsugu and the events of the Fourth Holy Grail War.
- Born Lucky: So lucky that she can avoid certain death from things that are supposed to be inescapable. Both Lancer and Assassin are less than thrilled to see her survive their unavoidable trump cards.
- Broken Ace: She's one of the most celebrated heroes throughout the world, possessed of great strength, a king's bearing, and unmatched beauty, but neither of her two lives were particularly kind to her.
- Chick Magnet: Pretty much every woman she meets thinks Saber's the hottest thing in existence, with Rin being especially eager to get in her pants and even calling her Baeber. Despite jokes that everyone wants to get with her, the only man who's shown the slightest bit of interest in her was Kuzuki and Assass...err Other Saber. Though Archer does hint that he's still attracted to her on some level, and is surprised that Shirou apparently isn't.
- Confronting Your Imposter: Since she is the Saber servant, she doesn't buy Assassin's claim to be it for a second. She does grant his request to call him Other Saber, though.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: After making a contract with Rin in episode 10 and being brought up to full strength, Saber quickly overwhelms Archer.
- Damsel in Distress: In Episode 7, she gets captured by Caster and forced to become her Servant.
- Football Hooligans: Losing at batting causes her to go into a British-accented tirade and attack Rin, for which she later semi-apologizes.
- Kleptomaniac Hero: She jumps at the opportunity to steal people's sandwiches "for the cause", or so she claims.
- Lady of War: Discussed in episode 2 between Shirou and Rin. Saber's elegance and skill in battle prompt Shirou to say that he'd love to be just as strong as her one day. Rin, meanwhile, is just really turned on by Saber's combat prowess.
- Team Mom: She and Shirou have a sort of mother-son relationship, and she proudly calls herself a "tiger mom". The fact that they're not in any kind of romantic relationship blindsides Archer.
- Took a Level in Jerkass: As a result of the Trauma Conga Line known as the Fourth Holy Grail War, Saber is less willing to follow by the code of chivalry and is more interested in just winning the war as quickly as possible as to avoid potentially being scarred further. The best example of this is with Berserker, whom, instead of doing the honorable thing and announce her name before battle to, she tries to kill quickly just to avoid dealing with the possibility that she was fighting a Knight of the Round Table... again. She eventually grows out of this due to becoming fond of Shirou, a fact which baffles Archer because he came from a timeline where he was unable to win her heart.
- Totally Radical: Her attempts at modern language take a while to get down.
Archer
Counter Guardian EMIYA
Voiced by: Logan Laidlaw
- Adaptational Jerkass: Archer in canon is no prize pigeon, but the abridged version is much more open to expressing his hatred for everyone around him, particularly Shirou, whom he openly insults as opposed to canon Archer's preference for Breaking Speeches.
- Adaptational Wimp: Downplayed. Archer is no slouch in combat, but he is very reluctant to fight Lancer, who, in his words, is "basically Irish Hercules". He's also terrified of fighting actual Hercules, though this is treated as being practical, given that... it's Hercules.
- Arch-Enemy: As usual, it's Shirou.
- Blatant Lies: He insists that he's amnesiac, but Rin can tell he's lying right away.
- Bullying a Dragon: Done intentionally with Lancer in episode 10. To ensure Caster's mana is drained, Archer provokes Lancer into using his most potent attack against him. He is fully aware of how dangerous this is, but correctly gambles that using Rho Aias will help him to survive.
- …But He Sounds Handsome: He openly hates Shirou, but isn't above pointing out attractive qualities about him when Rin admits to finding him attractive.
- Clark Kenting: Archer hints towards his true identity so often that his drastically different appearance is probably the only thing that's keeping him from blowing his cover. Eventually (As in the source material) his luck runs out and Rin figures out his identity.
- Deadpan Snarker: Since Rin is varying levels of insane and overly-enthusiastic, he hates Shirou for reasons he has yet to officially divulge (anyone who's familiar with the official release will know, but it hasn't been explicitly stated here) and most everyone else is an idiot, Archer's rarely got anything positive to say, so he just resorts to sarcasm whenever possible.
- Et Tu, Brute?: Being Fate route Shirou — or something very close to it — he takes it very badly when Saber decides to completely set aside her wish rather than abandon this timeline's Shirou.Archer: Oh, so THIS is the world where you come into your humanity?! THIS one, where it's the BIGGEST pain in the ass for me?! Where was this, when-... *sigh* Oh, never mind.
- Everyone Has Standards: He has several:
- He sees nothing wrong with being a servant who follows Command Seals, but he is disturbed that Rin would waste it so quickly on making sure that, as Satan, he doesn't condemn her soul.
- No matter how pragmatic he is, he is not carpet bombing the city even if Rin orders him to.
- And he won't eat people to gain mana.
- The Gadfly: He's either this or was just messing with Rin when he first met her, explaining he wrecked her living room trying to crush a spider. The spider survived, and he intends to complete his task. The spider is a metaphor for himself, and by extension this timeline's Shirou.
- Hitler's Time Travel Exemption Act: Gives Shirou a version of this, asking if Hitler could be with his past self, would he kill his past self or would he let him keep doing what he does.
- Identity Amnesia: He has no memory of his identity or former life. Much like in the canon version, he's lying, and unlike in the canon version, it's made completely unambigious that he remembers pretty much everything from his version of the Fifth Holy Grail War.
- Ignored Expert: Archer warns Rin that he cannot beat Lancer or Berserker, but she doesn't listen. He later complains about this to Caster, mentioning that Rin never asked for his thoughts and never acted on them when he offered them, otherwise Shirou, Saber, Assassin and Caster herself would already be out of the War by this point.
- Meta Guy: He's lived through the Holy Grail War once before and remembers all of it, often peppering his thoughts and comments with references from Fate.
- Mistaken Identity: He's most often mistaken for the Devil Himself by Rin, but Lancer makes the educated guess that he's Gan Jiang, due to Archer wielding his weapons and summoning them out of thin air. Rin also thinks he's a Saber for a while, not helped by his first shown weapon being a sword.Eventually Rin figures out he is Shirou from the future.
- Noodle Incident: Somehow in the span of around five minutes he became the mortal enemy of Banasonic's CEO.
- Not So Above It All: Finds Rin's zero accountability endearing.Archer: I promise my master, that together, we will fuck up all the bitches.
- "Not So Different" Remark: Delivers one to Saber, describing them both as self-sacrificing to the point of self-destruction, to the point that they found their own destruction atop a hill of regrets for all the people they couldn't save. Given his personal history with Saber he's probably the one person who knew her true self best of all.
- Oh, Crap!: Whenever he runs into a Servant who's a lot stronger than he is, which is more often than he'd like.
- Only Sane Man: Finds himself having to deal with Rin and Shirou. He's not happy about it.
- O.O.C. Is Serious Business: With the possible combined threat of Caster, Kuzuki, and Kirei on the table, Archer's ready to go back on one of his primary rules.Archer: I know I recommend against this a lot, so don't take it lightly: I think we should carpet bomb the church.
- Pet the Dog: After his fight with Lancer in episode 10, Archer tells him that he deserved better than what happened to him.
- Phrase Catcher: Archer is weird. He's weird about Shirou.
- Pretender Diss: He tells Illya to get on his level for making sword projectiles.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: He gives one to Rin while betraying her in episode 8, pointing out that for all her bluster, she always chooses doing the right thing over making the hard, pragmatic choice expected of a Master.
- Surrounded by Idiots: Expressed this opinion while talking to Saber about their motives...Saber: (Regarding Archer's belief in why she wants to undo her reign as King Arthur) That's inane!
Archer: (exasperated sigh) We're all inane! Everyone else here is an idiot! You and I are the only ones trying to do something about it! - Servile Snarker: Not even Rin is safe from his verbal barbs. If anything, she's especially unsafe.
- Shipper on Deck: He sounds enthusiastic about Rin finding Shirou hot. He's also this for Shirou and Saber and expresses shock when they are disgusted by the notion of them being romantically involved This is because Archer is hinted at being Shirou from the Fate route.
- Weak, but Skilled: And doesn't he know it. Too bad for him that Rin thinks he's strong enough to lead a rebellion against God himself.
- You Have GOT to Be Kidding Me!: Whenever he's blindsided by significant deviations in the timeline that he wasn't expecting or planning for, such as Saber and Shirou having a mother/son relationship rather than a romantic one, and Saber deciding to protect Shirou even if it meant forgoing an easier chance at the Grail.
Lancer
Cu Chulainn
Voiced by: Aaron Robert Parnell
- The Ace: Archer calls him the "Irish Hercules" and he more than earns the nickname.
- Adaptational Dumbass: Archer needs to drop a lot more hints about his true objective in fighting him in the church, while in canon he pretty much figured out immediately after throwing Gae Bolg.
- Adaptational Intelligence: Lancer was not stupid in canon, but he is smarter in this series, waxing philosophical about heroism and how the world views it when commenting on Shirou's dreams of being a hero. He also knows the backstory behind Archer's weapons of choice and, upon seeing them, makes an educated, albeit incorrect, guess about Archer's identity.
- Always Accurate Attack: Gae Bolg is supposed to reverse cause and effect so the spear will always hit no matter what. Lancer is not exactly thrilled that Saber managed to just sidestep all that fancy metaphysical chicanery through her Instinct and luck.
- Anti-Villain: He's not particularly thrilled about being a scoundrel's attack dog.
- Blatant Lies: The name's Mario. First name Mario. Last name Mario. Mario Mario.
- Curb-Stomp Battle: When Lancer cuts loose against Archer in episode 10, the fight is massively one-sided in Lancer's favor. Archer can't land a single blow on him and spends most of the battle trying not to die, showing why Archer is afraid to fight him.
- Entertainingly Wrong: Lancer makes a pretty good guess as to Archer's identity, deducing that him being able to summon Kanshou and Byakuya out of thin air means he's probably the tragic blacksmith Gan Jiang. However, Archer does this through Projection magic instead of a connection to the original legend.
- Forced into Evil: His master wants him to be a villain. He doesn't want to be one, but has to due to being a Servant.
- Hero Antagonist: When Rin tells him Archer is Actually Satan, he decides to fight seriously.Lancer: If the Devil truly does stand before me, it's my duty as a hero to take action.
- Honor Before Reason: He decides to still kill Shirou after finding out he's a mage out of "Professional Pride."
- Jaded Professional: Has some rather cynical, yet insightful remarks on the nature of being a Hero.
- Lightning Bruiser: When Lancer fights seriously, he is so fast that even Archer struggles to keep up with him.
- Man of Kryptonite: Lancer's Protection From Arrows skill allows him to deflect almost all projectiles used against him, which is part of why Archer is so afraid of him: it renders most of his arsenal useless.
- Open Secret: Everyone who comes in contact with him can tell he's Cu Chulainn.Lancer: Can I level with you for a moment? You're the second person to pull that out of nowhere. Do I have it written on my back or what?
- Rhymes on a Dime: Is fond of speaking in limericks.
- Sore Loser: Doesn't want to be one, or anything...Lancer: But did that attack just miss!? That attack rewrites Causality!
- What the Hell, Hero?: Calls out Archer for his poor taste by betraying Rin.Lancer: You had a perfect woman who was willing to kick your ass, and you threw it away! Medb would be ashamed!
Berserker
Heracles
Voiced by: Logan Laidlaw
- The Berserker: That is his class but it's partly averted as Heracles was so skilled in life that even stripped of his intellect, he can pull off some impressive footwork through pure instinct alone.
- The Dreaded: Greek Cu Chulainn is not one to be trifled with. Archer pretty much wets his pants and flees when he figures out he's coming.
- Evil Former Friend: Not to Saber, but the chance that she might have a repeat of the Lancelot incident spurs her to kill him quickly.
- Healing Factor: He can quickly regenerate.
- It Can Think: Saber commends Berserker for figuring out her invisible sword, even in his mentally diminished state.
- No-Sell: Archer shows that none of his regular attacks hurt him. A broken Noble Phantasm, on the other hand, can. Gilgamesh states that he can flat-out ignore any attack not coming from an A-rank or Anti-Divinity weapon.
- Rasputinian Death: The whole idea of his Noble Phantasm, allowing him to come back from the dead twelve times before becoming immune to whatever killed him previously. Gilgamesh bypasses this by firing A-rank Noble Phantasms at Heracles like they're candy.
- The Speechless: He can only growl, though there is occasionally a discernable word in there.
Rider
Medusa
Voiced by: Cassandra Cavalli
- No Name Given: As Shirou points out, she dies with nobody revealing her name.
- Servile Snarker: Doesn't bother hiding what an idiot she thinks Shinji is.
Caster
Medea
Voiced by: Ama Bennington
- Depraved Bisexual: Has the hots for Kuzuki and Saber. Doesn't much care for Saber's consent, though.
- In the Hood: We only ever see her without it after it falls off as she's Taking the Bullet for Kuzuki.
- Invincible Villain: On the temple grounds, she can heal all her wounds indefinitely.
- Not So Above It All: Not even Medea can fully understand what her Master says when he speaks in that odd pattern of his.
- Polyamory: She's in a loving relationship with Kuzuki, but she openly displays attraction towards Saber. Kuzuki doesn't have any problems with this and merely reassures Caster that she'll get Saber soon — though he refers to Saber as Caster's "pet", not partner.
- Villain Respect: For Shirou and Archer, although it is more pronounced with the second one. She takes Archer very seriously, knowing that if he says he will do something, he will. While being nearly invincible in her territory, Archer gave as much as he got. While she is more mocking towards Shirou, she has some respect for his Projection Magic and determination. Ironically, she seems to consider Rin a joke.
Assassin
Sasaki Kojiro
Voiced by: Logan Laidlaw
- Affably Evil: He works for Caster, but is super nice and fair to Saber.
- Berserk Button:
- Don't mistake him for Miyamoto Musashi.Assassin: No, I am not Miyamoto Musashi. Or as he rightfully ought to be called, "Master of the sharpened oar," "Hero of the blinding sun!" Or "Progenitor of being a hack!"
- Also birds. Assassin hates birds.
- Don't mistake him for Miyamoto Musashi.
- Blood Knight: Caster considers it a battle fetish.
- Embarrassing Nickname: He does not want to be called Assassin. He fights more like a Saber.
- Entertainingly Wrong: He both makes one and is on the receiving end: Assassin makes a (not unreasonable) assessment that the Heroic Spirit that takes the form of a fourteen-year old girl with a sword and plate armour is Jeanne d'Arc, only for Saber to angrily deny it. Saber then immediately assumes that the Japanese Master Swordsman in front of her is Miyamoto Musashi, which causes an equally angry denial from him.
- Friendly Enemy: With Saber. It takes about two sword exchanges for her to start calling him "Other Saber" as per his wishes.
- Insistent Terminology: He hates being summoned as an "Assassin" and tries to claim on the mantle of "Saber". Saber sees through it instantly, given that she is the Saber of the war. Assassin is annoyed when she tells him that Lancer, Archer and Berserker already knows and asks her to tell Rider he's Saber if they ever meet.
- Noble Demon: Saves Shirou from Archer, pointing out the boy is of value to Saber, and thus of value to him.
- Not Afraid to Die: When Caster threatens him, he says she can't scare him because he doesn't fear death.
- Reality Warper: Tsubami Gaeshi is described as a technique that reaches "beyond true magic".
- Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: Hates serving under Caster.
- Villainous Crush: Like everyone else opposing her, Assassin likes Saber. Unlike practically everyone else, Saber takes it in stride.
Archer 2
Gilgamesh
Voiced by: Logan Laidlaw
- Adapted Out: If Gilgamesh's claims to have "technically three" Noble Phantasms are any indication, he doesn't possess canon Gil's fourth Noble Phantasm, Sha Nakba Imuru.
- Badass Boast: Sets the tone for his Awesome Ego.Gilgamesh: Um, Kirei...I don't care for the tone you're talking to me right now in...You filthy mongrel.
- The Bully: His treatment of Shinji goes straight into Comedic Sociopathy, and would be horrific if he wasn't doing it to, well, Shinji. He's only marginally less trollish to everyone else, especially his treatment of Illya and Heracles.
- Dragon-in-Chief: While technically Kirei's Servant, Gilgamesh freely acts according to his own will and agenda. This trope is taken to extreme lengths he pretends to be Shinji's Servant as, for all practical purposes, Gilgamesh is the master and Shinji is the underling due to how easily Gilgamesh bosses Shinji around.
- Evil Has a Bad Sense of Humor: His words before offing Illya reeks of this:Illya: (distraught over Herakles's death) Why are you doing this? I don't see the point.Gilgamesh: Correction. (Slashes her eyes out) You don't see anything.
- Even Evil Has Standards:
- Is immediately disgusted by the Matou family for their use of "Penis Bug Magic."
- While he's a supremacist bully, even his cruelty has limits: Upon mortally wounding Illya, he remarks that watching her die slowly and painfully is bringing up uncomfortable memories (with the strong implication that he's referring to Enkidu's death) and moves to finish her off quickly.
- Evil Is Petty: Gilgamesh hates Shinji being a nuisance about as much as he hates Shinji's family and its penis bug magic.
- Knight of Cerebus: While he has lots of comedic moments, Gilgamesh's introduction to the series marks the point where things take a turn for the worse since right after he appears, Shirou loses Saber to Caster. When Gilgamesh actually gets involved in the plot, he brutally murders Illya and Berserker, and his villainy is not Played for Laughs at that moment.
- Large Ham: Yes. Especially during his fight with Berserker.
- Laughably Evil: Gilgamesh is an awful person with a vastly inflated sense of self importance and an ill temper. The fact that he is so arrogant and ill-tempered makes him a riot.
- Leitmotif: "The King of Heroes"/"Eiyuu Ou", his leitmotif from the 2006 DEEN anime.
- Oh, Crap!: When Berserker breaks his Enkidu chains and nearly kills him. However, he quickly recovers and tries to pass it off as him being out of practice.Gilgamesh: (talking to himself, with uncharacteristic terror) HOLY SHIT! I ALMOST DIED! No, no no no no, don't be a human about this. You've faced worse. You're just rusty because you've spent ten years in this disgusting world...
- Pay Evil unto Evil:
- Probably the most endearing thing about Gilgamesh is how much of his time he spends mocking, tormenting and threatening Shinji.
- Gilgamesh finds the "penis bug magic" of the Matou family to be disgusting, so right after meeting Shinji, Gilgamesh asks if he has any living relatives with the intent of murdering them. Fortunately, Shinji's only blood relative he can find is his evil grandfather Zouken, who more than deserves whatever fate Gilgamesh inflicts on him.
- Rape Is a Special Kind of Evil: Because Gilgamesh finds the Matou family's Crest Worms disgusting, he orders Shinji to direct him to any relatives he has with the intent of killing them and ensuring nobody uses Crest Worms again.
- "The Reason You Suck" Speech: Every. Word. He says to Shinji Matou.
- Smug Super: Probably the strongest Servant of them all. He knows it, he relishes it, he won't ever let you forget it. Interestingly, he leans much more into his demi-god side than his human side, despite his hatred of the gods.
- Sophisticated as Hell: Usually speaks with the eloquence expected of a king, until he starts hamming it up and gets excited, such as declaring Herakles to be "royally FUCKED!" upon capturing him with Enkidu.
- Worthy Opponent: Despite his hatred for gods, he scolds Shinji for insulting Heracles, a fellow demigod. Although he may have been doing it just to contradict Shinji.
- Would Hurt a Child: Kills Illya without batting an eye, even jokes about it.
