Characters / The Sage's Disciple

Characters appearing in The Sage's Disciple

Team Caster

Tropes that apply to both main members

• Arson, Murder, and Lifesaving: Practically their MO.
• Crazy Is Cool: They are insane, they know it, they weaponize it and readers outright worship them because of this.
• Destructive Savior: Team Caster causes a LOT of collateral damage.
• Magic Knight: However, they come at it from different directions. Caster prefers to use only his martial skills and fight his enemies head on, though he uses his Rune Magic when needed. After starting his magical education, Crow prefers to use magecraft as a distraction before closing to engage in Good Old Fisticuffs.
• Squishy Wizard: Both members avert this hard. Technically, Crow is squishy, but only in comparison to Servants and combat monsters like Kirei. Once suited up with Rune-enhanced clothing, Crow is able to shrug off blows that would debilitate a normal human.
• Student–Master Team: With the little twist that the Servant is much more skilled than his Master.

"Crow"/Rictus

Our Narrator, ready for some "Grail Business"

Fan-Chosen VA: Yūichi Nakamura

Alignment: Chaotic Neutral

A Spacebattler that ended up dropped into the Nasuverse. He's not really happy about his situation, but he's trying to make the best of it.

• The Apprentice: Is this to Caster.
• The Berserker: Has a moment of this when four of Assassin's bodies jump into his battle with Tokiomi.
• Chaotic Neutral: His in-universe alignment as stated by Rictus. While Crow is occasionally willing to lend a hand to those who need it, he's generally out for his own self-interest.
• Combat Pragmatist: If he's fighting fair, it's because he promised someone he would. Otherwise, he cheats as much as he can get away with.
• Cool Mask: The mysterious Crow Mask, which Crow appeared with. Next to nothing has been revealed about it, other than it gives Crow the ability to speak and read any language. Invisitext scattered throughout the story pretty explicitly implies that it's intelligent and personally knew Caster. Due to its presence, Gilgamesh momentarily thought Crow was a demigod before realizing the truth. He later referred to the mask as a "shard of the divine."
• Deadpan Snarker: Mostly kept to his internal commentary, but occasionally says something out loud. The only character he hasn't backsassed at some point is Kiritsugu.
• Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?: While Caster and the other Servants were the ones to carry it out, Crow managed to make a plan to kill Gilgamesh that actually worked:
  • Step 1: Ram the Vimana with a Rune-enhanced Gordius Wheel, then have Rider pull Gilgamesh into Ionian Hetairoi to keep him occupied.
  • Step 2: Prep Ochd Deug Odin while Gilgamesh is temporarily off the field, then blast him as soon as he reappears to disable most of his Noble Phantasms.
  • Step 3: Apply Berserker armed with one of Kiritsugu's assault rifles while Gilgamesh is disoriented from losing access to Sha Nagba Imuru.
  • Step 4 (Optional): Have Caster bombard Gilgamesh with Rune Magic in case Berserker gets distracted by Saber and/or disintegrated by Gilgamesh.
  • Step 1 went off without a hitch, though Gilgamesh broke out early, causing Crow to spend a Command Seal to fire Ochd Deug Odin. He also had to implement Step 4 when Saber appeared.
• Dual Wield: Crow's main armaments are a married pair of knives called the Twin Tines, E-ranked Mystic Codes created by Caster to use on Zouken. Made from a stag's antlers, they were imbued with the concept of "purification," mainly effective against spiritual entities. They function similarly to Baptismal Sacraments, but both have to be used for power to take effect, which itself isn't that strong. They managed to stun Zouken for several days, where a Baptismal Sacrament was enough to kill him outright.
• Dude Looks Like a Lady: Rictus has commented that he's been mistaken for a girl before, though he insists that it was only when he was younger. Fans have taken this to mean his hypothetical Heroic Spirit self would be either outright Genderbent or Ambiguous Gender. Partially averted as he's been described as having a "deep old man's voice."
• Genre Savvy: Milks his knowledge of the Nasuverse to plan around the weaknesses, personal traumas, and personality quirks of the enemy Masters and Servants to either accomplish a goal to sabotage their plans, persuade later enemy threats within the series onto an alternate path of life, or to buy time for Caster and other allies to step in if in a pinch.
• Geometric Magic: Crow is slowly learning how to use Rune Magic from Caster, though it helps that he already had a functioning knowledge of Elder Futhark Runes before arriving in the Nasuverse. So far, he has learned to make magical grenades by carving Runes onto small rocks. Unlike Caster, he has to physically carve them.
  • By the fifth night, Crow has expanded this to what he describes as a "cheap knock-off of Bazette's rune suit," which has runes that enhance his physical abilities to near-superhuman, blunt physical damage, protect him from fire, and allow him to run on water by creating ice platforms beneath his feet.
• Good is Not Nice: Crow has done a lot of morally ambiguous things in the name of surviving the Grail War. Kidnapping, arson, manslaughter, theft. He also threatened Kariya into an alliance by forcing him to pick what he wanted more: saving Sakura or getting revenge on Tokiomi.
• From Nobody to Nightmare: So far as the other teams are concerned, Crow literally came out of nowhere to be one of the most destructive players in the Holy Grail War. It got to the point where Kiritsugu allied with Kirei to take him down.
  • From a meta perspective, Crow went from a powerless nobody to a combatant able to take on magi that should by all rights be completely out of his weight-class inside of five days. He went mano-a-mano with Kayneth and Tokiomi, though the latter did briefly hand him his ass.
• "Hey, You!" Haymaker: Crow delivers one to Ryuunosuke in the first chapter after appearing in the summoning circle.
• Honor Before Reason: Outside of the characters that are literal knights, Crow himself occasionally invokes this. Once he gives his word on something, he keeps to it, even if it doesn't benefit him. Because of this, he's careful about actually promising anything. An example of this is when he has Caster kidnap Sola-Ui in Chapter 14. He could have easily had Berserker kill Lancer and Kayneth, but instead had Kariya pull him back because he promised Caster a chance to properly fight Diarmuid.
• Identity Amnesia: Whatever method was used to transport Crow to the Nasuverse apparently erased all memory of his real name as a side effect. He goes by "Crow" just to have something to introduce himself as.
• Informed Ability: Rictus has mentioned that Crow is a decent archer, but hasn't had a chance to demonstrate his skill in-universe.
• Kleptomaniac Hero: Due to being dropped into the Nasuverse with only the clothes on his back, Crow has had to be this. The things he's stolen include Ryuunosuke's Formalcraft Grimoire, a pair of binoculars, a suitcase of as-of-yet unidentified Mystic Codes, two vials of Volumen Hydrargyrum, Kayneth's wallet, Matou Sakura, Matou Shinji, and Sola-Ui.
• Malevolent Masked Men: Most of the competitors see Crow as this, since he wears the Crow Mask whenever he's doing "Grail business." Kariya and Waver are the only Masters that know what Crow actually looks like.
• Mentor Archetype: Crow is reluctantly this to Shinji. Knowing what he's capable of becoming, Crow laid down a number of rules for his student to follow.
• Mistaken for Badass: Crow deliberately invokes this trope by trying to make himself look far more dangerous and powerful than he actually is by doing things such as joining Caster on the front lines instead of hiding. So far, he's convinced Emiya Kiritsugu that he's a high-tier Puppet Master by using Caster's mini-Wicker Men as decoys, Rider thinks that he's an oracle due to his future knowledge, and the rest of the competitors see him as a combination of Magnificent Bastard and The Wonka. The only one that has a hint that he isn't quite what he seems is Kirei, but even he is taken in by the "oracle" thing.
• Older Than They Look: Crow is 23 years old, though he's mentioned being mistaken for 14. It's a point of irritation for him.
• Refuge in Audacity: Crow uses this trope to invoke Mistaken for Badass in his bid to actually survive the war. The more outrageous the plans, the longer he believes he will live. This actually earned him a lot of respect from Rider and formed the basis of Team Caster's alliance with him.
• Teeth-Clenched Teamwork: With Kariya. Kariya dislikes Crow for kidnapping Sakura from the Matou Mansion and strong-arming him into the alliance by threatening to have Caster hide the Tohsaka children from him permanently. Crow doesn't trust Kariya's degrading mental stability or his ability to control Berserker. Their mutual aim to help Sakura is the only thing preventing them from trying to kill each other.
• Unskilled, but Strong: As a magus, Crow is hopeless since he has zero training and a below average number of average quality Magic Circuits. While he knows some of the mechanics of how Nasuverse magic works, he doesn't know how to do them. However, he has a nigh-superhuman Od capacity. Once he figured out how to activate his circuits, he is able to support Caster while barely feeling any drain.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: Crow has a fear of falling. He uses the sensation of "falling endlessly" to activate his Magic Circuits.
  • Incidentally, he's also scared of snakes.
• Wild Card: Of The Unfettered and Manipulative Bastard variant, though he is also the "Wild Card" Master of the Fourth Holy Grail War. Crow relies on constantly blitzing the competition, so he doesn't stay still for long. If he loses the initiative, he dies. During his conversation with Sola-Ui, it's noted that he has a tendency to get others to act as his proxies, whether they know it or not. So far, he's used this tactic against everyone except Waver and Rider. As a result, no one can get a good read on him, and the few guesses that have been made are mostly incorrect.
• Wouldn't Hurt a Child: As much as he grumbles about it, Crow has gone out of his way to help the kids he's come across and refuses to use foul language in front of them.

Caster

The Sage of the Forest

Real Name: Cú Chulainn

Alignment: Lawful Neutral

The Hound of Ulster. Ever since Crow summoned him, he's been the main reason his Master has survived for as long as he has.

• Attack of the 50-Foot Whatever: Caster's first Noble Phantasm, The Wicker Man: Cage of Consuming, Scorching Flames.
• Blood Knight: Despite being summoned as Caster, Cú Chulainn is still this. His stated goal for the war is to have a good fight. Crow has promised him a duel against Diarmuid, causing him to apply Honor Before Reason when dealing with Team Lancer.
• Did You Just Flip Off Cthulhu?: Caster's second Noble Phantasm, the imitation Gate of Skye, wasn't only there to protect him from Archer's onslaught, he also used it to steal any launchable weapon within the Gate of Babylon. Repeat, he robbed the King of Heroes blind. Even Crow is appalled by his balls-to-the-wall audacity.
• Fantastically Indifferent: His reaction to Crow telling him everything is just to shrug and go along with it. So long as he gets a good fight, he doesn't care if his Master is possibly crazy.
• Geometric Magic: Caster's Rune Magic, though he uses Elder Futhark instead of the canonical Armanen.
• Golem: The Wicker Man. Also, his mini-Wicker Men constructs, which act in a similar capacity to Dragon Tooth Warriors. Additionally, he can use them as decoys to pull off Actually a Doombot.
• Green Thumb: His talent at manipulating plant life is the source of his title "Sage of the Forest." So far, he's used it to create mini-Wicker Men and Team Caster's base camp.
• Hidden Depths: His son's death hit him harder than his laid-back demeanor implies. He briefly panics when Crow faints after summoning him because it was too reminiscient of Connla's fall at his hands, and fantasizes about gutting Byakuya for abandoning Shinji, thus spitting on the privilege he would have given the world to have.
  • Byakuya turned up dead in the epilogue from an apparent mugging, implying that Caster had followed through with his desire when he was away from Crow. This had the side bonus of leaving Kariya as the only adult Matou still alive, leaving him as the only one who could inherit the Matou estate.
• Hyper-Competent Sidekick: The main reason Crow is still alive.
• Instant Runes: He has a greater mastery of Runes than his Lancer incarnation and doesn't need to physically draw the Runes to cast them. His spells also don't require verbal components.
  • Runes usually require a solid physical medium (such as stone or paint) to enact their mysteries. A burning cigarette can be used to draw them in the air, but it loses much of its power. Caster can draw them in the air with prana alone and still use them at full strength.
• Kill Sat: Caster's third Noble Phantasm, Ochd Deug Odin, which uses all eighteen Primeval Runes to bombard an area.
• Lawful Neutral: His in-universe alignment.
• Magic Knight: Caster in a nutshell. Despite his low physical parameters, he prefers to get up close and personal. He's focused more on the practical applications of magecraft than the theoretical.
• Magic Staff: Wields a rune-carved staff, which he uses as though it was a spear. Often lights it on fire.
• Mentor Archetype: Caster is this to Crow. In Fate/Grand Order, it outright states being summoned as a Caster causes him to adopt this archetype:
  • "When he materializes as a Caster, it is believed he imposes the role of a "guide" to himself. Not as a true druid, but as a temporary one... As long as they are together, he will continue to guide and illuminate the path his Master shall walk on."
• Mundane Utility: A firm believer in this. He mainly uses his Green Thumb to create furniture at the camp and his Primordial Runes are quite handy to create a space heater or an icebox. Crow has a good laugh about it.
• Playing with Fire: His main specialization as a magus.
• Semi-Divine: The offspring of Deichtine (the mortal younger sister of King Conchobar mac Nessa) and the Sun God Lugh.
• Spin to Deflect Stuff: Does this when using his Protection from Arrows skill. Used to great effect against Gilgamesh.
• Squishy Wizard: Averts this. While his physical parameters as a Caster are nothing to write home about, his sheer skill makes up for it. When augmented by Runes, he has shown himself easily capable of taking on members of the Knight classes without resorting to his fire spells. What he lacks in esoteric knowledge he makes up for with sheer combat ability.
• Title Drop: He's the eponymous Sage and Crow is his disciple.

Other Humans

Matou Shinji

Significantly less of an asshole than canon.

The younger version of the Matou Shinji that appears in the various routes of Fate/stay night. After the raid on the Matou house, he has latched onto Team Caster and declared himself Crow's apprentice.

• The Apprentice: Is this to Crow. While incapable of performing modern magecraft, Crow has thought about trying to see if it's possible to teach him Formalcraft, an archaic ritual-based method of casting spells that uses energy from outside of the caster. Even after being told multiple times that Crow isn't actually a Tengu, Shinji still calls him "Tengu-sensei."
• Archnemesis Dad: While Shinji is ambivalent on his feelings about his father, he now sees his "grandfather" Zouken as "a monster to be slain by a hero" after overhearing Caster and Crow discussing the Crest Worms. He's taken to using Crow's name for the elder Matou: "The Worm-That-Walks."
• Bratty Half-Pint: While Shinji is a genius at whatever he puts his mind to, he's still a 6-7 year old kid at the moment.
• Big Brother Mentor: Because of Crow's interference, he's still this to Sakura.
• Child Prodigy: In canon, he is supposed to be a genius at anything he puts his mind to, but his lack of Magic Circuits caused him to never push himself to his full potential.
• Genre Savvy: As a huge fan of myths and heroic tales, he's familiar with some of the usual schemes. Such as the wise-yet-grumpy Mentor Archetype who needs to be pestered into taking an apprentice by the young and eager hero aspirant.
• Hero Worship: In this universe, he is a fan of heroic tales, particularly that of Minamoto no Yoshitsune, and has a habit of comparing his life to those of his idols. Once Crow tells him about Beowulf, he mentally notes that "no Grendels were going to sneak up on him" while keeping night watch when Team Caster was away from the camp.
• Muggle Born of Mages: While the Matou family is very old and used to be powerful, neither Shinji nor his father were born with Magic Circuits. Crow intends to avert this trope by trying to teach him Formalcraft.
• Parental Abandonment: His father left him behind when fleeing from the Matou mansion raid, a fact that he's still trying to come to terms with.
• Parental Neglect: Aside from canonically hiding Shinji's magi lineage from him, Byakuya also left him behind at the drop of a hat when Team Caster raided the Matou house.
• Ritual Magic: Crow is attempting to teach him this method of spell casting from the grimoire he looted from Ryuunosuke.
• Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: Has the beginnings of this with Rin. Both are all too willing to snipe at each other at the slightest provocation.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: Is this compared to his older canon counterpart. Crow is trying to make sure he stays that way.
• "Well Done, Son" Guy: Latches onto Crow and tries to gain his approval so he doesn't get left behind again.

Matou Sakura

She will smile eventually.

The estranged daughter of Tohsaka Tokiomi and sister of Rin, she was given to the Matou with the intent of becoming their heir. This plan was wrecked when Team Caster carried out an assault on the Matou mansion.

• Body Horror: Her body has been infested with parasitic Crest Worms.
• Dull Eyes of Unhappiness: Has these as a result of the worms infesting her body.
• Living MacGuffin: She doesn't do very much in the story proper, but her suffering prompts Crow to abduct her, which immediately causes a reaction from her sister and father. And that's without taking Kariya as a factor...
• Shrinking Violet: She is more this than Creepy Child, since she hasn't been completely broken by her treatment at the hands of Zouken.
• Shy Blue-Haired Girl: Well, Shy Violet Haired Girl. Has yet to actually say a word to Crow. Her interactions with him so far have been described as "deer in headlights."
• The Speechless: Never pipes a word when in Crow's proximity until the epilogue. Her first and last words to him? "Thank you".
• When She Smiles: In the epilogue.

Tohsaka Rin

A half-pint magus.

Daughter and heir of Tohsaka Tokiomi, Rin is Sakura's estranged sister. When news of the Matou house raid reached her, she went in pursuit of her sister's kidnappers.

• Badass Adorable: Yes, she's only 6 or 7 years old. However, she still managed to track Team Caster to their base in the middle of the forest, a feat that the other Masters have yet to accomplish. She was only befuddled by Caster's bounded field, which her sister had to pull her through.
• Big Sister Instinct: When she learns one of her father's competitors stole her sister away, she immediately comes back to Fuyuki and manages to find Team Caster's camp where she tries to persuade Sakura to flee with her.
• Break the Cutie: She got a front row seat for the surgery to remove the worms from Sakura. Her expression was described as "increasingly sickened." In the end, despite her doubts, she does decide to follow the path of a magus under the tutelage of her father, though she is under no illusions as to what it may entail and resolves never to allow herself to crack like Sola-Ui.
• Daddy's Girl: Very much so, even when disillusioned about the life of a magus. On Tokiomi's side, he cherishes her more than everything, both as his daughter and his heir.
• In Spite of a Nail: She still heads back to Fuyuki to track down a missing child abducted by Caster's Master.
• Oh, Crap!: Has one of these when she realizes that Crow is one of her father's competitors.
• Sitcom Arch-Nemesis: Shows the beginning of this with Shinji. After Shinji outs her attempt to steal away with Sakura, she takes every opportunity to snipe at him.

Joke Characters

As the story has progressed, several fans have taken the time to create hypothetical Servant incarnations based either on Crow's perceived reputation, his demonstrated abilities, or on alternate universe versions of himself.

Caster Crow

What happens when fans get bored.

Class: Caster

Alignment: Chaotic Neutral

Gender: Male?

Heroic Spirit Crow came about when a fan of the story took Crow's tendency to mess with canon events to its logical extreme. The result is a creature that it would not be inaccurate to describe as a "beast of the apocalypse." Among his deeds are such things as restarting the Age of Gods, breaking the Pillars of the World, and other such horrors.

• Ambiguous Gender: The male Crow has been outright Genderbent or rendered so androgynous as to be incapable of being described as either gender.
• Cool Mask: Still has the Crow Mask, which has become a Noble Phantasm capable of endlessly generating Prana.
• Eldritch Abomination: Because of his extra-dimensional nature, he has gained Outsider (EX) as a skill. It prevents his past or future from being viewed via magic, skills, or Noble Phantasms. Additionally, being fused with the remnants of the Pillars of the World has turned him into "Humanity's Greatest Enemy."
• Geometric Magic: Enchantment (E) subsumes Item Creation and Rune Magic, resulting in a quick, dirty, and cheap method of rapidly utilizing Runes.
  "My body is like a revolver and the runes are like bullets. Gotta be careful to not run out of ammunition, eh?"
  • The third stage of Gae Skye gives him Rune Magic (A+).
• Necromancer: The second stage of Gae Skye, which turns the landscape into an imitation of the Land of Shadows before summoning a horde of wraiths.
• One-Winged Angel: In the third stage of Gae Skye, Crow fuses with Tiamat's Womb, granting him Monstrous Strength (A+), Rune Magic (A+), and Battle Continuation (A). However, he loses the capability to retreat.
• Refuge in Audacity: One of Crow's skills is Audacity (A), where anyone observing his actions has to make a Luck check or be rendered incapable of discerning the truth, leaving them confused as to what he actually is. Hero, Villain? Archmage, Dabbler?
• Walking Techbane: A result of the first stage of his Noble Phantasm, Gae Skye: World Rending Eruption. Made from the remnants of the Pillars of the World, it is a curse that manifests the "Miracle of Destruction." Activating it sends out a dark tide that causes everything it touches to regress to its most primal form. It can only be resisted by eschewing the Great Works of Man and fighting with only the most primal means.

Assassin Crow

A Shadowy Crow

Class: Assassin

Alignment: Lawful Evil

Gender: Male?

This version of Crow came about as a theoretical result of Kayneth surviving the Grail War and going on to blow up the "legend" of Crow to monstrous proportions to soften the blow to his own ego at having lost to him. Crow himself doesn't seem to like being summoned in this container, despite preferring to use the same tactics.

• Ambiguous Gender: As Kayneth never found out what Crow looked like, Assassin manifests as a shadowy creature that doesn't really favor one gender over the other.
• Bag of Holding: Has one of these as a Noble Phantasm. "Tools of the Assassin" is basically a sack containing various types of runestones, his knives, an enchanted slingshot that never misses (even when pointed in the wrong direction), and various poisons. He's not sure where the last one came from.
• Chessmaster: Unlike his Caster incarnation, Assassin is portrayed more as a Diabolical Mastermind rather than an agent of chaos, despite them still having similar personalities. No matter how random the action appears, it's all according to plan. This manifests as the skill Puppeteer (A-), which effectively does the same thing as Caster!Crow's Audacity (A).
• Cool Mask: As in most of his other incarnations, Crow still has the Crow Mask as a Noble Phantasm.
• Dirty Coward: Assassin has Disengage at a high rank (B+), allowing him to make a fast getaway from battle. It's one of the few skills not penalized by Innocent Monster.
• Dual Wield: One of his Noble Phantasms is the "Twin Bloody Beaks," a renamed version of his Twin Tines. As with the originals, they are particularly effective against spiritual entities.
• Geometric Magic: Assassin actually has a higher rank in Rune Magic than his Caster counterpart. Additionally, he can create wooden golems, control plants, and shapeshift into a flock of crows.
• Hero with Bad Publicity: While Crow doesn't really consider himself a hero, even he is mildly disgusted with the monstrous image that Kayneth has made. His Innocent Monster (E) actually penalizes all parameters and skills except for the ones that Crow admits are "spot on."
• Invisibility Cloak: Averted. Despite being summoned as Assassin, Crow's Presence Concealment is at the bare minimum for the class (D-) and is only able to hide his presence as a Servant.
• Lawful Evil: This is not Crow's true alignment, but rather a result of Kayneth attempting to portray him as a monster.
• Magnetic Hero: Despite being summoned as Assassin, Crow has Charisma (B-) due to managing to achieve a rare feat: forming a lasting alliance between three Servants during a Grail War.
• Outlaw: Despite his Lawful alignment, Assassin is more in line with this. With the Raptor (B) skill, he can easily track down and none-lethally subdue a target with less Strength than his (C-). He actually gets a bonus to Agility when carrying a passenger, allowing for a fast getaway after kidnapping someone yet again.
• Refuge in Audacity: One of his skills. Assassin gains a three rank boost to Luck from Living the Dream (A) when performing actions fitting an "absolute madman."

Cuimhni (Crow Lily)

What happens when Scathach meddles.

Class: Lancer

Alignment: True Neutral

Gender: Female

This version of Crow trained under Scathach, the legendary warrior-witch that trained Cu Chulainn. However, he found himself desperate to hide himself from something, so he sought his teacher's help. She wove a spell that erased "Crow" from the world, but with a side effect of turning him into a woman. Thankfully for his sanity, severe memory-loss was another side effect.

• Actually Pretty Funny: Her Charisma (E) invokes this in others, as they find something endearing or amusing about her. For Scathach, it was her student's tendency to accidentally cause massive explosions.
• Born Lucky: Has the highest Luck of the Crows at A+, bordering on godlike.
• Came Back Strong: Despite the memory-loss, Cuimhni is one of Crow's strongest incarnations. The only parameters not above B are Endurance (D) and Mana (C) and her Rune Magic is at C+.
• Dangerous Forbidden Technique: Brionac, her Noble Phantasm. While it's extremely powerful, it weakens the spell hiding her true self from the world every time it's used.
• Gender Bender: As a side effect of the erasing spell cast on him by Scathach, Crow was transmogrified into a woman, though he (she) doesn't remember it.
• Geometric Magic: Cuimhni's Rune Magic is at C+, which her teacher Scathach considered "decent." She has a near mastery of the original 18 Runes.
• Laser-Guided Amnesia: As a result of Scathach's spell, Cuimhni has completely forgotten that she was ever not female. Additionally, she can inflict this on others with Information Erasure (A+), which erases any hint that might reveal her true identity (even to herself) after combat is concluded. This ability is also an effect of Scathach's spell as it erases "Crow" from the world. Its effects weaken every time that Cuimhni uses her Noble Phantasm "Brionac: Light of the Dark Sun," as it also weakens the spell concealing her true self.
• Noodle Incident: The description for her Disengage (B) skill mentions one of these:
  The fox who fights and runs away, lives to fight another day. In her travels, Cuimhni encountered a city shrouded by mist. During the day, the inhabitants seemed like normal, happy citizens. But at night, they struck. Somehow, she managed to escape as a city’s worth of Dead Apostles and their thralls decended upon her. She returned, and brought low the blood drinkers with a spear of light.
• Spanner in the Works: Despite her memory-loss, her Instinct (D) manifests as an instinctive talent for finding opportunities to benefit from the plans of others. A hold-over from the original Crow that wasn't suppressed by Scathach's spell.
• True Neutral: In universe alignment. She's trying to relearn who she is, so she isn't really pulled to any axis of the Good-Evil and Law-Chaos scale.

Crow Alter

An Abomination among Crows

Class: Avenger

Alignment: Neutral Evil

Gender: Male

Crow Alter is a version of Crow that possesses all of his perceived insanity, but none of his real morals. He is a beast that revels in tearing things apart before putting them back together, usually for his own amusement. It would not be inaccurate to compare him to The Joker.

• Beneath the Mask: Crow Alter appears to be in control of himself and even seems charming and eloquent, but in truth is an utter raving lunatic beneath his facade.
• Berserk Button: Cuimhni's very existence. If he catches sight of her, he will try to kill her.
• Came Back Strong: In addition to Came Back Wrong, Crow Alter is the strongest of all of the Crow variants, with all of his parameters except Agility clocking in at B or higher.
• Cool Mask: Like his other incarnations, he still wears one, but it isn't the Crow Mask.
• Dissonant Serenity: He plays the part of being a charismatic upper-class gentleman, but beneath the surface he is a madman that delights in causing and observing contradictions.
• Driven to Madness: It's implied that this is a version of Crow that followed the path of a true magus and became the worse for it. His capability to be summoned as Avenger was made possible by the hatred he accumulated during his life in a similar manner to Angra Mainyu.
  Researching for the sake of research, the greatest of pleasures upon dismantling the meticulous miracles of God, the cursed works of devils, the Noble Phantasms of many great heroes, even his own soul and mind were torn asunder and in that insanity he found pleasure.
• Equivalent Exchange: His magic, manifesting as his Dissonance (EX) skill, is extremely powerful, but it requires him to destroy something before he can cast anything.
• Fashion-Victim Villain: Unlike his more somberly-dressed counterparts, Crow Alter dresses in a garish array of colors that announces his presence.
• Hyper-Competent Sidekick: Despite his power, he prefers to take on this role, stating that "those closest to the Crown are either lights or shadows and that he is unfit to be one of 'Light', sardonically smiling as if remembering a joke."
• Mind Rape: Did this to himself through his magecraft research.
• Mundane Utility: Goes out of his way to use magecraft purely for mundane actions, just to be contrary to traditional magi.
• Noodle Incident: Had one of these that resulted in a violent disagreement with the Dead Apostle Ancestor Gransurg. Crow Alter apparently made fun of Crimson Moon's fate and Gransurg disliked Crow's magic.
• Walking Wasteland: He's a worse one than Caster!Crow. When he activates "Deathborn Räsvelg: Let us feast upon the forbidden," Crow Alter becomes a vampiric existence that feeds off everything around him. Normal humans are killed in an instant before being turned into a slurry and consumed. Servants are slowly weakened, picked off a piece at a time as though he were a murder of crows. So long as it is active, he will eat away at the world around him and corpses will rise as undead servants. As it is a part of a power gathering ritual, he will continue to swell and corrupt until he manages to break free from the bonds of his Servant status and become a Monstrous Existence.

Summer Crow

Class: Saber

Alignment: Chaotic Neutral

Gender: Male

As part of Chaldeas' Summer Event, Crow was forced into his beach form by Scathach. He's not quite sure why he was turned into a Saber as he's not quite suited for it. Amusingly, this is one of the only variants where he appears definitively male.

• A Wizard Did It: As with the other Beach form Servants, Scathach's Rune Magic is to blame for his current form.
• Born Lucky: He might have the highest Luck of all Crows, but it's incalculable at EX rank.
• Cool Mask: Even in his beach form, he's still wearing the Crow Mask, though he been dressed in a sleeveless hoodie and Hawaiian-print swim trunks.
• Empathic Weapon: Volumen Hydrargyrum, the Mystic Code he stole from Kayneth, is his Saber form's Noble Phantasm. While he's figured out how to control it, it appears to have a mind of its own and refers to itself as Crocea Mors.
• Geometric Magic: Despite this form being especially lazy, his Summer Rune Magic is just as powerful as Cuimhni's Primordial Runes.
• Lazy Bum: Beach Bum (A) is this manifested, as he refuses to get involved with the romance hijinks of the event. It heals him and dispels debuffs.
• Mundane Utility: He uses his Summer Rune Magic (C+) to keep cool on hot days.
  "What's the point of being a mage if you can't enjoy the benefits?"
• Squishy Wizard: He's the Saber version of this as he's ill-suited for the class. His physical stats are fairly pathetic, but his Mana and Luck are phenomenal.
• The Strategist: Averted? While he has Tengu Tactics of Water Warfare (A): The Tactical knowledge of the Tengu adapted for naval and aquatic combat:
  "I'm literally making this stuff up as I go. Also, how do I even have this skill?!"
• Underwear of Power: His Fourth Ascension changes his costume to a speedo. Crow is not amused.

Other Servants

Rider

Real Name: Iskandar, Alexander the Great

The King of Conquerors, he quickly realizes Team Caster is more than meet the eye.

• Entertainingly Wrong: After hearing Crow display knowledge he shouldn't know by any means, he concludes the guy is actually an oracle. Crow decides Sure, Let's Go with That.
• Friend to All Children: He gets along fantastically with Shinji and Rin.
• Hidden Depths: Due to knowing full well what he's like, Crow mentally comments on how scarily easy it is to get taken in by the image he portrays and forget that he conquered most of the known world.
• Incoming Ham: He still makes his canon entrance to the docks fight. Later, his warcry only barely precedes his chariot slamming into Gilgamesh's Vimana at Mach 7.
• Mentor Archetype: He's still this for Waver, though its rarely onscreen.
• Nice Guy: When Team Caster actually accepts his offer of an alliance, he immediately starts treating them like close companions. When Crow was briefly captured by Kirei at the Banquet of Kings, he drove his Gordius Wheel through the Einzbern castle to get him back.
• O.O.C. Is Serious Business: After Crow tells him about the tainted Grail at their planning session for the final battle, he's unusually quiet before momentarily leaving the cabin to get some air and think. Thankfully, it doesn't last long and he's back to his boisterous self soon enough.
• Refuge in Audacity: He thinks Team Caster's both hilarious and effective due to their extensive use of this trope. He even goes along with one of their plans and lets them disguise him as one of Assassin's bodies when they kidnap Irisviel on the final night.
• Running Gag: He's come to assume that if something is on fire or exploding, Team Caster is probably involved in some way.
• Serious Business: Since he hails from Ancient Greece, oracles are this for him. So when Crow - whom he pegged as one - tells him the Grail is tremendously bad news, he takes the warning with the utmost gravity.

Berserker

Real Name: Lancelot du Lac

The most famous example of the Black Knight, he didn't make an appearance until Chapter 14.

• The Ace: Even moreso than in canon. With Kariya, Rin, and Sakura all providing him with prana, his Awesome, but Impractical status has been partly averted and his parameters were all boosted one rank.
• Awesome, but Impractical: While his power requirements have been taken care of, he's still difficult to control anytime Saber is in the vicinity.
• Ax-Crazy: It's Berserker's schtick.
• The Berserker: Duh.
• Black Knight: Pretty much the ur-example.
• Eldritch Abomination: Despite not actually being one, he comes across as this anytime he's nearby but not visible. Both Rin and Sola-Ui felt a sense of barely-restrained bloodlust and imminent danger when they were in Team Caster's cabin with him.
• Master of Illusion: For Someone's Glory. Though it costs two command seals, he disguised himself as Gilgamesh to distract Saber while Crow and Rider kidnapped Irisviel.
• Oh, Crap!: Elicits this reaction from Crow when the latter realizes he is probably within arm's reach of him in Chapter 2.
• Screaming Warrior: Continues to do this.

Saber

Real Name: Artoria Pendragon

The King of Knights.

• Antagonist in Mourning: Quietly grives over Lancer's passing, since she considered him a Worthy Opponent.
• Entertainingly Wrong: When she muses about Caster's identity, she briefly considers the possibility of him being the druid Cathbad. Cù Chulainn was actually his grandson, so she didn't miss by that much.
• The Needs of the Many: Comes to understand this philosophy a little better when she realizes her preventing Camelot's destruction would mean destroying everything coming after - trillions of human lives.

Lancer

Real Name: Diarmuid Ua Duibhne

Another Irish legend in this Holy Grail War, and as such the only one besides Crow to know Caster's true identity.

• Blood Knight: Very excited when he understands he will have the opportunity to fight Cù Chulainn himself.
• Go Out with a Smile: How he meets his end, after Caster traps him in a duel to death. He considered falling in battle against a true hero as a much more dignified death than being betrayed by his lord.
• Secret-Keeper: Immediately understands who Caster is when the other Servant gives him a hint, but never breathes a word about it to his Master.
• Worthy Opponent: Considers Saber and Caster as this.

Archer

Real Name: Gilgamesh

A raging egomaniac whose ego takes critical hits when Team Caster starts to play hard-ball. It didn't make him any less of a threat.

• Brought Down to Badass: Even after having the vast majority of his Noble Phantasms stolen or disabled, Gilgamesh still manages to mangle most of the remaining Servants with just a pair of nameless wands after breaking out of Ionian Hetairoi without using Ea.
• Butt-Monkey: When he tries to confront Team Caster at the Matou Mansion, Caster uses his Noble Phantasm to inflict him the Loki Treatment, Hulk Version. In their second meeting, the other Servant actually goes and filches any weapon in the Babylon Gate, including Enkidu. And when Gil tries to learn more about the mysterious Crow, his "perfect" scrying mirror glitches.
• Heroic BSoD: Following Caster's stunt with the (imitation) Gate of Skye, Gil hides himself in Tokiomi's wine cellar and doesn't bother coming back until a long time.
• Implacable Man: Despite the humiliation inflicted on him by Crow and company for most of the story, Gilgamesh lives up to his hype in the final battle, during which all of his defensive Noble Phantasms, Sha Nagba Imru, and the Gate of Babylon are disabled by Och Deug Odin (an A-rank anti-fortress Noble Phantasm that still didn't leave a scratch on him), not to mention that all of his parameters were reduced by one rank. When faced down by four Servants gunning for him, naked, and armed only with a pair of nameless wands, he still managed to kill Berserker outright, disintegrate half of Saber's body, and knock Rider out of the sky. Before Caster managed to take him down, Archer was still making his way towards Crow with the express purpose of killing him.
• Tranquil Fury: After being depossessed of a major part of his treasure, Gil isn't angry, oh no. He's flat-out ungodly pissed, so much he's ready to torture any descendents of Crow till the end of the world.

Assassin

Real Name: Hundred-Faced Hassan

The 19th Hashashin Grandmaster, their wish is to be reconstituted into a single individual.

• Actually Pretty Funny: While most of the personalities have an intense dislike of Team Caster, a personality named Dilshad appreciated the irony of an Assassin being assassinated.
• Even Evil Has Standards: All of the personalities are absolutely disgusted with Zouken when one of the bodies follows Team Caster into the Matou Mansion.
• Hidden Depths: Due to a lack of characterization in canon, Assassin can come across as this and act similar to the Geth. They refer to their entire personality as "the Collective," which they describe as a large room filled with many loud and disagreeing voices. Different personalities have different opinions and moral codes, which are debated endlessly. As bodies are killed off and the "Collective" gets quieter, they ponder if becoming a single mind is really what they want.
• Irony: Dilshad, one Assassin's many personalities, is considered an oddball due to finding the fact that an Assassin was assassinated successfully. And he survives to the end of the story.
• Me's a Crowd: Assassin has 80 separate personalities that it can place into individual bodies. However, this comes at the cost of dividing their parameters evenly across the bodies. With all 80 deployed, they are individually only barely stronger than a human.
• Red Shirt: Every time Assassin shows up to a fight, at least one of the bodies gets killed. The highest so far in one battle was 26 when Kiritsugu and Kirei assaulted Team Caster's camp. Still, Assassin has managed to survive longer than they did in canon and individual bodies are capable of easily tearing through dozens of Caster's mini-Wicker Men golems before being overwhelmed by numbers.
• Villain Takes an Interest: However, it's more along the lines of professional curiosity as the personalities wanted to know how Crow and Caster managed to assassinate a body with a trap at the precise location they were going to be standing.

Other Masters

Kiritsugu Emiya

Also known as the Magus Killer, he's ready to do anything to win the Holy Grail.

• An Arm and a Leg: Loses his left arm, which leads to Irisviel forging a metal prothesis for him.
• The Dreaded: Despite getting repeatedly screwed over by Team Caster, Crow is terrified of any confrontation with him. He holds the distinction of being the only character that Crow never snarks at.
• Entertainingly Wrong: After seeing Crow swapping places with one of Caster's golems to avoid a fatal blow, he pegs his opponent as a high-tier Puppet Master.
• Your Head A-Splode: How Crow ultimately deals with him: getting seven exploding rune stones shoved down your throat tends to do that to a person.

Irisviel von Einzbern

The de jure master of Saber, but is actually the living conduit for the Holy Grail.

Kirei Kotomine

A priest supposedly impartial overseeing the Grail War, he quickly reveals himself as pursuing his own agenda.

• Body Horror: Trying to lift Crow's mask outright cooks his hand. Even his Healing Magic cannot cure the result. Additionally, he continually emanates the smell of burnt meat, no matter how hard he tries to clean himself. It takes Crow actually asking the mask itself nicely to remove the curse for it to go away.
• Healing Hands: His only magecraft talent. He's so skilled Caster praises his ability, and Rider thinks of him as Asclepius reborn.
• Hypocrite: He's a Catholic priest yet is so desperate for answers to his questions he's ready to consult a man he believes to be a pagan oracle.

Tokiomi Tohsaka

Archer's Master, his carefully planned strategy immediately starts to unravel after the first contact with the enemy.

• Kung-Fu Wizard: During his fight with Crow, he busts out the family martial arts, showing exactly how desperate he is to get his daughter back.
• Papa Wolf: Not happy when both his daughters disappear, with every sign pointing at Crow as responsible for it. When Crow sends him a challenge letter, Tokiomi immediately went on the warpath, leaving his well-defended stronghold to confront Crow personally.

Lord Kayneth Archibald El-Melloi

Crow's favourite target when it comes about screwing with someone, he's not happy about this. At all.

• Butt-Monkey: Crow's schemes always end up with him humiliated, mugged and concussed. He's just such a tempting target...
• Cruel Mercy: Crow ultimately decides against killing him, because Kayneth is so beneath him it would be more enjoyable to let him go back in England to confess his defeat.
• Nothing Personal: Kayneth comes to believe Crow has some sort of vendetta against him or his family. Crow laughs at this and simply tells him that despite being one of the strongest Mages in the War, he's far too flashy and stocked with resources to simply ignore, essentially becoming a Piñata Enemy to anyone willing to deal with him.

Kariya Matou

Berserker's Master.

• Always Someone Better: Somewhat irritated Crow managed to do what he couldn't, saving Sakura, destroying Zouken, and arranging for the removal and destruction of the Crest Worms.
• Armor-Piercing Question: Crow asks him why he simply didn't order Berserker to go to town on Zouken just after summoning him and gotten Sakura out of the pit. This forces him to realize that at least on some level he didn't only want to save Sakura, but also get revenge on Tokiomi. Crow forces him to choose what is it that he wants. Ultimately, he chooses to focus on Sakura.
• Earn Your Happy Ending: After the War, he's granted custody of Sakura and Shinji along with the remains of the Matou estate. Sola-ui was able to restore some functionality to his left arm and leg, though he would never again be in good enough condition to be able to fight. He's satisfied though.
• Kill Me Now, or Forever Stay Your Hand: After the Crest Worms in his body have been removed, he contemplates using Kiritsugu's Thompson Contender to kill Crow. In the end, he sets his priorities straight and instead uses the gun against one of the last remaining Worms.
• It's All About Me: Is forced to confront that he's not exactly a shining hero.
• My God, What Have I Done?: Another realization hitting him after the War is that he never bothered to know his nephew before Byakuya booked it, focusing only on Sakura and his own thoughts.

Waver Velvet

Rider's Master.

• Badass Bookworm: During the Grail War, he was able to use his familiarity with Kayneth's work to figure out the functions of the suitcase full of Mystic Codes Crow stole from the man within a day.
  • After the Grail War, he used his technical knowledge to finagle a way to kill Golem Einzbern (aka Old Man Acht) via messing with the internals of the castle's "systems" and destroying the terminal body.
• Cowardly Lion: Waver may be screaming and crying when Rider drags him along to battle, but he doesn't run once there. That said, he does have his moments where his future Badass Bookworm self shines through, such as when he kills Acht.
• Klingon Promotion: Mirroring canon, Waver has been named a Lord of the Clocktower due to the sudden death of his predecessor. Only instead of the El Melloi, it's the Einzbern family and he's directly responsible for killing the family head this time. He hasn't accepted the title, leading to a world-wide chase to avoid having the Einzbern homunculi force him into the role. The last time he was seen in story was him hiding out in the woods in West Virginia in the United States.
• Necromancer: Thanks to one of the Mystic Codes stolen from Kayneth, Waver can summon shades of the dead to plumb their knowledge if he has access to a shard of their skeleton.
• Non-Action Guy: Due to his small physique and meager magical potential, Waver is this for almost the entirety of the Grail War.
• Only Sane Man: Waver is practically this to the antics of the Rider-Berserker-Caster alliance and considers everyone else in the group certifiably insane.
• Walking the Earth: After the Grail War, he's been doing this with Rider, Kirei, and Assassin since he can't really go back to England due to Kayneth surviving. He's been joined by Caren (Kirei's daughter) and Ilya following the incident at the Einzbern Castle. His journey has taken him through China, Egypt, Italy, Germany, and finally the United States, leaving a host of Noodle Incidents behind him.

Characters appearing in The Puppeteer's Bodyguard

Garan no Dou

Garan no Dou Agency

Officially, the agency specializes in architecture and engineering, as well as producing toys. They have a side business of private investigation, especially those that involve supernatural elements.

Members:

Crow/Rictus/John Crane

This section is for Crow following the events of "The Sage's Disciple." See above for tropes related to Crow during the Fourth Holy Grail War.

• Beleaguered Assistant: Not only he has to defend his boss from would-be kidnappers and killers while she watches laughing and refusing to help, he has to worry about money since Touko is unable to trusted with cash.
• Bodyguarding a Badass: While his job is officially "bodyguard," he feels more like an "accountant" as much of his time is spent making sure Touko left enough money in Garan no Dou's accounts to be able to both pay him and afford decent food.
• Cast from Experience Points: Mixed with Sacrificed Basic Skill for Awesome Training, Crow discovers that his ability to rapidly learn Rune Magic has come at the cost of hemorrhaging memories of his past life, though it is leaving his knowledge base intact. For instance, he only recently realized that he had forgotten a number of seemingly minor thing, like the sound of his father's voice or the color of his mother's hair.
• Collector of the Strange: By the start of the sequel, Crow has started in on this, turning his workshop into a combination of this and Trophy Room. Besides the Mystic Codes that he stole from Kayneth, he also possesses Avalon and the Thompson Contender, which he looted from Kiritsugu after killing him.
• Familiar: Crow paid Touko to create a crow puppet to serve as his familiar. Though he has other, more traditional familiars, he claims it's his favorite.
• Inept Mage: At anything other than Rune Magic, Crow is at best average by magus standards.
• Mundane Utility: Crow retains this mindset, using magecraft for such tasks as keeping the air around his desk clear of cigarette smoke and warming his basement workshop. When prompted, he also lights Touko's cigarettes with flame magecraft.
• Playing with Fire: Similarly to Azaka Kokutou, he has a talent for "ignition" magecraft. Touko has him practice it by service as her cigarette lighter.
• Troll: Not nearly as much as Touko, but he has his moments.

Touko Aozaki

Crow's boss

A powerful magus and Sealing Designate, Touko is the head of the Garan no Dou agency. After the Grail War, Crow made a bargain with her and ended up becoming her "bodyguard."

• Badass Longcoat: She still has her orange coat.
• Color Motif: She likes wearing orange clothing. The first thing Crow noticed when he met her was her orange coat.
• The Dreaded: Crow calls her the "goddamn most terrifying woman on the planet" and freaked out when she showed up in Fuyuki.
• Geas: One of the main reasons she hasn't booted Crow out of Garan no Dou is that she's geased not to. However, Crow notes she has slipped out of worse bindings simply by killing herself and transfering to another body.
• Glass Cannon: Crow establishes that the hard part is getting close to her. However, once done, she has pretty much no means of close-combat abilities, and can be more easily disabled.
• Smoking Is Cool: Smokes like a chimney. It's gotten to the point where there is a persistent cloud of smoke in the office area of the Garan no Dou building, much to Crow's annoyance.
• Troll: Touko bought a giant Tiki statue and positioned it so that it was constantly staring at Crow's desk in the office, then bolted the desk to the floor.

Residents of Mifune

Cormac Driscoll

Owner of the "Live Steel" Pub and magus of the Fraga clan.

• The Bartender: He's both the owner and the bartender of the Live Steel. He also makes a mean Shepherd's Pie according to Crow.
• BFS: Has an Oakeshott type XIIIa greatsword hanging in the pub, which the establishment takes its name from. He's very particular about the name.
• The Big Guy: Cormac is a guy with a physique comparable to Rider's, meaning he positively dwarfs most people.
• Friendly Enemy: Despite being a Fraga magus sent to spy on them, Crow and Touko regularly do business with him.
• Incredibly Obvious Tail: He's a very large man with the physique of a bodybuilder. Every time Touko shifts towns and settles down for more than a month, Cormac and his pub pop up. He's now in Japan, where he sticks out like a sore thumb. One would think the Fraga did this deliberately.
• Magic Knight: While he hasn't shown any magecraft, it's likely that he's this given that he's a Fraga.
• Overt Operative: He's actually a spy for the Fraga, but he's never tried to be subtle about the fact that he's following Touko around.

Taro

A Yakuza belonging to an associate family of the Ryougi, he acts as the bodyguard of Atsuko Miyamoto, Crow's first client.

• Does Not Know His Own Strength: While he can get through everyday life with no problems, sometimes he loses control of his strength when his Hair-Trigger Temper spikes.
• Expy: Rictus has said he's pretty much a dead-ringer for Shizuo Heiwajima, though if Taro has a nice side it hasn't been seen yet.
• Happily Adopted: By the Miyamoto family, though Taro sees the relationship more along the lines of Lord and Vassal.
• Hypocrite: Hates foreigners specifically because of his own mixed ancestry.
• Jerkass: Has done nothing onscreen to endear himself to anyone. Crow's internal narration does not have kind things to say about him.
• Jerkass Has a Point: Given the failures of the previous investigators, it's pretty understandable for him to doubt Crow's ability to solve a decade-long murder spree.
• Overzealous Underling: He's this to Atsuko as her bodyguard. The first thing he did upon meeting Crow was to slam him against a wall and put a knife to his throat.
• Sinister Switchblade: His weapon of choice is a switchblade, though he has a tendency to accidentally crush them. He tends to flip them open and closed as a form of meditation, which creeps out people in the vicinity.
• Super-Strength: This is the primary indicator of his supernatural background. He was able to casually crush a switchblade with his bare hand, though he didn't have the Required Secondary Powers to avoid getting deep cuts in his palm.
• Undying Loyalty: Possibly his only redeeming quality, though he easily crosses over into Overzealous Underling territory.
• Used to Be a Sweet Kid: According to Atsuko, he used to be a lot nicer when he was a kid. But constant bullying and his own increasingly volatile Hair-Trigger Temper made him into the vicious Jerkass he is now.
• Yakuza: He is one.