Fate/strange fake
Fate/strange fake
Overview
Fate/strange fake is a light novel series set in the Fate universe written by Ryohgo Narita and illustrated by Shidzuki Morii. The series began being published in January 2015 by Kadokawa. The series tells the story of a faulty Grail War that summons strange Servants. It also spawned a manga adaptation illustrated by Morii.
Plot
Fate/strange fake centers around a Grail War that is copied incompletely from the Third Holy Grail War in Fuyuki City. After the end of the war, an organization in the U.S. began collecting data from the war to be able to plan their own ritual. After 70 years of preparations, they choose the city of Snowfield to be the battleground of their Grail War. However, during the ritual some aspects of the previous war weren’t successfully copied, resulting in an imitation of the Holy Grail War without a Saber class and with strange Servants being summoned.
Development
The series began as an April Fools joke that was posted to Narita’s homepage under the name “Fate/states night” on April 1, 2008. It was then rereleased as a stand-alone novel included as a bonus with the magazine Type-Moon Ace 2 in 2009 that featured illustrations by Morii and an afterword by Narita. Several years later, a novel and manga series were announced, and both were released in Japan on Jan. 10, 2015.
Characters
True Holy Grail War Masters
Ayaka Sajou
Saber’s Master, Ayaka is an introverted girl who enjoys her solitude. However she is fearful of others. She is part of an urban legend ghost story in Fuyuki City and is known as Person A.
Bazdilot Cordelion
True Archer’s Master, Bazdilot is cold and doesn’t care for others. He was picked as a Master due to the influence of the Scladio mob family, which he is employed with as a teacher.
Sigma
Watcher’s Master, Sigma is a mercenary hired by Francesca to participate in the Snowfield Holy Grail War.
Doris Lusendra
True Rider’s Master, Doris is a powerful mage and the youngest daughter of the Lusendra family who specializes in reinforcement magic.
Francesca Prelati
True Caster’s Master, Francesca helped establish the Snowfield Holy Grail War.
Faldeus Dioland
True Assassin’s Master, Faldeus is a mage working for the organization responsible for starting the False Holy Grail War.
Haruri Borzak
True Berserker’s Master, Haruri practices witchcraft and wants to destroy the world of magic using the Grail.
False Holy Grail War Masters
Tine Chelc
False Archer’s Master, Tine comes from an indiginous people who have watched over Snowfield for 1,000 years. She is an exceptionally talented magus.
Wolf
False Lancer’s Master, Wolf is a familiar to a magus who was given magic circuits and for some unknown reason received Command Seals instead of the magus.
Tsubaki Kuruoka
False Rider’s Master, Tsubaki is a young girl who was experimented on by her parents who were trying to increase her magic abilities.
Orlando Reeve
False Caster’s Master, Orlando is the police chief of Snowfield. He has prepared extensively for the war and is allied with Faldeus and Francesca.
Jester Karture
False Assassin’s Master, Jester is a Dead Apostle who is known by the name Six Hearted Revolver and leads a group of 10 disciples.
Flat Escardos
False Berserker’s Master, Flat comes from a long line of magi and is himself a prodigy. He has no wish for the Grail and only wants to see it.
True Holy Grail War Servants
Saber
Ayaka's Servant, Saber’s true identity is Richard I, the Lionheart. His Noble Phantasms are Excalibur and Rounds of Lionheart.
True Archer
Bazdilot’s Servant, True Archer’s identity is Alcides, the Distorted Hero. His Noble Phantasms are King’s Order, Nine Lives, and Reincarnation Pandora.
True Rider
Doris’ Servant, True Rider’s identity is Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons. Her Noble Phantasm is Goddess of War.
True Assassin
Faldeus’ Servant, True Assassin’s identity is Hassan-i-Sabbah. His Noble Phantasm is Zabaniya: Delusional Heartbeat.
True Caster
Francesca’s Servant, True Caster’s identity is François Prelati, the Trickster, who lived during the time of Joan of Arc and was close friends with Gilles de Rais. His Noble Phantasms are Grand Illusion and Prelati's Spellbook.
True Berserker
Haruri’s Servant, True Berserker’s identity is Huwawa aka Humbaba, the beast of the Cedar Forest. It tends to go into a rampage upon being summoned, often killing its Master before a contract can be made.
Watcher
Summoned by Sigma, Watcher’s identity is unknown although she is considered a Heroic Spirit. She conceals her true form and only appears to Sigma as shadows.
False Holy Grail War Servants
False Archer
Tine’s Servant, False Archer’s identity is Gilgamesh, the King of Heroes. His Noble Phantasms are Gate of Babylon and Ea.
False Lancer
Wolf’s Servant, False Lancer’s identity is Enkidu, the Chains of Heaven. Their Noble Phantasms are Age of Babylon and Enuma Elish.
False Rider
Tsubaki’s Servant, False Rider’s identity is Pale Rider, the Embodiment of Disease who is given form by the False Grail. His Noble Phantasms are Doomsday Come and Kagome Kagome.
False Caster
Orlando’s Servant, False Caster’s identity is Alexandre Dumas, the famous author known for The Count of Monte Cristo and The Three Musketeers. His Noble Phantasms are Musketeers' Masquerade and Grand Dictionnaire de Cuisine.
False Assassin
Jester’s Servant, False Assassin’s identity is unknown but she has been given the moniker Beautiful Assassin. Unlike other Assassin’s she doesn’t wear a skull mask to cover her face. Her Noble Phantasm is Zabaniya.
False Berserker
Flat’s Servant, False Berserker’s identity is Jack the Ripper. His Noble Phantasms are From Hell and Natural Born Killers.
Other Media
A manga adaptation of Fate/strange fake was developed and released alongside the light novel series on Jan. 10, 2015. It is illustrated by Shidzuki Morii and published by Type-Moon Books.