Fate/Apocrypha

Fate/Apocrypha is a Light Novel by Yuuichiro Higashide and with illustratios by Ototsugu Konoe, set as a part of the Nasuverse. It was originally conceived as a joint-project MMORPG by Type-Moon, with the help of several other authors and artists like Gen Urobuchi, but it was canceled (but it would later be the basis for the gacha mobile game Fate: Grand Order) The storyline in itself was revived as a Light Novel, which was published in the Type-Moon Ace magazine and recopilated in five volumes from 2012 to 2014, a 74 chapters/16 volumes-long manga by Akira Ishida (not THAT one), first serialized on the Comp Ace mag and then on the web version of Type-Moon Ace, from 2016 to 2024; and in a 25 episoes long 2017 Animated Adaptation, aired on Netflix. Additionally, many of the servants have been featured in other Nasuverse media, especially the above-mentioned Fate: Grand Order, plus there are some small novellas depict either some characters' pasts or what happened to them after the series. And last but not least, there's a sort-of sequel light novel series by Hikaru Sakurai named Fate: Lost Einherjar set ten years after Apocrypha itself, with one volume released in 2022.

The story revolves around a Holy Grail War different from the ones presented in Fate/Zero and Fate/stay night. There are now fourteen Servants summoned by the Grail, and the war itself is now also being presided over by a Servant, Jeanne D'Arc, a Ruler-class Servant. This is because after the Third Grail War, which took place in the Fuyuki of 1939, a group known as the Yggdmillennia Faction stole the Greater Gail itself and hid it somewhere in Eastern Europe, more exactly in the (fictional) city of Trifas (Transylvania, now Romania). The following Holy Grail Wars have been taking place across the world and on a smaller basis, each Grail summoning a Ruler like Jeanne to watch over them and keep something similar to an order.

60 years pass, and the Yggdmillennia group steps out of the shadows. Despite all their differences, its members have one mission: to take away the control that the Mage's Association has over Mage society, giving other mages the cjance to learn magecraft and soar on their own right. And so this particular Grail War will be held in Romania: there will be two teams, the Faction of Red (for the Mage's Association) and the Faction of Black (Yggdmillennia themselves), and whoever wins will get the Grail itself.

In the middle of all of this, it's revealed that the Yggdmillennia clan managed to create Homunculi in mass production levels, using them as either soldiers, servants, or Living Batteries to get prana for the Servants. One of these Homunculi, though, slowly starts developing something similar of a personality of his own and manages to escape from the clan's clutches: he at first is nameless but is given the name Sieg, he grows close to two of the Servants from the Black Faction and to Jeanne, and with their help he becomes a key part in all of this. . .

Tropes used in Fate: Apocrypha include:

• Adapted Out: Penthesilea, as Achilles' flashback to their past encounter and her cursing him before dying didn't make it to the anime.
  • Karna at some point sees Siegfried as his younger brother and rival Arjuna, but that wasn't featured in the anime either.
  • Scenes with Sola-Ui's older brother Bran and Lord El Melloi's adoptive younger sister Reines were also cut off, albeit Reines got a tiny cameo at the end.
  • Four Servants from the game prototype were not included in the novels: Kintoki Sakata, Musashibo Benkei, King David and Saint George. Years later, they made their way to Fate: Grand Order.
  • Althea, another of the very few Homunculi with a name and a personality (alongside Sieg and Toole), wasn't included in the anime.
• A Day in the Limelight: The side-stories Un-birth and Zugzwang are these for Reika and Jack.
• After-Action Patchup: Sieg and Toole's first interaction has him bandaging her injured leg after one of the Faction battles.
• Age-Inappropriate Dress: Dear Fucking God, Jack. No wonder Reika got her a white sundress, white tights and red shoes.
  • As said below, Mordred wears this under her huge armor. One of the first things she asks Kairi for is new clothes.
• Agony of the Feet: Karna gets briefly subjected to this in his first fight with Vlad III The Impaler.
  • Having one foot and one hand pierced by Celenike's magical stakes keeps Sieg pinned to the ground and immobilized as she orders her Servant Astolfo/Rider of Black to kill him.
  • Later, as Jack the Ripper/Assassin of Black's Noble Phantasm covers the city of Trifas and traps Sieg and several others inside, Chiron/Archer of Black shoots one of his arrows from outside said NP's area and hits her on her ankle, almost cutting her foot off. It's a VERY serious injury that almost completely incapacitates Jack for a while, since her Master Reika can't heal her uet o her lack of actual Magecraft; she soon must sacrifice herself to shield the girl Servant from Atalante's attacks.
• All There in the Manual: Or in this case, All There in the Material Book.
• Alternate Timeline: Ayep. The point of divergence happens in the Third Fuyuki Grail War, where not only Darnic and the Yggdmillenia manage to steal the Grail and hide it, but the Einzberns change tactics and summon a Ruler as their Servant.
  • Due to the above mentioned fact, the Fourth and Fifth Fuyuki Holy Wars never happen. Instead, there are smaller Grail Wars across the world (and one can bet that Waver became Lord El Melloi through one, as he canonically summoned Iskandar anyway). The strongest catalyst is in Romania, allowing the current Greater Grail War to take place since it lets more Servants to be summoned.
  • Many of the original summon catalysts were lost after the Third Fuyuki War, so the heroes in this one are not the same ones from FSN and Zero but somewhat more obscure ones.
  • The Material Book explains, among many other things, what happened to some characters of FSN and Zero.
    • Risei was still the overseer of the Third Fuyuki War, but since the Fourth one didn't happen, he died of natural causes rather than being killed by Kayneth Additionally, he had two sons: one is Kirei, the other is Shiro Amakusa, whom he sort-of adopted and renamed as Shiro Kotomine)
    • Kirei, as said, above, had a sort-of adoptive brother in Shiro albeit they weren't ultra close. His emotional conflicts from Zero never took place either, and he simply took his dad's position as a priest after he passed away; even then, his "big brother" Shiro was on guard regarding him.
    • The Tohsakas changed tactics after the theft of the Holy Grail, no longer seeking to use it for a way to get to the Root. Instead, they turn to martial arts - especially Chinese kenpo.
    • The Matou family completely disappeared after the Third War, since Darnic's theft of the Grail screwed Zouken over BIG TIME. And while Tokiomi still had to send Sakura away, he found her a better host family: the Edelfeldts. As a result, Sakura becomes Luvia's adopted sister and trains in... wrestling.
    • Since there was no Fourth Fuyuki Holy Grail War, there was no Fuyuki Fire either. Shiro lived a normal life with his parents, albeit still having the Emiya surname: he still met Sakura and Rin, they both still fell for him, and Luvia also butts in...
    • Ilya is never born, since after the Third Fuyuki HGW the Einzberns decide to work on creating their own Greater Grail and therefore they never hired Kiritsugu to be a Master in their name.
• Artifact of Death: The (scrapped out) Ark Of The Covenant, which text implies it will drain those unworthy to touch it of prana, to the point of death.
• Artistic License: Abused to the highest degree with the Servant designs, but most obviously, Jack the Ripper is a skimpily-dressed Little Miss Badass.
• Because You Were Nice to Me: Semiramis once was the Queen of Assyria, the target of many men's lust. The fact that Shiro Kotomine appreciates her power and intellect much more than her beauty is something she really likes.
  • Reika Rikudou and Jack the Ripper have this for each other. Sagara wanted to use Reika as the catalyst for Jack, what with her being a prostitute, but Jack sensed that Reika did NOT want to die so as soon as she bled a little and Jack was summoned, she saved Reika and then tortured and killed Hyoma, letting Reika become her Master. In return, Reika supports Jack no matter what she does and gives her the unconditional maternal love that she's always desperately craved for.
  • Atalante's Wish to make a world where all children would be loved and cherished comes from her having been abandoned as a baby just for being a girl and then taken in by Artemis.
  • Mordred was used by her mother Morgan LeFay and then neglected by her "father" King Arthur, leading to the downfall of Camelot. So when her Master Kairi Shishigou treats her more like a daughter than just a Servant, he earns her Undying Loyalty.
  • Chiron tells Fiore that greatly appreciates how she treats him kindly and like a human being, not just as a living weapon to use in the Holy War. She tries to downplay it by saying she was just scared of giving him a bad impression, but he doesn't buy it.
• Blood Bath: Like is namesake from the Nibelungenlied, Siegfried becomes invulnerable after bathing in the blood of a dragon, save for a spot on his back where a leaf sticks to him. That's not what kills him, see Heroic Sacrifice
• Bowdlerise: In the manga, the Homuncili are nude inside their their tanks. They wore undies instead in the anime.
  • Astolfo's punishment for helping Sieg escape was quite mild in the anime, as he only had his hands pierced and impaled to the wall of Celenike's Torture Cellar and she only tweaks the stakes to cause him pain. In the manga he was pinned/impaled by several stakes in his joints, and Celenike hits him with a cane instead.
  • In the anime, Siegfried places his own heart in the then-unnamed Homunculus' body before fading away. In the manga, he literally feeds it to the boy. This comes off a a bit odd since the anime did keep the scene where Reika feeds Jack a human heart as if it was cake.
• Broken Bird: Atalante, Jack and Reika. Shirou can be seen as a Rare Male Example.
  • Jeanne completely averts it, as she has no regrets about her past life and has no hatred even for those who burned her. Shakespeare and his summoned Gilles try to make her one and almost succeed, but they fail thanks to Sieg.
• Burn the Witch: Since Jeanne D'Arc is one of the protagonists, her fiery execution is shown in Episode 2. Additionally, her La Pucelle Noble Phantasm uses it as a basis but it's so Cast From Lifespan, it will kill her with one single use.
  • Later. Shakespeare's Mind Rape of Jeanne include her being Forced to Watch as Sieg is burned at the stake instead of her.
• Cool Horse: Bayard, St. George's ultimate Noble Phantasm. Too bad Georgios (plus other Servants like David, Kintoki Sakata and Musashibou Benkei) was not included in the ACTUAL novels.
• Cold-Blooded Torture: Sagara is briefly subjected to this when Jack slices off his lower jaw and hand and perfectly seals the wounds. She then cuts off his hand to give Reika his Command Spells, before actually killing him.
  • She later tortures several mages and civilians to death, and in one case she does it to force the Yggdmillenia Mage Avi Decker reveal how the clan protects its base. In the last case, she does it on screen via sticking her hand in the victim's body and squeezing his heart.
• Compressed Pragmatic Adaptation: The anime had to cut out lots, LOTS of material to fit as much as it could into 25 episodes, and it also changed other things. The Ishida manga more or less managed to restore quite a bit of material, but it took more tie (it was published through eight years)
• Deal with the Devil: A source of big trouble for Kairi. To cap: One of his ancestors pulled one, which helped the Shishigou clan thrive as Necromancers... but at the cost of their numbers dwindling and their descendants eventually becoming sterile. Kairi tried to dodge the eventual elimination of the Shishigou clan by adopting a little girl and transferring his Crest to her, but much to his horror, the Emblem itself released poison after being implanted in the poor kid, killing her; he still feels terribly guilty since he did care for the girl, so his Wish on the Grail is for the prosperity of the Shishigo clan.
• Declaration of Protection: Both Jeanne and Astolfo decide to protect Sieg no matter what.
  • One of the most ship teasey scenes with Fiore and Chiron has him giving her one before kissing her hand.
• Died in Your Arms Tonight: Happens more than once. There's Reika, in Jack's arms, Shirou's once Master, an Einzbern female homunculi, in his embrace, Atalanta, in Achilles' arms (overlapping with Cradling Your Kill), Jeanne in Sieg's arms, and last but not least Shiro himself, on Semiramis's lap
• Empathy Doll Shot: Episode 14 of the anime starts with a still-human Avicebron watching helplessly as a nearby village is burned to the ground. He then picks up a handmade doll and, as it dissolves into dust in his hand, he bitterly thinks about how Humans Are Bastards.
  • Later, a plush bunny doll is shown as a bitter reminder of the death of Kairi Shishigou's adopted daughter during a Crest Transfer Ritual that went horribly wrong.
• Enfant Terrible: Jack the Ripper, and h o w.
• Fan Disservice: Celenike Icecolle Yggdmillenia is a Hot Witch with huge breasts that are highlighted by her modified jacket's Absolute Cleavage, wide Hartman Hips and very long legs. Oh, and her underwear is a lacy Black Bra and Panties set. Except the woman is also a cruel sadist who rapes and kills boys and men (whether human or homunculi), often coupling it with Cold-Blooded Torture. She's seen molesting a restrained Astolfo in her dungeon (albeit the boy looks more bored than anything), once doing it while fuilly dressed and later when in her undies... The best example, however, is when she's seen sitting on a chair and in her lacy underwear, angrily ranting about how unruly Astolfo is... while holding a bloody knife in her hand, and right before we're shown a torn apart Creepy Doll on the nearby table... and then there's a brief glimpse of the lifeless, bloodstained corpse of an Homunculus... THEN Celenike starts ranting madly about how much she wants to defile and corrupt Astolfo to possess him fully, and the starts stabbing the doll's remains with a Slasher Smile...
• Fantastic Nuke: "Brahmastra Kundala" is described as such. Karna's regular "Brahmastra" is already very capable of wiping out a person/Servant, but "Brahmastra Kundala" is what happens when he applies his fire affinity to it, causing the Noble Phantasm's area of effect to expand considerably.
• Fatal Flaw: Save for the Forvedge siblings and Reika, the Masters of the Faction of Black do NOT get along well with their Servants: Gordes insults and snaps at Siegfried/his Saber out of pride and insecurity, Celenike treats Astolfo/her Rider as almost a sex toy, Darnic is more polite to Vlad/his Lancer but will put his own Wish over Vlad's without hesitation, and Roche's blind adoration of Avicebron/his Caster makes him oblivious to his flaws and darker sides. As a result, their Servants do turn against them in one way or another: Siegfried commits an Heroic Suicide to rescue the Homunculus Boy after Gordes beats the poor kid bloody, Astolfo resists Celenike's orders as much as possible even when she uses a Command Spell to force him kill Sieg, Darnic uses his Command Spells to force Vlad use his "Legend of Dracula" Noble Phantasm aka presses his Berserk Button to the core and ends up using the rest to forcibly merge with the FURIOUS Vlad with disastrous consequences for the two AND the clan, and Roche falls victim to Avicebron's plans to use the boy as the Reactor Core for his Noble Phantasm
  • The Faction of Red AS A WHOLE cannot really work as a team. First, several of the Servants are very unruly, as seen in the case of the WILD Spartacus and Shakespeare sneakily setting him on the loose just to see what would happen. Second, some Masters are fully willing to stab others in the back if they feel it's needed - Kairi has a Gut Feeling about it when he meets Shiro in person and refuses to directly collaborate with the Faction, and he's proved right when Shirou and Semiramis lock up the non-Kairi Masters, drug them via a mix of poison-laced tea and Charm Person-like spells, and manipulate them into handing their Command Seals to Shiro himself. As a consequence of the above Kairi aka the only Master who dodged this runs the fuck away with Mordred, and the remaining Servants (save for Shakespeare) are initially quite reluctant to follow Shiro at first (Atalanta thinks Shiro will betray her too, Achilles considers the deal dishonorable, and Karna still feels somewhat indebted to Feend). Third and last, all of this has SERIOUS consequences on the long run, as almost the Servants would rather follow their own personal scores than work for the Red Faction and especially Shiro as a whole: Atalante fell into desperate madness and developed a massive grudge against Jeanne, focused only on trying to kill her and became near impossible to deal with as a result; Achilles first was locked-on in his awaited duel with his Big Brother Mentor Chiron, and once he won and followed Chiron's Last Request to give one of his Noble Phantasms to Astolfo, he pulled a Mutual Kill with Atalante to rescue her from her despair; Karna was MUCH more interested in fighting Sieg/Siegfried than properly defending the Gardens so he neglected that duty to favor their duel (plus Chiron's aforementioned request helped the boy have a hand in Sieg defeating Karna himself) and ultimately lost and died; and Shakespeare was more focused on wanting to witness and write the perfect and most epic scenario than fully following Shiro, to the point of Shiro needing to use a Command Spell to keep him from screwing him over. The only Servant who's fully committed to the Faction itself is Semiramis, and she ends up fatally injured by Mordred and Kairi, fading away right after Shirou himself dies.
  • According to Chiron, Achilles is pretty much the Ideal Hero... save for two things: he will NOT react well when people he cares for are in trouble, and it'll be EVEN WORSE if he has to fight them. It turns out to be very true when not only they must fight each other, but Achilles sees his sort-of Cool Big Sis and crush Atalante falling into despair and madness...
  • While Chiron and Caules care for Fiore and think she's not inherently wrong in being an All-Loving Heroine, they aren't sure that she can properly handle the horrible pressure and the hard decisions coming from being the heiress to the Yggdmillenia clan. Caules brings up an incident in which the siblings had to watch a puppy that they took care of being used in a magic ritual, and while Fiore kept her wits during the ritual itself, she collapsed crying as the siblings buried the poor pooch. After Darnic's death, Fiore does her best to do thigs right by the clan, but it's clear it will take a toll on her sooner than later and she priorizes everyone's safety over chasing after the Reds. So she decides to give her Magic Crest to her younger brother and make him the leader, as he also has a kind heart but is more pragmatic than she is.
  • Karna is maybe the most heroic and honorable Servant in the Faction of Red, but due to his Dark and Troubled Past he also just can't understad human emotions. Coupled with him being a Living Lie Detector, he often ends up criticizing those around him to try helping them... but does so with such a lack of tact, he only ends up upsetting them and looking more condescending than he means to. ie, in the first half of the series Karna appreciates Vlad as a Worthy Opponent -- but when they fight inside the Gardens of Babylon, he points out how his rival lost massive power boost coming from being in his homeland and tries to get him to duel him later, yet all he gets is to wound Vlad's pride as a Warrior Prince and piss him off.
  • Wanting a world where all children will be loved, nurtured and cared for is a beautiful dream. Problem is, it was Atalante's Wish for the Grail... so when she sees Jeanne defeat Jack the Ripper and then exorcise all the souls that are parts of her, hich happen to be the souls of 80.000 kids who died in terrible circumstances in Victorian London, the poor woman is utterly and completely mind-fucked, falling into a mix of Despair Event Horizon and Black and White Insanity...
• Five Man Band: Twofold, a this counts for both Masters and Servants of the Faction of Black:
  • The Leader: While NOT The Hero, Darnic Prestone Yggdmillenia is the one who not only leads The Clan, but also got all of the Great Holy War business in motion via stealing the Greater Grail itself decades ago, building up said Clan, and then defying the Mages Association itself in this particular Holy War. His Servant, Vlad III/Lancer of Black, once was the Voivode of Wallachia that protected Eastern Europe from the Ottomans in brutal but effective ways, and often leads the Servants into battle.
  • The Lancer: Fiore Forvedge Yggdmillenia is a Teen Genius Cripple who was chosen by Darnic as his heiress and has proved herself to be an accomplished Master despite her disability. Her Servant, Chiron/Archer of Black, is a keen strategist and at times The Medic.
  • The Big Guy: Two: Gordes Musik Yggdmillenia and Caules Forvedge Yggdmillenia. Gordes himself is a very portly man who is a pretty decent fighter in his own right and provided the clan with the homunculi that form its army, whereas Caules is a borderline The Team Normal and summoned a Servant that fits in this spot as well. As for their Servants: Siegfried/Saber of Black is The Ace and the strongest Servant in the group, while Frankenstein's Monster aka Berserker of Black is a Cute Bruiser in her own right.
  • The Smart Guy: At the tender age of 13, Roche Frain Yggdmillenia is in charge of the clan's golems and is a skilled engineer who built a Golem Army alongside his Servant, the once-Alchemist Avicebron/Caster of Black, whom he greatly admires. Too bad Avicebron didn't really share the sentiment...
  • The Chick: More of a Dark Chick, but whatever. Celenike Icecolle Yggdmillenia is a Hot Witch who sexually abuses hot boys and men (whether human or homunculi), is sometimes seen in her Black Bra and Panties, and is obsessed to Yandere levels with her Servant, Astolfo/Rider of Black. Astolfo himself also fits in here, as a very girlish-looking Badass Adorable who's guided by his strong emotions rather than his non-existent reason.
  • Sixth Ranger Traitor: Reika Rikudou was not supposed to be a part of the Greater Grail War, but when her "lover" Hyoma Sagara summoned Jack the Ripper/Assassin of Black and then got killed by Jack herself, she latched on Reika as her "Mommy" and Master. Having gained Hyoma's Spells, Reika decides that BOTH sides in the War are her and Jack's enemies so the two decide to go against them with gusto, killing associate Mages and facing the Master/Servant teams on their own.
  • Sixth Ranger - Wild Card: Kairi Shishigou and his Servant, Mordred/Saber of Red, run away from the Faction of Red after Shirou brainwashes the other Red Masters into giving him their Command Codes, and ally themselves for a while with the Yggdmillenia. They later go solo against the Faction of Red and die fighting them, albeit they do take Semiramis/Assassin of Black with them.
• Fog of Doom: One of Jack the Ripper's Noble Phantasms, "The Mist". It's a thick smog made out of prana which reenacts the London Great Smog of 1952 and slowly kills humans trapped inside it. It's impossible to escape unless you're a magus or a Servant with the "Instinct" skill of Rank-B or higher AND you also get Mind Screwed as you try to run off; and if you DO escape after somehow surviving an encounter with "Jackie" there, you will forget her appearance altogether...
• Functional Magic: Most obviously, the novel makes use of the traditional Nasuverse-style magic.
• Heroic Sacrifice: As Siegfried corners Astolfo and a still unnamed Houmunculus who's just been beaten to near death by Siegfried's own Master Gordes, Astolfo desperately calls him out on not wanting to give the injured boy a chance to live and be free. This strikes a huge chord in Siegfried, who realizes that while he saved countless people in his former life (even in death), he only did it at the behest of others and never out of his own will. So he decides to save the boy... via ripping his own heart from his chest and placing it in the dying Homunculus's body, finally fulfilling his Wish even if it's at the cost of his life - and it works magnificently, as it lets the Homunculus properly become Sieg.
• I Kiss Your Hand: Chiron, to Fiore.
• I Will Find You: Before her death, Jeanne has a vision of Sieg in his Dragon form and carrying the Greater Grail again. She then promises that he will find her way to him no matter what, and Sieg tells her "I Will Wait for You" as she expires. And they eventually find each other again.
• Impaled with Extreme Prejudice: Vlad III's schtick. His Noble Phantasm, "Kazikli Bey", summons the infamous fortress of stakes he used to impale his enemies: Karna gets ensnared inside it, made into a Human Pincushion, and would have died if not for his Kavacha and Kundala NP.
• Lap Pillow: Shirou, one of the Masters of the Red Faction, gets this twice from his Servant, Semiramis/Assassin of Red. First, when he falls asleep and dreams of his Dark and Troubled Past as Shiro Amakusa, one of the Servants in the Third Fuyuki Holy Grail. Second, when he's actually dying after the Final Battle; this time it overlaps with Died in Your Arms Tonight and Last Kiss / Kiss of Death.
  • Additionally, at some point Sieg finds an Homunculi maid buried up to her chest under the rubble of a recently destroyed wing of they Yggdmillenia Castle. Since he cannot pull her out and it's clear she's about to expire, he gathers her on his lap as much as he can to keep her company in her last moments, and she thanks him and tells him that his kindness saved her anyway.
• Light Feminine and Dark Feminine: Celenike and Fiore.
• Minor Injury Overreaction: Unlike other Berserkers, Kintoki is not constantly under the effects of Mad Enhancement. Instead, a Luck Check is performed whenever he takes damage and if it fails he Turns Red and the skill kicks in. (Or that's how it would be like, had he been properly introduced in the story)
• Mind Rape: Shakespeare can do this with his "First Folio" Noble Phantasm, and he actually pulls it on Frankenstein's Monster and Jeanne.
  • Jack's The Mist can have its effect on these who are trapped inside, and especially if she pulls them deper into it because, when that happens, she actually shows them the Crapsack World that Victorian England is for destitute children like Jack hrself and the souls of the kids that are part of her - before it kills them over time, of course. Jeanne manages to fend it off due to her huge Resistance, but Sieg and ESPECIALLY Atalante suffer the consequences.
• Near Villain Victory: By all means, Shiro Amakusa's plan worked even after he was defeated by Sieg and died on Semiramis' lap. The only thing that foiled it was Sieg using his Wish to take up his Fáfnir form and then take the Greater Grail itself to the Reverse Side of the World.
• Necromancer: Kairi Shishigou's speciality.
  • To a smaller degree, Caules. See Willing Channeler
• Parental Substitute: Kairi more or less becomes this to Mordred, who in the Nasuverse is an homunculus with the looks and mentality of a young girl. It suits them well since neither Morgan nor Arturia were great parental figures to her, and he lost his adoptive daughter through a Crest Transfer Ritual that went horribly awry.
• Powered by a Forsaken Child: One of the "uses" of the Musik Homunculi is to be living mana batteries for the Black Servants. That's what would have happened to Sieg, had he not managed to break through his capsule and then walk away enough to be found by Astolfo...
  • Avicebron's Noble Phantasm, Golem Keter Malkuth, can create a gigantic and near invicible Golem named Adam that can potentially warp all of Earth into "Paradise". Problem is, it needs a HUGE and VERY powerful mana source as its Reactor Core... Avicebron plans first to use Homunculus/Sieg, but he manages to escape from the Black Faction. Then he sets his eyes on Gordes, who has just lost his own Servant, but his Magic Circuits aren't as good. And THEN he decides to use Roche, his own Master.
• Psychic Dreams for Everyone: Like in FSN, sometimes the Masters can see their Servants' past in their dreams. In both manga and anime, Mordred's Dark and Troubled Past is shown as a dream Kairi has while Mordred is in their hotel room (and, in the anime, playing with a cat); in the Unbirth side story and in the manga, Reika witnesses one of Jack's murders as she's sleeping; and in the manga, Sieg dreams of Astolfo's past adventures and his death in battle.
• Psychic Link: Aside of the above mentioned, when a Servant is away from his or her Master, they can talk through Telepathy if needed.
• Ship Tease: Sieg has this with both Jeanne and Astolfo. Especially the first.
  • Also, Shiro Kotomine and Semiramis. And Fiore and her Servant Chiron. And Caules and Fran aka his Berserker. And Atalanta and Achilles.
• Shipper on Deck: Jeanne can mentally speak to her host, Laetitia, and the latter becomes convinced that Jeanne is developing feelings for Sieg. Jeanne is unconvinced and wonders if the one who truly likes the boy is Laetitia rather than her. Laetitia turns out to be right, and in the anime's rendition of the scene where Jeanne's feelings are used against her by Shakespeare's Mind Rape, the poor girl breaks down sobbing in the corner of Jeanne's mind, begging for forgiveness over not telling Jeanne that her love for Sieg was valid.
  • Astolfo is either one for Jeanne and Sieg, or chose the I Want My Beloved to Be Happy path regarding Sieg.
• Spoiler Opening: The first OP has two:
  • A sequence features the Masters of Black and their Servants... but it actually shows only two Masters of Red (Shiro and Kairi) plus THEIR Servants (Semiramis and Mordred), implying that the other Red Masters will be taken out by Shiro, with only Kairi remaining
  • Towards the end, it shows Jeanne naked and with her Ruler Command Spells on her back. But it also shows an also naked Shiro with his own Ruler Command Spells on his chest, plus Sieg's own Command Spells on his hand...
• Stripperiffic: Reika is less extreme than, say, Jack, but her Impossibly Low Neckline and low-riding pants or VERY short mini-dress certainly count.
  • When Mordred takes off her massive armor for the first time, one sees that her "civilian clothes" have a TINY top that barely covers up her chest. It's no wonder that one of her first requests for Kairi is to buy her a more Shorttank-like outfit. (Which, in the manga, almost gets him Mistaken for Pedophile by the shop's clerk)
• Strong Family Resemblance: Jeanne looks a LOT like her mother Isabelle.
  • Once you see them, you can VERY easily see that Caules and Fiore are brother and sister...
  • At the very end, one sees Gordes' young son Goredolf, who's basically Gordes as a pre-teen. When one sees Goredolf's older self in Fate: Grand Order, the resemblance is even stronger.
• Star-Crossed Lovers: Jeanne and Sieg, until the very end.
• Taking the Bullet: How Reika dies, shielding an injured Jack from Atalante's arrows.
• Together in Death: Mordred and her Master Kairi. Shiro and Semiramis. It's especially noticeable in the first case since she could have easily gone to the Yggdmillenias and make a pact with them... but she refused to do it when Kairi brought it up, choosing to die with her Master and adoptive father
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Mordred and Jeanne.
• Too Awesome to Use: Karna's Vasavi Shakti Noble Phantasm is a spear so powerful it can even beat gods... but Karna has to give up his other NP aka the Kavacha armor and Kundala earrings that protect him (and were actually part of his skin, gifted to him by his father Surya aka the God of the Sun) and it can only be used once (as it was a gift from Indra, the God of Thunder, due to very complicated reasons).
  • Jeanne's La Pucelle is a powerful attack that uses the flames of her execution... but after its use, Jeanne dies even if she beats an opponent with it.
• Willing Channeler: Unlike the other Servants, Jeanne's spirit was actually unable to create a body of her own, so she psychically contacted a French college student named Laetitia who looked like her and asked if she'd be her vessel. Laetitia immediately Jumped At the Call and let Jeanne take over her.
  • Caules has a spell where he can synch his body and mind with a recently dead person's own and witness their final moments. At some point he uses it on the fresh corpse of the Yggdmillenia mage Avi Decker, who was horribly killed by Jack the Ripper aka the wayward Assassin of Black; It works well enough for him to find out about the vital information that the poor guy was tortured to death for, but in exchange Caules also feels the horrifying pain that he went thorugh before death, reducing the boy to a screaming, crying wreck until the spell wears off.