| Cú Chulainn |
 (Prototype) |
Lancer (ランサー, Ransā?) is the Lancer-class Servant of Misaya Reiroukan in the Second Holy Grail War of Fate/Prototype. He is one of the Servants of the Protagonist of the Grand Order conflicts of Fate/Grand Order.
Profile
Identity
Lancer's True Name is Cú Chulainn (犬クー・フーリン?), sharing an identical True Name with another Lancer. While being "sort of the same person", Lancer is more youthful in both body and mind than his counterpart. Also known as the Hound of Culann, he is the Child of Light descended from the sun god LughWP, known as a peerless great hero from the Ulster CycleWP. Mentored by Scáthach, he received Gae Bolg from her.[2]
Appearance
Lancer is a rough-looking man around twenty years of age, "not too much younger" than his counterpart.[1][2] While sharing the same basic design as the other Lancer, his "greatest charm" is that he lacks the same full-body tights.[1] He instead bears heavy armor, but his speed is not lesser because of it.[2] He wears a protective amulet, a wolf's head holding a crescent moon.[1]
Personality
Lancer has a similar personality to a hunting dog, but he is a pleasant man despite being coarse.[1] He will not explicitly state “which one is better” between the values of justice and villainy, but he possesses righteous nature tending towards justice. Compared to his older counterpart, he is not mature enough to admit that the world is unreasonable, possessing a balance of good and evil, so he can be compared to Shirou Emiya in that sense.[1][2] His feelings towards Scáthach comprise somewhat of a greater portion of his heart than his counterpart, possibly due to youth or "the season."[2] He likes Misaya for this reason, feeling that she is an "iron lady" fundamentally similar to his master.[3]
During the Grand Orders, he thinks favorably of a Master "facing the challenge of restoring human history", likely to have no reservations about lending his strength to the cause. Despite that, caution is advised in that he will not have the same reactions as his counterpart.[2]
Role
Lancer's role is similar to his counterpart, attacking Ayaka Sajyou in the same manner as Shirou Emiya, but he can be said to have worse luck in his story.[1]
Fate/Prototype
Lancer attacks Ayaka Sajyou before she summons Saber due to Misaya being weary of the daughter of the assumed victor of the previous war. Invading with a large pack of Misaya's familiar hounds at her insistence, Lancer is unmotivated as Ayaka fights off the hounds, asking Misaya telepathically about the meaning of it. She explains her reasoning and orders Lancer to bring her Ayaka's head. Still unmotivated, he goes to confront Ayaka, toying with her as she retreats. Chasing her into the garden with the last two remaining hounds, Lancer moves to finish her, stabbing her in the chest. Her chest subsequently begins to glow after the impact, causing a summoning circle to appear. Saber is summoned, forcing Lancer back and then causing him to retreat after his makeshift spear is broken. After the battle, he returns to Misaya, restraining himself as she berates him for not finishing Ayaka, and simply shrugging as she further becomes angry after learning he failed to kill Saber.
After a week has passed into the Holy Grail War, Lancer has faced Saber, Archer, and Rider while not being allowed to use the sealed Gae Bolg. Beginning to distrust his Master, she believes his is dissatisfied with her plan, claiming that she sealed Gae Bolg in case of his betrayal. He explains that is not the reason, citing that he can make do even if the battles are tough without his spear. He is instead angry about how she is not taking the offense towards other Masters even though she has a time limit, so he thinks she should forgo any notion of elegance. She rebukes him, causing him to simply shrug and think of the similarity to his teacher. She then explains why she summoned him, wishing for a hero killed by a woman to have them already learned to fear women.
Lancer and Misaya later encounter Saber and Ayaka again, and Saber is forced back due to the difference in the Masters' capability. During their exchange, Saber calls Misaya a terrible Master, causing Lancer to say that it's "the end" to be told such by Saber of all people. Saber is forced to release Excalibur from Invisible Air, using it to bring Ayaka to safety. Lancer experiences great joy in seeing Saber unleash his Noble Phantasm, praising him as a knight among knights. When Ayaka brings up his comment about her also being a horrible Master, Lancer then reveals he was speaking of Saber's former Master, Manaka Sajyou.[4]
Due to the machinations of Manaka, Misaya's time limit runs out and she becomes a "fallen angel", so he becomes the Servant of Ayaka who recently lost Saber in exchange for help in killing his zombified Master.[1]
Fate/Grand Order
Interlude
In his interlude To the Nameless Battlefield, Cú Chulainn has a shared dream with Ritsuka of a battlefield, but Ritsuka perceives it as the one from Rome due to it being the most recent similiar sight as Cú Chulainn states. After Cú Chulainn defeats an army that he perceives to as a Connacht army, he fights another version of himself. Though the battle ends in a draw, the two Cú Chulainns compliment each other's skills, then, after Cú Chulainn states his skills have improved with the dream, the dream ends.
Abilities
The protective amulet.
Although he possesses heavy armor in comparison to the other Lancer, Lancer's A+ Agility parameter exceeds that of his counterpart, possibly owing to his "youthful mentality of pitching forward" making some form of difference rather than a difference in their physical capabilities.[2] He is a beast-master, particularly displaying excellent compatibility with dogs and the familiars raised by Misaya.[1][2] Much like his counterpart, he has mastered Rune magecraft.[2]
He possesses the same Noble Phantasm as his counterpart, Gae Bolg, possessing both the ability to reverse causality for an unavoidable strike to the heart and an Anti-Army function.[1][2] Within the Prototype world, Misaya has sealed it due to believing that revealing such a technique so readily was lacking elegance, so he instead uses a green, makeshift spear.[1] He initially possesses the same spear in the Grand Orders, but regains Gae Bolg through Ascension.
Development
Creation and Conception
Takashi Takeuchi was the character designer and Ototsugu Konoe was responsible for the costume design for Lancer.
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 Fate/Prototype Material - Page: 39
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.17 2.18 2.19 2.20 2.21 2.22 2.23 2.24 2.25 2.26 2.27 This reference needs to be fixed. Use "FGOSP1" instead of "Grand Order".
- ↑ Fate/Prototype material - S09/MISAYA (II)
- ↑ Fate/Prototype material - S03/LANCER'S ATTACK, S04/THE SUMMONING OF SABER, S05/MISAYA (I), S09/MISAYA (II), S13/AYAKA AND MISAYA