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Noble Phantasm
Noble Phantasms (宝具, hougu?, lit. precious tool) are "crystallized mysteries", armaments made using the imagination of humans as their core, and weapons or abilities owned by Heroic Spirits. They are the embodiment of the ultimate mysteries of a hero that symbolizes his existence through historical facts and anecdotes. They can be general weapons, such as swords, lances, and bows, or support items, such as rings and crowns. They can also be abstract concepts, like abilities and curses. Noble Phantasms are considered to be a Servant's trump card and are activated by channeling prana into them and releasing their true names. This can only be done by their true owners.
Noble Phantasms far outrank other non-legendary items, meaning that a C ranked Noble Phantasm is the equivalent to an A or A+ ranked normal attack. Rin provides several examples of a Noble Phantasm's power; dragon-slaying swords, shoes that can run far and wide, god-killing demonic swords, and Hazanken, a weapon in Chinese legends that can only be swung once, but is said to be able to even slice through mountains. There are cases where the nature of the Noble Phantasm is not actually a true crystallized mystery, such as Archer's Unlimited Blade Works, which is magecraft that symbolizes him, and Li Shu Wen's No Second Strike, which is the quintessence of his martial arts. Sasaki Kojirou is a case of a Heroic Spirit without a Noble Phantasm due to his status as a wraith, but his technique, Tsubame Gaeshi, has managed to be on par with Noble Phantasms without the use of magecraft.
Noble Phantasms are generally based off of previous incarnations of weapons, and with each cycle of transmigration a weapon undergoes, it becomes weaker. If faced with their predecessors, newer incarnations will generally lose during a confrontation. The current number of existing Noble Phantasms is very small, but they still exist in the material world. The only use of a Noble Phantasm in the modern age is Fragarach owned by Bazett Fraga McRemitz. The reason it can be used by a normal human is the members of her bloodline are "Tradition Carriers", who have the ability to reenact the powers of old due to the blessings of their god. Avalon, recovered by the von Einzbern family, also still exists as a Noble Phantasm. It lacks ability without a connection to Saber, but it still exists in pristine condition after one thousand five hundred years.[1]
It is possible to sacrifice a Noble Phantasm for an attack that is one rank higher, which is called a Broken Phantasm (壊れた幻想, Kowareta Gensō?). If a Noble Phantasm is packed with prana, it can be made to explode after striking its target. It is nearly impossible to repair a destroyed Noble Phantasm, and as they are the trump cards of Heroic Spirits, they are unlikely to take such measures. Archer is a special case, as he can reproduce as many copies of Noble Phantasms as his prana will allow due to Tracing, allowing him to also counterbalance the fact that all of his projections are lowered by one rank.[2] If a Servant wishes to destroy their own weapon in another fashion, it is much easier than destroying one in normal combat. Lancer is able to easily break Gae Buidhe in half without any effort.
List of known Noble Phantasms
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ReferencesEdit
- ↑ Fate/Zero, act 2 chapter 1 and act 2 chapter 4, and Fate/Side Material encyclopedia entry (p.71-72).
- ↑ based on the Tsukihime Laboratory entry and the dictionary resource at Jonnobi .
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