Lancer

	True nameCú Chulainn
	Also known asBlue Spearman of the Wind
	MasterKirei Kotomine
	GenderMale
	AlignmentLawful Neutral
	Height185 cm
	Weight70 kg
	Place of originIreland
	Noble PhantasmGáe Bolg

Overview

Lancer's True Name is Cú Chulainn, the Child of light, a hero from the Ulster Cycle of Irish mythology. He was a demigod, the offspring of a mortal woman, Deichtine, the younger sister of King Conchobar mac Nessa, and the deity, Lugh, the god who governed over the sun and a member of the Danann divine family in Celtic Mythology. Deichtine, the daughter of a druid, Conchobar's father, and Maga, the widow of Ross the Red, disappeared in the Land of the Young without marrying anyone. There, she bore Sétanta, the child of the sun god.

Combat skills

Lancer's weapon, the Gáe Bolg, a cursed spear which is said to inflict wounds that do not heal as long as the spear remains in the world. His weapon itself has two main techniques which can be classified as separate Noble Phantasms, the first of which reverses causality to always strike the heart, and the second of which unleashes the full potential of the curse to strike the enemy by hurling the spear with overwhelming power. He is an expert monster exterminator, giving him an advantage over someone like Rider due to her Gorgon monster alignment. Lancer also qualifies for the Berserker and Caster classes. He had gone berserk several times in life, and he takes great pride in having the ability and knowledge enough to qualify for the Caster Class due to his knowledge on Runes.

He fights with intensity, and it would normally be that closing in on an opponent in such a matter would be suicidal with such a long weapon. Lances are effective against swords because there is no effective way of parrying them with a sword. Strong rebuffs from a sword only results in a counterattack, while weak rebuffs do not create any openings. The most important part of a battle between the two is defeating the enemy while they are at the wrong range. Spearmen normally use their length and freedom of range to win a battle, and discarding such an advantage by closing in should mean defeat. Such by the book tactics mean little to him, as his ability with the lance shows no vulnerabilities due to not having to follow the general rule on lances. His strikes that are fast enough that even the afterimages are blurred allow him to easily remove any possible openings, and he can constantly increase the speed of his thrusts and make continuous attacks without allowing the slightest pause in between.

He prefers fighting with his full power as a warrior, but his own beliefs are held back due to his Master's Command Spell to "Fight against everyone. But do not defeat them. Survive your first battle against any opponent" and then withdraw. He is unable to display his full strength during such involuntarily reconnaissance missions. His ability to withdraw from the battlefield in the midst of combat, Disengage, is very skilled, seen in decisive action of going after the possible threat, Shirou, in the midst of his fight with Archer, and the ability is fully demonstrated by having to fight all of the Servants then retreat. He excelled in seeing through battle situations during life, so he has the responsibility to wage war and withdraw repeatedly from all the Servants, showing the appearance of realizing that a situation is unfavorable. It also has the ability of returning an unfavorable battle to the beginning, "turn 1", and restoring the condition of techniques to their initial states.

Due to his Divinity as a demigod, he exhibited superior talent from birth and boasted supernatural ability that separated him from ordinary people from a young age. His speed is extraordinary, able to counterattacks with a lance with the speed of gods, all while standing still. It allows him to easily put distance between him and his opponent at any point in a battle, and using his lance to vault thirty meters is not a difficult feat. He is slower than Rider in terms of average speed, but he is faster in immediate maximum output. Archer claims his speed is extraordinary among even the fastest heroes that would normally be chosen as Lancer. He far surpasses all of them, not even three in the world being at his level, and he is the only one with such "beast-like agility."

Lancer has a high rank in Battle Continuation due to having fought from a disadvantageous position in many fatal battles during his life, living on while charging through the battlefields like a panther. When it comes to defense, his excellent agility and great experience make him an "impregnable wall", allowing him to be confident in fighting both Archer and Saber at once if the goal is occupying them. He is especially hard to kill, as told in the legend of the dying Cú Chulainn having tied himself to a tree to continue fiercely battling before taking his last breath. Being the best of the Servants at "surviving", he is able to take grievous wounds and still continue battling before succumbing to them, and possessing such a legend makes his dying struggle particularly fierce.

Magecraft

Lancer obtained 18 Original Runes, Norse Runes, after studying magecraft under Scáthach in the Land of Shadows. He appropriately utilizes them to respond to different situations. One such rune, one with the purpose of searching, helps support his elusive actions during the Holy Grail War. Holding the Ansuz rune allows him to set a blaze to reduce an entire room to ashes, causing a continuing conflagration that seeps into the rest of the Einzbern Castle and causes it to crumble. He can use them as a counter measure against Mystic Eyes, even those as potent as Mystic Eyes of Petrification. He inscribes his armor with runic protections, and he is able to set up a powerful Bounded Field in an instant by carving all of his runes onto the ground. It is able to block a great Noble Phantasm, but it is unable to stop the encroachment of the Shadow.

Another use of multiple Runes is Ath nGabla, a seal formed by pointing his spear at the ground and carving four runes, Algiz, Nauthiz, Ansuz, and Ingwaz, in four corners around him. It is a curse of one-on-one combat passed down to the Knights of the Red Branch, and it does not carry any inherent magical energy. It is an arena formed from four brances, guaranteeing one on one combat with honor at stake. Warriors having set the seal no longer have retreat as an option, and all warriors who see the seal are not allowed to refuse combat. They also have the ability to be used in conjunction with his Noble Phantasm to raise its rank to A temporarily, allowing him to fight against Berserker's God Hand. It would be a very disadvantageous fight, but it would still be "one with some chances."

Personality

Lancer is a fierce, but balanced warrior who enjoys combating a worthy opponent, but at his core he believes in justice and is easy to get along with. He is an agreeable youth acting out the role of one gentle in disposition yet strong in body. He has a playful attitude and takes a very carefree approach to life, but is quick to work himself into a frenzy during a heated battle. He was known as a brave, compassionate, and likeable young man in the legends. He mercilessly killed his enemies on the battlefield, but he respected faith and had the nobility to never once break a promise he had made.

He enjoys fishing, hunting, and hitting on cute girls. He is a proud warrior, someone who can't abandon a fight just because he's losing. He's ready to fight until the end, for the sake of his fighting will and also for his Master. He easily loses his cool, especially to insults calling him a dog.

He's not interested in killing innocent people, though he still strictly follows the rules of the war to kill bystanders like Shirou. He's very keen on his mission and somehow professional in his "work". He's noble and he can't really stand people who're joking with him or simply betraying his trust. He's also easily touched by others problems and if he chooses to protect someone, he will do his best till the very end. He really enjoys dating women or simply to spending his time in relaxing hobbies like fishing.

He regretted nothing in his life, though it was one full of wrong turns. There may have been disappointment, but he does not regret his life one bit. His spear only took away the lives of his loved ones, his close friend and son, but its only regret was that it had been meant to murder a single woman that he was unable to kill. Though it is impossible to swap one's life for another, he thinks saving Bazett from the looping world may allow him to leave the regrets of his youth behind. He only has a complaint about his fate as he tries to save her, that he never has any luck with good women.

Role

Lancer was originally summoned by Bazett Fraga McRemitz, an Irish representative of the Mage's Association. She used Cú Chulainn's rune stone earrings as the catalyst and he responded to the summoning solely because he wanted to engage in a valiant fight to the death but this simple wish was never granted to him. However, Kirei Kotomine betrayed Bazett and severed her left arm to obtain her Command Spell, leaving her almost dead. He then used her stolen Command Seals to gain the allegiance of Lancer and enter into the 5th Holy Grail War. Despite his wishes to avenge his fallen master, Lancer was forced to bend to Kotomine's will. Lancer is disgruntled at having to serve a Master who uses such cowardly tactics, but he is forced to obey Kirei's wishes.

Kirei chooses to employ a passive strategy regarding Lancer. He has Lancer go out on reconnaissance, and scout the locations and identies of other Masters and gauge how dangerous their Servants are. During his fight with Archer, Lancer noticed that Shirou Emiya had witnessed his entire battle. Believing Shirou to be an ordinary human, to preserve the secrecy of the Holy Grail War, Lancer silences Shirou by stabbing him through his heart.

Later, Lancer realizes that Shirou has recovered from his mortal wound, so he tracks and corners the young mage within the shed of his home estate. Before Lancer is able to strike a mortal blow, Shirou is rescued by the recently summoned Servant, Saber, who then engages Lancer in combat. Outmatched, Lancer flees the scene just before the arrival of Archer and his master.

Fate
Lancer during his last fight In Fate, Shirou is lured to Kotomine's church, and once again wounded by Lancer. Saber eventually arrives to rescue Shirou. After events unfold, Kotomine reveals his other Servant, Gilgamesh, the Archer from the previous war. Kotomine orders the both of them to kill Saber and Shirou, and leaves. Lancer, disgusted by Kotomine keeping Gilgamesh's existence a secret from him, and by Gilgamesh himself, decides to rebel against Kirei. Though he claims he is doing it out of hatred for Gilgamesh and Kotomine, and not to help them, Lancer chooses to fight Gilgamesh and thereby aids Shirou and Saber in escaping. He survives against Gilgamesh for half a day, but is ultimately defeated.
Unlimited Blade Works
Lancer says goodbye to Rin In Unlimited Blade Works, after being driven out of his church by Caster, and faking his death, Kotomine orders Lancer to cooperate with Shirou and Rin. Lancer helps them with their plan to defeat Caster by fighting Archer to distract him, so that Rin and Shirou are able to enter the church. Ostensibly defeating Archer, but choosing not to conclude their battle, he later reappears to offer his aid again to Shirou and Saber after Rin is captured. Upon rescuing Rin, Kirei suddenly appears and orders Lancer to kill Rin. In addition to his previous disgust with Kotomine, Lancer has come to admire Rin, and therefore refuses his order. In response to this, Kotomine uses a Command Seal to force Lancer to give himself a mortal wound. However, before he fades away, Lancer manages to kill Kotomine, and bids goodbye to Rin. Before his death, he sets the Einzbern castle on fire.
Heavens Feel
True Assassing dealing fatal blow to Lancer In Heaven's Feel, upon sensing a disturbance at the Ryudou Temple, Lancer investigates it as per his orders by Kotomine to scout the competition. He discovers and engages in battle with True Assassin, but during the battle, he is attacked and killed while his heart is consumed by the True Assassin; then his body is absorbed by the black shadow of Avenger and Sakura Matou.

Abilities

Battle Continuation: A

Makes it possible to fight even with deadly injuries and can remain alive so long as one does not receive a decisive fatal wound.

Disengage: C

Bonus effect of returning battle conditions to what they were at the beginning of the match.

Divinity: B

Divinity is the measure of whether one has Divine Spirit aptitude or not. At high levels one is treated as a mixed race of a Divine Spirit, and the level declines when the Heroic Spirit's own rank as a Monster, Demonic Beast raises. It can also decrease due one's dislike for the gods. It also has an effect which reduces special defensive values called "purge defense" in proportion to the Divinity's Rank.

Rune Magic: B

The capacity to use the 18 original runes. Possession of the magic crest of Northern Europe, the runes, granted by his mentor Scathath. By making proper use of this, powerful and varied effects are mastered. Other than attacks, this is mainly employed for effects corresponding to the Skills Magic Resistance, Clairvoyance, for raising parameters, and etc. All of those are merely temporary and he cannot employ multiple of those simultaneously.

Protection from Arrows: B

As long as the shooter is within the line of sight, this skill user can track down ranged weapons with his eyes and defend against them. Does not apply for attacks made from super-long-range or with a great area-of-effect