Something people don’t really know about me is that I like history and mythology. I watch documentaries on WW2, watch videos on the Greek Pantheon, and learning about ancient civilization. But where does this all stem from? Well, anime! Today, I’ll be talking about the franchise that pushed me into the world of mythology and history, the Fate series.
So what is the Fate series? The Fate series is an anime that pits 7 legends from myths, history, and literature into a battle royal. From well know figures like Dracula to more obscure heroes like Irelands child of light, the Fate series has it all. Like most people, I entered the Fate series by watching its most famous anime, Stay/Night. Out of all adaptation from the Fate series, Stay Night likely has the most well know legends like King Arthur and Hercules taking center stage. However, that’s is just the tip of the iceberg. Stay/Night only introduced me to the Fate series, what actually made me want to look into the backgrounds of certain character was definite the mobile game FGO. Instead of just 7 legends, this mobile game has way more, over 200 more. Because of FGO, I ended looking into the history and time periods of figures like Alexzander the great, Souji Okita, and Nero Claudius.
Normally when I look into a historical figure, I first go to the Fate wiki. Admittedly this the least historically accurate representation a character can get, however, it still gives me a basic rundown down of what they are well known for. An example of this is Paracelsus. Using the Fate wiki, I can gather how he was a famous physician and alchemist active during the Renaissance, after omitting all the magic from the Fate universe. From the wiki, I move to Wikipedia. Although Wikipedia isn’t 100% fact, it still gives a more detailed and factual description of the character I’m looking into. Using Wikipedia I managed to learn about Paracelsus real name and contribution to medicine. Normally from here, I would look up actual biographies or documentaries on youtube. An example is “The Legends of History”, which has great videos on legends like Mochizuki Chiyome and Gilles de Rais. .
Overall, the Fate series is something I treasure. Both as a franchise and for opening my love for history and mythology. As more and more characters get added to FGO and other Fate projects, I wonder what other legends they will include.