Fate / Zero 23 — A Happy Ending

Yes! Waver is alive! This is a happier ending than I had dared to hope for! And Rider got to go out with a bang, even. What more could I possibly ask for?

Even Gilgamesh admires Rider. That’s just how awesome Rider is.

The only problem is, now that Rider’s gone and Waver looks like he’s going to live, what’s left? (if Waver got killed off at this point I’d be so pissed, but I doubt it) Honestly, I couldn’t care less what happens to anyone who’s left aside from Matou, and I’m 99.9% certain he’s going to die a miserable death. Oh well, I’ve stuck with it this far, I’m not going to give up now.

Gilgamesh is a Crappy King but Slightly Redeems Himself

At least he has the decency to respect Rider and Waver.  Although come to think of it, that might just be enough to make me like him more than Saber.

Gilgamesh is supposed to be the king of heroes. But you know what? Gilgamesh sucks. What has he actually done in this show?

Nothing but chat and drink. You know who did do something cool?

Engineers. That’s right. How do you think Gilgamesh got all his treasures? By oppressing the proletariat and hoarding everything they made in his treasure house!

And we should give these engineers some well-deserved credit. They invented a UFO at the dawn of history.

But Gilgamesh did nothing, aside from being born into wealth, oppressing his people and stealing their treasures, at least as far as I can tell. During the entire battle with Rider, he doesn’t even take a step. His storehouse does the fighting for him.

To make a modern day analogy, he’s like the wild, chest beating “warriors” in the American congress who courageously fight wars and defend America by sending robots to randomly drop bombs on people living in caves on the other side of the world.

So sorry, Gilgamesh, you might be a king, but a king of heroes? Don’t make me laugh.

Lancelot

I was going to say something deep and thoughtful, but just look at his face. This is hilarious.

From the comments by Saber and the random flashbacks, I am guessing that the novels include some long and complicated story of Lancelot which the TV show elected to omit. I’ll confess to being a bit curious to how they did this, since making Saber female appears to eliminate the sole interesting characteristic of Lancelot: the conflict between his love for Arthur and his love for Arthur’s wife. If Arthur’s a girl (and I’m pretty sure she’s not a lesbian) then Lancelot’s love for Guinevere presents no conflict. In fact, it’s convenient, as Lancelot gets Guinevere and Arthur gets an heir which is actually descended from her best friend, since she’s not going to be able to father one with Guinevere herself.

17 thoughts on “Fate / Zero 23 — A Happy Ending

  1. You really misunderstand Gilgamesh…

    He’s rightfully called King of Heroes because he’s the one that give the power to most of the noble phantasms. Yeah, he was born into wealth (as 3/4 god) but he made those wealth into a legend. Every noble phantasm he owns becomes noble phantasm because he use them to make legends, which make mere weapons turn into noble phantasm. And those weapons become a basis for future noble phantasms in a future legend. So yeah, he is pretty much a King of Heroes, because without him, there would be no future heroes, at least in the Nasuverse. Enkidu (the chain that bound Rider in the end) pretty much becomes powerful because he used it to tied down the Bull of Heaven.

    The only weapon that is already truly powerful is Ea, which symbolize his godhood, or being god among men (although he hate them).

    1. Sure, maybe in the novel it’s explained how he actually made legends with all these weapons. But in the show itself, he hasn’t done squat aside from drink and toss weapons at people from out of thin air.

      Even if he did earn all of these legendary weapons at some point, at the moment he’s just resting on his laurels. He’s not even trying to win this war. He’s acting like a spoiled kid with the keys to the treasury who’s just out for some entertainment.

      1. It’s also not in the novel. It’s in Fate/Stay Night or Fate/Hollow or in the side material books. Nasuverse is pretty much rely on knowledge from many sources so people tend to miss them (and Type-Moon doesn’t really care whether people understand from the anime or not).

        But yeah, you could say he’s spoiled. But it’s natural for someone who once owned this world (literally).

        1. I’ve played Fate/ Stay Night, Fate/ Hollow Ataraxia, and read all the supplementary material. Nowhere is it stated that Gilgamesh did anything to make -any- of his equipment legendary. Fate-wise, his legend stems from the fact that he was the king of the unified earth, and hence owned every treasure. These treasures became legendary later, but since Gilgamesh was their original owner, he reaped the benefits.

          1. Damn, now that’s dedication. So Gilgamesh really didn’t do anything to get his treasure house. I think he did earn the chains he used to tie the bull down and his spinning sphere though.

        2. It’s certainly natural for someone who owned the world to be spoiled. It doesn’t make me respect him though…

  2. There is still hope that Lancelot’s past will be explained in the next episode. I’d love to see Takeuchi’s rendition of Guinevere.
    I won’t spoil the story for you in case they deliver it next week but if you are really curious you can read it on Type-Moon’s wiki.

    1. Ah, excellent, I will wait for next week then. There is something left to look forward to after all!

  3. Since I’ve read the novel, I won’t spoil the backstory either, but I am certain that episode will be frustrating for me because after hearing the preview, I can guess where or when the episode will end. Talking about rushing things down…

    And Gilgamesh… well, he is more awesome with Enkidu. And no, I don’t mean the chain, lol. A shame they cut his flashback, perhaps in the bluray…

    1. Gilgamesh did mention briefly that he only had one friend. Fate / Zero seems to have so much material that they pretty much have to cut much of it out…

      1. Yeah, I know. 🙂

        Still, it would make Gil more sympathetic if they had shown Enkidu. The mentioning in this episode has more meaning for those who understand and know that he meant Enkidu. Another indicator is the fact that Enkidu’s chain is Gil’s most precious Noble Phantasm, not Ea.

        Which again makes Rider more awesome, since he “forced” Gil to use it on him. ^_^

  4. [disillusion]
    I really wonder how they’ll be able to continue the story now that the main character is dead and his best friend is out of the game…

    It’s the first time such a situation happen…
    [/disillusion]

  5. ok first of all, gilgamesh, yes did inherit the earth which makes him spoiled, well can you blame him, and yes all he did was just sit around, drink and throw weapons, but every one with their powers ryt? in the begining of fate stay night , he actually did fight sword to sword with saber, when he could have just gone all out with weapons, but the thing that makes gilgamesh the king of heroes is because, he’s 3/4 god and 1/4 human, most people like that in mythology are called heroes, like hercules, perseus and all, although the best king was rider, u cant blame gilgamesh for being that powerful, the truth is gilgamesh never banked on the grail, cos he knew that they would all kill each other, and he would probably get the grail in the end, and his wish to reunite the world once more was something he felt he could do on his own. when gil wasd turned into a kid, he was so nice, it’s becos of his friend enkidu and their last words to each other that gilgamesh became like this, since than he always felt everyone should know their place

    1. Sure, maybe he did some cool stuff in the past and was worthy of being a hero. But what did he in this show? Sit around drinking wine, that’s about it. I do respect him for not thinking he even needs the grail’s power though.

  6. and gilgamesh may have inherited the world, but he fought many battles in his time, but only battle brought upon him by the jealousy of some of the gods, of by ishtar who was depressed that gil rejected her, thats how gil met enkidu in the first place, so yh gil had his own fair share of battles, since he was 3/4 god, it was said that during his life time gil was unrivaled in battle, even before he became a spirit, the only person that was able to rival him was enkidu, and now that he became a spirit, who expect him to have to break a sweat in battle? you guys need to stop judging by his atitude and look at pure facts, gilgamesh is truly awesome even if he’s a douche

    1. you guys need to stop judging by his atitude and look at pure facts, gilgamesh is truly awesome even if he’s a douche

      See, even you think he’s a douche!

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