In recent years, there’s one particular gaming genre that saw a massive rise in popularity, which is a little something called Battle Royale. The premise is simple, a bunch of people are thrown into the same area, freely fight against one another, and the last one standing is the winner. What most people may not realize, however, is the fact that before this genre becomes famous in gaming, anime has actually explored this genre before. And one of the most popular battle royale titles in anime is the iconic Fate/Stay Night franchise.
The battle royale from Fate/Stay Night that always manages to make us hold our breath in excitement is called the Holy Grail War. There are a lot of things that most people may not know about this war. So from the history to the rules, here’s everything you need to know about The Holy Grail War.
What is The Holy Grail War
As we briefly mentioned before, despite being called “The Holy Grail War’, this sacred event is actually more akin to a battle royale, rather than a proper war. And as the name suggests, the holy grail war is a battle where the participants defeat one another in a no-hold-barred battle royale. The winner of this battle, namely the last one standing, will receive the eponymous Holy Grail.
The Holy Grail itself is a mythical artifact that can grant the wish of those who can claim it. Though truth be told, even though it is called an artifact, the true nature of the Holy Grail is more akin to a massive bundle of magical energy that has the power to bend reality itself. Not only that, the grail can also make conscious decisions, at least to some extent. Such as when it chooses those who are qualified to be a master, or when it defends itself from those who try to claim it outside the proper channel.
That is why the war for the right to claim the holy grail is actually more like a ritual that has to be done in order to obtain the holy grail. When there’s nobody around to conduct said ritual, the holy grail would simply lay dormant and cast a defensive system to protect itself until somebody begins a proper Holy Grail War. As it happens, the holy grail itself requires around 60 years to gain enough mana to conduct the holy grail war and summon the servants.
The Rules of The Holy Grail War
The rules of the Holy Grail War are actually quite simple. Whenever there’s a party that starts the ritual that marks the beginning of the war, the holy grail will choose seven mages (people with ability to wield magic) as the masters. After that, the grail will pour the necessary mana so that the masters can summon their servants.
There are seven classes of servants, Saber, Caster, Archer, Rider, Lancer, Berserker, and Assassin. Barring a few exceptions, these servants are heroic spirits of the past. That’s why in order to summon them, the master has to have the artifact that belongs to, or at least connected to, the heroic figures, such as the Excalibur’s scabbard that is used to summon Saber. Once summoned, the master will have a command spell carved onto their hands which can be used to forcefully command the servants.
In order to win the war, the master has to defeat the servant of the other masters. However, there are also cases where the master would send their servant to kill another master. So in a sense, a master loses their right to compete if they lose their servant or couldn’t continue the fight for whatever reason, such as death. And as mentioned earlier, the one who manages to defeat the other participants has the right to claim the holy grail.
In the case where the masters are concentrated in one faction or belong to the same group who shares the same interest, the grail will appoint another set of masters and summon another set of servants from the opposing group. In such rare cases, the grail will also summon a special servant called the Ruler. Rulers serve the grail directly and are responsible as the judge to make sure both parties play by the established rules. This is basically what happens in Fate/Apocrypha.
The Most Notable Holy Grail Wars
There are several notable Holy Grail Wars that have happened throughout the years. After all, this ritual happened all over the world, throughout the ages. However, the most notable ones have to be the Holy Grail War that happens in Fuyuki City, which is the setting for the main Fate/Stay Night storylines.
There have been five separate Holy Grail Wars that have happened in Fuyuki City. The first one happened in 1810, the second one was around the 1860s, and the third one was during World War II, specifically in 1939. The fourth Fuyuki Holy Grail War happened in 1994, which is the story of Fate/Zero, while the fifth one happened in 2004, 50 years ahead of schedule, which is the story of the main Fate/Stay Night series.