Fate/Apocrypha

is a light novel written by Yuuichirou Higashide with illustrations by Ototsugu Konoe and supervised by Kinoko Nasu who planned and wrote majority of the story elements for Apocrypha characters and the plot. The first volume was released on December 29, 2012 at Comiket 83. The second volume was released on August 16, 2013. The third volume was released on December 29, 2013. The fourth volume was released on May 30, 2014. The fifth and final volume was released on December 30, 2014.
==Story==
The setting of Fate/Apocrypha is a parallel world to Fate/stay night and its prequel Fate/Zero where the Greater Grail was removed from Fuyuki after the Third Holy Grail War and disappeared for many years. Around the 2000s, around the same time as the Fifth Holy Grail War would have happened, the group that plundered the Grail, Yggdmillennia, openly declares their secession from the Mage's Association and that they are in possession of the Grail. The Association dispatches fifty magi to retrieve it, but all but one are instantly slaughtered by Lancer of Black. The one remaining manages to activate the reserve system of the Greater Grail, allowing for the summoning of fourteen Servants in total.
This marks the start of the Great Holy Grail War in Trifas, featuring two different factions, the , represented by Yggdmillenia, and the , whose members were sent by the Mage's Association with the exception of one from the Church. The Grail itself also summons Ruler to act as a mediator of the Holy Grail War.
==Characters==
=== Sieg / Homunculus ===
:Sieg is the main protagonist of Fate/Apocrypha series. He is a Homunculus created by Gordes Musik Yggdmillennia. Gordes created a way to manipulate the Mana Pathway system so that he, along with six others, are providing magical energy for all of the Servants. He is saved by Ruler, Astolfo (Rider), and Siegfried who sacrifices himself so Sieg may live longer than the normal 3 years allotted to homunculi.
=== Ruler / Jeanne d'Arc ===
:Ruler is the Ruler-class Servant.
===Black Faction===
Cap_black_camp.jpg|Anime website's Black Faction cap
Black faction defense.png|Some of the Black Faction's Servants
Black faction servant.png|Black Faction's Servants
Yggdmillenia clan.jpg|Yggdmillenia
The Black Faction is made up of members of Yggdmillennia and the independent Reika Rikudou who ended up with Assassin's contract. While Darnic Prestone Yggdmillennia is the head of the group, he defers to Lancer of Black for running the Holy Grail War. The vanguard of their combat force consists of many homunculi crafted by the family and golems crafted by Caster of Black. While not strong enough to face Servants directly, they can stall them and provide support for the Black's Servants. Both Lancer and Archer spend time with the other Yggdmillennia magi to prepare countermeasures against attacking Servants. Darnics still has a number of family members spread throughout the Association and Church, allowing for them to relay necessary information on the opposing Masters.
Their homunculi are born through alchemy as fully matured man-made organisms born to fight, destroy, and die. Their combat homunculi wield gigantic halberds and are capable of producing complex magical rituals to cause massive destruction. They posses various corporeal defects that when compensated for limits their lifespan to two months. They are meant to be expendable, willingly sent in large numbers to hinder Servants. They have diluted emotions that make them capable of charging into battle, but they are still wary of Servants. They have the strength to harm Servants, but pose little threat. Working together with the golems, even over one hundred pose little threat to Berserker of Red. Those made to supply energy for Servants are kept with their consciousness undeveloped, and sealed in magical energy supply tanks with reinforced glass. Preserved in a green jade solution to act more efficiently with a breathing apparatus, they take in mana from the atmosphere to provide to the Servants. They are also occasionally taken for Caster's usage as materials for his golems.
The Masters of their side have a significant advantage over those of the Red Faction in that they do not have to provide the cost of their Servant's upkeep and battle usage. Devised by Gordes Musik Yggdmillennia, he has managed to use his alchemical knowledge along with Yggdmillennia's homunculi to manipulate the system to allow for the division of the magical energy pathways supplying the Servants, bypassing the Masters and leading to the homunculi. While the Masters provide the minimum amount necessary to allow the Servants to exist in the world as a backup measure, the Servants do not use any of the Master's energy for utilizing their Noble Phantasms, automatic recovery, or in their own usage of magecraft. This allows the Masters to save their own energy for battle and for Servants to be less selective in using Noble Phantasms, differing from those who have to supply their Servant and manage their battle expenditures.
Masters
;Darnic Prestone Yggdmillennia
:Black Lancer's Master and the leader of the Yggdmillennia group. He is almost a century old despite looking in his 20s. He plundered the Holy Grail from the Third Holy Grail War of Fuyuki.
;Gordes Musik Yggdmillennia
:He summoned Saber of Black with a bloodstained leaf of a Sacred Fig tree as a catalyst.
;Fiore Forvedge Yggdmillennia
:A girl assumed to be Darnic's successor. She summoned Archer of Black using an ancient arrow as a catalyst.
;Celenike Icecolle Yggdmillennia 
:She summoned Rider of Black with a glass bottle which had a liquid stain left on it as a catalyst.
;Roche Frain Yggdmillennia
:He is thirteen years old, and already famous in the field of 'Doll Engineering'. Respectfully refers to the Caster of Black he has summoned as 'Sensei'; their relationship is close to that of a teacher and student. Spends all his time building golems in a workshop in the city for the Holy Grail War.
;Caules Forvedge Yggdmillennia
:Fiore's little brother. He is immature and childish for his age. He summoned Berserker of Black, with the blueprints of the 'Ideal Human' as a catalyst.
;Reika Rikudou
:She's a prostitute who lived with Sagara Hyouma until he used her as a sacrifice to summon the Assassin of Black, who saved her life and killed Sagara.
Servants
;Saber of Black
:Siegfried, the Dragon-Blooded Knight.
;Archer of Black
:Chiron, the mentor of Greek heroes 
;Lancer of Black
:Vlad III, the Lord Impaler
;Rider of Black
:Astolfo, the Twelfth Paladin of Charlemagne.
;Caster of Black
:Solomon ibn Gabirol, also called Avicebron, the master of golems 
;Berserker of Black
:Frankenstein, Frankenstein's Monster
;Assassin of Black
:Jack the Ripper, Legendary Serial Killer
===Red Faction===
Cap_red_camp.jpg|Anime website's Red Faction cap
Red Faction.png|Red Faction's Servants
The Red Faction consists of people selected by the Clock Tower specifically for the purpose of retrieving the Greater Grail and stopping Yggdmillennia's defection. They decide to choose outside professionals and some from the Clock Tower as well. Those from the great families cannot be chosen, as it would require over three months of politics like succession and the safekeeping of Magic Crests before a selection can even be confirmed. Bram Nuada-Re Sophia-Ri decides upon the catalysts, while Rocco Belfaban and Lord El-Melloi II handle the participants. They heavily restrict travel to Romania for magi to prevent the unlikely scenario of Command Spells manifesting on a third-rate magus.
They seek one Master from the Church in order to have their involvement prove the legitimacy of their cause. Although they do not need an impartial overseer like the Fuyuki conflicts due to it being a struggle between two opposing forces of magi, it would be a problem if they were to instead back the Black Faction. They wish to proclaim themselves as the only legitimate thaumaturgical organization even if it means having a Master as the overseer.
Should they emerge victorious, they plan to take the Greater Grail for safekeeping. Belfaban admits that such a thing would likely be difficult due to the survivor being faced with something that can lead to the Root, so the result will be up to them. They can attempt a wish, or even destroy everything to prevent others from making one themselves. Kairi Sisigou believes that Belfaban will prepare a retrieval team to quickly move in once the war ends, but plans to get around them to make his own wish.
Masters
;Kairi Sisigou
:A freelance Necromancer. He summoned Saber of Red with a splinter of the Round Table. He notes that the selected members are world renowned magi that are known as monsters specialized in combat. They remove the opposition without mercy, and he can account for their skills, having worked with all of them with the exception of Sembren.
;Shirou Kotomine
:He was sent by the Church as a supervisor and also he is the Master of Assassin of Red.
Former Masters
After arriving, the other five Masters become entranced through unknown means by Shirou, who acts as their "intermediary" on their behalf. Their Servants are summoned in Shirou's presence and lead to believe that their Masters simply wish to remain hidden, while the Masters sit in a set-up reminiscent of a throne room behind a thin curtain. They spend their time sharing stories in peace, only dealing with the status of the war when Shirou reports to them. Kneeling reverently, he feeds them false details of victory over five of the Red Faction Servants while attempting to convince them to relinquish control to him. While they consider it, they feel it is too dangerous to give up control at the moment. As their common sense has mostly collapsed, they eventually concede to the idea after another attempt.
Along with Sisigou, each is said to be a veteran magi among the elites of the elites of the Clock Tower. Darnic Prestone Yggdmillennia believe only he and Fiore Forvedge Yggdmillennia among the Black Masters would stand any chance at opposing them directly in battle.
;Rottweil Berzinsky
:A freelance Magus, also known as the .
;Jean Rum
:A freelance Magus, also known as .
;Pentel brothers
:Two brothers of the Pentel family known as the 
;Feend vor Sembren
:First-class instructor of the Clock Tower.
Servants
;Saber of Red
:Mordred, The Knight of Treachery.
;Archer of Red
:Atalanta, The Huntress of Chastity.
;Lancer of Red
:Karna, The Hero of Generosity.
;Rider of Red
:Achilles, The invincible hero of Greece.
;Caster of Red
:Shakespeare, The World's Greatest Playwright.
;Berserker of Red
:Spartacus, The Gladiator.
;Assassin of Red
:Semiramis, Wise Queen of Assyria.
Others
;Lord El-Melloi II
:Lord El-Melloi II is one of the principal people in preparing for the Holy Grail War. He dislikes being referred to as "Lord El-Melloi" because it is grating to hear it spoken without the "II."
;Rocco Belfaban
:Rocco Belfaban is the head of the Department of Summoning in the Mage's Association, and one of the principal people in preparing for the Holy Grail War. He personally hires Kairi Sisigou, and although he tries to pass it off as a forgery, reluctantly parts with his juvenile hydra as part of the payment.
;Bram Nuada-Re Sophia-Ri
:Bram Nuada-De Sophia-Ri is the brother of Sola-Ui Nuada-Re Sophia-Ri and the successor of the head of the Department of Evocation. He is confident in his ability to acquire powerful catalysts in a short time.
;Sagara Hyouma
:A magus who lived with Reika in the original pilot of the series. He is the original Master of the Jack the Ripper. He summoned her using Jack the Ripper's knives as the catalyst and Reika as a sacrifice to make the summoning more effective. He's killed by the Black Assassin shortly after he summons her.
===Discarded characters===
;David
:A servant of the Archer class, he and Georgios are later removed from the finished product in order to make way for the new Archer servant of the Black faction.
;Musashibou Benkei
:A servant of the Lancer class, he and Kintoki were removed from the finished product in order to make way for Red Saber and Black Caster.
;Georgios
:A servant of the Rider class, alongside with David, he's removed later for the new Servants.
;Sakata Kintoki
:Originally a servant of the Berserker class, he and Benkei were removed from the finished story in favor of Red Saber and Black Caster.
==Volumes==
The first volume was released December 29, 2012, and the fifth and final volume was released on December 30, 2014. The series was later re-released under Kadokawa Bunko on September 21, 2019. Kadokawa's last volume was released on March 19, 2020.
Fate Apocrypha vol 1.jpg|Cover of the first Fate/Apocrypha novel
Fate Apocrypha vol 2.jpg|Cover of the second Fate/Apocrypha novel
Fate Apocrypha vol 3.jpg|Cover of the third Fate/Apocrypha novel
Fate Apocrypha vol 4.jpg|Cover of the fourth Fate/Apocrypha novel
Fate Apocrypha vol 5.jpg|Cover of the fifth Fate/Apocrypha novel
Fate Apocrypha - Vol 1 Cover (Kadokawa).png|Fate Apocrypha - Vol 1 Cover (Kadokawa Edition) 
Fate Apocrypha - Vol 2 Cover (Kadokawa).jpg|Fate Apocrypha - Vol 2 Cover (Kadokawa Edition) 
Fate Apocrypha - Vol 3 Cover (Kadokawa).jpg|Fate Apocrypha - Vol 3 Cover (Kadokawa Edition) 
Fate Apocrypha - Vol 4 Cover (Kadokawa).jpg|Fate Apocrypha - Vol 4 Cover (Kadokawa Edition) 
Fate Apocrypha - Vol 5 Cover (Kadokawa).jpg|Fate Apocrypha - Vol 5 Cover (Kadokawa Edition) 
====Volume 1====
====Volume 2====
====Volume 3====
====Volume 4====
====Volume 5====
==Development==
===Game===
Originally introduced as a canceled project for an online MMO game, various details and character designs were collected in Fate/complete material IV Extra material. TYPE-MOON and an unnamed video game developer were developing this game, however, the project was discontinued right at the planning stages.
The original gameplay would have involved the players acting as Masters, and fighting with each other's Servants. Nasu wanted the online game to have a world with a complete story, despite being an online game. While the overall story would change depending upon the Servants' relationship with the Masters, the story would conclude with Ruler activating her ultimate Noble Phantasm that she had been stubbornly withholding, thus creating a world with a complete story despite its nature as an online game.
===Light novels===
Fate Apocrypha Unbirth cover.jpg|Cover of Act 1: Unbirth.
Zugzwang cover.jpg|Cover of the Zugzwang short story.
Blank space cover.jpg|Cover of Blank space.
Side of Survivor cover.jpg|Cover of Side of Survivor.
It was announced in November 2011 that a new project was for the concept would be made in the form a light novel series. It was to be written by Yuuichirou Higashide, a writer working for visual novel company Propeller, and he later confirmed on his Twitter that he was writing Fate/Apocrypha in novel format with illustrations by Ototsugu Konoe.
The idea of "doing something that would have been impossible in the original game setting" was one of the concepts of Apocrypha, and how Higashide came up with the idea of seven Servants VS seven Servants following that line of thought. At first, Semiramis was the mastermind in the initial stages of the plot, but all the characters including her who had already been released in Fate/complete material IV along with the original setting were deemed to have too weak of an impact as a mastermind. Therefore, following the main concept, Higashide came up with Amakusa Shirou Tokisada as the main villain, with serving as an even further impetus (since Amakusa is the main villain in that work). He was created to be a complete contrast to Jeanne d'Arc as one was a young boy and a young girl, both of their battles heavily connected to flags, and one who never became a saint while the other did. Their points of commonality and difference were so clear and contrastive that Higashide selected him as the last boss. During this period of the plot creation, the following had already been basically decided: "Romanian stage. Vlad III’s big fame bonus. Central Servants are Jeanne and Astolfo, and the rival Servant is Amakusa Shirou Tokisada."
One aspect of the plot that was decided near the beginning was that "Frankenstein will use her Noble Phantasm and revive," so Frankenstein had to take up the slot for the ally Berserker. From the initial plotting stages it was decided that Kairi Sisigou and Mordred would “rampage around as they like without regretting anything and fight and fight until they die while smiling” as “this story’s Bonnie and Clyde.” During the initial plot, Shakespeare was even supposed to be an ally, and there was a scenario where “just as the protagonist is about to die, his Servant Shakespeare activates his Noble Phantasm and somehow manages to find a way to survive,” but the idea was quickly discarded. His Noble Phantasm First Folio had the power to rewind time in the initial storyboarding, but since that didn’t have much meaning in terms of the story’s development, the idea was discarded. The fact that Aoko Aozaki was going to appear in Mahoutsukai no Yoru after the prototype Fate/Apocrypha also played a big part in the decision.
The Servants Sakata Kintoki, Musashibou Benkei, Georgios, and David were discarded in the transition from the proto-version of Apocrypha featured in Fate/complete material IV to the official light novels.
He released a story penned as the first chapter under the title of "Fate/Apocrypha Act 1: Unbirth", focusing on Jack the Ripper (which he designed for the original MMO game) and her Master, Reika Rikudou, in TYPE-MOON Ace Volume 7 on December 15, 2011. While the story elements of Reika and Jack still exist in the novel version, the story itself has no relation to the plot of the novels. He released a preview of the novel in TYPE-MOON Ace Volume 8, where it is shown that Musashibou Benkei and Sakata Kintoki have not been included within the story.
Originally it was planned that the story would end in four books, however Higashide confirmed that the novel would extend to five books.Yuuichirou Higashide Twitter 11:08 PM JST · May 2, 2014
Following the end of the series, some more extra side stories would be released. A short novella titled "Fate/Apocrypha: Zugzwang", focusing once more on Jack the Ripper and Reika Rikudou facing a team of spellcasting mercenaries called Zugzwang, was published in TYPE-MOON Ace Volume 10 on July 1, 2015. With the anime adaptation came stories written by Higashide and released with the Blu-ray disk boxes. The first Blu-ray release came with "Blank space",Fate/Apocrypha Anime Official Twitter 6:10 PM JST · Dec 20, 2017 an anthology of three short stories showcasing the backstories of Reika Rikudou, the Forvedge siblings, and Kairi Sisigou before the start of the Great Holy Grail War.Fate/Apocrypha Package Official Site The second Blu-ray release contained , a short novella epilogue following Astolfo interviewing the survivors of the Great Holy Grail War, released on March 28, 2018.Fate/Apocrypha Package Official Site
===Staff===
The Servants were designed and drawn by a variety of different people.
====Servant Designer====
*TYPE MOON (Siegfried) (Semiramis)
*Kinoko Nasu (Karna) (Jeanne d'Arc) (Mordred) (Avicebron) (Chiron) (Achilles) (Amakusa Shirou Tokisada)
*Gen Urobuchi (Vlad III) (Spartacus)
*Myougaya Jinroku (Musashibou Benkei) (Atalanta)
*Meteo Hoshizora (David) (Astolfo) (Frankenstein)
*Kiyomune Miwa (Georgios)
*Shoji Gatoh (Shakespeare)
*Yuichiro Higashide (Jack the Ripper)
*Jin Haganeya (Sakata Kintoki)
====Servant Illustrator====
*KN (Siegfried)
*pako (Karna)
*Hirotaka Maeda (Vlad III)
*Katsuya Terada (Musashibou Benkei) (Spartacus)
*Ginka (David)
*Genji Asai (Atalanta)
*Higashiguchi Chuuou (Georgios)
*Ototsugu Konoe (Astolfo)
*Chinatsu Kurahana (Shakespeare)
*Taketo Sanada (Jack the Ripper)
*Shidzuki Morii (Semiramis)
*Takeshi Okazaki (Frankenstein)
*Raita Honjou (Sakata Kintoki)
*Takashi Takeuchi (Jeanne d'Arc)
===Trailers===
Fire Girl & Fate／Apocrypha PV|Fire Girl & Fate/Apocrypha PV
==Manga==
The Novel received a manga adaptation illustrated by Akira Ishida and published by . The manga started serialization at the beginning of the year 2016 and finished on April 26, 2024. 16 tankōbpn volumes were released, with the first volume released on August 23, 2016.
==Anthology==
==Anime==
==References==
==External links==
*TYPE-MOON's Official Homepage for Fate/Apocrypha
*Trial sample of Fate/Apocrypha Volume 1 on TYPE-MOON's Official Website
es:Fate/Apocrypha
ru:Fate/Apocrypha
fr:Fate/Apocrypha
vi:Fate/Apocrypha
Category:Fate
Category:Fate/Apocrypha
Category:Novels
Category:TYPE-MOON works
Category:Released in 2012