Berserker (Fate)

Kanji
 Rōmaji
 Aliases
 Race
 Gender
 Weight
 Eye Color
 Hair Color
 Anime
 Film
 Japanese
 English

## Origin

Berserker is the Greek mythological hero Hercules, a half-god who regularly suffered the wrath of the goddess Hera for being conceived from the union between a mortal woman and his father, the God of Thunder Zeus. She drove Hercules into a maddening rage that drove him to murder his wife and child. To atone for these sins, Hercules made himself a slave to the king Eurystheus, who tasked him with a number of tasks considered impossible for normal men to accomplish known famously as the Twelve Labors of Heracles. Upon completing these tasks, Hercules was granted his freedom and gained an immortal body. However, he still continued to suffer the wrath of Hera, up to his death when he was poisoned by one of his wives. Beyond death, the gods of Olympus approved of the great deeds he accomplished throughout his life with mortals and granted him a seat among the Olympian Gods.

## Creation

Berserker was a character created for the Fate/ Stay Night visual novel game created by Type/Moon in 2004. There is no known information about his character creation in development phases of the game. He appears as a character in the 2006 Fate/ Stay Night TV anime and 2010 Unlimited Blade Works movie adaptations created by Studio Deen. He also appears in the Unlimited Blade Works TV anime and the upcoming Heaven's Feel movie adaptation created by Ufotable, as well as Carnival Phantasm and Fate/Kaleid Prisma Illya. He is voiced by Tadahisa Saizen in the Japanese versions of the Fate franchise and Michael McConnohie for the English versions.

## Evolution

### Appearance

Berserker stands at 253 centimeters (nearly 100 inches) tall and weighs 311 kilograms (roughly 685 pounds), having long black hair and different colored eyes (one red, one yellow). He is described as a "black giant" giving off the impression of a monster in terms of appearance and presence.

### Personality

Berserker is almost completely void of reason and emotion throughout much of Fate due to being under the effects of Mad Enhancement. However, he retains enough reason to have the desire of protecting his Master from harm and willing to follow her every order throughout the Grail War. The Berserker class is an easy one for Hercules to adopt as there were many instances throughout his life where he gave into berserk rages that drove him to murder others with his monstrous strength.

## Story Arcs

### Fate Route

Berserker was summoned to serve as the Servant for Illyasviel von Einzbern for the fifth Holy Grail War and served as the second major threat that Shiro, Rin and Saber confronted during the Holy Grail War. When Shiro was abducted by Illya, Rin, Saber and Archer snuck into the Einzbern castle to rescue him, only to be found by Illya who summoned Berserker to attack the intruders. Archer served as a decoy to buy Saber, Rin and Shiro time to flee from the castle. Archer was able to kill Berserker six times (five in the anime) before being defeated by the half-God. Illya and Berserker searched the forest for the other three and were confronted by Shiro, Rin and Saber the following day. Rin was able to kill Berserker one time through use of one of her gems while Shiro and Saber were able to finally kill off Berserker when the former recreated Saber's original sword, Caliburn, via Tracing magic.

### Unlimited Blade Works Route

Berserker winded up being killed off by Gilgamesh fairly early on when the King of Heroes made use of the many weapons within Gate of Babylon to take out Berserker's 12 lives. The last of his lives were shaved away when Berserker used his body as a shield to protect Illya from a bombardment of fired weapons coming from Gate of Babylon.

### Heaven's Feel Route

Berserker winded up being consumed by Zouken's shadow while fighting Saber Alter and True Assassin. The shadow would then turn him into Dark Berserker, a blind and decrepit version of his former self. While distracted by Illya, Dark Berserker winded up being killed off by Shiro when he made use of a projected version of Hercules' own weapon, Nine Lives.

## Powers & Abilities

Born from the union between a god and mortal woman, Hercules was blessed with an extreme amount of superhuman strength in his former life that served to make him a formidable threat in the Holy Grail War, especially when his stats were greatly augmented thanks to the Mad Enhancement skill that comes with being a Berserker class Servant. Being a Berserker class does make Hercules lose his sanity and require large amounts of mana to maintain his body. But with Illya's body housing an unlimited mana supply due to being a vessel for the Grail, she is able to fuel Berserker with as much mana as he needs and can control him with little difficulty.
In battle, Berserker wields a giant stone axe-sword that was forged from the foundation of a temple used to summon him. While he lacks technique and strategy with use of his attacks due to his mind being under the effects of Mad Enhancement, Berserker's immense strength makes each of the blows from his attacks fatal and capable of destroying anything within the vicinity of his sword swings, which force his opponents on the defensive in battle. Despite his large size, Berserker is surprisingly agile as he is capable of keeping up with Saber with Shiro as her Master.

The only Noble Phantasm that Berserker has on him throughout the Grail War is God Hand. Blessed with immortality by the gods for the completion of his Twelve Labors in his former life as Hercules, Berserker's body is coated in tough armor that makes him immune to any damage received from any attack, magic or Noble Phantasm of B rank or lower, meaning he must be slain by any A-ranked attack. Should he be killed in some way, Berserker is able to resurrect himself up to 12 times and become immune to the damage of whichever weapon or magic had killed him and it is possible for Illyasviel to restore the lives that Berserker lost. However, this immunity doesn't develop until Berserker is revived meaning it is possible for his foe to take multiple lives from him if quick enough, such as when Shiro made use of Caliburn and Nine Lives on him.

Berserker has a second Noble Phantasm called Nine Lives which he is incapable of using due to his lack of motor skills. The weapon came to be following Hercules' use of it as a bow and arrow to slay the many heads of the nine-headed Hydra as part of one of his Twelve Labors. Nine Lives is capable of transforming into different weapons and adjusting its form accordingly depending on the foe and present circumstances of the battle. With it and Hercules' cunning mind and skills on the battlefield, it would have been possible for the half-god to be summoned under any other class for the Grail War, except for Caster due to his lack of knowledge and skills on magic.