Ashwatthama

**Ashwatthama** appeared in the 2015 videogame called *Fate/Grand Order*. Ashwatthama (アシュヴァッターマン, *Ashuvattāman*?), Class Name **Archer** (アーチャー, *Āchā*?), is the Archer-class Servant of Scandinavia Peperoncino in the Lostbelts of *Fate/Grand Order*. He is also summoned by Ritsuka Fujimaru.

One of the heroes that appears in the Mahabharata. Ashwatthama is a warrior of the strongest rank that appears in the poem, and despite not having the same dramatic quality as Karna or Arjuna, he owns an abundance of episodes.

His father is the Brahmin hero Drona. In the great war sung in the epic, he, like his father, stuck by Duryodhana’s side, and unfolded a lurid conflict with the five Pandava brothers together with Karna.

It is said that after he learned of the death of all the important, influential men of his army—starting with the death of his brother-in-arms Karna, the fall of his leader Duryodhana into a moribund state, and the murder of his father Drona—he became maddened with rage, breaking his pledge and written vows as a warrior; he carried out a forbidden night assault, where he apparently massacred thousands of people.

After being driven to an effective rout, he submitted the jewel on his forehead as proof of surrender. The gem would later be inserted into the royal crown.

Stern. He’s continuously angry, to the point that most of his words give the illusion of him yelling. He’s a straightforward person that laments and resents the unreasonableness of this world more intensely than others, but he’s ideal as a warrior. Ashwatthama is a loud and battle-loving warrior. He also possesses an iron will and will stop at nothing to avenge fallen friends, which is represented in his Violation of the Warrior Code skill. Angry for the unreasonable, angry for sadness, angry for pride. However, he swore not to hate. He always wished to be a person to raise an objection against the unreasonable world. Blowing away any wise reason, no matter who he faces he’ll blow them away with composure if they don’t convince him. In a Holy Grail War, he’s the type of considering the compatibility with the Master extremely important. If the affinity is bad, he’ll even think on self-annihilation in the first battle.

## Powers and Abilities

As the heroic half-incarnation of Shiva, Ashwatthama is a demigod holding the power of Shiva and Yama within. Due to being one of the most famous heroes of the Mahabharata, Ashwatthama is said to be equal if not superior to Karna, to which Karna agrees saying that even while he was receiving the teachings of his teacher Drona, it wasn't like he was the strongest warrior around at all. After having fought each other 2000 times in a realm where time is meaningless, Karna stated that Ashwatthama is one of the strongest warriors he has met in the Grand Orders, as they reached an even score of 1000 wins and 1000 losses. As the hero of the Kauravas, Ashwatthama is not only an exceptionally skilled warrior but a tactician clever enough to serve as commander in chief. That is to say, he is a Servant who can fulfill more than just one role. Despite being such an amazing mythological figure, he was no match for Arjuna Alter and his absolute divine power.

Even though he is an Archer, Ashwatthama is a melee fighter who uses the **Giant chakram (Sudarshan Chakra)** as his weapon. A weapon he actually couldn’t obtain in his previous life and that was originally used by Krishna. After becoming an Archer, he worked hard and obtained it or something like that. It seems his proficiency improves with every Holy Grail War, but details are unknown.

Scandinavia Peperoncino claims that Ashwatthama could have destroyed Chaldea's entire base. When Arjuna Alter died, Krishna's curse was lifted. Being able to fight without restraint once again, Rama, along with Ganesha, Lakshmibai, and Mash, fought and defeated Ashwatthama.

Yan Qing praises Ashwatthama's strength, saying he felt as if his fist was going to burn off when he hit Ashwatthama. On the other hand, Ashwatthama regards Yan Qing's Chinese Boxing as an incovenience. If Ashwatthama didn't know any better, he would think Yan was using an illusion or something. He is impressed Yan can pull that off with physical strength alone. After that, Ashwatthama, Yan Qing, Saber Diarmuid Ua Duibhne, Lancer Li Shuwen, and Beowulf engage in a brawl. Parvati was able to defeat all of them thanks to Boudica's support and using the spear of Shiva.

Towards the end of the great war depicted in the Mahabharata, Ashwatthama was overcome with anger at his father's murder, and in a cowardly act of retribution, he snuck into the enemy camp and killed them all in their sleep. Afterward, he fired an arrow at the stomach of the pregnant mother of what would have been the last child of the Kuru. However, Krishna protected the baby and placed a dreadful curse upon Ashwatthama's head in retaliation. One interpretation says that the curse would last for three thousand years, during which he would be forced to endure all manner of pain and suffering. As a Servant, Ashwatthama doesn't usually bear this curse, however, during the events of the Indian Lostbelt, Arjuna Alter implanted it on him after stealing the Master contract from Scandinavia Peperoncino.

This curse grants Ashwatthama amazing regenerative abilities that practically make him immortal. No matter how much he is hurt, he will just bounce back, even if the wound is fatal. Scandinavia Peperoncino confirms that Ashwatthama was nowhere near as durable when he was his Master. Even with the support of Rama, Ganesha, and Mash, Karna was unable to overpower Ashwatthama in close range combat, and was forced to use Vasavi Shakti in order to buy some time to escape. Although it certainly hurt him, he started recovering from the damage at an alarming rate. In fact, even if his body was torn to shreds, his body would simply regenerate, thanks to his connection to Arjuna Alter's nigh-infinite supply of Magical Energy. Rama states that his regenerative abilities are on a scale he has rarely seen, and that they make Ashwatthama a significant threat, even when his opponent is only trying to get away from him rather than fighting him directly. Although he wouldn't be able to defeat him on his own, Rama states that he would try to delay him if necessary in order to allow the others to escape. Of course, since Ashwatthama would recover from most damage as soon as it was inflicted on him, Rama would probably have to cut off both his legs to do even that. That is just as much work as defeating him, especially while trying to make an escape at the same time.

Although Koyanskaya initially regarded Ashwatthama as a "mere Servant," claiming that she would have no problem destroying a warrior like him with just "a few bites", Qin Shi Huang being the only exception, when the two fought, Ashwatthama left her so gravely injured that she could barely move, leaving her depleted of most of her Magical Energy. Being overwhelmed, Koyanskaya states that she punched Ashwatthama's front teeth down his throat before making her escape. She later states that as the locally sourced Lokapala, Ashwatthama is on a whole different level, making him the most powerful Servant in the Indian Lostbelt, excepting Arjuna Alter. Furthermore, Ashwatthama had some powerful holy sutras equipped, likely thanks to Ashiya Douman.

Being a curse meant to torment Ashwatthama, or rather, his Saint Graph, this curse inflicts him great pain. The pain is so extreme, that even when Rama transferred it from Ashwatthama's body to his own, it brought him down to half his normal strength, despite Rama being an avatar of Vishnu just like Krishna, and therefore supposedly having a higher tolerance to the curse than Ashwatthama.

* **Magic Resistance** (A Rank): Cancels all magecraft of rank A or lower. In fact, a modern mage could not hurt Ashwatthama.
* **Independent Action** (EX Rank): The ability to act even in the absence of a Master. As long as Personification of Rage continues, Ashwatthama will head anywhere to defeat the enemy.
* **Divinity** (A+ Rank): He is said to have half the body of the highest Indian god, the avatar of destruction, Shiva.
* **Incarnation of Rage** (EX Rank): He whose half of the body is inhabited by Shiva, will never stop until the enemy is defeated once his rage is fired up. He is very fearsome combatant, capable of killing thousands of trained soldiers in a single combat while going berserk.
* **Violation of the Warrior Code** (A Rank): The vows established between the warrior class (Kshatriya) were trampled underfoot in succession at the great war of the Mahabharata. Vengeance called vengeance, and offense propagated offense. Ashwatthama was so angry, he performed a prohibited nocturnal assault and brought down the enemy.
* **Revered Warrior** (A+ Rank): A sublimation of the anecdote in which he was praised as the best warrior in the Mahabharata, ranked equal to Arjuna and Karna. (Although his social status is a Brahmin) Combined with Violation of the Warrior Code and Incarnation of Rage he becomes a mad warrior superior to a Berserker. It’s not like he loses his rationality, but his tolerance to weak points is slightly weakened due to being in a state of extreme fury.
* **Mani Jewel** (B Rank): A jewel embedded in his forehead since he was born. With this, he could defend himself from demonic entities or beasts. Later, he handed it over as proof of surrender.

Ashwatthama's main Noble Phantasms are **Sudarshan Chakra Yamaraj** and **Brahmashirastra**.

Ashwatthama also possesses a third Noble Phantasm known as **Mahākāla Shakti**, although he is unable to use it under normal circumstances. With it, Ashwatthama awakens Mahakala, the manifestation of Shiva inside him that can control time itself, allowing him or others to travel back in time. Needless to say, he can only use it once, as it requires him to sacrifice a lot to pull it off, leaving his Saint Graph at its limit. With this Noble Phantasm, he was able to send Ganesha and Lakshmibai thousands of years into the past, long before Arjuna Alter started ruling the Indian Lostbelt.