Archer (Fate/Origins - Ekalavya)

**Archer** (アーチャー, *Āchā*) is an Archer-class Servant of Yasuke appearing in Fate/Origins.

## Profile

### Identity

The true identity of Archer is Ekalavya (エカラヴヤ, *Ekaravuya*)...

## Abilities

As a Servant, Archer himself is not particularly powerful statistically. This can be attributed to his very existence as a Heroic Spirit, who was an individual denied of the potential to become a magnificent warrior. In other words, Archer was forgotten. Accordingly, when placed into the container of a Servant, the Holy Grail could only identify his existing parameters and feats, as opposed to the ideal that he should have reached.

In legend, Ekalavya was said to possess such potential as a warrior that he would surpass the likes of even Arjuna, a prospect feared by Arjuna's mentor, Drona, so much that he ordered his thumb to be cut off. Although he possessed power as a warrior henceforth, it was worthless compared to what "could have been", and ultimately the man died a foolish death. Revived as a Servant, Archer only intends on showing the greatest level of skill possible, even if he does not possess the raw power desired in many Servants.

### Archery

Archer is, by all accounts, a traditional archer. He fights by maintaining sufficient distance from his enemy, and uses his arrows as a way to delay and subsequently kill his enemies. Unlike many archers from his era, Archer is particularly proficient in single-target combat due to the nature of his armaments. Being a conservative fighter, albeit brandishing honor, Archer will always announce his presence to an enemy before retreating into the shadows to battle like a sniper. It is an unorthodox means of combat that defies the expectation of his enemies, providing him an advantage sufficient enough to land the first critical blow in most cases...

Archer wields a mighty bow named **Pashupata** (パシュパタ, *Pashupata*). Unfortunately, it cannot be expressed as a Noble Phantasm due to Archer's restrained power. Nonetheless, he is able to wield the mystical bow highly competently, firing off arrows made out of magical energy he gains from himself and the earth – by virtue of his blessings – giving him a near-infinite supply. The most intriguing thing about the Servant's archery is that, despite his honor as a warrior, he does not reveal the arm that he strings his bow with, opting to keep it concealed with his sleeve. Although enemies will often assume there is some sort of trick behind this, it is in fact to prevent enemies and allies from pitying him. After all, despite his competency as an archer, he lacks his critical right thumb.

In lacking his thumb, Archer has trained to fire off arrows solely with his index and middle finger. While he has become an archer worthy of praise, there is ultimately a fatal imperfection in his arrows that only truly skilled warriors can perceive. They, in simple terms, lack absolute strength. Compared to other warriors of his status, his arrows are simply incapable of passing a B-rank strength threshold. As such, fighting warriors with incredible Divinity or other passive "immunity" attributes proves extremely difficult for Archer. It is in these unconquerable situations that he laments at his fate the most. If he were simply given a chance in life, Archer's raw skill would triumph over any enemy.

Unlike many who bear his class designation, Archer is a flexible combatant who has trained with archery to such a degree that he can fire off arrows of incredible accuracy from any angle, under any position, with strict ease. Having trained in the forest for so many years, his blessings have enabled him to use the breath of the trees as footholds for his arrows, enabling him to perform archery from even aerial standpoints. Despite his limited strength, the man is able to freely adjust the strength behind his arrows underneath that threshold, and adjust his fighting style and rhythm accordingly so an enemy is incapable of keeping up with him. With his incredible speed as a Servant, Archer is fully willing — and able — to surround his enemies in a bed of arrows within mere moments, destroying any chance at a counter-attack.

### Skills

**Independent Action** (単独行動, *Tandoku Kōdō*) is a class skill of the Archer class enabling the Servant to maintain manifested in the world even when not relying directly on the magical energy of their Master. Although a useful skill when considering magical energy conservation, the vast majority of the time it proves troublesome depending on the identity of the Servant and the Master's relationship with them. Being an Archer who, in life, managed to develop his skills on his lonesome by using the avatar of a Guru as an anchor, Archer is given a rank A for this skill. In accordance, he is able to competently function without a Master's magical energy for all but high-intensive magical energy use, such as the release of a Noble Phantasm. This enables him to perform sniping from considerable distances away with strict ease, ambushing any unsuspecting enemy.

**Magic Resistance** (対魔力, *Tai-Maryoku*) is a class skill of the three Knight Classes. In life, Archer was said to have defied the curses of those who wished him ill among the warrior caste for pursuing the path of an Archer. In accordance, he gained a modicum of Magic Resistance in life. This reflected as a C rank in the skill, which enables him to cancel out Magecraft below two verses.

**The Denied Hero** (否めの英勇, *Iname no Eiyū*) the skill that defines Archer's true identity as a Heroic Spirit; it is a Personal Skill that crystallizes his existence as a forgotten warrior. To all those who encounter Archer, the ability to detect his True Name will be concealed by any means so long as he does not release the True Name of his Noble Phantasm. Likewise, his true parameters are perceived as lower than they are by a whole rank, which makes most enemy Servants severely underestimate him. One of the biggest detriments of this skill is the inability for Archer to gain a fame boost even in the territory he hails from. It is a skill he despises due to epitomizing the denial he faced in life, but he tolerates its existence because it brings him an advantage, however small, to achieve the Holy Grail.

**Forest Embrace** (森抱擁, *Mori Hōyō*) a skill that crystallizes the essence of Archer's heritage as a prince born in the jungle tribes, Nishadha, as well as his blessings by the Earth Goddesses Narayani and Bhumi. Whenever fighting in an area with wildlife, Archer immediately becomes more comfortable and aware of his surroundings. The very Earth itself assists him, enabling him to perceive enemies in every inch of a forest or natural reserve with strict ease. Moreover, his arrows turn from straight arrows to homing arrows, as the forest's inhabitants themselves guide the arrow's path. The wind – the breath of the trees – guide the path of any arrow even against evading enemies. When rebounded, surrounding trees, grasses and vines will erupt in order to have them land on his target. However, due to the misfortune he suffered in life, this skill has lowered in rank from optimal, and can only make use of sufficiently large areas of plant life in order to make use of it, as opposed to its optimal use, where he would be able to use *any* plant to assist his cause. Nonetheless, Archer still manages to use the blessings of the earth in any location to draw the necessary magical energy to create his arrows, which vastly reduces the burden his Master has to pay in combat. Likewise, blessings from the earth and natural training in hunting during his life has given him an amicable relationship with most animals. He is capable of communicating with them enough to understand whether other individuals are in the area, giving himself and his Master an appropriate degree of reconnaissance.

**Gift of Learning** (学習の才能, *Gakushū no Sainō*) is the skill reflecting Archer's incredible gift and passion for learning anything he puts his heart to. In life, Archer managed to teach himself archery to a level that surpassed the likes of Arjuna, who was being directly taught under Guru Drona, while Archer only used an idol of his mentor to teach himself the skills. As a Servant, Archer's ability of learning is crystallized as an extension of an Archer's Clairvoyance skill. In addition to his ability to see vast distances, he can analyze virtually any information with incredible processing speed and use it to augment his own combat tactics significantly. Considering that Archer normally fights at a distance, this makes him an extraordinarily tough enemy during drawn-out battles, or when he has fought a Servant previously, for he can take knowledge he has previously gained and apply it to provide a massive edge over a given enemy.

## Quotes

* (To Yasuke) "*Yasuke. If there is one request I can make of you, it is this. No matter what obstacle comes your way...do not give up on this path. Foolishly pursue it till the end, no matter the tragedy. Because...honor means nothing against a world that denies you. That being said...please, do not rely on something like a Holy Grail to fulfill your goals. Carve every bone of yours with your own hands...and reach the plateau you desire.*"