Caster (Fate/Crossover - Alice Margatroid)

**Caster** (キャスター, *Kyasutā*) is the servant of ??? in the ??? Holy Grail War.

*"Nothing is better than strength in numbers. Big things are combined small ones!"* - Alice Margatroid

## Profile

### Identity

Caster's true identity is **Alice Margatroid**, a heroic female youkai from Touhou who is known primarily for her skillful manipulation of many miniature dolls, most notably Shanghai and Hourai. One of a few known people to live in the Forest of Magic, she's a skillful magician who is also known for being a loner. She gets in many fights with Marisa Kirisame but nevertheless the two of them are acquaintances, sharing many of the same interests and even teaming up during Imperishable Night and Subterranean Animism as well as such non-canon titles as MegaMari. Alice always holds back even if it means losing due to the fact that she, unlike Marisa, is much more interested in strategy and hates having to win a fight from sheer overwhelming power.

### Appearance

Alice has short blonde hair, orange (or blue or green depending on game appearance) eyes, and carries a black book and is accompanied by a small red-clothed doll. She wears black boots and a light blue dress with white sleeves, a white capelet, pink ribbons and a red ribbon in her hair.

### Personality

According to Perfect Memento in Strict Sense, maybe since she was originally a human, even as a youkai, she has high understanding and friendship level to humans and presents a low danger level, and if someone gets lost in the Forest of Magic, she also gladly gives shelter upon arriving at her house. However, Alice's house is covered all over with dolls, and since she is not very eager for conversation, it seems like visitors immediately flee when there is something eerie. When she showed her hospitality was in Immaterial and Missing Power, when she led Sakuya Izayoi out of the forest, who had become lost.

In chapters 5-6 of Strange and Bright Nature Deity, the Three Fairies of Light accidentally arrived at her house and Alice was hospitable to them, providing tea and cake. She seemed caring with the fairies.

She's attached to magic, but she is indifferent to other people. She doesn't perform the usual act of attacking humans like most youkai, but she unexpectedly likes fights and upon being challenged to battle, she gladly accepts. As she manipulates a great number of combat dolls, the fight is compelled to be highly outnumbered, making a difficult battle inevitable, but since she has her hands full with manipulating the dolls, that is her weakness.

She's an indoors type who was often alone, but in Perfect Memento in Strict Sense, the range of her place of activities is "any kind of place" in Gensokyo, she performs her share of intermingling with the village, appearing in front of people in times of festivals to exhibit her skills with dolls. In each ending of Imperishable Night and Immaterial and Missing Power, she participated in banquets at the Hakurei Shrine. In addition to things like "the frog dolls being popular," there have also been expressions that indicate that her dolls are well-received in the village. She also said things that hinted that she sometimes visits the library of the Scarlet Devil Mansion. She has an obsession with collecting things, especially magic items.

### Relationships

#### **Marisa Kirisame**

Marisa Kirisame is her friend and neighbor in the Forest of Magic. They started out as a "bad relationship" combination, but despite their rivalry, their relationship has gotten much better and sharing many of the same interests. They even would eventually teamed up during Imperishable Night and Subterranean Animism.

## Abilities

Unlike Marisa, Alice does not find it enjoyable to win battles with overwhelming power and is more interested in strategy, so she usually fights with power that is a little above that of the opponent and always holds back even if it means losing. It is because if she were defeated using her true strength, then there would be nothing left afterwards, which resembles Reimu Hakurei. It is unknown if this is fundamental to her personality, or if this is simply something she judged as an efficient strategy that her secret skills should not be shown.

Related to this, in Scarlet Weather Rhapsody, among the 15 characters, she did not have a cost 5 spell card, which might be an example of not showing her true strength. However, in Touhou Hisoutensoku, a cost 5 spell card was added. In the first place, since in Imperishable Night, she had a Last Word just like other characters, which were supposed to exemplify each of the characters' full strength, it does not mean that she never displays her full strength (with an appropriate spell card) no matter what the situation. On the other hand, it could also be that her last word spell card The Phantom of the Grand Guignol was actually still going easy.

In Immaterial and Missing Power, she kept avoiding the really strong characters, not fighting those like Remilia Scarlet and Yuyuko Saigyouji, spending her efforts to get to Suika Ibuki. It is unclear what state of mind she had at that time to do such a thing. Incidentally, it was the same in Scarlet Weather Rhapsody. Concerning this, she succeeded in her goal when she met Sakuya Izayoi, Patchouli Knowledge, and Youmu Konpaku, as she judged that it would a waste of effort to meet Remilia and Yuyuko, but she did engage in a battle with the powerful Yukari Yakumo. Additionally, she felt comfortable testing her Goliath Doll on Cirno in Touhou Hisoutensoku.

During the PC-98, she obtained the "Grimoire of Alice", a book that produced "the ultimate magic", and it seems like it would contain amazing magic that couldn't be used without reading it.

### Doll handling

As her specialty is making dolls, she is also able to manipulate a great amount of dolls at the same time. This skill is among the finest in Gensokyo. She is able to make her dolls move pretty much any way humans can, and other than that she can make multiple dolls perform different actions, sometimes making them cooperate and sometimes making them move completely asynchronously, such that to onlookers around her, it might not seem like she is manipulating them. Due to this, Marisa Kirisame commented that "she said that she controls all the dolls herself, but that sounds like a whopper". The dolls can themselves manipulate and maybe even create other dolls, but it seems that Alice insists on creating new dolls herself. In chapter 5 of Strange and Bright Nature Deity, she gave a command to a doll orally, but at that time she was indoors while at the same time there were at least 12 dolls above the roof removing snow, and there were also some dolls inside the room cooking. At that time, the dolls have been portrayed as having emotion, in a cute way.

Although in common perception, it would seem obvious for the dolls to be able to talk, but there has been no mention of conversational ability. In some official material however, like Imperishable Night's Prologue and Strange and Bright Nature Deity chapter 5, Alice's dolls appear to be able to act and talk independently – someone adds in words in hiragana to Alice's words. In Marisa's B Ending in Subterranean Animism, it has been confirmed that the dolls do talk in katakana. Whether the dolls are talking due to manipulation by Alice or if half-automatic dolls are talking by themselves is a big mystery. However, according to her Perfect Memento in Strict Sense article, she hasn't yet succeeded in creating an independent doll, and a conversation between Marisa Kirisame and Rinnosuke Morichika in Curiosities of Lotus Asia chapter 16 suggests that Alice just controls the dolls and pretends they are alive for her own amusement and for showing off, but these talks were before the latter said game.

According to Bohemian Archive in Japanese Red, her objective is to make a completely autonomous doll that have their own thoughts and move by their own volition. Currently, when Alice gives a command to her dolls, they move as if they were autonomous, but she has to periodically give commands to them, and moreover it seems like she has not have had enough training in order to achieve it. In Touhou Hisoutensoku, she unleashes a move called "Semi-automaton". Because of that, it can be seen that the degree to which the ordinary Alice manipulates the dolls is clearly not all by herself. In order to perfect a completely autonomous doll, Alice does experiments, and the link to that with the "soul" is detailed.

However, according to her conversation with Youmu Konpaku, it was said that "the strings that attach the body and soul are the same as the ones that control dolls". If this is originally considered, then it could be asked, "isn't that which was put into the dolls Alice's own spirit?". It is not explained, for the dolls that she is experimenting with, if she needs to periodically give them magic power or if they are just fine without, and if they will move even if she does not give them any commands at all. However, in Touhou Hisoutensoku, Alice did say "it seems that it's more convenient to control the dolls myself than have dolls that think on their own".

Among Alice's famous skills, if the explanations of "Edo High-Explosive Pawn" and "Lemmings' Parade" are looked at, she also prepares her dolls for explosives. In Subterranean Animism, it seems that the dolls that she lent to Marisa Kirisame have been prepared with gunpowder, and due to this she objected to Marisa since they wouldn't survive in the Hell of Blazing Fires. Certainly in the game, the dolls didn't randomly explode. Also, in Magic Sign "Artful Sacrifice" as well as the skills "Volatile Doll", "Doll Cremation" and so on, she is able to put in magic power into the dolls to make them explode.

It's unclear what the relation or difference is between the dolls that use gunpowder and the dolls with magic power put into them. One Lemmings' Parade consumes an enormous number of dolls, and since all the dolls are hand-made by Alice, to ordinary people, it would seem that without reason she returns her hard work to waste in an instant. However, it could be questioned as to whether Alice really adopted such a bad technique for such efficiency, and there is also the consideration that the dolls could merely be creating a blast from their explosion without scattering and dispersing, so that they are able to be collected again.

### Dolls

Shanghai and Hourai are the two most well-known dolls (or types of doll, rather) used by Alice. The Goliath Doll is another doll created by Alice, which appears to still be in the testing stages and is thought to be her strongest doll.

### Grimoire

In Mystic Square Extra Stage, Alice appears with a black book with "Grimoire of Alice" written on it, from she recites spells. In Imperishable Night she appears with a black book with a writing that possibly spells out "Grimoire". This is some evidence that the book is possibly the same Grimoire which Alice used in the Extra Stage. However, in latter games and in Immaterial and Missing Power she appears with a book with a black cover without nothing written. It's not sure if it's a different book or not, but it's known she stills has it thanks to works as Strange and Bright Nature Deity, where she accuses the Three Fairies of Light of being the ones who are trying to steal it.

### Skills

#### Class Skills

* Item Construction (A Rank): Alice specializes in creating dolls. When focused on doll creation she can even create sentient dolls, given enough resources and time.

* Territory Creation (B+ Rank): Alice can create an Atelier, a Workshop that specializes in item creation.

#### Personal Skills

* Puppeteering Manipulation (E-EX Rank): Alice has many, many dolls. They can attack with weapons and magic. They can shield her with shields and barriers. They can sacrifice themselves in the blaze of glory near enemies. And, of course, they can do housework. It seems Alice advanced a little in her task to make a fully autonomous doll since her dolls are partially independent (they obey commands). All of Alice's dolls can fly. The mainstream dolls are Shanghai dolls.

* Magecraft (A- Rank): Alice is a skilled magician who knows almost every field. However she has personal issues with elemental manipulation, causing a slight weakness in that area.

* Protection of the Muse (True) (A Rank): As one chosen by the Grimoire of Alice, she is blessed by the muses of storytelling, acting, poetry, dance, and puppeteering. All skills and magecraft related to those fields are enhanced.

* Phantom-Seeing Power (B Rank): Alice can see through illusions and see the actual forms of other beings easily - she saw the invisible light from the true full moon, saw that Mokou was not truly alive, and saw Keine's pure form as a Were-Hakutaku.

### Noble Phantasm

#### **Goliath Doll; "The Guardian Doll"**

Alice Summons a giant doll wielding twin swords. The doll then slashes in a x like motion attacking the targeted enemy.

#### **Through the Looking Glass; "The Mirrored World of Alice"**

As the most knowledgeable Alice, she has turned the Grimoire into a weapon of her own. By performing a High Thaumaturgy ritual, she can open a link between the World and the Fantasy within the Grimoire. The area affected starts small, but increases in size as she adds stanzas. Every target within the area of effect is sucked into the story of the Grimoire. A world where "Alice" is the sole heroine.

There is some danger in using this offensively though. Other young girls might become an "Alice." And there are heroes and Noble Phantasms capable of destroying a world. However most will at best be stranded in an alternate realm, with escape being very difficult.

## References

https://touhou.fandom.com/wiki/Alice\_Margatroid

https://hero.fandom.com/wiki/Alice\_Margatroid

https://en.touhouwiki.net/wiki/Alice\_Margatroid

https://aminoapps.com/c/touhou-project/page/item/alice-margatroid/aVbp\_ldJi8IaMeX8jeak6mGM8ljzrGrm5l4

https://vsbattles.fandom.com/wiki/Alice\_Margatroid

https://www.deviantart.com/stoneificaunt/art/Fate-Grand-order-card-Alice-Margatroid-860919390