| “ | She has such beautiful, kind eyes... Yet, for some reason, she really looks... incredibly sad. | „ |
| ~ Nanoha to Fate |
Fate Testarossa (フェイト・テスタロッサ Feito Tesutarossa) is the deuteragonist and secondary heroine of Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha. She is voiced by Nana Mizuki in the Japanese dub and by Jennifer Alyx in the English dub. In the first season, Fate is a mage from the Garden of Time, who is sent to collect Jewel Seeds, which puts her at odds with her rival, Nanoha Takamachi. She is aided on her quest by an animal familiar, a mature dog-woman named Arf.
She is voiced by Nana Mizuki in Japanese Version and by Jennifer Alyx in English version.
History[]
First introduced as Nanoha's rival, Fate is the daughter of the mad scientist Precia Testarossa, who constantly yearned for her approval. Because of this, Precia snapped, constantly abused Fate both physically and threw her into dangerous and painful situations. When outside, Fate was usually assisted by her familiar Arf and armed with her sentient poleaxe, the Intelligent Device known as Bardiche. She first met (and fought) Nanoha Takamachi over the Jewel Seeds, which Fate had been ordered to capture.
Considering herself unfit to be friends with such a pure-hearted and kind girl as Nanoha, Fate rejected her attempts at negotiation, determined to win back her mother's affection. Ultimately, she pushed herself far beyond her limits in a desperate gambit to obtain all the remaining Jewel Seeds at once, though Nanoha intervened when it became evident that Fate would not emerge unscathed. Shortly afterwards, Precia revealed Fate's origins: she was an imperfect clone of Precia's deceased biological daughter, Alicia. Fate's fragile hopes were destroyed and she was denounced as both a daughter and a person.
Fate fell into despair. However, with the encouragement of Arf, Bardiche, and Nanoha, she decided to face Precia one last time and reaffirm her feelings as real, even if she herself is artificial. Despite Fate's efforts, Precia died in the collapse of The Garden, effectively committing suicide in front of Fate. Afterward, Fate was taken in by Lindy Harlaown, and for several months she awaited trial as a material witness, keeping in constant contact with her new friend, Nanoha.
The trial concluded quickly, and Fate quickly joined Nanoha in both everyday school life and the sudden battle against the Wolkenritter. During this time, she begins to develop her Fragile Speedster fighting style, with Bardiche upgraded to use a revolver-type magic cartridge system. She established a close bond with Signum based on mutual respect and helped Nanoha defeat the Book of Darkness, thus freeing Hayate and her knights. She is also officially adopted into the Harlaown family, changing her name to Fate Testarossa-Harlaown.
A decade later, Fate is an Enforcer, an elite agent of the Time-Space Administrative Bureau. Known throughout the multiverse as "The Ace of the Navy", Fate investigates various incidents, but takes a particular interest in cases involving children, even taking in two as wards of her own: Erio Mondial, a clone created with the very technology her mother helped develop, and Caro Ru Lushe, a young summoner with immense power, who was thrown out of her tribe and sent to a high-security special-protection building. Both she and her wards joined Hayate's Riot Force 6, where Fate is the captain of the Lightning squad along with her two wards and her lieutenant Signum. During the climax of the JS Incident, she encountered Jail Scaglietti, the man who started the project which ultimately led to her creation: Project Fate. Fighting him, Fate is forced to recognize the traits she and her mother have in common, namely having her kids fight for her, but after some quick encouragement from Erio and Caro, Fate turns the tables and sends Jail to his namesake. She also co-adopts Vivio alongside Nanoha, and the three are shown to be living happily together.
Personality[]
Fate is a very serious and strong-willed person. At first, she was rather cold to Nanoha but starts to show her kind and protective side after realizing how much Nanoha has reached out to her. Learning of her own origins has led her to question herself, and at times wonder about her own worth, but after seeing Alicia in the Book Of Darkness, she has come to see herself as her own person. She is especially driven to solve incidents similar to the one that happened with her mother and ensure that other children do not have to suffer as she did. Fate tends to worry about others fairly often, especially Nanoha in wake of the incident in which she was nearly crippled, and her children, Erio, Caro and Vivio. As a result, she is more permissive and protective as a parent than Nanoha, running over to Vivio when she trips rather than having her come to her. Despite her toughness, she is shown to be very shy at times, often blushing several times in the anime.
Powers[]
Fate's magical abilities developed at an astonishing rate, according to Linith. Thanks to her lightning-type Mana Conversion Affinity, she learned electricity-based attacks faster than other magical types, something that her mother Presea also specialized in. At the age of seven, she had already mastered several abilities to the point of not requiring incantations. Behind her tutor Linith's back, she also studied how to create and handle familiars. Her command phrase for her shooting abilities is "Fire!"
Fate specializes in mid-range and melee attacks, preferring speed to power and endurance. This was a result of the training that her mother demanded, which sacrificed the flexibility of a wide range of abilities for raw speed. Fate is widely considered to be the fastest character in the Nanoha universe and can keep up with anyone without any speed-enhancing spells (which would make her even faster). After the events in Nanoha, she trains with Chrono to address the gaps in her initial training. Fate is an expert in aerial combat, on par with (if not better than) Nanoha herself.
Fate's personal incantation for the set-up of Bardiche is "Arcus Cultus Aegeas". Generally, she uses this to concentrate her energies, especially before unleashing a powerful attack.
Trivia[]
- Fate's appearance and role may be yet another reference to Gundam universe in the Nanoha franchise. Whereas Nanoha's Barrier Jacket has been styled after Amuro Ray's RX-78-2 Gundam, Fate falls into the "blond archrival" archetype from the Gundam metaseries, patterned after Char Aznable, Amuro's own archrival. Like Amuro and Char, Nanoha and Fate end up teaming up in the second season, but unlike them, their cooperation lasts.
- Fate's Namco collaboration costume in Gears of Destiny is a Klonoa cosplay.
- Rachel Alucard from BlazBlue bears a striking visual resemblance to Fate.
Gallery[]
External links[]
- Fate Testarossa on the Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha Wiki.
- Fate Testarossa on the Villains Wiki.