| “ | It should be natural for you to drink until dawn with someone you get along with, even if he may be your enemy. | „ |
| ~ Lancer, Fate/stay night |
Cú Chulainn (born Sétanta), also known as the Child of Light, the Hound of Culann, and the Blue Spearman of the Wind, is a major character in the Japanese science fantasy franchise Fate.
He appears as a supporting character in the 2004 visual novel Fate/stay night (specifically as a supporting antagonist in the Fate route, a supporting antagonist-turned-supporting character in the Unlimited Blade Works route, and a minor character in the Heaven's Feel route) and its various anime & manga adaptations. He is set to appear as a playable supporting character in the 2023 video game Fate/Samurai Remnant.
He is initially the Servant of Bazett Fraga McRemitz and later becomes the Servant of Kirei Kotomine during the Fifth Holy Grail War. He is a fierce, but balanced warrior who enjoys combating a worthy opponent. He has a playful attitude and takes a very carefree approach to life, but is quick to work himself into a frenzy during a heated battle. Lancers are hailed as the "Most Agile" of Servant classes.
He is voiced by Nobutoshi Canna in the Japanese version of the anime and Tony Oliver in the English version.
Characteristic[]
Personality[]
The Lancer usually adopts a playful demeanor and shows a very carefree approach to life. He enjoys fishing, hunting and hitting on hot girls, but would quickly go berserk during a pitched battle.
Appearance[]
Lancer has dark blue hair slicked back in a ponytail, red eyes, and wears silver gray earrings. When in battle, he wears a blue outfit in the style of Irish mythology and carries his red Gáe Bolg spear.
In Fate/hollow ataraxia and Carnival Phantasm, when not fighting, he wears his casual clothes, consisting of a Hawaiian shirt with light green, lime, red, and orange patterns, black pants, and brown shoes. He also wears these clothes while fishing.
Role[]
Fate/stay night[]
Lancer was originally summoned by Bazett Fraga McRemitz, an Irish representative of the Mage's Association. However, Kirei Kotomine betrayed Bazett and severed her left arm to obtain her Command Spell, leaving her almost dead. He then used her stolen Command Seals to gain the allegiance of Lancer and enter into the 5th Holy Grail War. Despite his wishes to avenge his fallen master, Lancer was forced to bend to Kotomine's will. Lancer is disgruntled at having to serve a Master who uses such cowardly tactics, but he is forced to obey Kirei's wishes. Kirei chooses to employ a passive strategy regarding Lancer. He has Lancer go out on reconnaissance, and scout the locations and identies of other Masters and gauge how dangerous their Servants are. During his fight with Archer, Lancer noticed that Shirou Emiya had witnessed his entire battle. Believing Shirou to be an ordinary human, to preserve the secrecy of the Holy Grail War, Lancer silences Shirou by stabbing him through his heart.
Later, Lancer realizes that Shirou has recovered from his mortal wound, so he tracks and corners the young mage within the shed of his home estate. Before Lancer is able to strike a mortal blow, Shirou is rescued by the recently summoned Servant, Saber, who then engages Lancer in combat. Outmatched, Lancer flees the scene just before the arrival of Archer and his master.
After this, for the majority of the story, Lancer is generally inactive.
Fate[]
In Fate, Shirou is lured to Kotomine's church, and once again wounded by Lancer. Saber eventually arrives to rescue Shirou. After events unfold, Kotomine reveals his other Servant, Gilgamesh, the Archer from the previous war. Kotomine orders the both of them to kill Saber and Shirou, and leaves. Lancer, disgusted by Kotomine keeping Gilgamesh's existence a secret from him, and by Gilgamesh himself, decides to rebel against Kirei. Though he claims he is doing it out of hatred for Gilgamesh and Kotomine, and not to help them, Lancer chooses to fight Gilgamesh and thereby aids Shirou and Saber in escaping. He is then defeated by Gilgamesh.
Unlimited Blade Works[]
In Unlimited Blade Works, after being driven out of his church by Caster, and faking his death, Kotomine orders Lancer to cooperate with Shirou and Rin. Lancer helps them with their plan to defeat Caster by fighting Archer to distract him, so that Rin and Shirou are able to enter the church. Ostensibly defeating Archer, but choosing not to conclude their battle, he later reappears to offer his aid again to Shirou and Saber after Rin is captured. Upon rescuing Rin, Kirei suddenly appears and orders Lancer to kill Rin. In addition to his previous disgust with Kotomine, Lancer has come to admire Rin, and therefore refuses his order. In response to this, Kotomine uses a Command Seal to force Lancer to give himself a mortal wound. However, before he fades away, Lancer manages to kill Kotomine, and bids goodbye to Rin. Before his death, he sets the Einzbern castle on fire.
Heaven's Feel[]
In Heaven's Feel, upon sensing a disturbance at the Ryudou Temple, Lancer investigates it as per his orders by Kotomine to scout the competition. He discovers and engages in battle with True Assassin, but during the battle, he is attacked and killed while his heart is consumed by the True Assassin; then his body is absorbed by the black shadow of Avenger and Sakura.
Fate/hollow ataraxia[]
In Fate/hollow ataraxia, Lancer's role is expanded far beyond Fate/stay night. He is normally spotted fishing at the Fuyuki docks, but he is frequently seen wandering the city or at his part-time job as a grocer. He is quite amiable, chatting with many of the former Holy Grail War participants, and is well liked. Nearly every female character in the game is subject to a pick-up attempt. (Or in Shirou's words, "Harassment") These attempts tend to work out well, thanks to not downplaying his Servant qualities. However, in the end things generally turn out differently, leaving Lancer annoyed and/or embarassed and the girl(s) in question safe from the grasp of the Blue Panther. He makes no attempt to combat the Shadow Wolf Beasts during the Fuyuki eclipse, instead quietly presiding over Avenger's ascent into Heaven's Feel from a distance.
Other Appearance[]
Carnival Phantasm[]
Lancer has prevalent role in the Fate segments of Carnival Phantasm and also acts as part of a running gag involving his death. He constantly is "killed" within a segment in each episode aside from the second. While he dies without mention during Tsukihime segments, characters comment on it during the Fate segments with "Lancer died!", followed by "You bastards!" (or its Japanese equivalent, "You aren't human!") in a reference to Kenny McCormick's similar constant deaths in South Park. He has an episode based on the concept called "Final Dead Lancer", parodying the Final Destination film series, where he manages to avoid his deaths from the previous episodes. He ends up being retroactively killed in the events from the second episode, and he revives from his grave at the end of the episode as a horror movie reference.
Abilities[]
Lancer's weapon, the Gáe Bolg, a cursed spear which is said to always hit the target. His weapon itself has two main techniques which can be classified as separate Noble Phantasms.
Lancer also qualifies for the Berserker and Caster classes. He had gone berserk several times in life, and he takes great pride in having the ability and knowledge enough to qualify for the Caster Class due to his knowledge on Runes. He obtains no geographical boosts from the cultural sphere around Japan. If he were to be summoned in western Europe, he would receive a general boost in power similar to other European Heroic Spirits, and he would display a much sharper increase in power in Ireland. If he were to be summoned in Ireland, he would have had potential access to a castle, chariot, protection of sleeplessness, and the like due to being in the land where his legend took place. While Diarmuid Ua Duibhne has an advantage in a fight due to having a better prana supply from his Master, Lancer would obtain more of an advantage should they fight properly in Ireland due to his fame.
Gallery[]
Merchandise[]
.jpg "Nendoroid Cú Chulainn (Lancer).jpg (58 KB)")
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 Heroes
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 Masters & Humans  Masters & Humans  Masters & Humans  Illyasviel von Einzbern | Miyu Edelfelt | Chloe von Einzbern | Rin Tohsaka | Luviagelita Edelfelt | Shirou Emiya | Gil  Lord El-Melloi II | Gray | Reines El-Melloi Archisorte | Flat Escardos | Svin Glascheit | Luviagelita Edelfelt | Caules Forvedge | Olga Marie Animusphere | Rider  Black Faction  Masters & Humans  False Masters  Hakuno Kishinami | Nero Claudius | Tamamo-no-Mae | Rin Tohsaka  BB | Lancer (Fate/Extra CCC) | Saber (Fate/Extra & Fate/Extra CCC) | Caster (Fate/Extra CCC) | Sakura Five (Passionlip | Meltryllis | Kingprotea | Violet | Kazuradrop)  Charlemagne  Shiki Ryougi | Mikiya Kokutou | Touko Aozaki | Azaka Kokutou | Daisuke Akimi | Tomoe Enjou | Shizune Seo  Observer on Timeless Temple | ||
| v t e |  Heroes |
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