Darius III

TIP

This material is translated by Mazyrian. Addendum by u/Kinalvinopen in new window

Info

Bio-Data

Class: Berserker
True Name: Darius III
Sex: Male
Source: Historical Fact
Region: West Asia
Alignment: Lawful Neutral
Height: 345cm
Weight: 280kg

Meta

Character Creator: Sakurai Hikaru
Character Designer: PFALZ
Character Voice: Yasui Kunihiko
Major Appearances in Main Works: Fate/Grand Order

Stats

Parameters	Values
Strength	A
Constitution	A+
Agility	B
Magical Power	E
Luck	D
Noble Phantasm	A

Class Skills

Mad Enhancement: [B]

All parameters are increased but most reason is lost.

Personal Skills

Disengage: [A]

The ability to withdraw from combat. Restores disadvantageous battle conditions to their initial state.

Battle Continuation: [A]

The ability to continue combat.

Combat is possible even while bearing injuries that place one on the verge of death, and they can remain alive so long as they do not receive a decisive fatal wound.

Noble Phantasm(s)

Athanatoi Ten Thousand [1]

Rank: A
Type: Anti-army
Range: 1~99
Targets: 500 people

An army of ten thousand soldiers composed of moving corpses and walking skeletons appear and gather and form a "War Elephant of Death", and with a formidable attack of magic energy they exterminate the opponent.

Athanatoi, the Immortals. The ten thousand elite troops that actually existed became a Noble Phantasm, and thanks to the legends that formed after their time their indestructibility and immortality has been emphasized.

It seems like an enormous monster, the "War Elephant of Death", has been summoned, but actually it's ten thousand of immortal soldiers that combine forming a kind of colony. It moves only under the commands of Darius III, and it's devoted to annihilate the enemies of the king with its terrifying attacks of magic energy.

[1] Athanatoi is the name that Heodotus described the elite heavy infantry unit of the Achaemenid army. Persian sources don't call them 'Immortals'.

Character

Pronouns

First person pronoun: None
Second person pronoun: None
Third person pronoun: None

Personality

An unwavering man.

His expression at peacetime is calm. However, he's always filled with an unflagging fighting spirit.

When battle begins he will open his eyes and become like a gale that will start the destruction of the objective.

(Because of the effects of his high rank Mad Enhancement, most of his humanity is lost.)

Attitude Towards Master

Contrary to his formidable stance in battle, his attitude against his Master is docile.

Maybe it depends on the summoning system or maybe in the Master's qualities, but at normal times he will not go into rampage, and he even comparatively understand what is being told, so in withdrawal situations his Disengage skill is not wasted.

However, since he is usually silent there is not much point in conversing with him.

His wish for the Holy Grail is "a rematch with Iskander".

He wishes not for a personal duel, but for a rematch where both would clash their armies. He is a comparatively obedient servant, but in this point he is prone to rampage so caution is needed.

Dialogue Examples

"..." (He usually is silent)

"■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■■--------!!" (When in battle)

Historical Character and Figure

The brave king of ancient Persia.
A person from the 4th century before Christ.
Known as the last king of the Achaemenid Persia.
He was born in a branch of the royal family descended from the great ancestor Darius I, known as a king with excellent discernment and superior government ability. As an adult, he obtained the position of satrap (a governor-general) and took his post as the governor of a province.
And then, suddenly, he became the new king.
He was supported as the new king by the eunuch Bagoas, who had killed in succession Artaxerxes III and his son the king Arses.
Now as king Darius III, he immediately purged the treacherous Bagoas.
And just as he was about to bring order to the state system, his destiny arrived.

That was the invasion of the awe-inspiring great king, the Conqueror King [2] of Macedonia, Iskander.
Compared with this great king, that treacherous retainer that once had violated the country like he owned the place amounted to nothing. Darius III stood up against the fierce attack of the Macedonian army and of the king Iskandar, his real destined opponent.

[2] I think this is a better translation than King of Conquerors for 征服王

Character in FGO

The great ancestor, Darius I.

Darius I was a wise king among wise kings, who built the military roads that connected the cities and established the post-station system, fomenting the commerce and culture exchanges, and who filled the state coffers by making the tax collection from the provinces more efficient, with his satrap system and his new tax system. And with respect the province rule, he showed great tolerance by giving freedom to the conquered peoples to practice their beliefs and customs; and at the same time, he prevented military insurrections by monitoring the satraps and the provinces with his inspectors, the "Eyes of the King" and the "Ears of the King".

Indeed, the First was a benevolent king, who didn't bind down the people, but instead loved the culture and exchanges, and made the country wealthy.

He also wanted to be like the First.

There was a single reason that made him, born in a mere branch of the royal family, decide to take upon the name of that great king and become Darius III. Even if the had obtained the throne at the end of a bloody and tragic conspiracy, he aspired to become a great king, loved by his people and land.

However, he couldn't become a benevolent king.

Due to his own choice.

Darius III never bowed his head in front of his "worthy opponent" Iskandar, even as he ruled the conquered peoples in a way reminiscing that of Darius I. He neither ever considered to become a wing of the glorious Machedonian army, like other kings.

He chose to fight.

He became determined to become not a benevolent king, but a War King.

Leading a massive army several times larger than the looming Macedonian army, he clashed once and again with a fierceness surpassing that of mere interceptions, and even after being defeated he always came back to obstruct king Iskander's way.

Without losing his bravery even after being defeated once and again and again.

Why?

The traitor Bagoas and Iskander were different. The difference between a scoundrel that plunders the country and abuses of the people and somebody that doesn't is evident. Iskander, Alexander the Great; at the very least, he was not a villain. There was no doubt that he was suitable to be a great king around whom the conquered kings and generals and peoples gather and become retainers.

Even then.

Even if it's only me, I will not ever bow my head.

Even if it's only me, I will not ever stand with him.

I will stand as an absolute wall against that great king.

He chose.

He chose the himself that was a war king, a wall, a "worthy rival" of Iskander.

Iskander

His destined great opponent and his eternal worthy rival.

He will try to fight the moment they meet. Just like Berserker Lancelot when he sees Saber (Artoria).

Nitocris

It's a different person with the same name, but... there's a connection between the Assyrian queen Nitocris and his ancestor.

Gilgamesh

There's a distant connection by way of the Assyrian queen Nitocris.

Comment from the Illustrator

Iskandar’s rival… Darius III. As a character that summons the skeleton soldiers developed from the Immortals, I did his design to my liking with a variety of my preferences. As his design line is a black giant, his body colour is made close to Mr. Hassan of the same region, and for his religion, given that it is Zoroastrianism, his attire is made close to Angra’s, and finally, since the image colour of his rival, the Conquest King, is reddish-brown, I chose a purple colour with a dark navy blue hue so that he is symmetrical to his rival. It is a figure that matched the design balance in TYPE-MOON’s original view of history as well rather than the actual Persian attires of historical fact.

Darius’ crown of two horns is broken down the middle. Iskandar has an alias called the Two-Horned King… but one can conclude that the Conquest King in TYPE-MOON does not even wear such a helmet, even though one can conclude that those horns worn on Darius’ head were cut in the middle… That being the case, I made an interpretation… the title of Two-Horned King was simply transferred to Iskandar when he robbed and broke respectively the title and symbol of Two-Horned that Darius held onto.

Underneath the elephant’s jaw, I attached the tusks of a different elephant, and because these mutual bones are being fused with the elephant’s, the elephant’s state of being is fairly bigger than its actual skeletal structure. Although there is a design of wheels acting as the shields of the skeleton soldiers – whom are riding with and in the rear of Darius when he is mounting the elephant – it gives an impression that says the scythed chariot used by Darius and the elephant are being fused together. (PFALZ)