PENTHESILEA

TIP

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Info

Bio-Data

Class: Berserker
True Name: Penthesilea
Aliases: Berserker of El Dorado
Gender: Female
Origin: Greek myth, the Trojan War
Region: Greece
Alignment: Lawful Good
Height: 158cm
Weight: 49kg

Meta

Character Creator: Minase Hazuki
Character Illustrator: Shinjirou
Character Voice: Shimamura Yuu
Appearance in Main Works: Fate/Grand Order

Stats

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

Class Skills

Madness: EX

A skill that greatly augments the user’s physical abilities, but claims their rationality in exchange. Penthesilea can be communicated with under ordinary circumstances, but what sanity she possesses is obliterated before Achilles. The same occurs to some degree when she confronts any Greek hero, and her trauma is so ingrained that even just being called beautiful might cause her mind to crumble.

Divinity: B

As a daughter of Ares, the Greek god of war, she possesses the Divinity skill.

Personal Skills

Charisma: B

Penthesilea naturally possesses the capacity to command a warband. After the death of Hector, as queen of her people she rushed to Troy’s defence at the head of twelve mighty Amazonesses.

Golden Rule (Beauty): A

She is fated to grow to possess beauty enough to rival a goddess, regardless of her upbringing. At the battlefield at Troy, she was indeed often mistaken for a deity. That is why, when Achilles stripped her of her helm…

Howl of the War God: A+

A mighty roar, called forth by the the blood of Ares that courses through her veins. All those who stand with her as fellow warriors are blessed with valour, as though they were led by the war god himself. The war cry of the Amazons was said to have shaken the Aechaeans to their core.

“Increased attack vs Males of Greek Mythology” in practice means that, because any opponents who ‘smell’ like Achilles may in fact be Achilles, Penthesilea judges them fit for slaughter and fights all the harder. Whether it applies is determined by whether or not the target has this ‘scent’.

“And who are you? Iskander? I see, the man who proclaimed himself descendant of Heracles and Achilles…you must be…a devout fan of Achilles? Then…you must…be Achilles! ACHILLEEEEEEEES!!!!!!!”

“Well met, Hector of the Shining Helm. Had we stood shoulder to shoulder, victory might have been ours. But you wagered your life on your duel with Achilles…and now his aroma clings to you! I SEE YOU! ACHILLEEEEEEEES!!!!!!!”

Noble Phantasm(s)

Outrage Amazon: Upon My Rage Expire Ye Heroes

Rank: B
Type: Anti-Personnel
Range: 1-3
Max. Targets: 1

Outrage Amazon

A lust for vengeance upon Achilles, a warrior mentality that drives her to pursue greater strength, and the blood of the war god all slumber within Penthesilea. By activating this Noble Phantasm, she instantly awakens them all, and willingly gives herself over to becoming a mindless beast devoid of all reason, a Berserker in truth.

“ACHILLEEEEEEEES!!!”, she roars as she charges the target; even if that target is not Achilles, she perceives them as him for that moment. She slashes, crushes and tears with every weapon in her arsenal, including her bare hands, before delivering a savage bite – a finishing blow worthy of a true beast.

The ultimate Anti-Achilles battle skill.

As an aside, “Penthesilea”, an opera by the 18th-century German playwright Heinrich von Kleist, takes inspiration from the legend of Penthesilea and Achilles. It tells of the lovestruck Achilles, who (with the intent of being captured) goes unarmed to his duel with Penthesilea, only for her to kill him in her vengeful madness. Her Amazon followers were said to have watched her crawl on all fours as she accompanied rabid dogs in savaging his body.

Upon My Howl Ride Forth Ye Mighty

Rank: B
Type: Anti-Army
Range: As far as voice is audible
Max Targets: N/A

Troian Reinforce

This Noble Phantasm summons the Amazon warband that Penthesilea once led to the defence of Troy: Clonie, Polemusa, Derinoe, Evandre, Antandre, Bremusa, Hippothoe, Harmothoe, Alcibie, Derimacheia, Antibrote and Thermodosa. Each is equal to a thousand soldiers, and all twelve, themselves warriors of noble blood, swear undying loyalty to their queen. Their affinity with Penthesilea’s Howl Of The War God skill is extroardinarily high, and they receive manyfold the effects it would confer upon other Amazons. They also function as relays that increase the range of the skill.

This Noble Phantasm is firmly bound to her participation in the Trojan War; Penthesilea the Berserker, who suppresses all memory of the instant she was shamed by Achilles, is fundamentally incapable of using it. It is possible that she might possess it were she to manifest in another class. If she were to use this Noble Phantasm while summoned as a Berserker, the paradox would cause her to momentarily transform into her mature self, complete with her goddess-like beauty – before the self-contradiction instantly inflicted irreparable damage to her Saint Graph. (This skill cannot be used in Fate/GO)

Character

Pronouns

First pronoun: watashi
Second pronoun: kisama
Third pronoun: yatsu/** (no honorifics)

Personality

When not consumed by rage and vengeance against Achilles, Penthesilea is a cold and stoic warrior woman. To her enemies she is cruel and brutal, and can easily become irate even to her allies if treated like a woman. Because of her trauma at Achilles’ hands, words like “pretty” and “beautiful” are particularly taboo around her. At her core, she is a battle-crazed fanatic whose identity is rooted in her strength as a warrior.

As a queen, she is naturally arrogant.

Attitude Towards Master

Her wish for the Grail is – what else? - a chance to settle the score with Achilles. She desires nothing more than to wash away her disgrace and duel him once more as warriors.

She sees her Master as someone who leads her to the field of war and prepares trials for her to overcome. Quickly now – show me to the next battlefield, she says.

Dialogue Examples

“Come is Penthesilea, queen of the Amazons. I will warn you now: if Achilles is here, turn him out to me. Hide him from me, and I will slay you.”

“Heracles, Theseus, and Achilles…hah. Heroes…heroes, you call them. Do you know just how much my sisters and our lands suffered at their hands? Their strength I will acknowledge, but that alone.”

“Do not dare regard me as a woman. I have had more than my fill of that.”

Historical Character and Figure

In Greek myth, Penthesilea was the queen of the Amazons (or Amazonesses). She was a daughter of Ares and had many sisters, including Hippolyta, whose girdle was stolen by Heracles.

After the death of Hector, Penthesilea led the Amazon forces to join the armies of Troy and do battle with the Aechaeans. And eventually, she came to fight a fateful duel against Achilles, hero of the Greeks…

Character in FGO

Hatred for Achilles consumes her. Her fury is such that she chooses the brand of madness of her own will.

As a warrior, she fought a duel to the death with Achilles. Once the battle was decided, he stripped away her helm – and she heard the words he spoke.

And stood aghast.

“Impossible”, she seethed.

She had fought him as a warrior. She had never once intended to show him her face as a woman. Had he truly wagered his life in a duel between equals, had he truly weathered a battle to the death, the hero before her should have felt relief at the face of his foe. “Finally, I best you”, he would have said. “Thank the gods I survived.” “I pray that you stay dead.”

And yet – and yet -

Just what was that Achilles uttered?

“Beautiful”? “Beautiful”, did he say?

That single whispered word was the greatest disgrace Achilles could possibly have inflicted upon her self as a warrior, and queen of the Amazons. For it was incontrovertible proof that from the beginning he had never even regarded her as a warrior.

She had seethed, boiled, raged, gone beyond rage. In the end, all that she could do was laugh. In the end, all that she could do was utter a spiteful curse.

“Then I curse you, Achilles. May someone you love one day perish at the tip of your spear.”

Did her words come to pass? What kind of meaning did they hold for the legend of Achilles? Such things were beyond Penthesilea’s concern.

That curse will become a lynchpin.

Remember, Achilles, every time you look upon your spear. Remember the Amazon queen who fell by your hand. Remember the shame you brought upon her.

You consigned her and her dying moments to a historical footnote, indistinct from any of the thousands of other Trojans who fell on the field of battle.

And that can never, ever be forgiven.

She has sworn a vow. The shame of her defeat at Achilles’ hands has been engraved on the core of her being. And so she has no choice but to face him once more at her full strength, and slay him.

If her feminine beauty is an obstacle to their duel, then she has no choice but to remake herself so that it does not show.

Hence, the Penthesilea summoned to Chaldea manifests as she was during her youth, before her beauty was fully realised. Even so, she retains her strength as a warrior. She fights now as a true queen of the Amazons, lusting so fiercely after strength and victory that she has fallen into madness - all in the belief that at the end of this road lies her final battle with her nemesis, Achilles.

XXXXXXXX:

[Unprintable. Just seeing the name would drive her berserk.]

Theseus:

“The man who stole my little sister away to become his bride – and in the end cast her away. He deserves death.”

Heracles:

“The man who sought to steal my elder sister’s girdle, only to kill her instead. He deserves death.”

Hippolyta:

“My beloved elder sister.”

Hector:

“I regret that I was slow to ride to your aid, but you should have held out for longer. You were a warrior, were you not? I hear tell that your corpse was paraded around by him after your death. Perhaps you should be a little more willing to speak ill of him in public.”

Artemis:

“What a piteous sight…I cannot possibly tell my mother of this.”

Aesclepius:

“You have my gratitude for returning my nephew Hippolytus to life. But perhaps you should learn to stay your tongue a little.”

Online shoppers:

““Sorry we missed you…scheduling redelivery”? What does that mean?”

Comment from the Illustrator

When I met Takeuchi-san, he said to me to please draw a female Servant around 14 years old of age. And I was like with immense gratitude do I accept this request as you demand it. The muscular specification was really unexpected, but perhaps this too, is a part of karma. My Amazons (misprinted) CEO is the greatest. (Shinjirou)