The Mythology of 'Fate/Grand Order' Quiz

Answer: Cu Chulainn

Cú Chulainn is a legendary hero who appears in the 'Ulster Cycle'. Born Setanta, he gained the name of Cú Chulainn, or 'hound of Culann', after he killed the smith Culann's watchdog, and offered to act as a guard in the dog's place. A prophecy foretold that he would live a short but glorious life. The Scottish warrior woman Scáthach (who, incidentally, is also in the Lancer class in 'Fate/Grand Order') taught him how to fight, and how to use the Gae Bolg, a barbed spear that had to be cut out of its victim. His feats included defeating the army of Queen Medb (who appears in 'Fate/Grand Order' as a Rider) and rescuing the Scandinavian princes Derbforgaill. He was killed by Lugaid, the son of Cú Roi - who Cú Chulainn had killed - with a magic spear. As Cú Chulainn was dying, he tied himself to a stone to ensure he died standing up. Lugaid decapitated Cú Chulainn's body, but Cú Chulainn's sword chopped off Lugaid's hand.

In the 'Fate' series, Cú Chulainn is known as 'Lancer', and is the Servant of the priest Kirei Kotomine. In 'Fate/Grand Order', there are four versions of him: the one from 'Fate/Stay Night', a younger version from 'Fate/Prototype', a Caster version who specialises in rune magic, and an evil Berserker version created by Queen Medb.

Answer: Gorgons

Gorgons were winged women with snakes for hair and the ability to turn people to stone with their eyes; some legends say that the goddess Athena made them that way for angering her. Medusa, Stheno and Euryale were the daughters of Phorcys and Ceto, a pair of sea gods. Stheno and Euryale were immortal, but Medusa was not. The Greek hero Perseus was sent to collect Medusa's head by King Polydectes, who had designs on Danae, Perseus' mother, and wanted to get Perseus out of the way. Luckily, Perseus had help from the gods; Hermes lent him winged shoes, Athena gave him a reflective shield, and Zeus gave him a sword and a helmet that turned the wearer invisible. He used the shield to protect himself from Medusa by only looking at her reflection, and cut her head off. Euryale and Stheno tried to catch him, but he evaded them using the helmet. When he showed the head to Polydectes, Polydectes turned to stone.

In the 'Fate' series, Medusa is known as 'Rider' and wears a visor or special glasses to protect people from the power of her eyes. Shinji Matou is her Master, but her true Master is his sister Sakura. There are three versions of her in 'Fate/Grand Order'; the one from 'Fate/Stay Night', a younger version in the Lancer class, and Gorgon, her more monstrous self, as an Avenger.

Answer: Quetzalcoatl

Although Quetzalcoatl is female in the game (by dint of possessing a female host), he was a male god. He was one of the many sons of the goddess Coatlicue, though other stories have his mother as the virgin Chimalman, and his twin brother was Xolotl, the dog-faced god of fire and lightning. He was associated with many things, including the planet Venus (along with Xolotl), the wind, the priesthood, crafts, learning and knowledge. Resplendent quetzals, macaws and rattlesnakes were also associated with him. Depictions of Quetzalcoatl in his feathered serpent form have been found in the ancient city of Teotihuacan. The Maya also worshipped a similar god, Kukulkan.

Quetzalcoatl also appears in the Ruler class, as the 'Samba Santa' (although samba is actually Brazilian), specially released for the Christmas 2018 event. This is a nod to a proposal by the Mexican president Pascual Ortiz Rubio in 1939 that Quetzalcoatl be made a Christmas figure. Another Mesoamerican god, the Jaguar Warrior, also appears in 'Fate/Grand Order' in the Lancer class.

Answer: The Underworld

Ereshkigal is the older sister of Ishtar and the wife of Gugulanna, who is also thought to be the Bull of Heaven slain by Gilgamesh (who is himself a major character in the 'Fate' series) in the 'Epic of Gilgamesh'. Other myths have her married to Nergal, who was initially a war god but later became associated with the Underworld, also known as Kur, Ikalla or Kigal. She lived in the palace of Ganzir, and the Underworld was guarded by a gatekeeper called Neti, who presided over seven gates. One story about her has her invited to a banquet, but she sends her vizier Namtar in her place. Nergal insults Namtar by refusing to stand for him, and has to go to Kur as punishment. He posts demons at each gate and threatens to kill Ereshkigal, but she begs him to spare her life and offers to let him rule Kur with her. However, he must spend six months in the upper world every year.

In 'Fate/Grand Order', Ereshkigal shares Rin's body with Ishtar, as gods and goddesses cannot be summoned under normal circumstances, and one way of getting around this is to use a human host. She is a major player in both the Babylon event of Part 1 and the Christmas 2017 event, which is set in Kur.

Answer: Kiyohime

In Japanese folklore, Kiyohime is the daughter of an innkeeper, who fell in love with the priest Anchin. Although Anchin was initially in love with her, he got cold feet and stopped meeting her. Kiyohime was furious with him and chased him down to the banks of the Hidaka river. Anchin asked a boatman to take him across, but not Kiyohime. However, this did not put Kiyohime off; she jumped into the river to swim after him, and changed into a dragon. Anchin took refuge in a temple at Dojoji, hiding inside its giant bell. Kiyohime wrapped herself around the bell and breathed fire on it, melting it down completely and burning Anchin to ashes. She then committed suicide.

In 'Fate/Grand Order', Kiyohime's obsessive behaviour lands her in the Berserker class, and she has dragon-like features, such as golden eyes. She has a tendency to confuse the protagonist of the game with Anchin. She also appeared as a Lancer in the Summer 2017 event, where she traps her opponent in a bell and impales them with spears.

Answer: Nezha

Nezha is a Taoist god, thought to have been a composite of two Hindu figures: Nalakuvara, a yaksha or nature spirit, and the god Krishna. His father was the god and military commander Li Jing, aka the Pagoda-Bearing Heavenly King. His mother, Lady Yin, carried him for three years, and he emerged as a fully-grown boy. He sacrificed himself to the East Sea Dragon King, Ao Guang, to save his family from Chentang Pass being flooded, and carved himself into pieces. Lady Yin then built a temple to Nezha after he appeared to her in a dream, although Li Jing destroyed it, and Nezha came back to life to fight him. In 'Journey to the West', he appears as a general, riding the white horse Bai Long, and is initially a rival to Sun Wukong after the Monkey King rebels against the Jade Emperor, although the two later become friends.

In 'Fate/Grand Order', Nezha is female instead of male, having died and been resurrected as a woman. She appears in an event based on 'Journey to the West', featuring the monk Xuanzang Sanzang - who is a member of the Caster class, and also genderswapped - and other characters playing the roles of Sun Wukong, Zhu Bajie and so on. She wields the fire-tipped spear traditionally associated with Nezha.

Answer: Siegfried

Siegfried is the hero of the 'Nibelungenlied', a medieval German poem which later inspired Richard Wagner's 'Der Ring des Nibelungen', aka the 'Ring Cycle'. In the 'Nibelungenlied', Siegfried is in love with the princess Kriemhild, and wields the sword Balmung. His skin, save one patch where a leaf fell, is as hard as horn as a result of bathing in the dragon Fafnir's blood. To marry Kriemhild, Siegfried must help King Gunther marry Brünhild, the queen of Iceland; he uses an invisibility cloak to help him in his tasks. Brünhild and the vassal Hagen later plot to murder Siegfried, and after getting Kriemhild to reveal where his vulnerable spot is, Hagen stabs him in the back with a spear while Siegfried is drinking from a fountain.

Both Sigurd and Siegfried appear in 'Fate/Grand Order', but are essentially different characters. Siegfried also appears in 'Fate/Apocrypha' as Sabre of Black. Brünhild's Norse counterpart, the Valkyrie Brynhild, is a member of the Lancer class, and the trait Brynhild's Beloved is applied to characters who remind her of Sigurd in some way, which means she deals them extra damage.

Answer: St George

St George is thought to have been born either in Palestine or in the ancient region of Cappadocia, in what is now Turkey. His feast day is 23rd April, the day on which he originally died. He is the patron saint of England, Ethiopia, Georgia and Catalonia, amongst other places. The story of him slaying a dragon is thought to have originated from Georgia in the 11th century; in one of the most famous versions of the story, a dragon is plaguing the village of Silene in Libya. To pacify it, the people of the village offer it animal, then human sacrifices. When it is the king's daughter's turn to be sacrificed, St George happens to arrive in Silene, and he attacks the dragon with his lance. He uses the princess's girdle as a leash and leads the dragon into the village, where he beheads it in return for the villagers converting to Christianity.

Like everyone in the Rider class, St George has a mount; in his case, a white horse. He wields the sword Escalon. He was originally going to be in 'Fate/Apocrypha', but was scrapped, along with the Biblical figure David (Archer), the monk Musashibou Benkei (Lancer), and the Japanese folk hero Kintoki Sakata (Berserker). St Martha uses Tarrasque as her mount, and also appears in the Ruler class, where she uses wrestling techniques employed by Jacob when he wrestled the angel.

Answer: Karna

Karna is a major player in the 'Mahabharata'. The sage Durvasa gives the princess Kunti the ability to call on any Hindu god as her lover, and she has sex with the sun god Surya when the sun rises the next day. She becomes pregnant with Karna and he is born wearing earrings and a breastplate, and glowing like the sun. Kunti is ashamed and puts the baby in a basket, and it floats down the Ganges until it is found by Radha, a charioteer's wife. Karna is shunned by his peers because of his poor background, but befriends Duryodhana of the Kauravas. They go to war against the Pandavas, one of which is Arjuna, who regularly competes against Karna in sporting challenges. Arjuna later shoots him in the back with an arrow while Karna is trying to dislodge his chariot wheel, which has become stuck in mud. Although Karna's armour would have saved him, he willingly gave it away as charity.

Both Karna and Arjuna, who is in the Archer class, appear in 'Fate/Grand Order', along with fellow Archer Ashwatthaman, who fought on the side of the Kauravas. They are rivals, and when Arjuna becomes corrupted in the Indian singularity in 'Cosmos in the Lostbelt', Karna helps defeat him. Karna also appears in 'Fate/Extra CCC', and 'Fate/Apocrypha' as Lancer of Red. He is considered to be one of the most powerful Lancers in the series.

Answer: Excalibur

Any fans of Disney's 'The Sword in the Stone' will remember that at the climax, young Arthur was the only person able to pull Excalibur out of the stone; Merlin had prophesied that only the 'true king', the son of King Uther Pendragon, would be able to do this. In Malory's 'Le Morte d'Arthur', however, he receives the sword from Vivian, the Lady of the Lake. Sir Bedivere (Griflet in some versions) returns Excalibur to the lake after Arthur's death in the Battle of Camlann. The sword's scabbard was said to protect the wearer, and some Arthurian myths state that Excalibur is stronger and sharper than normal swords.

In the 'Fate' series, Arthur is known as Artoria (although there is also a male King Arthur in Fate/Prototype') and is the Sabre in the Fourth and Fifth Holy Grail Wars, where her masters are Kiritsugu Emiya and his foster son Shirou respectively. She is also the father/mother of Mordred, after Merlin enabled her to impregnate Guinevere. An evil black-clad version of her, Sabre Alter, exists as a result of being corrupted by the mud of the blackened Holy Grail, and has a corrupted sword, Excalibur Morgan. Another version of her appears in the Lancer class; this version never possessed Excalibur and instead wields the holy spear Rhongomyniad, which turns her into a goddess. Other Knights of the Round Table who appear as playable characters are Lancelot, Gawain, Tristan, Bedivere, Gareth and Mordred (both of whom are genderswapped).