Warning: The following video contains spoilers for Fate/Extra.
If you'd rather not have major parts of the plot ruined, then you may want to reconsider
watching this video, at least for now.
Normally, when making episodes for Character Development, I try not to have episodes on
characters from the same series so close to one another, as a way to keep some variety
so the show and the subjects covered are nice and varied, but in the case of the Fate series,
I know I have a great deal of discussion ahead of me, and today's a prime time to capitalize
on that.
With each Servant being based on a historical or mythological figure from somewhere around
time and the world, it's a series I'm bound to be returning to for multiple occasions.
After completing most of Fate/Extra, I figured it'd be great to talk about any of the Servants
featured in that particular title, from Emperor Nero of Rome, to Robin Hood of English folklore,
to the mightiest of classical Chinese warriors, Lu Bu Fengxian.
In particular, though, I found that I was most strongly drawn to one of the two opponents
of Week 4, the Lancer-class servant clad in bloodstained armor, Vlad III.
You can best bet I've been waiting to finally get a chance to discuss one of history's
most influentially cruel leaders.
But seeing as the Fate series has not one, but two interpretations of the Impaler Prince
of Wallachia, I'm curious to know how they portray him in Fate/Extra and Fate/Grand Order.
Do they emphasize different aspects of Vlad Dracula, or are these two incarnations closer
to each other than they initially appear?
I'm the Kitsune Hawk, and today, we're going to look into Type-Moon's Fate series
by comparing the Vlad in Fate/Extra and the Vlad in Fate/Grand Order to see how they stack
up to the infamous Prince Vlad Dracula himself.
So get out your pencils, trivia enthusiasts, because this is Character Development!
We can't exactly jump right into breaking down both of the Fate series' interpretations
of Vlad III without first going into the life of the person they're based on and named
after.
And this story's a bit of a long one.
To begin, we need to travel to Romania in the year 1436, when Vlad II became voivode
of Wallachia, a position similar to a warlord, best summarized as a semi-independent military
commander.
Wallachia was the southernmost of the Romanian kingdoms, bordering the Ottoman Empire and
creating tensions between Sunni Islam and the Orthodox Christian Church.
Just five years prior, Vlad II was appointed to be a member of a religious society known
as The Order of the Dragon, which sought to protect Hungary and other Orthodox Christian
kingdoms from the threats of Islam, Paganism, heresy, and Catholicism.
In turn, he came to be known as "Vlad Dracul," meaning "Vlad the Dragon" because of his
membership in the Order.
In spite of his prestige, however, the Ottomans demanded tribute from Vlad Dracul, and, to
avoid war, he was forced to send his two sons to Turkey as exiles.
Stuck in an unfamiliar land with people he knew very little about, the young Vlad III
began to grow a strong hatred for the Turks.
After Vlad Dracul had been assassinated in 1447, the Ottoman Turks, wishing to re-stabilize
Wallachia, placed Vlad III in power in 1448.
From here, he took on the title "Vlad Dracula," meaning "Vlad, the Son of the Dragon,"
though "drac" also happened to be a Romanian word for "devil," so Vlad III's title
could also be read as "Vlad, the Son of the Devil," a name he would very soon earn,
immediately declaring the very Ottoman Turks who put him in power to be Wallachia's prime
enemy.
Preparing for an inevitable conflict with the Ottomans, Vlad III saw fit to build up
Wallachia's defenses with new battlements, watchtowers, and underground tunnels.
In order to build up his kingdom not only externally, but also internally, Vlad worked
to ensure the loyalty of the Wallachian people, even forcing the noblest boyars to work alongside
commoners in fortifying Wallachia's castles and forts.
In their place, Vlad appointed new, loyal nobles to extend his reach.
Throughout his three terms ruling over Wallachia, Vlad III was chiefly defined by his cruelty,
exemplified by his fondness for impalement, an execution method by which a spear was driven
through the victim's chest; typically, though, this wasn't fatal on impact, as most victims
would continue to writhe in agony, exposed to the elements until they finally bled to
death.
Vlad showed not a single iota of mercy to his rivals and enemies, especially the Transylvanian
Saxons, whom he impaled or burnt alive en masse, and the Ottoman Turks, as seen in Vlad's
1462 Bulgarian campaign, where 23,000 Turks were impaled in total, and after the failed
assassination attempt on Sultan Mehmed II, where, in the aftermath, Vlad created a "forest
of spears" from 20,000 impaled bodies spread across the Danube River, a sight that horrified
the Turks and caused them to turn back.
Even the common people of Wallachia could be impaled for the most minor of crimes, perhaps
even nothing at all.
So many bodies were impaled, that Vlad decorated the exterior of his castle with them; some
legends say he even dined amidst the bodies and dipped his bread in their blood.
Of Vlad Tepes' cruelty, Sultan Mehmed II is believed to have aptly said, "I am not
frightened by any man, but the devil is an exception."
The only thing keeping Vlad in power was the Christian Church, happy to see that he was
keeping the Ottomans and Islam out of Europe.
In 1462, however, Vlad III was leading the Ottomans on a scorched earth goose chase through
Wallachia, until he was captured and imprisoned in Hungary for 13 years, betrayed by the very
nobility he was supposed to protect.
Some Slavic stories posit that Vlad converted to Catholicism while imprisoned, feeling that
he was betrayed by his own religion, too.
When Vlad was finally released in 1475, he immediately charged into Wallachia to reclaim
his throne.
Only reigning for two more bloody years, Vlad Dracula was assassinated in 1477, by the very
nobles he had put in power.
In the end, Vlad Tepes' victims numbered over 100,000, not including victims of war
or from other countries, and his legacy is somewhat split; many Romanians see Vlad Tepes
as a national hero, defending Romania at all costs and outwitting a Turkish army many times
the size of his own; the rest of the world, however, remembers Vlad as a bloodthirsty
tyrant whose cruelty and name continue to terrify the hearts of many, especially after
his title of "Dracula" was used by the Irish author Bram Stoker for his world-famous
novel of the same name, forever linking the blood-drinking noble to the vampires of European
folklore.
So…
That was a lot to cover, both from the subject matter and how much needed to be discussed.
With all of that in mind, now we can talk about Fate.
It should first be noted that Fate has two different servants based on Vlad III: a Lancer-class
servant introduced in Fate/Extra and another Lancer-class Servant introduced in the light
novel Fate/Apocrypha, who reappears in Fate/Grand Order as a Berserker-class Servant.
However, because my focus is looking at how video games interpret the history and legends
of Vlad Tepes, we'll be focusing more on the Vlad seen in Fate/Extra, but I'll come
back to Fate/Grand Order in due time.
In Fate/Extra, Vlad III appears as the Servant to Lil' Ronnie, a psychotic cannibal woman
masquerading as a mascot for a fast food chain.
Throughout Week 4—provided you saved Rin instead of Rani VIII—the interactions between
Lil' Ronnie and Vlad reveal not only the character of Vlad as a Heroic Spirit, but
also mirror his real-life counterpart.
On Day 1, Vlad discusses his sheer devotion to his religion when he was still alive, even
calling out to his old God before saying that his religious devotion ultimately rewarded
him with decapitation, a description based on the most accepted version of the real-life
Vlad Tepes' assassination.
Betrayed by his country and his faith, he now pledges his loyalty to his Master, supporting
her cannibalism with his lust for bloodshed through his spear.
By Day 4, he lashes out against the treacherous nature of humanity, again calling back to
the circumstances of the real-life Vlad III's death, as well as his war against his exiled
brother and arrest by the Hungarian nobility he was supposed to protect.
Both in and out of battle, Vlad further references the life of his Wallachian counterpart.
His main skill, Divine Aegis, deforms the sanity and personality of its wielder the
stronger it is, and at A+++ rank for Vlad, it's the main reason he acts so bloodthirsty
and fiercely devoted to his Master.
The skill's name and description are most likely based on Vlad's devotion to the Eastern
Orthodox Church and the Order of the Dragon, being given the church's protection and
allowing him to slaughter in the name of God.
Vlad's second ability is Marshall, which allows him to retreat from combat or continue
after sustaining mortal wounds.
This is likely based on Vlad Tepes' war with the Ottoman Sultan Mehmed II, in which
Vlad used tactical retreats to distract and lure the Turkish army, funneling down their
morale in the process.
Vlad's third and final out-of-battle skill is Seraphic Monstrosity, which alters his
physical appearance to match his reputation.
As such, his armor is distinctly bloodstained, his eyes are a dark red, his skin is a very
pale tone, and he also has noticeable fangs, resembling the vampire that modern legends
have made him out to be.
And then in battle, Vlad has two combat skills of note.
The first of which is Ceremonial Purge, in which Vlad impales himself and returns some
of the damage dealt to him.
It's worth noting that Vlad impales himself through the chest, the exact same way his
historical counterpart loved so much.
The other skill is Vlad's Noble Phantasm, Kazikli Bey: Fortress of Impalement, which
is named after another one of Vlad's many titles, Kazikli Voyvoda, meaning "Impaler
Prince".
The Noble Phantasm itself deals damage based on the sins accumulated by its target, the
kind of divine punishment that the real-life Vlad III often called his impalement of Turks,
Transylvanians, and his own Wallachians.
And yet, once Vlad is defeated, he admits that he deserves his punishment for slaughtering
his own people while he was still alive, even accepting that the only place he belongs in
is the depths of Hell.
As for the other version of Vlad who reappeared in Fate/Grand Order as a Berserker-class Servant,
he seems to be much more in tune with the vampire legends now attached to the name of
Dracula, rather than the historical figure of Vlad Tepes.
This Vlad's skills include Shapeshift, which allows him to transform into mist or a cloud
of bats, Blood-Sucking, which allows him to replenish his health and attack strength,
and Mad Enhancement, which furthers the intensity of his vampirism.
Even his distinct Noble Phantasm, Kazikli Bey: Bloodstained King Demon, is a vampire-inspired
recreation of the real-life Vlad III's "Forest of Spears".
There really isn't much I can say on this matter that has to do with the actual Vlad
and not the already detailed mythos of vampires.
I hate to end on a downer of a detail, but hey, maybe that could be an idea for a future
video.
Ultimately, I find it quite fascinating that Type-Moon's Fate series presents two distinct
Servants based on the infamous Impaler Lord of Wallachia: one firmly based on the historical
figure, physically and mentally warped by his bloodlust and the distortions brought
on by centuries of legends, and the other based on the fullest extent of the vampire
legends now tightly associated with the Son of the Dragon.
While some may debate whether Vlad III was a violent despot or a national and religious
hero, he was a noble who certainly sank his fangs into the pages of history, and seeing
the Fate series embrace both the realism and the fiction surrounding Vlad III through two
incarnations of the same figure makes me happy to see both sides of the coin given proper
attention.
This has been Character Development!
Thank you so much for watching!
If you enjoyed this episode, then feel free to like the video and type your thoughts in
the comments, where you can also suggest topics for future episodes.
If you're new to the series, you can also subscribe to be notified whenever a new episode
goes up!
If you'd like to see the previous episode, on The Morrígan from SMITE, then feel free
to use the annotation on the right.
As for the annotation on the left, I'll be using it to link to a non-gaming channel
this time; it's called History Buffs, and its host, Nick Hodges, reviews the historical
accuracy in films.
Whether you're a film buff or a fellow history nerd, I highly recommend his work.
Thanks again for watching, and take care, everyone!
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