Heracles

Mad Enhancement: B

Rank up parameters, but takes away reason for the most part.

Divinity: A

Defines whether or not one possesses divine spirit aptitude.
The higher it is, the more one is a mixed race of a physical divine spirit. Being the son of the chief god Zeus and having been hailed as a god upon his death, Heracles’ divine spirit aptitude can be said to be of the highest rank.

Bravery: A+

The ability to invalidate mental interferences such as coercion, confusion, and fascination.
It also has the effect of increasing melee damage. However, presently due to his Class ability Mad Enhancing him, he is unable to displays this ability.

Mind’s Eye (Fake): B

Danger evasion by means of instinct and sixth sense.

Battle Continuation: A

The ability to survive.
It’s possible for him to fight even on the verge of death, surviving as long as his injury is not decisively lethal.

Nine Lives: Hundred Heads that Shoots to Death¹

Nine Lives.
The combat technique that Heracles had devised at the end of his long battle. A Heracles-style, so to speak.
Heracles have mastered all manners of armaments and overcome various monsters and labors.
He will display a sword’s greatest technique if using a sword, a spear’s greatest technique if using a spear, and a bow’s greatest technique if using a bow.
In FateGO, he releases the greatest technique by means of a great sword. A rush of extreme speed that inflicts one hundred attacks in one breath.
Nine lives has the meaning of possessing a life amount to 9, but this holds the implication that, due to the monsters he faces as enemies possessing the special characteristic of “reviving no matter how many times they are killed” altogether, he had achieved a combat method that “annihilates them no matter how many times they revive”.

God Hand: Twelve Labors

God Hand.
The immortality obtained by means of the blessing (curse) of the gods. It transforms his body into a robust armor.
Invalidates all attacks of rank B and below. To add, it has as an even more concealed ability of automatic resurrection² (raise) even upon death. The amount of resurrection stock is 11 times.
That is to say, Heracles will not vanish as long as he is not defeated for 12 times.
(It is fundamentally not being utilized in FateGO)

Translator’s Notes

1. ^ 射殺す百頭. I had wanted to just call it Hundred Heads Deathshoot, but that sounds too FPS.
2. ^ The kanji can mean resurrection or regeneration.

Due to the Mad Enhancement, his words cannot be understood by a third party.

Personality

Heracles, who had mastered all manners of armaments, would originally be summoned as Saber, Lancer, Rider, or Archer; Classes befitting of a hero. However, due to possessing the episode of going mad when he was alive, he is also suitable as a Berserker.
This Heracles is the one summoned as a Berserker.
The aim is to increase his status by means of the Mad Enhancement that exchanges reasoning ability.
Originally, the Skill Mad Enhancement is something used to forcibly strengthen a weak Servant. With a Heroic Spirit on Heracles’ level, even only Mad Enhancing him consumes a vast amount of magic energy. He would not be able to stay manifested unless the rank of the Mad Enhancement is made lower compared to the other Berserker and the magic energy consumption is restrained.¹
That being said, Heracles being summoned as Berserker yet still behaving with a slight reasoning ability intact is by no means only due to the rank of Mad Enhancement being low. Being the world’s foremost hero, he possesses a strong reason that does not get swallowed up by the Class’ special characteristic of Mad Enhancement. While he is a Berserker, he still maintain a calm eye for strategy.
In any case, with him already having a high status of a Heroic Spirit to begin with, being Mad Enhanced would unmistakably turn him into a monster beyond control.
As a Berserker, he makes use of an enormous axesword as well as his most trusted bow and arrow² Noble Phantasm, the “Hundred Heads that Shoots to Death”.

Motivation · Attitude towards Master

Being a noble man and a martial one at that, his wish is to be able to complete ruthlessly as warriors against other heroes.
Even if his emotion sealed with a strong Mad Enhancement, even if he is in a state where he does not act without the Master’s order, it appears that it cannot completely erase that circumstance of his, and his own will of protecting the Master can be seen leaking at every turn in his act.

Dialogue Examples

“▂▂▃▃▄▄▅▅-----!”

Historical Image · Character Image

On par with Perseus who was known for his exploits of eliminating Medusa and many others, he is the man called as one of Greek mythology’s two great hero.
Grandson of Perseus³, and a half man half god hero born to Mycenae’s queen Alcmene and the chief god Zeus.
His childhood name was Alcides, but he became known as Heracles upon being designated as such, “Heracles (Glory to Hera)”, by the Oracle of Delphi.
However, Hera despised Heracles who was born from Zeus’ infidelity. She dispatched a snake on the sleeping cradle of Heracles and his twin sister Iphicles⁴, and as Heracles grew up into a hero of unparalleled strength she kept on thrusting hardships upon hardships, such as breathing madness into him.
Driven to insanity, he ended up murdering his and his sister’s child, and he received an oracle from Apollo that as an atonement he must fulfill ten labors under Mycenae’s king Eurystheus.
Thus Heracles fulfilled them so, although it became known as the Twelve Labors. In addition, Heracles also answered to Jason’s appeal and boarded the Argo as one of its heroes. He also participated on the gods’ side in the battle between the giant tribe (gigas) known as the Gigantomachia against Zeus and the Olympians.

Role within the Game

He made an appearance in the third chapter “Sealed Ends of the Four Seas Okeanos”. He once again boarded the Argo led by Jason, standing in the way of the protagonist and friends. Unfortunately, being a Berserker and was incapable of exchanging words, Jason and Medea was incapable of knowing what he truly thinks. To add, one of the Gorgon sisters who have a connection with his ancestor Perseus, Euryale, also made an appearance in the third chapter. The world of Greek mythology is both vast and narrow.

Role in Past Works

He made an appearance in Fate/stay night as the Servant summoned by a magus of the Einzbern. As the most formidable enemy from the opening to the endgame, he gave off a very strong presence. Even Mad Enhanced, he had raised a strong bond with a girl that was his Master; perhaps he had been enveloped with the feeling towards his own child that he had raised himself. To add, upon fighting Emiya (Archer), he had felt a sense of commendation slightly leaking through towards a hard to come by and formidable enemy.

Connections with Characters

Jason

An acquaintance, skilled with his mouth. That figure of his, being led around by the nose with the weight of his own destiny, overlap with his own. He just can’t leave him alone. Maybe Jason who “self-consciously” “ignore” that distress is also quite pitiful himself.

Medusa

Truly, the gods are the worse….

Chiron

One regret in regards to the teacher. Even though Master Chiron may had been prepared for it when he had broken through the battlefield, to begin with, taking out the Hydra poison may had been too much…

Medea

She was completely scary when above the Argo. Slightly shocked.

Atalante

A fellow Argonautai. He would have loved to compete in the bows with her, but before he realized it she had already went off the ship.

Translator’s Notes

1. ^ you know, this and Herc’s interlude in GO makes it as if ME in and of itself, the very act of maddening a Servant, has different maryoku consumption depending on the HS AND the rank. Is this new or I just missed come of the old info, I wonder.
2. ^ Yeah it said 弓矢 even if we know he uses no arrow and bow in particular as a zerk.
3. ^ There is a typo here where it’s Merseus instead of Perseus. I assume its a typo because I dont think Herc has a grandpappy named Merseus. And even then wasnt Perseus his great grandfather instead of just grandfather? Ehh anyway.
4. ^ Is a dude IRL legend

Heracles is a bulging mass that can really gives off a sense of intimidation just by standing there. It was really fun, making him swell out on the account of his bursting mass=muscle. Now that once again I thought how many Servants has been added, there’s a part in me that think that maybe his design modification is a little bit too simple. Like, maybe I should’ve added in more color or something. I was really glad I got to be the one responsible for Heracles! (Asuza)