Lancer (Fate/Stay Knight)

Lancer, also known as Cú Chulainn, is a character from the Fate franchise.

Lancer is a carefree, laid back Servant always eager to get into a good fight, and will never back down unless commanded. When not being an enemy, he shows a playful attitude and loves to tease. He is most often seen fighting Archer throughout the whole story. Although easy to dismiss as being a mediocre Servant, he is in fact extremely fast and skilled in the use of the lance.

Appearance
Lancer is a blue-haired, red-eyed man whose primary outfit is a deep ultramarine full body tights covered in Runic protections, grey metalic pauldrons, and a metal plate over his lowest abdominal section. He wears his hair in a rattail that reaches his mid-back. He also wears a pair of silver earrings. Lancer gives off the impression of a beast, even carrying a bestial smell.

In Fate/hollow ataraxia, Lancer usually wears a yellow Hawaiian shirt and black pants when he's not working one of his part-time jobs. In Today's Menu for Emiya Family, Lancer's casual outfit consists of a white T-shirt, black pants and a black jacket. Shirou found it a mystery that Lancer could wear an apron and look good in it.

In the Fate/EXTRA series, Lancer's outfit covers his entire body with light blue lined design, with some black sections, grey metalic pauldrons like his original design, and a light flame design on his left arm.

Personality
Lancer is a fierce, but balanced warrior who enjoys combating a worthy opponent, but at his core he believes in justice and is easy to get along with. He is an agreeable youth acting out the role of one gentle in disposition yet strong in body. He has a playful attitude and takes a very carefree approach to life, but is quick to work himself into a frenzy during a heated battle. He was known as a brave, compassionate, and likeable young man in the legends. He mercilessly killed his enemies on the battlefield, but he respected faith and had the nobility to never once break a promise he had made.

He enjoys fishing, hunting, and hitting on cute girls. He is a proud warrior, someone who can't abandon a fight just because he's losing. He's ready to fight until the end, for the sake of his fighting will and also for his Master. He easily loses his cool, especially to insults calling him a dog.

He's not interested in killing innocent people, though he still strictly follows the rules of the war to kill bystanders like Shirou. He's very keen on his mission and somehow professional in his "work". He's noble and he can't really stand people who're joking with him or simply betraying his trust. He's also easily touched by others problems and if he chooses to protect someone, he will do his best till the very end. He really enjoys dating women or simply to spending his time in relaxing hobbies like fishing.

He regretted nothing in his life, though it was one full of wrong turns. There may have been disappointment, but he does not regret his life one bit. His spear only took away the lives of his loved ones, his close friend and son, but its only regret was that it had been meant to murder a single woman that he was unable to kill. Though it is impossible to swap one's life for another, he thinks saving Bazett from the looping world may allow him to leave the regrets of his youth behind. He only has a complaint about his fate as he tries to save her, that he never has any luck with good women.

Abilities
Lancer's weapon, the Gáe Bolg, a cursed spear which is said to inflict wounds that do not heal as long as the spear remains in the world. His weapon itself has two main techniques which can be classified as separate Noble Phantasms, the first of which reverses causality to always strike the heart, and the second of which unleashes the full potential of the curse to strike the enemy by hurling the spear with overwhelming power. He is an expert monster exterminator, giving him an advantage over someone like Rider due to her Gorgon monster alignment. Lancer also qualifies for the Berserker and Caster classes. He had gone berserk several times in life, and he takes great pride in having the ability and knowledge enough to qualify for the Caster Class due to his knowledge on Runes.

He obtains no geographical boosts from the cultural sphere around Japan. If he were to be summoned in western Europe, he would receive a general boost in power similar to other European Heroic Spirits, and he would display a much sharper increase in power in Ireland. If he were to be summoned in Ireland, he would have had potential access to a castle Noble Phantasm, a rare fortress Noble Phantasm that can only be used in Ireland, a chariot, a Blessing of Wakefulness, and the like due to being in the land where his legend took place. Normally a "shining existence" on par with Heracles and King Arthur, he would only fully display it outside of Japan. Those of Celtic mythology are not well known in Japan, but he was a great hero that outmatched even King Arthur in fame in Ireland. While Diarmuid Ua Duibhne has an advantage in a fight due to having a better magical energy supply from his Master, Lancer would obtain more of an advantage should they fight properly in Ireland due to his fame.

Combat
Lancer fights with a two-meter spear, allowing him to only need to attack when an opponent enters his range. Such a distance as three meters between him and the opponent matters little, so while it is easier to thrust at an approaching enemy instead of moving out, he will still quickly close the distance between an opponent instead. All of his thrusts are enough to be called a final blow to strike the opponent down. The main strength of the weapon is in its swings rather than thrusting as its shape would indicate. Its wide swing utilizes its long range to not allow the enemy to dodge by stepping back. Partial retreat from a strike will not allow for escape, attempting a counterattack would result in receiving a slashed stomach, and simply going forward will result in a smashed rib from the long shaft of the lance. Thrusts are still dangerous, but it is possible to avoid an attack that targets a specific point once it has been seen through to allow for the strike to be redirected to create an opening.

He fights with intensity, and it would normally be that closing in on an opponent in such a matter would be suicidal with such a long weapon. Lances are effective against swords because there is no effective way of parrying them with a sword. Strong rebuffs from a sword only results in a counterattack, while weak rebuffs do not create any openings. The most important part of a battle between the two is defeating the enemy while they are at the wrong range. Spearmen normally use their length and freedom of range to win a battle, and discarding such an advantage by closing in should mean defeat. Such by the book tactics mean little to him, as his ability with the lance shows no vulnerabilities due to not having to follow the general rule on lances. His strikes that are fast enough that even the afterimages are blurred allow him to easily remove any possible openings, and he can constantly increase the speed of his thrusts and make continuous attacks without allowing the slightest pause in between.

He prefers fighting with his full power as a warrior, but his own beliefs are held back due to his Master's Command Spell to "Fight against everyone. But do not defeat them. Survive your first battle against any opponent" and then withdraw. He is unable to display his full strength during such involuntary reconnaissance missions. His ability to withdraw from the battlefield in the midst of combat, Disengage, is very skilled, seen in decisive action of going after the possible threat, Shirou, in the midst of his fight with Archer, and the ability is fully demonstrated by having to fight all of the Servants then retreat. He excelled in seeing through battle situations during life, so he has the responsibility to wage war and withdraw repeatedly from all the Servants, showing the appearance of realizing that a situation is unfavorable. It also has the ability of returning an unfavorable battle to the beginning, "turn 1", and restoring the condition of techniques to their initial states.

Contrary to his legendary battle prowess, his fighting in the Fifth Holy Grail War is extremely limited. Fighting several Servants to a draw, he will never start a fight on his own. Even if he gains a full chance to kill an opponent, he is to merely observe and is given no authority to attack. He can only go all out against an opponent during their second encounter due to the Command Spell, so his first true "battle without any binds" is against Archer. Without anything binding him, his strikes are much faster and harder to see than in the previous battle. The only way Archer is able to keep up with him in direct combat compared to the previous fight is due to the experience of previously fighting him. Due to Gae Bolg being a Noble Phantasm with a conceptual effect, it could kill Arcueid Brunestud even though she is superior to Lancer in pure numbers.

Due to his Divinity as a demigod, he exhibited superior talent from birth and boasted supernatural ability that separated him from ordinary people from a young age. At his ranking, his ability allows one to break through and defend against otherwise invincible skills, such as Enlightenment of the Sacred Fig and Protection of the Faith. His speed is extraordinary, able to counterattacks with a lance with the speed of gods, all while standing still. It allows him to easily put distance between him and his opponent at any point in a battle, and using his lance to vault thirty meters is not a difficult feat. He is slower than Rider in terms of average speed, but he is faster in immediate maximum output. Archer claims his speed is extraordinary among even the fastest heroes that would normally be chosen as Lancer. He far surpasses all of them, not even three in the world being at his level, and he is the only one with such "beast-like agility."

Due to Protection from Arrows, the ability to respond to projectile weapons that he has had since birth, he can evade any kind of ranged attack. He has to be able to identify the object of the attack with his eyes, so no projectile from a visible opponent will be effective against him unless it is a great Noble Phantasm. He is able to respond even when the object cannot be seen, allowing him to generally deal with most projectile weapons. Any form of thrown attack, even Noble Phantasms, can be avoided, but the effect of the skill does not work for the wide range of weapons that explode in a large radius on impact or direct strikes with weapons with long reach.

He reads the course of the projectile attack by using the sound of cutting air and the enemy's murderous intent. He easily repels all of True Assassin's Dirks despite having precision rivaling that of Archer able to accurately fire between Lancer's swings, and even those that cannot be perceived coming from the darkness and those that come while he is surrounded by obstacles are easily repelled with a slight swing of his lance.

In the Extra series, he possesses the following skills:
 * Red Bough Wheel (Akaeda no Sharin) - A skill used upon himself. It absorb enemy MP when using BREAK. The effect would only last for 3 turns.
 * Spear play - Hammering Assault - physical damage and paralysis on enemy. The effect would only last for 3 turns. He will use this Skill on the 1st move.
 * Spear play - Median Lance - Inflicts physical damage on an enemy. He will use this Skill on the 1st or 3rd move.
 * Ath nGabla: Shoal of Four Branches ("Shoal of Extremities") is a Rune technique that revives him. This effect which greatly boosts his strength and defense are permanent and would last till the end of battle, unless negated. The effect which would revive him will only last until his first death, unless negated.

Runes
Lancer obtained 18 Original Runes, Norse Runes, after studying magecraft under Scáthach in the Land of Shadows. He appropriately utilizes them to respond to different situations. One such rune, one with the purpose of searching, helps support his elusive actions during the Holy Grail War. Holding the Ansuz rune allows him to set a blaze to reduce an entire room to ashes, causing a continuing conflagration that seeps into the rest of the Einzbern Castle and causes it to crumble. He can use them as a counter measure against Mystic Eyes, even those as potent as Mystic Eyes of Petrification. He inscribes his armor with runic protections, and he is able to set up a powerful Bounded Field in an instant by carving all of his runes onto the ground. It is able to block a great Noble Phantasm, but it is unable to stop the encroachment of the Shadow.

Another use of multiple Runes is Ath nGabla (Ato Goura), a seal formed by pointing his spear at the ground and carving four runes, Algiz, Nauthiz, Ansuz, and Ingwaz, in four corners around him. It is a curse of one-on-one combat passed down to the Knights of the Red Branch, and it does not carry any inherent magical energy. It is an arena formed from four brances, guaranteeing one on one combat with honor at stake. Warriors having set the seal no longer have retreat as an option, and all warriors who see the seal are not allowed to refuse combat. They also have the ability to be used in conjunction with his Noble Phantasm to raise its rank to A temporarily, allowing him to fight against Berserker's God Hand. It would be a very disadvantageous fight, but it would still be "one with some chances."

He is not a reckless warrior, shown by being suitable to be of the Caster class. He can see through Rider's Blood Fort Andromeda from just a glance, consider the situation, and make a decision not to destroy it. He is able to tell the quality of a Bounded Field and decide it does not belong to Caster due to not being at the same level as her Bounded Fields. He has a Magic Resistance of Rank C, meaning that aria of two verses and below are cancelled. He is unable to defend against High Thaumaturgy and Greater Rituals, but utilizing large-scale magecraft while confronting a Servant of such superior speed is nearly impossible. The skill required to successfully hit him with such invoked magecraft is considerable, so is can be said he has a "necessary and sufficient" rank of Magic Resistance in terms of close combat.

Battle Continuation
Lancer has a high rank in Battle Continuation due to having fought from a disadvantageous position in many fatal battles during his life, living on while charging through the battlefields like a panther. When it comes to defense, his excellent agility and great experience make him an "impregnable wall", allowing him to be confident in fighting both Archer and Saber at once if the goal is occupying them. He is especially hard to kill, as told in the legend of the dying Cú Chulainn having tied himself to a tree to continue fiercely battling before taking his last breath. Being the best of the Servants at "surviving", he is able to take grievous wounds and still continue battling before succumbing to them, and possessing such a legend makes his dying struggle particularly fierce.

Not giving up easily, his tenacity allows him to battle on the verge of death and stay alive until he receives a clearly fatal blow. He is able to demonstrate astonishing tenacity even in the hopeless battle against Gilgamesh, delaying his opponent for half a day. He counters his opponents with an unyielding fighting spirit, and unlike Saber who will fade away instantly from a decisive strike to the heart from Fragarach, he is able to last for a period of time afterward. Even without an active heart or Master, he is able to hold his rapidly fading form through the use of his "dirty survival tricks." After being forced to stab himself in the heart in Unlimited Blade Works, he has enough energy to get up, remove the spear from his chest, retaliate against Kirei, free Rin, ward off Shinji, and utilize the Ansuz Rune to burn his body along with the entire room. It is noted that he is definitively dying the entire time, and the simple act of standing up in the first place is amazing in itself.

Trivia

 * In the original visual novel's Heaven's Feel route, Lancer is killed by True Assassin in a matter of seconds while trying to escape the shadow, while in the movie adaption, he is given an extended action scene where he chases True Assassin across the city, lands a few blows on him, and even manages to get his Gae Bolg off before finally being killed when True Assassin lures him to the shadow. It's made clear that had he either been given a second longer to activate Gae Bolg, or been fighting away from the Shadow, he would have easily killed Assassin.
 * Not as much as Saber or Archer, but he proved popular enough to appear in Fate/EXTRA, get Promoted to Playable in Fate/Extella, show up in Fate/Grand Order with three extra variations (his playstyle also helped boost his popularity), and appear as a major ally the First Order anime.
 * Lancer's true name (Cu Chulainn) is pronounced "coo coo-lawn" in stay night and "coo hoo-lawn" in Unlimited Blade Works. However, the name is traditionally pronounced as "coo hull-en".