Waver Velvet

Waver Velvet (ウェイバー・ベルベット) is the Master of Rider in the Fourth Holy Grail War of Fate/Zero. He later comes to be known as Lord El-Melloi II (ロード・エルメロイII世), a highly respected professor within the Mage's Association.

Background
Waver was born as the third generation of the Velvet family, but it was not a very prestigious line. His grandmother, the first generation, was the lover of a certain magus who picked up the very basics of magecraft during their pillow talk. Waver's mother, the second generation, only sparsely practiced as a way to honor her mother. Waver was the first to seriously follow the path of magecraft, so his heritage and innate abilities were lacking. His mother found the Association’s hierarchical system annoying and disapproved of Waver seeking out the tutelage of a proper mentor, but he was strongly drawn to magecraft.

His parents eventually both died of illness, so he took the opportunity to sell all of his family’s possessions to gather enough money for his tuition for the Clock Tower without anything leftover. He experienced nothing but hardship and failure in his work. At the age of nineteen, he developed the revolutionary concept that a mage's power could be increased through effort, experience, and knowledge rather than increasing magical potential through that of a mage's heirs. His idea was dismissed by his lecturer, the nobleman Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald, who tore up Waver's manuscript without another thought. This caused him to gamble everything on the Holy Grail War.

Appearance
As Lord El-Melloi II, he has long loose hair. He is often seen smoking a cigar.

Personality
Waver can be called a "spoiled brat" who is the very embodiment of a "narcissist that doesn't doubt he's a genius." He displays traits of cowardliness, being short-tempered, and constant complaints without action. He has an inferiority complex about his abilities as a magus and Master, and he constantly doubts himself at every turn. He forms a bond with Rider over time that begins to change him, with Rider bolstering his confidence and recognizing his traits. He praises Waver for riding into the front lines of battle with him, he comforts Waver upon seeing Caster's victims, and remarks in his abilities as an unconventional but exceptionally talented magus, though Waver quickly refutes him.

Though he often fights with Rider, he bonds with him over the course of the Holy Grail War, and he even pledges his allegiance to Rider as one of his subjects. Even Gilgamesh praises his loyalty, causing his life to be spared because of remaining steadfast in following Rider's final orders.

After becoming Lord El-Melloi II, he takes on a reputation as a famous lecturer of the Clock Tower. His involvement with Rider changed his previous attitude, allowing his persistent effort to lead to him being called a professor. Known as "Great Big Ben London Star”, "Professor Charisma", and "Master V", he has been even named "the number one man female students would like to sleep with", among others. He cares little about his reputation, and he would rather focus on his own success as a magus. His irritations towards it has even caused people to say that he has walked through the institute with a constantly cranky look to him for several years. He is not an ambitious person, and he does not like to become involved with his students, having once said, "What a load of codswallop. Why should I, stuck at the fourth tier I still be, have to bloody look after other people?"

He takes after Rider in that his sole pleasure lies in Japanese video games, though he has come to hate Japan and Japanese people. He orders a large number of games, and after playing through them fully, takes the time to diligently give his thoughts on the games through their survey cards. Though he often receives game memorabilia through sweepstakes, he cares little for it and mostly believes that it is the proper action to relay his opinions back to the game designers even if he must pay international postage to airmail them to Japan. Much of his room is full of the memorabilia, though he also has a cabinet where he keeps the fragment of Rider's cloak that he used as his catalyst.

Development
Waver was a -like “King of Cowards” in the setting stage of the novels, but his character had grown to the point at the end where he could be mistaken for the protagonist. Takashi Takeuchi had no trouble designing Waver because he had a clear image of the character. He really wanted to draw him, and feels the design that makes him look incompetent was for the best. The epilogue, where a young man lost his childish leader, brought him to tears. Gen Urobuchi wants to write about character like him at some point, and feels that he is the character with the most vivid expressions.

Waver was to receive more scenes to flesh out his growth, but it was felt that it would have made the identity of the main character too confusing if he was given too much focus. While attacking Caster's lair, they would have found a small girl Assassin, who Waver would believe to be one of Caster's victims after she had her memories and the awareness of being Assassin hidden away. Rider, knowing of her identity, would have kept quiet to honor Waver's chivalry. As another addition to the Mackenzie household, their interactions would have served to lighten the story at the time, but after the confrontation with the Assassins at the Einzbern Castle, she would have regained her memories as Hassan. Through a dramatic farewell tragedy, Waver would climb another step on the path to becoming an adult.

Fate/Zero
Shortly before the Fourth Holy Grail War, Waver Velvet's theories that a mage could become more powerful through experience rather than genetic lineage is dismissed by his lecturer, Lord Kayneth. Outraged and humiliated, Waver discovers that Lord El-Melloi will particpate in the Fourth Holy Grail War in Japan. Stealing the artifact El-Melloi intends to use to summon his Servant and running off to Japan, Waver intends to win the Holy Grail in order to force the Mage's Association to recognize his genius. Using the stolen artifact, he summons the Rider-class Servant, Iskander. The two of them stay with Glen and Martha Mackenzie, an elderly Canadian couple living in Japan, for the duration of the war. The couple, thanks to Waver's magical abilities, are under the impression that he is their grandson. Waver is youngest Master in the Fourth Holy Grail War.

Though an adept mage, his confidence in his own skill comes off as arrogance. Waver is not courageous by nature and somewhat short-tempered, cowardly, and whiny. In contrast, his Servant Iskander, the King of Conquerors, is noble and physically overbearing. Much to Waver's chagrin, the enormous man has little interest in the Holy Grail and cares more about conquering the world again, especially now that he realizes the world is much bigger than he was aware of during his life and is particularly fascinated by ordinary aspects of modern life. The Master and Servant have difficulty getting along at first due to differing personalities and Rider's self-centered nature makes him especially difficult to control and Waver finds himself accommodating his interests to his Servant's to ensure Rider remains focused on defeating opposing Servants.

Despite their differences they had a very close bond of friendship, similar to that of a father and a son. This is evident in the fact, that on their first encounter with the other servants and masters of the war, Rider defended his master's dignity after Waver was being tormented by Kayneth, who was threatening to make Waver suffer for stealing his artifact and entering the Grail War with the servant he was intending to summon. Rider disparages Kayneth by calling him a coward, saying that someone like him could never be his master even he really was summoned by Kayneth.

After Caster's death, Rider used all his prana from his own supply when he used Ionioi Hetairoi. Waver aware of this, he gathered food and went back to the summoning place where there is a leyline to help provide prana to Rider. Waver questions Rider why he didn't take any prana from him, Rider explains that servants are soul eaters and he didn't want to see Waver dying for the Holy Grail that possibly don't exist. However Waver is determined to continue the Holy Grail War to the end which left Rider impressed and Waver slept for the whole day providing prana to Rider.

As the Holy Grail War continues, Waver and Iskander's friendship strengthens, Iskander teaches Waver how to live like a man. Saber on her motorcycle chased after Rider as she thought Rider kidnapped Irisviel. Waver acknowledges Rider's method of conquest, while Rider's Via Expugnatio clashes with Saber's Excalibur. Rider's chariot was destroyed and Waver told Rider to activate his Ionioi Hetairoi, however Rider said Via Expugnatio was the only gamble he take against Saber.

After Saber destroyed Rider's Chariot, Waver had to walk back to the Mackenzie residence. As he walked back, he sees Glen on the roof who calls Waver to join him to see the view of Miyama Town. Glen reveals that he knew Waver wasn't his grandson because he was too nice to be his actual grandson. Waved asked if Glen was angry but to his surprise, Glen was happy to see Martha smiling as Waver and Rider came to live with them. Glen offered Waver to stay longer but Waver expressed that he couldn't as he's risking his life for something. Glen's opinion differs as there isn't anything that worth dying for when people look back in their lives.

On the final day of the war, Waver decides it is too dangerous for him to continue participating in the war and uses all three of his Command Seals to order Iskander to defeat all the remaining Servants, win the Grail, and not to return unless he succeeded. By using all of his Command Seals, Waver effectively abandons his position as Rider's Master and allows the Servant to do as he wishes. However, Iskander insists that Waver stand at his side as he rides off to his final battle as his friend, rather than his Master.

During his battle with Archer, Iskander uses his final Noble Phantasm: Ionioi Hetairoi. However Gilgamesh uses his Anti-world Noble Phantasm to destroy Iskander's Reality Marble in an instant. As Iskander and Waver manage to evade the blast, Iskander asks Waver if he wants to be his subordinate, which Waver accepts. Iskander orders Waver to live and tell the story of his king, leaving Waver in a safe location to observe the battle. When the King of Conquerors is defeated by the golden Servant, Archer confronts Waver. Though he is afraid, Waver courageously stands up to Archer, declaring that he is a follower of Iskander and that he has been ordered to live for Iskander's sake. Out of respect for Iskander's final wishes, Archer spares Waver's life.

He survived the Fourth Grail War, he returned back to Mackenzie house safely. The time he spent with Iskander has positively influenced him, he wanted to stop studying for a while and travel, experience and understand the outside world. He decided to stay in Japan for a while and asks Glen and Martha for permission to stay at their place. When he looks around his room and finds the game that Iskander brought earlier, Waver at first thought it was silly but decides to try new things out and realizes he likes playing video games after this. After the war, he expresses several regrets: he wonders if the conflagration caused by the end of war could have been prevented if he and Iskander had still been around and also that he wanted to be Iskander's friend as a equal rather than a subordinate.

Character material
"I recognize your deeds to the Archibald family, but since you were only making up for what you caused in the first place, you better serve me for your entire life."

- Reines El-Melloi Archisorte, 10th Head of the Archibald family Character material details Waver's life after the events of the Holy Grail War. He returns to the Clock Tower and displays diligence after having been changed by his interactions with Rider. Kayneth's sudden death leaves a gap the organization of his research left at the Clock Tower, and House El-Melloi is left on the verge of ruin. While still considered Kayneth's "most useless formal student", Waver collects the unorganized and unattended works before they are lost, compiling them into the tome named "Lord Kayneth's Encyclopedia of Arcane Secrets." His actions restore the El-Melloi house, and he becomes known as the "man who revived the Archibalds" or "new El-Melloi." The encyclopedia becomes what acts as the foundation for the flourishing of the house and its descendents.

Waver takes on the title of Lord El-Melloi II, after the proper heir, Reines El-Melloi Archisorte, a young girl at the bottom of the family's hierarchy, recognizes his achievements, but only does so while letting him know that Kayneth's death was his fault and that he will have to serve her for his entire life. His works eventually cause him to be recognized as a great professor, and he attains the fourth rank. He wishes to further his own studies, but his mediocrity as a magus keeps him from advancing. He attains a reputation as a great teacher, but cares little for it due to not even being able to advance in rank within the Clock Tower. He becomes the sponsor of Rin Tohsaka after she arrives in London to begin her studies, but he lays out the condition "I will not give you one ounce of instruction. Eh well, I will at least send letters of recommendation to the other departments" due to his hatred for Japan.

Though he attempts to connect with Rin, a complete game dunce, while being internally excited about the thought of discussing video games with her, she displays no interest in or. Causing his anger to flare, the only thing he can say to her is "Fuck! You're the worst Japanese in the world."

Fate/stay night
Though Lord El-Melloi II does not appear within Fate/stay night, he is noted to have a great impact ten years after the end of the Fifth Holy Grail War. He is the last and only remaining master and participant of the 4th Grail War alive, following the deaths of Kirei Kotomine and former Archer Class servant Gilgamesh, despite the fact he was not the victor of the 4th Grail war. He arrives in Fuyuki and, together with Rin as the head of the Tohsaka clan, sets out to completely take apart the Greater Grail. They are opposed by members of the Mage's Association wishing to retrieve it instead, leading to great turmoil of the same magnitude as the Grail War. His side eventually is victorious, and the Greater Grail is completely dismantled, marking the conclusion of the Fuyuki Holy Grail Wars.

Fate/Apocrypha
Lord El-Melloi II, along with Rocco Belfaban and Bram Nuada-Re Sophia-Ri, are the people overseeing the selection of Masters for the Great Holy Grail War of Fate/Apocrypha. He is in charge of recruiting prospective freelance talents with Belfaban. The world of Fate/Apocrypha did not have a Fourth Holy Grail War in Fuyuki, so Waver had instead participated in one of the various Holy Grail Wars across the world with Rider as his Servant and gained the title of Lord El-Melloi II in the same manner.

Lord El-Melloi II, Rocco and Bram believed that Shirou Kotomine from the holy church has killed five masters from Association and stole the grail. Waver returns to his office and he took out Iskander's catalyst, reminiscing his bond with Iskander. Meanwhile, Reines El-Melloi Archisorte was already in the room sitting on the chair and drinking cup of tea casually.

Fate/strange fake
Several months before the False Holy Grail War of Fate/strange fake, Lord El-Melloi II decides to play the video game Night Wars of the British Empire (大英帝国ナイトウォーズ), believing it to have been a game about knights due to it being improperly with "knights." He still plays it, an adventure game starring Jack the Ripper wandering the streets of London at night while battling a maddened personality within him, and notes down his thoughts on the game as usual. This enters him for a chance to win a replica signature Jack the Ripper knife with a sheath, but the trivial toy is quickly lost from his mind. He later wins the prize, and like much of the other merchandise he inadvertently wins, it is sent to the Clock Tower with several other packages.

He later is the first to notice the strangeness occurring in America due to irregularities in the ley lines and through information leaked by Faldeus. He connects it to the happening of another Holy Grail War, resulting in Rohngall and Faldeus being sent to investigate. After one of his most troublesome students, Flat Escardos, eavesdrops on the result of the investigation, Flat beseeches him to help him participate. El-Melloi furiously grips his pupil's face in rage, but he is quickly shocked into silence by the method he used to eavesdrop. While Flat is a prodigy, he lacks the intelligence to properly utilize his talents, and though El-Melloi's teaching prowess allowed him to advance more than any other, he was still unable to graduate. This left El-Melloi with mixed feelings in not letting him go even though he normally hates to let unprepared students out into the world.

He attempts to have Flat understand the true nature of the war, moving past his anger and reaching a form of ascetic enlightenment. He attempts to reason that Flat is unsuited to the battle, but his words do nothing to daunt him. He is unable to use logic with Flat and eventually outright denies him, though Flat's idea of befriending the other Servants reminds him of Rider. He begins to think of lending the fragment of Rider's cloak should Flat return again, but Flat's mistake with the Jack the Ripper toy knife, not remembering it or checking it to see its significance, causes him to think that Flat has given up on participating. This causes him to make the choice of giving it to him and reinforcing his misunderstanding. He returns to his room, reminisces over Rider's cloak, and then believes the situation with Flat to be settled.

Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA☆ILLYA
El-Melloi II is the tutor of Rin and Luvia in Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA☆ILLYA, and he is noted to have been distraught in dealing with their violent arguing until Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg intervened. He and Kischur orders Rin and Luvia to retrieve the Class Cards from Fuyuki City. When Rin and Luvia successfully collected all the class cards, El-Melloi II and Kischur orders them to stabilize the earth pulse.

Other Appearances
Waver appears briefly in Carnival Phantasm with other Fate/Zero characters.

Abilities
Waver's poor lineage gave him a circuit count and crest quality of the lowest standard. He lacks the prerequisites to actually practice magecraft, and he cannot even provide the cost of Rider's Ionioi Hetairoi, causing Rider to bear the cost himself to keep from draining and killing his Master. If Kayneth has "3,000 MP", Waver has a paltry "5 MP." He instead possess the power of observation and insight that give him remarkable talent as a researcher. He could have had insisted that “Magecraft is a subculture!” and taken the world by storm after starting a business as a critic, but he would have quickly obliterated by the Association. His inborn talents instead take another form later in life.

He improves his ability enough over time that he has no trouble declaring that he is a powerful archmagus as of becoming titled Lord El-Melloi II, but his skills as a magus are still hopelessly average. His true talent is realized as a lecturer due to being the best person at detecting the hidden talent of others and training it, described as the "unusual talent of could not put magecraft to practice, but ingenious in the reinterpretation of theories and classification of systems." It can be said in comparison to running that he could never be an athlete because his leg strength is among the absolute worst, but his talents can shine as a coach because he can imagine the perfect running form. Magi that study under him as students receive no less than the rank of Grand, and it is said they could change the entire internal power structure of the Clock Tower if they were to gather under him. His works as a talent production are regarded as the greatest masterpieces of their time, but he doesn't really care because he is more focused on becoming a successful magus himself.

He is capable of hypnotic suggestion to a certain degree. It allows him to make Glen and Martha MacKenzie believe him to be their grandson for a long duration of time, but it is lacking in that it fails to affect Glen for the entirety of Waver's stay. He believes he has completely failed in what should be the most basic art among basic arts and has no excuse even if it was by luck or accident that he broke free from it.

Alchemy
Waver can do basic alchemy using tools brought from London, including twenty-four vials for ores and reagents, a spirit lamp mortar, and droppers. Using a basic practice of mixing complementary reagents into river water from the Mion river, he can detect residual prana, and doing so on various samples collected from parts of the river can be used to trace a target. Water with latent magecraft turns a rust red color, water with strong traces turns a murky black, and normal water is unaffected. This allows him to pinpoint the lair of Caster using the specifically labeled samples and a map to find where the traces are strongest and when normal water ends.

He follows the idea that the Water element is the first step that should be taken when tracking magi because it always fallows the absolute principle of being something that “flows from a higher place to a lower place.” Tasks like calculating the wind's direction and reading the earth's pulse are more difficult than finding the lowest flow of the water pulse, especially in an area with rivers like Fuyuki. He dislikes such methods, instead wishing for a true “Magecraft Contest” instead of milling about like a forensic investigator. Rider praises him for obtaining great results from a poor method over a better method, but Waver perceives it as an insult.

Volumen Hydrargyrum
Upon succeeding the El-Melloi title, he inherits Kayneth's Mystic Code, Volumen Hydrargyrum, and he is able to improve its functions by modifying it into a kind of humanoid automaton, Maid Golem (メイドゴーレム), that is similar to the liquid metal Terminator. While it normally does chores, it seems there is a troublesome bug that causes it to run out of control while insisting that it is a killer robot from the future. This may be because of a harmful movie it was shown during its developmental stages.