Avenger (Fate/hollow ataraxia)

Avenger (アヴェンジャー) is the Avenger-class Servant of the Einzbern family in the Third Holy Grail War. He is an abnormal Servant that is not part of the regular seven classes, whose true identity is. While he was not actually the evil god of Zoroastrianism, his defeat in the Third War corrupted the Grail, turning it into the equivalent of All the World's Evils. This manifestation attempts to be born through the Holy Grail, and acts as the Servant of Sakura Matou in the Fifth Holy Grail War of the Heaven's Feel route of Fate/stay night. He acts as the Servant of Bazett Fraga McRemitz in place of Lancer in the four day loop of Fate/hollow ataraxia.

Identity
Avenger was initially believed to be the Persian god of darkness, (アンリマユ). In reality, he was no more than an ordinary villager. A human that was freed from the confines of Order by having his name expelled from the Avesta, The Universal Revelation of Inscribed Creation. One day, he was randomly chosen as the "source of all evil in the world" by his village and was tortured and sacrificed in the following rituals. The villagers believed that from the moment humans are born, there is evil in them. Since it was impossible to be freed from malice just through clean, righteous living, the only way to realize the true goodness of human beings was to force "all the evils of the world" onto one person and blame him as the true source of any human evil. If one person embodies all the evils of the world, the rest of the people cannot be evil, no matter what. This was the simple, child-like theory they all invested in.

So they continuously tortured him until he went insane. They captured him, beat him, carved every word that cursed mankind onto his body, forced every sin imaginable upon him, took out bits and pieces of him slowly, defiled his mind with absolute evil, and held him responsible for all of it in the world. They would not allow him to die until he succumbed to old age. He had a curse put on him as a result, one made of the great evil that he was to represent. He was shocked at first at the senselessness of it at all. Eventually he started wondering who it was he should hate. However, Avenger himself only felt anger and hatred towards the world and the people that mercilessly executed him. His forced sacrifice eased the confused minds of his people, which despite being unintentional, qualified him to become a Heroic Spirit.

He only despised mankind of his own accord during the first few years, but after that, the hate became a natural function for him rather than an emotion; hate was the state he was always in, so it was only natural for him to continue hating everything without any other reason. By that time, he forgave and tolerated humanity for whatever sins they may cause while hating them. The world is worth hating. The imbalances were evened out by his hatred, so the people could be absolved of all guilt and live freely. But that kind of "forgiveness" is also the same type that validates any evils that humans may perform.

Yet as the time passed by and he saw many rises and fall of generations, he realized that while he still hated humans for what they did, he still loved the world. Of course, the people that put him up there, his family, his loved ones, the people he hated, died long before he did. The village changed over the generations, expanding, declining; people reviled him, people feared him, people scorned him, and yet they revered him as the sign of their salvation. But he could do nothing but hate, since that was the only thing he could communicate to the world. In the end, he accepted his role for humanity, even if it meant to be the blame for their wrongdoings.

A helpless sacrifice—an ordinary person without any special talent—that transformed into exactly what they wanted, that was determined to be and came to represent all evils of the world. And thus, hated by everyone and losing his self, a hero was born.

Background
He was summoned during in the Third Grail war by the Einzbern family. The only Avenger Class Servant summoned was during the Third Holy Grail War, and rather than a true Heroic Spirit, an Anti-Hero was summoned. Replacing the Berserker class for the War, the class was a special container created only for him, but he was extremely weak instead of something capable of slaughtering all other Masters and Servants.

He was quickly killed and was trapped in the wish-granting spiritual Holy Grail. When he was taken into the Grail, a black miracle had happened. The power of the Grail as a wish granter received the wishes that humanity had placed on Angra Mainyu and was trying to give him, an existence that was only a soul, a physical form with power befitting that of the "Symbol of Evil". Angra Mainyu was being born, with the Greater Grail as a uterus, as an embodiment of the Third Magic. His influence tainted the Grail system. Originally the Grail system can summon only "good" Heroic Spirits, however due to his corruption caused fourth and fifth war to summon irregular spirits.

Avenger himself is “a Heroic Spirit born into existence according to people’s wishes”. Other Heroic Spirits are recognized as true heroes, but Avenger represents the belief that “heroes” are lies and fabrications. The enshrinement of humanity’s selfish desires turned Avenger into a Heroic Spirit, creating a direct connection to the wish-granting function of the Holy Grail. The Greater Grail, “activated 3 times without granting anyone’s wishes”, turned into its present state as there was still a chance to grant somebody’s wish. As a result, Avenger was born into this world in order to grant everybody’s desire for an existence like “All the World’s Evil (Angra Mainyu)”. Despite having been a normal, powerless being prior, the wish engraved in his soul by those who desired him to represent all the evils in the world was granted. Thus, the purpose of the 4th War was simply to gather vast amounts of mana to grant the wish.

Personality
Originally he was a good-natured young man before he was randomly chosen to be the "source" of his village's evil and tortured until death. His hatred for the world became his very nature but he forgave humanity and accepted it, both good and evil. He believes that "all the world's evil" is simply a misnomer and that humans themselves are the source of all evil.

In hollow ataraxia, Avenger usually has a lazy and laid-back attitude, lacking any sense of justice. This is best shown when he decides to kill innocent people in order to attract the attention of a Master and their Servant (since he believed it was the easiest way). He is also known to be sarcastic, cynical and mercilessly mocking towards the people he interacts with.

In the form of All the World's Evil within the Grail, Avenger doesn't have a true sense of self. "It" can be said to be lost in an abyss of shallow slumber within darkness sealed in the bottomless earth. It only dreams of the endless "prayers", unreasonable and unattainable, that the human had long ago been entrusted. It only knows that some sort of sudden changes happened that placed it within the Grail that is "like a mother’s warm placenta." It is only waiting for the moment of its coming birth, so it searches for opportunities to manifest into the world.

Development
Despite hollow ataraxia not having been completely worked out at the time of Fate/Zero ' s development period, Gen Urobuchi was able to get the mechanics behind Avenger's method of "possession" by chance.

Fate/Zero
Avenger, in its pure form as All the World's Evil, reacts to Kiritsugu Emiya's statement "For that, even if I am to carry ‘all the evils of this world’ – it won’t matter. If that can save the world, then I’d gladly accept it.” while he is arguing with Saber after the deaths of Lancer and Kayneth Archibald El-Melloi. Hearing that it has been called by someone, it wishes to answer him as soon as possible. While waiting for the "birth canal", the Holy Grail, to open, it dreams of the cries that will dye the world crimson red.

After Irisviel von Einzbern's death, Avenger records her personality in order to use it as a shell to communicate with Kiritsugu. She claims that the record is unmistakably genuine, as the last thing that Irisviel touched before her demise was All the World's Evil. She inherited Irisviel's last desire by personifying her wish to "remain this way."

During the final battle between Kiritsugu and Kirei Kotomine, the Grail gushes out black mud which engulfed both of them. Though both of them entered in a dream like state, the Grail recognizes Kiritsugu as the victor. Avenger uses Irisviel to confront Kiritsugu in his mind and asks his wish, however it comes with a heavy price. In his mind, he was forced to confront the fact that his methods will eventually lead to him becoming the ultimate enemy of humanity, equal to Angra Mainyu itself - and, 'Irisviel' proclaimed, this path is correct.

Kiritsugu, now realizing that the Grail is corrupted, shoots down all his loved ones including the illusions of his wife and daughter. As he rejected and strangled 'Irisviel', Avenger placed a curse on him - to never be free of regret until his painful death.

Kirei, having went through the same experience, questioned Kiritsugu why he rejected the Grail; Kiritsugu's answer was that it sacrifices too many things for what it gives. Kirei says that he wanted it even so and Kiritsugu, admitting that he did not understand Kirei, shot him in the heart.

In Kirei's last moments, the Holy Grail appeared to him. Filled with hatred and envy for Kiritsugu, Kirei reached out and touched the cursed artifact. He prayed for an end to humanity and his wish was granted in the form of fire. Meanwhile Avenger's emergence was prevented by Kiritsugu, who commanded his servant, Saber, to destroy the Grail upon recognizing the evil presence emanating from it. However, she destroyed only the vessel and not the contents - the 'black mud' - which spilled out from its core onto the streets below and caused a fire that eventually destroyed a large part of Shinto.

The black ichor managed to soak Kirei's lifeless body, resurrecting him with an artificial, black heart. Gilgamesh was covered in the black mud that poured out when Saber destroyed the Grail's vessel.

In the original novel, there was a scene where Gilgamesh contacted Avenger inside the black mud. Avenger reveals the ugliness and hatred of the world but to his surprise Gilgamesh accepts this and acknowledges his role in carrying the burden of the world. Gilgamesh's strong ego helps him fight off Avenger's influence and the black mud ejects Gilgamesh.

Kirei wakes up and finds Gilgamesh near him. He seemed to have gained a flesh body from something that flowed to his body through the Master and Servant connection.

At the end of the Fourth War, Zouken Matou acquired the fragments of the Grail. He synthesized it with his Crest worms, which he put inside the body of Sakura Matou. Though she was incomplete, this turned her into a second Lesser Grail.

Fate
Shirou Emiya confronts Kirei Kotomine who already has access to the Holy Grail. Kirei reveals that Avenger is inside the Holy Grail cursing on the human world. Due to having his heart replaced by Angra Mainyu, he has an affinity with it and the black mud from the Grail which he uses in an attempt to curse Shirou. Shirou demonstrates his mental strength by resisting the curse at close range and projecting Avalon to shield himself from the corruption. After Kotomine and Gilgamesh are killed, Shirou and Saber destroy the contents of the Grail, ensuring the malice within it will never be used again.

Unlimited Blade Works
When Saber used Excalibur to destroy the deformed grail, Avenger lost his incomplete vessel and created a black hole. The black hole was able to disrupt Shirou's Reality Marble and absorbs Gilgamesh. However Gilgamesh used his Enkidu chain to attach Shirou. Gilgamesh claims that Avenger intentionally came after him to use him as his core. He added that he cannot be used as a core because they are both servants, Archer told Shirou to duck and aimed at Gilgamesh with an arrow. The black hole perished when Avenger consumed Gilgamesh.

Heaven's Feel
Avenger emerges during the Fifth Holy Grail War in the Heaven's Feel route in an attempt to be born into the world as an incarnation of All the World's Evils. He forms a contract with Sakura Matou, who has been made to act as the vessel for the Grail. She is confronted by Rin in the chamber of the Greater Holy Grail beneath Mount Enzō, her power equally matched by The Jeweled Sword of Zelretch. Rendering Sakura's shadows useless, Rin makes her way to Sakura, but is unable to give the finishing blow due to her love of her sister. Rin embraces Sakura even after Sakura has stabbed her in panic. Realizing Rin's love, Sakura again starts resisting her evil long enough for Shirou to dispel Angra Mainyu's grip on her soul with Rule Breaker. In the Normal ending, Shirou does trace Excalibur and destroys the Grail, but his life extinguishes soon after. Sakura, refusing to accept Shirou's death, continues to live in the Emiya household, forever waiting for Shirou; when she herself had passed away Shirou finally arrives amidst the sakura trees waving to her. However in True ending, Ilya intervenes, closes the gate for good, and performs the Heaven's Feel on Shirou to keep him alive.

Fate/hollow ataraxia
However, during the 5th War, he was finally reborn as the Grail, thanks to its immense mana. The physical vessel for the Grail was destroyed by Shirou Emiya and Saber, along with the contents to prevent the disaster to be brought by the presence of Avenger in form of "All World's Evil". After finally being able to grant a wish, the Avenger/Grail was left to expire without accomplishing its role. In order to do what it was born to do, Avenger/the Grail sought a wish. In the process, he found Bazett, who after being left to die for Kirei, wished hard that she did not want to die. Therefore, they made a contract: Avenger, to continue to exist and accomplish its new role of granting a wish, and Bazett, to stay alive even in a vegetative state.

However, 6 months after the 5th war, Caren came to Fuyuki city, found and nursed the dying Bazett. Unlike before, when Avenger just had to keep her physical signs alive, now he had to keep both Bazett's now awake consciousness and body alive. In order to accomplish that, he created the four-day temporal loop.

To keep Bazett thinking that she was alive, Avenger recreated the 5th Grail War. The problem, however, was that he never personally experienced the 5th war. He only knew of the 3rd war. So he just took the participants of 5th war and used them to create the characters in the 3rd war to play the 5th war's events.

While he was Bazett's Servant Avenger by night, he took on the form of Shirou by day. As Shirou, he comes to care for other people, especially the mysterious Caren Hortensia. In this form, he has no idea of his own identity and thinks and acts like Shirou. He later explains that this is because Avenger himself is 0, and no matter how much you add 0 to 1, it is still 1.

The problem starts when (1) Shirou, in truth Avenger, realizes the temporal loop and tries to solve the anomaly, and (2) Avenger himself begins to keep "filling up" the Grail to see more and more new events. Since Shirou is someone who cannot let the wrong stay wrong, he had to fix the abnormal temporal loop. Also, even though he knew that by seeking new events he would complete the Grail thus ending the loop, which would ultimately mean his return to void, Avenger could not stop enjoying the happy daily life as Shirou.

Later Bazett realizes the false reality of the temporal loop, but refuses to finish it. She thinks that she would die once the loop is over, but she also knew that would permanently take Avenger to nothingness. In her hope to stay alive, and her wish to keep Avenger from his ultimate fate, she tries to continue the loop, even if it means going against Avenger himself.

With help from Caren, the only one whom Shirou has never met and thus Avenger reveals his true self, Shirou/Avenger finally realizes that he himself is the cause of all the problem, and decides to put the end to it. He finally reaches the Grail as the other Servants and Masters prevent the monsters (which are actually leftover parts of Avenger) from stopping him. In the end, Avenger frees Bazett from the loop and returns to the void. In the process, it is revealed that while the reproduced Holy Grail War itself was due to the wish of Bazett, the daily life that Shirou experienced was due to Avenger's own wish to live a normal life. During the loop, Bazett uses a Command Spell to make Avenger 'become her left arm' in order to keep him from contacting Shirou directly. After obtaining an artificial arm to replace her missing one, both she and Caren speak of the arm as if it is still Avenger.

Abilities
As a combatant, he seems to be the weakest of all Servants in every parameter, although he can be quite agile and relentless. Shirou once compared his fighting style to that of a tenacious beast. His fang-like twin daggers Tawrich and Zarich can be used as sword breakers, yet are unreliable as they sometimes break themselves, and his skill in manipulating them as melee weapons is only average compared to other servants.

Avenger initially lets Bazett believe that his Noble Phantasm is the cause of the four day loop of Fate/hollow ataraxia and his ability to resurrect. She believes the reason for his lack of strength in battle is due it being a weakness for having a Noble Phantasm that alters and interferes with destiny. He tells her that it has no cost due to emptiness being his nature, allowing him to resurrect in the evening as long as there is nothingness. His actual Noble Phantasm is Verg Avesta, which allows him to inscribe his wounds upon his target. It is mostly useless, but works well when paired with Bazett's Fragarach.

Shade
Shade (骸) is the form that the remains of Avenger take in the looped world of Fate/hollow ataraxia after he is defeated: a shadowy void that is barely shaped like a wolf-man.

Similar to demons, though much weaker in power. Still strong enough to slaughter any normal human, while someone with 10 years-worth of martial arts training might be able to last a few seconds in a one-on-one fight. The real problem is that it appears in massive numbers, having been born from a spiritual disruption meant to “create the same kind of monster”.

All the World's Evils
The alignment of being Angra Mainyu: All the World's Evil itself could be said to have been his actual Noble Phantasm in the Third Holy Grail War. It is a curse that had put all of the evils in the world on one person, that who became Angra Mainyu. It is not a very useful ability, as it only grants the Servant's soul an alignment directed towards killing people even after when it takes on the form of directionless and alignmentless prana after losing the shell of its class. Normally it would not affect anything, but with the way the Great Grail is set up to take the Servant's souls means placing "All the World's Evil" into a wish granting machine.

After Avenger is absorbed during the Third Holy Grail War, the Grail is transformed into an incarnation of Angra Mainyu that materializes as black mud and later a large humanoid under certain conditions. The materialization of Angra Mainyu brought forth by truly opening the Holy Grail is an ichor that will consume every human being, 6 billion curses flowing out from the gate to hell. Gilgamesh specifically mentions 5.6 billion curses for an unknown reason. It is a reaper that will strike down all humans equally, an endless darkness that is born from humans and massacres them. Avenger claims his ability to slay humans is unsurpassed except by the dog and the spider, which can slay them at a faster rate.

Ichor leaks from the Grail when it is first being established. Its nature is a curse so strong that it is visible, so it can be called prana specialized for destroying people. It can not be practically used in any way, as it cannot be reshaped or anything of the sort. It stains anybody it touches with a strong curse and melts them as if they were being digested. The pain and fear felt before death remains as prana and becomes the next curse to seek out living people. It will kill anyone it touches unless they can remove it from their body before they are melted away. Those who are not dissolved will be assaulted mentally by "All the World's Evil", eventually going insane or left cursed by its after effects, such as Kiritsugu Emiya, who lives for a number of years while suffering under the curse until it causes his death.

If fully submerged in the curse, it paints space itself around the person, surrounding them in darkness and imprinting hell upon their brain by showing them unseeable darkness, ugliness that can't be acknowledged, and all the crimes of the people in the world that make them want to run away from it all. Those trapped with the darkness will eat themselves to death from pain and hatred, and they will be swallowed by it like the painted space. Avoiding such a curse and the very concept of blocking it are nearly impossible. Escaping should be impossible, so Kirei Kotomine is shocked that Shirou manages to do just that through only willpower.

Blackening of Servants
Heroic Spirits that come into contact with it gain bodies of cursed flesh, and they are tainted by it as well. The contaminated servant's personality reverses toward the orientation of evil, the process is called Blackening (黒化). The blackened Servant is incarnated by the power of the Grail so the more concrete ties to the physical plane turns them into powerful beings. Their physical interference power increases, but at the same time, they lose the ability to return to spirit form. They no longer bother to restrain their magic energy consumption, so their fighting ability jumps significantly. They do not have precise control, but their destructive power is increased. Their momentum can be likened to a runaway car that never runs out of fuel, but fine handling is now impossible because it is out of control.

They are fearful beings inflicting havoc and death upon the world. These are blackened Servants like Saber, completely corrupted and changed into Saber Alter, while someone with an extremely strong ego like Gilgamesh was able to resist the majority of the effects. During the Heaven's Feel scenario Archer states that distorted Heroic Spirits like himself and the True Assassin have immunity to tainted ichor and corrupting influence of the Holy Grail.