Illyasviel von Einzbern, a Homunculus.
HomunculusWP (ホムンクルス, Homunkurusu?, plural "Homunculi") is a term for an existence created through an alchemical method to produce fully functional lifeforms from sperm and other elements without the use of a womb.[1]
Characteristics[]
Homunculi are born with mature bodies and all necessary knowledge and reasoning given to them the moment they are born.[2] They never become older, so the concept of "age" is meaningless for them. As an example, despite their mature appearance and personalities, Leysritt and Sella have lived for little more than two years.[3] On the other hand, Mordred, Yui Shousetsu, Illyasviel von Einzbern are examples of homunculi born as babies due to various circumstances, although only Yui grew normally, while Mordred grew up at the abnormal speed and Illya ceased growing at pre-pubescent stage. Since Homunculi have no accumulated experience like humans do, their souls are young, pure, and sturdy like an infant's. As such. they won't be dyed by anything, and their bodies can endure any kind of transformation,[4] like being possessed by a Heroic Spirit[4] or by a Divine Spirit.[5][6]
A perfect Homunculus is essentially a man-made artificial extension of nature that, external factors aside, will not die for as long as the planet is healthy and has Mana left.[3] However, the price of being given life through such artificial means is that the Homunculus will invariably have some sort of physical defect (small stature, short lifespan, lower intellect or lack of reproductive capabilities are just a few examples).[1] Even with their potential longevity, they are below humans when it comes down to their strength as life-forms.[3]
Despite having the same form and cognition as humans, Homunculi are ultimately different beings due to their possessing a powerful Magic Circuit. Regardless of how fragile they are, their Magic Circuits makes it possible for the Homunculus to achieve powers that are beyond an ordinary human's. Fundamentally different than the Magi that are humans with Magic Circuits, Homunculi are better defined as "Magic Circuits with a human form". Not "something made to be a Magus", but rather "something made to be a Magic Circuit".
It takes special means to create Homunculi, so even a talented Magus like Zouken Matou cannot create one as needed.[7]
Variations[]
Einzbern Homunculi[]
The Homunculi of the Einzbern are created from the knowledge passed down by Justeaze Lizrich von Einzbern, known as the "Master of Northern Alchemy", and Kiritsugu Emiya claims that none can match her descendants in the process of creating artificial humans.[8] Created through cultivation tanks, they are of a high quality.
The Homunculi created by the Einzbern, even those regarded as failures, have enough Magical Energy to pose a threat to the Enforcers of the Mage's Association.[9] Also, their knowledge of Magecraft comes from being branded with a standardized reverse-type Magic Crest. The models based on Justeaze Lizrich von Einzbern, such as Irisviel von Einzbern and Illyasviel von Einzbern, share the memories and personality of the original. In a way, they're the same being. Illya herself is a very special case and her very existence can be considered a miracle in itself. She was “birthed” through conventional means by her mother, Irisviel, although she was put through several magical treatments while still in the womb. Said treatments made her body become even more unlike that of a human being than other Homunculi and caused her poor growth.
- Einzbern Master - The representative of the Einzberns in the Third Holy Grail War.
- Fillia - The Einzbern Representative in the False Holy Grail War.
- Justeaze Lizrich von Einzbern - Justeaze was the head of the Einzbern Family 200 years before the events of Fate/stay night. She later became the basis for the standard Einzbern Homunculus.
- Irisviel von Einzbern - Irisviel was developed to have all the functions of a human body, Magic Circuits far surpassing normal Magi, and a "standardized reverse-type Magic Crest" branded onto her as the "starting default."[8] She is born as the "vessel of the Holy Grail", an organic body which has had the inorganic Holy Grail broken down and fused with her organs.[10] Her highest priority has been designated as self-preservation for the safety of the vessel.
- Illyasviel von Einzbern - Illya is considered to be a being with "all great achievements of Alchemy gathered within her", born from the womb of her mother, Irisviel, and conceived with the sperm of a Magus, Kiritsugu.[11] Differing from her mother who is "covering" the Holy Grail within her, Illyasviel is born with the ability that her physical body itself is capable of becoming the vessel. With even greater self-defense mechanisms, the secrets of the Holy Grail were implanted into the embryo, and she was given Magic Circuits to her exterior.[11] She is an experimental specimen for the Dress of Heaven.
- Leysritt - One of Illyasviel's maids.
- Sella - One of Illyasviel's maids.
Frankenstein[]
Frankenstein's Monster was an artificial life made after the basis of the "ideal human." Although she wishes for a mate of the same kind as her, she sees herself as being fundamentally different from other Homunculi.[12] Mordred says she is similar to a Homunculus in the original novel,[4] while she remarks the opposite in the same scene of the anime version.[13]
According to Romani Archaman, Fran and other creations of Victor Frankenstein are closer to an Artificial Human (人造人間, Jinzō Ningen?) than Homunculi; the difference being that while Homunculi are created with Magic Circuits as a base body, Frankenstein's creations are made out of human body parts, and are corpses powered by Magical Energy. According to Victor Frankenstein, such Artificial Humans have degraded souls that are inferior to regular Human souls, due to not being made from magic circuits like normal Homunculi.[14]
Mephistopheles[]
Mephistopheles is a Homunculus created by Georg Faust. Dr. Faust, with his gifted engineering, has advanced Homunculus technology several generations ahead of his time, but due to his strange nature and sense of aesthetics, he strengthened the Homunculus' ego. A Homunculus that is exceedingly quite human ——— that is the key part of "Mephistopheles" [15]
Orlocke Caesarmund's Homunculus[]
Orlocke Caesarmund made a homunculus out of his own blood and semen, planning to transfer his personality into the new body through his Magic Crest.[16][17]
Paracelsus's Homunculi[]
Paracelsus' homunculi serving Misaya Reiroukan.
Paracelsus von Hohenheim made it possible for over 10 Homunculi to share their senses using some special method. They feel like a colony partly because none of them acts spontaneously. Paracelsus coins the female-type ones making up the absence of the Reiroukans' servants in Fate/Prototype: Fragments of Sky Silver.[18]
Homunculus[]
- Main article: Homunculus (monster)
Proto Homunculus[]
- Main article: Proto Homunculus
Mini Paracel[]
Mini Paracel (パラケル君, Paracel-kun?) are small Homunculi stylized after Paracelsus. Rather than fully autonomous beings, they are more comparable to robots made to carry out a single task efficiently.
Yggdmillennia Homunculi[]
Yggdmillennia creates Homunculi using techniques stolen from the Einzberns and other great Alchemical houses, but their level of expertise is menial compared to that of an expert. They consider that sufficient enough for creating soldiers, servants for their castle, and living Magical Energy batteries for Servants.[12]
Those created as soldiers are built to be able to wield large halberds and use powerful Magecraft, potent enough to easily match an average Magus. Created as disposable soldiers meant to overwhelm in numbers, their lifespans amount to only two months due to being born with various defects.[19]
However, unlike other Homunculi created by others, all Homunculi crafted by the Yggdmillennia are connected, however weakly, by pathways similar to that between Masters and Servants. One of the results of their mass production, possibly – as while they had a critical lack of individuality, they could all receive important information such as one another’s survival from anywhere without any need for conscious efforts such as telepathy. Of course, such data was not necessary to them precisely due to their sameness; the death of another Homunculus was just one more number in the grand calculation.
Known homunculi[]
- Althea
- Einzbern Master
- Fillia
- Illyasviel von Einzbern
- Irisviel von Einzbern
- Justeaze Lizrich von Einzbern
- Koharu F Riedenflaus
- Leysritt
- Mephistopheles
- Mordred
- Nameless Yggdmillennia Homunculus
- Rani VIII
- Sella
- Shanon[20]
- Sieg
- Toole
- Toole IV
- Yui Shousetsu
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 Fate/stay night - Heaven's Feel route - Day 13: LAST TALK - Gift
- ↑
[] Fate/Zero material - Encyclopedia: Irisviel von Einzbern [Person's name], p.090 Irisviel von Einzbern [Person's name]
A homunculus modeled after Justizia Lizleihi.
Although the Einzbern homunculi have their functions determined during the design process, Irisviel only developed the plan to conceive Illyasviel after she was created. Thus, as a special case, she was allowed to hold multiple “functions different from the plan”. That is, not only did she give birth, but she was also given the role of rearing Illyasviel. Although Justabcheit determined that this method would be more efficient than using a newly-constructed homunculus as a wet nurse, it was still a special case when it came to the Einzberns' standard. Anyhow, the result was that although a homunculus, Irisviel obtained the experiences of raising a child as a “mother” just like a human would, and it produced an effect on her character that even Acht could not predict.
Even compared to other Einzbern homunculi, there had never been an example of one who had interacted with humans for as long as 9 years, or had such colorful and irregular mental activity. In other words, for the Einzbern, Irisviel was the first to receive the same treatment as a human, and the first to have emotions like a human. Because her physical and mental capabilities originally surpassed those of a human, those mental processes did not fail her after her exceptional growth, and she finally possessed self-awareness and emotions equal to those of a normal human.
Even so, compared with the inherent knowledge and reason, the crystallization of the Einzbern's wisdom accumulated over millennia, that comes with the format of homunculus, her emotions and human experiences have only accumulated over a mere 9 years, which results in her having both the elegance of an upper-class lady and the innocent nature of a child, making her a troublesome princess.
Some additional information: during the time when Zero’s plot was being set, apparently the setup of Angra Mainyu in Hollow wasn't well-known yet. How in the world the author came up with "that ending", even for us, couldn't be scarier.アイリスフィール・フォン・アインツベルン【人名】
ユスティーツァ・リズライヒな鋳型として錬成されたホムンクルスの一人。
設計段階から用途を特定され、肉体も精神もその目的に最適化された状態で産み落とされるのがアインツベルンのホムンクルスだが、アイリスフィールについては鋳造された後からイリヤスフィール受胎の計画が発案されたため、特例的に「本来とは違う役割」を兼任させられることとなった。即ちイリヤスフィールの出産のみならず育成までも任されたのである。乳母役のホムンクルスな新造するよりも効率的であろうというユーブスタクハイトの判断だったのだが、これはアインツベルンの基準に照らせば異例のことである。ともあれ結果としてアイリスフィールは、ホムンクルスでありながら人間の女性と同様に子な産み育てるという「母親」として経験を積むこととなった。これが彼女の情操面において、アハト翁が予想だにしたかった影響を及ぼすことになる。
他のアインツベルン製ホムンクルスと比べても、九年の長きに渡って人間と交渉し、多彩で変則的な精神活動を行った個体は過去に例がない。言い方を変えるなら、アイリスフィールほどに人間同等の扱いを受け、人間的な情緒を身につけたホムンクルスはアインツベルンにおいては初だった。もとより心身の機能においては人間をむしろ凄駕する存在だけに、異例の成長を遂げた後もその精神構造は破綻せず、ついには一般的な人間と何ら遜色のない自意識と感情を備えるに至った。
とはいえ、ホムンクルスのフォーマットとして生まれつき持ら合わせている知識と理性がアインツベルン千年の英知の結晶であるのに対し、情動面を育んだ人生経験はたったの九年に過ぎず、結果として彼女は貴婦人としての風雅と幼児的な稚気を兼ね備えるという、ちょっと困ったお姫様になってしまった。
余談ながら、Zeroのプロットが確定した段階では、ホロウにおけるアンリマユの設定をまだ聞かされていなかったんだよなぁと思い返してみると、いったい筆者は〝あの結末″に至るまでをどういう経緯として書く気だったのか、我ながら空恐ろしいことこの上ない。 - ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Fate/hollow ataraxia - Other - Einzbern Castle - Ghost Gossip Glamorous
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Fate/Apocrypha Volume 2: Round Dance of Black / Festival of Red - Chapter 3
- ↑ Fate/strange Fake Volume 3 - Prologue IX
- ↑ Fate/strange Fake Volume 6 - Chapter 18: "As Dream and Reality are Both Illusion I"
- ↑ Fate/stay night - Heaven's Feel route - Day 15 - limited. - Interlude 15-1: Succeed from deep
- ↑ 8.0 8.1
- ↑ Fate/hollow ataraxia - Heaven's Feel - 1/ Heaven's Feels Backnight I
- ↑
[] Fate/Zero material - Encyclopedia: Vessel of the Holy Grail [Other], p.098 Vessel of the Holy Grail [Other]
The substitute prepared to facilitate the descent of the Holy Grail. In the first three Grail Wars it was merely an object, but in the fourth war the Einzberns sought to gain an advantage in the struggle for possession of the vessel by implanting it with a will of its own and a sense of identification with the Einzbern family.
Although Irisviel's homunculus body is unmistakably organic, the inorganic Holy Grail was broken down and fused with her organs.
While it's certainly true that making the vessel required to win the war a member of their own faction is a reprehensible act of cheating, technically their only obligation is to "deliver a vessel to Fuyuki", which they did. Besides, it's a war. Is there really that big of a difference between stealing somebody's possessions and killing them then taking the body?聖杯の器【その他】
四度目に用意された聖杯降臨のための憑代となる器は、それそのものに自衛のための自我とアインツベルン家への帰属意識を植え付はて、器の争奪戦を優位に運ぼうという発想のもとに作られた。
ホムンクルスとしての肉体は行機物に違いないが、その内臓に無機物の聖杯が分解された状態で血合しているのがアイリスフィールである。
その所有権が勝判条件のひとつとなる器を、勝手に自分たちの戦力となる駒として改造してしまったわけだから、卑怯極まるチート行為ではあるのだが、そもそもアインツベルンの義務は「器の役目を果たすものを冬木に持ち込む」ことだけなので、これはぺつたん白眼視されるはどの逸脱ではない。所持品を奪うか、殺して死体を持ち去るかの違いは、聖杯戦争において大した落差ではないのである。 - ↑ 11.0 11.1 Fate/Zero Volume 4: Flames of Purgatory - Act 13 Part 4 -37:02:47
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Fate/Apocrypha Volume 1: Apocrypha: Great Holy Grail War - Chapter 3
- ↑ Fate/Apocrypha Anime - Episode 10: "Scattered Flower"
- ↑ Fate/Grand Order - Frankenstein Interlude: The Events of a Lonely Night in November
- ↑ Fate/Grand Order material I- Mephistopheles, p.317
- ↑ Lord El-Melloi II Case Files Volume 1: case. Adra Castle Separation - Chapter 5 Part 1
- ↑
[] Lord El-Melloi II Case Files material - Encyclopedia: Orlocke Caesermund [Person], p.099-100 Orlocke Caesermund [Person]
One of the invitees to Adra, the Castle of Separation. A user of Butterfly Magecraft. His elemental affinity is Wind.
Though he first appeared with the impression of a last boss, he ended up showing a rather good-natured side to El-Melloi II, and so ended up like that. His unexpected adaptability and understanding of Modern Magecraft likely stems from his distance from the political games of the Clock Tower, allowing him to judge based on merit alone.
As a magus capable of reaching the rank of Brand, he nevertheless found himself drowned in love.
Instigated by Geryon himself, Orlocke came to have a relationship with Geryon’s wife. Born from that affair, Granid Ashbourne was genetically Orlocke’s son.
The boy he ended up engraving his Magic Crest and personality on to at the end of the story was named Shanon. Perhaps that was the name Orlocke had intended to give to his own child someday…
Perhaps the sickness that struck down Orlocke was the same that claimed the lives of Geryon’s wife and son…
And perhaps all of that was part of Geryon’s plan from the beginning.
For now, it all remains a mystery.
But, his incantation of “Perform a dance” is something El-Melloi II will never forget.オルロック・シザームンド【人名】
剥離城アドラの招待客のひとり。蝶魔術の使い手。属性は風。
いかにもラスボス然として現れながら、エルメロイII世には意外と好々爺とした面を見せつけ、そのままに逝った老人。現代魔術に対しても意外な順応性と理解を示していたのは、彼が時計塔の権力抗争からは離れており、純粋に価値だけを判断できる立場だったからだろう。
色位にも届こうという高位の魔術師でありながら、恋に溺れた男。
ゲリュオンにそそのかされ、彼の妻を抱いてしまう。後に生まれたグラニド・アッシュボーンは、遺伝的には彼の息子ということになる。最終的に魔術刻印と人格を移植させた器の少年はシャノンという。はたして、その名は、オルロックが自らの子供につけようとしていたものだったかどうか……。
また、オルロックの倒れた病というのが、ゲリュオンの妻やグラニドの罹患した死病と同じものであったのかどうか―――それがゲリュオンの細工であったかどうかも含めて、これも謎のままである。
ただ、「Perform a dance」と祈るような彼の呪文を、II世はずっと忘れることはなかった。 - ↑ Fate/Prototype: Fragments of Sky Silver Volume 2: Best Friend Arc - Act 3 Part 2
- ↑ Fate/Apocrypha Volume 1: Apocrypha: Great Holy Grail War - Prologue
- ↑
[] Lord El-Melloi II Case Files material - Encyclopedia: Orlocke Caesermund [Person], p.099-100 Orlocke Caesermund [Person]
One of the invitees to Adra, the Castle of Separation. A user of Butterfly Magecraft. His elemental affinity is Wind.
Though he first appeared with the impression of a last boss, he ended up showing a rather good-natured side to El-Melloi II, and so ended up like that. His unexpected adaptability and understanding of Modern Magecraft likely stems from his distance from the political games of the Clock Tower, allowing him to judge based on merit alone.
As a magus capable of reaching the rank of Brand, he nevertheless found himself drowned in love.
Instigated by Geryon himself, Orlocke came to have a relationship with Geryon’s wife. Born from that affair, Granid Ashbourne was genetically Orlocke’s son.
The boy he ended up engraving his Magic Crest and personality on to at the end of the story was named Shanon. Perhaps that was the name Orlocke had intended to give to his own child someday…
Perhaps the sickness that struck down Orlocke was the same that claimed the lives of Geryon’s wife and son…
And perhaps all of that was part of Geryon’s plan from the beginning.
For now, it all remains a mystery.
But, his incantation of “Perform a dance” is something El-Melloi II will never forget.オルロック・シザームンド【人名】
剥離城アドラの招待客のひとり。蝶魔術の使い手。属性は風。
いかにもラスボス然として現れながら、エルメロイII世には意外と好々爺とした面を見せつけ、そのままに逝った老人。現代魔術に対しても意外な順応性と理解を示していたのは、彼が時計塔の権力抗争からは離れており、純粋に価値だけを判断できる立場だったからだろう。
色位にも届こうという高位の魔術師でありながら、恋に溺れた男。
ゲリュオンにそそのかされ、彼の妻を抱いてしまう。後に生まれたグラニド・アッシュボーンは、遺伝的には彼の息子ということになる。最終的に魔術刻印と人格を移植させた器の少年はシャノンという。はたして、その名は、オルロックが自らの子供につけようとしていたものだったかどうか……。
また、オルロックの倒れた病というのが、ゲリュオンの妻やグラニドの罹患した死病と同じものであったのかどうか―――それがゲリュオンの細工であったかどうかも含めて、これも謎のままである。
ただ、「Perform a dance」と祈るような彼の呪文を、II世はずっと忘れることはなかった。