Fate Testarossa

Fate Testarossa Fate T. Harlaown
Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha character
File:FateTestarossa.JPG
First appearance	Episode 4
Last appearance	StrikerS Episode 26
In-universe information
Title	Contract Mage (A's) Commissioned Officer(A's epilogue, StrikerS) corresponded rank Captain (StrikerS)

Fate Testarossa (フェイト・テスタロッサ, Feito Tesutarossa), also known as Fate T. Harlaown (フェイト・T・ハラオウン, Feito T Haraoun), is a fictional character in the anime series Magical Girl Lyrical Nanoha. Like many characters hailing from the magical worlds, she is named for a car—the Testarossa. She is voiced by Nana Mizuki.

In the series, Fate is a mage from the Garden of Time, sent to collect Jewel Seeds, which puts her at odds with rival Nanoha Takamachi. She is aided on her quest by an animal familiar, a mature dog-woman named Arf.

Fate in Nanoha

Fate appears in episode 4 with Arf and Bardiche, materializing in the town in search of Jewel Seeds. It is soon apparent that even Fate does not know why she is looking for these specimens of Lost Logia (the series' term for ancient magical artifacts), but she does not care, stating "I must get them, because my mother wants them." Fate is not impressed by her young, naive rival, Nanoha, and tells her that her quest is worthless, but Nanoha's steadfast dedication to reforming Fate gets to her heart, and she begins to wane. However, this does not impress Fate's mother, Precia Testarossa, who tortures the girl just for not getting all the Jewel Seeds. Fate remains loyal despite Arf's protests; she remembers a time when Precia was kind and stable, and thinks that the Jewel Seeds will cure her mother's insanity.

Fate teleports to her home from the top of an office building with complicated coordinates and a bit of magic. She lives in a gloomy hideout in the Garden of Time with her mother and Arf, sharing a room with the latter. She appears in the city whenever she senses a Jewel Seed, as she has no school and nothing else to do. This is also the reason why she spends much of the series transformed.

Late in the series, Arf finally strikes out at Precia, and is thrown out as "useless". Fate finally starts to question her mother's motives, as Arf has always been there for her, but still refuses to join Nanoha and accepts her challenge to a winner-takes-all battle for the Jewel Seeds. When Fate loses, Precia appears and steals the Jewel Seeds. Fate tentatively joins up with the Time-Space Administration Bureau, and it is revealed that her memories of the past were copied, and that she is a clone of Precia's biological daughter, Alicia Testarossa. Fate doesn't take this news too well, but attempts to convince Precia to give up; the madwoman laughs in her face, states that the Jewel Seed collection was an attempt to reach the legendary Al Hazard and resurrect Alicia, and snaps that ever since Fate's creation, Precia has despised her. Fate, still hurt, attempts to save Precia, but is rejected as Precia and the preserved body of Alicia fall into a dimensional rift. Fate accepts Nanoha as a partner and a friend, and though she is arrested for what she did for Precia, promises to come back as she will probably be acquitted of all charges.

Fate in A's

In A's, Fate and Arf join the Time-Space Administration Bureau and go to Earth to team up with Nanoha again. Their new mission is to prevent the Wolkenritter from stealing mages' Linker Cores (power source) for their Book of Darkness. Nanoha introduces Fate to her friends as a transfer student, and Fate has to get used to civilian life, cell phones and having a new mother figure in Lindy Harlaown. Early on in the season, Bardiche is upgraded to be able to compete with the Wolkenritter's weapons, and is renamed "Bardiche Assault". Nanoha and Fate meet a sickly girl, Hayate, whom both they and the Wolkenritter wish to save. At this point, Suzuka and Alisa discover Nanoha's true identity. Fate is captured by the Book of Darkness and thrown into a dream from which she will never want to wake; a happy life with older sister Alicia and a sane, kind Precia. However, Fate remembers that her friends need her, and says a sad goodbye to the life she always wanted in favour of the life she has. With the help of the Wolkenritter and Hayate herself, they cure both Hayate and the Book of Darkness, which transforms into Reinforce, Hayate's partner and weapon.

In an epilogue taking place six years later, Fate is older, has been adopted by Lindy, and working for the TSAB along with Nanoha and Hayate. She has changed her name to Fate T. Harlaown, with the T an abbreviation for Testarossa.

Fate in the manga

Two official manga series expand on what happens to the characters between A's and the sequel, StrikerS.

In the epilogue issue of the A's manga series, stated as being five months after the conclusion of the A's anime, Fate is depicted as having enrolled as a cadet officer the TSAB and has been officially adopted by Lindy Harlaown.

The ongoing StrikerS manga series begins six years after the events of A's, before jumping ahead four more years to a timeframe just prior to the events of the StrikerS anime series. In it, Fate is in her third year of junior high school. She has now achieved the rank of Enforcer and acts as an investigator for the Interdimensional Navy of the TSAB, though she had to take her officer's exam three times before she passed (a fact which Signum continues to tease her about) because she was too worried about Nanoha's condition at the time. She has also assumed guardianship for Erio Mondial, a six-year-old boy who had been rescued by Fate during an unspecified incident involving a Lost Logia, though officially Lindy is Erio's adoptive parent due to Fate's age.

Fate in StrikerS

Fate is a 19-year-old commissioned officer of the TSAB. She lives on Earth in Uminari City with Lindy, who has retired from her position as Admiral, having had too much excitement and seeking a desk job. Fate goes to school with Nanoha, Hayate, Suzuka, and Alisa. Though early promotional material suggested that she would abandon her battle uniform for a TSAB suit, a recent update of the nanoha.com website showed her in her Barrier Jacket, which appears to have grown to continue to fit her. She also seems to have gained a white cape, according to two promotional pictures; what the cape is for is unknown. In the manga, both the TSAB uniform and the Barrier Jacket are used with the Barrier Jacket overlaying or replacing the uniform when activated for combat situations.

She is the head of the Lightning Squad, and an S+ mage without limiters, an AA mage with. Showing great concern for her squad, particularly Erio (she is his guardian) and Caro, a child that she took in when no one else would, Fate takes her position as leader very seriously.

Powers

Fate's magical abilities developed at an astonishing rate, according to Rinis. She learned electricity-based attacks faster than other magical types, something which her mother Precia also specialized in. At the age of seven, she had already mastered several abilities to the point of not requiring the incantations. Behind her tutor Rinis' back, she also studied how to create and handle familiars. Her command phrase for her shooting abilities is "Fire!".

Fate specializes in mid-range and melee attacks, preferring speed over power and endurance. This was a result of the training that her mother demanded, which sacrificed the flexibility of a wide range of abilities for raw speed. After the events of Nanoha, she trained with Chrono to address the gaps in her initial training.

• Transformation — Fate transforms Bardiche into Device Form and her Barrier Jacket is activated as well.
• Arcus Cultus Aegeas — This is Fate's personal incantation for Bardiche. Generally she uses this to concentrate her energies, especially before unleashing a powerful attack.
• Jewel Seed Seal — Used to seal the Jewel Seeds so they will not fuse with anything.
• Lightning Bind — A powerful, but difficult to maintain, spell that prevents its target from moving.
• Recovery — Fate can restore Bardiche in seconds, even after he is heavily damaged.

Defensive Abilities

• Barrier Jacket — Fate activates her defensive outfit. After Bardiche is upgraded in A's, her Barrier Jacket gains two variations: Lightning Form and Sonic Form.
  • Lightning Form — This is similar to her original Barrier Jacket, with more protective power and some armor plates on her shoes and left glove.
  • Sonic Form — This lighter variation of Fate's Barrier Jacket dispenses with the cloak and instead puts Sonic Sails, Flier Fin-like wings on Fate's boots and arms, greatly increasing her movement speed.
    • Sonic Drive — In episode 24 of Strikers, Fate activate her this variation of Sonic Form. Her speed and magic powers greatly increases in this form. Incantation to activate this form is Overdrive, New Sonic Form.
  • Impulse Form — The new Barrier Jacket variation seen in StrikerS, it sports a complete new design that holds little resemblance with any of the other variations seen until then.
• Blitz Action — Fate's movement speed is increased dramatically (if temporarily), to the point where human eyes cannot track her easily. In A's, this is upgraded to Sonic Move; in Sonic Form, she does not need to activate the ability.
• Defenser — Bardiche's Auto-Guard magic. It can guard in every direction, but can be broken easily, as Signum's cartridge-loaded Device proves.
  • Defenser Plus — Used in the second episode of StrikerS, it is essentially a more powerful form of Defenser, and capable of being cast over a larger area to protect more than one person.
• Bind Break — Attempts to deactivate a binding or imprisoning spell. The amount of time required to deactivate depends on the complexity of the target magic.
• Jacket Purge — Fate "unravels" the magic power that comprises her Jacket, causing it to explode. This has significant attack power, and can disrupt binding magics. However, she is vulnerable for a few moments after purging the Jacket, and she requires magic power to recreate a new one.
• Thunder Arm — A lightning defence on her left arm (use in Nanoha Strikers Episode 22).

Offensive Abilities

• Arc Saber — Fate's melee attack, consisting of a blade of light from the Bardiche in Scythe form. It is powerful enough to neutralize Nanoha's Divine Shooter missiles. The blade itself can be thrown, spinning it much like a shuriken.
  • Scythe Slash — A variation of the Arc Saber where the blade is enhanced in order to penetrate barrier-type magics such as Barrier Jackets.
• Haken Saber — As Arc Saber, except with Bardiche Assault in Haken form.
  • Haken Slash — The Scythe Slash-like variation of Fate's Haken Saber.
• Photon Lancer — Fate's basic ranged attack, fired from a small collection of energy called a "Photon Sphere". Fate's shots are faster, but unlike Nanoha's Divine Shooter, they are unguided.
  • Photon Lancer Phalanx Shift — A variation of Photon Lancer (and Fate's most powerful attack in season 1), this spell amasses several large Photon Spheres and unleashes a storm of Photon Lancer shots on the target.
• Plasma Lancer — A more powerful version of Photon Lancer, with increased attack power and the ability to turn at Fate's command should it miss.
• Thunder Smasher — Fate's siege-type attack, analogous to Nanoha's Divine Buster. It was called "Thunder Buster" in episode 12 of season 1, but the DVD booklet indicates that the attack was actually Thunder Smasher.
• Plasma Smasher — Thunder Smasher's upgrade, used when Bardiche Assault is in Assault Form.
• Trident Smasher — The third upgraded magic of the Thunder Smasher line, three beams are shot simultaneously from the same firing-point, creating the illusion of a trident's blade. Debuted on the episode 12 of StrikerS.
• Thunder Rage — Fate's multitarget attack, activated with Bardiche in Sealing Form. Together with Nanoha's Divine Buster, Fate used this to seal six Jewel Seeds at once.
  • Thunder Blade — An enhanced version of Thunder Rage, Fate focuses each attack into individual swords that can detonate on the command "Break!". Chrono Harlaown has a similar attack called Stinger Blade.
• Blitz Rush — Fate can increase the speed of her magic missiles such as Plasma Lancer.
• Sprite Zamber — This ability is designed to destroy force fields, binding magics, and illusions. Fate, after transforming Bardiche Assault to Zamber form, uses this to break out of the Book of Darkness' prison.
• Jet Zamber — Fate's ultimate melee attack (thus far), she first throws a shockwave at the target, then swings Bardiche Assault in Zamber form. The energy blade of the Zamber grows to many times its typical size, so Fate can slash through a target that would ordinarily be out of range.
• Plasma Zamber Breaker — Bardiche Assault in Zamber form unleashes a powerful energy blast.
• Riot Zamber — Bardiche Assault in a saber like form. Riot Zamber is able to cut away magical binding strings with ease.
  • Riot Zamber (Sonic Drive Form) — In Sonic Drive Form, Bardiche Assault split into two Riot Zamber. Both of them are connected by a magical string by at the end of each hilt. Fate can combine both Riot Zamber to form a bigger version of Zamber form.