Caster (Fate/stay night)

Caster

Caster is an anime character from the Japanese visual novel and anime series Fate/stay night by TYPE-MOON.

An honored guest of the Ryūdō family, permitted to live at their temple until the preparations for her marriage have been finalized. A gorgeous and talented yet mysterious woman of high stature, her presence has attracted the attention of many trainee monks.

The voice acting for Caster is done by Atsuko Tanaka and in English she is played by Tara Platt.

Servant Status

Master:	Sōichirō Kuzuki	Sex:	Female	Color:	Purple
Alignment:	Neutral Evil	Height:	163 cm	Talents:	Plotting, crafting
Noble Phantasm:	C	Weight:	51 kg	Likes:	Reticent men of sincerity, girls in adorable clothes
Strength:	E	Territory Creation:	A	Dislikes:	Muscles
Endurance:	D	Item Construction:	A	Nemesis:	Berserker
Agility:	C	High-Speed Divine Words:	A	Breast:	82 cm
Mana:	A+	Golden Fleece:	EX	Waist:	57 cm
Luck:	B			Hip	84 cm

Noble Phantasms

File:Rule-Breaker.jpg

Caster, stabbing Saber with Rule Breaker.

• Rule Breaker (ルールブレイカー, Rūru Bureikā): All Codes Must be Destroyed (破戒すべき全ての符, Hakai subeki subete no fu)

Rank: C

Type: Anti-Unit.

An iridescent and jagged dagger with no exceptional offensive properties, though it possesses the unique ability of dispelling any sorcery cast upon a pierced target. This knife reduces enchantments, sorcerous contracts, and spiritual bodies to their component materials. However, Rule Breaker is ineffective against other Noble Phantasms.

• Argon Coin (アルゴンコイン, Arugon Koin): The Golden Fleece (金羊の皮, Kihitsuji no kawa)
  

Rank: EX

Type: Support.

A coat of golden wool from the winged ram Chrysomallos, given to King Aeëtes of Colchis by Phrixus as a token of his gratitude. Possessed by a powerful spirit, Argon Coin is capable of summoning the dragon that originally guarded it when it is thrown upon the ground. Although Caster owns this Noble Phantasm, she does not have knowledge for the incarnation of mythical beasts, so Argon Coin is never used during the 5th Holy Grail War. The name of this Noble Phantasm refers to the Argonauts, a crew of adventurers in Greek mythology who sought the Golden Fleece.

True Identity

In her lifetime, Caster is better known as Medea, an archetype for witches from Greek mythology. She is a princess, the daughter King Aeëtes of Colchis and a niece of Circe, both of whom were distinguished spellcasters. Under the tutelage of her father, Medea herself becomes a skilled sorceress, living a quiet, peaceful life until the arrival of Jason and the Argonauts.

Jason, the legitimate heir to the throne of Iolcos in Thessaly, sails to Colchis on a quest for the Golden Fleece. His uncle, King Pelias, imprisons Jason's father and assumes the crown. Fearful of being deposed, Pelias consults an Oracle who tells him to shun any approaching man wearing one sandal. Fatefully, this man would be Jason, who loses a sandal escorting a disguised Hera across the Anauros river. To avoid a disgraceful murder, and upon Jason's suggestion, Pelias requests Jason obtain the Golden Fleece, which he considers to be a suicidal mission.

Upon his arrival in Colchis, Jason reaches an agreement with King Aeëtes, whereby he can take the Golden Fleece if he proves capable of accomplishing three impossible tasks. As a favor to Hera, Aphrodite orders her son Eros to beguile Medea into falling madly in love with Jason. With her aid, Jason is able to acquire the Golden Fleece, forcing the Argonauts to flee Colchis. Aeëtes, not expecting Jason to actually win the prize, values the skin enough to give chase. As a distraction, Medea kills her brother, Apsyrtus, and scatters his diced flesh into the ocean brine. Aeëtes, horrified at the murder, delays his vessel to retrieve the pieces of his son.

Fatigued from the taxing voyage, the Argonauts seek temporary asylum in Crete, but they are waylaid by Talos, a giant bronze automaton originally gifted to Europa, by Zeus. As sentinel of the isle, Talos heaves large boulders at the Argo, tossing the ship about like a cork. Medea hypnotizes him with her sorcery, and in a bout of insanity, Talos removes a thick bronze nail from his heel. Without this nail, the ichor from within Talos' body gushes out, poisoning and killing him. With Talos' death, the Argo safetly docks on the isle.

At the end of their extensive journey, the Argonauts return to Iolcos, but Pelias refuses to yield his throne to Jason. Hera, angry with Pelias, manipulates Medea into murdering him; Medea approaches Pelias' daughters and offers to restore their father's youth and vitality. As a demonstration, Medea asks that Jason's father, the ailing Aeson, be summoned from Pelias' dungeon; when he arrives, Medea slits his throat and submerges his lifeless body in a hydria of boiling water. After Medea adds several magical herbs, Aeson emerges alive and rejuvenated. Captivated by Medea's sorcery, Pelias' daughters butcher their father and dump his body parts into the frothing cauldron; however, Medea withholds her herbs and Pelias remained dead.

Acastus, a fellow Argonaut and son of Pelias, is outraged by the murder of his father; Jason and Medea are driven from Iolcos and claim sanctuary in Corinth. While there, King Creon urges Jason to forsake Medea and marry his daughter, Glauce; although Medea bears Jason two children, he concedes wedding Glauce to strengthen his political connections. Stunned and aching from Jason's betrayal, Medea presents Glauce with bewitched clothing as wedding gifts. When Glauce dons these garments, they cling to her body and spontaneously combust; she is soon consumed by the flames, as is Creon, who embraces his dying daughter. To spite Jason, Medea murders her own children and takes their dead bodies with her as she flees Corinth atop the chariot of her grandfather, Hêlios.

Medea makes her way to Athens, where she marries King Aegeus and gives birth to a son, Medus. The two live a blissful and serene life until Theseus, a son of both Aegeus and Aethra, arrives in Athens. Medea immediately identifies who he is; wishing to ensure Medus' inheritance of the Athenian throne, she plots to kill Theseus. Playing on Aegeus' suspicions of the newcomer, she orders Theseus to prove his valor by capturing the Marathonian Bull. After he succeeds, Medea offers him a skyphos of poisoned wine. Before Theseus can sip the poison, Aegeus recognizes the equipment he is wearing and realizes Theseus is his son. Aegeus knocks the cup out of Medea's hand; the reunited father and son embrace.

Upset over the attempted murder, Aegeus angrily forces Medea and Medus out of Athens; they return to Colchis, where they discover Aeëtes has been killed by his brother, Perses. As a precaution to protect his seat on the throne, Perses imprisons Medus; furious, Medea impersonates a priestess and calls down a plague upon Colchis. When Perses seeks his priestess' council, Medea advises that she be sacrificed as a tribute to the gods. Perses concedes, but amidst the sacrificial ceremony, Medea grabs the ritual knife and uses it to kill her uncle. Medus is freed and becomes the new King; he later annexes a nearby country and renames it in honor of his mother.

Role

Typically, Epic Spirits of an evil nature like Caster are not eligible for participation in the Fuyuki Holy Grail Wars; however, after the Holy Grail was tainted in the third war, most of the restrictions against such spirits were lifted. Caster's first Master was a member of the Mage's Association, but Caster killed him in retribution for his cruelty and abuse. On the verge of her spiritual body dissipating, she stumbled upon Sōichirō Kuzuki at the foot of the Ryūdōji Temple. Caster begged this stranger for his help; Sōichirō obliged without hesitation, forming a new contract with her. He then brought Caster into the temple and attended to her recovery. Caster quickly fell in love with Sōichirō, for he was the first man to show her genuine kindness, dedication and loyalty. Her primary objective shifted from obtaining the Holy Grail for herself to simply preserving their short time together. To achieve this end, she has been siphoning Mana from the populace of Fuyuki City and has been fortifying her position on Mount Enzō.

Caster is killed in every scenario of Fate/stay night. In Fate, her stronghold in the Ryūdōji Temple is briefly assaulted by Saber, though her own Servant, Assassin, manages to hold her back. She is later torn apart by Gilgamesh's Gate of Babylon while ambushing Shirō Emiya and Saber. In Unlimited Blade Works, she manages to stab Saber with Rule Breaker and negate her contract with Shirō; Caster then abducts Saber and tortures her, hoping to provoke Saber into becoming her Servant. While attempting to kill Shirō Emiya and Rin Tōsaka in the basement of the Kotomine Church, she dies protecting her Master from Archer's hailstorm of blades. Caster is killed early on in Heaven's Feel by Saber, but Zōken Matō uses one of his worm familiars to maintain her body as a puppet.

In Fate/Hollow Ataraxia, Caster goes about as a normal woman, normally hanging around the mall. She is the first person to discover the four-day time loop (other than the player). She also fights the dog-shadows using anti-army spells, often coming close to killing her allies.