Are all of the Holy Grail War servants based on real heroes?


Saber's character in Fate/stay night and Fate/zero is based on the real-life
hero King Arthur. Are the other Holy Grail War servants also based on real-
life heroes? And if they are, who are those heroes?




For the most part, yes, but there are some exceptions. I assume you haven't
read the Fate/stay night visual novel, which answers your question. As such,
spoilers for that below.

> Some of the heroes are basically just reinterpretations of people known to
> have actually existed in the historical record. These are F/z's Rider
> (Alexander the Great), Caster (Gilles de Rais), Archer (Gilgamesh), Assassin
> (Hassan-i Sabbah); and F/sn's Assassin (Sasaki Kojirou; or at least, I think
> the consensus is that he was real) and True Assassin (Hassan-i Sabbah).  
>  
>  Other heroes are reinterpretations of fictional heroes, or of people of
> dubious historicity. In the world of Fate, these people are treated as
> having been actual historical figures who just happen to be known in the
> modern day through fictional writings. These include F/z's Saber (King
> Arthur), Lancer (Diarmuid Ua Duibhne), Berserker (Lancelot); and F/sn's
> Rider (Medusa), Saber (King Arthur again), Lancer (Cú Chulainn), Caster
> (Medea), and Berserker (Heracles)  
>  
>  And then you have the one huge exception, which is F/sn's Archer (that is,
> Rin's servant, not Gilgamesh). F/sn's Archer is actually Emiya Shirou, who
> is fictional.  
>  
>  There's also a delicate issue surrounding the various Hassans who are
> summoned as Assassins - the idea there is that all ordinary Assassins (not
> including weird exceptions like Sasaki Kojirou) correspond to a leader of
> the historical Assassin cult. The issue there is that there are basically no
> records (in the real world) of what the leaders of the cult were like, so
> their personalities and abilities in the world of Fate are entirely an
> invention of the authors (Urobuchi Gen and Nasu Kinoko for F/z and F/sn
> respectively).




For the most part, yes, but there are some exceptions. I assume you haven't
read the Fate/stay night visual novel, which answers your question. As such,
spoilers for that below.

> Some of the heroes are basically just reinterpretations of people known to
> have actually existed in the historical record. These are F/z's Rider
> (Alexander the Great), Caster (Gilles de Rais), Archer (Gilgamesh), Assassin
> (Hassan-i Sabbah); and F/sn's Assassin (Sasaki Kojirou; or at least, I think
> the consensus is that he was real) and True Assassin (Hassan-i Sabbah).  
>  
>  Other heroes are reinterpretations of fictional heroes, or of people of
> dubious historicity. In the world of Fate, these people are treated as
> having been actual historical figures who just happen to be known in the
> modern day through fictional writings. These include F/z's Saber (King
> Arthur), Lancer (Diarmuid Ua Duibhne), Berserker (Lancelot); and F/sn's
> Rider (Medusa), Saber (King Arthur again), Lancer (Cú Chulainn), Caster
> (Medea), and Berserker (Heracles)  
>  
>  And then you have the one huge exception, which is F/sn's Archer (that is,
> Rin's servant, not Gilgamesh). F/sn's Archer is actually Emiya Shirou, who
> is fictional.  
>  
>  There's also a delicate issue surrounding the various Hassans who are
> summoned as Assassins - the idea there is that all ordinary Assassins (not
> including weird exceptions like Sasaki Kojirou) correspond to a leader of
> the historical Assassin cult. The issue there is that there are basically no
> records (in the real world) of what the leaders of the cult were like, so
> their personalities and abilities in the world of Fate are entirely an
> invention of the authors (Urobuchi Gen and Nasu Kinoko for F/z and F/sn
> respectively).

