

Were the Heroic Spirits that powerful in their lives? Consider:

Some heroes had "reasonable" powers:

  * Fate Zero's Caster has a spellbook that granted him massive amounts of mana.
  * Fate Zero's Lancer had two magical lances.
  * Stay Night's Caster has a contract-breaking dagger.
  * Fate Zero's Assassin could split into several shadows (I think it's reasonable, as if it was just some sort of complicated spell).

But other heroes had ridiculous powers:

  * King Arthur's holy sword could shoot an epic anti-fortress beam.
  * UBW's Lancer's Gae Bolg did an anti-army explosion.
  * Gilgamesh's Ea was an anti-world weapon (whatever that means, but it destroyed Rider's reality marble).
  * Heracles could regenerate from death several times.

Was King Arthur's Excalibur really capable of such beam? Was Lancer's Gae Bolg
really that destructive? Or were such attributes given when they were summoned
by the Grail, based on their legends?

And also, there is the physical strength factor. Most heroes make holes in the
walls and ground while fighting, and can jump great heights (in UBW, episode
1, I remember Saber jumped to the roof of Shirou's house, looking for nearby
enemies).


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fate-stay-night fate-zero
Were the Heroic Spirits that powerful in their lives?


When a Hero dies and ascends to the Throne of Heroes to become a Heroic Spirit
they will gain strength based off the worship of their legend as such the more
fame and renown one gets the stronger they become. when they are summoned,
there are factors which determine how much strength they have in relation to
what they have from the Throne of Heroes

>   * **Cultural Sphere** in which the Servant is summoned and the
> **Recognition** they receive there are two factors that play a role in their
> strength. The closer the are to the stage of their legend, a geographical
> boost, and the more that they are known makes them "stronger", bringing them
> closer to the strength they had in their legend and providing them with more
> of their equipment displayed in their legend.
>
>   * **Magic energy of the Master** \- The more powerful the magical energy
> of the Master, the greater the Servant will be able to reach the strength
> they displayed in their legend.
>
>   * **Container Parameters:** Unmodified by the strengths and weaknesses of
> specific Heroic Spirits, the containers of the seven standard Servant
> classes of the Fuyuki Grail War possess known base parameters.
>
>

Source: - [Servant - Strength -
Factors](http://typemoon.wikia.com/wiki/Servant#Factors)

For instance with those, Cú Chulainn, Heracles and Arturia would be stronger
in Europe. Arturia's Strength fluctuates from her different Masters with Rin
being the strongest because of Rin being an excelent Magus in comparison to
Shirou or Kiritsugu.

Cú Chulainn, being an excellent fighter, would be lesser so when Summoned as a
Caster which as seen in Fate/Grand Order when he is summoned as a Lancer and a
Caster by The Protagonist

[code]

                 Lancer | Caster
    Strength:       B   |   E   
    Mana:           C   |   B
    Endurance:      C   |   D
    Luck:           E   |   D
    Agility:        A   |   C
    N. Phantasm:    B   |   B
    
[/code]

Sources: Servant Stats for Protagonist [Lancer (Fate/stay
Night)](http://typemoon.wikia.com/wiki/Lancer_%28Fate/stay_night%29) | [Caster
(Fate/Grand Order - Cú
Chulainn)](http://typemoon.wikia.com/wiki/Caster_%28Fate/Grand_Order_-
_C%C3%BA_Chulainn%29)

As you can see when Summoned as a Caster Cú Chulainn looses Strength,
Endurance and Agility but gains Mana and Luck which then makes him much like
most Casters and not suited for a head on battle

As the above Quote uses the word "Legend" which is

> a traditional story sometimes popularly regarded as historical but not
> authenticated.

I would assume that after ascension they gain ever greater strength so while a
Heroic Spirit may not have been insanely strong in real life their legends
argument their strength further

Another instance of a Servant being stronger that they actually were in real
life because of their "legend" is with [Angra
Mainyu](http://typemoon.wikia.com/wiki/Avenger_%28Fate/hollow_ataraxia%29) who
was an ordinary villager and was randomly chosen as the "source of all evil in
the world" by his village and was tortured and sacrificed in the following
rituals, so while his legends states that he is the evil god of Zoroastrianism
he actually isn't

* * *

The things you have identified are all Noble Phantasms

  * Gilles de Rais's Anti-Army [Prelati's Spellbook](http://typemoon.wikia.com/wiki/Prelati%27s_Spellbook)
  * Diarmuid Ua Duibhne's twin Anti-Unit Lances [Gae Buidhe](http://typemoon.wikia.com/wiki/Gae_Buidhe) and [Gae Dearg](http://typemoon.wikia.com/wiki/Gae_Dearg)
  * Medea's Anti-Thaumaturgy [Rule Breaker](http://typemoon.wikia.com/wiki/Rule_Breaker)
  * The Hundred-Faced Hassan Self Targeted Anti-Unit [Zabaniya： Delusional Illusion](http://typemoon.wikia.com/wiki/Zabaniya:_Delusional_Illusion#Delusional_Illusion)
  * Arturia's Anti-Fortress/Anti-Unit1 [Excalibar](http://typemoon.wikia.com/wiki/Excalibur)
  * Cú Chulainn's [Gae Bolg](http://typemoon.wikia.com/wiki/Gae_Bolg)
  * Gilgamesh's Anti-World [Ea](http://typemoon.wikia.com/wiki/Ea)
  * Heracles's Anti-Unit [God Hand](http://typemoon.wikia.com/wiki/God_Hand)

These are

> "crystallized mysteries", powerful armaments made using the imagination of
> humans as their core, and weapons or abilities owned by Heroic Spirits.

Source - [Noble Phantasm](http://typemoon.wikia.com/wiki/Noble_Phantasm)

so these would be under the most influence from one's legends with their
original weapon being the basis and arguments/altered by their legends, for
instance with Ea it's actual strength is around the level of Excalibur, its
effect is unquestionably that of the legend of "ripping the world"

with Cú Chulainn's Gae Bolg it is in fact 2 Noble Phantasm, the first (
_Barbed Spear that Pierces with Death_ ) being a single Anti-Unit of the
legend of a cursed spear but the second (S _oaring Spear that Strikes with
Death_ ) is Anti-Army without it's curse to reverse cause and effect which in
his Legend

> It distorts space to create a "tapestry of action" that splits into numerous
> spearheads that pour down over the enemy. It is said that it split into
> thirty in his legend, but it seems that the number has increased after Cú
> Chulainn became a Heroic Spirit.

so _Soaring Spear that Strikes with Death_ is in fact more powerful than the
original legend, possibly because of his legend being embellished over the
years

> _Was King Arthur's Excalibur really capable of such beam?_

it actually isn't a beam, on the Wikia Page it says

> While the result is what looks like a large beam of light, only the tip of
> the attack, which is a wave of light that can mow through the surface of the
> Earth, is capable of doing damage, as the beam is the result of the
> "dislocation" of everything the attack destroys in its path. Even if it is
> dodged, those in close proximity can still be temporarily distracted by its
> intensity.

also when we see Arturia use it we see her swing her sword rather than point
it

![Excalibur Usage](https://i.stack.imgur.com/0Mdym.jpg)

but as already mentioned since a Nobel Phantasm is influenced by the
imagination of humans more than likely it is King Arthur's Legend of being a
king who was the only one to wield a sword forged by gods and when people
think of weapons forged by gods they think very, very destructive (ie Thor's
Hammer, Odin's Spear)

* * *

1: In the Fate/Zero material - Servant Status: Saber, p.012-013
([Citation](http://typemoon.wikia.com/wiki/Excalibur#cite_note-FZS-1)) states
that Excalibur: Sword of Promised Victory is Anti-Unit while all other places
state it is Anti-Fortress, am unsure if this is a translation error or not


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Actually it's depends on the individual. As Garden of Avalon, supplementary
materials reveal that Excalibur DID had the power to generate a Sword Beam. I
guess it depends on whether they come from a mythical or historical
background. Those such as Heracles who had the power to lift the sky and
according to some myths create the Strait of Gibraltar which separates Spain
and Africa is obviously weaker as Servant. While heroes closer to the modern
era are explicitly stronger as Servants than real life. Shakespeare would be a
good example, as he had zero magical ability in real life and relies on his
noble phantasm.


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