Fate/Strange Fake (stylized as Fate/strange Fake) is a Japanese light novel series in Type-Moon's Fate franchise, written by Ryōgo Narita and illustrated by . It was originally showcased on Narita's website under the title of Fake/States Night on April 1, 2008, presented as a prologue and introduction for a role playing style game as an April Fool's prank. It was later removed, but was later re-released in the form of a novel included as an extra with the magazine Type-Moon Ace 2 in 2009, with illustrations by Morii Shizuki and an afterword by the author.
In 2014, it was announced that both a novel and manga series would be published and a brief trailer was made. An anime television special produced by A-1 Pictures titled Fate/Strange Fake: Whispers of Dawn premiered in July 2023, which adapts most of the chapters of the first volume. An anime television series adaptation also produced by A-1 Pictures premiered its first episode in December 2024 (with Whispers of Dawn being a prologue), while later episodes aired from January to March 2026. A second season has been announced.
Plot The series focuses on a Grail War copied from the Third Holy Grail war in Fuyuki City. At the end, an organization from the United States that has magi separate from the London-based Mage Association as members took data from Fuyuki's Grail War and planned their own ritual. After 70 years, they used the city Snowfield as the Sacred Land for their own Grail War and failed to copy every aspect of the ritual, which led to it acting only as an imitation that has lost the Saber class.
The Mage's Association had sent Langal and his pupil, Faldeus, to investigate the city and the status of the war. Faldeus, a spy from the US organization, has Langal sniped upon arrival, despite knowing that Langal was simply a puppet. He announces that their Holy Grail War has been in development and that it is real, which causes an uproar at the Clock Tower, and wishes to "advertise" the project to the Association.
Characters Main characters
The series' main protagonist, Ayaka is the seventh Master in the True and Fake Holy Grail Wars and the Master of Saber.
A Saber-Class Servant accidentally summoned after Cashura's death and also Ayaka's Heroic Servant, known also as the Lionheart.
The Master of False Archer in the True and Fake Holy Grail Wars. Tiné's people are an indigenous people who had apparently kept watch over the Snowfield region for a thousand years before, in the early twentieth century, they were driven out by the government and the group of mages looking to prepare the land for the False Holy Grail War. Tiné participates in the War seemingly with the intent to return her people to their rightful place. She does not have a particular wish for the Holy Grail to grant.
The Master of False Rider in the True and Fake Holy Grail Wars. She was born to Eastern-Asian magi parents in their thirties seeking for ways to further their future in the world of magecraft. They were among those who managed to take the actual machinery underlying the Fuyuki Holy Grail War system, and while there, also obtained partial knowledge on Zouken Matou's magecraft.
The Master of False Caster in the True and Fake Holy Grail Wars. He is the police chief of Snowfield. He is a magus who has gone to great lengths to prepare for the Holy Grail War. He has known of the ritual, and he is disappointed in the government for their decision to advertise it to outsiders.
The Master of False Assassin in the True and Fake Holy Grail Wars. He is a Dead Apostle known as the who has taken interest in the Holy Grail to grant his wish. As it is his first time participating in such a battle, he researched the nature of the ritual and plans to summon a Servant of the Assassin class.
Flat is the Master of False Berserker in the True and Fake Holy Grail Wars. He was born into the Escardos family, a line of magi living on the coast of the Mediterranean Sea, as the eldest son. Although his teacher dislikes letting unprepared magi into the world, he came to regret keeping Flat around.
The Wolf is the Master of False Lancer in the True and Fake Holy Grail Wars. He is a silver wolf familiar of the magus originally planning to participate in the Holy Grail War.
Sigma is the Master of Watcher in the True and Fake Holy Grail Wars. He is the product of the rape of Maiya Hisau by an unknown soldier.
Faldeus is the Master of True Assassin in the True and Fake Holy Grail Wars. He is a magus belonging to the government organization responsible for starting the False Holy Grail War, and despite seeming to be barely past his mid-twenties, displays knowledge of the events 70 years prior as if having had experienced them personally.
Bazdilot is the Master of True Archer in the True and Fake Holy Grail Wars. He is a ruthless murderer in service of the Scladio crime family.
The Master of True Caster during the True and Fake Holy Grail Wars. She is originally the child of Átē, the Greek Goddess of madness and folly who was discarded by Zeus to the human realm onto the land where Troy would be built. Despite being originally male with her first death establishing him as a Heroic Spirit separate from his original self, Francesca survived by possessing numerous bodies over the years regardless of gender.
Haruri is the Master of True Berserker during the True and Fake Holy Grail Wars. She is the granddaughter of Odd Borzak, a magus killed by Kiritsugu Emiya as shown in Fate/Zero, which then left his surviving family to be attacked for his research, leaving only Haruri, his granddaughter, as the only survivor. Haruri wishes to use the Grail to render all methods of concealment used by Magi ineffective, compromising their society's secrecy.
The overly arrogant King of Heroes who once ruled Uruk with his friend Enkidu, appearing during the Fourth and Fifth Holy Grail Wars of Fuyuki. He was brought into the False Holy Grail War as a Servant of Tiné Chelc, who killed his original Master, a magus whose ancestor acquired the discarded key to Gilgamesh's treasure vault that he used for the summoning ritual instead of the first skin shed by a snake.
Gilgamesh's only friend who was summoned as Lancer-class Servant by the Wolf during the False Holy Grail War. Shaped from clay by their parents Anu and Aruru, lacking any gender, Enkidu was placed in the wilderness where they met and befriended Gilgamesh before they died as a result of Ishtar's machinations.
The Servant summoned by Tsubaki Kuruoka in the True and Fake Holy Grail Wars. Pale Rider the embodiment of pestilence given form by the False Grail, being different from those called Heroic Spirits, "he" is only one in name.
Caster is the Servant summoned by Orlando Reeve in the True and Fake Holy Grail Wars. In life, he met Hans Christian Andersen while living in Paris around 1843. Caster is also the author of The Count of Monte Cristo, which features the fictional character Edmond Dantès.
The Servant summoned by Jester Karture in the True and Fake Holy Grail Wars, whose True Name has been forsaken as of her death before the time she became a Heroic Spirit.
Berserker is Flat Escardos' Servant who summoned during the True and Fake Holy Grail Wars. Having no true form or soul due being the embodiment of mystery behind another bestowed the moniker of Jack the Ripper, the Berserker servant is a shapeshifter who can disguise himself as a watch Flat keeps on his person and assumed the forms of those speculated to have been the killer as an "emblem of madness". His Noble Phantasms are From Hell, turning into a demonic representation of Jack the Ripper, and Natural Born Killers where he conjures multiple bodies depending on his Master's quantity of Mana.
The Servant of Bazdilot Cordelion in the True and Fake Holy Grail Wars. He has also been granted attributes of an Avenger-class Servant through the machinations of his Master and whose divinity has been lost through interference from his Master's Command Spells awakening past memories from his life and mud from the Fuyuki Grail.
The Servant of Verner Caesarmund and the rest of the El-Melloi Classroom in the True and Fake Holy Grail Wars.
The Servant of Faldeus Dioland in the True and Fake Holy Grail Wars. He came to hold the title of "Old Man of the Mountain" by becoming the "shadow of death" rather than become one of the nineteen leaders of the Hashshashin.
The Servant of Francesca Prelati in the True and Fake Holy Grail Wars. François' appearance is based on Francesca's time with both Joan of Arc and Gilles de Rais, the latter helping him with financial difficulties through alchemy.
The Servant of Haruri in the True Holy Grail War. The beast of the Cedar Forest in Mesopotamian mythology. The Mesopotamian gods forced together the souls of 2,891 human children and gave them life as a complete being.
The Watcher-class Servant summoned by Sigma in the True Holy Grail War of Fate/strange Fake. Watcher's True Name is unknown, censored as "○○○-○○○○, also known as ○○○○○○○". Despite being described as a Heroic Spirit, she is said to be an abnormal phenomenon that would be hard to call a hero, god, or demon. The Watcher also possesses Shadows, which appears as manifestations only Sigma can see and hear using the guise of seven heroic spirits, which includes: The Captain
The goddess of Mesopotamian mythology.
Secondary characters Clan Calatin Clan Calatin is the codename of a group of magi police officers serving under Orlando, granted various Noble Phantasms created by Caster. John Wingard is one of the officers, and after having his right hand cut by Jester Karture, Alexandre Dumas gives him an artificial hand that has a built-in dagger coated in Hydra venom. During the battle with Alcides, Dumas decides to make John into a hero, and uses his second Noble Phantasm, Musketeers' Masquerade, to empower John, allowing him to fight on par with Alcides.
Hansa is a priest and a member of the church.
Lord El-Melloi II is highly regarded in the Clock Tower and he is the professor of Flat.
Langal was sent by the Mage's Association to investigate the Snowfield's Grail War. At some point in the past, Langal took Faldeus Dioland as his student, unaware that the younger man was a spy for the American organisation.
She is an Einzbern homunculus involved in the False Holy Grail War of Fate/strange Fake. For unknown reasons, she gave Ayaka her five special Command Seals and told her to go to Snowfield. As of the summoning of True Berserker, her body has been possessed by the goddess Ishtar. El-Melloi Classroom The students of Lord El-Melloi II and classmates of Flat. Many of the students of the El-Melloi Classroom travel to Snowfield after the death of Flat Escardos and the emergence of Thia Escardos. It is revealed they are collectively the Masters of Hippolyta in the True and False Holy Grail Wars, with the exception of Yvette, who was excluded as a liability that would betray them whenever she found it funny and thus was not granted a Command Spell by Verner. Although one of the Command Spells is shared among the entire class, Verner holds the other two completely. They consist of Verner Caesarmund, Svin Glascheit, Yvette L. Lehrman, Caules Forvedge, Nazica Pentel, Radia Pentel, Roland Berzinsky, Rin Tohsaka, Luviagelita Edelfelt, Fezgram vor Sembren, Org Rum, and Mary Lil Fargo.
Thia Escardos is a being created as the culmination of the 1800-year-old plan devised by Mesala Escardos of the Escardos family. He aimed to make Earth's next prime species, that would stay behind and take over when either Human Order was over or humanity abandoned the planet.
Minor characters
Also known as and the "Comedian of the Dead Apostles", Alcatraz is the 27th member of the Twenty-seven Dead Apostle Ancestors.