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Hereafter [Worm x Fate/Grand Order]

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So, I've been thinking about the team's reactions to the coming Servants beyond the Master-Blaster duo.

For example, Servant Edward "Blackbeard" Teach doesn't really have as impressive a beard as you would expect. So, I wonder if they'd recognize him if he doesn't name himself. (or if they don't recognize his apocryphal flag).

The other best guess would be Captain John "Calico Jack" Rackham given the presence of Anne Bonny and Mary Read (despite their own differences in appearance, a duo of pirate women remains very distinctive), and Teach would certainly be upset to be mistaken for him... But that's a boring guess.

Taylor fought the Phantom. She should at least suspect explicitly fictional figures can still be Servants. So, who are the most famous fictional pirates?

He can't be Captain James Hook because he doesn't have a hook for a hand. He can't be Long John "Barbeque" Silver because he has two legs and no parrot.

But you know what? There's another classic fictional pirate who helped define Carribean piracy in the popular zeitgeist. And while he never had a starring role in a classic work, both Hook and Silver refer to him as evidence of how scary they are. Captain J. Flint of the Walrus, the man who buried the treasure on Treasure Island!
And, Taylor could know who he is given her Mom was a literature professor.
 
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It does kind of bother me that canon treats Blackbeard's flag as special and famous when the fact of the matter is that the design of Blackbeard's flag isn't really talked about in contemporary sources and it isn't until, like, a century later that his "famous" flag is actually attributed to him, but then, the very fact that people believe it is his flag would sort of retroactively make it his. It's stuff like that which makes it hard to tell when something is a failure of research on the part of the creators and when the creators are leaning into popular beliefs like that because they're popular enough to affect the Servant's manifestation.

On the other hand, I don't like that Blackbeard is so "modern," too. I might not be a huge fan of One Piece myself, but just what I know about the Blackbeard in that series is probably a lot closer to the historical man than what we got in FGO, and it's not even supposed to be the historical pirate, just a character inspired by him.

If I had been designing the character, he would have been menacing. Terrifying in his appetites and mannerisms, to the point that even Taylor might wind up a little spooked.

Unfortunately, I have to work at least somewhat with his canon personality. I hope the depiction I eventually settled on will manage to feel a little less goofy and ridiculous than he did in canon Okeanos.
 
James D. Fawkes said:
It does kind of bother me that canon treats Blackbeard's flag as special and famous when the fact of the matter is that the design of Blackbeard's flag isn't really talked about in contemporary sources and it isn't until, like, a century later that his "famous" flag is actually attributed to him, but then, the very fact that people believe it is his flag would sort of retroactively make it his. It's stuff like that which makes it hard to tell when something is a failure of research on the part of the creators and when the creators are leaning into popular beliefs like that because they're popular enough to affect the Servant's manifestation.

On the other hand, I don't like that Blackbeard is so "modern," too. I might not be a huge fan of One Piece myself, but just what I know about the Blackbeard in that series is probably a lot closer to the historical man than what we got in FGO, and it's not even supposed to be the historical pirate, just a character inspired by him.

If I had been designing the character, he would have been menacing. Terrifying in his appetites and mannerisms, to the point that even Taylor might wind up a little spooked.

Unfortunately, I have to work at least somewhat with his canon personality. I hope the depiction I eventually settled on will manage to feel a little less goofy and ridiculous than he did in canon Okeanos.
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I think he was well-handled. You really captured the core, paying homage to the Nasuverse, while also making him feel like there's some will and special character and ability about him.
 
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it's less retroactively making it true, and more twisting how the servant will manifest, innocent monster being the main example of this, though it's not really consistent, as seen with the plethora of servants being girls instead of guys, even if history remembers them as guys, might be that it's easier to be twisted into a monster than be twisted other ways, getting 'small' additions based on myth, like the flag, being easier than twisting the core of your being
 
For the most part we only ever see additions in some way, and not outright changes. The reality of events is moldable, but it's not to Playdough levels, more Legos, with the original model Craggled together and anything else just stuck on normally.
 
James D. Fawkes said:
It does kind of bother me that canon treats Blackbeard's flag as special and famous when the fact of the matter is that the design of Blackbeard's flag isn't really talked about in contemporary sources and it isn't until, like, a century later that his "famous" flag is actually attributed to him, but then, the very fact that people believe it is his flag would sort of retroactively make it his. It's stuff like that which makes it hard to tell when something is a failure of research on the part of the creators and when the creators are leaning into popular beliefs like that because they're popular enough to affect the Servant's manifestation.

On the other hand, I don't like that Blackbeard is so "modern," too. I might not be a huge fan of One Piece myself, but just what I know about the Blackbeard in that series is probably a lot closer to the historical man than what we got in FGO, and it's not even supposed to be the historical pirate, just a character inspired by him.

If I had been designing the character, he would have been menacing. Terrifying in his appetites and mannerisms, to the point that even Taylor might wind up a little spooked.

Unfortunately, I have to work at least somewhat with his canon personality. I hope the depiction I eventually settled on will manage to feel a little less goofy and ridiculous than he did in canon Okeanos.
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From what I understand of the historical Blackbeard is that he played up how terrifying he was. One of his most famous traits is how he would tie lit fuses in his beard to Intimidate the crewman he and his pirates captured.

So there's a couple of ways to interpret that kind of person. One is a figure that delights in terror and fear, but another is that he was being pragmatic.

From what I remember having read of Blackbeard is that he rarely killed or maimed the crew of the ships he captured. He might have put up a front of being a terror to fight to Intimidate crews into surrendering without a fight, sparing him the extra effort and risk. Every ship that realized they were fighting the Blackbeard and surrendered would be an easy payday and a further note of his legend, making future surrender more likely.

As such I kind of like the idea that "Blackbeard" is kind of an act Edward Teach put on. He's not a monster that could make Taylor flinch, and in fact I can see Taylor recognizing Blackbeard's tactics as the same kind of practical things she did as Skitter and Weaver. Psychological mindgames to get their way with the minimum amount of physical harm necessary, using every advantage they can get. In the process gaining terrifying reputations.
 
James D. Fawkes said:
It does kind of bother me that canon treats Blackbeard's flag as special and famous when the fact of the matter is that the design of Blackbeard's flag isn't really talked about in contemporary sources and it isn't until, like, a century later that his "famous" flag is actually attributed to him, but then, the very fact that people believe it is his flag would sort of retroactively make it his. It's stuff like that which makes it hard to tell when something is a failure of research on the part of the creators and when the creators are leaning into popular beliefs like that because they're popular enough to affect the Servant's manifestation.

On the other hand, I don't like that Blackbeard is so "modern," too. I might not be a huge fan of One Piece myself, but just what I know about the Blackbeard in that series is probably a lot closer to the historical man than what we got in FGO, and it's not even supposed to be the historical pirate, just a character inspired by him.

If I had been designing the character, he would have been menacing. Terrifying in his appetites and mannerisms, to the point that even Taylor might wind up a little spooked.

Unfortunately, I have to work at least somewhat with his canon personality. I hope the depiction I eventually settled on will manage to feel a little less goofy and ridiculous than he did in canon Okeanos.
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Blackbeard being goofy is intentional.

In life, he put on personas to be more fearsome and intimidating, like putting lit matches in his beard to be outright demonic.

Any Servant worth their spot in the Throne won't be intimidated by that. So he changed tactics, be so goofy no one knows what he's planning or thinking and whether he's being serious or just putting on a show.

Hector even mentions it that for all his goofiness, he never let his guard down at any moment
 
KNM said:
Blackbeard being goofy is intentional.

In life, he put on personas to be more fearsome and intimidating, like putting lit matches in his beard to be outright demonic.

Any Servant worth their spot in the Throne won't be intimidated by that. So he changed tactics, be so goofy no one knows what he's planning or thinking and whether he's being serious or just putting on a show.

Hector even mentions it that for all his goofiness, he never let his guard down at any moment
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veekie said:
Like Cu being in a blue bodysuit instead of naked with blue paint?
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Did anything about Setanta himself change? Is he wearing armor like he actually would have been? Is this even the weirdest clothing change in Fate that still doesn't count as something about the HS changing because it's clothes? Is it fairly consistent with other Celtic Servants we see?
 
veekie said:
Like Cu being in a blue bodysuit instead of naked with blue paint?
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Barghest Blue said:
Did anything about Setanta himself change? Is he wearing armor like he actually would have been? Is this even the weirdest clothing change in Fate that still doesn't count as something about the HS changing because it's clothes? Is it fairly consistent with other Celtic Servants we see?
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Actually, Cu wouldn't have been wearing armor. Because if his legend had full influence over him, then he'd only ever be summoned as a Berserker, in the full throes of Riastrad… at which point he'd promptly kill his summoner, and keep killing everything he could find until he ran out of mana.
 
I like goofy Blackbeard because there are literally a dozen other serious or scary characters, being ridiculous is something that sets him apart.
 
Finagle007 said:
Actually, Cu wouldn't have been wearing armor. Because if his legend had full influence over him, then he'd only ever be summoned as a Berserker, in the full throes of Riastrad… at which point he'd promptly kill his summoner, and keep killing everything he could find until he ran out of mana.
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Riastrad is only mentioned twice to my knowledge, one when he's young and then again during the final battle. For the most part he fought as a normal-person shaped warrior
 
Columbus doubles as a personification of colonialism, from what I understand.

Incidentally, gonna steal the idea from ERB and say that Caster Walt Disney would be really fucking terrifying. The Disney Corporation Conglomerate clad in a man-suit, stalking the pages of human history, acquiring, subsuming, consuming.

Can you imagine, an EX-Rank Noble Phantasm, You Are Now My Intellectual Property.
 
Raiseth said:
Incidentally, gonna steal the idea from ERB and say that Caster Walt Disney would be really fucking terrifying. The Disney Corporation Conglomerate clad in a man-suit, stalking the pages of human history, acquiring, subsuming, consuming.

Can you imagine, an EX-Rank Noble Phantasm, You Are Now My Intellectual Property.
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So "YOINK! You're MINE NOW!" the servant? I'm not a fan of the name though... How does... "Taxed Thoughts of Old: Reworkings of a Legend" sound?
 
TheHappyDwagon said:
So "YOINK! You're MINE NOW!" the servant? I'm not a fan of the name though... How does... "Taxed Thoughts of Old: Reworkings of a Legend" sound?
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I like it, but I also don't think Walt Disney would be able to STEAL, he would recreate. Also, holy crap way too strong. C-rank NP that allows him to act to a minor extent as a Planetary Terminal. Same thing that lets Merem Solomon actualize miracles, specifically retellings of other legends. Uses of his NP are massively degraded and have the lines "blurred", as it were, plus another rank down if it's outside his "genre", as it were.

If he were to try to recreate Excalibur, it would create the composite "sword wielded by King Arthur", degrading it from the original A-rank down to B. Still a very good sword, capable of amplifying mana in the same way that Caliburn and Excalibur do to create waves of mana, but nowhere near the same level. This is only 1 rank down, because it's within his general wheelhouse. If he tried to recreate the Gae Bolg, on the other hand, it would be a D-rank Noble Phantasm with a weak general curse that causes strikes from it to seek the heart. Neat, but not that strong, with a double rank-down.

Because of this, he's kinda shit by himself, but is a very effective force multiplier, capable of kitting out others with a number of low-grade Noble Phantasms given enough time and research, and does best with a strong economic base behind him (he would have done well as Caster of Black, for example, kitting out Yggdmillennia and giving the edge for each of their heroic spirits in their fights).
 
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