@Erureido @Shishœ
Now to give some interesting Fate/Apocrypha trivia regarding one of our favourite taunters, tankers and photographers of Grand Order, Saint George, for today is Saint George's Day.
To start, when Apocrypha was planned to be an MMO game rather than a novel/anime, Saint George was one of the Servants that was going to be choose-able for the player character, alongside Astalfo, Siegfried, Karna, Benkei, Vlad III, David, Atalante, Shakespeare, Frankenstein's Monster, Jack, Semiramis, Spartacus and Kintoki. When the scrapped project became a novel, Saint George, alongside David, Benkei and Kintoki were removed for Achilles, Chiron, Mordred and Avicebron.
So why was Saint George removed for Apocrypha? For the following reasons:
-One, he is a Saint like Amakusa and Joan, so he would've had to be included in the ideological conflict between the two of them. But Higashide, the novelist for Apocrypha, feared it would've gotten too confusing, so there's reason number 1.
-Number 2, because of his Noble Phantasm that changes people to a dragon, he would have invoked a a certain metamorphoses midway through the story rather than near the end of the story.
-Number 3, likely due to the fact that George wouldn't have gone through with Amakusa, much like Kintoki.
-Number 4 and one of the mind-benders of Fate lore, he was deemed too overpowered because he has:
A: Ascalon, an invincible sword where it's power comes from not it's capacity to defeat foes, but to defend from all harm and it can reverse all of it's defensive power to become an all-offense power that can pierce through any armor.
B: A Noble Phantasm that changes foes into dragon beings.
C: A Noble Phantasm that allows Ascalon to deal massive damage to beings of draconian nature and allows George to fire javelins of light.
D: His Noble Phantasm horse Bayard, for when he's riding Bayard, George is impervious to all harm and it allows him to nullify one
lethal attack completely.
So yes, this guy was deemed too frickin' hard to kill and too overpowered that they replaced him with Achilles.
ACHILLES!
I'm not sure if it was mentioned in the anime, but in the novel, Achilles was apparently 2nd-in-behind of being the Servant that everybody tries to use in the Pseudo Grail Wars or non-serious/playtest Grail wars, with Heracles being the most wanted. Heracles was eventually banned from use due to being too powerful and Achilles was in line for possibly being banned.
Does this not tell you something? The fact that in Fate lore, Achilles is apparently the 2nd most wanted and one of the most powerful servants and yet he was chosen by the writer to replace Saint George cause George was too powerful. The fact that Saint George was so overpowered that they used Achilles, that they say is one of the most powerful Servants of Fate lore, to replace him.
Anyway, this is your trivia regarding Fate/Apocrypha and Saint George. I hope someday to see him in a Fate anime someday and see him shine. Also, ultimate tank Ruler George when?
Not really Ruler George, just his CE look from the Christmas 2016 event. Still would like as a costume.