Fragment 40 Insight

As a side note, special thanks needs to be given to etheral-23 for all the assistance he’s provided making the Indian Heroes’ Fragments extra fluffy and insightful. They really do have quite the interesting backdrop going on, even with Type Moon’s small changes.

Starting to introduce a bunch of servants again. Besides the Douji onis, which some have been waiting for, Rama finally makes his appearance! I honestly feel pretty meh about what DW/TM decided to do to such a powerful hero, but it is what it is. The design makes sense since he’s in his youthful sense, but from the anecdotes of his story (and Karna and Arjuna’s for that matter), he should have been a lot more powerful, and another trump card for Chaldea.

If you haven’t guessed, I’m making slight pushes to restore that, but not overwhelmingly so.

He’s a rather interesting servant to write, simply because his mind is wizened and contains all the memories and knowledge he’s accumulated over his entire journey… yet he’s summoned in a youthful stage that has a tendency to act/speak before fully comprehending his thoughts. It’s like a sage telling a teen expert advice, and then they go off and get it partially right, except they share a body. It makes for quite the interesting dynamic. As shown in pieces of America, there’s also portions where the mind and soul/body act in tandem to show the true Rama.

There “Summoned-and-how-they-adapt” fragments are pretty staple at this point, but I wanted to do something different with Rama to shake things up. Most get summoned with a concept and idea in mind, and then wind up getting it fixed/achieved by the end of it. Gilles gets summoned and finds some consolation for his madness, and the Avengers are also a fine example of finding their niche.

Rama fails to find a hobby by the end of it, but it suits him just fine. He’s in a rush because he’s his youthful self, meanwhile his wisdom-filled mind is telling him to slow down and be patient. He only partially realizes he’s still getting settled, but wants things accomplished immediately. Can you blame him? He’s been pining after Sita since his separation during his actual legend. Now summoned in his youthful form, he’d be getting pretty impatient again.

I reintroduced the idea Karna and Arjuna can… “get along” on the surface, and for civility reasons. I also continued to make it clear Arjuna is not quite happy with that. This’ll continue to be expanded upon because, like stated before, it is not an easy dilemma to resolve in any way.

I also wanted to show Gilgamesh could respect certain servants. Though he is abrasive towards gods/goddesses as well, he has been shown to acknowledge certain individuals like Karna and Iskander. Going off of that, Rama and Arjuna would not be far of a stretch considering their might, but he would still place himself above them. I’ve got big plans for Gilgamesh later, since the “total-arrogance” spiel does get relatively old after a while. That said, don’t expect Gilgamesh to turn into… someone like Astolfo for an example. He’s not Gilgamesh unless he’s arrogant with a superiority complex, after all.

Ibaraki gets her candy obsession from the Halloween 2016 event. I had to make it a Snicker’s considering her usual antics and personal mindset. I thought it was rather fitting. “Better?” “Better.”

Establishing Rama’s friendship with Nightingale and Beowulf was a tad more complex than usual. Their interactions in America was pretty straight forward, but if you look at my summoning order for Chaldea, both berserkers were in Chaldea before the singularity even occurred. Just like the small tease Diarmuid had to fight himself, those two wound up meeting their “clones” as well, but with different results.

Overall a relatively straightforward chapter to show Rama fit in rather nicely thanks to his retained memories. He’ll be playing more key roles later on.

For those who were sad Ishtar is a lot more Ishtar than Rin upon summoning, I’ve got great news for you next Fragment. It turns out Rin’s tendencies have a lot more influence than Ishtar would like to openly admit, for far worse than for better. Thankfully, it’s not a drama thing though!

Prepare for a comedy filled Fragment next week! It’s Valentine’s Day in Chaldea!