Fragment 102 Insight

Another sort of relaxing chapter with some hidden undertones. I wish to give readers that flavors they wish to taste before I start pouring on the feel trips that are coming soon. In fact, it’s practically one after the other, which is quite a strange thing to anticipate considering Chaldea is now in December.

That aside, the focus for this time is Paracelsus. At his core, he is a scholar and a man in pursuit of how best to gift knowledge to others. As expected, it was best shown in his dealings with the controversial Clock Tower team and Janice. In the pupil, he gets to provide that continued trickle of taught wisdom to another. For the Clock Tower, it’s his benevolence and willingness to look past what happened for the sake of making a better future.

That’s why I found it interesting that despite his pursuits, he was willing to stain his hands during Fate/Prototype timeline. With that angle, it set the stage for his willingness to help very early in the series as many recall (and this fragment touches upon again). He wishes to do good for the world, but rarely are decisions actually pure black and white as my series often underlines in passing arcs.

As such, despite his wish not to, Paracelsus can’t help but see himself stain his hands for the sake of a result. “The Ends justify the means.”

It would help make even the little slips, like Janice’s attempt to juggle alchemical ingredients, seem that much more glaring to the caster. He’d still handle it his own way, which includes bottling up his true feeling on the matter. That also wouldn’t stop him from committing to another act even if he knew the method was wrong, as shown in the very last scene. It’s a sad cycle for him, and it could even be said he does it because he believes wholeheartedly in the end result. At the same time, he also wouldn’t dare repeat what happened in a certain other timeline.

Just like with Vlad’s fragment, we get a second reinforcing glint of Chaldea’s current state. Good vibes fill the facility because of the holiday, but Paracelsus still picks out the glass floor they walk on. Despite that, he picks out the beauty of what is a bit more than Vlad’s fragment did through other interactions. In the end, it’s still his fragment, so each bit of this character-analysis style piece had to help color him in different ways.

To no one’s surprise, that meant his bar flaring hobby was going to make a reappearance. I didn’t make it as detailed as I could have, but I’ve shown it a few times before. I didn’t want to harp on it too much, but decided to finally showcase why it was interesting to him. Hopefully the calculations, timings, and so forth gave a new glimpse at just how impressive bar flaring can be (servant or not)

As a final point, this is actually the video that first inspired Paracelsus’ bar flaring venture (Complete with music track):

Teaser: Monster. That was a word the humans used to describe her best. It was fitting by their perspective. She wouldn’t deny it either, but those scared humans merely didn’t understand why they acted how they did. It wasn’t their fault their kind was stronger, but unlike her kin, she often didn’t use that strength unless she really wished to. No, if she had any wish at all, it was to play around and enjoy the many pleasurable offerings life could provide. Chaldea just happened to provide that bounty.