Even though the Fate franchise dates back to 2004, It saw an explosion in its popularity in 2015. This explosion was caused by the release of the mobile game, Fate/ Grand Order.  This game takes the franchise's main hook of various literary and historical figures duking it out to a wider extent than previously depicted.

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Now with any franchise with a long history, there is a tendency for things to become a bit confusing. The Fate franchise is no exception to this with its tendency to introduce a concept in one installment and then brought up in a later one with no explanation. This article will look at the franchise's 10 most confusing concept and provide some answers.

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10 King Arthur is a Woman

One concept of the Fate franchise familiar with even people who have just heard of it is that some servants are gender-bent of historical and legendary figures. While only a minority of servants are gender-bents, it is a trend that is hard to escape when your franchise's main mascot is one.

Of Course, Saber, who is King Arthur in Fate's universe, makes a good case study for how the series explain away the issue of some servants being different genders. In Saber's case, the reason that she was remembered in legend as a man is given an in-series explanation. That explanation for why history remembers King Arthur as a man was thanks to a combination of factors involving magic and disguises, most people in Camelot thought that she was a man.

One of the confusing aspects of the Fate franchise is how each series relates to one another. For some series in the franchise, it is easy to explain their connections like how to Fate/Zero is a prequel to Fate Stay/NightFor other series, like Fate/Extra and Fate/Apocrypha, it is a lot harder to explain their connections.

The connection between Fate/Extra and Fate/Apocrypha with Fate Stay/Night is that they are all alternate universes that splinter out of the Third Holy Grail War.  In Fate Stay/Night's timeline, the war ended with the grail being corrupted. In Fate/Apocrypha's timelinethe grail was stolen  Finally, the Fate/Extra timeline is implied to be the result of the Grail granting a reality-altering wish.

8 The Existence of Psuedo-Servants

One of the new concepts introduced to the franchise through Fate Grand/Order is that of the Pseudo-Servants. Psuedo-Servants refer to a Heroic Spirit possessing a human's body. While this first appears to be an excuse to allow fan-favorite human characters to be playable in Fate/Grand Order, there is an in-universe reason for their existence.

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The reason behind the existence of most pseudo-servants is related to the magical system that summons Servants. In the case of the Fate/Grand Order, god can only be summoned if their powers are limited through taking a mortal form. So for Ishtar to be summoned as a servant, she must find a like-minded human to possess.

7 The Franchise's Magic System

Despite the Fate franchise being very centered on the magic and those that use it, the franchise rarely explains it. In most series, magic is presented only through the equivalent of techno-babble.  While on the surface this makes it seems that the franchise's take on magic is fluid and undefined, the franchise does have a constructed system for magic

While a full discussion of Fate's magic system would take up a full article, there is an easy explanation for why magic appears to differ a bit among its users. The reason why the franchise magic's users have distinct abilities is due to each Magus having a unique Origin. An Origin is a concept in a magic user that both defines their personality and their magic

6 Servant's Class Outside Of The Main Seven

In Fate/Stay Night, the Holy Grail War was fought between Seven Servants belong to seven distinct classes. Later installments in the franchise would introduce new classes beyond these seven, whose existences are harder to explain to newcomers.

These extra Servant classes can be divided into two categories.  One category is that of Servant classes that reflect a unique aspect of the Holy Grail War been bought like the Ruler class in Fate/Apocrypha. The other categories are those of Servant classes, whose natures are impossible to control with magic like the vengeance-driven Avenger class.

5 The Saber Face

One of the more confusing aspects of the Fate franchise to even established fans is that of the Saber Face. The Saber Face refers to the fact that there are many characters in the franchise that shares a similar appearance to Saber. While this can be blamed on Type-Moon trying to milk Saber's popularity, there are some in-universe reasons for why this is.

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Potential reasoning for the Saber Face is given in Fate Grand/Order that its the result of these characters being distantly related to one another. This explanation is a reference to the fact that King Arthur is mentioned in some legends to be descended from a Roman Emperor. This theory is also supported by the fact that Gray is a descendent of King Arthur.

4 Historical Servants Not Looking Like Themselves

Despite many Servants sharing the same gender as their sources, some Servants are still very different from them. This is most apparent in the Servants based on real-life figures. A noticeable example comes from the fact Thomas Edison as a Servant appears to be a lion-man cosplaying as Captain America.

This weird design for Thomas Edison as a servant reflects how historical servants' appearance is often shaped by the concept surrounding them in real life. Thomas Edison's patriotic appearance is the result of him representing the American Dream and Exceptionalism.

3 Altered Servants Other Than Saber Alter.

Saber Alter is a memorable twist in  Fate/Stay Night's "Heaven's Feel" storyline. Saber Alter happened when Saber was been corrupted by  Angra Mainyu, who was possessing Sakura at the time.  Despite her unique origins, Saber Alter is the first of many Alter type servants.

Alter type servants are more than simply just servants corrupted by dark magic. The term Alter can also represent a version of a Servant that either gave in to their dark side or from a timeline where they took a darker path. For example, Jeanne Alter is a version of Joan of Arc consumed by vengeance towards those that sentenced her to burn at the stake.

2 The Franchise's Holy Grails Relationship To The Legendary One

Despite sharing the name of the legendary Holy Grail from Arthurian Legend, the Holy grail has nothing to do with it. The Holy Grail is instead a power magical item that can grant a single wish of the users.

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The reasoning for why the Holy Grail is called that despite it having no connection to the one of legend is the result of a single thing. Simply the reason is it called that is the result of the Holy Grail manifesting itself as a cup that looks like what some claimed the Holy Grail to have looked like.

1 The Existence of Servants From Literature.

Despite coming from a franchise featuring servants from both mythological and historical servants, the existence of servants based on characters from fictional works has caused some confusion.   The reason why fictional Servants causes some confusion is a result of a rule in the franchise that Servants must be people that existed in-universe

While mythological Servants exist as a result of them being from a time when magic was more common, Servants from fictional works are a bit harder to explain. For example, Edmond Dantes is a Servant as a result of him being a real person in Fate's universe whose life was recorded by Alexander Dumas without his permission. In other cases, it is a result of them being summoned is a Holy Grail War with more flexible criteria like Alice from Alice in Wonderland.

NEXT: Fate: 10 Famous Literary Characters We Want To See Become Servants In The Future