The Fate/Grand Order franchise has been running steadily for the past five years and isn't showing signs of slowing down, taking the spot of Twitter's most talked-about game in 2019. Its story has been adapted into a two-cour anime in Fate/Grand Order: Absolute Demonic Front Babylonia, with its sequel Grand Temple of Time: Solomon being confirmed. The highly anticipated Camelot singularity is arriving in the form of two films, with Wandering; Agateram originally slated to hit screens on August 15 before being delayed by COVID-19.

Despite the delay of anime adaptations, the manga side of the Fate franchise remains pushing out chapters at a steady pace. Fate/Redline released the second part of Chapter 5 less than a week ago, and now Weekly Shonen Magazine will feature popular Lancer-class Heroic Spirit, Scathach. The winner of the 2015 FGO popularity poll arrives in a 44-page manga feature for the first time. here's what you should know about the Servant and her upcoming manga, "Scathach, Queen of the Land of Shadows: The Unknown Story," which will be released in the 34th issue of Weekly Shonen Magazine.

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The Land of Shadows

Scathach's original story comes from the Ulster Cycle, one of the four big mythological parts of Irish mythology. It prominently features Cu Chulainn, Medb, and Fergus mac Roich, all of whom FGO players are well-acquainted with. Scathach herself appears in a rather minor role as the mentor of Cu Chulainn in Tochmarc Emire, or The Wooing of Emer. Residing in Dunscaith Castle, which is also known as the Fortress of Shadows, Scathach taught both Cu and his companion Ferdiad in battle and gave Cu the deadly spear Gae Bolg, which appears as his Noble Phantasm during the events of Fate/stay night. Cu Chulainn would go onto become one of the most prominent figures in the Ulster cycle and one of the best-known Servants of the Fate franchise.

In the lore of Fate, her character is delved into in far more detail. Her role is that of guardian and ruler of the Land of Shadows, a foreign land that overflows with ghosts and the dead. After years and years, Scathach turned halfway into a Divine Spirit and became unable to die a natural death or even die at all, as she essentially became connected with the very existence of the Land of Shadows. Over time, that grew to be her wish for the Holy Grail: to be able to train a warrior who would kill her.

In the events of Fate/Grand Order, it's revealed in the E Pluribus Unum singularity that Solomon incinerates the Land of Shadows along with the rest of humanity, which allows Scathach to finally die as she no longer is bound to her territory. As such, she ascends to the Throne of Heroes as one of the strongest heroes, evidenced by her classification as a Top Servant in Fate/EXTELLA, and is able to be summoned by the player.

Noble Phantasms

Scathach has two Noble Phantasms, of which both are likely to feature in the manga. The first, Gate of Skye, allows Scathach to create a temporary gate to the Land of Shadows that draws in all life forms and causes fatal damage to them. It's featured heavily in EXTELLA and serves as Lostbelt Queen Scathach-Skadi's Noble Phantasm in Götterdämmerung, though Skadi's version is a more defensive use of the Gate of Skye.

Her second Noble Phantasm is Gae Bolg Alternative, which shares a name with Cu Chulainn's spear and his own Noble Phantasm. Though Scathach (known as Shishou, meaning teacher, in the FGO fanbase) is the one who gave Cu Gae Bolg, her own spear is older and of the same make. The difference? She's able to make dozens of copies of her version of the spear at will. When the Noble Phantasm is activated, she strikes with a demonic spear at short range to affix an enemy to a position in mid-air, and follows it up by throwing a second demonic spear at the immobilized opponent. This, combined with her increased damage against divine abilities and on-command evasion, has made her a premier boss-killing Servant in FGO and a fan favorite Servant to use in certain challenge quests.

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Her Role in the Nasuverse

So far, the extent of Scathach's influence is unknown. As far as we know, the only Type-Moon character she's mentored is Cu Chulainn. However, one of Fate's most common themes is how short-term actions develop long-term consequences. The easiest example to point to is the connection between the events of Fate/Zero and Fate/stay night, but even FGO, the Lostbelts appear as a direct consequence of the story's premise. With Scathach's character having been relatively fleshed out during the 2018 Summer Event and the North American singularity, the manga might shed new light on how one of the most powerful Servants has impacted the Nasuverse.

The cover art of the manga depicts the queen sitting leisurely on her throne, surrounded by the skulls of the dead. The latter hints that the setting of the manga feature will be the Land of Shadows, though to what extent it will feature other mythological characters is unknown. Penned by Kawaguchi Takashi, one of the mangakas for Fate/Grand Order -turas realta-, it's possible that Aife -- Scathach's sister in some versions of the legend -- will make her very first appearance in the Nasuverse.

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