Charlemagne

Charlemagne, king and leader of the Twelve Paladins, manifests as a gift from beyond. He is the founding king of Western Europe and is more commonly known as Karl der Große, or Charles the Great. A naive, carefree young man, he cares more about being cool than about the dignity expected of a king.

Height/Weight: 176cm, 69kg

Origin: Legend of Charlemagne

Region: France

Alignment: Lawful-Good

Sub-Attribute: Star

Gender: Male

"I'm not really cut out for this king stuff, but my other self totally is!"

Charlemagne (also known as Charles the Great) was the first king to make western Europe into a community by tying Germanic, religious, and Roman elements together. However, as a Servant, his only response to questions about those deeds is a vague smile and no more than the most surface level observations. There's a good reason for that, though: this version of him barely remembers his deeds as Charles the Great, and sees his founder of Europe side almost as another person entirely. The only time he comes close to seeming like the king he used to be is when he reaches his Third Ascension.

Holy Knight Emperor: EX

A skill bestowed upon the leader of the holy knighthood known as the Twelve Paladins. It is responsible for Charlemagne's immeasurable charisma, his effectiveness against Evil, his defenses against the Divine, and his talent for holy weapons. It's also what enables him to use his Noble Phantasm, Joyeuse Ordre.

Mana Burst (Light): A

A Mana Burst variant that can only be used by saints and holy knights. Holds a huge advantage over Evil enemies.

Kingship Traversal: C

A self-admonition skill that improves the user's stats by holding fast to a set of principles. If the user should stray from those principles, they will be hit with a significant debuff. In Charlemagne's case, he's given himself restrictions like, "Get debuffed if I do something lame" or, "Fill a gauge every time I do something awesome."

『Joyeuse Ordre』

Rank: EX

NP Type: Anti-King (Self)

Range: 1

Maximum Targets: 1

Demonstrate Thy King's Heroism, Twelve Swords of Wayfaring.

Despite what you might think, it is not Charles the Great who can best make use of Joyeuse's true worth, but Charlemagne. This is because, as he is the version grounded in reality, Charles the Great considers Joyeuse to be no more than a sacred sword that is the subject of a flight of fancy.

In terms of pure destructive power, Joyeuse Ordre is just about as strong as Roland's Durendal when its True Name is released. Of course, as Charlemagne is not a knight, but a king, he would still lose to Roland if they were to clash directly. However, when Charlemagne is demonstrating his kingly heroism, that is, his royal dignity and majesty, Joyeuse gains twelve additional blades: one for each of the Twelve Paladins' legends. Once again, these are not replacement blades, but additional blades on top of the original. This alone obviously multiplies Joyeuse's strength by thirteen, and that's without taking into account the extra power it receives from Charlemagne's kingly charisma. When all is said and done, Charlemagne is able to wield no fewer than thirteen versions of Joyeuse however he likes, including the one in his own hand, as he sets about attacking his opponent. While its range and maximum targets may be limited to 1, that is only because this Noble Phantasm is technically directed at Charlemagne himself. If it were to be converted into more conventional range, it would easily be the equivalent of a medium-level Anti-Army Noble Phantasm.

All told, these thirteen strikes are some of the best attacks wielded by any warrior, and are a feat not even the greatest Greek heroes or peerless swordfighters can match. The only catch is that all this incredible destructive power hinges on how much Charlemagne has awakened to his innate kingly nature.

Usually, this version of Charlemagne would never be summoned as a Servant, but with humanity in crisis, times are anything but usual. And so he has been summoned under special circumstances, based on combat data assembled in a certain time and place. Incidentally, the reason he seems a little more royal in his Third Ascension is because of the elements of Charles the Great mixed in with him.

While he prefers to consider himself an adventurer first and a holy knight second, the fact that he still takes his duties seriously as a king shows that he is earnest and responsible at heart.

A cheerful, lighthearted hero, this self-proclaimed lover of awesome things strives to be more awesome than anyone else. When speaking to his Twelve Paladins, he treats them as equal parts subordinates and dear friends.

In Traum

Charlemagne was forced to seal his true power away thanks to the extremely unusual circumstances of his brute-force summoning. While he did the best he could to at least gather information, his natural cheerfulness inevitably drew attention, and ultimately resulted in his being locked away in the Revenge Realm's prison.

There, he met the Master of Chaldea and decided to come to their aid...only to later realize that his ability to do so had manifested thanks to the efforts of a certain elderly knight. Though it would have been easy for him to leave Don Quixote to his fate, he also understood that doing so would leave him unfit to be even an adventurer, let alone a knight, emperor, or hero. And so, he took the plunge and risked life and limb to help both the Master and the knight. Once that was done, he went on to accompany them both till the very end.

Incidentally, after Charlemagne slipped out of the Revenge Realm during the Master of Chaldea's prison breakout, he actually aided his/her escape by creating a diversion. Even though he was partly responsible for helping get the Master out of the Revenge Realm, he never said a word about it, as he believed doing so would be really lame.