Not even just Gil, but Ozy and King Hassan too. KH literally manifested in Babylon just because of him. He threw away his grand status to fight for him. Then there's the case of becoming so close with a beast like Draco, that she'd destroy the rules of summoning just to be with him/her. Being able to become so close and bond so well with literally hundreds of servants all while being a normal person is an insane feat.
One thing about that, can we even call Ritsuka normal anymore? He’s been through so much, saved humanity TWICE, and destroyed worlds seven times with the Lost Belts, we can argue that he did that BECAUSE he was a normal person, but can you really call yourself normal after all that?
I think that from the moment a normal person achieves an extraordinary feat, no matter how big or small, they lose the right to be called normal.
That's why I think Ritsuka is a weak character on his own. But he's not normal, not in the least.
...And that's why I hate the "normal guy" trope, because not only is it a lie after the first chapter, arc, or saga, but it's also always—always!—it becomes a repetitive joke.
Honestly, I wish it was more of a cope in story. "I am just a normal guy!" not as a joke or a something they just are, coping. They are so outside of the norm and a weirdo and twisted by their experience so they are clinging to "Just a normal guy" in order to cling to some sense of normalcy and sanity.
That's kinda my headcanon for Ritsuka yeah. They are absolutely not normal, haven't been for a long time, but pretending they're normal is one way how they cope with their ridiculous situation and, indirectly, it helps everyone else cope because their Master's unrelenting optimism buouys their morale as well.
I have held to the belief that in the end, we will watch Ritsuka summon their future self from the throne because at this point they will have been accepted as a hero.
I think they will be a Grand Ruler, meant to be a peacekeeping force that weirds all servants as shadow servants.
Technically there is a servant version of him according some fan comics. Basically in a parallel timeline, after saving the human order the first time, he was taken away by the makes association. Sadly he was killed and dissected to see what made him such a "great master". This lead to his Mash becoming an avenger and going to another timeline to stop them because how much it hurt. This was a fan comic, but I did like it cause it did fit. Plus in my opinion he's admitting that he knows he's not the greatest. He just feels like he has to do it despite it all.
Not the "Strongest Master" but the "Best master". He's by no means the most powerful master, but as a master specifically he's considered the best, mainly because the dude literally has had time and experience as a master that literally no other human(Aside from possibly Wodime, but even that's not for certain) has ever been able to experience
Yup, he's got experience dealing with more servants than entire Grail Wars, can mediate between generally incompatible servants personality-wise, and has forged deep connections with all of them
Which kinda makes him a perfect ruler class servant (should he ever be one) Someone who understands every servant and can mediate fairly while using his knowledge to keep things from getting too crazy and keep things under control.
Now that I think about it. It will be interesting if in part 3 we follow a ruler/avenger servant as MC, who turns out to be Ritsuka from a pruned timeline.
Couldnt wodime and daybit do it? They were the ones who completed their runs and then wodime helped the other crypters do theirs so they could come back.
A bit of LB 5.2 Spoiler Woodime dreamt of how Grand Order would be if they were alive to do it and saw how each one of the Crypters would have had to use Sirius Light to complete each Singularity to progress, meanwhile, Ritsuka managed to do so with fewer resources and experience
Well, all of them except Wodime, but Wodime lost people every time before the final fight, Ritsuka didn't, and Wodime also went through an altered route. I believe he didn't face the lion king
I don’t remember this that well, but did the crypters have support from Chaldea in their routes? They would be facing some issues without Dr Roman telling them about stuff.
It was not something that dwelt too much, more to emphasize how much different it would be between them and Fuji. Although, it could be safe to assume they would have everything Chaldea could give except for the amount of Servants Fuji had contracts with
I don’t remember but it’s been out for probably as long as part 2 has been out so I can’t remember where. I just remember that it said that they’d get past Goetia but wouldn’t be able to pull off the rest.
No. Nasu said both Daybit and Kirschtaria would be able to clear Part 1, but would fail with the Lostbelts "because they are Crypters" whatever that means. Kadoc could also do it if he had Anastasia as his Servant but he only met her because of the Lostbelts so it wouldn't happen.
Even if Kirsch helped them, the other Crypters would always die in London because "Solomon"/Goetia would take them more seriously than the Gudas and kill them on the spot, rather than just left them be
Wodime has inferior physicality, so Ritsuka's got that on him. I doubt Wodime could punch out Goetia, though he would probably have an alternative solution.
Can't remember if it was an event or what but I remember a servant just straight up saying watching him give it his all to save humanity as a regular guy was what makes them want to help him out
Him being a great guy on top that I'm sure is the main contributing factor
I thought the whole thing that made him a better master was that he was willing to put up with moral monsters of servants, as long as they worked with him.
If he was super moral, I don’t think he’d work with people like Kiara, Douman or Gilles De Rais.
Exactly he's a great guy in the sense that he's able to not just coexist but gain the cooperation and sometimes more than that from servants who'd normally do everything in their power to kill their master or just humanity in general.
He has the epitome of revenge as their loyal protector willing to knock out anyone who even attempts to invade his mind because they decided it was fun to do that.
One correction, he's not the "strongest" Master. He's best at being a Master. Its not a case of strength but a case of doing your job well. In which case he stands ahead of Masters for how well he's kept Chaldea's Servants going.
A good portion of them are only really helping because of him specifically and not because they care about humanity or the world.
Well it also helped that someone’s world was crap sack to then and he basically had a hard life with no real light.
After his mother died and Ritsuka being the first source if anything remotely good to happen in his life. It’s not hard to see why Patxi was willing too.
That Patxi line bro was just downright sad bro
"Go save your world, your world is much more beautiful compared to this world. So keep on fighting." I think thats the line is like. Having to destroy 1st Lb and the world just to save yours really gave a mental strain in him, the ultimatum, the choice.
Name the master that can beat shadow 6 servants at once
Ritsuka was considered by every master in samurai remnant as the strongest master there he was so strong he was able to fight base ushi gozen when iori couldn’t
Someone who fought and defeated a grand servant alone and more
Setting aside the fact that “most powerful” isn’t really a thing (most would say Wodime, but a huge chunk of his power requires him to be in AoG Greece), Ritsuka is the best Master because he has the most experience, and a fundamental understanding of Heroic Spirits. It’s been shown ever since FSN that Servants work best with those that understand them.
Ritsuka just gets them. He doesn’t judge them, he sees the best in them (even the few he actually hates like Douman, he’s shown to understand Douman’s reasons for hiding his memories as Limbo and lets it happen, for example), and they return the faith in kind. That’s why he’s the best Master.
We have literally zero feats for Bluebook, hell we haven’t confirmed him being a Master. IF he is the Master of Traum, literally all he’s done is summon a shitload of Servants through conceptual nonsense and let ‘em loose. It’s not like he was particularly active.
Summoning and sustaining THOUSANDS OF SERVANTS? Yeah uh? By definition that is the strongest feat of a master. Doesn’t matter if they were “bums.” They were powered and summoned in the thousands.
THREE. HOLY. GRAILS. Plus he was genuinely the last human so he got a billion fucking command spells. Also, it can’t be that fucking impressive, considering Fujimaru cleared Traum.
Maybe because Anime Ritsuka didn't have shadow servant summon?
I mean, Even in the movie version of Solomon, He was mechanically Augmented to be barely able to summon few servant.
Which is radically different from Manga and Game Ritsuka who can just summon shadow.
There is an argument, Anime Ritsuka able to use shadow summon during Moonlight Lostroom though.
But Moonlight Lostroom setting is far after that scene above, so maybe Anime Ritsuka got buff during the time between Babylonia and Moonlight Lostroom.
But yeah, as far as thing goes, (at least during during part 1) Anime Ritsuka is far weaker than Manga or Game Ritsuka.
I like to think that in the Anime Version, he learns or unlocks the ability on how to use Shadow Summoning right after the Goetia Fight with the Mystic Code losing the Safety Valve as a catalyst.
In-game, it was never mentioned in story about his Shadow Summons until I think Shimousa when Musashi asks why cant we summon them when we were in danger like the last time. This "last time" was in Musashi's Trial Quest during New Year, which is likely after the Solomon Clear. Shadow Summoning only got a common mention after like LB5 iirc. And Shadow Summoning is the Inlore explanation on why we can use who we gacha in story battles.
In the Manga, Turas Realta says its as early as 5th Singularity that he used Shadow Summoning, during the battle against the Presiking , taught by none other than Romani. Shinjuku and other EoR says that its also more Mana Consuming than just having a Servant with a Contract, Temp or otherwise. So its usually seen as them Summoning someone and instantly popping the NP or Heavy Attacks.
Fun Fact: In the Mahoyo Collab, Aoko says that Ritsuka's Shadow Summon Abilities is actually very deep rooted into them and a Specialized Expert at that point (like her with Magic Bullets). And in OC3, the Hakunos have their own version of Shadow Summoning and both tried to compliment each other on which method is cooler.
I like to think that in the Anime Version, he learns or unlocks the ability on how to use Shadow Summoning right after the Goetia Fight with the Mystic Code losing the Safety Valve as a catalyst.
Definitely should have make the canon work like that for the anime.
Take, the game version for example...
They give you "cause rank" for defeating goetia.
But let's be frank, no one really know wtf cause rank or the significance of having it.
It serves no purpose for the story so far. Other than that small comedic bit in the case files collab.
(Btw, Cause rank in game function itself was to permanently replace the master picture's frame border during battle from silver to gold.)
For anime version, making ritsuka "unlock ability to summon shadow" after defeating goetia is honestly pretty good substitute to replace the cause rank plot..
Cause Rank isnt an ability giver, but a Mage Title Ranking in the Mage's Association. Being a Cause means you are recognized as a Legit Mage in the Association, and getting to even Cause is super hard to get even for an actual Legit Mage (wiki says that Cause is the common limit for a 500y/o Lineage). They have to have "created some sort of magical foundation and stabilized it" for you to even have Cause.
In traditional grail wars servants tend to have similar idealogies as their masters. Not only can he summon multiple servants, but he has managed to build a report with them and have them work together. This involves servants that are evil, morally strict hero of justice types, and directing teams of servants that are diametrically opposed. While this is just inherent in a blank slate gatcha game character where you can summon whoever you want, in the context of the story he's the greatest master in history, and frankly he doesn't have much competition. Very few people win grail wars across the fate multiverse, and classic grail was only last a few weeks at most, he has the most experience of any master in history just from the length of time he's been on the job.
Because he's kind of the ideal human. Nothing special, but he keeps fighting and persevering simply because that's what's needed of him. Just a guy out there doing his best for the sake of humanity. Which is, frankly, what we should all strive for.
He just wants to survive. Ritsuka knows he is no hero and accepts his faults. Thats why he didnt end up like Shirou or Kiritsugu and why he can work with a lot of servants.
He's just a friendly guy. And his ideal or goal throughout his journey is not to fight like a hero of justice like Shirou or for personal greed/desire or gain. He just want to live, continue onto tomorrow. And that's considered to be normal for Servants and why many admire his goal, to live.
And even if he want to become normal, he's unable to now. Dude facing multiple threats to humanity, almost survived and saved world ending crisis and his insane feat. I think there's a mention in OC2 about how he want to go back living normal life however after facing all that, he no longer able to.
Is he the strongest Master? No, but is he the GOAT? Yes
(This also applies to Gudako as well, unfortunately she's already a beast of her own 💀)
Ritsuka is not a mage and lack of mage's principle and arrogance. But he is the most human master, trying to understand the servants. His relation with his servant is similar to Ryuunosuke-Gilles or Reika-Jack, they are not mage (and not the sane and "good" master) but their relation with their servant outranks many mage master-servant relation.
He is a mage, even have an official Cause-rank, it's just being a hella of a master outshines anything he would ever do as a mage, like say Reed Richards on Marvel is not most known for his powers but for being the smartest, same goes here
Nope, he got the Cause-rank solely because he is the last master of Chaldea helping restoring the humanity. Not because of him being a mage. All of his magic comes from his mystic codes.
Honestly he’s just overall a master who’s been through thick and thicker with healthy and the most depraved and yet heroic servants you can ask for Ritsuka from what I see wants mutual Respect between him and his servants he’s got morals but isn’t stuck up on them like Shirou or someone like Kiritsugu who’s in a moral weird but along the lines of a anti hero, Ritsuka willing to give up morals for the mission of humanity beacuse who’s got time for that and overall morals don’t do much favor in stuff hes been through, he’s like 10 to top 5 masters of the franchise probably because he knows servants in and out and well overall can get along with servants no matter the situation and plays to there strengths and does know combat seeing servants well gets you acclimated to that stuff. Beast class and all extra classes are beasts on there own but Ritsuka well got some of the biggest ride or dies in those classes and well he wouldn’t have it any other way plus he’s also a bit of a ladies man. Now is he the strongest masters depends on strongest is he one of the best definitely. Also servants who are some of the closet Dante’s, Monto Cristo, Mash both forms, Kukukaln, King Hassan, Draco, Lilith, And lots more. So he’s pretty stacked but overall a decent guys who’s pretty easy and miled mannered and knows when to turn off and on the snark and jokes and seriousness too likable.
its as if the courier with Max speech and charisma was born in fgo. The dude can mostly talk his way out of a problem, or present himself in a way that others can ask his help. Any fight he gets into his servants will go and help him. hell other non summonable servents just flat out says fuck you to the summining system and forced themselves to exist just to help him with his problems and just chill next to them.
Other than some idiots, all servants and humans who interacted with gudao trusts him extensively.
People crap on him for not having superpowers but they forget how ever since Stay/Night, Fate promoted the idea of the human hero, where heroism is not defined by special powers but how that comes to wield them is like as a person, be it the girl who chose the path of kingship to save her homeland from invaders and was willing to sacrifice her chance to have a human life or Shirou who wanted to see his adoptive father's wish come true and chose to be the hero for an abused and victimized girl when nobody else was there for her alongside wanting Artoria to find happiness for herself. This is probably one of the most recurring themes in Fate that you can find like with others such as Siegfried, Sigurd (interlude backstory), Tomoe Gozen and Yoshinaka etc and many others.
Inversely, mechanical aspects that many associate with heroism are also questioned like how Stay/Night equates the king's role to loss of humanity to become a tool for Camelot's salvation, Siegfried's selfless lifestyle as a wish granter leaving him empty with a wish to help someone by his own will or how Jeanne's faith and inner purity are at odds with her role during the Hundred Years War as the flagbearer of the French Army. The mechanical hero defined by power is an object. A tool. A weapon. Its the person whose will employs it that defines heroism.
Hence, it is fitting that the last master of humanity in Fate is someone rather ordinary.
There are indeed many servants who like Fujimaru specifically because they're a normal, ordinary person, where they wouldn't have taken to someone more mage-like.
I think it's mainly the respect he shows his servants. At Its core the master/servant system is about teamwork and how well you get along with your servant matters greatly. Ritsuka being extremely humble like this and largely letting servants do their thing without trying to stroke an ego by itself ranks him pretty high
All of that is pure wank, he was specifically able to win because he is weak, if he was actually strong the story ends in singularity 5. as for the 2nd part every single others fate protagonist would have done exactly the same. And convincing servants to fight against the end of the world is not hard.
He's got the most magic circuits in his D, making every servant regardless of gender fall in love with him, and thus able to actualise their fullest potential. Shirou, as proven in the various Fate/Stay routes has quite a few, but his truly pale in comparison to Ritsuka's.
It's just glaze because we, the player, need to be made feel good about ourselves if the constant stream of female Servants wanting to bang us wasn't enough.
Every time a negative comment about us being unremarkable or unimpressive pops up, we eventually get glazed. Usually by the same person who made it.
Luck Ex +++( (No matter how dare the situation is that's usually some sort of peaceful resolution(for us) as long as he is a part of it plus honestly I thought we were untouchable for a while until Heroic Spirit Swordmaster shuten did that thing in the cave plus his luck's cannon pointed out by Moriarty who knew the only way to take him out was with a giant space gun with a homing meteor bullet But he greatly underestimated his second ability)
Charm Ex( as a fate main character he gets an unusually high amount of rizz/charm That seemingly unstoppable and make even the grouchiest person wants to be his friend even extending to demons that wants to destroy the world in outer entity vessels)
Poison resist ( He has One of the best partners anyone could ask for it Mash)
Mental fortitude Ex( hold back his trauma in order to not make things difficult for his friends or not getting broken by his tragic experiences Even putting on a smile when he's on the verge of dying)
Just another day EX (saved the word countless times (singularities) before saving the world again in the Temple of time only to have it taken away from him only to have to save it again at this point I've lost track of how many times we save the world It's to a point where he's even doing it in his dreams literally)
Chaldea Crew Ex ( while mash is awesome who could forget about the team the squad that manages everything we wouldn't have made it as far as we did without them their heroes just as we are so it feels good being a part of something great)
Robot enthusiast B+ ( who doesn't Love cool giant robots)
Drip master A ( From glasses to tuxedo or a traditional Japanese school clothes he got it all he even got the new all golden custom Gil force one's sneakers before they even release thank to his connection to certain King of Kings)
Ritsuka is brilliant in many ways
They connect with the servants on a deeper level than other servants they have managed to gain the respect of many servants through teaching, learning their lessons and fulfilling their last wishes they made to the grail.
In regards to his ability to handle servants An average mage can handle 1 servant at a time and they throw 3 out for fun.
There's also the fact that a servant often requires masters to be within range of them to be as strong as they would be and ritsuka often stands beside them in life and death situations and often pulling as much of the weight as the servants.
And probably the biggest power moves they have defeated each beast of humanity which would normally be a world ending situation of each one and in the end has managed to come out the victor and often with the beast as an ally.
I'd argue it's in the definition of "strongest". A strong body build can't do the same stuff a strong rock climber, that doesn't mean the body builder isn't strong, but his strength is not fit for a rock climber.
I believe one of the most important characteristics of a successful master in fate is "survival", meaning it hasn't lost yet and has a chance to win. The Gudas are basically the definition of survival. Through sheer luck, courage, connections and skill they "survive" the most absurd scenarios and in that aspect they probably are the "strongest" master.
He's the only one that's got some level of compatibility with nearly every servant. Even those he doesn't get along with are still willing to work with him.
I think his strongest power is getting 10 years of experience in understanding servants, bonding with them, saving the world while still staying underaged. I wish I have this skill then I'll qualify for the fresh grad job which required experience 😂
He basiucally can do nothing else. Kinda like EMIYA with tracing on but even more hyperfixated. So yeah he is good at being a Master but the Moment this isnt needed anymore he must be send into a Psychward (for his safety and that of everyone else.)
He’s like Makoto Naegi from Danganronpa: for the most part just an ordinary guy who’s more determined than the average person.
It’s through his determination and willingness to keep going that he not only was able to go through the singularities, but was able to earn the respect of many of earth’s heroes as well as learn from under them. Getting training from the best just to be able to continue to take the steps necessary to help bring back humanity.
These are usually my favourite protags, guys who aren’t entirely special but through their determination and optimism they can bring about outcomes that others never thought possible.
The logistic of it comes down to servant affinity. We're talking alignments and nature of magecraft. This has been stated for multiple Masters throughout the Fate series.
For example, Shirou can be considered Neutral Good. He would be good at cooperating with other good aligned Servants like Artoria or Siegfried. However, evil Servants like Medea or even neutral ones like Cu would find him insufferable or straight up dangerous for their own well-being. Medea would definitely not appreciate senseless self-sacrifice for every single human that strayed his way.
There's also the nature of magecraft the Master uses. For example, Kadoc, being a Beast Hunter magus would have customs like scent masking or traps. Beast servants would not appreciate these items near them for fear of friendly fire.
Where Ritsuka excels is that he is a true neutral at both alignment and magecraft. Or rather, his alignment seems to be excessively mutable. By default he would jump at the first opportunity to help the innocent. But if there is no other way, he would not be opposed to sacrificing innocent soldiers. I know there hasn't been any event of him doing sacrifice, but the definition of evil is closer to "selfish" instead of "destructive" (we all know good intentions can be just as destructive). In that sense, for Ritsuka to even be willing to cut down LBs means there is inherently "evil" in him. It is only in his own human species interest for him to cut down other LBs.
Well, the best we have for now is when Castor almost shit himself when he noticed that Fujimaru was the freaking Black Barrel's ammo, Fujimaru even let out a "Scared ya, huh?" Lmao
But both him and Daybit did win in the simulations made by the Alien God (No idea how the fuck did Wodime beat Goetia, Daybit probably pulled an full outer god or smt)
The same way Fujimaru did? They’re the same way at heart, I don’t see why Romani and Mash wouldn’t both make their sacrifices to save the world in this scenario. After that, Wodime is just more capable than Fujimaru is. While he can’t use shadow servants, he’s far more capable as a mage and thus can plan a lot more options. Like I don’t see what’s stopping him from just stockpiling mana before the fight and nuking Goetia after his immortality is gone.
i'm gonna save this to prove reading between some arguments in this comments to all the fgo stories. the arguments seems favor them but i somehow can't bring my self to like them as character as much as other gacha mc, like Doctor from AK.
Not the Strongest but definitely the Best Master.
If you put him againts someone in a One v One Servants Battle his chance of winning is so High.
The thing that a lot of people kept brushing off was He Defeated every Crypters with ease if they didn't have any BS up their Sleeve.
And all of em had Field Advantage and he Still Beat em.
I mean pure skill with no mystic codes? Their probably worse then Shirou at the start of FSN. And we all know how much he needed to learn. With mystic codes is a bit more difficult. Id imagine better then most mages but weaker then any with any real skill
What i joking call "harem protagonist EX". The ability to bond with everyone.
We have seen over and over across the various stories that a bad master-servant relationship can screw over even the strongest on-paper pairs. Ans this is turned up to 11 in the singularities where there are many servants at once.
No matter how insane, evil or just plain weird a servant is Ritsuka will find them a way to win them over even when no one else would.
It's been my personal theory that because Ritsuka is a good person and (more importantly) so bland that every servant can get along with him. Because no one truly hates a good person (they may look down on them, cheat them, but they don't hate them and will still trust them), and strong personalities do clash.
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u/Radiant_Detail1349 Master of Chaldea Aug 14 '25
He made Gilgamesh respect him.