Part 58: Hero of the Poor - Karna - Part 1

Hero of the Poor - Karna





So, our first Tamamo Army Servant will be the Hero of Charity, Karna. Karna is a famous figure from Indian mythology, specifically, a figure in the Mahābhārata. His father was the sun god Surya, his mother, a woman named Kunti, born before Kunti married her eventual husband, Pandu. Being 1/2 god, Karna is among the higher-level divinity Servants (though, as mentioned before, Gilgamesh would normally be the highest-ranked, being more god than man. For some reason, if Tamamo were summoned as a Lancer, in a summer outfit, she has the highest divinity in the series at A++ rank), but such fortune was not particularly reflected in his life.

Shortly after his birth, he was abandoned by his mother and forced to lead a modest life. Well, "abandoned" in the sense that Kunti couldn't acknowledge or accept Karna as a son, and he was mostly treated as an outcast by what family he did have. However, Surya devolved much of his power upon Karna (including his armor, which coats most of his body), and Karna spent most of his existence without a home, which lead to his unique perspective on the lives of society's less fortunate (namely, where he gets his "Hero of Charity" moniker from). Eventually, he ingratiated himself into the Kuru family, who had the unfortunate privilege of being the rivals of his mother's family, the Pandu. Among his half-brothers was the hero Arjuna, who eventually ended Karna's life.

Before his battle with Arjuna, where Karna once again found himself without allies, the god Indra relieved him of his golden armor, which made him invincible. In return, though, Indra bestowed upon the ever-valiant Karna his spear, which he proceeded to carry into battle. And, well, the rest is (mythological) history. In addition to his typical Lancer form, he can also be summoned as a Rider and an Archer, a testament to the omni-talented Karna's ability.

Personality-wise, Karna is a fellow who accepts life's ups and downs, and does not think anything of it. It certainly helps to have been blessed with a god's ability and raiment, but he personally never thought much of it and never thought of himself as particularly blessed. Not a passionate man, but someone who lives and deals with things as they are, and works around that. As I've mentioned earlier, he's a pretty soft-spoken guy and doesn't waste words. "Terse" would be a good way to describe him, but it's more of that he likes to silently assess people and make his thoughts known. Anger or passion are things that are just not part of his outlook on life.

Getting to the game, all of Karna's stages are based on Orchid Words stages. Karna 1 is Orchid 1, Karna 2 is Orchid 4, and Karna 3 is Orchid 5. So, none of the stages are overly difficult to actually win, but Karna 2 is one of the hardest stages in the game to get an EX rank on. We'll just have to muddle through when we get to it.


Karna stage 1

I am Laun...no, I'm a Lancer class Servant. My True Name is Karna. I participated in the Holy Grail War back in the old SE.RA.PH. I fell in battle, and I should have disappeared. ...But, due to a twist of fate, I ended up back here in SE.RA.PH, as a Servant once again. It's rare for a Servant to be without a Master, but the rules of Servants must have changed when SE.RA.PH transformed into what we see today. It's also rare for me to be summoned for something other than fighting. I was touring around the new SE.RA.PH, when...

Excuse me, Mr. Karna? Do you understand we're under attack? Save the monologue for later, won't you?

I understand. There's an intruder from the Saber army. ...Is it my turn, Caster?

Of course. I won't have a care in the world as long as good old Mr. Karna's on the job. Go smash them to bits, won't you?

Right. I shouldn't have let you talk me into this, but as long as I'm on your payroll, I'll earn my keep. Servant Lancer. I will show my worth in battle and bring victory to your cause.

I'm actually curious was Karna means by "payroll". Most of the Servants in this game have no particular obligation to their generals. All of the Dawn Arc generals serve for their own reasons and not out of any particular sense of obligation. Gawain and Cu do follow Nero out of a sense of loyalty, Li's just looking for a good fight, Nameless for his own reasons, as well. Lu Bu, well, it's probably best not to assign any particular loyalty to him, and Medusa's with Tamamo basically because they're both Anti-Heroes, but she's pretty "meh" about things in any case.

Karna's a weird case, though. Apparently he just found himself summoned in the new SE.RA.PH and agreed to help Tamamo for some reason. Well, he'll explain later why he's doing this, but I don't think Tamamo's really *doing* anything for him, you know?

So dependable, so convenient...! All right, you go ahead and take care of everything, and I'll direct you from the safety of my bedroom. ♪

Sure, you may find Tamamo cowardly, but honestly, if I were Tamamo, I would have left Orchid stage 1 to Karna. She knows she's pretty weak as a Servant, so why not leave the fighting to your strongest dude?



I don't have any complaints. It's a little gaudy, but still impressive.

Didn't you just say you let Caster trick you into being here?

...I don't see how you thought I said that. She's treated me well, even though I've never showed much enthusiasm for her cause. What I said was that I would pay her back by winning her battles.

...Is that so? That's an odd way to say, but... No, it's nothing. So you've sworn your loyalty to Caster from the bottom of your heart? You have no ambitions to steal the Regalia and become Sovereign yourself?

That's right. I've promised to join her side. I won't go back on my word. Is that all, Rider? If so, I'm off to battle.

Hm... Do as you like. Elizabeth has gone ahead of you, so please keep an eye on her.

I will. I'm sure we'll get along well, since we're both Lancers. We'll work together to destroy the enemy troops.

Hm, so Lancers are cooperative with each other, Sabers are competitive (according to Nero). Checks out.



So, Karna. He's kind of an awkward guy to play as. He does have a number of pretty damaging special moves, but because his attacks are generally slow, it's hard to pull them off pretty quickly, and thus he suffers a bit from lack of speed in his attacks. He's more nimble even without Reduced Earth than you'd think, but his spear is both a good and bad thing about him. The good is that it's very large, so it can sweep a large crowd in front of you, the bad is that he puts a lot of flourish in his hits and it can be difficult to react quickly to the enemy.





This is his S S S T attack. He'll create a few flame pillars in front of him, then after a short charge-up, and fire an optic beam much like X-Men Cyclops. In terms of damage vs. speed, it's his most reliable move. If every part of the attack hits, target(s) will take a lot of damage, and if the enemy is slightly behind Karna, the eye laser and even drag them in front of him to join the fun. The only problem is it's pretty short-range, which means you'll have to be careful with it.



Fourth screenshot with Elizabeth's line there. What happened here was that Nero, very soon after we arrived, took over the Sector. So next time one of your enemies flies high up in the air, just keep in mind that's *supposed* to happen. For some reason.



Karna's final special move takes inspiration from his father, Surya. He'll do a short charge forward, while on fire, dragging everything he hits with him, then jump into the air and slam back down. Pretty devastating, but it can be a little hard to aim him while he's charging around. Any enemy that's along for the whole ride, however, will take a bruising. Which more or less describes Karna's special moves. Kinda tricky to use effectively, devastating when used right.



Let's decide that now. Show me the power of the Regalia...!

There's actually a fair amount of unique dialogue in this stage. Mostly because Nameless and Gawain have been replaced by Nero and Cu Chulainn, respectively, and Tamamo will comment more on Elizabeth, including mocking Karna for being slow to help out her unreliable maid.



Unfortunately, Nero's a pretty poor match for Karna, since her blazing speed matches quite well against Karna's slow, but powerful attacks. This fight was hairier than I anticipated, since Karna needs room most of all in order to make the most of his abilities.



Another case-in-point is his T T attack, which creates one, then another, circle of lightning. Assuming everything hits, it's plenty powerful, but the problem is most targets hit by the first attack will get bounced out of range for the second. So, it's another attack most effectively used in the corner or up against a map's edges.



His S S S S S attack is fine, though. At the end of flailing his lance around, he'll shoot a little fire out of his hand, then throw his lance forward. Quite effective. Do note that he does have to pause a second to get his spear back into his hand, so you are vulnerable during that time. Thankfully, the thrown lance will give you plenty of room to recover.



His S T attack is decent enough, mainly because it's fast. He'll just shoot out a small fireball out of his hand. It's mostly used for quick damage and pushing enemies away.



Finally, the last special move I'm covering is his worst. S S T will throw an exploding lance at range. Now, the problem here is that he throws it straight up, instead of in a straight line. It makes it really hard to aim this move properly. It does decent enough damage, nothing particularly massive, it's just impossible to catch a charging enemy with it, and you constantly have to think "Is that Aggressor or Servant at it's effective range?", and you don't want special moves to operate like that, do you? It's mostly for follow-up damage or harassing an enemy at a distance. You know, charge in, bait the enemy to attack, and while their attack animations are playing, you launch it at them for harassment damage. It should be noted the lance is doing damage from the very moment it leaves Karna's hands. So if an enemy is jumping at you, or *really* close to Karna's right hand, when he throws it, it'll do damage.

Ooh! Harassing my maid again? I didn't realize newts were so popular! Karna and Liz... Both of them are Lancers, but their battles always go so differently...

Of course, it's got nothing to do with my power! I'm just so charismatic, they can't get enough of me!

I'm inclined to believe that, actually.



Facing these two at once, huh. A little perilous, since both are very fast units, but we have the advantage over Li since all but one of his attacks are close-range. We just have to watch the range on Gae Bolg here. By the way, Karna was responding to...

Then let's see who will come out on top. Don't hold back!



Now we can go bail out Elizabeth, too. Just wouldn't be a stage with Elizabeth as an ally where we didn't have to bail her out, but her Top Idol status compels me. Sorry Nero, but we have actually heard Elizabeth sing in this game. I cannot say the same about you. Ookubo Rumi and Sakura Tenge did hold a real-life duet, though. I can confirm that.



Sucks to be him. Then again, asking a martial arts expert like Li Shuwen to match up against a spear that can kill gods...seems a bit unfair.



A cakewalk... because I was like 8 levels higher than the recommended level for Hard



Again, I wouldn't take it too hard. Li will talk about this in his Side Story, but he can also be summoned as a Lancer, but in the EXTRA series he's only ever been seen as an Assassin. He is a Lancer in Grand Order, though.

You fought so hard, but you still blame yourself. Chinese martial arts have come a very long way. I'd be happy to face your spear another day, but...as fate would have it, we're enemies. So I have to kill you here and now. Curse your bad luck, Assassin.

...Hmph. Losing to a spear is all the more regrettable, but if you're my opponent, I have no other choice but to accept it. But before I surrender my head, let me ask you one thing. Why is a Hero such as yourself helping that Caster? Is she not a beast of ruinous beauty? Your spear has a good nature, unlike mine. Would you stray from that path, knowing the darkness on the road you travel?

Our army's Rider asked me something similar. If Caster were evil, I wouldn't hesitate to strike her down, even as her vassal. But... Let me put your fears to rest about that. Even if Caster has an evil nature, at the moment she's simply one person, who serves a just Master. As long as she serves that Master, her path is a good one. My job is to clear and protect that path the only way I know how.

...Ah, I see why you defeated me. Your convictions as a vassal are far greater than mine. Great Karna. My head is in your hands. Do as you please with it.

...Hm? Leaving it up to me, are you? You really do have a strong will. All right, then...

*fade to black*



What are you thinking? The guy's a pain in the ass! Why didn't you finish him off? I mean, what are you gonna tell Caster? Oh, you're gonna get it. She's gonna zap the hell out of you, just wait!

I'm sorry. I'll take full responsibility. But I couldn't help it. I wanted to witness his spearmanship again. As long as he's alive, I think I'll get a chance to.

Ugh... This is why warrior Servants suck so much... So, what, leaving tough enemies alive, is that like saving the last strawberry on your cake to you guys?

Cake... What? I've heard of Swiss roll cakes, but...

It's such a random enough line that I can only imagine it a reference to something Jinako, his Master in CCC, liked. Otaku girl who was scared of fighting in the Moon's Holy Grail War, or more accurately, the Sakura Labyrinth. I certainly don't remember from apocrypha Amakusa shooting the shit with Karna about Swiss cake rolls.

Oh, forget it. Let's just go home. I'll help you apologize. Call it a "thank you" for saving me out here.

Yes, thank you. I've been told I'm not good with words.