The Dragon of Albion (アルビオンの竜, Arubion no Ryū?), or just Albion (アルビオン, Arubion?) for short, was a dragon whose corpse formed the Spiritual Tomb of Albion used as the foundation of the Clock Tower.
Profile[]
Background[]
Albion was the name that the ancient Greeks called the island of Britain, before it was known as Britain.[1] However, in the World of Magecraft, it has a different meaning, it's the Last Pure-blooded dragon in the world.[1] Albion was 4.6 billion years old, making it as old as the planet Earth.[2][3]
In Britain, Albion was known as a dragon (mirage) that guards the "horizon" or "boundaries" which is said to be the gate to the other world, the land of hope.[4][5] It was a giant dragon, some saying that it was larger than mountains, and that each of its claws was the size of a tower. Most dragons sensed the end of the Age of Gods, so they moved to the Reverse Side of the World before the disappearance of Phantasmal Species. But Albion, unlike many others of its kind, did not flee with the coming of the Age of Man and stayed for a long time, perhaps because it thought it was strong enough. It later accepted the changing times, but when it finally prepared to head to the Reverse Side of the World, it was too late, as the gate from the surface to the Reverse Side of the World had already closed. Regretting its arrogance but refusing to give up, Albion decided to physically make it down there instead of relying on Mystery, using its giant body to sink into the depths of the earth, where traces of Mystery still remain. However, it died while it dug through the earth, and its corpse, which was larger than a mountain, remained in the ground, gradually being torn apart by the movement of the earth and gradually turning into a labyrinth.[6]
Merlin once foretold how the white dragonWP representing the SaxonsWP and the red dragonWP representing Britain would battle each other, and then afterward Britain would be united by a great king who would defeat the Gauls and Romans.[7] In truth, the red dragon and the white dragon, despite being in conflict, are the same Dragon named Albion.[5][8] Vortigern was the incarnation of a different White Dragon of Britain, the Insect of the Abyss,[9] born from within Britain to destroy human civilization and Britain itself,[10][11] and return the island to its hellish original form; a paradise of darkness forever uninhabitable to humans.[12] He drank the blood of the white dragon, lost his humanity, and become the very will and avatar of Britain.[12][11] As part of King Uther's plan to defeat his brother Vortigern, Igraine was magically impregnated with the concept of the red dragon that protects Britain, and gave birth to Artoria, who had the very essence of the red dragon inside her body.[13][11] Vortigern as the incarnation of the white dragon and Artoria as the incarnation of the red dragon would battle over the fate of Britain, fulfilling Merlin's prophecy.
After Albion died trying dig down to the Reverse Side, its head, now detached from the rest of its body, is kept alive by the magical energy in its eyes and continues trying to dig to Avalon. The tunnels it dug, and the pieces of its body that fused with the earth, became the Spiritual Tomb of Albion that the Clock Tower is now built on top of.[6] The dragon's head is located in Carillon Observatory at the bottom of the tomb.
Modern dragons are just animals, the result of the "dragon factor" left behind by dragons who emigrated to the Reverse Side, and have adapted the dragons' lifestyle while maintaining their own way of life and their own "Dragon territories". Pure-blooded dragons no longer exist on the Planet, besides Albion's corpse that is.[1]
Appearance[]
Albion was both the White Dragon and the Red Dragon.[5][14] It was larger than mountains, with claws as large as towers.[6] Its body appears to be partially mechanical. Its wings bear an emblem that resembles Galahad's shield and Roman numbers on each wingtip, starting from number two and ending at number thirteen.
Melusine's dragon form when she uses Hollow Heart Albion is what Albion looked like,[4] except for the size and color. Her white scales have turned black due to the curses she was exposed to.[14]
Personality[]
Artoria Caster dislikes Albion.[15]
Albion would have rejected a human who can turn into a dragon (such as Sieg/Fafnir) if it ever met one.[14]
Role[]
Fate/stay night[]
Albion inside Saber.
In the Réalta Nua version, Shirou Emiya sees a vision of the red dragon inside Saber when he is transferring some of his Magic Circuits into her to keep her from dying from magical energy loss.[16]
Lord El-Melloi II's Case Files[]
Layout of the Spiritual Tomb of Albion.
The labyrinth that the Dragon of Albion dug is the setting for the final story arc and central to the plans of Doctor Heartless. He required the dragon's vast amounts of magical energy for his ritual to transform his Servant Faker into Iskandar, and so the ritual had to be held in the depths of the labyrinth.[17]
Fate/Grand Order[]
Albion's remnants
In the British Lostbelt Albion died from growing tired after continuously flying over the "sea of nothingness" left behind by the White Titan's destruction of the planet. This also serves as evidence of the fact that, in any sort of human history, it met a tragic death as a "dragon that failed to return to the star".[4] Long ago the northern fairies used to live in dependence on its corpse which formed into an island, and eventually the land grew to connect with the southern island formed on the corpse of Cernunnos, creating modern Britain.[3] Mab had the blessing of Albion.[18]
During the climax of the Atlantic Lostbelt, Beryl Gut entices Koyanskaya to take him to the British Lostbelt by mentioning that the Dragon of Albion, a viable target for her growth into a Beast, still exists within the Lostbelt.[19] This is technically true from a certain point of view, as the rotting flesh of its left hand gained a humanoid form and a personality of its own as Melusine.[20]
While Albion failed to dig all the way down to the Reverse Side of the World in Proper History and died at the 80 kilometer mark underneath London, it did succeed in the Lostbelt and made a tunnel to the "D-Layer", the Inner Sea of the World, 2700 Kilometers down underneath the Lake District. Even so, Albion could not enter Avalon itself due to the passage being too narrow, forcing Albion to die above ground of exhaustion as it circled the empty sea of the world. Albion fell from the sky and landed in the Lake District right on top of the Spiritual Cave, its rotting corpse turning the Lake into a Dark Swamp of the same substance as Moss. Later, because Britain in the Lostbelt is dying, this opens the road to Avalon, but as the world of Magecraft's most scared ground, few are able to enter. However, it allows Artoria, Mash Kyrielight, Ritsuka Fujimaru, and Senji Muramasa to be able to travel down the Spiritual Cave Albion. They are confronted by a remnant of Albion who challenges them to prove their worth.[21]
Abilities[]
Servants, the Heroic Spirits of the Human History, are by themselves considered to be super existences. Amongst them, there are those whose Saint Graph are on different level, and the ones who have the highest levels even amongst the most exceptional ones are called Grand Servants. By those standards, Da Vinci states that Albion would be something like a Grand class among all exceptional Dragons. Unlike Gods and deities whose existence were given shape or even birth upon being observed or believed by others, Albion is a super existence that is alive since the very beginning of the world, a transcendental life form that possesses over 4.6 billion years of data within itself.[3]
Development[]
Albion was designed by CHOCO. Before its current design debuted in Fate/Grand Order, an earlier design for Albion appeared in Fate/stay night as the red dragon inside Artoria.
References[]
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Fate/Grand Order: Cosmos in the Lostbelt - Avalon le Fae: Fae Round Table Domain - Prologue
- ↑ Fate/Grand Order - Melusine's Bond Craft Essence: "Aurora"
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 3.2 Fate/Grand Order: Cosmos in the Lostbelt - Avalon le Fae: Fae Round Table Domain - Section 18: Albion
- ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Fate/Grand Order - Melusine Profile, Translated by Master of Chaos
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 Fate/Grand Order : Melusine Red Hot Deviation description - 希望の地の門番として現れる竜の影。 白き竜と赤き竜は相克し、また同一。 - "A dragon that appears as the gatekeeper of the land of hope. The White dragon and the Red Dragon conflict with each other and are the same."
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 Lord El-Melloi II's Case Files Volume 8: case. Grand Roll (Upper) - Chapter 2 Part 4
- ↑
Fate/Grand Order - Merlin Profile The prophecy that brought him the greatest fame was that of a red dragon and a white dragon that slept beneath Mt. Emrys, and how they would fight after they awoke.
"The red dragon represents Britain, and the white dragon the Saxons. Someday, Britain will gather power under the banner of a great king, and defeat the Gauls and Romans."中でもマーリンの名を広く知らしめるに至った預言が、エリル山の地下に眠る赤と白の竜の存在を言い当てた後、目覚めた赤き竜と白き竜が互いに戦うさまを語ったものである。
マーリンの予言として後世に伝わったその言葉は
赤き竜はブリテンを示し、
白き竜はサクソンを示し、
偉大なる王の下にやがてブリテンは力を集め、ガリアとローマを制するであろう―――― - ↑ Fate/Grand Order: Cosmos in the Lostbelt - Avalon le Fae: Fae Round Table Domain - Section 27: Time of Creation - Boss Battle: Red Dragon (赤き竜, Akakiryū?)
- ↑ Fate/Grand Order: Cosmos in the Lostbelt - Avalon le Fae: Fae Round Table Domain - Section 30: A Midsummer Night's Dream
- ↑ Garden of Avalon - Chapter 01: "Morning of the Choice"
- ↑ 11.0 11.1 11.2 Fate/Grand Order: Cosmos in the Lostbelt - Avalon le Fae: Fae Round Table Domain - Section 3: Aurora
- ↑ 12.0 12.1 Garden of Avalon - "A Tale of Knights: Gawain"
- ↑ Fate/Grand Order - Artoria Pendragon (Saber) Interlude: A Reason to Fight
- ↑ 14.0 14.1 14.2 Fate/Grand Order - Melusine voice lines (Translated by Konchew)
- ↑ Fate/Grand Order - Artoria (Caster) My Room lines: "I don't really hate anything, but, right, I'm not very good with Albion's dragon."
- ↑ Fate/stay night Réalta Nua - Fate route - Day 11: DragonSlay - Dragon's Core
- ↑ Lord El-Melloi II's Case Files Volume 9: case. Grand Roll (Middle) - Chapter 3 Part 4
- ↑ Fate/Grand Order: Cosmos in the Lostbelt - Avalon le Fae: Fae Round Table Domain - Fragment / 6
- ↑ Fate/Grand Order: Cosmos in the Lostbelt - Olympus: Interstellar Mountain City - Section 19: I Am the Thunder that Smites Stars (II)
- ↑ Fate/Grand Order: Cosmos in the Lostbelt - Avalon le Fae: Fae Round Table Domain - Section 16: Gloucester (II)
- ↑ Fate/Grand Order: Cosmos in the Lostbelt - Avalon le Fae: Fae Round Table Domain - Section 27: Time of Creation