From the legendary Excalibur to the mighty Gae Bolg, there are a lot of strange and powerful Noble Phantasm inthe Fate franchise. Every servant has their own unique Noble Phantasm, and every single one of them has the capability to cause heavy damage or even invoke unique effects on its targets.
That being said, the most iconic, and arguably the strongest, one of them all, is Gilgamesh’s Gate of Babylon. This particular Noble Phantasm has dominated and terrorized everybody that is unfortunate enough to stand in Gilgamesh’s way. So let’s use this chance to dive deep into this overpowered Noble Phantasm.
Related:A Beginner’s Guide to Fate/Stay Night
What is Gilgamesh’s Gate of Babylon?
We all said that the Gate of Babylon is Gilgamesh’s Noble Phantasm. However, it’s actually a lot more complicated than that. As the name suggests, the Gate of Babylon is merely a “Gate” to Gilgamesh’s majestic treasury. Asa King of Heroes, Gilgameshamassed the biggest collection of weapons, artifacts, and other valuable items during his lifetime. And all of those weapons and items are stored within his treasury.
It is said that his treasury contains a near infinite amount of weapons and items from all over the world, rated between Rank E to Rank A++. Through the Gate of Babylon, Gilgamesh can instantly summon swords, spears, axes, hammers, and all other types of weapons stored inside the treasury. To average heroes and servants, the Gate of Babylon is actually a useless Noble Phantasm. After all, one needs to have a ridiculous amount of weapons for this Noble Phantasm to pose any threat to their opponents. So in a way,the greedy King of Heroes Gilgameshis the only one who can properly use the Gate of Babylon.
What’s even more impressive is the fact that quite a number of those weapons can be considered as treasures worthy of the name of Noble Phantasm. And they are not mere copies of the originals like the ones made in Archer’s Unlimited Blade Works either. The weapons within the treasury are the originals. Some even said that most Noble Phantasm weapons that we know today, or currently used by the servants, are weapons that were once stored within that treasury. Additionally, buried deep beneath the treasury is Gilgamesh’s true Noble Phantasm, a reality-bending sword called Ea.
How Gilgamesh Uses the Gate of Babylon
Gilgamesh can freely call upon any weapons or items stored within his treasury. When those weapons are called, there will be something akin to golden water ripples hovering in the air. The weapons would then slide through those ripples. Gilgamesh can pick any kind of weapon from his collection, and use it as is. However, he prefers to summon a couple weapons at the same time, and launch them towards the enemy as high speed projectiles. These long range attacks are the reason why Gilgamesh is classified as an “Archer” whenhe was summoned during the Holy Grail War.
Gilgamesh doesn’t need any incantation or move any muscle in order to open the gate. And although the gate often opens up behind Gilgamesh, with either the tip or the hilt of the blades facing the target, he can actually summon that gate in any place that he wants. He can create the gates on top of the target in order to incapacitate them, he can open them below the target in order to perform a surprise attack, or he can also create a bunch of gates that surrounds the target, therefore leaving no place for them to flee or evade the incoming torrent of spears and swords.
The rank of weapons that he used differs depending on the enemy that he is facing. A low ranking weapon is usually enough for average humans, butfor particularly strong servants, Gilgamesh can also summon treasured weapons that have unique powers. Gilgamesh has total control over everything that he pulls out of the gate. That means he can store the launched weapons back into the treasury any time he wants. Not only that, he can also add new weapons or items into his treasury, which means his collection is actually still growing.
Counters to the Gate of Babylon
Although the Gate of Babylon can be said to be one of the most powerful Noble Phantasm inthe entire Fate franchise, there are several servants that can counter this immense force.
