Time for the Lokapala?
Editor's Note: I will not go all in on all the Lokapala for very obvious reasons(Most are amnesiac(They do get a decent amount of characterization regardless) and barely use their skills and more of their powers from their Divinity). Only Ashvatthaman will get any real digging as he's the only one really fleshed out. Speaking of which...
Historical depiction · Appearance
Ashwatthama is a warrior of the strongest rank that appears in the Mahabharata, and despite not having the same dramatic quality as Karna or Arjuna, he owns an abundance of episodes.
It is said that, having learned of rage with the death of all the important men of his army, starting with Karna among them, the fall of the leader Duryodhana into a moribund state, and the murder of his father Drona, his comrade in arms Karna, and the king he served, Duryodhana, through cowardly tricks, he carried out a nocturnal assault prohibited by the written vows of the warrior status, slaughtered thousands of people, and was driven to an effective rout.
After that, he was punished to wander the forests during 3,000 years for surrendering. Also, the jewel on his forehead that he submitted as a proof of surrender, would be later inserted in the royal crown.
Here, Ashvatthaman's introduction by Karna.
Here, Nemo(Captain) states that from his own personal experience, Ashvatthaman is as strong or stronger than Karna which the latter agrees with the assessment.
Here, Ashvatthaman's backstory.
Here, Ashvatthaman(In Lostbelt 4 obviously) is Scandaniva Pepericono's Servant(or was... and then became it again...)
Here, how Ashvatthaman ultimately lost that contract and was put under Arjuna's services.
Here, Ashvatthaman seems to represent Yama for Arjuna's Lokapala(If I'm wrong, I'll remove this as I plan on really looking through this again to be sure)
Ashvatthaman's Curse Here, after a battle against Ashvatthaman, the characters' defeat him but he immediately starts regenerating again before he gets more "pain" than usual.
Here, Rama figures out he's cursed and it's the type of Curse that not only torments Ashvatthaman's body but his Servant Spirit Origin entirely.
Here, Rama states that it's so strong that not even a great Warrior can remove it and must be tied to his legend irreparably and Pepe realizes it's a Curse from Krishna.
Here, Nemo goes into how Asvatthaman ended up getting that Curse(more backstory).
Here, Pepe states he has never seen that when he first summoned Ashvatthaman and Da Vinci Lily basically explains the entire situation including how he can't die to escape it either.
Magic Resistance: A Cancels all magecraft of rank A or lower.
In fact, a modern mage could not hurt Ashwatthama.
Not really seen in story but as stated above
here, God Arjuna was able to remove Ashwatthaman's contract from Pepe(Which would be similar to Rule Breaker at the least)
Independent Action: EX The ability to act even in absence of a Master.
As long as Personification of Rage continues, Ashwatthama will head anywhere to defeat the enemy.
Also not shown in the story as he was working on God Arjuna's Magical Energy even after he defected from Rama taking in his curse
Personification of Rage: EX He whose half of the body is inhabited by Shiva, will never stop until the enemy is defeated once his rage is fired up.
While the description itself isn't shown in the story(only really told in clumps but not demonstrated):
Here, he WAS able to reach 3rd Ascension through his sheer rage boiling over being pitied.
Jewel of Mani: B A jewel embedded in his forehead since he was born.
With this, he could defend himself from demonic entities or beasts.
Later, he handed it over as a proof of surrender.
Again not shown in the story(The Jewel is only really stated as a part of his backstory but not much else) and God Arjuna sent the Sacred Beasts after them anyway which have no relation.
Violation of Chivalry: A The vows established between the warrior class (Kshatriya) were trampled underfoot in succession at the great war of the Mahabharata.
Vengeance called vengeance, and offense propagated offense. Ashwatthama was so angry, he performed a prohibited nocturnal assault, and brought down the enemy.
Sensing a pattern yet? Atleast it's more fitting the style of how he fights like a Berserker...
Warrior of the Emperor: A+ A sublimation of the anecdote in which he was praised as the best warrior in the Mahabharata, ranked equal to Arjuna and Karna.
(Although his social status is a Brahmin)
Combined with Violation of Chivalry and Personification of Rage he becomes a mad warrior superior to a Berserker.
It’s not like he loses his rationality, but his tolerance to weak points is slightly weakened due to being in a state of extreme fury.
And speaking of that, this is mentioned somewhat in the story and shown on multiple fronts that Ashvatthaman has surprising intelligence and rationality despite his extreme anger(this will be in it's own section).
Divinity: A+ He is said to have half the body of the highest Indian god, the avatar of destruction, Shiva.
Here, Ashvatthaman's main crux of his plan can only be done as he is Shiva's Avatar
Noble Phantasm Sudarshan Chakra – Yamraj: O’ chakra, stir up the raging flames
Rank: A+
Type: Anti-Army Noble Phantasm
Range: 1~50
Maximum number of targets: 500 people
Sudarshan Chakra – Yamraj.
Unusually, the weapon he didn’t, he couldn’t use in his previous life, has become a Noble Phantasm.
He who has obtained the giant chakram, freely used this weapon and kept carving it in his memory as a warrior at the time of being summoned as a Servant.
In other words, the entirety of his way to use the chakram is self-taught, an original style that wasn’t taught by anyone.
While it's obviously used in the story(It's his main weapon after all), it's never really stated or shown to have any real reverence despite being Shiva's weapon and one he canonically could never wield before... though considering how it is in it's True Name Release, it seems like it actually SHRUNK for his use
Here, we do see the Chakram actually create it's spikes from the area it rolls over.
Here, in many of his attack animations, you can also see Blades appear on the "Outer Portion" as well as the insides of the Chakram.
Brahmashirastra: O’ scorching light, manifest the ocean of imprisoned death(Or the move that will NEVER be used...EVER)
Rank: EX
Type: Anti-Land Noble Phantasm
Range: 1~30
Maximum number of targets: Everything within range
Brahmashirastra.
The ultimate weapon, received from his father Drona.
Although he was told not to use this weapon no matter what kind of disaster he encountered, Ashwatthama finally activated it, sparked by Duryodhana’s death.
This weapon that possesses the destructive power to paralyze the world,
despite having been antagonized by Arjuna shooting with his bow at full power, left ravages that were said to turn the whole surroundings into a barren land for twelve years.
Although it’s registered as a Noble Phantasm,
Ashwatthama will not use this Noble Phantasm.
It will not be used in 『FateGO』 either.
Here, Nemo explains Ashvatthaman's defining act in detail which includes him using it on an unborn kid and the last of the Kuru before Krishna stopped it.
Strength, Durability, Endurance, etc. Here, Nemo(Captain) states that from his own personal experience, Ashvatthaman is as strong or stronger than Karna which the latter agrees with the assessment.
Here, Ashvatthaman fought Karna atleast in the high thousands of times in the "Void" and the both compliment each other in how strong they are(Karna calling Ashvatthaman one of the strongest Warriors he's met).
Here, It's heavily implied by how Rama stated the Curse is handled and later by his reasoning for why he took the Curse would weaken him not as badly as Ashvatthaman was(
Here, where it would only cut Rama's power in half due to him being the Avatar of Vishnu), Asvatthaman was heavily weakened by Krishna's Curse in many respects.
Here, Rama states that Ashvatthaman is skilled enough tactician to serve as the Commander in Chief in the war.
Here, Da Vinci Lily is also awaiting how he would be able to deal with God Arjuna. And of course he does:
Here, after Ashwatthaman is free from his curse due to Rama, after mentioning the that Chaldeas has the right track, that he has an all-or-nothing gambit to weaken Arjuna enough that there's a slight chance at victory.
Here, while Ashwatthaman mentions that being able to remake the World makes him the Perfect God, it's also a major weakness as being able to even slightly go against it will make him not perfect anymore. Koyansaka compares it to a a priceless gem losing it's value by getting a scratch on it.
Here, Ashwatthaman's plan is to ultimately survive a Mahapralaya and completely survive it, showing that doing such a thing would absolutely destroy his "perfection" in the process.
Here, Ash explicitly notes that you have to also account for Douman's presence so you can't just "take it to the face" normally. Here, he ultimately states you MUST come off like you belong there. Here, Ashwatthaman's last part of the plan is that he will send Lakshmibai and Ganesha back in time. After some back and forth, Here Pepe states that it's insane to see Ash about to send Lak and Gan back in time and it's not too different from Rayshifting, Holmes disagrees with the comparison as the latter is based on Spiritron Theory and full engineering, this is once in a lifetime feat built on coincidences. Here, Holmes state this is only capable of being done due to the constant Yuga Cycles completely destabilizing Time and Space and the full use of Shiva's power as the Ruler of Time.
Here, Ash states they must endure many, many cataclysms from the past to the present to sufficiently weaken Arjuna. Here, when Ganesha asks how long they have to do it, Ash states it will have to be when Arjuna actually rules the World so thousands of years, if not longer. Here, their plan turns out to be a success as Arjuna never realized the Skyboulder is supposed to exist in his world despite Ashiya stating otherwise.
Here, Ashvatthaman is also the one who ultimately got Karna out of the "Void" of Lostbelt 4 and with his Spirit Core and thus Shiva's Power.
Here, after Pepe distracting him, Karna hits Ashvatthaman with a True Name Release Vasavi Shakti but Ashvatthaman survives with constant healing from God Arjuna but is unable to pursue(In fairness, Karna and the others are gimped as well in terms of their power as well):
To give more context to this, Rama, Karna and Nehza are explicitly nerfed in Lostbelt 4 due to God Arjuna's meddling Here. It still remains even at the tail end of the Lostbelt Here(Although Rama states it's not as bad on Karna due to Ganesha's host remembering him atleast) so again, Vasavi Shakti is nerfed.
