#definitely not still salty about him having nothing to do in LB5-2 despite Zeus being the final boss nope

[asclepyus]

Was going to ask after seeing your post about Asclepius differences in lb4 and in chaldea would you want to share more of your thoughts ? Or something similiar to a character analyzes if you'd be up for it!

SORRY THIS TOOK SO LONG I definitely have many thoughts on this I’ve just been exhausted but here we go

When looking at LB4’s Asclepius it’s really important to remember the fundamentals of the Lostbelt. Every single enemy servant in LB4 is an extremely unique case compared to most other story chapters up to this point due to Arjuna’s interference with the world and the servants’ spirit origins; each one of the Lōkapāla has had their spirit origins altered due to the implantation of divinities which resulted in them all seeing drastic changes in their personalities and thought processes, some more than others. This is really important to keep in mind when comparing Asclepius’ personality and actions in LB4 to how he normally conducts himself, especially considering how out of all the Lōkapāla he has the absolute worst relationship with gods to the point where it has already affected his base spirit origin as a servant even without outside interference. Asclepius’ hatred towards the gods is literally the cornerstone of who he is as a heroic spirit and every other aspect of him revolves around that, and if you don’t remember that when looking at him as a whole you’re never going to understand him as a character.

Now, in LB4 the first divinity he was given was Yama who in the simplest terms possible is the closest divinity India has to Hades. And already even at this point in time this has caused huge instability because not only was he summoned by a god (regardless whether he has direct negative feelings about God Arjuna or not he’s still a god), the Indian divinity implanted in him is also the god most directly linked to death. And Asclepius doesn’t realize how much this has actually damaged his state of being because he’s the kind of person that will always focus on others around him before ever considering himself, as shown by his spirit origin literally breaking down on itself before he even realizes what’s happening. He himself also doesn’t realize his actions in LB4 are contradictory and at conflict with who he truly is even when it’s pointed out to him. The same person who willingly let a plague run rampant in a town for the purpose of studying it also stopped in the middle of a battle to treat a child’s wound, the latter of which he did without hesitation or a second thought because it was his true nature finally shining through the muddled mess that his spirit origin has become. He also naturally deflects any questions about his motivations or who he is in LB4 because he does not know. Before we defeat him quite literally the only things fueling him are his determination to progress his knowledge of medicine and his absolute blind rage towards the gods. Those are the only two things he had been clinging to since Arjuna had summoned him in order to keep himself going and that in itself caused a huge loss of sense of self and identity in him. He never answers a single question directly about himself and the only time he talks about anything personal is when his death by Zeus’ hands is brought up and then it’s just blind rage. His profile in the FGO materials even mentioned that all of these factors combined “caused him to go berserk” in the context of LB4 because he had long since lost his grasp on who he is and who he’s supposed to be. During his last conversation with Tell as well, Tell makes a comment about “his posture being strange” which insinuates that after the second divinity was implanted into Asclepius he became so departed from his true nature that it actually caused a physical change in him. Once we defeat Asclepius and he starts to realize who he has become in this Lostbelt he even asks if he looks strange to us because he’s finally come to understand that this isn’t who he’s supposed to be, and he doesn’t recognize the person he’s been confronted with.

(And this isn’t even to mention the consequences of continually dying and resurrecting through the Yuga cycles under Arjuna’s hand, which even Pepe had mentioned at some point that no matter how many times he went through it it still unnerved him to the core. I could honestly write an entire other essay on the parallels of Asclepius resurrecting the dead and him dying/resurrecting through the Yuga cycles)

NOW at the very end of LB4 Asclepius manages to be re-summoned and at this point the divinities that were placed in him are long gone and he even mentioned outright that his head was clearer than it had been, which further proves that the divinities had in essence destroyed his mental state and everything that comes with that. Now obviously he isn’t completely back to normal because he’s still the same version of himself that we had been met with previously so he’s still not at his best and he’s still dealing with the consequences of the Lostbelt, but he’s finally thinking clear enough to grasp at his true nature and self again and in fact all things considered we might not have been able to make it out of this Lostbelt alive without him delaying and injuring Ashiya. And now everything after this point in LB4 is a much clearer picture of who he really is at his core; even heavily injured and on the brink of disappearing himself he still finds it in him to help a child heal his mother, despite it not being a unique or “interesting” case of sickness because despite everything no matter how much he mutters and groans he exists to heal and to help others. And at the end of the day quite literally everything he’s ever done for humanity boils down to his sadness over the mother he never met who was cruelly murdered by the gods, and the fact that he’s never truly figured out how to process his grief over that and the wish he holds that someday she’ll know how he feels whether it comes directly from him or not.

AND NOW the Asclepius that exists in Chaldea is who he truly is as a heroic spirit now that he’s free from the confines of the Lostbelt. At surface level he really might not seem all that different, but taking everything above into consideration he very much is a different person. He still hates gods above all else but he’s not out of his mind with rage and he’s regained most of his sense of identity, as much as he can anyways with his spirit origin unstable as it is.

SPOILERS FOR HIS INTERLUDE AHEAD !!

In his interlude you get a lot better of an insight into how his thought process works, and how he treats his relationships with others. He genuinely respects and is in awe of everything Roman did to prepare for his inevitable departure from Chaldea, and there’s so much to be said even from the very few lines of dialogue he has about Roman towards the end of his interlude. I really like to think that learning just how utterly human Roman was through everything was Asclepius’ starting line as a servant for remembering his undying love for humanity since it’s stated in his materials that he’s not even particularly aware it exists anymore. In the long run the pure humanity that Asclepius sees every single day in Chaldea’s staff and in Guda particularly are going to help more and more to bring him closer to forgetting his sheer rage for the gods and overshadowing that with the sheer love he has for humans. He’s always going to be cynical and introverted but I do hope someday we’ll get to see the softer parts of him that were burned away by Zeus’ lightning at his death, and that maybe, just maybe his wish to simply let his mother know how he feels for her will be fulfilled one day.

#long post #IM ON MOBILE SO I CANT ADD A READ MORE IM SO SORRY #anyways I’m demanding for DW to give him more in story development he hasn’t gotten nearly enough #definitely not still salty about him having nothing to do in LB5-2 despite Zeus being the final boss nope #thank you for the ask~! I will rant about asclepius forever and always I love him so much he’s so good #asclepius #ash replies #anonymous