{"id":886,"date":"2019-01-31T22:00:27","date_gmt":"2019-01-31T13:00:27","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/biggestinjapan.com\/?p=886"},"modified":"2019-01-31T22:20:07","modified_gmt":"2019-01-31T13:20:07","slug":"in-the-first-lord-el-melloi-ii-case-files-novel-fate-meets-a-classic-murder-mystery","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/biggestinjapan.com\/index.php\/2019\/01\/31\/in-the-first-lord-el-melloi-ii-case-files-novel-fate-meets-a-classic-murder-mystery\/","title":{"rendered":"In the first Lord El-Melloi II Case Files<\/i> Novel, Fate<\/i> Becomes a Classic Murder Mystery"},"content":{"rendered":"

Hey everyone. Before we get started, I just wanted to give out a big thanks to Joshua Ott for sponsoring this review with his <\/span>Patreon<\/span><\/a> donation. (At the $60 a month tier, you are allowed to pick anything up to an including a 13ish episode series to be reviewed\u2013which is released in addition to the one article a week I normally put out here on BiggestinJapan.com.) However, this time around, excited by the New Year\u2019s eve special episode <\/span>Lord El-Melloi II’s Case Files {Rail Zeppelin} Grace note<\/span><\/i>, he chose not only a non-anime, but a novel: <\/span>Lord El-Melloi II Case Files – Case: Adra Castle Separation<\/span><\/i>.<\/span><\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Lord El-Melloi II Case Files<\/span><\/i> is a spinoff novel series of the popular <\/span>Fate<\/span><\/i> franchise that began with <\/span>Fate\/stay night<\/span><\/i> and continues strong today. The story, in general, takes place in a modern day world where magic and mages still exist–though hidden in the shadows of society. Power-hungry and blindingly arrogant by nature, each individual mage hopes to discover a metaphysical path to the source of all things–and in doing so gain true magic far beyond the magecraft they currently practice. <\/span><\/p>\n

However, there is at least one mage who dreams of something different. Once known as Waver Velvet, the man now known as Lord El-Melloi II took part in a Holy Grail War: a magical tournament where seven mages were paired with heroes from myth and legend and fought it out to receive a wish from the Holy Grail. <\/span><\/p>\n

Waver lost the war–along with something even more dear. Now he lives his life searching not for the source of all things, but for a way to meet his heroic partner–his dear friend–once again.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u00a9TYPE-MOON<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

By the time of <\/span>Lord El-Melloi II Case Files<\/span><\/i>, Waver is well on the road to achieving his insurmountable goal. To gain political power within the mage community–power he will need in order to get into another Holy Grail War–he has been adopted into one of the great mage families. However, doing so has left him with debts not so easily covered. Now, more obstacles than ever stand between Waver and his true goal. <\/span><\/p>\n

Comparatively weak in the power of his magecraft and looked down upon by the trueborns of mage society, Waver has one thing they do not: a keen analytical mind. Surrounded by the politics and squabbles facing mage society, Waver and his assistant, Gray, find themselves involved in a series of mysteries that only Waver has the ability to solve and truly understand.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u00a9TYPE-MOON<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The first novel, <\/span>Case: Adra Castle Separation<\/span><\/i> is set a few months before the events of <\/span>Fate\/stay night<\/span><\/i>. In it, Waver and Gray are summoned to an isolated mansion for the will-reading of a recently deceased mage. However, they are not alone. Five other mages and their retinues also arrive–all hoping to receive the mage\u2019s inheritance: knowledge that could greatly alter the standing of any mage family.<\/span><\/p>\n

But getting the inheritance will be no easy task. First, a riddle must be solved in this mansion full of angel imagery and only the first who does will receive the knowledge they all seek. But with such high stakes, it\u2019s no surprise when the first one of them is found murdered. Now, Waver and Gray are in a race against time to not only solve the mystery of the inheritance but of the mounting number of murders as well.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u00a9TYPE-MOON<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Case: Adra Castle Separation<\/span><\/i> draws heavily from the great mystery novels of the past to create a familiar tale: a group of strangers meets at a secluded location and soon the bodies start to fall. However, being set in the world of <\/span>Fate<\/span><\/i>, things aren\u2019t quite that simple.<\/span><\/p>\n

In many whodunit-style mysteries of this type, the case is solved by figuring out the \u201chowdunit\u201d–the way in which the incident occurred. After breaking down how the crime was committed, the person who did it becomes obvious. However, this is not quite how it works when it comes to mysteries involving world-class masters of magecraft. <\/span><\/p>\n

In <\/span>Fate<\/span><\/i>, magecraft works precisely because no one knows how exactly things are done; the very power for magecraft comes from the mystery surrounding it. Each mage family has their own magical secrets that have been passed down over the generations–with only the practitioners knowing the trick behind it all.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u00a9TYPE-MOON<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

This is one reason Waver is so looked down upon in the mage community despite his supposed status as one of the Clocktower\u2019s greatest 12 mages. He is the head of the Department of Modern Magecraft–and the more modern something is, the less mysterious (and thus less powerful) it is. <\/span><\/p>\n

So due to how magecraft works, the howdunit is basically unknowable to anyone besides the culprit and their own immediate family once magecraft is involved. The mystery has to be solved in a different way. <\/span><\/p>\n

Thus to Waver, the mystery is not a \u201chowdunit\u201d but a \u201cwhydunit.\u201d Focusing on the motive rather than the unknowable means, he uses his knowledge of magic and of the history of the various mages present to make intuitive leaps far beyond what the others can to solve the case.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u00a9TYPE-MOON<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

However, what Waver doesn\u2019t quite understand is that his way of making sense of the world makes him anathema to other mages. Mages are, by nature, insular beings. They build their secret magecraft generation by generation. However, Waver has no such family legacy and has had to learn about magecraft mostly through observation of other mages and a study of history–bridging the gaps he finds with his own intuition.<\/span><\/p>\n

As a side effect, he is now able to understand how other mages powers work just through a bit of observation and study. In a world where mystery literally powers the magecraft itself, Waver\u2019s analytical mind makes him a terrifying threat. Through his understanding–and the simple ability to tell others–he can destroy the power of magecraft. In a very real sense, to other mages, he is the death of magecraft personified.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u00a9TYPE-MOON<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But Waver is not the only well-established Fate character to be invited to the\u00a0reading of the will. Luviagelita Edelfelt, who cameoed alongside Waver in the final episode of <\/span>Unlimited Blade Works<\/span><\/i> and has a supporting role in <\/span>Fate\/kaleid liner<\/span><\/i>, is also present. However, while in both of those works she serves as little more than a comedic foil for Rin, Luvia in <\/span>Case: Adra Castle Separation<\/span><\/i> is played completely straight. <\/span><\/p>\n

While young, Luvia has all the pride and power befitting the head of a prominent mage family. This means she is not afraid to kill to get what she wants. In fact, she\u2019s more than willing to kill any who impede or embarrass her–even i<\/span>f that person is one of the twelve masters of the clock tower.<\/p>\n

Of all the mages gathered, she hates Waver the most for the way he recklessly shares his insight. He alone can see through the mystery of her magecraft–and is, in essence, able to damage the power that makes her and her family so great. Yet at the same time, she can\u2019t help but respect him. Because for all her power, he can see further into the realm of magecraft than she can–even when it comes to her own techniques. Thus, she faces a constant internal struggle between her pride and her curiosity when it comes to Waver.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u00a9TYPE-MOON<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Though Waver is at the center of the story, he is not the point-of-view character for the vast majority of it. Instead,\u00a0we see the mystery through the eyes of Gray, his apprentice. The Watson to his Holmes, Gray is quiet and reserved. She supports Waver throughout the case and gives her insights into Waver\u2019s thought process. <\/span><\/p>\n

However, Gray is an unreliable narrator of sorts. While she all but lives with Waver, she knows little of his past–what happened to him in the Holy Grail War and how he came to be the head of the El-Melloi family. All she has to go on is speculation and rumor–both of which paint Waver in a far different light than her personal experience would suggest. Thus, Gray is constantly trying to untangle the mystery of who Waver truly is even as Waver attempts to solve the mystery of the inheritance and the murders surrounding it.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u00a9TYPE-MOON<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

But there is one more riddle to be solved in <\/span>Case: Adra Castle Separation<\/span><\/i>: that of Gray herself. Gray is a young woman shrouded in mystery–literally as she always wears a cloak to conceal her face. She also keeps a strange talking cube in a birdcage hidden beneath her cloak. <\/span><\/p>\n

Over the course of the story, we learn a little bit about her–that she lived in a graveyard before Waver found her and that she has a deep connection with spirits and death. But it\u2019s only during the novel\u2019s action climax that Gray\u2019s true nature is revealed. <\/span><\/p>\n

Gray\u2019s existence expands the <\/span>Fate<\/span><\/i> universe in an interesting new direction. In an age where the modern world is slowly eating away at magecraft, the idea that someone like Gray can still come to exist has interesting implications for the state of the world and magic as a whole. But even in knowing her identity, many of the specifics are glossed over, leaving just enough mystery to leave you wanting for more.<\/span><\/p>\n

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\u00a9TYPE-MOON<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

In the end <\/span>Lord El-Melloi II Case Files – Case: Adra Castle Separation<\/span><\/i> is a fun little twist on the classic \u201cwhodunit\u201d mysteries of old. By adding magic to the formula, you get not only an interesting mystery but a deeper look into how mage society works outside of the various Holy Grail Wars. <\/span><\/p>\n

But more than that, it is an excellent three-part character piece. Not only does it show who Waver has become since the events of <\/span>Fate\/Zero<\/span><\/i>, it elevates Luvia from comic relief to dangerous threat. And with the introduction of Gray, we not only get an audience proxy haunted by her troubled past, but also a character that expands the universe in an exciting new direction.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lord El-Melloi II Case Files – Case: Adra Castle Separation<\/span><\/i> was released in Japan on December 30, 2014. There is currently no official English translation.<\/span><\/p>\n

A stand-alone special, <\/span>Lord El-Melloi II’s Case Files {Rail Zeppelin} Grace note<\/span><\/i>, aired on December 31, 2018, and can be seen with English subtitles on <\/span>Crunchyroll<\/span><\/a>.<\/span><\/p>\n

An adaptation of the third and fourth books, <\/span>Lord El-Melloi II Case Files {Rail Zeppelin} -Mystic Eyes Collection Train Grace note-<\/span><\/i>, is scheduled to begin airing in July 2019.<\/span><\/p>\n

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Top Image Copyright: \u00a9TYPE-MOON<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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