Gray

Gray is the apprentice and assistant of Lord El-Melloi II at the Mage's Association's Clock Tower. She is a main character in Lord El-Melloi II Case Files and its sequel series The Adventures of Lord El-Melloi II, serving as the first-person narrator. Gray is a young British girl (specifically Welsh) with green eyes and grayish hair. She has a striking resemblance with Saber to which Lord El-Melloi II believes Gray to be a distant descendant of King Arthur. Her face brings unpleasant memories of the Fourth Holy Grail War for Lord El-Melloi II so he tells her to wear a hood to hide her face. Gray's clothing changes with every story arc in the novels, but in all of her outfits she always wears black and gray, a skirt, and a hood with a cape, jacket, or something similar. Gray was not born resembling Saber, but rather began transforming to look like her after Saber was summoned by Kiritsugu Emiya in the Fourth Holy Grail War. When Saber is summoned again in the Fifth Holy Grail War by Shirou Emiya, streaks of Gray's hair turn blonde. She is about fifteen years old in the events of Lord El-Melloi II Case Files and about eighteen years old in The Adventures of Lord El-Melloi II. However, ever since Saber was summoned in the Fifth Holy Grail War Gray has not aged; as a result, she looks the same at eighteen as she did at fifteen. During Fate/strange Fake, she makes a cameo appearance in her early twenties. Although she can be aloof and shy, Gray is a sweet, innocent and kindhearted girl who gladly puts her life on the line to protect the people she cares about and shows deep concern for others. Her upbringing didn't prepare her for socializing, so she spends discussions hiding behind El-Melloi II hoping no one will address her directly. Because of her sheltered upbringing, others need to explain about magecraft, magic society, or any other subject that's been brought up for her. She acknowledges that her role is similar to Watson from the Sherlock Holmes books. Gray claims she isn't very smart and often apologizes for not understanding things, but Reines believes that it's more like Gray isn't used to dealing with so much information due to her countryside upbringing, and tends to take in everything at once so it overwhelms her. Add accuses Gray of not being dumb, but rather of putting off thinking; of deciding that it's easier to simply say "I can't, I can't". Unbeknownst to most people, Gray hates her face, as it is Artoria Pendragon's face and not her own. She hates for others to see her face, and thus she wears a hood at all times. Gray acknowledges that she has had suicidal thoughts before regarding her situation, but also is afraid of coming back as a ghost even if she were to kill herself. The idea of wandering the earth unable to die scares her. Of course, after growing close with El-Melloi II, Reines, and the others, she has come to a brighter place. Gray is very loyal to Waver because he rescued her from the village where she was born, who saw her as a vessel rather than a person. She refers to him as Sir. Despite his disdain for her face and original intention to recruit her as a soldier for the Holy Grail War, El-Melloi II was the first to acknowledge her as an individual, which spoke more to her than her family's false kindness. Not only does she fight his battles, she also performs many tasks for El-Melloi II that he's either too busy for or can't be bothered to do himself. Though she respects his ability as a teacher, Gray tends to find him exasperating rather than impressive, given she has drag him out of bed in the morning. Upon realizing what Iskandar meant to him after seeing El-Melloi mournfully talk to his mantle, Gray desires to have the two reunited. It is the first earnest wish she's had since coming to London, and frequently defends or ruminates on Iskandar's importance to El-Melloi II. She finds Hishiri and Luvia's beauty quite arresting on multiple occasions, and thinks to herself about how handsome Melvin is. Svin's behavior around her causes her to falsely believe he hates her, oblivious to his affection for her. In the anime adaptation Gray appears to have a crush on El-Melloi II, but it is not present in the original novels. Her experiences with the dead and her childhood means she isn't particularly perturbed by situations related to it, such as eating breakfast with a pair of disembodied eyes watching her the whole time. Although she was a gravekeeper, Gray is noted to be afraid of ghosts. Her fear of them comes from how due to her nature she is too susceptible to being influenced by their negative thoughts and feelings. When surrounded by ghosts in Adra Castle, Gray was so scared that it was almost impossible to move her body and she wanted to throw up. She does feel slightly sad though when watching horror movies with Reines because she feels she should react. She was made familiar with Christian prayers and practices thanks to her village's resident priest Fernando Croze teaching her. She sometimes prays for others and performs the sign of the cross out of habit. She even begged God not to give Waver such a sad death when he was mortally wounded by Faker. Even if she said that ''She didn't believe in God'', these are still leaps of faith on her part. Although Gray is quiet, shy, and reclusive, her thoughts as the narrator of the novels shows that she tends to judge and criticize people very harshly to herself. Even Lord El-Melloi II is not safe from her private criticisms. Gray keeps a notebook that she uses to record and keep track of information for El-Melloi II's cases. Gray enjoys homemade fudge that her mother used to make for her before her face changed, and taught her how to make. She took introductory painting lessons in her hometown, though doesn't think that she's very good at it and never had the opportunity to use a real brush. She enjoys watching a children's TV show where a dog chef becomes a knight in shining armor to protect his princess, and makes sure to leave room in her schedule for it every week, though as she knows it is a show meant for very young girls she denies that she actually likes it.