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BASIC INFO

NAME:	Charles-Henri Sanson
A.K.A.:	Assassin
CANON:	Fate/Grand Order
HOMEWORLD:	Earth
AGE:	Appears in his 20s
GENDER:	Male
SPECIES:	Servant

FIRST GLANCE

APPEARANCE:	01. 02. 03.
HEIGHT:	5'10"
BUILD:	Rather tall
HAIR:	White
EYES:	Light blue
DRESS:	Mostly black, formal
SCENT:	Clean, faint whiff of lilies
VOICE:	Miyano Mamoru; soft and somber
DEMEANOR:	Measured, aloof

PERMISSIONS

BACKTAGGING:	✔
4TH-WALLING:	Ask first!
THREADJACKING:	✔
MIND-READING:	Ask first!
FIGHTING:	✔
ROMANCE:	M/F preferred
INJURY:	✔
KILLING:	Ask first!

LA MORT ESPOIR
death is hope for tomorrow

PERSONALITY

A person's first impression of Charles-Henri Sanson is that he is stoic and unfazed, almost to the point of being cold and unfeeling. That person would be both right and wrong at the same time.

It is correct to say that Sanson, having served as an executioner for many years and having seen more than his fair share of death, blood and severed heads, is hardly flurried by the prospect of death or killing. This lends an air of morbidity to his speech, and he can speak so casually about death and dying to the point of possibly creeping others out. After all, this was his bounden duty, the burden set over his shoulders. This shows that if there is something that must be done, though repulsive, especially for the pursuit of justice or a greater good, you can trust that Sanson will carry it out unflinchingly.

He believes deeply in justice, in wrongs that must be righted and vindicated. What he detests above all things is a false accusation. Sanson knows that not only has he been given a duty not many people would be able to carry, but it is given to him for the sake of peace, order and justice. Death is seen then, as a way to exact justice. Criminals are sinners who deserve death, and in order to right the balance, Sanson wields the executioner's sword.

However, because of his line of work and the lives that he has taken, Sanson also views himself as a sinner who must atone for the blood on his hands. He carries regret over the things he has done, about how he strove to make the execution process painless to reduce people's suffering, only to continue as the people's instrument of death. His regret overflows into self-loathing, and he believes himself unworthy, bloodstained and repulsive, just as the people of his time treated him. This goes as far as him saying it's karma he deserves whenever he is defeated in battle. He tends to shut himself away from people who he believes do not deserve to mingle with someone like himself, and doesn't even want to share what his wish on the Holy Grail is.

As a result, Sanson comes off as a gloomy character - stoic, yes, but at the same time, bothered and haunted by his past, all the things he has done, and his identity. He's quite aware that he was summoned as an Assassin for his proficiency in killing - and in fact, his body count exceeds those of most actual assassins.

Despite his complicated feelings about his role as a Heroic Spirit (and no, he would certainly not consider himself heroic, although he would concede that he dispenses justice), Sanson remains loyal to his cause and to his Master, vowing to fight for them in this battle. When he wants to accomplish something or upholds something, he can be very determined and passionate about it.

But deep down, Sanson appreciates love, tranquility, and the finer, more beautiful things in life. His humor, though with a tendency to be dark, can be deadpan and occasionally witty when he's in one of his better moods.

HISTORY

THE FGO VERSION

Charles-Henri Sanson is the fourth head of a family of affluent doctors who likewise served as executioners of France. Though he showed promise as a doctor who served the poor and provided progressive treatments for them, he was soon called upon to wield the sword of the headsman, much to his reluctance. He would go on to execute many different people, from the royalty to the peasantry, including King Louis and Queen Marie Antoinette, especially with the advent of the guillotine.

THE REAL HISTORY (a.k.a. what I use to fill in the gaps, based on Memoirs of the Sansons and other research)

The Sansons were executioners for six generations, beginning with Charles Sanson de Longval, a soldier who married into the profession and agreed to discharge its duties because of his undying love for an executioner's daughter. Charles Sanson de Longval's descendants and heirs were Charles Sanson II, Charles Jean-Baptiste Sanson, Charles-Henri Sanson, Henri Sanson, and Henry-Clement Sanson. Henry-Clement was the last of the line, having been dismissed from service and leaving no sons to succeed him.

Born to Charles Jean Baptiste Sanson and Madeleine Tronson, Charles-Henri Sanson was the eldest of 10 children. All of Jean-Baptiste's 7 sons became executioners, but it was Charles-Henri who had the distinction of directly succeeding his father and becoming Monsieur de Paris, and was said to be morally and physically superior to all his siblings. Charles-Henri likewise boasted an elegant manner of dress that rivaled that of the nobles.

As early as his school days, he bore the shame of his family name. He took up anatomy and dissected the bodies of those he executed in his research. His family treated paupers and studied human anatomy and remedies. Sanson de Longval and Jean-Baptiste in particular were known for this.

Before he was officially appointed executioner and received the papers of his authority, Charles-Henri assisted his father and his uncle Nicolas Gabriel Sanson (notably, during the torture and execution of Damiens, who attempted to assassinate King Louis XV). Whenever Jean-Baptiste was incapacitated to discharge his functions, which became more often as he fell ill, it was Charles-Henri who carried them out. Jean-Baptiste's mother, Marthe Dubut, sought to get Charles-Henri appointed as executioner despite his being only a teenager at that time.

Once, when he dined with a Marquise and she discovered who he was, she brought a case before the Parliament demanding that he make restitution for her and claiming that he has no right to dine even with the bourgeoisie. Without a lawyer to take his case, Charles-Henri delivered an impressive speech exhorting the need for his functions and lamenting the stigma he bears despite the necessity of the person of an executioner. Later, he and his brother Louis Cyr Charlemagne Sanson would lobby for executioners to have equal rights like other citizens, and to outlaw the use of the derogatory term "bourreau" to describe them.

Straddling a turning point in French history, Charles-Henri served as executioner both during the reign of the monarchy, and when the French Revolution broke out and ushered in the Reign of Terror. He, along with two of his brothers, executed King Louis XVI, and armed themselves in the occasion that an opportunity to free the king presented itself, with the intention of assisting King Louis XVI's escape. Later, Charles-Henri's son Henri Sanson would preside over the execution of Marie Antoinette. But Charles-Henri not only executed royalty. He eventually also put to death the revolutionaries who rose to power, such as Danton, Desmoulins, Saint-Just and Robespierre. Though power changed hands quickly in those days, Charles-Henri remained a stalwart constant and held sway over the scaffold for about forty years.

He married Marie Anne Jugier and had at least two children - Gabriel and Henri, the latter of whom would succeed him and become the fifth head. Gabriel was said to have died when he slipped off the scaffold while displaying a severed head after an execution. Marie Anne survived Charles-Henri by twelve years and would later assist Henry-Clement, their grandson, in writing and compiling Memoirs of the Sansons. Henri became an artilleryman and when he was unwittingly caught in a controversy with his uncle and their men, he very nearly had to be executed by his own father.

Charles-Henri enjoyed other hobbies, such as shooting, playing the violin, and gardening. According to Henry-Clement, there was a portrait of Charles-Henri in a shooting costume and with his dog in their home. It was allegedly during a little recital with the instrument maker Schmidt that the guillotine was first conceived, when Charles-Henri confided in his friend about the need for a machine that would execute people efficiently and painlessly. In his twilight years, he tended tulips.

On his deathbed, Charles-Henri expressed his wish that his son and grandson continue to serve as executioners out of duty and obedience to the law, and to never shirk from the responsibility placed upon them, as no one in their family had ever abandoned their duty. Though Henri and his wife Julia, and even Marie Anne, were opposed to the young Henry-Clement becoming an executioner, Charles-Henri's dying wish was fulfilled, and both his son and grandson became his successors.

INVENTORY AND ABILITIES

WEAPON. His executioner's sword. Can appear and disappear at his will. Really large. Customarily, executioner's swords are broad, blunted at the tip (because you don't behead people by stabbing them, and stabbing just causes more suffering than a swift decapitation), and etched with words or symbols of justice. Sanson's sword has "Epee de Justice" engraved near the end. No really, look closely at that scan.

NOBLE PHANTASM. La Mort Espoir, a large guillotine that materializes to deal significant damage to a single enemy immobilized by shadowy hands popping up out of nowhere. Has a low chance of causing instant death. If the enemy doesn't die, their defense is decreased

SKILL #1. He can deal more damage against evil-aligned enemies and attack them more efficiently by virtue of his being an executioner.

SKILL #2. Showing remnants of his practice as a doctor, Sanson can heal himself or his allies.

SKILL #3. Having studied the human anatomy and the most effective ways to execute people, he has an attack advantage over human opponents and enemies. Basically, one can imagine he knows exactly where to hit and how hard in order to either injure, maim or kill a human being.

SERVANT PHYSIOLOGY. As a summoned Servant, he possesses superhuman strength, reflexes, speed and agility, on top of the abilities described above. He isn't as sensitive to temperature changes, and doesn't need to sleep or breathe. Though he is ranked low among Servants in terms of power (since he's a two-star bronze Assassin), he nonetheless exceeds the skills of a regular human being. Because he is an Assassin-class Servant, he possesses Presence Concealment. It's exactly what it says on the tin; he can disappear from another Servant's radar for a stealth attack or a quick attack. Yeah, yeah, we know he wasn't really an assassin in his previous life.