chiron scolds caeneus, heracles, and jason for walking around chaldea with barely any fucking clothes on since it’s already fall and makes them wear this instead
Hi, welcome to the Jason Fanclub where I’m about to scream about how fucking good of a character Jason is, and also about how much I adore his relationship with Heracles. Spoilers for Fate/Strange Fake and bits of Lostbelt 5.
Obscenely Long Post Ahead. Mostly because of Strange Fake quotes but still- I’m so sorry.
Jason is easy to like and easy to hate because of just how... realistic he is compared to other Greek heroes and Servants. And because of how human he is, and how inhuman the others are, he doesn’t get the same pass.
Achilles is a violent dickhead, but he’s... y’know... ACHILLES. Heracles killed his family, but it’s HERC, y’know? So on and so forth.
Jason did the (admittedly really shitty) sin of cheating on his wife, angering Hera, and then... got comeuppance and then some. He didn’t get a pass or anything. Jason and Medea’s situation is a tragedy for both of them, and neither of them were saints and both of them were puppets of the Gods. So, y’know, instead of burning Jason- wait until an Aphrodite or Hera Pseudo-Servant shows up if you want to really avenge Medea, considering they were the ones that messed her up so bad in the first place.
...Like... karma hit him way harder than it did most other heroes, to the point where at the end of his journey he was trying to kill himself- FAILED at killing himself- and got crushed by the wreckage of his own ship.
He deserves a bit of a break. He fucked up and the universe screwed him over tenfold. Even more so when he got a ‘second chance’ in Okeanos and Medea Lily turned him into a writhing mass of demon flesh (which traumatized him so that that it’s burned into his memories as a Servant, according to Atlantis).
Anyways.
So, in Fate/Strange Fake, Alkeides (Essentially Avenger-class Heracles) has a shared dream with his Master, where Jason is ranting on the Argo about how contradictory people are with their treatment of Heracles- calling them toadies and cowards by heralding him as a ‘hero’ when it’s convenient and then calling him a ‘monster’ behind his back. The rest of the section goes on like this (cutting out some of the master’s internal musings).
It’s easy to think that Jason only cares about Heracles because he’s strong. Who wouldn’t try to be friends with an invincible demigod warrior? But it’s deeper than that. Heracles, to Jason, represents the best of humanity and the worst of it. Heracles is a sign that in the world Jason currently lives in- even the strongest people can be unfairly judged- and so Jason’s friendship with Heracles is based around wanting to help him, and create a truly fair world. Because if he can create a world where even the most ‘inhuman’ of humans can be loved, then that’s truly a utopia.
“Even the people who fear you are all hopeless fools. Because they’re fools, they can’t understand the monster you are. They try to use you without understanding you, so they fear you even as they sing your praises as a hero. What a vulgar bunch. They’re no different from ignorant savages offering sacrifices and toadying up to a man-eating wolf that’s not even a monster, let alone a messenger of the gods.”
The man delivered his words in a clear, resonant voice. He spoke not so much as though he was drunk on his own words as he did as though his words were the one and only, blindingly obvious truth.
The reactions of the people around him were varied. Some nodded along with shining eyes, while others flashed grimaces that seemed to say, “He’s at it again.” Near the bow, a female archer with a bestial air was eyeing the blond man with undisguised suspicion. The man either failed to notice her look or deemed it beneath his notice, because he kept talking.
“My country — the country I’m going to make — will be different. I will give every citizen an education. I’ll build a school in the city better than that stable and lend my knowledge to everyone. They’ll all be able to read and write so that they won’t be taken in by unscrupulous merchants. Of course, they’ll never equal my wisdom, so I’ll have to compensate for what they lack.”
A real talker.
“I’m going to be king, after all; I’m prepared for that much labor. As long as everyone obeys me, I’ll give them suitable compensation and a prosperous land. A land where everyone feels safe. In that land... Listen to me! In that land, no one will look at you and be afraid!” The blond man proclaimed, spreading his arms wide and cutting off Alkeides, who had been about to say something. The gesture almost seemed to say that his words were the world itself.
“Because as long as you’re my man, my friend, my property, everyone will understand you.”
The thing is- the affection between them is mutual. While Heracles represents what Jason wants to save as a king, Jason represents to Heracles what it truly means to be ‘human’. The good. The bad. The absolute pure idealologies that come with being a person. Jason doesn’t shy away from the idea that Heracles is a ‘monster’ and constantly beat around the bush- he accepts it and simply announces that if Heracles is a monster, then he’ll create a world where monsters are acceptable.
When Alkeides’ Master talks about the dream later and blatantly shittalks Jason, this is Heracles’ response.
“That man was a vulgar clown with all the weaknesses and twists of human nature in him. Nor can I deny that he always told his companions that he was the one who could make the best use of them. That earned him cold looks from Atalante.”
“...But that told of the same dream equally to me, who was feared as a monster, and to the queen of Lemnos, and even to monsters on the shore that understood human speech. He was aiming to be a king, not a god. Although, I doubt he made a distinction.”
“He was a pitiful man who forgot the teachings of our mutual teacher Chiron and became obsessed with his own desires. Still, there was nothing false about the wild tales he spun.” Alkeides expounded on the man who had been the Argo’s captain with the deliberate tone of a man describing a dream he had once had.
“That man, smeared with dirt and avarice, was the most human human I ever saw. If I had to lose, I wouldn’t want it to be to the curses, thunderbolts and hellfire that the gods sent my way. I would want my soul to be scorched by the never-ending greed of a man like that — of a human.”
In the midst of pressure so intense that it might break an ordinary human’s body even faster than it broke their spirit, Alkeides lowered his voice and gave his Master a “warning.”
“It may be true that he was an incurably arrogant fool who didn’t know his place, but even so... he was my friend. You were not on that ship, and I will not permit you to insult him so casually.”
Jason is arrogant. His best talent is talking, and he manages to mess that up. But his ideals- his dream were the real thing. Jason cares about Heracles because he sees someone who deserves to be treated as a human and is instead treated as a tool for others. Heracles is Jason’s friend not because he’s kind or gentle with him, but because Jason is willing to be truly honest with him when other people aren’t- and that honesty is one of the best basis’ for friendships to develop. And if the twisted, corrupted version of Heracles is still able to see Jason as a friend- then you know that their relationship was genuine.
And this mutual relationship comes up several times in FGO. That’s why Jason is so confident when he knows Heracles is around. That’s why Heracles is always a guarantee when Jason tries the summon the Argonauts with his Noble Phantasm. That’s why Jason literally gives up his cause and waits for death before Chaldea arrives when he loses Heracles in Atlantis. Because what’s the point of succeeding- seeing his own dreams come to fruition- if Heracles isn’t there to see it with him?
Jason is a piece of shit- he knows it, the Argonauts know it, and Heracles knows it. He’s overly ambitious, snide, and talks too much. But in the end, he’s still a hero with a pure, incorruptible dream- and nobody can take that away from him.
And when you think about the Argonauts, and how varied they are- how he managed to get the Tyrant King Caeneus, or the Dioscuri, or the huntress Atalante to join his crew, you really understand just how much the others either believed in his dream, wanted to believe in his dream, or were just purely curious in seeing whether he could make it across that distant sea.
