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The funny thing is. Astolfo being gnc is… barely mentioned in the original Apocrypha novel? Celenike is a creep, but it’s more about Astolfo being pretty and less about them wearing a skirt. Sieg doesn’t say anything about it, presumably because Sieg has no idea what is supposed to be common or uncommon. Even the Jeanne thing had… next to no consequence? Jeanne initially assumes Astolfo is afab, gets embarrassed when she’s proved wrong, and mentions that Astolfo’s np (the one that nullifies magic) is powerful enough to mess with the grail war rules, and that’s why Astolfo’s gender is crossed out when Jeanne (or anyone else) try to read their stats. That’s it. No one makes fun of them for it, no one tease them for it, literally the only consequence is that Jeanne and Mordred (and maybe a couple more peeps idk) use she/her for Astolfo at first.

However Astolfo being gnc makes perfect sense within the themes of Apocrypha because Astolfo’s role, meta-wise, is to be a deconstruction of overlooked characters. Everything about Astolfo screams “comedy character!” The way they act! The way they speak! As first glance, they’re basically a living meme! Astolfo themself refer to themself as “the weakest” “the least wise,” someone unimportant.

Except Astolfo is far more than a comic relief. Astolfo is the one who sets the whole plot in motion by freeing Sieg. Astolfo is the key piece to save everyone on multiple occasions. Astolfo is the most well-adjusted of the entire cast despite having quite literally lost their reason. Astolfo’s quirks constantly have serious consequences, on themself, on the plot, on others. Fate Astolfo is a comic relief whose comedic traits are actually taken seriously with all the reality that ensues.

And when it comes to character archetypes in media that are more often than not unjustly reduced to a single joke as a personality trait, can you think of any that is more relevant than “the amab person wearing a skirt?”