Ruler (Fate/Apocrypha)

Ruler (ルーラー), the Standard-Bearer who Correctly Guides the Holy Grail War (聖杯戦争を正しく導く旗手), is the Ruler-class Servant in the Great War of Fate/Apocrypha.

Identity
"La Pucelle carried with her heart kindness and humility, integrity and naiveté, and above all else, her faith. That was all she had."

- Words of a Certain Theologian

Ruler's identity is Joan of Arc (ジャンヌ・ダルク), a Catholic saint born in Domrémy, France, and the heroine of France who liberated Orléans in the Hundred Years' War.

She fought alongside with Gilles de Rais and they were decorated as saviors and national heroes by King Charles.

She is noted to be one of the Heroic Spirits in recent history who utilized the power of the Counter Force to accomplish her deeds as a hero.

Death
Joan was put to death at Place du Vieux-Marché in. She received many insults on her way to the pyre, but she was only slightly troubled by the words. Feelings such as fear, shame, and regret were similar in that she felt no such things as she fought, and they did not return at that time. She walked straight and true to the site because being dragged around was beneath her, but she was also unconsciously clawing at her breast to find the her cross that had been stolen.

It was the very foundation of her heart, causing sadness to slowly overcome her. During her moment of temporary mourning, an Englishman who seemed to have noticed that rushed up to her and respectfully handed her a makeshift wooded cross. She whispered "thank you" gratefully while gazing down at his now kneeled form before her with tears streaming down his face. There were both those that disparaged her and those that cried openly her sake, like the difference between foreign songs from distant lands and a motherly lullaby.

Her keepers tied her hands behind her back and onto a wooden stake in such a way that the ropes would never slacken. She thought that there would be no turning back from that point. The torches were thrown in immediately as the cardinal finished reading her last rites. The flames began to reach her feet, beginning the most frightening means of execution imaginable for the spectators, the erasure of the physical body. Her skin was scorched, her flesh was broiled, and her bones were charred. They chanted the name of God and the Holy Mother over and over again.

She had often been told that her prayers were a lie during life. She viewed that there is no truth or lies in prayer, so she was unable to understand such abuse. Prayers are merely prayers to her, and she did not believe that they changed depending on to whom or what was being prayed. While she wished to convey such to the those people, no voice came to her. She instead saw a scene from the past laid out before her, that of her rustic village, an ordinary family, and the fool who threw it all away.

She believed that she may have certainly been a fool because she knew better than anyone else that that her end would be as such. She pondered over what could have been if she had looked away at that time, if she had abandoned the lamentations of the soldiers on their death beds. She may have known an ordinary life with an ordinary marriage, continuing to live with her husband and children. She knew such a future could have been possible, but she threw it away for a different one, choosing to take up the sword, clad her body in armor, bear the flag of her country, and ride on horse-back to the front lines of war.

She knew such an end would come as long as she continued to fight, so it was inevitable that she would be called a fool. The one thing she would not permit was to mock herself as one, believing that the lives she saved were important and that she was not wrong to have chosen that path. Her scene of the past, the impossible future, and the harsh reality dispersed into nothingness before her prayers. No matter how much those around her berated and betrayed her, she died knowing that she never once betrayed herself. Without regrets or longings for the future, there would only be rest.

While she had been at the center of such brutality, all that remained in her heart was an honest, pure, and selfless prayer, free of regret, "Dear Lord, I give my body to thee." Those were her final words as her consciousness faded, released from her mortal coil. While her dream would end and only leave reality, it was not yet over, as where one girl's dream had ended, that of La Pucelle would start from then.

Her death had caused Gilles de Rais, her comrade to go insane, turn his back on God to practice black magic and commit atrocities before he was captured and hanged to death.

Personality
Ruler is described as a taciturn and cool girl when acting as a Servant, but her natural self is a plain and quiet sixteen-year-old girl. She puts order first, and will wield a sword for the sake of the rules, but fundamentally believes "all people and Heroic Spirits participating in the Holy Grail War are important".

According to Caster in the Einzbern Consultation room, she used to poke his eyes.

Development
She was first referenced in Type-Moon's earlier piece Kara no Kyoukai novel, Mikiya Kokutou mentions her when he was discussing about Heroic Spirits who utilized the power of the Counter Force.

Ruler was designed by Kinoko Nasu and illustrated by Takashi Takeuchi for the original canceled Fate/Apocrypha online game project. She would have been the main aspect of the repeating war, where she would act as a counterforce who wishes to safeguard the framework of the Holy Grail War. Summoned as a Ruler class, this aspect allows her to retain the memories of each repeating "game" unlike other Servants. Though other Servants would only focus on protecting their respective Masters, she would only want to protect the Holy Grail War. While the overall story would change depending upon the Servants' relationship with the Masters, the story would conclude with her activating her ultimate Noble Phantasm that she had been stubbornly witholding, thus creating a world with a complete story despite its nature as an online game.

While the design for Joan wasn't made during the production of the Fate/Zero novels, the design was completed around the time of the anime adaptation, so it was included in Caster's flashback in Fate/Zero. The main difference between her and King Arthur's appearance is sex appeal.

Fate/Apocrypha
"I am Ruler, by my name of Joan of Arc. I order with a command spell that the Servants shall gather in this place!"

- Ruler

Ruler was summoned irregularly in the Greater Grail War. Unlike the Master and Servant summoning system, she was summoned by the Holy Grail and possessed a female student named Laeticia who was suitable match due to their similar body and her French heritage. In France, Laeticia was a student living in dormitory. When Jeanne and Laeticia merged, she told her teachers and students that she is going on an important journey. Her role is to oversee and guide correctly the Holy Grail War and govern over the 14 servants.

She starts traveling to the location of the war, she used her own expenses rather than asking the Mage's Association for funding. First she took the plane to Romania, Bucharest and while she arrived in Henri Coandă International Airport. She sensed Assassin of Red's doves were monitoring her. Since she is also bad at math and her lack of Riding skill, she must hitchhike in the back of a pickup truck to Trifas where the war occurs.

Shirou Kotomine views Ruler as an obstacle to his ambition so he orders Lancer of Red to eliminate her. Jeanne slept in the back of the truck for three hours, she detected a dangerous foe. She asked the trucker to stop and she alone meets Lancer of Red. She transformed into her battle-dress and faced him. She easily reads his true name and while she questions Lancer's motive, Lancer draws out his divine spear. Saber of Black and Gordes Musik Yggdmillennia appears to support Jeanne, Gordes tries to make Jeanne and Saber to fight Lancer but to his surprise Jeanne refused to. She witnesses the fight between Lancer and Saber.

She stayed in small church of Trifas with Sister Alma Petoreshia. After the defeat of Lancer of Black, Jeanne encounters Shirou and realized the meaning behind her summoning as a Ruler. She understood that the man in front of her isn't exactly a human but a servant who remained since the Third Holy Grail War who obtained a human body. She was able to read Shirou's true identity, the teenage leader of the Shimabara Rebellion,.

Fate/Zero
Joan is referenced by Caster, whose identity is her former comrade Gilles de Rais, who, in his crazed mind, mistakes Saber for Joan. He witnesses the battle between Lancer and Saber through his magic crystal, and believing that his wish of bringing Joan back to life was granted by the Holy Grail, he succumbs to tears. He believes Saber's denial of Joan's identity is a curse laid upon her by God, that her heart has been sealed through her devotion. She who gave everything to God was not given salvation by Him, so he wishes to "free" her by proving that no such God exists.

Recalling his past while bathed in the annihilating light of Excalibur, he remembers events before he began his forays into murder and the occult, back when he still served alongside Joan of Arc. She is shown standing at a church altar where she turns back to Caster and reaches her hand out to him, making him realize the transgressions of his life before he is destroyed.

Abilities
Ruler has the qualifications for the Saber class. Under the special Ruler class, she is a special Heroic Spirit summoned by the Holy Grail itself to act as the administrator of the Holy Grail War and has the ability to use Command Spells, which are normally only usable by Masters, to command the Servants. Any Servants participating the Holy Grail War can learn identity and information, however information on the Ruler are strictly confidential, there are many mysteries in its presence. She also has the ability to persuade others.

She has a unique ability that allows her to scan around her position from a wide range within 10 kilometers radius. The scan allows her to search for servants position which can even overcome Assassin's Presence Concealment ability and learn their identity.

As she possessed a human body, she is unable to take spirit form and requires to eat and sleep a lot, similar to Altria.

Skills
Magic Resistance (対魔力): EX

In addition to the Magic Resistance of the Saber Class, she demonstrates high anti-magic from her unwavering piety. However, since it is just averting (evading) the Magecraft, only Joan will be saved against a wide-range magic attack. It cannot cope with the sacraments of the Church.

Revelation (啓示): N/A

A Skill equivalent to "Instinct". Instinct is a sixth sense regarding battles, but "Revelation" accommodates all matters related to the achievement of a goal (for instance, choosing the most suitable path while traveling). Because there is no basis (so she thinks), it cannot be explained well to others.

Charisma (カリスマ): N/A

The natural talent to command an army. Joan's figure participating in the assaults hoisting a flag raised the morale of the soldiers to the limit and united the troops. Thanks to her charisma, it is possible to make others believe in the contents of the "revelations" without basis.

Saint (聖人): N/A

Indicates being acknowledged as a saint. When summoned as a Servant, the ability of saint is selected one among "raising the effectiveness of sacraments", "automatic HP recovery", "1 Rank-Up to Charisma" and "production of a holy shroud is possible".

Noble Phantasms
La Pucelle: The Crimson Holy Virgin

A holy sword that manifest flames which uses the line of a death poem "O Lord, I entrust this body to you---" as activation incantation. A conceptual crystallization weapon that interpreted Joan's burning at the stake in an attack-like fashion. A subspecies of Reality Marble, an imagined landscape crystallized as a sword. This sword is Heroic Spirit Joan of Arc herself and after the battle in which this Noble Phantasm was manifested, Joan will be extinguished.