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 Holy Grail War of Fate/Apocrypha. She is one of the Servants of the Protagonist of the Grand Order conflicts of Fate/Grand Order.

Identity
"—Kindness, Humility, Honesty, Purity, Faith — the Maid's heart carried only these things and nothing else.""

Ruler's True Name is Jeanne d'Arc the Saint of Orleans. A Catholic saint born in, and the heroine of France who liberated in the.

Life
Joan of Arc was a common farmer's daughter. She claims she had received the command of God to fight. She heard the Lord’s lament that the world changed straight into hell. The Lord wept into sorrow as no one could stop it and people were not even allowed to live simply, and were compelled to become either beasts or food. Conflict never ended, and blood continued to rain incessantly and soak the land. She received a revelation from the Lord, the voice contained no glory or victory, no obligation or sense of purpose but only the Lord laments. She caught his small, feeble murmurs that everyone else failed to hear. She responded by throwing away her life as a simple villager and the joy of loving someone and being loved back. Furthermore, there would be no compensation. She knew she would surely be scorned by the masses of both enemies and allies alike. It was a very terrifying thing to contemplate. It was mad for a mere village girl from the countryside to leap onto the battlefield where people’s killing intent swirled about. She couldn't turn her back on the Lord's cries. She decided to devote her life to oppose this world’s hell to help stop the Lord’s tears and soothe Him. She clad her armour on her body, hang a sword on her waist and carry the flag. She fought alongside with Gilles de Rais.

Having been born to a peasant family, Joan never knew the contents of the many books of prayer. She did try hard to learn them, but it seems she was simply born incapable of reading or writing. The most she ever managed was learning how to sign her name. While she worried about this, in the end, she decided that she needed little more in order to pray to the Lord. As she recalled, one of her comrades whom rode beside her, Gilles, once laughed and promised her that that was more than enough.

They say that in reality all that happened was that she used tactics that the knights of that time didn't use out of contempt and honour. 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.

Both Joan and Gilles were decorated as saviors and national heroes by in the cathedral with the ars nova melody playing in the background.

Death
Joan was put to death at Place du Vieux-Marché in. Scorned by words of damnation as she was led to the pyre and feeling only slightly pained as she endured it, she had already abandoned emotions such as fear, disappointment, and regret from the outset of her battles, so she was able to walk towards her death without faltering in her steps. As she unconsciously reached for the cross that had been at her chest until they took it from her, she felt some sadness as there was nothing to support heart. Shortly after, she was given a wooden cross fashioned by an Englishman who revered her, thanking him quietly as he knelt and wept. Her hands were tied to a wooden stake behind her, and the priest present completed the recitation of her final judgement before throwing the torch upon the pyre. As they believes that the loss of the flesh was the greatest of fears, it was the cruelest punishment that could be laid upon her.

The flames began to burn her skin, scorch her flesh, and char her bones, all while she spoke the name of the Lord and the Holy Mother against those who denounced her prayers as only a lie. She could only find such thoughts strange, believing that prayers are nothing more than prayers, no matter to whom is prayed, that carry no intrinsic truths or falsehoods. Although she wished to tell them of the thought, she was unable to produce any sound. As she burned, she saw visions of her past, her ordinary family in her rustic village and herself, "the fool who ran away and tossed all of that aside." Having known how her journey would end from the start, she felt that she may have certainly been foolish in her actions, that she may have been able to lived a regular life, gotten married, and lived together with her husband and child.

Had she simply shut away the voice and abandoned the lamenting soldiers, she could have had that life, but felt that it was not a mistake to have walked her path due to those she had saved. She knew from the moment she chose to take to battle that she would have such an end, and she felt that she would never come to self-derision for her choices. Her past, impossible futures, and the cruel reality before her were meaningless before her prayers, offering herself that even if all other condemn her that she would not betray herself. Rather than continue to look back on her path or crave for another future, she only wished for a silent rest. Within the savagery, she only kept a single prayer within her heart to the very end, one unblemished by regret and filled with sincerity. As she said her final words, "...O Lord, I give myself to You...", her consciousnesses ended and she was released from her suffering. Although the girl's dream ended there, "the dream of La Pucelle was only just beginning."

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

Appearance
Ruler possesses the body of a French girl called Laeticia (レティシア) whose physical build, spiritual build, personality and Magical Energy were compatible to her. But her bust size alone is just slightly bigger than Joan of Arc. Her eyes were described as amethyst-colored eyes and they were completely pure. She didn’t have the precise and molded beauty of a homunculus, or the kind of cuteness that made one’s heart flutter just by being nearby like Rider of Black. She possessed a wondrous beauty that scarcely felt real. In her battle mode, she can transformed into her battle-dress with armour woven from Magical Energy to enclose her. Under her gauntlet, she has Command Spells engraved on her hand, where as those special to command the Servants during the Great Holy Grail War are printed in their back with a similar shape drawn that of an angel. Although Gilles mistook King Arthur as Joan of Arc, the main difference between her and King Arthur's appearance is sex appeal.

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".

Ruler and her host, Laeticia, do not share two personalities in one body, but rather their personalities are merged into one. Due to her faith, Laeticia accepts Ruler into her body completely. While Ruler remains the main dominant conscious, Leticia's consciousness still lingers. In particular, Laeticia serves as the base for Ruler's knowledge that concerns matters outside of the Holy Grail War. She had never been able to read or write while alive, but she gains the ability to do so through Laeticia. Occasionally the possessed Leticia would affect the possessor Ruler. For example, Leticia is bad at handling men so her influence would affect Ruler. Ruler cannot interact normally with Sieg when they stayed together in Serge house unless she maintain a certain distance.

She has no wish for the Holy Grail but if there were to have one, it would only be that the Greater Grail War be conducted correctly. She doesn't mind if the person wishes a personal desire in front of the Holy Grail. As long as it doesn’t beckon the world’s destruction, she would properly respect the wish.

She doesn't have a single regret regarding in her life time. She does not wish revenge or wish to be saved and it was enough for her to know the life that she lived alone.

She believes that God hasn't forsaken her in her last moment that the Lord has never forsaken a single person. There was just nothing he could done. Praying, giving offerings, everything is an act not for oneself, but for the Lord. She believes prayer will heal the Lord's laments and sorrow. The moment her prayer began, she became separated from the world—removed from the past, the future, and reality itself. She was there not for any particular purpose, but simply to offer a prayer to God. By doing so, the course which she ought to take would come to be fixed. To her, every second of prayer is as important as every breath she takes; a day will not pass where she does not pray.

Fate/Apocrypha
Due to the irregularity of the Great Holy Grail War and the continued existence of the previous Ruler from the Third Holy Grail War, Shirou Kotomine, Ruler is summoned under strange conditions. Although she is to act as the impartial mediator between the two factions, she feels a foreboding in that there is someone unknown she must encounter, Shirou, that takes precedence over her role as mediator. Rather than being given a spiritual body, she instead possesses a human girl named Laeticia, a willing host, due to the previous Ruler still existing. Acting as Laeticia and using her natural ability as Ruler to have others believe her words, she tells her friends and the teachers of her school that she is going on a necessary journey. She ponders the strangeness of her summoning, her physical body, being summoned in France far away from the battlefield, and the overall strangeness of being the fifteenth Servant rather than the eighth. Deciding that it must be due to the unique war, she gathers the necessary supplies before departing for Trifas.

Unable to travel in spiritual form, she must travel normally through public transit and airplane. Gathering her knowledge on the flight, she knows of the situation between the two factions, worried over who much damage fourteen Servants will cause. Unable to determine the exact reason for her summoning, she decides not to speculate until reaching the battlefield.

"In the name of Ruler—of Jeanne d’Arc. I order all Servants gathered here with my Command Spells! Defeat the vampire who was once Vlad III!"

- Ruler

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.

Einzbern Consultation Room
Caster has no regrets, but he does have a question that makes him linger before merging with the Greater Grail. In the Einzbern Consultation Room, Caster says he cannot help but think how Joan wasn't saved. He wonders if she is suffering eternal pain from burning in the inferno by those in power. He decided that he cannot leave and is determined to return to the Holy Grail War to save her. Caster claims that his bulging eyes were caused by Joan when Irisviel von Einzbern unexpectedly pokes him in the eye to calm him down. Irisviel tells Caster that she was saved and was acknowledged as a Saint and became a famous idol in all media. Caster becomes the number one fan and the president of Joan's fan club group.

Fate/Grand Order
"My Lord. Once more, I shall raise this flag, for this country's---no, this world's salvation. Order has gone up in flames, and so much purpose has been lost. Our future vanished in but a second. Listen to my words, brave warriors gathered here, legion of heroic spirits who retain their reason! No matter if you were sworn enemies or no matter how far your time periods apart, now you must entrust your backs to one another! My true name is Joan of Arc. In the name of my lord, I shall stand as your shield! This struggle is one that has long endured through the sands of human history. But there is no need for concern, as untold fateful encounters await you. Though this entire planet has become the battlefield of the Holy Grail War, though the world has been brought to ruin, though countless formidable foes block your path, the end has still yet to be determined by anyone. Now, let us begin our fight, Master. The curtains rise on the largest scale Holy Grail War in history."

- Joan of Arc

She appears in Fate/Grand Order as one of the main Servant. She is the central character of France part of the story, where she must confront Jeanne Alter, her corrupted form that borne from Gilles de Rais' wish to the Holy Grail, to avenge her death.

Capsule Servant
In both Rin and Shirou route, Joan traveled from France and is using her Heroic Spirit vacation time to come to Fuyuki City on holiday which she received for completing her work as Ruler. She proclaim herself as France's biggest celebrity and worries about reports of her reappearance in headline newspapers. She becomes determined to hide her identity on vacation. She encounters either Rin and Shirou, she calls Rin a modern saint and Shirou a young soldier. Both who she believed to be affected by her holy aura that they couldn’t contain themselves and rushed to serve under the Lord's banner. She boasted about how famous she is and how she has been easily discovered. Shirou mistaken her to be King Arthur which Joan curses England. She tries to explain the difference between her and King Arthur bust size. She blames on for her reputation to be not known in the East. Rin recognizes Joan, though she mistakenly quoted in front of her. She gets angry when both Shirou and Rin know more about Napoleon than her, she further explains that mixing her up with Napoleon is on a whole other level than mixing her up with King Arthur. Joan tries to impress Shirou with her flag Noble Phantasm but Shirou explains that a sword that shoots beams is easier to understand. She cries saying she plans to never come back to Japan. Joan gives a copy of Fate/Apocrypha to Rin. Rin enjoys the book but she enjoys the parts with Astolfo more, to which Joan curses Astolfo.

After the battle, the ending skips to a 7 years later narration where both Shirou and Rin summon their Servants in Fate/stay night. In both Rin's and Shirou's ending, they both summoned Ruler and she wants to participate in the Holy Grail war and to increase her popularity. In Shirou's ending, she is tired of the Saber clones trend such as Sakura Saber and Red Saber which left both Shirou and Lancer shouting to her to wait. In Rin's ending, she plans to establish a new law that all pink haired girls and people who look like girls will have their hair cut off immediately.

Other appearances
In the Kara no Kyoukai novel, Mikiya Kokutou mentions her when he was discussing with Touko Aozaki about heroes who utilized the power of the Counter Force.

Ruler was mentioned in the conversation between Orlando Reeve and Francesca in Fate/strange fake. Orlando says that the grail system would oppose them in due time but Francesca corrects him, saying that it would be too late for Ruler to interfere when the false grail becomes the real version. Francesca has an obsession with Ruler, she shows some sadistic urges by claiming she is looking forward to burn and make her suffer.

In Type-Moon's April Fools Day 2013, she appears in Back Alley Satsuki. Joan of Arc is a gold heroine of dog to protect the eleventh temple and she is known as Kamikaze Magical Girl Jeanne (神風魔法少女ジャンヌ). Her zodiac sign is The Dog.

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. 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. Several of her abilities as Ruler aren’t functioning correctly due to the previous Ruler existence. Her Noble Phantasms are Luminosite Eternelle and La Pucelle.

Ruler is possessing a human body, an unprecedented summoning with a very weak link to the current world, so she has a number of irregularities that do not plague regular Servants. She has the physical abilities of a Servant, but since she is linked to a physical human body through the realm of the unconscious, she has to carry on her life as a human. She cannot turn into spiritual form, and she must deal with the body's needs of hunger and sleep. Ruler kept a backup of Leticia body. When she achieved her objective or if she was killed midway through the war, at that instant, Leticia’s body would return to its original form as recorded in the backup and, depending on the situation, would be forcefully transported somewhere safe. With that process, no matter how many wounds this body received, it would immediately regenerate.

She can make others believe her words due to her status as Ruler, differing from suggestion magecraft in that she only has to forcefully assert her point to regular humans for them to acquiesce. She persuaded her teachers and friends that she must go on a journey and made them understand that it was absolutely necessary.

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' positions which can even overcome Assassin's Presence Concealment ability. One of the many privileges afforded to the manager of the War is the function of locating Servants. As she dips her right hand into the holy water and cast it into the air. The water gave a dim glow and then began to smoothly draw a three-dimensional map. Ruler’s perception ability exceeded that of the Spirit Board (霊器盤). When Saber of Black committed suicide, she could affirm that Saber of Black hadn't completely disconnected with this world. It was unclear where exactly he was, but—in any case, he should still be alive. When Sieg used his Dead Count Shapeshifter, she can sense Saber of Black from a dying state to be alive and active.

Skills
True Name Discernment (真名看破) class skill. Status information such as the true identity, Skill and Parameters is automatically revealed when she directly encounters Servant. However Servants with hiding capacity depends on her luck level to bypass this.

God's resolution (神明議決) is the highest privilege for the Ruler class skill to use Command Spells, which are normally only usable by Masters, to command the Servants. Normally Ruler-class would possess two Command Spells for each Servants that participated in the Holy Grail War. Ruler’s entire body shined slightly with pale light, and even Assassin of Red couldn’t stop herself from grimacing in response. The nameless vampire who was once Lancer of Black and Darnic Prestone Yggdmillennia had abandoned his existence as a Servant and couldn’t be bound with Ruler's Command Spells. Ruler deemed this vampire as the greatest threat that could destroy the Holy Grail War and she used her privilege to force a truce with the black and red faction Servants to eradicate the vampire.

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. Her Magic Resistance was EX rank. As such, she who was a saint couldn’t be wounded even by magecraft from the Age of Gods. However, this resistance only turned spells away from her. In other words, it didn’t receive and negate it. Assassin of Red's lightning spell attack was suppressed, not a single spot, but an entire area, had been diverted away without injuring her. The strike, which should have had a will of its own, had lost its malice. Instead, the lightning attacked the surrounding area.

Revelation (啓示): 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): C 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): B 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.

Development
She was first referenced in Type-Moon's earlier piece Kara no Kyoukai novel.

Creation and Conception
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 withholding, 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.

Reception

 * In the Type-Moon's 10th Anniversary Character Poll, Joan of Arc was ranked 55th.