Saber (Fate/stay night)

Saber (セイバー) is one of the main characters of Fate/Zero and one of the three main heroines of Fate/stay night. She is the Saber-class Servant of Kiritsugu Emiya in the Fourth Holy Grail War and Shirou Emiya in the Fifth Holy Grail War.

She is the Servant of Norma Goodfellow (possessed by Manaka Sajyou) in the Holy Grail War of Fate/Labyrinth.

She is one of the Servants of Ritsuka Fujimaru of the Grand Orders conflicts of Fate/Grand Order.

Identity
Saber's True Name is Artoria Pendragon, better known as Arthur Pendragon and King Arthur, who is regarded as a male in history. She is the "Once and Future King" and a legendary hero of Britain known as the King of Knights (騎士王). She wielded the sword from the stone, Caliburn, but it was eventually destroyed. She later obtained Excalibur and Avalon from the Lady of the Lake.

While Arthur is a hero well known as a model for knights, it is said that he actually existed as "Dux Bellorum", the leader of War, and was a great general who led the twelve kings of Northern England, Gododdin, while preventing foreign invasion from forces such as the Scottish and the Picts. This identity of the real great leader behind the legend of King Arthur has many variations, and it is thought that there may have been two people who fit the description of the king. One is the full Briton Arthur, while the other is the Roman Arturius, and their two separate sets of accomplishments are said to have merged into the legend of King Arthur that is known in the present time.

Childhood
Artoria was born into a time of chaos and war that began with the demise of the Roman empire. It had been believed to be indestructible, but it was only awaiting its destruction at the hands of invading barbarians. In preparation for the war against the barbarians, Rome deprived her island province of any military forces left there. Once Britannia lost the empire's protection, it could not escape becoming independent, causing it to break into smaller countries soon after. This time of barbarian invasions and self-destructive strife between clans started a long period of war that would later become known as the "Dark Ages". Artoria was born into this period as the heir to the throne, the daughter of the King of Britain,, and the blue-eyed , the wife of Uther's servant, the. The king, believing in Merlin's prophecy, yearned for the birth of his appointed successor, but the child born was a girl--not the one he desired.

It is said in the legend that Arthur was left in Merlin's care as the price for his assistance in ensuring the success for Uther's love of Igraine, saying "I will properly guide this child, one bearing a great destiny, and protect him from the crisis of the royal family." The true reality was that Artoria was not a boy, so the king could not make a child that was not male his successor even if she was fated to one day become a king. She was entrusted to the king's vassals and was to be raised as the child of a mere knight. The king fell into despair at the situation, but Merlin was delighted because the sex of the one to become king had never mattered. He was confident that the fact of the girl being separated from the castle until the day of prophecy was proof that she would become king.

Merlin placed Artoria in the care of Sir Ector, a simple and wise old knight, who raised her as his adopted child and successor. Though Ector did not believe in the prophecy, he did feel the same air from the girl as he did his king. He felt that he must raise her as a knight, and he wished for her to grow. He never needed to wish for such a thing, as she trained day after day to become stronger than anyone. She swore to bear her sword for the only reason that "only a king can save a ruined country headed for death" without ever being told such. During this time, she was raised with Sir Kay as her brother, but they still loved each other as siblings after she learned the truth of their relationship. She acted as his squire and received training from him, while also doing other chores such as pulling along his horse. She was better than him in terms of swordsmanship, but she never beat him in a fight due to his arguments declaring himself the winner rather than actual skill.

Once the day of prophecy arrived, knights and lords from around the country gathered to be selected as king. Each expected the selection to be through jousting to select the most superior one to become a king, but the only thing prepared at the place of selection was a naked sword stuck in a stone with a golden inscription on the hilt reading "Whosoe'er pulleth out this sword of this stone is rightwise king born of England." While many knights grabbed the sword trying to follow the command, none were able to pull it out. As they began the expected method of selection by jousting, Artoria, only an apprentice not qualified for jousting, neared the deserted stone of selection and reached out for the sword without hesitation.

Before grabbing it, Merlin appeared before her to tell her to think things over before taking it. He told her she would no longer be human upon taking hold of the sword, but she only responded with a nod because she has been prepared for the fact that "becoming a king means no longer being human" ever since she was born. She knew that a king is someone who kills everyone to protect everyone. She thought about it every night and shuddered until morning came. While not one day passed where she did not fear that fact, she said that it would end this day. The sword was pulled out as if it were only natural to do so, and the area was filled with light. She became something not human in that instant. The king's gender doesn't matter, and no one will care about the king's appearance or even notice it as long as the king acts like a king. Even if anybody did notice the king was female, it would not be an issue if she was a good king. This started the time of the king who would become a legend. She stopped aging at 15 years old, back when she pulled Caliburn from the stone.

Kingship
Artoria led Britain from, and after becoming a feudal lord like her father, she became a king with many knights under her, including the esteemed. Her growth stopped at that time she pulled the sword because of its magic, so many knights feared it as ominous. Most instead praised their master's immortality as divine. Her battles thereafter were the acts of a god of war. She always led from the front, and no enemies could stand in her way. There was no defeat for a body admired as a dragon in human form. She only knew victory for ten years and twelve battles while she ran through those days as the king. She never turned back and was never disgraced. She was raised as a king and fulfilled her obligations as the king.

Personal affairs
Due to the problem of being able to produce an heir, Merlin used magecraft to turn her into a pseudo-male capable of producing sperm for an unknown duration of time. During this period, she was enchanted by her sister, Morgan le Fay, who took some of Artoria's sperm, developed it within her own ovaries, and gave birth to the homunculus and complete clone of Artoria, Mordred. She was born and raised without Artoria's knowledge, quickly growing up due to her accelerated aging, and she managed to join the Round Table through her own efforts and Morgan's recommendation. She worshiped her king while hiding her identity, and she was ecstatic to learn of her heritage.

Upon claiming her heritage and right to the throne, Artoria completely rejected Mordred, and refused to recognize her as an heir. Mordred believed the reason that she was not accepted was due to the hatred her father bore Morgan, and that no matter how much she worked to excel over others, she would forever be viewed as a tainted existence. The love she had for the king up until that point was so great that her rejection made her hatred burn.

She married Guinevere, but it was only out of obligation to have a wife. The truth was that Lancelot, one of Artoria's closest friends, and Guinevere loved each other, and due to Artoria having concealed her gender, Guinevere had to carry the burden of this her entire life. Guinevere felt guilt for her actions, but felt relief that it was Lancelot who had fallen in love with her. He, who shared the same ideals as the king, would share the burden with her and not cause the country to fall into a dangerous situation. He did so, supporting Guinevere and the King from the dark on his unrighteous path.

Kingdom
Artoria needed to act as the son of the king, as the one to govern the many territories and control the knights had to be male. While some people did grow suspicious of her, only her father, Merlin, and Kay knew the exact truth of her identity. She literally covered herself in steel to seal that truth for all her life, and due to her immortality from the protection of the fairies, no one questioned her small body or face that seemed like that of a girl. She was honored by the knights as a good-looking king, thought of as an invincible warrior whose looks or body size had impact on her standing.

During that time, the people living in fear of savage invasions only wanted a strong king, and the knights would only follow an excellent commander. Having met these criteria, no one questioned her. She was considered fair and selfless as she always stood at the front of the army while defeating her enemies on the battlefield. While many enemies and civilians died, the king's choices were always considered correct, and she served as the king better than anyone else. No one doubted or had any need to doubt as long as the king was right.

Her army reconstructed the lost cavalry, and knowing no losses, they ran through the battlefield while defeating foreign infantries and crashing through numerous ramparts. Many people were discarded for her to join the battles, and all her enemies had to be defeated once she joined. It was common practice for the military to meet its needs by sucking all the resources out of a local village to supply the battle to protect the country. It can be said that no knight killed more people than her, and it is unknown if she ever found such to be a burden.

She strictly kept to the oath that a king is not human and that one cannot protect the people with human emotions. She never narrowed her eyes in grief while sitting on the throne, and she settled every problem while working hard in government affairs. She managed to balance the country without any deviations, and she punished people without a single mistake. Even after, or possibly because of, winning battles in victory, commanding citizens without disorder, and punishing hundreds of criminals, one of her knights murmured "King Arthur does not understand human feelings."

It is possible everyone felt that way, that the more perfect she became as a king, the more they needed to question her as a ruler. They felt that a human without emotion cannot rule over others, leading to several reputable knights leaving Camelot. She simply accepted this to be a natural event that is part of the process of government, isolating the fair king honored by her knights. Having abandoned her emotions from the start, she did not change her mind even if she was abandoned, feared, or betrayed. There was no right or wrong to someone who saw such events as trivial.

Her final battle for her country began in such a way, and the ended in complete victory. The savages sought reconciliation due to her overwhelming results, and her country that was only awaiting destruction earned a brief period of peace. The country finally began to return to the country of which she had dreamed.

Downfall
Lancelot's affair with Guinevere was eventually revealed through the plans of traitors who hated Camelot, causing them to stand opposed. Artoria did not see this inescapably unrighteous action as a betrayal, but instead understood Guinevere's sacrifice due to having concealed her gender. She wrote a letter of pardon to Lancelot and Guinevere, and gave them her blessings, saying that their actions "must have good cause". However, Lancelot  was afraid and ran, bringing about a tragedy where no one was right and no one was wrong.

Excalibur's scabbard was stolen while she repelled an assault along her country's borders; when she returned inland, she discovered Britain is being torn asunder by civil unrest. Despite her valiant efforts to placate the dissent, she was mortally wounded by the traitorous knight Mordred during the. Her dying body was escorted to a by Sir Bedivere. Artoria ordered a grieving Bedivere to dispose of Excalibur by throwing it back to the Lady of the Lake; in her absence, she reflected on her personal failures, regretting her life as king. Before her last breath, she appealed to the world; in exchange for services as a Heroic Spirit, she asked to be given an opportunity seek the Holy Grail to save her country.

Appearance
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Personality
Saber is a strong-willed young woman who always speaks resolutely. She is courageous, determined, and set on winning the Holy Grail. She constantly insists that she is a knight first and that her gender is of little importance to her. She is resolute in following her own morals regardless of more viable tactics being available should she consider them to be underhanded, leading to conflicts with Kiritsugu over the strategy within the Fourth Holy Grail War. While obtaining the Holy Grail is of the utmost importance, rejecting her chivalry is something that she will not do under normal circumstance even if it should put her at a disadvantage.

She doesn't like to be treated as a woman, or even as a human, due to her status as a knight and a Servant. She tries to keep the notion that she is only a Servant, a tool for her Master, first and foremost in her mind, so she initially has no objections about Shirou accidentally seeing her naked body. She slowly becomes more aware of herself after their relationship develops, and eventually even becomes flustered upon the same situation being repeated. Despite being granted knowledge of the modern world upon being summoned, Saber still shows some signs of being a 'fish-out-of-water', as she was unaware of the innuendo of the phrase 'between my legs' and didn't understand why Irisviel was giggling afterwards. She's also unaware of what a date is, as the Grail doesn't give data on minor modern social structure and phrasing.

Saber is loyal, independent, and reserved; she appears cold, but is actually suppressing her emotions to focus on her goals. She is bewildered by Shirou's "protective" tendencies, and believes his erratic and reckless behavior jeopardizes her chances of winning the Holy Grail War. However, Saber is secretly deeply insecure, having no real sense of self-worth. Having lived as a man for most of her life, she has no sense of self-worth, and can only feel fulfilled by serving other people. Shirou realizes that even though she is a supremely skilled warrior, she would be happier if she didn't force herself to fight. Throughout her rule she was plagued by self-doubt about her being king, and later coming to hate herself for the actions she took trying to save her people. She also feels deep guilt over the destruction of her kingdom, believing herself to be responsible and that she was inadequate as a ruler. As a result, her wish for much of the Fourth and Fifth Holy Grail Wars is to undo her rule so that someone more suitable can take her place. However, Rider calls her out on this, saying that to undo her rule would be an insult to all those who died in her name. Shirou calls her selfish for wanting to redo the past merely because she didn't like the result.

Underneath her serious exterior Saber shows herself to be a kind hearted and gentle person who wishes to protect those she cares about, though she does get easily agitated by people's antics. She also gets rather jealous of others, especially when Shirou's involved, which causes her feel to self-conscious about herself. Saber is also extremely competitive as she hates to lose due to fact that losing reminds her of her weaknesses. She is also shown to be rather shy, as she dislikes being the center of attention. Saber is also very stubborn once she is set on a goal, which can cause her to ignore others' opinions if it's against her goal, such as when she rejected Shirou's belief that she should stop seeking Holy Grail. Despite being unable to attain happiness in her own life, Saber greatly enjoys seeing the happiness of others. This trait is a cause of concern for the people that care about her, believing she should attain her own happiness. In Fate/hollow ataraxia, Saber has become decidedly more open with herself and others, and is more willing to share her past with others, especially Shirou. She was known to be rather reckless in her pursuit to save others during her training with Caliburn, causing her to be scolded by her brother, Kay many times. During her younger days, Saber loved to take care of horses, which surprised Kay when she used them in battle despite her love for them. But, to her a horse dying in battle is a diffirent sin than a soldier dying, as a soldier knows why they're on the battlefield while a horse does not. She possessed a more broad-view of things compared to others during her rule, as while she saw the Saxons as her enemies, she did not see them as evil. Rather she knew that they sought Britain's land for their own survival, and she felt that there would come a time when they would have a role in the country.

Saber prefers direct, fair confrontations based upon codes of chivalry, so she has a strained relationship with Kiritsugu due to their differing methods and ideologies over obtaining the Holy Grail. The two rarely interact and when they do, it's usually some kind of disagreement, such as when Saber objected to Kiritsugu's idea to use Saber as bait to lure Caster out, saying that it would be better to take the fight to him to keep him from killing anyone else. As a result, Saber instead bonds with her proxy Master, Irisviel. Saber enjoys her time with Irisviel, who, while respecting her status as a knight, treats her much as a companion and friend, unlike Kiritsugu who completely views her as a tool. She guides Irisviel around while she takes in her first view of the outside world.

Though she once felt more linked to dragons, she came to enjoy lions after taking care of a lion cub for a month at some point in her life. She claims that it is not that she "likes" them, but rather the happiness she experienced as he became attached to her brought forth a bond with them. He was very energetic, often biting or scratching, but she wished to be able to stay with him until the end. She has had feelings for them since then, and even remembers the fond memories while holding a stuffed lion. Shirou seeing the memory of her rubbing her cheek against the lion comments on it being a time where she looks like a girl her age.

She is shown to have a humongous appetite, finishing large servings of rice within one minute. Although she can normally eat anything, Shirou's food education is what awoke her gourmet spirit. She originally did not appreciate modern food as she doesn't actually need to eat as a Servant and because she had believed that all food was like fish and chips. She had very bad experiences with the food in her time, due to being limited to meals like large quantities of potatoes, vinegar, bread, and ale or even at times simply eating vegetables alone. She did not concern herself with food much in her life, allowing the cooks to do as they wished. She felt it was unrefined, although she was not displeased by it. She does shudder at the thought of eating it compared to Shirou's cooking. She thought it had been made to suit the tastes of the knights because they acknowledged it as tasting good, but they simply were unable to say it was bad to the King's face. Gawain was an exception who enjoyed the meals, not noticing the others' distaste for it.

Relationships

 * Shirou Emiya
 * Although frustrated by Shirou's reckless behavior, Saber trusts and cares for him a great deal. She is bewildered by Shirou's treatment of her, who treats her more as an actual human being than a Servant despite her insistence otherwise. They both share several traits with each other, such as sharing practically the same guilt over their respective pasts. She is willing to sacrifice her own life in order protect Shirou, such as using Excalibur despite knowing she would disappear. She enjoys the meals that Shirou cooks for her, preferring his cooking to others. Saber also comes to enjoy her clothes due to Shirou saying they look good on her, which remains true in Fate/hollow Ataraxia when she wears more feminine clothing due to others saying it would please Shirou. However, Saber expresses concern for Shirou's dream to save everyone due to her own unfortunate experiences in life. Her determination to win the Holy Grail is strengthened when she sees Shirou's past, believing that she can change both their pasts to save Shirou from the same mistake she made. In Fate, Saber develops feelings for Shirou, though she hides them to focus on her duty. Her feelings become more apparent as time goes on, but Saber believes she is unpermitted to love or be loved due to perceiving herself as a sinner and a failure as a king. Thus, she is astonished by Shirou's confession, but rejects him to keep to her duty despite her own feelings. Eventually though, she accepts Shirou's feelings and confesses her love for him before she vanishes. Even in her final moments Saber still wants to see Shirou, asking Bedivere if it was possible to experience the same dream again. In Last Episode, her love proves to be unwavering as she waits centuries to reunite with Shirou, even crying tears of joy when she welcomes him to Avalon. It is thanks to Shirou that Saber is finally able to accept her past and obtain peace within herself. In Unlimited Blade Works, her loyalty to Shirou proves to be unfaltering as she strives to protect him even after her new contract with Rin, even calling him her Master.


 * Gilgamesh
 * Due to his arrogant tyrannical nature, Saber feels great animosity towards Gilgamesh. As well, his numerous marriage proposals to her only add to her disdain for him, as she says she has no interest in such things especially with him. Although she does concede that he is superior Heroric Spirit that can withstand the curse of the Grail, she comes to the conclusion that he had already gone insane from the same curse. When Gilgamesh tells Saber that her inability to rule over everything caused her country to destroy, She accepts that fact but counters that his tyranny caused him to destroy his own country.


 * Illyasviel von Einzbern
 * She is very cold and merciless to Illya during most of Fate/stay night despite her being Irisviel's daughter. This is due to the fact that she never asked Irisviel about the name of her daughter, and when Saber sees Ilya during the war, she completely disregards the possibility that it could be the same child. She believes that Ilya is too young to be the girl she saw getting a piggy-back ride ten years before, and she believes that she would have become more mature like her mother by the time of the Fifth Holy Grail War. She reasons that Ilya is a new homunculus completely unrelated to Irisviel with similarities in her appearance due to the Einzbern homunculi looking alike after their creation. Given a chance to casually interact with her, while she doesn't trust Ilya at first, she is eventually able to act nicely around her. She is able to freely have fun around her without any worries.


 * Knights of the Round Table
 * Finds it somewhat difficult to deal with Tristan, whom she never knows if he's awake or asleep.


 * Rider
 * While Saber can ally herself with Rider, she cannot agree with Rider's kingship that is lead by his own greed. However, Rider's words rebuking her own kingship bear down on Saber's already guilty conscience as she questions her own kingship. Ultimately, Rider's words and the truth about Lancelot cause Saber to fall into despair when she returns to Camlann, pledging to win the Grail to undo her rule.


 * Kiritsugu Emiya
 * Due to their differing ideologies and methods, Saber does not get along with Kiritsugu. She disgusted by his strategies that use her only as a tool, such using her to lure Caster while she wishes to find and kill Caster before anymore children are killed. Saber is even more disgusted by Kiritsugu when his trickery causes Lancer's forced suicide during her duel with him, Sola-Ui's death, and her having to perform mercy killing on Kaynenth. The incident causes her to finally question if his goal truly is peace, stating that his methods will only make him evil. By the end of the 4th war, she feels utterly betrayed when Kiritsugu forces her to destroy the Holy Grail without telling her why. So, when Saber meets his adopted son, Shirou, in the 5th war, she is hesitant to talk about Kiritsugu. She does eventually tell Shirou about Kiritsugu's nature in the previous war, but she was hesitant to do so due to Shirou's pleasant memories of Kiritsugu. Saber eventually comes to forgive his betrayal when she learns of the Grail's corruption. She also feels grateful towards him when she learned that he implanted Avalon in Shirou ten years ago to save the latter's life.

Fate/Zero
Saber is summoned by Kiritsugu Emiya to participate in the Fourth Holy Grail War on behalf of Jubstacheit von Einzbern and the Einzbern family. Kiritsugu was recruited by Jubstacheit and given Avalon, excavated from Cornwall, to summon the legendary King Arthur. While surprised that she is a young woman, it doesn't change anything about his plans. He partners Saber with his wife and vessel for the Lesser Grail, Irisviel von Einzbern, to act as Saber's Master in the open while he acts from behind to win with his own methods. Saber is unaware of Avalon, and it is given to Irisviel without her knowledge.

Saber and Irisviel arrive together in Fuyuki by plane from the Einzbern Castle in northern Europe because Saber cannot dematerialize due to her unique status. Kiritsugu travels separately from them and meets up with his protege, Maiya Hisau. Following the challenge of another Servant, they quickly encounter their first opponent that night. Saber engages Lancer, and despite a mostly even fight, she is left with a wound from Gae Buidhe to her left hand that prevents her from utilizing her full strength and Excalibur. Their fight is interrupted by the Rider, who declares the supremacy of his kingship and an invitation to join his army, but Saber claims her own kingship as a reason to never bow before another lord.

The arrival of Archer, who claims that his own rule far exceeds their own, and Berserker, who takes an interest in Saber after battling Archer, confuses the situation even more. After Lancer is forced to battle alongside Berserker to kill Saber through a Command Spell, Rider interrupts that fight so that she and Lancer may properly finish their duel at a later time. All of the Servants then retreat for the night without any further battle. Saber and Irisviel encounter the deranged Caster on their way to Fuyuki's Einzbern Castle, and he mistakes her for Joan of Arc due to a slight resemblance in their appearances. While she manages to drive him off, she in unable to convince him of his mistake and he promises to save her soul from the curse of God.

After Kiritsugu attempts to kill Lancer's Master, Kayneth Archibald El-Melloi, to remove the handicap caused by the wound left from Lancer, both he and Caster plan separate attacks on the Einzbern Castle. Saber, while discussing strategies with Kiritsugu and Irisviel, starts to become disgusted with Kiritsugu's attitude toward the Holy Grail War, such as his action of attacking Kayneth when she already has a planned duel with Lancer and avoiding Caster so another Servant can kill him instead. Caster shows up soon after, and he taunts Saber by slaughtering a number of children.

Saber quickly goes to meet Caster in battle, and she finds that she cannot overcome his Noble Phantasm, Prelati's Spellbook, without the use of her hand. While she slaughters a multitude of his monsters, she is unable to close the gap on him at all. She is eventually met by Lancer, Kayneth having sent him to deal with Saber while he deals with Kiritsugu, and he decides to help her out of the honor of their promised duel. Acting as her "left hand", they eventually manage to drive Caster back using Invisible Air to create a slip stream for Lancer to make a direct charge through the horde. After Caster flees, Lancer senses that Kayneth in danger after his loss to Kiritsugu, and Saber lets him leave due to their chivalry.

After the battle, Saber saves Irisviel by inadvertently providing Avalon with energy after she had received a fatal wound from Kirei Kotomine. Kiritsugu goes out on his own after everything settles down, leaving Irisviel and Saber alone in the castle. Their peace is quickly interrupted once again by the arrival of Rider on Gordius Wheel, who, rather than fighting, proposes a "battle without bloodshed", one of words between kings, to see who is suitable of obtaining the Holy Grail. Battling with wine, they, and Archer who Rider invited while on his way to the castle, discuss their methods of ruling and kingship.

In the King's meeting, Saber expressed that she wanted the Holy Grail to change the history of her country's destruction.

On the final day of the Holy Grail war, Saber encountered Berserker and fought against him. She realize that Berserker knows Saber's identity from their previous lives after catching Excalibur despite its invisibility. Saber demanded Berserker to reveal himself, Berserker answered by drawing Arondight and canceling his black fog. Saber was devastated as she learns Berserker's identity was her trusted friend Sir Lancelot.

Rider's words haunt Saber as Berserker attacks Saber, causing her to believe that Lancelot's hatred towards her has driven him into madness. As Kariya ran out of magical energy, Berserker stopped his attack and Saber used this opportunity to stab him. Saber apologizes as she desires the Holy grail to change the past including Lancelot part. Berserker regained his sanity as his contract with Kariya ended, he wanted Saber to punish him because he was unable to forgive himself for falling in love with the Queen. As he fades away, Saber wanted to say that he was a loyal knight but could not find the right words. He felt that Saber was the greatest amongst king for those who served her. After Berserker's defeat, she is determined to win the Holy Grail so she can save her people and Lancelot.

Saber found the Holy Grail but she also meets Gilgamesh who was waiting for her. He proposes that she becomes his wife and easily incapacitates her. Saber refuses as the Holy Grail is just in front of her.

Kiritsugu arrives at this time and Saber asks him for the power of the command seal in order to defeat Gilgamesh and claim the Holy Grail. Much to her despair, Kiritsugu uses his last two command seals for her to destroy the Grail. Excalibur is used to destroy the vessel of the Holy Grail, but its contents spill out onto the earth, razing the land permanently and killing almost everyone caught in its mud. With the Grail gone and unable to maintain her form, Saber is sent back to the battlefield of Camlann, as she remembers the words of Lancelot and Rider. She was the sixth and final servant to perish in the fourth Holy Grail War.

Her only wish is to redo her life so that she would never become king.

Fate/stay night
Saber is summoned in the Fifth Holy Grail War as the Servant of Shirou Emiya after he has been pursued home by Lancer, who has come to kill Shirou again after being revived by Rin Tohsaka's pendant. He had been having dreams of Excalibur in the days leading up to the start of the Holy Grail War after receiving his Command Spells due to the Grail having decided that Saber would be summoned. Avalon, reacting with Shirou's mana flow, caused the image of a "sword" to manifest in his subconscious. While attempting to escape from Lancer, he stumbles into his shed which contains the traces of the magic circle established by Irisviel during the previous war. With both the catalyst, Avalon inside Shirou, and the circle, the summoning is complete.

After Saber quickly commences with the formalities of finalizing their contract, she engages Lancer. She manages to keep the upper hand with Invisible Air until he utilizes Gae Bolg. She avoids his unavoidable attack allowing her to survive with a large wound and figure out his identity. He withdraws afterward due to orders from his Master, and Saber heals herself to the best of her ability with the lance's curse affecting the wound. Upon sensing more enemies, Rin and Archer, she quickly goes to engage them. At this point, the game splits into three routes, depending on previously cleared routes.

Fate
In the Fate scenario, she is the main heroine, servant protagonist and the love interest for Shirou. With their contract, they share visions of their past. Saber learns through them that Shirou is the adoptive son of Kiritsugu and his personality changed from the time she fought for him. It is eventually revealed that in the end of the Fourth Grail War, Saber only managed to destroy the physical form of the Grail. Saber still had the view that Kiritsugu was a cold and selfish person regardless of anything and her perception of him only worsened after he forced her to destroy the Grail without bothering to explain beforehand. However, her opinion changes after realizing that after the fire Kiritsugu saved Shirou and taught him his philosophies and ideals.

Shirou convinces Saber that she should accept her life for what it is rather than wishing to change her life. Saber realizes that changing her fate is a cowardly wish unlike Shirou, who was brave to keep going after being on the verge of death. She decides to accept her past and move on and with the help of Shirou, she fights to destroy the Grail. She used Excalibur to destroy the Holy Grail and its contents. After the destruction of the Holy Grail, Saber professes her love for Shirou and they bid farewell to each other. Saber vanishes to her original time, she finally accepts her past without the wish to change it thus breaking the contract with the world. She weakly smiles and tells Sir Bedivere:

"I think I will sleep much longer this time..."

After her death, she goes to Avalon rather than being removed from the cycle of transmigration to be placed on the Throne of Heroes like other Heroic Spirits. The bonus "Last Episode" shows Shirou reuniting with Saber in Avalon.

Unlimited Blade Works
In Unlimited Blade Works route, she is stopped from attacking Archer when Shirou uses a Command Spell to stop her. As a result of Archer not being injured, her fight with Berserker is more advantageous than in the other routes. However, before she can fight him further, Saber is saved by Shirou from Archer's Caladbolg. The next morning after explaining the rules of the Holy Grail War to Shirou, Saber decides to investigate his school for any potential dangers, where she encounters Kuzuki. Saber later goes to Ryuudou Temple at night to save Shirou, but she is unable to enter temple due to Assassin. She then takes Shirou, who has been seriously injured by Archer, home while Assassin defends them from Archer after he decided to let them go. Saber is later summoned by Shirou's Command Spell to his School to aid him and Rin against Shinji and Rider. However, She unexpectedly encounters Caster instead of Rider, and ends up arguing with Archer that Rider died with honor by protecting her Master.

Saber later confronts Kuzuki and Caster when Shirou and Rin decide to ambush him to ascertain him as a Master. However, while Caster's spells are useless against her, she is surprisingly overhelmed by Kuzuki, who ends up defeating her. She later tags along on Shirou and Rin's date, where she participates in the activities during it. However, they come home to Taiga being held hostage by Caster, who Saber tries to cut down her but is stopped by Shirou's Command Spell. Seizing the opportunity, Caster stabs Saber with Rule Breaker, stealing her contract with Shirou. She is then commanded by Caster to kill Shirou and Rin, but she resists the command and tells them to run. Saber is then held captive in Caster's new base, the Church, where she resists Caster's constant torture.

After Archer killed Caster and Kuzuki Souichirou, Archer claims he planned all this so he can be free to kill Shirou. This prompts Rin to form a contract with Saber to protect Shirou from Archer, who ends capturing Rin. Confronting Archer at Einzbern Castle, Saber witnesses the fight between Shirou and Archer while she allows Lancer to save Rin. Afterwards, Saber decides to destroy the Holy Grail with Shirou and Rin after Gilgamesh explained the Grail's corrupted nature. However, she ends up unexpectedly fighting a fading Assassin instead of Gilgamesh, as Rin had intially planned. She is able defeat him, and arrives just in time to save Shirou from Gilgamesh. Deciding to let Shirou fight Gilgamesh, Saber goes off to save Rin from the Grail. Saber then destroys the deformed Grail with Excalibur after Rin rescues Shinji. In the True Ending, with the destruction of the Holy Grail, Saber disappears, content knowing that Rin will watch over Shirou. However, in the Good Ending Saber becomes Rin's familiar after destroying the Grail, deciding to live alongside her and Shirou in the Emiya Household. She entrusts Shirou with providing her an answer someday about whether her path was wrong or not.

Heaven's Feel
 In the Heaven's Feel route, the first three days are the same as the Fate route, but the damage Saber receives from Berserker does not weigh heavily on Shirou's mind. After Saber gives her the explanation of the basics of the Holy Grail War, the topic of Illya and the Einzberns is brought up. Saber contemplates on explaining due to Shirou's confusion over Illya's hostility, instead telling Shirou to seek out the answers from Kotomine Kirei even though she wishes to have little contact with the priest. This line of conversation leads to the revelation of her connection to Kiritsugu in the previous war and her reason for disliking Kirei as a former enemy Master. Despite her dislike, she firmly believes Kirei is someone who will answer any questions clearly asked of him. As they head to the church, she suggests that Shirou not reveal the same Servant was summoned twice. After he comes back out after learning the answers, Shirou finds Saber's worried reaction funny, and also causes him to wish to reaffirm their contract as allies.

Shirou and Saber decide to patrol together at night, and then give a false explanation to Taiga and Sakura about why Saber is staying at the Emiya Residence. They begin their patrols that night, and Saber senses that someone is being drained by a Servant. They come upon Rider and Shinji Matou preying upon a woman for energy. Saber quickly engages and dispatches Rider easily, but Zouken Matou appears before they can deal with Shinji. Shirou is eventually appeased with Zouken taking charge of Shinji, although Saber is reluctant to let Shirou near him due to him being inhuman. Although she wishes to continue fighting, she stays her hand to help save the woman's life, and they bring her to the church for healing. As they discuss the situation, Shirou makes a clear resolution to end the war, and Saber says that she will never betray his trust.

The next morning, Saber and Shirou argue about where she should sleep and him continuing to go to school normally despite the potential danger without her being able to be by his side due to being unable to enter spiritual form. After Shirou returns home, he finds Saber with Taiga, and the discussion of their sleeping arrangements leads to a misunderstanding. They continue their patrols that night, planning to check Ryuudou Temple due to information about a Master and Servant being there from Rin Tohsaka. Saber agrees with a direct attack, but they find little upon arriving at the mountain other than Saber briefly seeing the katana of the recently killed Assassin before it fades away. As they make their way into the temple, they find Caster standing over the body of Souichirou Kuzuki. Before Saber can charge, Shirou warns her of the ominous feeling he gets from Rule Breaker, but she attacks in anger after believing Caster to have killed her own Master. Caster then regains her composure and attacks Saber, only to be easily cut down as Saber negates her spells. They decide to contact Kotomine to heal the residents of the temple and return home for the night.

Shirou is left sick the next day due to Rider, as Sakura's Servant, using Breaker Gorgon on him and taking his energy.



Fate/hollow ataraxia
In Fate/hollow ataraxia, Saber continues to protect Shirou, though it seems their relationship has turned more towards Saber having the major control over the relationship with Shirou. She spends most of her time at Shirou's house or wandering Fuyuki, but Rider berates her for it by calling her a freeloader. Saber participates in various activities with the others in the numerous loops; Helping and spending time with Shirou, playing soccer with children, and having a contest between herself, Illya, and Sakura over who's the best little sister.

Avenger is the main source of the endless loops, the loops are based on the Third Holy Grail War so he used the participants of the 5th grail war to recreate the scenes. There are two Sabers, as in the Third Grail War there were two different versions of the same Heroic Spirit, so he uses both Saber and Saber Alter as their templates.

In the beginning, Saber greets Shirou when he enters the house after he woke up. Although she admires his work ethic, Saber shows due concern for Shirou's health for sleeping in the shed. After coercing Shirou to sleep in his room from now on, Saber goes with him to have breakfast with the others. After breakfast Saber discusses the restarted Heaven's Feel with the others, then afterwards decides with Shirou to patrol Fuyuki for any potential threats to their now peaceful lives.

In one loop, Saber is patrolling Fuyuki with Shirou at night, and as they cross the bridge into Shinto, she reminiscenes about the first time she crossed the bridge to Shinto with Shirou and Rin. After expressing her displeasure at the poor disguise Shirou gave her at the time, The pair are suddenly fired upon by Archer. Saber deflects the first shot at Shirou's warning, which shocks he as she should've sensed it first. Deflecting a couple more shots, Saber reluctantly lets Shirou use his Command Spell to boost her abilities so she can quickly get to and klll Archer before he kills Shirou. After exchanging a few words with Archer before he dies then Shirou, Saber goes home with Shirou.

In another loop, Saber takes a tour of the school, which Taiga helped set up, with Shirou as her guide. Upon entering the school grounds she is almost immediately noticed by the boys in the track team, but Kaede, Kane, and Yukika arrive to drive off the boys. After conversing with the trio, Saber has lunch at the archery range with Shirou, Sakura, and Ayako, who asks for Saber's help with Cultural Festival. Continuing the tour, Shirou and Saber run into Kuzuki, who thanks her for helping Caster with her dress-making business. Afterwards, the two arrive at the student council room, where Saber and Issei talk at length as he shares stories about Shirou's school days. At the end of the tour, the pair arrive at his Shirou's homeroom, which Saber examines contently. After being asked by Shirou about why she wanted to visit his school, Saber expresses that she wished to see what sort of life Shirou lead at school. She becomes overjoyed when Shirou suggests that she transfer to his school, which he affirms as something that both Rin and Taiga would help with. Walking home, Saber tells Shirou that she is proud that he is ending the restarted war, for he sees the value of what is gone. Continuing saying that she'll protect him until the end, Saber tells Shirou not to be sad and that no matter the end, it will not be farewell for them as they'll arrive at the future they desire.

In another loop, Saber goes to the church with Shirou, where they encounter Bazett and Avenger. Though disturbed by Avenger's very existence, Saber fights him defensively to get a feel for his wild fighting style. She then breaks his blades with ease and deals what should be a fatal blow. However, Saber then feels the pain of Avenger's wound due to his use of Verg Avesta, but she able to resist it. Wishing to end the fight, Saber, with Shirou's permission, uses Excalibur against Bazett and Avenger. Unfortunately though, Bazett's Fragarach reverts Excalibur and kills Saber.

In another loop, Saber decides to stay home instead of going to Ryuudou Temple with Shirou and the others to prepare for the cultural festival due to believing she would be unhelpful, despite Shirou's insistence otherwise. Eventually though she does come to the temple, much to Shirou's delight, along with Rin, Archer, and Lancer. Saber then participates in the play rehearsal for the festival, afterwards she celebrates with everyone before leaving with the other Servants.

In the final loop of Fate/hollow ataraxia, Saber aids Shirou/Avenger in reaching the Grail by fending off the mysterious monsters (which were in fact leftover parts of Avenger wishing to continue the loop) with the other Heroic Spirits. She stands as the last defense against the shades, having enveloped the entire Central Building in Invisible Air to bar any entry except through the front door, which she now guards. Saber warns the monsters of their impending demise, then, after recalling visting Shirou's school, she obliterates them all with Excalibur.

In her Eclipse scenario Golden bathtub Saber arrives into the bathroom completely naked, while Shirou is bathing. She join in the bath and express her intention to repay everything nice that Shirou did for her until now. After little temptation they have passionate sex.

Fate/unlimited codes
Saber has three different incarnations in Fate/unlimited codes including Saber Alter and Saber Lily. Her normal form has the title Proud Knight-King (誇り高き騎士王).

Saber's story follows the basic path of Fate/stay night Fate route. Saber is summoned by Shirou, and she explains the nature of the Holy Grail War. He, having nothing to wish for, finds it meaningless, and he only wishes to stop the other Masters. Saber is confused, but offers not objections to his goal. She briefly explains her own goal of selecting a new king to replace her, not caring about her own fate afterward. Shirou cannot believe such a wish is correct, but she rebukes him by saying only the Holy Grail can decide upon the worthiness of the wish.

She eventually encounters Berserker, and Ilya, having knowledge of Saber's wish, says that it is not bad to cling to impossible wishes, but questions if her wish is actually just. Saber simply believes that the result of the War will decided if it is just. Ilya calls her goals purely selfish in nature, citing that the justness she had protected all that time made the world as it is in its current state. Telling Saber that there is nothing in her past to be ashamed of as Shirou has said many times, that she lived it the best way possible, Saber cuts her off and challenges them to battle. Ilya is simply sorry for Shirou for having a Servant that does not understand the Holy Grail War.

Saber emerges victorious, she contemplates Ilya and Shirou's words, wondering about if that which she seeks is truly just. She later encounters Gilgamesh, claiming that he will give her the Holy Grail and her miracle by becoming his queen. She no longer needs the Holy Grail, and her wish now has nothing to do with it. Rejecting his offer, she has only come to defeat him, citing that Shirou risked everything to teach her that she did the best with her life. He also taught her to destroy the Holy Grail, as people do not require magic to make their dreams come true. Gilgamesh pledges to cleanse her of such simple views, and the two engage in battle. After destroying the Holy Grail, she will no longer be a Heroic Spirit. Believing there was no such reason to have done so in the first place, she ruminates on not seeing the simple fact that she stood by her country while her countrymen did not stand by her. She begins to fade without the blessing of the Grail, finally returning to the hill. She tell Shirou that she is grateful and that she cares for him deeply. Though her country was far from a utopia and that she could not save everyone, he told her to be proud of her accomplishments. She decides to move on from the hill with those words in her heart, bidding him farewell and hoping that his dreams will come true.

Her role is very similar to Fate route in Shirou's story, Saber and Shirou discuss about their situation together. Shirou understands that he became Saber's Master, he explains to her that he has no use with the Holy Grail and his only wish was to keep innocent people from getting caught up in the war. Saber finds his plan honorable and follows his orders. In Shirou's ending, Saber destroyed the Holy Grail and fades away.

In Gilgamesh's ending, Saber is slowly corrupted by the Holy Grail blackened mud when Gilgamesh forces her to submit to him.

GUDAGUDA Honnouji
Saber appears in the event under the name. She appears just after the Chaldea group defeated Takeda Darius and Sanada Medusa, the former of whom is her rival. After Okita tells her that Takeda was just killed, Uesugi is disappointed that she wasted a journey from Kasugayama; planning take and gorge herself on Kai's food. She then decides to attack the group for their rations, but she is defeated by them. After her defeat, Uesugi complains that the only reason she lost was because she only had three bowls of rice this morning. Before disappearing, she asks if her shadow is getting thinner.

Fate/Accel Zero Order
Unlike the original Fourth Holy Grail War, Artoria isn't the Servant of Kiritsugu Emiya and is instead the Servant of Irisviel von Einzbern. Before the arrival of Chaldea, she had arranged a duel with Diarmuid Ua Duibhne to be held at the wharf. Unfortunately, Artoria encounters Ritsuka Fujimaru, Mash Kyrielight, and El-Melloi at the wharf instead Diarmuid as he had been trapped by El-Melloi's Qi Men Du Jia formation. When Irisviel questions if the group are participants in the war, Artoria tells her that she no longer senses Diarmuid's presence even though he invited them. Then, to her surprise, El-Melloi reveals her True Name, and she fights the group but is forced to retreat.

Later, Artoria confronts the group after Mash established a summoning circle near to the Fuyuki River. She challenges them to a fair fight, which El-Melloi is unconvinced of due to his knowledge of her serving as a decoy while Kiritsugu Emiya ambushes the enemy. However, as she continues fighting the group, Irisviel is ambushed by EMIYA but Mash quickly defends her. Hearing EMIYA wants to kill Irisviel, Artoria fights him to defend her, prompting the group to join forces to prevent ruining El-Melloi's plan. After EMIYA retreats, Artoria realizes the group never had the intention of killing her. She learns with Irisviel from El-Melloi that the group aren't enemies, and they only wish to keep her safe to achieve their goal which El-Melloi doesn't divulge. When Irisviel states her vague feeling she was meant to be killed by EMIYA, Artoria refuses to believe such a thing, and vows protect her. She also recognizes Mash's true identity, but decides not to divulge it, believing Mash should discover it on her own. With the group having saved Irisviel, she is convinced they aren't enemies.

Artoria encounters the group again when they invade her discussion with Iskandar and Gilgamesh to kill the latter with Lancelot's help. However, after Gilgamesh perishes, Artoria is suddenly attacked by Lancelot due to his Master, Kariya Matou, passing out. The group help her fight Lancelot, but he is defeated by Iskandar. He warns her and Diarmuid (who joined the group earlier) that they'll been his enemies if they ally with El-Melloi, whom he now considers an enemy, before leaving. Afterwards, EMIYA returns to kill Irisviel, but Artoria defends her against him. When El-Melloi states her true Master is Kiritsugu, she reveals she is contracted with Irisviel who shows her Command Spells as proof. After EMIYA is defeated, Artoria and Irisviel learn he is a Counter Guardian from El-Melloi. They further learn the activation of the Greater Grail will end the world, and that the Einzbern's highly certain victory in this version of the Fourth war prompted the Counter Force's activation. Artoria and Irisviel, along with EMIYA, then decided to join the group, and go with them to the the Greater Grail's cavern.

At the cavern, Artoria and Irisviel learn of the Grail's corruption from El-Melloi, and he tells the group of his initial plan to safely dismantle the Grail. However that plan was changed with the failure of recruiting Iskandar, so the plan was changed to destroying the Grail directly. After defeating Hundred Faced Hassan, the group move on to Grail's chamber, where they encounter and defeat Iskandar. After he disappears though, El-Melloi is severely wounded by Lancelot, who is now contracted with Zouken Matou, and the group fight and defeat him. Unfortunately his defeat begins the Grail's activation, and Zouken uses Irisviel's magical energy to hasten the process. A figure resembling Irisviel called Black Iri emerges the Greater Grail, and proceeds to devour Zouken. She then goes to devour the group, saying five Heroic Spirit aren't enough to fill her. Artoria and Diarmuid decide to hold her off while the others escapes. Although Irisviel is concerned for her, Artoria assures her a Servant can instantly withdraw via Command Spell as long as their Master remains safe. Unfortunately, she and Diarmuid struggle against Black Iri, but thankfully the others return to assist. she is able recognizes Waver Velvet (who joined the group) has become a Servant, which unbeknowst resulted from becoming Zhuge Liang's temporary vessel. After the group destroy Black Iri, Artoria bids the other farewell, glad the battle ended well before disappearing due to the Grail's destruction.

Chaldea Summer Memories ~Soothing White Beach~
While she and several other Servants prepare to rayshift with Ritsuka, Artoria and Scáthach ease Mash's worries about the dangers they may encounter. The group arrive on an unknown island unable to contact Chaldea, which Artoria assures isn't Britain due to the tropical plants. After defeating a group of giants crabs, she reconfirms to Mordred their current location isn't Britain while the others discuss the same subject. The next day, the group learn from a near dead Blackbeard (who was convinced earlier by Mary Read to observe the island) that their location is still unknown, and its nearly impossible to leave with a normal ship. After he disappears, while others are complaining about the heat, Artoria suggests to Mash and Scáthach possibly leaving the island for a new location where they can reestablish contact with Chaldea. Agreeing with her suggestion, the group decided to build a ship capable of leaving the island. When monsters arrive, Artoria reprimands Mordred for wearing heavy armor to intimidate her opponents when she complain how hot it is in the armor. She tells Mordred to change her armor to one suiting of her frame, but also tells her it won't bring her reputation as knight above negative. After slaying the monsters, the group's Spirit Origins are altered by Scáthach to give them swimsuits in order to accommodate with their current environment. Artoria deciding she needs a more appropriate weapon for her swimsuit, pulls out a water pistol she apparently still had from Waku Waku. Monsters then approach, which Artoria sees as an opportunity to see if she and the others can still fight in their swimsuit. After the monsters are slain, the group go to gather materials for Scáthach to build their escape ship while also building other facilities.

Later, the group discuss what their first task of island life should be when a storms suddenly rolls in. They enter a small cave spotted by Mordred to escape the rain, but they run out due to a massive swarm of bugs. Outside the cave, Artoria is concerned another storm could happen anytime due to the island's unstable weather conditions. Out of concern for Ritsuka, the group decide they need to build a cabin to take shelter in. When Tamamo-to-Mae and Kiyohime suggest building a wooden cabin, Artoria accidentally insults them by comparing their suggestion to a stable. Apologizing for her unintended insult, she suggests a stone cabin for stability and defense. If the stone cabin is built, Artoria tells Ritsuka they may someday build a castle rivaling Camelot. She begins telling of Camelot's past before it was her castle, but stops herself, believing it to be inappropriate given their situation. She then takes back her comparison to Camelot from earlier as the island isn't Britain and Ritsuka isn't King Arthur. She assures Ritsuka that if they build a castle on the island, it will a proud and noble place like them. Next, the group decide to build a water supply to preserve any fresh water they collect. Artoria becomes surprised when Anne Bonny states a rumor of faucets that produce orange juice or udon broth. if the faucet that Anne and Mary suggested is built, she wants to confirm the rumor Anne said, and becomes overexcited when she mentions udon dashi. Familiar with udon, she then praises it as the epitome of exquisite yet simple looking cuisine. She then decides to check if the faucet produces udon broth, but become disappointed when she realizes Ritsuka tricked her.

Later, Artoria joins Ritsuka, Mash, Anne and Bonny in hunting with Cú Chulainn), which she calls a knight's hobby. She claims she won't let any prey escape her, and says it would be perfect if horses Llamrei and Dun Stallion along with her dog, Cavall, were with her. Artoria then prepares to unleash Excalibur to get a deer Cú Chulainn spotted on leeward of a nearby mountain, but she is stopped though. Reprimanded by Cú Chulainn, she explains destroying the surroundings as one way to get at prey when they hide in difficult places. She assures though that she doesn't always use it, only using it when she needs to. Artoria then asks Cú Chulainn if she is somehow breaking Celtic hunting etiquette, to which he answers her method goes beyond simple etiquette. She recalls Agravain praising the aforementioned method when they went hunting together, but questions if he was lying to her. After the group ban the use of Noble Phantasms, they proceed with hunting, with Artoria catching several birds and rabbits. Deciding they've gathered enough food for now, she asks why Cú Chulainn didn't participate, to which answers he sniffed out bigger prey. After slaying the wyverns that appeared, the group return to the beach to barbecue and eat the meat they've gathered; Artoria considers barbecue to be a sloppy cooking method though.

Tired of barbecue, the group decide to build a proper cooking facility. Artoria compares the choice of what cooking facility to make to choosing what troop gets reinforcements, where two will be sacrificed if one is chosen. She claims she'll have to make the choice, but Mash corrects her that Ritsuka will do so. As well, she remains indecisive between the choices of hearth, pizza oven and a big cauldron as she finds the respective food options to be all delicious. Either way, she supports whatever choice is made, and eats with Ritsuka, Mash, and the choice's respective requester. Next, the group decide to build a bathing facility. Artoria requests they build a proper bathing facility, which Marth agrees with. If her request is chosen, she and Martha test the bath. Martha asks her why she requested a japanese-style bath even though she's the king of Britain. Artoria answers that bathing in it gives her vague flashbacks from when she was a main heroine in reference to Fate/stay night. Feeling she was meant to be with the bath, she suddenly imagines Medusa bathing in it as well in reference to Fate/hollow ataraxia. Later, the group decide they need to cultivate a vegetable field for a more stable food supply. If Mordred's request for a watermelon garden, she gets into a watermelon splitting competition with Scáthach. Her competitive nature gets the better of her though, and she ends destroying the watermelon's surroundings after splitting it with her Mana Burst. Later, the group build a grain field which can be used for cooking ingredients. Afterwards, they build a ranch to raise livestock; Artoria happily accepts whatever choice is made. If a cattle ranch is built, she smacks Mordred for trying to steal her meat while its cooking, saying Mordred does her usurper name justice. if a sheep ranch is built, she mentions how Romulus was sheperd, which makes the others imagine him as one.

A couple days later, Artoria, Mordred, Kiyohime, and Marie learn from Scáthach that their crops were destroyed by a beast as determined by Fionn mac Cumhaill's use of Fintan Finegas. Unfortnuately, they find Fionn and Diarmuid Ua Duibhne, who served as lookouts the previous night, fatally wounded. Fionn quickly dies, but Artoria is able to get Diarmuid to reveal their attacker to be a boar. After he disappears, she spots a boar piglet. Marie defends the piglet, but Artoria tells her they've no choice but to suspect it given the current evidence, and not to be fooled by appearance. She warns her to be beware of a boar's charge when Marie tries to feed the piglet some nuts. She continues the group should surround the piglet and finish it off. After killing monsters that appeared, Artoria has the group split up and search the island for the boar piglet that ran off earlier. Later that night, they reconvene at their crops joined by Tamamo, Martha, and Anne and Mary. The group find the piglet along with two trying to protect from the crops when a demon boar appears. Realizing it to be true culprit, the group fight the demon boar. Artoria finishes it off, but she hears it say "Arthur" before dying to her surprise. She then apologizes to Marie for not believing in her that the boar piglet was innocent. After Scáthach contracts the piglets to guard the crops, Artoria apologizes to the boar piglet for chasing it for a crime it didn't commit. She praises the piglet for its bravery against the demon boar despite its small size. Unfortunately though, she causes the piglet to run away when she mentions how looking at it makes her hungry, which Marie reprimands her for. Artoria warns though that given the island's size more demon boars may be encountered.

The next day, Artoria proposes the group build a new pathway to help improve their efficiency in procuring materials. She disagrees with Tamamo's proposal for a wooden path instead proposing they build a cobblestone path. If the cobblestone path is built, Artoria praises the roads in Camelot while admitting the roads in Rome are also nice. She continues Nero Claudius and Gaius Julius Caesar would do the same, though neither can be better than the other regardless of national pride. She then becomes somber when she states how patriotism clashing can cause not easy to resolve situations. Deciding to return to camp, she mentions how stone roads remind her of knights returning home on their horses. Later, the group build an aqueduct to improve their efficiency in storing water. If Marie's request for a stone aqueduct is built, Artoria notes how it has a roman design to it when Mash compares it to. She then tells Ritsuka she respects other cultures, but advises against favoring a specific culture as unnecessary friction may raise between their Servants of differing cultures. When she thinks Ritsuka isn't listening to advice, she wonders if she should something British to be built. Next, the group decide build a bridge to make travelling easier for Ritsuka. Admitting Japanese Bridges are beautiful, she believes they'd be fragile, and proposes they build a drawbridge with a stone gate for defense. if the drawbridge is built, Artoria recalls how in her past, she and her destroyed many a bridge repelling Picts, Saxons, bandits, and insurgents only to rebuild them again. She glad though that with a drawbridge she no longer has to face such a problem. As she admires the bridge's beauty though, Mordred ends up scratching it with Prydwen. Angered at her for scratching the bridge and not admitting fault, Artoria asks Ritsuka for permission to release Excalibur, comparing Mordred to driftwood. Later, the group build a garden. Afterwards they decide to build a place for recreational activities. Stating how sports can have a positive impact on both mind and body, Artoria proposes they build a athletic field given her experience in sports. If the athletic field is built, she plays a one on three game of soccer against Ritsuka, Mash, and Cath Palug. When asked by Mash if she always liked soccer, Artoria answers she hasn't, and that she must have practiced it somewhere before yet is unable remember anything else. Seeing Mordred bouncing a ball against a wall by herself, she believes her to be like a child desiring to practice alone in silence in hopes of making into the majors one day. Seeing Mordred bouncing a ball against a wall by herself, she believes her to be like a child practicing alone in hopes of making into the majors one day. Somewhat reluctantly she allows Mordred to join Ritsuka's teams, telling her not to hold back.

After finishing a game of beach ball, Artoria tells Tamamo and Marie to remember their duty as Servants when they go to relax. the group then follow Cú Chulainn and Karna to a secret village they made for the men after defeating Sasaki Kojirou. Later, they build a tower to overlook the isldand. Next, they decide to expand their cabin; Artoria agrees with Marie's request for a castle. If the castle is built, she notes how it is a small yet good castle, but worries about Heracles lurking around. When Marie and Tamamo speak of their experiences with castles, Artoria agrees with Marie's assessment that a smaller castle can strengthen the bonds with the people. She then calls the king and the others along with herself to be their knights, and prays their unity will be like a family. If the samurai residence is built, Artoria finds it nostalgic and soothing, and she suggests filling the storage shed with broken junk to make it more soothing in reference to the Emiya Residence.

Eventually, the group decide a build a statue, though Artoria doesn't see the point of it. However, as they prepare to build it, a giant demon boar appears, and the group along with the men fight it. After the giant demon boar retreats, Artoria states it shouldn't bother them for a while given its wounds. Eventually, the construction on the escape ship is completely when the giant demon bear attacks again despite its wounds. The group then fight it to protect the boar piglets, and Artoria asks herself how can she be a king if she doesn't fight for the people. However, the giant demon boar's stamina proves to be tremendous, and it charges at the ship to destroy it. The group are able to make it to the ship thanks to the boar piglets protecting it. After defeating the giant demon boar, the group and the men board the ship and set sail, with plenty of food personally procured by Artoria.

Chaldea Heat Odyssey ~Evolving Civilization~
As the group continue to sail, Artoria apologizes to Scáthach for Mordred's rudeness, and asks her if something is bothering her. She then admires Scáthach's belief in Cú Chulainn's strength to survival when Mash mentions the men fell overboard. Eventually, the group make landfall to find a desolate wasteland. Artroria depressed by the complete lack of food, but she is more concerned about Ritsuka dying of malnourishment. The group then hear a cry for help, and are surprised it is coming from a boar piglet. After defeating the Shadow Servant chasing the boar piglet, it reveals itself to be a demon boar in disguised. The boar piglet then calls the group goddesses, and asks them to save this world.

Later, led by the boar piglet, the group find the ruins of a city. Artoria points out the boar piglet speaks as if it never met humans before, and is concerned it may be too late to save this world given the ruins. Eventually, the group guided to the boar piglet chief who thanks them for saving his grandchild after hearing their circumstances. They become shocked when they learn the buildings were from an advance civilization built by the boar piglets. Unfortunately that came to an end with the arrival of the demon boars and Shadow Servants fifty years ago. The group then learn from the chief of a legend in his clan about nine goddesses called Nine Sisters who gave the boar piglets civilization. The goddesses were said to take human form, so the chief's grandson assumed the group were them. The group decide to redevelop the island in exchange for the boar pigelt's help. When the chief's description of a tenth goddess who eat boar piglet matches Tamamo, Artoria tries to comfort her. She tells Tamamo that her being summoned as Servant is because she changed her way. She then calls Tamamo her comrade regardless of how many big piglet she may have eaten while also wondering if the boar piglets were delicious.

Later, the group start to rebuild the boar piglet's civilization, with Artoria being involved in the construction of a restaurant. While concerned by the piglet's suggestion of hamburger, beef bowl, or kebab shop, she wonders where the meat is going to come from. Eventually, Artoria learn from Ritsuka, Mash, Scáthach, Tamamo, Marie, and Mordred that their current locatation is actually the same island from before 2,000 years later. The group realize they are the Nine Sisters the boar piglet chief spoke of. They decide against leaving the island by ship again as Scáthach points another thousand years may pass on the island and the boar piglets may be extinct. The group then decide they need to discover why the island's space-time is distorted as they continue to redevelop the island and make contact with Chaldea. They also meet with Cú Chulainn, who recently returned from being tossed overboard from the group's ship. When Mordred says she's going with Scáthach's search party to the coast for chance to surf, Artoria says she'll double her workload when she returns. Later, she learns from Ritsuka, Mash, Scáthach, Cú Chulainn that Berserker (Fate/Grand Order - Beowulf) is on the island but as an enemy. She also Mordred a thug when she calls Beowulf a thug.

Later, the group decide to build a bridge, and if the red bridge is built, Artoria and Cú Chulainn will find it familiar. After building three amusement centers, the group search for the Caster that gave the boar piglets electricity 200 years ago. Artoria and Mordred join Ritsuka, Mash, and Scáthach in searching for the cave where the Caster is sleeping. As they continue to search for the cave, Artoria wonders if the Caster could've survived for more than a century, to which Scáthach answers the island doesn't follow the laws of time. Nearing the cave, the group fight the demon boars surrounding it. Inside the cave, they encounter even more demon boars. Artoria defends Mash's natural good nature from Mordred's critcism by comparing Mash to pristine water while comparing Mordred to a cheap, chaotic cocktail. She then gets into an argument with Scáthach about the balance between order and chaos. After slaying the demon boars, Artoria and Scáthach apologize to each other for their behavior. The group then encounter an unknown Servant, and fight him along with his robots. After defeating the unknown Servant, he's reveal to be Thomas Edison who just woke from cryo-sleep; Artoria is enamored by his lion visage. The group then follow Edison outside when he learns the boar piglets' civilization he helped create is in ruins. Artoria doubts though he is Edison as his current face doesn't match the picture of him she's seen. Deciding check for herself personally, she painfully pulls on Edison's face. Returning to the city, the group learn Edison requires the Holy Grail to build an escape device to contact Chaldea.

Later, Artoria with Ritsuka and Mash goes to a cave the boar piglets found. Inside the cave, she recalls it as the same cave she viisited with Ritsuka, Mash, Marie, and Anne and Bonny 2,000 years ago. Remembering, she and Anne destroy a icicle that nearly fell on Marie when she was pondering which path to take. The group then split up, with Artoria and Anne deciding to see which one can reach the end of either path. As Anne and Mary aid each other in the other path, Artoria admires their teamwork as true partners. She then states the Knights of the Round Table were indeed trusted comrades, but they were knights and she their king. Asked by Ritsuka if she wanted a partner, Artoria answers she was observe what she odesn't have, saying a king doesn't desire a partner. She then wonders if, in another time and another world, she had someone who fought by her side as a partner would. She then realizes Ritsuka could become her partner for whom she can build a trusting relationship. After comforting Mash by saying they're all partners, Artoria and the others reach the end of the path. There her competitive nature causes her to claim herself as victor of her competition with Anne as the tip of her gun entered the area first. The group then fight two demon boars that were inside the cave, which retreated after being defeated. In the present, the group encounter those same demon boars disguised as Anne and Mary separately. Upset that the demon boars copied the pirates due to numbers even though they're one Servant instead of her who's stronger, Artoria fight them with the others. After the demon boars are slain, she is glad Ritsuka understands that she is the best Servant.

Some time later, the group build a tourist attraction. Next, the boar piglets request the construction of an automated machine so they can remain lazy, which Artoria and Kiyohime both criticize. If the robot factory is built, she says the boar piglet's laziness is giving her a headache. If the wish-granting device is built, she ponders destroying it, but reconsiders when she realizes the boar piglets will likely use it only to aid their laziness. Eventually, the group decide to go to where the demon boars reside as they likely have the Grail. As they near their destination, Artoria points out a vast number of demon boars guard the cave as Scáthach surmised. She realizes the Grail must be inside the demon boars' cave, but they outnumber the group. Going with Mordred's plan, she helps breakthrough the enemy line and hold them off so Ritsuka, Mash, Scáthach, and Edison can enter the cave. After the escape device is built, Artoria learns her old enemy, Twrch Trwyth was the cause of the island's crisis, and blames herself it. Scáthach tells it isn't her fault while the piglets tell her they can share the blame, which doesn't exactly make her feel better. The group prepare to leave the island, and contact Chaldea and rayshift back. Artoria implores the boar piglet chief to build a lasting, peaceful country. Leaving the island, the group learn from Scáthach that the island was part of the Land of Shadows that was somehow cutoff from it when the Incineration of Humanity occurred. They're then contacted by Romani who reveals they were only gone for a hour, and return to Chaldea.

Interlude
A Reason to Fight is her first interlude. She requests to visit Fuyuki, and is horrified by the destruction caused as a result of the Singularity manifesting. However, monsters attack the group when she and Romani Archaman are explaining the differing aspects of Heroic Spirits to Mash Kyrielight. Afterwards, Saber talks about the circumstances of her birth, and her past as King Arthur. She continues that despite her life being full of mistakes and failures, she was ultimately satisfied with it nonetheless. Saber then admits she hurt many and failed to recognize many, but she's proud to have protected what she held dear until the end. After killing some more monsters, Saber reveals she became king to fight for and protect the future like Ritsuka Fujimaru is now; a future that everyone wishes and desires for. She continues that while she is unsure if she did a good job, she did her best regardless. Asked by Mash if she regrets the way her life ended, Saber answers that while she has frustrations about it but has no regrets about it. She admits her battle wasn't the correct salvation for everything, but she's certain it wasn't a mistake.

Awakening the Holy Sword is her second interlude. Visiting a deserted area in the Septem Singularity, Saber summons several monsters using a disposal grimoire given to her by da Vinci, in order to improve Ritsuka's strength to strengthen her Noble Phantasm. After several battles, she states that she is proud of Ritsuka, and says that she feels like this has happen before. She then wonders if she'll meet someone like Ritsuka again, a Master worthy of her respect and fondness, who rises to the occasion despite his own inexperience.

Fate/Labyrinth
Saber initially appears as Manaka's Servant during the Subcategory Holy Grail. Together, they defeat many opponents as well as the bosses of each of the floor levels in Caubac Alcatraz's labyrinth.

After forming a party with Archer, Assassin and Caster, they come across a bath where Manaka and Caster take the opportunity to grope her as they are bathing. Finally, reaching the end of the 3rd level, Saber helps the group defeat the 3rd level boss, a dragon golem. However, after the dragon is beaten, Saber becomes shocked to see Manaka transforming into Norma Goodfellow (due to Manaka being pulled back to her reality by the Beast Class Servant) at the entrance to the 4th floor. However, before Saber can ask Norma any questions, Norma ends up activating and falling through a pit fall trap which automatically closes on her. Although Saber is able to see Norma's whereabouts through a mental image passed to her by Norma due to her existing contract with Manaka/Norma.

Despite some initial disagreements with the other Servants about Manaka, Saber and the rest of the party decide to keep on going, eventually finding the room that Norma fell into. During the walk, Caster postulates that Saber's contract with Manaka is fading. Inside the crystal room, Saber and the other two Servants encounter a two-headed dragon golem. After a lengthy battle, they are able to defeat the defeat through the use of Saber's Noble Phantasm. But, this comes at the price of Saber using up the last of her prana, proving Caster's theory. Before fading away and after saying her goodbyes, Saber gives the other 3 Servants a bracelet mystic code that she had found, and tells them to give it to Norma/Manaka.

Capsule Servant
Saber makes several appearance in Capsule Servant. There are six playable Saber in the Capsaba Servants, one is known as the regular Blue Saber while the others are Saber Alter, Zero Saber, Hungry Saber (はらぺこセイバー), Saber Lion and King Saber. In the story mode, she appears as Master Artoria.

She also appears as Galactica Saber, a super-rare Servant specially drawn by Takeuchi Takashi. Leysritt tells Shirou that by collecting all the Saber editions from limited-time Servant draws, there's apparently a rare chance of drawing Galactica Saber Final Edition. Gilgamesh has this servant in his possession in Shirou's ending in Celebloomers ending. Gilgamesh spent the entirety of his treasury on collecting many super-rare Servants. He hug it every night while he goes to sleep.

Chibichuki!
Saber and many of the Type-Moon characters were transported to Katatsuki school (型月学園) by Nasu Kinoko. Her Excalibur sword was changed to a called Exacali-harisen (エクスカリハリセン). She is part of the Saber 4~8 (セイバー4～8).

Fate/Extella
She is a playable character for the war for the Moon Cell and an available choice for Hakuno Kishinami. She is an independent participant of the war who was summoned by the Moon Cell itself to act as a deterrent for the three factions of Nero, Tamamo, and Altera. It is her duty to ensure that the war between the three factions doesn't escalate to such a level as to cause the SERAPH's destruction.

In her side story The Other Stranger, Artoria has just recently been summoned to SE.RA.PH., and muses it as an almost perfect recreation of Earth if not for the Moon Cell explaining to her beforehand. She goes to exclaim her role is to not fight for a wish, but to act as a deterrent for the recent conflicts, which she finds acceptable as she is glad to fight as a protector. She then continues to say that she must seek the cause of the abberation in SE.RA.PH., Altera, and sets out for the battlefield, believing it to be the best place to start her investigation.

Later, Artoria senses a battle nearby and goes towards to where it is while exclaiming that she needs to gather information about Altera. Arriving soon at the battle she sensed earlier, she sees Cú Chulainn and Medusa fighting and tells them to stop otherwise she'll have to intervene. However neither of them listen to her and attack, which prompts her to fight both of them. After defeating them, she confronted by Nero Claudius, who is confused to why she attacked both her forces and Tamamo no Mae's forces. Artoria explains to her that she serves neither side in the conflict and that she only seeks to root out the cause of the war. She then asks Nero to what compelled her to use attack programs, reprimanding her for it as they're dangerous weapons that easily lead to aberrations. She continues reprimand her by saying that battles between Servants are ferocious, asking her if she considered the poor A.I. who were swept in. Nero then realizes that her actions placed her citizens under such pain and strife, and thanks Artoria for saving her soul and her people. Hearing her words, Artoria is pleased that Nero can be reasoned with, finding her to be wise and kind, at least by the standards of a Roman emperor. She then tells her that she can be trusted to protect SE.RA.PH., and then asks her if she knows where Altera is. Nero answers that she hasn't heard of Altera, then she tells Artoria about how the war began.

Arriving in a different part of SE.RA.PH., Artoria sees that Altera hasn't arrived yet, and muses about how about the Forces of Destruction haven't appeared yet either and that the only conflict for now is between Nero and Tamamo, both of whom possess the Regalia. Needing to know where Altera, she goes to ask Tamamo, and to inform her of the true threat to SE.RA.PH. even though she know little about it herself. Confronting Tamamo, she senses that she is an Anti-Hero, and prepares to fight her when Tamamo begins to speak in an evil manner. Tamamo then tells Artoria that she was mistaken for coming alone, and then goes to tell her about how she'll kill her and then she'll display her head to the masses and parade her parts across her lands as a testament to her anger. Artoria tells her that she came to obtain information on Altera, but decides to fight her for the sake of SE.RA.PH. after sensing mana on her. In response, Tamamo calls Lu Bu to her side, and Artoria proceeds to fight both of them. After defeating them, she tells Tamamo that she felt her true nature as they fought, commending her for subtly protecting her Master even in the heat of battle. She believes that her true nature to not be evil and that SE.RA.PH. is safe from her as long as her Master wills it. Tamamo tells her to kill her, but begs her not to destroy the Regalia as her Master is blameless. Artoria tells her that she has no intention to harm anyone ignorant of wrongdoing nor will she harm her. She decides to spare Tamamo, seeing that she isn't threat to SE.RA.PH. that she proclaimed herself to be.

In another part of SE.RA.PH., Artoria muses about how Altera by the Moon Cell's judgement is behind the catastrophe in SE.RA.PH. She then exclaims that intuition warns her of Altera's power though not with fear or revulsion, but that same intuition warns of her of a powerful presense near her that she describing it as hating and envying the world, and mocking all human progress. Wondering what is behind the aberrations in SE.RA.PH., she continues her search with both her eyes and mind open. Eventually she encounters Gilgamesh and Iskandar, who were called by Archimedes to kill her for interfering in his plans. Iskandar asks for her name, but Gilgamesh tells him not to bother as she isn't like either of them, especially the battle enjoying Iskandar. She then decides to fight them to discipline for betraying the Moon Cell. After defeating them, a narration by Nameless reveals that her actions had prevented the conflict between Nero and Tamamo from escalating, and that she was able to weaken the forces of the Umbral Star. Later while eating at a restaurant, she tells Hakuno that Archimedes, the mastermind behind the abberation, has been defeated, but warns that he may return when it's least expected. She also reveals that she spoke with Altera, believing her to be a pure and simple yet stubborn woman. She asks Hakuno to treat Altera with an open mind should they cross paths with her again in the future, telling them that she needs a companion to confide in. Then, as admires the food she is eating after second portion arrives, Artoria expresses that she feels blessed to have come to SE.RA.PH. and that her worries of her journey are now in the far-off past.

Other appearances
Saber is the main mascot character of TYPE-MOON. She appears with her various incarnations in various promotional art.


 * Carnival Phantasm - Saber has a large role in Carnival Phantasm due to her status as a Fate heroine, appearing in the Holy Grail War parody segments and those involving her relationship with Shirou. Several jokes focus on her gluttonous personality, and it also features segments including Saber Alter and Saber Lion.
 * Lord El-Melloi II Case Files - Saber is mentioned by Lord El-Melloi II when speaking of the similarity between Gray, a descendant of a lineage related to Saber who looks similar in appearance, and her ancient relative. She is also mentioned as the person who finished off Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald during the Fourth Holy Grail War.
 * Fate/Apocrypha - The catalysts to summon her as a Servant disappear between the Third Holy Grail War and the Great Holy Grail War due to the introduction of many smaller wars over a number of years that deplete available catalysts. In the anime adaption, Saber made a brief appearance in episode 6 in Sisigou's dreams, witnessed Modred was killed by her.
 * Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA☆ILLYA - The Saber Class Card manifests her abilities when utilized.
 * Fate/Extra / CCC - Saber is mentioned several times by Archer and Gawain.
 * Non-Type-Moon works - Saber also appears in various cameos and crossovers with other series.

Abilities
The Saber class is considered the "Most Outstanding" due to its excellent ratings in all categories, and Saber doesn't fall short of that reputation. She is left very underpowered for the majority of the Fifth Holy Grail War due to Shirou's extremely bad aptitude and being unable to provide her with mana due to his Magical Paths being obstructed. She is not able to achieve the power she had during life, so she cannot be said to have the abilities of the greatest Servant in that state. She is stronger under Kiritsugu, but her luck is decreased since even Kiritsugu still could not provide sufficient Magical Energy, as a result the status was affected by the Master's way of life. After she forms a proper contract with Rin, she displays her original abilities without being affected by the Master. She can barely keep up with Berserker using all of her strength while weakened, but Shirou believes that not even he would be able to stand against her at full strength. She is also strengthened under Caster, but doesn't display it due to being incapacitated by the Command Spell.

Unlike other Heroic Spirits who can fit under multiple classes, she claims that she is only suited to the Saber class. Mordred, when told that Lancer and Rider are powerful Heroic Spirits without being given their identities, considers the possibility of her having been summoned under those classes. She could possibly have the capacity to qualify for the Caster class, but "magecraft is not the way of the King" and she lacks the patience to actually learn magecraft. If she were to be summoned in western Europe, she would receive a general boost in power similar to other European Heroic Spirits, and she would display a much sharper increase in power in England.

Combat
She is extremely skilled with a sword. Even unarmed and faced with a surprise attack from Taiga, said to be an unmatched kendo expert, Saber is able to easily disarm her without even taking a stance. She takes up teaching Shirou, but only focuses on giving him as much battle experience as possible because she does not have an aptitude for teaching others. While her ability as a swordsman is proficient, it is not where her true strength lies, but rather her enormous amount of magical energy. She believes that there is no Servant that surpasses her in close combat, and she is certain that she can clear an escape route from the battlefield under any disadvantageous situation.

Her initial Noble Phantasm is always Invisible Air, allowing her to hide her identity and main weapon, Excalibur, while also confusing opponents with an invisible sword. She can also release it in a large blast of air and cover other objects with it. She eventually releases Excalibur when necessary, allowing her to unleash a large slash of light capable of wiping out almost anything it its path. She lost Avalon in life, but the genuine article still exists in the present. While it is kept from her during the Fourth Holy Grail War, it is returned during the Fate route of the Fifth War, giving her more energy and allowing her defend against any attack in combat. She also lost Caliburn in the past, and while she can no longer use it, she is able to make use of Shirou's projection to slay Berserker.

Saber utilizes armor woven by her magical energy and it can be called part of her body, so it can be called forth for battle and dismissed for normal interactions. It is heavy, hard silver-white and azure armor including gauntlets, greaves, a breastplate, and long tassets shaped like a skirt that act as impregnable defenses made from magical energy overpowering others. She has to will it away manually and it doesn't fade when she is unconscious, so Rin is able to remove it from her like it is normal armor. While she normally wears a casual outfit, removing her armor during battle leaves her with a blue dress that she wears under it. Being made from her energy, it is weak against abilities that target magical energy like Gae Dearg.

It cannot be permanently damaged no matter how much it is slashed, chipped, or smashed, as she can instantly repair it with her own energy. It costs a great deal to protect herself by forming, maintaining, and repairing it, so she may have to forgo healing her body to repair the armor. Maintaining her armor is the same as maintaining her body, so she keeps it off when possible to preserve her dwindling power. The cost of doing so in battle can be deadly, but it can also grant her a boost in power that proves greater than the handicap of losing it. She can dismiss it simply by cutting off the magical energy supplied to it, causing it to fade into mist as it breaks into metallic dust. She can manipulate it through psychokinesis, allowing her to impart it on objects of her choice like the Yamaha V-Max.

She has a potent healing ability due to regeneration magic that automatically heals her wounds. It takes her own energy to heal wounds, so she relies on support from her Master if possible. While large, the first wound from Berserker heals in an hour, but the wound from Gae Bolg only heals on the outside and does not completely until Lancer's death due to its curse. Avalon's natural healing abilities greatly increases her healing potential, and it is able to heal her without using her own magical energy. It is not without limits, so it takes a number of minutes to recover from the backlash of Ea.

She has a high level of Charisma, noted to be a rare talent, and her rank reflects her time leading her country as king. Her influence was not enough to build a grand empire on global scale, so it remained at rank B, sufficient Charisma to rule one country. While she was a guardian of the British Isles, not even her charisma could stop the kingdom from crumbling. As the natural talent to lead an army, it increases the ability of her army during mass combat. Saber is easily able to battle alongside others, and even though she and Lancer only fought once, she was able to etch all of his secret techniques into her memory after having fought with their lives on the line. They are able to understand each other without explanation, allowing Lancer to understand her skills and intentions to pull off an impromptu plan that required complete synchronization between them. She is definitely not a Servant excelling in searching for the enemy, and it is more likely she would be found by enemies while wandering about.

As a Servant who can defy normal physics, she is capable of running directly up a building. She is unable to fly through the sky, but she can repeatedly kick off of the building to gain momentum. It is no different than free falling, only that she is rising until she loses her speed rather than plummeting downward. After having started, she must continue until she reaches the final destination of the rooftop. If she were to take any blows during the process, she would just fall to the ground. Such battle is so alien to her, as it is her first time engaging in an air battle as a knight who runs on the ground, that her inexperience makes her evenly matched with Rider who she normally had a great advantage over in close combat. She cannot be impeded by water due to her body having received divine blessing from the Lady of the Lake. The miracle from the blessing allows her to advance undeterred on water at full sprinting speed, which gains hardness identical to ground even while her feet splash against the surface.

Command Spells allow for the temporary strengthening of Servants, enough to fill Saber's enormous circuit, allowing for the one who ruled over the battlefields in the age of legends to be reborn. While going against Command Spells brings down a Servant's abilities, their effectiveness increases with the consent of both parties, allowing them to enforce the Servant's actions and possibly support and amplify them beyond what is normally possible. This makes Spatial Transportation, magecraft close to the level of Magic, possible, and allows for Saber to perform normally impossible physical feats. Shirou commanding her to fly fills her with energy and allows her to directly fly towards Archer on top of a building four kilometers away. It uses the same principal as leaping up a vertical building, but with much more energy behind it. Using all of the energy of the Command Spell on the one action allows her to increase the distance she can jump, effectively reducing the distance to zero in an instant. She is able to match the speed of Hrunting, allowing her to kill Archer in the same instant it reaches Shirou.

While she has gained knowledge on modern times from the Holy Grail, knowledge about other Heroic Spirits comes from the Throne of Heroes. She is able to recognize heroes like Cú Chulainn, but is unable to know of the legend behind Gilles de Rais or Joan of Arc.

Magic Circuits
Saber was born with the magical energy of a dragon, shown by the "Pendragon" name, as Uther ordered Merlin to grant his successor the factor of the dragon (竜の因子). She is the holder of the Element of the Red Dragon who carries the blood and very magical power of a phantasm in a human body, granting her a heart and unique Magic Circuits that transcend what can be achieved by normal humans and magi. Saber's Circuits are called a Magic Core, which is fundamentally different from those of a normal magus. While a magus' body can be considered a machine which creates magical energy, hers acts as a factory which creates magical energy. It functions as an enormous magical energy core with tremendous capacity that generates energy independent from her body simply through breathing like dragons. This allows for a case where she herself is so out of energy that she is unable to access the energy without a proper "starting key" to get the extra energy flowing. Due to the characteristics of a Dragon, she has trouble with existences such as Siegfried, who is associated with tales of culling Dragons and weapons with an anti-dragon attribute such as Arondight.

The fault in her summoning caused the normal line between Servant and Master to not be connected, so she cannot replenish magical energy normally under Shirou. She is essentially limited to the amount with which she was summoned, around 1250 units of magical energy, placing her in a bad situation. It would help her even if he were only able to provide a small amount, but she doesn't receive any due to lack of a normal spiritual connection. She uses the energy of ten average mature magi just in the span of her first day. She would have to use a low amount for all of the subsequent battles, ten units assuming there was no damage, which would also place a limit on her use of Excalibur.

She has to suppress her magical energy usage to the utmost to keep from fading away. She can lower the amount consumed by regularly consuming food, sleeping as much as possible, and disarming herself, as she cannot go into spiritual form to reduce the burden on her Master like other Servants. She can regenerate eight units of magical energy while subsiding on six units by being idle during the day, allowing her to save two units for later battle. The amount is inefficient, as the first battles with Lancer and Berserker cost her two hundred fifty units to protect herself and restore her broken armor. The only ways to supply her with energy would be to force her to feed on human souls with a Command Spell, or to use alternate means than the inactive spiritually connected path to provide her with magical energy.

Using Excalibur a single time is enough to completely cripple her in this state. She is left unconscious and in constant pain as she fights to keep fading away. She is left in a state where she can barely run while she is awake, and she is physically on par with a weakly Shirou. It is possible to use the physical path between Saber and Shirou to provide her with energy through intercourse, as the semen of a magus is a cluster of energy. During Realta Nua, they instead utilize the great amount of undiluted magical energy within her core. It is meaningless without enough energy to start it, requiring a "fire" to burn in order to activate it. It doesn't matter how small it is, as it will resume activity once a path to send magical energy is connected. Shirou uses part of his own Circuits to start Saber's Circuits.

Shirou travels there in an unconscious spiritual form, and encounters a dragon that takes form in Saber's unconsciousness. Shirou calls it "an absurd 'true nature' that is appropriate for the best Servant." It attacks him to obtain the necessary starting energy, and once reactivated, it shows its nature as a prismatic circuit as it glows with all the colors of the rainbow and burns with a golden fire as its circulation restarts. While the energy from either act is enough to keep her from fading away and allows her to actively battle, it is not able to allow her to use Excalibur. Attempting to use it straight away brings about a very weak version of it, and she instantly fades away after its use. She later regains enough energy to use it without instantly fading away, and bolstered by Avalon, she can use it four times in a row before completely disappearing.

Magic Resistance
The immense magical power from Saber's dragon blood grants her a very strong Magic Resistance that is the highest amongst the Servants, especially due to it having increased in magnitudes upon becoming a Servant. It is capable of completely neutralizing any magic that is A rank or below, including grand sorceries involving magic arrays and instant contracts not only from modern magi of the highest level but also those from the Age of Gods. She notes that divine mysteries greater than herself, such as True Magic and members of the Phantasmal Species with divinity, can overwhelm it. It is possible that it will not function to its fullest extent if she is targeted by "Dragon-slaying Sorceries." Its effectiveness is enough that its rank remains unchanged at A rank under both Shirou and Rin, regardless of their differences in power and characteristics, but it does decrease one rank to B with Sakura as her Master as result of the dark alignment from her Blackening. It becomes able to only nullify magic less than three verses, but it is still able to protect against grand sorceries and ritual magic with little chance of actually damaging her.

The extraordinary rank of her Magic Resistance is even able to resist an action forced onto her powered by one stroke of the Command Spell, sufficient enough to shake the very foundation of the Servant System, although only just barely. She is left in pain as compulsion and resistance clash intensely within her body from Kiritsugu's command, but she is able to use all of her strength to resist it. Under Caster's command, she is left in a state with no free will and her abilities lowered to the point where Caster can torture her with magecraft as long as she refuses to follow it. Caster believes that it will eventually infringe upon her mind enough to forcibly make her loyal within a day. She cannot handle having two used at once, so the tremendous force of dual Command Seals will ravage and crush Saber’s form and resistance to make her follow the second command without being able to stop it.

She cannot be directly wounded by magecraft, so she will charge in without fear to quickly determine the outcome of the battle with a slash. This is especially true against those of the Caster class, putting her at an overwhelming advantage and giving them little chance of victory should they face her directly. It is not effective against Caster's Prelati's Spellbook because Magic Resistance is only activated when someone targets her to use magecraft, and the creatures are materialized and carry a threat different from magecraft. She is able to charge through Rin's jewel powered spells, strong enough to wound and kill Servants without Magic Resistance, without pause as they instantly disappear simply from touching her, and even Caster's Age of Gods magecraft is ineffective on her to the point where even Saber looks down on her abilities. It proves to be a hindrance when protecting Shirou in "Missing Ariadine" after he is caught by Caster's enforced transference due to being unaffected by it. She is able to weaken it herself to allow Shirou to attempt Reinforcement on her.

Mana Burst
Saber's entire fighting style and strength are based around her Mana Burst ability. It infuses and accumulates magical energy into her weapon and body, momentarily injecting an arbitrary vector that allows for an exceptional boost of her abilities by instantaneously releasing the magical energy to reinforce herself. It can be called a jet blast of magical energy to increase her movements in close combat, and executing large-scale body reinforcement through Mana Burst is only possible with her immense magical power. It would allow for even a stick to become a weapon of great power at her rank, but normal weapons without strong divine protection will not be able to endure the magical energy-fueled attack and will be destroyed with one blow. Her power increases with her available energy, so she can gain a boost in power and speed six times the energy used her armor should she convert the cost for it into her Mana Burst.

She uses the magical energy for her sword techniques, guarding, and movement. Her body is naturally physically frail, and she is even weaker than Shirou and Rin should she not utilize the ability. It is the secret that has allowed her to brandish her large sword with the combat style of a power fighter, and she is able to reinforce the ability of her body to such a great extent using magical energy that she can fight head on with monsters such as Berserker even with the thin body of a small girl. Each of her powerful blows contains enough magical energy that they are visible, and if Lancer's strikes are like an accurate sniper rifle, her own can be compared to a powerful shotgun.

Simply striking the enemy's weapon causes the energy to penetrate it, and it fills the area with light. She can surge it around herself to blow apart bindings like Horrors, tearing them into slivers of flesh and scattering them in an instant. She uses Mana Burst to compensate her lack in strength while wielding Excalibur with one hand after being wounded by Gae Buidhe, but it drains much more energy and she still cannot use the strength that can only be delivered with both hands. She can easily adjust her strength to match Shirou's level of swordsmanship while training him, and she can readily increase it as he also improves.

Instinct
Saber has extremely honed Instincts that have gotten her through many battles, allowing her to instantly identify "the best personal course of action" during combat. It is a heightened sixth sense that is innate unlike something that can be gained by anyone through hard work like Eye of the Mind (True), and it is essentially in the realm of predicting the future as a form of precognition due to having been strengthened by a degree from the specialty of the Saber class. It allows for the prediction of trajectory, allowing her to avoid attacks from firearms, and along with listening to the sound of cutting air, she can be said to have a protection against all projectile weapons. It also possible to negate the penalties inflicted by visual and auditory interference to a certain extent. While she cannot actually follow the confusing strikes of Kuzuki's Snake, she is able to dodge them purely through her Instinct because surprise attacks are ineffective against her. Even if she lacks sound logic or proof, it can be used a guidance, such as allowing her to tell that goading Berserker was a fatal mistake. It alerts her to the possible danger of an enemy, such as sensing a threat from Caster even though he is a magus and feeling Berserker's presence simply from his murderous intent.

Her instinctive alarm is triggered by Caster’s unnatural degree of confidence even with his fragile tentacle monsters being killed, and she is able to comprehend with extreme accuracy the nature of the threat from Berserker's F-15. Despite sensing Assassin to be harmless, her instincts tell her that he has a way to seize a certain kill even without a Noble Phantasm, and they tell her not to underestimate him for giving up his high ground because his words warning her of the lethality of Tsubame Gaeshi are true. While being able to discern techniques like Lancer’s ultimate technique, Gae Bolg, reflects her skill, her exceptional Instinct also helps her immensely. It allows her to turn and jump back from the attack with all her might, as if she knew it was going to happen. She is able to sense the possible arrival of certain "divine opportunities" for victory should she manage certain conditions. Against Tsubame Gaeshi, she is able to see a small blind spot created by the bent sword after having experienced it once before. While it allows her to see it, only her determination to follow it and charge in at Assassin without knowing if it would work allows her to defeat the skill.

While it can theoretically surpass thought for a natural talent in battle decisions and it has kept her alive over the years after having been sharpened through many battles, is not an infallible ability. Lancer is able to trick her with a ploy using his Noble Phantasms, leaving her unable to predict her blunder, and while she is able to dodge many of Kuzuki's strikes through pure instinct, it eventually fails her in the end. While she is able to select the best choice and follow that view normally, she is not able to even feel a chance of victory against Gilgamesh. It is as if the probability of victory is so low and the chance of a comeback is pretty much zero.

Chivalry
Saber’s ability is maximally unleashed while engaging in an honorable face-to-face single combat. It is a method of battle that is full of chivalric honor, and it is also one that suits her sense of aesthetics. She does not dislike strategizing, but she tends to loath fabricated strategies that have no concrete basis due to her experience as a capable military commander. She will fine tune her strategy meticulously, and she will further adapt her actions in response to the ever-changing dynamics of combat while in battle. She naturally dislikes cowardly actions, no matter if it involves strategies or not. Her compatibility with the cool-headed, achieving-his-goal-at-all-cost Master, Kiritsugu Emiya, was the worst due to his various strategies that involved using her as a tool.

She dislikes fights involving constant running and retreating, and such behavior from an opponent can only be seen as an insult to her pride as knight. Battles must determine the victor by exchanging blows with full force. While she believes Assassin is doing just that to her, he explains that the difference in their swords makes it impossible to clash directly without destroying his own. She likes the idea of withstanding a surprise attack fair and square, turning the tables to go for the kill, and reminding them that the Saber class is not about gallantry.

Due to her nature, she feels inclined follow the etiquette of a knight to properly introduce herself to an opponent should they give their own name. Despite the potentially devastating effects it could have on future battles, she feels that she cannot disgrace the faith of a knight. She would never normally reveal her true name no matter what torture she were to receive, but that is only for the sake of victory that is not worth more than her pride.

When fighting Lancer for the second time in the Fourth Holy Grail War, she replicates the effect of the wound to her hand left by Gae Buidhe even after it is healed. She deliberately forgoes using her left hand by tucking her left thumb into her palm, so that her fighting style is lighter and somewhat held back because the strength of the hand is not used at all when attacking. It is not actually grasping the sword, so the remaining four fingers are only lightly wrapped around for supporting the control of the sword. Her pride is not able to settle for accepting Lancer's concession of destroying his own spear, so she attempts to match him in an action of true chivalry.

While Lancer is worried that they can not have a true battle under those conditions, she tells him that using her left hand in the situation would cause her enough shame to slow her sword. As it would be a fatal mistake to face him in such a condition, she feels it is the best strategy in order to put all her strength into defeating him. The extent of the injury to her hand is only of secondary importance in battle, as the most important contributor to Saber’s ability to obtain victory is in her clear fighting spirit and passion for battle that has been honed to purity. The pride in her heart can be called her greatest weapon, so she would rather give up her left hand to sever any confusion in herself.

She is not against receiving Kiritsugu's help in order to secure the Grail during her final battle of the Fourth War. She is fine with entrusting everything to him at that moment because it is the only way to reverse the situation with Gilgamesh at the time. She resolves herself to do her utmost to carry out his battle tactics no matter how strange. She is fine as long as she is able to retaliate against Gilgamesh, whether it involves using a Command Spell to block the sense of pain and use all her strength in an attack that may destroy her body or to undergo instantaneous movement to the side of the Grail in order to get out of her disadvantageous position and attack him with Excalibur.

Riding
Saber has a very high rank in Riding because knights are soldiers proficient in mounted warfare. Chariots and normal mounts can easily be ridden, but she is unable to control Pegasi, Griffons, Dragons, and other Magical Beast and Divine Beast ranked members of the Phantasmal Species. She can not handle such high level beings because her class is not Rider, and due to the fact that she was a King in the Age of Man, she does not have the fortune of having "Legends of Riding Phantasmal Species." She is able to control modern machinery like motorcycles and automobiles in a similar fashion to mounts. The Riding skill is applicable because they are treated as "modern mounts", but it is unclear if it is applicable to aircrafts. While the rank is B under both Shirou and Rin, it is elevated to A while having Kiritsugu as her Master.

The ability allows her to completely understand the control of all ridden equipment both known and unknown to her. Even having never driven a car, she is able to make quick decisions that allow her to easily control it on her first time driving. Even if she doesn't know the actual function of a button, she is able to understand the effect it will have once pressed. She is confident in the prospect of piloting a passenger plane or any other mount by sitting on a saddle, seizing a bridle, and managing the rest with instinct. She does not have the opportunity to demonstrate her Riding ability in the Fifth Holy Grail War, but the battles might have developed differently if she were provided with an appropriate mount. She drives both Irisviel's Coupe and a  prepared by Kiritsugu during the Fourth Holy Grail War.

While she chauffeurs Irisviel around in her Mercedes, it is not suitable for battle with other Servants. Four-wheeled vehicles, while controllable, are too constraining with the driver placed into a seat while constricted by safety belts. She is unable to get a natural feel for the vehicle without the act of actually riding it. In order to maximize Saber's Riding skill and the reinforced abilities of a Servant, something two-wheeled is necessary. It becomes much easier to control if the driver is able to become part of the vehicle itself to allow them to control balance, expose them to the outside elements, and allow them to feel the internal composition as if it were an extension of their own physical body. While a Servant's dexterity is far above such machines in both terms of maximum acceleration and maximum speed, they can travel while maintaining their speed as long as they have fuel, so she can avoid wasting energy in a drawn out pursuit.

Yamaha V-Max
Kiritsugu has Maiya prepare a mechanical prop more fitting for guerrilla warfare than a car in the form of a Yamaha V-Max, a powerful motorcycle likened to a "steel lion", during the Fourth Holy Grail War. It has a ridiculously impractical and hypothetical design that ignores the limits of normal drivers. The motorcycle body, that of a Yamaha V-Max, is already the most powerful in the modern world, and the original V4 1200cc 140 Horsepower engine that could already work near its limits was strengthened again into a V4 1400cc engine. The acceleration system is completely reinforced to make it a monstrous abnormality with an output equal to 250 Horsepower. The structure of the V-style propelling mechanism and its four-cylinder design allows it to immediately start to work as a two-cylinder design when the limit of engine rotation is reached and allows it to increase the amount of air sucked in to achieve an ultimate acceleration.

It has surpassed the basic rule of a machine, the limit of "machines are tools of men." It can be thought of as an alien creation born through advanced modern technology which can only show its true worth by having an inhuman Servant rider. It is a design structure that would normally never be placed on a machine using two cylinders, but it is a "beast" that has completely surpassed the limits of a motorcycle. It can no longer function properly as a two-wheeled design because of the various extreme reinforcements. The wheels have too much torque, and they cannot generate enough friction with the road and only keep on turning. The front wheel jumps up whenever the brakes are applied, creating enough force to throw off the driver immediately. Its deepest hidden secret and most powerful trump card lies in a button on the steering wheel. It causes a valve inside the interior of the engine to switch to automatic mode and fill with oxide fuel. The nitrous oxide expands under the high temperature of three hundred degrees Celsius and reaches the boundaries of its limits to increase the V-Max's acceleration rapidly by twofold.

Saber, as a Servant, exists far beyond ordinary humans, so she is able to manage control over it with ease. Acting as her "steed", the speed it grants reminds her of riding a horse more than the Mercedes, and even though she is driving a creation of modern technology, riding it allows her spirit to return to the memorable battlefields of the past and regain the spirit of chivalry from a time when she had held her lance and charged towards the enemy formation. She becomes able to easily detect obstacles blocking her path through changes in the air flow, and even closing her eyes wouldn't hinder her ability to avoid collisions. She removes her armor because it would only hinder her riding, and because she is short in stature, she can only control the over three hundred kilogram, super heavily reinforced motorcycle in a precarious driving position. She is practically lying flat on top of the engine, which is covered by a plastic turbo pump, and is forced to bear the powerful vibrations of the large engine while holding onto the steering like a child desperately clinging onto the back of a beast.

She has no trouble controlling the physically uncontrollable steed perfectly at full speed from that position due to her prided battle skills and Mana Burst ability. She focuses the motorcycle's horsepower entirely on acceleration, and controls it with the enormous power of her mana bursts instead of breaking. As it was completely revamped to achieve the ultimate acceleration, it has no dexterity much like cars modified to compete in high-speed short and straight courses. Her superior skills allow her to overturn the common physical rule of "vehicles can’t turn corners at high speed", making it possible for her to open the throttle valves on tight turns to pour all of the excess torque into the back wheel. The intense acceleration would normally threaten to topple the vehicle sideways due to the front wheel starting to drift, but her explosive energy allows her to forcibly tilt it to the side in order to complete the turn. Rather than skill, it is more like using even more power to overwhelm and twist the direction of the vehicle.

Despite the machinery being extremely advanced, it is unable to cope with Saber's riding for very long. It easily reaches 6000 revolutions per minute from her breakneck pace, and on its own, it is able to reach over three hundred kilometers per hour. No mater how much of her magical energy she uses, the strength of its material composition and structure are limited to their original design. Before even catching up to Gordius Wheel, the machine has fully manifested all of its ability to its greatest capacity by that point, and the engine and acceleration system already show signs of breaking down. The ability to match something transcending normality like a Noble Phantasm requires to use both her armor and Invisible Air in conjunction to reinforce it and reduce the burden. This mode is called Saber Motored Cuirassier (セイバー・モタード・キュイラッシェ). Through intense psychokinesis, she is able to fuse her own armor with the bike following a concept similar to the armor that protected beloved horses on the battlefield to turn the motorcycle into a "magical beast" with a hard structure befitting its extraordinarily strong horsepower.

The capability of the entire bike is increased due to being wrapped in the flexible and strong sliver armor, and she constantly releases her magical energy to reinforce, cover, and protect various important parts that are able to ensure maximum speed of movement. It also increases her unity of riding by truly making it into her own limbs. The speed causes air friction that is close to approaching the force of water pressure, so she releases Invisible Air in the shape of an arrow around her to completely cover the body of the vehicle. She is able to entirely release it from air resistance by decreasing it to zero with the compression of the pneumatic umbrella. This allows it to easily reach over four hundred kilometers per hour, and due to the pressure released by the magecraft, the back wheel is firmly pressed against the cement even when making turns at full throttle. She has full control even at this speed, allowing her to easily dodge and weave through numerous obstacles while only on one wheel.

Contract
Heroic Spirits are those who have been removed from the time axis and placed on the Throne of Heroes, while Saber can still be considered living. The hero known as King Arthur is not currently classified as a Heroic Spirit, so she cannot be called a complete Servant. She made a pact with the World as she was on the verge of death after the Battle of Camlann that will require her to become a Counter Guardian, a sub-category of a Heroic Spirit at the service of the World, after her death. These pacts are normally done by those requiring the power beyond ordinary humans to become heroes during their lifetimes, but her wish instead came at the time of her death because King Arthur did not require support to become a hero.

Due to the fact that she could not obtain the Holy Grail during her lifetime, she could not stand not having it in her final moments when a wish appeared that she needed granted. She could not complete the search for it, so she asked the World to allow her to obtain the Holy Grail while she still lived. King Arthur will not die until she obtains the Holy Grail, also meaning that King Arthur cannot die. She should be dead according to the timeline, but the contract cannot be fulfilled if that is true. Time is stopped for her at the moment of death, so it can be said that she is stopped in time rather than that time itself is stopped. The flow of time doesn't care that she is stopped, so it keeps flowing into the present without any issues.

While she is not actually a Heroic Spirit, she can be summoned as one because as long as she continues to seek the Holy Grail, it is evident that she will eventually become a complete Heroic Spirit. The result of obtaining the Holy Grail and fulfilling the contract are already determined, so she has an infinite amount of chances to claim it. This also allows her to be summoned into many ages even without being outside of time and before she became a Heroic Spirit due to the condition that her becoming one is already determined. She has no trouble staying in the world for an indefinite time during the Unlimited Blade Works good ending even though she has yet to fulfill or cancel the contract.

It would not be possible to summon her if she does not seek the Holy Grail, and as she cannot be summoned unless something called the Holy Grail is present, her existence is proof of its existence. Trials to obtain the Holy Grail exist in all ages, so she will eventually obtain it as she continues to challenge each one. Continuing the search for the Holy Grail of Fuyuki as a Servant or on any battlefield where there is a chance to obtain the Holy Grail can be done as many times as she wishes. Due to the fact that she still exists within the time axis, she cannot participate in two chances to obtain the Holy Grail at once, and she cannot redo chances she has already failed. She will fail a lost attempt at the Grail no matter how many times she tries because she cannot change an already experienced result.

Heroic Spirits summoned as Servants are all copies of the "true body" stored in the Throne of Heroes, but she had not yet reached that rank. She instead is called in the form of "myself about to die." This makes her current incarnation unique among Servants because she is called from within the time axis rather than being copied from outside of the concept of time. She jumps forward or backward in time from the moment of her death, and returns to that moment upon obtaining or failing to obtain the Grail. Should she claim it, her time will flow again and she will die just as history has recorded. Should she fail, all her memories are returned to her body, and she can either continue her search for the Grail or cancel the contract should she find a reason.

She originally claims that she cannot enter spirit form due to Shirou's inexperience as a magus, but eventually tells that it actually has to do with her body. Due to not having actually died, she is classified as a living being despite being handled differently as a Servant. This also allows her to keep all memories of her search for the Grail unlike Heroic Spirits that don't allow for any inconsistencies in their memories. Upon learning new knowledge, the self that learns will disappear after their duty is complete. With the exception of Archer's ability to "read" outside records of his actions as a Counter Guardian, Servants would normally not have any memories if they happened to be summoned in two different Grail Wars, while Saber completely retains all of the happenings of the Fourth Holy Grail War.

If her wish is granted, another king will be chosen in King Arthur's place. Even after she is no more, she will still have to act as the hero King Arthur, instead as a Counter Guardian, even without a legend behind her. Purposefully destroying the Grail means also destroying her contract and ability to be summoned as a Servant. After giving up on obtaining the Grail and terminating her contract with the World during Fate, she goes to Avalon rather than being removed from the cycle of transmigration to be placed on the Throne of Heroes like other Heroic Spirits. She is still considered a person in the present among the English as the "Once and Future King." She also destroys the Grail voluntarily during Unlimited Blade Works, but the contract is only halfway done rather than fully broken because it was a flawed Holy Grail and she is still unsure of herself. Since she reconsiders her life and finds her own path, it is possible she can become a Heroic Spirit on her own.

Swimsuit
"Of course, I am under the Archer Class. What about it?"

- Artoria Pendragon (Archer)

A king of the beach that descended on the summer sea. Since all the duties as a king were left behind at the office in this occasion, she is completely adapting to the summer's sunlight. As she was not able to fully enjoy swimming due certain circumstances, Artoria was having fun with watermelon splitting at the beach when she met the water blitz (a survival game using water guns), and turned out like this by the time anyone noticed. It goes without saying that she, who hates to lose, is aiming at becoming world champion.

At that day, she met her (relatively trivial) fate.

The same Artoria as always, but her attention is just a little more relaxed since this is the beach. Her class representative temperament has not changed, but it goes without saying that she is more gentle than usual. In this rare vacation, it should be fine to cut loose at least this time around - such is her stance. Also, one should play at the playtime. Wherever it is games or sports, she - who hates to lose - is aiming at the seat of strongest of the Archer Class.

Who said that King Arthur was a sword-only Heroic Spirit? She also uses a sword. She also uses a spear. She also uses a bow. She also rides a reindeer and makes surprise attacks on her Saber kins. As expected, wouldn't you call this an almighty combat skill befitting the King of Knight's reputation? That aside, the reason why Artoria does not swim has its cause on the protection of the fairy to "walk on water". While alive, she never practiced swimming since there was no need for her to swim. In other words, she cannot swim.

Protection of the Beach Houses (海の家の加護) is a Personal Skill that restores HP in compensation for Noble Phantasm. While at the beach, she is revered by most food stalls as the "king of foods". It is probably due her lavish orders, pleasant eating spectacles, and the shining smiles after meals that cause said shop to flourish - or so it has been told. Is it really? Maybe it is. However, only mashed potatoes are a "no, thank you".

Territory Creation is originally a Skill from the Caster Class. Also, Mana Burst (Water). A dream-like effect by means of the protection of the fairy, which boosts the morale of companions, raises LCK, raises accuracy rate, clears irritation and, on top of that, makes them refreshed. A cheat Skill in regards to survival games. By displaying this Skill, Artoria will become the champion of the world tournament of water blitz, but that is another story.

Creation and Conception
Kinoko Nasu's original story of Fate, Saber and Shirou were opposite gender to now. Takashi Takeuchi convinced to Nasu to change the gender of Saber but the essential theme had not been changed, it's the story about legendary heroes and "a boy meets a girl."

Reception
Gen Urobuchi believes Saber's relationship with Shirou doesn't seem like a realistic relationship between a male and a female, but a complicated relationship with a boy who became a girl. He further explains that it is not a relationship fueled by instinct like the relationship between a man and a woman, but a romance of logic between two people who need each other from the heart. He thinks the Fate route could have been told as a story through the ancient Greek views on love.

She often ranks near the top of official popularity polls, and she ranked first out of the female characters during the TYPE-MOON Fes. tenth anniversary poll.


 * In the Fourth character popularity poll in 2003, Saber was ranked 54th.
 * In the first Popularity polls of Fate/stay night in 2004, Saber was ranked 1st. Tsuku Saber (Tiger Dojo) was ranked 53rd.
 * In the second Popularity polls of Fate/stay night in 2006, Saber was ranked 1st. Hetare Saber was ranked 77th.
 * In the Type-Moon's 10th Anniversary Character Poll, Saber from Fate/stay night was ranked 1st. Saber from Fate/Zero was ranked 119th.