Archer of Red

Archer of "Red" ("赤"のアーチャー) is the Archer-class Servant of Shirou Kotomine of the Red Faction in the Great Holy Grail War of Fate/Apocrypha. Originally summoned by Rottweil Berzinsky of the Red Faction, she later becomes one of the Servants of Shirou. She is one of the Servants of the Protagonist of the Grand Order conflicts of Fate/Grand Order.

Identity
Archer's True Name is Atarante, the Chaste Huntress (純潔の狩人) in Greek mythology. Though she was born as the princess of, Atalanta was abandoned in the mountain immediately after birth, but she survived thanks to divine protection from Artemis. She was nurtured by a female bear, a sacred beast of the goddess Artemis. The bear gave her milk and raised the girl. In gratitude, she is a fervent follower of Artemis. Later adopted by a hunter who treaded into the mountains, she has developed her skills conspicuously, perhaps due to her latent talent.

There are three tales that she is famous for. The first is how she was chosen as a member of the Argonauts led by Jason, which assembled brave heroes from all over Greece.

The second is the extermination of the. She is most known for being the first one to drive in an arrow during the extermination of the Calydonian Boar.

The third is the dispute over her marriage. None of these tales had a particularly happy ending for her. She then returned to her birth land, but her father, who never had a son, commanded her to get married. When suitors began to rush for her hand, the troubled Atalanta decided to turn it into a foot race contest. As she had pledged a vow of virginity to the goddess, she proclaimed "I will only marry one who can beat me in a footrace. Those who lose will be killed." She tore through a great number of challengers. Although Atalanta would not lose to any man in a foot race, she fell on the cowardly scheme of a man who borrowed the help of a goddess and ended up getting married half-forcibly. She lost when she was tricked into picking up irresistible golden apples thrown in front of her, and she had to break her vow. Afterwards, it has been told that she was turned into a lion as punishment, but this is unsure.

Appearance
Archer is a girl clad in verdant green with cold, sharp eyes containing a beastly glint. Her hair is stretched out long and unkempt, and it is completely lacking in the silkiness that would be found amongst those of noble birth. As one who can be called a beautiful beast in human form, it befits her appearance. Her animal ears and tail seem to be the symbols and after-effects of a curse told of in her legend but she actually seems to like them.

Personality
Born in the natural paradise Arcadia, she speaks in an old fashion manner. She has the same egotism and view on life and death as a wild animal, so it is natural to her to steal food to live. However, she will help any child left behind as much as she can, as gratitude for the care she received herself. The reason she is obsessed over children is due to her own origins. The despair she felt as a baby was just that strong. She would happily throw away her own life to become a stepping stone to realizing a world where all children are saved. Her wish to the Holy Grail is for a world where every child can be raised with love. She will probably cooperate with her Master in an assertive manner. It is suggested to earn her good mood with an apple pie. Her favorite dishes are apples and meat.

Her distrust of men became extremely strong due to her third tale. After all, to Greek warriors at the time, battle was both an offering to the gods and a way of trampling over others. Atalanta liked none of them since these warriors acted more violent than necessary when they hunted. However, there was one man named who she was fond of, for he was the only one who approached her with a humble attitude.

She has no reaction to Rider of Red's advances, showing nothing of embarrassment, surprise, or even anger. Without reacting at all, such words of courtship have no meaning after having lived in the wild alongside beasts; however, Archer does seem to be affected with the view of others, such as how Caster of Red had suggested in writing a love poem for her and Rider, which she scowled unpleasantly at the idea as opposed to how Rider was quick to joyfully agree to the offer. Despite this, Rider had seemed to at least formed a bond, of some level, with Archer where the two are usually found together, while passing time, or when they exchanged glances as a way to convey each other's thoughts; aside from romantic subjects, they seem to agree in other matters such as how the two tried to convince Shirou Kotomine, who they originally thought was a normal master, to avoid fighting alongside them.

Relationships

 * Hector
 * Medea
 * Artemis

Fate/Apocrypha
Archer is summoned in the presence of Shirou Kotomine and Assassin of Red rather than her own Master. She later is ordered by Shirou to follow the marching Berserker of Red after it is deemed impossible to stop him. She is told to try to pursue him from his course and help him until it gets too dangerous, but stopping him is thought to be extremely unlikely. As she follows, she becomes frustrated at his inability to understand her, and after two days of marching decides to give up on stopping him. She decides to fully support his actions as ordered, and soon after encounter more support, Rider of Red. They discuss their actions in supporting Berserker and gaining information on the Black Faction's Servants.

After Rider's failed attempt at flirting, he asks if she has actually seen her Master, to which she responds that she has only interacted through the mediator, Shirou. The two discuss the situation, speculating that their Masters may just be acting like usual magi, but believe the situation with Shirou and Assassin to be suspicious. After three hours of following him, Berserker encounters his first resistance from the Black Faction, but they remain back to observe because the enemies are not Servants. After the enemies are massacred, they are unnerved by Berserker's way of battle, and speculate on his overall capability. As they continue forward, she is discomforted by the stench of metal and machine oil, unbearable to her keen sense of smell. With the approach of two enemy Servants, Berserker of Black and Saber of Black, she retreats into the forest to provide support from the rear.

The reason she cooperated with Shirou is also because she clung to the idea that his wish would lead to her own wish. Since it is uncertain whether the Holy Grail would be able to grant her wish, his words which spoke of a clear form of salvation might have seemed just like the gospel to her.

Fate/Extra
Atalanta is briefly mentioned in Fate/Extra as a passing Servant of an unnamed Master by Saber in a Private Room conversation. She praises Atalanta as a beautiful huntress and one of the examples of a beautiful Heroic Spirit, unlike the "ugly" ones like pirates and thieves. The mention is unrelated to the Apocrypha design, and she does not make an actual appearance.

The manga adaptation of Fate/Extra combines the two aspects, featuring a brief cameo of the Apocrypha Atalanta design. They briefly fight against Lancer, Saber saves Atalanta from Lancer's strike. Ultimately, she and her Master perish in the Moon Cell Holy Grail War.

Orleans: The Wicked Dragon Hundred Years' War
Gilles de Rais summons various Servants to face Mash Kyrielight and Ritsuka Fujimaru, she is known as Berserk-Archer (バーサーク・アーチャー). She is encountered in chapter 12 "March to Orleans" (オルレアンへ進撃), she fights along with two Wyvern Evil.

Okeanos: The Four Sealed Seas of the End
She is appears as an ally in the third singularity, Okeanos.

Salomon: The Grand Time Temple
Atalanta is amongst the "Okeanos" Singularity Servant to aid Chaldea against Demon Gods Pillar. David flirts with Atalanta and calls her.

Abilities
Archer is a peerless huntress skilled in the ways of the forest, easily traversing by leaping between branches, having knowledge in restraining wild beasts, and displaying the capability to easily become one with the forest to easily disappear from the sight of someone actively watching her. She is more animal than human, and her senses are far greater than others. She is able to sense enemies far before Rider with her great sense of smell, and her sight is great enough to pinpoint targets in conditions of near zero visibility at night from an extreme distance.

As one of the world's most famous archers, she wields Tauropolos: Bow of Heaven, the boar-killer, a celestial bow that can be called a "rare gem befitting such an archer." It is a jet black, Western-style weapon larger than her own height, granted to her by Artemis and named after one of the goddesses' titles. There is nothing its arrows cannot pierce, and drawn to its limit, it is able to perform a pure physical attack exceeding A-rank in power. With no trace of magecraft, she displays the ability to surprise other Servants by attacking from a great distance with extreme destructive power, using her great eyesight to aim through dense and thick trees at night at the target that is no more than a moving dot at that distance, and hitting them with the supreme precision required to make such a succinct attack. Although there are bowman skilled enough to accomplish each requirement for the shot, there are not many capable of performing all of them simultaneously.

Her Noble Phantasms are Phoebus Catastrophe and Agrius Metamorphosis. One of them would normally be impossible to use in a regular Holy Grail War, so practically speaking, her only Noble Phantasm is "Phoebus Catastrophe".

Creation and Conception
She was designed by and illustrated by Genji Asai for the original canceled online game project. Yuuichirou Higashide was responsible for her character scenario in Fate/Apocrypha and Fate/Grand Order.

Yuuichirou Higashide said that the design for Atalanta are quite clever, whether it be the ears, tail or apple. Ototsugu Konoe said that her outward appearance is full of clever symbols.

Discarded abilities
Archer has one skill, Golden Apple, and three Noble Phantasms that have been discarded from her original Fate/complete material IV profile. Two Noble Phantasms, The Disputed Spoils of War and The Beast of Divine Punishment were redesigned into Agrius Metamorphosis, while "Seven Arrows of the Big Dipper" was left unused.