Artoria Pendragon (アルトリア・ペンドラゴン, Arutoria Pendoragon?, also romanized as Arturia and Altria), Class Name Saber (セイバー, Seibā?), 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 Fuyuki Holy Grail War and Shirou Emiya in the Fifth Fuyuki Holy Grail War. In the Unlimited Blade Works route, her contract with Shirou is broken by Medea and later becomes the Servant of Rin Tohsaka. In the Heaven's Feel route, her contract with Shirou is broken by the Black Shadow and transformed into the Servant of Sakura Matou as Saber Alter.
She is the Servant of Norma Goodfellow (possessed by Manaka Sajyou) in the Labyrinth Holy Grail War of Fate/Labyrinth.
She is one of the Heroic Spirits of Ritsuka Fujimaru of the Grand Orders conflicts of Fate/Grand Order, summoned not as a Servant but as a special kind of Guardian.[3]
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Profile[]
Identity[]
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, Kishi-Ō?). 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 Artorius, 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.[15]
Childhood[]
The king chosen to be the King of Britain was bestowed with a mysterious power, a black primeval cursed energy native to Britain, but its power had waned and Artoria's father Uther Pendragon was said to be the last of its keepers, which is why he came up with his plan to sire a manmade child of a human and a Dragon.[16]
Merlin once foretold how the white dragonWP representing the SaxonsWP and the red dragonWP representing Britain would battle each other, and then afterward Britain would be united by a great king who would defeat the Gauls and Romans.[17]
As the incarnation of the red Dragon, Artoria was created to oppose the incarnation of the white Dragon, Uther's brother Vortigern, who opposed the oncoming Age of Man and so wanted to destroy Britain and bring it to ruin.[9]
Artoria was born into a time of chaos and war that began with the demise of the Western 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, Uther Pendragon, and the blue-eyed Igraine, the wife of Uther's servant, the Duke of CornwallWP. 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.[18]
Uther and Igraine would later marry, making Igraine's other daughter and Artoria's half-sister, Morgan le Fay, now her official sister.[19] At least, that is what the legend says. However the truth is that Morgan was not born until after Igraine and Uther were married, and she is the true blood daughter of Uther as well, making them full sisters.[20]
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.[18]
Artoria's hometown was on the coast among green hills, where the wind raged and the sea bristled like the manes of a thousand galloping white horses. If one were to gaze at the faraway land from atop a cliff, they would see a long coast shrouded in mist, running as far as the eye can see.[21] There, when Artoria was five years old,[22] Merlin placed her 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.[18]
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.[12]
While living here Artoria pretended to be a boy and went by the name Artorius, with only Merlin and her adopted family knowing the truth.[23] At night she was taught by Merlin in her dreams, so even in her sleep she never truly got rest.[22]
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.[18]
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.[18] She stopped aging at 15 years old, back when she pulled Caliburn from the stone.[3]
Artoria secured her strength and rallied followers for ten years, among them such storied knights as Gawain. Ten years after she pulled Caliburn from the stone she slew the usurper king Vortigern in the fortress city of Londinium with the use of Rhongomyniad and was crowned King of Britain.[24]
Kingship[]
Artoria led Britain from Camelot, which was built with the help of the fairies in the ruins of Londinium. After becoming a feudal lord like her father, she became a king with many knights under her, including the esteemed Knights of the Round Table. 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.[25] 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 battle at Badon HillWP 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".[16] 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 Battle of CamlannWP. Staring at the countless dead of her countrymen, she reflected on her personal failures, regretting her life as king. Lamenting the ruinous end of her kingdom, she appealed to the Counter Force; in exchange for services as a Counter Guardian after her death, she asked to be given an opportunity to seek the Holy Grail to save her country. Accepting that contract, this lead her to be frozen in time and space on the Hill of Camlann as she was summoned countless times to every age and all eras in pursuit of the Holy Grail; falling into an infinite loop of hell, from where there can be no salvation forever. After finally abandoning her quest for the Holy Grail and accepting her death,[26][27] her dying body was escorted to a forest by Sir Bedivere. Before her last breath, Artoria ordered a grieving Bedivere to dispose of Excalibur by throwing it back to the Lady of the Lake, and departed from this world. It has been said that, after death, she was carried to Avalon - the utopia, paradise that does not exists anywhere in this world - and will save Britain again in the far away future.[4]
Artoria's reign as King Arthur lasted for ten years,[16] and twenty years had passed since her drawing Caliburn.[28] Artoria was 35 years old at the time of her death, although physically still appeared 15.
Artoria's corpse and her holy spear Rhongomyniad were brought to the Blackmore Cemetery, along with the corpse of her brother Kay.[29] According to legend, fairies including Morgan and Vivian then brought her to Avalon.[30]
Appearance[]
Artoria has the appearance of a young girl in her early-mid teens with a slender physique, soft skin, and green eyes. She has "finely textured" blonde hair that seems "as if sprinkled with gold dust". Her face shows some signs of naivety and displays elegance. She is more muscular than someone like Rin, leading her to believe her body is unappealing, but Shirou believes her to be very feminine. She normally wears shining armor with an old styled dress, made from old-fashioned blue cloth, underneath. She is actually older than her appearance would show, as her body did not age from the moment she pulled Caliburn from the stone to the time of her death. Shirou sees her as being a few years younger, and the age of her body is probably a year younger than him.[25] Though she lived as a man most of her life, Shirou and Rin describe her as beautiful instantly upon seeing her. Despite her armor being unrefined and unaesthetic, Shirou describes Artoria as being beautiful enough to make the steel clanking of her armor seem like the chiming of a bell.
Due to her inability to dematerialize, she needs to wear modern clothing in order to travel in public. Though she can wear her own dress when not in battle, she needs modern clothing to keep from standing out. With the ability to control the materialization of her armor, she can be ready for battle instantly and return to normal without damaging the clothing. During the Fourth Holy Grail War, Irisviel decides to match Artoria's clothing with her own appearance by dressing her as a man.[31] During the Fifth Holy Grail War, Rin Tohsaka prepares clothes for Artoria, a blue, knee-length skirt (with tights) and white shirt (with a blue string tie), and brown boots originally a birthday present to Rin from Kirei Kotomine.[32] After being captured by Medea she is forced to wear a white ballgown with her hair being strapped in a ponytail, a white collar in her neck, and white gloves in both of her arms.
- She is commonly known as Blue Saber (青セイバー, Aoi Seibā?).
- Saber Alter - Blackened version of Saber.
- Zero Saber (ZEROセイバー, ZERO Seibā?) - Differentiated from normal in both appearance and manner, Artoria in the Fourth Holy Grail War in her suit is often treated as a separate version. Irisviel, making dressing up Artoria more of a hobby than required, takes Artoria's measurements for a tailor shop at the Frankfurt airport, and has a dark blue dress shirt and necktie with a French continental dark suit prepared for her. Artoria likes its ability to allow her to move freely, and has no troubles posing as a man due to her time as king. While it would normally seem strange to dress a young woman under 155 cm in such a fashion, it is not so regarding Artoria. The idea lacks the "perverted beauty" of having a beautiful woman dressed as a man, but instead suits the air of Artoria's cold and hard face that does not give off a feminine complexion. It can be called a given that her disguised in such a way gives the impression of being a beautiful young man, and along with her thin stature, her glamorous and fair-skinned face can pass as the manly, charming air of a pure young man.
- Saber Lily - Alternate version of Saber. In this form, Saber takes on the appearance of her younger self, back from her first adventures with Merlin and her step-brother, wielding Caliburn.
- Master Artoria - Master version of Saber.
- Mysterious Heroine X - Saber's "hidden" identity during Back Alley Satsuki.
- King Saber (キングセイバー, Kingu Seibā?) - Saber with the cloak and crown she wore as a king. This appearance is treated as an alternate version in Capsule Servant.
- Galactica Saber - Alternate Capsule Servant version of Saber.
Due to the different variations of Artoria and characters that look similar, she is often called Blue Saber (青セイバー, Ao Seibā?), Saber Alter is called Black Saber, and Saber Lily is called White Saber. Similar characters include Red Saber, Saber of Red, Sakura Saber, Gray, and Saber Lion. Though there is no direct connection to Red Saber, Nero Germanicus, King Arthur's model was said to be the fusion of two individuals including the Roman general Artorius, so it can be said there is some sort of relation between them.[15] Jeanne d'Arc is also often considered similar to Artoria, Gray is a distant descendent of King Arthur and Mordred is a clone who shares her appearance.
In Fate/EXTELLA, she has the following costumes:
- Summer Memories (夏の思い出, Natsu no Omoide?).
- Resort Vacances (リゾート・ヴァカンス, Rizōto Vakansu?).
- Pure Night Dress (Arturia) (純真のナイトドレス【アルトリア】?)
- stay night Model (Artoria) (stay nightモデル 【アルトリア】?)
- Mysterious Heroine Uniform (謎のヒロイン服?)
In Fate/EXTELLA LINK, she has the following costumes:
- King of Knights Armor (騎士王の甲冑?)
- Queen Saber (クイーン・セイバー?)
- Lapis Lazuli Dress (瑠璃色のドレス?)
- Alteria (アルテラリア?) (DLC)
- Summer Battle Clothes (夏の戦闘服?) (DLC)
- Sky Blue Dress (空色のワンピース?) (DLC)
- Li'l Artoria (Funi Funi Arutoria?) (DLC)
Personality[]
Artoria is a strong-willed young woman who usually speaks truthfully but will lie if necessary. She is courageous, determined, and set on winning the Holy Grail. She constantly insists that she is a knight and king above all, and that her gender is of little importance to her and her role. She is resolute in following her own morals, regardless of the more viable, yet underhand, tactics being available. Artoria prefers direct, fair confrontations based upon codes of chivalry. Not even her hunger for the Holy Grail can make her abandon her code of honor. This leads to regular conflicts with Kiritsugu over strategy within the Fourth Holy Grail War. While obtaining the Grail is of the utmost importance, rejecting her chivalry is something she will never do, even if it should put her at a disadvantage. If such came to pass, she would require her Master to use a Command Spell as recompense for treading upon her heart. A Master tends to do well with Artoria when they respect her rules, such as Irisviel being closer to her than her true Master, Kiritsugu.
She believes loyalty and respect should be shared between Master and Servant. Thus when a Servant kills their Master, Artoria is enraged to the point she may kill as punishment. If a Servant dies protecting their Master, she protects their sacrifice from ridicule, believing they died honorably. She also expects Heroic Spirit to be treated with respect, displaying utter rage and disgust when Zouken Matou turns Medea's corpse into a puppet or when Shinji electrocutes Rider as punishment for losing in battle to Artoria herself. If a situation looks dire, Artoria will not hesitant to sacrifice herself to ensure her Master and companions can escape.
A firm believer in justice, Artoria cannot stand when evil goes unpunished. She therefore strongly rejected Kiritsugu's decision to let the other Masters kill Gilles de Rais, as she wanted to stop Gilles as soon as possible before more innocent victims were made. Seeing humans reduced to demons who commit countless atrocities when their lives are threatened was something she witnessed all the time in her life. But precisely because of that, humans need to prove they can still live on with dignity no matter the difficulties that surround them. A knight is the one who can testify to that. Illuminating the battlefield by inspiring awe with his justice, a knight lets those reduced to demons to regain their honor and pride, and become proper humans once more. It is therefore the duty of a knight to put aside their feelings to focus on the greater good.
One of Artoria's greatest struggles throughout the Fourth and Fifth Holy Grail Wars is her identity as both a "human" and a "king". Because of her status as a knight and a Servant, she dislikes being treated as a woman, or even as a human. She tries to keep the notion that she is only a Servant, a tool for her Master, first and foremost in her mind. Normally quiet and reserved, she raises her voice in defense of this non-human identity. This focus is so extreme that she has no obvious reaction to Shirou accidentally seeing her naked, possibly ignoring or not understanding his flustered response. She slowly becomes aware of herself though as her bonds with Shirou and Rin develop, later displaying her true embarrassment when Shirou again accidentally sees her naked. Despite being granted knowledge of the modern world upon being summoned, Artoria is a 'fish-out-of-water' in many social situations due to her strong disconnect from her humanity in her past and lack of interaction with others her age and social status. She was unaware of the innuendo of the phrase 'between my legs' and didn't understand why Irisviel was giggling afterwards. She also doesn't even understand what a date is, as the Grail doesn't give data on minor modern social structure and phrasing, until Rin explains it to her.
Due to always conducting herself as an untouchable king, she is unfamiliar with affection or flirting from others. She is notably sexually inexperienced as a woman, but she is nevertheless knowledgeable about a man's sexual experiences. Once Artoria becomes more self-aware of herself as a girl, she becomes very self-conscious of her body. She remarks it as "unsightly", and tries to stay out the center of attention. She is also more aware of others' physical appearance, envying the voluptuous Rider. Initially, she and Shirou view these experiences as being contradictory to her identity as king, causing strife between them, and internally for Artoria. Through careful self-exploration and support from others, Artoria realizes she can be happy as a woman while still being a king. She also accepts the failures of her past, deciding to stop punishing herself for it. This accumulates in Artoria accepting Shirou's love, and her declaration to herself and Gilgamesh that she will always be "a king before a woman". In Realta Nua, Artoria journeys to Avalon and lives as this person she wishes to be. In Fate/hollow ataraxia, Artoria acts to refine that womanhood and femininity among her peers, and Sakura and Taiga help her with this when they go shopping together. She can react violently when others point out her underdeveloped physique as a woman. Such was the case in Fate/hollow ataraxia when she relentlessly chased Lancer with the intent of beating him after he said she should develop more before wearing a two-piece swimsuit.
Artoria is loyal, independent, and reserved. She appears cold, but is usually suppressing her emotions to focus on her goals. She is bewildered by Shirou's "protective" tendencies, and believes his over-valuing of her humanity jeopardizes her chances of winning the Holy Grail War. However, Artoria is secretly deeply insecure, having no real sense of self-worth. As she was born and raised to be a king in service of her country, she has no sense of self-worth past that, and can only feel fulfilled by serving other people. Because of this, she will regularly berate herself as worthless if she ever fails in her duties. Shirou realizes from his dreams of her past that, even though she is a supremely skilled warrior, she would be happier if she didn't have to fight at all.
As king, Artoria put the needs of her people before her own and considers herself a martyr to her ideals. While primarily an idealist, she took a more pragmatic approach when ruling and protecting her people. She understood it was impossible to save everyone, so she would sacrifice a few to save the many. Throughout her rule, though, she was plagued by self-doubt about being a worthy king, and eventually came to hate herself for not giving her people utopia like she promised and the atrocious actions she took to ensure Britain's protection and future. She feels deep guilt over the eventual destruction of her kingdom, holding herself solely responsible and calling herself an inadequate ruler. When shown her death before pulling Caliburn, Artoria accepted she would die alone, ostracized by everyone for taking many lives. Even though she accepted that, she was horrified to know her kingdom would be destroyed alongside her in the bloody Battle of Camlann Hill. She understood, as Merlin told her, that Britain would fall, but she wanted to believe its end could be more peaceful, like a slumber. As a result of these factors, 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 in order to give Britain a peaceful end. Iskandar and Shirou both chastise her for this, saying that to undo her rule would be an insult to all those who died in her name, or that she is selfish for wanting to redo the past merely because she didn't like the result. Also, because of her past, Artoria blames herself whenever her past enemies reappear.
For the most part, Artoria is a serious person who fully devotes herself to whatever task she's given. This can especially true when it comes to competition, since she's a sore loser, though truthfully her soreness is directed at her own weakness. Obstinate at her worst she can spend hours on a single task until she's satisfied, such as forcing Shirou and Rin to let her keep playing baseball because she was losing way past scheduled. Her poor sportsmanship is nothing compared to her fanatic devotion to her kingly duty though. Others find her devotion disturbing, seeing that she is denying herself of everything for the sake of her duty. She so stubbornly adheres to her duty that she ignores, rejects, and/or actively fights against other's opinions to validate herself. This is most obvious in her fights with Shirou about her past. This tendency to fight others that she disagrees with is compounded by how she is unable to ignore what others say or do. She cares greatly about others' opinions, and their disagreement hurts her greatly; her brother, Kay, compares her heart to a reed in that respect. If someone makes a transgression against her, Artoria is extremely ready to fight, even physically, anyone for that perceived insult. This most often includes Shirou in both serious and comical situations. Shirou implying that Artoria is a human, and not a Servant, is immediately cornered verbally by Artoria. At another time, Shirou is knocked unconscious for teasing her for playing with her lion plushy in Fate/hollow ataraxia.
Underneath her serious exterior that she feels forced to hold, Artoria shows herself to be a kind-hearted and gentle person who wishes to protect those she cares about. She is perceptive when it comes to the others' feelings and their troubles, almost dangerously so when combined with her low self-worth and habit to overthink. This is best demonstrated in a positive way when she purposely forfeited a competition of best little sister to Illya when she saw her frustration at losing by pretending to be overwhelmed by Illya's "sister force", even convincing Sakura (another competitor) to join her. Her ability to perceive others' troubles also made her reckless in her pursuit to save others during her training with Caliburn, for which she was scolded many times by Kay. Artoria greatly enjoys seeing the happiness of others, even though she doesn't wish any happiness for herself. This trait is a cause of great concern to those who care about her, thinking she should obtain her own happiness. Artoria herself believes she doesn't deserve happiness due to her self-perceived failure as king. She rarely smiles for herself but smiles for others upon seeing their happiness and safety. During her reign, she never laughed once, with the last time being during her training with Caliburn. She is still very capable of laughing, such as when she giggled at Shirou's joke about Rin wanting to use the Grail to rule the world. Her kind heart can also extend to her enemies, such not seeing the Saxons as evil despite being her enemies. Rather, she understood they sought Britain for a land to call home, believing their aspiration to be inherently good. During her younger days, Artoria 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 different sin than a soldier dying, as a soldier knows why they're on the battlefield, while a horse does not. This kind-hearted facet of Artoria is seen as her true self for it is a person free from unhealthy, inhuman expectations - Shirou sees it as an Artoria who no longer needs to fight. When Artoria does not feel as though she needs to be inhumanly strong, she is less argumentative and confrontational, for these are traits she developed to make up for her inability to meet her impossible goals.
Though she once felt more linked to Dragons due to her unique birth, 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. The lion cub in her past 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 lions since then and remembers these fond memories while holding stuffed lions. Shirou, seeing the memory of her rubbing her cheek against the lion, comments on it being a special time where she truly looks like a girl her age.
She is shown to have a voracious 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.[33] 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 simple. 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 in times of need.[34] She did not concern herself with food much in her life and allowed her cooks to do as they wished. She felt those dishes were unrefined, although she was not displeased by them. She shudders at the thought of eating the food of her era once introduced 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.[35] Gawain was an exception, and enjoyed the meals, not noticing the others' distaste for it.
Relationships[]
- 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. Their similarities aren't unnoticed by others either; Rider believed in Heaven's Feel that Shirou was able to summon Saber because they're alike. Saber is willing to sacrifice her own life in order to 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. Shirou strongly disagrees with Saber's wish to change her past though, believing the past cannot be undone and that she should be proud of her accomplishments. As a result of those words and being called selfish, Saber angrily rejected Shirou, claiming she doesn't need him. In truth however, she was deeply hurt by what Shirou said as she believed he would be able understand what she's going through due to their similarities. Shirou's approval is very important to her self-confidence in all things. 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 isn't permitted 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. She primarily serves as an observer to Shirou and Rin's relationship during the normal course of the route. Ultimately deciding to pass as when her contract is fulfilled in True End. However if Shirou pays her enough attention during story, she eventually develops some feelings for him here as well, which leads to Good End, where she decides to stay with him and Rin at the end, expressing hope that one day Shirou could give her answer about whether her path was correct or not. It's implied that all three continue living together as mutual lovers in Emiya household. In Fate/hollow ataraxia, Saber is a bit more proactive in pursuing Shirou romantically, such as wearing more feminine clothing in order to garner his attention.
- Rin Tohsaka
- Rin is one of Saber's closest friends within the modern age. They were able to quickly form a rapport with each other, despite Saber trying to kill Rin in their first encounter, as they're enemies under the rules of the Holy Grail War. Saber and Rin are able to agree with each other on how to best course of action during the war, such as in Unlimited Blade Works when they agree not to attack Ryuudou Temple after they and Shirou failed to eliminate Caster and her Master, Souichirou Kuzuki.
- However, they don't always agree with each other, as when during Fate, Saber wanted to attack the Master at the temple while Rin agreed with Shirou to not attack, believing it may be a trap. They share similar concern for Shirou's selflessness, believing it to be abnormal. Saber trusts Rin to teach Shirou the basics of Magecraft, and to protect him when she isn't around. She admires that Rin is able to stay beautiful and elegant, even in battle. During Fate however, Rin becomes a source of jealously for Saber, as she believes Shirou is more physically attracted to Rin than her due to being self-conscious about her own body.
- Ironically Rin is jealous of Saber's beauty, believing she lost as a woman when she first saw her. She also displays jealously in Unlimited Blade Works, accusing Shirou and Saber of flirting with each other in the good ending. Also during Fate, Saber becomes a target of Rin's teasing like Shirou, poking fun at Shirou and Saber's feelings for each other. In Heaven's Feel though, Saber treats Rin with hostility since Shirou didn't partner with her beforehand. They never get a chance to become friends during the route, as Saber is defeated and corrupted by the Shadow, becoming Shirou and Rin's enemy for the remainder of the route.
- Sakura Matou
- Sakura is one of Saber's friends in the modern age. Their interaction are limited in the Fate and Unlimited Blade Works routes, but they're able to get along. In Heaven's Feel, they're able to interact more as friends; Saber is also able to enjoy Sakura's cooking in this route. However, Sakura brings out Saber's guilty consciousness when Sakura reprimands her for failing to prevent Shirou's recklessness. Saber would later voice her concern for Sakura to Shirou, as she realized Sakura has a guilty consciousness like her that places blame on herself. In Fate/hollow ataraxia, they've come closer as friends, with Saber helping Sakura bake.
- 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.[36] Although as shown in the Ufotable anime as well as as the Unlimited Blade Works Manga, the sight of her causes Saber to be bitterly reminded of her time with Irisviel.[37][38] 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.
- Medusa
- Medea
- Caster considered Saber as nothing more than a cute doll, to the point of stroking her cheek which greatly disturb her, when she stole her from Shirou in Unlimited Blade Works. She wasted no time having her way with her. By commanding her to attack Shirou and Rin, to torturing her with Command Seals. Saber, meanwhile greatly opposed her, which only greatly amused the witch.
- EMIYA
- As he is an opposing Servant, Saber is cautious towards Archer despite their Masters' alliance, especially with Archer's intent to kill Shirou. She dislikes Archer's cynicism that seems to insult others and their ideals, such as with Shirou. Despite her personal dislike of him, she respects his bond with Rin, and his pure fighting technique that is like a clear stream. In Unlimited Blade Works, Saber would come to realize that Archer is an alternate future version of Shirou, causing her previous hostility to disappear. When Archer recounts his past, Saber is reminded of her own past and is shocked by how their lives mirrored one another. She considers his intention to kill Shirou to undo his existence as a Counter Guardian to be useless since Guardians are separate from time. In the end though, Archer accepting Shirou's ideals helps Saber reconsider her life and forge her own path.
- "The archer with a red coat... Fighting at his side brings both joy and sadness. No matter where life takes him, he is a Heroic Spirit that is destined to fight forever..."[39]
- Kirei Kotomine
- While they never interacted during the Fourth Holy Grail War, Saber was warned by Irisviel that Kirei was the most dangerous opponent to Kiritsugu. During the fifth war, Saber still holds her dislike of Kirei, refusing to enter the church. She shows a clear intent to kill him when he visits the Emiya residence during one of the Fate route's bad ends, terrifying even Shirou. Her dislike for Kirei turns into hatred in the same route after learning he killed Lancer's original Master, Bazett Fraga McRemitz, tried to kill Shirou, and that his wish caused the fire ten years ago. During her final battle with Gilgamesh, Saber compares Kirei to a corpse, hinting that she may have deduced why he still lives despite being killed by Kiritsugu in the previous war. In Heaven's Feel, Saber has Shirou ask Kirei for more details regarding the fourth war despite her dislike for him. Though she quickly tries to check Shirou for wounds after he leaves the church, believing Kirei may have harmed him.
- 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 a superior Heroic 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 her, she accepts that fact but counters that his tyranny caused him to destroy his own country.
- "Forming a contract with the King of Heroes... Impressive. He... is a Heroic Spirit with problems, to be sure, but his abilities are unparalleled. You'll get used to him sooner or later. Well, I will never get used to him though."[39]
- "The golden king that appears with know-it-all airs wherever I go. I was cautious at first, but if this is an inseparable relationship, I’ll be more cautious now."[40]
- Knights of the Round Table
- "Needn’t be said. I kind of dislike the don’t-know-if-awake-or-asleep Tristan."[40]
- Merlin
- Saber greatly respects Merlin as both her teacher and advisor, even if she is exasperated by his mischief and womanizing. She believes him raising her into the ideal king will allow her to make Britain into utopia, though Merlin recognized she would eventually despair and regret. He also realized he and Uther were mistaken in raising her as the ideal king upon recognizing she became king for the people's sake. He is one of the few in her lifetime to know she doesn't smile for herself, but for others' happiness. He was taken aback when she wholeheartedly expressed her gratitude for him. However, he also realized she doesn't yet understand what is to love as a human.
- Mordred
- It is unknown what Saber's exact thoughts are concerning her "son", Mordred, only that she rejected Mordred as her heir. During the Battle of Camlann Hill, she would personally slay Mordred, who led the rebellion that destroyed her kingdom. In Fate/Grand Order, during the first summer event, Saber criticizes Mordred for wearing heavy armor to intimidate instead of wearing armor fitting of her small frame. She also take jabs at Mordred's reputation and demeanor, comparing her to a thug. Saber is willing to unleash her Noble Phantasm on her for even small offensives, such as scratching her drawbridge with Prydwen. She also angered by Mordred's theft of Prydwen, and wondering between using Excalibur and Rhongomyniad as punishment.
- Lancelot (Berserker)
- Saber first met Lancelot when he aided her during one of her battles as King Arthur. They were able to quickly become friends, and invited him to become a Knight of the Round Table. She saw Lancelot as the ideal knight, believing in the righteousness of his actions. Even when Lancelot and Guinevere's adultery was discovered, Saber gave her blessings to them despite their so-called betrayal. Upon discovering Berserker to be Lancelot, Saber is guilt ridden to point of losing her will to fight. She cannot help to think that her eternal partnership with him to be just naive fantasy upon seeing his maddened state. When Saber deals a fatal wound to him, she couldn't help but cry, disgusted by her desire for the Holy Grail. Traumatized by the act of killing her friend, she confessed to Lancelot that she wanted the Grail to undo her past to save him and her country. When Lancelot rebukes himself as a disloyal knight, Saber wanted to say he was a loyal knight but was unable to find the right words before he disappeared. Lancelot's confession that he wanted to be punished for his disloyalty would send Saber into a state of self-reproach, as she regrets her kingship even more.
- Iskandar
- While Saber can ally herself with him, she cannot agree with Iskandar's kingship that is lead by his own greed. However, his rebuking of her kingship bear down on Saber's already guilty conscience as she questions her own kingship. Ultimately, Iskandar'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. Ironically enough, Saber trusts him more than her own Master. She knows he would never scheme, instead challenging her directly and choosing an appropriate location for their battle. Nonetheless, she feels the need to defeat him to try to undo the knots in her heart since the Grail discussion
- Diarmuid Ua Duibhne
- Due to their shared belief in chivalry, Saber and Diarmuid very quickly reach a rapport to become friendly rivals. In accordance with said chivalry, they agree to have a honorable duel later despite their respective Masters' dishonorable methods. To ensure this duel will occur they'll team up against other Servants. Saber's respect for Diarmuid as a fellow knight is to the point that she considers the cursed wound he inflicted on her left arm to be a source of honor. Because of this she doesn't want him to destroy his spear to heal it, even though she knows Exacalibur is the only way to destroy Caster's monstrous form. When duel finally happens, Saber simulates her formerly injured hand to match Diarmuid's loss of one of his spears out of respect. However, she and everyone are bitterly rebuked by him for dishonoring him to obtain the Holy Grail when he is forced by Command Spell to commit suicide thanks to Kiritsugu's scheming. This incident allows Saber to realize that Kiritsugu is truly without honor
- Irisviel von Einzbern
- Although Irisviel was assigned as her proxy Master, Saber is able to quickly become friends with her. They're able to become close enough for Saber to willingly tell Irisviel about her past. She enjoys the time she spends with her, though she is unnevered by Irisivel's reckless driving. She is able to believe in Irisivel's words defending Kiritsugu because she trusts her. When Irisivel is kidnapped, Saber mentally exhausts herself trying to find and rescue her. In the climax of the war, Saber rebukes herself for failing to keep her promise to protect Irisviel upon seeing the Lesser Grail.
- Kiritsugu Emiya
- Due to their differing ideologies and methods, Saber does not get along with Kiritsugu. She is disgusted by his strategies that use her only as a tool, such as using her to lure Caster while she wishes to find and kill him 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. But, she also pities Kiritsugu as a man who bitterly lamented humanity's cycle of conflict, and lost faith in justice. She warns him that using evil to stop evil will only leave evil, thus continuing the cycle of conflict. However, despite disagreeing with his methods, Saber also realizes Kiritsugu's wish is pure and selfless, believing he's worthy of the Holy Grail more than the others whose wishes may be selfish. Throughout the remainder of the 4th war, Saber is confused by Kiritsugu's true nature, conflicted by his image of a loving father and ruthless killer. 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. Despite this Saber warned Shirou that Kiritsugu considered Kirei Kotomine to be a dangerous adversary. She does eventually tell Shirou about Kiritsugu's nature in the previous war, though she was hesitant 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.
- Gilles de Rais
- "A sea demon? I do remember there was a pitiful enemy like that. Though I would've previously had trouble with it, now it is no match for me! An octopus is not something to cut, but something to shoot. After this, let's feast on it!"[39]
- Scathach (Swimsuit)
- "So that is the Queen of the Land of Shadows... I hear she is a master of martial arts, and it's admirable that she can handle so many weapons. Hmm? You were talking about her body? "Well I won't lose if I have my spear, but how dare you![39]
Role[]
Despairing at the violent end to her Kingdom, Artoria called out to the World asking for a miracle to save Britain. With the planet being accepting of the end of civilisation, the Counter Force is not and, seeing her potential use, answers Artoria's call. In exchange for the fulfilment of her wish, Artoria's soul would belong to the Counter Force, becoming a Counter Guardian in service to Humanity instead of a Heroic Spirit. Willing to accept any price, Artoria agrees, but unknowingly falls into an infinite loop of hell where there can be no salvation.[26] Stopped still in time and space on the Hill of Camlann, Artoria was summoned to every age and all eras from the abyss of death, pursuing the Holy Grail countless times as a Servant in order to complete the contract she has with the Counter Force, granting her wish to redo the Day of Selection where she pulled Caliburn from the stone, even if that would deny her existence and erase all her battles and achievements.[27]
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.[41]
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 Jeanne d'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.[42]
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.[43] 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:
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.
In this route, Saber defeated Rider by utilizing her Noble Phantasm against Rider's. She also defeated Berserker in their second duel with the assistance of Shirou. She also reunites with Gilgamesh, the Archer from the previous War, and ultimately defeats him near the end of the War by utilizing Avalon, which she finds out in this route was inside Shirou all along.
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 which in turn earns him Saber's gratitude and attention with her promising that they will settle the score. Saber is later summoned by Shirou's Command Spell to his school to aid him and Rin against Shinji and Rider. However, she unexpectedly runs into Caster instead of Rider (who, as shown in the anime and manga, disguised herself as the latter, who had been killed by Kuzuki), before she disappears (in the movie, Saber slashes her afterimage). After this, Saber 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 overwhelmed 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 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.
During Shirou and Rin's second assault at the church with the help of Lancer, Saber was shown to now be on a state of unconsciousness after days of resisting and is now nearing her limit, during the battle Caster was about use her Command Seal to wake Saber up after being beaten severely by Rin. Only for Archer to kill the couple, Archer claims that he planned all this so he can be free to kill Shirou, with him starting a fight with Saber who still wants to protect Shirou even though the pact is broken. 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.
In the movie adaptation, Shirou isn't carried back home following the encounter with Berserker, instead he's lied on a park bench while he heals. Saber doesn't explain the basics of the war, only convincing Shirou not to endanger his life again. Shirou and Saber's visitation to the church occurs after their encounter with Rider, which follows their encounter with Berserker. There Shirou learns from Saber of her connection to Kiritsugu in the previous war, and Kiritsugu's role in said war from Kirei. After he comes back out learning the answers, Shirou and Saber properly introduce themselves, and affirm 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.
In the movie adaptation, the encounter with Rider occurs after Shirou and Saber's encounter with Berserker while they're heading home. The woman that Rider is feeding on is Ayako Mitsuzuri. Saber doesn't say anything following Rider's defeat when Shinji is torturing Rider. She doesn't say anything about Zouken, only keeping Shirou away from him. After Shinji and Zouken leave, Shirou becomes curious about Illya's hostility, to which Saber responds that Kirei could provide the answers. Shirou decides to do just that as he carries the unconscious Ayako with him.
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.
In the movie adaptation, Shirou and Saber do not investigate Ryuudou Temple until the movie's climax. As such Saber doesn't see Assassin's disappearing katana nor does she kill Caster as punishment for killing her own Master. The killing of both Kuzuki and Caster is instead done by True Assassin.
Shirou is left sick the next day due to Rider, as Sakura's Servant, using Breaker Gorgon on him and taking his energy.[44]
Fate/hollow ataraxia[]
In Fate/hollow ataraxia, Saber continues to protect Shirou, though it seems their relationship has turned more towards Saber having 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 kill 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 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 led 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, Hokori Takaki Kishi-Ō?).
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.
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Fate/tiger Colosseum series[]
Fate/Grand Order[]
Artoria is summoned by Ritsuka Fujimaru to aid in resolving the Grand Order. Although properly speaking, she is an Heroic Spirit that should not be able to become a Servant, and so instead manifests as a special kind of Guardian instead of a normal Servant.[3]
GUDAGUDA Honnouji[]
Artoria appears under the name Uesugi Artoria. She appears after Ritsuka's party defeated Takeda Darius and Sanada Medusa, the former of whom is her rival. Okita Souji informs her that Takeda was just killed, disappointing Artoria that she wasted a journey from Kasugayama since she planned to gorge herself on Kai's food. She then decides to attack the group for their rations. She is defeated and complains she only lost 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 and is instead the Servant of Irisviel.[45]
Before the arrival of Chaldea, Diarmuid Ua Duibhne invited Artoria to the wharf for a duel. Unfortunately, Artoria and Irisviel arrive there to find Ritsuka's party instead. El-Melloi II reveals Artoria's True Name to her shock and has Ritsuka and Mash force her and Irisviel to retreat.[46]
Later, Artoria confronts the group after Mash establishes a summoning circle near the Fuyuki River. She challenges them to a fair fight, which El-Melloi II is unconvinced of due to his knowledge of her serving as a decoy while Kiritsugu ambushes the enemy.[47] However, during the ensuing fight, 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 with her so El-Melloi II's plan isn't ruined. After EMIYA retreats, Artoria realizes the group never intended to kill her. She and Irisviel then learn that the group only wishes to keep her safe to achieve their goal, which El-Melloi II doesn't divulge. When Irisviel states her vague feeling she was meant to be killed by EMIYA, Artoria refuses to believe it and vows to 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, Artoria is convinced they aren't enemies.[48]
Artoria encounters the group again when they invade her discussion with Iskandar and Gilgamesh to kill Gigamesh with Lancelot's help.[49] However, after Gilgamesh perishes, Artoria is suddenly attacked by Lancelot due to his Master, Kariya Matou, passing out. The group helps her fight Lancelot, but Iskandar soon stops the fight. He warns her and Diarmuid (who joined the group earlier) that they'll be his enemies if they ally with El-Melloi II, whom he now considers an enemy, before leaving. Afterward, EMIYA returns to kill Irisviel. When El-Melloi II states Kiritsug is Artoria's true Master, Artoria reveals Irisviel is her Master, with Irisviel showing her Command Spells as proof. After EMIYA is defeated, Artoria and Irisviel learn he is a Counter Guardian from El-Melloi II. They further learn that the activation of the Greater Grail will end the world and that the Einzbern's highly certain victory in this 4th Grail War prompted the Counter Force's activation. They, along with EMIYA, then join the group and go with them to the Grail's cavern.[45]
There, Artoria and Irisviel learn of the Grail's corruption from El-Melloi II and his initial plan to safely dismantle the Grail. However, the plan was changed to destroying the Grail directly with the failure to recruit Iskandar. After defeating Hassan of the Hundred Faces,[50] the group moves on to Grail's chamber, where they defeat Iskandar.[51] After he disappears, though, El-Melloi II is ambushed and rendered unconscious by Lancelot, now Zouken Matou's Servant.[52] The others kill Lancelot, but that, unfortunately, triggers the Grail's activation. Zouken uses Irisviel's Magical Energy to hasten the process. A figure resembling Irisviel called Black Iri then emerges from the Greater Grail and proceeds to devour Zouken. She then goes to devour the group, saying five Heroic Spirits aren't enough to fill her. Artoria and Diarmuid hold her off while the others escape.[53]
Unfortunately, she and Diarmuid struggle against Black Iri, but thankfully the others return to assist. She recognizes Waver Velvet (who joined the group) has become a Servant, which unbeknownst to her resulted from becoming Zhuge Liang's temporary vessel. After the group destroys Black Iri, Artoria bids the others farewell, glad the battle ended well before disappearing due to the Grail's destruction.[53]
Summer Event: Chaldea Summer Memories[]
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 arrives on an unknown island unable to contact Chaldea. Artoria assures it isn't Britain due to the tropical plants. She reconfirms this to Mordred while the others discuss the same subject.
The next day, the group learns from a near-dead Blackbeard (who was convinced earlier by Mary Read to observe the island) that their location is still unknown, and it's nearly impossible to leave with a normal ship. After he disappears, Artoria suggests leaving the island to try and re-establish contact with Chaldea. When monsters arrive and Mordred complains about how it's in her armor, Artoria reprimands her for wearing heavy armor to intimidate her opponents. She tells her to change into armor suiting her frame though it won't bring her reputation as a knight above negative. After the monsters are slain, Scáthach alters the group's Spirit Origins to give them swimsuits to accommodate their current environment. Artoria decides she needs a weapon appropriate for her swimsuit and pulls out a water pistol she still had from Waku Waku. The group then goes to gather materials for Scáthach to build their escape ship and other facilities.
Later, the group discusses what their first task of island life should be when a storm 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. Out of concern for Ritsuka, the group decides they need to build a cabin to take shelter in. When Tamamo-no-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 be proud and noble like them.
Next, the group decides to build a water supply to preserve any freshwater they collect. Artoria is surprised when Anne Bonny recalls a rumor of there being faucets that produce orange juice or udon broth.
If the faucet is built, Artoria decides to confirm the rumor Anne mentioned, becoming overly excited about Udon Daishi. Familiar with udon, she praises it as the epitome of exquisite yet simple-looking cuisine. She then decides to check if the faucet produces udon broth. But she is disappointed upon realizing Ritsuka tricked her.
Later, Artoria goes hunting with Ritsuka, Mash, Anne, Mary, and Cú Chulainn. Calling hunting a knight's hobby, she says it'd be perfect if her horses, Llamrei and Dun Stallio, and her dog, Cavall, were with her. Cú Chulainn then spots a deer on the leeward of a nearby mountain. Artoria tries to use Excalibur to get it until Ritsuka stops her. 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 she only does so when needed and asks Cú Chulainn if she is somehow breaking Celtic hunting etiquette. Cú Chulainn answers her method goes beyond simple etiquette. Artoria recalls Agravain praising the aforementioned method when they hunted together, but questions if he was lying to her. Banning the use of Noble Phantasms, the group proceeds to hunt, 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 the 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 decides 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. Feeling she was meant to be in the bath, she suddenly imagines Medusa bathing in it.
Later, the group decides to cultivate a vegetable fieldd. If Mordred's request for a watermelon garden is made, Artoria gets into a watermelon splitting competition with Scáthach. Her competitive nature gets the better of her though, and she destroys the watermelon's surroundings after splitting it with her Mana Burst.
After cultivating a grain field, the group builds a ranch to raise livestock. If a cattle ranch is built, Artoria smacks Mordred for trying to steal her meat while it's cooking, saying Mordred does her usurper name justice. if a sheep ranch is built, she mentions how Romulus was a shepherd.
A couple of 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. Unfortunately, they find Fionn and Diarmuid, who served as lookouts the previous night, fatally wounded. Fionn quickly dies, but Artoria gets 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 says the group should surround the piglet and finish it off. But the piglet flees when monsters appear. After the monsters are slain, Artoria has the group split up and search the island for the piglet.
Later that night, they reconvene at their crops joined by Tamamo, Martha, Anne, and Mary. The group finds the piglet along with two others trying to protect from the crops for a demon boar appears. Realizing it to be the true culprit, the group fights 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 more demon boars may be encountered given the island's size.
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, proposing a cobblestone path instead. If the cobblestone path is built, Artoria praises the roads in Camelot while admitting the roads in Rome are also nice. She believes 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 Pont du GardWP. She 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 ask for something British to be built.
Next, the group decides to build a bridge to make traveling easier for Ritsuka. Though she admits Japanese Bridges are beautiful, Artoria believes they'd be fragile and proposes building a drawbridge with a stone gate for defense.
If the drawbridge is built, Artoria recalls how she and her army destroyed many a bridge repelling her kingdom's enemies only to rebuild them again. So she is glad that the drawbridge removes that problem. But as she admires the bridge's beauty, Mordred scratches 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.
Ater making a garden, the group decides to build a recreational facility. Stating how sports can have a positive impact on both mind and body, Artoria proposes building an 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. Mash asks her if she always liked soccer, to which Artoria answers she hasn't. She feels she must have practiced somewhere before, yet she cannot remember anything else. Then, seeing Mordred bouncing a ball against a wall by herself, she compares her to a child practicing alone in silence in hopes of making it into the majors one day. Somewhat reluctantly she allows Mordred to join Ritsuka's teams, telling her not to hold back.
Later, after building a tower to overlook the island, the group decide to expand their cabin. Artoria agrees with Marie's request for a castle.
If the castle is built, Artoria notes how it's a small yet good castle. She agrees with Marie's assessment that a smaller castle can strengthen the bonds with the people. She then calls Ritsuka the king, and herself and the others, their knights.
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.
The group later decides to build a statue, though Artoria doesn't see the point of it. However, as they prepare to build it, a giant demon boar appears. The giant demon boar retreats, only for it to return once the escape ship is nearly complete despite its wounds. As the group prepares to fight it to protect the piglets, 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 makes 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.
Summer Event: Chaldea Heat Odyssey[]
The group eventually makes landfall on a desolate wasteland. Artoria is depressed by the complete lack of food, but she is more concerned about Ritsuka dying of malnourishment. The group then hears a cry for help, which to their surprise is coming from a boar piglet. They defeat the Shadow Servant chasing the piglet, showing itself to be a demon boar in disguised. The piglet calls the group goddesses and asks them to save this world.
The piglet leads the group to city ruins, where they meet the boar piglet chief. Hearing of their circumstance, the chief thanks the group for saving his grandchild. He tells them the buildings were from advanced civilization built by the piglets. Unfortunately, it ended when the demon boars and Shadow Servants arrived fifty years ago. The chief recounts a legend in his clan about nine goddesses called the Nine Sisters who gave the piglets civilization. As they were said to take human forms, the chief's grandson assumed the group were the goddesses. In exchange for the piglets' help, the group agrees to redevelop the island. When the chief's description of a tenth goddess who eats boar piglets matches Tamamo, Artoria tries to comfort her by saying her being summoned as a Servant is proof she changed her ways. She then calls Tamamo her comrade regardless of how many piglets she may have eaten while also wondering if the boar piglets were delicious.
As the group starts to rebuild the boar piglet's civilization, Artoria helps in constructing a restaurant. While concerned by the piglet's suggestion of hamburger, beef bowl, or kebab shop, she wonders where the meat will come from.
Later, when Mordred joins Scáthach's search party to the coast for a chance to surf, Artoria tells her she'll double her workload. Eventually, she and the others learn from the search party that they're on the island as before 2000 years later. The group realizes they are the Nine Sisters. 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. They also 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 ship.
Later, they learn Beowulf is on the island as an enemy. Artoria calls Mordred a thug when she calls Beowulf a thug.
Marie later invites her to the piglet's concert. She readily accepts it, but she'll be late because her building is still under construction. She finds it cute how nervous the piglets are about performing before a crowd.
The group later builds a bridge. If the red bridge is built, Artoria and Cú Chulainn will find it familiar.
After more buildings are reconstructed, the chief tells the group of a Caster who gave the piglets electricity a hundred years ago. Artoria and Mordred join Ritsuka, Mash, and Scáthach in searching for the cave where the Caster is sleeping.
As they search, Artoria wonders if the Caster could've survived for more than a century. Scáthach answers the island's distorted time likely helped the Caster survive for a century. The group then near the cave where the Caster sleeps, finding it is guarded by demon boars.
Inside the cave, they encounter even more demon boars. Artoria defends Mash's natural good nature from Mordred's criticism by comparing Mash to pristine water and Mordred to a cheap, chaotic cocktail. She then gets into an argument with Scáthach about the balance between order and chaos when a giant demon boar attacks. After slaying it, the two apologize to each other for their previous behavior. The group then encounters and defeats an unknown Servant. He reveals himself to be Thomas Edison, having just woken from cryo-sleep. Artoria is enamored by his lion visage. Edison asks for the current status of the boar piglet civilization he helped create. Scáthach tells him it's currently in ruins, prompting the inventor to run out to check if that is true. Following him, the group learns from Edison that he predicted the Nine Sisters' return a hundred years ago and that they would need his help to escape the island. But Artoria doubts he is Edison as his current face doesn't match the picture of him she's seen. Deciding to check for herself, she painfully pulls on Edison's face. The group then returns to the city with Edison and learns he requires the Holy Grail to build an escape device to contact Chaldea.
Artoria later goes with Ritsuka and Mash to a cave the piglets found. Inside, she realizes it's the same cave she visited with Ritsuka, Mash, Marie, Anne, and Mary 2,000 years ago. Remembering, she and Anne destroy an 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 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 observing what she doesn'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 that they're all partners, Artoria and the others reach the end of the path. There her competitive nature causes her to claim herself as the victor of her competition with Anne as the tip of her gun entered the area first. The group then forces two demon boars to retreat.
In the present, the group encounters 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 fights them with the others. After the demon boars are slain, she is glad Ritsuka understands that she is the best Servant.
After the group builds 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, Artoria says the piglets' laziness is giving her a headache. If the wish-granting device is built, she ponders destroying it but reconsiders upon realizing the piglets will likely use it only to aid their laziness.
Eventually, Scáthach surmises the demon boars possess the Grail as they appear on the island fifty years ago in great numbers. Unsure where the demon boars' lair is located, she tells the others to expect a large army. After some sparing, the group head for the demon boars' lair.
Nearing their destination, the group finds a vast number of demon boars guarding the cave as Scáthach surmised. They realize the Grail must be inside the cave, but the demon boars outnumber them. Going with Mordred's plan, the others break through 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 for it. Scáthach tells her it isn't her fault while the piglets tell her they can share the blame, which doesn't exactly make her feel better.
The next day, as the group prepares to leave, Artoria implores the boar piglet chief to build a lasting, peaceful country. Then, leaving the island, the group is contacted by Romani, who reveals they were only gone for an hour and returns 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, Artoria 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. Artoria 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, Artoria 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, Artoria 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, Artoria 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 Magical Energy, 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, Hara Peko Seibā?), 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, Katatsuki gakuen?) by Nasu Kinoko. Her Excalibur sword was changed to a HarisenWP called Exacali-harisen (エクスカリハリセン, Ekusukariharisen?). She is part of the Saber 4~8 (セイバー4~8, Seibā 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.
The Other Stranger[]
Recently summoned, Artoria muses on how SE.RA.PH would be a near perfect recreation of Earth if not for the Moon Cell's explanation beforehand. Her role isn't to fight for a wish, but to act as a deterrent for the recent conflicts. She finds this acceptable, as she is glad to fight as a protector. She then sets out for the battlefield, believing it to be the best place to start her investigation of the cause of SE.RA.PH's aberration: Altera.
Later, Artoria senses a battle nearby and goes towards it in hopes of finding information on Altera. She sees Cú Chulainn and Medusa fighting, and warns she'll be forced to intervene if they do not stop. Neither of them listen to her and attack, prompting her to defeat them both.
Nero Claudius confronts her, confused as to why she attacked both her forces and Tamamo-no-Mae's forces. Artoria explains she is neutral and only seeks to root out the cause of the war. She then reprimands Nero for using Attack Programs, as they're dangerous weapons that easily lead to aberrations. She reprimands her further for failing to consider the A.I. that could be swept up in battles between Servants.
Nero realizes she was endangering her citizens, and thanks Artoria for saving her soul and people. Artoria is pleased Nero can be reasoned with, finding her to be wise and kind, at least by the standards of a Roman emperor. She trusts her to protect SE.RA.PH.
She asks Nero if she knows where Altera is. Nero answers she hasn't heard of Altera, instead she tell Artoria how the war began.
Arriving in a different part of SE.RA.PH, Artoria muses on how Altera and the Forces of Destruction have yet to appear. The only conflict for now is between Nero and Tamamo, both of who possess the Regalia. She goes to ask Tamamo about Altera's location, and to inform her of the true threat to SE.RA.PH, even though she herself knows little.
Upon meeting Tamamo, Artoria senses she is an Anti-Hero, and readies to fight her when the latter speaks evilly. Tamamo chides Artoria for coming alone. She declares her head will be displayed to the masses and her body parts will be paraded across her lands as a testament to her anger. Artoria tells her she only came to get 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 them.
After defeating them, Artoria 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 she isn't truly 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 she has no intention of harming anyone ignorant of wrongdoing, nor will she harm her. She decides to spare Tamamo, seeing that she isn't the threat to SE.RA.PH 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. Her intuition warns her of Alter's power, though not with fear nor revulsion. But that same intuition warns her of a powerful nearby presence that she describes 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.
She eventually 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 former. Artoria fights them to discipline them for betraying the Moon Cell.
Following her victory, a narration by No Name reveals Artoria's actions had prevented the conflict between Nero and Tamamo from escalating and weaken the forces of the Umbral Star.
Later, while eating at a restaurant, Artoria tells Hakuno that Archimedes, the mastermind behind the aberrations, has been defeated. She warns, though, that he may return when it's least expected.
She also reveals she spoke with Altera, believing her to be a pure and simple if not stubborn woman. She asks Hakuno to treat her with an open mind should they cross paths again, saying she needs a companion to confide in.
Then, as she admires the food of her second portion, Artoria expresses how she feels blessed to have come to SE.RA.PH and that her worries of her journey are now in the far-off past.
Fate/EXTELLA LINK[]
Artoria is summoned by Moon Cell to again act as a deterrent in the war that once again engulfed SE.RA.PH.
While wandering Mare Mellum, she is confronted by Gilles de Rais who mistakes her as Jeanne d'Arc. She tries to correct his mistake by identifying herself, and explaining her role as a Top Sevant. Gilles proclaims it was the will of Karl der Große that brought him to her. He also states Artoria and Jeanne share the same face, to her surprise.
He tries to recruit her into the New Holy Empire, but Nero Claudius arrives to convince Artoria to join her side. Artoria is surprised by the invitation, but it infuriates her it is because they have similar faces. Absolutely enraged at everyone for judging her by her face, she proclaims their petty judgments are why SE.RA.PH. suffers again, and attacks everyone.
While Hakuno's Servants are able to force Gilles to retreat, they're barely able to make Artoria budge. Nonetheless, she commends Charlemagne's fighting spirit, and apologizes for her previous behavior. She then gives him a bag of blue particles that Gilles dropped, believing it worth investigating. Charlemagne tries to invite her to their side, but she rejects it, saying she needs to discover the truth in her own way.
Melty Blood: Type Lumina[]
Saber is somehow summoned into the world of the Tsukihime Remake series without the use of a summoning ritual, despite how the summoning of Servants is supposed to be impossible in Tsukihime Worlds. She begins searching Souya for answers.
She first runs into Hisui and Kohaku who are investigating a troublemaker going around town and believe Saber to be their target. Seeing their fighting styles, Saber mistakes them for Assassin-class Servants. Upon meeting Michael Roa Valdamjog she assumes that stopping him was the reason she was summoned, and so defeats him to save Souya from his schemes. Afterward she runs into Arcueid Brunestud who compares herself to Excalibur as another creation from the inner sea of the planet, and the two have a battle for fun.
Other appearances[]
In Lord El-Melloi II Case Files, despite not appearing, Artoria Pendragon's presence is felt over the story, principally by being inextricably tied to the backstory of Gray, a descendant of a lineage related to her who looks similar to her in appearance as a result of a ritual in her native village striving to create a physical vessel to revive King Arthur and host the soul, able to wield the Holy Lance Rhongomyniad. The ritual was established centuries ago by Morgan herself for unclear reasons, who brought the Holy Lance and Artoria's corpse to the village, as well as the corpse of her brother Kay, whose personality would be copied and serve as the Lance's seal.[29][54] Gray used to have a normal face until Artoria's summoning in the Fourth Holy Grail War, which caused her facial features to change to look like Artoria's.[55][56] As a result, Gray hates her face, and when Lord El-Melloi II later takes her under his wing as his apprentice, traumatized by the Saber who finished off Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald and chased him and Rider, he asks her to cover and hide her face under a hoodie.[57][55] Later, when she is summoned in the Holy Grail War by Shirou Emiya, her manifestation causes further changes in Gray, like her hair turning blonde and gaining a Dragon Core.[58]
In the parallel World of Fate/Apocrypha, the catalysts to summon her as a Servant disappeared between the Third Holy Grail War and the Great Holy Grail War due to the explosion of many smaller Subcategory Holy Grail Wars over the years depleting the number of available catalysts. In the manga and anime adaptations, she makes various small appearances in Mordred's flashbacks.
In the True and False Holy Grail Wars of Snowfield, in the parallel World of Fate/strange Fake, one of the False Master, Cashura, was intended to summon her, being given by Francesca Prelati the box that contained the sheath Avalon to use as a catalyst,[59] but an unforeseen consequence was that it instead became the catalyst to summon Richard I as Saber.[60] The English king is a huge fan of her and the Arthurian legends told in chansons de geste, having grown up hearing these tales and spending much of his life searching for relics of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table.[59] She is further mentioned by Francesca Prelati and True Caster, when True Caster mentions it is possible for someone to be summoned as a Servant while they are still alive, and Francesca wonders if Artoria Pendragon was one example of such.[61]
In Fate/EXTRA and Fate/EXTRA CCC, Saber is mentioned directly or indirectly several times by Archer and Gawain.
In Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA☆ILLYA, the Saber Class Card manifests her outfit and her abilities when used. Later, she was summoned by Miyu alongside the other Fifth Holy Grail War Servants to fight Darius Ainsworth, using Excalibur to destroy his mud giants.[62][63]
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. Saber is also featured in nearly every episode of Today's Menu for Emiya Family due to the Emiya residence being the most common place where Shirou cooks food.
In Learn with Manga! FGO, Saber appears as one of the Servants of Gudako. She has a perpetually neutral expression and never speaks, but can silently communicate with some of the characters. As with most parody works, a lot of gags surrounding her are related to her apatite.
Non in-universe appearances[]
Saber is the main mascot character of TYPE-MOON, and thus appears with her various incarnations in cameos and crossovers with other series.
Abilities[]
Artoria Pendragon is the legendary King of Knights, the one that ruled over the battlefields in the age of legends.[3][64][65] In life, she commanded the Knights of the Round Table, the greatest knights to ever live and heroes that would later be sung of in legends. If summoned as a Servant, any of them would boast indisputable fame and strength,[66] however, even among them, Artoria stands at the top. Despite Mordred being a first-class servant and possessing power worthy of the Saber class, when comparing them to her father's, Mordred's specs are overall lower.[67] The difference between the two is such, that Gawain claims that he'd normally defeat Mordred without breaking a sweat, even at night,[68] when he's three times weaker than during midday, state in which he's considered to be an equal to King Arthur by some.[65] Although Lancelot is famed as the strongest Knight of the Round Table mainly due to defeating Gawain after fighting him for several hours while empowered by the Sun until wounding him at nightfall,[65][69] he considered a fact that the King was invincible, and that size and appearance could not change that.[16] While he states that Morgan le Fay, a powerful witch that rivalled Merlin,[70] was a ruler with immense power due to having retained the supernatural power thought to have died out with King Uther, he claims that she was still nothing but a small pebble in the path of the King.[16]
As a Servant, Artoria is widely considered to be the strongest Heroic Spirit in the Saber class,[41][71][72] the one considered the "Most Outstanding" among the seven classes due to its excellent ratings in all categories.[73] Artoria 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 any Magical Energy due to his Magical Paths being obstructed.[74][75] 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 he 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.[75] Although she could barely keep up with Heracles using all of her strength while weakened,[76] it was widely considered by Rin, EMIYA, Medea, and Illya that if she were at full power, she'd be the strongest servant in the Fifth Holy Grail War, and that only Heracles would be able to match her.[77] It is only after seeing Gilgamesh defeat Heracles so easily that Rin considers that Saber with her true power released might be weaker than him.[78] However, these estimations were made without having yet seen her in that state. After becoming Rin's servant, she became something unlike anything she was before, and Shirou, Rin, and even EMIYA were all left speechless and fascinated before her rising swirls of Magical Energy and armor that can never be damaged.[71] In fact, just seeing her standing in that state without moving a single finger is enough to make Shirou believe that there seems to be no end to her overwhelming power and that she wouldn't lose even to Berserker,[71] despite believing Invisible Air was her only Noble Phantasm.[79] The Heroic Spirit of the sword standing before them was so powerful, that it could be nothing but the strongest servant.[71] However, Shirou would later claim that Saber would be no match for Gilgamesh, to which she replied that although he is certainly a strong enemy, she would not lose easily against him if she went into defense. Rin also told Shirou that he seemed to be thinking pretty highly of Gilgamesh. In response, Shirou said that although he is sure that Saber is stronger than Gilgamesh, he would defeat her thanks to being "war itself" and the great advantage it provides him over the other Heroic Spirits. However, Shirou claimed this without having yet learned of the existence of her true Noble Phantasm. Even taking into account that her attributes are not fit to fight him, Saber believes there is a chance at beating Gilgamesh with her holy sword before he can use his own Noble Phantasm.[79] Artoria is also strengthened under Medea but doesn't display it due to being incapacitated by the Command Spell.[77]
Unlike other Heroic Spirits who can fit under multiple classes, Artoria claims that she is only suited to the Saber class.[74] However, 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.[80] When Shirou Kotomine confirmed that both Lancer and Rider of Red possess the strength necessary to oppose Vlad III, even within his home country, Mordred considered the possibility of her Father being one of the servants he was talking about. This not only indicates that Mordred believes that Artoria could be summoned in one of those two classes, but that even when she is not summoned in her primary class, Artoria would still be "absurdly overpowered", likely thanks to possessing great fame herself or power which exceeds even said fame.[70] In fact, if Artoria were summoned in western Europe, she would receive a general boost in power similar to other European Heroic Spirits such as Heracles or Cú Chulainn, and she would display a much sharper increase in power in England.[81] As such, as long as she is in her home country, she has possibly the greatest fame of all, a match for Heracles in Greece or Vlad III in Romania.[66]
Magic Core[]
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, Ryū no Inshi?).[1][25] 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.[25] Agravain claims that Artoria is not the incarnation of the Dragon; but rather, that her heart is a single Dragon.[22] Thus, Saber's Magic 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.[25] The amount of Magical Energy it generates rivals the heat of the Earth's core, and it was due to her own power that Excalibur was considered the strongest holy sword.[82] Artoria is said to possess Magical Energy like that of the gods, and thus, Agravain claims that her magical power is of a level beyond the other Knights of the Round Table.[22] 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,[1] who is associated with tales of culling Dragons and weapons with an anti-dragon attribute such as Arondight.
As Shirou Emiya's Servant, 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 him. 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 her Noble Phantasm.[74]
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.[74][83] 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.
Shirou travels to her Reactor Core 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.[84]
Combat[]
One of Artoria's greatest deeds is defeating a Dragon. When Artoria and her troops confronted the Usurper Vortigern, only she was able to see through his true power. In an instant, before the others could react, Vortigern released its true form as a dragon that clouded the sky despite it being the mid of day, and vaporized the elite troops and the uninjured with a single attack. Only Artoria was able to react in time, quickly coming to Gawain's aid and shielding him from Vortigern's attack. Still, being a devourer of holy swords, he not only devoured all the light of Gawain's sword, depriving him of the power to fight in the process, but he also reduced the glow of Artoria's own holy sword to that of a weak bonfire, allowing his darkness to grow thicker than it was before. In fact, Vortigern was a monster not even the Knights of the Round Table could have imagined, manifesting the will and avatar of the entire island of Britain. Against such an enemy, all Gawain could think of was praying in the darkness. However, even as faint as it was, the sword of the King did not go out. On the contrary, it continued to shine as shelter in the storm, allowing her to sprung to engage the dragon by herself. Although Gawain advised the King to retreat, Artoria rejuvenated his weakened spirit with her faint cool smile. After the both of them faced him for several hours, they managed to restrain the dragon's movements by digging their holy swords into his hands, depriving him of some of his freedom. It was then that Artoria used a shining spear to pierce through the heart of the crucified dragon which then roared its death scream and crumbled to dust. Before this miracle, even the mighty Gawain could only gaze speechless at the King in awe.[85]
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.
In a fight between Artoria and EMIYA, Artoria wouldn't doubt to use her Noble Phantasm under any condition whatsoever. Archer on the other hand, would fight using a strategy of victory. The highlight wouldn't just be their different battle styles, but the difference between their personalities. However, even with Unlimited Blade Works, it's questionable whether EMIYA could hold Saber back in single combat. Even one definite hit from sniping or one blast of her Holy Sword would be enough to determine the outcome of their fight. As such, who would have the upper hand between the two might really depend on the wit of their Masters rather than their own.[86] In their actual fight in Hollow Ataraxia, Archer initiated by sniping her with Hrunting from four kilometers away. Even though his shots can reach speeds of Mach 10, Saber deflected it without problem. However, EMIYA can shoot multiple times in a row, adding more Magical Energy to charge the shot each time. The second shot has a charging interval of twenty seconds, and the time increases after he places more power into it. Shirou estimates that by the fifth shot, her knees would give in, and that the sixth would prove fatal. Although they could put up a fight with her Noble Phantasm, it would endanger the surrounding buildings. Therefore, they would need to close the gap between them in the interval it takes him to charge his next shot. Doing so with Saber's insufficient amount of mana at the time should normally be impossible, however, Shirou was able to temporarily strengthen her with his last Command Spell. Its Magical Energy is great enough to fill even Saber's enormous circuit allowing for the legendary King of Knights to be reborn.[64] 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 principle 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.[64]
Although the Saber class is famed for its great offensive power, Artoria is also very skilled when it comes to going into defense. As shown in her fight with Medusa, even though Rider's pegasus possesses divine protection exceeding even Artoria, its charge is like a giant castle wall approaching, and that Artoria was Shirou's servant at the time, Artoria does not think of defeat even in this situation. She simply decides to wait for Medusa to use her Noble Phantasm, as no matter how strong it is, there is no problem if it's only strong enough to destroy the building they were fighting on. Saber only needed to go into defense, endure the attack, and then slash away the defenseless Medusa. The reason Artoria ended up using her own Noble Phantasm to destroy both Medusa and Bellerophon was once she realized Shirou was there, and that he wouldn't be able to survive Medusa's attack.[87] In her fight against Gilgamesh in the Fate route, Gilgamesh loaded hundreds of swords like bullets, warning her that if she did well, she would only get stabbed in her limbs. With a single command, the rain of swords began, each of them with fatal power and moving at the speed of gods. Although each of them came from a different direction, Saber was able to block, repel, dodge and twist her body away at the last moment to avoid being hit. It wasn't until Gigalmesh eventually closed her escape by stabbing multiple Noble Phantasms in the ground, that a rain of swords managed to stab her body time after time. Although Saber managed to avoid a fatal wound even in this danger, Gilgamesh pulled out his favorite sword as if to finish off the fleeing enemy. Saber survived thanks to offsetting Enuma Elish with Excalibur.[88]
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.[89] It takes her own energy to heal wounds,[74] 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.
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.[90]
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 Jeanne d'Arc.[91]
Class Skills[]
- Magic Resistance (A Rank): The immense magical power from Artoria's dragon blood grants her a very strong Magic Resistance that is the highest amongst the Servants,[1] especially due to it having increased in magnitudes upon being summoned in the Saber class.[92] She is capable of completely neutralising grand sorceries involving magic arrays and instant contracts.[1] No matter what kind of large spell, magecraft ranked below A is nullified,[2][3] even those from the Age of Gods. As such, no modern magi of the highest level can wound her,[2] at least directly.[1] However, 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". In the story, Artoria retained her Magic Resistance of A while having Shirou and Rin as Masters, regardless the two's differences in power and characteristics. On the other hand, while having Sakura as her Master, her Magic Resistance decreased to B as a result of Blackening.[1] In that state, 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.[44]
Artoria is able to resist an action force onto her powered by one stroke of the Command Spell. Such is the extraordinary rank of Artoria's Magic Resistance, sufficient to shake the very foundation of the Servant System.[1] 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 Medea'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, it even left her body sweating and the pain is like being electrocuted with even one touch of her skin can caused her to flinch in pain. 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.[1] 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.[92] It is not effective against Gilles de Rais'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.[93]
- Riding (B Rank): Since "knights" are soldiers who are proficient in mounted warfare, Saber's rank in Riding is very high. 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.[1]
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.[1] She drives both Irisviel's Mercedes-Benz 300SLWP Coupe and a Yamaha V-Max 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.
Personal Skills[]
- Mana Burst (A Rank): Saber's entire fighting style and strength are based around her Mana Burst skill. With it, she can infuse and accumulate 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.[1][2][3] In other words, it's jet propulsion with mana. This Heroic Spirit applies it in sword fights for defense and movement, demonstrating high performance in every aspect.[3] She uses the Magical Energy for her sword techniques, guarding, and movement.[94] Executing large-scale body reinforcement through Mana Burst is only possible with Artoria's immense magical power. At rank A, even a stick can become a weapon of great power,[1] however, normal weapons without strong divine protection such as Caliburn will not be able to endure the Magical Energy-fueled attack and will be destroyed with one blow.[3][94] Her power is directly linked to her available energy, so she can't fight at full strength while weakened as Shirou's servant due to his inaptitude as a Master. Still, even in this state, she can shoot a beam from the tip of her sword with power equivalent to an A-Rank attack, as shown in her fight against Heracles, where she managed to take one of his lives.[95] With enough energy to use her full abilities without having to restrain herself, she'd be able to increase the power of her attacks with this skill, to the point where each of them would look like a Noble Phantasm, as seen in Saber Alter's fight against Heracles where she killed him multiple times over.[96] She can also 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.
- While Artoria is physically fragile, by reinforcing the ability of her body to a great extent using Magical Energy, she was able to fight head on with monsters such as Berserker even while weakened as Shirou's servant.[1] 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.
- Dragon Reactor Core (B Rank): Upgrade from Mana Burst in Fate/Grand Order.
- Instinct (A Rank): Artoria possesses the ability to always instantly identify "the best personal course of action" during combat.[1][2][3] It is an innate ability unlike something that can be gained by anyone through hard work like Mind's Eye (True). Due to having been strengthened by a degree from the specialty of the Saber class,[97] it is essentially a sixth sense in the realm of predicting the future.[1][2][3] Because this skill allows for the prediction of trajectory, it is possible to avoid attacks from firearms,[1] and along with listening to the sound of cutting air, she can be said to have a protection against all projectile weapons. Through this ability, it is also possible to negate the penalties inflicted by visual and auditory interference to a certain extend.[1][2][3] As Saber Alter, this skill is one rank lower than usual, due to her neglecting her surroundings in order to focuss on suppressing her madness.[44] Despite her Instincts being dulled in that state, she's still able to block he simultaneous attack from four blades. Although no hero can come out unscathed after being trapped between steel-penetrating Noble Phantasms, Saber Alter blocked them like nothing thanks to her godlike cognition-like Instincts.[98]
- Shining Path (EX Rank): Upgrade from Instinct in Fate/Grand Order.
- 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 Lancelot was a fatal mistake. It alerts her to the possible danger of an enemy, such as sensing a threat from Gilles de Rais 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 Cú Chulainn's ultimate technique, Gáe Bolg, reflects her skill, her exceptional Instinct also helps her immensely.[1] 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. Diarmuid 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. Hassan of the Cursed Arm even trick her into going to a trap, so that the Shadow can easily consume her.
- Radiant Road (EX Rank): Upgrade from Instinct in Fate/Grand Order.
- Charisma (B Rank): Artoria possess B rank Charisma, a rare talent high enough to be the king of a country.[1][2][3] Although Artoria reigned as the king of England, even her strong influence was still insufficient to build a vast empire spanning the world, so its rank isn't higher.[1] Nevertheless, Artoria possesses the innate ability to command an army.[1][2][3][4] The morale of military forces she commands is extremely high,[1] and in battle, their abilities improve thanks to this skill.[3][4] Even though she and Diarmuid 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.
Noble Phantasms[]
Invisible Air[]
Artoria's first Noble Phantasm is always Invisible Air, with which she conceals her sword. It does not allow the enemy to determine its range. It is simple, but tremendously effective in hand-to-hand combat. The sword is surrounded by wind that reflects light making it virtually invisible. It is not a vacuum, but the wind whirring around the blade is like a weapon and it seems to increase the damage of the slash. Only when the compressed wind is released is a vacuum state created. When the target has "resistance to visual impediments", the accuracy correction of Invisible Air is ineffective. Other than the advantage of making the blade invisible, it is possible to release the compressed wind, making it a single-use projectile weapon. The damage of such attack is constant, and Saber's strength or Magical Energy does not affect it.[94] Said damage is enough to defeat a Demonic Beast of the Phantasmal Species.[87]
Excalibur[]
Artoria wields Excalibur, a Divine Construct forged within the Inner Sea of the Planet.[2][3][4] The sword works by converting the mana of the wielder into light, that is unleashed from the tip of the blade like a laser beam that destroys everything in its path.[1] Although Artoria can exert energy on the level of a Divine Spirit,[3] she has never been able to fully unleash this Noble Phantasm due to its full power being limited by the Thirteen Restraints.[99] Even though Excalibur's true power can only be invoked with the appearance of a foreign enemy threatening the planet,[3] it remains as the strongest Holy Sword.[2][3][4] As shown in the Fourth Holy Grail War, even Gilles de Rais's Gigantic Horror, an extradimensional evil god that according to Tokiomi Tohsaka could have only been vanquished by Ea, was completely incinerated by Excalibur's destructive power.[1] In fact, to beat Saber in a one on one duel, her opponent would need to be a skilled user of a Noble Phantasm that equals hers. A contradiction, since very few Heroic Spirits may possess a Noble Phantasm surpassing hers.[100]
In exchange for its great power, the mana consumption is extreme, thus it cannot be fired consecutively under Shirou due to the mana restrictions.[1] Even using it a single time to destroy Bellerophon in this state is enough to completely cripple her, leaving her unconscious and in constant pain as she fights to keep from fading away.[101] 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. 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.[102] Whereas she could have defeated Heracles with a single blow had her energy been full, in this state it is only powerful enough to take off two of his lives at most, before fading away after its use.[103] As Rin's servant, Artoria is no longer hindered to that extent, however, using it still places a big burden on her as well as Rin, so she would only be able to use it at full power twice per fight. As such, taking into account that Gilgamesh may possess a Noble Phantasm as strong as Excalibur, Gilgamesh would be likely to defeat her in a one-on-one duel.[79]
Avalon[]
As a servant, Artoria doesn't possess Avalon, Excalibur's sheath, since she lost it in life and is yet to die and ascend to the Throne of Heroes. However, the genuine article still exists in the present, serving as her Catalyst for both the Fourth and Fifth Holy Grail Wars. Surprisingly, it is not the sword, but its scabbard that truly possesses an outstanding ability.[4] With this Noble Phantasm, Artoria can heal from any wound unless her brain is destroyed. Even the wounds sustained by Enuma Elish are healed in a few minutes without consuming any Magical Energy.[104] By invoking its True Name, Avalon will deploy a Bounded Field that provides the greatest defense by shutting out all physical interference and placing her in the land of the fairies.[1][2] It can also nullify the interference of True Magic; thanks to being an existence equivalent to it.[1]
Although gaining Avalon in the Fate Route didn't increase her parameters unlike when she became Rin's servant in Unlimited Blade Works due to still being Shirou's servant, it did greatly increase the number of times she could use Excalibur, allowing her to use it 4 times in a row. In her final fight against Gilgamesh, when Gilgamesh finally decided to go all out after seeing Saber's determination, Saber managed to momentarily offset full power Enuma Elish with Excalibur despite being so exhausted she couldn't lift her sword or walk due to her legs not being even at one tenth of their original power. Once Ea's turns reached their maximum speed, and its light started to mow down Excalibur, Saber activated Avalon, completely protecting herself from his attack. Once Gilgamesh realized what was happening, he saw death running up his spine as the raised Ea cannot stop turning once it's being fired, and he wouldn't be able to jump back in time. In that instance, Saber ran towards him while charging Excalibur once more, firing it once she was right in front of him, defeating him in the process.[104]
Others[]
- At the time of her death, Artoria still owned the Holy Lance Rhongomyniad, a Divine Construct said to be on par with Excalibur.[105] With it, she killed Vortigern and later on Mordred.[70][85] Although Artoria could switch between Excalibur and Rhongomyniad during battle when she was alive, as a Saber Class Servant, she no longer has access to this Noble Phantasm.
- Before Artoria was given Excalibur and Avalon by the Lady of the lake, her main sword was Caliburn. Since it was broken in battle, she no longer possesses it as a servant, however, Shirou is able to project it thanks to the visions he had in his dreams. Even without making a perfect copy or invoking its True Name, its power is great enough to allow Shirou to cut off Heracles' arm. After projecting it a second time, Saber and Shirou use it together to defeat Heracles by taking his five remaining lives with Caliburn, which destroyed his body seven times over with a single blow.[102]
- Artoria also formerly owned Clarent, a treasured sword that has worth equal to, if not, exceeding Caliburn. It was capable of amplifying her Authority as a king, the "king's royal aura",[67][106] by raising her physical parameters by one rank and increasing the rank of her already high Charisma skill.[106] The holy sword used to be stored away in Camelot's treasure vault, however, Mordred stole it from Artoria during her temporary rule while the latter was away.[106]
- During that event, Mordred also stole Prydwen, a wonder tool able to become both a ship and a shield, or something like that.[107]
Cuirassier[]
- Main article: Cuirassier
In the events of the Fourth Holy Grail War, 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.
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, Seibā Motādo Kyuirasshe?, Saber Motard Cuiassier). 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..[109]
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 a 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 to 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.
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".[110] 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.[111]
Gameplay[]
Fate/EXTELLA LINK - Saber Skills list | ||
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Forms and Alternate Versions[]
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 to 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.[112]
At that day, she met her (relatively trivial) fate.[112]
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.[112]
Abilities[]
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 kin. 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.[112]
Class Skills:
- Magic Resistance (A Rank): No matter what Great Magecraft it is, magecraft spells that are at the Ranks of A and below will be nullified. Even if she changes into a swimsuit, powerful Mysteries will not harm Artoria. She is a fastidious person alright.[113]
- Independent Action (A Rank): Artoria, who acquired the Independent Action Skill that the Archer Class possesses, displays a very active participation in many fields at the time of the Water Blitz. Sometimes boldly raiding the enemy headquarters, sometimes meticulously lying in wait to ambush the enemy forces, and sometimes relentlessly aiming and shooting at the backs of enemies from a hiding spot. According to an assassin (with a Calico equipment) who is wearing a red hood, those mobilizations got him – who is skilled in field operations to a degree – to say, "So by some chance that is the case, is her true nature identical to mine then?"[113]
- Territory Creation (A Rank): 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.[112][113]
Personal Skills:
- Summer Splash! (A+ Rank→ EX Rank (Upgrade)): Mana Burst (Water). The attribute of Artoria's Mana Burst is being altered because of Vivian. Although its firepower has surely decreased, its duration capacity has increased. Also, it can even increase the entire party's defensive power. It is practically a water barrier.[113]
- Protection of the Beach Houses (EX Rank): A personal Skill that restores HP in compensation for NP. While at the beach, Artoria is revered by most food stalls as the "Great King of Foods". It is probably because of her lavish food orders, the scene of her having her meals being a pleasant feeling, and the shining smile she makes after eating everything on her plate that cause those establishments to prosper, or so it has been told. Is it really? Perhaps it is. However, only mashed potatoes are a "no thank you".[112][113]
- Beach Flower (B Rank): A summer Charisma. But at the beach, it is one step behind the other Servants and the destructive power of their bodies. This fact is not even a nice thing to talk about, but Artoria herself does not particularly care.[113]
Noble Phantasm
Artoria's Noble Phantasm is Excalibur Vivian.[112] She unleashes a flurry of sword slashes on the enemy before shooting piercing beam of water by sticking Excalibur into her water gun.
Development[]
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".
Artoria Pendragon was designed by Takashi Takeuchi in Fate/stay night.
Artoria Pendragon was illustrated by Takashi Takeuchi in Fate/Grand Order, the coloring and finishing touches of Stage 4 were done by Hirokazu Koyama and Shimaudon. The coloring and finishing touches of (Swimsuit) Stage 4 were done by Hirokazu Koyama and Shimaudon, the background was done by Shimokoshi. Her scenario writer is Kinoko Nasu in Fate/Grand Order.
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.[114]
Ayako Kawasumi the voice actress for Artoria Pendragon states "I don't think it's possible for Artoria to fall in love with anyone other than Shirou" in the Weekly Famitsu of August, 7, 2018.
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.
References[]
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 1.15 1.16 1.17 1.18 1.19 1.20 1.21 1.22 1.23 1.24 1.25 1.26 1.27 1.28 1.29 1.30 1.31 1.32 1.33 1.34 1.35 1.36 1.37 1.38 1.39 1.40 1.41 1.42 1.43 1.44 1.45 1.46 1.47 1.48
[] Fate/complete material III: World Material - The Servants of the Fifth Holy Grail War: Saber, p.020-021 [T] Artoria
Class: Saber
Master: Emiya Shirou
Alignment: Lawful Good
Sex: Female
Height: 154cm
Weight: 42kg
Armament: Armour, Sword
STR: B
CON: C
AGI: C
MGI: B
LCK: B
Noble Phantasm: C
Legend
Once up on a time, there was a king in England named Arthur Pendragon. He was the legendary king who staunchly defended the land from the invading Saxons for a long period of time.
The name Arthur, written in the fashion of Romans is “Artorius”. Its feminine form is “Artoria”, which is the true name of Saber.
Artoria was born between Uther Pendragon and a Queen hailed from the rival kingdom. She grew up under the guidance of the True Magician Merlin, and became the king after pulling out the Sword of Selection. Later, she led Lacenlot, Gawain, and other famed knights to achieve innumerable deeds. They engaged the King of Saxons at the Battle of Badon Hill and brought peace to the land of Britain. Because the Scabbard of the Holy Sword stopped her from aging, Artoria continued to reign as the ideal king. It was ironic that Queen Guinevere and the serving knights grew more distant from Artoria precisely because she was too ideal. In the civil war that raged at the end of her reign, she crossed blade with her very own son, Mordred. At that instant, she pledged her service as a Heroic Spirit after death in exchange for striking a pact with the World. The one wish she hoped the Holy Grail could realise was “redo the selection of the king”. In legend, the body of King Arthur was transported to the Fairyland – Avalon, where he is healing his wounds in serenity.
Tactics
Saber’s ability is maximally unleashed while engaging in an honourable face-to-face single combat. It is a method of battle that is full of chivalric honour, and it is also one that suits Saber's sense of aesthetics. However, this does not mean she dislikes strategising. Because she is also a capable military commander, she tends to loath fabricated strategies that have no concrete basis. She fine-tunes her strategy meticulously. While on the battlefield, she further adapts her actions in response to the ever-changing dynamics of combat. Naturally, Saber despises cowardly actions, strategies or not. For this reason, in the Fourth Holy Grail War, her compatibility with the cool-headed, achieving-his-goal-at-all-cost Master Emiya Kiritsugu was the worst.
Class Abilities
Magic Resistance: A
Artoria boasts the highest rank of resistance to magic amongst the Servants. She is capable of completely neutralising grand sorceries involving magic arrays and instant contracts. Even modern magi of the highest level cannot wound her directly with sorcery. Artoria is able to resist an action force onto her powered by one stroke of the Command Spell. Such is the extraordinary rank of Artoria’s Magic Resistance, sufficient to shake the very foundation of the Servant System. If the opponent is someone who attacks with sorcery, Artoria will charge without fear and determine the outcome of the battle with a slash.
Also, as her “Pendragon” name shows, Artoria is the holder of the Element of the Red Dragon, charged with the task of protecting the kingdom. She carries the very magical power of the Dragon. This humongous magical power is also the source of Artoria’s Magic Resistance. Due to the characteristics of Dragon, Artoria has much trouble with existences such as Siegfried, who is associated with tales of “Dragon extermination”. If she is targeted by “Dragon-slaying Sorceries”, it is possible that Magic Resistance will not function to its fullest extent.
In the story, Artoria retained her Magic Resistance of A while having Emiya Shirou and Rin as Masters, regardless the two’s differences in power and characteristics. On the other hand, while having Matou Sakura as her Master, her Magic Resistance decreased to B as a result of Blackening.
Riding: B
Since “knights” are soldiers who are proficient in mounted warfare, Saber’s rank in Riding is very high. Chariots can be ridden the same way. Motorcycles and automobiles are treated as “modern mounts”, thus a high rank in Riding is also applicable. It is unclear if Riding is applicable to aircrafts. Saber’s Riding was elevated to A while having Emiya Kiritsugu as Master. However, Artoria can ultimately only control normal mounts. She cannot control Pegasi, Griffons, Dragons, and other Magical Beast, Divine Beast Ranked Phantasmal Species. This is due to her Class not being Rider, as well as the fact that she was a King in the Age of Man, thus did not have the fortune of having “Legends of Riding Phantasmal Species”.
Artoria rode a motorcycle in the Fourth Holy Grail War, but did not have the opportunity to demonstrate her Riding ability in the Fifth Holy Grail War. Provided with the appropriate mount, the battles might have developed differently.
Personal Skills
Instinct: A
Instinct is the ability to instantly identify “the best personal course of action” during combat. Because this skill allows for the prediction of trajectory, it is possible to avoid attacks from firearms. At rank A, it is essentially in the realm of predicting the future. Through this ability, it is possible to negate the penalties inflicted by visual and auditory interference to a certain extend.
Being able to discern Cú Chulainn’s ultimate technique certainly reflects her skills, but having exceptional Instinct also helped her immensely.
Mana Burst: A
The ability to reinforce one’s weapon and body through the infusion of magical energy. By reinforcing the ability of the body to a great extend using magical energy, the physically fragile Artoria was able to fight head on with monsters such as Berserker. At rank A, even a stick can become a weapon of great power.
Executing large-scale body reinforcement through Mana Burst is only possible with Artoria’s immense magical power.
(Translator's Note: This is basically analogous to Strengthening/Reinforcement Sorcery.)
Charisma: B
Artoria possessed high Charisma, and reigned as the king of England. The morale of military forces she commands is extremely high. However, this strong influence is still insufficient to build a vast empire spanning the world, so it remains at rank B (enough to rule a country).
Caption: Artoria, the protector of the British Isles. Even with her Charisma, she could not avert the fall of her kingdom.
Noble Phantasms
Invisible Air
Rank: C
Type: Anti-Unit
Range: 1~2
Maximum Targets: 1 Object
A barrier that renders the blade hidden by entangling it with layers of wind, and altering the light refraction rate. It is closer to a sorcery than a Noble Phantasm. By using this barrier, Artoria can attack without the opponent recognising the sword’s reach and trajectory. Since concealing one’s Noble Phantasm also conceals one’s true identity, Invisible Air was highly effective at the early stages of the Holy Grail War. It also has other advantages such as increasing attack power and accuracy. Entangling the sword with wind and using the wind as the blade enhances the attack power, while having an “invisible weapon” provides an advantage in accuracy. (Translator’s Note: It is probably more “decreasing opponent's evasion” in RPG terms.) Since the advantage of Invisible Air lies in “invisibility”, the accuracy increase will not occur while engaging opponents who possess Eye of the Mind or do not depend on vision.
In the Fourth Holy Grail War, Artoria unleashed the condensed air and used it as a long-range weapon that mauls down groups of enemies --- “The Iron Mallet of the Wind King”.
Excalibur
Rank: A++
Type: Anti-Fortress
Range: 1~99
Maximum Targets: 1000 Persons
The greatest and most powerful Noble Phantasm of Artoria (Translator’s Note: Not Avalon?). It is the strongest and most majestic holy sword that symbolises King Arthur. The pinnacle of holy swords. Excalibur was not forged by mankind, but crystallised within the Earth, using the wishes of mankind as the basis. It is one of the ultimate God-forged weapons, a Last Phantasm. Originally cared for by the Faeries of the Planet, it was passed into the hands of King Arthur through the Lady of the Lake.
Excalibur converts the mana of the wielder into light, and as the sword is swung, the light is released from the tip of the blade like a laser beam and destroys everything in its path. Of course, the mana consumption is extreme, thus it cannot be fired consecutively. In the Fourth Holy Grail War, the beastly giant sea monster summoned by Caster was completely incinerated by this Noble Phantasm. Excalibur is classified as an ‘Anti-Fortress Noble Phantasm” due to its magnitude and destructive power.
Avalon
Rank: EX
Type: Bound Field
Maximum Targets: 1 Person
The sheath of Excalibur, a Noble Phantasm with its origin in the Fairyland Avalon where King Arthur rests. The wielder will heal from any wound, and the aging process will cease. Unleashing the true name of Avalon will deploy a Bound Field that provides the greatest defence. A Noble Phantasm that annuls the interference of True Magic; its existence is equivalent to True Magic.
In legend, losing this sheath casted an ominous shadow onto the life of King Arthur, eventually cascading to the collapse of the kingdom. In modern times, the Einzberns excavated Avalon at Cornwall and passed it into the hands of Emiya Kiritsugu. Afterward, it was planted into the body of Emiya Shirou to save his life, eventually becoming the link that led to his bond with Artoria. In Fate Route, Artoria learned that Shirou was her “sheath”, which led the duo to emerge victorious in the Holy Grail War.対魔力: A
また、アーサー王の父ウーサーは、マーリンの計らいで竜の因子を持った後継者を造り、アルトリアは人であり ながら竜そのものの魔力を帯びるに至った。 - ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.17 2.18 2.19 2.20 2.21 2.22 2.23 2.24 2.25 2.26 2.27 2.28 2.29 2.30
[] Fate/Zero material - Servant Status: Saber, p.012-013 Class: Saber
Master: Kiritsugu Emiya
True Name: King Arthur
Gender: Female
Height/Weight: 154cm/42kg
Alignment: Lawful Good
Strength: B
Endurance: A
Agility: A
Mana: A
Luck: D
Noble Phantasm: A++
Class Skills
■ Magic Resistance: A
Cancels all magecraft below A. In reality, no magi of today can harm Saber.
■ Riding: A
Able to freely manipulate all beasts and vehicles, save mythical beasts and divine beasts.
Personal Skills
■ Instinct: A
The ability to always "feel" the best course for oneself during combat. This heightened sixth sense is now close to precognition. It reduces by half any obstacles to vision and hearing.
■ Mana Burst: A
This transfers magical energy into one's weapon and body, and by releasing the magical energy instantaneously, it increases one's ability.
■ Charisma: B
Natural ability to command an army. Charisma is a rare talent, and B-rank is enough to lead a country.
Noble Phantasm
■ Invisible Air: Bounded Field of the Wind King
Rank: C
Type: Anti-Unit Noble Phantasm
Range: 1~2
Maximum number of targets: 1 person
An invisible sword. Simple, but displays tremendous effect in hand-to-hand combat. A Noble Phantasm guarded by strong magecraft, it does not mean the sword itself is transparent.
■ Excalibur: Sword of Promised Victory
Rank: A++
Type: Anti-Unit Noble Phantasm
Range: 2~3
Maximum number of targets: 1 person
A sword of light. A weapon not made by man, but a god-made equipment forged by stars. A Noble Phantasm at the top of the category of holy swords. A holy sword which transforms the owner's magical energy into "light", increasing its momentum due to the convergence and acceleration, and enable the use of magecraft of divine levels.
■ Avalon: The Everdistant Utopia
Rank: EX
Type: Barrier Noble Phantasm
Defense target: 1 person
The power of the sheath of Excalibur. Expanding the sheath, it shuts out all physical interference by placing the owner in the land of the fairies.CLASS セイバー
マスター:衛宮切嗣
真名:アルトリア
性別:女性
身長・体重:154cm/42kg
属性:秩序・善
筋力:B
耐力:A
敏捷:A
魔力:A
幸運:D
宝具:A++
クラス別能力:
■ 対魔力:A
A以下の魔術は全てキャンセル。
事実上、現代の魔術師ではセイバーに傷をつけられない。
■ 騎乗:A
幻獣・神獣ランクを除くすべての獣、乗リ物を自在に操れる。
保有スキル:
■ 直感:A
戦闘時、つねに自身にとって最適な展開を”感じ取る”能力。
研ぎ澄まされた第六感はもはや未来予知に近い。
視覚・聴覚に干渉する妨害を半減させる。
■ 魔力放出:A
武器、ないし自身の肉体に魔力を帯びさせ、瞬間的に放出する事によって能力を向上させる。
■ カリスマ:B
軍団を指揮する天性の才能。
カリスマは稀有な才能で、一国の王としてはBランクで十分と言える。
宝具:
■ 風王結界
ランク:C
種別:対人宝具
レンジ:1~2
最大捕捉:1人
不可視の剣。
シンプルではあるが白兵戦において絶大を効果を発揮する。
強力を魔にに術よって守護された宝具で、剣自体が透明という訳ではない。
■ 約束された勝利の剣
ランク:A++
種別:対人宝具
レンジ:2~3
最大捕捉:1人
光の剣。人造による武器ではなく、星に鍛えられた神造兵装。
聖剣というカテゴリーの中では頂点に立つ宝具である。
所有者の魔力を“光”に変換し、収束・加速させる事により運動量を增大させ、神霊レベルの魔術行使を可能とする聖剣。
■ 全て遠き理想郷
ランク:A++
種別:結界宝具
防御対象:1人
エクスカリバーの鞘の能力。
鞘を展開し、自身を妖精郷に置くことであらゆる物理干渉をシャットアウトする。 - ↑ 3.00 3.01 3.02 3.03 3.04 3.05 3.06 3.07 3.08 3.09 3.10 3.11 3.12 3.13 3.14 3.15 3.16 3.17 3.18 3.19 3.20 3.21 3.22 3.23 3.24 3.25 3.26 3.27 3.28 3.29 3.30 3.31 3.32 3.33 3.34 3.35 3.36 3.37
[[Saber ]] Fate/Grand Order material I - CHARACTER profile: Altria Pendragon, p.022-027 [T] Altria Pendragon
Class: Saber True Name: Altria Pendragon
Gender: Female Source: Arthurian Legends Region: England
Alignment: Lawful Good Height: 154cm Weight: 42kg
Strength: B Endurance: B Agility: B Mana: A Luck: A+ Noble Phantasm: A++
Scenerio Writer: Nasu Kinoko/Character Designer: Takeuchi Takashi/Voice Actor: Ayako Kawasumi
Major Appearance Works: Fate/stay night, Fate/Zero, Others
Class Skills
Magic Resistance: A
Riding: B
Personal Skills
Charisma: B
A natural talent to command an army corps.
In group battles, the abilities of one's own army are raised.
Charisma is a rare talent, and B-rank is enough to lead a country.
Mana Burst: A
This transfers magical energy into one's weapon and body, and by releasing the magical energy instantaneously, it increases one's ability.
Instinct: A
The ability to always "feel" the best course for oneself during combat.
This heightened sixth sense is now close to precognition. It reduces by half any obstacles to vision and hearing.
Noble Phantasm
Excalibur: Sword of Promised Victory
Rank: A++ Type: Anti-Fortress Noble Phantasm Range: 1~99 Maximum Target: 1000 People
Excalibur.
Sword of light. Not a man-made weapon, but a Divine Construct forged by the planet. A Noble Phantasm that stand at the top of all holy swords.
A Noble Phantasm at the top of the category of holy swords.
A holy sword which transforms the owner's magical energy into "light", increasing its momentum due to the convergence and acceleration, and enable the use of magecraft of divine levels.
Character
○Personality
She stopped aging at 15 years old, back when she pulled Caliburn from the stone;
Back when she was summoned at the 5th War of Fuyuki, she would usually sleep together with the lion plush toy that Shirou gave her;
○Motivation · Attitude to the Master
Properly speaking, she is an Heroic Spirit that should not be able to become a Servant, instead manifesting as a special kind of Guardian
○Affiliated Characters
Gilgamesh
Knights of the Round Table relation
Finds it somewhat difficult to deal with Tristan, whom she never knows if he's awake or asleep.
Comment from Illustrator
アルトリア・ペンドラゴン
真名:セイバー 真名:アルトリア・ペンドラゴン
性別:女性 出典:アーサー王伝説 地域:イギリス
属性:秩序・善 身長:154cm 体重:42kg
筋力:B 耐力:B 敏捷:B 魔力:A 幸運:A+ 宝具:A++
設定作成:奈須きのこ/キャラクターデザイナー:武内崇/CV:川澄綾子
主な登場作品:Fate/stay night、Fate/Zero、ほか
クラス別能力
対魔力:A
騎乗:B
保有スキル
カリスマ:B
軍団を指揮する天性の才能。
団体戦闘において、自軍の能力を向上させる。
カリスマは稀有な才能で、一国の王としてはBランクで十分と言える。
魔力放出:A
武器、ないし自身の肉体に魔力を帯びさせ、瞬間的に放出する事によって能力を向上させる。
直感:A
戦闘時、つねに自身にとって最適な展開を”感じ取る”能力。
研ぎ澄まされた第六感はもはや未来予知に近い。視覚・聴覚に干渉する妨害を半減させる。
宝具
約束された勝利の剣
ランク:A++ 種別:対城宝具 レンジ:1〜99 最大捕捉:1000人
エクスカリバー。
光の剣。人造による武器ではなく、星に鍛えられた神造兵装。
聖剣というカテゴリーの中では頂点に立つ宝具。
所有者の魔力を“光”に変換し、収束・加速させる事により運動量を增大させ、神霊レベルの魔術行使を可能とする聖剣。
人物
○性格
○動機・マスターへの態度
○台詞例
○史上の実像・人物像
○ゲーム内における役どころ
○過去作品における役どころ
○因縁キャラ
ギルガメッシュ
円卓の騎士関連
Comment from Illustrator
- ↑ 4.00 4.01 4.02 4.03 4.04 4.05 4.06 4.07 4.08 4.09 4.10 4.11 4.12 4.13 4.14 4.15 4.16 4.17 4.18 4.19 4.20 4.21 4.22 4.23 4.24
[] Fate/Grand Order - Artoria Pendragon (Saber) Profile Artoria Pendragon - Saber
Illustrator and Voice actor
Illustrator: Takeuchi Takashi
Voice Actor: Ayako Kawasumi
Parameters
Strength: B
Endurance: B
Agility: B
Mana: A
Luck: A+
Noble Phantasm: A++
Personal Skills
Charisma: B
Mana Burst: A
Instinct: A
Class Skills
Magic Resistance: A
Riding: B
Noble Phantasm
Excalibur: Sword of Promised Victory
Rank: A++
Type: Anti-Fortress Noble Phantasm
Profile
A legendary king of Britain. Also called King of Knights.
Altria is a childhood name and, upon being raised as a king, she began to be called King Arthur.
In a age when chivalry had lost its beauty, with a holy sword in her hands, she brought about a brief moment of peace and final prosperity to Britain.
A man in historical fact, but it seems that in this world she was a cross-dressing beauty.
Level 1 Bond
Height/Weight: 154cm・42kg
Source: Arthurian Legends
Region: England
Alignment: Lawful Good Gender: Female
Due to conducting herself as a man, she is unfamiliar with the favor from the opposite sex.
Level 2 Bond
One of the ideal kings that approves a virtuous life, a virtuous livelihood for the people.
A character with no faults that aided the weak and broke the strong.
Calm, cool and collected; an honor student who is always serious.
...that being said, although rarely mentioned, there is something of a sore loser in her: she does not go easy on any kind of competition and gets greatly vexed upon losing.
Level 3 Bond
- Charisma: B
A natural talent to command an army corps.
In group battles, the abilities of one's own army are raised.
Honest and upright, a king that sticked to with selfless devotion.
The knights fell on their knees before such righteousness and the people found the hope to bear poverty.
Her royal principles was not for the sake of a handful of warriors, but to govern the many, powerless people.
Level 4 Bond
"Sword of Promised Victory"
Rank: A++ Type: Anti-Fortress Noble Phantasm
Excalibur.
Not a man-made weapon, but a Divine Construct forged by the planet. A Noble Phantasm that stand at the top of all holy swords.
It is not the sword, but its scabbard that truly possesses an outstanding ability. However, that scabbard has been forever lost.
Level 5 Bond
The conclusion of Arthurian Legends marks the end of the age of knights.
Although King Arthur managed to repel the aliens*, she was not able to avoid the ruin of the land of Britain itself.
The rebellion of Mordred - one of the Knights of the Round Table - caused the country to be split into two, and the castle of knights, Camelot, lost its light.
Interlude: Reason to Fight
At Camlann Hill, King Arthur defeated Mordred, but also sustained a wound herself and fell on her knees.
Just before drawing her last breath, she gave custody of the holy sword to her last loyal retainer, Bedivere, and departed from this world.
It has been said that, after death, she was carried to Avalon - the utopia, paradise that does not exists anywhere in this world - and will save Britain again in the far away future.
*as in people of different race/countryアルトリア・ペンドラゴン - セイバー
イラストレーター・声優
ILLUST:武内 崇
CV:川澄 綾子
パラメータ
筋力:B
耐力:B
敏捷:B
魔力:A
幸運:A+
宝具:A++
保有スキル
カリスマ:B
魔力放出:A
直感:A
クラス別能力
対魔力:A
騎乗:B
宝具
約束された勝利の剣
ランク:A++
種別:対城宝具
キャラクター詳細
ブリテンの伝説の王。騎士王とも。
アルトリアは幼名であり、王として起ってからはアーサー王と呼ばれる事になった。
騎士道が花と散った時代、聖剣を手にブリテンにつかの間の平和と最後の繁栄をもたらした。
史実では男性だが、この世界では男装の麗人であったようだ。
アンロック条件:絆レベルを1にすると開放
身長/体重:154cm・42kg
出典:アーサー王伝説
地域:イギリス
属性:秩序・善 性別:女性
男性として振舞ってきたため異性からの好意には疎い。
アンロック条件:絆レベルを2にすると開放
万人にとって善き生活、善き人生を善しとする理想の王のひとり。
弱きを助け強きをくじく非の打ち所のない人物。
冷静沈着、どんな時でも真面目な優等生。
……なのだが、口には出さないものの負けず嫌いなところがあり、およそすべての勝負事には手を抜かず、負けるとたいへん悔しがる。
アンロック条件:絆レベルを3にすると開放
カリスマ:B
軍団を指揮する天性の才能。
団体戦闘において、自軍の能力を向上させる。
清廉潔白、滅私奉公を貫いた王。
その正しさに騎士たちはかしずき、民たちは貧窮に耐える希望を見た。
彼女の王道はひとにぎりの強者たちではなく、より多くの、力持たぬものたちを治めるためのものだった。
アンロック条件:絆レベルを4にすると開放
『約束された勝利の剣』
ランク:A++ 種別:対城宝具
エクスカリバー。
人造による武器ではなく、星に鍛えられた神造兵装。
聖剣の中では頂点に立つ宝具。
真に優れた能力は剣ではなく鞘にあるのだが、その鞘は永遠に失われてしまったとされる。
アンロック条件:絆レベルを5にすると開放
アーサー王伝説の最後は騎士の時代の終わりである。
アーサー王は異民族たちを撃退したものの、ブリテンの土地は滅びは回避できなかった。
円卓の騎士のひとり・モードレッドの叛逆によって国は二つに割れ、騎士たちの城キャメロットはその光を失った。
アンロック条件:「戦う理由」 をクリアすると解放
アーサー王はカムランの丘でモードレッドを討ち滅ぼすも、自らも傷を負い膝を折った。
息を引き取る直前、最後の腹心ベディヴィエールに聖剣を預け、現世から退場する。
死後は理想郷───この世界のどこにもない楽園・アヴァロンに運ばれ、遠い未来、再びブリテンを救うとされている。 - Charisma: B
- ↑ 5.00 5.01 5.02 5.03 5.04 5.05 5.06 5.07 5.08 5.09 5.10 5.11 5.12 5.13 5.14 5.15 5.16 5.17 5.18 5.19 5.20
[] Fate/EXTELLA material - SERVANT Parameter and Skills: Artoria Pendragon (Saber), p.006 [T] SERVANT SABER
Identity: Artoria Pendragon Gender: Female
Alignment:Lawful Good Height: 154cm Weight: 42kg
Strength: B Endurance: B Agility: B Mana: A Luck: A+ Noble Phantasm: A++
Class Skills
■ Magic Resistance: A
■ Riding: B
Personal skills
■ Charisma: B
■ Instinct: A
■ Mana Burst: A
Noble Phantasm
Excalibur: The Sword of Promised Victory
Rank: A++ Type: Anti-Castle Range: 1~99 Maximum number of targets: 1000 peopleセイバー
真名:アルトリア・ペンドラゴン 性別:女性
属性:秩序・善 身長:154cm 体重:42kg
筋力:B 耐力:B 敏捷:B 魔力:A 幸運:A+ 宝具:A++
クラス別筋力
■ 対魔力:A
■ 騎乗:B
保有スキル
■ カリスマ:B
軍団を指揮する天性の才能。
団体戦闘において、自軍の能力を向上させる。
カリスマは稀有な才能で、一国の王としてはBランクで十分と言える。
■ 直感:A
戦闘時、つねに自身にとって最適な展開を”感じ取る”能力。
研ぎ澄まされた第六感はもはや未来予知に近い。視覚・聴覚に干渉する妨害を半減させる。
■ 魔力放出:A
武器、ないし自身の肉体に魔力を帯びさせ、瞬間的に放出する事によって能力を向上させる。
宝具
■ 約束された勝利の剣
ランク:A++ 種別:対城宝具 レンジ:1〜99 最大捕捉:1000人
エクスカリバー。
光の剣。人造による武器ではなく、星に鍛えられた神造兵装。聖剣というカテゴリーの中では頂点に立つ宝具。
所有者の魔力を“光”に