Saber (Fate/stay night)

Saber is a fictional character from the Japanese visual novel and anime series "Fate/stay night" by TYPE-MOON.

She is Shirō's servant, an agile and powerful warrior. Saber is loyal, independent, and reserved; she appears cold, but is actually suppressing her emotions to focus on her goals. Her class is considered the "Most Outstanding", with excellent ratings in all categories. Because her master cannot effectively provide her with Mana, she minimizes her activity to preserve what she has. Saber is bewildered by Shirō's "protective" tendencies, and believes his erratic and reckless behavior jeopardize her chances of winning the Holy Grail War.

The Seiyū for Saber is Ayako Kawasumi, and her English voice is provided by Kate Higgins. [cite web| url=http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=5394| month=December | year=2006| title=fate/stay night (TV)| publisher=Anime News Network| accessdate=2006-12-01]

ervant status

Abilities

*Magic Resistance:Rank: A:Cancels any magic below A-rank. In practice, no magi today are able to hurt Saber.
*Riding:Rank: B (A):Ability to ride things. She can ride most vehicles with above average skill, but she cannot ride those of demonic beast or holy beast rank. Exceptionally during the events told in Fate/zero, her skill was high enough to be capable of piloting smaller airplanes and motorcycles.
*Instinct:Rank: 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:Rank: A:This transfers magical energy into one's weapon and body, and by releasing the magical energy instantaneously, it increases one's ability. Simply said, it is like magical energy jet propulsion. Saber uses this magical energy for her sword techniques, guarding, and movement. Because of her great magical energy capacity, she can fight Berserker even though she is a girl of a small size. A normal weapon without strong divine protection will not be able to endure her magical energy-fueled attack and will be destroyed with one blow.
*Charisma:Rank: B: Natural talent to command an army. It increases the ability of one's army during mass combat. Charisma is a rare talent, and B-rank is enough to lead a country.

Noble Phantasms

*nihongo|Invisible Air|インビジブル・エア|Inbijiburu Ea: nihongo|"Barrier of the Wind King"|風王結界|Fuu-ō no kekkai :Rank: C:Type: Support.:A sorcery, rather than a Noble Phantasm, which compresses and gyrates the air around Saber's blade. The circulation of wind distorts the refraction of light, inducing an illusion of ethereality. This property makes it difficult for opponents to parry lunges and thrusts from Saber, for they cannot discern the length or width of the blade by sight. Furthermore, the pressurized air can be offensively expelled once in the form of an intense gust. Although quite useful in combat, the primary purpose of Invisible Air is to conceal Saber's identity, for her true Noble Phantasm is very famous and easily recognizable.
*nihongo|Excalibur|エクスカリバー|Ekusukaribā: nihongo|"Sword of Promised Victory"|約束された勝利の剣|Yakusoku sareta shōri no ken :Rank: A++:Type: Anti-Fortress.:A celestial sword, constructed by the world from the collective wishes of mankind and fueled through a conversion of Mana into photoelectric energy. The area of expulsion appears as a colossal beacon of incandescence, though the vast majority of light is concentrated at the vertex of initial release. Kinetic entropy is intensified by the acceleration and convergence of momentum at this vertex, with only trace calidity in the dissipating tail. The concentric area of impact is broad enough to incinerate an entire military cohort. This Noble Phantasm is named after the legendary sword of King Arthur, bestowed onto the king by Viviane.

*nihongo|Avalon|アヴァロン|Avaron: nihongo|"The Everdistant Utopia"|全て遠き理想郷|Subete tōki risōkyō :Rank: EX:Type: Support.:The hallowed scabbard of Excalibur, originally stolen from King Arthur shortly before the Battle of Camlann. Mere possession of this Noble Phantasm bequeaths limited immortality through regenerative stimulation, as well as preventing physical deterioration due to aging. When initiated as a Noble Phantasm, Avalon dissipates into countless particles and immerses its user into a tranquil domain, virtually a "portable fortress". While bounded in this manner, an individual is shielded from all destructive interference in the physical realm, from parallel worlds, and dimensional planes. Avalon transcends even the most advanced sorceries, and is comparable only to "true" magic. The name Avalon alludes to a legendary isle in English folklore, best known as the final resting place of King Arthur.

True identity

Her full name is Arturia Pendragon, and her creation as a character was inspired by the legends of King Arthur. Arturia is the daughter of British King Uther Pendragon and Igraine, a former Duchess of Cornwall. At her nativity, Uther realizes his subjects will never accept a female as a legitimate ruler, and decides to not publicly announce Arturia's birth or gender. She is entrusted by Merlin to a loyal knight, Sir Ector, who raises her as a surrogate son. When Arturia is fifteen, King Uther dies, and with no known eligible heir to the throne, Britain enters a period of turmoil following the growing threat of invasion by the Saxons. Merlin soon approaches her, explaining that the British people will recognize her as a destined ruler if she withdraws Caliburn, a ceremonial sword embedded in a large slab of stone. However, pulling this sword is symbolic of accepting the hardships of a monarch, and Arturia will be responsible for preserving the welfare of her people. Without hesitation, and despite her gender, she draws Caliburn and shoulders Britain's mantle of leadership.

Arturia rules Britain from her stronghold in Camelot, and earns the reputation of a just, yet distant king. Under the guidance of Merlin and with the aid of her Knights of the Round Table, she guides Britain into an era of prosperity and tranquillity. Caliburn is destroyed, but Arturia soon acquires her holy sword, Excalibur, and Avalon, Excalibur's blessed sheath, from Vivian. While Avalon is in her possession, Arturia never ages and is immortal in battle.

Throughout her reign, Arturia is plagued by feelings of guilt and inferiority; she sacrifices her emotions for the good of Britain, yet many of her subjects become critical of her lack of humanity. Excalibur's scabbard is stolen while she repels an assault along her country's borders; when Arturia returns inland, she discovers Britain is being torn asunder by civil unrest. Despite her valiant efforts to placate the dissent, Arturia is mortally wounded by a traitorous knight, a homunculus born of her blood named Mordred, during the Battle of Camlann. Her dying body is escorted to a holy isle by Morgan le Fay and Sir Bedivere. Arturia orders a grieving Bedivere to dispose of Excalibur by throwing it back to Vivian; in her absence, she reflects on her personal failures, regretting her life as king. Before her last breath, she appeals to the world; in exchange for services as a Heroic Spirit, she asks to be given an opportunity to relive her life, where someone more suitable and effective would lead Britain in her stead.

Role

Saber destroyed the Holy Grail in the fourth Holy Grail War because Kiritsugu Emiya used a command seal (Reiju) in order to force her to act against her will. However, she only managed to destroy the Grail's physical form. Her only wish is to redo her life so that a better person would take her place as king of her country. In the "Fate" scenario, Shirō convinces Saber that she should accept her life for what it is rather than wishing to change her life. Saber only survives in "Unlimited Blade Works"' good ending. In "Fate" and "Unlimited Blade Works", she used Excalibur to destroy the Holy Grail and its contents once and for all.

In the "Heaven's Feel" scenario, Saber was consumed by darkness by Angra Mainyu and turned into Sakura's Servant, Dark Saber. Dark Saber is later defeated and killed by Shirō.

In "Fate/hollow ataraxia", Saber continues to protect Shirō, though it seems their relationship has turned more towards Saber having the major control over the relationship with Shirō. She kills Archer when he attacks Shirō in one loop. In another loop, Saber is killed by Bazett's Fragrach when she tried to use Excalibur on Bazett. In the final loop of Fate/Hollow Ataraxia, Saber aided Shirō/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 other Heroic Spirits.

References