Rider (Fate/stay night)

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

She is the Servant of Shinji, first seen scouting around Homurabara Gakuen. Rider is silent, sultry, and vigilant, never hesitating to shield her Master from harm. With Shinji incapable of lending any Mana to her, she is forced to seek alternative means to augment her abilities. To compensate for this weakened state, Rider employs covert battle tactics and takes full advantage of any territory around her. Her weapon of choice is a pair of long iron nails fastened to opposite ends a single chain, which she effectively thrusts from distances.

The voice acting for Rider is done by Yu Asakawa in Japanese and Karen Strassman in English. [cite web| url=http://www.animenewsnetwork.com/encyclopedia/anime.php?id=5394| title=fate/stay night (TV)| publisher=Anime News Network]

ervant Status

Abilities

*Magic Resistance :Rank: B :The ability to cancel or diminish the effects of sorcery used against oneself. At this rank, spells on the level of those consisting of three or less lines will be cancelled, and even greater incantations will suffer penalties. Servants of the Rider class don’t normally have this skill.

*Riding :Rank: A+ :The ability to ride beasts and vehicles. At this rank, she is capable of handling any form of mount be it an animal or an object, even creatures on the level of Divine Beasts. The only thing beyond her skills are those belonging to the race of dragons.

*Mystic Eyes :Rank: A+ :An ability innate to a creature’s being, special eyes with some manner of power to affect the outside world. Rider’s eyes, Cybele, carry with them the power of petrification. Ranked as Jewel among the Noble Colors, they are capable of turning anyone in her range of vision to stone regardless of her own will. It is not necessary for the target to even look at her, and she is incapable of shutting off her power. A high enough Mana stat is necessary to defend against them. At this rank, anyone below B rank will be instantly petrified, and even those who might resist it will be subject to reduced stats by one rank.

*Independent Action :Rank: C :The capacity of Servants to subsist without a Master. At this rank, she is capable of existing for one day without an established contract.

*Divinity :Rank: E- :The level of divinity present in a creature’s blood. Being categorized as a monster, Rider has lost nearly all her divine essence.

*Monstrous Strength :Rank: B :An ability possessed by demons and mystic beast, boost up the Strength by one rank for a time-limit that depends of one's ranking in this skill. Rider has an special condition in which the longer she uses this ability the closer her appearance will become to the legendary monster Gorgon.

Noble Phantasms

*nihongo|Blood Fort Andromeda|ブラッドフォート・アンドロメダ|Buraddo Fotto Andoromeda: nihongo|"Outer-Seal. Temple of Blood"|他者封印・鮮血神殿|Tosha fūin, senketsu shinden:Rank: B :Type: Anti-Fort. :By using her blood as a material component, Rider is able to create a crimson dome-shaped barricade around her foes. Victims trapped within this enclosure are dissolved into a slurry of blood and organic ooze, which is later absorbed by Rider as Mana. Although such a Noble Phantasm is effective at cutting off escape routes for fleeing enemies, its primary function is the accumulation of Mana. Use of this Noble Phantasm damages the Mana circulation of an area, limiting its usage in a single area. Andromeda is the name of a princess who married Perseus, a son of Zeus and the slayer of Medusa.

*nihongo|Breaker Gorgon|ブレーカー・ゴルゴーン|Burēkā Gorugōn: nihongo|"Self-Seal. Temple of Darkness"|自己封印・暗黒神殿|Jigo fūin, ankoku shinden:Rank: C- :Type: Support. :The visor Rider wears over her Mystic Eyes is a Noble Phantasm, designed to allow management of the power emitted from her gaze. The visor functions by sealing the user's eyes within a self-contained world -- by varying this function, she has the power to trap a target within a dreamworld of her choosing. Whether or not Rider is capable of seeing through this visor, or whether she's completely blinded, never seems to be an issue. This Noble Phantasm honors the Gorgon sisters, three sadistic monsters from Greek mythology.

*nihongo|Bellerophon|ベルレフォーン|Berurefōn: nihongo|"Bridle of Chivalry"|騎英の手綱|Kiei no tazuna:Rank: A+ :Type: Anti-Fort. :A golden harness and saddle, effective only when fastened around Rider's mount, the mythical winged horse Pegasus. When used in conjunction with "Bellerophon", all of Pegasus attributes are increased by one rank. The buffets from Pegasus' wings are capable of generating massive shock waves, which raze infrastructure and lacerate the bodies of living beings. The conjuring of a legendary beast is considered to rival the greatest of Noble Phantasms, and is done independently of "Bellerophon". The name of this Noble Phantasm is a reference to Bellerophon, a young prince who tamed a Pegasus and killed the Chimera.

True Identity

Rider's real name is Medusa, the Gorgon from Greek mythology. Medusa, along with her sisters, Stheno and Euryale, were born from the wishes of mankind for ideal goddesses, contrasting the flawed gods of Olympus. All three Gorgons were blessed with beauty, but unlike her sisters, Medusa was mortal, and fated to grow older and taller over time. Medusa was also cursed with Mystic Eyes, which transmute all living flesh under her gaze into stone, requiring her to wear a blindfold. Because of these differences, she was bullied by her older sisters. At one point, Medusa was given Pegasus as a gift from Poseidon.

Jealous of the sisters' allure, Athena goaded the Gorgon's worshippers into attacking them, forcing the sisters to take refuge on the Shapeless Isle. This disgrace left Medusa bitter and spiteful of humans, her resent intensifying as she killed invading men who lusted after her sisters. Over the years, Medusa became eager to slaughter and ingest humans, which spread infamy about her as an icon of terror. These fears, like the desires that gave birth to the Gorgons, distorted Medusa's appearance and incarnated her into the atrocious Gorgon of legend. Despite their teasing, Stheno and Euryale deeply loved their sister, and upon realizing they were responsible for her savagery, allowed Medusa to devour them. Eventually, the demigod Perseus, equipped with five Noble Phantasms, proved capable enough to decapitate Medusa, ending her tortured and dismal life. As she died, Medusa realized that however poorly Stheno and Euryale treated her, she had treasured the time she spent with them, and would later consider those experiences as her fondest memories. The Fate/stay Night universe also removes any references that the Gorgon sisters' hair were made out of living snakes, and thus Medusa and her sisters are depicted to have very long hair, instead of snake hair.

Role

Rider's initial Master was Sakura Matō; however, she became the Servant of Shinji when Sakura, pressured by Shinji, yielded her Master's right to him. Rider holds no love for Shinji, seeing him as vile and predatory, but obeys his commands as a dutiful Servant. Because of their similar backgrounds, she is empathetic of Sakura, and seeks to protect her whenever possible. Like many of the Servants who participated in the 5th Holy Grail War, Rider has no motivation for seeking the Holy Grail.

Although regarded as one of the more powerful Servants of the 5th Holy Grail War, Rider is eliminated in almost every scenario. She is obliterated by Saber's Excalibur in "Fate", and killed early on in "Unlimited Blade Works" by Caster's master, Sōichirō Kuzuki. However, during "Heaven's Feel", Rider is liberated from her indenture to Shinji, and assists Shirō Emiya in his battle against Dark Saber and Angra Mainyu.

During "Fate/hollow ataraxia", Rider is often found in Shirō's home, always engaging in her passion for reading. She aids the other Servants in holding back the invasion of Shadow Wolf Beasts during the Fuyuki eclipse.

In "Eclipse", the bonus episode of Ataraxia, Rider and Sakura seem to work together to seduce Shirō and engage in a threesome with him. Actually this is all Rider's doing, trying to get Shirou to pursue Sakura more aggressively. Yet in the middle Shirou realizes the truth and reverses her spell on her, in the end revealing to viewers that Rider herself has deep feelings for Shirou. Sakura appearing in this episode is only a conjecture by Rider's spell, a representation of Rider's true intentions of her actions.

References