| Saber | |
|---|---|
| Fate/stay night character | |
| First appearance | Fate/stay night |
| Voiced by | Ayako Kawasumi (Japanese) Kate Higgins (English) |
| Profile | |
| Notable relatives | Uther Pendragon (deceased) |
| Abilities | Magic Resistance, Riding, Instinct, Mana Burst, Charisma |
Saber (セイバー Seibā) is a fictional character from the Japanese visual novel and anime series Fate/stay night by TYPE-MOON.
She is Shirō Emiya'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.
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Her full name is Arturia Pendragon, her creation as a character is 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. As a result, Arturia is raised and treated as a male by everyone around her since infancy. 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.
Saber is a strong-willed young woman who always speaks resolutely. She is courageous, determined, and set on winning the Holy Grail. Throughout the story, Saber insists that she is a warrior first and that her gender is of little importance to her. Her stubborn personality is evident when she frequently explains her purpose to her Master, despite his objections: achieving the Holy Grail through any means. She is an exceptionally powerful fighter and is often downright merciless towards her opponents. Interestingly enough, she appears to become very uncomfortable whenever she is treated as a girl, likely because of her background as a knight. In spite of this, upon first seeing her, Shiro is instantly mesmerized by her feminine beauty. Saber can also be quiet and shy in social situations and unwilling to show emotions, as she has suppressed them so strongly and views herself as a knight foremost. However, even though she attempts to hide them, her insecurities become more and more apparent. However, later on in the story, Saber begins to open up more and show her emotions more easily, especially to Shiro. A prominent theme in Fate/Stay Night is that, when she became King Arthur, Saber sacrificed what was most important to her: her humanity. It is implied that during her life before becoming the King of Knights, Arturia was a dreamy, idealistic, innocent young girl. Her developing relationship with Shiro is fundamental to the growth of her character, as he is the first person to view and treat Saber not as a weapon or a Servant, but as a fellow human being. A comedic aspect about her is that she is shown as having a humongous appetite, finishing large servings of rice within one minute.
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 the Unlimited Blade Works' good ending. In Fate and the Unlimited Blade Works true ending, she chooses to use Excalibur to destroy the Holy Grail.
In the Heaven's Feel scenario, Saber is consumed by darkness by Angra Mainyu and turns into Sakura's Servant, Saber Alter. Saber Alter 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 aids 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.
Saber has appeared in the anime and manga versions of Fate/stay night and the movie Unlimited Blade Works. Four of versions of Saber (Saber, Saber Alter, Saber Lily, and Saber Extra from Fate/Extra)[1][2] appeared in the game Fate/unlimited codes, released on PS2 and PSP. A Lion form of Saber also appeared in Fate/tiger colosseum.[3] She, along with other characters from Tsukihime, Melty Blood, and the rest of the cast of Fate/stay night, appears in the 2011 anime Carnival Phantasm. Fate Zero, another anime adaptation of the novel of the same name, has been released in 2011, with Saber acting as Kiritsugu's servant in the fourth Holy Grail War.
Numerous figures of Saber has been created, including all three forms of her.[4] A keychain replica of her sword has also been made. [5]
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Saber at the Visual Novel Database