Saber

	True nameArtoria Pendragon
	Also known asKing of Knights
	MasterShirou Emiya
	GenderFemale
	AlignmentLawful Good
	Height154 cm
	Weight42 kg
	Place of originBritain
	Noble PhantasmsAvalon, Excalibur, Invisible Air

Overview

Saber's True Name is Artoria Pendragon, 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. 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 Arturius, 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.

Combat skills

The Saber class is considered the "Most Outstanding" due to its excellent ratings in all categories, and Saber 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 mana due to his Magical Paths being obstructed. 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 Kiritsugu 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. She can barely keep up with Berserker using all of her strength while weakened, but Shirou believes that not even he would be able to stand against her at full strength. She is also strengthened under Caster, but doesn't display it due to being incapacitated by the Command Spell.

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.

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 looses 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.

Magecraft

Unlike other Heroic Spirits who can fit under multiple classes, she claims that she is only suited to the Saber class. 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. If she were to be summoned in western Europe, she would receive a general boost in power similar to other European Heroic Spirits, and she would display a much sharper increase in power in England.

Personality

Saber is a strong-willed young woman who always speaks resolutely. She is courageous, determined, and set on winning the Holy Grail. She constantly insists that she is a knight first and that her gender is of little importance to her. She is resolute in following her own morals regardless of more viable tactics being available should she consider them to be underhanded, leading to conflicts with Kiritsugu over the strategy within the Fourth Holy Grail War. While obtaining the Holy Grail is of the utmost importance, rejecting her chivalry is something that she will not do under normal circumstance even if it should put her at a disadvantage.

She doesn't like to be treated as a woman, or even as a human, due to her status as a knight and a Servant. She tries to keep the notion that she is only a Servant, a tool for her Master, first and foremost in her mind, so she initially has no objections about Shirou accidentally seeing her naked body. She slowly becomes more aware of herself after their relationship develops, and eventually even becomes flustered upon the same situation being repeated. She is unwilling to show emotions, as she has suppressed them so strongly and views herself as a knight foremost. Even though she attempts to hide them, her insecurities become more and more apparent, and she later begins to open up more and show her emotions more easily, especially to Shirou.

She is shown to have a humongous 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. 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 like fish and chips. She had very bad experiences with the food in her time, due being limited to meals like large quantities of potatoes, vinegar, bread, and ale or even at times simply eating vegetables alone.

Saber is loyal, independent, and reserved; she appears cold, but is actually suppressing her emotions to focus on her goals. She is bewildered by Shirou's "protective" tendencies, and believes his erratic and reckless behavior jeopardizes her chances of winning the Holy Grail War.

Role

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. 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
Saber's peaceful final sleep In the Fate scenario, she is the main heroine 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. 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.
Unlimited Blade Works
Saber staying as Rin's familiar In Unlimited Blade Works route, she has a smaller role. Caster captured Taiga as a hostage and used her Rule Breaker to steal the contract between Saber and Shirou. Saber initially shows resistance to Caster's torture and control until she submitted to her. After Archer killed Caster and Kuzuki Souichirou, Archer claims he planned all this so he can be free to kill Shirou. This prompts Rin to form a contract with Saber to protect Shirou from Archer. Saber uses Excalibur to destroy the deformed Grail after Rin rescued Shinji. In Rin's True Ending, Saber was allowed to fade away after the destruction of the Grail. In Rin's Good Ending, Saber survives after Rin forms a contract with her and she became Rin's familiar, living at the Emiya house.
Heavens Feel
Saber Alter finished off by Shirou 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 explanation of the basics of the Holy Grail War, the topic of Illya and the Einzberns is brought up. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. Shirou is left sick the next day due to Rider, as Sakura's Servant, using Breaker Gorgon on him and taking his energy.

Abilities

Magic Resistance: A

Cancel most of the spells, no matter what high-thaumaturgy it is. In practice, the Servant is untouchable to modern magi, so it would not be an exaggeration to title the Servant a "Magus Killer".

Riding: B

Most vehicles can be handled with above average skill. However, cannot ride the likes of Phantasm Races such as Monstrous Beasts.

Charisma: B

A natural talent to command an army. Increases the ability of allies during group battles. A rare talent, and an ability inherent to Servants of the Saver class. It is said that a rank of B in this skill is sufficient to lead a nation as its King.

Instinct: A

A refined sixth sense that is now closer to true precognition. Has the bonus effect of reducing penalties caused by obstructed vision and hearing by half.

Mana Burst: A

A normal weapon that is not on the level of a divine mystery can be destroyed in one blow. Raises defense in several times. Artoria uses this skill mainly for defense and high-speed movement.