Saber (Fate/stay night)
- For the word Sabre, see Sabre (disambiguation).
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 but 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 voice acting for Saber is done by Ayako Kawasumi.
Servant Status
| Master: | Shirō Emiya | Rin Tōsaka | Sakura Matō |
|---|---|---|---|
| Alignment: | Lawful Good | Lawful Good | Lawful Evil |
| Strength: | B | A | A |
| Endurance: | C | B | A |
| Agility: | C | B | D |
| Mana: | B | A | A++ |
| Luck: | B | A+ | C |
Noble Phantasms
- Invisible Air: Barrier of the Wind King
- Rank: C
- Type: Anti-Unit.
- 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. 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.
- Excalibur: Sword of Promised Victory
- Rank: A++
- Type: Anti-Fort.
- 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.
- Avalon: All is a Distant Utopia
- Rank: EX
- Type: Support.
- The hallow 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, 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 British mythology, best known as as the final resting place of King Arthur.
True Identity
Her original name is Arturia Pendragon, and she is the inspiration for 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 publically announce Arturia's birth or gender. She is entrusted by Merlin to a loyal knight, Sir Kay, who raises her as a surrogate son and squire. 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 imbedded 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 tranquility. Caliburn is destroyed in a raid, but Arturia soon aquires 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, many of her subjects become critical of her lack of humanity. Excalibur's scabbard is stolen while she repels a Saxon assault along her borders; when Arturia returns inland, she discovers her country is torn asunder by civil war. Despite her efforts to placate the unrest, Arturia is mortally wounded by a traitorous knight, Mordred, during the Battle of Camlann. Her dying body is escorted to the holy isle of Avalon by Morgan le Fay and Sir Bedivere. Arturia orders a grieving Bedivere to dispose of Excalibur by throwing it back to Vivian; in his absence, she reflects on her personal failures, regeretting her life as king. Before her last breath, she appeals to the world; in exchange for services as an Epic 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 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 she would never become king. 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 UBW, 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. Before she died, she begged Shirō to kill her.