Saber (セイバー, Seibā?) is a main character of Fate/Prototype. He is the Saber-class Servant of Manaka Sajyou in the First Holy Grail War of Fate/Prototype: Fragments of Blue and Silver, and Ayaka Sajyou in the Second Holy Grail War of Fate/Prototype. He is one of the Servants of the Protagonist of the Grand Order conflicts of Fate/Grand Order.
Profile
Identity
Saber's True Name is Arthur Pendragon (アーサー・ペンドラゴン, Āsā Pendoragon?), otherwise known better as King Arthur. Approving of the virtuous and correcting atrocities. A hero who is like a knight in shining armor that anyone would dream about as a child. Also called the wielder of the holy sword of the planet. His true identity is that of the “King of Knights” of a parallel universe, who reached this world by chasing after some sort of existence.[2]
A completely identical, and yet different person than Heroic Spirit Artoria Pendragon, possessing the same past and legend as her.[2]
Appearance
He has a beautiful form and appears composed. His casual clothing is a long coat.[1]
  Saber stage 1 in Fate/Grand Order, illustrated by Nakahara.  Saber stage 2 in Fate/Grand Order, illustrated by Nakahara.  Saber stage 3 in Fate/Grand Order, illustrated by Nakahara.  Saber stage 4 in Fate/Grand Order, illustrated by Nakahara.  Saber stage 2 in Fate/Grand Order, illustrated by Nakahara.   Saber in Fate/Prototype: Fragments of Blue and Silver, illustrated by Nakahara.  Proto Saber in Capsule Servant.  Saber in Prototype material, illustrated by Chihiro Aikura.  Saber in Prototype material, illustrated by Takashi Takeuchi.  Saber in Character Material, illustrated by Takashi Takeuchi. |
Personality
From the small amount of screentime given, Arthur seems to have none or nowhere near most of the issues that plague his counterpart, Artoria. He is seen as playful as he teases Ayaka by removing her glasses and smiling at her. Despite this, upon revelation of the Grail System and its function, he kills his previous master and throws her into the Grail.
He has the sense of values of a matured man, as well as a strong sense of justice. He will bring things that bring virtue and goodness closer, and will ascertain those that bring atrocity. He is the image of a hero one can feel good about.[1]
In Ayaka's eyes, he is the ideal prince in addition to his station as her protector. However, for a brief period his style of speech was mingled with nihilistic mannerisms. Not only that, but he had his bouts of hypocritical courtesy as he would at times tease or make fun of Ayaka.[1]
He is good at eating, but also good at making (cooking).[2]
In Japanese, the way he refers to himself differs depending on who he talks to. To Ayaka, he uses 'boku'. To his enemies, he uses 'watashi'.
Astonishing words whose veracity cannot be judged even with the help of Chaldea’s system but, at the very least, he won’t spew lies to his Master. He places his wholehearted trust towards his Master. Deception and betrayal are unthinkable.[2]
Role
Fate/Prototype Fragments of Blue and Silver
He was summoned to participate in the Holy Grail War of 1991 by Manaka Sajyou. His first battle with Lancer near the Sunshine 60 building ends in a tie with him retreating.
He also battles with Berserker at one point in order to protect Misaya Reiroukan from the beast and was there when Berserker was finally defeated.
During the decisive battle in the temple on top of Tokyo Bay, he does a combined attack with Archer using both of their Noble Phantasms to defeat Rider, though he loses half of his body in the attempt.
During the latter stages of the war after Rider's defeat, Saber starts showing doubts about Manaka and having his wish granted. He later meets Ayaka in "Garden" (her mother's botanical garden), and she innocently helps him realise that his wish was misguided. Saber then vows to protect Ayaka and her world.
Heading to the Holy Grail, he ends up facing both Assassin and Caster, and defeats them.
Fate/Prototype
He had been summoned to fight in the Grail War eight years prior by Manaka Sajyou, the elder sister of Ayaka. Though both he and Manaka had made it to the end, it was at this time that he discovered the true nature of the Grail and that she had been offering sacrifices to it. As Manaka was about to offer her sister Ayaka as a sacrifice, their father already a victim, Saber stabbed and killed his Master. His words as he did so were "I too have committed a grave error. The Grail and you are insane!"
With Manaka dead, he threw her corpse into the Grail.
Like his counterpart, he has memories of the previous Grail War, and like her his wish was the altering of his destiny to give salvation to his land and people. With the nature of the Grail revealed he has been liberated of that wish. Because of this, he responded to and accepted the summons from a girl who indirectly realized that a wish upon the Grail would be warped. He was summoned in time to save her life from Lancer, who had been hunting her.
During the war, he would be seen as a rival by Archer, due to not only being summoned as a higher class than the Sumerian King, but also due to Archer's interest in Ayaka, whom Archer proposes to. Later on he would be nearly killed by Berserker and then corrupted by his Master, Sancraid Phahn. This situation would be later inherited by Saber Alter and from notes his Dark Persona design would be inherited by Gilgamesh.[3]
He would, like his counterpart felt towards his Master's counterpart, fall in love with Ayaka. In one scene it is suggested that Ayaka was to confess to him. Within the twilight hours of the day in her classroom and the mood between the two getting better Gilgamesh would appear, compliment her and proclaim to make her his queen. Ayaka would leave the room shocked and babbling in panic.
He is also the one who suggests to Ayaka that she move from using Witchcraft to Formalcraft to fight with. Like her counterpart, she finds that she is much better at the latter to a stupendous degree, though it is normally considered useless by other Magi.
Fate/Grand Order
He has manifested in this world while taking an integrals form that can be described as an “ideal prince” or a “knight of silverly blue”. A heroic spirit visiting from a different world, or so he says but a heroic spirit belonging to a different world・parallel universe, who reached this world after chasing after a certain powerful antagonist, evil omen; so he tells.[2]
Arthur Pendragon Trial Quest
Other appearances
In Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA☆ILLYA, the Doll of Zachary Ainsworth used the Saber Class Card.
Abilities
Saber's parameters under Manaka
Saber has Excalibur Proto and Invisible Air much like his counterpart. It is unknown if Avalon exists in Prototype, but it is said that Ayaka was able to summon him due to having a holy relic buried within her to act as a catalyst much like Shirou.
His Charisma is a natural talent to command an army corps. At this occasion, Arthur has been specialized for battle against large animals. Since the allies cannot keep up when fighting against large animals, and he ends up all alone, there is no place to display his Charisma.[2]
Giant Beast Hunting (巨獣狩り, Kyojū Kari?) is a skill that denotes having abundant combat experience against giant enemy lifeforms. King Arthur fought against and managed to completely defeat all the magic beasts that attempted to tramp down Britain.[2]
Development
Creation and Conception
Originally called Archetype Saber (旧セイバー, Kyū Seibā?), he is the version of Saber that was to be used in the original Fate/stay night novel that was penned and left uncompleted.[3] It was decided during the development of the visual novel that Saber's master, Ayaka, was not an ideal protagonist for the target audience, so both Saber and Sajyou were redesigned and had their genders swapped to make them more appealing. He was detailed in Character Material, and has been given an expanded role in Prototype. When the time came to redesign the characters, on Takeuchi Takashi's suggestion, Kinoko Nasu switched the gender of Arthur, who would then become the Saber seen in Fate/stay night.
Takeuchi calls him the ideal protagonist of the 90's era.[1]
In Fate/stay night, Archer would inherit nihilistic mannerisms. In fact, the nature of Saber and Ayaka's relationship, at least in the beginning, was similar to that of Rin Tohsaka and Archer.[1]
Chihiro Aikura was responsible for the redesign servant costume for Saber. Takeuchi says his armour design is pretty cool and his hoody makes him look MoeWP.[1]
References
- ↑ 1.00 1.01 1.02 1.03 1.04 1.05 1.06 1.07 1.08 1.09 1.10 1.11 1.12 1.13 1.14 Prototype material - Saber, p.032-033
- ↑ 2.00 2.01 2.02 2.03 2.04 2.05 2.06 2.07 2.08 2.09 2.10 2.11 2.12 2.13 2.14 2.15 2.16 2.17 2.18 2.19 2.20 2.21 2.22 2.23 2.24 2.25 2.26 2.27 Fate/Grand Order - Arthur Pendragon, Translations by Master of Chaos
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Character Material - Archetype Saber, p.015