class: Saberreal name: Arthuria
measurements: 154cm (height), 42kg (weight), 73cm, 53cm, 76cm.
colour: blue.
natural enemies: Gilgamesh.
likes: stuffed animals, eating, loyal partners, swordplaying.
dislikes: rude people, double dealers.
master: Emiya Shirou (in all the scenarios), Tohsaka Rin (later in Unlimited Blade Works), Matou Sakura (in her Black Saber form)
weapon: Excalibur (the well-known sword of Britain)
standing: Lawful neutral (with Shirou and Rin), Lawful Evil (with Sakura).
noble phantasms: Saber can count on 3 noble phantasms.
- Invisible Air - Barrier of the Wind King (Saber hides her sword in the reflection of light, making it appereantly invisible. she can also use the air movement produced by the sword to produce addictional damage).
- Excalibur - The Sword of Promised Victory (the sword releases a ray of light although the real slashing power is concentrated on the tip of the sword, producing a devastating slash towards its target).
- Avalon - All is a Distant Utopia (the sheath of Excalibur that grants immortality and regeneration to its owner).
personality: Saber might appear as a cold person, someone who's always trying to suppress her feeling sto not show any weakness or undecision. She's not an emotionless character though, she was only educated to act in that way, to be more an institution than an individual. She gave up her youth and everything else that characterized her as a woman to embrace the ideal of her people, to protect those many who were calling for her help as the King of Britain. She extracted Caliburn from the stone when she was pretty young, giving to her destiny a direction she couldn't change anymore. She renounced to her individual good and she wouldn't regret it for the rest of her life. She's a very noble person who's somehow limitated in her vision of life. Her reason to take part at the Grail War i sto redo her life, because shefelt somehow incapable to fulfill her duty, because she failed in saving her country from war. She couldn't understand what was really important back then and thanks to a simple and honest persona s Shirou she could think better about her motivations and really understand the meaning of her life and her past. At first she wasn't really that comfortable with him since he tried, with all his efforts, to protect her from the conflict instead of having her fighting for him. She couldn't really understand his motivations and she was somehow feeling unable to accomplish her work. It was true that he was an unexperienced master and that she wasn't fully summoned, but the Holy Grail was important enough to involve her in the War. She was able to understand Shirou's motivation by know him better, by understanding his will to protect people, which was somehow similar to Saber's past ideals. I'm pretty sure Saber was really touched by his inner strenght and his motivations and she managed to justify his careless actions because of his noble ideals. She got pretty impressed by him because she never knew someone who was so similar to her and at the same time so different. And thus she felt in love with him and willing to protect him because of her affection rather than because of her duty as heroic spirit.
spoilers warning!!!
personal history: Arthuria can be easilly associated to King Arthur, the great and legendary King of Britain. She's a sort of mix between this fictional/historical character and Guinevere too, being a woman with some of her characteristics. She was raised, as the legend said, as a commoner until her noble origins were revealed and, with the help of the faithful Merlin, she extracted Caliburn from the stone, getting the right to become the King of Britain, stopping ageing and raising her combat and tactical skills. Arthuria was really respected and loved by her people because of her strenght and the justice lying within her, though her followers become accostumed to her qualities and they soonely starter to get worried about a sovereign who couldn't show any feeling and weakness. She wasn't human anymore and that caused fear among her people. How could they love someone who wasn't showing any kind of evident affection for them? The country fell into caos and soon war spread everywhere, oblidging Arthuria in fighting even those who she promised to protect before. Almost everyone next to her died in the conflict and she wasn't able to do anything else than resign to her destiny. She thought about her life and her future and she realized she wasn't willing to be the King anymore and that probably she wasn't really meant to be the sovereign, thinking that it would have been better if she never became the monarch of Britain. She realized she could have the chance to fix the broken fragments of her life by making a contract with the Holy Grail when she was stilla live. She become an Heroic Spirit and was summoned in two Grail Wars: in the 4th when she was Emiya Kiritsugu's servant and in the following one when she submitted to Emiya Shirou. In the 4th Heaven's Feel she managed to win the other servants and, due to Kiritsugu's command, destroy the Grail and end the conflict with no real winners. In the 5th Heaven's Feel she can have multiple ending, depending on the scenarios and the game itself. It seems she's accidently summoned bu Shirou as he's trying to defend himself from Lancer's attacks, though it's logic that she happened to become her servant because of Avalon, which was implanted in Shirou's body, making a strong connection between the 2 of them. She's not compeltely summoned and for this reason she can't turn into her spiritual form to regain her mana and hel her injuries, that's why she spends most of her time in sleeping and she eats large quantities of food (also because she doesn't want to take too much mana from Shirou). Although she hasn't her original strenght she manages to survive till the end of Fate, defeating Gilgamesh in the last fight thanks to Shirou's help (who gave her back Avalon). At the end of the scenario she realizes she didn't really wanted to redo her life, because she was finally accepting her past and the choice she made. She wouldn't complain anymore about the path she took and she could finally give a meaning to her existence. She finally decided to go back to her time and spend the rest of her days with her newly found consciousness. In Unlimited Blade Works she's again Shirou's servant although for a short time since she's taken by Caster (who was helding Taiga as obstage) who also erase her contract with Shirou through the Rule Breaker. After Archer betrayed Rin she was able to make a contract with her and become her servant, showing much more potential than at the beginning. She managed again to survive till the end of the story and once again destory the Holy Grail. She can obtain two different endings, one in which she stays by Rin side and the other where she goes back again to her time. In the last scenario Saber is summoned again by Shirou but she's early defeated and tainted by the "Shadow", becoming Sakura's puppet. She has no way to be taken back to her "light" side and the herpes have to defeat her for good. The duty is left to Shirou who managed to stab her feeling all the pain and the regret of his action. This is the worst ending happening to Saber, a really tragic addiction to an already dramatic character.
the legend behind: King Arthur is the legendary heroe of the Britain Tradiction, who established his court in Camelot where he placed the
well-known Round Table, where he was used to discuss with his faithful 12 knights, which form granted equity and didn't allow the creation of gerarchies among its members.
He can't only be considered a great king, but also the symbol of many ideals of fraternity, freedom and equality. He can also be considered as the defender of Christianity since he was fighting against the Saxons invaders of French (in the V century), but probably he could be more easilly associated to the Grail Quest.
Arthur's reign didn't last too long but it brought many positive development in the english society of that period (but again we're speaking about legends). Many tales were told about King Arthur and his knights, mainly by Chéretien de Troyes and Goffrey of Monmouth, but also other writers delighted the public with more operas, poems or novels about his gestes.
If you wish to learn more about King Arthut, please visit this page.