Saber (Fate/Prototype)

"I'm Saber. A servant that will protect you."

- Saber, to Ayaka Sajyou, Fate/Prototype

Saber is a hero from Fate/Prototype who is the servant of Ayaka Sajyou. His name is romanized as Saver in Character Material.

Identity
Saber's identity is that of King Arthur Pendragon of legend. When the time came to redesign the characters on Takeuchi Takashi's suggestion Kinoko Nasu switched Arthur's gender who would then become the Saber seen in Fate/stay night.

Personality
From the small amount of screentime given, Arthur seems to have none or nowhere near most of the issues that plague his counterpart, Altria. 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 killed his previous master and threw her into the Grail, showing a level of anger and retribution only Altria's Saber Alter form possessed as even when faced with Kiritsugu Emiya's malicious tactics she did not raise her blade against him.

His sense of values is that of a matured man and has a sense of justice. Will bring close things that bring virtue and goodness, and will ascertain those that bring atrocity. He is the image of a hero one can feel good about.

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. In Fate/stay night Archer would inherit these traits. In fact, the nature of Saber and Ayaka's relationship, at least in the beginning, was similar to that of Rin and Archer.

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'.

Role
Originally called Archetype Saber, he is the version of Saber that was to be used in the original Fate/stay night novel that was penned and left uncompleted. It was decided during the development of the visual novel that Saber's master, Sajyou 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.

He had been summoned to fight in the Grail War eight years prior by Sajyou Manaka, the elder sister of Ayaka. Though both he and Manaka had made it to the end it was here 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 pursuing 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.

He would, like his counterpart did to 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 and proclaim to make her his queen. Ayaka would leave the room shocked and babbling in panic.

He also is 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.

It is mentioned that the team he forms with Ayaka was to be similar to that of Tohsaka Rin and Archer.

Abilities
Saber has Excalibur and Invisible Air much like his counterpart. His version of Excalibur is bound by thirteen constraints placed upon it by the Knights of the Round Table, and the conditions must be met in order for the constraints to be released. Against Archer's EX Ranked Noble Phantasm, Enki, its full power was released, allowing it to evaporate the water and bisect the "Star of Destruction."

The art for Excalibur was designed by RAITA, and it is also far more ornate and broader in its details than the Arturia's version. There is a haloed cross above the hilt with a blue and gold frame along with a line of 9 receding golden diamonds that run the length of the blade before ending near the point. In the Fate/Prototype material, there is another design that looks closer to Arturia's version.

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.