| “ | In my own self assessment, my character is the worst. | „ |
| ~ Ayaka Sajyou |
Ayaka Sajyou is the main protagonist of Fate/Prototype. She is the master of Saber and the archetype version of Shirou Emiya who was to be the protagonist of the original Fate/stay night novel that was never finished. She was originally detailed in Character Material, and she has been given an expanded role in Prototype. She is one of the Seven Masters in the Holy Grail War.
Role
She is the main character of the original Fate/stay night novel. It was felt that she would not appeal to the target audience of the visual novel, so she was dumped in favor of Shirou to be more appealing. She appears in Fate/school life as one of the students at Shirou's school. In Prototype it is revealed that her older sister Manaka Sajyou along with her father died eight years ago in the previous Holy Grail War.
What is not detailed is if she was aware that she was to be a sacrifice to the Grail in that war, as her sister had already offered their father before turning to her. As she was about to be sacrificed, she was saved by her sister's Servant.
On the anniversary of her father and sister's death she would be pursued by Lancer much like Shirou had been. Similar to her counterpart, she would be saved at the last moment as her near death would summon her Servant, Saber.
During the new Grail War, she would catch the eye of the Archer, who would propose to her, leading to one of the reasons he considers Saber to be his rival.
At some point she would be poisoned, to which Archer would taunt his rival with the cure, a small vial containing a glowing liquid.
She would, like in one of her counterpart's routes, lose her Servant after Saber is nearly beaten to death by Berseker. His master, Sancraid Phahn would corrupt Saber and take Ayaka's Command Seal's for himself. It would be at this time that Lancer loses his Master, as the curse that had been placed upon Misaya finally kills her. Masterless, he forms a contract with Ayaka and the two go to take on Berserker and the corrupted Saber, to which Ayaka wants save and take back.
Personality
Ayaka appears to be a very insecure person, traumatized after the previous Holy Grail War and not willing to join the current war after her father and sister died because of it. Unlike Shirou, she seems to come from a line of Magi and is more adapted to such a lifestyle, although she is also orphaned.
Her sister had been a genius in Magecraft, while she had been mediocre leading to a complex. Eight years prior during the previous War her father had told her that sooner or later she too would be a participant in the Grail War, to which she would scream to herself that she wouldn't and run away.
She had been directed by her father to perform a sacrifice ritual every morning though due to her past trauma has trouble killing living animals. Unable to kill pigeons she uses her own blood as a substitute. Because of this the Sajyou home's Garden Workshop has gradually become a pigeon nest that keeps growing. Due also in part to this her cooking comes only from ready made ingredients.
She has an attachment to crows. It is also said that removing and putting on her glasses changes her personality. In her eyes, Saber is the ideal prince along with his station as her protector.
Some of her lines detailed in the previous Character Material, the Fate/Prototype trailer and Fate/Prototype Material book are as follows.
"In my own self assessment, my character is the worst".
"I... I... to be like my sister, I can't be like her! But..."
"I'll fight. Even though I can't do anything, to be able to choose to fight, even someone like me can do that!"
Abilities
Ayaka seems to practice an older form of magic according to Lancer. A type of dark magic, she seems capable of using black feathers like darts to attack her enemies, even causing Lancer to guard against them. She also showed the capacity to control plants, causing them to grow rapidly outside the green house door in order to bar entry.
She is a practitioner of general black magic, Witchcraft, however she finds herself unskilled in it. It would be later on during the war that Saber would suggest that she try using Formalcraft. Though not seen as very useful by common Magi, she finds she has an amazing affinity for it that normal Magi cannot use to that degree. She is bad at cultivating medicinal plants, and, strangely, she is close with crows.