Kinoko Nasu
Before Kinoko Nasu started writing "Fate/stay night", he wrote the route "Fate" for fun in his spare time when he was a student. Shirou and Saber's genders were swapped, mostly due to an experience with the novel "Tsukihime" because Type-Moon believed this would fit the modern demographic. Takeuchi had the idea of drawing an armored woman, which resulted in Saber being female. Takeuchi called Saber as one of his favorite Servants in the series and an ideal bride to the point of drawing her whenever he has free time. The relationship between Shirou and Saber was intended to be different from previous fictional romances because Shirou must accept Saber has to fight for him. As a foreshadowing of Shirou and Saber's first meeting, the team included a dream sequence in which Shirou sees the mythical sword Excalibur, which the latter wields. Because Shirou possessed the scabbard Avalon from Excalibur, Nasu wrote this to explain how the two become Master and Servant. Although Saber does not have the same character in "Unlimited Blade Works" than in "Fate" where she dropped her desires for the Holy Grail, Nasu still wanted Saber to have a similar resolution in regards to what to do in the war once confronting the Grail, leading to its destructions at her hands.