Rider (Fate/Crossover - Xander)

**Rider** (ライダー, *Raidā*) is the servant of ??? in the ??? Holy Grail War.

*"Little prince/princess... The sad truth is that justice is an illusion. A child's fairy tale. There is no light path that always leads to good, nor dark path that leads to evil. To believe that—to see the world in black and white—is missing half the picture. All that matters are the choices we make—especially the hard ones."* - Xander

## Profile

### Identity

Rider's true identity is **Xander**, the eldest child of five in the Nohrian royal family and the child of king Garon and the first queen, Katerina. He eventually received another younger sibling when the Avatar was adopted into the family. Although taciturn, he has an honest personality. For the sake of the kingdom, he follows his father's intentions and cares deeply for his siblings. He wields Siegfried, a sword wreathed in dark flames. He has the services of Peri and Laslow.

### Personality

Xander embodies strong patriotism and fealty to his country of Nohr, one that is expected of his title as Crown Prince. He is the first to charge onto the battlefield for the sake of glory to Nohr and any order of King Garon given to him is completed with utmost perfection, even when Xander may not completely agree with its intentions as he believes that the ends will justify the means. His obedience also is under a belief that achieving his father's plans will revert him to his original, kinder self that he remembers from his childhood, but later in the Birthright and Conquest route, he realizes that his real father is long dead and accepts that "Garon" is no longer the person he knew.

Despite the dark history of Nohr's royal family, Xander is a family-man, showing great care towards his three younger half-siblings and even his adopted sibling, Corrin, as well. While he is often away in battle, he has a surprising knowledge of many of their preferences, hobbies and habits, causing even Camilla to acknowledge that his knowledge rivals even hers. He is particularly close to Corrin, serving as one of their main combat instructors. He affectionately calls them "Little Prince/Princess" whenever they are conversing. Xander will sometimes circumvent his father's orders if they will affect his sibling's well-being and personally takes the blame in order to protect them. He will, however, not show them leniency on the battlefield should they betray Nohr for treason such as in the case of Corrin in Birthright and Revelation or Camilla in Revelation. Even in the wake of Elise's accidental death by his hands in Birthright did not prevent him from continuing his death duel with Corrin. However, upon realizing just how much he had lost in his father's name, he willingly allowed Corrin to kill him and acknowledge Garon's madness into power.

Like his younger half-siblings Camilla and Leo, Xander cares for his step-sister, Azura and wanted to spend more time with her. In his support for Azura, he offered her to attend meetings with him regularly even though he was aware of Azura's mistreatment by the Nohrians and having dinner to be served. In their Warriors support, Xander always thinks of Azura as a younger sister. He always talks sincerely to her and felt like he lost his own family member when Azura was kidnapped by the Hoshidans.
Xander has also been depicted multiple times in supports as a humble person who delights in bringing happiness to others without inviting any attention to himself. This fact extends to situations when it is blatantly obvious that he is responsible for the happiness experienced by others, where he will take the pains to stage arguments in order to conceal his involvement. In this regard, he is known to have gone so far as to outright deny claims that he has provided aid to others.

Having seen numerous battlefields, Xander is commonly depicted as battle-worn, having come to terms with the numerous lives he has taken for his country. As his support with Nyx indicates, he is guilty from having done too much killing and often wished for death rather than to continue living with his crimes. He notes that his view of the world is more grey when compared to Corrin's black-and-white outlook of the world, believing that no one is truly evil, but merely shades of right and wrong that stems from their character. This is most reflected in his choice to have Peri as a retainer who, despite having sociopathic tendencies, he trusts with his life and does not force her to change her ways. He does not tolerate cowardice or needless slaughter, and is willing to cut the aggressor down to maintain Nohr's honor, as shown with Kotaro, when it was revealed he attempted to force Hoshido to surrender using Kagero as bait under Garon's influence, Zola, when he attempts to win the war in a coward way by trying to kill the Hoshidians unarmed, Iago and Hans, when they attempted to kill Corrin for sparing Hinoka.

Having lost two retainers in the past who sacrificed themselves to protect him, Xander's relationship with his two current retainers Peri and Laslow transcend the typical Lord-Retainer relationship. Prior to dueling Corrin in Birthright, he ordered his two retainers to stay behind to avoid needless sacrifice, but when they disobeyed, it caused him unnecessary grief.
Xander has a never-ending obsession to improve himself is an effect of not being a natural talent, a fact alluded to in his support conversation with Sakura, and admitted by himself in his support with Frederick. He reveals that due to not being born gifted, he had always been extremely diligent and serious in learning things or training so as to make himself competent. Furthermore, despite respecting Marth’s opinion that he is indeed already very skilled and absolutely needs no further improvement, he disagrees and still firmly believes that he is not good enough.

Xander is said to have the best handwriting out of everyone in the army.

## Abilities

Xander is the only mounted sword wielder in the initial roster. As a Paladin, he is very resilient against damage, especially against physical damage.

His sword Siegfried is named after the hero of the Niebelungenlied, the Germanic epic poem. A Valkyrie who is the Queen of Iceland in the same poem, Brynhildr, is the namesake of Leo's legendary tome.

### Noble Phantasm

#### **Siegfried; "The Blade Consealed in Dark Flames"**

Siegfried was one of five weapons crafted by the Rainbow Sage to be used by humans in order to end the war between the First Dragons. Alongside Brynhildr, the Raijinto, and the Fujin Yumi, it is necessary in order to unlock the full power of the Yato. After the war, the blade was passed down through the Nohrian royal family. Its current known wielder is Xander, the crown prince of Nohr.

With Siegfried in hand, Xander unleashes a flail of rapid slashes on the airborne enemies, then leaps through the air to them. He finishes by shooting a purple energy beam to the ground.

## References

https://fireemblem.fandom.com/wiki/Xander

https://hero.fandom.com/wiki/Xander\_(Fire\_Emblem)

https://vsbattles.fandom.com/wiki/Xander

https://koei.fandom.com/wiki/Xander