Saber

Darkfire12/SaberSiegfried

BlueVanLock

CrazedCavelier

Lyncario

pschambers6

Ragnell\_Flame

sambonizer

zoroark14

perfectchaos83

tcsavato

**Artoria Pendragon**, better known as **Saber**, is a central character from the erotic visual novel *Fate/stay night* and one of the most popular characters from the mobile game *Fate/Grand Order*. She has become one of the more controversial characters in speculation surrounding *Super Smash Bros. Ultimate*, especially on SmashFAQs. The mere mention of her can often lead to very heated arguments. She became prominent in Smash speculation in late 2019 following a fake popularity poll orchestrated by Youtuber SiIvaGunner.

## Background

Saber is one the three heroines of the 2004 modern fantasy and erotic visual novel *Fate/stay night*, the first installment of the Fate series. She is a female interpretation of King Arthur, having hidden her gender during her reign. In the novel proper, she is summoned to the modern age by the protagonist, Shirou Emiya, and is placed in the Holy Grail War, a ritual involving the summon of heroes from any eras for them to fight for a wish. Depending on the route taken and decisions from the player, the outcome of the War has many different scenarios.

She also appears as a main character in the prequel light novel *Fate/Zero*, summoned by the mercenary Kiritsugu Emiya during the previous Holy Grail War.

Due to Saber's popularity, she has been alluded to, has made cameos and has had many proper appearances in more instalments of the Fate series. Numerous characters in her series also have their appearances based on her.

## History on SmashFAQs

### The Start

Saber first entered Smash speculation after the results for a poll supposedly gathered from Twitter gauging which characters are in the highest demand for Smash DLC across North America, Japan, and Europe were posted, with Saber topping the Japanese category. While this was later revealed to be a hoax conducted by infamous Youtuber Silvagunner, the idea of Saber getting into Smash stuck despite the absurdity of the prospect. A bit more discussion went on in December of 2019, featuring the debut Saber topic of infamous user Dragonage2ftw, but it ultimately died down. In April and May, discussion around her was shortly revived by a flurry of topics by Dragonage, the most notable one regarding the sexual content in the series, being the last of its time.

### The Modern Day

In late December 2020/early January 2021, discussion returned full force with Dragonage's topic relating to a fake leak claiming to have internal documents detailing a Nintendo Direct. The addition of two new supporters of her boosted the quantity of topics and posts, leading it to be the largest of the three eras.

#### The New Users

This topic pulled in two new users: Kuribo4 and SaberSiegfried, both in support of the character. Kuribo4 had been relatively active beforehand, making a few smaller topics on her in October before going relatively inactive. SaberSiegfried was created about a week after the Direct leak topic, debuting as a full gimmick account, although they slowly grew more self aware. After losing an account bet on Character Pack 9, it was revealed that their main account was Darkfire12.

## Reputation on SmashFAQs

Saber's fandom on SmashFAQs has garnered a fairly negative reputation for spamming about how much they want her. A startling amount seem to have limited knowledge on the series and cannot seem to come to a consensus on how many pornographic scenes are featured across the series (or if there's even any porn scenes present at all anymore, as some insist they were retconned and deleted from subsequent re-releases). They also have the tendency to regurgitate the same arguments as eachother, like attempting to compare the explicit on-screen sex scenes featured in the Fate series to the mild nudity of Bayonetta and the provocative character designs of Pyra, Mythra, and other female characters in Xenoblade Chronicles 2.

On the other hand, many of her detractors are infamous for their tendency to make exaggerated claims, such as saying that the Fate series is a niche franchise, despite it being relatively popular of a series for most of its existence (especially in Japan, where it is highly successful). SmashBurb in particular is infamous for his tendency to mock Saber supporters and dismiss her chances of getting in, while some other users such as RollerBob also expressing how despite the monetary success of *Fate/Grand Order*, being a mobile game makes it not count, while also expressing lack of knowledge on the mechanics of that game.

Overall, many people in SmashFAQs, both in favor and against of Saber, express fatigue for both sides whenever the topic of her is brought up, and it isn't uncommon to wish for discussion on her to be banned. Essentially, she is regarded as one of the most controversial characters to bring up in Smash speculation.

## Trivia

* A common joke when she's brought up is to instead feign the conversation is about the similarly named Saber from the *Fire Emblem* series.
* One of the most common arguments involving the series is in regards to a small excerpt regarding a character's backstory.