Archer (Fate/stay night)

Archer is the Archer-class Servant of Rin Toosaka in the Fifth Holy Grail War from the  Fate/stay night anime and games.

Archer is one of the Servants of Ritsuka Fujimaru of the Grand Orders conflicts of Fate/Grand Order.

Appearance
Shirou from the Fifth Grail War would grow about 20cm as Archer. It is uncertain if his extreme height growth is caused by magecraft. Comparing to Shirou, Archer has white hair, gray eyes and tanned skin colour. His skin, hair and eye colors are different to his younger self due to the extensive use of projection magecraft that caused a rebound effect.

His servant clothing, Red Plain Mystic Code is Archer's signature costume. He wears a black body armor made from a special material that has yet to be discovered by mankind as of the present time, which consisted of a black tight and sleeveless shirt with sliver accents which outlined his muscles and a metal plate on his collar, and black pants that had two black straps on his thighs, and another two strapped around his shins separate from each other. He wears black metal plated shoes, which appear to be attached to his trousers. His signature red coat is a type of holy shroud, which were actually two separate sleeves connected by a metal plate at the back which covered his arms and was cut off showing his upper torso and midriff, and had a separate red open skirt which ended above his shins with the top fashioned and tied with an agemaki knot, covered by a silver metal plate. In Fate/hollow ataraxia, Archer is seen without his holy shroud in one of the loops - however, he is wearing black bow gloves. In his past, Archer has been seen wearing a pale-coloured cloak in the Ufotable adaptation of Unlimited Blade Works.

In Fate/hollow ataraxia, his casual attire consisted of a plain black shirt and black trousers. When he went fishing, he wore his signature clothing without the holy shroud. Instead, he wore a red down vest jacket and a red cap hat.

Personality
His personality is very contradicting. While he is thoroughly cynical and nihilistic, he is at the same time devoted and protective, and even a little childish to the point that it makes him hard to hate. He does not lie, but he does keep secrets and tell half truths. He means well and is capable of being nice, but often ends up being sarcastic, especially so when he gives advice. He cannot approve of Shirou’s ideal of becoming a Hero of Justice due to his own experience, but at the same time he cannot deny it for the very same reasons.

Archer is a very bitter person due to how his life turned out after constant betrayal by those he deemed his comrades in life and for becoming a counter guardian willingly, a being that is forced to "clean up the messes humanity has made". The reason he chose to become a counter guardian was because he believed that he could save as many people as possible and in a way this was true, but the reality was that the counter force merely sent him to a point in time where it believed humanity was on the brink of collapse and had him kill any and every person it had deemed to be the perpetrators irrespective of the fact if they were good or evil. Archer was forced to kill in spite of his beliefs and feelings, something that shattered him from within and essentially broke his heart. Due to this Archer feels betrayed by his ideal, his sole remaining wish even in his afterlife. That further solidified his bitterness and increased its intensity. His bitterness was so strong that he wished to die.

He claims that his memory is confused to the incomplete nature of his summoning, but that is only half truthful. He is able to assess the situation and deduce his circumstances the night of his summoning, believing himself to have the opportunity to achieve his goal to kill Shirou. He had forgotten the name "Rin Tohsaka" over the period of his life, but remembers her the instant she introduces herself. Murmuring "――Rin. Ah, that's the name――" under his breath, it is a statement from his heart filled with "much endearment close to insanity." He claims to no longer have Shirou's memory, but remembers the day Kiritsugu Emiya saved him and the feelings he felt upon seeing Kiritsugu's smile. He has a fond remembrance of the moment Saber was first summoned that he will always recall vividly "even if he should fall into the depths of hell."

He's not interested in video games but he is willing to play, once he gets started.

Archer gains much joy and pride in housework especially cooking. Though he denies that he enjoys doing them.

Abilities
Archer is not a regular Heroic Spirit who was revered as a hero, but instead a Counter Guardian who made a contract with World for power. He is a Heroic Spirit from the future, so he does not gain any blessings normally provided by fame. He also does not possess any actual Noble Phantasms, but his Reality Marble, Unlimited Blade Works, can be called his Noble Phantasm in a way. He wears a cloak and mantle set that are first rate Conceptual Weapons made from the Holy Shroud of a saint. It does not oppose enemies, but instead the external environment.

Due to his nature, he has no fame as a hero and he cannot be recognized by those with knowledge from the Throne of Heroes. This makes him a confusing existence for the other Servants, displaying his projection that turns normally important Noble Phantasms into items that can be discarded and destroyed on a whim, varied abilities that would normally mark the identity of a Servant, and contradictory abilities that do not match any known hero. Lancer believes there should be no Archer with a shield capable of blocking Gae Bolg, and Berserker thinks that being defeated in six different ways, all abilities of the highest class, without learning of the enemy's identity is very strange.

In combat, Archer is proven to easily best Caster and True Assassin. Caster believed he wouldn't be able to scratch her within her own domain. But he quickly proved her wrong as he used two attacks capable of killing her, one of which he warned her to dodge. While in a fair fight with True Assassin he nearly killed him having almost sliced his body in half. Which he did all the while protecting Illya and Shirou. He deflected every one of True Assassin's attacks even the ones aimed at Shirou and was able to match True Assassin's speed with ease.

Though Archer possesses weak parameters he is a powerful servant regardless of this fact. So he is deemed as a heroic spirit that's unconventionally strong. This is mainly due to the fact that Archer can compensate for his weaknesses by refining what little talents he has. Never focusing on trying to strengthen what he's weak at but rather by advancing his best abilities to their absolute limit.

Combat
Due to lacking an actual Noble Phantasm, Archer's basic abilities are below those of other Servants. His main strength lies within his versatility and adaptability, shown through his exceptional use of tactics and battle experience making his combat style very distinct from those of other Servants. His strength does not come from natural talent like Rin or Saber, but instead from single-minded refining of what little talent he had in life. He had nothing at first, and through improving himself for reason that he was not extraordinary, his techniques trained by his will alone reached the point where it is obvious to Shirou that he should be naturally considered strong. He is not fixated on the exact method of winning, opening many possibilities not available to those who fight with chivalry and codes of honor.

Unlimited Blade Works is his sole magecraft, allowing for the use of Reinforcement and Projection. As a "blacksmith Heroic Spirit", it includes the “all the elements necessary to shape swords”, allowing for the replication of Noble Phantasms. All weapons are copied upon seeing them once, he has thousands stored as of the Fifth Holy Grail War, and all can be freely deployed. Many varieties of weapons can be summoned for melee combat, though he primarily utilizes Kanshou and Bakuya. Swords can also be summoned and modified to be fired as arrows and utilized as Broken Phantasms by overloading them with energy to generate overwhelming destructive power from exploding upon contact. He also has the ability to summon weapons in the air and fire them like arrows in the same way as Gilgamesh uses his Gate of Babylon.

He can fight in a variety of ways depending on the situation, allowing him to match or even exceed other Servants even without an actual Noble Phantasm of his own. Utilizing Broken Phantasms requires for the destruction of a Noble Phantasm, so it is not something able to be utilized by a normal Servant without sacrificing their strength. Due to him being able to replicate as many weapons as he wishes, the use of Broken Phantasms became a trump card available only to him. He can turn the odds in his favor by assaulting melee Servants with such long range attacks. Even if he attempts to replicate an Excalibur-class holy sword, he does not have the magical energy necessary to bring out its full potential and may simply end up fading away after using all his energy in a suicidal attack.

Close Combat
Though he is of the Archer class, which originally focuses on long range combat, he is adept at melee combat, and due to his wish to conceal his trump card, he mainly focuses on melee tactics, primarily utilizing Kanshou and Bakuya when engaging other Servants. Even when told to fight seriously by utilizing a bow as expected of the Archer class, he continues to rush into close combat without intentions to draw his bow. Utilizing his unorthodox tactics, he is even able to slay Berserker six times. He will also use other weapons like Caladbolg II to thrust at the opponent's heart or Durandal to perform powerful strikes.

Kanshou and Bakuya are his preferred weapons, and his usage of them has allowed him to develop a style of fighting perfectly suited to him. Though he can fight with a single blade, he generally wields them both at once. The advantage of projection allows for him to replace swords if they are destroyed or if he is disarmed. He has no trouble projecting twenty-eight pairs during a strenuous clash consisting of over a hundred strikes and constantly being disarmed. His greatest strategy, Triple-Linked Crane Wings, involves utilizing multiple projected pairs in succession to completely seal the opponent.

Ranged Combat
Archer utilizes a bow that he projects when he does make use of projectiles, which, along with his armor, is made from a special material that has yet to be discovered by mankind as of the present time. Archer's Bow is a matte black, western-style straight bow, with a simple design that was constructed to be resistant enough to fire Noble Phantasms. It is a completely original weapon, a projection whose structure and composition is not directly taken from another hero's bow. He often uses regular arrows for quick and accurate attacks that cost less magical energy than Noble Phantasms. Their accuracy is spot-on, and their power is still great enough to bring down houses with a small barrage released in quick succession. Releasing over a dozen arrows at once, they are accurately fired at the opponent whether as a sneak attack or support for another. He is capable of performing Broken Phantasm shots from various distances, from hundreds of meters away up to four kilometers away from the target.

His Clairvoyance, a visual ability also called Hawk Eye that affects the accuracy of bows, allows him to execute his "ultra long-range sniping" precisely even against targets moving at high speeds as long as they are within a four kilometer range. With accuracy transcending the realm of men, it is an ability often used for scouting that is able to fully survey the town simply upon looking down from a high location. Utilizing the "must-have ability" of the Archer class, such strikes greatly differ from his regular arrows, and they are a means to certainly kill the opponent. Differing from his former Japanese shooting method, nocking the arrow in the palm of the left hand, Archer utilizes the traditional European method of nocking the arrow over the back of the left hand. He is skilled enough to mark two enemies and fire a single arrow with the intention of striking both, surpassing the normal rules being unable to alter its course.

He can make use of specific strategies to defeat opponents from long range, such as Saber, who would not fall in single combat easily even inside Unlimited Blade Works. Burdening her with protecting Shirou and keeping her from utilizing Excalibur, he is free to fire upon her without worry of being counterattacked and increase the power each time. If such tactics are unavailable, such as with Assassin, it is possible that fighting directly may lead to his defeat. Utilizing sniping can cause him to falter when suddenly forced into close combat, as returning to his true method of attack leaves him unable to draw his sword and respond properly due to focusing on his arrows.

Nasu stated in an interview that Archer would be able to defeat Rider through range combat as he said "If you think about it, Archer will win, but at long range."

In Fate/Hollow Ataraxia, Archer used his advantage of long range combat to defeat Saber. As he was able to snipe at her from a building many kilometers away. And the only way Saber was able to defeat Archer was by having Shirou use his command spell to transport her to Archer's location. So under normal circumstances she wouldn't've been able to do so, due to not being able to close the distance between Archer and her with her own abilties alone. Though she was burdened by having to protect Shirou (Avenger) during the fight so it's undetermined what the outcome of the battle would've been had she not needed to protect someone else. But it should be noted that Archer has twice defeated two enemy servants while forced to protect Shirou himself.

When discussing the terms of a match up between Archer and Saber, Nasu stated that "It might really depend on the wit of their masters' not their own in determining who has the upper hand."

Magecraft
Although classified under the Archer class, he was not a swordsman nor an archer in life, but a magus at his core relying on his one spell, Unlimited Blade Works, to fight. Despite being a skilled combatant, his true unique strength lies within the manufacturing of weapons rather than their use. His abilities in life were unremarkable overall, utilizing Reinforcement with difficulty and the "structural analysis" step of projection more often than anything else. Only Projection had any worth, having granted him the many Noble Phantasms and combat skills they hold. Aside from Projection, he can also use magic detection and magic resistance, which are considered very basic. He does not posses the ability to utilize offensive magecraft that work around the lines of nature interference. His dark skin, white hair, and gray eyes are a side effect of extensively using Projection Magecraft.

He has weak Magic Resistance, D rank, that is only the equivalent of an anti-magic amulet. He can nullify spells of one bar, but anything higher than that will annul the resistance. It can easily be overcome by a relatively strong magus, as his affinity with magecraft is much worse than Heroic Spirits of ancient times. He may have been a magus possessing the unusual Projection magecraft, but they were those who saw magecraft and even Magic as commonplace. Due to that resulting in his low ability, even spells greater than two steps can be fatal to him.

Without any support, he is at a serious disadvantage against a Caster, capable of great sorceries and ritual spells, and even spells from magi Masters must be watched carefully. When holding both Kanshou and Bakuya, his magic resistance is improved, and he proves capable of deflecting even Caster's A-ranked spells, though they still pose fatal danger should they strike him.

Eye of the Mind
Eye of the Mind (True) is a danger-avoidance ability that utilizes the intelligence collected up to the current time as the basis to predict the opponent’s activity and change the current situation. Servants like Lancer and Saber cannot be matched in direct combat under normal circumstances. They are too fast and strong for him to last more than a few blows before falling to their strength, should he take them on without any strategy. He reads the oncoming attacks and counterattacks ahead of time, constantly thinking tens of steps ahead in order continuously prolong his survival by seconds in avoiding blows, parrying, and striking back without being overwhelmed.

It is "combat logic" that utilizes calm analysis to take information obtained from the current situation and enemy's abilities to make predictions, and makes use of his cultivated battle experience to plan his attack. In spite of danger, he takes consideration of all possible actions in a particular situation, and if there is even a one percent chance of a comeback, the ability improves the chances of success. Although superior to Shirou, the circumstances of their battle lead to Archer being unable to see through Shirou's "passion-infused strike which puts 'ideal' on the line", and he ultimately is struck by it. He does not to answer as to why he did not block an attack he should have been able to easily block, and it is possible he does not know the answer.

His nerves of steel, his mind's eye obtained through experience, is nothing extraordinary compared to Saber's Instinct, but noted to be the only skill that he possesses, a weapon wielded by a mortal that anyone can gain through tenacious training. It is the result of an overwhelming amount of combat experience, allowing him to see even Lancer's thrusts, fast enough that they are not visible to even his honed eyes. Though Lancer is far superior, Archer is able to guide the fight to his advantage through his experience, utilizing his inferiority as a weapon to control the attacks coming at him.

Archer battles such opponents by leaving fatal openings, dodging them and risking instant death instead of slowly being cut up, which would ensure his loss as the fight drags out. Through battle, he is able to think of at least thirty ways to "show an opening", and this allows him to match Lancer's onslaught without being overwhelmed. Although he should not be a match because he should only be able to put up a true fight as a long-range archer and holds no prospect for victory in close combat, he is able to block Lancer's full force strikes, leaving Lancer perplexed at the situation and noting Archer's mysterious strength.

Independent Action
Archer's ability to survive alone is extremely great, displayed in his Independent Action. Independent Action allows him to act without constant support from his Master, and while normal Servants fade within hours after losing their Master, he can last much longer due to the ability. He can also survive for a short period of time even should he sustain lethal damage to his spiritual core. Servants of his rank normally have two days in the world without active support from a Master, but that figure is based upon maximally conserving energy while also avoiding battle and the usage of Noble Phantasms.

Archer is able to switch Masters, act independently without a Master and do battle with ten percent of his abilities left, sustain ultimately fatal injuries, observe the battle between Shirou and Gilgamesh in spiritual form, protect Shirou with Rho Aias, save Rin and Shinji from the mud, and then finally eliminate Gilgamesh to save Shirou in the Unlimited Blade Works scenario. His final attack is a regular arrow instead of a Noble Phantasm, and due to his gradual fading after the attack, it shows the final limits of his materialization.[1] Even after sustaining a lethal injury, he is able to survive long enough in the Heaven's Feel scenario to allow for his arm to be transplanted due to the ability.

Trivia

 * The scene "Decisive Battle" in Fate/hollow ataraxia shows Archer remembering the very first scene of the Prologue of Fate/stay night with Shirou Emiya summoning Saber, and though it was meant to show that the Prologue scene was from Archer's perspective, Kinoko Nasu was surprised when nobody made the connection.


 * In the first Popularity polls of Fate/stay night in 2004, Archer was ranked 3rd and the top most voted male character.
 * In the second Popularity polls of Fate/stay night in 2006, Archer was ranked 3rd and the top most voted male character.
 * In the Type-Moon's 10th Anniversary Character Poll, Archer was ranked 3rd and the top most voted male character.