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Entry tags:
APP [asgard eventide];
OOC Information;
Name; DEBS!
Personal Journal; earthflames @ dreamwidth
Contact; likesnuts[AT]gmail.com | regalias @ plurk
Other Characters; n/a
IC Information;
Character Name; Archer
Canon; Fate/Stay Night
Canon Point; AFTER THE WHOLE FUCKING MANSION GOES UP IN FLAAAAAAAAAMES. (good job, Lancer, you're a true bro)
Age; died in his early 30's before going on to become a hilariously tragic paradox removed from the time continuum that would make lovers of schadenfreude wank furiously for weeks.
House; Sigyn
Power; Healing
Personality;
It takes a certain, brazen sort of personality to come crashing through the roof of someone's home, completely destroying their living room, before deciding to kick back on their couch like they own the whole damn place. That's the kind of dude Archer is. He's a bit of an asshole, not an ill-meaning one, but the sort of asshole who embraces his bitter and cynical nature and has little reservation about projecting it to the rest of the world. Case in point: before his summoner and Master, Tohsaka Rin, manages to earn his respect, he manages to aggravate her with a line of questioning so flippantly condescending that she wastes a command spell ordering him to shut up and be obedient. It works. Sort of.
See, as mentioned before, Archer isn't an asshole without a cause. While the order issued through the command spell is uselessly vague, Rin’s own magical aptitude serves to strengthen its effects to a very noticeable point, and Archer doesn’t hesitate to acknowledge the extent of her abilities. The girl whom he had taken to be a frail master proves herself, and a true sense of respect is forged between the two; indeed, the banter they exchange from that point forward is less a sign of Archer’s antagonism towards her and more a mark of his respect for her. Rin is strong. Rin can handle him. And because of this, Rin deserves to be chastised when necessary because he knows she’ll learn from his outwardly harsh words. As a character who is actually a fair embodiment of the "true neutral" alignment he was assigned, it isn't difficult to extrapolate that he'd treat other people outside his canon in a very similar manner: if he likes you, he'll be a dick. If he doesn't like you, he'll be a well meaning dick. It's a fine line, but one he happily treads, regardless of how others view him (they'll either understand or be frustrated. or not care. it depends on the person. the possibilities are endless.). Fuck the police.
While he’s by no means a bad guy, however, Archer is positioned as the sort-of-antagonist of the Unlimited Blade Works route because of his Machiavellian nature. Archer is the stubborn sort, the type who doesn’t yield to anything after he sets his mind to something. His very existence as a heroic spirit is built upon the fact that he was not exceptional, not gifted, but stubborn enough to cultivate what he had into something great for the sole purpose of achieving a single goal. So when he decides that he really wants to kill his past self, Emiya Shirou, he’s going to fucking do it no matter what. To this end, he betrays Rin by temporarily joining forces with Caster and allowing her to use her Rule Breaker Noble Phantasm to sever his contract with Rin. While he claims he joined Caster because it offered the most likely path to victory, his true objective was to sever the contract in order to negate the “don’t harm Shirou” command spell Rin placed on him.
He wants to kill Shirou. He wants to kill Shirou really, really badly, and no one can really blame him. Most Heroic Spirits summoned by the Grail are heroes from days long past, beings that transcended humanity and were remembered for it. Archer, on the other hand, is a counter guardian, an individual who created a contract with the world in exchange for a miracle. After his physical death, he was removed from the time continuum and summoned in times of the world’s most dire need – times where the only way to preserve humanity was to slaughter the countless individuals who threatened the world. And so he killed in the name of being a hero, a thankless spirit whose only reward was the very act of saving others. He had sacrificed himself in order to secure happiness and salvation for everyone around him, and yet he saw nothing but self-destruction and death, a vicious, endless cycle that he had trapped himself within. Betrayed by his own desire to save others, confronted with the notion that what he had wished for was in stark contradiction to his reality, he banked everything on the off-chance that he’d be able to eliminate himself. Even if the possibility of ending his own existence was infinitesimally small, he endured his situation with the hope that he would create enough of a cosmic contradiction by killing himself. In not so many words: he's really fucking stubborn.
It doesn’t work. There’s too much plot armor standing between Archer and his younger, less-ill-fated counterpart, after all. Ultimately Archer lures Shirou into a fight with him, a duel that should have been one-sided, that should have ended with Shirou dead on the ground. Instead, it’s Archer who is dealt a loss after Shirou’s refusal to deny his —their—own desire to continue living as a hero. “I’m not wrong”: those words deal the decisive blow to Archer as much as a sword through his chest does. It’s that blind, stubborn insistence and that persistence in the face of impossibility that reminds Archer of everything that he once was, perhaps casting a small light upon his own existence. In the moments after his defeat, he steps between Shirou and Gilgamesh’s attack in order to shield his past self. There is, perhaps, no salvation for Archer himself, but by the end of Unlimited Blade Works, the load has been lightened. Before he fades from the world, Archer asks that Rin protect Shirou – an unspoken request to protect him from the same fate Archer himself was forced to endure. It’s far from a perfect resolution, but it’s one that allows him to leave this world with a rare, sincere smile on his face.
Name; DEBS!
Personal Journal; earthflames @ dreamwidth
Contact; likesnuts[AT]gmail.com | regalias @ plurk
Other Characters; n/a
IC Information;
Character Name; Archer
Canon; Fate/Stay Night
Canon Point; AFTER THE WHOLE FUCKING MANSION GOES UP IN FLAAAAAAAAAMES. (good job, Lancer, you're a true bro)
Age; died in his early 30's before going on to become a hilariously tragic paradox removed from the time continuum that would make lovers of schadenfreude wank furiously for weeks.
House; Sigyn
Power; Healing
Personality;
It takes a certain, brazen sort of personality to come crashing through the roof of someone's home, completely destroying their living room, before deciding to kick back on their couch like they own the whole damn place. That's the kind of dude Archer is. He's a bit of an asshole, not an ill-meaning one, but the sort of asshole who embraces his bitter and cynical nature and has little reservation about projecting it to the rest of the world. Case in point: before his summoner and Master, Tohsaka Rin, manages to earn his respect, he manages to aggravate her with a line of questioning so flippantly condescending that she wastes a command spell ordering him to shut up and be obedient. It works. Sort of.
See, as mentioned before, Archer isn't an asshole without a cause. While the order issued through the command spell is uselessly vague, Rin’s own magical aptitude serves to strengthen its effects to a very noticeable point, and Archer doesn’t hesitate to acknowledge the extent of her abilities. The girl whom he had taken to be a frail master proves herself, and a true sense of respect is forged between the two; indeed, the banter they exchange from that point forward is less a sign of Archer’s antagonism towards her and more a mark of his respect for her. Rin is strong. Rin can handle him. And because of this, Rin deserves to be chastised when necessary because he knows she’ll learn from his outwardly harsh words. As a character who is actually a fair embodiment of the "true neutral" alignment he was assigned, it isn't difficult to extrapolate that he'd treat other people outside his canon in a very similar manner: if he likes you, he'll be a dick. If he doesn't like you, he'll be a well meaning dick. It's a fine line, but one he happily treads, regardless of how others view him (they'll either understand or be frustrated. or not care. it depends on the person. the possibilities are endless.). Fuck the police.
While he’s by no means a bad guy, however, Archer is positioned as the sort-of-antagonist of the Unlimited Blade Works route because of his Machiavellian nature. Archer is the stubborn sort, the type who doesn’t yield to anything after he sets his mind to something. His very existence as a heroic spirit is built upon the fact that he was not exceptional, not gifted, but stubborn enough to cultivate what he had into something great for the sole purpose of achieving a single goal. So when he decides that he really wants to kill his past self, Emiya Shirou, he’s going to fucking do it no matter what. To this end, he betrays Rin by temporarily joining forces with Caster and allowing her to use her Rule Breaker Noble Phantasm to sever his contract with Rin. While he claims he joined Caster because it offered the most likely path to victory, his true objective was to sever the contract in order to negate the “don’t harm Shirou” command spell Rin placed on him.
He wants to kill Shirou. He wants to kill Shirou really, really badly, and no one can really blame him. Most Heroic Spirits summoned by the Grail are heroes from days long past, beings that transcended humanity and were remembered for it. Archer, on the other hand, is a counter guardian, an individual who created a contract with the world in exchange for a miracle. After his physical death, he was removed from the time continuum and summoned in times of the world’s most dire need – times where the only way to preserve humanity was to slaughter the countless individuals who threatened the world. And so he killed in the name of being a hero, a thankless spirit whose only reward was the very act of saving others. He had sacrificed himself in order to secure happiness and salvation for everyone around him, and yet he saw nothing but self-destruction and death, a vicious, endless cycle that he had trapped himself within. Betrayed by his own desire to save others, confronted with the notion that what he had wished for was in stark contradiction to his reality, he banked everything on the off-chance that he’d be able to eliminate himself. Even if the possibility of ending his own existence was infinitesimally small, he endured his situation with the hope that he would create enough of a cosmic contradiction by killing himself. In not so many words: he's really fucking stubborn.
It doesn’t work. There’s too much plot armor standing between Archer and his younger, less-ill-fated counterpart, after all. Ultimately Archer lures Shirou into a fight with him, a duel that should have been one-sided, that should have ended with Shirou dead on the ground. Instead, it’s Archer who is dealt a loss after Shirou’s refusal to deny his —their—own desire to continue living as a hero. “I’m not wrong”: those words deal the decisive blow to Archer as much as a sword through his chest does. It’s that blind, stubborn insistence and that persistence in the face of impossibility that reminds Archer of everything that he once was, perhaps casting a small light upon his own existence. In the moments after his defeat, he steps between Shirou and Gilgamesh’s attack in order to shield his past self. There is, perhaps, no salvation for Archer himself, but by the end of Unlimited Blade Works, the load has been lightened. Before he fades from the world, Archer asks that Rin protect Shirou – an unspoken request to protect him from the same fate Archer himself was forced to endure. It’s far from a perfect resolution, but it’s one that allows him to leave this world with a rare, sincere smile on his face.