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[boneofsword]

Player Information
Name: mchan
Age: 25+
Contact: this journal boneofsword
Other Characters: none

Character Information
Name: Archer (EMIYA)
Canon: Fate/Stay Night [Unlimited Blade Works]
Canon Point: right after UBW ending
Age: thirties when he died, then the long time spent as a Counter Guardian (neither is really specified in canon) Summoned as a Servant he appears to be in his late twenties
History: Archer and partially his teenage self

Personality:

Archer - known better during his life as Shirou Emiya - is a contradiction. At the first, second, and even a third glance he's a cynical pragmatist that will do anything necessary to obtain his goal. The truth is much more complicated, because at his core he's still an idealist who wants to save as many people as he can; his ideal cost him both his life and, in turn, part of his sanity. Yet that part came much, much later; Emiya made a deal with the World (Alaya) so he could become a Heroic Spirit after his death in order to save people. However, he was forced to kill indiscriminately instead of helping. Such turn of events made him jaded, and Emiya started to resent his ideals. The subsequent betrayals destroyed his faith in humanity and twisted his personality. To sum it up it's best to use Rin's parting words, where she teasingly calls him a "twisted jerk".

Archer does regret a lot of his choices yet he still can't deny the ideals he and Shirou fight for. His own inability to notice the hypocrisy of those led him to a dangerous path, and each subsequent betrayal consumed more of him, until he became obsessed with the idea of killing Shirou from any alternate timeline, believing that the resulting time paradox will erase his own existence as a Counter Guardian. During his showdown with Shirou he's reminded of his own ideals and hesitates instead of dealing the killing blow, which results in his defeat. At the end Archer admits to Rin that he has no goal left anymore and vanishes with a smile.

His ideals, although being the ones he borrowed from his adoptive father, stem from survivor's guilt. As a sole survivor of a disastrous fire he puts other's lives before his own and is capable of self-sacrificing himself in order to save (or to help) others. A good example of this is Shirou's willingness to sacrifice his own hand on behalf of his adoptive aunt in FSN Ufotable adaptation, or Archer's death which made him a Counter Guardian, when he was betrayed by his allies and executed as the mastermind behind the war that he desperately fought to end. Another one is Archer's decision during FSN Heaven's Feel route to transplant his own arm to Shirou, to save one life instead of letting both of them perish. His wish to not allow such tragedy as the fire happen again, to not allow anyone else get hurt for his sake, to strive to protect everyone even at the cost of his own life, lays at the very core of the ideals he still upholds.

When Archer does offer advice it often comes out as sarcastic, despite his best intentions. As his sense of self-worth and happiness comes from seeing others happy thanks to his own actions, he's apt to help while maintaining his cynical attitude. It's shown in his taking care of Rin, cooking and doing various mundane things. He can also be childish, making him hard to hate.

Archer doesn't show many emotions, at least the negative ones. During such moments he becomes very stiff and formal, not showing anything aside his trademark smug expression or anger. It also shows during UBW anime, mostly when Archer reminds Rin that she should kill Shirou in order to win this Grail War. Another example which shows just how used he is to hiding his emotions is when Shirou forces himself to push his feelings aside to check on unconscious classmates in order to behave like hero of justice should, or not freaking out when one of his friends says that she never saw him being happy. Which also is important, since Archer himself forgot that feeling.

While he doesn't tell lies he has no problem telling half-truth or omitting details. He does use any means to obtain his goal, and can appreciate others' underhanded tactics even if such contradict his beliefs.

His hobbies are cooking and housechores, although he's going to deny that. He also excelled at the 'who will give up first' competitions. While he's not a big fan of video games he's willing to play once started. He's also proficient at fixing various appliances to practice his magecraft and can spend hours immersed in work.

Abilities & Skills:

• Servant Heroic Spirits are summoned as Servants. That means their body is in reality a materialized mana supplied by their Master. Without a mana supply they cannot stay materialized, instead staying in spirit form that's visible only to other Servants and those with such ability, and will eventually fade away. Their Masters gain three Command Seals which are crystallized magic and are orders of absolute obedience, even forcing the Servant to kill themself if such command is issued. Additionally even the weakest Servants are much more powerful and resilient than humans, cue the need for seals.



• Independent Action is a specific skill that allows him to act without a mana support from the Master, and makes him nigh impossible to kill. While normal Servants will fade away after losing their Master, Archer is able to extend that time to two days in spirit form and without engaging in battle nor using Broken Phantasms. During Ultimate Blade Works route in FSN he switches Masters, battles with ten percent of his abilities left, sustains fatal injuries and stays in the spirit form to observe the final battle during which he projects Rho Aias to protect Shirou, fires a barrage of arrows to clear path for Rin and Shinji, and finally knocks Gilgamesh out. This last attack uses a normal weapon, and he starts fading away afterwards. In Heaven's Feel route Archer survives a lethal injury long enough for Kotomine to transplant his arm to Shirou and only then fades.



• Eye of the Mind this skill allows him to predict enemy attacks and counterattacks, constantly thinking ten steps ahead to develop a strategy allowing him to survive the encounter without getting killed. His combat style consists of leaving fatal openings, dodging and parrying, during which he's able to think of at least thirty ways of leaving the enemy a fatal opening to strike.
  
  During the battle Archer does analyze the situation calmly and thinks ahead, utilizing the situation to best suit his skills. While not being a match for other Heroic Spirits who mastered a single weapon, Archer is able to match his opponents in melee combat, adapting to enemy fighting style and replacing swords when they're destroyed of if he's disarmed. In his fight against Lancer he's able to project twenty-eight pairs of swords with no trouble.



• Clairvoyance/Hawk Eye is the ability that allows for perfect accuracy even against fast-moving targets as long as they're within four kilometers radius. Given that even during his human life Archer has had a perfect accuracy and missed only once, knowing from the start that his arrow will miss, his skill even allows him to shoot two targets using one arrow. This ability also allows for scouting from the distance.



• Projection Magecraft Archer uses a specialized version of projection and reinforcement magecraft. He can analyze and copy any close combat weapon he sees, as long as the weapon isn't made of something that doesn't exist in this world (best example is Gilgamesh's Ea) and isn't a modern weapon like a gun or similar complicated one. He can also create his own weapons, as well as project armor although the cost is two to three times higher. Archer is also able to use reinforcement on his own body, for example enhancing his eyes to see up to four kilometers. Other notable uses of reinforcement on mundane objects are strengthening a paper roll to block incoming lance attack, or using desk as a shield against magecraft spell.
  
  The weapons he favors are either twin swords Kanshou and Bakuya or his bow and Broken Phantasms that detonate after hitting the target, or regular arrows.
  
  He's also able to project a copy of Excalibur in suicidal attack, as seen in Fate/Grand Order short manga published in Type-Moon magazine, due to the amount of magical energy it takes to faithfully replicate such Noble Phantasm.
  
  Aside of all the weapons he can also project mundane items, as seen in FHA (fishing pole) or FGO game (cooking set)



• Kanshou and Bakuya twin swords that Archer favors. Reinforced with warding spells that offer anti-magic protection, allowing Archer to block Caster's A-ranked spells. When one of those swords is thrown it will return like a boomerang to its wielder's hand, which can be seen during the battle with Caster in Ufotable's adaptation of FSN [Unlimited Blade Works] and in Fate/Grand Order movie.



• Unlimited Blade Works his sole magecraft and Noble Phantasm. It manifests a Bounded Field projecting his mental landscape. It's an endless wasteland with swords akin to grave markers and huge gears up in the sky. This is also the source of all of his weapons and the Broken Phantasms that Archer can materialize at will to shoot as arrows using his bow, or summon into air and fire at the target when he wishes to. Archer invokes it using a ten-count poem, which first verse is also often used to strengthen projected weapons.
  
  One of the advantages of Archer's Unlimited Blade Works is that he is able to wield any weapon stored there with same skill and proficiency as the original owner as well as remember its whole history. Note that it's limited to the weapons already stored there, not to those he will encounter elsewhere.
  
  Another manifestation of UBW is a sort of healing ability, which appears as countless blades manifesting right under skin. Shown during Heaven's Feel FSN route where Shirou survives otherwise lethal attacks that should leave him heavily injured or even crippled. In Ufotable's UBW it appears only in Shirou's nightmare.

Inventory/Companions:

• Kanshou and Bakuya - twin swords that are Archer's weapon of choice


• Red jewel pendant, a memento of his unknown savior that he kept to the end of his days.

Choice: roulette with a request of opposite result to futhark?

• Witch


• Monster - eastern dragon

Reason:

• Witch: While Archer was a mage during his life, he has been unable to use any other magic than projection and reinforcement. It has been caused by the magically imbued sheath of Saber's sword that's been fused to him, and the subsequent change of his Origin - alignment - to Sword, thus making him unable to use any of the elements. Giving him actual ability to use magic is an interesting change and something I want to explore.



• Monster: As someone painfully aware of his own shortcomings Archer's going to think how ill suited he is to become one. Not being on par with other Heroic Spirits he's had to use all of his abilities to win and strive hard to survive; suddenly becoming a very powerful being is going to mess him up. Moreover, as someone who has tried to discard his own feelings and still thinks of himself as not worthy of kindness, hoarding affection and closeness will be hard.
  
  Another reason that Archer himself will be aware of, and consider it deeply ironic, is his own bond with his Servant - Saber - from the Fifth Grail War. Sabers True Name was Artoria Pendragon, and she had draconic blood. More than that, for this bond goes much deeper than just typical Master/Servant one - for half of his life Archer has been fused with sheath of Saber's weapon and Noble Phantasm, and despite the fact that, as a Counter Guardian, he admits that he has forgotten most of his life, the only memory still fresh in his mind is of Saber.
  
  Last but not least one is his self-control and tendency to push his own needs and feeling aside. He's going to struggle with the change and giving into his newfound instincts, while knowing how much risk it puts him in. Giving up some of that control, becoming more open about his wants and needs and allowing himself to feel is something I'd love to play.


Sample: [sample#1] [sample#2]