Media Minute: Type Moon and Anime Arthur

Lots of people know about the anime series called Fate that pulls from global history/myths to make super-powered warriors in a magical battle royalle.

If you’ve ever seen an episode, you know that Type Moon decided to walk on the wild-side when designing Arthur. Arthur became Arturia, and the world of Arthurian legend exploded. That isn’t the end to what Fate played with in Camelot, but today we’re concentrating on Arthur.

Arturia is a fun “What if?” character that seems less like an actual interpretation of the legendary king and more of a new idea that just uses some Arthuriana scraps for flavor. I don’t mind the idea of a female King Arthur, but I don’t care much for Arturia.

Arturia as a character is fine. She’s a decent, though somewhat flat, female warrior with all the angst you expect from a lady knight. What she is not is a good interpretation of Arthur. According to Fate’s lore, Camelot failed because she could not understand the hearts of her people. This disconnect was apparently caused by Excalibur, which gave her great power AND stripped her of most of her human understanding. That idea isn’t as strange as you would think, since her callousness would have lead to the normal events surrounding Camelot’s fall (i.e. Guinevere’s affair, Mordred’s betrayal etc.).

Where Arturia falls flat is her lack of moxie. She is supposedly one of the greatest kings who ever lived, but she’s always hesitating back and forth between courses of action. While this lets her come across as more feminine, and helps develop her relationship with the protagonists, it seriously undermines her position as King Arthur. I’m not saying she’s not allowed to yearn for a simpler life as a normal woman, but she shouldn’t have been so complacent and easily bowled over. Arturia has all of the physical prowess and backstory to set her up to be an excellent and unique addition to the King Arthur hall-of-fame. Unfortunately, she trips at the finish line and leaves me wondering what could have been if she’d been given a little more work-shopping time.

Of course this isn’t then end of Arturia!

Arturia is far from finished, thank goodness, and she’s still getting lots of new content thanks to additional versions of the Fate anime and the mobile game Fate Grand Order. If you play FGO, you know that there are a whopping 13 different versions of Artoria in the game! Each version showcases a different side of her character and has really helped build her up into a more respectable version of King Arthur. (I for one am a little tired of Arturia being one of the only people who ever seems to get an alt, but I digress)

Arturia’s alts come in a wide variety of flavors, ranging from evil versions that give you a peek into her darker subconscious, to hardened lance-wielding monstrosities that let you see just how BAD Arturia’s disconnect from her emotions might have been. There are younger versions of Arturia to give you a taste of her childhood, etc.

The most intriguing alt that she has is her lone male version. I say that he’s the most intriguing version of her not because he’s a guy, but because he’s the prototype Arthur for the Fate Series.

In the preliminaries, Arthur was a pretty boy prince who was pretty predictable and easy to read. As the prototype plot for Fate was fleshed out, Arthur became a pretty interesting character. Despite his goody-goody design and attitude, he was one of the servants who didn’t hesitate to kill his master when the need was great enough. His master was madly in love with him and was determined to fulfill Arthur’s wish of saving England. In the process she killed many innocent people, even going to the point of almost killing her younger sister. Arthur figures out what’s going on and puts an end to it by shoving Excalibur through his master’s chest. Arturia would have NEVER killed Shirou, her master.

Arthur has some pretty nihilistic moments that Arturia never does. Arturia always believes in a greater good, while Arthur seems to have PTSD from Camelot and is questioning whether anything in life even matters.

While Arthur’s problem wasn’t a disconnect with his emotions like Arturia’s was, he was arguably just as hardened as she had been. Male Arthur’s hardening was something he had developed himself, and not something that he could cast off when he died and became a heroic spirit like Arturia.

Since Arturia grew out of Arthur, I think it’s important to look at his story before judging Arturia’s too harshly. Neither of them are perfect, but with the newfound understanding of how ARTHUR effected his female counterpart, lends new light onto the subject. Arturia grew out of the traditional version of knightly values, and made a very important statement regarding the true nature of King Arthur.

I don’t remember where, but at one point, Fate points out that King Arthur will always fail when he’s alone.

WOW! They literally hit the nail on the head with that one! Arturia is allowed to be someone who needs protecting as much as she protects. She is the embodiment of the overlooked aspect of the Arthurian mythos. Arthur is alone when he fails to defend Camelot at Camlainn. It’s the first time he fights alone and the first time he fails to keep Camelot safe.

That said, Arturia and Arthur are essentially the same character with one major difference. Arthur is a man and is expected to break free of his past and push himself forward on his own. Arturia is a girl who is supposed to be saved from her past by the protagonist of her game. It’s the oldest shtick in the book.

In the end, do I think Arturia is a good Arthur?

I think she is a unique eastern view on a western character and a good version. I don’t personally like the version so much, but despite the inherent weaknesses of the character, Arturia is not a bad King Arthur. I find her male version to be much more interesting, but that’s my own opinion.

Please check out this article on the two versions of Fate Arthur if you’re interested!