Part 86: Idylls of the King - Artoria - Part 1

Artoria 1





Well, I'll talk about this costume next time, so instead, let's talk Arthurian mythology. By far Britain's most famous legendary king, King Arthur is one of the most well-known figures in human mythology in general. You don't even have to specify who you're talking about, just say "King Arthur", and basically anyone in the developed world will know who you're referring to. The historical background for his story is the chaos of post-Roman Britain. With the only military force capable of restraining foreign invaders from the north and the sea withdrawing, as the story goes, the land descended into chaos. Out of the chaos emerged a number of petty kings and warlords whose justice was based only through the force of their armies. One of the kings was Uther Pendragon, who wished to bring order to the land and raise the banner of Pendragon across all of Britain. The mysterious magus, Merlin, offered him via prophecy, what he desired: a child by the woman Uther loved, Igraine of Cornwall, who would succeed where their father could not: uniting the land under one king.

Uther's union with Igraine, aided by Merlin, produced a child. But, in this mythology, this child was a girl, who Uther, even though he was assured by Merlin this child would be a great king infused with the blood of dragons, thought would never be accepted on account of their sex. The child was handed off to Sir Ector, a good but unremarkable knight, and one of his attendants, Sir Kay. In this environment, the girl, called Artoria, trained under Sir Kay and Ector in the ways of the sword. Artoria was always superior to Kay in terms of swordsmanship, but he was never the type to accept defeat.

Finally, after Uther died, Ector took Kay and Artoria to a ceremony to choose the king's successor. The only thing found at the site, though, was a sword stuck in a stone, which declared that whoever could remove the sword would be the rightful king of all England. Merlin, of course, enchanted the sword so that only the small, 15-year old girl could remove it and prove her identity before all the assembled knights. Before she did, however, Merlin appeared and wanted to make sure she was prepared for what it meant to pull out that sword. She said she was prepared to become king, abandon any pretense of being a normal person, and lead the country as a king who would kill as much as needed to achieve the peace her father sought. Bearing that resolve, she removed the sword, covered in light.

After removing Caliburn, the sword of selection, Artoria (who changed her name to Arthur to keep her sex secret. Very few on the Round Table were aware the king was a woman, except for Kay and eventually Lancelot. Merlin and Uther also knew) founded Camelot, a castle of knights that would crush all the petty kings, the exploitative and corrupt barons, villainous knights, dangerous beasts like dragons, and foreign invaders, to bring peace to the land. Because she couldn't do all that herself, and to instill in the knighthood the ideals of chivalry, she founded the Round Table. The Round Table, in her expectation, would gather all the greatest knights of Britain (and anyone from other countries who proved themselves) to fight in her name as their feudal lord and to see her ideals come to pass. The earliest knights were family or who had been with her a long time: Gawain, Bedivere, and Kay. Gradually more and more knights, impressed with the valiant king who had crushed so many enemies, would join: King Pellinore (a king who was allied with Uther), Bors, Tristan, Gaheris (Gawain's sister), Palomedes, and Percival. Tales of the Round Table would reach France, where it prompted France's greatest knight, Lancelot, to come and see the King of Britain for himself. Impressed with what he found, he too joined.

With 10 of Europe's finest knights at Camelot, Artoria proceeded to win one battle after another. Never tasting defeat, she would break one enemy after another, bringing peace to an island that had known only war. One of the most difficult battles was the subjugation of Vortigern, a horrible man-turned-dragon that Uther had never managed to subdue. Vortigern was also Uther's brother and Artoria's uncle. The battle against Vortigern represented, in Merlin's prophecy, the battle between the White Dragon of the Saxons and the Red Dragon of Britain.This was one of Artoria's most difficult battles, and it was only with the combined power of her Excalibur and Gawain's Galatine that they were able to subdue the beast.

However, the peace Artoria sought to bring was prophesized to ephemeral, and so it was. Merlin himself vanished after a few years assisting Artoria, and two new members joined the Round Table under Morgana, one of Arthur's sisters, recommendation: Agravaine and Mordred. To the former, Agravaine bore no particular love for Arthur and was only scheming in his mother's name to have her sit on the throne instead. To the latter, Mordred was the product of a curious episode. In the interests of producing an heir after Artoria would pass and to strengthen her family's hold on the throne, Merlin turned Artoria into a man. Under enchantment one fateful day, Morgana acquired some of Artoria's sperm to create a homunculus who would possess all the same powers as her "father", and to be an exact clone of her royal father. However, to conceal her plan, the rapidly-aging Mordred was giving a special helmet, called Secret of Pedigree, that she was not to remove at all until the time was right.

Mordred served Artoria as a loyal knight for many years, but one day demanded her father accept her as a son. Artoria was as surprised as anyone (this conversation happened in private) about Mordred's appearance, and said that while Mordred was a valued member of her Table, she could never be accepted as king or heir to Camelot, either by her as king or by the knights. Mordred, enraged at this response, stormed out of Camelot, swearing she would sit upon the throne one day soon.

The other force in motion was Lancelot's affair with Guinevere, Artoria's wife. Artoria had married Guinevere purely out of convenience (though it should be said, even after Guinevere discovered her "husband" was a woman, her romantic affections weren't affected), but it was an important convenience that established her as a more legitimate king. Over time, a romantic affair began between Lancelot, the greatest knight of the Round, and the queen. Artoria didn't mind things as they were, believing it not a matter that required her input, but for the sake of her newly-imposed form of justice, after the affair had been revealed, it demanded the queen's death. Artoria reluctantly ordered Guinevere to her death, but Lancelot came in at the last moment, and rescued the queen, killing a number of knights, including Gawain's siblings Gareth and Gaheris, in the process. Lancelot's grief over having betrayed his king and killing his friend's brother and sister drove him to madness, with the added insanity that the king refused to cast righteous judgment upon him.

Even before this incident, the Round Table had shown signs of cracking. Tristan had left a few years prior to his tragic end pursuing his love, Iseult, and Artoria's demanded quest for the Holy Grail thinned the Table, as well (only Galahad, Lancelot's son by a woman named Elaine, succeeded). Foreign problems brought the remnants of the Table to continental Europe to fight against the Roman emperor Lucius, but while she was out, news reached her that Mordred had raised an army in rebellion against the "perfect" king, her father. Artoria returned to Britain to battle against her, and after almost all the knights on both sides had been killed, Artoria stabbed her illegitimate child through the heart with the spear Rhongomyniad, killing her. Mordred responded with one final charge that mortally wounded Artoria, in turn.

The now-fallen king managed to drag her body off the field to a quiet glen, attended to by the first and last member of the Round Table, Bedivere. She instructed her retainer to return Excalibur to the Lady of the Lake, a task he accomplished only very reluctantly, as relinquishing the sword meant his king's death. After the task had been done, Artoria was whisked away to Avalon, a place that cannot be found on any map, where she was fated to return when Britain needed her again most.







Artoria stage 2

It's a curious thing. It's as if these frontiers retain something both phantasmal and arcane. Had the Moon Cell not explained otherwise, I would think these were the lands of Earth. The resemblance is almost perfect... SE.RA.PH exists as its own world. So these lands truly are new lands, the Extella of the Moon. My role here is not to fight for a wish in the Holy Grail War, but to defend against aggression and half conflicts. To act as a deterrent...It's different than usual, but I'm glad to fight as a protector. ...Yes, I will fight. So that these lands can continue to be Extella, I will take this divine sword in my hand as I once did. This is my role. To witness the changes in the world, and to determine the truth of what threatens it. First I must seek the cause of this abearrance. Altera... Where to start? On the front lines of battle, one would assume.








Altera... I need to gather information on what kind of Heroic Spirit she is.







I like to think Artoria wandered right into Cu's stage 2.

It's an annoying barrier, but I'm good at monster hunting. Say your prayers.

Nice job trying to act tough. The battle starts here... I'll take my time killing you.

Stop! If you continue to fight in SE.RA.PH, I will not maintain silence...!

Aah? You think you have any say after your late arrival? I'll clean you up if you stand in my way.

An unfamiliar Saber class... You are a threat. Ready yourself.





Those who step into the Blood Fort Andromeda are my prey... I'll deal with you.

...It seems you two are unfamiliar with explaining. I'll have to take over before getting information.

So Cu and Medusa put aside their differences to deal with you. This is how all of Artoria's stages play out. After a short intro scene, you'll fight two enemy Servants who will both be trying to kill you. This is why I said Artoria can't quite display her full potential in her Side Story.



Really, the hardest part is managing if enemies unleash their Moon Drives while not in sync with each other, which is quite likely. Other than that, there's really nothing to these stages, because Artoria is so damn good.

Also, take notice of the two Noble Phantasm Circuits. Artoria's story is about the only place where normal Servants will atempt to use their NPs if you kill one Servant and leave the other alone at low health for too long. Knocking them out of their NP is the only way to fill up your Phantasm Circuit. Even so, it's not particularly necessary. If enemy Servants outside of Nero / Tamamo / Altera / Gil / Artoria try to use their NPs in the entire rest of the game, I never saw it.



That Lancer fell. Despite him being my enemy, I didn't hate him.

Yep, there's different lines depending on who goes down first. Medusa's "lucky" he went first.





Maybe next time.








I would shower you in praise and rewards if you had only defeated the enemy Rider, but for what reason do you attack my generals as well?! Truly, your attacks are so arbitrary, so diabolical! What could I have ever done to deserve this?! Oh. Well, I suppose I DID interfere with the targeting directive of the attack programs, but that is the nature of war. Accept it as such! And to be fair, I did that only because you rushed headlong into mowing down my precious warriors of Rome! Wait a moment.. Are you perhaps a new vassal of Caster? But...you attacked her generals as well... Perhaps you are merely under the guise of a Saber, and are truly a Berserker underneath...

You are mistaken. I serve neither side in this conflict. I seek only to root out the seeds of war from the soil of this world. In turn, I ask you what compelled you to use attack programs. They are dangerous weapons, and lead easily to aberrations. You know that battles between Servants are ferocious affairs. Did you not consider the poor AI who were swept up therein?

Hmm... Well, to answer that... I find the powers of the Regalia quite enjoyable to use, especially when armies bow at my command. ...Perhaps I was wrong. Perhaps you have the right of it. I placed my Roman citizens under such pain and strife. Thank you, Blue Berser... No, Blue Saber. You have saved my soul and my people.

...Hm, so it seems you can be reasoned with. You are wise and kind, at least by the standards of a Roman Emperor. And your words are well spoken. It seems you can be trusted to protect SE.RA.PH. By the way, Red Saber... I seek the cause of these aberrations, the one called Altera. Do you know where she is, by any chance?

Altera, you say? No, I have never heard that name. Although I have heard certain stories of this new SE.RA.PH. Have you the time for a long story?

Of course. One can never possess too much information.

Then hear me. It all began with the Holy Grail of the Moon. My Master and I were victorious, and received the gift of the Regalia-

Regalia, you say?