「application」→ mayfield_rpg。
Name: Dana
Personal LJ: lovexamination
Contact Info: aim: love examination plurk: lastend
Other Characters Played: None currently, but I'm apping Kirie Fujou (overlookingview) from Kara No Kyoukai this app cycle as well.
Preferred Housing: 310 Miller Street; I have permissions from everyone!
Character Name: Archer
Character Series: Fate/Stay Night
Character Age: Mid to late twenties or early thirties.
Background: the series in general | @wikipedia | @type moon wiki
Personality: Though the sort of first impression one gets of Archer varies and depends on the situation when one first meets him, he's always quick to come across as several things; confusing, strange, impossible to understand, and incredibly enigmatic. Generally, in most environments and situations, Archer carries an indifferent, relaxed and somewhat carefree attitude towards life and everything in it. He's a laid-back, calm and composed person, who initially is difficult to surprise or to get to, very frustratingly so. He's honest, frank, straightforward, doesn't pull punches, and doesn't mind saying what he thinks- which isn't really always a good thing. To be blunt, Archer is a jerk. He's a man with a quick and sharp tongue whose speech generally consists of sarcastic, snarky remarks, mockery and insults, all varying in levels of subtlety, some indirect and some horribly direct; e's completley shameless and doesn't hesitate to insult someone straight to their face; he has the time of his life making fun of people and treats everyone in his surroundings with absolute disrespect. The fact that he delivers it all in a calm, casual, nonchalant tone of voice without hesitation just emphasizes it. Archer is an insufferable, intolerable asshole, a troll, and a constant source of frustration, irritation and confusion to the people around him. It doesn't take a second for Rin to think after he first speaks to her, "This guy has a twisted personality", and it takes a mere few minutes for him to rile her up until she's reached her limits.
Of course, in classic asshole fashion, there's actually a lot more to him underneath. Despite this personality, it becomes eventually rather obvious that he's not actually that bad of a person as he seems to be. First off, Archer is in no way a social man; he’s incredibly solitary and puts up a well-guarded front, rarely speaking about himself or his feelings and sometimes coming across as distant; he’s the sort of man who’d rather watch from afar instead of involve himself directly, but he will do so and act when he needs to, and when he's not talking, he's quiet and serious as mentioned earlier. Secondly, while he can be very stubborn about his opinions, yet he's equally capable of changing them opinions and making a 180 degree turn when presented with the right evidence-- and for such an incredibly rude person with a "twister" personality, he can be surprisingly polite and even nice in rare times. When Rin uses her command spell to force him into obedience in a way that won't work if another magus would use it, he realizes the extent of her abilities as a magus, apologizes to her for looking down on her, patronizing her and trying to keep her out of battle- his own words- and even bows politely, totally acknowledging his rudeness, then he compliments her and makes it clear that he thinks so highly of her abilities that Rin comments to herself that he thinks more highly of them than even she does-- which says a lot.
When he clearly starts taking her seriously, he shows a lot of trust in her and helpfully starts explaining things to her; though he doesn’t treat her any better otherwise; he still makes fun of her as much as earlier, and during the prologue, which is narrated from her point of view, in scenes where she interacts with him Rin switches back in her narration between thinking "He's actually a pretty good guy" one moment and "He has a twisted personality after all" the next, and her first order is to clean up the huge mess he made of the living room (if unintentionally); he responds with, "Understood. Damn you, Master" and obeys reluctantly, yet by the next morning he does such and impressive job restoring the room to what it used to be that Rin herself is impressed and it even makes her happy. He is implied to have actually felt a little bad about making the mess, despite the way he acted about it- and later on, he tells her he cleaned up the kitchen as well, gets her a drink when she's tired, and is described by Rin as surprisingly considerate. Of course, when he sees how much she likes it, he makes sure to use the opportunity to tease her the second after. Yet he still tells her, "If I'm distracting you, I'll go."
Once you get to know him better, if just for a short time, Archer reveals to have a side to him that's not nearly as rude and mean as he appears to be. He can be surprisingly nice and helpful, and is capable in some situations of even showing respect towards people- he tends to switch between the two in the span of less than a second once he shows it, making him even more of a confusing person than he already is. Yet his snark is sarcasm is often in itself a method of giving advice, something he does quite often for seemingly no reason. Along with that, he wouldn't hesitate to suddenly give miniature lectures on philosophical matters either .
ARCHER: "All right, I'll make you regret your abuse later on. And I won't accept any apologies when that time comes."
RIN:"…Huh? What, did I get on your nerves, Archer?"
ARCHER: "I get it. But keep your eyes open as I will definitely show you how lucky you are."
Archer protests with narrow eyes.
The air he carries is offensive, but his behavior seems childlike and pure.
…You know… he might be a pretty good guy.
RIN: "All right. Then be sure you make me regret it later on, Archer. If you do, I'll honestly apologize."
ARCHER: "Yeah, and don't you forget it, Master. Know how great the one you summoned is and be grateful. Though, even if you do apologize then, I probably won't be satisfied."
Archer grins again. Huh, maybe he does have a twisted personality after all.
Thirdly, Archer is actually surprisingly immature and childish at times. Even his tendency to make fun of people reflects on that side of him, but while his choice of words is usually too scathing and right on the mark, he is equally capable of resorting to yelling and petty insults like "you idiot", and while it's not easy to get to him and catch him off-guard and honestly surprise him, he's quick to be shocked and surprised by things that are unexpected, strange, illogical, impossible to understand or just plain stupid. He reacts with a lot of shock when he hears about how Rin isn't participating in the War to get the Holy Grail and grant her wish with it; similarly, when she uses her command spell to get him to obey her, which gets him to be openly shocked, rhetorically asks he if she's insane and yells at her, then gives Rin a lecture and explanation on precisely what she just did. His criticisms and mockery of others is just as often legitimate as it is frequently childish and immature, unreasonable complaints disguised by his choice of words. When you get down to it, he's still a kid on the inside- he's simple-minded, hard-headed and has a one-track mind, but does a good job of hiding his thought process. It's even a little endearing if you can get past the fact that he's a jerk and learn to tolerate him.
However, once you do so and figure out that there's so much more under the surface- one might wonder if the surface itself may not be genuine. It's never really made clear if Archer's outer personality is a mask or not, although it's likely to be faked to a certain extent, if not entirely- and perhaps it was originally a mask that eventually became his real self after many years of wearing it. One thing one can only figure out on their own about Archer and what's under the surface, after spending a great deal of time with him is this-- simply put, he has Issues. Very, very big and serious ones. But he's also very good at hiding them with a variety of methods, which includes being a very, very secretive sort of person who rarely speaks about himself and gives vague answers when confronted with direct questions, frequently coming off as cryptic, both when talking about himself and both when giving advice when speaking from personal experience. Archer tends to be difficult to read and when he really wants to be, his true thoughts and feelings nearly impossible to discern. It certainly does not help that he's already incredibly enigmatic and he does a good job of hiding nearly everything about himself, so that nobody knows anything about him or has a clue to who he is in the slightest (though there's a good and very different reason for the latter). His actions, his personality traits and behavior like to contradict themselves and nobody can figure out what's going on in his head. (The one exception being Shirou Emiya, who can figure it out by instinct, but for a very good reason) Archer would not hesitate to lie directly to protect those secrets either, if necessary-- he wouldn't hesitate to lie at all if he feels that he needs to.
In fact-- Archer's thought process is actually quite simple, but also very pragmatic. He's a very practical sort of person, and ironically, despite having an immature personality that lends itself to this, very realistic and more than that, incredibly cynical. When needing to accomplish a goal, he's cold, ruthless, determined, able to remain stoic and calm his mind in the midst of battle and in tense situations, to numb and throw away his emotions and personal feelings, and do whatever it takes to reach his goal. He ultimately does what's for the best, without giving a fuck about whatever it may be. So, if he needs to use immoral mean? If he needs to be cruel? If he needs to do bad things? So be it. If he needs to do something he doesn't want? So be it. If he needs to kill, to commit crimes, to hurt other people? So be it. If he needs to get his hands dirty? If he has to stoop really low, to cheat, be underhanded and do disgraceful things? So be it. He'll do whatever it takes, no matter what- and ridicules and looks down on the altruistic, overly heroic and nice sort of people. It's his main way of trolling Shirou. His methods rely on nothing but planning, calculation, logic and reason. And so he very much differs in his way of thinking from the other Servants- he doesn't even look at his status as one all that favorably.
Archer is a man who has no pride nor any sense of honor, and is defined by a win-at-any-cost, "the road to hell is paved with good intentions" attitude (although in his case, good intentions are precisely what landed him into a metaphorical hell- but that's unrelated), giving away everything he has and his own self towards accomplishing a goal; the very opposite of the honor-before-reason approach that many other Servants who define themselves as "knights" have. He insults Lancer saying "you can throw your meaningless pride to the dogs". It's a challenge, and ends up in him getting Lancer's most powerful technique used on him... but to prove that he's not all bark and no bite, he ends up blocking that attack, though at the cost of getting wounded pretty badly. It says a lot that he praises Lancer a moment later for managing to pierce the shield he used to block it instead of bragging about blocking Lancer's most powerful attack and he even admits and states openly that he got wounded and temporarily lost an arm as a result. Once again, because Archer has no pride, even though he has full confidence in himself and his abilities-- much more than he has in others'-- and it may come off as arrogant, but instead of actual arrogance or pride, it should be noted that he never truly boasts about it unless you ask him about his abilities specifically. He is actually equally capable of putting faith in others and acknowledging others' abilities, once they prove themselves to him... even if he previously doubted them, as with the case with Rin. He can easily put his previous opinion aside, admit to being wrong, without shame or awkwardness, and once he changed his mind, continue act as though it never happened. He is the very opposite of a sore loser and can gracefully accept defeat and surrender, and to get over his previous grudges. This is again because of his pragmatic, logical mindset.
"A hero's pride, huh? ...Man, everyone says the same thing. Even Caster had such a ridiculous thing. What good is honor once you're dead? I honestly can't understand how you people think."
But, finally, at the core- Archer ended up the way he is because of how different he used to be. Time and life experiences can change people quite a bit, and Archer is a prime example of the extent to which these two things can change a person or even make one completley unrecognizable from their former self. His true identity is that of a boy who just happened to have been adopted and raised by a magus, and became one himself throughout that. But more importantly than that, he used to be Shirou Emiya- a naive, idealistic, and reckless but genuinely good, kind-hearted person who wanted to become a hero that can save everyone- a boy whose biggest wish was to save and help people, to see everyone in his sight safe and happy; a boy who, more than anything, didn't want to see anyone cry. For the simple reason that having lost everything he had in a fire that took out his family and a great deal of his hometown, with it he lost his sense of self and became an empty person, who took the 'your happiness is my happiness' and applied it to everyone- because he was someone emotionally incapable of making happiness of his own and could only find joy in the joy of other people. And who was all too selfless for his own good, for he always prioritized and valued everyone else over himself.
A mix of survivor's guilt, emptiness, and a desperate need and drive to save someone lead him to developing ideals that he latched on to and even let go and taking on his father's dream of becoming a hero; and this very ideal constantly kept getting trampled on and betrayed him and over and over, forcing him to betray it as well, to make sacrifices for its sake, killing one to save many, giving away everything he had for the sake of saving people and never receiving anything but pain in betrayal in return, being turned into a political scapegoat by the very people whose lives he saved; but that was what not made him grow bitter, and he did not care if his efforts to help never paid off because the act of saving people was the reward in itself. Slowly, he turned into nothing but a tool and a machine, willingly accepting his role for the ideal he fought for. It was the fact that he willingly gave himself to the world and became a Counter Guardian after death, hoping that he'd be able to save people after dying- only to find out that instead, his new service involved only killing and cleaning up after the messes that people made; becoming a janitor for the world and watching the people he wanted and failed to save bring about their own downfall countless times. And so, he turned jaded, hardened and cynical, burdened to carry a heavy emotional and mental baggage on his shoulders and grew to feel nothing but regrets over his past. So it is no wonder he bet everything on a crazy plan to travel back the past and kill his younger self and prevent himself from ever coming into existence.
Archer is incredibly bitter and this defines his relationship with his past self and his view of the world itself; he often comes off as cold, heartless and cruel, and sometimes even on purpose. But that's for the simple reason that he had his idealism and optimism so brutally shattered and because he has absolutely no hope for the future. Rin once described Shirou as someone who hates himself more than anyone; this applies to Archer as well, on a more literal as well as figurative level. Within the story he treats Shirou quite badly and makes fun of him every opportunity he has, and their bad relationship and mutual dislike is put into perspective considering Archer's identity; the fact that his goal is to kill him is only part of this. He's more angry at himself than anyone else at the world, and their fight in Unlimited Blade Works demonstrates it when Archer releases all the pent-up anger, hatred and regret he developed over the years, launching a brutal, yet incredibly emotional lecture deconstructing Shirou to his very core... and switching from saying "you" to "I" in the middle.
"A superhero should save many people, right? That's why I killed. I prayed for no one to die, but I killed one to save many. I said I would not have anyone sad, but I brought despair to a few in the dark. And in time, I got used to it. To protect my ideal, I kept going against it. I only saved the people I tried to save and quickly killed the people who opposed me. I allowed 'someone' to be sacrificed to keep protecting my ideal. That is the true identity of the hero Emiya. See. Don't you think such a guy should die?"
But even that is more complex then it seems to be. Archer has so changed from the person he used to be, that he's nearly completley unrecognizable and at first glance, it's nearly impossible to believe that this person used to be Shirou Emiya- and yet the fact that this boy is his origin, the person he started out as, neitherless remains. There still remains a part of him that is the boy he used to be, both on an unconscious and a conscious level. Shards of it remain and will never truly disappear. First off, his deadpan snark and sarcasm and honest frankness did not come out of nowhere- Shirou would probably be much like him if he weren't so polite and so much of a nice, friendly guy. Their speech patterns have small, subtle similarities- and it's shown that Shirous's domestic tendencies haven't disappeared either. In other words, despite all the time that passed and all that happened, he is still the housewife he used to be and is completley shameless about it.
That, and as mentioned, Archer can be surprisingly nice- that is because Shirou's altruistic good-hearted-ness, kindness and selflessness, which may have been buried and trampled over and broken and shaken by everything Archer went through and by Archer himself- yet barely recognizable shreds still remain of it. Throughout Fate he acts as a strange sort of mentor and helper towards Shirou, giving him advice (disguised as his usual insults and snark), he sacrifices himself without hesitation to help Rin, Shirou and Saber escape by fighting off Berserker. He gives Shirou some actually incredibly valuable advice that eventually saves, and a great deal of his mockery and lectures, as incredibly mean as they are-- actually serve as advice, to point out flaws and room for improvement, not just towards Shirou but towards other people in general, serving as constructive criticism but in the most mean way possible. However, it's still useful. He's very insightful and pretty clever and smart when he wants to be.
He's in no way needlessly cruel nor sadistic- while he's ruthless and would not hestitate to use immoral means, his previous idealism and innocence still remains close to his heart and a part of him that he never lets go of. He still can't stand to see people around him suffer, he's naturally compassionate, and he constantly represses that selfish side of himself. But he will never kill meaninglessly, and will never do anything bad just for the sake of it if there's a better alternative. He always chooses the best method, being a logical person, so he does like to do things meaninglessly in general. But the thing is, if he feels that it is the right method, he's even willing to sacrifice himself and take the hit for someone else- much like Shirou constantly would, though he would do it automatically to anyone. Essentially, Archer is constantly torn between who he used to be, what he is, and who he turned into. He hates all of them, but he cannot change any of them and he knows this, leading to being constantly at conflict with himself. One of the main things to distinguish him from Shirou is that he's a lot more honest with himself and has a very high level of self-awareness, and that is exactly what leads to this inner conflict so often. He's a lot like his Master, Rin, in that he's not as ruthless and he wants to be and makes himself out to be.
As Archer is taken from Heaven's feel, what he does there deserves a special mention, because while Archer does not develop as much as he does as his own route, Unlimited Blade Works, he ends up watching his previous self throw away his ideal and sacrifice everything he has for the sake of someone else- for someone he loves. He watches himself chose the path that denies everything he was until now. It's ultimately the result Archer wanted, because it prevents Shirou from walking down the same path as Archer did, but he makes sure to warn him about it first because he knows what it means for Shirou to throw away his dream. They develop a strange relationship, and Archer ultimately gives away his arm to Shirou, quite literally, when Shirou has his own destroyed while saving Ilya in the Einzbern forest. It's an act of kindness but not that great of a sacrifice in comparison because Archer was already badly wounded and disappearing at the time- but his last words to Rin before leaving, described by Shirou in his narration as having been said in a voice "exactly like his", indicate that he found a form of salvation and inner peace through this self-sacrifice, something similar to what he did in the previous two routes, and ends up the slightest bit more like who he used to be, leaving and going back to his ironic hell while having faith in everyone he left behind.
Abilities: Archer is a Servant. Essentially, it means he's an incredibly powerful magical being, as well as a Heroic Spirit of the Counter Guardian type. This means being capable of feats that cannot be comprehended by humans but only by other Servants and magical beings. In Archer's case, though, there's nothing much like that he's capable of besides his already present skills and abilities, listed below; he can detect magi, he has some extremely minor magic resistance, he can't be killed or defeated easily by a human or anything that's not a fellow Servant, but that is essentially it for his natural abilities or attributes as a Servant.
He has a few other skills, listed directly in the game;
Eye Of The Mind, Rank B: "Insight fostered by training. A "combat logic" that allows for calm analysis of the situation and the enemy's ability in spite of danger, and consideration of all possible actions in a particular situation. If there is even a 1% chance of a comeback, this ability greatly improves the chances of success."
Clairvoyance, Rank C: "Vision. Allows clear vision of distant targets, and improves body movement and vision." Though he cannot see through objects, from the right spot he would most likely have a good scope of most of Mayfield.
Magic, Rank C-: "Knowledge of orthodox magic." Because Archer was a magus in life, most of his skills and fighting actually relies on his magic quite heavily; his knowledge of magic is actually quite limited, but he has trained and perfected the magic he does know, and through that he is able to use it to the extent he does.
His magic overall can be divided into three methods which he is able to use:
→ Strengthening Magic: Also known as reinforcement; it's essentially exactly as it sounds, as it takes an object and strengthens/reinforces it, improving its capabilities, increasing its effectiveness in a variety of ways, and he is even capable of using it on himself and his own body, thus improving his physical capabilities. When using it on objects, his own spin on this ability lies in analyzing and understanding structure and design of objects as if he were viewing a blueprint, and additionally, he can use this magic to chance the shape of an object; Shirou, who is his past self that is inexperienced with this magic, was able to make his bow out of a stick after a little bit of training, so it is unknown how much Archer's skills in this extend and what he would be able to do. This magic is actually his main and central ability as the other two aspects of his magic are essentially extensions of Strengthening.
→ Projection Magic: Simply put, magic that allows Archer to materialize objects out of thin air and create them out of nowhere- although that's only figuratively speaking since they're actually made out of magical energy, but it's essentially the same thing. Archer is capable of reproducing anything as long as he has personally seen it, even if just once; Archer's unique spin on this magic allows him to use it much better than the usual sort, as he not only recreates the object's shape and appearance, but also its entire history and everything regarding its existence and creation, and as mentioned, he is capable of grasping its substance and structure merely from sight alone. He is the most skilled in this in regarding to reproducing weapons, sometimes his bow and arrow but usually swords, and most commonly uses this to project a pair of twin swords which are what he usually fights with. This is despite the fact that he's an Archer. Yep.
→ Unlimited Blade Works: Titled "Infinite Sword Creation" because that it essentially what it is. A longer and better explanation is here, but to describe it in the most simplest of terms, Unlimited Blade Works is Archer's signature and special ability to materialize his mind within the form of an inner world placed inside a magical barrier, a special sort of ability called a Reality Marble within the Nasuverse. The inner world in question is an endlessly stretching field covered with endless swords, all created, projected by and belonging to Archer-- most likely every sword Archer has ever seen in his entire life that he is capable of recreating. He is actually able to use and fight with those swords- both by taking them out of the ground and actually fighting with them against someone one-on-one, but the method he usually prefers is using his magic to control those swords, raise them into the air, and "shoot" them at his enemy, effectively using them as arrows; a "rain" of swords, metaphorically speaking. Additionally, anyone he is fighting within the barrier have their abilities reduced to be equal to him. Finally, once he uses Unlimited Blade Works, he is able to bring out the swords from within it into the real world and use them the same way as his normal projections, thus allowing him to spend less magical energy then usually necessary for projection.
He also has a number of mundane, human, non-supernatural skills and abilities not related to his status as a Servant/heroic spirit; he's obviously skilled in both archery and in swordplay, and in general in battle, and one can assume that, since he's physically very fit, he has a well-trained body and that he's pretty strong and agile (seriously, look at those muscles, man). Last but not least, he's surprisingly adept at housework and chores, at things like cleaning, cooking and brewing tea and otherwise being a housewife... which is probably a lot less surprising once it's revealed that in life, he was someone who was a very skilled cook and would do chores around the house even as a kid (because his father refused to...)
Sample Entry: This and this musebox post, and anything on the journals hillofswords or steelbody, where I also play him at demeleier and discedo respectively.
Personal LJ: lovexamination
Contact Info: aim: love examination plurk: lastend
Other Characters Played: None currently, but I'm apping Kirie Fujou (overlookingview) from Kara No Kyoukai this app cycle as well.
Preferred Housing: 310 Miller Street; I have permissions from everyone!
Character Name: Archer
Character Series: Fate/Stay Night
Character Age: Mid to late twenties or early thirties.
Background: the series in general | @wikipedia | @type moon wiki
Personality: Though the sort of first impression one gets of Archer varies and depends on the situation when one first meets him, he's always quick to come across as several things; confusing, strange, impossible to understand, and incredibly enigmatic. Generally, in most environments and situations, Archer carries an indifferent, relaxed and somewhat carefree attitude towards life and everything in it. He's a laid-back, calm and composed person, who initially is difficult to surprise or to get to, very frustratingly so. He's honest, frank, straightforward, doesn't pull punches, and doesn't mind saying what he thinks- which isn't really always a good thing. To be blunt, Archer is a jerk. He's a man with a quick and sharp tongue whose speech generally consists of sarcastic, snarky remarks, mockery and insults, all varying in levels of subtlety, some indirect and some horribly direct; e's completley shameless and doesn't hesitate to insult someone straight to their face; he has the time of his life making fun of people and treats everyone in his surroundings with absolute disrespect. The fact that he delivers it all in a calm, casual, nonchalant tone of voice without hesitation just emphasizes it. Archer is an insufferable, intolerable asshole, a troll, and a constant source of frustration, irritation and confusion to the people around him. It doesn't take a second for Rin to think after he first speaks to her, "This guy has a twisted personality", and it takes a mere few minutes for him to rile her up until she's reached her limits.
Of course, in classic asshole fashion, there's actually a lot more to him underneath. Despite this personality, it becomes eventually rather obvious that he's not actually that bad of a person as he seems to be. First off, Archer is in no way a social man; he’s incredibly solitary and puts up a well-guarded front, rarely speaking about himself or his feelings and sometimes coming across as distant; he’s the sort of man who’d rather watch from afar instead of involve himself directly, but he will do so and act when he needs to, and when he's not talking, he's quiet and serious as mentioned earlier. Secondly, while he can be very stubborn about his opinions, yet he's equally capable of changing them opinions and making a 180 degree turn when presented with the right evidence-- and for such an incredibly rude person with a "twister" personality, he can be surprisingly polite and even nice in rare times. When Rin uses her command spell to force him into obedience in a way that won't work if another magus would use it, he realizes the extent of her abilities as a magus, apologizes to her for looking down on her, patronizing her and trying to keep her out of battle- his own words- and even bows politely, totally acknowledging his rudeness, then he compliments her and makes it clear that he thinks so highly of her abilities that Rin comments to herself that he thinks more highly of them than even she does-- which says a lot.
When he clearly starts taking her seriously, he shows a lot of trust in her and helpfully starts explaining things to her; though he doesn’t treat her any better otherwise; he still makes fun of her as much as earlier, and during the prologue, which is narrated from her point of view, in scenes where she interacts with him Rin switches back in her narration between thinking "He's actually a pretty good guy" one moment and "He has a twisted personality after all" the next, and her first order is to clean up the huge mess he made of the living room (if unintentionally); he responds with, "Understood. Damn you, Master" and obeys reluctantly, yet by the next morning he does such and impressive job restoring the room to what it used to be that Rin herself is impressed and it even makes her happy. He is implied to have actually felt a little bad about making the mess, despite the way he acted about it- and later on, he tells her he cleaned up the kitchen as well, gets her a drink when she's tired, and is described by Rin as surprisingly considerate. Of course, when he sees how much she likes it, he makes sure to use the opportunity to tease her the second after. Yet he still tells her, "If I'm distracting you, I'll go."
Once you get to know him better, if just for a short time, Archer reveals to have a side to him that's not nearly as rude and mean as he appears to be. He can be surprisingly nice and helpful, and is capable in some situations of even showing respect towards people- he tends to switch between the two in the span of less than a second once he shows it, making him even more of a confusing person than he already is. Yet his snark is sarcasm is often in itself a method of giving advice, something he does quite often for seemingly no reason. Along with that, he wouldn't hesitate to suddenly give miniature lectures on philosophical matters either .
ARCHER: "All right, I'll make you regret your abuse later on. And I won't accept any apologies when that time comes."
RIN:"…Huh? What, did I get on your nerves, Archer?"
ARCHER: "I get it. But keep your eyes open as I will definitely show you how lucky you are."
Archer protests with narrow eyes.
The air he carries is offensive, but his behavior seems childlike and pure.
…You know… he might be a pretty good guy.
RIN: "All right. Then be sure you make me regret it later on, Archer. If you do, I'll honestly apologize."
ARCHER: "Yeah, and don't you forget it, Master. Know how great the one you summoned is and be grateful. Though, even if you do apologize then, I probably won't be satisfied."
Archer grins again. Huh, maybe he does have a twisted personality after all.
Thirdly, Archer is actually surprisingly immature and childish at times. Even his tendency to make fun of people reflects on that side of him, but while his choice of words is usually too scathing and right on the mark, he is equally capable of resorting to yelling and petty insults like "you idiot", and while it's not easy to get to him and catch him off-guard and honestly surprise him, he's quick to be shocked and surprised by things that are unexpected, strange, illogical, impossible to understand or just plain stupid. He reacts with a lot of shock when he hears about how Rin isn't participating in the War to get the Holy Grail and grant her wish with it; similarly, when she uses her command spell to get him to obey her, which gets him to be openly shocked, rhetorically asks he if she's insane and yells at her, then gives Rin a lecture and explanation on precisely what she just did. His criticisms and mockery of others is just as often legitimate as it is frequently childish and immature, unreasonable complaints disguised by his choice of words. When you get down to it, he's still a kid on the inside- he's simple-minded, hard-headed and has a one-track mind, but does a good job of hiding his thought process. It's even a little endearing if you can get past the fact that he's a jerk and learn to tolerate him.
However, once you do so and figure out that there's so much more under the surface- one might wonder if the surface itself may not be genuine. It's never really made clear if Archer's outer personality is a mask or not, although it's likely to be faked to a certain extent, if not entirely- and perhaps it was originally a mask that eventually became his real self after many years of wearing it. One thing one can only figure out on their own about Archer and what's under the surface, after spending a great deal of time with him is this-- simply put, he has Issues. Very, very big and serious ones. But he's also very good at hiding them with a variety of methods, which includes being a very, very secretive sort of person who rarely speaks about himself and gives vague answers when confronted with direct questions, frequently coming off as cryptic, both when talking about himself and both when giving advice when speaking from personal experience. Archer tends to be difficult to read and when he really wants to be, his true thoughts and feelings nearly impossible to discern. It certainly does not help that he's already incredibly enigmatic and he does a good job of hiding nearly everything about himself, so that nobody knows anything about him or has a clue to who he is in the slightest (though there's a good and very different reason for the latter). His actions, his personality traits and behavior like to contradict themselves and nobody can figure out what's going on in his head. (The one exception being Shirou Emiya, who can figure it out by instinct, but for a very good reason) Archer would not hesitate to lie directly to protect those secrets either, if necessary-- he wouldn't hesitate to lie at all if he feels that he needs to.
In fact-- Archer's thought process is actually quite simple, but also very pragmatic. He's a very practical sort of person, and ironically, despite having an immature personality that lends itself to this, very realistic and more than that, incredibly cynical. When needing to accomplish a goal, he's cold, ruthless, determined, able to remain stoic and calm his mind in the midst of battle and in tense situations, to numb and throw away his emotions and personal feelings, and do whatever it takes to reach his goal. He ultimately does what's for the best, without giving a fuck about whatever it may be. So, if he needs to use immoral mean? If he needs to be cruel? If he needs to do bad things? So be it. If he needs to do something he doesn't want? So be it. If he needs to kill, to commit crimes, to hurt other people? So be it. If he needs to get his hands dirty? If he has to stoop really low, to cheat, be underhanded and do disgraceful things? So be it. He'll do whatever it takes, no matter what- and ridicules and looks down on the altruistic, overly heroic and nice sort of people. It's his main way of trolling Shirou. His methods rely on nothing but planning, calculation, logic and reason. And so he very much differs in his way of thinking from the other Servants- he doesn't even look at his status as one all that favorably.
Archer is a man who has no pride nor any sense of honor, and is defined by a win-at-any-cost, "the road to hell is paved with good intentions" attitude (although in his case, good intentions are precisely what landed him into a metaphorical hell- but that's unrelated), giving away everything he has and his own self towards accomplishing a goal; the very opposite of the honor-before-reason approach that many other Servants who define themselves as "knights" have. He insults Lancer saying "you can throw your meaningless pride to the dogs". It's a challenge, and ends up in him getting Lancer's most powerful technique used on him... but to prove that he's not all bark and no bite, he ends up blocking that attack, though at the cost of getting wounded pretty badly. It says a lot that he praises Lancer a moment later for managing to pierce the shield he used to block it instead of bragging about blocking Lancer's most powerful attack and he even admits and states openly that he got wounded and temporarily lost an arm as a result. Once again, because Archer has no pride, even though he has full confidence in himself and his abilities-- much more than he has in others'-- and it may come off as arrogant, but instead of actual arrogance or pride, it should be noted that he never truly boasts about it unless you ask him about his abilities specifically. He is actually equally capable of putting faith in others and acknowledging others' abilities, once they prove themselves to him... even if he previously doubted them, as with the case with Rin. He can easily put his previous opinion aside, admit to being wrong, without shame or awkwardness, and once he changed his mind, continue act as though it never happened. He is the very opposite of a sore loser and can gracefully accept defeat and surrender, and to get over his previous grudges. This is again because of his pragmatic, logical mindset.
"A hero's pride, huh? ...Man, everyone says the same thing. Even Caster had such a ridiculous thing. What good is honor once you're dead? I honestly can't understand how you people think."
But, finally, at the core- Archer ended up the way he is because of how different he used to be. Time and life experiences can change people quite a bit, and Archer is a prime example of the extent to which these two things can change a person or even make one completley unrecognizable from their former self. His true identity is that of a boy who just happened to have been adopted and raised by a magus, and became one himself throughout that. But more importantly than that, he used to be Shirou Emiya- a naive, idealistic, and reckless but genuinely good, kind-hearted person who wanted to become a hero that can save everyone- a boy whose biggest wish was to save and help people, to see everyone in his sight safe and happy; a boy who, more than anything, didn't want to see anyone cry. For the simple reason that having lost everything he had in a fire that took out his family and a great deal of his hometown, with it he lost his sense of self and became an empty person, who took the 'your happiness is my happiness' and applied it to everyone- because he was someone emotionally incapable of making happiness of his own and could only find joy in the joy of other people. And who was all too selfless for his own good, for he always prioritized and valued everyone else over himself.
A mix of survivor's guilt, emptiness, and a desperate need and drive to save someone lead him to developing ideals that he latched on to and even let go and taking on his father's dream of becoming a hero; and this very ideal constantly kept getting trampled on and betrayed him and over and over, forcing him to betray it as well, to make sacrifices for its sake, killing one to save many, giving away everything he had for the sake of saving people and never receiving anything but pain in betrayal in return, being turned into a political scapegoat by the very people whose lives he saved; but that was what not made him grow bitter, and he did not care if his efforts to help never paid off because the act of saving people was the reward in itself. Slowly, he turned into nothing but a tool and a machine, willingly accepting his role for the ideal he fought for. It was the fact that he willingly gave himself to the world and became a Counter Guardian after death, hoping that he'd be able to save people after dying- only to find out that instead, his new service involved only killing and cleaning up after the messes that people made; becoming a janitor for the world and watching the people he wanted and failed to save bring about their own downfall countless times. And so, he turned jaded, hardened and cynical, burdened to carry a heavy emotional and mental baggage on his shoulders and grew to feel nothing but regrets over his past. So it is no wonder he bet everything on a crazy plan to travel back the past and kill his younger self and prevent himself from ever coming into existence.
Archer is incredibly bitter and this defines his relationship with his past self and his view of the world itself; he often comes off as cold, heartless and cruel, and sometimes even on purpose. But that's for the simple reason that he had his idealism and optimism so brutally shattered and because he has absolutely no hope for the future. Rin once described Shirou as someone who hates himself more than anyone; this applies to Archer as well, on a more literal as well as figurative level. Within the story he treats Shirou quite badly and makes fun of him every opportunity he has, and their bad relationship and mutual dislike is put into perspective considering Archer's identity; the fact that his goal is to kill him is only part of this. He's more angry at himself than anyone else at the world, and their fight in Unlimited Blade Works demonstrates it when Archer releases all the pent-up anger, hatred and regret he developed over the years, launching a brutal, yet incredibly emotional lecture deconstructing Shirou to his very core... and switching from saying "you" to "I" in the middle.
"A superhero should save many people, right? That's why I killed. I prayed for no one to die, but I killed one to save many. I said I would not have anyone sad, but I brought despair to a few in the dark. And in time, I got used to it. To protect my ideal, I kept going against it. I only saved the people I tried to save and quickly killed the people who opposed me. I allowed 'someone' to be sacrificed to keep protecting my ideal. That is the true identity of the hero Emiya. See. Don't you think such a guy should die?"
But even that is more complex then it seems to be. Archer has so changed from the person he used to be, that he's nearly completley unrecognizable and at first glance, it's nearly impossible to believe that this person used to be Shirou Emiya- and yet the fact that this boy is his origin, the person he started out as, neitherless remains. There still remains a part of him that is the boy he used to be, both on an unconscious and a conscious level. Shards of it remain and will never truly disappear. First off, his deadpan snark and sarcasm and honest frankness did not come out of nowhere- Shirou would probably be much like him if he weren't so polite and so much of a nice, friendly guy. Their speech patterns have small, subtle similarities- and it's shown that Shirous's domestic tendencies haven't disappeared either. In other words, despite all the time that passed and all that happened, he is still the housewife he used to be and is completley shameless about it.
That, and as mentioned, Archer can be surprisingly nice- that is because Shirou's altruistic good-hearted-ness, kindness and selflessness, which may have been buried and trampled over and broken and shaken by everything Archer went through and by Archer himself- yet barely recognizable shreds still remain of it. Throughout Fate he acts as a strange sort of mentor and helper towards Shirou, giving him advice (disguised as his usual insults and snark), he sacrifices himself without hesitation to help Rin, Shirou and Saber escape by fighting off Berserker. He gives Shirou some actually incredibly valuable advice that eventually saves, and a great deal of his mockery and lectures, as incredibly mean as they are-- actually serve as advice, to point out flaws and room for improvement, not just towards Shirou but towards other people in general, serving as constructive criticism but in the most mean way possible. However, it's still useful. He's very insightful and pretty clever and smart when he wants to be.
He's in no way needlessly cruel nor sadistic- while he's ruthless and would not hestitate to use immoral means, his previous idealism and innocence still remains close to his heart and a part of him that he never lets go of. He still can't stand to see people around him suffer, he's naturally compassionate, and he constantly represses that selfish side of himself. But he will never kill meaninglessly, and will never do anything bad just for the sake of it if there's a better alternative. He always chooses the best method, being a logical person, so he does like to do things meaninglessly in general. But the thing is, if he feels that it is the right method, he's even willing to sacrifice himself and take the hit for someone else- much like Shirou constantly would, though he would do it automatically to anyone. Essentially, Archer is constantly torn between who he used to be, what he is, and who he turned into. He hates all of them, but he cannot change any of them and he knows this, leading to being constantly at conflict with himself. One of the main things to distinguish him from Shirou is that he's a lot more honest with himself and has a very high level of self-awareness, and that is exactly what leads to this inner conflict so often. He's a lot like his Master, Rin, in that he's not as ruthless and he wants to be and makes himself out to be.
As Archer is taken from Heaven's feel, what he does there deserves a special mention, because while Archer does not develop as much as he does as his own route, Unlimited Blade Works, he ends up watching his previous self throw away his ideal and sacrifice everything he has for the sake of someone else- for someone he loves. He watches himself chose the path that denies everything he was until now. It's ultimately the result Archer wanted, because it prevents Shirou from walking down the same path as Archer did, but he makes sure to warn him about it first because he knows what it means for Shirou to throw away his dream. They develop a strange relationship, and Archer ultimately gives away his arm to Shirou, quite literally, when Shirou has his own destroyed while saving Ilya in the Einzbern forest. It's an act of kindness but not that great of a sacrifice in comparison because Archer was already badly wounded and disappearing at the time- but his last words to Rin before leaving, described by Shirou in his narration as having been said in a voice "exactly like his", indicate that he found a form of salvation and inner peace through this self-sacrifice, something similar to what he did in the previous two routes, and ends up the slightest bit more like who he used to be, leaving and going back to his ironic hell while having faith in everyone he left behind.
Abilities: Archer is a Servant. Essentially, it means he's an incredibly powerful magical being, as well as a Heroic Spirit of the Counter Guardian type. This means being capable of feats that cannot be comprehended by humans but only by other Servants and magical beings. In Archer's case, though, there's nothing much like that he's capable of besides his already present skills and abilities, listed below; he can detect magi, he has some extremely minor magic resistance, he can't be killed or defeated easily by a human or anything that's not a fellow Servant, but that is essentially it for his natural abilities or attributes as a Servant.
He has a few other skills, listed directly in the game;
Eye Of The Mind, Rank B: "Insight fostered by training. A "combat logic" that allows for calm analysis of the situation and the enemy's ability in spite of danger, and consideration of all possible actions in a particular situation. If there is even a 1% chance of a comeback, this ability greatly improves the chances of success."
Clairvoyance, Rank C: "Vision. Allows clear vision of distant targets, and improves body movement and vision." Though he cannot see through objects, from the right spot he would most likely have a good scope of most of Mayfield.
Magic, Rank C-: "Knowledge of orthodox magic." Because Archer was a magus in life, most of his skills and fighting actually relies on his magic quite heavily; his knowledge of magic is actually quite limited, but he has trained and perfected the magic he does know, and through that he is able to use it to the extent he does.
His magic overall can be divided into three methods which he is able to use:
→ Strengthening Magic: Also known as reinforcement; it's essentially exactly as it sounds, as it takes an object and strengthens/reinforces it, improving its capabilities, increasing its effectiveness in a variety of ways, and he is even capable of using it on himself and his own body, thus improving his physical capabilities. When using it on objects, his own spin on this ability lies in analyzing and understanding structure and design of objects as if he were viewing a blueprint, and additionally, he can use this magic to chance the shape of an object; Shirou, who is his past self that is inexperienced with this magic, was able to make his bow out of a stick after a little bit of training, so it is unknown how much Archer's skills in this extend and what he would be able to do. This magic is actually his main and central ability as the other two aspects of his magic are essentially extensions of Strengthening.
→ Projection Magic: Simply put, magic that allows Archer to materialize objects out of thin air and create them out of nowhere- although that's only figuratively speaking since they're actually made out of magical energy, but it's essentially the same thing. Archer is capable of reproducing anything as long as he has personally seen it, even if just once; Archer's unique spin on this magic allows him to use it much better than the usual sort, as he not only recreates the object's shape and appearance, but also its entire history and everything regarding its existence and creation, and as mentioned, he is capable of grasping its substance and structure merely from sight alone. He is the most skilled in this in regarding to reproducing weapons, sometimes his bow and arrow but usually swords, and most commonly uses this to project a pair of twin swords which are what he usually fights with. This is despite the fact that he's an Archer. Yep.
→ Unlimited Blade Works: Titled "Infinite Sword Creation" because that it essentially what it is. A longer and better explanation is here, but to describe it in the most simplest of terms, Unlimited Blade Works is Archer's signature and special ability to materialize his mind within the form of an inner world placed inside a magical barrier, a special sort of ability called a Reality Marble within the Nasuverse. The inner world in question is an endlessly stretching field covered with endless swords, all created, projected by and belonging to Archer-- most likely every sword Archer has ever seen in his entire life that he is capable of recreating. He is actually able to use and fight with those swords- both by taking them out of the ground and actually fighting with them against someone one-on-one, but the method he usually prefers is using his magic to control those swords, raise them into the air, and "shoot" them at his enemy, effectively using them as arrows; a "rain" of swords, metaphorically speaking. Additionally, anyone he is fighting within the barrier have their abilities reduced to be equal to him. Finally, once he uses Unlimited Blade Works, he is able to bring out the swords from within it into the real world and use them the same way as his normal projections, thus allowing him to spend less magical energy then usually necessary for projection.
He also has a number of mundane, human, non-supernatural skills and abilities not related to his status as a Servant/heroic spirit; he's obviously skilled in both archery and in swordplay, and in general in battle, and one can assume that, since he's physically very fit, he has a well-trained body and that he's pretty strong and agile (seriously, look at those muscles, man). Last but not least, he's surprisingly adept at housework and chores, at things like cleaning, cooking and brewing tea and otherwise being a housewife... which is probably a lot less surprising once it's revealed that in life, he was someone who was a very skilled cook and would do chores around the house even as a kid (because his father refused to...)
Sample Entry: This and this musebox post, and anything on the journals hillofswords or steelbody, where I also play him at demeleier and discedo respectively.