フェイト／ステイナイト Ep 13
Fate/stay night episode 13

SPOILER Summary/Synopsis:

Saber is put to bed, leaving Rin and Shirou to talk. Rin won’t ask about Saber’s Nobel Phantasm but tells Shirou that Saber will disappear if she uses that ability again. Rin spells it out for Shirou — he either has to supply her with mana (which he can’t) or he’ll have to order her to consume humans to gain mana. This option is unacceptable to Shirou and he returns to Saber’s room. He falls asleep and dreams he sees Saber of the past, the female ruler of Britain. He notes her sword and wakes up.

Shirou checks outside where he finds Archer testing himself, having recovered from Saber’s attack. Archer points out that Saber likely was not planning to use her Nobel Phantasm ability at all and that the only reason she did so was because she was trying to protect Shirou. Shirou gets angry at the truth being told to him and takes off to the local park. Ilya finds him there and paralyzes him, putting him to sleep. He awakens in her castle (after having a dream about Saber’s sword) where Ilya makes him an offer to become her Servant and to allow Saber to disappear. She’s disappointed when he refuses and she promises to kill Saber and Rin no matter what.

Meanwhile, Saber awakens and is very weak but knows Shirou is gone. She comes to Rin about this. Archer figures that Shirou is being held captive since Saber knows he’s still alive but that they should not attempt a rescue of someone that dumb. Rin refuses and the two set out to Ilya’s castle with Archer invisible in tow. At the castle, Shirou uses his ability to attempt to free himself from the ropes tying him to a chair, causing his eyes to change somewhat and for him to bleed from the mouth somewhat.

Thoughts/Review:

Yikes! Ilya is one scary little girl, though maybe not so little if she’s been waiting 10-years. That suggests she must have been a master in the last Holy Grail War if she’s been waiting that long. Maybe she’s the one who caused the destruction and knew that Shirou is the lone survivor of that event. I’m not sure why she would think him special because of that (assuming this is the case at all) nor why she would want him as her Servant when she already has Berserker. Then again, we’ve had hints that there’s more to Shirou than meets the eye and Ilya may well see this better than anyone else.

Speaking of which, we have Shirou getting a glimpse into Saber’s past, which is interesting in and of itself. So she’s not Arthur but Arturia and treated as a king. I did a look-see and “Arturia” appears to be completely made up for this anime vs. being someone actually from the King Arthur legends. Still, with Shirou seeing her, I’m guessing this is more of his ability. I not with keen interest that he zeroed in on her sword from the past and seemed to think about creating it for Saber. I wonder if that is something he can do considering what Saber and Rin found in the storeroom. Regardless, I’m interested in seeing how the writers resolve Shirou’s inability to supply Saber with mana.

Back to Ilya, I’m going to assume she’s telling the truth and she had Berserker kill Shinji. I realize that the Master’s are important, but with Rider gone, its not like Shinji could summon another Servant, could he? I’m just not sure why kill a Servant-less Master.

Oh, and just how did she get Shirou back to her castle anyway? I somehow can’t imagine her having Berserker out in broad daylight for all to see. Then again, he could have been invisible but that still doesn’t explain how he’d carry Shirou back without causing a scene.

Well, Rin, Saber, and Archer are almost certainly walking into a trap. Saber is pretty much worthless, which leaves everything to Archer when it comes to dealing with Berserker. Since Saber is a heroine, I’m guessing she’ll survive but I wonder if Archer makes it. He could of course, but he’s pretty hot-headed, as seen when he talked with Shirou. I like Archer but if this boils down to a “there can be only one” scenario, then for Saber and Shirou to be the winners, everyone else has to lose and possibly die. Since we are at the half-way point and Rider and Shinji are gone, I figure more pieces being removed from the board is in order.

Archer is right about Saber attempting to protect Shirou. Last episode, she had a strategy to take care of Rider without using her ability but Shirou showing up ruined that. Archer pointing this out to Shirou has to make him painfully aware the he’s responsible for Saber being a vulnerable target now.

So another very interesting and good episode here. ^_^