The first route of F/S N was the main inspiration for the TV series but what’s unlocked at its completion, Unlimited Blade Works, isn’t represented much there so came as a pleasant surprise to me. It goes off in a different direction that’s just as interesting in its own way and expands on themes that were merely touched on before, making some clever parallels between characters and bringing in a startling variant on the underlying fate vs free will theme. Additionally, rather than making Ilya and Berserker the main antagonists it’s Caster and her master who drive the events along this time around.
Epic foreshadowing? You betcha
Shirou’s relationship with Saber is played down to give his screentime with Rin room to breathe but at the same time there’s the all-important explanation of Archer’s origins that gave this route its true impact and makes the story focus on Shirou’s fight more than Saber’s. It goes without saying that what’s coming up is as spoilerific as hell so don’t say I didn’t warn you.
There was a bit of chemistry between Shirou and Rin bubbling away under the surface all along but it’s surprising how these things can either come to nothing or become a major driving force in what follows, depending on how the protagonist (who is to a certain degree, thanks to the interactivity and first-person perspective of a VN, you) reacts to it. I found the progress of the relationship to be very convincing actually: Shirou earns Rin’s respect and ultimately her affection by showing selflessness and compassion. Basically, he wins her heart simply by being a nice guy and cooperating with her.
As an aside, Lancer was pretty cool in this route
There is of course a limit to how selfless one can be before it gets out of hand, which is where Archer’s backstory comes in. Here’s the rub: this cynical and damaged individual was originally the pure-hearted one whose moral code is so uncompromisingly different that the two of them cannot get along when they meet face to face. It is hard-hitting because whatever caused the change must’ve been pretty fundamental.
The root of Shirou’s fall from grace is the insurmountable rift between who he wants to be and what causality makes him. This is because the criteria for a superhero – a saviour of the innocent and a force for good – are not the same as those of a servant of the Holy Grail War. Servants work under greater constraints that severely limit what good can be done because they are bound by an objective which may not overlap with the individual’s own ideals. Shirou became a servant to continue his quest before discovering that the reality was not what he signed up for, and that realisation broke him.
The young Shirou is heroic, literally to a fault. He doesn’t save everyone – how can he? – but he accepts this fact and puts others first every time regardless. Shirou became a twisted character because he failed to see that in order to continue doing so he had to save himself first. Rin’s role in this storyline is as pivotal as Shirou’s was in Arturia’s rediscovery of her humanity: Rin understands how Shirou’s selflessness caused him so much pain that he grew self-hating and self-destructive.
I know the exposition is a bit repetitive at times but rest assured it’s all in a good cause
It’s easy to hate Archer but cleverly it’s also possible to understand why he thinks this way. The harsh truth is that being a hero is a lonely place: you are head and shoulders above everyone else and as a result you are likely to be misunderstood because other people see the results of your actions rather than your motives. While following logic and Doing The Right Thing is the most efficient way to achieve your aims, we are still governed, and judged, by emotion.
Arturia knew this all too well. She knew it was right to sacrifice a village to save a kingdom, but the altruistic desire to be a hero first requires sentimentality in order to progress to the position where unsentimental objective thought is needed; good souls must accept that making an omelette requires eggs to be broken. Because of that, she was seen as cruel and heartless in later life, even though it was her sensitivity and kindness that put her on that path. She was betrayed by those who failed to understand her; Shirou’s older self was betrayed too.
Archer sets out to kill his younger self because he feels it’s the only way he can atone for what he believes are wrongdoings but in the event he does something even more productive: he warns his younger self that the path of complete selflessness causes more problems than it solves, and offers the possibility of breaking the cycle. Shirou has to remember to do what he thinks is right without regrets and learn to look after himself, if only to prevent himself becoming burned-out and disenchanted later on; a more favourable outcome which may be attained by staying by Rin’s side. The final moment between Rin and Archer certainly hammers this home and wraps the issue up neatly into the bargain.
There are two endings to this route, which give slightly different outcomes but surprisingly I didn’t find one to be significantly more satisfying than the other: both involve a Rin End but one sees Saber disappear while in the other she remains as a Servant. I found the Disappearing Saber type of conclusion, like that of the Fate route only with added Rin this time, to be bittersweet but fitting; oddly I didn’t mind the scenario in which she stayed either. In that sense the happy ending stands up quite well to the supposed True End, but that’s clouded by an inexplicable sentimental attachment I have for Saber’s character. Fortunately though both address the beef I had with Shirou’s well-intentioned yet flawed philosophy.