Why is King Arthur female? Why is Iskander tall?


I've watched both the Fate/Zero and Fate/Stay Night anime (including the
Unlimited Blade Works movie), but none of the visual novels, so no spoilers
from that unless they are light spoilers. One thing that bothered me was that
despite the fact that heroic spirits are defined by the public opinion/view of
them, some heroes had qualities that were in direct opposition of what the
public thought.

We know that heroic spirits, being sealed on their Throne of Heroes, are meant
to be completely unchanged. This is the entire point of the Throne of Heroes.
But this seems to be in opposition of the previous fact that heroic spirits
are defined by what others think they are. Then there are Counter Guardians
who are completely different, I believe, in that they are not sealed on their
Throne of Heroes.

One particularly important Counter Guardian of the series is Arturia, or
Saber. Arturia is female, despite the fact that she was treated by even her
contemporaries as male, and has gone done in history as male. In fact, there
isn't even any small hint as to Arturia's gender being anything other than
male in our history, or the history of the Nasuverse (I believe). This being
true, shouldn't Arturia be male?

This not being the case shouldn't Arturia be erased, or else create
instability in the World? Same with Iskander. In history he is known for being
pretty short, even for a Macedonian. That he is very tall means there is an
incongruity with human knowledge and true fact.

Furthermore, in the Unlimited Blade Works movie Archer is revealed to be
Heroic Spirit Emiya. If Heroic Spirit Emiya is summoned before he is even a
hero, or acquired his gift from the World, etc., then how is it that Heroic
Spirit Emiya is even strong at all? The power of a Servant being based on
their popularity at the time of their summoning, Emiya should be weaker than
pretty much every other Servant, and then some.

Maybe I'm just over-analyzing things, or I have some misconception. In any
case, answers are appreciated.




Firstly, Altria. what we see in Fate/Stay Night is not originally what Kinoko
Nasu first wrote, the original version was called Old Fate (旧Fate) or Fate
Origin which was re-imagined into
[Fate/Prototype](http://typemoon.wikia.com/wiki/Fate/Prototype), in this
Altria's character would have been a man (Arthur) and Shirou's character would
be female (Ayaka Sajyou). Of course, this is no longer part of the Canon that
is the Nasuverse but I thought I point out that originally Altria would have
been a man.

As for Altria herself being a woman, Merlin's prophecy never indicated the
gender of the future king, it was just a common view that a King would be a
man; the inscription on Excalibur (or Caliburn, I can't remember which it was)
also didn't indicate that a man had to be the one to pull the sword out.

As Altria acted the part of the king, she dressed and acted much like one,
even to the point that Merlin made her into a pseudo-male and
[Mordred's](http://typemoon.wikia.com/wiki/Mordred) identity was concealed, so
because of that, their genders are normally concealed and were thought to be
men. There is also ambiguity with the Arthurian Legend as in the Visual Novel,
Shirou says that some legends portrayed "Arthur" as a woman or a group of
people, which is why he wasn't surprised that "Arthur" was a woman (more so
that he summoned her).

Also, "King Arthur" became more of a symbol than anything else. Merlin was
clearly aware of this when he warned Altria before she pulled the sword from
the stone that if she did she wouldn't be human anymore.

One thing you may have missed is that Altria isn't in the Throne of Heroes
like most heroic spirits. Those who are in the Throne of Heroes are in there
because they made a contract with the world to receive the strength to be a
hero so it's their price. Altria became a hero on her own, but _on her death_.
She desired the Holy Grail to redo the sword-drawing Ceremony and find someone
whom she believed to be more capable of being a king than her. She made a
contract with the world _to become a heroic spirit if she got it_. Therefore,
while Servants like Iskander or Gilgamesh who are copies with their original
still at the Throne of Heroes, Altria is always herself. This is why she can
remember the events between wars when normally even if a heroic spirit is
summoned again they won't remember any other wars they were in.

* * *

Now, let us move on to Heroic Spirit EMIYA, who is a Counter Guardian. Before
I begin, I should point out Altria is not a Counter Guardian. [Counter
Guardians](http://typemoon.wikia.com/wiki/Counter_Guardian) are a special
group within Heroic Spirits who made a contract with
[Alaya](http://typemoon.wikia.com/wiki/Alaya) and as such they are
incorporated as part of humanity’s Counter Force summoned whenever a factor in
the extinction of mankind is detected.

Regarding EMIYA's summoning, he is summoned from another reality which is
entirely possible for the Holy Grail. One of the key things in the Nasuverse
is that there are alternate timelines which are all still Canon because of the
[Second Magic](http://typemoon.wikia.com/wiki/Second_Magic) which is the
Operation of Parallel Worlds. The 5th Magic's Domain is unknown but it's
abilities are related to Time Travel. However, Touko Aozaki claims there
should be more to it because time travel is also governed by the Second Magic.
Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg who wields the 2nd Magic was actually present when
the Holy Grail System was first created, so being able to get Heroes and the
such from other times and realities would then be possible if it incorporated
principles of the 2nd Magic (which I would do in order to crystallizes a
Servant's feats in the from of the Nobel Phantasm).

Now in EMIYA's timeline, the 5th Holy Grail war was a disaster:

> In Heaven's Feel route in the visual novel, Archer recognized Sakura's
> Shadow and how it was attributed to Angra Mainyu. Whether it acted during
> his 5th Holy Grail War is unknown but it is clear that Angra Mainyu and the
> Greater Holy Grail was not destroyed/shut down before a major disaster
> occurred.

If EMIYA came from the same reality that Fate/Stay Night was in, then he would
have known that he would have not been able to kill himself and by killing
himself he may have caused more destruction. Practically, Fate/Stay Night
occurs in a separate timeline/reality to the one EMIYA existed and the Grail
summoned him because of Rin's Pendent which he still kept. So if EMIYA's
strength comes from how popular his legend is, then it will be unaffected
because his Legend is from a separate reality which will still be known.

> Also Rin is shown to be able to draw Mana from other realities in Heaven's
> Feel by using an implantation of the 2nd Magic

* * *

Now I haven't read all too much into Iskander so I can't vouch for the
difference with his legend. However, this could be explained because the Holy
Grail System is damaged. Rather that rehashing what caused it because it could
be spoilers, you can read the 3rd and 4th Paragraphs
[here](https://anime.stackexchange.com/a/7433/1587) to read up on the
discrepancies with the Servant Summons or look up on the wiki on how the
system was originally created. However, since Mordred's legend is unaltered in
Fate/Apocrypha, and in that timeline the Einzbern's summoned Ruler rather than
Avenger, we can safely say that Altria wasn't altered when being summoned.

