Application Revision; Splendorcity: On Saber
Saber…wow, that is quite a large topic to get into when one looks at it from Gil’s point of view. I will do my best, but I can’t say I’ll be able to cover it all, or that everyone will agree with my particular interpretation. I’ve read a lot about the subject and I offer you my best rendition of what I believe to be Gilgamesh’s thoughts and actions in regard to his Saber.
In his life time, the Hero king had but one companion: his brother. Only this one person truly understood him and stayed willingly at his side, and for Gilgamesh this was what held him together. He was not a kind man by any stretch of the imagination, but as long as Enkidu was by his side he was never lonely. He never saw a reason to change; he was king and could do what he wanted, but when he lost his brother something else broke inside him. His arrogance, thirst for power, and over all assbaggery grew exponentially until anything of his old, noble self that was left became buried under it all. His pain over losing his brother drove him inward, and he covered up his grief with the twisted arrogance he came to be known for.
What this has to do with Saber, you may ask. Well, she is everything that he is not. She is the pure light of good that had become broken and forgotten inside his heart. He wanted her from the moment she made her wishes known: the wish to change history and undo her kingship. This immediately intrigued him. This small girl dared to stand up to time and defy her own destiny for the sake of her people. Though she believed it to be an act of selfless love, he could see that it was truly out of fear, selfishness, and shame that the knight yearned for her own destruction. He could see in her everything her brother once was and what he has lost…and he found himself desiring her deeply.
But Gilgamesh is no fool; he is fully aware she is too good for him, but he will still have her. Even if he has to break her, drag her down in to the depths of his own self-loathing to have her he will do it. She will be by his side for all of eternity, she has no say in the matter. You could call it his horrible version of ‘love’ if you wanted, but it is certainly in infantile stages of being. He yearns to have her by his side to ease his own loneliness and pain, but he is hardly ever going to let his arrogance part to make such a confession. She has no need to know anyway, no one has the right to pry into the king’s thoughts and feelings. He wants her, that is all she has need to know, and really she shouldn’t need any more reason to be his.
This very strong, very specific desire to have Saber makes him pretty one track minded. Everything he does is fixated on her and getting her in bed to submit to him. However, it also means he can get extremely protective and jealous. Yes, he does not think anyone else is good enough to tempt her eye, but should any attempt it or even dare to think it, it is his right as her king and husband to end the mongrel who has so insulted him and his ‘beloved.’ In his mind, she is already his, and it is not a matter of competition, but of protecting what is rightfully his to begin with.
In his life time, the Hero king had but one companion: his brother. Only this one person truly understood him and stayed willingly at his side, and for Gilgamesh this was what held him together. He was not a kind man by any stretch of the imagination, but as long as Enkidu was by his side he was never lonely. He never saw a reason to change; he was king and could do what he wanted, but when he lost his brother something else broke inside him. His arrogance, thirst for power, and over all assbaggery grew exponentially until anything of his old, noble self that was left became buried under it all. His pain over losing his brother drove him inward, and he covered up his grief with the twisted arrogance he came to be known for.
What this has to do with Saber, you may ask. Well, she is everything that he is not. She is the pure light of good that had become broken and forgotten inside his heart. He wanted her from the moment she made her wishes known: the wish to change history and undo her kingship. This immediately intrigued him. This small girl dared to stand up to time and defy her own destiny for the sake of her people. Though she believed it to be an act of selfless love, he could see that it was truly out of fear, selfishness, and shame that the knight yearned for her own destruction. He could see in her everything her brother once was and what he has lost…and he found himself desiring her deeply.
But Gilgamesh is no fool; he is fully aware she is too good for him, but he will still have her. Even if he has to break her, drag her down in to the depths of his own self-loathing to have her he will do it. She will be by his side for all of eternity, she has no say in the matter. You could call it his horrible version of ‘love’ if you wanted, but it is certainly in infantile stages of being. He yearns to have her by his side to ease his own loneliness and pain, but he is hardly ever going to let his arrogance part to make such a confession. She has no need to know anyway, no one has the right to pry into the king’s thoughts and feelings. He wants her, that is all she has need to know, and really she shouldn’t need any more reason to be his.
This very strong, very specific desire to have Saber makes him pretty one track minded. Everything he does is fixated on her and getting her in bed to submit to him. However, it also means he can get extremely protective and jealous. Yes, he does not think anyone else is good enough to tempt her eye, but should any attempt it or even dare to think it, it is his right as her king and husband to end the mongrel who has so insulted him and his ‘beloved.’ In his mind, she is already his, and it is not a matter of competition, but of protecting what is rightfully his to begin with.