spoiler ending discussion
I really disliked the ending. It felt like nothing was resolved and was rather anticlimactic. No glorious victory, just boring.
shareI think it was an interesting ending because in the end Kotomine Kirei, Emiya Kiritsugu and Waver Velvet all had to face the realities of why they were in the battle and then redefine who they were and what they wanted from life. It's a way more metaphysical ending for those three then what I was expecting but the entire series seemed to be way more about character development and their individual journeys than the actual battles themselves. They really didn't explain what happened to Archer, and Saber's ending was confusing as well. I was sad to see Rider meet his end but damn I don't think a more nobler death has ever been shown.
shareI interpreted the ending with Saber as her being granted atonement. As for Archer he only ever found entertainment in watching Kotomine, so I assume, as he sort of said at the end, that he is going to continue to do that.
shareYeah but granted atonement by whom and why? Having an epiphany of "I sucked at ruling" doesn't really give you a pass for the mistakes you made while ruling.
According to the rules of the "tournament" the only reason the servants are there is to fight for their master to win the grail as per the pact that is made when the servant is summoned. If the master dies then the servant can either be taken by a master that has no servant or returns to where they came from. So why didn't Archer disappear when Kotomine was killed? And why did he continue to exist after the war was concluded? Even archer didn't know why he was still there.
Gilgamesh should have disappeared multiple times. I guess you get a little bit of time before you disappear, if your master dies. That is the only way it makes sense and even then it is iffy at best.
And it seems like the grail decided to grant both of the masters and both of the servants wishes as well, despite one being dead and the other not getting their true wish. I guess in a really *beep* way, Arthurian got her atonement though. None of the Knights hated her or her rule, even Lancelot said he loved her, his only negative words were "maybe if you punished me, I wouldn't have fell into madness", but he still loved and respected her. I guess part of her atonement was having to see the bodies she left in her wake as well. Maybe it was hell, and that was her punishment. Jesus, that is actually *beep* dark.
They left it subtlety resolved and very open ended. I didn't like it, but the anime was never straight-forward to begin with, so what could you have really expected? Good anime, questionable ending.
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"Power tends to corrupt; absolute power corrupts absolutely." - Lord Acton