Shirou is the main character of Fate, which generally means that he’s going to have a love interest. But he actually has several, and there are plenty of good reasons for any of them to be the right person for him. Rin Tohsaka is his would-be enemy turned friend who competes against him and supports him where she can.
Saber is the Servant to Shirou’s Master in the Holy Grail Wars, which means they work closely together to achieve their goals. Either of these women would be great options for Shirou as people to pursue romantic relationships with. Here are five reasons Rin is the better choice and five reasons it’s Saber.
10 Rin: Has Never Tried To Kill Shirou
Rin is a pretty tough cookie, and she’s often been at odds with Shirou in the course of the series. They’re enemies, or at least competitors, at their core. Though they eventually become friends, there have been times when they’ve been in positions of working and fighting against each other. Though Rin has had several opportunities to kill Shirou, which would help her in the Holy Grail Wars by eliminating some of her competition, she never does because she feels that she owes him and wants to stand by her debts to him. This sense of honor makes her a great choice for a relationship.
9 Saber: Loves His Cooking
Saber has spent most of her life hyper-focused on the fact that she’s a warrior, and her most important quality is that she can fight and support her Master during the Holy Grail Wars. She hasn’t spent much time thinking about the importance of just about anything else, including how food can taste good.
Shirou is a good cook and, more importantly, enjoys cooking, so as he and Saber become closer, he begins cooking for her. Saber learns to love food from Shirou’s cooking. Shirou helps broaden Saber’s horizons in this small way, and the best relationships should open someone’s eyes to things they haven’t seen before.
8 Rin: Loves To Tease Shirou
We love relationships where the characters are easy with each other, and Rin and Shirou’s relationship is no different. Though Rin is a serious, focused person who has specific goals she’s trying to reach in trying to win the Holy Grail War, her relationship with Shirou is a mostly pleasant, lighthearted one. She spends a lot of time teasing him and trying to get under his skin, just because she finds his reactions to this funny. This is a good sign that they’re a great fit for each other romantically, since they should be able to be playful with one another.
7 Saber: She Trusts Shirou
Trust is the basis of all relationships, and Shirou’s relationship with Saber is no different. Because of their positions as Master and Servant in the Holy Grail Wars, trusting each other is vital to winning the competition. Saber doesn’t always agree with Shirou, and she often finds herself frustrated by him or arguing with him.
But in the end, even if she doesn’t end up coming to an agreement with him, she trusts him and his decisions. Being able to step back and see that someone has the best intentions and to know they’re going to make the right decision is a great foundation for a relationship.
6 Rin: Supportive Of His Relationships
This is such an important quality for a person to have. When one person cares about another romantically, it’s a good thing when they’re able to see past their own feelings in order to make sure that the other person is happy. Rin is a good example of this kind of person. She sees Shirou with other people, people he has chosen and who make him happy, and she throws her full support behind their relationship, acknowledging that happiness. This maturity and lack of jealousy is exactly the reason Shirou shouldn’t be with anyone but her.
5 Saber: Wants To Protect Him
Saber’s position as Shirou’s Servant makes their relationship very unique. They work in tandem to achieve their goals, and she submits to him for decisions and orders when they’re in battle together. But Saber is also deeply protective of Shirou, outside of just being his Servant. She’s willing to die to keep him safe.
This is a big commitment to make to someone, regardless of whether you’re in a romantic relationship, and Saber’s determination to do whatever it takes to protect him shows us the seriousness of her feelings for him.
4 Rin: Wants To Protect Him
We talked above about how Saber is very ready to die to protect Shirou, and that’s absolutely true. But that’s also part of Saber’s job as Shirou’s Servant. Rin, on the other hand, is Shirou’s rival in the Holy Grail Wars. It would actually be in her best interest if Shirou got hurt. But despite that, she’s still really invested in keeping him safe and protecting him however she can. This desire to take care of him, regardless of what her own motivations and goals are, shows that she deeply cares about him and would carry that attention over into a relationship.
3 Saber: Ready To Disagree With Him
As much as Saber trusts him, as we mentioned in an above point, she’s also not afraid of Shirou. There’s nothing about her that’s meek, and she’s opinionated. This means that she has no problem disagreeing with Shirou when she feels it’s necessary to do so.
Even if she ultimately ends up letting Shirou make the decisions as his heart tells him he should, Saber makes sure to let him know any reservations that she has. This kind of open and honest communication between them is important both as teammates and people who need to work to keep each other alive and also as a potential couple.
2 Rin: They’re Rivals
Rin and Shirou consider each other rivals. They’re in similar positions, and they’re both separately trying to win the Holy Grail Wars. While this could create contention in their relationship, since they have the same goals and that should put them at odds with each other, it actually makes their relationship stronger. Being friends and also rivals means that they’re each doing their best to achieve their goals, and using each other as motivators only makes them each better and stronger. In a relationship, the two people involved should constantly be trying to better themselves, and two people who encourage each other to be better at whatever they’re doing make for a healthy, productive relationship.
1 Saber: Shirou Thinks She’s Feminine
Saber pretty much exists to fight. It’s in her blood, and she is very focused on this. Because she has spent so long thinking about herself as a warrior and not so much as a woman, she doesn’t think of herself as being particularly feminine. But Shirou believes that, despite and because of her strength, she’s very womanly. This ability to see past what has been projected onto her because of the circumstances of their lives leads us to think that Shirou and Saber are a good match, since they understand each other at their cores.