[Shadow5YA]

Originally Posted by TwilightsCall

^ I would contest that statement.

Spoiler for just in case:

In UBW, Saber is basically towed along behind the story, comes in at the end where they notice the grail is corrupt, and takes up arms against it. She never has to face the implications of her wish as the chance at having it fulfilled is taken away before she is made to think about it.

There is very little character development for Saber in UBW or HF, whereas her development alongside Shirou is the main focus of Fate. The end result may be the same, in that her wish isn't granted in any of the three routes, but the only route in which she actually comes to terms with reality and accepts her fate and the fate of her kingdom, as it were, is in the Fate route. The same sort of thing "sort of" happens at the end of UBW, but it's really shoehorned in and feels almost like an afterthought, and I can't help but feel like it was just thrown in to take some of the tragedy out of Saber's disappearance rather than as an actual attempt at displaying character development.

What? A character can still receive development even if she is not the "focus".

Also

Spoiler for UBW:

Even if the focus was Shirou, it doesn't change that Saber still discovers the Grail is still not exactly the wish granting tool she wanted. Unlike in the previous War, Saber still fully supports destroying the Grail in this route.

Additionally, Archer's criticism of Shirou's ideals also applies to Saber. Both of them strived to protect others to a fault, and Shirou's "victory" effectively justifies Saber's past.

You want to talk about shoehorning? How about Shirou's constant browbeating about how girls shouldn't fight in the Fate route?