To understand Arthur Pendragon truly, one must bear in mind that above all, Arthur is King. From the day she was born she understood that to become king was indeed her destiny and accepted it with grace; unfortunately, she also accepted and never questioned a fair number of ideals that would lead to her fall. Rather than be raised by her father, Uther Pendragon, Arthur was raised as a squire by Sir Ector alongside foster brother Kay. Disregarding gender, Arthur was taught to be a knight and Merlin himself knew that the signs pointed to Arthur’s becoming king-- the king Britain had been promised. Arthur would eventually choose to pull the sword from the stone despite Merlin’s warnings that her life would never be the same; she knew that to be the king was her destiny no matter her sex and she would do all in her power to be the king that Britain then needed.
Her response to gender as a king can very easily be interpreted as Arthur being bigender, so it is the mun's choice to do so. Without outright objecting to her female physical form, Arthur adopted the masculine role of king and became so in spirit, ‘posing’ as male during her rule though she was completely sure that no one who learned of her sex would abandon their fealty to her. Arthur will respond to being gendered by either male or female pronouns but for the sake of simplicity mun will use female pronouns for her in her posts, though she prefers to wear masculine clothing, is rather androgynous, and has an androgynous vocal quality. She is uncomfortable with people treating her as one would traditionally a girl, likely because she was raised as a squire and king and is not used to such actions. The fact that so many react as though she is a joke (or other bad reactions) once they learn that King Arthur’s biological sex was female bothers her intensely. She is not afraid to resort to harsh words and actions to prove her worth, as seen when she challenges Alexander when he gleefully exclaims “who would have thought that the king of knights was a little girl?”
“King of Knights” seems to be the favoured title of Arthur Pendragon in Fate/Zero, and she certainly does take her role as king very seriously. Alexander the Great says of her:
"You saved them, but you never led them. You never showed them what a king should be. You abandoned your men when they lost their way. Then, alone and untroubled, you followed your own petty little ideals. Thus, you are no true king. You are only a little girl, enraptured by a false idol of the king who serves others, but not themselves."
His assessment of her is not far from the truth. Though she has a heart dedicated to Britannia and the people, her ideals keep her from being the king she could have been. She expects people to act honourably and seems disappointed when they don’t, as though no cynicism has had the common sense to enter her mind. She believes in chivalry and honour and seems not to understand that such ideals are not the top of everyone’s agenda. Arthur abandons herself as a human when she becomes king and takes on the persona in full, but does not truly understand that she must both serve and be served as king. The selflessness she shows becomes selfish; rather than work for a real Britannia, she worked only toward an ideal one-- one that could never be. This and distrust among the Knights of the Round Table only contributed to their fall, a mistake Arthur believes herself responsible for fixing and at complete fault for. She can be and often is a machine of her own guilt.
2/?
To understand Arthur Pendragon truly, one must bear in mind that above all, Arthur is King. From the day she was born she understood that to become king was indeed her destiny and accepted it with grace; unfortunately, she also accepted and never questioned a fair number of ideals that would lead to her fall. Rather than be raised by her father, Uther Pendragon, Arthur was raised as a squire by Sir Ector alongside foster brother Kay. Disregarding gender, Arthur was taught to be a knight and Merlin himself knew that the signs pointed to Arthur’s becoming king-- the king Britain had been promised. Arthur would eventually choose to pull the sword from the stone despite Merlin’s warnings that her life would never be the same; she knew that to be the king was her destiny no matter her sex and she would do all in her power to be the king that Britain then needed.
Her response to gender as a king can very easily be interpreted as Arthur being bigender, so it is the mun's choice to do so. Without outright objecting to her female physical form, Arthur adopted the masculine role of king and became so in spirit, ‘posing’ as male during her rule though she was completely sure that no one who learned of her sex would abandon their fealty to her. Arthur will respond to being gendered by either male or female pronouns but for the sake of simplicity mun will use female pronouns for her in her posts, though she prefers to wear masculine clothing, is rather androgynous, and has an androgynous vocal quality. She is uncomfortable with people treating her as one would traditionally a girl, likely because she was raised as a squire and king and is not used to such actions. The fact that so many react as though she is a joke (or other bad reactions) once they learn that King Arthur’s biological sex was female bothers her intensely. She is not afraid to resort to harsh words and actions to prove her worth, as seen when she challenges Alexander when he gleefully exclaims “who would have thought that the king of knights was a little girl?”
“King of Knights” seems to be the favoured title of Arthur Pendragon in Fate/Zero, and she certainly does take her role as king very seriously. Alexander the Great says of her:
His assessment of her is not far from the truth. Though she has a heart dedicated to Britannia and the people, her ideals keep her from being the king she could have been. She expects people to act honourably and seems disappointed when they don’t, as though no cynicism has had the common sense to enter her mind. She believes in chivalry and honour and seems not to understand that such ideals are not the top of everyone’s agenda. Arthur abandons herself as a human when she becomes king and takes on the persona in full, but does not truly understand that she must both serve and be served as king. The selflessness she shows becomes selfish; rather than work for a real Britannia, she worked only toward an ideal one-- one that could never be. This and distrust among the Knights of the Round Table only contributed to their fall, a mistake Arthur believes herself responsible for fixing and at complete fault for. She can be and often is a machine of her own guilt.