Animé and the Abbey
Animé and the Abbey
The abbey is a place of pilgrimage, not only of the spiritual kind, but for many who seek the location associated with their favourite animated series.
Glastonbury Abbey features in the animé Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works, and every year we are visited by fans from Japan and all over the world who come to see the grave of the legendary King Arthur, as featured in the series. Often these visitors will come in full costume as Saber, the female protagonist who is the resurrected spirit of King Arthur, also known as ‘Artoria Pendragon’.
The central plot of the Fate series is the Holy Grail war, fought secretly by mages who summon the spirits of heroic figures from history and legend. Influenced by the grail romances of medieval England, the series’ most popular character is the gender-swapped King Arthur who embodies the qualities of truth and justice. In the epilogue of the series, two mages travel to England and visit Arthur’s grave at Glastonbury Abbey, which is portrayed in remarkably realistic fashion.
Besides the Fate series, Glastonbury Abbey also features in the first episode of the animé Little Witch Academia as does the Tor and Glastonbury High Street. The main character passes through Glastonbury as she travels the ‘leylines’ to witch school.
Fate isn’t the only Japanese series to be inspired by Arthurian legend. The popular animé Seven Deadly Sins adapts characters from the mythology of Britain and reinvents them for a modern audience, including Meliodas, Ban of Benoic, Escanor, and of course, Arthur Pendragon. A character called Arthur, a knight who wields the sword ‘Excalibur’ also features in the series Fire Force.
When the abbey temporarily featured a donated Saber figurine from its collection as one of the co-curation objects chosen by a local village, it caused a stir among the Fate fandom. The abbey was praised for acknowledging that its legends and those of King Arthur continue to constantly be reinvented by every generation. The many visitors who come to the abbey because of Fate/Stay Night are testament to the enduring popularity, versatility, and worldwide reach of the Arthurian legend and its connection to the abbey.
The temporary exhibition in 2024 was followed by another in 2025, chosen by students from a local college, featuring Saber's lion.
‘Fate/Stay Night’ is a visual novel game developed by Type Moon in 2004 and adapted into animé as ‘Fate/Stay Night: Unlimited Blade Works’ in 2014 by Ufotable.
