[RadiantBeam]

Originally Posted by Cherry_Lover

Spoiler for game:

Actually, masters don't lose their command spell until they accept that they're no longer a master. Since Shirou has no interest in the war itself, for him that means when he accepts that Saber is gone, hence why Shirou loses them when he sees the place where she had fallen and says goodbye. It's the point where Shirou accepts that he's lost his servant and, thus, no longer has the right to be a master. However, for someone like Rin in UBW, she retains her command spells even when she's betrayed by Archer, because she doesn't accept that she's no longer a master, hence why she can contract with Saber. However, once the servant dies, the command spells fade, as if they had all been used (if the person makes a new contract with a servant, they get three command spells again), so that would be the distinction (not that Shirou would know that).



Well, I'd imagine that they do have a pulse, however it's pretty strongly hinted that servants only do human things like breathing because they used to be human. A servant does indeed breathe, but a servant couldn't suffocate, and similarly a servant can't bleed to death. There is, however, an easy way to know if a servant is dead, because a dead servant vanishes. Having said that, once again Shirou would likely not be aware of this, so it's quite plausible for him to try taking her pulse to check.

Spoiler for Game:

Ah, I have to admit I wasn't really aware of any of that because up until this point, at least with the Command Spells, it was only implied that if a Master accepted their Servant was gone they gave up the right (unless I missed something way back when, and the only one who I know who actually accepted this was Shirou and possibly Kotomine), and I have to admit I preferred the idea of Shirou checking her pulse to Shirou saying "Okay, she hasn't disappeared, so she's alive." Rule of Drama for me, I guess. But I'm glad it still held up anyway; thank you for the comments!