Am I missing something? If the legend of a servant determines their abilities and appearance...

Am I missing something? If the legend of a servant determines their abilities and appearance, then why was Arthur summoned as woman? If majority of people saw King Arthur as a man shouldn't he be summoned as one?

Fate/Stay Night was a erotic VN. She had to be a girl for the lewd.

Because hot girls sell.

No one on earth would care about Fate if Saber wasn't a hot blond

Why didn't she speak with a Cornish accent, per historical accuracy?

Because during development, the devs decided a blonde, female knight would sell a lot better than a male one.

Lorewise, Saber never dies so she is always summoned as she really was.

Couldn't it be that because Shirou is a horny teenage guy, his servant despite being a man in legend would show up as a hot blond young woman? Same deal for her "son" Mordred?

Because there is no female historical figures that were heroes so they need to some changes in some male heroes of the past.

Unlike most servants, Saber is not taken from the record of the Throne of Heroes, and as such remembers her previous incarnation unlike a normal servant. I don't think they explained this in the anime.

>Lorewise, Saber never dies so she is always summoned as she really was.

This is the big one, if we're going for in-universe explanations. Ever notice how Saber never dematerializes? This is because due to Reasons, Arturia is summoned in the flesh instead of being an incarnated Heroic Spirit. This means she isn't malleable to the beliefs of the masses the same way a spirit is.

Makes sense user thanks.

That's opens its own can of worms as it implies that she's just as strong as she was in life. And if a time-displaced mortal(if of some dragon descent, admittedly) can match and overwhelm legend-boosted, heroic spirit, magic murder-machines, then wew lad.

You seem to be under the impression that Servants are more powerful than the original hero was. I don't believe that to be true, at least not in most cases.

Because the self-established rules in fate never matter

...

Servants are vessels heroes fill to capacity. They aren't as strong as the real thing.
Saber actually existed in the TM universe, she wasn't created by the masses.
Her power as a servant is dependant on location, master and fame, but her appearance is locked.

Fujoshi bait sells better than waifu bait.

He's right.
Servants definitely get a huge power boost compared to their mortal selves. Even Saber, if she packed the power she did in SN/Zero, then she could have just lazily swung ekusu-calibuaaah horizontally back at Camlann and call it a day and head back home to knock herself out with a few pints of mead.
Their fame and prowess of the summoner clearly influences their power.

Fujoshi pandering wasn't a big deal when FSN came out.
If they did it now, sure.

She got knowledge of the modern day and realized she talked like a retard.

Op here? What about Nero? Blackmore says he researched Nero and noted how he was tyrant, and since that is part of Nero's legend, should Nero be summoned as a male?

No idea, I'm not at all familiar with the Fate/Extra metaphysics. All I know is stuff like "Mooncell" gets thrown around a lot. Maybe some other user can answer.

Not in 2005 it didn't

>Servants definitely get a huge power boost compared to their mortal selves
You know, I really hate when people use the term "secondary", but it applies all-too-powerfully here.