Fate stay night/Characters/Masters

This is a page about the characters taking the role of Masters appearing in the Visual Novel turned Anime Fate/stay night. Contains a LOT of spoilers.


 * For the Servants, see this page.
 * For the other characters, see this page.
 * For their appearances in Fate Hollow Ataraxia, go here.
 * For masters which also appear in Fate Zero, go here for tropes specific to that series.

-

Voiced by: Noriaki Sugiyama (JP), Sam Riegel (EN)
""I want to be a hero.""

The protagonist of the series, Shirou is a rather untalented magus whose only skill is basic Tracing and Reinforcement magic, which allows him to analyze the physical make-up of an object and then strengthen it. His dream is to become a "Hero of Justice", someone who can selflessly protect the lives of everyone from disaster. He inherited this dream from his adoptive father Kiritsugu Emiya and is extremely naive on what it takes to reach that ideal.

Later it is discovered that.

He also possesses a Healing Factor that makes him practically immortal.

Shirou is an accomplished archer (having been a member of the school's archery club without ever missing the bull’s-eye except the one time he felt like doing so) and, following some training from Saber, is mildly proficient in swordplay.

"Shirou: I pour determination into my dying body."
 * Almighty Janitor: In the ending to Unlimited Blade Works, he becomes this.
 * Always Save the Girl
 * Visual Novel:
 * Anime: Episode 4 of the anime, to Saber, though strangely only in the Japanese audio track.
 * Anti Hero: What he becomes in Heaven’s Feel.
 * Badass: After he Took a Level In Badass in each route. Arguably he is the least Badass in Fate but in Heaven's Feel and Unlimited Blade Works he kicks a lot of ass.
 * Berserk Button: His loved/significant ones are his button.
 * In the Unlimited Blade Works movie, calling Saber "useless" in Shiro's presence will result in the loss of an arm and being thrown into a black hole/rip in the fabric of the universe.
 * You do not mess with Taiga.
 * Beware the Honest Ones: Shirou's a little too far on the idealistic side for even Saber, so while his allies appreciate him somewhat, they also know he'll do something stupidly reckless if it's the "right" thing to do.
 * BFS:
 * Blessed With Suck - Shirou's often-forgotten semi-unknown instinctual internal reinforcement works by . The power's track record is a mixed bag:
 * In Fate:
 * In Unlimited Blade Works:
 * In Heaven's Feel:
 * Broken Hero: Even called that in-series a few times. Much of Unlimited Blade Works is devoted to exploring it.
 * Bully Hunter: He was this as a child.
 * Captain Obvious: Has a reputation for this due to the completely serious "People die when they are killed" line. However, this is actually a play on a Japanese idiom and refers to his own healing factor, as well as being taken out of context.
 * Character Development: He only gets a faint hint of this in Fate, but the other routes multiply this exponentially.
 * Chaste Hero: Averted Trope. He doesn't realize when someone loves him, but no worries, he is still an adolescent.
 * Hilariously Flanderized in an infamous h-doujin (origin of the "J-J-JAM IT IN!" and "You lost me" memes,) which has him utterly, hopelessly clueless about anything to do with sex.
 * Implied in Heaven's Feel to really not be as oblivious as he seems, at least regarding Sakura. It's mostly willful denial keeping him at arms length.
 * Chekhov's Hobby:
 * Chekhov's Skill:
 * Chronic Hero Syndrome
 * Comedic Sociopathy: Shirou honestly doesn't understand why ordering his male best friend to take off his clothes would be at all strange.
 * Deadly Upgrade:
 * Deadpan Snarker: He tends to snark a lot in his internal monologues, but not that often out loud, except maybe around Taiga and Rin.
 * Determinator: Shirou has shades of this in all three routes, but Heaven's Feel deserves a special mention:
 * Comedic Sociopathy: Shirou honestly doesn't understand why ordering his male best friend to take off his clothes would be at all strange.
 * Deadly Upgrade:
 * Deadpan Snarker: He tends to snark a lot in his internal monologues, but not that often out loud, except maybe around Taiga and Rin.
 * Determinator: Shirou has shades of this in all three routes, but Heaven's Feel deserves a special mention:

"Rin: Shirou. Your way of life is really distorted."
 * Determined Defeatist
 * Dual Wielding: In Unlimited Blade Works and in Heaven's Feel, he begins fighting with.
 * The Dulcinea Effect: Combined with Chronic Hero Syndrome and, sometimes, Stay in The Kitchen, Shirou will do many reckless things for Saber in Fate. In other routes, Ilya is a notable target.
 * Shirou's Stay in The Kitchen tendencies are most notably restricted only to Saber and only in the Fate route. Something about seeing a bloodied half broken small girl trying her hardest to stand up and fight just spurs his protective instincts. Oh, and the fact that she's doing all that to protect HIM doesn't exactly mix well with his self-sacrificing nature either. Not seeing her bloodied and broken seems to completely change things, so much that it is the key event that separates the Fate route from the other routes.
 * Everyone Can See It: In Fate, absolutely everyone can see the Saber/Shirou attraction. Even Issei.
 * Expy: Shirou shares a character model with Tomoe Enjou;.
 * Eyes of Gold: Rather unusual for a protagonist.
 * The Fettered: Shirou's ideal of wanting to save everybody is a large source of his strength.
 * The Unfettered: In the "Mind of Steel" Bad End,.
 * Firstperson Smartass: Not very obvious. Then the realization hits that his narration is just as sarcastic as Rin's and boggling occurs. He is more of a snarker than people give him credit for, especially around Rin.
 * Future Badass:
 * Full Contact Magic: An inversion of this trope as the only way he could initially use his magic is to reinforce his martial-arts abilities, not the other way round as this trope usually would.
 * Generation Xerox:.
 * Happily Adopted
 * Healing Factor: Shirou being Shirou, he wouldn't survive without it. . He can't use it fully without his connection to Saber, . Notably, all three paths.
 * The Hero
 * Heroes Prefer Swords: Hell, even his affinity (and Origin) is "Sword".
 * H Game POV Character: Comes off as a Type 1 in theory, though story events and characterization make him more of a Type II A/B.
 * Honor Before Reason: For better or worse.
 * Idiot Hero: He sometimes gets better.
 * Image Song: "Kogane no Hikari"
 * Invocation: Trace... ON!
 * Unlimited Blade Works:
 * Heaven’s Feel Bad End #38:
 * I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Deconstructed. This is basically Shirou's default state towards anyone. To clarify, unlike normal people who can somewhat create their own happiness, Shirou, thanks to his lack of any concept or sense of self, always places the need of others before his own and is completely unable to create his own happiness and has to live through others.
 * Image Song: "Kogane no Hikari"
 * Invocation: Trace... ON!
 * Unlimited Blade Works:
 * Heaven’s Feel Bad End #38:
 * I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Deconstructed. This is basically Shirou's default state towards anyone. To clarify, unlike normal people who can somewhat create their own happiness, Shirou, thanks to his lack of any concept or sense of self, always places the need of others before his own and is completely unable to create his own happiness and has to live through others.
 * I Want My Beloved to Be Happy: Deconstructed. This is basically Shirou's default state towards anyone. To clarify, unlike normal people who can somewhat create their own happiness, Shirou, thanks to his lack of any concept or sense of self, always places the need of others before his own and is completely unable to create his own happiness and has to live through others.


 * Knight in Shining Armor: His role in the Fate route.
 * Knight in Sour Armor: What he becomes in the Unlimited Blade Works route.
 * Magikarp Power: The only kind of spellcraft Shirou is consistently skilled at is largely considered to be mostly useless, that is, until it turns out
 * Martyr Without a Cause: Only in the beginning in the Visual Novel. The Anime has him this way all the way through.
 * Nice Guy: Stay in The Kitchen tendencies in Fate and the anime aside, Shirou is considerate, thoughtful, industrious, and easily a textbook example of this.
 * Normally I Would Be Dead Now: Shirou is apparently not allowed to do anything awesome without first being reduced to a near-dead cripple. Ever.
 * Not So Weak: His classmates, Shinji in particular, look at him like he's an idiot for his willingness to do all their work. The Servants and Tohsaka look at him like an idiot for being, well, an idiot.
 * Oblivious to Love: Come on, man, look at Sakura! Look at her!
 * Parental Abandonment: Twice yet. Once when he was orphaned in the Fuyuki Fire, and a second time when Kiritsugu passed away.
 * Possession Implies Mastery: Played With.
 * Principles Zealot: He can be this in the Heaven's Feel route, should you choose. It's not a good idea.
 * Quote Mine: His "People die when they are killed" line. Shirou does say "People die when they are killed" but it's an out of context reference to a Japanese idiom, and even omits the last part of the quote: "That's how it should be", which Makes Sense in Context. The official translation of the line- from the Geneon DVDs- is, "If people are badly injured enough, they die. That's the way it should be."
 * Real Men Wear Pink: Shirou loves and is quite skilled at cooking, and owns a cute pink apron.
 * Redheaded Hero
 * Red Left Hand: In Heaven's Feel,
 * Say My Name:
 * Selective Obliviousness: Trying hard not to notice anything in regards to how Sakura feels or how he himself is starting to feel about her since he feels it's inappropriate to be attracted to his friend's sister. Additionally, it's implied (and stated by Shirou himself, even) that he knew, but couldn't possibly comprehend the idea.
 * Shoot the Dog:
 * in Heaven's Feel.
 * And again in one memorable Bad End of the same path, where he.
 * Spam Attack:
 * Spell My Name With an S: Shirou, or Shirō, depending on the source.
 * Staying Alive: Due to the Healing Factor mentioned above.
 * Stay in The Kitchen: Shirou famously says some astoundingly sexist lines in both the anime and the Fate route of the Visual Novel. This is likely rooted in his self-sacrificial tendencies (that is, he'd rather be hurt himself instead of seeing someone else be hurt) and in him trying to find an excuse to keep Saber out of battle (and to prevent her from getting hurt as a result).
 * Survivor Guilt: He has a massive case of this, shown during both Fate and Unlimited Blade Works, and present but barely and far more subtle in Heavens' Feel.
 * Theme Music Power Up: His moments of asskickery are usually signaled by "Emiya" starting up in the background.
 * Too Dumb to Live: Prior to his Character Development. Pretty much everybody calls him out on it. Visual Novel-wise, there are 40 main Tiger Dojos and nearly all of them call him out, especially 11, 24, and 36 which are Nobody Calls Me Chicken Player Punches.
 * Took a Level In Badass: Considering how relatively incompetent he is at fighting compared to almost every other major character in the series at the start, Shirou makes amazing progress in both Unlimited Blade Works and Heaven's Feel.
 * Unlimited Blade Works: Two moments cement this:
 * Heaven's Feel:
 * Trauma Induced Amnesia:
 * Shirou lost all his memories prior to the fire ten years before from which Kiritsugu saved him.
 * After in Heaven’s Feel
 * Unusual Eyebrows: Of the kinked type.
 * Unwanted Harem: He started out with Taiga and Sakura... And then got Rin. And then Saber. And then Ilya. Some people include Issei in this.
 * Weak but Skilled: Shirou was born with almost zero talent as a mage and with a single magic circuit (which is why it threatens to overload even by doing the simplest of magic like reinforcement). To make up for it, he work so retardedly hard that people even ridicule him for it. This is why his battle abilities are pretty much all fighter-oriented as opposed to talented mages like Rin.
 * Wide Eyed Idealist: One of his defining traits. Eventually, heavily Deconstructed in both the Unlimited Blade Works and Heaven's Feel routes.
 * You Killed My Father: In Fate, He finds out the former in Heaven’s Feel as well, but at that point it makes no difference to him.
 * Weak but Skilled: Shirou was born with almost zero talent as a mage and with a single magic circuit (which is why it threatens to overload even by doing the simplest of magic like reinforcement). To make up for it, he work so retardedly hard that people even ridicule him for it. This is why his battle abilities are pretty much all fighter-oriented as opposed to talented mages like Rin.
 * Wide Eyed Idealist: One of his defining traits. Eventually, heavily Deconstructed in both the Unlimited Blade Works and Heaven's Feel routes.
 * You Killed My Father: In Fate, He finds out the former in Heaven’s Feel as well, but at that point it makes no difference to him.
 * You Killed My Father: In Fate, He finds out the former in Heaven’s Feel as well, but at that point it makes no difference to him.

Voiced by: Kana Ueda (JP), Mela Lee (EN)
""I'm not annoyed at you, I'm annoyed at myself for not achieving what I wanted.""

One of the main Magi of the series, known in the Fandom for her Tsundere traits and her Grade-"S" Zettai Ryouiki. Rin is an honor student in Shirou's school, and the talented heir of the prestigious Tohsaka magus family, one of the founders of the Holy Grail Wars. She enters the Fifth Holy Grail Wars out of a sense of responsibility (as the Tohaska heir) and her own competitive desire to win, and tries to summon a Saber-class Servant (widely considered to be the best Servant class). Thus, it is a point of much irritation when she summons Archer instead. Eventually she grows accustomed to him, and they are partners in every route of the game.

While she is mostly an adviser to Shirou in Fate, she becomes the main heroine in Unlimited Blade Works and plays a major role in Heaven's Feel.

Rin is a complex person, using a honor student facade to hide her true character and using the Magus excuse for ignoring her own morals. More than anything, Rin seems driven by her sense of duty to the Tohsaka lineage, though her moral values save her from being a self-absorbed sociopath like most magi (including the father she idolizes).

- ""... I can't believe it. A guy made me cry.""
 * Action Girl
 * Alternate Universe: In Heaven's Feel, her Infinity Plus One Sword works by pulling energy from these.
 * And Now for Someone Completely Different: Inverted. Rin is the POV character in the game's prologue before it switches over to Shirou once the game proper begins. She also gets the POV at several times during Unlimited Blade Works.
 * Badass
 * Badass Adorable: More relaxed than the stern and stoic Saber, but still more beautiful than cute...
 * Batman Gambit: During a battle against in Unlimited Blade Works,.
 * Beneath the Mask: Two different levels, and she's only aware of the first. Beneath her perfect student facade, she's grouchy, a Tsundere and a troll. But only halfway acknowledged beneath that is that she's actually pretty kind and strongly values both lives and fair play.
 * Bi the Way: She pulls this on herself, : "I didn't know I was into girls..."
 * In the True End of Heaven's Feel there's a throwaway line about  "recharging her mana" and Tohsaka's narration goes to great lengths to describe how beautiful  is.
 * Blood Magic: Uses blood runes for summoning. It's later shown that she gradually enhances her magic arsenal by drawing her own blood and applying it to gems.
 * Blue Eyes: Blue-green.
 * Born in The Wrong Century: Rin, like most Magi, barely knows what a VCR is, let alone DVD or Blu-Ray. She hates technology with a passion since she can't understand it, although she is learning from Shirou.
 * In the Type-Moon April's Fool’s joke (with various Nasuverse characters setting up their own Twitter accounts), Rin has Archer set up her account, and starts using that as her secret diary. Hilarity ensues (scroll down to reply # 172).
 * Cheshire Cat Grin: If she's smiling at you, something bad is going to happen.
 * Creepy Cool Crosses: One is displayed on her shirt when she's in her casual attire.
 * Cry Cute: A great example of Cry Cute happens during the scene.
 * Creepy Cool Crosses: One is displayed on her shirt when she's in her casual attire.
 * Cry Cute: A great example of Cry Cute happens during the scene.

""Isn't that mini-skirt a bit too... mini?""
 * She gets another good one in the Unlimited Blade Works movie when Shirou tells her the story of how Kiritsugu saved him right after . Its not even the story that does it, its the fact that it twisted him so much.
 * Equivalent Exchange: Supposedly a strong advocate of this, but it's a very poor cover for the good natured aid she gives at almost any opportunity.
 * Expy: It's very hard not to see similarities between Rin and Akiha. They're both the young female heads of prestigious families involved in the occult with long black hair, blue eyes and essentially the same face. They even have the same Tsundere "humph!" pose, except that Akiha's lacks the flying hair that Rin has whenever she does it. Both characters are in turn partly based on Azaka -- young Rin and young Azaka look exactly alike.
 * Face Palm: Rin does this a lot, often because of Shirou.
 * The Gadfly: Mixed with The Tease. Tohsaka doesn't limit herself here. Equal opportunity harassment.
 * Girlish Pigtails
 * Gratuitous German: but beautifully spoken
 * Image Song: "Kirari" (Sparkling)
 * Infinite Supplies: Averted Trope. She stores her Mana into gemstones in order to use it for her big spells, but since jewelry is expensive, she only has so many shots. However, in Heaven's Feel,.
 * Ironic Hell: In what's widely considered to be the most twisted and horrific of all the Bad Ends,.
 * I Uh You Too
 * Jerkass Facade: Her "uncaring magus" persona.
 * Jerk With a Heart of Gold
 * Kung Fu Wizard: She is a Nasuverse magus after all, so don't expect her to be useless in close combat.
 * Leitmotif: "Gentle Everyday", which often plays during light-hearted moments.
 * The Magus Who Doesn't Do Anything: ... let's be serious, most Magi in the Nasuverse are sociopaths at best in the name of Magic. Rin doesn't really want to wish for anything with the Holy Grail and she's very against the idea of innocent people being killed; no matter what she says to the contrary.
 * Magic Skirt: Despite that S-rank Zettai Ryouiki and micro-mini skirt, she only loses the magic once, very slightly, in exactly one scene in the entire franchise..
 * Meganekko: Only part-time. She states that she only wears glasses when doing work that requires extra concentration.
 * Not a Morning Person: Rin tends to be decidedly grumpy in the mornings... It clashes with her perfect schoolgirl image so badly that even after knowing her for awhile, people are outright shocked to see her dragging about in the morning, completely at a loss for words and unsure if what they've just seen was real.
 * And then they forget about it.
 * The Ojou: Complete with a Big Fancy House. Despite this, she's mocked as a bumpkin by Luviagelita, since she's from a country the Magic Association considers a backwater. As it turns out, she actually isn't very rich. Jewel sorcery is expensive.
 * Parental Abandonment: Her father died in the previous Grail War. Her mother apparently died sometime before the Fifth War due to illness, but was presumably in a mental home before that.
 * Panty Shot: Shirou almost gets one of these in the anime, which distracts Rin enough to make her lose her concentration. Also lampshaded in Shirou's victory quote over Rin in Fate/unlimited codes.
 * Panty Shot: Shirou almost gets one of these in the anime, which distracts Rin enough to make her lose her concentration. Also lampshaded in Shirou's victory quote over Rin in Fate/unlimited codes.


 * The Rival: To Luviagelita.
 * Selective Obliviousness: Not her, but people around her. Whenever she does something that breaks her image as the "perfect model student"... like going full-on berserk Tsundere towards Shirou in the middle of a crowded classroom... other students will simply choose not to remember it so they can keep idolizing her in peace.
 * Rin herself seems to exhibit this in regards to ...
 * Shoot the Dog: She attempts this twice with in Heaven's Feel. The first time, Shirou calls her out on it, then prevents it. The second,
 * Short, Dark and Bishoujo
 * Smoking Is Cool: Her Super Deformed version which appears in the Tiger Dojos.
 * Spell My Name With an S: Sort of. Different Romanizations have spelled her surname Tohsaka, Tousaka, Tosaka, Toosaka, Tôsaka, or Tōsaka. The first three seem the most popular in that order, but it still hasn't really been standardized in any way yet.
 * Stepford Smiler
 * Suddenly Always Knew That: She learned martial arts offscreen and that skill is not know before the plot requires it.
 * The Tease: She repeatedly teases Shirou in an overly flirtatious manner after finding out that he is easly embarrassed. It's turned back on her in her route when she starts becoming embarrassed when they're about to horizontal lambada.
 * Tomboy and Girly Girl: It tends to get lost because of comparisons to Sakura, but Rin is actually very feminine as well. It's just that she's also an Action Girl, who puts away any "feminine" traits when it's time to fight. The Tomboy in question here is Saber, who at some points adamantly refuses to even be considered a woman.
 * Tsundere: A textbook case. She is even tsundere in bed. Oddly, she doesn't act all that Tsundere in the anime, at least in that she tries to calm herself down instead of lashing out at Shirou when angry. She doesn't show the Dere side much either, as it's not her route being featured.
 * Walking Techbane
 * Wave Motion Sword: Her personal use of the
 * You Killed My Father: In Unlimited Blade Works,
 * Zettai Ryouiki: GRADE "S"! She actually helped really popularize the popular combination of twin tails, tsundere and zettai ryouiki.
 * Heck, we deified her for it.
 * Heck, we deified her for it.

Voiced by: Noriko Shitaya (JP), Sherry Lynn (EN)
""No, you are strong, Senpai. It's not because of your Magic Circuit or your talent, but because your mind is pure....I knew that from the first time I met you. I knew you would never betray anyone.""

Shirou's timid neighbor. She often visits Shirou's house and does chores there, mainly because she has a massive and very obvious crush on him. She seems to be an ordinary girl with a respectful relationship with her big brother Shinji Matou.

In Heaven's Feel, Sakura becomes the heroine of the story, but also at cost of her sanity. -
 * Beneath the Mask
 * Beware the Nice Ones: Heaven's Feel route.
 * Big Eater: Although she tries to reserve herself out of fear of looking unladylike.
 * Break the Cutie: Up to Eleven breakage, Nasuverse speaking -- it seems to border on Author Appeal for Nasu,.
 * Broken Bird
 * Cherry Blossom Girl
 * Clingy Jealous Girl
 * The Corruptible: Throughout Heaven’s Feel, there's a constant fear of Sakura succumbing to the corruption.
 * Curtains Match the Window: Sakura has unusual, purple-colored eyes and hair..
 * The Dog Bites Back:
 * Dogged Nice Girl
 * Expy: She is similar in appearance and personality, with Fujino Asagami (from the earlier Nasu work Kara no Kyoukai).
 * Extreme Doormat: What she was before she fell in love with Shirou.
 * First Girl Wins: Only in Heaven's Feel, and even then she only gets to keep Shirou in one ending.
 * She does get to keep Shirou in one bad ending, but she's hardly in a state to appreciate it by that point.
 * Gratuitous German: Heaven's Feel only.
 * Hair Decorations: Always wears a ribbon in the left side of her hair.
 * It is revealed to be a Memento MacGuffin since.
 * I Know You Are in There Somewhere Fight: Her fight with.
 * Image Song: "Egao Hitotsu de" ("With One Smile")
 * I Will Wait for You: In the Normal ending of the Heaven's Feel.
 * Kick the Son of A Bitch:
 * Lighter and Softer: In the manga, her backstory and other horrible things seem not to have occurred.
 * My God What Have I Done:
 * Nice Girl
 * Not So Weak: A plot point..
 * Purple Eyes
 * The Resenter: Towards and Rin for  and taking Shirou away from her.
 * Shrinking Violet
 * Sibling Yin Yang: With Shinji.
 * Spell My Name With an S: Matou, Matô or Matō depending on the source/transliteration paradigm used.
 * Stepford Smiler: Played with. At school, Sakura is more or less her "true self"; quiet, stoic and never smiles in front of people. Around Shirou, she's cheerful, happy, lively and always has a smile on her face. The latter is not an act, but this trope still applies to some extent because of everything she's hiding under that smile.
 * Tyke Bomb:
 * "Well Done, Sis" Girl:
 * Yamato Nadeshiko: Invoked. When she grew interested in Shirou, she resolved to reform herself to be more appealing and feminine.
 * You Gotta Have Purple Hair
 * Sibling Yin Yang: With Shinji.
 * Spell My Name With an S: Matou, Matô or Matō depending on the source/transliteration paradigm used.
 * Stepford Smiler: Played with. At school, Sakura is more or less her "true self"; quiet, stoic and never smiles in front of people. Around Shirou, she's cheerful, happy, lively and always has a smile on her face. The latter is not an act, but this trope still applies to some extent because of everything she's hiding under that smile.
 * Tyke Bomb:
 * "Well Done, Sis" Girl:
 * Yamato Nadeshiko: Invoked. When she grew interested in Shirou, she resolved to reform herself to be more appealing and feminine.
 * You Gotta Have Purple Hair
 * Tyke Bomb:
 * "Well Done, Sis" Girl:
 * Yamato Nadeshiko: Invoked. When she grew interested in Shirou, she resolved to reform herself to be more appealing and feminine.
 * You Gotta Have Purple Hair
 * Tyke Bomb:
 * "Well Done, Sis" Girl:
 * Yamato Nadeshiko: Invoked. When she grew interested in Shirou, she resolved to reform herself to be more appealing and feminine.
 * You Gotta Have Purple Hair
 * Tyke Bomb:
 * "Well Done, Sis" Girl:
 * Yamato Nadeshiko: Invoked. When she grew interested in Shirou, she resolved to reform herself to be more appealing and feminine.
 * You Gotta Have Purple Hair
 * Tyke Bomb:
 * "Well Done, Sis" Girl:
 * Yamato Nadeshiko: Invoked. When she grew interested in Shirou, she resolved to reform herself to be more appealing and feminine.
 * You Gotta Have Purple Hair
 * Yamato Nadeshiko: Invoked. When she grew interested in Shirou, she resolved to reform herself to be more appealing and feminine.
 * You Gotta Have Purple Hair

Voiced by: Hiroshi Kamiya (JP), Doug Erholtz (EN)
""If you want me to drop the barrier, you'll have to get on your knees and beg.""

Sakura's brother and Shirou's childhood friend. Due to the land of Fuyuki "rejecting" the Matou family, they had lost their magical potential by the time that Shinji was born. Thus, Shinji lacks a Magic Circuit (and thus, has no magical potential whatsoever). This caused him to develop a massive inferiority complex

At school, he's a popular ladies' man, but also does terrible things like blackmailing other students and exploiting the character flaws of his "friends" to get what he wants. When confronted, his facade of superiority quickly crumbles to reveal a sniveling, pathetic coward.

Because he is not a magus, he uses an artifact created from Rider's Command Spells called the Book of the False Attendant, which acts as a provisionary Command Spell and lets him control Rider. Because the Book is not a true command spell, it is destroyed either when it is pushed beyond its limits or Rider is killed.

-
 * Asshole Victim
 * Berserk Button: He frequently snaps if he is humillated.
 * Big Bad Wannabe: Shinji, no means NO.
 * Big Brother Mentor: He tried to be this in the manga backstory,.
 * Bitch in Sheep's Clothing
 * Body Horror: In Unlimited Blade Works,
 * Casanova: Character Material reveals that he is much less of a jerk if you aren't Sakura, though the only male he could actually get along with was Shirou, before their estrangement.
 * Casanova Wannabe: Continually tries to score with Rin; he never gets anywhere, but his ego doesn't seem to allow him to compute the fact that she isn't interested. This causes more conflict than you would think.
 * The Chew Toy: Shinji is introduced as an extremely ineffectual little slime ball. He is smacked around in confrontations with Shirou and other Servants, cannot get Rin's attention at all, convincing him that yes, Shinji, it really is not all fun and games being a magus/Master/the Holy Grail. Considering that he is a conceited little git at best, he doesn't get too much sympathy about this.
 * Actually he wanted to prove to Zouken that he wasn't useless and that he could be Matou Family heir instead of and a lot of his actions are based off what he believed to be how Magus/Masters acted.
 * Averted in the manga adaptation, with good justification.
 * Chick Magnet: The main cast of girls don't like Shinji much, but he's very popular with girls at school.
 * Dirty Coward
 * Disproportionate Retribution: In the manga, he bullies an archery student over minor and imagined infractions, prompting Ayako to warn him that he's on the verge of being expelled from the club. In response, he.
 * Don't You Dare Pity Me
 * Easily Forgiven: Rin still manages to find it within herself to save his life in Unlimited Blade Works.
 * In the manga, he gets this from . It should be noted that he does not in the manga,.
 * Eviler Than Thou: Shinji faces off against other villains in every path; Ilyasviel in Fate, in Unlimited Blade Works, and  in Heaven's Feel. Too bad (for him) that he's the "Thou" part of the trope all three times.
 * Go Mad From the Revelation: See Start of Darkness
 * Freudian Excuse: The Heaven's Feel route reveals that he belives he is justified to abuse Sakura, due to being trated with contempt and neglect by his grandfather and his own father all his life.
 * Humiliation Conga: In Heaven's Feel,.
 * Jerkass
 * Like Father Like Son: He strongly resembles physically to his father Byakuya. Not to mention that both are considered disgraces to the family...
 * Muggle Born of Mages: Could be viewed a Deconstruction of the trope, since it shows what would happen if that normal child grew up knowing he has no magic but still wanting to take over the family but due to his non magic status his dreams were shatttered while being cast off and completely ignored.
 * Parental Neglect: Zouken considers Shinji to be a disgrace of a sorcerer and often neglects him..
 * Start of Darkness: The Heaven's Feel route hints at it, but the manga comes right out and openly states that Shinji's came when he discovered the Matou were a clan of magi and began putting all of his heart and effort into becoming one himself... only to later find they were a fallen clan who no longer had magical power, . Basically, he Jumped At the Call only to discover that there was no call, and upon learning this reacted... poorly. Because Sakura kept pitying him (although her life was much worse) and apologizing, he took that as Sakura submitting herself to him since she displayed no other emotion, and things got worse from there.
 * Smug Snake
 * Static Character: Apart from the ever present Villainous Breakdowns, he tends to remain a complete and utter jerk throughout every route.
 * The Unfavorite
 * Unwitting Pawn: Pretty much everything he does in Heaven's Feel.
 * Villainous Breakdown: In the Anime and every storyline of the Visual Novel, with multiple breakdowns in Heaven’s Feel.
 * In the manga, when Shirou and Rin interfere with his plans.
 * Well Done Son Guy: Kinda like a certain other Shinji. But looks like he can never understand that "no" really means "NO".
 * Would Hit a Girl
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair
 * In the manga, when Shirou and Rin interfere with his plans.
 * Well Done Son Guy: Kinda like a certain other Shinji. But looks like he can never understand that "no" really means "NO".
 * Would Hit a Girl
 * You Gotta Have Blue Hair

Voiced by: Mai Kadowaki (JP), Stephanie Sheh (EN)
""I don't intend to kill you, Shirou. You're mine. I'll kill the other Masters, but you're special. That's why I locked you up here, so there won't be any interruptions... ""

The little noble girl, usually called Ilya for short, send by the Einzbern Clan to be their champion the Holy Grail War. She is Berserker's Mistress, and lives in a mansion in the middle of a forest, with her Servant and two maids. She may be a little girl, but she is just as ambitious as the other Magus to win the war, and approves even brutalities if it means winning the whole war in general. Although she is sometimes rough to Berserker, the bond between them are extremely strong.

She is rather attached to Shirou, but in the same time detests him too. -
 * All There in the Manual: Several notable things, for instance
 * Badass Adorable
 * Big Brother Attraction: Played pretty darkly, especially since Shirou has no clue why she's calling him onii-chan
 * But Not Too Foreign: Illya's.
 * Clingy Jealous Girl: She really seems to be dead set on having Shirou be her servant; or worse, her doll. Heck, she'll settle for his still living head.
 * Cheerful Child/Creepy Child: Yes, she's both. It's not contradictory.
 * Creepy Cool Crosses: The cuffs of her shirt prominently display a row of them.
 * Cute and Psycho: But even without that she's a bit bipolar.
 * Enfante Terrible
 * Evil Albino: In much of Fate.
 * Failure Is the Only Option:
 * The Fake Cutie: She's genuinely quite innocent and naive, but in contrast to that she's probably the must brutal character in the story.
 * Fille Fatale: Exactly what she plans to do with Shirou once she gets him varies from route to route, but in Fate at least she made it pretty clear just what she was planning to do with her new "toy" (You can't get much more explicit than straddling a tied-up boy and asking him if he'd like to be your slave!). Tiger Dojo confirms there was originally an H scene here if you picked the wrong option..
 * First Name Basis: She generally prefers being called by her nickname of "Ilya".
 * Freudian Excuse: Let's see... Parental Abandonment? Check. Isolated from the outside world and basically raised to be a sociopath by her mother's family? Check. Put through agonizing Training From Hell by said family so she could control Berserker and be their representative in the Grail War, despite the fact that she was mentally pretty much still a child? Check and check.
 * Happily Adopted: The ending to Fate features her more or less adopted by Taiga. The two get along more like sisters than parent and child, but it's hard to dispute that Ilya's having a much better time with the Fujimura than the Einzbern family.
 * Heel Face Turn:
 * Arguably in Heaven's Feel.
 * Heroic Albino: In Heaven's Feel.
 * Hostile Show Takeover: She cheerfully announces her intent to do this in Heaven's Feel during a Taiga Dojo segment in Unlimited Blade Works. When it doesn't work out that way, she tries to take over the Dojo instead... with a tank.
 * Huge Guy Tiny Girl: She just barely reaches her servant's knee.
 * Hypnotic Eyes
 * Image Song: "Tsuki no Namida"; also shares a more "fun" version with Taiga.
 * I'm Cold So Cold:
 * Kick the Son of A Bitch: Her ruthless murder of in Fate.
 * Legal Jailbait
 * Leitmotif: "Die Lorelei" by Phillipp Friedrich Silcher. Notable in being an actual German folk song.
 * Meta Guy: She becomes this during the Tiger Dojo segments accompanying each of the game's 40 Bad Ends.
 * Morality Chain: To Berserker.
 * Ms. Exposition: She fills this role pretty often, especially in Heaven's Feel.
 * Older Than They Look:
 * To be exact,
 * Oracular Urchin
 * Red Eyes Take Warning: Some of the time, anyway. Generally, if the narration starts focusing on her eyes, bad things are about to happen.
 * Restraining Bolt: For Berserker. See his entry for more details.
 * Sociopathic Hero: Averted, surprisingly enough. When she turns, her more sadistic tendencies seem to be put to rest.
 * Soundtrack Dissonance: The arrangement of Die Lorelei (her Leitmotif) in this game sounds like a lullaby played by a music box. The first time you hear it . The leitmotif changes to a depressing theme on subsequent appearances, but still keeps the dissonance.
 * Spell My Name With an S: Even the official manga translation can't seem to decide if it's "Ilyasviel" or "Illyasviel".
 * To make matters worse... Type Moon's official website uses "Ilya", while nearly all Type Moon merchandise uses "Illya". So it seems both spellings are canon.
 * Stepford Smiler
 * Token Mini Moe: Lampshaded and providing the page quote.
 * Tyke Bomb
 * Units Not to Scale: Reversed from the normal presentation. The artwork actually exaggerates the size difference between her and Berserker. He's about eight feet tall while she's four to four and a half feet, but she doesn't reach much past his knee if the artwork is anything to go by.
 * What Could Have Been: It's stated in the Tiger Dojos that Nasu had been toying with the idea of giving Ilya her own route if Heaven's Feel was short enough, but it wasn't. The details of her own route were largely folded into Heavens Feel instead. It's also mentioned once that there was originally a scene in the Fate route where she raped Shirou in a Bad End, but that scene was obviously cut.
 * White Haired Pretty Girl
 * Winter Royal Lady: Not literally, but certainly she is characterized both by her princess-like looks and character and her affinity with winter.
 * Yandere: Non romantic despite her clinginess.
 * You Lose At Zero Trust: From early on in Heaven's Feel Shirou is getting along with her much better than in the previous two routes. she feels she has to ignore how she feels and opts for pragmatism and kills him rather regretfully if you don't have a high enough affection score with her.
 * Token Mini Moe: Lampshaded and providing the page quote.
 * Tyke Bomb
 * Units Not to Scale: Reversed from the normal presentation. The artwork actually exaggerates the size difference between her and Berserker. He's about eight feet tall while she's four to four and a half feet, but she doesn't reach much past his knee if the artwork is anything to go by.
 * What Could Have Been: It's stated in the Tiger Dojos that Nasu had been toying with the idea of giving Ilya her own route if Heaven's Feel was short enough, but it wasn't. The details of her own route were largely folded into Heavens Feel instead. It's also mentioned once that there was originally a scene in the Fate route where she raped Shirou in a Bad End, but that scene was obviously cut.
 * White Haired Pretty Girl
 * Winter Royal Lady: Not literally, but certainly she is characterized both by her princess-like looks and character and her affinity with winter.
 * Yandere: Non romantic despite her clinginess.
 * You Lose At Zero Trust: From early on in Heaven's Feel Shirou is getting along with her much better than in the previous two routes. she feels she has to ignore how she feels and opts for pragmatism and kills him rather regretfully if you don't have a high enough affection score with her.

Voiced by: Joji Nakata (JP), Jamieson Price (EN)
""Rejoice, young man. Your wish will finally come true.""

Kirei is the supervisor of the Fifth Holy Grail War as well as Rin's legal guardian. As supervisor, it is his duty to uphold the rules of the Holy Grail War, cover up any incidents that might expose the War to the public, and give sanctuary to any Masters who drop out.

He is in fact a survivor of the Fourth Holy Grail War, in which he was a participant with his Assasin-class Servant, Hassan-i-Sabbah.

- "Shirou: I see. I'm sorry I troubled you... um, I'm glad you were awake.
 * Badass: Don't let those posers Lancer and Archer fool you. Kotomine is the badass of Fate Stay Night.
 * Badass Longcoat: His priest garments are like a combo between this and Badass Long Robe.
 * The Coats Are Off: At the end of Heaven's Feel.
 * Badass Normal: Technically, he is a magus, but all he seems capable of doing in regards to magecraft is healing others and exorcism. He's an extremely effective hand to hand combat, proficient with Black Keys, a type of throwing sword, and has extensive assassin training.
 * Charles Atlas Superpower: Due to immense training as a church exorcist, Kotomine is able to stand up to in Heaven's Feel.
 * The Chessmaster
 * Chewing the Scenery: He can sometimes drift into this territory, although this is partly just how Joji Nakata acts. He's generally fairly calm, however.
 * Church Militant: And he Knows Kung Fu.
 * Classic Villain:
 * Creepy Cool Crosses
 * In Fate,
 * In Unlimited Blade Works,
 * Desperately Looking for A Purpose In Life: When he was younger: Mage? Not fulfilling. Church? Ditto. Devoted husband? Empty.
 * Deuteragonist:
 * Dissonant Serenity: In the Fate route, he is described in the narration as speaking in his most genuinely cheerful tone of voice possible, smiling pleasantly, and generally treating him as a friend who came over for dinner. In the voiced version he even chuckles in between speaking as though at some kind of exceptionally funny joke he's listening to.
 * Dull Eyes of Unhappiness
 * Enemy Mine: In Heaven's Feel, Kirei teams up with Shirou once, putting Kirei on the losing end of Eviler Than Thou.
 * He still wins on Eviler Than Thou, he's just a Magnificent Bastard taking advantage of the hero, with a bit of thrown in. Zouken's an inevitable victim of Evil Is Not a Toy, whereas Kirei knows exactly what he's doing.
 * Even Evil Has Standards: Whatever else might be said about Kirei, he holds in utter contempt.
 * Evil Duo:
 * Kirei's entire raison d’être.
 * Fan Nickname: "Mr. Pretty", after the translation of his first name.
 * Foil: Is portrayed as quite an explicit one to
 * Friendly Enemy: The only way to describe his relationship with Shirou in the Heaven's Feel route.
 * Enemy Mine: In Heaven's Feel, Kirei teams up with Shirou once, putting Kirei on the losing end of Eviler Than Thou.
 * He still wins on Eviler Than Thou, he's just a Magnificent Bastard taking advantage of the hero, with a bit of thrown in. Zouken's an inevitable victim of Evil Is Not a Toy, whereas Kirei knows exactly what he's doing.
 * Even Evil Has Standards: Whatever else might be said about Kirei, he holds in utter contempt.
 * Evil Duo:
 * Kirei's entire raison d’être.
 * Fan Nickname: "Mr. Pretty", after the translation of his first name.
 * Foil: Is portrayed as quite an explicit one to
 * Friendly Enemy: The only way to describe his relationship with Shirou in the Heaven's Feel route.

Kirei: You're thanking me? Are you sick? I will listen if something is worrying you"


 * The Gadfly: He derives pleasure from the misery of others. According to a humorous little side-story in the manga adaptation, this includes giving Rin clothes she absolutely hates every year.
 * Good Powers Bad People: What is his skillset? Magical surgery and performing exorcisms on evil spirits. That's it.
 * Hannibal Lecture: Is a master of it.
 * False Reassurance: And this. The God of it, in fact.
 * From a Certain Point of View: And this.
 * Mr. Exposition: And this too.
 * And Interminable Info Dumper, which Shirou lampshades in impatient Internal Monologue in Heavens Feel.
 * Hey Its That Voice: In both languages, he has the same voice as Count Edmond Dantes in Gankutsuou, and Deihart Ried in Code Geass.
 * Hidden Depths: You don't really get to know Kotomine until Heaven's Feel route. He's not as simple as he looks.
 * Holy Hand Grenade:
 * Leitmotif: "The Church on the Hill".
 * : He's a priest.
 * Manipulative Bastard
 * Mean Character Nice Actor: On a recent edition of the internet radio show "Fate/stay tune:Unlimited Radio Works", Joji Nakata made a guest appearance and showed himself to have a great personality and sense of humor, among other things doing an impression of Ilya's famous "Get them, BERSERKER!" line, as well as some of Kirei's lines in Sgt. Frog's voice.
 * Meaningful Echo: In Fate, he tells Shirou that, to have a chance of winning against him, he has to put his life on the line. He applies what he said on himself in Heaven’s Feel
 * No Cure for Evil: Seemingly Averted by his healing magic. Except that those abilities were inherited through a Magic Crest, and according to all descriptions of their functioning, his is an exception in that it's consumed through use. He has no reservations against squandering it and doesn't seem troubled by its disappearance.
 * No Holds Barred Beatdown: His final showdown with in Heaven's Feel boils down to this, largely because both of them have no Mana to use,
 * Say My Name:
 * Shadow Archetype:
 * Sinister Minister
 * Throwing Your Sword Always Works: Due to his time spent with the Church Militant "Burial Agency", Kirei has a supply of "Black Key" throwing swords similar to the ones used by Ciel.
 * Trademark Favorite Food: Mapo tofu. And he likes it hellishly hot.
 * Tragic Villain: Once his motives are expanded upon in Heaven's Feel, he becomes far more sympathetic.
 * Treacherous Advisor: He technically fulfils this role for Shirou and Rin, but neither of them trust him very much.
 * The Unfettered: Not as bad as Kiritsugu but still...
 * Unusual Eyebrows
 * Villains Out Shopping: Shirou enters a restaurant and... finds Kirei eating infamously hot mapo tofu at a Chinese restaurant.
 * The first plate was probably an intimidation tactic. To signal the end of his conversation, he has second and third helpings sent to the table, starts gobbling scoops of it, and again asks Shirou if he wants some.
 * What Measure Is a Non Human: The main topic of his attempted Hannibal Lectures to Shirou in Heaven's Feel, where he argues that Shirou has no right to stop
 * Will Not Tell a Lie: For shits and giggles. It's much more fun to trick people without lying.
 * Your Approval Fills Me With Shame: Kirei will honestly applaud you for picking the choice that leads to Bad End #30. The infamous "Mind of Steel" Bad End.
 * Will Not Tell a Lie: For shits and giggles. It's much more fun to trick people without lying.
 * Your Approval Fills Me With Shame: Kirei will honestly applaud you for picking the choice that leads to Bad End #30. The infamous "Mind of Steel" Bad End.
 * Your Approval Fills Me With Shame: Kirei will honestly applaud you for picking the choice that leads to Bad End #30. The infamous "Mind of Steel" Bad End.

Voiced by: Kazuhiro Nakata (JP), Patrick Seitz (EN)
""It is fine to assume that the Master's role is to support the battle from the back. But there are always exceptions. There are Masters who can only fight head on.""

Rin's homeroom teacher at school. He lives in the Ryuudouji Temple and is Issei's older-brother figure. A tall, stern man who rarely expresses any emotion at all, he appears physically intimidating, but is really a gentle soul who does his best to give each student a fair and proper education.

In Unlimited Blade Works,

In Unlimited Blade Works,. In Heaven's Feel,. -
 * Anti Villain
 * Asskicking Pose
 * Badass Normal: He actually manages to defeat
 * Badass in A Nice Suit
 * Badass Teacher
 * Barehanded Blade Block: The very first demonstration of his Badass Normal status came when he caught between his elbow and knee.
 * Battle Couple: With.
 * Charles Atlas Superpower: He's got an enchantment on his fists, sure, but the speed and technique with which . Compare to fellow teacher Fujimura Taiga, a 5th Dan in Kendo,
 * Confusion Fu: Kuzuki uses a very unusual martial arts style to pierce the defenses of skilled opponents. Once they're used to his movements, he loses a fair bit of effectiveness.
 * Crouching Scholar Hidden Badass
 * Curb Stomp Battle:
 * Dull Eyes of Unhappiness: His eyes never have light on them.
 * Extreme Doormat: Fairly obviously in love with, but doesn't actually do anything of his own volition. In fact, he rather bluntly says that she can do anything she likes and he'll let her, and his only priority is his own life over hers..
 * Good People Have Good Sex: Subverted, as he and have a pretty decent sex life despite being among the enemies.
 * Invulnerable Knuckles: Justified.
 * Megane
 * Perpetual Frowner
 * Power Fist: With a bit of help.
 * Rapid Fire Fisticuffs
 * Rescue Romance:
 * Scary Shiny Glasses: In the anime and manga adaptations.
 * Spell My Name With an S: As there are two long vowels in his name, there's quite a lot of possible permutations to it. It's usually spelled Souichirou, Soichirou or Sōichirō in Fate/stay night media.
 * Stern Teacher
 * The Glasses Come Off
 * The Stoic
 * The Undefeated: In Unlimited Blade Works, Kuzuki tries.
 * Unholy Matrimony:
 * Unusual Eyebrows
 * Weak but Skilled: He's a normal man with no knowledge of the supernatural world and no magical abilities whatsoever. Yet with an enchantment on his fists and his own unconventional martial arts style, he manages to
 * Would Hit a Girl: Even if you don't take  into account, he has no qualms about punching.
 * Unholy Matrimony:
 * Unusual Eyebrows
 * Weak but Skilled: He's a normal man with no knowledge of the supernatural world and no magical abilities whatsoever. Yet with an enchantment on his fists and his own unconventional martial arts style, he manages to
 * Would Hit a Girl: Even if you don't take  into account, he has no qualms about punching.

Voiced by: Masane Tsukayama (JP)


The head of the Matou family and the cause of a great deal of misery for many characters. His presence is indirectly felt in Fate and Unlimited Blade Works, but in Heaven's Feel the true extent of his evil comes to light.

Though he is known as Shinji's grandfather, he is in fact over two centuries old,. He has an instinctive desire to take control of the Holy Grail and attain immortality,

-
 * Bald of Evil
 * Big Bad: In Heaven's Feel.
 * Black Eyes of Evil
 * Determinator:
 * The Dog Bites Back:
 * Evil Is Not a Toy: His plan for obtaining the Grail involves
 * Expy: Of Michael Roa Valdamjong from Tsukihime. Both are Big Bads who perform Grand Theft Me and have an obsession with immortality -- the reason for which they both have forgotten over the centuries.
 * As well as Araya Souren, who he shares several traits with role-wise; being incredibly old, attempting Grand Theft Me, and having an ultimate goal that they sacrifice, use and manipulate others and forgot their original noble and selfless reason for.
 * Faux Affably Evil: The very first time Shirou encounters him, Zouken just looks like a normal, well-mannered grandfather to Sakura and Shinji ; he invites Shirou to stay for dinner and asks him to be a good friend to his grandchildren. He even threatens to call the police or to "hurt [Shirou] a bit" when he first mistakes him for a stalker following Sakura. Then we learn how he himself treats Sakura. Feel free to think about what he might have meant by that "hurting a bit" thing.
 * Grand Theft Me: In order to keep himself alive, he has to obtain a new body every few months (or when the old one is damaged beyond repair).
 * Immortality Immorality
 * Immortality Seeker
 * Leitmotif: "Wandering Shadow" plays almost every time Zouken appears onscreen.
 * Love Makes You Evil: His original (and long-forgotten) motivation for getting the Grail was.
 * Manipulative Bastard: He certainly attempts this with all his manipulation of the main characters.
 * Obviously Evil: Let's see... wrinkled and decrepit, his only "smile" sprite is a Psychotic Smirk, his eyes are solid black with white pupils... yeah, it was pretty obvious from his first appearance that he wasn't going to be a good guy.
 * Older Than They Look: And considering how old he does look, that's an accomplishment.
 * Shadow Archetype:.
 * Spell My Name With an S: Depending on the source, usually either Zouken Matou or Zōken Matō.
 * The Dark Side Will Make You Forget: His original motive for attaining the Grail was Over time, frustration, age and his deteriorating body caused him to forget his original goal, leaving only an unnatural obsession with immortality.
 * Spell My Name With an S: Depending on the source, usually either Zouken Matou or Zōken Matō.
 * The Dark Side Will Make You Forget: His original motive for attaining the Grail was Over time, frustration, age and his deteriorating body caused him to forget his original goal, leaving only an unnatural obsession with immortality.