Fate/Zero/Characters: Difference between revisions

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Hitman and "[[Mage Killer|Magus Killer]]" Emiya. Father of ''[[Fate/stay night]]'' protagonists Emiya Shirou (adopted) and Illyasviel von Einzbern, and [[Anti-Hero]] of this story. Standing on the Cynical side of the [[Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism]], he believes that it is impossible for everyone in the world to be happy; in order to be a true hero, one must eliminate the destructive factors which would in turn threaten the survival of humanity as a whole. Killing one to save a hundred, dozens to save thousands.

* [[Shadow Archetype]] - To Saber of all people. While much is made about how Kiritsugu and his servant are at odds, on a fundamental level they share many of the same ideals and much of the trauma they endure comes from the fact that they have been betrayed by their devotion to those ideals.

* [[Silly Rabbit, Idealism Is for Kids]] - {{spoiler|But only later in life, after the war. While he was quite cynical before too, it was [[Well-Intentioned Extremist|in]] [[I Did What I Had to Do|a]] [[The Needs of the Many|different]] [[Necessarily Evil|way]].}}

'''Kiritsugu:''' Hmm, it is rather regrettable. Heroes have a time limit too, and it’s hard to keep being one once you become an adult. It would have been better if I realized that earlier. }}

* [[Start of Darkness]] - The start of volume 4 in the novels, and episodes 18 and 19 in the anime. It starts with {{spoiler|Kiritsugu killing his father after the old man triggers a [[Zombie Apocalypse]] that wipes out their island home}}. It ends with him {{spoiler|sacrificing his surrogate mother figure to prevent another, much larger outbreak}}.

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Father of Rin Tohsaka and Sakura Matou, husband of Aoi, and head of the Tohsaka family. Being close friends with the overseer Risei, they plotted together to have Kirei become Tokiomi's pupil in magecraft, so that he can assist Tokiomi during the upcoming War.

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Renowned magus and a Noble of the Magi Association, where he is a lecturer at the Department of Euryphis. Fiancé of the department head's daughter, Sola-Ui. The teacher of Waver, whose controversial thesis was torn to pieces without a second thought. Upon discovering that Waver stole his artifact, an enraged Kayneth uses a second artifact to enter the War.

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A talented student at the Clock Tower of the Magi Association. He developed a revolutionary concept on increasing magical potential with methods that go against the ancient tradition of bloodline inheritance. This prompted Kayneth (his teacher) to rip apart his manuscript. In retaliation, he steals Kayneth's summoning artifact and enters the War, intending to win the Grail to prove his own genius.

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A [[Serial Killer]] who accidentally enters the War after finding a grimoire and completing the rituals contained within while morbidly decorating one of his crime scenes. Has no concern for the War or the Grail; he looks up to his Servant as an utmost expert of the art of killing, and the two spend most of their time finding new ways to inflict pain and suffering. Upon discovering the activities of the murderous duo, Risei announces to the other Masters that their elimination is of greatest priority.

** [[Card-Carrying Villain]]

** [[Complete Monster]] - In-universe he is called by the news services as a demon. Not that he minds though. His introduction has him giving a little speech casually contemplating whether he likes that title.

** [[Evil Duo]] - With Bluebeard.

** [[Evil Is Cool]] - He really thinks this in-universe.

* [[Freaky Is Cool]] - Ryuunosuke is incredibly happy to be friends with someone who shares his ''unique'' hobby.

* {{spoiler|[[Go Out with a Smile]]}} - {{spoiler|In Volume 3, when Kiritsugu snipes him.}}

** {{spoiler|While his head still remains intact when he's killed in the anime, the last expression we see on his face is still a smile.}}

* [[In Love with Your Carnage]] - To Bluebeard.

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The black sheep of the Matou and the first in many generations to be capable of magecraft, who severed ties with the family ten years prior out of disgust; this earns him the ire of Matou Zouken, the family head. Having loved Aoi since they were childhood friends, all he wished for was for her and her daughters Rin and Sakura to be happy. Upon finding out that Tokiomi gave Sakura away to the Matou, knowing that she will suffer torture and abuse, he makes a deal with Zouken to win the war in return for Sakura's freedom.

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An [[Church Militant|Executor]] and magecraft apprentice of Tohsaka Tokiomi; his wife committed suicide and he received the Command Spells in the same week. A skillful young man who unfortunately cannot gain pleasure from anything except the pain of others. Fittingly or ironically, his magecraft specializes in surgery.

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[[King Arthur|Arthur]], the King of Knights, in fact a disguised young woman. Summoned using the sheath Avalon as a catalyst, after it was excavated by the Einzberns. Partnered with Irisviel due to the incompatibility between Arturia and Kiritsugu. She is engaged in nearly every battle of the War.

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The King of Heroes; [[The Epic of Gilgamesh|the oldest, most venerable]] Heroic Spirit participating in the War. Summoned using the fossil of 'the first snake to shed its skin' as a catalyst, relating to his quest for immortality.

* [[Nietzsche Wannabe]]

* [[Only Friend]] - Gilgamesh turns down Iskander's offer of [[We Can Rule Together|ruling together]] because of this trope. Anyone who's familiar with [[The Epic of Gilgamesh|the epic]] can probably guess who he's talking about.

* [[Person of Mass Destruction]]

* [[Pet the Dog]] - {{spoiler|He honors Iskander's last command to Waver (to live on) by sparing the latter's life after Iskander dies.}}

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Diarmuid of the Love Spot, a hero from the Fenian Cycle of [[Celtic Mythology|Irish mythology]]. Due to his mastery of arms and his nobility, he is respected by both Iskander and Arturia. His loyalty to his Master is both a source of pride and bitterness. He intervenes in many battles throughout the series, dueling Arturia several times.

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The King of Conquerors, Iskander. Summoned using his ancient mantle, he in fact has no interest in the Grail; he is far more interested in conquering the world again. However, he does not use violence as his primary method; "victory without elimination, ruling without humiliation, that is true conquest". An impulsive and overbearing man who lives according to his emotions and lets history take its own course.

* [[Big Damn Heroes]] - Saves a wounded Arturia from being overwhelmed by Diarmuid and Berserker.

* [[Boisterous Bruiser]]

'''Waver''': ... }}

** He was kidding, though, and mocks Waver for believing him. But still, drinking party with Saber and Gilgamesh... Wha?

* [[The Power of Friendship]] - The reason his Reality Marble, Ionian Hetairoi, exists is the bond between him and his men, who are so devoted to him that even death cannot erase them. At the same time, Iskander considers them to be his greatest treasure. All of this is why even though Iskander himself is not a magus, he, along with all of his men are able to bring out the Reality Marble that recreates the land that they once marched over.

** The Hepburn romanization of the original Japanese Hetairoi Phantasm goes like this: Aionion Hetairoi - which is (most likely badly conjugated) Gratuitous Greek for "Eternal Companions". You can google "aionion" to find a great deal of theological debate on the proper translation of the word.

* [["The Reason You Suck" Speech]] - To Saber, on her views on kingship. Combined with his demonstration of true kingship with his [[Badass Army]], he nearly ended up giving her a [[Heroic BSOD]] and making her lose her motivation to win the war, too.

** Also delivers one to Kayneth in the first real battle of the war when Kayneth starts taunting and intimidating Waver. Rider proceeds to call him out on his hypocrisy on having Lancer do all the fighting while Kayneth himself remains in hiding. He then states that only someone who would ride into battle at his side would be worthy to be his master (Kayneth was originally supposed to be Iskander's Master until Waver stole the needed relic).

** Later on, Waver asks him why he doesn't just wish for immortality. Rider likes this idea, because then he can try to conquer the entire universe.

* [[Too Dumb to Live]] - Subverted. It is explicitly pointed out that even though a lot of his decisions might seem to be foolish, he is simply so badass that it always ends up as a [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] for him.

* [[To Win Without Fighting]] - Though he never gets to do any of it, his conversations make it clear that he respects this sort of victory greatly as well. He would much prefer having the other Servants join him and go off to do his own thing rather than stick to the 'thou musts' of the Grail War and kill everyone else.

* [[Ubermensch]] - Though less so than Gilgamesh and portrayed much more heroically. Iskander appears to discard conventional social standards and morales for the sake of personal happiness and self-realization, chasing after one's dreams and such. Characters occasionally call him out on the selfish nature of his behaviour, such as invading other countries for shallow reasons, but Iskander (unlike Gil) is shown to be much more willing to compromise in this regard, often trying to assimilate those who oppose him into his own ranks (or just letting them rule themselves in his name) rather than annihilating them as Gilgamesh usually does.

* [[Unusual Eyebrows]]

* [[We Can Rule Together]] - Iskander suggests this to {{spoiler|Gilgamesh}} in the last novel when he tells him that if his [[Badass Army|Ionion Hetairoi]] was equipped with {{spoiler|Gate of Babylon}} that they would be pretty much be unstoppable.

'''Iskander''': Once again, will you not be my ally? If we join together, we can surely conquer as far as the ends of the stars. }}

* [[Worthy Opponent]] - To ''[[It's All About Me|Gilgamesh]]''. Getting Gil to call him this and becoming the only Servant in both the 4th '''and''' the 5th wars that Gil actually respected was arguably Alex's greatest [[Crowning Moment of Awesome]] in the series.

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Bluebeard, a French nobleman, one of the commanders led by Joan of Arc, and a comrade of Francesco Prelati, who introduced him to the occult. Mistakenly summoned by Ryuunosuke, he turns out to be as twisted a killer as his Master; in particular, he enjoys giving his victims a brief respite and spot of hope, before torturing them endlessly and turning their still-living bodies into 'amusing' configurations and devices.

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The mysterious "Black Knight" whose identity was only revealed at the end. Summoned by Kariya, but kept the Mad Enhancement voluntarily. Despite being rendered thoughtless, he maintained [[Implausible Fencing Powers|his mastery of arms]]; he becomes an unexpected major threat of the War, rivaling Arturia in skill.

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The "Old Man of the Mountain", one of eighteen leaders of the Hashshashin. As Kirei was meant to assist Tokiomi, Assassin was 'killed' early in the War to mask their activities, mainly reconnaissance.

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Nicknamed Iri, the wife of Kiritsugu, and mother of Ilya. She is a homunculus created by the Einzbern family as a vessel to activate the Great Grail. Having lived her whole life inside the Einzbern castle in Europe, she is bright and cheerful, and follows Kiritsugu on pure faith and trust. During the War, she is partnered with Arturia due to her healing magecraft.

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Gunslinging partner and ''other'' woman of Kiritsugu (sort of). Found as an orphan on the battlefield and saved by Kiritsugu, she dedicated her life to assisting him. Knows what makes Kiritsugu tick, very well.

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Childhood friend of Kariya, wife of Tokiomi, and mother of Rin and Sakura. Despite knowing exactly what was meant by marrying a magus (ie. being used to produce a capable heir) she accepted and was happy with her life. Devoted and unquestioning, who supports all of her husband's decisions and makes no objections; the ideal 'traditional wife'.

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The father of Kirei and the overseer for the previous and current Wars. Secretly supporting the Tohsaka family, Tokiomi is close friends with him. While he is proud of his son, he does not seem to understand what kind of person he truly is.

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Head of the Matou/Makiri family, grandfather to [[Fate/stay night|Shinji Matou]], father to Kariya Matou, and adoptive grandfather of Sakura Matou. He is actually around two centuries old, having used parasitic worms to extend his life span. He has a minor role in ''[[Fate/Zero]]'' as the one who pushes Kariya to join the Grail War, as well as the one who fosters Sakura's "[[Rape as Backstory|training]]".