Fate/stay night

Synopsis

When he was young Shirou had lost his parents in a large and unexplained fire. He was rescued and later adopted by a man named Kiritsugu Emiya who revealed himself to be a magus, a person capable of using magic. Through their conversation, Shirou learns of his foster father's failed life ambition to become a 'Hero of Justice', a guardian of mankind who could protect the weak and innocent. Touched by Kiritsugu's conviction, Shirou affirms to his foster father that he intends to devote his life to achieving that distant ideal. To do this, Shirou pleads with a begrudging Kiritsugu to teach him magecraft, but Shirou proves to be talentless in almost all the fundamental magecraft disciplines.

One day however, he witnesses a conflict between two unbelievably powerful beings and inadvertently summons one of his own in order to protect himself. He then finds out that this conflict, known as the 'Holy Grail War', involves a series of battles among seven 'Masters'. Masters are magi who can summon 'Servants', Heroic Spirits from throughout time, to fight for the possession of a relic that will grant one's wishes, the Holy Grail.

This story revolves around Shirou and his entanglement in the Holy Grail War along with his own personal battle to uphold his ideal.


Main Character


Saber (セイバー)
Height: 154 cm
Weight: 42 kg
Three Sizes: B73/W53/H76
Blood Type: O
Hair Color: Blonde
Eye Color: Green

She is Shirou's Servant, an agile but powerful warrior. Loyal, independent, and reserved, Saber acts coldly but is actually suppressing her emotions to focus on her goals. Her class is considered the "Most Outstanding," with excellent ratings in all categories. Since her Master cannot effectively provide her with Mana, she minimizes her activity to preserve what she has. Saber is frustrated by Shirou's "protective" tendencies, believing his erratic and reckless behavior will jeopardize her chances of winning the Holy Grail War.

Her true identity is that of King Arthur (Uther's daughter who hid her gender to be accepted as King). She has joined the Holy Grail War in order to grant her wish of redoing the selection of King due to her belief that she failed to keep her country from chaos. She wields the legendary holy sword Excalibur (cloaked in a veil of wind to hide its popular identity and thus its owner's) but no longer carries its lost sheath Avalon.

Archer (アーチャー)

Height: 187cm
Weight: 78kg
Hair color: White
Eye color: Gray

He is the Servant of one of the series' main heroines, Rin Tōsaka. Due to an incomplete summon, he apparently has no memory of his previous life or identity. Archer is sarcastic and cynical - but under his hardened exterior lies a complex and dark personality that unfolds throughout the story. Though skilled with ranged weapons, he can hold his own in melee combat. Archer considers Shirō Emiya's idealism to be weak and delusional, recognizing Shirō's mentality of "wanting to save everyone" as naive and impossible.

Archer is actually the future version of Emiya Shirou, who became a hero through Emiya's wish to save innocent lives. Archer is skilled in archery through Shirou's own talent in the field, swordsmanship through training his body for his optimal fighting style, as well as some skill in magic through Shirou's training. Archer became a Counter Guardian when he prayed to the world for a miracle saving about 100 people. He was then scapegoated by one of the people he saved, and executed. Initially fighting for his ideals, Archer is eventually forced to realise the truth that everyone cannot be saved, and proceeds to make the minimal sacrifices for the greatest amount of people saved. Feeling betrayed by the world, Archer prays that he is summoned in the Holy Grail War so that he can correct his mistake through a paradox and kill Shirou to stop him from becoming a Counter Guardian.

Rin Tohsaka (遠坂凛)

Birthday: February 4
Height: 159 cm (Fate/stay night), 124 cm (Fate/zero)
Weight: 47 kg (Fate/stay night), 29 kg (Fate/zero)
Three Sizes: B77/W57/H80 (Fate/stay night)
Blood Type: O
Hair Color: Black
Eye Color: Blue

Rin is a model student and idol of Shirō's school. Secretly, she is a powerful sorceress and Master in the Holy Grail War. Rin is the descendant of a long and old line of sorcerers and therefore lacks a formal magic education. However, she is extremely powerful in her own right.

In the anime, Fate/Stay Night, she ends up becoming Shiro's ally. She is able to use special gemstones that can be enchanted and explosive.

It is also revealed in the beginning of the anime that she originally wanted to summon the most powerful servant, Saber, but that she instead ended up summoning Archer.

After becoming Shiro's ally, she moves into his house (along with a lot of her clothing and occult gear) under the pretext of finding a place to stay while construction work was done on her home. She's shown to have low blood pressure and doesn't do well in the morning. Rin and Shiro develop a deep friendship over the course of the series, and become reliable partners in combat. Rin trains Shiro in the usage of his reinforcement magic in combat, and teaches him the basics on magic terminology. Rin is not shown ever moving out of Shiro's home, even after the Holy Grail war ends.

In the "Unlimited Bladeworks" scenario, Rin and Shiro become lovers.

Shirou Emiya (衛宮士郎)

Height: 167cm
Weight: 58kg
Hair color: Red
Eye color: Brown

Shirō is the main character of the story. He is a serious yet helpful, hardworking, and honest teenager. His hobbies include fixing a variety of broken things, from VCRs to stoves, as well as cooking and cleaning. He has some slight talent with sorcery, though he was discouraged by his foster father Kiritsugu Emiya from improving his gifts. He is initially confused about the Holy Grail War and attempts to irrationally shield others from danger, including his own Servant, Saber.

Shirō is unskilled in most traditional forms of sorcery, and he only knows Reinforcement, the power to analyze the structural composition of objects and increase their effectiveness by understanding their chemical and physical makeup, such as the sharpness and durability of a sword and shield. However, he lacks mastery for even this simple spell, and his various applications of it are limited. He later masters a more advanced form known as "Projection", which allows him to recreate objects from memory. The clearer the image in the user's mind, the better the final result. Shiro's personal variation of Projection is referred as Tracing, which also copies the history and special properties of the items, though they are of slightly lesser quality (They are downgraded one rank from the original). At the culmination of his abilities is his Reality Marble, Unlimited Blade Works, which is the source of his unusual projection magic. Within Unlimited Blade Works exist all of the materials Shirou needs to recreate any bladed weapon, and it manifests itself as a barren wasteland covered in swords, but with a beautiful dawn in the sky. Shirou is able to control all of the swords in Unlimited Blade Works using only his mind, using them to attack his opponent without having to physically touch them.