History Characters / FateStayNightMasters

This is a page about the characters taking the role of Masters appearing in the VisualNovel turned {{Anime}} ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight''. Contains '''''a LOT''''' of spoilers. Be warned: The mere presence of certain characters on this page is a spoiler in and of itself.

* For the Servants, [[Characters/FateStayNightServants see this page]].
* For the other characters, [[Characters/FateStayNightOther see this page]].
* For their appearances in ''FateHollowAtaraxia'', go [[Characters/FateHollowAtaraxia here.]]
* For masters which also appear in ''Literature/FateZero'', go [[Characters/FateZero here]] for tropes specific to that series.

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[[foldercontrol]]

[[folder:Shirou Emiya]]
!!!Voiced by: NoriakiSugiyama (JP), SamRiegel (EN)

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/shirou_emiya.jpg
-->''"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, who had given up on it. He is not really sure what it takes to reach that ideal.

At the beginning of the story, he possesses a HealingFactor that makes him practically immortal, though the source of this is unknown and he did not have it before. Shirou is also an accomplished archer as a side effect of his mage training and, following some training from Saber, is mildly proficient in swordplay.

He is Saber's Master.
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* AlmightyJanitor: [[MultipleEndings In the ending to]] ''[[MultipleEndings Unlimited Blade Works]]'', he becomes this. [[spoiler:Shirou decides to tag along with Rin to London so that he can learn magic from the [[MagicalSociety Magician's Association]]. Although enrolling as Rin's disciple means that he's exempt from tuition fees, it effectively puts him at the lowest point on the totem pole. Don't take into account the fact that at this point, Shirou possesses the extremely rare and powerful Reality Marble magic...]]
* AlwaysSaveTheGirl: In ''Heaven's Feel'', [[spoiler:he decides that saving Sakura is what he wants most, even though he understands the dangers she might pose for the city.]]
* AntiHero: Idealistic as his goal is, it can actually push him in this direction. In ''Heaven's Feel'' he ends up here for entirely different reasons.
* {{Badass}}: He only shows it a handful of times in Fate, but in "Unlimited Blade Works" he [[spoiler:begins copying Archer]] and starts out more competent than he was at the end of "Fate" while in "Heaven's Feel" he goes one further [[spoiler:and basically becomes a slightly nerfed Archer who burns his brain every time he fights.]]
* BerserkButton: Oddly enough, he shows the strongest signs of this when Taiga of all people is threatened, reverting to a completely flat tone with a light of TranquilFury.
* BewareTheHonestOnes: Shirou's a little too far on the idealistic side for even ''[[KnightInShiningArmor Saber]]'', so while his allies appreciate him somewhat, they also know [[HonorBeforeReason he'll do something stupidly reckless if it's the "right" thing to do]]. [[spoiler:Tohsaka at the very end of the last route realizes she has no right to criticize because she isn't as ruthless as she thinks she is.]]
* {{BFS}}: [[spoiler:Berserker's sword traced in ''Heaven's Feel'' definitely counts, bonus points for wielding it with a [[OneHandedZweihander single hand]].]]
* BlessedWithSuck: Shirou's often-forgotten semi-unknown instinctual internal reinforcement works by [[spoiler:protecting vital organs and holding normally-severed limbs together using his own magical energy, which happens to have a "sword" affinity, which means it manifests as thousands of ephemeral blades keeping him stitched together. The downside being that [[CaptainObvious it works by creating a bunch of blades inside his body]]]]. The power's track record is a mixed bag:
** In ''Fate'': It lets him survive Rider's attacks, but also causes him to accidentally stab himself to death when he tries to use reinforcement to survive a three story fall immediately afterwards. [[spoiler:However, it also saves him in the same route when it, along with Avalon's [[HealingFactor Healing Factor]], sutures him back together after he has been cleaved in half by Gilgamesh's Merodach.]]
** In "Heaven's Feel": [[spoiler:However, overloading on mana from Archer's arm causes the blades to ''manifest permanently'', slowly skewering him from the inside, but the protruding blades also end up [[IncrediblyLamePun giving him an edge]] in his last fight against Kotomine.]]
* BodyHorror: In "Heaven's Feel" [[spoiler:he undoes the Shroud of Martin used to seal Archer's arm. As a consequence, first his brain begins to burn out and later this trope comes into play when the physical reinforcement of his Reality Marble causes swords to burst from his body in an attempt to hold him together.]]
* BrokenHero: Even called that in-series a few times. Much of ''Unlimited Blade Works'' is devoted to exploring it.
* [[spoiler:BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu]]: In ''Heaven's Feel'' BadEnd #38, [[spoiler:drawing on Archer's arm in order to use his super move against Saber Alter]] leaves Shirou a vegetable. To be sure, he's cut her in two, but [[spoiler:she could fully regenerate in 10 minutes. And to think that he could have [[TakingYouWithMe taken her out with him]] had he managed to destroy her head or heart..]].
* BullyHunter: As a child, he adopted Kiritsugu's basic ideal of trying to help people, but unlike Kiritsugu, he picked sides. Therefore, he decided he would protect the weak. Upon meeting [[TheGadfly Tohsaka]], he thinks to himself that she's exactly the sort of person he would have fought as a kid, though they clearly hadn't really met.
* CharacterDevelopment: He only gets a faint hint of this in ''Fate'', but the other routes multiply this exponentially.
* ChekhovsHobby: [[spoiler:The fact that he was in the archery club foreshadowing one of his possible futures and his mastery of Projection Magic.]]
* ChekhovsSkill: Shirou's ability to use magic to create fake objects becomes his main combat ability.
* ChronicHeroSyndrome: Shirou's inability to turn people down when they ask for help worries his friends and colleagues. He also tends to jump headfirst into any situation whenever he feels it's the 'right' thing to do.
* ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve: Shirou's projection magecraft works with this; his tracings break down and vanish if he acknowledges even for an instant that they are but illusions.
* ComedicSociopathy: Shirou honestly doesn't understand why ordering his male best friend to take off his clothes would be at all strange.
* DeadlyUpgrade: [[spoiler:Archer's Left Arm.]] It greatly boosts his ability to project swords, but [[spoiler:slowly eats away at his mind and body, to the point his sense of self and memories fade away. Also, due to Archer's arm forcing Unlimited Bladeworks on him when he's no longer compatible, it causes the body reinforcement to go out of control and begin forcing swords out of his body.]]
* DeadpanSnarker: He tends to snark a lot [[FirstPersonSmartass in his internal monologues]], but not that often out loud, except maybe around Taiga and Rin.
* DeathIsCheap: By virtue of [[GoodThingYouCanHeal outrageous self-healing which can revive someone from the brink of death]].
* {{Determinator}}: Shirou has shades of this in all three routes, but ''Heaven's Feel'' deserves a special mention: [[spoiler:After having lost his servant, and discovering that the woman he loves is possessed by the avatar of all evil, Shirou decides that he's going to save Sakura, and he means it. He is supposed to drop dead after using Archer's Arm to project three times. He projects six times. He also fights both Dark Berserker and Saber Alter, both of whom are many times stronger than usual due to Sakura's increased prana, and wins. Oh, and his whole body is slowly being skewered by swords growing inside of him due to overuse of projection, he still keeps going. Then after all that, he still has a fist fight with Kotomine. Now with only a shred of his consciousness remaining, Shirou with his final thought projects Excalibur, and pops Angra Mainyu like a zit. Shirou should have been dead five times up this point, and he STILL. KEPT. GOING.]]
--> '''Shirou''': I pour determination into my dying body.
** DeterminedDefeatist
* DiedStandingUp: [[spoiler: Normal End of "Heaven's Feel", and unleashing Excalibur on the Great Grail after he died.]]
* DistressedDude: In "Fate" and the {{anime}}, Shirou is kidnapped by Ilyasviel and tied to a chair, in an attempt to make him her Servant. He is then rescued by Saber, Rin and Archer.
* DualWielding: In ''Unlimited Blade Works'' and in ''Heaven's Feel'', he begins fighting with [[spoiler:Kanshou and Bakuya while copying some of Archer's technique]].
* TheDulcineaEffect: Shirou has a tendency to risk his life for people he just met or barely even knows. Saber is a good example early in ''Fate'' and in ''Unlimited Blade Works'' after he pulls this with Ilya, Tohsaka confronts him about his recklessness [[spoiler:especially since it was obvious that there was no way he could save Ilya.]]
* EveryoneCanSeeIt: In ''Fate'', absolutely everyone can see the Saber/Shirou attraction. Even [[HeManWomanHater Issei]].
* {{Expy}}: Shirou shares a character model with [[Literature/KaraNoKyoukai Tomoe Enjou]]. The two have similar issues regarding what is fake and what is real, as well. [[spoiler:Also, Shirou becomes an ArtificialHuman like Tomoe [[MultipleEndings in the True End of]] ''[[MultipleEndings Heaven’s Feel]]'']].
* FateWorseThanDeath: There are a few bad ends like this, mostly involving Caster or Ilya. Caster is intriqued by his Projection ability while Ilya just wants her onii-chan... Well, his head anyway. Which she can keep alive with magic.
* TheFettered: Shirou's ideal of wanting to save everybody is a large source of his strength. [[spoiler:''Unlimited Blade Works'' reveals that his magic specialty arose specifically due to his lack of self-image and pursuit of his ideal.]]
* [[spoiler:FieldOfBlades: Can summon one in ''Unlimited Blade Works'', and [[StormOfBlades it's not just for show]].]]
* FirstPersonSmartass: 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. [[spoiler:Archer is basically what he would be like if he wasn't so polite all the time; is it any wonder why he and Rin have such great chemistry?]]
* FullContactMagic: [[InvertedTrope 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.
* FutureBadass: In the final bonus epilogue of the ''Realta Nua'' port (effectively the distant finale to Fate-route), you will learn that Shirou [[spoiler:takes the same path that Archer did, minus the regrets and eternal loneliness.]] As Saber says, he no longer needs her to be his sword and shield, he is more than capable of taking care of himself now.
* GenerationXerox: "Mind of Steel" sees Shirou go down the exact same route as his foster father and willingly damn himself for his ideals. Kotomine, who knew his father, even points this out.
* HappilyAdopted: By Kiritsugu until his death.
* HealingFactor: Shirou being Shirou, he wouldn't survive without it. [[spoiler:It's caused by ''Avalon'', Excalibur's holy scabbard, and had been implanted into his body by Kiritsugu when Shirou was dying from the 4th Grail War's aftereffects]]. He can't use it fully without his connection to Saber, [[spoiler:so before the story it was barely noticeable, he was just a little more resistant]]. Notably, all three paths [[spoiler:see him lose it]].
* HeroicSacrifice
** There are a few bad ends where Shirou pulls one of these, but since they're bad ends that means they weren't necessary.
** [[spoiler:In the [[MultipleEndings Normal End]] of ''Heaven's Feel'' Shirou burns himself out completely to save Sakura, who spends the rest of her life waiting for him.]]
* TheHero
* HeroesPreferSwords: Hell, even his affinity (and Origin) is "Sword".
* HonorBeforeReason: For better or worse.
* IdiotHero: He sometimes gets better.
* ImageSong: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJs0IVSOZwA "Kogane no Hikari"]]
* {{Invocation}}
** Trace... ON!
** ''Unlimited Blade Works'': [[spoiler:I am the bone of my sword. Steel is my body, and fire is my blood. I have created over a thousand blades. Unaware of loss, nor aware of gain. Withstood pain to create many weapons, waiting for one's arrival. I have no regrets. This is the only path. My whole life was [[TitleDrop Unlimited Blade Works]].]]
** ''Heaven’s Feel'' BadEnd #38: [[spoiler:Divine skill, flawless and firm. Strength moves mountains. Blade cuts water. Life approaches the Imperial Villa. Two great men, shared life!]]
* ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice: With a twist [[spoiler:towards the end of ''Heaven’s Feel'' Shirou gets skewered from the inside out by swords slowly growing out of his body.]]
* IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy: Deconstructed in ''Unlimited Blade Works''. 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 preservation always places the need of others before his own and is completely unable to create his own happiness and has to live through others.
--> '''Rin''': Shirou. Your way of life is really distorted.
* KnightInShiningArmor: His role in the ''Fate'' route.
* KnightInSourArmor: What he becomes in the ''Unlimited Blade Works'' route. [[spoiler:Hanging out with your cynical future self will do this to you.]]
* LivingEmotionalCrutch: To Sakura. He was also one to Kiritsugu in the past.
* LoveAtFirstSight: In "Fate", Shirou claims he fell in love with Saber upon first seeing. However, this is an interesting case since he doesn't comes to understand his feelings for her until two weeks later and in the other routes he never does.
* MagikarpPower: The only kind of spellcraft Shirou is consistently skilled at is largely considered to be mostly useless, that is, until it turns out he's got a twist to it that [[spoiler:allows him to materialize and use [[InfinityPlusOneSword legendary weapons]] relatively at will.]]
* MartyrWithoutACause: In ''Fate.''
* MegaManning: [[spoiler:The ability Unlimited Blade Works allows Shirou to copy any weapon he sees and instantly understand his structure. It then allows him to project it at next to no mana cost.]]
* [[spoiler:NeverTheSelvesShallMeet: Works to his advantage. Shirou ends up siphoning skill and knowledge of fighting from his future self due to the time paradox that brought them together.]]
* NiceGuy: StayInTheKitchen tendencies in Fate and the anime aside, Shirou is considerate, thoughtful, industrious, and easily a textbook example of this.
* NormallyIWouldBeDeadNow: Shirou is apparently not allowed to do anything awesome without first being reduced to a near-dead cripple. ''Ever''.
* NotSoDifferent: Shirou spends all of "Fate" and "Unlimited Blade Works" hating Kotomine's guts, though he is never able to figure out why. Then during their final confrontation in "Heaven's Feel" Shirou finally realizes it: he was trying to ignore the fact that the two of them are actually incredibly similar: both felt guilty over the past, and sought to follow paths of atonement knowing they could never actually be satisfied.
* NotSoWeak: 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, [[MartyrWithoutACause an idiot]]. [[spoiler:He has no real self identity, dreams or goals of his own and as such really views himself as worthless compared to saving anyone and everyone else that he can.]]
* ObliviousToLove
** Shirou seems to be trying not to notice how Sakura feels about him, though a fair measure of genuine obliviousness also appears to be mixed in.
** In "Fate" he's surprisingly slow to catch on to the changes in Saber.
* [[spoiler:OtherMeAnnoysMe: Shirou instinctively can't get along with Archer, even long before he knows his identity.]]
* ParentalAbandonment: Twice yet. Once when he was orphaned in the Fuyuki Fire, and a second time when Kiritsugu passed away.
* PossessionImpliesMastery: PlayedWith. [[spoiler:When he duplicates weapons, Shirou also duplicates the skill of the weapon's wielder. Like with the weapon itself,]] it's not as good as the original, but it works. It even allows him to [[spoiler:semi-replicate Berserker's offensive Noble Phantasm in ''Heaven’s Feel''. It doesn't mean he has the muscle memory for it though.]]
* PrinciplesZealot: He can be this in the ''Heaven's Feel'' route, should you choose. [[BadEnd It's not a good idea]].
* RealMenWearPink: Shirou loves and is quite skilled at cooking, and owns a cute pink apron.
** RealMenCook: Quite ironic considering his StayInTheKitchen tendencies in ''Fate''.
* RedHeadedHero: [[spoiler:Obviously his hair is red, but it's interesting that one of the changes that Archer went through due to damage from Projection overuse was that his hair turned white. Archer is certainly less traditionally heroic than Shirou as well.]]
* SayMyName
** KOTOMINE KIREI!
** SABEEEER!!!
* SecondYearProtagonist: Shirou is stated to be in his second year, meaning he doesn't have the worries of a first year or a third year. This also means Sakura is younger and can go to the same school while there's another year ahead of Tohsaka "Unlimited Blade Works" endings.
* SelectiveObliviousness
** 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
** It's implied (and stated by Shirou himself, even) that he knew [[spoiler:who Archer was all along[[note]]Do note that even before Archer uses the Trace On spell, Shirou recognizes him someone who embodies his ideals[[/note]]]], but couldn't possibly accept the idea.
* SempaiKohai: With Sakura.
* ShootTheDog
** [[spoiler:He's forced to kill Saber Alter]] in ''Heaven's Feel''.
** And again in one memorable BadEnd of the same path, where he [[spoiler:lets Rin kill Sakura [[PrinciplesZealot for the sake of his ideals]]]].
* SpamAttack: [[spoiler:Nine Lives Blade Works. Shirou projects Berserker's sword. Much ass is kicked.]]
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Shirou, or Shirō, depending on the source.
* StayInTheKitchen: Shirou famously says some astoundingly sexist lines in the ''Fate'' route and the anime based off of it. This is likely rooted both in his [[MartyrWithoutACause overly self-sacrificial tendencies]] and in him trying to find an excuse to keep Saber out of battle due to the results of her first battle. However, this does not account for everything: After Mitsuzuri is apparently groped on the train, he accidentally blurts out that it'll do her some good to learn some femininity.
* SupremeChef: He, Tohsaka and Sakura have a bit of a competition going on with this and each has their own specialty that they refuse to let the others match them in.
* SurvivorGuilt: 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. ZigZagged a bit later, as Unlimited Blade Works is where he shows this the most, but it's also when it's revealed that it doesn't apply as much as it initially seemed to.
* SympathyForTheDevil: In ''Heaven's Feel'' [[spoiler:Shirou realizes that the reason he was always hostile to Kotomine is because he actually likes him. Unlike Kiritsugu, Kotomine and Shirou are in fact very similar people. This doesn't stop Shirou from doing what must be done, but it does show that Shirou feels sort of bad about it.]]
* ThemeMusicPowerUp: His moments of asskickery are usually signaled by "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cUs8FEsDUZ4 Emiya]]" starting up in the background.
* TooDumbToLive: Prior to his CharacterDevelopment. Pretty much ''everybody'' calls him out on it. Visual Novel-wise, there are 40 main [[HaveANiceDeath Tiger Dojos]] and an awful lot of them call him out, especially [[WhatAnIdiot 11, 24, and 36]] which are NobodyCallsMeChicken {{Player Punch}}es.
* TookALevelInBadass: 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 ''Fate'' he begins to pick up Projection magic for real, though for the most part he has to rely on Saber.
** ''Unlimited Blade Works'': Two moments cement this: [[spoiler:when using Projection for the first time at a level superior to what he accomplished in ''Fate'' as well as learning some decent sword technique and the second when he uses the actual Reality Marble itself against Gilgamesh.]]
** ''Heaven's Feel'': [[spoiler:He gets Archer's arm attached and gains a mastery of Projection on par with Archers... but it slowly kills him. At the same time, though, it's turning his body into swords and speeds up the process, but still useful in the middle of hand to hand combat.]]
* TragicDream: His dream is to realise Kiritsugu's dream and become a superhero who can save everyone. He is continuously confronted with the fruitlessness of his endeavour and the disastrous effect it has on his own happiness, to the point where he chooses to abandon his ideals in "Heaven's Feel".
* TraumaInducedAmnesia
** Shirou lost all his memories prior to the fire ten years before from which Kiritsugu saved him.
** After [[spoiler:stabbing Saber Alter]] in ''Heaven’s Feel'' [[spoiler:he erases all his memories of Saber over his crushing guilt at killing her]].
* TheUnfettered: In the "Mind of Steel" BadEnd, [[spoiler:Shirou puts down Sakura for the sake of his ideals and has to kill off Rin and Ilya as well to keep them from abusing the Grail. [[GenerationXerox He basically becomes]] [[Literature/FateZero like his father]]]].
* UnusualEyebrows: Of the kinked type. [[spoiler:They're one of the few things he has in common visually with Archer.]]
* WeakButSkilled: Shirou was born with almost zero talent as a mage due to a lack of proper access to his normal magic circuits, which kind of suck anyway. To make up for it, he work so incredibly hard that people even ridicule him for it while Tohsaka is actually a little scared for his sake. This is why his ([[spoiler: and Archer's]]) battle abilities are pretty much all fighter-oriented as opposed to talented mages like Rin. He has an affinity for swords in more ways than one and that's what he sticks with.
* WideEyedIdealist: One of his defining traits. Eventually, heavily {{Deconstructed}} in both the ''Unlimited Blade Works'' and ''Heaven's Feel'' routes.
* YouKilledMyFather: In ''Fate'', [[spoiler:Shirou finds out that Kotomine killed Kiritsugu, ''and'' his original parents by causing the fire. He doesn't take that well.]] He finds out the former in ''Heaven’s Feel'' as well, but at that point it makes no difference to him.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Rin Tohsaka]]
!!!Voiced by: KanaUeda (JP), MelaLee (EN)

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rin_tohsaka.jpg
-->''"I'm not annoyed at you, I'm annoyed at myself for not achieving what I wanted."''

Tohsaka is one of the main Magi of the series and the {{Tritagonist}}. She is known in the {{fandom}} for her {{Tsundere}} traits and helping popularize the twin tail tsundere with ZettaiRyouiki look. 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. She tries to summon a Saber-class Servant, which is 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.

Rin is a complex person, using a honor student facade to hide her fairly abrasive nature, but this is [[{{Tsundere}} also]] a disguise for her rather good nature and the strong morals she tries to ignore. More than anything, Rin seems driven by her sense of duty to the Tohsaka lineage, though her moral values save her from being the cruel, emotionless magus her brain tells her she's supposed to be.

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''.
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* ActionGirl
* [[spoiler:AloofBigSister: Rin does not make it very obvious she cares for Sakura, and will retreat to her "we're just strangers" mask when around her. Though she has reasons for this, whether they are good ones, is up to the reader.]]
* AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent: 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''.
* BadassAdorable: More relaxed than the stern and stoic Saber, but still more beautiful than cute.
* BadassInDistress: [[spoiler:Her Servant Archer]] kidnaps her in order to [[spoiler:force Shirou into a duel]] in ''Unlimited Blade Works''.
* BatmanGambit: During a battle against [[spoiler:Servant Caster]] in ''Unlimited Blade Works'', [[spoiler:Rin is hopelessly outmatched in sorcery, but it turns out that in case her original plan to BeamSpam Caster fails, she was fully prepared. She lulls Caster into thinking that she's given up, waits for Caster to get in range... And then shows that she knows Chinese martial arts, to the shock of everyone]].
* BeneathTheMask: Two different levels, and she's only aware of the first. Beneath her perfect student facade, she's grouchy, a {{tsundere}} and a [[TheGadfly troll]]. But only halfway acknowledged beneath that is that she's actually pretty kind and strongly values both lives and fair play.
* BiTheWay: She pulls this on herself, [[spoiler:when having sex with Saber]]: "I didn't know I was into girls..."
* BloodMagic: 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.
* BornInTheWrongCentury: 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.
* BrainyBrunette: She's very intelligent, an honor student to boot.
* CheshireCatGrin: Perfected this to an artform. If she's smiling at you, something bad is going to happen.
* CreepyCoolCrosses: One is displayed on her shirt when she's in her casual attire.
* CryCute:
** A great example happens during the scene where Shirou comforts Tohsaka [[spoiler:after Archer betrays her]].
-->"... I can't believe it. A guy made me cry."
** She gets another good one in the Unlimited Blade Works movie when Shirou tells her the story of how Kiritsugu saved him right after [[spoiler:Gilgamesh rips Ilya's heart out]]. It's not even the story that does it, it's the fact that it twisted him so much.
* DangerouslyShortSkirt
* EquivalentExchange: 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 [[{{Tsukihime}} 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 [[Literature/KaraNoKyoukai Azaka]] -- young Rin and young Azaka look exactly alike.
* {{Facepalm}}: She has several dedicated sprites for that. Often because of Shirou.
* FirstNameBasis: At first, she addresses Shirou primarily as "Emiya", but at some point in every route, she switches to his first name when they get to know each other better. She still occasionally uses his last name; according to Shirō, it's either when she is about to [[TheGadfly mock him]] or to say something important.
* TheGadfly: Mixed with TheTease. Tohsaka doesn't limit herself here. Equal opportunity harassment.
* GirlishPigtails
* GoGetterGirl: Rin's ambition and drive is very evident, although she still remains a fundamentally decent person underneath.
* GratuitousGerman: Her family's magic was largely stolen from a German family, which is presumably why her spellcasting is German.
* HairDecorations: Her black bows.
* ImageSong: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rWIA0i3SgD4 "Kirari" (Sparkling)]]
* InfiniteSupplies: {{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, [[spoiler:she gains an InfinityPlusOneSword]] in ''Heaven's Feel'', [[spoiler:which gives her the ability to pull in Mana from '''[[AlternateUniverse alternate realities]]''', theoretically giving her an infinite supply]].
* IronicHell: In what's widely considered to be the most twisted and horrific of all the {{Bad End}}s, [[spoiler:Rin shoots her mouth off to [[SuperpoweredEvilSide Dark Sakura]] about how she doesn't care about the abuse her sister went through. Sakura promptly summons Saber Alter, and the two subdue Rin and force her to experience Sakura's memories of her RapeAsBackstory through Sakura's eyes. When Shirou dies, he can hear [[NightmareFuel Rin screaming that she's sorry over and over]]]].
* IUhYouToo
* JerkassFacade: Her "uncaring magus" persona which is how she believes a magus is supposed to behave. In ''Heaven's Feel'' [[spoiler:it backfires horrible with her sister.]] Rin genuinely cares for Sakura but for a variety of reasons she acts exceptionally cold towards her and always retreats to her mask around her. [[spoiler:It works ''too'' well; Sakura being so convinced that her older sister sees her as an enemy and doesn't care for her is one of the things that push Sakura towards her RoaringRampageOfRevenge, and the exceptionally horrific last BadEnd is a direct result of this behavior.]]
** JerkWithAHeartOfGold: However, this is normally the face shown.
* KungFuWizard: She is a {{Nasuverse}} magus after all, so don't expect her to be useless [[SquishyWizard in close combat]]. That went out of style a long time ago, apparently.
* LackOfEmpathy: Describes herself as this when [[spoiler: Sakura gives Rin her speech about how much her life had sucked. Rin tells Sakura that she never really cared about her situation and doesn't think that Sakura becoming a monster is a bad thing, sending Sakura nuts.]] However, Rin realizes that she is wrong when [[spoiler:she finally realizes that she can't bring herself to kill her sister after all]].
* {{Leitmotif}}: "Gentle Everyday", which often plays during light-hearted moments.
* LightFeminineAndDarkFeminine: The dark to Sakura's light.
* MagicSkirt: Despite that S-rank ZettaiRyouiki 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.
* MercyKill: In ''Unlimited Blade Works'', [[BadEnd if you accept Caster's proposal]] [[spoiler:Shirō ends up as a limbless body in a jar, [[AndIMustScream but still totally conscious]]. Rin comes to kill him, saying that "the bad dream ends here".]]
* NotAMorningPerson: 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. [[WeirdnessCensor And then they choose to forget about it]].
* {{Ojou}}: Complete with a BigFancyHouse. 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.
* OvershadowedByAwesome: Considering all the super-powered entities at play it's easy to forget just how much Rin accomplishes pretty much on her own. With little more than a distraction from Saber she manages to [[spoiler: kill Berserker, though it doesn't stick]] and she was even winning against [[spoiler:Caster]] until Shirou's failure allowed another enemy to join the fray. Makes you wonder how the war would have gone had she not used her amulet, containing enough mana to win the war, to revive Shirou in the prologue.
* PantyShot: 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''.
--> "Isn't that mini-skirt a bit too... mini?"
* ParentalAbandonment: Her father died in [[Literature/FateZero 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.
* ThePiratesWhoDontDoAnything: Let's be serious, most Magi in the {{Nasuverse}} are sociopaths in the name of Magic. So long as you don't draw too much attention to yourself from the muggles, it's fine. However, 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. She's also a great believer in fair play.
* RapunzelHair: Curiously combined with GirlishPigtails. In ''Heavens Feel'''s True End, she has abandoned the tails, making her look somewhat more adult.
* RedOniBlueOni: The Red to Saber's Blue.
* SchoolIdol: She is the most popular girl in school.
* SelectiveObliviousness: Rin seems to exhibit this in regards to [[spoiler:Sakura]]. For someone who is usually very intelligent and observant, she is remarkably poor at noticing all of the things that have changed [[spoiler:about her sister, including even her hair color.]] When she goes into [[spoiler:the Matou house]] for the first time, she immediately realizes what being [[spoiler:the Matou heir]] means, and yet despite knowing that [[spoiler:Shinji has no potential as a magus, and that her sister was adopted into that family because her father couldn't train both of them,]] she fails to make the obvious logical jump to [[spoiler:figuring out Rider's true Master or her sister's situation until it is explicitly pointed out to her.]] Of course, since working it out would have meant either hand-waving the fact that [[spoiler:her sister is suffering horrific torture,]] or breaking from her duty as guardian of Fuyuki [[spoiler:in an effort to save her,]] it's perhaps understandable that she decided not to think ''too'' hard about it.
* ShipperOnDeck: She's this to an extent for Shirō and Saber, near the end ''Fate''.
* ShootTheDog: She attempts this twice with [[spoiler:Sakura]] in ''Heaven's Feel''. The first time, [[WhatTheHellHero Shirou calls her out on it]], then prevents it. The second, [[spoiler:Rin herself stops short because she can't go through with it. This is consistent with her advocating this mentality but not being able to reconcile it with her morals.]]
* [[spoiler:SiblingYinYang: With Sakura.]]
* SmokingIsCool: Her SuperDeformed version which appears in the [[HaveANiceDeath Tiger Dojos]]. Ilya worships her.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: 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.
* SuddenlyAlwaysKnewThat: She suddenly pulls out [[spoiler:excellent martial arts ability against Caster]] with the only foreshadowing at all her confidence before going into the fight.
* TheTease: She repeatedly teases Shirou in an overly flirtatious manner after finding out that he is easily embarrassed. It's turned back on her in her route when she starts becoming embarrassed when they're about to horizontal lambada.
* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: It tends to get lost because of comparisons to Sakura, but Rin is actually very feminine as well but in a different manner. The tomboy here would be Saber, who refuses to view herself as a woman.
* {{Tsundere}}: A textbook case. She is [[AggressiveSubmissive even tsundere in bed.]] However, her major tsundere traits are mostly reserved for her route [[spoiler:and Sakura]].
* TsurimeEyes
* WaifFu
* WalkingTechBane
* WaveMotionSword: Her personal use of the [[spoiler:Jeweled Sword of Zeltrech.]]
* YouKilledMyFather: In ''Unlimited Blade Works'', Rin finds out that [[spoiler:Kotomine Kirei]] killed her father. She doesn't take it very well.
* YourHeadAsplode: One of the {{Bad End}}s in ''Unlimited Blade Works'' has her die this way [[spoiler:against Kuzuki.]]
* ZettaiRyouiki: GRADE "S"! She helped popularize the combination of twin tails, tsundere and zettai ryouiki.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Sakura Matou]]
!!!Voiced by: NorikoShitaya (JP), SherryLynn (EN)

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sakura_matou.jpg
-->''"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."''

Sakura is Shirou's timid underclassman and the third and final heroine of the story. She has been friends with him since middle school. Ever since he was injured in an accident, she often visits Shirou's house and does chores there, mainly because she has a ''massive'' and very obvious crush on him that he tries to ignore. She seems to be an ordinary girl with a respectful relationship with her big brother Shinji Matou, who is in turn an abusive ass to her. Despite her upbeat attitude with Shirou, she tends to be very quiet and passive around others and does not appear to have any real friends.

In ''Heaven's Feel'', Sakura becomes the love interest of the story and secrets about her life are slowly revealed.
----
* [[spoiler:AbusiveParents: Or, rather, (supposed) grandparent....]]
* BeneathTheMask: Portions of ''Heaven's Feel'' are taken from her perspective and provide and alternate look at her personality. For a relatively spoiler free example, she invokes the YamatoNadeshiko image as a way of appealing to Shirou.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: ''Heaven's Feel'' route.
* BigBreastsBigDeal: She's quite embarrassed about her bust size (which Taiga takes great delight in revealing to Shirō).
* BigEater: Although she tries to reserve herself out of fear of looking unladylike, Shirou notices that she eats quite a lot.
* BigNo: She has two of these after she [[spoiler:accidentally stabs Shirou with a spell she, in a bout of crazy caused by Shinji, shot at Rin.]] She feels extremely guilty about it for the rest of the route.
* BreakTheCutie: [[spoiler:First, she's taken from her parents and sister and dumped into an unfamiliar but supposedly allied household, the Matou family. Her parents die soon after as well as the one decent Matou, leaving her with no advocate. She is then 'trained' in Matou magic, which involves infesting her body with maneating worms and having her brother rape her because he's envious of her status as the Matou heir. Things are looking up when Shirou enters the picture and inspires her to keep trying and gives her a resolve that Zouken cannot break, but then "Heaven's Feel" happens and things just keep getting worse until she finally breaks down.]]
* BrokenBird: Becomes evident through ''Heaven's Feel'' route.
* CainAndAbel: [[spoiler:Shinji resents her for being the true Matou heir.]]
* CherryBlossomGirl
* ClingyJealousGirl: She does NOT like the idea of Saber living in Shirou's house even outside of ''Heaven's Feel'' at first, doesn't like having Tohsaka around because Shirou admires her and is generally very possesive of Shirou (including when [[StatuesqueStunner Rider]] is with them). [[spoiler:In ''Heaven's Feel'' Zouken uses this and her genuine love for both Shirou and her brother to eventually cause her to snap by putting too much pressure on her.]]
* TheCorruptible: Throughout ''Heaven’s Feel'', there's a constant fear of Sakura succumbing to the corruption. [[spoiler:She resists more than seems humanly possible, but eventually she does.]]
* [[spoiler:CovertPervert:]] A very rare instance of the trope PlayedForDrama. [[spoiler:Because of the crest worm she gets sexually aroused very easily, and hates herself for that.]]
* CryCute
* CurtainsMatchTheWindow: Sakura has unusual, purple-colored eyes and hair. [[spoiler:This is revealed to be because of the "conditioning" imposed upon her by Zouken in order to make her into the successor of the Matou brand of magecraft.]]
* DarkMagicalGirl: She has next to no friends or decent family and in front of people not named Taiga and Shirou and she tends to be nearly silent and very submissive.
* DealWithTheDevil: Rather involuntarily, [[spoiler:Sakura becomes outrageously powerful by virtue of drawing on the power of [[TheDevil Angra Mainyu]] due to Zouken having her make a contract with it]].
* [[spoiler:DefiledForever: Thinks of herself as a woman unworthy of Shirou due to have being repeatedly raped and violated through her life.]]
* [[spoiler:DefusingTheTykeBomb: The objective of "Heaven's Feel" is to stop the Crest Worm from going haywire and subsequently, the destruction of Angra Mainyu without killing Sakura.]]
* DemotedToExtra: Despite being one of main heroines of the visual novel, Sakura is one of the least commercial characters in the series. For example, in Anime/CarnivalPhantasm she not only rarely appears, but the jokes to be made about her are either mean spirited or even larger flanderizations than normal, portraying her as a BitchInSheepsClothing and a {{Yandere}}.
* TheDogBitesBack: [[spoiler:Her SuperpoweredEvilSide, once fully established, decides that it's not going to put up with her grandfather's abuse anymore...]]
* DoggedNiceGirl: Sakura is not the most subtle of suitors.
* [[spoiler:DrivenToSuicide: She never kills herself, but she does consider it. On Day 9 of ''Heaven's Feel'' she mentions several previous attempts at suicide, though she never went through with it. After her MyGodWhatHaveIDone moment, she attempts to kill herself out of remorse, only to be prevented by Angra Mainyu long enough for Shirou to free her with Rule Breaker.]]
* EveryoneCanSeeIt: It's obvious that she loves Shirou.
* {{Expy}}: She is similar in appearance and personality [[spoiler:and shares some aspects of her back-story]], with Fujino Asagami from the earlier Nasu work ''Literature/KaraNoKyoukai''.
* ExtremeDoormat: What she was before she fell in love with Shirou.
* FeminineWomenCanCook
* FreakOut: [[spoiler:After killing Shinji, she finally succumbs to the corruption and willingly enters the villain camp out of despair and resentment. It takes a lot of work for the good guys to get through to her again thanks in no small part to Tohsaka's distant attitude.]]
* GratuitousGerman: ''Heaven's Feel'' only.
* HairDecorations: Always wears a ribbon in the left side of her hair. It is a MementoMacGuffin since [[spoiler:it was the first ribbon Rin ever made, and one of the few signs of their ''true'' feelings for each other]].
* HatesBeingAlone
* IllGirl: Due to [[spoiler:the stress of the Matou family's crest worms becoming more active]] she's bedridden for a large portion of the route.
* ImageSong: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mi02Un9mkUc "Egao Hitotsu de"]] ("With One Smile")
* ItsAllMyFault: The reason for her current relationship with Shinji.
* IWillWaitForYou: In the Normal ending of the Heaven's Feel. [[spoiler:Sakura promises to wait for Shirou after his HeroicSacrifice, though it eventually becomes clear that he never returns to her and she eventually dies of old age.]]
* KickTheSonOfABitch: [[spoiler:Her ruthless treatment of [[TheWormThatWalks Zouken]] and [[SmugSnake Shinji]]. She herself is rather stunned at what she did to Shinji, however, since she ''did'' care about him.]]
* LighterAndSofter: In the manga, many of the horrible things from her backstory seem not to have occurred or, at least, are not mentioned.
* LightFeminineAndDarkFeminine: The light to Rin's dark.
* [[spoiler:LockedIntoStrangeness: Sakura's purple eyes and hair are the result of the parasitic worms Zouken implanted in her body, that feed on her mana and carnal impulses, greatly boosting her magical power and sexual aggression. Later, her hair turns white and her eyes red when she accepts her SuperpoweredEvilSide.]]
* LoveMakesYouCrazy: Inverted actually. [[spoiler:Her love for both Shirō and Rin are a great part of what makes her keep her sanity for so long after awakening as a Holy Grail.]]
* TheMourningAfter: [[spoiler:Through the rest of her life in the Normal ending of the Heaven's Feel, Sakura stays in Shirou's home constantly waiting for Shirou to come home after his HeroicSacrifice at the end of the Grail War.]]
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: [[spoiler:After Rin (seemingly) dies, Sakura realizes that she destroyed everyone who still loved her with her own hands.]]
* NiceGirl
* NotSoWeak: A plot point. [[spoiler:Zouken Matou can't break her by himself, and she won't fight back. At all. It takes a great deal of manipulation of outside factors and a good deal of stupidity from the heroes to actually make her snap. Until then, she was far more resilient than you'd expect for someone that's essentially broken inside. Still mostly sane after being raped constantly by Shinji at least, plus violated by worms, plus worms living inside her, plus excruciating pain and who knows what the hell else. But the crack that breaks her is how she tries to settle things to keep Shirou safe.]]
* {{Protectorate}}: To Shirou [[spoiler:and her Servant Rider]] in ''Heaven's Feel.''
* PurpleEyes
* [[spoiler:RapeAsBackstory: Through her life, Sakura was raped constantly by Zouken's crest worms and later by Shinji under orders from Zouken and also to vent his own jealous frustrations.]]
* RapunzelHair: In the ''Heaven's Feel'' True ending, she has let her hair grow down to her hips.
* TheResenter: [[spoiler:While she does love Rin, she also resents that Rin has had a much happier life and never even really bothered to find out her situation.]]
* SempaiKohai: She is Shirou's kohai. It's notable the fact that she ''always'' refers to Shirou as "Sempai" even when in the presense of other people who are also her Sempais, like Rin. In the ''Heaven's Feel'' True epilogue, she still calls him "Sempai" even though they've been in a relationship for several years and he's no longer even her Sempai.
* ShrinkingViolet
* SiblingYinYang: With Shinji [[spoiler:and Rin]].
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Matou, Matô or Matō depending on the source/transliteration paradigm used.
* StepfordSmiler: Played with. At school, Sakura is more or less her "true self"; [[ExtremeDoormat 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.
* [[spoiler:SuperpoweredEvilSide: Dark Sakura. Unlike the normal Sakura, she has control over the vast mana reserves inside the Grail or at least the inclination to use them. This is more than she could ever possibly use as well as the ability to do such actions as self healing or summoning of massive shadow familiars. Her personality, on the other hand, is highly unstable and switches between near catatonia and violent lashing out at her loved ones.]]
** [[spoiler:ApocalypseMaiden]]
** [[spoiler:CombatTentacles]]
** [[spoiler:TheCorruption]]
** [[spoiler:DemonicPossession]]
** [[spoiler:EvilAlbino]]
** [[spoiler:EvilFeelsGood]]
** [[spoiler:FromNobodyToNightmare]]
** [[spoiler:IKnowYouAreInThereSomewhereFight: Her fight with Shirou.]]
** [[spoiler:{{Leitmotif}}: "All the Evils in this World", a remix of Kirei's "The Church on the Hill".]]
** [[spoiler:MarkedChange]]
** [[spoiler:PersonOfMassDestruction]]
** [[spoiler:RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver: Her magic, and by extension, her outfit.]]
** [[spoiler:RedEyesTakeWarning]]
** [[spoiler:RoaringRampageOfRevenge]]
** [[spoiler:WhiteHairedPrettyGirl]]
** [[spoiler:WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds]]
* TaremeEyes
* [[spoiler:TrainingFromHell]]
* [[spoiler:{{Tykebomb}}: For eleven years, Sakura has been forced to act as a host for magical worms that allow Zouken to control her at will.]]
* TheUnfavourite: Considers herself as such [[spoiler:in regards to Rin]].
* [[WellDoneSonGuy "Well Done, Sis" Girl]]: [[spoiler:The only thing Sakura always expected from Rin was for her to show some fraternal love for her.]]
* YamatoNadeshiko: {{Invoked}}. When she grew interested in Shirou, she resolved to reform herself to be more appealing.
%% Sakura Matou is not a yandere even if she possesses some traits common to yanderes. Please do not add this trope.
* [[YouGottaHaveBlueHair You Gotta Have Purple Hair]]: [[spoiler:She used to have black hair like her biological sister Rin Tohsaka. The coloration is a result of receiving the Crest Worm.]]
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Shinji Matou]]
!!!Voiced by: HiroshiKamiya (JP), DougErholtz (EN)

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/shinji_matou.jpg
-->''"If you want me to drop the barrier, you'll have to get on your knees and beg."''

Sakura's brother and Shirou's friend from middle school, Shinji is abrasive, smug and sarcastic. While he comes from a family of magi, 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. Questioning his ability is an easy way to get on his bad side and in general he seems largely unstable. At school, he's a popular ladies' man, but it's not quite clear why: He's rude, arrogant and ineptly manipulates the few friends he has.

Shinji is shown early on to be the Master of the mysterious Servant Rider, whom he controls using an artifact created from Rider's Command Spells called the ''Book of the False Attendant'', and takes up a fairly prominent role in all three routes.
-----
* AllThereInTheManual: In the Character Material, Nasu explains lots of his current attitudes, like his jerkass attitude and his feelings for Sakura and Shirou across the years.
* BeneathTheMask: 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.
* BerserkButton
** What really sets him off is the implication that he is useless.
** In the manga, what triggers him is the fact everyone is trying to hide facts from him and making a fool of him. This has more sense after his past is revealed (with Sakura and his father trying to hide the truth about Sakura from him for years).
* BigBadWannabe: He seems aware that he's pathetic and resents the hell out of it and tries to be more intimidating than he really is.
* BigBrotherMentor: He tried to be this in the manga backstory, [[spoiler:after he met Sakura for the first time. Or at least he did until he found out why Sakura was adopted into the Matou family]].
* BodyHorror: In "Unlimited Blade Works", [[spoiler:Gilgamesh turns Shinji into a new vessel for the Holy Grail, which results in him being forced to endure a lake-sized mass of flesh growing from his body. The resulting TransformationTrauma eventually [[BreakTheHaughty scared him straight]].]]
* BoisterousWeakling: Has some trouble getting that without Rider to protect him, he's just cannon fodder. Mostly due to his InferioritySuperiorityComplex.
* CainAndAbel: Cain to Sakura's Abel.
* CasanovaWannabe: He doesn't seem to be able to get the girl he's most interested in. He never gets anywhere with Tohsaka, 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.
* TheChewToy: 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, [[spoiler:is bloodily killed in two of the routes, and the sole remaining route spends a good deal of time]] [[BreakTheHaughty 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 [[spoiler:and a sociopathic rapist at worst]], he doesn't get too much sympathy about this. About 90% of what he does is trying to prove that he isn't useless. The rest is rape subtext. In the manga, his personality is much less harsh.
* ChickMagnet: The main cast of girls don't like Shinji much, but he's very popular with girls at school. [[SubvertedTrope However,]] character material reveals that [[GoldDigger the girls from the school only like him because he has money]].
* ControlFreak: As noted by Rin, his biggest weakness is that he can't handle not being in control of everything, especially when it comes to Sakura. In "Heaven's Feel", when Sakura is not around for him to control and with Zouken triggering his BerserkButton he loses it and enters his VillainousBreakdown.
* DespairEventHorizon: The ''Heaven's Feel'' route hints at it, but the manga and the Character Material come 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, [[spoiler:and that if anyone in his family was going to end up fulfilling ''his'' lifelong dream, it was going to be Sakura whether she liked it or not]]. Basically, he JumpedAtTheCall only to discover that there was no call, and upon learning this reacted... poorly. The final nail in the coffin was [[spoiler:Sakura's pity.]]
* DirtyCoward
* DisproportionateRetribution: 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 [[spoiler:orders Rider to attack her, putting her in the hospital]].
* DontYouDarePityMe: Shinji's attitude makes it impossible for him to believe that Shirou and Sakura are the only ones that actually care about him and mistakes it as pity, though Sakura does pity him somewhat. And he ''hates'' being pitied enough to turn him into the jerk he is.
* EasilyForgiven
** Rin still manages to find it within herself to save his life in ''Unlimited Blade Works'' [[spoiler:in spite of the fact he tried to rape her while she was bound to a chair and completely helpless]]. This is probably in part because it would make Shirou happy and [[spoiler:because he's Sakura's brother and Sakura does care about him.]]
** In the manga, he gets this from [[spoiler:Ayako, whom he had Rider attack, and Sakura, who saved his life]]. It should be noted that he does not [[spoiler:rape Sakura]] in the manga, [[spoiler:and this causes him to undergo a HeelFaceTurn]].
* EvilerThanThou: Shinji faces off against other villains in every path; Ilyasviel in ''Fate'', [[spoiler:Gilgamesh]] in ''Unlimited Blade Works'', and [[spoiler:Dark Sakura]] in ''Heaven's Feel''. Too bad for him that he's the "Thou" part of the trope all three times.
* FreudianExcuse: Believing Sakura pitied and looked down on him due to her being the heir instead of him, combined with his father becoming distant to him (and later dying) after failing to hide the truths of the family to him combined with a manipulative, emotionally abusive grandfather who did encourage him to be a complete {{Jerkass}} so he'd be more useful to him that way.
* GoMadFromTheRevelation: His personality took a sharp turn for the worse once he really grasped how his family worked.
* HumiliationConga: In "Unlimited Blade Works", he goes from having the strongest Servant to [[spoiler:getting his ass kicked by a dying Lancer and becoming the substitute Grail because of Gilgamesh.]] The entire scene makes him look completely pathetic.
* IJustWantToBeSpecial: The whole reason why he is like that.
* InferioritySuperiorityComplex
* {{Jerkass}}: If Shirou and Sakura are to be believed Shinji wasn't always so bad, though he's never been good at getting along with other guys.
** JerkWithAHeartOfGold: Apparently he was this as a child, according to the Character Material and the manga backstory, overlapping with some JerkassFacade. And well...things went to Hell.
** TookALevelInJerkass: In the ''Heaven's Feel'' route, after Zouken tells him that he is more worthless than Byakuya, it triggers his BerserkButton and becomes twice as haughty and displeasant.
* LikeFatherLikeSon / TurnOutLikeHisFather / LineageComesFromTheFather: He strongly resembles physically to his father Byakuya. Not to mention that both are considered disgraces to the family, they have haughty attitudes, they sulk a lot, they resent their younger siblings, they were manipulated by Zouken, and they lost to an Emiya. In Heaven's Feel, Zouken takes advantage of it and uses it to destabilize Shinji even further.
* LoserSonOfLoserDad: According to Zouken.
* MuggleBornOfMages: He's not very happy about it.
* {{Narcissist}}
* NoSocialSkills
* ParentalAbandonment: After Shinji finds the truth about Sakura, Byakuya becomes distant with his son and dies shortly after. Shinji claims that he hates his father for not choosing him to be the heir and because he believes he won't end up being a failure like him. However, it is implied in Heaven's Feel that apparently he was in good terms with his father until he found the AwfulTruth about Sakura. His mother is gone and implied to have been thrown into the worm pit beneath the Matou household.
* ParentalNeglect: Zouken considers Shinji to be a disgrace of a sorcerer and often neglects him. In ''Heaven's Feel'' it is revealed that even Byakuya, after years of trying to hide the family's secrets from him and later failing, started ignoring his son.
* RapeIsASpecialKindOfEvil: He seems to view the idea of consent as a quaint idea. [[spoiler:He's been raping Sakura for three years, apparently raped Rider, did ''something'' to Ayako in ''Unlimited Blade Works'' and later tried to rape Tohsaka, though he just got stabbed for it that time.]]
* SmugSnake
* SparedByTheAdaptation: In the manga, Sakura has Rider save his life.
* TheReasonYouSuckSpeech: Receives lots of these in ''Heaven's Feel'', even a [[TheReasonYouSuckSpeech The Reason You And Your Father Suck]] from Zouken.
-->'' "'Fool. I didn't expect victory from a failure like you. What I expected was enough pride to challenge others in spite of your powerlessness...But you failed miserably. You disgraced the name of the Makiri. Hmph...you and your father are both disgraces to our family."''
* TroubledAbuser
* TheUnfavorite: Besides Sakura and Shirou, no one likes him. Not even his family.
* UnwittingPawn: Pretty much ''everything'' he does in ''Heaven's Feel'' [[spoiler:is orchestrated by Zouken in order to further his plans for Sakura, culminating in his death, which results in Sakura's FreakOut]].
* VillainousBreakdown: Shinji's state of mind gets particularly bad in the ''Unlimited Blade Works'' and ''Heaven's Feel'' routes. [[spoiler:Eventually, he gets scared straight in the former and absolutely snaps in the latter.]]
* WellDoneSonGuy: Kinda like a certain ''other'' [[NeonGenesisEvangelion Shinji]]. [[spoiler:He just wants approval from Zouken.]]
* WouldHitAGirl
* YouGottaHaveBlueHair
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Ilyasviel "Ilya" von Einzbern]]
!!!Voiced by: MaiKadowaki (JP), StephanieSheh (EN)

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/illyasviel.jpg
-->''"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 Ilyasviel, usually called Ilya for short, was sent by the Einzbern Clan to be their champion the Holy Grail War. She is in fact a homunculus and the Master of Berserker. Due to being a homunculus, her great affinity for magic allows her to effortlessly control the otherwise rampaging Berserker class with ease. She lives in a mansion in the middle of a forest with her Servant and two maids.

Though she is indeed very innocent, this is [[AmbiguousInnocence not necessarily a good thing.]] She's cruel and occasionally vindictive in her naivety and has an odd obsession and attachment to Shirou.
-----
* AllThereInTheManual: Several notable things, for instance [[spoiler:we only find out that she dies a year after the Holy Grail war in Archer's back-story via supplementary materials, and apparently the Dress of Heaven she wears at the end of ''Heaven's Feel'' will turn any human who touches it into gold!]]
* ArtificialHuman: She was naturally conceived, but she's still a homunculus, since homunculi in this setting resemble DesignerBabies mixed with CloningBlues.
* BigBrotherAttraction: Played pretty darkly, especially since Shirou has no clue why she's calling him onii-chan [[spoiler:until ''Heaven's Feel.'']]
* ButNotTooForeign: Ilya's [[spoiler:biological father is Emiya Kiritsugu]] and her mother is a German homunculus.
* CheerfulChild[=/=]CreepyChild: Yes, she's both. [[CuteAndPsycho It's not contradictory]].
* ClingyJealousGirl: She ''really'' seems to be dead set on having Shirou be her servant; [[AndIMustScream or worse, her doll. Heck, she'll settle for his still living head]].
* [[spoiler:CloneDegeneration: Even if she survives the war, she still has less than a year to live.]]
* CreepyCoolCrosses: The cuffs of her shirt prominently display a row of them.
* CuteAndPsycho: In ''Fate'', mostly; in ''Unlimited Blade Works'' she doesn't appear much and in ''Heavens Feel'' the psycho part is pretty much absent. But even without that she's a bit bipolar.
* [[spoiler:DaddyHadAGoodReasonForAbandoningYou: She just doesn't ''know''. More to the point, she doesn't know that he spent the next five years prior to his death ''trying'' to come back, but the Einzberns wouldn't let him see her. The fact that he told her he would be back and then never returned for no obvious reason is understandably upsetting for her. Making it worse is that the Einzberns almost certainly made it sound as bad as they possibly could, too, because it gives her more of a reason to fight. She doesn't seem to buy the cover story entirely, but she's got a major grudge against Shirou to go along with some level of BigBrotherAttraction.]]
* DefeatMeansFriendship: [[spoiler:After losing in ''Fate'' she's spared by Shirou and taken into the Emiya household. Which would have been a surprisingly good idea if they'd known Kotomine would raid the house to take her.]]
* EnfanteTerrible
* EvilAlbino: In much of ''Fate''.
* FailureIsTheOnlyOption: [[spoiler:Ilya is actually in a rather similar situation to Assassin, in that both are literally incapable of actually winning the Holy Grail war. As the vessel for the Grail itself, her mind is destroyed when it finishes forming, leaving her unable to claim the prize even if her Servant is the last one standing.]]
* TheFakeCutie: She's genuinely quite innocent and naive, but in contrast to that she's probably the must brutal character in the story. [[spoiler:''Heaven's Feel'' makes it pretty clear that her little girl act ''is'' just an act. She's actually quite emotionally conflicted about what she should be doing and almost entirely lacks any hope for the future.]]
* FilleFatale: 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!. [[HaveANiceDeath Tiger Dojo]] confirms [[WhatCouldHaveBeen there was originally an H scene here]] if you picked the wrong option. [[spoiler:On the other hand, she's actually older than he is]].
* FirstNameBasis: She generally prefers being called by her nickname of "Ilya".
* FreudianExcuse: ParentalAbandonment? Check. Isolated from the outside world and basically ''raised'' to be a sociopath by her mother's family? Check. Put through agonizing TrainingFromHell 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''.
* [[spoiler:GoOutWithASmile: In ''Heaven's Feel'' [[MultipleEndings True End]].]]
* GracefulLadiesLikePurple
* HappilyAdopted: 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.
* HeelFaceTurn: [[spoiler:In ''Fate'' after Shirou and Saber defeat Berserker.]]
* HeroicAlbino: In ''Heaven's Feel''.
* [[spoiler:HeroicSacrifice: In ''Heaven's Feel'' True End she sacrifices herself to shut down the ArtifactOfDoom behind the Holy Grail War once and for all]].
* HostileShowTakeover: She cheerfully announces her intent to do this in ''Heaven's Feel'' during a [[HaveANiceDeath 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 ''[[TankGoodness tank]]''.
* HugeGuyTinyGirl: She just barely reaches her servant's knee.
* HypnoticEyes
* InSeriesNickname: In the Tiger Dojo, SD-Rin calls her "Bulma", since she wears a school bloomer in that section for some reason.
* ImageSong: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ghWNo01BpFA "Tsuki no Namida"]]; also shares a more "fun" version with Taiga.
* ImColdSoCold: [[spoiler:When dying in ''Unlimited Bladeworks,'' she mentions that it's a little cold but things will surely be okay again soon so long as Berserker is there to protect her. He's already dead.]]
* KickTheSonOfABitch: Her ruthless murder of [[spoiler:Shinji]] in ''Fate'' is supposed to indicate that she's a little psycho... but honestly, [[spoiler:it's Shinji. Who cares?]]
* KidWithTheLeash: To Berserker.
* [[spoiler:LegalJailbait]]: [[spoiler:She's actually eighteen.]]
* {{Leitmotif}}: "Die Lorelei" by Phillipp Friedrich Silcher. Notable in being an actual German folk song.
* [[MetaGuy Meta Girl]]: She becomes this during the [[HaveANiceDeath Tiger Dojo]] segments accompanying each of the game's 40 {{Bad End}}s.
* [[MrExposition Ms. Exposition]]: She fills this role pretty often, especially in ''Heaven's Feel''.
* OlderThanTheyLook: [[spoiler:She looks around ten years old, but is in fact eighteen. Homunculi have strange growth patterns, but hers is nonexistent as she wasn't made to be able to live as a human.]]
* [[spoiler:ParentalAbandonment: After the previous Grail War, the Einzberns wouldn't even allow Ilya and Kiritsugu to meet, and having her mother already dead, Ilya feels she has been abandoned. This distresses her so much that it is implied that the reason she keeps Berserker in an "always semi berserk" state is to deprive the only real father figure she's ever known of even the opportunity of leaving her.]]
* RedEyesTakeWarning: Some of the time, anyway. Generally, if the narration starts focusing on her eyes, bad things are about to happen.
* SociopathicHero: ''Averted'', surprisingly enough. When she [[HeelFaceTurn turns]], her more sadistic tendencies seem to be put to rest.
* SoundtrackDissonance: The arrangement of her lietmotif ''Die Lorelei'' in this game sounds like a lullaby played by a music box. The first time you hear it in the very first BadEnd, Berserker is chopping your limbs off, leaving [[AndIMustScream your head kept alive as a toy for Ilya]]. The leitmotif changes to a depressing theme on subsequent appearances, but still keeps the dissonance.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Even the [[InconsistentDub 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.
* StepfordSmiler: She's a lot less carefree than she looks [[spoiler:since she knows that she'll probably be dead by the end of the Grail War even if she wins, a year after that if she doesn't and the one thing she actually wants is something she feels she can't get. That one thing is for Shirou to actually care about her.]]
* TokenMiniMoe: Lampshaded and providing the page quote.
* {{Tykebomb}}: She was raised by the Einzbern family to be the ultimate Master and not to play a great value on human life.
* UnitsNotToScale: 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.
* TheVonTropeFamily
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: It's stated in the [[HaveANiceDeath 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 BadEnd, but that scene was obviously cut.
* WhiteHairedPrettyGirl
* WinterRoyalLady: 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. [[spoiler:She just wants to be properly acknowledged and secretly believes that Shirou won't.]]
* [[YouAreNumberSix Your Name Is Pupil Number One]]: In the Tiger Dojo.
* YouLoseAtZeroTrust: From early on in ''Heaven's Feel'' Shirou is getting along with her much better than in the previous two routes. [[spoiler:However, thanks to Zouken dicking around,]] 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.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Kirei Kotomine]]
!!!Voiced by: JojiNakata (JP), JamiesonPrice (EN)

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kirei_kotomine.jpg
->''"Rejoice, young man. Your wish will finally come true."''

Kotomine Kirei is the overseer of the Holy Grail War and resides at the church on top of the hill. He is callous and sarcastic, but also quite knowledgeable. As the supervisor of the Grail War, 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. Both Tohsaka and Shirou appear to detest him, though in truth they don't seem to dislike him too much. Despite the enmity between the Mage's Association and the Church, Kotomine is a member of both organizations, which is presumably the reason he was chosen to be be the overseer.

Kotomine is the deuteragonist of the story and thus plays an important role in the unfolding events in all three routes, but the route that features him most heavily is the final one, ''Heavens Feel'' where he takes an active role early on.
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* AffablyEvil
* {{Badass}}: He doesn't get to show off until ''Heaven's Feel'' but [[spoiler:he's capable of beating down Assassin pretty easily, exorcising Zouken to the point where he's a tiny worm trapped in Sakura's chest and mauling Shirou when he is not only fighting at Archer's level of ability but also turning into swords.]]
** BadassLongcoat: His priest garments are like a combo between this and BadassLongrobe. They are also bulletproof to boot.
*** TheCoatsAreOff: At the end of ''Heaven's Feel''.
** BadassPreacher
* [[spoiler:BeingEvilSucks: He has a conscience, which makes him aware that evil is wrong, but...]]
** [[spoiler:BeingGoodSucks: Unfortunately, he takes no satisfaction from good. Poor guy just can't win. This is in fact a large part of his motivation: He basically wants to ask God why someone like him would be allowed to be born.]]
* [[BlazingInfernoHellfireSauce Blazing Inferno Mapo Tofu:]] He seems to love it.
-->'''Kirei:''' … [[CrowningMomentOfFunny you want some?]]\\
'''Shirō:''' I'd rather die!
* BigBad: In ''Fate''.
* BigBadEnsemble: In ''Heaven's Feel'', with Zouken Matou.
* CharacterFilibuster: He is physically incapable of entering and exiting a scene without at least a few dozen pages' worth of [[MrExposition exposition]], [[ContemplateOurNavels philosophical contemplation]] or [[HannibalLecture cruel mind games]] in between. Usually, all three at the same time, or at least two out of them at the same time, depending on the length of the scene.
* CharlesAtlasSuperpower: Due to immense training as a church exorcist, Kotomine is able to stand up to [[spoiler:True Assassin and a body-transmuted-into-swords Shirou]] in ''Heaven's Feel''.
* TheChessmaster
* ChewingTheScenery: He can sometimes drift into this territory, although this is partly just how JojiNakata acts. He's generally fairly calm, however.
* ChurchMilitant: And he Knows Kung Fu.
* ClassicVillain: In ''Heaven's Feel'' Kotomine's parallels to Shirou become quite obvious with the classic climactic conclusion being resolved by Kotomine's [[spoiler:lack of purpose outside the emptiness]] that is at both Shirou and his own core. Shirou's [[spoiler:nature lies in defining himself through others,]] which is the same as Kotomine. The reason it is a virtue for Shirou and a vice for Kotomine is that [[spoiler:Shirou's self definition lies in aiding others while Kotomine's is in harming them.]]
* CreepyCoolCrosses
* DeathByIrony
** In ''Fate'', [[spoiler:Shirou kills Kotomine with [[ChekhovsGun the Azoth dagger]] that he gave to Rin Tohsaka,]] and it becomes even [[KarmicDeath more ironic]] [[spoiler:when he used that very dagger to quite literally backstab and kill the person who gave it to him in ''Literature/FateZero'', Rin's Father Tokiomi Tohsaka. In fact, the very reason he stabbed him using that dagger is the irony of it.]]
** In ''Unlimited Blade Works'', [[spoiler:dispatched by Lancer, the original Servant of Bazett whose Command Seals he stole to obtain him.]]
* DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife: When he was younger: Mage? Not fulfilling. Church? Ditto. Devoted husband? Empty. Evil? [[EvilFeelsGood Bingo]]! [[spoiler:[[{{Irony}} And he's still not happy with that specifically ''because'' it makes him happy]]]].
* {{Deuteragonist}}: Does double time as primary antagonist and deuteragonist. While the main heroines generally have more screen time than Kotomine, he is largely the one who pushes the plot along and has a strong and complex relationship with Shirou, much to the latter's disquiet.
* [[spoiler:DiskOneFinalBoss: In ''Unlimited Blade Works''.]]
* DissonantSerenity: In the ''Fate'' route, [[spoiler:during the scene where Shirou discovers the little secret Kotomine keeps underneath the church]] and Kotomine more or less psychologically tortures him about it [[spoiler:while they stand there surrounded by corpses undergoing BodyHorror,]] 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.
* DullEyesOfUnhappiness
* EnemyMine: In ''Heaven's Feel'', Kirei teams up with Shirou once [[spoiler:Zouken and Sakura kill off Lancer and Gilgamesh]] which allows him [[spoiler:to be the final villain standing at the end.]]
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Whatever else might be said about Kirei, he holds Zouken Matou in ''utter'' contempt.
* EvilDuo: [[spoiler:With Gilgamesh.]]
* EvilFeelsGood: Kirei's entire raison d’être. [[spoiler:He's lived his entire life being unable to find joy in anything other than the suffering of other people and what was the opposite of 'good'. Believing something to be wrong with himself, he tried out several vocations, including studying under the magic association, turning around and switching to the Church, an organization that loosely opposes the Association and even loving an IllGirl who eventually bore him a child. When said IllGirl died, the fact that he felt sorrow only for being ''unable to kill her himself'' caused his true StartOfDarkness, which in turn causes him to attempt to release the ArtifactOfDoom behind the Grail War upon the world out of a mixture of entertaining himself, wanting answers from God, a defense of his being and sheer frustration.]]
* FightsLikeANormal: Technically, he ''is'' a magus, but all he seems capable of doing in regards to magecraft is healing others and some holy powers derived from the Church. He's an extremely effective hand to hand combat, proficient with Black Keys, a type of throwing sword, and has extensive assassin training.
* {{Foil}}: Is portrayed as quite an explicit one to [[spoiler:Kiritsugu Emiya, Shirou's father. Whereas Kiritsugu is a just, moral man who makes of himself a monster to protect the innocent from supernatural evil and to preserve the world, Kirei is a sociopath who was raised to be selfless and to serve goodness, but finds no pleasure in anything except doing evil, and wants to destroy the world which created him. Shirou finds himself also as a foil to Kirei, once his motivations are revealed.]]
* FriendlyEnemy: The only way to describe his relationship with Shirou in the ''Heaven's Feel'' route.
--> '''Shirou''': I see. I'm sorry I troubled you... um, I'm glad you were awake.
--> '''Kirei''': You're thanking me? Are you sick? I will listen if something is worrying you.
--> '''Shirou''': ...I am worried about many things, and you are the cause of most of them. I'll pass on another long talk with you.
* TheGadfly: 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.
* GoodPowersBadPeople: What is his skillset? Magical surgery and performing exorcisms on evil spirits. That's ''it.'' [[spoiler:Still nearly destroys the world.]]
* HannibalLecture: Is a master of it.
** FalseReassurance: And this. [[{{Pantheon/Mentalism}} The God of it, in fact]].
** FromACertainPointOfView: And this.
* HiddenDepths: You don't really get to know Kotomine until ''Heaven's Feel'' route. He's not as simple as he looks.
* HolyHandGrenade: [[spoiler:He baptizes Zouken to death, reducing him into a tiny worm.]]
* {{Leitmotif}}: "The Church on the Hill".
* LightIsNotGood: He's a priest, a ChurchMilitant exorcist and wields genuine holy powers. He's also quite obviously up to no good.
* ALighterShadeOfBlack: In "Heaven's Feel", Kotomine comes off as WAY better than Zouken, despite being technically worse for the world. Unlike Zouken, he stays true and consequent to his motives and beliefs and helps the heroes out in an EnemyMine.
* ManipulativeBastard
* MeaningfulEcho: 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" [[spoiler:upon finding his knuckles pulverized by punching Shirou's body which had been turning to swords.]]
* MrExposition: Primarily in "Fate", he explains the rules of the war, and later narrates the story behind the three families that started the ritual.
* NoCureForEvil: The only kind of magic he shows any aptitude for is magical surgery, at which he is quite adept. The irony is not lost on him.
* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: His final showdown with [[spoiler:Shirou]] in ''Heaven's Feel'' boils down to this, largely because both of them have no {{mana}} to use, [[spoiler:and because their bodies are completely broken. Kirei loses only because he died slightly before Shirou started turning into swords.]]
* NotSoDifferent: To Shirou.
* [[spoiler:ReluctantPsycho: To some degree.]]
* SayMyName: Shirou and Kirei seem especially fond of calling each other by full names, especially when yelling.
* ShadowArchetype: [[spoiler:As Shirou comes to realize in ''Heaven’s Feel'', Kotomine and he are NotSoDifferent -- both have essentially no sense of self and can only find purpose through their fellow humans: The only difference is that for Shirou it is helping people, and for Kotomine it is to cause them pain.]]
* SinisterMinister
* TallDarkAndSnarky
* ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks: Due to his time spent with the ChurchMilitant "Burial Agency", Kirei has a supply of "Black Key" throwing swords similar to the ones used by [[VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}} Ciel]].
* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Mapo tofu. And he likes it ''hellishly hot''.
* TragicVillain: Once his motives are expanded upon in ''Heaven's Feel'', he becomes far more sympathetic.
* TreacherousAdvisor: He technically fulfils this role for Shirou and Rin, but neither of them trust him very much.
* {{Troll}}: His only pleasure literally comes from the suffering of others, so he enjoys telling people things that will hurt them. Generally things that are true or might even sound good.
* TheUnfettered: Not as bad as Kiritsugu but still...
* UnusualEyebrows
* VillainsOutShopping: Shirou enters a restaurant and finds Kirei eating infamously hot mapo tofu at a Chinese restaurant. He asks Shirou if he wants any.
* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: The main topic of his attempted [[HannibalLecture Hannibal Lectures]] to Shirou in ''Heaven's Feel'', where he argues that Shirou has no right to stop [[spoiler:the monster about to use Sakura to let itself loose on the world because, despite the fact that it has killed scores of people in its embryonic state, all creatures deserve to be born into the world. It is not difficult to read this as being about himself more than the monster.]]
* WillNotTellALie: For shits and giggles. It's much more fun to trick people without lying.
* [[spoiler:WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: In a manner of speaking. What could be worse than being [[BeingGoodSucks born naturally evil, only able to take pleasure in the suffering of others]], but still [[BeingEvilSucks born with a]] ''[[BeingEvilSucks conscience]]?'' This only shows up in ''Heaven’s Feel'', however; the other two routes don't go into his back-story enough to show him as anything but in it ForTheEvulz.]]
* YourApprovalFillsMeWithShame: Kirei will honestly applaud you for picking the choice that leads to BadEnd #30. The infamous "Mind of Steel" BadEnd.
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Souichirou Kuzuki]]
!!!Voiced by: Kazuhiro Nakata (JP), PatrickSeitz (EN)

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/soichirou_fsn.jpg
-->''"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."''

Souichirou Kuzuki is Tohsaka's homeroom teacher and one of [[TwoTeacherSchool only two apparent teachers that we even see.]] He lives in the Ryuudouji Temple and is Issei's older-brother figure. A tall, stern man who [[TheStoic 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.

Kuzuki takes up a supporting role in the second route, ''Unlimited Blade Works.''
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* AntiVillain
* AssKickingPose
* BadassInANiceSuit
* BadassNormal: He actually manages to defeat [[spoiler:''Saber'' during their first encounter with only magical enhancements from Caster toughening up his hands and his own unconventional martial arts style. It's stated that had they figured out his assassin-like fighting style, any Servant could easily beat him, but that kind of invalidates the point of an assassin like technique.]]
* BadassTeacher
* BarehandedBladeBlock: The very first demonstration of his BadassNormal status came when he caught [[spoiler:[[ActionGirl Saber's]] [[UpToEleven invisible sword]]]] between his elbow and knee.
* BattleCouple: With [[spoiler:Caster]].
* CharlesAtlasSuperpower: He's got an enchantment on his fists, sure, but the speed and technique with which [[spoiler:he defeats Saber are the product of years of training as a martial artist]]. Compare to fellow teacher Fujimura Taiga, a [[BadassTeacher 5th Dan in Kendo]], who couldn't touch a single hair on Saber's head during their [[CurbStompBattle "fight"]].
* ConfusionFu: 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.
* CrouchingScholarHiddenBadass
* CurbStompBattle: [[spoiler:His death is quite literally the only fight scene he has in the game where he isn't issuing one of these to somebody... and even THAT was a CurbStompBattle.]]
* DullEyesOfUnhappiness: His eyes never have light on them.
* ExtremeDoormat: While he's not a puppet, he is so incredibly passive that he's suspected to be under mind control at first. He's not, but he rather bluntly says that [[spoiler:Caster]] can do anything she likes and he'll let her, and his only priority is his own life over hers. [[spoiler:He lied. After she dies, he knowingly gets himself into a fight he has no chance of winning.]]
* TheGlassesComeOff
* HitmanWithAHeart: He really is a nice guy, but pretty brutal.
* InvulnerableKnuckles: [[ReinforceField Justified.]]
* {{Megane}}
* OneHeadTaller: Than [[spoiler:Caster]].
* PerpetualFrowner
* PowerFist: With a bit of [[StatusBuff help]] [[spoiler:from Caster]].
* RapidFireFisticuffs
* RescueRomance: [[spoiler:With Caster.]]
* ScaryShinyGlasses: In the anime and manga adaptations.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: 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.
* SternTeacher: He's contrasted with Taiga in the eyes of the students as the kind of teacher that grows more popular with time until the point of graduation.
* TheStoic
* TheUndefeated: In ''Unlimited Blade Works'', Kuzuki tries [[spoiler:to fight Archer even after Caster is killed and his enhancements are gone, despite the heroes being willing to let him go. He gets to land one punch, which Archer doesn't even try to dodge or block, before being sliced in half]].
* UnholyMatrimony: [[spoiler:With Caster.]]
* UnusualEyebrows
* WeakButSkilled: 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 [[spoiler:temporarily overwhelm Saber, the best close-range fighter, and rips out Rider's throat during his most prominent route.]]
* WouldHitAGirl: Even if you don't take [[spoiler: Saber and Rider]] into account, he has no qualms about punching [[spoiler: Rin. He even gets as far as to [[YourHeadAsplode kill her]] if you pick the [[BadEnd wrong]] choice]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Zouken Matou]]
!!!Voiced by: Masane Tsukayama (JP)
http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/zouken_9823.png

The head of the Matou family and grandfather to Shinji and Sakura, he is the source 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. He is seeking immortality and has already lived for several centuries by the start of the story. He is not, in fact, the kindly old grandfather he claims to be to Shirou. [[ObviouslyEvil What a surprise.]]

Zouken is the Master of True Assassin, a character newly introduced in ''Heavens Feel''.
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* BaldOfEvil
* BigBadEnsemble: In ''Heaven's Feel'' he and Kotomine have utter hatred and contempt for each other.
* BlackEyesOfEvil
* BlatantLies: By the time he says Shirō that [[spoiler:"Sakura knows nothing of the Holy Grail War"]], the contrary is already pretty obvious. He reoffends when he says later to the same Shirō [[spoiler:that he cannot get close to Sakura and has no longer any control on her.]]
* ButNotTooForeign: The original Makiri family was from Russia, and Zouken's real name is actually Zolgen.
* TheDarkSideWillMakeYouForget: His original motive for attaining the Grail was [[spoiler:to honor the life of a colleague who had sacrificed herself to create the original Holy Grail (in order to create the Gate of All Things, which would lead to the root of the universe itself).]] Over time, frustration, age and his deteriorating body caused him to forget his original goal, leaving only an unnatural obsession with immortality.
* {{Determinator}}: [[spoiler:Still alive after being exorcised by Kotomine and having the worm carrying his soul crushed by Dark Sakura by jumping into a bunch of hastily created worms all the while enduring agonizing pain for the sake of ''not dying'' -- until he was convinced to finally let go by Ilya.]]
* TheDogBitesBack: [[spoiler:Killed by Dark Sakura when at his most vulnerable after years of mistreatment.]]
* EvilIsNotAToy: His plan for obtaining the Grail involves [[spoiler:corrupting Sakura, who he has been torturing for over a decade, with [[DemonicPossession an entity representing all the evils of the world]], which also happens to give her almost godlike power and super-regeneration abilities, and then expecting her to follow his orders until she breaks down entirely, at which point he will possess her body. All this whilst the main worm containing his soul is buried within her heart. [[WhatAnIdiot Three guesses at what happens... ]].]]
* EvilOldFolks
* {{Expy}}: Of Michael Roa Valdamjong from ''VisualNovel/{{Tsukihime}}''. Both are {{Big Bad}}s who perform GrandTheftMe and have an obsession with immortality -- the reason for which ([[spoiler:falling in love -- with Arcueid in Roa's case, with Justizia in Zouken's]]) they both have forgotten over the centuries.
* FauxAffablyEvil: The very first time Shirou encounters him, Zouken just looks like a 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 [[FridgeHorror what he might have meant by that "hurting a bit" thing.]]
* GrandTheftMe: 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.
* ImmortalityImmorality
* ImmortalitySeeker: He wants the Holy Grail to become truly immortal, as his current method of possessing bodies is making his soul rot.
* KarmicDeath: [[spoiler:After seeming to succeed in finally breaking Sakura and destroying her mind, she rather nonchalantly rips him out of her chest and crushes him, giving him a mortal wound.]]
* KarmaHoudini: He doesn't show up outside of ''Heaven's Feel.''
* {{Leitmotif}}: "Wandering Shadow" plays almost every time Zouken appears onscreen.
* LoveMakesYouEvil: His ''original'' and long-forgotten motivation for getting the Grail was [[spoiler:to honor the sacrifice of the woman he loved, Justica von Einzbern]].
* ManipulativeBastard: He certainly attempts this with all his manipulation of the main characters.
* ObviouslyEvil: Let's see... wrinkled and decrepit, his only "smile" sprite is a PsychoticSmirk, his [[BlackEyesOfEvil 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.
* OlderThanTheyLook: He already looks like a decrepit old man, but even more so, he's actually around 500 years old.
* PossessionBurnout: This is why he wants the Holy Grail. His method of prolonging life is by possessing and molding other bodies by filling them with worms, but each body lasts less than the previous one, and by the time the game starts, he can only remain in a body for a few months at most.
* ShadowArchetype: His original motivation as a magus, revealed upon his death,[[spoiler: was the betterment of the human condition, even if his life and efforts aren't rewarded at all. In the last portion he was exactly what Shirou is.]]
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Depending on the transliteration convention used, usually either Zouken Matou or Zōken Matō.
* [[spoiler:TheWormThatWalks]]
[[/folder]]

* [[IdenticalGrandson Identical Daughter]]: She's the spitting image of her mother Irisviel.

* BlatantLies: By the time he says Shirō that [[spoiler:"Sakura knows nothing of the Holy Grail War"]], the opposite is already pretty obvious. He reoffends when he says later to the same Shirō [[spoiler:that he cannot get close to Sakura and has no longer any control on her.]]

[[/folder]]

[[folder:Sakura Matou]]
!!!Voiced by: NorikoShitaya (JP), SherryLynn (EN)

http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sakura_matou.jpg
-->''"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."''

Sakura is Shirou's timid underclassman and the third and final heroine of the story. She has been friends with him since middle school. Ever since he was injured in an accident, she often visits Shirou's house and does chores there, mainly because she has a ''massive'' and very obvious crush on him that he tries to ignore. She seems to be an ordinary girl with a respectful relationship with her big brother Shinji Matou, who is in turn an abusive ass to her. Despite her upbeat attitude with Shirou, she tends to be very quiet and passive around others and does not appear to have any real friends.

In ''Heaven's Feel'', Sakura becomes the love interest of the story and secrets about her life are slowly revealed.
----
* [[spoiler:AbusiveParents: Or, rather, (supposed) grandparent....]]
* BeneathTheMask: Portions of ''Heaven's Feel'' are taken from her perspective and provide and alternate look at her personality. For a relatively spoiler free example, she invokes the YamatoNadeshiko image as a way of appealing to Shirou.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: ''Heaven's Feel'' route.
* BigEater: Although she tries to reserve herself out of fear of looking unladylike, Shirou notices that she eats quite a lot.
* BigNo: She has two of these after she [[spoiler:accidentally stabs Shirou with a spell she, in a bout of crazy caused by Shinji, shot at Rin.]] She feels extremely guilty about it for the rest of the route.
* BreakTheCutie: [[spoiler:First, she's taken from her parents and sister and dumped into an unfamiliar but supposedly allied household, the Matou family. Her parents die soon after as well as the one decent Matou, leaving her with no advocate. She is then 'trained' in Matou magic, which involves infesting her body with maneating worms and having her brother rape her because he's envious of her status as the Matou heir. Things are looking up when Shirou enters the picture and inspires her to keep trying and gives her a resolve that Zouken cannot break, but then "Heaven's Feel" happens and things just keep getting worse until she finally breaks down.]]
* BrokenBird: Becomes evident through ''Heaven's Feel'' route.
* CainAndAbel: [[spoiler:Shinji resents her for being the true Matou heir.]]
* CherryBlossomGirl
* ClingyJealousGirl: She does NOT like the idea of Saber living in Shirou's house even outside of ''Heaven's Feel'' at first, doesn't like having Tohsaka around because Shirou admires her and is generally very possesive of Shirou (including when [[StatuesqueStunner Rider]] is with them). [[spoiler:In ''Heaven's Feel'' Zouken uses this and her genuine love for both Shirou and her brother to eventually cause her to snap by putting too much pressure on her.]]
* TheCorruptible: Throughout ''Heaven’s Feel'', there's a constant fear of Sakura succumbing to the corruption. [[spoiler:She resists more than seems humanly possible, but eventually she does.]]
* [[spoiler:CovertPervert:]] A very rare instance of the trope PlayedForDrama. [[spoiler:Because of the crest worm she gets sexually aroused very easily, and hates herself for that.]]
* CryCute
* CurtainsMatchTheWindow: Sakura has unusual, purple-colored eyes and hair. [[spoiler:This is revealed to be because of the "conditioning" imposed upon her by Zouken in order to make her into the successor of the Matou brand of magecraft.]]
* DarkMagicalGirl: She has next to no friends or decent family and in front of people not named Taiga and Shirou and she tends to be nearly silent and very submissive.
* DealWithTheDevil: Rather involuntarily, [[spoiler:Sakura becomes outrageously powerful by virtue of drawing on the power of [[TheDevil Angra Mainyu]] due to Zouken having her make a contract with it]].
* [[spoiler:DefiledForever: Thinks of herself as a woman unworthy of Shirou due to have being repeatedly raped and violated through her life.]]
* [[spoiler:DefusingTheTykeBomb: The objective of "Heaven's Feel" is to stop the Crest Worm from going haywire and subsequently, the destruction of Angra Mainyu without killing Sakura.]]
* DemotedToExtra: Despite being one of main heroines of the visual novel, Sakura is one of the least commercial characters in the series. For example, in Anime/CarnivalPhantasm she not only rarely appears, but the jokes to be made about her are either mean spirited or even larger flanderizations than normal, portraying her as a BitchInSheepsClothing and a {{Yandere}}.
* TheDogBitesBack: [[spoiler:Her SuperpoweredEvilSide, once fully established, decides that it's not going to put up with her grandfather's abuse anymore...]]
* DoggedNiceGirl: Sakura is not the most subtle of suitors.
* [[spoiler:DrivenToSuicide: She never kills herself, but she does consider it. On Day 9 of ''Heaven's Feel'' she mentions several previous attempts at suicide, though she never went through with it. After her MyGodWhatHaveIDone moment, she attempts to kill herself out of remorse, only to be prevented by Angra Mainyu long enough for Shirou to free her with Rule Breaker.]]
* EveryoneCanSeeIt: It's obvious that she loves Shirou.
* {{Expy}}: She is similar in appearance and personality [[spoiler:and shares some aspects of her back-story]], with Fujino Asagami from the earlier Nasu work ''Literature/KaraNoKyoukai''.
* ExtremeDoormat: What she was before she fell in love with Shirou.
* FeminineWomenCanCook
* FreakOut: [[spoiler:After killing Shinji, she finally succumbs to the corruption and willingly enters the villain camp out of despair and resentment. It takes a lot of work for the good guys to get through to her again thanks in no small part to Tohsaka's distant attitude.]]
* GratuitousGerman: ''Heaven's Feel'' only.
* HairDecorations: Always wears a ribbon in the left side of her hair. It is a MementoMacGuffin since [[spoiler:it was the first ribbon Rin ever made, and one of the few signs of their ''true'' feelings for each other]].
* HatesBeingAlone
* IllGirl: Due to [[spoiler:the stress of the Matou family's crest worms becoming more active]] she's bedridden for a large portion of the route.
* ImageSong: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mi02Un9mkUc "Egao Hitotsu de"]] ("With One Smile")
* ItsAllMyFault: The reason for her current relationship with Shinji.
* IWillWaitForYou: In the Normal ending of the Heaven's Feel. [[spoiler:Sakura promises to wait for Shirou after his HeroicSacrifice, though it eventually becomes clear that he never returns to her and she eventually dies of old age.]]
* KickTheSonOfABitch: [[spoiler:Her ruthless treatment of [[TheWormThatWalks Zouken]] and [[SmugSnake Shinji]]. She herself is rather stunned at what she did to Shinji, however, since she ''did'' care about him.]]
* LighterAndSofter: In the manga, many of the horrible things from her backstory seem not to have occurred or, at least, are not mentioned.
* LightFeminineAndDarkFeminine: The light to Rin's dark.
* [[spoiler:LockedIntoStrangeness: Sakura's purple eyes and hair are the result of the parasitic worms Zouken implanted in her body, that feed on her mana and carnal impulses, greatly boosting her magical power and sexual aggression. Later, her hair turns white and her eyes red when she accepts her SuperpoweredEvilSide.]]
* LoveMakesYouCrazy: Inverted actually. [[spoiler:Her love for both Shirō and Rin are a great part of what makes her keep her sanity for so long after awakening as a Holy Grail.]]
* TheMourningAfter: [[spoiler:Through the rest of her life in the Normal ending of the Heaven's Feel, Sakura stays in Shirou's home constantly waiting for Shirou to come home after his HeroicSacrifice at the end of the Grail War.]]
* MyGodWhatHaveIDone: [[spoiler:After Rin (seemingly) dies, Sakura realizes that she destroyed everyone who still loved her with her own hands.]]
* NiceGirl
* NotSoWeak: A plot point. [[spoiler:Zouken Matou can't break her by himself, and she won't fight back. At all. It takes a great deal of manipulation of outside factors and a good deal of stupidity from the heroes to actually make her snap. Until then, she was far more resilient than you'd expect for someone that's essentially broken inside. Still mostly sane after being raped constantly by Shinji at least, plus violated by worms, plus worms living inside her, plus excruciating pain and who knows what the hell else. But the crack that breaks her is how she tries to settle things to keep Shirou safe.]]
* {{Protectorate}}: To Shirou [[spoiler:and her Servant Rider]] in ''Heaven's Feel.''
* PurpleEyes
* [[spoiler:RapeAsBackstory: Through her life, Sakura was raped constantly by Zouken's crest worms and later by Shinji under orders from Zouken and also to vent his own jealous frustrations.]]
* RapunzelHair: In the ''Heaven's Feel'' True ending, she has let her hair grow down to her hips.
* TheResenter: [[spoiler:While she does love Rin, she also resents that Rin has had a much happier life and never even really bothered to find out her situation.]]
* SempaiKohai: She is Shirou's kohai. It's notable the fact that she ''always'' refers to Shirou as "Sempai" even when in the presense of other people who are also her Sempais, like Rin. In the ''Heaven's Feel'' True epilogue, she still calls him "Sempai" even though they've been in a relationship for several years and he's no longer even her Sempai.
* ShrinkingViolet
* SiblingYinYang: With Shinji [[spoiler:and Rin]].
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Matou, Matô or Matō depending on the source/transliteration paradigm used.
* StepfordSmiler: Played with. At school, Sakura is more or less her "true self"; [[ExtremeDoormat 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.
* [[spoiler:SuperpoweredEvilSide: Dark Sakura. Unlike the normal Sakura, she has control over the vast mana reserves inside the Grail or at least the inclination to use them. This is more than she could ever possibly use as well as the ability to do such actions as self healing or summoning of massive shadow familiars. Her personality, on the other hand, is highly unstable and switches between near catatonia and violent lashing out at her loved ones.]]
** [[spoiler:ApocalypseMaiden]]
** [[spoiler:CombatTentacles]]
** [[spoiler:TheCorruption]]
** [[spoiler:DemonicPossession]]
** [[spoiler:EvilAlbino]]
** [[spoiler:EvilFeelsGood]]
** [[spoiler:FromNobodyToNightmare]]
** [[spoiler:IKnowYouAreInThereSomewhereFight: Her fight with Shirou.]]
** [[spoiler:{{Leitmotif}}: "All the Evils in this World", a remix of Kirei's "The Church on the Hill".]]
** [[spoiler:MarkedChange]]
** [[spoiler:PersonOfMassDestruction]]
** [[spoiler:RedAndBlackAndEvilAllOver: Her magic, and by extension, her outfit.]]
** [[spoiler:RedEyesTakeWarning]]
** [[spoiler:RoaringRampageOfRevenge]]
** [[spoiler:WhiteHairedPrettyGirl]]
** [[spoiler:WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds]]
* TaremeEyes
* [[spoiler:TrainingFromHell]]
* [[spoiler:{{Tykebomb}}: For eleven years, Sakura has been forced to act as a host for magical worms that allow Zouken to control her at will.]]
* TheUnfavourite: Considers herself as such [[spoiler:in regards to Rin]].
* [[WellDoneSonGuy "Well Done, Sis" Girl]]: [[spoiler:The only thing Sakura always expected from Rin was for her to show some fraternal love for her.]]
* YamatoNadeshiko: {{Invoked}}. When she grew interested in Shirou, she resolved to reform herself to be more appealing.
%% Sakura Matou is not a yandere even if she possesses some traits common to yanderes. Please do not add this trope.
* [[YouGottaHaveBlueHair You Gotta Have Purple Hair]]: [[spoiler:She used to have black hair like her biological sister Rin Tohsaka. The coloration is a result of receiving the Crest Worm.]]

* {{Facepalm}}: Rin does this a lot, often because of Shirou.

* ClingyJealousGirl: She does NOT like the idea of Saber living in Shirou's house even outside of ''Heaven's Feel'' at first, doesn't like having Tohsaka around because Shirou admires her and is generally very possesive of Shirou. [[spoiler:In ''Heaven's Feel'' Zouken uses this and her genuine love for both Shirou and her brother to eventually cause her to snap by putting too much pressure on her.]]

* InSeriesNickname: In the Tiger Dojo, Rin calls her "Bulma", since she wears a school bloomer in that section for some reason.

* [[YouAreNumberSix Your Name Is Disciple Number One]]: In the Tiger Dojo.

* FirstNameBasis: At first, she addresses Shirou primarily as "Emiya", but at some point in every route, she switches to his first name when they get to know each other better.

* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Depending on the source, usually either Zouken Matou or Zōken Matō.

* [[spoiler:CovertPervert:]] A very rare instance of the trope PlayedForDrama. [[spoiler:Because of the crest worm she is very sensible to sexual arousal, and hates herself for that.]]

* BoisterousWeakling: Incredibly smug and arrogant when Rider is with him… and occasionally just as defiant without her, even though he knows he can't do anything. Mostly due to his InferioritySuperiorityComplex.

* SayMyName: KOTOMINE KIREI!

* [[spoiler:YourHeadAsplode:]] One of the {{Bad End}}s in ''Unlimited Blade Works'' has her die this way [[spoiler:against Kuzuki.]]

* BlatantLies: By the time he says Shirō that [[spoiler:"Sakura has nothing to do with the Holy Grail War"]], it's already pretty obvious that the latter knows exactly what's going on. He reoffends when he says later to the same Shirō [[spoiler:that he cannot get close to Sakura and has no longer any control on her.]]

** RealMenCanCook: Quite ironic considering his StayInTheKitchen tendencies in ''Fate''.

** RealMenCanCook

* CheshireCatGrin: If she's smiling at you, something bad is going to happen.

* RapunzelHair: Curiously combined with GirlishPigtails. In ''HeavensFeel'''s True End, she abandons the tails.

-->'''Kirei:''' … you want some?\\

->'''Kirei:''' … you want some?\\