History Characters / FateStayNightShirouEmiya

[[WMG:[[center: [- ''VisualNovel/FateStayNight'' '''[[Characters/FateStayNight Main Character Index]]''' | [[Characters/FateStayNightHumans Humans]] ('''Shirou Emiya''', [[Characters/FateStayNightRinTohsaka Rin Tohsaka]], [[Characters/FateStayNightSakuraMatou Sakura Matou]], [[Characters/FateStayNightKireiKotomine Kirei Kotomine]]) | [[Characters/FateStayNightServants Servants]] ([[Characters/FateStayNightSaber Saber]], [[Characters/FateStayNightArcher Archer]], [[Characters/FateStayNightGilgamesh Archer 2]]) -]]]]]

* ChickMagnet: He starts the story with at least four named female characters crushing at or potentially interested in him to some degree or other; Sakura being the most obvious, plus Rin and Ayako. He's none the wiser. In ''Fate'', Saber falls in love with him and she ends up living [[ThreesomeSubtext with him and Rin]] in the Good Ending of ''UBW'', and in both ''Fate'' and ''Heaven's Feel'', Illya is very clingy and possessive of him.

* HiddenDepths: Shirou frequently shows he's much more knowledgeable than he looks with his knowledge of heroes summoned in the Grail War.

* {{Hypocrite}}: Really shown in the Fate and UBW routes in regards to his ideals. He objects to Saber putting herself in any danger but he'll happily [[MartyrWithoutACause jump into danger]] even though she's much stronger and thus able to protect herself better than he can. Archer really rips into him for this during [[spoiler:their fight when he reveals that their desire to be a hero wasn't out of gratitude or even guilt at first. They simply saw how happy Kiritsugu was he saved them and wanted to be like him so they could be happy too. Revealing they simply desire to be a hero because that's the only way they can be happy.]]

* AdaptationInducedPlotHole: Since the anime adaptations don't adapt most of Shirou's [[InnerMonologue Inner Monologues]] from the visual novel that explain and justify his actions, his behavior in the anime often comes off as stupid and borderline suicidal to those who are not familiar with the source material. For example, in the ''Fate'' route, his seemingly sexist attitude about Saber fighting is because he is trying to find a way to stop her fighting, as he has already fallen for her but hates the fact she is protecting him due to his SurvivorsGuilt. In the anime adaptation, since this can't be projected from his thoughts effectively, it makes Shirou look more idiotic, and sexist than he really is. Perhaps the most blatant example of this is in Episode 12 of ''Unlimited Blade Works'' when Shirou goes out on a date with Rin. While in the visual novel, this was an important character defining moment since his inner monologue showcased the full extent of his psychological problems, in the anime, this comes off more as a BreatherEpisode that has next to no relevance to the plot.

For his appearances in other works, see [[Characters/FateHollowAtaraxia here]], [[Characters/FateZeroHumans here]], [[Characters/FateKaleidLinerPrismaIllyaMainEarth here]], [[Characters/FateKaleidLinerPrismaIllyaAlternateEarth here]] and [[Characters/LordElMelloiIICaseFilesBookCharacters here]].

For his appearances in other works, see [[Characters/FateHollowAtaraxia here]], [[Characters/FateZeroHumans here]], [[Characters/FateKaleidLinerPrismaIllyaMainEarth here]], and [[Characters/LordElMelloiIICaseFilesBookCharacters here]].

For his appearances in other works, see [[Characters/FateHollowAtaraxia here]], [[Characters/FateZeroHumans here]], [[Characters/FateKaleidLinerPrismaIllya here]], and [[Characters/LordElMelloiIICaseFiles here]].

** If Shirou fights Rider and Shinji alone in the school in ''Fate'', he will die not to her attacks nor to [[DestinationDefenestration her kicking him through a third-floor window]], but rather because [[spoiler:his innate magecraft will project swords inside his body in an effort to keep him in one piece, but this goes out of control when he hits the ground and several of these swords puncture his organs.]]

* DeadpanSnarker: He tends to snark a lot [[FirstPersonSmartass in his internal monologues]], but not that often out loud, except maybe around Taiga and Rin. [[spoiler:You can think of Archer as what Shirou would sound like if he didn't hold his tongue more often.]]

** In the [[spoiler:''Heaven's Feel'' [[MultipleEndings Normal End]]]], Shirou [[spoiler:survives the fight against Saber Alter (as Rider was there to help), and goes on to face Kotomine alone]]. Shirou's mind and body is steadily [[spoiler:being corrupted by his 'own' power given from Archer, turning him physically and mentally into a sword]], which causes metal creaking sounds [[spoiler:inside his own body]]. The two fight fist to fist, both running on borrowed time. [[spoiler:Kotomine finally expires before Shirou, who, having saved Sakura and done everything he set out to, just stops... but not before tracing Excalibur and destroying the Great Grail]]. By the time he [[spoiler:swings Excalibur, he was already dead, but his attacks still goes through and destroys the Grail.]]

* FateWorseThanDeath: There are a few bad ends like this, mostly involving Caster or Illya. Caster is intrigued by his Projection ability while Illya just wants her onii-chan... Well, his head anyway. Which she can keep alive with magic.

* 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?]]
* ForHappiness: Shirou wants ''everyone'' to be happy. Deconstructed in ''Unlimited Blade Works''. [[spoiler: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. He is completely unable to create his own happiness and has to live through others.]]

* FullContactMagic: [[InvertedTrope An inversion of this trope]]; the ''only'' way he could initially use his magic is to reinforce his martial-arts abilities. This is because he misunderstood his dad's teachings about magic and thus causes himself great pain just with simple spells. [[spoiler:After finding out how magic works, especially how HIS magic works, this changes greatly.]]

* MartyrWithoutACause: In ''Fate''.

* BeyondTheImpossible: This guy, and pretty much any Human, has no place fighting Servants. [[DavidVsGoliath Yet he has been able to defeat FOUR]]. Granted, the only truly solo victory he has against one is against [[spoiler:Gilgamesh]] (Which is its own order of magnitude of BeyondTheImpossible). To wit:

* 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 him because she isn't as ruthless as she thinks she is.]]

** In ''Heaven's Feel'': [[spoiler:While his body is fully breaking down, 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. Of course, the magical energy coming from the arm into Shirou's body is similar to pouring 100 units of fuel into a container that can only hold 10, so Shirou is likely only gaining from less than a ''tenth'' of the utter agony he has to endure, as Archer's own Unlimited Blade Works disrupts his memories and leaves him with a large blank space after using Projection.]]

* DeadlyUpgrade: [[spoiler:Archer's left arm. While Shirou and Archer are practically the same person with compatible magic circuits, the power of a Heroic Spirit is not something a human can handle. It is wrapped in a special cloth that seals its power, but even if left like this, it would kill Shirou from power overload within ten years unless he cut it off or became an expert mage to seal it himself. Just ''loosening'' the cloth causes excruciating pain and even gradual memory loss; taking it off completely is a guaranteed death sentence, with rapid destruction of mind and body on top of that with every use, due to Archer's arm forcing Unlimited Blade Works on him when he's no longer compatible, causing the body reinforcement to go out of control and begin forcing swords out of his body. He ''still'' manages to overcome Berserker, Saber Alter, Kotomine, and (in the ''Normal Ending") the corrupted Grail before dying.]]

* DeadlyUpgrade: [[spoiler:Archer's left arm. While Shirou and Archer are practically the same person with compatible magic circuits, the power of a Heroic Spirit is not something a human can handle. It is wrapped in a special cloth that seals its power, but even if left like this, it would kill Shirou from power overload within ten years unless he cut it off or became an expert mage to seal it himself. Just ''loosening'' the cloth causes excruciating pain and even gradual memory loss; taking it off completely is a guaranteed death sentence, with rapid destruction of mind and body on top of that with every use, due to Archer's arm forcing Unlimited Blade Works on him when he's no longer compatible, causing the body reinforcement to go out of control and begin forcing swords out of his body. He ''still'' manages to overcome Berserker, Saber Alter, Kotomine, and (in the 'Normal Ending") the corrupted Grail before dying.]]

** In ''Fate'', he manages to eke out a win again freaking ''[[ImplacableMan Berserker]]'', which is as utterly unbalanced as it sounds, but [[spoiler:is nonetheless won due to an EleventhHourSuperpower projection of Caliburn on top of both Saber's assistance and [[OffscreenMomentOfAwesome a post-humous Archer having already taken the rest of Berserker's 12 lives by that point]]. Shirou outright lampshades in his monologue that the stars had to align for him to even ''hope'' of clutching that win at the last second.]]
** In ''Heaven's Feel'', he eke's out two solo wins ''by himself'' against [[spoiler:a corrupted Berserker and, in one bad ending, ''Saber Alter'' when not even Berserker could manage against her. Granted, both wins were only possible with [[BadassTransplant Archer's arm]], and Saber Alter was only possible due to the environment they fought in[[note]]they were in a cavern leading up to Dark Sakura's dwelling. As shown by [[CurbStompBattle Saber Alter vs. Berserker]], Saber Alter's near-unlimited mana supply meant she could spam her Noble Phantasm as much as she wants, and the only reason why she doesn't go all-out is due to the fact a cave-in would likely kill ''her'' too[[/note]] on top of being a PyrrhicVictory that [[HeroicRedRingOfDeath fried Shirou's brain and left him a vegetable]], ''but still.'' Notably, his solo win against Saber Alter is the only Bad End that is straight-up listed as 'End' in the final title card, given the AmbiguousEnding nature of the final battle between Rin and Sakura undoubtedly is resulting in one of them dying (and if Rin somehow ''does'' save the world, it's a hell of a NearVillainVictory).]]

** During his final fight against [[spoiler:Kotomine]] at the end of ''Heaven's Feel'', Shirou's body [[spoiler:is quickly turning into a human-shaped mass of interweaving swords and flesh from overusing Archer's implanted arm, making an horrible metallic grinding noise every time he moves. This is also {{Exploited|Trope}} by Shirou because it makes him tough enough endure Kirei's attacks, even injuring the priest back with every other blow, despite the fact the swords will surely kill him in a matter of minutes.]]

* 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.

** In ''Unlimited Blade Works'', his fight against [[spoiler:Archer]] is this. It's an uphill battle from the start as [[spoiler:Archer is so much stronger than him that even when he's at 1/10 of his strength, Shirou can't land a hit. Near the end of the battle, Archer makes it clear that Shirou is just a dead man walking but he just keeps on getting up.]]
* HyperspaceArsenal: [[spoiler:Unlimited Blade Works, which is unique in that it not only stores weapons, but weapon techniques for Shirou [[MegaManning to use]]. Also allows him to change the battlefield to a hill of swords ready for all of his weapons to be used immediately.]]

* MajorInjuryUnderreaction: Has a streak of this over all three routes, from taking one of Rider's nails straight through the hand and then ''asking Rin, whom he took it for, whether or not she's ok'' to [[spoiler:losing an arm to The Shadow while protecting Illya.]]

'''Saber:''' You're wrong. You're more important than me, your life is more important, so you should take care--"\\

* HealingFactor: Discovers early on in the story that he has one, and Shirou being Shirou, he wouldn't survive without it. It's later revealed that this healing factor is the result of [[spoiler:''Avalon'', the holy sheathe of Excalibur, being implanted inside of him by Kiritsugu at the end of the 4th Holy Grail War in order to save his life. Though normally dormant, its abilities activated the moment Shirou summoned Saber and continued to remain active so long as she remains in his presence even when the contract between them is severed in the ''Unlimited Blade Works'' route. He loses it in ''Fate'', after deciding to give Avalon back to Saber, and in the true ending of ''Heaven's Feel'', as Shirou had lost his original body at that point and is given a replica version by Touko Aozaki.]]

** The epilogue of ''Realta nua'' shows Shirou [[spoiler:after his eventual death reuniting in spirit with Saber in Avalon.]]
* HeroesPreferSwords: Hell, even his affinity (and Origin) is "Sword".
* HeroicBSOD: At a certain point in ''Heaven's Feel'', [[spoiler:after finding out that not only is Sakura in lethal danger but may also be a serious threat to everyone around her, Shirou nearly gives up on everything, simply too emotionally crushed to go on and on the verge of crying. Illya gives him new hope and cheers him on, giving him the will to not give in and try to save her, though in the "Mind of Steel" bad ending, he actually rejects her words and decides to let Sakura die for the greater good.]]

* LossOfIdentity: Goes through it during the last half of ''Heaven's Feel'' as a side effect of [[spoiler:using Archer's artificially attached arm.]]
* 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.

* MadeOfIron: Even without his HealingFactor, Shirou is superhumanly tough and repeatedly takes injuries that would kill another man 3 times over.

* 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.
* SecretlySelfish: His dream of becoming a hero of justice after he gets inspired by Kiritsugu may make one initially ''think'' that it comes from genuinely selfless motivations. Ultimately, while Shirou is genuinely kind and heroic by the end of it, ''Unlimited Blade Works'' reveals that [[spoiler:he wanted to follow his heroic aspirations because of the smile Kiritsugu showed him on the night he was saved from the fire, desiring, and being jealous of, the happiness Kiritsugu experienced on that event, and wanted to experience that happiness for his own by following Kiritsugu's dreams of becoming a hero of justice in his place]]. It's for this reason that Archer calls him out for being a fake during his climactic confrontation with him in the route.

** 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 as someone who embodies his ideals[[/note]]]], but couldn't possibly accept the idea.

* ThouShaltNotKill: {{Subverted}} despite what his heroic ideals may tell you. Shirou is willing to take the lives of his enemies, and in some scenarios and Bad Ends, allies, if it means he could save the people around him. In the ''Fate'' route, he did not at all hesitate to nearly snap Shinji's neck just so Rider would take down the Bloodfort she set over the school, gets in a fight with Archer ''because'' the latter didn't want to kill Caster at the Ryuudou Temple despite the chance given to them and later threatens to have Saber kill him if [[spoiler:harms Rin in any way when he kidnaps her]] in ''Unlimited Blade Works'', [[spoiler:contemplated on killing Rin in his thoughts earlier out of desperation if she made a move to endanger Taiga when Caster holds her hostage]] though he ultimately doesn't go through with it in the same route, and in the "Mind of Steel" Bad Ending in ''Heaven's Feel'', he [[spoiler: lets Sakura die with Kirei predicting that he'll go on to kill the other Masters once that's over to prevent them from reaching the Grail and in the same route proper, he kills Saber Alter, though it's also partially [[MercyKill out of mercy as well,]] to prevent her from recuperating and becoming another obstacle on his way to saving Sakura.]]
* TheThreeFacesOfAdam: Fate/stay night shows the progression of protagonist Emiya Shirou through each of these roles over the course of its three routes. At the biginning of each route he is a Hunter.

* TooDumbToLive: Less out of idiocy, more out of valuing his life far below that of others. ''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 11, 24, and 36 which are NobodyCallsMeChicken {{Player Punch}}es. Most of these however, come from the player making choices that would go against his character.

* HeroicSpirit: Shirou pretty much lives and ''breathes'' this concept, especially in "Fate" where the [[TookALevelInBadass levels in badass he takes]] still aren't enough to close the gap between his Servant foes. No matter how badly he's outmatched, he'll steel himself and push through with everything he has even as his body and soul threaten to give out on him. [[spoiler: In Realta Nua Ending it is all but confirmed that he LITERALLY became one.]]

** In ''Unlimited Blade Works'', his fight against [[spoiler:Archer]] is this. It's an uphill battle from the start as [[spoiler:Archer being a future Shirou is so much stronger than him that even at 1/10 of his strength, Shirou can't land a hit. Near the end of the battle, Archer makes it clear that Shirou is just a dead man walking but he just keeps on getting up.]]
* HyperspaceArsenal: [[spoiler:Unlimited Blade Works, unique in that it not only stores weapons, but weapon techniques for Shirou [[MegaManning to use]]. Also allows him to change the battlefield to a hill of swords ready for all of his weapons to be used immediately.]]

** Another showcase of his hypocrisy is the reveal that Shirou's ideals are borrowed. Shirou didn't actually believe in his ideals yet keeps following them no matter how much it hurts him. He's well aware of the contradictions in his ideals yet refuses to accept them.

* IWillFindYou: Shirou's reaction to Saber's disappearance in Fate; in Fate's DistantFinale in ''Realta Nua'', [[spoiler:he spends the rest of his life searching for her. They're reunited in Avalon.]]

* LivingEmotionalCrutch: To Sakura. Her love for both Shirou and [[spoiler:Rin]] are a great part of what makes her keep her sanity for so long after [[spoiler:unwittingly awakening as a Holy Grail.]]

* 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.]]

** In the "Sparks Liner High" BadEnd, he takes on and ''wins'' against [[spoiler:Saber Alter]] by utilizing [[spoiler:multiple copies of Kanshou and Byakuya]] to perform a chain of simultaneous and ultimately unavoidable attacks, he then dies [[spoiler:having earned Saber's respect and acknowledgment and having been able to give her one last goodbye.]]

* ForHappiness: Shirou wants ''everyone'' to be happy. Deconstructed in ''Unlimited Blade Works''. [[spoiler: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.]]

* 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. This is because [[EpicFail he misunderstood his dad's teachings on magic]] and thus causes himself great pain just with simple spells. [[spoiler:After finding out how magic works, particularly how HIS magic works, this changes greatly.]]
* 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.
* FutureMeScaresMe: He is not happy with how [[spoiler:Archer openly spits on the ideals he holds above everything.]]

* CruelAndUnusualDeath: Pretty much ''every'' Bad End that ends with Shirou dying counts to some degree or another, such is the over-the-top violence to be expected of the ''Nasuverse''. But among the most gruesome "[[SarcasmMode highlights]]", we have "stabbed in the neck and drained of all his blood," "melted alive and then defenestrated only to have swords spontaneously burst out of his body upon impact," "legs cuts off and slowly bleeding to death as his last conscious observation is watching Rin get pulverized," "betrayed by his own Servant and killed either via Rule Breaker or failing a RelationshipValues check," "stomach slashed wide open in a murder-suicide from brainwashed best friend," "stomach and foot punched out by magically-enchanted fists from a trained assassin," "body is destroyed and soul transferred into a doll", "feet devoured by bugs before being messily eaten by a horde of worms," "petrified into stone before breaking into tiny pieces," all the way to "[[spoiler:having his soul absorbed by Dark Sakura to torture both him and Rin for all eternity]]". ''[[JustForFun/HolyShitQuotient Yeesh.]]''

** In ''Heaven's Feel'', he eke's out two solo wins ''by himself'' against [[spoiler:a corrupted Berserker and, in one bad ending, ''Saber Alter'' when not even Berserker could manage against her. Granted, both wins were only possible with [[BadassTransplant Archer's arm]], and Saber Alter was only possible due to the environment[[note]]they fought in a cavern leading up to Dark Sakura's dwelling. As shown by [[CurbStompBattle Saber Alter vs. Berserker]], Saber Alter's near-unlimited mana supply meant she could spam her Noble Phantasm as much as she wants, and the only reason why she doesn't go all-out is due to the fact a cave-in would likely kill ''her'' too[[/note]] they fought in on top of being a PyrrhicVictory that [[HeroicRedRingOfDeath fried Shirou's brain and left him a vegetable]], ''but still.'' Notably, his solo win against Saber Alter is the only Bad End that is straight-up listed as 'End' in the final title card, given the AmbiguousEnding nature of the final battle between Rin and Sakura undoubtedly is resulting in one of them dying (and if Rin somehow ''does'' save the world, it's a hell of a NearVillainVictory).]]

** Lastly, anachronistically with ''Unlimited Blade Works'', Shirou's one and only true unassisted and uncontestable win against a Servant is [[spoiler:fucking ''[[WorldsStrongestMan Gilgamesh]]'', the oldest Servant in existence and a borderline PhysicalGod in his own right. This was done by virtue of [[ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman an extremely specific scenario]] where Shirou's WeakButSkilled swordsmanship and Reality Marble deflecting Gilgamesh's StormOfBlades created the one situation where Shirou could close in and actually defeat Gilgamesh. Shirou outright notes that his strategy would be outright unfeasible against ''any'' other opponent than Gilgamesh, who's colossal arrogance not only made him unable to take Shirou seriously in a fight until it was too late, but as Shirou notes, Gilgamesh is ultimately a king than a warrior, and is [[UnskilledButStrong completely clocked in a clean swordfight]] in the ''[[LogicalWeakness one]]'' [[LogicalWeakness scenario where that would decide the battle]]]].

** In ''Heaven's Feel'', he eke's out two solo wins ''by himself'' against [[spoiler:a corrupted Berserker and, in one bad ending, ''Saber Alter'' when not even Berserker could manage against her. Granted, both wins were only possible with [[BadassTransplant Archer's arm]], and Saber Alter was only possible due to the environment they fought in on top of being a Pyrrhic Victory that [[HeroicRedRingOfDeath fried Shirou's brain and left him a vegetable]], ''but still.'' Notably, his solo win against Saber Alter is the only Bad End that is straight-up listed as 'End' in the final title card, given the AmbiguousEnding nature of the final battle between Rin and Sakura undoubtedly is resulting in one of them dying (and if Rin somehow ''does'' save the world, it's a hell of a NearVillainVictory).]]

** Lastly, anachronistically with ''Unlimited Blade Works'', Shirou's one and only true unassisted and uncontestable win against a Servant is [[spoiler:fucking ''[[WorldsStrongestMan Gilgamesh]], the oldest Servant in existence and a borderline PhysicalGod in his own right. This was done by virtue of [[ThisLooksLikeAJobForAquaman an extremely specific scenario]] where Shirou's WeakButSkilled swordsmanship and Reality Marble deflecting Gilgamesh's StormOfBlades created the one situation where Shirou could close in and actually defeat Gilgamesh. Shirou outright notes that his strategy would be outright unfeasible against ''any'' other opponent than Gilgamesh, who's colossal arrogance not only made him unable to take Shirou seriously in a fight until it was too late, but as Shirou notes, Gilgamesh is ultimately a king than a warrior, and is [[UnskilledButStrong completely clocked in a clean swordfight]] in the ''[[LogicalWeakness one]]'' [[LogicalWeakness scenario where that would decide the battle]]]].