Characters / Fate/Samurai Remnant: Masters

Fate/Samurai Remnant Character Index
Masters | Servants | Other Characters

The seven Masters of the Servants in the Waxing Moon Ritual. They each vie to defeat and potentially kill the other Masters and Servants for the sake of claiming the Waxing Moon, a device said to be able to grant any wish.

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Miyamoto Iori

Voiced by: Kengo Kawanishi

The Seeker of the Limitless Sky

"A lot of people in Edo could die. It is evil and must not be allowed."

A ronin who was the adopted son and student of the legendary swordsman, Miyamoto Musashi. His master unfortunately died before he could pass on the secrets of his art, the Niten Ichiryu. Trying to make ends meet as he continues training, Iori becomes embroiled in the Waxing Moon Ritual and becomes the Master of Saber.

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• Adaptational Wealth: In real life during the time the game takes place, Iori was actually very wealthy, being the chief retainer to the Ogasawara clan. Here, he's a rōnin who's barely making ends meet. That the Ogasawara clan has an open offer for him to become a retainer that he hasn't taken yet is a major clue of what truly drives Iori.
• Age Lift: In the year this game is set (1651) Iori should be 39 years old, but he looks like he's in his early 20s at most. On the other hand, there's a chance that this could simply just be a case of Older Than They Look.
• Badass Normal: A deconstruction. While Iori is a skilled swordsman on top of being a magus (albeit one with limited knowledge of magecraft) who chooses to fight alongside Saber in the Waxing Moon Ritual, it's made blatantly clear early on that Iori is way out of his depth as he's a regular human fighting monsters, demons, and Heroic Spirits. Even when he grows as a fighter, he still needs Saber's help to defeat them, and even then, it's usually Saber who deals the finishing blow. The only Servant he's able to fight on equal ground early on with is Lancer, and the only reason he's able to do so at all is because the circumstances behind Jeanne being summoned as a Lancer as well as an Alter have made her substantially weaker than normal. Only by the endgame after repeated life-or-death battles with all manner of supernatural existences are Iori's physical abilities and skills great enough to actually stand against such existences on his own and as shown in the "Entreat the Darkness" ending, this can end up enflaming his Blood Knight nature to uncontrollable levels.
• Being Evil Sucks: In the "Entreat the Darkness" ending, Iori casts aside his Mask of Sanity and embraces his inner Blood Knight, declaring his desire to kill everyone around him—starting with Saber—and to use the Waxing Moon to plunge Japan into an eternal war so that he can truly master his swordsmanship. In his innermost thoughts, however, Iori laments that he's become "just another bloodthirsty demon" and that the path he's chosen has cost him Saber's friendship, and after being mortally wounded he thanks Saber for stopping him.
• Bitch in Sheep's Clothing: The "Entreat the Darkness" ending states that Iori's kindness and heroic nature are an act he puts on as the "logical" path toward a life of happiness in a peaceful world. However, his true wish is to become a ruthless legendary samurai like his mentor and adoptive father, so he plans to use the Waxing Moon to plunge Japan into never-ending war for his own sake.
• Blade Spam:
  • Iori's Void Stance consists of the split-second variant, letting him perform a flurry of lightning-fast iaijutsu slashes while flash stepping so that the attacks appear to be happening all at once.
  • Specifically, the Simultaneous kind in Tsubame Gaeshi. Uniquely, his is sort of a side-grade compared to Sasaki Kojiro's, as while Kojiro's uses an absurdly long sword, Iori's instead uses a pair of normal katanas. Despite the resulting six slashes logically lacking the range of Kojiro's three, it was still able to take down Musashi in her and Iori's final battle. It also becomes his Valor Strike in Void Stance.
• Blood Knight: While Iori is largely congenial, stoic, and maintains he's fighting to maintain the peace and protect innocents, deep down he longs to become a Master Swordsman and uses the Waxing Moon Ritual to take great strides towards mastering the Niten Ichiryu. Chiemon in particular accuses Iori of hiding his true self behind a Mask of Sanity, which Iori casts aside in the "Entreat the Darkness" route—where he decides to wish for Japan to be embroiled in an unending war so that he can continue to fight and hone his swordsmanship—declaring that the reason he lived a peaceful life was to understand everyone... so he would best know how to kill them all. The section of his profile unlocked by the "Entreat the Darkness" ending elaborates on this side of him by specifying that Iori is a ruthless "sword demon" at his core, but not The Sociopath. He's fully capable of feeling love, empathy, and friendship, but these emotions are secondary to his goal of mastering the Niten Ichiryu and Kaya's presence is the only thing keeping him from going over the edge... at least in the non-"Entreat the Darkness" endings. This trait leads to his defeat, since he wants a death match with Saber and therefore refuses to use a Command Seal to give himself an easy victory.
• Born in the Wrong Century: Lampshaded. Both the female and male Musashis say this trope word for word multiple times. Iori devotes himself to the Way of the Sword in a time of peace, with Musashi himself noting that Iori was born in the wrong time to truly hone his skills on the field of battle. In one ending, this wish of his becomes all-consuming for him. Saber is dismayed, but not shocked to learn that he plans to maintain the Waxing Moon for the sake of starting an era of endless conflict and becoming the ruthless Master Swordsman he always aspired to be.
• Boss Subtitles: He's introduced as "Miyamoto Iori Sadagatsu, the Seeker of the Limitless Sky". The kanji for it (万里一空) is a quote from the Book of Five Rings, originally meaning that even something that looks unimaginably away from you still exists under the same sky as you; nothing is physically unreachable. It's become an idiom for striving incessantly towards a goal.
• Butterfly of Doom: During New Game Plus, Iori is already enough of a Master Swordsman that a number of characters, including Saber, admit that his swordsmanship is excellent even by their standards... and this starts making his inherent Blood Knight nature bubble to the surface, as he feels stifled by the peaceful era of sakoku, culminating in Iori attempting to seize the Waxing Moon himself in "Entreat the Darkness" and subsequently his death.
• Character Development: A core part of Iori's character is that he was Born in the Wrong Century: he's a skilled swordsman and wants to grow even stronger, and would have likely flourished if he were born decades earlier. Both Musashis even tell him he was born in the wrong age. The "Entreat the Darkness" path reveals that this frustrates Iori to no end to the point that, if given the opportunity, he will use the Waxing Moon Ritual to return Japan back to a bloody period of war just so he won't be in "the wrong age". On the other hand, the "Flames of Resentment" and "Ray of Light" story paths have Iori grow somewhat beyond this mindset; as much as he wishes to become a warrior on par with his teachers, he will ultimately put others above himself, especially where Kaya is involved.
• Character Tics: Often rests his left hand on the two pommels of his swords, either when preparing for violence or just when he's deep in thought about something. Given his heavily-suppressed Blood Knight urgings, the story leaves open the possibility that the two situations are often connected in his mind.
• Chekhov's Gunman: He was previously mentioned in Fate/Grand Order where the female Musashi claimed to be him during the game's fourth summer event. According to Nasu in a FGO 8th anniversary interview, this was a tease for this game as Samurai Remnant had entered production by that time.
• Chick Magnet: He has Ship Tease moments with several girls like Yui Shousetsu, Dorothea Coyett, and Takao Dayu. Even some of the female Servants become smitten with him such as Circe and Tamamo Aria. Takao even calls him a lady-killer once she realizes this.
• Contrasting Sequel Protagonist: To Shirou Emiya.
  • Both are the Sole Survivor of a great tragedy that destroyed their original home before being saved and adopted by someone who trained them and passed on a dream before dying - for Shirou, to become a hero of justice, and for Iori, to become a Master Swordsman. Both tend to neglect their own needs and health in favor of fulfilling those dreams and live in times where it's all but impossible to actually achieve their dreams before the Holy Grail War/Waxing Moon Ritual gives them the opportunities they need.
  • In general, with Samurai Remnant being a Whole-Plot Reference to Stay Night, this would naturally apply due to Iori filling Shirou's role as the protagonist. They enter the War in the same way (getting attacked at night and summoning a Saber accidentally before using a Command Seal on the first night), learn about the War in the same way (getting lectured by another Master and their Servant with a personal connection the protagonist), choose to fight for similar reasons (to avoid the city they live in being destroyed), and even have similar fighting styles as a Magic Knight with a tendency for Dual Wielding and a Noble Phantasm-level technique that they figure out how to use during a climactic duel said prior Servant.
  • Their actions in response to their adoptive fathers' dreams also place them as parallels. Shirou learns how to fight so that he can save other people, whereas Iori chooses to save other people so that he can fight. In addition, in their respective bad endings, particularly "Mind of Steel" and "Entreat the Darkness", they both choose to pursue their dreams to the detriment of all else, but while Shirou chooses to travel the world in order to stop wars and become a hero, Iori chooses to use the Waxing Moon in order to plunge all of Japan into war once more so that he has the chance to become a true Master Swordsman.
  • On a more grim note, Iori's revealed wish in "Entreat the Darkness", revealing that his positive/heroic side is mostly a Mask of Sanity, surprisingly makes him similar to Shirou's major nemesis in Fate/stay night: Heaven's Feel, Kotomine Kirei.
• Corrupted Character Copy: Of Fujimaru Ritsuka, whose male version he shares many physical similarities with. Specifically, Iori deconstructs the idea of what kind of person multiple immensely powerful and proud Heroic Spirits (some of whom are the exact same ones Fujimaru encountered) would take a liking to and work alongside. Fujimaru endears themself to Servants by showing the strength and determination of a normal person who wants to do and is genuinely good. Conversely, they become fond of Iori because he's not too different from them.
• Counter-Attack: Upgrading Iori's Earth Stance will unlock the ability to actively block with his sword. If an opponent strikes him while blocking, there is a brief window of opportunity for Iori to immediately counter-attack and briefly stun the opponent to open them up for further strikes.
• Critical Status Buff: Iori's Fire Stance is offensive-focused, but generally relies on heavy and rather slow attacks. However, as Iori's health decreases, the power and speed of his attacks in this stance increase, leading it to become a very high-risk-high-reward stance to play with.
• Dark and Troubled Past: Prior to being adopted by Musashi, Iori was in the care of a roaming clan of bandits, with the leader mainly keeping him around so as to have someone pour him a drink and listen to his bragging, though Iori feared and accepted the possibility that he might be killed as the leader had a habit of throwing away kids after he got bored of them. Thankfully, Iori was saved by a Rōnin before that could happen.
• David Versus Goliath: As a normal human, Iori is considerably weaker than any Servant. Despite this, (according to Takeuchi in the same interview mentioned above) he ends up personally fighting the most Servants of any Fate protagonist. He even manages to defeat a couple himself, one of which is an alternate version of his former mentor and adoptive parent.
• Distaff Counterpart: Implied Trope. At one point, he asks Musashi if her world's Iori was female. She answers him with a smile.
• Doppelgänger Gets Same Sentiment: Part of the reason why Berserker Musashi helps him is because he looks and acts like her Iori. Similarly, Iori can't help but treat Berserker Musashi as he would his own master, as her mannerisms, skills, and presence are unmistakably the same as the Musashi he knew.
• Dual Wielding: As Musashi's adopted son and student, he naturally wields two swords, primarily in his Water, Fire, and Void Stances. In Wind Stance, Iori wields his katana in a fencing stance while casting spells with his off hand.
• Dying as Yourself: In the "Entreat the Darkness" ending, Iori embraces his repressed inner Blood Knight and declares his intent to use the Waxing Moon to plunge Japan into an eternal war so that he can perfect his swordsmanship, stating that the only reason he walked the path of peace was so that he could better understand those he ultimately intended to kill and challenging Saber to a duel to the death. After being impaled through the heart, Iori admits he chose the wrong path and thanks Saber for stopping him, calling them a true friend for doing so with his last breaths.
• Fiery Stoic: Iori is generally a serious person and Perpetual Frowner, but specializes in fire magic rather than the usual stereotype of ice magic.
• Face–Heel Turn: In the "Entreat the Darkness" ending, Iori's Mask of Sanity falls off and he embraces the "Sword Demon" that in other routes stays buried in the depths of his heart. He terrifies Chiemon with a single glance, and plays the part of The Sociopath—calmly telling Saber that the reason he lived a righteous life wasn't because he genuinely desired peace or because it was the right thing to do, but so that he could best understand how to kill literally everyone around him. He then declares his intent to use the Waxing Moon to cause an endless war so that he can master the Way of the Sword, challenging Saber to a duel to the death while claiming he's wanted to do so from the moment they met. In his private thoughts, however, he acknowledges that Being Evil Sucks; and after being cut down admits that he chose the wrong path and is satisfied that Saber stopped him and gave him a warrior's death, calling them a true friend for doing so.
• Fighter, Mage, Thief: Can initiate this with Saber as the Fighter, Rogue Caster as the Mage, and himself as the Thief due to being relatively weaker than the others but accruing a large catalogue of skills as well as having the capacity to stockpile items (while having having the darkest impulses of the three). A more formal version of this lineup occurs during a brief team-up with Dorothea Coyett as the Mage, and another can happen in the "Ray of Light" route with Yui Shousetsu taking that role.
• Foreshadowing:
  • An early sign that something is going on in Iori's head regarding his swordsmanship and the current status quo is that he has a standing offer to be made an Ogasawara retainer. This is the ideal job for someone in his situation: in an era where most swordsmen have been forced into lives of crime and murder is rampant, he would be comfortable, relatively safe, and closer to Kaya, and would even legally be able to swordfight occasionally. But he wants to remain unmoored until he's mastered his sword style. As the Ritual wears on, Iori slowly becomes a better fighter, but also darker, in every route. During a normal game, however, Iori never seems to even consider anything drastic as he is still refining his style, and by the time he completes it by surpassing Musashi the Ritual is effectively already over. This is not the case during New Game Plus, as Iori has already reached such heights, and with nowhere else to go in the current era he starts Slowly Slipping Into Evil, culminating in the "Entreat the Darkness" ending where he tries to wish for his ideal sword training environment: an endless war.
  • While his fellow Masters believe him to be as straight-laced and well-meaning as presents himself, the Servants in the Holy Grail War (Musashi included) never praise him for traditional goodness. Rather that he is honorable and mighty. Cu and Arjuna in particular see right through Iori, but they aren't worried about what's there since those were perfectly fine traits back in their eras.
  • Aria's infatuation with Iori takes on harsher dimensions when taken in the context of the type of people that the Tamamo Nine tend to fall for.
  • Rather than bring it out to help Saber, save Kaya, or stop a demigod from destroying Edo, Iori keeps his Dangerous Forbidden Technique a secret in anticipation of using it against Musashi, showing how specifically skewed his priorities are.
• Forced Transformation: Circe brainwashes him into eating poisoned kykeon, turning him into a helpless, squealing pig that his Servant needs to herd around.
• Full Health Bonus: Iori's Void Stance is his strongest offensive stance, allowing him to assail his foes with Blade Spam while moving very quickly. But the pause after each attack increases as he takes more damage, demanding perfect play to avoid becoming vulnerable and truly harness the stance's potential.
• He Who Fights Monsters: Over the course of the game, several characters—namely Musashi, Saber, and Chiemon—note that in order to fight on-par with Servants, Iori is slowly losing that which makes him a good person: in his own words, carving away the excess. While Musashi and Saber warn him against losing the ability to feel compassion and empathy, Chiemon accuses him of being a hypocrite for not embracing his inner Blood Knight. In the "Entreat the Darkness" ending, Iori ultimately does so and decides to use the Waxing Moon to plunge Japan into an eternal war to hone his swordsmanship.
• Historical Badass Upgrade: Iori in real life was actually noted by Musashi as a rather poor swordsman, with his talents lying more in commanding and bureaucracy. Here, he's shown to be capable of holding his own against Servants and the website describes him as a mage capable of using magecraft when his swords fail him against certain enemies. This is justified as in this timeline is one where Sasaki Kojiro wound up helping to tutor him after his Miyamoto Musashi passed on, leading to him gaining a wider range of skills and strengths that the real-life Miyamoto Iori never obtained in his time with his adoptive father, which actually ends up being the decisive factor when he has his Duel to the Death with the female Musashi.
• Historical Relationship Overhaul: In real life, Iori was the son of Musashi's oldest brother prior to being adopted by Musashi. This Iori was a completely unrelated kid whom Musashi chose to adopt after bandits had massacred his entire town.
• Iaijutsu Practitioner: Void Stance makes him one of these, but its special Valor Strike inspired by Sasaki Kojiro is particularly bonkers as it involves him attacking with his swords before sheathing them both with just one of his hands at the same time.
• Ignored Epiphany: An "Entreat the Darkness" Iori will cast aside all evidence he's seen in his own life and Saber's memories as to how much pain and suffering, both personal and societal, times of overt conflict can cause to pursue his selfish, deplorable wish for a new war with which to hone his skills.
• Incompletely Trained: His adoptive father and teacher died of lung cancer before completing Iori's training. Despite this, he's still shown to be quite a capable swordsman in his own right, even able to hold his own (if briefly) against Servants. He later completes his training under Berserker Musashi's tutelage and through the combat experience he gains in the Waxing Moon Ritual. He also studied under Sasaki Kojiro and achieved Kojiro's Tsubame Gaeshi during the events of the story. This is more-or-less averted during New Game Plus, where multiple characters acknowledge that his swordsmanship is superb even by the standards of the Older Is Better eras.
• In Love with Your Carnage: Iori is completely entranced by Saber when he witnesses their Noble Phantasm for the first time, calling it a technique above all others and a blow exactly like a sword saint. Even when they're fighting to the death in the "Entreat the Darkness" ending, he can't help but think to himself that Saber is beautiful.
• Leitmotif: His associated theme song is "Successor of Niten Ichiryu", reflecting his role as Musashi's only student and his desire to become a true Master Swordsman. It also plays during his final battle with Saber in the "Entreat the Darkness" ending, showing how he's devoted himself entirely to the sword at the expense of all else.
• I've Come Too Far: In the "Entreat the Darkness" ending, Iori can't help but think to himself that Saber is beautiful and lament that it's a shame they have to be enemies, but he hardens his resolve in order to realize his wish of mastering the Way of the Sword; noting that he must become "just another bloodthirsty demon" and destroy the very peace he once fought to protect, and thus he and Saber have no choice but to fight to the death.
• Locked Out of the Loop: Saber does not tell him about his sister Kaya being possessed by Ototachibana-hime.
• Magically Inept Fighter: At the start of the game, Iori has very little magecraft experience, at best only being able to make a fireball with gems. By default, his MAT (Magical Attack) stat is low, and it takes using the leylines more to gradually improve his magical skills in battle. Fittingly, he doesn't get to learn Wind Stance until after the player has improved his MAT a bit.
• Magic Knight: He's a samurai first, mage second, but Niten Ichiryu (or this story's version of it, at least) does hold that a certain familiarity with magecraft is necessary for anyone who truly wishes to master the sword, and so he's an unexceptional but adequately talented practitioner who's capable of integrating it into his fighting style in multiple ways. In addition to his Wind Stance, which combines magical fire with one-handed swordsmanship, he carries a stockpile of enchanted gems (not unlike those used by the Tohsaka mage family) that he can expend to create various offensive and defensive magical effects.
• Magikarp Power: Starting off the game, Iori is far outclassed by Saber and the other Servants, properly summoned or Rogue, and this is reflected nicely in that when Saber joins you, they are Level 25 while Iori is likely only about Level 15 or so, with far superior raw stats to boot. However, Iori has access to multiple methods of improving himself such as leveling up, customizing his katana with new parts, gaining permanent MAT bonuses from Spirit Fonts, learning new Stances, using Magecraft, and unlocking various Skills, with his Skill Tree being huge with five branching areas for each of his Stances alongside his base. By comparison, Saber and allied Rogue Servants can only get stronger from leveling up and unlocking their Skill Trees, which are much smaller^note Even Saber, who has the most robust Skill Tree after Iori, only has three branching areas and its progression is tied to their Memento Ring completion. and cost far more skill points on average to unlock a node for than Iori's do. By endgame, a properly-invested Iori can match and even outperform the playable Servants in almost every category save raw battle damage and Shell Gauge depletion, assuming they been properly invested as well.
• Mask of Sanity: Iori is outwardly a kind, courteous individual who cares deeply about his foster sister Kaya and fights to maintain the peace... but buried deep beneath this is a ruthless Blood Knight whose only goal is to master the Way of the Sword. Over the course of the Waxing Moon Ritual, Iori's repressed dark side starts bubbling to the surface, leading Saber and Musashi to worry he's losing that which makes him a good person. While his pursuit for strength ultimately tempers him during a normal playthrough, during the New Game Plus-exclusive "Entreat the Darkness" ending Iori's mask comes off and he embraces the demon within, his bloodlust so intense that even the gleefully Ax-Crazy Chiemon — who pegged Iori as a kindred spirit right from the get-go — is terrified of him. When Saber confronts him, Iori calmly tells them that his true wish is to plunge Japan into an eternal war, that he only lived a righteous life so as to better understand how best to kill those he pretended to care about, and that his sole purpose is to master the Way of the Sword by killing everyone he comes across—especially them.
• Master Swordsman: At the end of the story, he defeats his mentor, the alternate Musashi, who declares him unparalleled under the heavens. While his mastery of Niten Ichiryu still can't compare to hers, he manages to defeat her by integrating Sasaki Kojiro's Tsubame Gaeshi into his two-sword style.
• Mistaken for Pedophile: After Tamamo Aria confesses she has a crush on Iori, Saber and the Crimson Codex waste no time on teasingly implying that he is a lolicon, to his annoyance.
• Mistaken for Romance:
  • On account of Saber making innocent innuendos, Kaya and Sukenoshin assume that they are in a committed and very... enthusiastic... relationship.
  • In addition to assuming that Iori is in a romantic relationship with Saber, Kaya has a habit of completely misunderstanding Iori's relationships with the various female Servants and Masters who come calling to his tenement. She is (initially) surprised that Tamamo Aria is attracted to her brother—accusing him of cheating on Saber and/or being a Harem Seeker—and also wonders if Iori is into BDSM and Master/Servant role-play after an encounter with Circe.
• Naïve Newcomer: Like many other Fate protagonists, he barely knows anything about the supernatural and knows nothing about Servants or the Waxing Moon Ritual. He needs Saber and others to explain things to him.
• No Man Should Have This Power: For the sake of a "moral world", he wishes to destroy the Waxing Moon Ritual as he doesn't think anyone can be trusted with such a powerful wish. Partially because he knows what he'd do with it.
• Playing with Fire: His specialty in magecraft is fire. Most of his offensive Jewel Magecraft attacks are various fire spells, and his mana-based techniques in Wind Stance take the form of yellow-green flames and fireballs.
• Power Crystal: He uses Jewel Magecraft, the same kind famously used in Fate by Rin Tohsaka.
• Power Misidentification: He thinks his magecraft is a ninjutsu technique.
• The Power of Friendship: It's not until Iori learns Saber's True Name and the entirety of Saber's legend that he achieves his Void Stance, his most powerful offensive stance.
• Red Baron: In "Entreat the Darkness", Iori is referred to as the Sword Demon by both Caster and Chiemon as this is the ending where Iori pulls back his Mask of Sanity and succumbs to his inner Blood Knight.
• Rōnin: Iori is technically not a disenfranchised samurai, since he was still in training as the shogunate rose to power, but his only marketable skill is his swordsmanship, so he is experiencing the same economic and social strains as the "real" rōnin are. He's also doing this to himself to some extent—the Ogasawaras would love to hire him as a bodyguard, but he wants to remain a free agent until he actually masters Niten Ichiryu.
• Sole Survivor: The opening scene of the game provides Iori's backstory prior to being adopted by Musashi; he used to live in a port town before it was ransacked by a group of Rōnin bandits, and was spared so that the leader could use him as an ear for his stories for a few hours before he was killed too. He only survived because another Rōnin happened to wander into the town and kill the entire bandit group.
• Spiritual Antithesis: As much as Chiemon is a corrupted Mirror Character of Shirou Emiya, Miyamoto Iori comes off as a bit of a corrupted reflection of Kirei Kotomine as implied at points and spelled out more closely in the Downer Ending route, as the dilemma he faces throughout the game is a fundamental problem of his very character; much like how Kirei struggles with being a virtuous, holy man with the heart of a monster, Iori struggles to deal with the fact he's ruthlessly passionate about becoming a master warrior amidst a time of peace which frustrates him to no end, ultimately putting up a front for the longest time around everyone that paints him more functional than he actually is deep down. The difference comes in however, that where Kirei is The Unfettered who will not compromise no matter what even when regarding the reality of what he's committing because he needs to know the truth about himself, Iori can possibly refuse to embrace his inner nature and choose to accept he's simply born in the wrong era and can instead do the right thing by ending the Waxing Moon Ritual which is the only thing that can provide him the endless war he seeks deep down. This even reflects on his relationship with Chiemon, whereas Shirou eventually accepts Kirei is similar to him and actually likes the guy in a route, Chiemon despises Iori completely even when he embraces his true nature in the Entreat the Darkness route.
• Stance System: He can switch between five different stances suited for different situations.
  • The Earth Stance is a one-sword style that uses slower, harder-hitting attacks, focused on defense and is the only one he can actively block attacks with.
  • The Water Stance is a two-sword style that focuses on rapid, swift combos that can easily toss aside waves of mobs.
  • Wind Stance is when he wields a single sword in his right hand—wielding it in a manner resembling a Western fencer—and magecraft in his left hand together. This is different from him using magecraft as a sub-weapon in combat as it is now part of his moveset, relying on his own personal, limited pool of mana rather than his gem supply.
  • The Fire Stance uses both swords in slow, heavy attacks focused on offence. It gains strength and speed the lower Iori's HP is, making for a high-risk playstyle.
  • The Void Stance is Iori's ultimate offensive stance - he makes a storm of iai attacks with both swords and is moving so fast that he appears to Flash Step like a Servant. However, the pause after each attack increases with lower health, leaving him vulnerable at even moderate HP. It therefore demands perfect play or a continuous supply of healing to maximize its potential.
• Surpassed the Teacher: This is Iori's driving goal and reason for mastering the sword. During the events of the story, Berserker Musashi takes Iori under her wing to continue teaching him Niten Ichiryu after the passing of his master. Before she rayshifts again, she requests a duel to the death with him to prove his skills. After a hard-fought battle, he defeats her by combining Niten Ichiryu's two-sword style with Sasaki Kojiro's Tsubame Gaeshi. Musashi congratulates him on his victory, proudly declaring him unparalleled under the heavens.
• Sword Beam: Iori's Fire and Void Stances let him shoot waves of red and purple energy (respectively) from his sword, and some of Saber's Affinity Techniques enable Iori to fire blades of water using his sword. He can also use "Agni's Crashing Wave", a flame-aspected sword beam created in the vein of Arjuna's own technique after completing Arjuna's Digression.
• To Be a Master: Iori's personal desire is to become a Master Swordsman like his master and adoptive father, Musashi. But as Musashi noted, Iori was born into a time of peace, not war, limiting opportunities for Iori to gain real combat experience until he enters the Waxing Moon Ritual. This takes a dark turn during New Game Plus, as Iori's Blood Knight nature starts surfacing, having already refined his swordsmanship, and ultimately leads to a new ending where he decides to use the Waxing Moon to plunge all of Japan into war and chaos in order to recreate the conditions that made Musashi a legendary swordsman. Iori then says that he'll slay every person he sees, challenging Saber and threatening to cut them and everyone else down for the sake of this goal.
• To Know Him, I Must Become Him: Iori believes that to defeat his enemies, he needs to understand their feelings and what drives them. In the "Entreat the Darkness" ending, Iori loses to Saber because he believes Saber is about to use their Noble Phantasm to end the fight, only for Saber to instead finish Iori with a simple thrust. Saber then says that it's just as he said: to defeat your enemy, you have to understand them. He made a fatal mistake precisely because he failed to understand Saber's thoughts and feelings.
• Took a Level in Badass: At the beginning of the story, Iori is already a dangerous swordsman able to easily trounce a gang of thugs on his own as an average day of work and can handle a horde of assassins coming at him all at once without too much difficulty, but he's completely overwhelmed by Rider and barely able to defend himself until Saber intervenes. By the end of the story, he's fighting almost on-par with Servants and even manages to defeat Berserker Musashi entirely on his own, and comes within a hairs-breadth of defeating Saber in one ending.
• Unrelated in the Adaptation: The Iori from history was Musashi's nephew by blood from his elder brother. The Iori in this game was just a random orphan that Musashi found and adopted by chance.
• Villain Protagonist: In the "Entreat the Darkness" route, he willingly chooses to plunge Japan into war just to grow stronger.

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Chiemon

Voiced by: Nobuhiko Okamoto

The Avenger of Flames

"As Master, I command you: show them the true meaning of hell!"

A mysterious man who survived the Shimabara Rebellion and the Master of Lancer.

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• Arch-Enemy: While he absolutely hates the shogunate for its role in the massacre that shaped him into the man he is today, he has a rather largely one-sided animosity towards Miyamoto Iori despite being completely unrelated to the rebellion. In part, because he sees far too much of the man he's become in Iori, but he feels Iori is hiding behind a Mask of Sanity due to being Born in the Wrong Century and the hypocrisy sickens him so greatly that he personally wishes his death before fulfilling his own ambition of revenge.
• Ax-Crazy: A survivor of the Shimabara Rebellion, which happened when he was just a child, Chiemon is literally hellbent on revenge against the shogunate—with the goal of setting all of Edo ablaze with hellfire so that everyone can suffer as he has. He's well aware that his wish goes against the tenants of Christianity, but believes that God has forsaken him and he's damned to Hell so he may as well embrace being evil and take as many people along with him as possible.
• Bad Boss: Chiemon is extremely callous to his Servant practically at all times, not particularly caring about her well-being so long as he's able to fulfill his vengeance one way or another. In fact, when Jeanne touts her reason for sticking with and protecting him (to the point of being corrupted in the first place) to be due to holding the belief that she can still save his soul somehow, Chiemon is incredulously contemptuous of her even attempting and flat out tells her to never show him any affection again before barking more orders at her in the same breath.
• Be Careful What You Wish For: He despises Iori for the supposed facade he puts up, and wishes he would just embrace his true nature. When Iori does embrace his true nature in the "Entreat the Darkness" route, Chiemon's initial joy quickly turns to utter horror as Iori puts him in his killing sight, causing him to immediately flee.
• Beyond the Impossible: The scope and intensity of his wish to get revenge for all that happened in the Shimabara Rebellion is so much that, despite the proper Jeanne d'Arc being The Immune to being Altered, he still manages to corrupt her anyway into an Altered state upon summoning her.
• Boss Subtitles: He's introduced as "Chiemon, the Avenger of Flames". Upon fusing with Jeanne and the Waxing Moon in the Flames of Resentment route, the monster they become is introduced as "Waxing Moon Monster, the Despairing God of Corruption".
• Call-Back: To "The Sorcerer" from the Shimousa chapter of Fate/Grand Order as a vengeful remnant of the Shimabara Rebellion. His Boss Subtitles also serve as one to the original Jeanne d'Arc Alter.
• Card-Carrying Villain: Chiemon repeatedly declares himself to be a wicked and vile sinner destined for Hell, flip-flops between gleeful cackling Ax-Crazy sadism and coldly seething rage, and he wants to raze Edo to the ground and kill everyone to be reunited with his family and the comrades slain by the Shogunate's forces.
• Covered with Scars: Most of Chiemon's entire body is covered in crudely-bandaged scars, most prominently an ugly one going right across his throat.
• Cutscene Boss: He's killed rather anticlimactically by Iori in the "Ray of Light" path as his neck is sliced open right after he delivers a cursed blow to Shousetsu.
• The Determinator: The deck is really stacked against Chiemon as he has the only Servant of the main seven who isn't getting some form of territory bonus due to her not being from Japan, his injuries from the Shimabara Rebellion still cause him great agony, and he's very short on allies and resources. Nonetheless, he doggedly presses on to attain his vengeance (or, failing that, a deserved death in his eyes), as he schemes, spies, ambushes, retreats, and even forms reluctant alliances to get a chance at the Waxing Moon.
• Don't You Dare Pity Me!: Due to his massive Survivor's Guilt, he takes any form of compassion towards him as a deep and personal insult as he doesn't want to be loved at all — as it just led to the people who he cared about dying all around him to rescue him.
• Enemy Mine: For an Ax-Crazy Misanthrope Supreme, he's surprisingly easy to recruit for temporary alliances. The key factor is that he's single-mindedly obsessed with attaining his (awful) wish, so anything that endangers the sanctity of the Waxing Moon Ritual is enough of a threat that he'll be perfectly willing to team up with his enemies so that he can kill them his way later on.
• Evil Counterpart: Like Iori, he was orphaned as a child due to violence caused by the transition to the current political system. Chiemon's desire for vengeance has already consumed him, while the effects of the shogunate on Iori are still an open question.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: It's revealed that Chiemon's family and comrades were brutally murdered by the shogun's forces during the Shimabara Rebellion, which has set him on a Roaring Rampage of Revenge. Despite his, he deeply misses his family, and his last words in the "Flames of Resentment" ending are him calling out to his mother. In Lancer's route of the Keian Command Championship, he uses his wish to give the fallen of the Shimabara Rebellion a proper burial site rather than try and "unleash Hell" as he so often claimed.
• Evil Sounds Raspy: He's constantly speaking in a low growl and practically spits orders at Lancer instead of just talking to her. The scar across his throat provides an obvious explanation for this, although the smoke inhalation be suffered at the massacre of Shimabara probably didn't help, either.
• Final Boss: Chiemon is the final boss of the "Flames of Resentment" route after taking the Waxing Moon Grail, absorbing Kaya's power, as well as sacrificing Jeanne to facilitate the transformation into a Humanoid Abomination that will help him bring the hell of vengeance he covets.
• Mutual Kill: Manages to achieve this on Caster during the Entreat the Darkness route, using his magical power and accumulated curses after taking a fatal wound to burn down the entire area the two of them are in with no hope of either to escape.
• "Not So Different" Remark: He accuses Iori of hiding his true Blood Knight self behind a Mask of Sanity, and sneers that deep down Iori is just as vile and wicked as he is.
• Obviously Evil: Given his appearance and behaviour, it's probably not a surprise that he's a villain.
• Oh, Crap!: In the "Entreat the Darkness" ending, Chiemon is initially overjoyed that Iori has cast aside his Mask of Sanity and embraced his inner Blood Knight... but his gleeful gloating is replaced with terror when Iori shoots him a look full of Killing Intent, causing him to flee for his life. Caster subsequently mocks him for running away from Iori instead of standing his ground.
• One-Winged Angel: In the "Flames of Resentment" route, he merges with the Waxing Moon's Vessel to transform into a colossal undead-looking Humanoid Abomination called the Waxing Moon Monster.
• Pet the Dog:
  • As unapologetic of a bastard as he is, when he sacrifices himself to take out Caster in the Entreat the Darkness route, rather than think about his vengeance being denied to him, his final thoughts are instead to quietly tell Jeanne not to follow with him into Hell, breaking the pact that corrupted her in the first place and allowing her to peacefully move on not too long after.
  • In Lancer's ending for the Keian Command Championship DLC Episode, Chiemon uses his wish to give his fallen friends and family from the Shimabara Rebellion a proper burial despite not seeing the point in it. When a gust of wind blows through the gravesite and kicks up a bunch of flowers, Chiemon and Lancer realize its a sign that the dead from Shimabara are now at peace, driving the poor man to tears.
• Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Chiemon is one of the known survivors of Amakusa Shirou's Shimabara Rebellion, having witnessed all of his fellow Christians been slaughtered by the ruling Tokugawa shogunate, which set him on the path to bring Hell over everything in Edo and beyond as his revenge. Although, it turns out it's a little bit more complicated than the massacre tainting his soul this way, as he was far too young to actually be a combatant during the siege. Instead, it was losing his parents and everyone he knew to such senseless butchery while somehow being a survivor to it that absolutely broke him, turning him into a savage wretch who wishes to destroy everything hiding behind the concept of "virtue" — which also is why he despises Miyamoto Iori immensely as he sees him hiding behind a mask of heroic values when Chiemon sees him for the Blood Knight that was Born in the Wrong Century he truly is deep down.
• Sadist: Thanks to a particularly tragic case of The Chain of Harm, he lives to relieve his constant pain through the pleasure of inflicting it on others. It's why he prefers to be The Only One Allowed to Defeat You - he doesn't just want his enemies dead, he wants the joy of personally killing them.
• Sole Survivor: He is the only one who was left of the Shimabara Rebellion. This is due to him being too young to actually have been a combatant, with his parents both sacrificing themselves to ensure he survived, which did terrible things to his psyche to put it mildly.
• Spiritual Antithesis: To Shirou Emiya, if he never had the Morality Chain that Kiritsugu Emiya gave him by raising him, as Chiemon is a deeply traumatized man who survived an absolutely horrific tragedy that reduced him to a shell of his former self that regrets having survived out of everyone else that could have. But whereas Shirou wound up deciding to become a "hero of justice" as he feels it is the only way to pay back his own survival, Chiemon instead embraces being an unapologetic bastard in his rage and decides to create an even worse tragedy if just to get back at the ruling shogunate for taking everything from him in the first place. This also reflects in his hatred of Iori; as while EMIYA had an immense hatred for Shirou for a perfectly legitimate reason, Chiemon resents Iori for no other reason than because, in his perception, he sees him as a Hypocrite hiding behind "virtue", which reminds him a bit too much of what he himself has become.
• Surprisingly Sudden Death: In "Ray of Light", Chiemon ambushes Iori when he's about to take the Waxing Moon's Vessel and tries to burn him alive, only for Shousetsu to jump in the way and get blasted aside with burns. Chiemon is so surprised by her interruption he leaves himself wide open to Iori cutting him down then and there, and since Lancer was still injured from being blasted by Ushi Gozen's lightning she can't intervene in time to save him.
• Then Let Me Be Evil: By his own admission, Chiemon genuinely believes there is nothing about him that is worth saving. When Lancer shows him pity and says she wants to save him, even if it means being dragged into Hell with him, Chiemon rebuffs her and is more pissed by her pleas than anything. In a sympathetic portrayal of this trope, when Chiemon is on death's door in the "Flames of Resentment" ending after Iori defeats him as the Waxing Moon Monster, he hears his mother's voice and believes his friends and family from Shimabara have come for him, only for Chiemon to rebuke even them. His self-loathing is so great he would rather go to Hell than rejoin his loved ones.
• The Only One Allowed to Defeat You: He's chiefly driven by a deeply unwholesome and yet strangely sympathetic case of this. The horrors of his childhood cursed him to a lifetime of agony that he believes he can only relieve through the sadistic pleasure of vengeance, and so it's vitally important that he personally gets the fun of burning Japan down rather than anyone else doing it.
• Unknown Rival: He despises Iori with a burning passion, but to Iori he's just another rival in the Ritual. In the "Flames of Resentment" ending, Iori states he doesn't know why Chiemon hates him, and at this point, he doesn't care and just wants him dead for kidnapping Kaya. Similarly, Iori never learns why Chiemon hates him in the "Entreat the Darkness" ending, though in this case it's that Chiemon is so terrified seeing Iori finally remove his Mask of Sanity that he immediately books it than explain himself.
• Yin-Yang Bomb: Most definitely leaning more towards yin, but his Final Boss form evokes both heaven and hell. Aside from his usual fire with the additional touch of the ever-so-infamous Grail mud, he is capable of using his single glowing white arm to unleash some rather powerful light-based attacks, which even rain down from the heavens in his second phase.

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Zheng Chenggong

Voiced by: Tomoaki Maeno

The Unyielding General

"The cruel who lack compassion are not human. I do not want the innocent to die."

Also known as Koxinga. A general born to a Chinese merchant and a Japanese mother, he is a respected warrior that even the Longwu Emperor of the Southern Ming Dynasty holds in high regard. He is the Master of Archer.

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• Becoming the Mask: In the Ray of Light route's ending, Dorothea Coyett notes that Zheng had intended to betray his alliance with Iori much sooner than he did, but his sentimental nature got the better of him and their friendship became genuine.
• Boss Subtitles: He's introduced as "Zheng Mingyan, the Unyielding General".
• Child of Two Worlds: Zheng was born from a Japanese woman and a Chinese merchant, and was raised by his mother in Japan till the age of 7. He was also given a Japanese name, Fukumatsu, in addition to his Chinese one.
• Four-Star Badass: A high-ranking general of the Ming Empire who's not only a gifted tactician and strategist, but one of the most combat-capable Masters in the Waxing Moon Ritual.
• Friendly Rivalry: With Dorothea Coyett, as both are respected nobles of foreign descent whom have a lot banking on their performance in the Waxing Moon Ritual, Zheng has a healthy amount of respect for his opponent. Notably, in real life Zheng Chenggong would end up fighting Dorothea's father, Fredrik Coyett.
• Final Boss: The last Master of the Ray of Light route, working together with Caster as the last obstacles to destroying the Waxing Moon Ritual.
• Good Is Not Soft: While his goals are noble, he may be polite and affable, and he is allied with Iori for much of the game, he is not above sending his men to their deaths or betraying his allies if it means attaining his goals. In Archer's Digression he candidly reveals he assassinated his cousin—who'd treated him with genuine kindness—and a great deal many others simply to obtain land, troops, and power. Unfortunately, this means that with some egging on from Caster, it doesn't take too much to convince Zheng to rejoin the Waxing Moon Ritual and ally with Tsuchimikado's former Servant even if it means betraying his alliance and friendship with Iori.
• Graceful Loser: In the Ray of Light ending, he's not too bothered by his defeat, and in fact it makes him more determined than ever to find a way to make his wish a reality.
• Martial Arts Staff: Fights using one.
• Motive Decay: During the Ray of Light endgame, Zheng becomes so obsessed with defeating Iori that he's fine with Caster using his life force to call forth Yasomagatsuhi despite how that would kill him and make his original wish impossible to attain.
• "Not So Different" Remark: In "Ray of Light", he pulls this on Iori in an attempt to make him give him the Waxing Moon Vessel without a fight, citing that just as Iori wishes to protect Edo's peace, Zheng wants to save his people in China and restore their peace. Both Saber and Iori are sympathetic, but they're adamant that the Vessel cannot be used and that it isn't the moral and right path.
• True Companions: With Archer. The two are incredibly close-knit and hold faith in each other's abilities. As a testament to their bond, Zheng uses the wish he earned in the Keian Command Championship in Archer's ending to give Zhou Yu an actual flesh and blood body and return to China.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Zheng is desperate to save his people back in China, knowing that simply fighting isn't going to cut it anymore. He wants the power of the Waxing Moon Ritual so he can save his people and make sure the conflict finally ends. While his goals are noble (Iori even sympathizes with him), his willingness to ally with Caster and betray Iori to obtain it, causes him to become far from the honorable man he was when he was working with Archer. It doesn't help Caster egged him to do it, playing into Zheng's doubts and concern for his people.
• You Remind Me of X: The reason why Archer is loyal to him. He reminds Zhou Yu of his best friend and lord Sun Ce, thus offering Zhou Yu a chance to fulfill his wish of helping his lord achieve their goals. When Archer is temporarily mind controlled, he manages to resist enough that he choses to kill himself to protect Zheng.

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Yui Shousetsu

Voiced by: Mutsumi Tamura

The Selfless Liberator

"Killing an aspirant who is unaware that they are a Master runs counter to my code."

A well known military scholar and ronin admired by others of the same cloth, who runs a military academy in Edo. Yui chose to become the Master of Rider for the Shogunate in the Waxing Moon Ritual, albeit with some reluctance.

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• Age Lift: In the year this game takes place, they should be around 45~46 years old yet they look younger than Iori, although there's a chance that this could simply just be a case of Older Than They Look. Considering that she is actually a homunculus then she is much younger than her appearance implies.
• Ambiguous Gender: The historical Yui was a man. In-story, they're clearly meant as androgynous, with characters assuming them to be male based on their background and status. Their in-game profile lists their gender as "?" until Musashi casually refers to them as a woman, to everyone else's utter shock. In the Japanese script, gendered pronouns are avoided entirely (a simple matter for that language) while the English script "defaults" to he/him.
• Artificial Human: Yui is revealed to be a homunculus made using the techniques of the Einzbern family. Unfortunately, this means she has a relatively short life expectancy despite her creator attempting to extend it, and once Dorothea Coyett and her underlings find out they treat Yui as an object and try to seize possession of her.
• Boss Subtitles: She's introduced as "Yui Shousetsu, the Selfless Liberator".
• But Now I Must Go: After the Ushi Gozen crisis is resolved, Shousetsu is forcibly detained by members of the Mage Association located in Japan who see her former Servant's actions as a transgression against The Masquerade — threatening the existence of Mystery in the process — that coupled with the fact she's a Homunculus built around Einzbern techniques, which don't belong in Japan at all as a product of Western magecraft, ends up with Shousetsu deemed to be too much of a risk to allow to remain within the territory of Japan and handed off to the Coyett family to ensure she doesn't create more issues in the future, which isn't too long given her life expectancy, practically making her fate a death sentence. Only in the Ray of Light route is she allowed to stay long enough to perform a Heroic Sacrifice instead of suffering a quiet death.
• Disappointed in You: In the "Entreat the Darkness" ending, Yui escapes the Coyett family only to witness Iori's declaration that he's going to use the Waxing Moon to plunge Japan into an eternal war and realizes that the pure and righteous individual she saw him as was an ephemeral smokescreen masking his true Blood Knight self, comparing him to the moon itself. Heartbroken, having entrusted Iori with her goals earlier that same day, Yui leaves lamenting having been tricked by his Mask of Sanity.
• Early-Bird Cameo: Yui was mentioned in Senji Muramasa's profile from Fate/Grand Order Material XII, released five months before this game. It mentioned his attempt to overthrow the shogunate in 1651, and that he owns a sword crafted by Muramasa.
• Friend to All Children: In Rider's ending of the Keian Command Championship, Yui uses her wish to help raise and educate the children of Edo, presumably many of which are from the lower-class, hoping that this can start the path to the equal society she desires.
• Friendly Enemy: To a degree. Yui starts off as cold towards Iori, only sparing his life on a technicality due to her code of honor when they first meet. After learning that Iori's wish is not dissimilar from her own, Yui defrosts a little and recognizes him as an honorable man but chides him for saving her life when they're enemies. During their final battle she laments that only one of their wishes can be granted, and entrusts him with her own after being defeated.
• Healing Factor: As a homunculus, Shousetsu's healing process is accelerated to the point she can recover from most wounds in moments. This allows her to better fake Rider's "betrayal" by Tsuchimikado's mind control by having her Servant attack her in such a way that would be deliberating but easy to heal in the long run.
• Heroic Sacrifice: In the "Ray of Light" route, Yui—despite her permanent burn injuries from Chiemon—forces herself to keep fighting to help Iori and Saber stop Caster and Zheng, including fighting alongside them during the Final Battle and most crucially creating a powerful barrier spell to protect them from Yasomagatsuhi's ultimate Breath Weapon attack. However, all of this puts enough of a strain on her that she expires shortly after the battle is over, her last sight before passing away sitting against a boulder being of Iori framed by the light of the rising sun.
• Historical Gender Flip: The historical Yui Shousetsu was a man but here Yui is instead a woman. However, she is androgynous enough for pretty much everyone around her would confuse her for a male—at least prior to Fate/Grand Order revealing she's less androgynous than her kimono makes her appear.
• Honor Before Reason: On the first night, Rider has Iori completely cornered. Out of honor, Yui calls Rider back so they can give him their name and kill him themselves, and these few moments may have been the only reason Iori's summoning spell activates in time to save him. After the ensuing fight, Yui withdraws, explicitly to give Iori the chance to grow as a Master before they meet again, instead of killing him right there and preventing the guaranteed outcome of Saber becoming a major obstacle.
• Interclass Friendship: Yui is a samurai and member of the shogunate's government, but is whole-heartedly idolized by the lower-class ronin and wishes to use the Waxing Moon to create an egalitarian society where nobody will suffer.
• "It" Is Dehumanizing: Dorothea Coyett and her underlings dismissively refer to Yui as "it" and treat her as an object once her nature as a homunculus comes to light.
• Lady Looks Like a Dude: Yui is more often than not believed to be a man by pretty much everyone she meets.
• Living on Borrowed Time: As a homunculus, she has an unavoidable expiry date. In the "Ray of Light" route, she chooses to make the most of her last days to help Iori destroy the Waxing Moon Ritual, and sacrifices herself to do so; while in the "Entreat the Darkness" route she wanders off in despair to die alone.
• Magic Knight: Alongside her skill with a blade, Yui fights by utilizing magecraft invoking the classic elements of fire, water, wind, and earth, and can combine the two together to empower her slashes with the elements.
• Mystical White Hair: Yui has snow-white hair due to having been based on the homunculus-making alchemy used by the Einzbern family.
• Older Than They Look: Yui's character dossier says that she is over thirty, but looks like she could be under twenty.
• Recurring Element: Like in other mainline Fate works, one of the Masters is a homunculus.
• Taking the Bullet: In "Ray of Light", she throws herself in front of Iori and takes the full brunt of Chiemon's fire attack to claim the Waxing Moon Vessel for himself that sends her flying away, leaving her with a severe injury that even her innate healing factor can't repair.
• This Is Unforgivable!: Once Yui learns her servant's actual identity and wish, Yui is both horrified and pissed off that she condoned such a monster to exist to threaten Edo, siding with Iori, Saber, and Musashi to finish off Ushi Gozen almost immediately.
• Unknowingly in Love: As they work together, Yui slowly becomes attracted to Iori, but does not immediately understand it. In the "Ray of Light" ending she's able to peacefully pass away content with the knowledge that her dream is in good hands, recalling how happy she felt when Iori promised to see it through; while in the "Entreat the Darkness" ending she's heartbroken to discover that the man she fell in love with was just a Mask of Sanity for a ruthless Blood Knight who promptly betrays her ideals in pursuit of power.
• Well-Intentioned Extremist: Yui desires to use the Waxing Grail War to bring about peace and end suffering for mankind, something born from her Artifical Human nature and witnessing the suffering of the ronin and oppression of Japanese Christians like what occurred in the Shimabara Rebellion. While honorable for the most part, Yui is willing to do things she disagrees with in order to achieve her goal, such as working with the Wild Card Chiemon, and Tsuchimikado if it advances her goal. Thankfully, she never goes full Knight Templar due to Rider's reveal leading to her losing her means of winning the Grail.
• What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Sadly the moment her identity as an Artifical Human comes to light — on top of violations towards The Masquerade that her Servant caused — all of her individual rights are taken from her as her own person and Shousetsu is detained by the Mage Association as a piece of rogue property being shipped back to the West, with Dorothea and her underlings referring to her as an "it". Rather than spend her remaining time under such conditions, in the "Ray of Light" and "Entreat the Darkness" routes she escapes and tries to reunite with Iori, with Dorothea reluctantly agreeing to "loan" Yui to Iori in the former when he makes it clear he's not giving her back.
• Wound That Will Not Heal: In "Ray of Light" her Taking the Bullet for Chiemon's attack on Iori leaves her with burns that won't heal in spite of her Healing Factor.

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Tsuchimikado Yasuhiro

Voiced by: Satoshi Mikami

“Such things do happen. The Waxing Moon Ritual is still under experimentation, after all.”

The head of the Tsuchimikado family of onmyouji and descendant of Abe-no-Seimei. Acting as the Observer for the Waxing Moon Ritual, he also is the Master of Caster.

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• The Archmage: Tsuchimikado really wants to come off as one of these, but while he performs some impressive feats over the course of the story, he's nowhere near the level of his famous ancestor or even Douman. Tellingly, during the raid on his temple, he baffles the protagonists by making it appear that he can completely change the flow of Edo's leylines on a whim. No one else in the story can do this. Not his much more magically powerful Caster (who can just block some off) or the demigod Ushi-Gozen can do so, and it's an extremely rare ability in the franchise as a whole. Circe, the true Archmage of the Waxing Moon Ritual, then dismissively reveals that all he's actually doing is concealing them with magecraft, and once the illusions are dispelled, Iori and Saber navigate the Spirit Front fight as normal.
• Big Bad Wannabe: Despite being the primary designer and instigator of the Waxing Moon Ritual, he is defeated midway through the game in every route. This is especially hilarious as his Servant ends up being way more of a threat than him, being able to at least be the Final Boss of the Ray of Light route, whereas Tsuchimikado isn't even granted the dignity of an onscreen death.
• Brainwashed and Crazy: His strategy in the Ritual. By exploiting his position as the Observer and his mastery of Edo's leylines, he performed a ritual that lets him manipulate Servants against their will. Rogue Servants tied to said leylines are especially vulnerable, leading to him controlling 5 of them at one point. However, there is a catch: Servants with high Divinity can resist this mind control, though it is not a guarantee particularly in the case of the Rogue Servants^note Cu Chulainn, Arjuna, Tamamo Aria, and even Saber all have varying degrees of Divinity but still fall under his control at least temporarily, while Circe has both Divinity and the magecraft knowledge to figure out he's doing it and protect herself, Assassin can resist him with his Divinity but chooses to give in anyways to fulfill his own goal, and Gilgamesh has Divinity, sky-high resistances thanks to his Ruler class, and his galaxy-sized ego letting him shrug it off. This is how Shousetsu tricked him into believing he had Rider under his control.
• Butt-Monkey: The Keian Command Championship does a number on his dignity. The Divine Spirit he hoped to summon in the first place is not at all as he hoped she was and does whatever she pleases, and in Caster's ending, she gains a corporeal form and proceeds to wander the streets of Edo in full view of the citizens, much to his chagrin and exasperation.
• Cheaters Never Prosper: Tsuchimikado is practically holding all the cards, being the creator of the ritual and Fixing the Game in his own favor. He only makes it to the halfway point of the story.
• Control Freak: He's the only one other than Boss who knows that the Waxing Moon he created is a Shoddy Knockoff Product of the Holy Grail, but he goes with the weaker Waxing Moon anyway because it's something entirely within his control. And when he summons Ibuki-Douji in the first DLC despite the warnings of Boss and Caster, Tsuchimikado blows them off to pursue his scheme because he wants the new Ruler under his command and won't accept any other outcome, going as far as sabotaging Boss' countermeasures.
• Even Evil Has Loved Ones: He may be a smarmy and arrogant bastard, but he genuinely loves and cares for his brother, and sets him up to become the next head of the family.
• Famous Ancestor: Is a descendant of Abe-no-Seimei, with the decline of his clan being one of the reasons why he enacts the Waxing Moon Ritual.
• Fixing the Game: He can use the Waxing Moon to seize control of Servants. He also just so happens to be the one who created the Waxing Moon, and is thus the only one who knows of this function...
• Hate Sink: Of the Masters. Each Master is presented as having some form of positive or understandable reason they are fighting, or have a backstory that explains their behavior. Tsuchimikado does have these, specifically a desire to improve his family's reputation after his father was brought low by political manipulation despite his magical skills, as well as a love for his brother. However, Tsuchimikado spends so much of his time being so arrogant and treating others like tools, plus these reasons are only explored after his death, that for most of the story he comes off as the most despicable Master and one quite deserving of the fate awaiting him.
• Hellish Pupils: When unmasked his character model has vertical slits for pupils, accentuating his malicious nature. In his artwork his eyes are horizontally stretched to give him an even more maniacal appearance.
• Killed Offscreen: In the "Ray of Light" route, he isn't even dignified with a final showdown with the heroes, as when Iori and Saber choose to prioritize defeating Assassin and saving Dorothea, by the time they get back to his base Tsuchimikado has already been killed and Shousetsu takes the Waxing Moon for herself.
• Neutral in Name Only: Being the overseer of the ritual, of course he is directly and personally involved. When is it ever not the case?
• Pet the Dog: Despite being perhaps the most blatantly sinister contestant, he's shown to have a very good relationship with his younger brother, even pushing for him to be the next family head for his political and management skills despite being an Inept Mage.
• Summon Bigger Fish: A Servant is naturally a bigger fish, but Tsuchimikado had even grander ideas. It's revealed in the Keian Command Championship that his original plan was to summon Ibuki-Douji via Caster's abilities to engage in Loophole Abuse, but the possibility of this incited Boss to actually do his job as a Ruler and shut that down before it started. The Championship DLC story is what happens if Tsuchimikado doesn't take the hint and invokes a speed-summon with the Waxing Moon to call Ibuki-Douji up.
• Suspiciously Similar Substitute:
  • To Ashiya Douman, the rival of his ancestor, a primarily green-and-red colored onmyouji who presided over a Japanese Holy Grail War in the Heian-kyo storyline of Fate/Grand Order.
  • Him supposedly being a neutral Observer for the war but having his own Servant that he uses to further his own plans makes him essentially the story's version of Kirei Kotomine from Fate/stay night.
• Talking Is a Free Action: Subverted on the "Flames of Resentment" route. Tsuchimikado is gloating to Iori, Saber, and Rogue Saber about how they should beg for the lives when Chiemon and Lancer show up and immediately kill Tsuchimikado in the middle of his boasting, instantly ending Tsuchimikado as a threat.
• This Cannot Be!: After being stabbed by Lancer, he struggles to crawl away while declaring that someone as powerful and magnificent as himself cannot possibly die to lowborn trash like her and Chiemon, and screams for Rider to save him before being finished off.

Dorothea Coyett

Voiced by: Aya Hirano

The Seafaring Lady

"You still don't understand what we mages aspire to, I see."

The daughter of Swedish nobleman, Fredrik Coyett, who came to Japan aboard a galleon. She is a mage of the Clock Tower and the Master of Assassin.

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• Anime Hair: When not wearing her hat, her hair is revealed to be worn a wavy-swiped spikey style that prominently sticks out from her head.
• Big Damn Heroes: In the "Ray of Light" route, Dorothea provides some unexpected assistance to Iori and company by way of sustained cannon-fire from her ship against Ushi Gozen's Noble Phantasm, luring it and Ushi Gozen away from Asakusa to the port. This also clears the way for Saber to unleash their full power against Ushi Gozen without any innocents being caught in the crossfire.
• Boss Subtitles: In the Keian Command Championship DLC, she's introduced as "Dorothea Coyett, the Seafaring Lady".
• Coat Cape: Her huge coat is unbuttoned and styled this way.
• Crush Blush: She sports one after Iori saves her from Assassin, though she made sure he was out of sight before revealing it. It is however spotted by Musashi, who smiles at the sight of "youth".
• Enemy Mine: After Assassin betrays her by giving in to Tsuchimikado's spell, Dorothea allies with Iori and Saber to help them get back at Assassin.
• Flower Motif: She has gold and black lily of the valley ornaments on her.
• Friendly Rivalry: With Zheng Chenggong, as both are respected nobles of foreign descent whom have a lot banking on their performance in the Waxing Moon Ritual, Dorothea has a healthy amount of respect for her opponent.
• Heroic Sacrifice: If Iori chooses to face Tsuchimikado at the end of Chapter 4 rather than attempt to help her against Assassin, Giovanni will later reveal that Dorothea sacrificed herself offscreen to stop Assassin's rampage.
• Historical Character's Fictional Relative: The real-life Fredrik Coyett had only one child, a son named Balthasar who would've only been a year old in 1651.
• Leg Focus: Her long legs are not only left bare by her extremely short skirt, they're covered in notable intricate tattoos, which are implied to actually be her Magic Crest.
• Master of Unlocking: She's an expert in Bounded Fields (magical barriers), and while she's good at setting them up, she's even better at knocking them down. In particular, she can punch through Tsuchimikado's Bounded Fields near-effortlessly despite him being the most skilled, experienced living mortal sorcerer in Japan and the Master of a defensive-specialist Caster-class servant. This is extremely useful for helping Assassin carry out the infiltration operations his class is designed for, and makes her a valuable ally during her Enemy Mine alliance with Iori and Saber.
• Mundane Utility: In Assassin's Keian Command Championship ending, Dorothea takes a page from Marisbury Animusphere's book and uses her wish from the tournament to provide the Coyett family substantial funding, enough that she gives up on the Waxing Moon Ritual and goes about on her own private ventures.
• Mythology Gag: Dorothea has a number of parallels to Rin Tohsaka.
  • Both are upper-class members of the nobility and mage society.
  • Both are members of a cultural demographic that mark them as outsiders or unusual. Where Rin is a Japanese Christian, Dorothea is a foreigner in Sakoku-era Japan.
  • Both lose their Servants midway through the story, and form an alliance with their respective Master of Saber, though in Rin's case, the alliance lasts much longer.
• Not in This for Your Revolution: While most mages would covet the Waxing Moon despite being an inferior Holy Grail, Dorothea herself has no interest in it and her plans for it are very mundane when compared to her fellow Masters. In fact, in Assassin's ending in the Keian Command Championship DLC, she forgoes the Waxing Moon Ritual outright after using the wish she got from the tournament to provide the Coyett family enough funding for the next two centuries.
• Spanner in the Works: Should she be saved from Assassin, her subsequent assistance not only puts Iori on the "Ray of Hope" route (and the ending that could be considered the "good" one), but provides bonuses in various endgame Spirit Fronts as well.
• Token White: The only Master in the Waxing Moon Ritual who isn't at least part Japanese, to the point Iori admits he's surprised how fluent she is in the Japanese language despite her obvious foreignness. In an interview about the game, Nasu said that he personally pushed to have a Western mage be present.
• Trap Master: One of her most notable spells is a binding spell marked by a large magic circle under her target that will keep them rooted in place for a time. It's strong enough it can even temporarily hold a Servant as powerful as Assassin in his Super Mode, which proves critical when Iori needs to weaken him enough for Saber to finish off with their Noble Phantasm.
• Tsundere: She's quite smug and haughty when she addresses Iori, but it's implied she has a crush on him after he helps her defeat Kouga Saburou.
• Why Did It Have to Be Snakes?: It is explicitly stated in her profile that she has crippling arachnophobia. She even lets Iori and Saber do the fighting against demonic spiders during their brief alliance.

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Takao Dayu

Voiced by: Ami Koshimizu

"Yoshiwara women are strong. We don't lose heart when someone disappears or dies."

One of the three most popular dayu, the highest rank of courtesan, in Edo. Residing in the brothel Miura-ya, in Yoshiwara, many men long for her, even feudal lords. She is the Master of Berserker.

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• Action Survivor: Dayu is a High-Class Call Girl and a performer with no knowledge of the magical world until she meets Musashi. And yet, her wits, use of her charisma, and command of two powerful Berserkers make her one of the most formidable Masters in the war at the start of the story. She could have killed Iori and Saber fairly easily when they come looking for her in Yoshiwara, but spares them because of Iori's relationship with Musashi and the heroes' value as intelligence assets.
• Age Lift: Explicitly the second Takao Dayu, who in real world history was only 11 years old in 1651.
• Benevolent Boss: Despite the sort of business that is attracted to Red Light District, Takao Dayu cares for all of the women under her and is explicitly trying to move them out of having to rely on prostitution to make ends meet and find much more successfully happy lives completely in spite of how that would affect the bottom line of her business. This love also extends to her Servants as well, as despite being a complete novice to the world of magecraft, she stands as the most beneficial Master to work for as both Berserkers under her employ can attest too. She even uses all of her Command Spells to allow Musashi all the time she needs to fulfill her last duel with Iori because it is her only wish before she's forced to part from this timeline. In the end, both Musashi and Samson leave the story happy and satisfied, which is more than most of the Servants of the war can attest.
• Costume Porn: Dayu wears a gorgeous and richly detailed kimono everywhere she goes along with golden accessories and extremely tall clogs. Despite the impracticality of such an outfit, her decadent garments mark her as a woman of status.
• Friendly Enemy: After the initial hostility that came with the two parties meeting, once things cool down, Dayu is genuinely accommodating to Iori and even fills him in on the mechanics of how being in a Holy Grail War works despite the fact that she herself only knew them herself just recently due to her Muggle nature and, by those same mechanics, they should still be enemies. Afterwards, Dayu purposefully keeps an arms-length truce with Iori and Saber rather than pursue further conflict due to similar interests allowing both groups to benefit from each other for the time being.
• High-Class Call Girl: She is the second Takao Dayu, one of the highest-ranking oiran in Japanese society. In addition to her profession as a courtesan, she's a skilled performer and entertainer beloved by the people of Yoshiwara. This popularity allows her to turn the entire district into her personal fortress, as she's so well-liked that the commonfolk will gladly take up arms to protect her from those who would do her harm. The people of Yoshiwara also act as her eyes and ears, presenting her with gossip that she uses as intel to plan around the other Masters and Servants.
• High-Heel Power: Dayu wears impractically tall heels and walks with grace amidst an entourage of loyal followers, emphasizing the authority and prestige she wields due to her position and beauty.
• Hooker with a Heart of Gold: All Takao wants is to free her girls from prostitution and live their lives, sending Iori and Saber to get things for them rather than for her and even shielding one of them from a rowdy customer who tries to cut them down.
• Identical Stranger: Takao looks very similar to Delilah as we see from Samson's flashback.
• Inept Mage: Stands out in the Waxing Moon Ritual by, despite having Magic Circuits, being the only Master to have zero experience with magecraft until the ritual picked her to be Musashi's Master, making her a Muggle for all intents and purposes. She still manages to get by with her Servant, her wits, and that the Rogue Berserker also has a soft spot for her.
• Kill the Ones You Love: While the precise nature of her love for Samson is ambiguous (romantic, familial, or simply friendly?), its existence is not, and she's heartbroken at being forced to deliver a Mercy Kill to him.
• Legacy Character: Takao Dayu is an inherited name passed down through a total of 11 elite courtesans from the mid-17th to the mid-18th century. This is the second Takao, who historically was 11 years old in 1651.
• Loved by All: Dayu is enormously popular in Yoshiwara, her base of operations. When news gets out that Iori and Saber tried to assault Dayu and Rogue Berserker, everyone from sellswords to old men immediately start a manhunt for Iori.
• Miss Exposition: Dayu is the one to explain the nature of the Waxing Moon Ritual to Iori at Musashi's behest. This is also lampshaded by Dayu herself, who complains that she's doing all the exposition even though Musashi is much more qualified to talk about such things; but Musashi insists that she likes the way Dayu presents the details.
• Miss Kitty: The leader of old Japan's most well known Red Light District and a popular figure in town. She's very personally attached to her girls, to the point that her wish is to let them all get out of prostitution and live their own happy lives. A cutscene even shows her visiting a sick colleague and trying to cheer her up to take medicine so that she can fulfill her dream to be free. Tsuchimikado's offer to grant her that wish without the ritual causes... problems.
• Mistaken for Badass: The crew Dorothea sent into Yoshiwara for information gathering on Takao Dayu assumes she is its "shadow ruler" and that she is a "mage of unknown lineage". Takao only laughs once she learns about this, as it could not be any further from the truth.
• Non-Action Guy: Of all the Masters, Dayu is an Inept Mage bordering on Muggle and has no ability to defend herself from another Master or Servant. But her overwhelming charisma and the backing of both Berserkers of the war make her a force to be reckoned with, turning Yoshiwara into her personal stronghold as she's kept safe within the confines of Miura-ya. The only time she does fight is when she sneaks up behind Samson and chops off his hair with a wakizashi, weakening him enough for Saber to finish off. This continues into the "Keian Command Championship" DLC where she's the only Master who isn't Promoted to Playable, with Musashi filling in for her as Berserker's de-facto Master.
• Redeeming Replacement: She's this to Delilah, the woman who seduced Samson, right down to being an Identical Stranger. Rather than being his Lust Object who accepted a hostile foreign power's commission to betray and kidnap him, she's a Hooker with a Heart of Gold who acts as a sincerely Benevolent Boss, and when she cuts his hair, it's as a Mercy Kill that he's deeply grateful for.
• Start My Own: In Berserker's ending in the Keian Command Championship DLC, Dayu uses her wish to start up a new village where people can start new lives, several of the inhabitants of which are former workers from Yoshiwara.
• Supermodel Strut: When she makes her first appearance, she walks slowly but sensually, swaying her hips from side-to-side in a practiced, methodical gait. This emphasizes her beauty, her ettiquette, and her sensuality as the most desirable woman in all of Edo.
• Tomboy and Girly Girl: Dayu is the Girly Girl to Musashi's Tomboy. While both are beautiful Japanese women, Dayu exemplifies the Japanese standards of beauty and ettiquette. Everything she does is carefully practiced and performed with grace suited for a famed performer and one of the most desirable women in Japan. Musashi is much more spontaneous in her thoughts and actions, eager for a fight, and pursues a traditionally masculine occupation as a swordmaster. Dayu also wears conservative, but decadent clothing in her role as an oiran, while Musashi's outfit is much more ostentatious and shows off the top of her chest.
• Tragic Keepsake: After Samson's death, Dayu reveals in the Digression "Samson Agonistes" that a lock of his hair remained and didn't dematerialize with him. She gives it to Iori, which unlocks Samson's Secret Technique: Lion Slayer.
• World's Most Beautiful Woman: Considered one of the most beautiful women in all of Edo.

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