History Fridge / FateStayNightUnlimitedBladeWorks

** The fact Enkidu shaped himself after being molded by the ''gods'' makes Gilgamesh's praise of how well made Illya's servants are seem more like mocking. His comment how humans will never be able to reciprocate the purity a tool with a human heart has can be rather self-deprecating, as Gilgamesh believed it was it was his selfishness that caused his friend's death.

* The fact that they chose to adapt the ''Unlimited Blade Works'' route instead of the other two seems strange at first; however, it makes more sense since the route is better suited as the [[{{Sequel}} continuation]] of ''LightNovel/FateZero'', considering the ''Fate'' route primarily acts as an introductory InfoDump for people completely new to the setting and characters (and has already been adapted once), whereas much of the impact of the ''Heaven's Feel'' route is primarily a {{Deconstruction}} of the other two routes which results in ContinuityLockout.
** The legacy of Kiritsugu plays a central role, as the compass of Shirou [[spoiler: and the source of Archer's own conflict]].
** Rin's role as {{Deuteragonist}} is better handled since, out of the future masters of the Fifth Grail War, she was given the most spotlight in the previous story.
** The story is handled as a {{Sequel}} to ''LightNovel/FateZero'', so it can properly show the reasons and motives of both Shirou and Rin, as well as serve as [[spoiler:a proper end to the Emiyas's ideals, [[{{Deconstruction}} accepting the flaws that they have]] and [[{{Reconstruction}} striving to make them better]]]].
** [[PragmaticAdaptation Or]], out of the three routes UBW is the one that is least spoiled by ''Fate/Zero.'' Nearly every major twist or plot point in the ''Fate'' route is explained in ''Fate/Zero'', from Saber's name and wish to [[spoiler:Kotomine being evil, Avalon being in Shirou and Gilgamesh still being in the war]], as are the plot points in ''Heaven's Feel'' of [[spoiler:Zouken being evil, Sakura and Rin being sisters, Kotomine and Illya's hidden depths and what Sakura suffered]].
** Also, ''Fate/Zero'' can be described as "everyone but Gilgamesh loses." Well, in the UBW route, [[spoiler:he is personally defeated by a "faker" in one-on-one combat. This makes sure Gilgamesh gets his comeuppance once and for all]].
** In addition, the UBW route is where Waver's postulates at the beginning of ''Fate/Zero'' shine the best: Rin's use of [[spoiler:Bajiquan and reinforcement magic]] is what allows her to almost defeat [[spoiler:Caster]] whereas Shirou's use of projection magic [[spoiler:and ultimately Unlimited Blade Works]] grants him the ability to defeat [[spoiler:Gilgamesh]].
* Whenever Rin uses Gandr against serious opponents, she uses her entire hand to fire. But against Shirou in episode 5 she uses just her index finger, so you know she's going easy on him. This is even shown in the same episode, when she saves Shirou you can see her firing with her entire hand. It gets further confirmed in episode 8, when she interrogates Shinji she only points a finger at him, and then in episode 10 when she makes a "finger" gesture and says that's how she fires a relatively harmless Gandr blast that won't do any serious damage to a regular human.
* Episode 5 is a reference to a Bad End in the UBW Route of the VN. If Shirou had lost that fight, Rin would have instead harmlessly removed his Command Seals, erased his memories of the Grail War, and sent him home.

* It's not a big secret anymore due to the original VN and the film, but pay attention to the second opening and both endings and you'll see:
** Pairings of servant and masters, including Ilya with Berserker, Kuzuki with Caster... and [[spoiler:Rin with Saber, so you can guess who shall end up making a contract]]. Also, the second ending shows Shirou at the end with Rin in a suspiciously similar situation to the one shown in the first ending of Archer and Rin.
* The battles between Servants in this series happen at a ''much'' faster speed than they do in ''LightNovel/FateZero,'' with lightning-fast strikes and parries as opposed to the slower and methodical combat in the prequel. This can best be explained in that in ''Fate/Zero'', we were seeing battles from the perspectives of the Servants, who of course have SuperSpeed and SuperSenses, whereas in this show, we are seeing Servant battles the way a normal human would perceive them. When Archer has a rare inner monologue about his assessment of Lancer's ultimate attack, the pace of the fight momentarily returns to that of the ones in ''Fate/Zero'', due to the perspective becoming a Servant's again.

* in Episode 21, Gilgamesh states that he plans to [[spoiler:use the Grail to kill most of humanity, reasoning that the survivors are worthy for him to rule]]. At first, this sounds like stereotypical StupidEvil blather… until you remember what happened to the only normal person who survived being in ground zero of the previous Grail. [[spoiler: He had the potential to beat Servants, and would grow up to be qualified to be a Counter Guardian(The Counter Force doesn't pick anyone willy-nilly, the Last Counter Guardian was Jeanne D'Arc, who was able to become a Full Heroic Spirit, a ''Ruler'', no less)]]. Put that into perspective and Gil's plan makes a macabre sort of logic. He already has the proof of concept that his plan would work.
* Gilgamesh not wearing his ultra-tough armor in the ''Unlimited Blade Works'' route doesn't necessarily have to be chalked up to ForgotAboutHisPowers or the VillainBall in this continuity. Since the ''Fate'' route (the one where he did indeed choose to wear his armor) is out of the question, it's entirely possible that the armor was destroyed when the Grail cursed him. [[spoiler:Since the Shirou vs. Gilgamesh fight was altered so that Gilgamesh's choosing to get serious was extended from pulling out Ea in a panic to unleashing the full might of the Gate for half a minute, he had ample time to equip his armor if he was really afraid of getting hit by Shirou - yet he didn't. This could be a sign that the armor no longer exists in the Gate.]]

* Gilgamesh never found out that Shirou couldn't project Ea. This adds an extra justification for why he was extremely hesitant to use the sword within Shirou's Reality Marble, and why he didn't use it even after claiming that he was going to get serious - because Shirou could summon weapons at a faster rate than Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh naturally had the fear that pulling out Ea would cause Shirou to simply summon his own Ea and utterly humiliate him by killing him with his own Enuma Elish. Supporting this is Gilgamesh telling Shirou "Only the supreme ruler may wield that blade. You don't have the right to gaze upon it," which can be taken as Gilgamesh saying that he'd rather not add that projection to Shirou's library of swords and is disgusted that utilizing Ea just may have.

* [[spoiler:Waver's]] response when Shirou tells him his dream - of course [[spoiler:Waver]] thought that way. After all, [[spoiler:he was Rider/Iskander's master and viewed his dream in the same light.]]

* in Episode 21, Gilgamesh states that he plans to [[spoiler:use the Grail to kill most of humanity, reasoning that the survivors are worthy for him to rule]]. At first, this sounds like stereotypical StupidEvil blather… until you remember what happened to the only normal person who survived being in ground zero of the previous Grail. [[spoiler: He had the potential to beat Servants, and would grow up to be qualified to be a Counter Guardian(The Counter Force doesn't pick anyone willy-nilly, the Last Counter Guardian was Joan D'Arc, who was able to become a Full Heroic Spirit, a ''Ruler'', no less)]]. Put that into perspective and Gil's plan makes a macabre sort of logic. He already has the proof of concept that his plan would work.