History Analysis / FateStayNight

In Unlimited Blade Works, the cracks start to show as Shirou's support system is fractured with Rin not moving in as his tutor, and more significantly, TheReveal of Archer's treachery. In this route, it's spelled out quite bluntly how unwavering idealism, rather than being rewarding, can become an IronicHell. Archer is what Shirou would become if he forsook all his mortal attachments in service of his ideals; a man trapped in a brutal, thankless cycle of saving the world from its lowest points over and over again, with none of the human connections that make such a heroic pursuit worthwhile. Heroism itself loses all its value if its divorced from the humanity innate in all of us.

The Fate storyline goes out of its way to enable Shirou's idealism. His love interest is the KnightInShiningArmor Saber, the stakes are very clearly black and white, and Shirou has a rock-solid support system that he can leverage to win the war and save the world. The "right thing to do" is never really in question, as all of Shirou's arguments with Saber and Rin about putting himself in danger, or Saber's own self-loathing become moot points when Kotomine shows his true colors and the Grail's true nature is revealed. The path forward is simple, and obvious leading to a truly righteous finale and resolution. It's telling that Saber is the one who gets the lion's share of CharacterDevelopment, which ultimately amounts to her moving past her self-doubt and taking solace in knowing she did the right thing. Shirou and Saber are ultimately rewarded for their unerring righteousness in ''Realta Nua'' by being reunited in Avalon, a clear parallel to the promise of heavenly salvation found in many religions.

It's easy to stick to your ideals when the people around you embody those very ideals themselves. It's possible to bounce back from moments of doubt when you have a kindred spirit willing to work through those doubts with you. But if the price for your ideals is walking alone and leaving your loved ones behind, there is no happiness to be found along such a cruel road.

Heaven's Feel explores the circumstances in which clinging to high-minded ideals is no longer feasible.

HS/Shirou is perhaps the most human of his incarnations. The majority of people on this planet choose, every day, to put themselves ahead of strangers. To put friends and family ahead of the unknown and unknowable others they share the world with. Perhaps this is why people like HF/Shirou. Because his weakness remind them of their own weakness. Because they can empathize, and understand this one choice, as they couldn't grasp the absolute selflessness of Fate, or the more contained but still-present drive to save people of UBW.

Many, both here on Wiki/TVTropes and elsewhere, have noted the fact that Shirou doesn't place much value on his own life. In fact, it is this that allows him his amazing use of projection magic.

Heaven's Feel finally breaks him. HF/Shioru is a straight freefall from Saviour to Man. In Heaven's Feel, Shirou not only yearns, but he places his yearning, his desire for selfish happiness, above the happiness of the world at large. HF Shirou regress to the origin point of Man, having reached the bottom rung of enlightenment. His Ego firmly supplants his super ego, and his even his id shows up every now and then. Shirou chooses Sakura, the one thing he wants, over the world and his ideals. If his ideals require that Sakura die that the many be saved (the infamous Mind of Steel ending that people go frothy-mouth over), then he chooses to abandon his ideals. To embrace selfish wants, and do what is best for himself and those he places value in.

The three routes of Fate Stay/Night can almost be seen as a trip from the Ideal end to a bit closer to the Cynic's side of the SlidingScaleOfIdealismVersusCynicism. Many fans describe it as akin to the journey from child to man.

''In Progress''

What the distant finale means is that, despite everything the world could throw at him, Shirou emerged unscathed. He lived his ideals as best he could, and grasped his reward by entering Utopia (The absolute endgoal of every religion ever: To cast off sin, and be allowed into heaven). Shirou accomplishes this, and yet Fate/Shirou is cast as being the least developed of the three.

Heaven's Feel finally breaks him. HF/Shioru is a straight freefall from Saviour to Man.In Heaven's Feel, Shirou not only yearns, but he places his yearning, his desire for selfish happiness, above the happiness of the world at large. HF Shirou regress to the origin point of Man, having reached the bottom rung of enlightenment. His Ego firmly supplants his super ego, and his even his id shows up every now and then. Shirou chooses Sakura, the one thing he wants, over the world and his ideals. If his ideals require that Sakura die that the many be saved (the infamous Mind of Steel ending that people go frothy-mouth over), then he chooses to abandon his ideals. To embrace selfish wants, and do what is best for himself and those he places value in.

While Shirou does noble things in the other routes, it is also there that most events that cause much of his labeling as a CanonSue and/or TheScrappy come in. It's why Anime Shirou is one of the least liked versions-- he's mainly based on Fate route, the one where he gets the least development. But by Heaven's Feel True End, we see a Shirou who can say, "No. I want Sakura to live." This does not doom him. It redeems him-- asserting a selfish desire gives him a focus. Nor does it destroy his Projection ability-- he can now direct his selflessness to something (and someone) he values, making him not a boy with a vague ideal but a man with a true cause-- and a stunning skill to back it.

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<<|{{Analysis}}|>>

Many, both here on TVTropes and elsewhere, have noted the fact that Shirou doesn't place much value on his own life. In fact, it is this that allows him his amazing use of projection magic.

In Heaven's Feel, reality and Sakura drive Shirou toward a more adult viewpoint. Here we see him (as a [[CalvinAndHobbes certain tiger once suggested]]) holding fast to what he can, and compromising when he must. This is more mature than he can bring himself to be in the other ends. His father was right, you can't save everyone-- and so he will save what is important to him.

HS/Shirou is perhaps the most human of his incarnations. The majority of people on this planet choose, every day, to put themselves ahead of strangers. To put friends and fmaily ahead of the unknown and unknowable others they share the world with. Perhaps this is why people like HF/Shirou. Because his weakness remind them of their own weakness. Because they can empathize, and understand this one choice, as they couldn't grasp the absolute selflessness of Fate, or the more contained but still-present drive to save people of UBW.

I feel UBW/Shirou is the best most humans can achieve. He slips form enlightenment, but stops his descent, and begins to pull himself back up. He never reaches that everdistant utopia, but he lives as best a life as a man is able.