History Characters / FateStayNight

* {{Characters/FateStayNightMasters}}
* {{Characters/FateStayNightServants}}
* {{Characters/FateStayNightOther}}

* {{Characters/FateStayNightMasters}}
* {{Characters/FateStayNightServants}}
* {{Characters/FateStayNightOther}}

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[[folder:Masters/Magi]]
!!Shirou Emiya (Voiced by NoriakiSugiyama, SamRiegel)
http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/shirou_emiya.jpg
-->''"I want to be a hero."''

The protagonist of the series, Shirou is an untalented magus whose only skill is basic Tracing and Reinforcement magic, which allows him to analyze the physical make-up of an object and then strengthen it. His dream is to become a "Hero of Justice", someone who can selflessly protect the lives of everyone from disaster. He inherited this dream from his adoptive father Kiritsugu Emiya ([[FateZero who had given up on it]]) and is extremely naive on what it takes to reach that ideal.

Later it is discovered that he possesses an innate talent in Projection magic, which enables him to replicate items -- including Noble Phantasms -- that he can visualize in his mind (although the copies are inferior to the originals, being reduced in power by one rank). His talent stems from the fact that, in the explosion at the climax of the Fourth Holy Grail War where he lost his parents, Shirou lost all sense of self-worth and can only find meaning in other people -- thus, Shirou can use ''himself'' as a material component when carrying out Projection.

He also possesses a HealingFactor that makes him practically immortal -- this is because ''Avalon'' -- a Noble Phantasm once possessed by Saber -- had been implanted into his body by Kiritsugu. Avalon also acts as the catalyst that allows him to accidently summon Saber for the Fifth Holy Grail Wars.

Shirou is an accomplished archer (having been a member of the school's archery club without ever missing the bull’s-eye except the one time he felt like doing so) and, following some training from Saber, is mildly proficient in swordplay. Like Archer, he possesses the Reality Marble "Unlimited Blade Works" -- which reduces the mana cost required for Projection magic to nil -- although his incantation to activate it is different.

In ''Fate'' he holds onto his ideal of being a "Hero of Justice" to the very end, defeating Kirei Kotomine in one-on-one combat, rescuing Ilya and ordering Saber to destroy the tainted Grail even though it means they will be separated forever. In ''Unlimited Blade Works'', Archer confronts him with the realities of his naivety and, although Shirou manages to convince Archer that the ideal is still worth pursuing, he agrees to take a more realistic approach. In ''Heaven's Feel'', Shirou foregoes the chance to kill Dark Sakura and potentially save millions of lives -- thus giving up his ideal -- so that he might find a way to save her instead.
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* AlmightyJanitor: In the ending to ''Unlimited Blade Works'', Shirou decides to tag along with Rin to London so that he can learn magic from the Magician's Association. Although enrolling as Rin's disciple means that he's exempt from tuition fees, it effectively puts him at the lowest point on the totem pole despite the fact that at this point, Shirou possesses the extremely rare and powerful Reality Marble magic...
* AntiHero: What he becomes in ''Heaven’s Feel''.
* ArtificialHuman: Kind of: [[spoiler:In the True End of ''Heaven’s Feel'', Shirou's body has been destroyed and his soul, which was saved by Ilya, has been implanted into a human puppet, making him something closer to a familiar or a homunculus than a true human. He is indistinguishable from the real thing, but requires mana infusions to stay alive -- basically a non-{{squick}}y version of Zouken's existence, which only seems to work for one body]].
* BewareTheHonestOnes: Shirou's a little too far on the idealistic side for even ''Saber'' so while his allies appreciate him somewhat, they also know he'll do something stupidly reckless if it's the "right" thing to do. [[spoiler:Though Tohsaka at the very end of the last route realizes she has no right to criticize because she isn't as ruthless as she thinks she is]].
* [[spoiler:BodyHorror]]: [[spoiler:See ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice below. "I am the bone of my sword", indeed]].
* BrokenHero: Much of ''Unlimited Blade Works'' is devoted to exploring it.
* BullyHunter: As a child.
* CharacterDevelopment: He only gets a faint hint of this in ''Fate'', but the other routes multiply this exponentially.
* ChasteHero
* [=~Chekhov's Skill~=]: The fact that he was in the '''archery''' club [[spoiler:foreshadowing one of his possible futures]], Projection Magic.
* ChronicHeroSyndrome
* ComedicSociopathy: Shirou honestly doesn't understand why ordering his male best friend to take off his clothes would be at all strange.
* CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming: "Listen, you have to smile for your own sake." [[ManlyTears *wipes tear away* ]]
* DeadpanSnarker: He tends to snark a lot in his internal monologues, but not that often out loud, except maybe around Rin. He gets much more snarky in ''Hollow Ataraxia'', though.
* {{Determinator}}
* EyesOfGold: Rather unusual for a protagonist.
* {{Expy}}: Shirou shares a character model with [[KaraNoKyoukai Tomoe Enjou]]; the two have similar issues regarding what is fake and what is real, as well. Also, [[spoiler:Shirou becomes an ArtificialHuman like Tomoe in the True End of ''Heaven’s Feel'']].
* TheFettered: Shirou's ideal of wanting to save everybody is a large source of his strength. [[spoiler:''Unlimited Blade Works'' implies that his magic specialty arose specifically due to his lack of self-image]].
** [[spoiler:TheUnfettered]]: [[spoiler:In the "Mind of Steel" BadEnd, Shirou puts down Sakura for the sake of his ideals and has to kill off Rin and Ilya as well to keep them from abusing the Grail]].
* FieldOfBlades: Can summon one in ''Unlimited Blade Works'', and [[StormOfBlades it's not just for show]].
* FirstPersonSmartass: Not very obvious. Then the realization hits that his narration is ''just as sarcastic'' as Rin's and boggling occurs. He is more of a snarker than people give him credit for, especially around Rin. [[spoiler:Archer is basically what he would be like if he wasn't so polite all the time, is it any wonder why he and Rin have such great chemistry]]?
* [[spoiler:[[BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu Fried Your Brain Punching Out Cthulhu]]]]: [[spoiler:In ''Heaven's Feel'' BadEnd #38, drawing on Archer's arm in order to use his super move against Saber Alter leaves Shirou a vegetable. To be sure, he's cut her in two, but she could fully regenerate in 10 minutes. And to think that he could have [[TakingYouWithMe taken her out with him]] had he managed to destroy her head or heart..]].
* FullContactMagic: An inversion of this trope as the ''only'' way he could initially use his magic is to reinforce his martial-arts abilities, ''not'' the other way round as this trope usually would.
* [[FutureMeScaresMe Future Me Annoys Me]]: Shirou instinctively can't get along with [[spoiler:Archer]], even long before he knows his identity.
* GenerationXerox: [[spoiler:"Mind of Steel" sees Shirou go down the exact same route as his foster father and willingly damn himself for his ideals. Kotomine, who knew his father, even points this out]].
* HappilyAdopted
* [[spoiler:HeroicSacrifice]]: [[spoiler:In the Normal route of ''Heaven's Feel''. It's absolutely [[TearJerker heartbreaking]]]].
* HonorBeforeReason: For better or worse.
* ImageSong: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_WBixKzm-Y "Kogane no Hikari"]]
* {{Invocation}}: Trace... ON!
** And in ''Unlimited Blade Works''... [[spoiler:I am the bone of my sword. Steel is my body, and fire is my blood. I have created over a thousand blades. Unaware of loss, nor aware of gain. Withstood pain to create many weapons, waiting for one's arrival. I have no regrets. This is the only path. My whole life was Unlimited Blade Works]].
** And in ''Heaven’s Feel'' [[spoiler:BadEnd #38: Divine skill, flawless and firm. Strength moves mountains. Blade cuts water. Life approaches the Imperial Villa. Two great men, shared life]]!
* [[spoiler:ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice]]: [[spoiler:With a twist towards the end of ''Heaven’s Feel''. Shirou gets to be skewered ''from the inside out by swords slowly growing out of his body'']].
* IronWoobie: His defining characteristic is more or less just this, ridiculous endurance of untold amounts of pain, emotional and physical, for the sake of his ideals. When you get down to what his skills consist on and how they developed, the "Iron" bit becomes quite literal.
* MartyrWithoutACause: Only in the beginning in the games. The anime has him this way all the way through.
* MegaManning: The whole point of Projection magic is that it lets Shirou use any weapon he has seen the original of.
* MagikarpPower: The only kind of spellcraft Shirou is consistently skilled at [[WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway is largely considered to be mostly useless]], that is, until it turns out he's got a twist to it that allows him to materialize and use [[InfinityPlusOneSword legendary weapons]] relatively at will.
* MemeticMutation: Turns him into CaptainObvious because of the infamous line "People die if they are killed" being taken out of context. He was referring to his [[StayingAlive inability to die]] and [[ImmortalityImmorality how it needs to be removed from him]]. The next line of that oft-quoted fansub translation is in fact, "... that's the way it should be."
* NeverTheSelvesShallMeet: Works to his advantage. [[spoiler:Shirou ends up siphoning skill and knowledge of fighting from his future self due to the time paradox that brought them together]].
* NiceGuy: Being a bit... er, [[StayInTheKitchen overprotective]] doesn't hide the fact that he's considerate, thoughtful, and industrious.
* NormallyIWouldBeDeadNow: Shirou is apparently not allowed to do anything awesome without first being reduced to a near-dead cripple. ''Ever''.
* NotQuiteDead: In the "True End" of ''Heaven's Feel''. Shirou really did [[EarnYourHappyEnding earn his happy ending]] in that one.
* NotSoWeak: His classmates, Shinji in particular, look at him like he's an idiot for his willingness to do all his work. The Servants and Tohsaka look at him like an idiot for being, well, an [[MartyrWithoutACause idiot]]. [[spoiler:He has no real self identity, dreams or goals of his own and as such really views himself as worthless compared to saving anyone and everyone else that he can]].
* ParentalAbandonment: Twice yet. Once when he was orphaned in the Fuyuki Fire, and a second time when Kiritsugu passed away.
* PossessionImpliesMastery: When he duplicates weapons, Shirou also duplicates the skill of the weapon's wielder. Like with the weapon itself, it's not as good as the original, but it works. [[spoiler:It allows him to semi-replicate Berserker's offensive Noble Phantasm in ''Heaven’s Feel'']].
* PrinciplesZealot: He can be this in the ''Heaven's Feel'' route, should you choose. It's not a good idea.
* RealMenWearPink: Shirou loves and is quite skilled at cooking, and owns a cute pink apron.
* RedHeadedHero
* [[RedRightHand Red Left Hand]]: In ''Heaven's Feel'', Shirou loses an arm saving Ilya from a CosmicHorror and subsequently has [[HeroicSacrifice Archer's]] arm grafted to his body. [[DeadlyUpgrade It threatens to either annihilate his body and/or destroy his mind if he ever unseals it all the way]].
* SayMyName: [[spoiler:[[LargeHam KOTOMINE KIREI]]]]! Also, much more than anyone else, people love to say his full name while speaking to him, especially Kirei.
* TheScrappy: Despite being the main character, many people dislike him in the western fandom. He's considered by some to have been RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap from the ''Unlimited Blade Works'' route onwards.
** This is largely due to most western fans of the series having only seen the anime, which lacks the CharacterDevelopment seen in the games.
** He does pretty well among the Japanese fans. He ranks pretty high on character polls, for a male character anyways. No character is hate-free though, none.
* ShootTheDog: He's forced to [[spoiler:kill Dark Saber]] in ''Heaven's Feel''.
** And again in [[spoiler:one memorable BadEnd of the same path, where he lets Rin kill Sakura for the sake of his ideals]].
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Shirou, or Shirō, depending on the source.
* StayingAlive: Due to the [=~Chekhov's Gun~=] mentioned in Saber's section above.
** Notably, all three paths sees him lose this in some way: [[spoiler:He removes it in ''Fate'' and loses his contract with Saber in the other two]].
* StayInTheKitchen: Shirou famously says some astoundingly sexist lines in both the anime and the ''Fate'' route of the visual novel, but this is likely rooted in his self-sacrificial tendencies (that is, he'd rather be hurt himself instead of seeing someone else be hurt). Inverted in that he actually likes cooking himself (not to mention, [[SupremeChef he's]] ''[[SupremeChef very]]'' [[SupremeChef good at it]]) and tells Sakura and Rin to get ''out'' of the kitchen for different reasons.
* ThemeMusicPowerUp: His moments of asskickery are usually signaled by "Emiya" starting up in the background.
* TooDumbToLive: Prior to his CharacterDevelopment. Pretty much ''everybody'' calls him out on it.
* TookALevelInBadass: Considering how relatively incompetent he is at fighting compared to almost every other major character in the series at the start, Shirou becomes quite strong in as little as a week thanks to some training and [[spoiler:help from either Saber or Archer in each route]].
* TraumaInducedAmnesia: Shirou lost all his memories prior to the fire ten years before from which Kiritsugu saved him. After stabbing Saber Alter in ''Heaven’s Feel'' he erases all his memories of Saber over his crushing guilt at killing her.
* UnwantedHarem: He started out with Taiga and Sakura... And then got Rin. And then Saber. And then Ilya. And [[strike:possibly]] Rider too.
** If we count people who don't live in his house, Ayako Mitsuzuri, his friend from his days in his school's archery club is revealed in ''Hollow Ataraxia'' to have something of a crush on him. GayOption Issei "Blushes Like Mad Whenever Shirou So Much As Looks At Him Funny" Ryuudou also probably counts.
** Unlike a lot of UnwantedHarem shows though, none of these love interests do anything too bad in the presence of the others in ''Hollow Ataraxia'', which helps keep the feeling of the "true love" genre of the original while avoiding the obvious problem of having multiple "true loves" in a single timeline. Rider and Sakura are an exception, however, as Sakura walks in whenever Shirou and Rider [[MomentKiller are having a moment]].
* SpamAttack: Nine Lives Blade Works. Shirou projects Berserker's sword. Much ass is kicked.
* YouKilledMyFather: In ''Fate'', Shirou finds out that Kotomine killed Kiritsugu, ''and'' his original parents by causing the fire. He doesn't take that well. He finds out the former in ''Heaven’s Feel'' as well, but at that point it makes no difference to him.

!!Rin Tohsaka (Voiced by KanaUeda, MelaLee)
http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rin_tohsaka.jpg
-->''"I'm not annoyed at you, I'm annoyed at myself for not achieving what I wanted."''

One of the main Magi of the series, known for her {{Tsundere}} traits and her [[MemeticMutation Grade-"S"]] ZettaiRyouiki. Rin is an honor student in Shirou's school, and the talented heir of the prestigious Tohsaka magus family, one of the founders of the Holy Grail Wars. She enters the Fifth Holy Grail Wars out of her own competitive desire to win, and tries to summon a Saber-class Servant (widely considered to be the best Servant class). Thus, it is a point of much irritation when she summons Archer instead. Eventually she grows accustomed to him, and they are partners in every route of the game.

While she is mostly an advisor to Shirou in ''Fate'', she becomes the main heroine in ''Unlimited Blade Works'' and plays a major role in ''Heaven's Feel'' as the person who Sakura blames for her abandonment to the hands of Zouken Matou. By ''Hollow Ataraxia'', Rin has softened up just a bit, having taken Shirou under her wing as her apprentice in magecraft.
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* ActionGirl
* AlternateUniverse: Zelretch's blade works by pulling energy from these. Likewise, the Kaleid stick works by [[spoiler:temporarily pulling a version of Rin from another universe that can fulfill whatever wish she has at the time, and forcibly costuming her in the process]]. Rin may also be [[spoiler:responsible for the mish-mash continuity in ''Hollow Ataraxia'', as a month before the game starts she almost merges all possibilities into one, with some notable side effects]].
* [[AloofBigBrother Aloof Big Sister]]: In ''Heaven’s Feel''.
* AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent: Inverted. Rin is the POV character in the game's prologue before it switches over to Shirou once the game proper begins. She also gets the POV at several times during ''Unlimited Blade Works''.
* BadassAdorable: More relaxed than the stern and stoic Saber, but still more beautiful than cute... that is, until you meet her MagicalGirl counterpart Kaleido Ruby... so darned cute she's ''beyond'' {{Moe}}.
* [[BigBrotherComplex Big Sister Complex]]: She takes extra care to watch over [[spoiler:Sakura]] because she's really her blood-related older sister.
* BiTheWay: "Hahaha!! You're so stupidly honest, just like Saber!! [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming But that's what I like about the two of you... I love you both so much."]]
** She even pulls this on herself, when [[spoiler:having sex with Saber]]: "I didn't know I was into girls..."
* BloodMagic: Uses blood runes for summoning. It's later shown that she gradually enhances her magic arsenal by drawing her own blood and applying it to gems.
* BornInTheWrongCentury: Rin barely knows what a VCR is in 2005, let alone DVD or Blu-Ray. She hates technology with a passion since she can't understand it, although she is learning from Shirou.
** CrowningMomentOfFunny: in the recent Type-Moon April's Fool’s joke (with various Nasuverse characters setting up their own Twitter accounts), Rin has Archer set up her account, and ''starts using that as her secret diary''. [[http://nrvnqsr.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=5782&page=12 Hilarity ensues (scroll down to reply # 172)]].
** This is, in fact, a general trait of *all* magi, as her father shows in ''Fate/Zero''. Simply put, they have magical ways of achieving such things (Tokiomi has a communication device powered by jewel magic) and so they have no real need for technology, and thus tend to avoid it. In fact, this trope applies in a very real sense, because the advance of technology is gradually making magic obsolete, and so Rin, as an exceptionally powerful and dedicated magus, would have been *much* better off being born in an earlier time.
* CharacterAlignment: LawfulGood
* CheshireCatGrin: If she's smiling at you, something bad is going to happen.
* CosplayOtakuGirl: ''Hollow Ataraxia'' Rin definitely looks like one when Ayako and Issei walk in right after the MagicalGirl TransformationSequence.
* CreepyCoolCrosses: One is displayed on her shirt when she's in her casual attire.
* CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming: [[spoiler:The scenes right after Archer's betrayal]], and ''Unlimited Blade Works''' true ending, among others.
* CryCute: Speaking of that CMOH, a great example of CryCute happens during that scene.
-->"... I can't believe it. A guy made me cry."
* DistressedDamsel: Archer kidnaps her in order to force Shirou into a duel in ''Unlimited Blade Works''.
* {{Facepalm}}: Rin does this ''a lot'', often because of Shirou.
* EquivalentExchange: Supposedly a strong advocate of this, but it's a very poor cover for the good natured aid she gives at almost any opportunity.
* {{Expy}}: It's very hard not to see similarities between Rin and [[{{Tsukihime}} Akiha]]. They're both the young female heads of prestigious families involved in the occult with long black hair, blue eyes and essentially the same face. They even have the same {{Tsundere}} "humph!" pose, except that Akiha's lacks the flying hair that Rin has whenever she does it. Also, [[spoiler:Rin doesn't have a SuperpoweredEvilSide]]. Both characters are in turn partly based on [[KaraNoKyoukai Azaka]] -- young Rin and young Azaka look exactly alike.
** Continuing with the theme of "two ''Tsukihime'' heroines=one ''Fate/stay night'' heroine", Rin is a night patrolling agent of a secret organization who sometimes wears glasses (but sometimes not), has discerning tastes for tea, and is known as the school's honor student idol -- just like Ciel.
* FutureMeScaresMe: Not quite in the literal sense. In ''Hollow Ataraxia'', [[spoiler:Rin talks with a possible future version of herself on the phone and finds that she apparently becomes a completely different person that's shamelessly smitten with Shirou. Being [[{{Tsundere}} Rin]], she doesn't accept this and bickers with her future self for a good while about the kind of woman Shirou needs, before destroying the phone in frustration]].
* TheGadfly: Mixed with TheTease. Tohsaka doesn't limit herself here. Equal opportunity harassment.
* GirlishPigtails
* GratuitousGerman
* ImageSong: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3aFSUyzvng "Kirari" (Sparkling)]]
* InfiniteSupplies: Averted for the most part. She stores her {{mana}} into gemstones in order to use it for her big spells, but since jewelry is expensive, she only has so many shots. However, she gains an InfinityPlusOneSword in ''Heaven's Feel'', which gives her the ability to pull in Mana from '''[[AlternateUniverse alternate realities]]''', theoretically giving her an infinite supply.
* IllGirl: Guest stars as one when she first comes back from London in ''Hollow Ataraxia'', as she is having issues with her Magic Crest acting up and draining her energy.
* IronicHell: In what's widely considered to be the most twisted and horrific of all the {{Bad End}}s, [[spoiler:Rin shoots her mouth off to [[SuperpoweredEvilSide Dark Sakura]] about how she doesn't care about the abuse her sister went through. Sakura promptly summons Dark Saber, and the two subdue Rin and force her to experience Sakura's memories of her RapeAsBackstory through Sakura's eyes. When you die, you can hear [[NightmareFuel Rin screaming that she's sorry over and over]]]].
* JerkassFacade: Her "uncaring magus" persona.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold
* KungFuWizard: She is a {{Nasuverse}} magus after all, so don't expect her to be [[GlassCannon useless]] [[SquishyWizard in close combat]].
* {{Leitmotif}}: "Gentle Everyday", which often plays during light-hearted moments.
* [[{{ptitle94ctt9bsmafc}} The Magus Who Doesn't Do Anything]]: ... let's be serious, most Magi in the NasuVerse are sociopaths at best in the name of Magic. Rin doesn't really want to wish for anything with the Holy Grail and she's very against the idea of innocent people being killed; no matter what she says to the contrary.
* MagicalGirl: Her AlternateUniverse self, "Kaleido Ruby". Really.
* MagicalGirlfriend: Well, being a magus should be enough qualification for "magical" shouldn't it?
** Comes in handy when she uses a spell to make herself weightless while [[IfYouKnowWhatIMean in the act]].
* MagicSkirt: Despite that S-rank ZettaiRyouiki and micro-mini skirt, she only loses the magic once, very slightly, in exactly one scene in the entire franchise, when she and Shirou are having a heart to heart in a graveyard.
* {{Meganekko}}: Only part-time. She states that she only wears glasses when doing work that requires extra concentration.
* NotAMorningPerson: Rin tends to be decidedly grumpy in the mornings... It clashes with her perfect schoolgirl image so badly that even after knowing her for awhile, people are outright shocked to see her dragging about in the morning, completely at a loss for words and unsure if what they've just seen was real.
** [[WeirdnessCensor And then they forget about it]].
* OutOfFocus: After being a major character all throughout all routes of the original, she is in London for the first half of ''Hollow Ataraxia'' due to [[spoiler:a near disastrous experiment where she almost turned Fuyuki City into a place where all possibilities come true at once]]. She comes back and features prominently after a certain event, though.
* TheOjou: Complete with a BigFancyHouse. Despite this, she's mocked as a bumpkin by Luviagelita, since she's from a country the Magic Association considers a backwater. As it turns out, she actually ''isn't'' very rich. Jewel sorcery is expensive.
* ParentalAbandonment: Her father died in the previous Grail War. Her mother apparently died sometime before the Fifth War due to illness, but was presumably in a mental home before that.
* PantyShot: Shirou almost gets one of these in the anime, which distracts Rin enough to make her lose her concentration. Also lampshaded in Shirou's victory quote over Rin in ''Unlimited Codes''.
-->"Isn't that mini-skirt a bit too... mini?"
* TheRival: To Luviagelita.
* SelectiveObliviousness: Not her, but people around her. Whenever she does something that breaks her image as the "perfect model student"... like going full-on berserk {{Tsundere}} towards Shirou in the middle of a crowded classroom... other students will simply ''choose not to remember it'' so they can keep idolizing her in peace.
** Rin herself seems to exhibit this in regards to [[spoiler:Sakura]]. For someone who is usually very intelligent and observant, she is remarkably poor at noticing all of the things that have changed about [[spoiler:her sister]], including her ''hair color''. When she goes into the [[spoiler:Matou house]] for the first time, she immediately realizes what being the [[spoiler:Matou heir]] means, and yet despite knowing that [[spoiler:Shinji]] has no potential as a magus, and that [[spoiler:her sister was adopted into that family because her father couldn't train both of them]], she fails to make the obvious logical jump to working out that [[spoiler:Sakura is Rider's true master, and the heir of the Matou family]], until it is explicitly pointed out to her. Of course, since working it out would have meant either accepting that [[spoiler:her sister is suffering horrific torture]] and she can't do anything to save [[spoiler:her]], or else risking her own life on an insane plan to [[spoiler:take out Zouken and rescue her]], it's perhaps understandable that she decided not to think ''too'' hard about it... .
* ShootTheDog: She attempts this twice with [[spoiler:Sakura]] in ''Heaven's Feel''. The first time, [[WhatTheHellHero Shirou calls her out on it]], then prevents it. The second, Rin herself stops short because she can't go through with it. This is consistent with her advocating this mentality but being too good a person to actually follow it.
* SmokingIsCool: Her SuperDeformed version which appears in the [[HaveANiceDeath Tiger Dojos]].
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Sort of. Different Romanizations have spelled her surname Tohsaka, Tousaka, Tosaka, Toosaka, Tôsaka, or Tōsaka. The first three seem the most popular in that order, but it still hasn't really been standardized in any way yet.
* TheTease: She repeatedly teases Shirou in an overly flirtatious manner after finding out that he's a ChasteHero... It's turned back on her in her route when she starts becoming embarrassed when they're about to [[IfYouKnowWhatIMean horizontal lambda]].
* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: It tends to get lost because of comparisons to [[YamatoNadeshiko Sakura]], but Rin is actually very feminine as well, it's just that she's also an ActionGirl, who puts away any "feminine" traits when it's time to fight. The Tomboy in question here is Saber, who at some points adamantly refuses to even be considered a woman.
* {{Tsundere}}: Even in ''bed''... IfYouKnowWhatIMean. Even more so in the scene in ''Hollow Ataraxia'', where she [[spoiler:argues with Shirou at length about him ruining the romantic mood, her pajamas and a variety of other things while they're in the act. She goes fully Dere for the last bit, though]].
** Oddly, she doesn't act all that Tsundere in the anime, at least in that she tries to calm herself down instead of lashing out at Shirou when angry. She doesn't show the Dere side much either, as it's not her route being featured. Her behavior in the visual novel is a textbook case, though.
* [[WaveMotionGun Wave Motion Sword]]: Her personal use of the Jeweled Sword of Zeltrech.
* XanatosGambit: Also her CrowningMomentOfAwesome. During a battle against Caster in ''Unlimited Blade Works'', Rin is hopelessly outmatched in sorcery, but it turns out that in case her original plan to BeamSpam Caster fails, she was fully prepared. She lulls Caster into thinking that she's given up, waits for Caster to get in range... And then shows that [[IKnowKungFu she knows Chinese martial arts]].
* YouKilledMyFather: In ''Unlimited Blade Works'', Rin finds out that Kirei is the one responsible for her father's death. She doesn't take it well.
* ZettaiRyouiki: [[MemeticMutation GRADE-"S"]]!
** [[Pantheon/PersonalAppearance Heck, we deified her for it]].

!!Sakura Matou (Voiced by Noriko Shitaya, Sherry Lynn)
http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sakura_matou.jpg
Shirou's timid and almost too definitive YamatoNadeshiko neighbor. She often visits Shirou's house and does chores there, mainly because she has a ''massive'' and very obvious crush on him. She seems to be an ordinary girl with a respectful relationship with her big brother Shinji Matou. In fact, Sakura is an extremely powerful magus, and Shinji frequently abuses and rapes her under orders from family head Zouken Matou (and also to vent his own jealous frustrations). What's more, she is actually the biological sister of Rin Tohsaka; Sakura's different eye and hair color are due to Zouken infecting her body with parasitic worms that feed on her mana and carnal impulses, greatly boosting her magical power and sexual aggression.

She was chosen as a participant of the Holy Grail War and summoned Rider, but discovered that Shirou was also a participant and did not want to end up fighting against him. Thus, she was forced into handing over her Command Spells to Shinji, and Rider also suffered much abuse at Shinji's hands.

In ''Heaven's Feel'', Sakura becomes the heroine of the story, but also at cost of her sanity. She becomes consumed by darkness, turning into a proto-form of Angra Mainyu known as ''Dark Sakura''. Giving into TheDarkSide gives her tremendous power -- enough to kill anyone with ease, [[HealingFactor regenerate from any wound]] and corrupt Servants into her loyal pawns. She also feels resentment towards Rin for basically abandoning her to a life of hell at the hands of the Matou family (unknown to Rin herself), which is amplified massively by her dark side. She eventually makes peace with Rin and was rescued by Shirou when he uses Caster's ''Rule Breaker'' to sever her connection to Angra Mainyu.
-----
* AbusiveParents: Or, rather, ([[spoiler:supposed]]) grandparent... .
* AlternateCharacterInterpretation: Many of her detractors see her as a weak-willed ExtremeDoormat who should have [[FanDumb committed suicide]] before the game rather than complaining about her situation whilst she went slowly insane (even though she barely ever ''did'' complain), as opposed to an [[NotSoWeak extremely strong]] girl who resisted the control of Angra Mainyu for as long as she possibly could and who kept her [[RapeAsBackstory horrific home life]] hidden from her Sempai and sister to prevent them from hurting themselves in order to save her from a situation which she felt was inescapable.
* BaseBreaker: Sakura tends to be the least liked of the major female characters in the series, although she certainly has a reasonable number of dedicated fans, and the number of ''genuine'' haters is relatively small. This is because her SuperpoweredEvilSide kills off several popular characters over the course of her scenario (without her knowledge), and also because of some of the {{Bad End}}s that her SuperpoweredEvilSide causes (in particular the last one). The fact that many fans have only seen the anime (where she is a very minor character) doesn't help either, particularly since said fans often read summaries of the ''Heaven’s Feel'' route and then condemn Sakura without even bothering to check for themselves.
* BewareTheNiceOnes: Literally in ''Fate/stay night'', but she also gets a reputation for being a bit scary after she takes over the archery club captaincy in ''Hollow Ataraxia''. She manages to exceed even Rin at exuding invisible pressure with a smile on.
* BigEater: Although she tries to reserve herself out of fear of looking unladylike.
* BodyHorror: The Crest Worm. [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel Sweet Jesus, the Crest Worm]].
* BreakTheCutie: BeyondTheImpossible breakage -- it seems to border on AuthorAppeal for [[{{Nasuverse}} Nasu]], as there's usually a heroine in each his stories with a [[RapeAsBackstory horrific back-story]], but Sakura makes even [[spoiler:[[{{Tsukihime}} Kohaku]]]] look like she had a normal childhood by comparison.
* BrotherSisterIncest: [[spoiler:Averted. Shinji raped her repeatedly, but they are NotBloodSiblings]].
* CharacterAlignment: NeutralGood
* CheshireCatGrin: Having apparently studied Rin's technique, she becomes a master of this in ''Hollow Ataraxia'', if a bit more indirect.
* TheCorruptible: Throughout ''Heaven’s Feel'', there's a constant fear of Sakura succumbing to the corruption. [[spoiler:She resists more than seems humanly possible, but eventually she does]].
* CurtainsMatchTheWindow: Sakura has unusual, purple-colored eyes and hair. [[spoiler:This is revealed to be because of the "conditioning" imposed upon her by Zouken in order to make her into the successor of the Matou brand of magecraft]].
* ClingyJealousGirl: Again, she tries to reserve herself. It's often played for laughs in ''Hollow Ataraxia'' though, especially Rider's conscious attempts not to get too close to Shirou for fear of setting off this mode.
* CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming: She gets several, but one that stands out in ''Hollow Ataraxia'' is the fairytale-like dinner she gets with Shirou, courtesy of Ilya and her castle. The UnderwaterKiss is also a sweet moment.
** Also, the [[spoiler:CooldownHug from Rin]] at the end of ''Heaven’s Feel'', the scene where Shirou finds Sakura on the bridge and pretty much the entirety of the True End of ''Heaven’s Feel''.
* CrowningMomentOfFunny: Sakura's wordlessly threatening CheshireCatGrin when she hears that underclassmen have been talking about her can silence a room and ''extinguish candles around her''.
* TheDogBitesBack: Her SuperpoweredEvilSide, once fully established, decides that it's not going to put up with her grandfather's abuse anymore...
* [[spoiler:DrivenToSuicide]]: [[spoiler:After her MyGodWhatHaveIDone moment, she attempts to kill herself out of remorse, only to be prevented by Angra Mainyu, long enough for Shirou to free her with Rule Breaker]].
** [[spoiler:Also when she realizes that she is in fact the shadow that has been consuming many people in the town. She first begs Shirou to kill her, and then, when he refuses, seeks out Zouken in order to force ''him'' to do it]].
** [[spoiler:She also mentions several previous attempts at suicide (though she never went through with it) on Day 9 of ''Heaven's Feel'']].
* {{Expy}}: Like some other characters, she's got characteristics of two {{Tsukihime}} characters. In this case, she's got the deep [[UnluckyChildhoodFriend prior attraction]] (sans the [[StalkerWithACrush stalker]] vibes) and gentle personality of pre-vampire Satsuki combined with the [[spoiler:RapeAsBackstory childhood and StepfordSmiler defense mechanism]] of Kohaku. She is also similar in appearance, and shares the some aspects of her back-story, with Fujino Asagami (from the earlier Nasu work ''KaraNoKyoukai'').
* FirstGirlWins: Only in ''Heaven's Feel'', and even then she only gets to ''keep'' Shirou in one ending.
** She does get to keep Shirou in a few bad endings... .
*** Only one, actually ([[spoiler:the last one]]), and she's hardly in a state to appreciate it by that point. [[spoiler:In all the rest, he is either killed by someone else, or absorbed by the shadow when she's not in control of it (and, thus, is killed)]].
* [[GratuitousForeignLanguage Gratuitous German]]: ''Heaven's Feel'' only.
* HighOctaneNightmareFuel: Her ''entire'' back-story, plus what she does to Rin in the last BadEnd ([[spoiler:which consists of giving Rin a ‘practical lesson' about the details of said back-story..]].).
* IKnowYouAreInThereSomewhereFight: Her fight (as Dark Sakura) with Shirou.
* ImageSong: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzKOeOddLYk "Egao Hitotsu de"]] ("With One Smile")
* LighterAndSofter: In the manga, the RapeAsBackstory and other horrible things seem not to have occurred. In ''Hollow Ataraxia'', it's almost certain that they ''did'' occur in HA's literal "throw everything in" continuity (since several things which ''are'' mentioned, like her dark side, only make sense if they did), but they are barely ever mentioned or referred to at all, and in fact Shinji and Zouken are both alive and on relatively good terms with Sakura.
** In the event where Shinji gets Shirou to come with him to find Sakura's revenge diary, these good terms are revealed to be ''because Sakura has essentially assumed control of the Matou household, and both Shinji and Zouken are terrified of her''. There is something incredibly satisfying about this.
* KickTheSonOfABitch: Her ruthless treatment of [[CompleteMonster Zouken]] and [[SmugSnake Shinji]]. Even when ''both'' instances were self-defense rather than cold-blooded murder, it still feels great.
* MemeticMutation: Because of the fact that the [[BodyHorror worms living in her body]] are constantly hungry for mana, and because [[IfYouKnowWhatIMean a certain bodily fluid]] contains said mana, Sakura is easily... Shall we say, ''stimulated''. This led inevitably to "Sakura is such a slut", which was later famously redirected towards [[SuzumiyaHaruhi Yuki Nagato]] by one of Sakura's fans attempting to defend her.
* MomentKiller: Sakura turns this into an art whenever Rider and Shirou are alone together, likely to the bane of those who wanted more time with Rider in ''Hollow Ataraxia''. Probably justified, the few times she doesn't interrupt Shirou takes Rider on what's basically a date, and ''takes a bath with her'', among [[IfYouKnowWhatIMean other]] things.
* MostCommonSuperPower: Shirou and Taiga both make note of how *ahem* ''mature'' she looks. In ''Heaven’s Feel'', she [[spoiler:becomes the strongest character in the story when she becomes corrupted]]. Otherwise, however, she's stated to not be as strong as Rin because [[spoiler:her native magical element was forcibly changed, which adversely affects her ability to use mana]].
* [[spoiler:MyGodWhatHaveIDone]]: [[spoiler:After Rin (seemingly) dies, Sakura realizes that she destroyed everyone who still loved her with her own hands]].
* NotBloodSiblings: A non-romantic variant. [[spoiler:She's not Shinji's blood-related sister. Rather, she's ''Rin's'']].
* NotSoWeak: A plot point. Zouken Matou can't break her by himself, and she won't fight back. At all. It takes a great deal of manipulation of outside factors and a good deal of stupidity from the heroes to actually make her snap. Until then, she was far more resilient than you'd expect for someone that's essentially broken inside. [[spoiler:Still mostly sane after being raped constantly by Shinji at least, plus violated by worms, plus worms living inside her, plus excruciating pain and who knows what the hell else. But the crack that breaks her is how she tries to settle things to keep Shirou safe]].
* RapeAsBackstory
* RealWomenNeverWearDresses: Of course! She's sweet, gentle, tender and [[spoiler:throughly broken]] How ''daaaaaaare'' she not be a badass {{Tsundere}} like Rin.
* SheCleansUpNicely: The trope's description happens almost exactly in the castle dinner scene in ''Hollow Ataraxia''.
* ShrinkingViolet
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Matou, Matô or Matō depending on the source/transliteration paradigm used.
* StepfordSmiler
* SuperpoweredEvilSide: Dark Sakura.
** CharacterAlignment: ChaoticEvil
** CombatTentacles
** TheCorruption
** DemonicPossession
** {{Leitmotif}}: [[spoiler:"All the Evils in this World", a remix of Kirei's "The Church on the Hill"]].
** LoadBearingBoss: Averted (compare to Caster, who uses the same base in the anime). The cave does start having structural problems, but that's because Rin has been slashing holes in it with Jewel Sword Zelretch.
** MarkedChange
** RedEyesTakeWarning
** RoaringRampageOfRevenge
** WhiteHairedPrettyGirl
** WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds
* TearJerker: [[spoiler:The "Normal End" of ''Heaven's Feel''. Although free of her SuperpoweredEvilSide, Sakura lives the rest of her life waiting for Shirou to come back to her after his HeroicSacrifice. He [[IGotBetter doesn't get better]]]].
* {{Tykebomb}}: For eleven years, Sakura has been forced to act as a host for magical worms that allow Zouken to control her at will.
* UnderwaterKiss: in ''Hollow Ataraxia''.
* UnluckyChildhoodFriend
** VictoriousChildhoodFriend: In ''Heaven's Feel''.
* [[WellDoneSonGuy Well Done Sis Girl]]
* [[TheWoobie Woobie Queen]]: In a story that is ''packed'' with Woobies (it would be easier to list the characters that ''aren't''), Sakura stands out as by ''far'' the worst case among the regular humans.
** Avenger [[FateWorseThanDeath might have it even worse]].
* YamatoNadeshiko
* {{Yandere}}

!!Shinji Matou (Voiced by HiroshiKamiya, DougErholtz)
http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/shinji_matou.jpg
-->''"If you want me to drop the barrier, you'll have to get on your knees and beg."''

Sakura's brother and Shirou's childhood friend. Due to the land of Fuyuki "rejecting" the Matou family, they had lost their magical potential by the time that Shinji was born. Thus, Shinji lacks a Magic Circuit (and thus, has no magical potential whatsoever). This caused him to develop a massive inferiority complex and a vast amount of resentment towards his adopted sister Sakura, who was brought in to continue the magical lineage that he could not. So when family head Zouken Matou orders him to periodically rape Sakura (to relieve her abnormal levels of sexual tension, caused by the parasitic worms flowing through her bloodstream), he takes far too much pleasure in it and even abuses her whenever it takes his fancy.

At school, he's a popular ladies' man, but also does terrible things like blackmailing other students and exploiting the character flaws of his "friends" to get what he wants. When confronted, his facade of superiority quickly crumbles to reveal a sniveling, pathetic coward.

When Sakura is reluctant to participate in the Holy Grail Wars (because she does not wish to fight Shirou), Shinji seizes his chance to surpass his sister and pressures her into yielding Rider to him. Because he is not a magus, he uses an artifact created from Rider's Command Spells called the ''Book of the False Attendant'', which acts as a provisionary Command Spell and lets him control Rider. Because the Book is not a true command spell, it is destroyed either when it is pushed beyond its limits or Rider is killed.

Because he's such a lowlife, he ''never'' ends up well in any scenario. Ilya had Berserker kill him for being too pathetic to live in ''Fate''. In ''Unlimited Blade Works'', he is turned into a [[BodyHorror Holy Grail Core]] by Gilgamesh and nearly dies, which is enough to scare him straight after Rin saves his life. In ''Heaven's Feel'', he tried to blackmail Sakura by threatening to reveal to Shirou how he had raped her, which pushes Sakura over the edge and leads to him getting decapitated by Dark Sakura.
-----
* BigBadWannabe: Shinji, no means ''NO''.
* BodyHorror: In ''Unlimited Blade Works'', Gilgamesh turns Shinji into a new vessel for the Holy Grail, which results in him being forced to endure a ''lake-sized'' mass of flesh growing from his body. The resulting TransformationTrauma eventually [[BreakTheHaughty scared him straight]].
* BreakingTheFourthWall: In ''Hollow Ataraxia'', Shinji has an odd scene where he laments to Shirou that even though Sakura gets [[ExtyYearsFromNow X0]] scenes, he only appears three times in the entire game.
* {{Casanova}}: Character Material reveals that he is ''much'' less of a jerk if you aren't Sakura, though the only male he could actually get along with was Shirou, before their estrangement.
** LeisureSuitLarry: Continually tries to score with Rin; he never gets anywhere, but his ego doesn't seem to allow him to compute the fact that she isn't interested. This causes more conflict than you would think.
* CharacterAlignment: NeutralEvil
* TheChewToy: Shinji is introduced as an extremely ineffectual little slime ball. He is smacked around in confrontations with Shirou and other Servants, cannot get Rin's attention at all, is bloodily killed in two of the routes, and the sole remaining route spends a good deal of time [[BreakTheHaughty convincing him]] that yes, Shinji it, ''really'' is not all fun and games being a magus/Master/the Holy Grail. Considering that he is a [[SmugSnake conceited little git]] at best and [[CompleteMonster a sociopathic rapist]] at worst, he doesn't get too much sympathy about this.
* CompleteMonster: Only ''one'' continuity gives him a slightly more human side, and that's after a ''massive'' BreakTheHaughty scenario.
** He's a bit lighter, like most other things, in the manga; he's still an enormous ass, but after [[spoiler:Sakura saves his life]], he starts to at least... act like a human being.
** He's also... well, still an ass in ''Hollow Ataraxia'', but just a jerk and not "evil" per se.
* DirtyCoward
* EvilerThanThou: Shinji faces off against other villains in every path; Ilya in ''Fate'', Gilgamesh in ''Unlimited Blade Works'', and Dark Sakura in ''Heaven's Feel''. Too bad (for him) that he's the "Thou" part of the trope all three times.
* HumiliationConga: In ''Heaven's Feel'', right before...
* KarmicDeath
* {{Jerkass}}
* MeanCharacterNiceActor: I don't know about his actual personality, but HiroshiKamiya is one of the most beloved and popular seiyuus of recent years. What the hell's he doing in this role?
** Well, Shinji does seem to be in [[SayonaraZetsubouSensei despair]] since he [[spoiler:found out that Sakura is the true heir to the Matou line, is that a good enough reason]]? Granted, this anime came before that one...
* TheScrappy: Even worse than Shirou and Sakura, and with good reason.
** Strangely, he still ranked higher than Kiritsugu Emiya on a Japanese character poll. True, Kiritsugu, due to dying five years before the story begins, barely got any screen time, but still...
* StartOfDarkness: Other media hint at it, but the manga comes right out and openly states that Shinji's came when he discovered the Matou were a clan of magi and began putting all of his heart and effort into becoming one himself... only to later find they were a ''fallen'' clan who no longer had magical power, and that if anyone in his family was going to end up fulfilling ''his'' lifelong dream, it was going to be [[spoiler:Sakura]] (not that [[spoiler:she]] had a choice in the matter... ). Basically, he JumpedAtTheCall only to discover that there was no call, and upon learning this reacted... [[{{Understatement}} poorly]].
* SmugSnake
* StaticCharacter
* UnwittingPawn: Pretty much ''everything'' he does in ''Heaven's Feel'' is orchestrated by Zouken in order to further his plans for Sakura, culminating in [[spoiler:his death, which results in Sakura's FreakOut]].
* VillainousBreakdown: In the anime and every storyline of the visual novel, with multiple breakdowns in ''Heaven’s Feel''.
* WellDoneSonGuy: He just wants approval from Zouken. But looks like he can never understand that no really means ''NO''.
* YouGottaHaveBlueHair

!!Ilyasviel "Ilya" von Einzbern (Voiced by MaiKadowaki, StephanieSheh)
http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/illyasviel.jpg
-->''"I don't intend to kill you, Shirou. You're mine. I'll kill the other Masters, but you're special. That's why I locked you up here, so there won't be any interruptions... "''

The little noble girl, usually called Ilya for short. She is in fact a living vessel of the Holy Grail, and her body has [[InstantRunes Magic Circuits]] splattered all over, which provides her great supply of magic. She is Berserker's Mistress, and lives in a mansion in the middle of a forest, with her Servant and two maids. She may be a little girl, but she is just as ambitious as the other Magus to win the war, and approves even brutalities if it means winning the whole war in general. Although she is sometimes rough to Berserker, the bond between them are extremely strong.

She is rather attached to Shirou, but in the same time detests him too. This is due to the fact that she is in fact the daughter from Shirou's father Kiritsugu, and Irisviel von Einzbern, and not born naturally.
-----
* AlasPoorVillain: Anyone who's seen any of the [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel bad endings she's responsible for]] knows that Ilya is a merciless sociopath, but she's so cute and has had such a screwed up life that it's hard not to feel bad when something horrible happens to ''her''.
* AllThereInTheManual: Several notable things, for instance [[spoiler:we only find out that she dies a year after the Holy Grail war in Archer's back-story via supplementary materials, and apparently the Dress of Heaven she wears at the end of ''Heaven’s Feel'' will turn any person who touches it into gold]]!
* BadassAdorable: And how!
* BittersweetEnding: In the one route she actually survives in ''Fate'', she probably won't live more than a few years (at best) due to her being a homunculus.
** Technically, she does survive ''Heaven's Feel'', which is even worse for her than ''that''.
* ClingyJealousGirl: She ''really'' seems to be dead set on having Shirou be her servant; [[AndIMustScream or worse, her doll. Heck, she'll settle for his still living head]].
* CheerfulChild / CreepyChild: Yes, she's both. It's not contradictory.
* CloneDegeneration: [[spoiler:Even if she survives the war, she still has less than a decade to live]].
* CreepyCoolCrosses: The cuffs of her shirt prominently display a row of them.
* CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming: Several in ''Heaven’s Feel'', typically when she helps Shirou cope with the problems he's having throughout the route.
** ''Hollow Atarxia'' adds a huge one in which Shirou visits Ilya's castle and is tormented by Sella and forced to sleep in the Attic. Ilya finds out and convinces him to sleep in her room, after much panic on Shirou's part she snuggles up to him in her bed and proceeds to fall asleep just happy to have her brother there with her for the first time.
* TheCutie: [[spoiler: ''Heaven’s Feel'' makes it pretty clear that her little girl act ''is'' just an act. She's actually quite emotionally conflicted about what she should be doing and almost entirely lacks any hope for the future]].
* DaddyHadAGoodReasonForAbandoningYou: She disagrees. Vehemently.
** Actually, she just doesn't ''know''. More to the point, she doesn't know that he spent the [[spoiler:next five years (prior to his death) trying to ''come back'' (the Einzberns wouldn't let him see her)]]. The fact that he [[spoiler:told her he would be back]] and then never returned, for no obvious reason, is understandably upsetting for her (the Einzberns almost certainly made it sound as bad as they possibly could, too, because it gives her more of a reason to fight).
* EnfanteTerrible
* EnsembleDarkhorse: Well, she's a fairly major character to begin with, but she still outranked Sakura in the character poll.
* EvilAlbino: In much of ''Fate''.
* {{Expy}}: Quite possibly of [[{{Tsukihime}} Arcueid Brunestud]]: Both have childish, selfish, [[CatsAreMean catlike]] personalities, are associated with the color white, are referred to as "[[EverythingsBetterWithPrincesses princesses]]", and to top it all off, Ilya's hairstyle is very similar to Arc's prior to the latter's ImportantHaircut.
** [[spoiler:she is more of an Akiha since she is the biological daughter of Shirou's foster father as well having twin maids]]
** [[spoiler:Her motivations towards Shirou are actually very similar to those of Satsuki Yumizuka towards Shiki Tohno , she believes that no matter what she does Shirou will reject her, and despite her outward happiness she’s completely full of despair]].
* FailureIsTheOnlyOption: Ilya is actually in a rather similar situation to Assassin, in that both are literally incapable of actually winning the Holy Grail war. As the vessel for the Grail itself, her mind is destroyed when it finishes forming, leaving her unable to claim the prize even if her Servant is the last one standing.
* FilleFatale: Exactly ''what'' she plans to do with Shirou once she gets him varies from route to route, but in ''Fate'' at least she made it pretty clear [[IfYouKnowWhatIMean just what she was planning to do with her new "toy"]] (You can't get much more explicit than straddling a tied-up boy and asking him if he'd like to be your slave!). [[spoiler:Partially subverted by the fact that she's actually older than he is, although her mental age seems to match her appearance pretty accurately]].
* FirstNameBasis: She generally prefers being called by her nickname of "Ilya".
* FreudianExcuse: Let's see... ParentalAbandonment? Check. Isolated from the outside world and basically ''raised'' to be a sociopath by her mother's family? Check. Put through agonizing TrainingFromHell by said family so she could control Berserker and be their representative in the Grail War, despite the fact that she was mentally pretty much still a child? Check and ''check''.
* GoOutWithASmile: In ''Heaven’s Feel'' True End.
* HappilyAdopted: The ending to ''Fate'' features her more or less adopted by Taiga. The two get along more like sisters than parent and child, but it's hard to dispute that Ilya's having a much better time with the Fujimura than the Einzbern family.
* HeroicAlbino: In ''Heaven’s Feel''.
* HeroicSacrifice: In ''Heaven’s Feel''. [[spoiler:She sacrifices herself to shut down the ArtifactOfDoom behind the Holy Grail War once and for all]].
* HostileShowTakeover: She cheerfully announces her intent to do this in ''Heaven's Feel'' during a [[HaveANiceDeath Taiga Dojo]] segment in ''Unlimited Blade Works''. When it doesn't work out that way, she tries to take over the Dojo instead... with a '''[[TankGoodness tank]]'''.
* HugeGuyTinyGirl: She just barely reaches her servant's knee.
* [[IAmYourFather I Am Your Sister]]: She's technically Shirou's adoptive sister by virtue of her being Kiritsugu's biological daughter.
* ImageSong: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPpG_P6A9z8 "Tsuki no Namida"]]; also shares a more "fun" version with Taiga below.
* KickTheSonOfABitch: Her ruthless murder of Shinji (who she doesn't even ''know'') in ''Fate''.
* TheGlomp: Done several times in ''Hollow Ataraxia'', much to Rider's chagrin since it [[spoiler:reminds her of how her older sister would jump on her neck to suck her blood as punishment]].
* LegalJailbait
* {{Leitmotif}}: "Die Lorelei" by Phillipp Friedrich Silcher. Notable in being an actual German folk song.
* MagicalGirl: Her AlternateUniverse self, [[FateKaleidLinerPrismaIlya Prisma Ilya]]. Again, seriously.
* MetaGuy: She becomes this during the [[HaveANiceDeath Tiger Dojo]] segments accompanying each of the game's 40 {{Bad End}}s.
* OlderThanTheyLook: She's actually in her 20's: Homunculi have strange growth patterns, but hers is nonexistent as she wasn't made to be able to live as a human. See BittersweetEnding above.
** To be exact, she is actually [[spoiler:Shirou's older stepsister]]
* [[MrExposition Ms. Exposition]]: She fills this role pretty often, especially in ''Heaven’s Feel''.
* OracularUrchin
* RedEyesTakeWarning: Some of the time, anyway. Generally, if the narration starts focusing on her eyes, bad things are about to happen.
* RestrainingBolt: For Berserker. See his entry for more details.
* SoundtrackDissonance: The arrangement of ''Die Lorelei'' (her {{leitmotif}}) in this game sounds like a lullaby played by a music box. The first time you hear it [[spoiler:in the very first BadEnd, Berserker is chopping your limbs off, leaving [[AndIMustScream your head kept alive as a toy for Ilya]]]]. The leitmotif changes to [[CrowningMusicOfAwesome Crowning Music of]] [[{{Tearjerker}} Tearjerking]] on subsequent appearances, but still keeps the dissonance.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Even the [[InconsistentDub official manga translation]] can't seem to decide if it's "Ilyasviel" or "Illyasviel".
** To make matters worse... Type Moon's official website uses "Ilya", while nearly all Type Moon merchandise uses "Illya". So it seems ''both'' spellings are canon.
* TearJerker: ''Unlimited Blade Works''. You know the scene.
** [[spoiler:The true end of ''Heaven's Feel'' is even more soul-crushing as Ilya sacrifices herself to save Shirou's life]].
*** Whilst that is indeed a big TearJerker, it's not as bad as the ''Unlimited Blade Works'' scene, because at least in ''Heaven's Feel'' she's [[spoiler:sacrificing her life willingly and for a good cause, and the ''result'' of it is that her big brother gets to live happily ever after with the girl he loves (and the alternative, of Ilya surviving and Shirou dying, results in Ilya likely spending the last year of her life alone in the Einzbern Castle whilst Sakura breaks down due to losing Shirou, and thus is even ''worse'')]].
* TokenLoli
* WhatCouldHaveBeen: It's stated in the Tiger Dojos that Nasu had been toying with the idea of giving Ilya her own route if ''Heaven’s Feel'' was short enough. (It wasn't.) It's also mentioned once that there was originally a scene in the ''Fate'' route where she raped Shirou in a BadEnd, but that scene was obviously cut.
* WhiteHairedPrettyGirl
* WinterRoyalLady: Not literally, but certainly she is characterized both by her princess-like looks and character and her affinity with winter.
* {{Yandere}}: Non romantic despite her clinginess. She just wants to be properly acknowledged and secretly believes that Shirou won't.
* {{Yangire}}: But even without that she's a bit bipolar.

!!Kirei Kotomine (Voiced by JojiNakata, JamiesonPrice)
http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kirei_kotomine.jpg
->''"Rejoice, young man. Your wish will finally come true."''

The BigBad of the ''Fate'' route and also the BigBad of ''Fate/Zero''. Kirei is the supervisor of the Fifth Holy Grail War as well as Rin's legal guardian. As supervisor, it is his duty to uphold the rules of the Holy Grail War, cover up any incidents that might expose the War to the public, and give sanctuary to any Masters who drop out.

He is in fact a survivor of the Fourth Holy Grail Wars, in which he was a participant with his Archer-class Servant Gilgamesh. At its conclusion, he was shot and killed by Emiya Kiritsugu, who went on to destroy the tainted Holy Grail. Kirei was drenched in the pollution that splattered from the destroyed Grail, which granted his wish (for destruction) and resurrected him with an artificial black heart.

His goal is to observe the effects of a wish made upon the tainted Holy Grail, for he is driven by a mental abnormality that can only find meaning in the suffering of others. To this end he hides the existence of Gilgamesh (who also survived the end of the Fourth Holy Grail War), kills one of the seven Masters to seize their Command Spells and Servant (Lancer), and quietly carries out his duties as the Grail War's overseer whilst hiding the Holy Grail's true nature as an evil artifact of destruction from everyone.

In other routes, he's not quite the BigBad anymore. Gilgamesh takes that spot in ''Unlimited Blade Works'', and he [[EnemyMine momentarily fights side by side]] with Shirou and Rin against Zouken Matou in ''Heaven's Feel''.
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* AntiClimaxBoss: In ''Unlimited Blade Works'', Kirei is set up to once again be the BigBad... Only to be handily dispatched by Lancer during his CrowningMomentOfAwesome.
* BackFromTheDead: After [[spoiler:Kiritsugu]] killed him in ''Fate/Zero''.
* BadassLongcoat: His priest garments are like a combo between this and BadassLongrobe.
** TheCoatsAreOff: At the end of ''Heaven's Feel''.
* BeingEvilSucks: He, has a conscience which makes him aware that evil is wrong, but...
** BeingGoodSucks: Unfortunately, he takes no satisfaction from good. Poor guy just can't win.
* BigBad: In ''Fate''.
* CharacterAlignment: NeutralEvil
* CharlesAtlasSuperpower: Due to immense training as a church exorcist, Kotomine is able to stand up to [[spoiler:True Assassin and a body-transmuted-into-swords Shirou]] in ''Heaven's Feel''.
* ChewingTheScenery: He can sometimes drift into this territory, although this is partly just how JojiNakata acts. He's generally fairly calm, however.
* ChurchMilitant: And he [[IKnowKungFu Knows Kung Fu]].
* CreepyCoolCrosses
* CrowningMomentOfAwesome: In ''Heaven's Feel'', Kirei fights off True Assassin blow-for-blow, deflects his HeartTrauma-inducing FinishingMove, and pins him to a tree; then grabs Zouken and grinds him into the ground while reciting a prayer that causes the old magus' body to go boom when completed.
* CrowningMomentOfFunny: "... Want some?" "NO WAY!!!"
* DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife: Mage? Not fulfilling. Church? Ditto. Devoted husband? Empty. Evil? [[EvilFeelsGood Bingo]]!
** [[spoiler:And he's still not happy with that ''because'' it makes him happy]].
* EnemyMine: In ''Heaven's Feel'', Kirei teams up with Shirou once Zouken and [[spoiler:Sakura]] kill off Lancer and Gilgamesh, putting Kirei on the losing end of EvilerThanThou.
** He still wins on EvilerThanThou, he's just a MagnificentBastard taking advantage of the hero with a bit of MyDeathIsJustTheBeginning thrown in. Zouken's an inevitable victim of EvilIsNotAToy, whereas Kirei knows exactly what he's doing.
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Whatever else might be said about Kirei, he holds Zouken Matou in ''utter'' contempt.
* EvilDuo: With Gilgamesh.
* EvilFeelsGood: Kirei's entire raison d’être. He's lived his entire life being unable to find joy in anything other than that which everyone else considered to be "evil". Believing something to be wrong with himself, he tried out several vocations, including studying under the magic association, turning around and switching to the church (the association's exact opposite), and even loving an IllGirl [[spoiler:who eventually bore him a child]]. When said IllGirl died, the fact that he felt sorrow only for being ''unable to kill her himself'' caused his true StartOfDarkness, which in turn causes him to attempt to release the ArtifactOfDoom behind the grail war upon the world... ForTheEvulz.
** Kirei likes to watch.
* FanNickname: "Mr. Pretty", after the translation of his first name.
* TheGadfly: A humorous little side-story in the manga adaptation paints him as being a subtle version of this when he's not being more blatantly evil. Apparently he gives Rin clothing as a present on her birthday each year, a tradition that began when he was her father's apprentice. Shirou initially takes this as a sign he's not all bad, until Rin reveals that the clothes he gives are similar to the ones she loaned to Saber, they do not match her personality ''at all'', and Kirei gives them to her especially ''because'' she feels she looks ridiculous in them.
* HannibalLecture: Is a master of it.
** FalseReassurance: And this. The [[{{Pantheon/Mentalism}} God of it, in fact]].
** FromACertainPointOfView: And this.
** MrExposition: And this too.
*** And [[InfoDump Interminable Info Dumper]], which Shirou [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] in impatient InternalMonologue in ''Heavens Feel''.
* HolyHandGrenade: He '''''baptizes''''' '''Zouken''' ''to death''.
* {{Leitmotif}}: "The Church on the Hill".
* LightIsNotGood: He's a priest. An evil priest.
* MagnificentBastard
* MeanCharacterNiceActor: On a recent edition of the internet radio show [[{{Podcast}} "Fate/stay tune]]:[[GratuitousEnglish Unlimited Radio Works"]], JojiNakata made a guest appearance and showed himself to have a great personality and sense of humor, among other things doing [[CrowningMomentOfFunny an impression of Ilya's famous "Get them, BERSERKER!" line,]] as well as some of Kirei's lines in [[KeroroGunsou Sgt. Frog's voice]].
* MeaningfulEcho: In ''Fate'', he tells Shirou that, to have a chance of winning against him, he has to put his life on the line. He applies what he said on himself in ''Heaven’s Feel'' upon finding his knuckles pulverized by punching Shirou's body which had been turning to swords.
* NoCureForEvil: Seemingly averted by his healing magic. Except that those abilities were inherited through a Magic Crest, and according to all descriptions of their functioning, his is an exception in that it's consumed through use. He has no reservations against squandering it and doesn't seem troubled by its disappearance.
* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown: His final showdown with Shirou in ''Heaven's Feel'' boils down to this, largely because both of them have no {{mana}} to use, and because their bodies are completely broken (Kirei from injuries sustained during his CrowningMomentOfAwesome, Shirou from the backlash of having used his DeadlyUpgrade one time too many). Kirei loses only because his body gave out on him in the end.
* SayMyName: Shirou and Kirei seem especially fond of calling each other by full names, especially when yelling. Combined with Shirou's realization that he ''likes'' Kotomine during the climax of ''Heaven’s Feel'', let's see how long it takes a YaoiFangirl to find FoeYay in that...
* ShadowArchetype: As Shirou comes to realize in ''Heaven’s Feel'', Kotomine and he are NotSoDifferent -- both have essentially no sense of self and can only find purpose through their fellow humans: The only difference is that for Shirou it is helping people, and for Kotomine it is to cause them pain.
* SinisterMinister
* ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks: Due to his time spent with the ChurchMilitant "Burial Agency", Kirei has a supply of "Black Key" throwing swords similar to the ones used by [[{{Tsukihime}} Ciel]].
* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Mapo tofu. And he likes it ''hellishly hot''.
* TreacherousAdvisor: He technically fulfils this role for Shirou and Rin, but neither of them trust him very much.
* {{Troll}}
* VillainsOutShopping: Shirou enters a restaurant and... finds Kirei eating infamously hot mapo tofu at a Chinese restaurant. See CrowningMomentOfFunny above.
** The first plate was probably an intimidation tactic. To signal the end of his conversation, he has ''second and third'' helpings sent to the table, starts gobbling scoops of it, and again asks Shirou if he wants some.
* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman: The main topic of his attempted [[HannibalLecture Hannibal Lectures]] to Shirou in ''Heaven's Feel'', where he argues that Shirou has no right to stop the CosmicHorror about to use [[spoiler:Sakura]] to let itself loose on the world because, despite the fact that it has killed scores of people in its embryonic state, all creatures deserve to be born into the world.
* WillNotTellALie: For shits and giggles. It's much more fun to trick people without lying.
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds: Depending on the AlternateCharacterInterpretation. What could be worse than being [[BeingGoodSucks born naturally evil, only able to take pleasure in the suffering of others]], but still [[BeingEvilSucks born with a]] ''[[BeingEvilSucks conscience]]?'' This only shows up in ''Heaven’s Feel'', however; the other two routes don't go into his back-story enough to show him as anything but a CompleteMonster.
* YourApprovalFillsMeWithShame: Kirei will honestly applaud you for picking the choice that leads to BadEnd #30.

!!Souichirou Kuzuki (Voiced by Kazuhiro Nakata, PatrickSeitz)
http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/soichirou_fsn.jpg
Rin's homeroom teacher at school. He lives in the Ryuudouji Temple and is Issei's older-brother figure. A tall, stern man who [[TheStoic rarely expresses any emotion at all]], he appears physically intimidating, but is really a gentle soul who does his best to give each student a fair and proper education.

In ''Unlimited Blade Works'', Kuzuki is revealed to be Caster's master and a former assassin with a fighting style revolving around catching the enemy off guard and striking their vulnerable points. He found Caster after she had killed her original master. Low on {{mana}} and about to disappear, she begged Kuzuki to become her master, which he readily accepted, if only because he wanted to help her. After [[IfYouKnowWhatIMean forming a pact]], Caster began draining {{mana}} from the townspeople because Kuzuki, who is not a magus, cannot provide her with much. Kuzuki himself has no need for the Holy Grail, and is simply fighting to help Caster, although he does value his own life above hers, and makes it a point to tell both her and Shirou that he will keep himself alive no matter what.

In ''Unlimited Blade Works'', Kuzuki is killed by Archer after the latter double-crosses Caster. In ''Heaven's Feel'', he and Caster are the first victims of True Assassin and Angra Mainyu's embryonic form.
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* AntiVillain
* BadassNormal: He actually manages to defeat ''Saber'' during their first encounter with only magical enhancements from Caster toughening up his hands and his own unconventional martial arts style. (It's stated that had they figured out his assassin-like fighting style, any Servant could easily beat him, but be that as it may... )
* BattleCouple: With Caster.
* CrouchingScholarHiddenBadass
* CrowningMomentofAwesome / CrowningMomentofHeartwarming: [[spoiler:He stood in front of certain death in the anime, and ''simply refused to die'' until he was sure his beloved Caster died happy]].
** [[spoiler:In ''Unlimited Blade Works'', he stayed to fight Archer after Caster's death in order to avenge her; this in spite of the fact that he ''knew'' he couldn't win, his opponent was perfectly willing to let him go, and he himself had previously claimed he wouldn't risk his own life for her. He could have just walked out of there, but he decided to honor her memory, even if he died in the attempt... ::sniff::]]
* DullEyesOfUnhappiness: His eyes never have light on them.
* ExtremeDoormat: Fairly obviously in love with his Servant, Caster, but doesn't actually ''do'' anything of his own volition. In fact, he rather bluntly says that she can do anything she likes and he'll let her, and his only priority is his own life over hers. [[spoiler:This really isn’t true ‘‘either’’, but whatever]].
* GoodPeopleHaveGoodSex: Inverted, as he and Caster have a pretty decent sex life despite being among the enemies.
* HitmanWithAHeart: He really is a nice guy, but he'll ditch you without a moment's notice if he feels his own life is in danger.
* NotSoStoic: It may be hard at times to see whether he really cares about Caster, but [[spoiler:in ''Hollow Ataraxia'' he has a heartfelt conversation with Fujimura about whether or not he's good enough to please Caster]].
* OfficialCouple: With Caster.
* PerpetualFrowner
* RescueRomance: With Caster.
* SchroedingerFu: Kuzuki uses a very unusual martial arts style to pierce the defenses of skilled opponents. Once they're used to his movements, he loses a fair bit of effectiveness.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: As there are two long vowels in his name, there's quite a lot of possible permutations to it. It's usually spelled Souichirou, Soichirou or Sōichirō in ''Fate/stay night'' media.
* SternTeacher
* TheStoic
* TheUndefeated: In ''Unlimited Blade Works'', Kuzuki tries [[spoiler:to fight Archer even after Caster is killed and his enhancements are gone, despite the heroes being willing to let him go. He gets to land one punch, which Archer doesn't even try to dodge or block, before being sliced in half]].
* UnholyMatrimony: With Caster.

!!Zouken Matou

The head of the Matou family and the cause of a great deal of misery for many characters. His presence is indirectly felt in ''Fate'' and ''Unlimited Blade Works'', but in ''Heaven's Feel'' the true extent of his evil comes to light.

Though he is known as Shinji's grandfather, he is in fact over two centuries old, having used a breed of parasitic worms to prolong his lifespan. He has an instinctive desire to take control of the Holy Grail and attain immortality, and to this end he adopts Sakura and infects her with parasitic worms that have been tainted by the pollution of the Grail. This greatly boosts Sakura's magical power (and sexual frustration) but in ''Heaven's Feel'' it also allows Zouken to twist Sakura into a proto-form of Angra Mainyu that is completely under his control. He also summons True Assassin from the corpse of Assassin, officially becoming the seventh Master in the Fifth Holy Grail War.

However, he eventually loses control of Sakura, and eventually he is killed by a combination of Kotomine Kirei and Dark Sakura. Living through even this by sheer force of will, he is finally convinced it is his time by Ilyasviel during the final moments of the final ending.
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* AlasPoorVillain: Fails. He's chucked Sakura and himself into the MoralEventHorizon far too often to pull it off.
* BigBad: In ''Heaven's Feel''.
* CharacterAlignment: NeutralEvil
* CompleteMonster: Just look what this scumbag does to poor Sakura. Also, he's partially to blame for Shinji being the asshole he is. Plus [[AMillionIsAStatistic he has also killed many thousands of innocent people in order to remain alive]], and is willing to risk destroying the whole town, or maybe even ''world'' to obtain his goal.
* {{Determinator}}: Still alive after being exorcised by Kotomine and having the worm carrying his soul crushed by Dark Sakura by jumping into a bunch of hastily created worms (all the while enduring agonizing pain for the sake of ''not dying'') -- until he was convinced to finally let go by Ilya.
* EvilIsNotAToy: His plan for obtaining the Grail involves corrupting Sakura, who he has been torturing for over a decade, with [[DemonicPossession an entity representing all the evils of the world]], which also happens to give her almost godlike power and super-regeneration abilities, and then expecting her to follow his orders until she breaks down entirely, at which point he will possess her body. All this whilst the main worm containing his soul is buried within her heart. [[WhatAnIdiot Three guesses at what happens... ]].
* {{Expy}}: Of Michael Roa Valdamjong from ''{{Tsukihime}}''. Both are {{Big Bad}}s who perform GrandTheftMe and have an obsession with immortality -- the reason for which (falling in love -- with Arcueid in Roa's case, with Justizia in Zouken's) they both have forgotten over the centuries.
* GrandTheftMe: In order to keep himself alive, he has to obtain a new body every few months (or when the old one is damaged beyond repair).
* ImmortalityImmorality
* [[spoiler:KarmicDeath]]: [[spoiler:Combined with KickTheSonOfABitch]].
* [[spoiler:KarmaHoudini]]: [[spoiler:Outside of ''Heaven’s Feel'']].
* {{Leitmotif}}: "Wandering Shadow" plays almost every time Zouken appears onscreen.
* LoveMakesYouEvil: His ''original'' (and long-forgotten) motivation for getting the Grail was [[spoiler:to honor the sacrifice of the woman he loved, Justica von Einzbern]].
* ManipulativeBastard: He certainly attempts this with all his manipulation of Sakura and others.
* ObviouslyEvil: Let's see... wrinkled and decrepit, his only "smile" sprite is a PsychoticSmirk, his [[BlackEyesOfEvil eyes are solid black with white pupils]]... yeah, it was pretty obvious from his first appearance that he wasn't going to be a good guy.
* OlderThanTheyLook: And considering how old he ''does'' look, that's an accomplishment.
* ShadowArchetype: His original motivation as a magus, revealed upon his death, was the betterment of the human condition, even if his life and efforts aren't rewarded at all. In the last portion he was exactly what Shirou is.
* SoYouWantToLiveForever
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Depending on the source, usually either Zouken Matou or Zōken Matō.
* TheDarkSideWillMakeYouForget: His original motive for attaining the Grail was to honor the life of a colleague who had sacrificed herself to create the original Holy Grail (in order to create the Gate of All Things, which would lead to the root of the universe itself). Over time, frustration, age and his deteriorating body caused him to forget his original goal, leaving only an unnatural obsession with immortality.
* TheWormThatWalks

!!Bazett Fraga [=McRemitz=] (voiced by HitomiNabatame)

Only a minor character in the original ''Fate/stay night'', Bazett is one of the main characters of ''Hollow Ataraxia''; she was the magus who originally summoned Lancer, but was apparently killed very early into the fifth Grail War when Kotomine cut her arm off to take her Command Seals.

In ''Hollow Ataraxia'', however, it is revealed that [[spoiler:from within the Grail, Avenger reached out to her and tried to grant her a wish, enabling her to stay alive but in a coma. When Caren Ortensia found her and began to nurse her back to health, Avenger created the four-day time loop as an internal world to keep Bazett's mind occupied. During the time loop, Bazett acts directly as Avenger's master, although she's very confused about why she doesn't have her original Servant anymore]].

Bazett hails from Ireland and is heir to a very special kind of magic that makes her the only living human with a Noble Phantasm. She crushes hard on Lancer (not that we blame her).
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* [[AscendedFanboy Ascended Fangirl]]: The whole reason she wanted to participate in the Grail War in the first place was to summon Lancer. And most of her life was spent gearing her for the Grail War, even though she probably wouldn't have a chance to participate.
* AsLongAsItSoundsForeign: Ever met any Irish women named Bazett? Or ''anyone'' with the surname [=McRemitz=], for that matter?
* BadassNormal: So very, very badass... [[TheWorfEffect when she's actually given the chance to be]].
** Normal? Even though she's a great magus of the [=McRemitz=] family and having Fragrach as well? I don't think she's that normal...
*** Normal in that she doesn't know magic in a "traditional" way. Abnormal in that she instead has a special technique exclusive to her family to make up for it.
* {{Bifauxnen}}: The suit is supposedly to make her appear more like a man to aid in her duties, but men aren't often so cute.
* BodyguardCrush: Inverted with Lancer.
* BoobsOfSteel: Speaking of things that hurt the {{Bifauxnen}} image, she's quite well endowed (and true to the trope, she's also a master fighter). Avenger jokes that she "must be very strong to be able to carry that chest".
* [[spoiler:ConvenientComa]]: [[spoiler:Hey, it kept her alive -- don't knock it]].
* DemotedToExtra / OutOfFocus: She starts out figuring quite importantly in ''Hollow Ataraxia'', but her presence gradually dwindles and Caren becomes more prominent towards the end. Also as mentioned below, unlike Caren, she's the only heroine in ''Hollow Ataraxia'' who doesn't get an H-scene.
* DownerEnding: In ''Unlimited Codes''. [[spoiler:She gets to defeat all her opponents, only to be killed by Kotomine in the end. Oh, turns out that it was AllJustADream? Well lady, Angra Mainyu's artificially keeping you alive and leeching off you, while you could hear Dark Sakura giggling evilly in the background]].
* DubNameChange: She's apparently named Guian in a dub that isn't English but the information on *which* language that is has apparently vanished from the internet. It at least sounds a bit more legitimate than "Bazett".
* [[spoiler:HandicappedBadass]]: [[spoiler:Now has only her right arm, after Kotomine cut off the left one. She gets a new magic arm from somewhere or another soon after she wakes up though, if a strange bonus scene at the end of ''Hollow Ataraxia'' counts as canon]].
* {{Expy}}: Like Sion from ''MeltyBlood'', she is a socially awkward, purple haired young woman from a fallen noble family in the magic association who has [[spoiler:half-requited]] feelings for the protagonist and uses relics to make up for her relative lack of magical ability.
* FridgeLogic: She realizes that [[spoiler:she's trapped in a LotusEaterMachine]] in ''Unlimited Codes'' when she defeats Kirei, who she judges an opponent too tough for her to handle in reality. Really? Having definitely defeated Lancer and who knows how many other random servants over the course of her story mode, someone who is at least a human seems like the least likely person to set off that alarm.
** Considering that [[ManipulativeBastard Kirei]] can use ''freaking Angra Mainyu: All The World's Evil'' as his Holy Grail EX technique and one of his Super Moves is to make the slime of the Grail explode upwards, this is ''not'' an illogical assumption. Her instincts are ''right''.
* GroundhogDay: This is more of a setting trope, but it's worth mentioning here since [[spoiler:the four day loop in ''Hollow Ataraxia'' is being maintained by Avenger to keep her alive, after all]].
* {{Kuudere}}: She acts more like this as time goes on. Unlike Caren she doesn't get a [[IfYouKnowWhatIMean special scene]] though.
* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: She made the mistake of being [[IfYouKnowWhatIMean friendly]] with Kotomine. The rest is history.
** On the other hand, she does correctly gauge that Avenger isn't nearly as bad a person as [[spoiler:being the Persian devil]] would imply, so maybe it's just that Kirei is very good at fooling people. This is a decent assumption to make, considering his track record.
* InfiniteSupplies: Averted, she only has a finite amount of [[CounterAttack Fraga]][[OneHitKill rachs]] in her possession, so she has to plan how to efficiently use them in battle. Of course, because of the loop, she gets a new supply with each new life.
* {{Memento McGuffin}}: Her earrings are [[spoiler:a trademark of the Red Branch Knights. I wonder if those earrings Lancer wears are related at all..]].
* MostCommonSuperPower: And how, although her suit works against this trope by making them less noticeable, much like Sakura's school uniform. Taken to the point of GagBoobs in some fan work comparing her to Sakura.
* PosthumousCharacter: In ''Fate/stay night''. [[spoiler:Eventually subverted in ''Hollow Ataraxia'']].
* TheStoic: She gives off this aura, [[spoiler:but as Avenger discovers over the course of ''Hollow Ataraxia'', she's really quite timid and emotional]].
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: So is it "Bazett" or "Bazette"?
* TheWorfEffect: In ''Fate/stay night''. Off-screen, no less.
** Does this really apply? She's never made out to have been particularly strong in stay night, but rather just another victim of Kirei.

!!Caren Ortensia (Voiced by AmiKoshimizu)

A character exclusive to ''Hollow Ataraxia'', Caren is an impassive young woman who seems to have taken Kotomine's place at the church (and as Lancer and Gilgamesh's master) in the four-day time loop. She enjoys teasing and embarrassing others, but is very forgiving of others' wrongdoings -- she goes so far as to actually blame herself for them. Avenger eventually falls in love with her, making her the main heroine of ''Hollow Ataraxia''.

It turns out that [[spoiler:she is present in the time loop because she's the one who discovered Bazett in the real world and has been nursing her back to health]].

She fights with a unique kind of cloth spear, and is [[spoiler:Kotomine's long-lost daughter]].
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* AmiKoshimizu: Her voice whenever she has a voiced role, which is not in ''Hollow Ataraxia''.
* BandageBabe: Due to the BlessedWithSuck / BodyHorror below.
* BlessedWithSuck: Caren's body reacts to the presence of evil spirits, so the Church likes using her as their radar.
* BodyHorror: This involves ''[[spoiler:spikes erupting from under her skin]]''.
* CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming: [[TearJerker "You look like a rock star."]]
* DeadpanSnarker
* DefrostingIceQueen: Eventually.
* EmotionlessGirl: She remains calm and nearly expressionless even while pinching Avenger's cheeks.
* EnsembleDarkhorse: She's certainly quite popular, at least in Japan, despite the fact that she doesn't actually show up all that much in ''Hollow Ataraxia''.
* EyesOfGold
* {{Leitmotif}}: Funnily enough, "Caren's theme" in ''Hollow Ataraxia''.
* MeaningfulName: Ortensia refers to the hydrangea, and ''karen'' means "pretty" in Japanese.
* MemeticBadass: Fear the Caren.
** In ''Fate/tiger colosseum'', the Kaleido Stick gets a hold of her and creates '''''Magical Caren'''''. Just ''look'' at that SlasherSmile. [[TheEndOfTheWorldAsWeKnowIt We're all doomed]].
* NiceHat
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Caren or Karen.
* TheTease: She enjoys picking on others to the point of sexily harassing them, and her revealing battle costume is stated to be both for mobility and to [[InvokedTrope invoke]] DistractedByTheSexy in her male opponents.
* WhiteHairedPrettyGirl
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Servants]]
!!Saber (Voiced by AyakoKawasumi, KateHiggins)
http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/saber_fsn.jpg
-->''"I ask of you. Are you my Master?"''

The main heroine of the ''Fate'' route. Saber is the Servant summoned by TheHero, Shirou Emiya. Being a Saber class, she excels in many areas of fighting and has a very high magic resistance. She is often considered the best Servant type, but due to Shirou's shortcomings as a Master, she cannot reach her full potential.

Saber possesses several quirks for a Servant: For one, she cannot dematerialize into a spirit form like other Heroic Spirits. She was also a participant in [[FateZero the Fourth Holy Grail Wars]] as the Saber-class Servant of Kiritsugu Emiya, and somehow retains her memories from that encounter despite the fact that she should not be able to. Whereas the former is blamed on an imperfect summoning, both are eventually revealed to be caused by the fact that Saber is still alive: On her deathbed, she pledged a contract with The World to allow herself to enter the Holy Grail Wars as a Servant in exchange for eternal service as a Counter Guardian upon her victory. Thus, her true self is frozen in time moments before her death, and she will continue to reincarnate until she achieves her goal or gives up.

Her true identity is a [[GenderFlip Gender Flipped]] KingArthur. She joins the Holy Grail War initially to repeat history so Britain can get a better king in her stead, as she thought she only caused her kingdom suffering. Her Noble Phantasms are the WaveMotionSword ''Excalibur'' and the barrier magic ''Invisible Air'', which keeps the instantly recognizable Excalibur hidden from sight. Her last Noble Phantasm -- [[ChekhovsGun which she seems to have lost]] -- is ''Avalon'', the scabbard of Excalibur that bestows a powerful HealingFactor.
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* ActionGirl
* AntiMagic: An innate ability of the Saber class is practical immunity to magic.
* {{Badass}}: And how!
** BadassAdorable: While more beautiful and dignified than actually cute, Saber's sincere and honest personality is very endearing.
* BerserkButton: Do not deny Saber lunch or feed her bad food. It does not end well.
* BigEater: {{Handwave}}d by the fact that Shirou cannot provide her with mana to heal herself, thus she needs to eat a ''lot'' to keep up her strength.
** Nevertheless, it becomes very clear that she just happens to like food a lot. Well-cooked food mind you. At one point, remembering the highly inadequate skills of the chefs of her era has her briefly let off a ''killing aura''.
* BiTheWay: She has absolutely no problem being with Rin as well as Shirou. [[GirlOnGirlIsHot The fans have no problem with it either]].
* BrokenBird
* CharacterAlignment: LawfulGood
* {{Chaste Hero}}ine: A rare female version.
* [=~Chekhov's Gun~=]: Saber mentions having lost her scabbard and final Noble Phantasm, Avalon. [[spoiler:It was inside Shirou the whole time, keeping him alive through injuries that should have killed him]].
* CheshireCatGrin: Not nearly as often as Rin (or Sakura in ''Hollow Ataraxia''), but she does occasionally hide her anger behind a seemingly innocent smile.
* CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming: [[spoiler:Speaking of that scabbard, the scene where she realizes Shirou has Avalon in him qualifies, among others]].
** Last Episode. All of it.
* CutenessProximity: Mild, but she has a notable soft spot for stuffed animals, ''especially'' lions.
* DistressBall: Much to her consternation in ''Unlimited Blade Works''.
* DontYouDarePityMe
* {{Expy}}: A bit spottier than some of the ones listed later, but Saber combines the absolute devotion and propriety of [[{{Tsukihime}} Hisui]] with being a mysterious blonde girl of [[EvenTheGirlsWantHer extraordinary]] beauty who was originally active hundreds of years ago -- like Arcueid.
* FailedASpotCheck: In ''Hollow Ataraxia'', Saber comes home while Caster is learning how to cook from Shirou, and Shirou tries to hide Caster. Saber somehow fails to notice that the strange purple "trash bag" (Caster's hood) in the kitchen has a Servant inside of it.
** [[spoiler:She also fails to notice Rider sneak into Shirou's room and give him erotic dreams in order to absorb his mana in ''Heaven's Feel''. This was with her sleeping in the next room over, she never even realizes exactly why he’s so drained the next day thinking he’s just gotten a minor flu courtesy of Sakura]].
* FissionMailed: For an amusing fake BadEnd, tell Saber that there will be no food today.
* GenderFlip: [[spoiler:King Arthur]] as a girl.
* HeroicSelfDeprecation: Her wish is basically to ensure that the legend she comes from never existed in the first place because she believes she did an inadequate job at it. Unlike most examples of the trope, Saber tends to shut up about her self-esteem issues unless people specifically push the issue.
* HonorBeforeReason: Much like her master, to his relief.
* IdiotHair: MemeticMutation turns it into such things as a [[PrehensileHair third hand]], an oven timer, and the infamous ''Ahogecopter''. Plus, if by poor luck you pull it off, out comes Saber Alter...
* ImageSong: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBR7JanY6pQ "Tooi Yume"]] ("Distant Dream")
* InnocentFanserviceGirl: And by "fanservice", we mean "softcore porn"!
** After she falls for Shirou, she [[CantActPervertedTowardALoveInterest can't be perverted]], and becomes bashful about him seeing her body.
* LadyOfWar
* TheMario: On her character sheet, all her attributes (except for her Noble Phantasm) are "B"- or "C"-rank. The other servants are much less balanced.
** Only if her master is Shirou though. [[spoiler:If Kiritsugu is her master, all other stats are A with exception of Strength=B and Luck=D. If Rin is her master her stats are all A except for Endurance=B and Agility=B. If Sakura is her master her stats are all A with exception of Agility=D and Luck=C... The first two make her an overwhelming LightningBruiser while the last makes her a very powerful MightyGlacier. It was even said during the ''Unlimited Blade Works'' route that if Saber fought against Berserker (with Rin as her master) she could defeat her easily while during the ''Heaven's Feel'' route she defeated Berserker (along with the show) easily]].
* OlderThanTheyLook: Saber was around 25 when she died, but due to the fact that she stopped aging once she obtained Avalon, she looks around 14/15.
* {{Pettanko}}: Though anxieties about this do not play up until she actually falls in love with Shirou.
* RedBaron: "King of Knights".
* SuperDrowningSkills: According to ''Hollow Ataraxia'', anyway. [[spoiler:This is rather hilarious, because she can actually WalkOnWater, since she's got the blessing of the Lady of the Lake]].
* SuperpoweredEvilSide: Saber Alter.
** BigEater: Still a big eater as Saber Alter, but manages to destroy Shirou's pride in his cooking with her attitude about it.
---> '''Saber Alter:''' Lunch. [[GratuitousEnglish NOW]]! ''<munch>'' Like always, your food is horrible.
*** Actually, in side material it mentioned Black Saber being the biggest eater of all, surpassing even Berserker...
** CharacterAlignment: LawfulEvil: With heavy emphasis on ''Lawful''.
** TheCorruption: The cause.
** [[spoiler:DyingAsYourself]]: [[spoiler:In one BadEnd where Shirou manages to kill her singlehandedly (at the cost of his own life), she compliments him on his strength in a warm way before disappearing. Unfortunately, she does ''not'' appear to do this in the normal course of the storyline when she dies]].
** ElegantGothicLolita: Her new casual outfit.
** EnemyWithout: Inverted in ''Unlimited Codes'' -- Saber Alter's final fight in arcade mode is regular Saber, who somehow managed to separate herself.
** EvilCostumeSwitch
** EyesOfGold
** MarkedChange
** MaskPower
** NobleDemon: ''Sparks Liner High'' shows that she still cares about Shirou to some extent -- even if they had to fight on opposing sides.
** PaintItBlack: Her armor.
** PerpetualFrowner: A super-powered evil version of her usual PokerFace.
* TearJerker: The famous [[spoiler:scene at the end of ''Fate'' and the anime]].
** Less famous but still tear jerking, is [[spoiler:Shirou's ShootTheDog moment with a possessed Saber]] in ''Heaven’s Feel''.
* ThemeMusicPowerUp: Whenever ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tkR_97yF1o&fmt=18 "The Sword of Promised Victory"]]'' plays, something is getting [[UnusualEuphemism Excalibur'd]].
* TomboyAndGirlyGirl: Although Saber does have LadyOfWar elegance, she still acts very tomboyish. She contrasts with Rin's girlishness (she even laments not being as girlish or shapely as Rin later on in Fate)
* TrademarkFavoriteFood: Everything, as shown in one scene where Shirou tried to narrow down her favorite foods and she ended up liking absolutely everything he suggested. [[spoiler:As Saber Alter (in ''Hollow Ataraxia''): Burgers. Burgers by the truckload]].
** However, she [[DoesNotLikeSpam doesn't like octopus]], calling it a demon fish of the underworld when she sees it in the fridge in ''Hollow Ataraxia''. To be more accurate, she's eaten lots of takoyaki (fried octopus in a ball) before, but was horrified to find out that octopus was what was in those balls.
** The author's note in [[FateZero The Mad Feast Of Kings]] explains this: She associates tentacled squishy things with the hordes of... well... demonic fish of the underworld that the previous Grail War's Caster was summoning.
* TranquilFury: Played for laughs. You ''know'' that Shirou has managed to piss her off if she shows up to their daily sparring sessions smiling, happy... and wearing her armor. Cue ass-kicking.
* WaifFu
* WalkOnWater: Saber was given this ability by [[spoiler:the Lady of the Lake]], but as a result she can't swim. Her trip to the water park with Shirou to learn has both crowning moments of [[CrowningMomentOfFunny funny]] and [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming heartwarming]]/[[{{Moe}} moe]].
* WhatBeautifulEyes: Saber's eyes are lovingly described often in both Shirou and [[LesYay Rin's]] narration/internal monologue.
* WaveMotionSword: "[[spoiler:Excalibur]], The Sword of Promised Victory".
* [[TheWomanWearingTheQueenlyMask The Woman Wearing the Kingly Mask]]: Aided by a GenderFlip illusion cast by [[spoiler:Merlin]]. Unfortunately it works ''too'' well, and a rebellion rises up against Saber because some see her as an inhuman demon that doesn't care for her people.

!!Archer (Voiced by JunichiSuwabe, [[LiamOBrien Liam O' Brien]])
http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/archer_fsn.jpg
-->''"Well well... it appears I've been summoned by a strange little girl."''

Servant of Rin and one of the more popular characters in the show. Sarcastic but serious, he tends to look down on Shirou's ideals and usually dispenses either cryptic advice or [[DeadpanSnarker razor-sharp putdowns]]. He is obedient to Rin, although to what extent nobody really knows; though he carries a semblance of loyalty, Rin has to use one of her three Command Spells shortly after summoning him in order to force Archer into submission.

Unlike other Heroic Spirits, his identity is not a figure from the past: In fact, he is an AlternateUniverse FutureBadass version of Shirou Emiya, who achieved his dream of becoming a selfless Hero of Justice but was slammed with nothing but betrayals to his ideal, eventually becoming trapped in eternal service to The World as a Counter Guardian. He joins the war so he can kill Shirou -- or at least spare him from the harsh fate that awaits him if he continues his naive idealism -- and consequently cause a time paradox that would remove Archer from his contract to The World. His main strength lies in Projection Magic, augmented by his possession of the powerful Reality Marble magic ''Unlimited Blade Works'', which reduces the mana cost required for Projection to nil. He most commonly Projects the twin Noble Phantasms ''Kanshou & Bakuya'', a pair of swords.

''"Unlimited Blade Works"'' is also the title of the route in which he takes center stage.
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* AntiHero: [[SlidingScaleOfAntiHeroes Type IV]].
* TheArcher: Subverted in that he himself states that he isn't one. It's just something he's good at.
* AwesomenessByAnalysis: His "Eye of the Mind" skill compensates for him having the worst Luck rank possible.
** An especially awesome example, at that. During his battle with Lancer in ''Unlimited Blade Works'', Lancer is moving and attacking at speeds so inhumanly fast that even other Servants couldn't keep up with him; Archer manages to hold him off by deliberately making holes in his defense and then parrying every time Lancer attacks those holes, ''effectively fighting the whole battle a step ahead of Lancer''.
*** Well, "delaying being split like a shish kabob until after he tires out by staying a step ahead of Lancer". Still awesome, though.
* {{Badass}}: The man the word "GAR" was invented for, folks.
** BadassLongcoat: Though it's more like a Badass ''Skirt''.
** BadassNormal: Compared to the other servants.
* BatmanGambit / BigDamnHeroes / NotQuiteDead: His CrowningMomentOfAwesome in ''Unlimited Blade Works''. Go on, look it up. It really ''is'' awesome.
* CasualDangerDialog: Archer speaks to everyone with the same bored indifference, even if they are much stronger and on the verge of attacking him. The craziest example was when he, near the end of his route, calmly threatened ''[[CompleteMonster Gilgamesh]]'' with death at 1/10 of his original strength.
* CharacterAlignment: TrueNeutral
* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder: In ''Unlimited Blade Works''.
* DarkAndTroubledPast
* DarkMessiah: In a matter of speaking. Archer hates being a Counter Guardian but still intellectually recognizes that it's the best way to keep earth safe.
* DarkSkinnedBlond: Though it's not natural.
* DeadpanSnarker
* {{Deconstruction}}: He's a WideEyedIdealist who naively tried to save everyone he could see. You know, ''superheroes''? You'd end up like this, too, if you found out that your ideal is inherently paradoxical and that everything you've been fighting for the whole time amounted to nothing.
* DeflectorShields: Rho Aias.
* DualWielding: Kanshou and Bakuya.
* EnigmaticMinion: In ''Fate'' and most of ''Unlimited Blade Works''.
* EnsembleDarkhorse: Right after Saber and Rin in the ''Hollow Ataraxia'' popularity poll, in fact.
* FallenHero
* FieldOfBlades: ''So, as I pray... '' '''Unlimited Blade Works'''.
* FutureBadass
* TheGadfly: Archer continually tests Shirou's, Saber's and Rin's ideals and personalities with jokes and barbs and is at the same time capable of claiming with a straight face that he would use the Grail for "World Peace".
** FunnyAneurysmMoment: Once we learn Archer's true identity, motives and back-story his stated wish for "World Peace" becomes all kinds of depressing.
* GoOutWithASmile: In ''Unlimited Blade Works''.
* GenerationXerox: His foster father, Emiya Kiritsugu, [[FateZero started out wanting to be a "hero of justice" but learned things the hard way, and ended up sacrificing the few to save the many in his actions]]. Like father, like son, so much that Kiritsugu's description in the quote on top of the FateZero page exactly fits Archer as well.
* GratuitousEnglish: The activation speech for his Reality Marble. The Engrish is used in the VisualNovel as well but is also accompanied by a proper (and quite different) Japanese version that clarifies its meaning (''I have created over a thousand blades... Unknown to death nor known to life... '').
* GuileHero: In ''Unlimited Blade Works'', at the very least, he displays profound [[MagnificentBastard manipulative skill]].
* HeroWithBadPublicity: Well, more like ''no'' publicity. Nobody has any clue at all who he is. [[spoiler:Both in the time of the Fifth Grail War, because he's from the future, and in his own time, because he rarely spoke to people. Simply going around saving people with no explanation made people very suspicious of his motives. Eventually this distrust culminated in him being executed for supposedly starting a war that he'd gotten involved in and ended]].
** This is somewhat ''intentional'', however, since his method of fighting involves using a form of magic that is ''forbidden'' by the Magic Association. So, not only can he not tell ''normal'' people about his actions (because magic must be kept secret), he can't tell other magi ''either''.
* IHatePastMe: [[{{Understatement}} To say the very least]].
* ImageSong: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGPxGR8zIk0 "Rise"]]
* IronicHell
-->[[spoiler:'''Rin''' (narrating): The boy who stated that he just doesn't want to see anyone cry... could only see crying humans forever]].
* ItGotWorse: Practically his entire back-story. [[spoiler:His ideals keep getting trampled on over and over until he becomes bitter and cynical. He gets turned into a scapegoat by the very people whose lives he saved, and is executed for it. After death, The World forces him to betray his ideals again and again in his service as a Counter Guardian, which lasts for ''eternity''. No wonder he banks everything on a crazy plan to cause a time paradox]].
* JerkassWoobie: {{Badass}}ery aside, Archer can be a real dick sometimes. And you know what? He has every right to be.
* KnightInSourArmor: Saber, and to a lesser extent Lancer, recognize him as a knight, but both are rather appalled at his manipulative nature, cynicism and ShootTheDog attitude.
* {{Leitmotif}}: "The End of Reminiscence" serves as a ''de facto'' leitmotif for Archer, especially in the ''Fate'' route. Emiya also counts for obvious reasons, but that's more of a ThemeMusicPowerUp.
* LonelyAtTheTop: Archer followed his ideal to the end, and look where it took him. No wonder he's so bitter.
* MemeticBadass: To be fair, he does earn most of his badass credentials. But a lot of his ability is merely implied as he never really gets a chance to go all out.
* MemeticMutation: The word ''GAR'', and... ''Have withstood the pain to create many weapons... yet these hands will never hold anything''...
* MemeticSexGod: Everyone is GAR for Archer.
* MyGreatestFailure: [[spoiler:As the supplemental materials reveal, Archer's back story had him saving Ilya just like Shirou did in "Fate", only to see her waste away and die a year after the end of the fifth grail war due to her Homunculus body. It's one of the first real dents in his idealism, and the main reason why Archer never considers attacking Ilya directly as an option]].
* NervesOfSteel: Archer's strongest combat ability allows him to plan out strategies ''while trading blows'' and work out the most effective path to victory.
* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished: Archer is the freaking patron saint of this trope. He willingly gave both his life and his afterlife for the sake of other people and it never brought him anything but pain and betrayal.
* PrecisionGuidedBoomerang: Kanshou and Bakuya, again.
* SarcasticDevotee: To Rin. [[spoiler:Eventually subverted in ''Unlimited Blade Works'' as he ends up betraying her to fulfill his own objective]].
* SchroedingerFu: Archer depends heavily on the fact that none of the other heroes can identify him, which usually leads to them underestimating his abilities.
* SillyRabbitIdealismIsForKids: ''Drown in your ideals and die!''
* SourSupporter: To Shirou, whenever they're forced to work together.
* StormOfBlades: While it's not his trademark, Archer is fully capable of this by invoking his Reality Marble.
* StupidSexyFlanders: It's hardly uncommon to hear men claim that they are [[MemeticMutation GAR]] for Archer...
* TallDarkAndSnarky
* TearJerker: He has a few such moments in his own route. [[spoiler:The first is, for some, the fight between himself and Shirou, when Shirou makes him realize he should lose. The second is at the ending. For anyone with a heart]].
* TemporalParadox: Archer's goal involves killing Shirou, and supposedly the paradox will be greater if he does it himself.
* ThemeMusicPowerUp: {{Badass}}ery will ensue whenever "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSm6nnwesV4 Emiya]]" plays.
** Note that this only applies to the anime; the visual novel only ever uses "Emiya" for Shirou's [[CrowningMomentOfAwesome Crowning Moments of Awesome]].
* ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks: Completely and thoroughly justified.
* TragicHero: This is a guy whose original desire was to save everyone.
--> '''Archer:''' Conflicts come into my view as long as I'm alive. It was endless. I didn't dream of a world without conflicts. [[DespairEventHorizon I just wanted people in my view to not cry]].
* TrickArrow: He uses various legendary swords ([[StuffBlowingUp that EXPLODE]]) as arrows.
* UsedToBeASweetKid
* WeakButSkilled: Archer is the worst of the Servants statistically, and depends on several lifetimes' worth of hard work and experience to make up for it.
** This is explained by the visual novel as Archer having none of the "natural talent" that legitimate heroes like Saber or Lancer are born with, or the blessings of higher entities like Berserker's and Gilgamesh's divine heritage; he had to LevelGrind his abilities by living through thousands of battles both in life and after it.
* WhiteHairedPrettyBoy
* XanatosGambit: Just ''look'' at his reason for joining the Grail War.

!!Lancer (Voiced by NobutoshiCanna, TonyOliver)
http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lancer_fsn.jpg
-->''"It should be natural for you to drink until dawn with someone you get along with, even if he may be your enemy."''

Formerly a Servant of Bazett Fraga [=McRemitz=], but she was abruptly killed by Kirei Kotomine, who in turn took her Command Spell to control Lancer. Lancer is a carefree, laid back Servant always eager to get into a good fight, and will never back down unless commanded. When not being an enemy, he shows a playful attitude and loves to tease. He is most often seen fighting Archer throughout the whole story. Although at first he was dismissed as a mediocre Servant, the release of an ''Unlimited Blade Works'' translation patch boosted his popularity, thanks to his CrowningMomentOfAwesome.

His identity is the EnsembleDarkhorse of the Irish Mythology, Cu Chulainn. Thus, his Noble Phantasm is easily guessable: The ''Gae Bolg'', [[OneHitKill which kills its target instantly]] by automatically piercing the victim's heart and then [[RealityWarper reversing cause-and-effect]] to create a reason for it.
-----
* {{Badass}}
* BigDamnHeroes: Contributing to his CrowningMomentOfAwesome in ''Unlimited Blade Works''.
* BladeOnAStick
* BloodKnight: A surprisingly [=non-=]AxCrazy version. He actually doesn't care about getting the Grail at all; he just wants to fight. Hence his frustration...
* BoisterousBruiser: Especially in ''Unlimited Blade Works'', whereas he's shown to love teasing ''both'' Rin and Saber, and he fights for the fight itself.
* BoringButPractical: Despite being not very flashy and useless against multiple foes or fortifications, Gae Bolg can potentially OneHitKill servants and uses extremely little mana. Saber states he could probably use it six or seven times for the same amount of mana that an equally decisive blow from an "A"-rank Noble Phantasm would consume, and likens it to a man who can use a single arrow to win battles other servants can only settle with artillery cannons.
* {{Casanova}}: He has a way with the ladies in ''Hollow Ataraxia''.
* CharacterAlignment: LawfulNeutral: He doesn't particularly care about good or evil, but won't stand for dishonorable acts.
* [=~Chekhov's Skill~=]: The Athn Gabla spell.
* DeadpanSnarker: Can be almost as snarky as Archer, but gets far less screen time to showcase it.
* DoggedNiceGuy: Towards Rin in ''Unlimited Blade Works''. Never goes beyond mild teasing since he's perfectly aware that Rin isn't interested.
* DyingMomentOfAwesome: In ''Unlimited Blade Works''.
* EnsembleDarkhorse: Despite having all of a handful of appearances in the game entire, most fans dub him as almost as manly as Archer.
* FriendlyEnemy
* TheGadfly: Only really apparent in ''Unlimited Blade Works’’, but Lancer is shown to get a great deal of amusement from teasing girls he finds interesting. "Even [[TheTease Rin]]?", you ask? ''Especially'' Rin.
* HonorBeforeReason: Lancer really doesn't like traitors.
* TheLancer: Not just by name. His personality also fits the mold somewhat.
* NormallyIWouldBeDeadNow: Lancer has the "Battle Continuation" ability, which allows him to fight effectively even when mortally wounded. [[spoiler:He uses it to his advantage in ''Unlimited Blade Works'', allowing him to live for a few minutes after having had his heart removed from his body]].
* OneHitKill: The entire point of Gae Bolg's activated ability.
* RedBaron: "Cú Chulainn" means "Culann's hound". In-game, he's also referred to as "Ireland's Man of Light" on top of this.
** Caren amuses herself by referring to him as "dog".
* RedEyesTakeWarning
* SpamAttack: He has a penchant for rapid-fire spear thrusts.
* StupidSexyFlanders: A number of people (the artist behind the ''Fate'' manga in particular), have declared him "The sexiest man in the game". Just look at his super tight outfit. It feels like he's wearing nothing at all! Nothing at all! ''Nothing at all!''
* TakingYouWithMe: [[spoiler:He kills Kirei after being ordered to kill himself for refusing to rip out Rin's heart in ''Unlimited Blade Works''. In ''Hollow Ataraxia'', he uses a combination of runes and the properties of his lance to take Bazett out with him when she uses her CounterAttack OneHitKill trump card, and this can be replicated in ''Unlimited Codes'' as well]].
* TearJerker: His ending in ''Unlimited Codes''. [[spoiler:After killing his master, Kotomine, he reveals that he was completely loyal to Bazett the whole time, and disappears while telling her that she can rest in peace knowing that the servant she summoned was the strongest]].
* TheWorfBarrage: For all its reputation as a OneHitKill weapon, Gae Bolg has a really poor track record at actually doing this. The primary reason for this is because everyone he seems to use it on has some way to turn it back around. Shirou [[spoiler:can regenerate from just about anything, and also]] gets healed up by Tohsaka. Saber has a ridiculous Luck stat and basically wins the coin toss. Archer just happens to have a shield specifically made to counter spears, and even then Lancer doesn't use the "instant kill" feature of Gae Bolg: he lobs the spear like a missile at Archer, using a more powerful but less guaranteed version of it. Basically, Lancer has really bad luck with actually using Gae Bolg on people.
** There potentially is a good reason for why Gae Bolg fails to kill Saber. [[spoiler:In Heavens Feel you learn that Lancer was under the effects of a command seal during his fights with the other servants to ensure that he ''wouldn't'' kill any of them. Hence whenever he tries to actually kill one his movements downgrade and his attacks are weaker than they should be]].
** StatisticallySpeaking, Lancer's actual Luck happens to be in the toilet, [[FridgeBrilliance which probably has something to do with it too]].
* YouGottaHaveBlueHair

!!Rider (Voiced by YuuAsakawa, KarenStrassman)
http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rider_fsn.jpg
-->''"You appear to be a brave person, unlike my master. I shall kill you kindly."''

The [[TallDarkAndBishoujo tall, dark, silent, gorgeous]] Servant of [[SmugSnake Shinji Matou]]. Rider is always seen with a blindfold and [[RapunzelHair very long hair]]. Unlike her Master, she is a little amiable; in fact, she dislikes Shinji, her loyalty instead lying with his sister and her true Master, Sakura Matou. She wields a very long chain in battle, and these chains make sounds like slithering snakes.

Her identity was rather surprising: She is in fact a different (but still accurate) take of AlwaysChaoticEvil Greek Monster Medusa. Screwed over in her past life, she just wanted to live together with her Master and protect her. Unfortunately, Sakura didn't want to fight Shirou, so she was pressured into giving Rider to Shinji. He frequently abuses and rapes Rider, greatly holding back her strength to the point that she's always the first Servant to be eliminated (except in the ''Heaven's Feel'' scenario). She still retains her [[TakenForGranite petrifaction eyes]], but uses her blindfold (actually a Noble Phantasm called ''Breaker Gorgon'') to [[PowerLimiter restrain their always-on power]]. Her main combat Noble Phantasm is the ''Bellerophon'' bridle, which she uses to summon, control and power up legendary mounts, such as a Pegasus. She can also use her blood as a material component in a Noble Phantasm called ''Blood Fort Andromeda'', which dissolves its victim into a slurry that Rider can then absorb as Mana.

She also has a more "public" appearance where she dons a [[{{Meganekko}} pair of glasses]], which provide the same function as her blindfold.
-----
* AntiMagic: Rider has innate magic resistance as part of her class, although it's not quite Saber's level. [[spoiler:Caster gets around this by having Kuzuki kill her in the scenario the two come to blows]].
* TheAtoner: [[spoiler:Although she forgets this until reminded after a freak-out near the end of ''Hollow Ataraxia'', she originally decided to become Sakura's Servant in order to prevent her from becoming a man-eating monster like she did when she was alive. But of course, thanks to Shinji, she fails utterly at this except in ''Heaven’s Feel''..]].
* BadassBookworm: The only thing preventing her from showing how {{Badass}} she is was Shinji's uselessness as a master.
* [[BigDamnHeroes Big Damn Heroine]]: [[spoiler:'''Twice''' in ''Heaven’s Feel'': first when she saved Shirou from being killed by True Assassin, then when she protected Shirou from being reduced into a bloody pulp by Dark Sakura]]
* BiTheWay: In ''Hollow Ataraxia'', she's definitely hot for Shirou and has a crush on Mitsuzuri. In ''Heaven’s Feel'', she is quoted as [[IntimateHealing replenishing Rin's magical energy]].
* BoobsOfSteel: She has the largest bust of any female servant and is the physically strongest female servant, even if she can't match Saber in close combat.
* ChainOfCommand: Wears a leather collar on her neck as part of her standard battle costume.
* CharacterAlignment: ChaoticGood
* DarkActionGirl
* DarkIsNotEvil: She doesn't use dark powers, but everything else about her background if you go by the initial impressions just screams off DARK CREATURE. Really... a ''good'' Medusa, anyone?
** How are eyes of petrifaction, a summoning technique that requires her to cut her own throat, and a boundary field that turns everyone inside into tasty soul food not dark powers?
** Plus she's vampiric. That's not a good thing in this setting.
* DemotedToExtra: She's a popular character, but she only survives in one scenario... The one which is least publicized.
* DetachedSleeves: Another part of her standard battle costume. Her sleeves are tight.
* DoesNotLikeSpam: Like Saber she'll eat mostly anything (but it's not really a notable character trait like Saber), but as one might imagine from her class and true identity she refuses to eat either snakes or horses. Of course, right after Shirou finds this out and comments that they would never eat snake, Saber tells him that Taiga brought home snake wine the other day...
* EnsembleDarkhorse: Even though she's usually the first Servant to die, she enjoys a large amount of popularity -- fourth in the ''Hollow Ataraxia'' character poll.
* EvilEye
* FacialMarkings
* FetishFuelStationAttendant: Other than her fetish-loaded appearance, she also tends to make suggestive poses. Ooh...
* FragileSpeedster: In ''Unlimited Codes''.
* FriendlyEnemy: The only times she is hostile is when Shinji orders her to be. When she escorted Shirou out of the Matou Household she was... Pretty friendly.
* GlowingEyesOfDoom: Mystic Eyes: Cybele, which will leave you TakenForGranite.
* GorgeousGorgon: Never thought Medusa could be this goddamn hot...
* HellishPupils: Rider has unusual, square-shaped pupils that are used to identify her GlowingEyesOfDoom.
* HugeSchoolgirl: In ''Heaven's Feel'' she's revealed as being conscious of her height.
* ImageSong: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srxy3r8qEps "Shunji no Uzu"]] ("Instant Vortex")
* [[spoiler:IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy]]: [[spoiler:As revealed in her Eclipse scene in ''Hollow Ataraxia'' by... a copy of Sakura's soul or something? Anyway, she actually loves Shirou and deeply cares for Sakura, but she wants them to forget about her romantically and just be busy with each other. Sakura thinks it would be best if all three of them could be happy together, since she insists that she wouldn't be happy unless Rider's happy]].
* KissOfTheVampire: In particular, one BadEnd in ''Unlimited Blade Works'' has her do this to Shirou.
* {{Kuudere}}: She's actually an incredibly loyal and kind person... but she does ''not'' look it. Plus, the first impression Shirou has of her is that she reeks of blood.
* LesYay: With Sakura, Shirou, and Rin's friend Ayako in ''Hollow Ataraxia''.
* MagicSkirt: This applies to almost all ''Fate/stay night'' media, but it's worth emphasizing with Rider's {{Stripperific}} fighting outfit.
* {{Meganekko}}: In her casual clothes.
* NaughtyTentacles: Sort of. [[spoiler:In one scene in ''Hollow Ataraxia'', Shirou's entire lower body becomes rock hard after seeing Rider's eyes by mistake. Rider then washes Shirou in his bathroom with her tentacle-like hair, after he massages Rin's magical shampoo into it]].
* PowerLimiter: Breaker Gorgon, which prevents her from using her GlowingEyesOfDoom.
* TheQuietOne
* [[spoiler:RapeIsLove]]: [[spoiler:Rider tries to rape Shirou in his dreams again in ''Hollow Ataraxia'' to get him to more aggressively go after Sakura. Shirou Projects Rider's Noble Phantasm and reverses it on her, while a copy of Sakura's soul that was in the dream beforehand tells Shirou about how Rider ''really'' feels about him. She eventually admits it and enjoys herself, but wipes Shirou's memory of the whole thing afterwards]].
* RapunzelHair
* RestrainingBolt: Shinji would have died a ''long'' time ago if it hadn't been for his possession of Rider's Command Spells.
* StartOfDarkness: See TearJerker below.
* {{Stripperiffic}}: A very short [[ImpossiblyLowNeckline strapless vest]]. Although, due to her DetachedSleeves and ZettaiRyouiki, the actual raw amount of flesh exposed is less than usual, [[TheissTitillationTheory it exposes ]] '''[[TheissTitillationTheory exactly]]''' [[TheissTitillationTheory enough]].
* SweaterGirl: After ''Heaven’s Feel'' ends, she does a 180 and is about completely covered, including a sweater. All it does is make her beauty more classy though.
* TakenForGranite: [[CaptainObvious Medusa]].
* TallDarkAndBishoujo: And she even has the PigeonholedVoiceActor best known for TallDarkAndBishoujo characters (see above)!
* TearJerker: Like Lancer, her ''Unlimited Codes'' ending is also very sad. [[spoiler:After freeing Sakura from being Dark Sakura, Rider vanishes after [[ButNowIMustGo saying her farewells]] while Sakura [[SayMyName cries out her name]] in sadness]].
** [[spoiler:Her back-story as revealed in ''Hollow Ataraxia'' may be even worse. She remembers her older sisters as obscenely abusive harpies for their constant teasing, but they did still love her. The constant mockery and belief that she would only ever have her sisters causes her to ruthlessly kill any men who approach the island to protect them, and the malice eventually warps her into the monster Medusa. Her sisters voluntarily sacrifice themselves to her to try and stop her from crossing the MoralEventHorizon, but she's too far gone at that point]].
* TeaseTheTease: Rider adores teasing Shirou in ''Hollow Ataraxia''... provided Sakura isn't around. With ''Hollow Ataraxia'' following more UnwantedHarem tropes than ''Fate/stay night'', you can bet [[MomentKiller Sakura]] walks in just about every single time.
* WeaponOfChoice: A pair of giant ''nails'' chained together and wielded like daggers.
* TheWoobie: Just... Look at how screwed up her past and present is.
* ZettaiRyouiki: Not as high-level as Rin's, but...

!!Berserker (Voiced by Tadahisa Saizen, MichaelMcConnohie)
http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/berserker_fsn.jpg
-->''"RARRRRRRRRRGH!"''

A very huge and very [=un-=]{{Gentle Giant}}. This is the Servant of Ilyasviel von Einzbern, and being a Berserker class, he is stripped of his sanity and ability to coherently speak in exchange for extreme boosts in all other stats. Despite his bouts of insanity and the Berserker class' reputation of killing their own Masters, Berserker is pretty dedicated to his Master, to the point it's almost [[TearJerker heart-wrenching]].

His identity, immediately told by Ilya, was in fact Greek Mythology's WorldsStrongestMan and EnsembleDarkhorse: Hercules. Due to his wide range of talents, [[TheAce Hercules could fulfill the role of any of the seven Classes]] (except Caster) if it wasn't for his fact that Ilya forced him into insanity shortly after summoning him. Due to this, he is unable to use his Noble Phantasm ''Nine Lives'' (the bow and arrows that he used to slay the hydra).

However, his sheer original strength, demigod status and fame (the more well-known a Servant's legend is, the stronger they are) more than makes up for this. His other Noble Phantasm, ''God Hand'', nullifies any attack of "B"-rank or below and gives him eleven additional lives (in correspondence with his Twelve Labors). It is later shown that he can has not even activated his power boost even with the lack of sanity, and can do so to become even more powerful. Despite all of this, he is always KilledOffForReal in every scenario, primarily because he is the Nasuverse's poster boy for TheWorfEffect.
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* AttackAttackAttack
* AxCrazy: Pretty obviously.
* '''TheBerserker''': Well, obviously.
* {{BFS}}: Referred to in-game as an ''axe''-sword, and for good reason.
* BlessedWithSuck: The "Mad Enhancement" ability of the Berserker class increases all their stats in return for taking away their sanity and making them uncontrollable. Being that Berserker is [[TheAce Heracles]], the stat gains are likely minimal in comparison to the loss of at least one Noble Phantasm and the inability to fight tactically.
* DiedStandingUp: In ''Unlimited Blade Works'' and the anime.
* {{Gonk}}: Somewhat. The whole "Berserker" thing has some effect on his physique, notable after things like his head explodes, re-grows, and looks somewhat normal for a moment.
* HugeGuyTinyGirl: Extreme height difference between him and his Master, Ilya. Guesstimating by comparing her size with Saber's, Berserker towers roughly one and a half meters over Ilya, and is about 5 times as broad.
* MemeticMutation: The "Berser-CAR", which is Berserker somehow transformed into a giant car shaped like his head.
* MightyGlacier: He avoids this trope in the original novels, being noted as having [[LightningBruiser incredible strength and speed to the point where technique is useless against him]]. ''Unlimited Codes'' has him as a proper MightyGlacier for the sake of CompetitiveBalance.
** The ''Unlimited Blade Works'' movie shows Berserker as a full on LightningBruiser in his fight against Saber.
* NormallyIWouldBeDeadNow: Like Lancer, Berserker has "Battle Continuation". [[spoiler:Like Lancer, he gets to showcase it in "Unlimited Blade Works" where it allows him to stand up to Gilgamesh long enough for Ilya to die in peace]].
* OneUp: His "Twelve Labors" gives him eleven of these.
* PetTheDog: Contributing to that heart-wrenching moment in ''Unlimited Blade Works''.
* {{Protectorate}}: '''DO'''. '''NOT'''. mess with Ilya.
* RazorWind: The usual result of a missed swing.
* RestrainingBolt: Ilya herself acts as this for him, which says a lot about how powerful she must be in order to keep freaking Heracles on a short leash.
* SpamAttack: His second Noble Phantasm, Nine Lives, which causes him to butcher an enemy by hitting them ''one hundred'' times in a short span of time. Berserker can't use it in-story because his class won't let him.
* TheLawOfDiminishingDefensiveEffort: Berserker is completely immune to all attacks beneath "B"-rank and consequently never bothers to go on the defensive except in the most extreme cases.
* TheVoiceless: While insane, he only roars. He only speaks once, when Saber kills him in the ''Fate'' route.
* TheWorfEffect: He's freaking' Hercules, explicitly stated to be the strongest of ''all'' the Servants, yet he gets schooled in ''every single path'' to show off how awesome someone else is.
** To be fair, though, his EstablishingCharacterMoment in each route is handily defeating Saber, one of the strongest characters. Except for ''Unlimited Blade Works'', where instead he blocks an "A"-rank Noble Phantasm from Archer. That part was shown to establish how {{Badass}} they ''both'' are.
* UnskilledButStrong: Being incapable of any strategy more complicated than AttackAttackAttack usually doesn't matter when you can shatter buildings with a single blow and move faster than the human eye can follow. [[TheWorfEffect In theory, anyway]].

!!Caster (Voiced by AtsukoTanaka, TaraPlatt)
http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/caster_fsn.jpg
[[caption-width:225:[[BeautifulAllAlong Yes, that's Caster without the hood]]]].
->''"If the Holy Grail has infinite wealth, it should not run out no matter how much we split it. Then can you not share the Holy Grail with those you trust?"''

A mysterious wizard who is the Servant of Kuzuki Soichiro. She had a previous Master, but due to his abuse she killed him and seized her own Command Spells. Starved of a source of mana, she was about to fade away when she was rescued by Kuzuki Soichiro, who she fell in love with and pledged a new contract with.

Due to the tainted Grail allowing the summoning of anti-hero and villainous Heroic Spirits, her identity is the archetypical witch {{Medea}} (who got screwed over by Jason in his quest for the Golden Fleece). She only wishes to preserve her time with Soichiro, but to do so she is all too willing to absorb fatal amounts of mana from everyone in Fuyuki City. She also breaks the laws of the Holy Grail Wars by summoning her own Servant -- Assassin -- to guard her stronghold in Ryuudouji Temple.

Caster is the physically weakest Servant (apart possibly from Assassin) and relies mostly on her powerful anti-Army magic, her boosted master and skeletal {{Mooks}} to fight for her; [[SquishyWizard she does less well in single combat]]. She also has a Noble Phantasm called ''Rule Breaker'', a dagger which can [[AntiMagic dispel any sorceries]] on anything it pierces, including contracts between Servants and Masters.
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* AndIMustScream: Let's just say, agreeing to Caster's proposals are a ''very bad idea''.
* AntiMagic: Her Noble Phantasm, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Rule Breaker]].
* BeamSpam: For best effect, combine with...
** DeathFromAbove: One of her favorite tactics is to BeamSpam anti-''army'' class spells from overhead.
* BeautifulAllAlong: She looks very mysterious with that hood. But if you see beyond that, she's... gorgeous. I mean, look at her picture above!!
* BeingTorturedMakesYouEvil: She tries this on Saber in ''Unlimited Blade Works''. It doesn't work.
** [[spoiler:It does in the manga]].
* CharacterAlignment: NeutralEvil
* CosplayOtakuGirl / OtakuSurrogate: {{Fanon}} by and large transforms her into these tropes, although her forcing Sakura (in the anime) and Saber (in ''Unlimited Blade Works'') into sexy dresses didn't help matters.
* DatePeepers: In ''Hollow Ataraxia'', [[spoiler:she follows Kuzuki (dragging Shirou and later, Lancer along) to where he has lunch with Fujimura, suspecting him of cheating. She's wrong about it, although Fuji-nee of course does some things to make Caster angry enough to destroy a table]].
* DepravedBisexual: Caster manages to prove both aspects of the trope in one scene, as she gets aroused by magically torturing [[spoiler:Saber]] into obedience (having put her in a revealing white dress) and contemplates exactly how far she can get [[spoiler:Saber]] to be a slave to her lust.
* GoodPeopleHaveGoodSex: Subverted. Caster isn't the nicest person, but she and Kuzuki have quite the sex life.
* GoGoEnslavement: Being a CosplayOtakuGirl, Caster naturally decides to stick Saber in a sexy dress while she's tied up with magic. In the anime, she puts Sakura in black leather.
* ImageSong: [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGBooJk_4tY "Sasoi"]] ("Temptation")
* InstantRunes: She can make 'em, easy.
* KnifeNut: Rule Breaker.
* LesYay: In the aforementioned "sexy dress" scenes, Caster seems to really, '''really''' enjoy watching Saber and Sakura squirm. And not the "You will suffer!" kind of enjoyment, but the "Mmmmmm, so delicious..." kind.
* LoadBearingBoss: In the anime, her elaborate temple turns out to have NoOntologicalInertia.
* LoveMakesYouEvil: All the atrocities she committed were just a desperate attempt to prolong her time with Kuzuki.
* {{Medea}}
* {{Moe}}: Thanks to the AlternateCharacterInterpretation provided by ''Hollow Ataraxia'', {{Fanon}} has transformed her into this.
* PointedEars
* PowerFloats
* SmugSnake: Arguably subverted: [[spoiler:While she acts like a SmugSnake, she knows what she is doing is wrong and doubts that it will actually work out. Her one interlude even reveals that the forbidden magic she’s using is something she would normally never use if she wasn't so desperate to stay with Kuzuki]].
* SquishyWizard: Gloriously proven during Rin's CrowningMomentOfAwesome in ''Unlimited Blade Works''.
* TearJerker: Her back-story, along with her HeroicSacrifice for Kuzuki.
** AlasPoorVillain
** Add her ending in ''Unlimited Codes''. [[spoiler:Kuzuki gets killed off midway through her route, and Caster spends the rest of her route trying to complete the Grail in order to wish him back to life, before she runs out of mana. Even though she defeats all the Servants, only half of them are absorbed by Ilya (the other half were absorbed by Sakura), leading to an incomplete Grail. Caster sacrifices herself to power Ilya's incomplete Grail and grant a single wish; Kuzuki later wakes up in the rain, wondering where Caster has gone]].
* VancianMagic: While she can mostly avoid this thanks to being a true sorcerer from the age of the gods, she ''does'' have to verbally invoke her strongest spells.
* WeCanRuleTogether: She tries to recruit Shirou and Archer to her side during ''Unlimited Blade Works''. For Shirou, agreeing is not a good idea.
* TheWoobie: As cruel as she can be, her incredibly sad back-story makes her very sympathetic.
** Hell, just look at [[http://media.animevice.com/uploads/0/72/25470-caster_800x600_9.jpg these]][[http://media.animevice.com/uploads/0/72/25350-caster_44.jpg pictures]] and try to say that you can't feel at least ''some'' sympathy for her
* YouGottaHaveBlueHair

!!Assassin (Voiced by ShinichiroMiki, DavidVincent)
http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/assassin_fsn.jpg
-->''"My role is to guard this gate. I won't let you through alive, nor shall I let you out alive."''

A Servant summoned by Caster to guard the gate of the Ryuudouji Temple. Assassin is a solemn character who delights nothing more than having a good fight. He was, however, an incomplete Servant, thus he is linked with the gate and cannot travel further than the areas in the vicinity of the gate.

He claims the identity of MiyamotoMusashi's rival Sasaki Kojirou. However, in the Nasuverse, Kojirou does not exist, he was in fact a fabrication of various swordsman's skills and the name of a person who really existed to create the image of a WorthyOpponent for Musashi. Assassin himself was a nameless swordsman who, through blood and sweat and tears, managed to obtain the godlike sword technique Tsubame Gaeshi. As he is the only spirit who holds the technique Kojirou is famous for, the Grail called for him to play the part of Kojirou in answer to Caster's summons. As he isn't a heroic spirit, he has no Noble Phantasm; however, his Tsubame Gaeshi skill is said to be as powerful as one.
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* AntiVillain
* BadassNormal: Stated to be a nameless samurai, he developed an ultimate technique on level with an anti-personnel Noble Phantasm simply by practicing. And with his lack of Noble Phantasm, nearly manages to defeat Saber in a duel TWICE.
* {{BFS}}: His Monohoshizao, which is 170 cm long.
* {{Bishonen}}
* BloodKnight: [[JustifiedTrope Justified]]. Because of his circumstances, every deed he accomplishes is attributed to the name "Sasaki Kojirou" and not himself. All he has is the satisfaction he gets from fighting a WorthyOpponent.
* CharacterAlignment: NeutralEvil: Canonically. Practically, not so much.
** TrueNeutral: Even if officially he's Neutral Evil, we know better.
* CharlesAtlasSuperpower: The guy who would become Servant Assassin created Tsubame Gaeshi, a sword technique that twists dimensions so that he can strike from three directions at the same time. He did this by... swinging his sword. A lot. In his own words, he simply had nothing else to do. Saber's reaction to this story makes it very clear that this is as insane in-universe as it sounds like in real life.
* EveryJapaneseSwordIsAKatana: Averted: Assassin uses a nodachi just like Kojirou did.
** KatanasAreJustBetter: Also averted: Just like real-life Japanese swords, his sword chips and breaks much easier than the other Servants' magical weapons, [[spoiler:ultimately leading to his defeat in his final duel with Saber in ''Unlimited Blade Works'']].
* FaceDeathWithDignity: A big-time believer in this trope.
* FailureIsTheOnlyOption: Quite literally. Assassin, unlike the other Servants, is physically incapable of winning the Holy Grail War: Even if all the other Servants killed each other off he'd be unable to move from his summoning spot and reach the location of the Grail -- nevermind that it wouldn't respond to him without his master.
* FriendlyEnemy: Mainly towards Saber.
* GlassCannon: Tsubame Gaeshi, his Noble Phantasm, is pretty much an instant kill attack if all three blows land. On the defensive side he has no armor, an "E" rating in toughness, and dies more or less instantly if struck even once. Good luck actually hitting him though...
* GoOutWithASmile: He does so in ''Unlimited Blade Works'', having fulfilled his wish of having a climactic battle with Saber.
** And again in ''Heaven's Feel'', although this is less because he's actually happy and more because he's being devoured from the inside and smiling is his way of showing contempt for his killer and going out with dignity.
* NobleDemon
* {{Samurai}}
* SarcasticDevotee: Assassin doesn't particularly like his master and makes no attempt at hiding this.
* SpiritedCompetitor: Arguably even more this than a BloodKnight. Assassin seems to relish the act of competing with Saber (lethal swordplay being the medium) more than he does the actual act of battle itself. Dueling people he don't consider worthy competitors, like Archer, offers him no enjoyment.
* WeakButSkilled: Possibly an even better example than Archer.
* WorthyOpponent: He considers Saber to be this, very much.
* YouGottaHaveBlueHair
* YourDaysAreNumbered: Having been summoned into the world without a Master granting him mana and only a limited supply by Caster, Assassin is slowly wasting away and fully aware of it.

!!Gilgamesh (Voiced by TomokazuSeki, GrantGeorge)
http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gilgamesh_fsn.jpg
-->''"'All the evils in the world'? Bring thrice as much if you want to stain '''me'''!"''

An Archer-class Servant from the previous Holy Grail War who doesn't bother to hide his identity as the famous Babylonian king. Overconfident and full of himself, he believes the world rests in the palm of his hand and is his to rule as he pleases. In the Fourth Holy Grail War, he was the Servant of Kirei Kotomine [[spoiler:(though he was originally the Servant of Rin's father, Tohsaka Tokiomi)]] and sought the Grail in order to cleanse the world of the "lowly, weak humans" that inhabited it, leaving only those strong enough to be worthy of his rule.

At the conclusion of the Fourth Holy Grail War he was drenched by the pollution within the Holy Grail, which is supposed to give a Servant a true flesh-and-bone body at the cost of [[TheCorruption their mind and sanity]]. However, Gilgamesh's ego was too strong to be corrupted, and with a physical body he could continue existing in the world. He collaborates with Kirei to hide his existence from everyone, and continues on his merry path to seize or destroy anything that takes his fancy.

Has a big rivalry (as well as a deadly infatuation) with Saber. His Noble Phantasm is the ''Gate of Babylon'', a portal which leads to a storage of the hundreds upon hundreds of Noble Phantasms that he collected in his lifetime as the king of Babylon. Lacking the proficiency or will to actually wield most of them, he mainly just shoots them at people (hence his Archer class). The only Noble Phantasm in his collection that he regularly uses in close combat is the demonic sword ''Ea'', which he uses for his ''Enuma Elish'' FinishingMove.
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* AffablyEvil: His child form in ''Hollow Ataraxia''. Shirou wonders how the hell such a nice kid could grow up to be such a {{Jerkass}}.
* AntiMagic: Although he lacks the innate magic resistance of the Saber and Rider classes, Gilgamesh possesses so many anti-magic wards, charms, and amulets that he's nigh immune to it anyway.
* ArmorIsUseless: Averted in the ''Fate'' scenario, where Gilgamesh's first fight with Saber has him simply standing there and shrugging off blows with his armor (using his gauntlets to ward of the occasional strike at the head). He mentions that it's nearing its limit after a little bit and opens the Gate of Babylon to attack her. The anime chooses to go with the RuleOfCool and instead has Gil summon swords directly from his vault to block incoming strikes without lifting a finger.
* BigBad: In ''Unlimited Blade Works''.
* {{Bishonen}}: Sakura notes that he "looks like a model".
* BlondGuysAreEvil
* BornWinner
* CatchPhrase: ''"Mongrels!"''
* CharacterAlignment: ChaoticGood: Canonically, he is described as this. However, it is hotly contested in the fandom, although it's mostly agreed that he himself saw his Darwinist philosophy as being for the greater good in the end. In reality, he's probably closer to ChaoticEvil, since he wishes to kill everyone who he sees as not "worthy of his rule".
** Some fans prefer to point out that this is from supplemental information in FateZero, ''before'' he was doused in the evil within the grail.
*** Except that it's wrong, as said evil didn't really affect him much. See PureIsNotGood below.
*** And a reading of ''Fate/Zero'' will show that he was still pretty evil, to the point that the Omnipotent Narrator says so.
* CoolShip: In ''Fate/Zero'', it's revealed that among all the crazy stuff he has inside of the Gate of Babylon, he also happens to have a legendary flying machine.
* ConflictKiller: In the ''Fate'' route. Caster has just made her first attack and seemingly has the heroes at her mercy. How are they going to get out of this one? Answer: They're not; Gilgamesh is going to drop by and kill Caster deader than dead.
* {{Darwinist}}
* DracoInLeatherPants: Ah, yup.
* TheDragon: In ''Fate''.
** DragonWithAnAgenda
* EvenEvilHasStandards: Although he's [[{{Understatement}} taken a liking to Saber]], in ''Unlimited Codes'' Gilgamesh is outright hostile to Saber Alter because she's corrupted and abandoned her ideals. [[spoiler:he also finds himself somewhat regretting corrupting Saber himself with the grail in his ending, as he likes her best when she's both idealistic and resisting him]].
** Also his attempt to kill Sakura in ''Heaven's Feel'', although in this case his issue is more with the idea that someone else might ''dare'' to kill his "subjects" (entirely unintentionally, at that...).
* EverythingButTheGirl
* EvilLaugh: ''Especially'' in ''Unlimited Blade Works''.
* FanNickname: "Kin-Pika/Goldie", thanks to MemeticMutation of Rin calling him this.
** He's also referred to in certain circles as "Gil Howard" and "Not-Rock" due to his civilian form bearing a striking resemblance to [[FatalFury Rock Howard]].
* FatalFlaw: Gilgamesh's pride keeps him from ever going completely all-out against anyone, because he is so secure in his superiority. It always comes back to bite him in the ass.
* {{Fiction 500}}: His trademark ability is based on the premise that he owned everything in the world at one point. Also, in ''Hollow Ataraxia'', he owns a ''water park'' that he closes for Shirou and his friends to have a private day out.
** In fact, one of his secondary abilities, Golden Rule, specifically measures a character's ability to attract wealth to himself. His is [[RankInflation "A"-rank]], meaning money basically falls into his lap with little to no effort from him.
* FurAndLoathing: His pimp-tastic civilian dress.
* GoOutWithASmile: ''"King of Knights, it was... truly fun."''
* HiddenDepths: He's a ''lot'' smarter than he appears, and understands a surprising amount about magic and human nature. The parts where he reveals his intellect are overshadowed by the parts where he's being a jerk.
* HyperspaceArsenal: His Noble Phantasm, Gates of Babylon, is an extra-dimensional storage space.
* ILoveYouBecauseICantControlYou
* ItsAllAboutMe: Ah yup!
* {{Jerkass}}: Yeah, Gilgamesh is sort of a douche bag.
* KarmicDeath: In ''Unlimited Blade Works''. [[spoiler:After having gone through the whole route [[StormOfBlades Sword Spamming]] people to death, he' s killed when a NotQuiteDead Archer nails him right between the eyes with a duplicate of one of his own swords]].
* TheKillerBecomesTheKilled: Gil finds himself on the losing end of EvilerThanThou in ''Heaven's Feel'' [[spoiler:when Sakura's SuperPoweredEvilSide eats him]].
* LightIsNotGood: He's a blonde-haired, brightly-colored armor-wearing legendary hero who is mostly a divine being. Too bad about the whole planning mass-genocide thing...
* MemeticMutation: The LampshadeHanging by Shirou: ''"King of Heroes, do you have enough swords?"''
* NietzscheWannabe
* TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou: Gilgamesh does this with all of humanity. He states quite plainly in the ''Heaven's Feel'' route that he does not like it when people are killed by someone besides him.
* PhenotypeStereotype: Uruk lay somewhere in what is Iraq today; needless to say, the mythological Gilgamesh was probably neither blonde nor fair-skinned.
** Then again, mythological Babylon wasn't a Precursor civilization with access to nukes and spacecraft either, but that doesn't stop the Nasuverse's version from having them.
* PossessionImpliesMastery: Averted. Gilgamesh owns all the world's treasures, but he isn't particularly skilled with using any of them in melee.
* PureIsNotGood: Let us reiterate: Gilgamesh got ''the concentrated form of all humanity's evils and sins combined'' poured onto him. '''''He didn't even flinch'''''.
* RedBaron: "King of Heroes".
* RedEyesTakeWarning
* RelationshipVoiceActor: He's voiced by Tomokazu Seki, who has several times played roles of villains that lusts over the character played by Ayako Kawasumi (Saber's seiyuu).
** Tomokazu Seki also has a fair amount of roles where his character's interest in Ayako Kawasumi's character is mutual. Usually they are the hero/heroine of the show, but not always.
* SlapOnTheWristNuke: Ea is classified as an "Anti-World" Noble Phantasm, but fails to destroy the world (or indeed even kill anyone) on the occasions it is used. Presumably Gilgamesh holds back its full power.
** He does. [[spoiler:A much bigger portion (but still a great deal less than its full potential) of its power was revealed in ''Hollow Ataraxia'', where it ripped a massive hole in reality]].
* SleepModeSize: Gilgamesh ingests an elixir of youth in ''Hollow Atraxia'', which reverts him to a child.
* SmugSnake: His colossal strength and power could transform him into a much more successful villain. However, his ego manages to be even more powerful and domineering than either of those combined, leading to his downfall in all three routes.
* StormOfBlades: ''Gate of Babylon''.
* StoryBreakerPower: No matter who he's fighting, he's almost guaranteed to have at least a dozen weapons specifically designed to exploit their weaknesses, and as a fallback he always has Ea, which is so unstoppably powerful that even Excalibur itself pales in comparison and [[spoiler:even Dark Sakura, who is almost perfectly specialized for defeating Servants, most likely couldn't survive a direct hit from it]]. Were it not for his colossal ego ensuring that he never takes advantage of this, there is really no reason he should ever be defeated by anyone.
* SuperpowerLottery: The fact that he's the King of Heroes and has access to almost every other Noble Phantasms, in addition to his demigod origins, makes him a prime case of this. According to WordOfGod, Gilgamesh is as powerful as five regular servants combined and the third most powerful being in the Nasuverse, only outdone by a PhysicalGod and a dimension-hopping, [[RealityWarper reality-warping]] [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot vampire mage]], and possibly Arcueid ([[WillfullyWeak if she ever let go of her inhibitions]]).
* ThisIsADrill: Enuma Elish, a drill-''sword''. Complete with [[EverythingsBetterWithSpinning spinning segments]].
* UnskilledButStrong: The most powerful person in the game by a considerable margin, and in fact one of the top five beings on the planet in terms of raw power. He could easily defeat anything he encounters during the Fifth War just by blasting it into oblivion with his full strength right off the bat. Does not have the skill or common sense to ''use'' this power well at ''all'', leading to a combination of ego and poor planning getting him killed in all three routes.
** YourMileageMayVary on this one, at least with regard to the anime adaptation. In the anime at least, Gilgamesh shows enough sword-fighting prowess that he can go toe to toe with Saber before the two of them get locked into a BeamOWar, although it is implied that his skill overall was slightly lower since she disarmed him twice before he whipped out Ea in the final battle. Thus, while he has plenty of powerful weapons and is at least proficient with a sword in general, he obviously lacks the knowledge or skill to fully utilize even a fraction of the weapons he has at his disposal.
* [[WaveMotionGun Wave Motion... Drill-Sword]]: Enuma Elish, which lead nicely into...
** WordOfDante: The sword's actual name is Ea, "[[PurpleProse The Star of Creation that Splits Apart Heaven and Earth]]". Enuma Elish is in fact the activation phrase, but many people get it confused because of the way most [[CallingYourAttacks Noble Phantasms are activated]]. Also, let's face it: Enuma Elish just [[RuleOfCool sounds cooler]].
* WellIntentionedExtremist: Pretty much the only way that "ChaoticGood" thing could possibly make any sense. Frankly, his worldview seems to be "I'm the most awesome being on the face of the Earth, so anything I decide to do is automatically for the world's own good".
** The "well-intentioned" bit is somewhat debatable, though... .
** Well, ''he'' thinks he's well-intentioned, though again that's in the "I'm the King, so my intentions are automatically good, even when all conventional logic would say they're totally evil" sort of way.

!!True Assassin (Voiced by TetsuInada)
http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/TrueAssassin2.jpg
->''"It looks like your weapon is a projectile weapon as well. Would you like to try a match?"''

An Assassin-class Servant who was meant to be summoned for the Fuyuki Holy Grail War, but was denied because Caster broke the rules and called in her '''own''' Assassin. He is only summoned in ''Heaven's Feel'' by Shinji and Sakura's distant relative Zouken Matou in order to take the Holy Grail for themselves and grant their shared desire for eternal life. Because Assassin has the physical body meant for him, True Assassin's first order of business is to attack him and then eat him from the inside out, using Assassin's corpse to construct his own form.

His true identity is one of the nineteen ''original'' assassins, Hassan-i-Sabah. His Noble Phantasm -- a form of the Noble Phantasm ''Zabaniya'', shared by all True Assassins -- is the curse-like ''Delusional Heartbeat'', which uses the arm of {{Satan}} himself to crush the a duplicate of the target's heart, crushing the real one as well.
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* AcCENTUponTheWrongSylLAble: Only at first, when he was still unstable. After devouring [[spoiler:Lancer]] he begins talking normally.
* BadassBlink: He has the ability to melt into shadows and hide himself from sight right up until he kills you.
* BodyHorror: How he gains a physical body.
* CharacterAlignment: LawfulEvil
* DidNotDoTheResearch: While most aspects of True Assassin -- his appearance, his Noble Phantasm and his behavior -- can be attributed to ArtisticLicense, Hassan-i Sabbah was never known by the title of "old man of the mountain"; said title belonged to Rashid ad-Din Sinan, another famous assassin.
** This conflation could be intentional, though, considering his motivations and the nature of the True Assassin class.
* EvilDuo: With Zouken.
* GenreSavvy: True Assassin more than once states that he thinks Zouken's [[EvilIsNotAToy screwing around with Dark Sakura]] and [[WhyDontYouJustShootHim refusal to just wipe out the heroes when he has the chance]] are probably not smart. Zouken ''does'' have logical reasons for both, but considering that his plans utterly fail and get both him and Assassin killed horribly, one can't help but think maybe the Servant had a point...
** OnlySaneMan: On Team Matou.
* HeartTrauma: The usual result of Zabaniya. Subverted in that having the heart ripped out really ''does'' kill people here.
* HistoricalVillainUpgrade
* ImAHumanitarian: Increases his intelligence by ''eating'' other Servants.
* {{Immortality}}: His stated goal.
* TheKillerBecomesTheKilled: [[spoiler:Dark Sakura kills him ForTheEvulz]].
* KnifeNut / FlechetteStorm: His normal method of fighting is to throw out multiple knives with the speed and precision of ''bullets''.
* LegacyImmortality: According to True Assassin's back-story, anyone who becomes leader of the Hashashin takes on the name and persona of Hassan-i-Sabah. Thus, the True Assassin Heroic Spirit is a compound being made up from the deeds of all the Hassan-i-Sabahs.
* RedRightHand: Just look at the picture above.
** Also uses a literal one as part of his finishing move.
* TheBlank: [[spoiler:When Dark Sakura decides to kill him, she removes his mask to see what his face looks like. He had no face at all]].
* TheScrappy: Not to the degree of Shinji or Zouken, but he's notably less popular than the other Servants.
* WhyDontYouJustShootHim: He asks Zouken this exact question when the latter is amusing himself by watching Shirou and Rin's futile attempts to find a solution to the predicament involving the "Shadow" consuming people left and right. Zouken replies that [[EvilIsStylish it would be more fun]] to let Sakura's SuperPoweredEvilSide do the job for them.

!!Avenger
http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Avenger.jpg
-->''"It is not a crime to exist"''.

Originally summoned in the Third Grail War, the Avenger class is considered forbidden because it specifically summons either an AntiHero or VillainProtagonist-type Servant. The original Avenger -- the only one summoned so far -- was Angra Mainyu, TheDevil of Zoroastrianism.

During the Third Holy Grail War, the Einzbern family summoned him to give themselves an edge, but it turned out that Angra Mainyu himself was nothing more than an ordinary villager who was chosen as a scapegoat to be the source of all the world's evils. He was castigated and ritualistically butchered, but his involuntary sacrifice calmed down his confused people, which ironically qualified him as a Heroic Spirit. His actual capabilities as a Servant were very low, meaning that he was killed early on in the Third Holy Grail War. When his soul was absorbed by the Grail, it granted the wish of his people, and both he and the Grail began to become the ultimate evil.

In ''Hollow Ataraxia'', Avenger is one of the lead characters, as he replaces Lancer as Bazett's Servant in the time loop. [[spoiler:He reached out to Bazett as she was dying because he wanted to actually grant someone's wish, and made a contract with her to keep her alive. When Caren found her and started to help her heal, he created the time loop to keep her mind busy; he took Shirou's role during the daytime and acted as himself at night]].

Avenger seems to be a good-for-nothing whiner and a lazy slacker at first glance. He hates humanity for what they did to him, but still loves the world and wants to help people. His Noble Phantasm, ''Verg Avesta'', [[CounterAttack reflects]] [[AgonyBeam all the pain from an attack]] back on the attacker, but because it has to be consciously activated (and thus, Avenger has to remain conscious and alive through the triggering attack) it is next to useless in high-level combat.
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* CosmicHorror: In ''Fate/stay night''.
* DemonicPossession: One of the possible explanations for [[spoiler:The relationship between Shirou and Avenger in ''Hollow Ataraxia'']].
* HeroicSacrifice: At the end of ''Hollow Ataraxia''.
* HumansAreBastards
* IJustWantToBeNormal
* KnifeNut
* {{Leitmotif}}: Funnily enough, the song "Avenger".
* TheLoad: He is a very, very pathetic excuse for a Servant. [[SubvertedTrope Kicks ass at keeping Bazett alive, though]].
* SatanIsGood: Well, technically the Zoroastrian equivalent of Satan, who is actually a random villager scapegoated into the role, but regardless he does some very heroic things despite having a quite justified hatred of humanity for what they did to him.
* {{Tsundere}}: Tsun for Caren, ''very'' Dere for Bazett. [[spoiler:Even more Dere for Caren towards the end]].
* WhatIsThisThingYouCallLove: He regularly makes an idiot of himself around Caren -- this entails flailing when she picks on him, trying to pick on her back (she just [[{{Moe}} pinches his face]] to retaliate!), and (depending on the actions of the player) [[RapeIsLove possibly raping her]]. Initially, he even mistakes this for ''hate''. [[spoiler:After much fail and consternation, he eventually gets it right]].
** Unfortunately, for OneHundredPercentCompletion, the player [[ButThouMust must]] [[FanDisservice go through with the aforementioned scene at some point]].
* WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway: His Noble Phantasm. The ability to project all the pain of an attack back at the attacker? Great. The fact that he has to ''take'' that attack AND stay conscious through the agony of getting the crap kicked out of him in order to do so? Less great.
** It works great in certain situations though, like [[spoiler:taking an attack at full force and then reflecting the injury on the attacker to let Bazett finish them off]]. It may count as a DeathOrGloryAttack depending on how you look at it.
* [[TheWoobie Woobie Devil]]: Avenger, you poor, poor baby. To clarify, since [[spoiler:he was ritualistically killed in ancient Persia thousands of years ago,]] and later [[spoiler:stuffed into the Grail in the third war]],he has constantly experienced a FateWorseThanDeath that almost drives Bazett mad from the pain for the short periods she experiences it [[spoiler:each time she dies in the loop]]. What's worse is that he [[spoiler:willingly goes back to it to end the time loop and save Bazett. At least most of the other woobies in this story get a happy ending in one route or another..]].
[[/folder]]

[[folder:Other]]
!!Taiga Fujimura (Voiced by MikiIto, JulieAnnTaylor)
http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/taiga_fujimura.jpg
-->''"... wow, that was so stupid that I don't have anything to say."''

Shirou's English teacher and older sister figure. Her grandfather is a {{Yakuza}} boss who Kiritsugu was acquainted with, and thus, she and Shirou have known each other since he was a child. Although she's ostensibly his caretaker, she has no domestic skills, relying on Shirou to cook for her. Taiga was the star of the kendo club when she was in school, and might have become famous across Japan were she not disqualified from official tournaments.

Although having a small role in the actual storyline, Taiga is the star of "Tiger Dojo", a HaveANiceDeath hint corner which appears whenever the player receives a "BadEnd". In this segment, Taiga, along with Ilya, often admonish Shirou for making the poor choices which lead to his demise while dropping hints to help the player complete the game properly.
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* AdultChild: Even ''more-so'' in the anime adaptation, if at all possible.
* AlmightyJanitor: Taiga, since she's a five dan who should've progressed much higher if she wasn't banned from so many tournaments because of her tiger strap. Not that this has any impact on the story.
* AnimalMotifs: Although she hates being called one, Taiga's mannerisms, style of dress, and penchant for (comedic) violence are all highly evocative of Tigers.
* BadassNormal: WordOfGod states that her mastery of Kenjutsu (Japanese Swordsmanship) is equal to that of Ryougi Shiki, the most fearsome warrior the KaraNoKyoukai sub: {{Nasuverse}}.
** So he's saying that she can do [[http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=sBrWcKIteAo&feature=related this]]? Yeah, right.
** No, he's saying she could do that if she also had Shiki's mystic eyes and enhanced physical attributes. They're "equal in skill", not "equal".
* BerserkButton: Do ''not'' call her "Tiger".
* BigEater
* CoolBigSis
* ChristmasCake: Famed as the "woman least likely to be married in the whole west of Japan" according to ''Hollow Ataraxia''.
* DefeatMeansFriendship: She usually hits it off with Saber after they go beat on each other.
* {{Dojikko}}: She frequently trips and bangs her head on something-or-other when entering the classroom.
* DoggedNiceGuy: How she can be so upbeat and good natured with a crime boss father is anybody's guess.
* FridgeLogic: Not a major case, but isn't it odd that she's an English teacher and doesn't notice how odd Saber is sooner? She never even attempts to communicate in English, although with the way Servants work, Saber might also know modern English.
* FunPersonified
* GirlNextDoor: Was something of a {{Tomboy}} in her younger years, but now is slightly more ladylike. ''Slightly''.
* GenkiGirl: Adult version.
* HaremNanny
* ImageSong: Shared with Ilya [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSV8WMc_Yq0 "We Are Tora Buru"]]. FunPersonified indeed!
* LethalChef
* ReplacementGoldfish: Of sorts, to Kiritsugu; she reminded him of [[spoiler:[[FateZero his deceased childhood friend, Shirley]]]].
* {{Sensei-chan}}
* ShipperOnDeck: Taiga seems to be actively trying to hook Shirou up with Sakura, which may explain her immediate disapproval of allowing other females into the Kiritsugu household even when she has no problem with Sakura staying the night.
** ''Seems to?!!'' Mofo tosses her daggome cup size in his face!
*** Which Sakura found immensely embarrassing... .
* ShooOutTheClowns: You can tell that a route is about to become extremely serious whenever it's mentioned that Taiga won't be able to come over to Shirou's house for a while.
* TeamMom: Subverted. The eldest member of Shirou's household and his teacher, Taiga is TheDitz, admittedly domestically unfit, and [[{{Muggles}} completely in the dark about magic and the Grail War]].
* WeaponOfChoice: A ''shinai'' with a cutesy tiger trinket strapped to it. She calls it "Tora-Shinai".
* YakuzaPrincess: ''Completely'' subverted, in that despite being the granddaughter of a yakuza boss, she has '''none''' of the arrogant, cruel and/or hateful traits that come along with being this trope.

!!Issei Ryuudou (Voiced by MitsuakiMadono, LexLang)
http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/issei_ryudo.jpg
-->''"What’s so good…? What’s with you doing all this for nothing!?"''

The Student Council President, and one of Shirou's classmates. Issei is often asking Shirou to help out the student council by fixing broken equipment, and they have lunch together in the student council room. Due to the fact that they went to middle school together and frequently clashed, Issei hates Rin and is convinced that she's pure evil. In fact, he isn't very fond of most women due to his celibate nature, which stems from his upbringing as a Buddhist monk-in-training. However, he does admit to Shirou during ''Unlimited Blade Works'' that he has something of a crush on the fiancée of one of the teachers at their school...

He gets the dubious honor of being the most minor character to kill Shirou. And the honor of being the only male character with blushing sprites. Oh, does he [[LuminescentBlush blush]].
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* {{Crossdresser}}: In ''Hollow Ataraxia'', while indulging Caster's hobbies. Granted, we only see Shirou's imagination of what he might be wearing...
* GayOption: Toyed with. He is one of the only men Shirou talks to, and the only one that isn't an enemy at some point. And he blushes a lot, especially while he's worrying over Shirou. And he grabs Shirou's arm and drags him away from Rin several times.
* GutFeeling: Justified. To paraphrase: "Even an amateur monk can tell when a Buddha is standing next to him".
* HeManWomanHater: Caster and Saber being exceptions.
* ManchurianAgent: Along with everyone else in the Ryuujouji Temple, according to Dead End 18.
* [[{{Meganekko}} Megane]]
* MindControlEyes: When Caster's possessing him.
* ScaryShinyGlasses
* [[ShyBlueHairedGirl Shy Blue Haired Guy]]: He's supposed to be really shy. Of course, all his scenes are with his best friend.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: Issei is fairly standard, but Ryuudou can and has also be transliterated as Ryuudou, Ryudou, Ryūdō, or Ryûdô depending on source.
* StudentCouncilPresident
* [[ThoseTwoGuys That One Guy]]
* UnknownRival: To Rin.
* YouGottaHaveBlueHair

!!Luviagelita Edelfelt (Voiced by YukariTamura in ''Realta Nua'', ShizukaIto in ''Unlimited Codes'')

Luvia is the head of the Finnish Edelfelt family and in good standing in the [[WizardingSchool Clock Tower]] Academy. She's currently in the running for StudentCouncilPresident. Although we almost always see her acting like a RichBitch since she's usually around Rin, she's actually a very proper, generous person. Rin just sets off her BerserkButton as a rival partly since her family was defeated in the Third War in Tohsaka territory, and she's looking to avenge the loss. Besides knowing almost exactly the same kind of magic Rin does, she's also a celebrated ''pro-wrestler''.
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* AscendedExtra: She goes from a very brief mention at the end of one route of ''Fate/stay night'', to a minor character in ''Hollow Ataraxia'', to a featured character in ''Unlimited Codes'' (after an April Fool's hoax about a ''Fate'' wrestling game) and a main character in ''FateKaleidLinerPrismaIlya''.
* AsLongAsItSoundsForeign: Luviagelita? Really?
* BerserkButton: Anything involving Rin, the Tohsakas, or the Third War.
* BoobsOfSteel: Following the trend in this series, Luvia has quite large tracts of land and gives [[KungFuWizard Rin]] an embarrassing beatdown with her pro-wrestling skills. In ''Unlimited Codes'', she can GiantToss ''Berserker''. Granted, considering the proliferation of large breast implants among female wrestlers in RealLife, this might be justified.
* DidNotDoTheResearch: [[UsefulNotes/{{Finland}} Finland]] may be a country of {{badass}}es if their history is any indication, but is it really the country to source the RichBitch of this section of the NasuVerse? Or call ''Japan'' of all places a backwater? Not that Finland is one either, but Japan certainly isn't one by comparison...
** Japan is a backwater for the Nasuverse magical community. [[KaraNoKyoukai Touko and Araya]] even suffered some racial discrimination during their time at Clock Tower.
* EnsembleDarkhorse: She certainly seems to get more popular with time.
* {{Fiction 500}}: When she is kicked out of the boarding house following her epic fight with Rin in the lobby, she simply ''buys her own mansion near the school'' since "boarding houses are too small anyway".
* FutureBadass: Apparently in one future (according to an admittedly weird scene during a phone call held while Rin and Shirou were trapped in a magical treasure box) she teams up with Shirou to hunt down one of the [[NasuVerse 27 Dead Apostles]].
* LastEpisodeNewCharacter: She shows up literally in the epilogue of ''Fate/stay night''.
* TheLibby: After she finds out who Rin in the boarding house of the Clock Tower, she acts just like this. Her target being Rin though, the end result was furniture being destroyed in the ensuing clash.
* [=~Noblewoman's Laugh~=]: Mostly in ''Unlimited Codes''.
* TheOjou: Makes Rin look poor by comparison.
* PrincessCurls: And as you might expect, they fit quite well.
* ProfessionalWrestling: I bet you didn't see that coming with her character type, but then, neither did Rin. Technically the "Lancashire-style of martial combat", but just play ''Unlimited Codes'' and you'll see the truth.
* RedBaron: Known as the "Hunting Dog of the Ring" and "Forklift Lady" for her pro-wrestling skills.
* RichBitch: She does treat "commoners" well, but she doesn't hesitate to rub her pedigree and wealth in Rin's face, while putting down Rin as a rube from the "backwater" of Japan.
* TheRival: To Rin, oh so very much.
* StudentCouncilPresident: Running for this position at the Clock Tower, anyway.

!!Sella and Leysritt

Ilya's maids, both of whom combined have about five minutes of total screen time. They both wear nurse uniforms which Shirou refers to as Florence Nightingale outfits, and make them look almost identical. When they're not wearing the hats, however, they're pretty distinctive.

[[YoungerThanTheyLook Despite both looking like they are in their twenties]], they are in fact homunculi that Ilya made about two years ago. She considers them to be failures. Despite this however, they're still homunculi, and are considered strong enough to threaten Magic Association enforcers in one-on-one combat.
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* BoobsOfSteel: Leysritt is as strong as a Servant, and her WeaponOfChoice is a huge halberd. As Archer points out in an amusing rant in [[DevelopersRoom the Tohsaka shrine]] in ''Hollow Ataraxia'', the weapon would be far too large to be practical for her size unless she also had insane strength.
* EmotionlessGirl: They really aren't, despite both sharing the one facial expression. Observe Leysritt making fun of Sella in their five minutes of screen time.
** Sella does have emotions (and is quite quick to show her displeasure with Shirou in ''Hollow Ataraxia'' in many scenes), but Leysritt is quite robotic in her interactions, even if she does have some emotions to show.
* MostCommonSuperPower: Leysritt has the biggest bust in the game.
** {{Pettanko}}: Sella, meanwhile... doesn't.
* NinjaMaid: Not actual ninjas, but Leysritt at least has...
* SuperStrength: That apparently ''exceeds that of most Servants''.
* YoungerThanTheyLook: Very mature looking, for two year olds.

!!Yukika Saegusa, Kane Himuro, and Kaede Makidera (Voiced by Eri Nakao, Michiru Yuimoto, and Rie Nakagawa respectively)'''

[[ThoseTwoGuys Those three girls]] of the track team of Homurabara High School, they're mostly known in ''Fate'' for being Rin's friends before the story. After establishing that, they disappear for the rest of the game. Yukika is the manager, Kane is the star jumper, and Kaede is the star sprinter. They feature quite a bit more in ''Hollow Ataraxia''. [[DevelopersRoom Tohsaka shrine]] revealed that the creators quite liked Yukika, but had to be restrained from stuffing her into many more scenes.
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* AscendedExtra: They make two appearances throughout Fate: one in the actual game, one in [[HaveANiceDeath Tiger Dojo]]. They have quite a few scenes in ''Hollow Ataraxia'', though.
* BigScrewedUpFamily: Although this is briefly speculated, Yukika's rather large family actually gets along quite well, although they're not as well off financially as other characters.
* BoobsOfSteel: Kane is rather uh, generously proportioned, and she is probably the most athletic normal human female in the series.
* DrillSergeantNasty: Kaede is definitely one of these towards the Track team she's training for regional’s, commanding one freshman to knock another over since he was lagging behind while running laps.
* TheLibby / JerkJock: After Kaede finds out that Rin and Shirou are an item, she turns into this out of jealousy (as she apparently likes the status being Rin's friend gives, and doesn't want Shirou stealing that). She also protests a bit too much when her friends jokingly tease her about liking Shirou, though...
* RedBaron: Kaede likes to be called the "Black Panther of Homurabara".
* [[ThoseTwoGuys Those Three Girls]]: They do make a few appearances individually, but for the most part they are together when they show up.
* SmittenTeenageGirl: All three of them have a very obvious attraction to [[MemeticSexGod Archer]] as soon as they see him. They also apparently have crushes on [[ChickMagnet Shirou,]] but not quite to the "smitten" extent.

!!Mitsuzuri Ayako

Ayako is the captain of the archery club during ''Fate/stay night''. She's a friend of both Shirou and Tohsaka, though there's also a feeling of rivalry in both relationships.
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* LesYay: Rider seems to have something of a crush on her in ''Hollow Ataraxia''.
* [[spoiler:RapeAsDrama]]: [[spoiler:Maybe. She is apparently sexually assaulted in Fate, though not to outright rape levels. However, it's left very vague as to what exactly happened to her in ''Unlimited Blade Works''. Then again, it's Shinji we're talking about here]].
* UnknownRival: To Shirou in regards to archery.
* VitriolicBestBuds: With Tohsaka. When she and Shirou are discussing her at one point, Shirou briefly wonders if Ayako might be one of the girls that hates her.
[[/folder]]

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<<|CharacterSheets|>>

* DarkIsNotEvil: She doesn't use dark powers, but everything else about her background if you go by the initial impressions just screams off DARK CREATURE. Really... a ''good'' Medusa, anyone?** How are eyes of petrifaction, a summoning technique that requires her to cut her own throat, and a boundary field that turns everyone inside into tasty soul food not dark powers?** Plus she's vampiric. That's not a good thing in this setting.

This is a page about the characters appearing in the Main/VisualNovel turned Main/{{Anime}} Main/FateStayNight. Contains a LOT of spoilers.
Note: Does not include Main/FateZero exclusive characters.

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[[folder:Servants]]

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http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/saber_fsn.jpg
::'''Saber (Voiced by AyakoKawasumi, KateHiggins)'''

-->''"I ask of you. Are you my Master?"''

The main heroine of the ''Fate'' route. Saber is the Servant summoned by TheHero, Shirou Emiya. Being a Saber class, she excels in many areas of fighting and has a very high magic resistance. She is often considered the best Servant type, but due to Shiro's shortcomings as a Master, she cannot reach her full potential.

Saber possesses several quirks for a Servant: for one, she cannot dematerialise into a spirit form like other Heroic Spirits. She was also a participant in [[FateZero the Fourth Holy Grail Wars]] as the Saber-class Servant of Kiritsugu Emiya, and somehow retains her memories from that encounter despite the fact that she should not be able to. Whereas the former is blamed on an imperfect summoning, both are eventually revealed to be caused by the fact that Saber is still alive: on her deathbed, she pledged a contract with The World to allow herself to enter the Holy Grail Wars as a Servant in exchange for eternal service as a Counter Guardian upon her victory. Thus, her true self is frozen in time moments before her death, and she will continue to reincarnate until she achieves her goal or gives up.

Her true identity is a [[GenderFlip Gender Flipped]] KingArthur. She joins the Holy Grail War initially to repeat history so Britain can get a better king in her stead, as she thought she only caused her kingdom suffering. Her Noble Phantasms are the WaveMotionSword ''Excalibur'' and the barrier magic ''Invisible Air'', which keeps the instantly recognizable Excalibur hidden from sight. Her last Noble Phantasm- [[ChekhovsGun which she seems to have lost]]- is ''Avalon'', the scabbard of Excalibur that bestows a powerful HealingFactor.

Tropes associated with Saber:

* AntiMagic - An innate ability of the Saber class is practical immunity to magic.
* {{Badass}} - And how!
* BadassAdorable - While more beautiful and dignified than actually cute, Saber's sincere and honest personality is very endearing.
* BerserkButton - Do not deny Saber lunch or feed her bad food. It does not end well.
* BigEater - {{Handwave}}d by the fact that Shirou cannot provide her with mana to heal herself, thus she needs to eat a ''lot'' to keep up her strength.
** Nevertheless, it becomes very clear that she just happens to like food a lot. Well-cooked food mind you. At one point, remembering the highly inadequate skills of the chefs of her era has her briefly let off a ''killing aura''.
* BiTheWay - She has absolutely no problem being with Rin as well as Shirou. [[GirlOnGirlIsHot The fans have no problem with it either.]]
* BrokenBird
* {{Chaste Hero}}ine - A rare female version.
* ChekhovsGun - Saber mentions having lost her scabbard and final Noble Phantasm, Avalon. [[spoiler:It was inside Shirou the whole time, keeping him alive through injuries that should have killed him.]]
* CheshireCatGrin - Not nearly as often as Rin (or Sakura in HA), but she does occasionally hide her anger behind a seemingly innocent smile.
* CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming - [[spoiler: Speaking of that scabbard, the scene where she realizes Shirou has Avalon in him qualifies, among others.]]
** Last Episode. All of it.
* CutenessProximity - Mild, but she has a notable soft spot for stuffed animals, ''especially'' lions.
* DistressBall- Much to her consternation in UBW.
* DontYouDarePityMe
* {{Expy}} - A bit spottier than some of the ones listed later, but Saber combines the absolute devotion and propriety of [[{{Tsukihime}} Hisui]] with being a mysterious blonde girl of [[EvenTheGirlsWantHer extraordinary]] beauty who was originally active hundreds of years ago--like Arcueid.
* FailedASpotCheck - In HA, Saber comes home while Caster is learning how to cook from Shirou, and Shirou tries to hide Caster. Saber somehow fails to notice that the strange purple "trash bag" (Caster's hood) in the kitchen has a Servant inside of it.
** [[spoiler: She also fails to notice Rider sneak into Shirou's room and give him erotic dreams in order to absorb his prana in HF. This was with her sleeping in the next room over, she never even realizes exactly why hes so drained the next day thinking hes just gotten a minor flu courtesy of Sakura.]]
* FissionMailed - For an amusing fake Bad End, tell Saber that there will be no food today.
* GenderFlip - [[spoiler:King Arthur]] as a girl.
* HeroicSelfDeprecation - Her wish is basically to ensure that the legend she comes from never existed in the first place because she believes she did an inadequate job at it. Unlike most examples of the trope, Saber tends to shut up about her self-esteem issues unless people specifically push the issue.
* HonorBeforeReason - Much like her master, to his relief.
* IdiotHair - MemeticMutation turns it into such things as a [[PrehensileHair third hand]], an oven timer, and the infamous ''Ahogecopter.'' Plus, if by poor luck you pull it off, out comes Saber Alter...
* ImageSong - [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nBR7JanY6pQ "Tooi Yume"]] ("Distant Dream")
* InnocentFanserviceGirl - And we mean softcore porn!
** After she falls for Shirou, she [[CantActPervertedTowardALoveInterest can't be perverted]], and becomes bashful about him seeing her body.
* LadyOfWar
* LawfulGood
* TheMario - On her character sheet, all her attributes (except for her Noble Phantasm) are B or C rank. The other servants are much less balanced.
** Only if her master is Shirou though. [[spoiler: If Kiritsugu is her master all other stats is A with exception of strenght=B and luck=D. If Rin is her master her stats are all A except for Endurance=B and Agility=B. If Sakura is her master her stats are all A with exception of Agility=D and Luck=C... The first two makes her an overwhelming LightningBruiser while the last makes her a very powerfull MightyGlacier. It was even said during the UBW route that if Saber fought against Berserker (with Rin as her master) she could defeat her easily while during the HF route she defeated Berserker (along with the shadow) easily.]]
* OlderThanTheyLook - Saber was around 25 when she died, but due to the fact that she stopped aging once she obtained Avalon, she looks around 14/15.
* {{Pettanko}} - Though anxieties about this do not play up until she actually falls in love with Shirou.
* RedBaron - "King of Knights".
* SuperDrowningSkills - According to HA, anyway. [[spoiler:This is hilarious, because she can actually WalkOnWater, since she's got the blessing of the Lady of the Lake.]]
* SuperpoweredEvilSide - Saber Alter.
** BigEater - Still a big eater as Saber Alter, but manages to destroy Shirou's pride in his cooking with her attitude about it.
---> '''Saber Alter:''' Lunch. [[GratuitousEnglish NOW]]! ''<munch>'' Like always, your food is horrible.
*** Actually, in side material it mentioned Black Saber being the biggest eater of all, surpassing even Berserker...
** TheCorruption - The cause.
** [[spoiler:DyingAsYourself - In one BadEnd where Shirou manages to kill her singlehandedly (at the cost of his own life), she compliments him on his strength in a warm way before disappearing. Unfortunately, she does ''not'' appear to do this in the normal course of the storyline when she dies.]]
** ElegantGothicLolita - Her new casual outfit.
** EnemyWithout - Inverted in Fate/Unlimited Codes--Saber Alter's final fight in arcade mode is regular Saber, who somehow managed to separate herself.
** EvilCostumeSwitch
** EyesOfGold
** LawfulEvil - with heavy emphasis on ''Lawful''.
** MarkedChange
** MaskPower
** NobleDemon - ''Sparks Liner High'' shows that she still cares about Shirou to some extent -- even if they had to fight on opposing sides.
** PaintItBlack - Her armour.
** PerpetualFrowner - a superpowered evil version of her usual pokerface.
* TearJerker - The famous [[spoiler: spoiler scene at the end of Fate and the anime.]]
** Less famous but still tear jerking, is [[spoiler: Shirou's ShootTheDog moment with a possessed Saber]] in Heaven's Feel.
* ThemeMusicPowerUp - Whenever ''[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-tkR_97yF1o&fmt=18 "The Sword of Promised Victory"]]'' plays, it's time for the opponent to get [[UnusualEuphemism Excalibur'd]].
* TomboyAndGirlyGirl - Although Saber does have LadyOfWar elegance, she still acts very tomboyish. She contrasts with Rin's girlishness (she even laments not being as girlish or shapely as Rin later on in Fate)
* TrademarkFavoriteFood - Everything, as shown in one scene where Shirou tried to narrow down her favorite foods and she ended up liking absolutely everything he suggested. [[spoiler: As Saber Alter (in ''HA''): Burgers. Burgers by the truckload.]]
** However, she [[DoesNotLikeSpam doesn't like octopus]], calling it a demon fish of the underworld when she sees it in the fridge in hollow ataraxia. To be more accurate, she's eaten lots of takoyaki (fried octopus in a ball) before, but was horrified to find out that octopus was what was in those balls.
** The author's note in [[FateZero The Mad Feast Of Kings]] explains this - she associates tentacled squishy things with the hordes of ... well ... demonic fish of the underworld that Fourth War's Caster was summoning.
* TranquilFury: Played for laughs. You ''know'' that Shirou has managed to piss her off if she shows up to their daily sparring sessions smiling, happy... and wearing her armor. Cue ass-kicking.
* WaifFu
* WalkOnWater - Saber was given this ability by [[spoiler:the Lady of the Lake]], but as a result she can't swim. Her trip to the water park with Shirou to learn has both crowning moments of [[CrowningMomentOfFunny funny]] and [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming heartwarming]]/[[{{Moe}} moe]].
* WhatBeautifulEyes - Saber's eyes are lovingly described often in both Shirou and [[LesYay Rin's]] narration/internal monologue.
* WaveMotionSword - "[[spoiler:Excalibur]], The Sword of Promised Victory".
* [[TheWomanWearingTheQueenlyMask The Woman Wearing the Kingly Mask]] - Aided by a GenderFlip illusion cast by [[spoiler:Merlin]]. Unfortunately it works ''too'' well, and a rebellion rises up against Saber because some see her as an inhuman demon who doesn't care for her people.

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http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/archer_fsn.jpg
::'''Archer (Voiced by JunichiSuwabe, [[LiamOBrien Liam O' Brien]])'''

-->''"Well well... it appears I've been summoned by a strange little girl."''

Servant of Rin and one of the more popular characters in the show. Sarcastic but serious, he tends to look down on Shiro's ideals and usually dispenses either cryptic advice or [[DeadpanSnarker razor-sharp putdowns]]. He is obedient to Rin, although to what extent nobody really knows; though he carries a semblance of loyalty, Rin has to use one of her three Command Spells shortly after summoning him in order to force Archer into submission.

Unlike other Heroic Spirits, his identity is not a figure from the past: in fact, he is an AlternateUniverse FutureBadass version of Shirou Emiya, who achieved his dream of becoming a selfless Hero of Justice but was slammed with nothing but betrayals to his ideal, eventually becoming trapped in eternal service to The World as a Counter Guardian. He joins the war so he can kill Shirou- or at least spare him from the harsh fate that awaits him if he continues his naive idealism- and consequently cause a time paradox that would remove Archer from his contract to The World. His main strength lies in Projection Magic, augmented by his possession of the powerful Reality Marble magic ''Unlimited Blade Works'', which reduces the mana cost required for Projection to nil. He most commonly Projects the twin Noble Phantasms ''Kanshou & Bakuya'', a pair of swords.

''"Unlimited Blade Works"'' is also the title of the route in which he takes centre stage.

Tropes associated with Archer:
* AntiHero: [[SlidingScaleOfAntiHeroes Type IV]].
* TheArcher - Subverted in that he himself states that he isn't one. It's just something he's good at.
* AwesomenessByAnalysis - His "Eye of the Mind" skill compensates for him having the worst Luck rank possible.
** An especially awesome example, at that. During his battle with Lancer in UBW, Lancer is moving and attacking at speeds so inhumanly fast that even other Servants couldn't keep up with him; Archer manages to hold him off by deliberately making holes in his defense and then parrying every time Lancer attacks those holes, ''effectively fighting the whole battle a step ahead of Lancer''.
*** Well, 'delaying being split like a shish kabob until after he tires out by staying a step ahead of Lancer'. Still awesome, though.
* {{Badass}}: The man the word "GAR" was invented for, folks.
* BadassLongcoat - Though it's more like a Badass ''Skirt''.
* BatmanGambit / BigDamnHeroes / NotQuiteDead - His CrowningMomentOfAwesome in ''UBW''. Go on, look it up. It really ''is'' awesome.
* CasualDangerDialog - Archer speaks to everyone with the same bored indifference, even if they are much stronger and on the verge of attacking him. The craziest example was when he, near the end of his route, calmly threatened ''[[CompleteMonster Gilgamesh]]'' with death at 1/10 of his original strength.
* ChronicBackstabbingDisorder - In ''UBW''.
* DarkAndTroubledPast
* DarkMessiah - In a matter of speaking. Archer hates being a Counter Guardian but still intellectually recognizes that it's the best way to keep earth safe.
* DarkSkinnedBlond - Though it's not natural.
* DeadpanSnarker
* {{Deconstruction}} - He's a WideEyedIdealist who naively tried to save everyone he can see. You know, ''superheroes''? You'd end up like this, too, if you found out that your ideal is essentially unattainable, and that you've been fighting for nothing all this time.
* DeflectorShields - Rho Aias.
* DualWielding - Kanshou and Bakuya.
* EnigmaticMinion - In ''Fate'' and most of ''UBW''.
* EnsembleDarkhorse - Right after Saber and Rin in the hollow ataraxia popularity poll, in fact.
* FallenHero
* FieldOfBlades - ''So, as I pray...'' '''Unlimited Blade Works'''.
* FutureBadass
* TheGadfly - Archer continually tests Shirou's, Saber's and Rin's ideals and personalities with jokes and barbs and is at the same time capable of claiming with a straight face that he would use the Grail for "World Peace".
** FunnyAneurysmMoment - Once we learn Archer's true identity, motives and backstory his stated wish for "World Peace" becomes all kinds of depressing.
* GoOutWithASmile - In ''UBW''.
* GenerationXerox - His foster father, Emiya Kiritsugu, [[FateZero started out wanting to be a "hero of justice" but learned things the hard way, and ended up sacrificing the few to save the many in his actions.]] Like father, like son, so much that Kiritsugu's description in the quote on top of the FateZero page exactly fits Archer as well.
* GratuitousEnglish - The activation speech for his Reality Marble. The Engrish is used in the VisualNovel as well but is also accompanied by a proper (and quite different) Japanese version that clarifies its meaning (''I have created over a thousand blades... Unknown to death nor known to life...'').
* GuileHero - In UBW, at the very least, he displays profound [[MagnificentBastard manipulative skill]].
* HeroWithBadPublicity - Well, more like ''no'' publicity. Nobody has any clue at all who he is. [[spoiler:Both in the time of the Fifth Grail War, because he's from the future, and in his own time, because he rarely spoke to people. Simply going around saving people with no explanation made people very suspicious of his motives. Eventually this distrust culiminated in him being executed for supposedly starting a war that he'd gotten involved in and ended.]]
** This is somewhat ''intentional'', however, since his method of fighting involves using a form of magic that is ''forbidden'' by the Magic Association. So, not only can he not tell ''normal'' people about his actions (because magic must be kept secret), he can't tell other magi ''either''.
* IHatePastMe - [[{{Understatement}} To say the very least]].
* ImageSong - [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGPxGR8zIk0 "Rise"]]
* IronicHell
-->[[spoiler:'''Rin''' (narrating): The boy who stated that he just doesn't want to see anyone cry... could only see crying humans forever.]]
* ItGotWorse - Practically his entire backstory. [[spoiler:His ideals keep getting trampled on over and over until he becomes bitter and cynical. He gets scapegoated by the people whose lives he saves, and is executed for it. After death, The World forces him to betray his ideals again and again in his service as a Counter Guardian, which lasts for ''eternity''. No wonder he banks everything on a crazy plan to cause a time paradox]].
* JerkassWoobie - Badassery aside, Archer can be a real dick sometimes. And you know what? He has every right to be.
* KnightInSourArmor - Saber, and to a lesser extent Lancer, recognize him as a knight, but both are rather appalled at his manipulative nature, cynicism and {{shoot the dog}} attitude.
* {{Leitmotif}} - "The End of Reminiscence" serves as a de facto leitmotif for Archer, especially in the Fate route. Emiya also counts for obvious reasons, but that's more of a ThemeMusicPowerUp.
* LonelyAtTheTop - Archer followed his ideal to the end, and just look what that cost him. No wonder he's so bitter.
* MemeticBadass - To be fair, he does earn most of his badass credentials. But a lot of his ability is merely implied as he never really gets a chance to go all out.
* MemeticMutation - The word ''GAR'', and... ''Have withstood the pain to create many weapons... yet these hands will never hold anything...'''
* MemeticSexGod - Everyone is GAR for Archer.
* MyGreatestFailure - [[spoiler:As the supplemental materials reveal, Archer's backstory had him saving Ilya just like Shirou did in "Fate", only to see her waste away and die a year after the end of the fifth grail war due to her Homunculus body. It's one of the first real dents in his idealism, and the main reason why Archer never considers attacking Ilya directly as an option.]]
* NervesOfSteel - Archer's strongest combat ability allows him to plan out strategies ''while trading blows'' and work out the most effective path to victory.
* NoGoodDeedGoesUnpunished - Archer is the freaking patron saint of this trope. He willingly gave both his life and his afterlife for the sake of other people and it never brought him anything but pain and betrayal.
* PrecisionGuidedBoomerang - Kanshou and Bakuya, again.
* SarcasticDevotee - To Rin. [[spoiler:Eventually subverted in UBW as he ends up betraying her to fulfill his own objective.]]
* SchroedingerFu - Archer depends heavily on the fact that none of the other heroes can identify him, which usually leads to them underestimating his abilities.
* SillyRabbitIdealismIsForKids - ''Drown in your ideals and die!''
* SourSupporter - To Shirou, whenever they're forced to work together.
* StormOfBlades - While it's not his trademark, Archer is fully capable of this by invoking his Reality Marble.
* StupidSexyFlanders - It's hardly uncommon to hear men claim that they are [[MemeticMutation GAR]] for Archer...
* TallDarkAndSnarky
* TearJerker - He has a few such moments in his own route. [[spoiler: The first is, for some, the fight between himself and Shirou, when Shirou makes him realize he should lose. The second is at the ending. For anyone with a heart.]]
* TemporalParadox - Archer's goal involves killing Shirou, and supposedly the paradox will be greater if he does it himself.
* ThemeMusicPowerUp - Badass will ensue whenever "[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uSm6nnwesV4 EMIYA]]" plays.
** Note that this only applies to the anime; the visual novel only ever uses "EMIYA" for Shirou's {{CMOA}}s.
* ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks - Completely and thoroughly justified.
* TragicHero - This is a guy whose original intent was to save everyone.
--> '''Archer:''' Conflicts come into my view as long as I'm alive. It was endless. I didn't dream of a world without conflicts. [[DespairEventHorizon I just wanted people in my view to not cry.]]
* TrickArrow - He frigging uses various legendary swords ([[StuffBlowingUp that EXPLODE]]) as arrows.
* TrueNeutral
* UsedToBeASweetKid
* WeakButSkilled - Archer is the worst of the Servants statistically, and depends on several lifetimes' worth of hard work and experience to make up for it.
** This is explained by the visual novel as Archer having none of the "natural talent" that legitimate heroes like Saber or Lancer are born with, or the blessings of higher entities like Berserker's and Gilgamesh's divine heritage; he [[spoiler:as Shirou]] had to LevelGrind his abilities by living through thousands of battles in life and after it.
* WhiteHairedPrettyBoy
* XanatosGambit - Just ''look'' at his reason for joining the Grail War.

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http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/lancer_fsn.jpg
::'''Lancer (Voiced by NobutoshiCanna, TonyOliver)'''

-->''"It should be natural for you to drink until dawn with someone you get along with, even if he may be your enemy."''

Formerly a Servant of Bazett Fraga [=McRemitz=], but she was abruptly killed by Kirei Kotomine, who in turn took her Command Spell to control Lancer. Lancer is a carefree, laid back Servant always eager to get into a good fight, and will never back down unless commanded. When not being an enemy, he shows a playful attitude and loves to tease. He is most often seen fighting Archer throughout the whole story. Although at first he was dismissed as a mediocre Servant, the release of Unlimited Blade Works translation patch boosted his popularity, thanks to his CrowningMomentOfAwesome.

His identity is the Main/EnsembleDarkhorse of the Irish Mythology, Cu Chulainn. Thus, his Noble Phantasm is easily guessable: the ''Gae Bolg'', [[OneHitKill which kills its target instantly]] by automatically piercing the victim's heart and then [[RealityWarper reversing cause-and-effect]] to create a reason for it.

Tropes associated with Lancer:
* BadAss
* BigDamnHeroes - Contributing to his CrowningMomentOfAwesome in UBW.
* BladeOnAStick
* BloodKnight - A surprisingly non AxCrazy version. He actually doesn't care about getting the Grail at all, he just wants to fight. Hence his frustration...
* BoisterousBruiser - Especially in Unlimited Blade Works, whereas he's shown to love teasing BOTH Rin and Saber, and he fights for the fight itself.
* BoringButPractical - Despite being not very flashy and useless against multiple foes or fortifications, Gae Bolg can potentially OneHitKill servants and uses extremely little prana. Saber states he could probably use it six or seven times for the same amount of prana that an equally decisive blow from an A-rank Noble Phantasm would consume, and likens it to a man who can use a single arrow to win battles other servants can only settle with artillery cannons.
* {{Casanova}} - He has a way with the ladies in hollow ataraxia.
* ChekhovsSkill - The Ath nGabla spell.
* DeadpanSnarker - Can be almost as snarky as Archer, but gets far less screen time to showcase it.
* DoggedNiceGuy - Towards Rin in ''UBW''. Never goes beyond mild teasing since he's perfectly aware that Rin isn't interested.
* DyingMomentOfAwesome - In UBW.
* EnsembleDarkhorse - Despite having all of a handful of appearances in the game entire, most fans dub him as almost as manly as Archer.
* FriendlyEnemy
* TheGadfly - Only really apparent in UBW, but Lancer is shown to get a great deal of amusement from teasing girls he finds interesting. Even [[TheTease Rin]]? ''Especially'' Rin.
* HonorBeforeReason - Lancer really doesn't like traitors.
* TheLancer - Not just by name. His personality also fits the mold somewhat.
* LawfulNeutral - He doesn't particularly care about good or evil, but won't stand for dishonorable acts.
* NormallyIWouldBeDeadNow - Lancer has the "Battle Continuation" ability, which allows him to fight effectively even when mortally wounded. [[spoiler:He uses it to his advantage in UBW, allowing him to live for a few minutes after having had his heart removed from his body.]]
* OneHitKill - The entire point of Gae Bolg's activated ability.
* RedBaron - "Cú Chulainn" means "Culann's hound". In-game, he's also referred to as "Ireland's Man of Light" on top of this.
** Karin amuses herself by referring to him as "dog."
* RedEyesTakeWarning
* SpamAttack - He has a penchant for rapid-fire spear thrusts.
* StupidSexyFlanders - A number of people (the artist behind the ''Fate'' manga in particular), have declared him "The sexiest man in the game". Just look at his super tight outfit. It feels like he's wearing nothing at all! Nothing at all! ''Nothing at all!''
* TakingYouWithMe - [[spoiler: He kills Kirei after being ordered to kill himself for refusing to rip out Rin's heart in UBW. In HA, he uses a combination of runes and the properties of his lance to take Bazett out with him when she uses her CounterAttack OneHitKill trump card, and this can be replicated in Fate/Unlimited Codes as well.]]
* TearJerker - His ending in the ''Fate/Unlimited Codes'' fighting game. [[spoiler:After killing his master, Kotomine, he reveals that he was completely loyal to Bazett the whole time, and disappears while telling her that she can rest in peace knowing that the servant she summoned was the strongest.]]
* TheWorfBarrage - For all its reputation as a OneHitKill weapon, Gae Bolg has a really poor track record at actually doing this. The primary reason for this is because everyone he seems to use it on has some way to turn it back around. Shirou [[spoiler: can regenerate from just about anything, and also]] gets healed up by Tohsaka. Saber has a ridiculous Luck stat and basically wins the coin toss. Archer just happens to have a shield specifically made to counter spears, and even then Lancer doesn't use the "instant kill" feature of Gae Bolg - he lobs the spear like a missile at Archer, using a more powerful but less guaranteed version of it. Basically, Lancer has really bad luck with actually using Gae Bolg on people.
** There potentially is a good reason for why Gae Bolg fails to kill Saber. [[spoiler: In Heavens Feel you learn that Lancer was under the effects of command seal during his fights with the other servants to ensure that he WOULDN'T kill any of them. Hence whenever he tries to actually kill one his movements downgrade and his attacks are weaker then they should be.]]
** StatisticallySpeaking, Lancer's actual Luck happens to be in the toilet, [[FridgeBrilliance which probably has something to do with it too]].

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http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rider_fsn.jpg
::'''Rider (Voiced by YuuAsakawa, KarenStrassman)'''

-->''"You appear to be a brave person, unlike my master. I shall kill you kindly."''

The [[TallDarkAndBishoujo tall, dark, silent, gorgeous]] Servant of [[SmugSnake Shinji Matou]]. Rider is always seen with a blindfold and [[RapunzelHair very long hair]]. Unlike her Master, she is a little amiable; in fact, she dislikes Shinji, her loyalty instead lying with his sister and her true Master, Sakura Matou. She wields a very long chain in battle, and these chains make sounds like slithering snakes.

Her identity was rather surprising: she is in fact a different (but still accurate) take of AlwaysChaoticEvil Greek Monster Medusa. Screwed over in her past life, she just wanted to live together with her Master and protect her. Unfortunately, Sakura didn't want to fight Shiro, so she was pressured into giving Rider to Shinji. He frequently abuses and rapes Rider, greatly holding back her strength to the point that she's always the first Servant to be eliminated (except in the ''Heaven's Feel'' scenario). She still retains her [[TakenForGranite petrification eyes]], but uses her blindfold (actually a Noble Phantasm called ''Breaker Gorgon'') to [[PowerLimiter restrain their always-on power]]. Her main combat Noble Phantasm is the ''Bellerophon'' bridle, which she uses to summon, control and power up legendary mounts, such as a Pegasus. She can also use her blood as a material component in a Noble Phantasm called ''Blood Fort Andromeda'', which dissolves its victim into a slurry that Rider can then absorb as Mana.

She also has a more 'public' appearance where she dons a [[{{Meganekko}} pair of glasses]], which provide the same function as her blindfold.

Tropes associated to Rider:
* TheAtoner - [[spoiler: Although she forgets this until reminded after a freak-out near the end of HA, she originally decided to become Sakura's Servant in order to prevent her from becoming a man-eating monster like she did when she was alive. But of course, thanks to Shinji, she fails utterly at this except in Heaven's Feel....]]
* AntiMagic - Rider has innate magic resistance as part of her class, although it's not quite Saber's level. [[spoiler:Caster gets around this by having Kuzuki kill her in the scenario the two come to blows.]]
* BadassBookworm - The only thing preventing her from showing how bad ass she is was Shinji's uselessness as a master.
* [[BigDamnHeroes Big Damn Heroine]]- [[spoiler:TWICE in Heaven's Feel, first when she saved Shirou from being killed by True Assassin, then when she protected Shirou from being reduced into a bloody pulp by Dark Sakura]]
* BiTheWay - In HA, she's definitely hot for Shirou and has a crush on Mitsuzuri. In Heaven's Feel, she is quoted as [[IntimateHealing replenishing Rin's magical energy]].
* BoobsOfSteel - She has the largest bust of any female servant, and is also the physically strongest female servant even if she can't match Saber in close combat.
* ChainOfCommand - Wears a leather collar on the neck as part of her standard battle costume.
* ChaoticGood
* DarkActionGirl
* DarkIsNotEvil - She doesn't use dark powers, but everything else about her background if you go by the initial impressions just screams off DARK CREATURE. Really... a ''good'' Medusa, anyone?
** How are eyes of petrification, a summoning technique that requires her to cut her own throat, and a boundary field that turns everyone inside into tasty soul food not dark powers?
** Plus she's vampiric. That's not a good thing in this setting.
* DemotedToExtra - She's a popular character, but she only survives in one scenario... The one which is least publicized.
* DetachedSleeves - Another part of her standard battle costume. Her sleeves are tight.
* DoesNotLikeSpam - Like Saber, eats mostly anything (but it's not really a notable character trait like Saber), but as one might imagine from her class and true identity, she will not eat either snakes or horses. Of course, right after Shirou finds this out and comments that they would never eat snake, Saber tells him that Taiga brought home snake wine the other day...
* EnsembleDarkhorse - Even though she's usually the first Servant to die, she enjoys a large amount of popularity--fourth in the hollow ataraxia character poll.
* EvilEye
* FacialMarkings
* FetishFuelStationAttendant - Other than her fetishtic appearance, she also tends to make suggestive poses. Ooh...
* FragileSpeedster - In ''Fate/Unlimited Codes''.
* FriendlyEnemy - The only times she is hostile is when Shinji orders her to be. When she escorted Shirou out of the Matou Household she was... Pretty friendly.
* GlowingEyesOfDoom - Mystic Eyes: Cybele, which will leave you TakenForGranite.
* ImageSong - [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=srxy3r8qEps "Shunji no Uzu"]] ("Instant Vortex")
* KissOfTheVampire - In particular, one Dead End in ''Unlimited Blade Works'' has her do this to Shirou.
* {{Kuudere}} - She's actually an incredibly loyal and even kind person... but she does ''not'' look it. Plus, the first impression Shirou has of her is that she reeks of blood.
* LesYay - With Sakura, Shirou and Rin's friend Ayako in ''Hollow Ataraxia''.
* GorgeousGorgon - Never thought Medusa could be this God damn hot...
* HellishPupils - Rider has unusual, square-shaped pupils that are used to identify her GlowingEyesOfDoom.
* HugeSchoolgirl - In HF she's revealed as being conscious of her height.
* [[spoiler: IWantMyBelovedToBeHappy - As revealed in her Eclipse scene in Hollow Ataraxia by...a copy of Sakura's soul or something? Anyway, she actually loves Shirou and deeply cares for Sakura, but she wants them to forget about her romantically and just be busy with each other. Sakura thinks it would be best if all three of them could be happy together, since she insists that she wouldn't be happy unless Rider's happy.]]
* MagicSkirt - This applies to almost all FSN media, but it's worth emphasizing with Rider's Stripperific fighting outfit.
* {{Meganekko}}
* NaughtyTentacles - Sort of. In one scene in HA, Shirou's [[spoiler: entire lower body]] becomes rock hard after seeing Rider's [[spoiler: eyes]] by mistake. Rider then [[spoiler: washes]] Shirou in his [[spoiler: bathroom]] with her tentacle-like hair, after he massages [[spoiler: Rin's magical shampoo into it.]]
* PowerLimiter - Breaker Gorgon, which prevents her from using her GlowingEyesOfDoom.
* TheQuietOne
* [[spoiler:RapeIsLove - Rider tries to rape Shirou in his dreams again in Hollow Ataraxia to get him to more aggressively go after Sakura. Shirou Projects Rider's Noble Phantasm and reverses it on her, while a copy of Sakura's soul that was in the dream beforehand tells Shirou about how Rider 'really' feels about him. She eventually admits it and enjoys herself, but wipes Shirou's memory of the whole thing afterwards.]]
* RapunzelHair
* RestrainingBolt - Shinji would have died a ''long'' time ago if it hadn't been for his possession of Rider's Command Spells.
* {{Start of Darkness}} - See TearJerker below.
* {{Stripperiffic}} - A very short [[ImpossiblyLowNeckline strapless vest]]. Although, due to her DetachedSleeves and ZettaiRyouiki the actual raw amount of flesh exposed is less than usual, [[TheissTitillationTheory it exposes ]]''[[TheissTitillationTheory exactly]]''[[TheissTitillationTheory enough]].
* SweaterGirl - After the Heaven's Feel ends, she does a 180 and is about completely covered, including a sweater. All it does is make her beauty more classy though.
* TakenForGranite - [[CaptainObvious Medusa]].
* TallDarkAndBishoujo - And she even has the PigeonholedVoiceActor best known for TallDarkAndBishoujo characters (see above)!
* TearJerker - Like Lancer, her ''Unlimited Codes'' ending is also very sad. [[spoiler:After freeing Sakura from being Dark Sakura, Rider vanishes after [[ButNowIMustGo saying her farewells]] while Sakura [[SayMyName cries out her name]] in sadness.]]
** [[spoiler: her backstory as revealed in Hollow Ataraxia may be even worse. She remembers her older sisters as obscenely abusive harpies for their constant teasing, but they did still love her. The constant mockery and belief that she would only ever have her sisters causes her to ruthlessly kill any men who approach the island to protect them, and the malice eventually warps her into the monster Medusa. Her sisters voluntarily sacrifice themselves to her to try and stop her from crossing the MoralEventHorizon, but she's too far gone at that point.]]
* TheTease - Rider adores teasing Shirou in HA...provided Sakura isn't around. With HA following more UnwantedHarem tropes than FSN, you can bet [[MomentKiller Sakura]] walks in just about every single time.
* WeaponOfChoice - A pair of giant ''nails'' chained together and wielded like daggers.
* TheWoobie - Just... Look at how screwed up her past and present is.
* ZettaiRyouiki - Not as high-level as Rin's, but...

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http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/berserker_fsn.jpg
::'''Berserker (Voiced by Tadahisa Saizen, MichaelMcConnohie)'''

-->''"RARRRRRRRRRGH!"''

A very huge and very un-Main/GentleGiant. This is the Servant of Ilyasviel von Einzbern, and being a Berserker class, he is stripped of his sanity and ability to coherently speak in exchange for extreme boosts in all other stats. Despite his bouts of insanity and the Berserker class' reputation of killing their own Masters, Berserker is pretty dedicated to his Master, to the point it's almost [[TearJerker heart-wrenching]].

His identity, immediately told by Ilya, was in fact Greek Mythology's WorldsStrongestMan and EnsembleDarkhorse: Hercules. Due to his wide range of talents, [[TheAce Hercules could fulfil the role of any of the seven Classes]] (except Caster) if it wasn't for his fact that Ilya forced him into insanity shortly after summoning him. Due to this, he is unable to use his Noble Phantasm ''Nine Lives'' (the bow and arrows that he used to slay the hydra).

However, his sheer original strength, demigod status and fame (the more well-known a Servant's legend is, the stronger they are) more than makes up for this. His other Noble Phantasm, ''God Hand'', nullifies any attack of Rank B or below and gives him eleven additional lives (in correspondence with his Twelve Labours). It is later shown that he can has not even activated his power boost even with the lack of sanity, and can do so to become even more powerful. Despite all of this, he is always KilledOffForReal in every scenario, primarily because he is the Nasuverse's poster boy for TheWorfEffect.

Tropes associated with Berserker:
* AttackAttackAttack
* AxCrazy - Pretty obviously.
* '''TheBerserker''' - Well, obviously.
* {{BFS}} - Referred to in-game as an ''axe''-sword, and for good reason.
* BlessedWithSuck - The "Mad Enhancement" ability of the Berserker class increases all their stats in return for taking away their sanity and making them uncontrollable. Being that Berserker is [[TheAce Heracles]], the stat gains are likely minimal in comparison to the loss of at least one Noble Phantasm and the inability to fight tactically.
* DiedStandingUp - UBW
* {{Gonk}} (Somewhat. The whole 'Berserker' thing has some effect on his physique, notable after things like his head explodes, regrows and looks somewhat normal for a moment.)
* HugeGuyTinyGirl - Extreme height difference between him and his Master, Ilya. Guesstimating by comparing her size with Saber's, Berserker towers roughly one and a half meters over Ilya, and is about 5 times as broad.
* MemeticMutation - The "Berser-CAR", which is Berserker somehow transformed into a giant car shaped like his head.
* MightyGlacier - He avoids this trope in the original novels, being noted as having [[LightningBruiser incredible strength and speed to the point where technique is useless against him]]. The fighting game ''Fate/Unlimited Codes'' has him as a proper MightyGlacier for the sake of CompetitiveBalance.
** The Unlimited Blade Works movie shows Berserker as a full on LightningBruiser in his fight against Saber.
* NormallyIWouldBeDeadNow - Like Lancer, Berserker has "Battle Continuation". [[spoiler:Like Lancer, he gets to showcase it in "Unlimited Blade Works" where it allows him to stand up to Gilgamesh long enough for Ilya to die in peace.]]
* OneUp - His twelve labours gives him eleven of these.
* PetTheDog - Contributing to that heart-wrenching moment in UBW.
* {{Protectorate}} - Do '''NOT''' mess with Ilya.
* RazorWind - The usual result of a missed swing.
* RestrainingBolt - Ilya herself acts as this for him. Which says a lot about how powerful she must be in order to keep freaking Heracles on a short leash.
* SpamAttack - His second Noble Phantasm, Nine Lives, which causes him to butcher an enemy by hitting them ''one hundred'' times in a short span of time. Berserker can't use it in-story because his class won't let him.
* TheLawOfDiminishingDefensiveEffort - Berserker is completely immune to all attacks beneath 'B' rank and consequently never bothers to go on the defensive except in the most extreme cases.
* TheVoiceless - While mad, he only roars. He only speaks once, when Saber kills him in the Fate route.
* TheWorfEffect - He's freakin' Hercules, explicitly stated to be the strongest of ''all'' the Servants, yet he gets schooled in ''every single path'' to show off how awesome someone else is.
** To be fair, though, his EstablishingCharacterMoment in each route is handily defeating Saber, one of the strongest characters. Except for UBW, where instead he blocks an A-ranked Noble Phantasm from Archer. That part was shown to establish how badass they ''both'' are.
* UnskilledButStrong - Being incapable of any strategy more complicated than AttackAttackAttack usually doesn't matter when you can shatter buildings with a single blow and move faster than the human eye can follow. [[TheWorfEffect In theory, anyway]].

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http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/caster_fsn.jpg
[[caption-width:225:[[BeautifulAllAlong Yes, that's Caster without the hood.]]]]
::'''Caster (Voiced by AtsukoTanaka, TaraPlatt)'''

->''"If the Holy Grail has infinite wealth, it should not run out no matter how much we split it. Then can you not share the Holy Grail with those you trust?"''

A mysterious wizard who is the Servant of Kuzuki Soichiro. She had a previous Master, but due to his abuse she killed him and seized her own Command Spells. Starved of a source of mana, she was about to fade away when she was rescued by Kuzuki Soichiro, who she fell in love with and pledged a new contract with.

Due to the tainted Grail allowing the summoning of anti-hero and villianous Heroic Spirits, her identity is the archetypical witch {{Medea}} (who got screwed over by Jason in his quest for the Golden Fleece). She only wishes to preserve her time with Soichiro, but to do so she is all too willing to absorb fatal amounts of mana from everyone in Fuyuki City. She also breaks the laws of the Holy Grail Wars by summoning her own Servant- Assassin- to guard her stronghold in Ryudouji Temple.

Caster is the physicially weakest Servant (apart possibly from Assassin) and relies mostly on her powerful anti-Army magic, her boosted master and skeletal {{mooks}} to fight for her; [[SquishyWizard she does less well in single combat]]. She also has a Noble Phantasm called ''Rule Breaker'', a dagger which can [[AntiMagic dispel any sorceries]] on anything it pierces, including contracts between Servants and Masters.

Tropes associated with Caster:
* AndIMustScream - Let's just say, agreeing to Caster's proposals are a ''very bad idea''.
* AntiMagic - Her Noble Phantasm, [[ExactlyWhatItSaysOnTheTin Rule Breaker]].
* BeamSpam - For best effect, combine with DeathFromAbove!
* BeautifulAllAlong - She looks very mysterious with that hood. But if you see beyond that, she's... Really gorgeous. I mean, look at her picture above!!
* BeingTorturedMakesYouEvil - She tries this on Saber in ''Unlimited Blade Works''. It doesn't work.
** [[spoiler: It does in the manga.]]
* CosplayOtakuGirl / OtakuSurrogate - {{Fanon}} by and large transforms her into these tropes, although her forcing Sakura (in the anime) and Saber (in UBW) into sexy dresses didn't help matters.
* DatePeepers - In HA, [[spoiler: she follows Kuzuki (dragging Shirou and later, Lancer along) to where he has lunch with Fujimura, suspecting him of cheating. She's wrong about it, although Fuji-nee of course does some things to make Caster angry enough to destroy a table.]]
* DeathFromAbove - One of her favorite tactics is to BeamSpam anti-''army'' class spells from overhead.
* DepravedBisexual - Caster manages to prove both aspects of the trope in one scene, as she gets aroused by magically torturing [[spoiler:Saber]] into obedience (having put her in a revealing white dress) and contemplates exactly how far she can get [[spoiler:Saber]] to be a slave to her lust.
* GoodPeopleHaveGoodSex - Subverted. Caster isn't the nicest person, but she and Kuzuki have quite the sex life.
* GoGoEnslavement - Being a CosplayOtakuGirl, Caster naturally decides to stick Saber in a sexy dress while she's tied up with magic. In the anime, she puts Sakura in black leather.
* ImageSong - [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JGBooJk_4tY "Sasoi"]] ("Temptation")
* InstantRunes - She can make'em, easy.
* KnifeNut - Rule Breaker.
* LesYay - In the aforementioned 'sexy dress' scenes, Caster seems to really, ''really'' enjoy watching Saber (or Sakura) squirm. And not like 'You will suffer!', but like 'Mmmmmm, that's nice...'
* LoadBearingBoss - In the anime, her elaborate temple turns out to have NoOntologicalInertia.
* LoveMakesYouEvil - All the atrocities she committed were just for her love with Kuzuki.
* {{Medea}}
* {{Moe}} - Thanks to the AlternateCharacterInterpretation provided by ''Hollow Ataraxia'', {{Fanon}} has transformed her into this.
* NeutralEvil
* PointedEars
* PowerFloats
* SmugSnake
** Arguably subverted: [[spoiler: while she acts like a Smugsnake even she knows what she is doing is wrong, and she doubts it will actually work out. Her one interlude even reveals that the forbidden magic shes using is something she would never normally use if she wasn't so desperate to stay with Kuzuki.]]
* SquishyWizard - Gloriously proved during Rin's CrowningMomentOfAwesome in UBW.
* TearJerker - Her backstory, along with her HeroicSacrifice for Kuzuki.
** AlasPoorVillain
** Add her ending in ''Fate/unlimited codes''. [[spoiler: Kuzuki gets killed off midway through her route, and Caster spends the rest of her route trying to complete the Grail in order to wish him back to life, before she runs out of mana. Even though she defeats all the Servants, only half of them are absorbed by Ilya (the other half were absorbed by Sakura), leading to an incomplete Grail. Caster sacrifices herself to power Ilya's incomplete Grail and grant a single wish; Kuzuki later wakes up in the rain, wondering where Caster has gone]].
* VancianMagic - While she can mostly avoid this thanks to being a true sorcerer from the age of the gods, she ''does'' have to verbally invoke her strongest spells.
* WeCanRuleTogether - She tries to recruit Shirou and Archer to her side during UBW. For Shirou, agreeing is not a good idea.
* TheWoobie - As cruel as she can be, her incredibly sad backstory makes her very sympathetic.
** Hell, just look at [[http://media.animevice.com/uploads/0/72/25470-caster_800x600_9.jpg these]][[http://media.animevice.com/uploads/0/72/25350-caster_44.jpg pictures]] and try to say that you can't feel at least ''some'' sympathy for her
* YouGottaHaveBlueHair
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http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/assassin_fsn.jpg
::'''Assassin (Voiced by ShinichiroMiki, DavidVincent)'''

-->''"My role is to guard this gate. I won't let you through alive, nor shall I let you out alive."''

A Servant summoned by Caster to guard the gate of the Ryudo Temple. Assassin is a solemn character who delights nothing more than having a good fight. He was, however, an incomplete Servant, thus he is linked with the gate and cannot travel further than the areas in the vicinity of the gate.

He claims the identity of MiyamotoMusashi's rival Sasaki Kojirou. However, in the Nasuverse, Kojirou does not exist, he was in fact a fabrication of various swordsman's skills and the name of a person who really existed to create the image of a WorthyOpponent for Musashi. Assassin himself was a nameless swordsman who, through blood and sweat and tears, managed to obtain the godlike sword technique Tsubame Gaeshi. As he is the only spirit who holds the technique Kojirou is famous for, the Grail called for him to play the part of Kojirou in answer to Caster's summons. As he isn't a heroic spirit, he has no Noble Phantasm. However, his Tsubame Gaeshi skill is said to be as powerful as one.
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Tropes associated with Assassin:

* BadassNormal - Stated to be a nameless samurai, he developed an ultimate technique on level with an anti-personel Noble Phantasm simply by practicing. And with his lack of Noble Phantasm, nearly manages to defeat Saber in a duel TWICE.
* {{BFS}} - His Monohoshizao, which is 170 cm long.
* {{Bishonen}}
* BloodKnight - [[JustifiedTrope Justified]]. Because of his circumstances, every deed he accomplishes is attributed to the name "Sasaki Kojirou" and not himself. All he has is the satisfaction he gets from fighting a WorthyOpponent.
* CharlesAtlasSuperpower - The guy who would become Servant Assassin created Tsubame Gaeshi, a sword technique that twists dimensions so that he can strike from three directions at the same time. He did this by... swinging his sword. A lot. In his own words, he simply had nothing else to do. Saber's reaction to this story makes it very clear that this is as insane in-universe as it sounds like in real life.
* EveryJapaneseSwordIsAKatana - Averted; Assassin uses a no-dachi just like Kojirou did.
** KatanasAreJustBetter - Also averted; just like real-life japanese swords, his sword chips and breaks much easier than the other Servants' magical weapons, [[spoiler:ultimately leading to his defeat in his final duel with Saber in UBW.]]
* FaceDeathWithDignity - Is a big-time believer in this trope.
* FailureIsTheOnlyOption - Quite literally. Assassin, unlike the other Servants, is physically incapable of winning the Holy Grail War: Even if all the other Servants killed each other off he'd be unable to move from his summoning spot and reach the location of the Grail -- nevermind that it wouldn't respond to him without his master.
* FriendlyEnemy - Mainly towards Saber.
* GlassCannon - Tsubame Gaeshi, his Noble Phantasm, is pretty much an instant kill attack if all three blows land. On the defensive side he has no armour, 'E' rating in toughness, and dies more or less instantly if struck once.
* GoOutWithASmile - He does so in ''Unlimited Blade Works'', having fufilled his wish of having a climactic battle with Saber.
** And again in ''Heaven's Feel'', although this is less because he's actually happy and more because he's being devoured from the inside and smiling is his way of showing contempt for his killer and going out with dignity.
* NeutralEvil - Canonically. Practically, not so much.
* NobleDemon
* {{Samurai}}
* SarcasticDevotee - Assassin doesn't particularly like his master and makes no attempt at hiding this.
* SpiritedCompetitor - Arguably even more this than a BloodKnight. Assassin seems to relish the act of competing with Saber (lethal swordplay being the medium) more than he does the actual act of battle itself. Duelling people he don't consider worthy competitors, like Archer, offers him no enjoyment.
* TrueNeutral - Even if officially he's Neutral Evil, we know better.
* WeakButSkilled - Possibly an even better example than Archer.
* WorthyOpponent - He considers Saber to be this, very much.
* YouGottaHaveBlueHair
* YourDaysAreNumbered - Having been summoned into the world without a Master granting him mana and only a limited supply by Caster, Assassin is slowly wasting away and fully aware of it.

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http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/gilgamesh_fsn.jpg
::'''Gilgamesh (Voiced by TomokazuSeki, GrantGeorge)'''

-->''"'All the evils in the world'? Bring thrice as much if you want to stain'' me''!"''

An Archer-class Servant from the previous Holy Grail War who doesn't even bother to hide his identity as the famous Babylonian king. Overconfident and full of himself, he believes the world rests in the palm of his hand and is his to rule as he pleases. In the Fourth Holy Grail War, he was the Servant of Kirei Kotomine [[spoiler:(though he was originally the Servant of Rin's father, Tohsaka Tokiomi)]] and sought the Grail in order to cleanse the world of the "lowly, weak humans" that inhabited it, leaving only those strong enough to be worthy of his rule.

At the conclusion of the Fourth Holy Grail War he was drenched by the pollution within the Holy Grail, which is supposed to give a Servant a true flesh-and-bone body at the cost of [[TheCorruption their mind and sanity]]. However, Gilgamesh's ego was too strong to be corrupted, and with a physical body he could continue existing in the world. He collaborates with Kirei to hide his existence from everyone, and continues on his merry path to seize or destroy anything that takes his fancy.

Has a big rivalry (as well as a deadly infatuation) with Saber. His Noble Phantasm is the ''Gate of Babylon'', a portal which leads to a storage of the hundreds upon hundreds of Noble Phantasms that he collected in his lifetime as the king of Babylon. Lacking the proficency or will to actually wield most of them, he mainly just shoots them at people (hence his Archer class). The only Noble Phantasm in his collection that he regularly uses in close combat is the demonic sword ''Ea'', which he uses for his ''Enuma Elish'' FinishingMove.

Tropes associated with Gilgamesh:
* AffablyEvil - His child form in ''Hollow Atraxia''. Shirou wonders how the hell such a nice kid could grow up to be such a {{Jerkass}}.
* AntiMagic - Although he lacks the innate magic resistance of the Saber and Rider classes, Gilgamesh possesses so many anti-magic wards, charms and amulets that he's nigh immune to it anyway.
* ArmorIsUseless - Averted in the Fate scenario, where Gilgamesh's first fight with Saber has him simply standing there and shrugging off blows with his armor (using his gauntlets to ward of the occasional strike at the head). He mentions that it's nearing its limit after a little bit and opens the Gate of Babylon to attack her. The anime chooses to go with the RuleOfCool and instead has Gil summon swords directly from his vault to block incoming strikes without lifting a finger.
* BigBad - Takes on this role in UBW.
* {{Bishonen}} - Sakura notes that he "looks like a model".
* BlondGuysAreEvil
* BornWinner
* CatchPhrase - ''"Mongrels!"''
* ChaoticGood - Canonically, he is described as this. However, it is hotly contested in the fandom, although it's mostly agreed that he himself saw his Darwinist philosophy as being for the greater good in the end. In reality, he's probably closer to ChaoticEvil, since he wishes to kill everyone who he sees as not "worthy of his rule".
** Some fans prefer to point out that this is from supplemental information in FateZero, ''before'' he was doused in the evil within the grail.
*** Except that it's wrong, as said evil didn't really affect him much. See PureIsNotGood below.
*** And a reading of Fate/Zero will show that he was still pretty evil, to the point that the Omnipotent Narrator says so.
* CoolShip: In Fate/Zero, it's revealed that among all the crazy stuff he has inside of the Gate of Babylon, he also happens to have a legendary flying machine.
* ConflictKiller - In the Fate route. Caster has just made her first attack and seemingly has the heroes at her mercy. How are they going to get out of this one? Answer: They're not. Gilgamesh is going to drop by and kill the hell out of Caster.
* {{Darwinist}}
* DracoInLeatherPants - Ah, yup.
* TheDragon - In "Fate".
* DragonWithAnAgenda
* EvenEvilHasStandards - Although he's [[{{Understatement}} taken a liking to Saber]], in Fate/Unlimited Codes Gilgamesh is outright hostile to Saber Alter because she's corrupted and abandoned her ideals. [[spoiler: he also finds himself somewhat regretting corrupting Saber himself with the grail in his ending, as he likes her best when she's both idealistic and resisting him.]]
** Also his attempt to kill Sakura in HF, although in this case his issue is more with the idea that someone else might ''dare'' to kill his 'subjects' (entirely unintentionally, at that...).
* EverythingButTheGirl
* EvilLaugh - ''Especially'' in ''Unlimited Blade Works''.
* FanNickname - "Kin-Pika/Goldie", thanks to MemeticMutation of Rin calling him this.
** He's also referred to in certain circles as "Gil Howard" and "Not-Rock" due to his civillain form bearing a striking resemblance to [[FatalFury Rock Howard]].
* FatalFlaw - Gilgamesh's pride keeps him from ever going completely all-out against anyone, because he is so secure in his superiority. It always comes back to bite him in the ass.
* {{Fiction 500}} - His trademark ability is based on the premise that he owned everything in the world at one point. Also, in hollow ataraxia, he owns a ''water park'' that he closes for Shirou and his friends to have a private day out.
** In fact, one of his secondary abilities, Golden Rule, specifically measures a character's ability to attract wealth to himself. His is [[RankInflation Rank A]], meaning money basically falls into his lap with little to no effort from him.
* FurAndLoathing - His pimp-tastic civilian dress.
* GoOutWithASmile - ''"King of Knights, it was... truly fun."''
* HiddenDepths - He's a ''lot'' smarter than he appears, and understands a surprising amount about magic and human nature. The parts where he reveals his intellect are overshadowed by the parts where he's being a jerk.
* HyperspaceArsenal - His Noble Phantasm, Gates of Babylon, is an extradimensional storage space.
* ILoveYouBecauseICantControlYou
* ItsAllAboutMe - Ah yup!
* {{Jerkass}} - Yeah, Gilgamesh is sort of a douchebag.
* KarmicDeath - In ''Unlimited Blade Works''. [[spoiler:After having gone through the whole route [[StormOfBlades Sword-Launching]] people to death, he is killed when a NotQuiteDead Archer nails him right between the eyes with a duplicate of one of his own swords.]]
* TheKillerBecomesTheKilled - Gil finds himself on the losing end of EvilerThanThou in ''Heaven's Feel'' [[spoiler:when Sakura's SuperPoweredEvilSide eats him]].
* {{Light Is Not Good}} - He's a blonde haired, brightly colored armor wearing legendary hero who is mostly a divine being. Too bad about the whole planning mass genocide thing....
* MemeticMutation - The LampshadeHanging by Shirou: ''"King of Heroes, do you have enough swords?"''
* NietzscheWannabe
* TheOnlyOneAllowedToDefeatYou - Gilgamesh does this with all of humanity. He states quite plainly in the ''Heaven's Feel'' route that he does not like it when people are killed by someone besides him.
* PhenotypeStereotype - Uruk lay somewhere in what is Iraq today; needless to say, the mythological Gilgamesh was probably neither blonde nor fair-skinned.
** Then again, mythological Babylon wasn't a Precursor civilization with access to nukes and spacecraft either, but that doesn't stop the Nasuverse's version from having them.
* PossessionImpliesMastery - Averted. Gilgamesh owns all the world's treasures, but he isn't particularly skilled with using any of them in melee.
* PureIsNotGood - Let us reiterate. Gilgamesh got ''the concentrated form of all humanity's evils and sins combined'' poured onto him. ''It didn't affect him''.
* RedBaron - "King of Heroes".
* RedEyesTakeWarning
* RelationshipVoiceActor - He's voiced by Tomokazu Seki, who has several times played roles of villains that lusts over the character played by Ayako Kawasumi (Saber's seiyuu).
** Tomokazu Seki also has a fair amount of roles where his character's interest in Ayako Kawasumi's character is mutual. Usually they are the hero/heroine of the show, but not always.
* SlapOnTheWristNuke - Ea is said to be 'Anti-World' in power, but disappointingly fails to destroy the world (or indeed even kill anyone) on the occassions it is used. Presumably Gilgamesh holds back its full power.
** He does. [[spoiler:A much bigger portion (But still a great deal less than its full potential) of its power was revealed in Hollow Ataraxia, where it ripped a massive hole in reality.]]
* SleepModeSize - Gilgamesh ingests an elixer of youth in ''Hollow Atraxia'', which reverts him to a child.
* SmugSnake - His colossal strength and power could transform him into a much more successful villain. However, his ego manages to be even more powerful and domineering than either of those combined, leading to his downfall in all three routes.
* StormOfBlades - ''Gate of Babylon''.
* StoryBreakerPower - No matter who he's fighting, he's almost guaranteed to have at least a dozen weapons specifically designed to exploit their weaknesses, and as a fallback he always has Ea, which is so unstoppably powerful that even Excalibur itself pales in comparison and [[spoiler: even Dark Sakura, who is almost perfectly specialized for defeating Servants, most likely couldn't survive a direct hit from it]]. Were it not for his colossal ego ensuring that he never takes advantage of this, there is really no reason he should ever be defeated by anyone.
* SuperpowerLottery - The fact that he's the king of heroes and has access to almost all the other Noble Phantasms in addition to his demigod origins makes him a prime case of this. By WordOfGod, Gilgamesh is stated to be as powerful as five regular servants combined and the third most powerful being in the Nasuverse, only outdone by a PhysicalGod and a dimension-hopping, [[RealityWarper Reality Warping]] [[NinjaPirateZombieRobot vampire mage]] (and possibly Arcueid [[WillfullyWeak if she ever let go of her inhibitions]]).
* ThisIsADrill - Enuma Elish, a drill-''sword''. Complete with [[EverythingsBetterWithSpinning spinning segments]].
* UnskilledButStrong- The most powerful person in the game by a considerable margin, and in fact one of the top five beings on the planet in terms of raw power. He could easily defeat anything he encounters during the Fifth War just by overwhelming it with his full strength right off the bat. Does not have the skill or common sense to ''use'' this power well at ''all'', leading to a combination of ego and poor planning getting him killed in all three routes.
** YourMileageMayVary on this one, at least with regard to the anime adaptation. In the anime at least, Gilgamesh shows enough sword-fighting prowess that he can go toe to toe with Saber before the two of them get locked into a BeamOWar, although it is implied that his skill overall was slightly lower since she disarmed him twice before he whipped out Ea in the final battle. Thus, while he has plenty of powerful weapons and is at least proficient with a sword in general, he obviously lacks the knowledge or skill to fully utilize even a fraction of the weapons he has at his disposal.
* [[WaveMotionGun Wave Motion Sword]] - Enuma Elish. This lead nicely into...
** WordOfDante - The sword's actual name is Ea, [[PurpleProse the Star of Creation that Splits Apart Heaven and Earth]]. Enuma Elish is in fact the activation word, but many people get it confused because of the way most [[CallingYourAttacks Noble Phantasms are activated.]] Also, let's face it. Enuma Elish just sounds cooler.
* WellIntentionedExtremist - Pretty much the only way that 'chaotic good' thing could possibly make any sense. Frankly, his worldview seems to be 'I'm the most awesome being on the face of the Earth, so anything I decide to do is automatically for the world's own good'.
** The "well-intentioned" bit is somewhat debateable, though....
** Well, ''he'' thinks he's well-intentioned, though again that's in the 'I'm the King, so my intentions are automatically good, even when all conventional logic would say they're totally evil' sort of way.

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http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/TrueAssassin2.jpg
::'''True Assassin (Voiced by TetsuInada)'''

->''"It looks like your weapon is a projectile weapon as well. Would you like to try a match?"''

An Assassin-class Servant who was meant to be summoned for the Fuyuki Holy Grail War, but was denied because Caster broke the rules and called in her '''own''' Assassin. He is only summoned in ''Heaven's Feel'' by Shinji and Sakura's distant relative Zouken Matou in order to take the Holy Grail for themselves and grant their shared desire for eternal life. Because Assassin has the physical body meant for him, True Assassin's first order of business is to attack him and then eat him from the inside out, using Assassin's corpse to construct his own form.

His true identity is one of the nineteen ''original'' assassins, Hassan-i-Sabah. His Noble Phantasm- a form of the Noble Phantasm ''Zabaniya'', shared by all True Assassins- is the curse-like ''Delusional Heartbeat'', which uses the arm of {{Satan}} himself to crush the a duplicate of the target's heart, crushing the real one as well.

Tropes associated with True Assassin:
* AcCENTUponTheWrongSylLAble - Only at first, when he was still unstable. After devouring [[spoiler: Lancer]] he begins talking normally.
* BadassBlink - He has the ability to melt into shadows and hide himself from sight right up until he kills you.
* BodyHorror - How he gains a physical body.
* DidNotDoTheResearch - While most aspects of True Assassin -- his appearance, his Noble Phantasm and his behavior -- can be attributed to ArtisticLicense, Hassan-i Sabbah was never known by the title of "old man of the mountain"; said title belonged to Rashid ad-Din Sinan, another famous assassin.
** This conflation could be intentional, though, considering his motivations and the nature of the True Assassin class.
* EvilDuo - With Zouken.
* GenreSavvy - True Assassin more than once states that he thinks Zouken's [[EvilIsNotAToy screwing around with Dark Sakura]] and [[WhyDontYouJustShootHim refusal to just wipe out the heroes when he has the chance]] are probably not smart. Zouken ''does'' have logical reasons for both, but considering that his plans utterly fail and get both him and Assassin killed horribly, one can't help but think maybe the Servant had a point...
** OnlySaneMan - on Team Matou.
* HeartTrauma - The usual result of Zabaniya. Subverted in that having the heart ripped out really ''does'' kill people here.
* HistoricalVillainUpgrade
* ImAHumanitarian - Increases his intelligence by ''eating'' other Servants.
* {{Immortality}} - His stated goal.
* TheKillerBecomesTheKilled - [[spoiler:Dark Sakura kills him off ForTheEvulz.]]
* KnifeNut / FlechetteStorm - His normal method of fighting is to throw out multiple knives with the speed and precision of ''bullets''.
* LawfulEvil
* LegacyImmortality - According to True Assassin's backstory, anyone who becomes leader of the Hashashin takes on the name and persona of Hassan-i-Sabah. Thus, the True Assassin Heroic Spirit is a compound being made up from the deeds of all the Hassan-i-Sabahs.
* RedRightHand - Just look at that picture above.
** Also uses a literal one as part of his finishing move.
* TheBlank: [[spoiler:When Dark Sakura decides to kill him, she removes his mask to see what his face looks like. He had no face at all.]]
* TheScrappy - Not to the degree of Shinji or Zouken, but he's notably less popular than the other Servants.
* WhyDontYouJustShootHim - He asks Zouken this exact question when the latter is amusing himself by watching Shirou and Rin's futile attempts to find a solution to the predicament involving the "Shadow" consuming people left and right. Zouken replies that [[EvilIsStylish it would be more fun]] to let Sakura's SuperPoweredEvilSide do the job for them.

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http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/Avenger.jpg
::'''Avenger'''

-->''"It is not a crime to exist"''.

Originally summoned in the Third Grail War, the Avenger class is considered forbidden because it specifically summons either an AntiHero or VillainProtagonist-type Servant. The original Avenger- the only one summoned so far- was Angra Mainyu, TheDevil of Zoroastrianism.

During the Third Holy Grail War, the Einzbern family summoned him to give themselves an edge, but it turned out that Angra Mainyu himself was nothing more than an ordinary villager who was chosen as a scapegoat to be the source of all the world's evils. He was castigated and ritualistically butchered, but his involuntary sacrifice calmed down his confused people, which ironically qualified him as a Heroic Spirit. His actual capabilities as a Servant were very low, meaning that he was killed early on in the Third Holy Grail War. When his soul was absorbed by the Grail, it granted the wish of his people, and both he and the Grail began to become the ultimate evil.

In ''Fate/hollow ataraxia'', Avenger is one of the lead characters, as he replaces Lancer as Bazett's Servant in the time loop. [[spoiler:He reached out to Bazett as she was dying because he wanted to actually grant someone's wish, and made a contract with her to keep her alive. When Caren found her and started to help her heal, he created the time loop to keep her mind busy; he took Shirou's role during the daytime and acted as himself at night.]]

Avenger seems to be a good-for-nothing whiner and a lazy slacker at first glance. He hates humanity for what they did to him, but still loves the world and wants to help people. His Noble Phantasm, ''Verg Avesta'', [[CounterAttack reflects]] [[AgonyBeam all the pain from an attack]] back on the attacker, but because it has to be consciously activated (and thus, Avenger has to remain conscious and alive through the triggering attack) it is next to useless in high-level combat.

Tropes associated with Avenger:
* CosmicHorror: In ''Fate/stay night''.
* DemonicPossession: One of the possible explanations for [[spoiler: The relationship between Shirou and Avenger in HA]].
* HeroicSacrifice: At the end of HA.
* HumansAreBastards
* IJustWantToBeNormal
* KnifeNut
* {{Leitmotif}}: Funnily enough, the song "Avenger."
* TheLoad: He is a very, very pathetic excuse for a Servant. [[SubvertedTrope Kicks ass at keeping Bazett alive, though]].
* SatanIsGood: Well, technically the Zoroastrian equivalent of Satan, who is actually a random villager who was scapegoated into that role, but regardless he does some very heroic things despite having a quite justified hatred of humanity for what they did to him.
* {{Tsundere}}: Tsun for Caren, ''very'' dere for Bazett. [[spoiler: even more dere for Caren towards the end.]]
* WhatIsThisThingYouCallLove: He regularly makes an idiot of himself around Caren--this entails flailing when she picks on him, trying to pick on her back (she just [[{{Moe}} pinches his face]] to retaliate!), and (depending on the actions of the player) [[RapeIsLove possibly raping her]]. Initially, he even mistakes this for ''hate''. [[spoiler:After much fail and consternation, he eventually gets it right.]]
** Unfortunately, for OneHundredPercentCompletion, the player [[ButThouMust must]] [[FanDisservice go through with the aforementioned scene at some point]].
* WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway: His Noble Phantasm. The ability to project all the pain of an attack back at the attacker? Great. The fact that he has to ''take'' that attack AND stay conscious through the agony of getting the crap kicked out of him in order to do so? Less great.
** It works great in certain situations though, like [[spoiler: taking an attack at full force and then reflecting the injury on the attacker to let Bazett finish them off.]] It may count as a DeathOrGloryAttack depending on how you look at it.
* [[TheWoobie Woobie Devil]]: Avenger, you poor, poor baby. To clarify, since [[spoiler: he was ritualistically killed in ancient Persia thousands of years ago,]] and later [[spoiler: stuffed into the Grail in the third war]],he has constantly experienced a FateWorseThanDeath that almost drives Bazett mad from the pain for the short periods she experiences it [[spoiler: each time she dies in the loop.]] What's worse is that he [[spoiler: willingly goes back to it to end the time loop and save Bazett. At least most of the other woobies in this story get a happy ending in one route or another...]]

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[[folder:Magi/Humans]]

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http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/shirou_emiya.jpg
::'''Shirou Emiya (Voiced by NoriakiSugiyama, SamRiegel)'''

-->''"I want to be a hero."''

The protagonist of the series, Shirou is an untalented mage whose only skill is basic Tracing and Reinforcement magic, which allows him to analyse the physical make-up of an object and then strengthen it. His dream is to become a "Hero of Justice", someone who can selflessly protect the lives of everyone from disaster. He inherited this dream from his adoptive father Kiritsugu Emiya ([[FateZero who had given up on it]]) and is extremely naive on what it takes to reach that ideal.

Later it is discovered that he possesses an innate talent in Projection magic, which enables him to replicate items- including Noble Phantasms- that he can visualise in his mind (although the copies are inferior to the originals, being reduced in power by one rank). His talent stems from the fact that, in the explosion at the climax of the Fourth Holy Grail War where he lost his parents, Shirou lost all sense of self-worth and can only find meaning in other people: thus, Shirou can use ''himself'' as a material component when carrying out Projection.

He also possesses a HealingFactor that makes him practically immortal: this is because ''Avalon''- a Noble Phantasm once possessed by Saber- had been implanted into his body by Kiritsugu. Avalon also acts as the catalyst that allows him to accidently summon Saber for the Fifth Holy Grail Wars.

Shirou is an accomplished archer (having been a member of the school's archery club without ever missing the bullseye except the one time he felt like doing so) and, following some training from Saber, is mildly proficent in swordplay. Like Archer, he possesses the Reality Marble ''Unlimited Blade Works''- which reduces the mana cost required for Projection magic to nil- although his incantation to activate it is different.

In ''Fate'' he holds onto his ideal of being a "Hero of Justice" to the very end, defeating Kirei Kotomine in one-on-one combat, rescuing Ilya and ordering Saber to destroy the tainted Grail even though it means they will be seperated forever. In ''Unlimited Blade Works'', Archer confronts him with the realities of his naivity and, although Shirou manages to convince Archer that the ideal is still worth pursuing, he agrees to take a more realistic approach. In ''Heaven's Feel'', Shirou foregoes the chance to kill Dark Sakura and potentially save millions of lives- thus giving up his ideal- so that he might find a way to save her instead.

Tropes associated with Shirou:
* AlmightyJanitor - In the ending to ''Unlimited Blade Works'', Shirou decides to tag along with Rin to London so that he can learn magic from the Magician's Association. Although enrolling as Rin's desciple means that he's exempt from tuition fees, it effectively puts him at the lowest point on the totem pole despite the fact that at this point, Shirou possesses the extremely rare and powerful Reality Marble magic...
* AntiHero - What he becomes in Heaven's Feel.
* ArtificialHuman - Kind of: [[spoiler:In the True End of Heaven's Feel, Shirou's body has been destroyed and his soul, which was saved by Ilya, has been implanted into a human puppet, making him something closer to a familiar or a homonculus than a true human. He is indistinguishable from the real thing, but requires mana infusions to stay alive -- basically a non-{{squick}}y version of Zouken's existence, which only seems to work for one body.]]
* BewareTheHonestOnes - Shirou's a little too much on the idealistic side for even ''Saber,'' so while his allies appreciate him somewhat, they also know he'll do something stupidly reckless if it's the 'right' thing to do. [[spoiler:Though Tohsaka at the very end of the last route realizes she has no right to criticize because she isn't as ruthless as she thinks she is.]]
* [[spoiler: BodyHorror - see ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice below. "I am the bone of my sword", indeed.]]
* BrokenHero - Much of UBW is used on exploring it.
* BullyHunter - As a child
* CharacterDevelopment - He only gets a faint hint of this in ''Fate'', but the other routes multiply this exponentially.
* ChasteHero
* ChekhovsSkill - The fact that he was in the '''archery''' club [[spoiler: foreshadowing one of his possible futures]], Projection Magic.
* ChronicHeroSyndrome
* ComedicSociopathy - Shirou honestly doesn't understand why ordering his male best friend to take off his clothes would be at all strange.
* CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming - "Listen, you have to smile for your own sake." [[ManlyTears * wipes tear away* ]]
* DeadpanSnarker - He tends to snark a lot in his internal monologues, but not that often out loud, except maybe around Rin. He gets much more snarky in HA, though.
* {{Determinator}}
* EyesOfGold - Rather unusual for a protagonist.
* {{Expy}} - Shirou shares a character model with [[KaraNoKyoukai Tomoe Enjou]]; the two have similar issues regarding what is fake and what is real, as well. Also, [[spoiler: Shirou becomes an ArtificialHuman like Tomoe in the True End of ''HF''.]]
* TheFettered - Shirou's ideals of wanting to save everybody is a large source of his strength. [[spoiler:UBW implies that his magic speciality arose specifically due to his lack of a self-image.]]
** [[spoiler:TheUnfettered - In the "Mind of Steel" bad ending. Shirou puts down Sakura for the sake of his ideals and has to kill off Rin and Ilya as well to keep them from abusing the Grail.]]
* FieldOfBlades - Can summon one in ''UBW'' only, and [[StormOfBlades it's not just for show]].
* FirstPersonSmartass - Not very obvious. Then the realization hits that his narration is ''just as sarcastic'' as Rin's and boggling occurs. He is more of a snarker than people give him credit for, especially around Rin. [[spoiler:Archer is basically what he would be like if he wasn't so polite all the time, is it any wonder why he and Rin have such great chemistry?]]
* [[spoiler: [[BrokeYourArmPunchingOutCthulhu Fried Your Brain Punching Out Cthulhu]] - In HF Bad End 38, drawing on Archer's arm in order to use his super move against Saber Alter leaves Shirou a vegetable. To be sure, he's cut her in two, but she could fully regenerate in 10 minutes. And to think that he could have [[TakingYouWithMe taken her out with him]] had he managed to destroy her head or heart...]]
* FullContactMagic- An inversion of this trope as the ''only'' way he could initially use his magic is to reinforce his martial-arts abilities, ''not'' the other way round as this trope usually would.
* [[FutureMeScaresMe Future Me Annoys Me]] - Shirou instinctively can't get along with [[spoiler:Archer]], even long before he knows his identity.
* GenerationXerox - [[spoiler:"Mind of Steel" sees Shirou go down the exact same route as his foster father and willingly damn himself for his ideals. Kotomine, who knew his father, even points this out.]]
* HappilyAdopted
* [[spoiler:HeroicSacrifice]]: In the Normal route of ''Heaven's Feel''. [[spoiler:It's absolutely [[TearJerker heartbreaking]].]]
* HonorBeforeReason - For better or worse.
* ImageSong - [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i_WBixKzm-Y "Kogane no Hikari"]]
* {{Invocation}} - Trace... ON!
** And in ''UBW''... [[spoiler: I am the bone of my sword. Steel is my body, and fire is my blood. I have created over a thousand blades. Unaware of loss. Nor aware of gain. Withstood pain to create many weapons, waiting for one?s arrival. I have no regrets. This is the only path. My whole life was ?Unlimited Blade Works?.]]
** And in ''HF'' [[spoiler: Bad End 38: Divine skill, flawless and firm. Strength moves mountains. Blade cuts water. Life approaches the Imperial Villa. Two great men, shared life!]]
* [[spoiler: ImpaledWithExtremePrejudice - with a twist towards the end of Heaven's Feel. Shirou gets to be skewered ''from the inside out by swords slowly growing out of his body''.]]
* IronWoobie - His defining characteristic is more or less just this, ridiculous endurance of untold amounts of pain, emotional and physical, for the sake of his ideals. When you get down to what his skills consist on and how they developed, the "Iron" bit becomes quite literal.
* MartyrWithoutACause - Only in the beginning in the games. The anime has him this way all the way through.
* MegaManning - The whole point of Projection magic is that it lets Shirou use any weapon he has seen the original of.
* MagikarpPower - The only kind of spellcraft Shirou is consistently skilled at [[WhatKindOfLamePowerIsHeartAnyway is largely considered to be mostly useless]], that is, until it turns out he's got a twist to it that allows him to materialize and use [[InfinityPlusOneSword legendary weapons]] relatively at will.
* MemeticMutation - Turns him into CaptainObvious because of the infamous line "People die if they are killed" being taken out of context. He was referring to his [[StayingAlive inability to die]] and [[ImmortalityImmorality how it needs to be removed from him]]. The next line of that oft-quoted fansub translation is in fact, "...that's the way it should be."
* NeverTheSelvesShallMeet - Works to his advantage. [[spoiler:Shirou ends up siphoning skill and knowledge of fighting from his future self due to the time paradox that brought them together.]]
* NiceGuy - Being a bit... er, [[StayInTheKitchen overprotective]] doesn't hide the fact that he's considerate, thoughtful, and industrious.
* NormallyIWouldBeDeadNow - Shirou is apparently not allowed to do anything awesome without first being reduced to a near-dead cripple. ''Ever''.
* NotQuiteDead - In the "True End" of ''Heaven's Feel''. Shirou really did [[EarnYourHappyEnding earn his happy ending]] in that one.
* NotSoWeak - His classmates, Shinji in particular, look at him like he's an idiot for his willingness to do all his work. The Servants and Tohsaka look at him like an idiot for being, well, an [[MartyrWithoutACause idiot]]. [[spoiler:He has no real self identity, dreams or goals of his own and as such really views himself as worthless compared to saving anyone and everyone else that he can.]]
* ParentalAbandonment - Twice yet. Once when he was orphaned in the Fuyuki Fire, and a second time when Kiritsugu passed away.
* PossessionImpliesMastery - When he duplicates weapons, Shirou also duplicates the skill of the weapon's wielder. Like with the weapon itself, it's not as good as the original, but it works. [[spoiler:It allows him to semi-replicate Berserker's offensive Noble Phantasm in Heaven's Feel.]]
* PrinciplesZealot - He can be this in the ''Heaven's Feel'' route, should you choose. It's not a good idea.
* RealMenWearPink - Shirou loves and is quite skilled at cooking, and owns a cute pink aphron.
* RedHeadedHero
* [[RedRightHand Red Left Hand]] - In ''Heaven's Feel'', Shirou loses an arm saving Ilya from a CosmicHorror and subsequently has [[HeroicSacrifice Archer's]] arm grafted to his body. [[DeadlyUpgrade It threatens to either annihilate his body and/or destroy his mind if he ever unseals it all the way]].
* SayMyName - [[spoiler: [[LargeHam KOTOMINE KIREI]]!]] Also, much more than anyone else, people love to say his full name while speaking to him, especially Kirei.
* TheScrappy - Despite being the main character, many people dislike him in the western fandom. He's considered by some to have been RescuedFromTheScrappyHeap from the Unlimited Blade route onwards.
** This is largely due to most western fans of the series having only seen the anime, which lacks the CharacterDevelopment seen in the games.
** He does pretty well among the Japanese fans. He ranks pretty high on character polls, for a male character anyways. No character is hate-free though, none.
* ShootTheDog - He's forced to [[spoiler:kill Dark Saber]] in ''Heaven's Feel''.
** And again in [[spoiler:one memorable Bad End of the same path, where he lets Rin kill Sakura for the sake of his ideals.]]
* SpellMyNameWithAnS - Shirou, or Shirō, depending on the source.
* StayingAlive - Due to the ChekhovsGun mentioned in Saber's section above.
** Notably, all three paths sees him lose this in some way: [[spoiler:He removes it in Fate and loses his contract with Saber in the other two.]]
* StayInTheKitchen - Shirou famously says some astoundingly sexist lines in both the anime and the Fate route of the VN, but this is likely rooted in his self-sacrificial tendencies (that is, he'd rather be hurt himself instead of seeing someone else be hurt). Inverted in that he actually likes cooking himself (not to mention, [[SupremeChef he's]] ''[[SupremeChef very]]'' [[SupremeChef good at it]]) and tells Sakura and Rin to get ''out'' of the kitchen for different reasons.
* ThemeMusicPowerUp - His moments of asskickery are usually signalled by "Emiya" starting up in the background.
* TooDumbToLive - Prior to his CharacterDevelopment. Pretty much ''everybody'' calls him out on it.
* TookALevelInBadass - Considering how relatively incompetent he is at fighting compared to almost every other major character in the series at the start, Shirou becomes quite strong in as little as a week thanks to some training and [[spoiler: help from either Saber or Archer in each route.]]
* TraumaInducedAmnesia - Shirou lost all his memories prior to the fire ten years before from which Kiritsugu saved him. After stabbing Saber Alter in ''HF'' he erases all his memories of Saber over his crushing guilt at killing her.
* UnwantedHarem - He started out with Taiga and Sakura... And then got Rin. And then Saber. And then Ilya. And [[strike:possibly]] Rider too.
** If we count people who don't live in his house, Ayako Mitsuzuri, his friend from his days in his school's archery club is revealed in ''Hollow Ataraxia'' to have something of a crush on him. GayOption Issei "Blushes Like Mad Whenever Shirou So Much As Looks At Him Funny" Ryudou also probably counts.
** Unlike a lot of UnwantedHarem shows though, none of these love interests do anything too bad in the presence of the others in hollow ataraxia, which helps keep the feeling of the "true love" genre of the original while avoiding the obvious problem of having multiple "true loves" in a single timeline. Rider and Sakura are an exception, however, as Sakura walks in whenever Shirou and Rider [[MomentKiller are having a moment.]]
* SpamAttack - Nine Lives Blade Works. Shirou projects Berserker's sword. Much ass is kicked.
* YouKilledMyFather - In Fate, Shirou finds out that Kotomine killed Kiritsugu, ''and'' his original parents by causing the fire. He doesn't take that well. He finds out the former in Heaven's Feel as well, but at that point it makes no difference to him.
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http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/rin_tohsaka.jpg
::'''Rin Tohsaka (Voiced by KanaUeda, MelaLee)'''

-->''"I'm not annoyed at you, I'm annoyed at myself for not achieving what I wanted."''

One of the main Magus of the series, known for her {{Tsundere}} traits and her [[MemeticMutation Grade-S]] ZettaiRyouiki. Rin is a honor student in Shiro's school, and the talented heir of the prestigous Tohsaka magus family, one of the founders of the Holy Grail Wars. She enters the Fifth Holy Grail Wars out of her own competitive desire to win, and tries to summon a Saber-class Servant (widely considered to be the best Servant class). Thus, it is a point of much irritation when she summons Archer instead. Eventually she grows accustomed to him, and they are partners in every route of the game.

While she is mostly an advisor to Shirou in ''Fate'', she becomes the main heroine in ''Unlimited Blade Works'' and plays a major role in ''Heaven's Feel'' as the person who Sakura blames for her abandonment to the hands of Zouken Mato. By ''Fate/hollow ataraxia'', Rin has softened up just a bit, having taken Shirou under her wing as her apprentice in magecraft.

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Tropes associated with Rin:

* AlternateUniverse - Zelretch's blade works by pulling energy from these. Likewise, the Kaleid stick works by [[spoiler: temporarily pulling a version of Rin from another universe that can fulfill whatever wish she has at the time, and forcibly costuming her in the process.]] Rin may also be [[spoiler: responsible for the mish-mash continuity in HA, as a month before the game starts she almost merges all possibilities into one, with some notable side effects.]]
* [[AloofBigBrother Aloof Big Sister]] - Heaven's Feel.
* AndNowForSomeoneCompletelyDifferent - Inverted. Rin is the POV character in the game's prologue before it switches over to Shirou once the game proper begins. She also gets the POV at several times during Unlimited Blade Works.
* BadassAdorable - More relaxed than the stern and stoic Saber, but still more beautiful than cute... that is, until you meet her MagicalGirl counterpart Kaleido Ruby... so darned cute she's ''beyond'' {{Moe}}.
* [[BigBrotherComplex Big Sister Complex]] - She takes extra care to watch over [[spoiler:Sakura]] because she's really her blood-related older sister.
* BiTheWay - "Hahaha!! You're so stupidly honest, just like Saber!! [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming But that's what I like about the two of you... I love you both so much."]]
** She even pulls this on herself, when [[spoiler:having sex with Saber]]: "I didn't know I was into girls..."
* BloodMagic - Uses blood runes for summoning. It's later shown that she gradually enhances her magic arsenal by drawing her own blood and applying it to gems.
* BornInTheWrongCentury - Rin barely knows what a VCR is in 2005, let alone DVD or Blu-Ray. She hates technology with a passion since she can't understand it, although she is learning from Shirou.
** CrowningMomentOfFunny - in the recent Type-Moon April's Fools joke (with various Nasuverse characters setting up their own Twitter accounts), Rin has Archer set up her account, and ''starts using that as her secret diary''. [[http://nrvnqsr.proboards.com/index.cgi?board=general&action=display&thread=5782&page=12 Hilarity ensues (scroll down to reply # 172).]]
** This is, in fact, a general trait of *all* magi, as her father shows in FateZero. Simply put, they have magical ways of achieving such things (Tokiomi has a communication device powered by jewel magic) and so they have no real need for technology, and thus tend to avoid it. In fact, this trope applies in a very real sense, because the advance of technology is gradually making magic obsolete, and so Rin, as an exceptionally powerful and dedicated magus, would have been * much* better off being born in an earlier time.
* CheshireCatGrin - If she's smiling at you, something bad is going to happen.
* CosplayOtakuGirl - (HA) Rin definitely looks like one when Ayako and Issei walk in right after the MagicalGirl TransformationSequence.
* CreepyCoolCrosses - One is displayed on her shirt when she's in her casual attire.
* CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming - [[spoiler:the scenes right after Archer's betrayal,]] and UBW's true ending, among others.
* CryCute - Speaking of that CMOH, a great example of CryCute happens during that scene.
-->"...I can't believe it. A guy made me cry."
* DistressedDamsel - Archer kidnaps her in order to force Shirou into a duel in ''UBW''.
* {{Facepalm}} - Rin does this ''a lot'', often because of Shirou.
* EquivalentExchange - Supposedly a strong advocate of this, but it's a very poor cover for the good natured aid she gives at almost any opportunity.
* {{Expy}} - It's very hard not to see similarities between Rin and [[{{Tsukihime}} Akiha]]. They're both the young female heads of prestigious families involved in the occult with long black hair, blue eyes and essentially the same face. They even have the same {{tsundere}} "hmph!" pose, except that Akiha's lacks the flying hair that Rin has whenever she does it. Also, [[spoiler: Rin doesn't have a SuperpoweredEvilSide]]. Both characters are in turn partly based on [[KaraNoKyoukai Azaka]] -- young Rin and young Azaka look exactly alike.
** Continuing with the theme of "two Tsukihime heroines=one FSN heroine", Rin is a night patrolling agent of a secret organization who sometimes wears glasses (but sometimes not), has discerning tastes for tea, and is known as the school's honor student idol--just like Ciel.
* FutureMeScaresMe - Not quite in the literal sense. In Hollow Ataraxia, [[spoiler: Rin talks with a possible future version of herself on the phone and finds that she apparently becomes a completely different person that's shamelessly smitten with Shirou. Being [[{{Tsundere}} Rin]], she doesn't accept this and bickers with her future self for a good while about the kind of woman Shirou needs, before destroying the phone in frustration.]]
* TheGadfly - Mixed with TheTease. Tohsaka doesn't limit herself here. Equal opportunity harassment.
* GirlishPigtails
* GratuitousGerman
* ImageSong - [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e3aFSUyzvng "Kirari" (Sparkling)]]
* InfiniteSupplies - Averted for the most part. She stores her {{Mana}} into gemstones in order to use it for her big spells, but since jewelry is expensive, she only has so many shots. However, she gains an InfinityPlusOneSword in ''Heaven's Feel'', which gives her the ability to pull in Mana from '''[[AlternateUniverse alternate realities]]''', theoretically giving her an infinite supply.
* IllGirl - Guest stars as one when she first comes back from London in HA, as she is having issues with her Magic Crest acting up and draining her energy.
* IronicHell - In what's widely considered to be the most twisted and horrific of all the bad ends, [[spoiler:Rin shoots her mouth off to [[SuperpoweredEvilSide Dark Sakura]] about how she doesn't care about the abuse her sister went through. Sakura promptly summons Dark Saber, and the two subdue Rin and force her to experience Sakura's memories of her RapeAsBackstory through Sakura's eyes. When you die, you can hear [[NightmareFuel Rin screaming that she's sorry over and over]].]]
* JerkassFacade - her "uncaring magus" persona.
* JerkWithAHeartOfGold
* KungFuWizard - She is a {{Nasuverse}} mage after all, so don't expect her to be [[GlassCannon useless]] [[SquishyWizard in close combat.]]
* LawfulGood
* {{Leitmotif}} - "Gentle Everyday", which often plays during light - hearted moments.
* [[{{ptitle94ctt9bsmafc}} The Magus Who Doesn't Do Anything]] ...let's be serious, most Magi in the NasuVerse are sociopaths at best in the name of Magic. Rin doesn't really want to wish for anything with the Holy Grail and she's very against the idea of innocent people being killed; no matter what she says to the contrary.
* MagicalGirl - Her AlternateUniverse self, "Kaleido Ruby". Really.
* MagicalGirlfriend - Well, being a magus should be enough qualification for "magical" shouldn't it?
** Comes in handy when she uses a spell to make herself weightless while [[IfYouKnowWhatIMean in the act.]]
* MagicSkirt - Despite that S rank ZettaiRyouiki and micro-mini skirt, she only loses the magic once, very slightly, in exactly one scene in the entire franchise, when she and Shirou are having a heart to heart in a graveyard.
* {{Meganekko}} - Only part-time. She states that she only wears glasses when doing work that requires extra concentration.
* NotAMorningPerson - Rin tends to be decidedly grumpy in the mornings... It clashes with her perfect schoolgirl image so badly that even after knowing her for awhile, people are outright shocked to see her dragging about in the morning, completely at a loss for words and unsure if what they've just seen was real.
** [[WeirdnessCensor And then they forget about it]].
* OutOfFocus - After being a major character all throughout all routes of the original, she is in London for the first half of HA due to [[spoiler: a near disastrous experiment where she almost turned Fuyuki City into a place where all possibilities come true at once.]] She comes back and features prominently after a certain event, though.
* TheOjou - Complete with a BigFancyHouse. Despite this, she's mocked as a bumpkin by Luviagelita, since she's from a country the Magic Association considers a backwater. As it turns out, she actually ''isn't'' very rich. Jewel sorcery is expensive.
* ParentalAbandonment - Her father died in the previous Grail War. Her mother apparently died sometime before the Fifth War due to illness, but was presumably in a mental home before that.
* PantyShot - Shirou almost gets one of these in the anime, which distracts Rin enough to make her lose her concentration. Also lampshaded in Shirou's victory quote over Rin in unlimited codes.
-->"Isn't that mini-skirt a bit too...mini?"
* TheRival: To Luviagelita.
* SelectiveObliviousness - Not her, but people around her. Whenever she does something that breaks her image as the 'perfect model student'... like going full-on berserk {{Tsundere}} towards Shirou in the middle of a crowded classroom... other students will simply ''choose not to remember it'' so they can keep idolizing her in peace.
** Rin herself seems to exhibit this in regards to [[spoiler:Sakura]]. For someone who is usually very intelligent and observant, she is remarkably poor at noticing all of the things that have changed about [[spoiler:her sister]], including her ''hair colour''. When she goes into the [[spoiler:Matou house]] for the first time, she immediately realises what being the [[spoiler:Matou heir]] means, and yet despite knowing that [[spoiler:Shinji]] has no potential as a magus, and that [[spoiler:her sister was adopted into that family because her father couldn't train both of them]], she fails to make the obvious logical jump to working out that [[spoiler:Sakura is Rider's true master, and the heir of the Matou family]], until it is explicitly pointed out to her. Of course, since working it out would have meant either accepting that [[spoiler:her sister is suffering horrific torture]] and she can't do anything to save [[spoiler:her]], or else risking her own life on an insane plan to [[spoiler:take out Zouken and rescue her]], it's perhaps understandable that she decided not to think ''too'' hard about it....
* ShootTheDog - She attempts this twice with [[spoiler:Sakura]] in ''Heaven's Feel''. The first time, [[WhatTheHellHero Shirou calls her out on it]], then prevents it. The second, Rin herself stops short because she can't go through with it. This is consistent with her advocating this mentality but being too good a person to actually follow it.
* SmokingIsCool - Her SuperDeformed version which appears in the [[HaveANiceDeath Tiger Dojos]].
* SpellMyNameWithAnS - Sort of. Different romanizations have spelled her surname Tohsaka, Tousaka, Tosaka, Toosaka, Tôsaka, or Tōsaka. The first three seem the most popular in that order, but it still hasn't really been standardized in any way yet.
* TheTease - She repeatedly teases Shirou in an overly flirtatious manner after finding out that he's a ChasteHero... It's turned back on her in her route when she starts becoming embarassed when they're about to [[IfYouKnowWhatIMean horizontal lambada]].
* TomboyAndGirlyGirl - It tends to get lost because of comparisons to [[YamatoNadeshiko Sakura]], but Rin is actually very feminine as well, it's just that she's also an ActionGirl, who puts away any "feminine" traits when it's time to fight. The Tomboy in question here is Saber, who at some points adamantly refuses to even be considered a woman.
* {{Tsundere}} - Even in ''bed''... IfYouKnowWhatIMean. Even more so in the scene in Hollow Ataraxia, where she [[spoiler: argues with Shirou at length about him ruining the romantic mood, her pajamas and a variety of other things while they're in the act. She goes fully dere for the last bit, though.]]
** Oddly, she doesn't act all that tsundere in the anime, at least in that she tries to calm herself down instead of lashing out at Shirou when angry. She doesn't show the dere side much either, as it's not her route being featured. Her behavior in the visual novel is a textbook case, though.
* [[WaveMotionGun Wave Motion Sword]] - Her personal use of the Jeweled Sword of Zeltrech.
* XanatosGambit - Also her CrowningMomentOfAwesome. During a battle against Caster in UBW, Rin's hopelessly outmatched in sorcery, but it turns out that in case her original plan to BeamSpam Caster fails, she was fully prepared. She lulls Caster into thinking that she's given up, waits for Caster to get in range... And then shows that [[IKnowKungFu she knows Chinese martial arts]].
* YouKilledMyFather - In ''UBW'', Rin finds out that Kirei is the one responsible for her father's death. She doesn't take it well.
* ZettaiRyouiki - [[MemeticMutation GRADE-S]]!
** [[Pantheon/PersonalAppearance Heck, we deified her for it.]]

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http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/sakura_matou.jpg
::'''Sakura Matou (Voiced by Noriko Shitaya, Sherry Lynn)'''

Shiro's timid and almost too definitive Main/YamatoNadeshiko neighbor. She often visits Shiro's house and does chores there, mainly because she has a ''massive'' and very obvious crush on him. She seems to be an ordinary girl with a respectful relationship with her big brother Shinji Mato. In fact, Sakura is an extremely powerful magus, and Shinji frequently abuses and rapes her under orders from family head Zouken Matou (and also to vent his own jealous frustrations). What's more, she is actually the biological sister of Rin Tohsaka; Sakura's different eye and hair colour are due to Zouken infecting her body with parasitic worms that feed on her mana and carnal impulses, greatly boosting her magical power and sexual aggression.

She was chosen as a participant of the Holy Grail War and summoned Rider, but discovered that Shirou was also a participant and did not want to end up fighting against him. Thus, she was forced into handing over her Command Spells to Shinji, and Rider also suffered much abuse at Shinji's hands.

In ''Heaven's Feel'', Sakura becomes the heroine of the story, but also at cost of her sanity. She becomes consumed by darkness, turning into a proto-form of Angra Mainyu known as ''Dark Sakura''. Giving into TheDarkSide gives her tremendous power: enough to kill anyone with ease, [[HealingFactor regenerate from any wound]] and corrupt Servants into her loyal pawns. She also feels resentment towards Rin for basically abandoning her to a life of hell at the hands of the Matou family (unknown to Rin herself), which is amplified massively by her dark side. She eventually makes peace with Rin and was rescued by Shirou when he uses Caster's ''Rule Breaker'' to sever her connection to Angra Mainyu.

Tropes associated to Sakura:
* AbusiveParents - or, rather, ([[spoiler:supposed]]) grandparent....
* AlternateCharacterInterpretation - Many of her detractors see her as a weak-willed ExtremeDoormat who should have [[FanDumb committed suicide]] before the game rather than complaining about her situation whilst she went slowly insane (even though she barely ever ''did'' complain), as opposed to an [[NotSoWeak extremely strong]] girl who resisted the control of Angra Mainyu for as long as she possibly could and who kept her [[RapeAsBackstory horrific home life]] hidden from her Sempai and sister to prevent them from hurting themselves in order to save her from a situation which she felt was inescapable.
* BaseBreaker - Sakura tends to be the least liked of the major female characters in the series, although she certainly has a reasonable number of dedicated fans, and the number of ''genuine'' haters is relatively small. This is because her SuperPoweredEvilSide kills off several popular characters over the course of her scenario (without her knowledge), and also because of some of the bad ends that her SuperPoweredEvilSide causes (in particular the last one). The fact that many fans have only seen the anime (where she is a very minor character) doesn't help either, particularly since said fans often read summaries of the Heaven's Feel route and then condemn Sakura without even bothering to check for themselves.
* BewareTheNiceOnes - Literally in FSN, but she also gets a reputation for being a bit scary after she takes over the archery club captaincy in HA. She manages to exceed even Rin at exuding invisible pressure with a smile on.
* BigEater - Although she tries to reserve herself out of fear of looking unladylike.
* BodyHorror - The Crest Worm. [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel Sweet Jesus, the Crest Worm]].
* BreakTheCutie - BeyondTheImpossible breakage--it seems to border on AuthorAppeal for [[{{Nasuverse}} Nasu]], as there's usually a heroine in each his stories with a [[RapeAsBackstory horrific backstory]], but Sakura makes even [[spoiler:[[{{Tsukihime}} Kohaku]]]] look like she had a normal childhood by comparison.
* BrotherSisterIncest - [[spoiler:Averted. Shinji raped her repeatedly, but they are NotBloodSiblings.]]
* CheshireCatGrin - Having apparently studied Rin's technique, she becomes a master of this in HA, if a bit more indirect.
* TheCorruptible - Throughout Heaven's Feel, there's a constant fear of Sakura succumbing to the corruption. [[spoiler: she resists more than seems humanly possible, but eventually she does.]]
* CurtainsMatchTheWindow - Sakura has unusual, purple-colored eyes and hair. [[spoiler:This is revealed to be because of the "conditioning" imposed upon her by Zouken in order to make her into the successor of the Matou brand of magecraft.]]
* ClingyJealousGirl - Again, she tries to reserve herself. It's often played for laughs in HA though, especially Rider's conscious attempts not to get too close to Shirou for fear of setting off this mode.
* CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming - She gets several, but one that stands out in HA is the fairytale-like dinner she gets with Shirou, courtesy of Ilya and her castle. The UnderwaterKiss is also a sweet moment.
** Also, the [[spoiler:CooldownHug from Rin]] at the end of Heaven's Feel, the scene where Shirou finds Sakura on the bridge and (IMO) pretty much the entirety of the True End of Heaven's Feel.
* CrowningMomentOfFunny - Sakura's wordlessly threatening CheshireCatGrin when she hears that underclassmen have been talking about her can silence a room and ''extinguish candles around her.''
* TheDogBitesBack - Her SuperpoweredEvilSide, once fully established, decides that it's not going to put up with her grandfather's abuse anymore...
* [[spoiler: DrivenToSuicide - After her MyGodWhatHaveIDone moment, she attempts to kill herself out of remorse, only to be prevented by Angra Mainyu, long enough for Shirou to free her with Rule Breaker.]]
** [[spoiler: Also when she realises that she is in fact the shadow that has been consuming many people in the town. She first begs Shirou to kill her, and then, when he refuses, seeks out Zouken in order to force ''him'' to do it.]]
** [[spoiler: She also mentions several previous attempts at suicide (though she never went through with it) on Day 9 of ''Heaven's Feel.'']]
* {{Expy}} - Like some other characters, she's got characteristics of two {{Tsukihime}} characters. In this case, she's got the deep [[UnluckyChildhoodFriend prior attraction]] (sans the [[StalkerWithACrush stalker]] vibes) and gentle personality of pre-vampire Satsuki combined with the [[spoiler:RapeAsBackstory childhood and StepfordSmiler defense mechanism]] of Kohaku. She is also similar in appearance, and shares the some aspects of her backstory, with Fujino Asagami (from the earlier Nasu work ''KaraNoKyoukai'').
* FirstGirlWins - Only in ''Heaven's Feel'', and even then she only gets to ''keep'' Shirou in one ending.
** She does get to keep Shirou in a few bad endings....
*** Only one, actually ([[spoiler:the last one]]), and she's hardly in a state to appreciate it by that point. [[spoiler:In all the rest, he is either killed by someone else, or absorbed by the shadow when she's not in control of it (and, thus, is killed)]].
* [[GratuitousForeignLanguage Gratuitous German]] - ''Heaven's Feel'' only.
* HighOctaneNightmareFuel - Her ''entire'' backstory, plus what she does to Rin in the last bad end ([[spoiler:which consists of giving Rin a 'practical lesson' about the details of said backstory...]]).
* IKnowYouAreInThereSomewhereFight - Her fight (as Dark Sakura) with Shirou.
* ImageSong - [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XzKOeOddLYk "Egao Hitotsu de"]] ("With One Smile")
* LighterAndSofter - In the manga the RapeAsBackstory and other horrible things seem not to have occurred. In HA, it's almost certain that they ''did'' occur in HA's literal "throw everything in" continuity (since several things which ''are'' mentioned, like her dark side, only make sense if they did), but they are barely ever mentioned or referred to at all, and in fact Shinji and Zouken are both alive and on relatively good terms with Sakura.
** In the event where Shinji gets Shirou to come with him to find Sakura's revenge diary, these good terms are revealed to be ''because Sakura has essentially assumed control of the Matou household, and both Shinji and Zouken are terrified of her.'' There is something incredibly satisfying about this.
* KickTheSonOfABitch - Her ruthless treatment of [[CompleteMonster Zouken]] and [[SmugSnake Shinji]]. Even when ''both'' instances were self-defense rather than cold-blooded murder, it still feels great.
* MemeticMutation - Because of the fact that the [[BodyHorror worms living in her body]] are constantly hungry for mana, and because [[IfYouKnowWhatIMean a certain bodily fluid]] contains said mana, Sakura is easily... Shall we say, ''stimulated''. This led inevitably to "Sakura is such a slut", which was later famously redirected towards [[SuzumiyaHaruhi Yuki Nagato]] by one of Sakura's fans attempting to defend her.
* MomentKiller - Sakura turns this into an art whenever Rider and Shirou are alone together, likely to the bane of those who wanted more time with Rider in ''hollow ataraxia''. Probably justified, the few times she doesn't interrupt Shirou takes Rider on what's basically a date, and ''takes a bath with her'', among [[IfYouKnowWhatIMean other]] things.
* MostCommonSuperpower - Shirou and Taiga both make note of how * ahem* ''mature'' she looks. In Heaven's Feel, she [[spoiler: becomes the strongest character in the story when she becomes corrupted.]] Otherwise, however, she's stated to not be as strong as Rin because [[spoiler: her native magical element was forcibly changed, which adversely affects her ability to use prana.]]
* [[spoiler: MyGodWhatHaveIDone - After Rin (seemingly) dies, Sakura realizes that she destroyed everyone who loved her herself.]]
* NeutralGood
* NotBloodSiblings - A non-romantic variant. [[spoiler:She's not Shinji's blood-related sister. Rather, she's ''Rin's''.]]
* NotSoWeak - A plot point. Zouken Matou can't break her on his own, and she won't fight back. At all. It takes a great deal of manipulation of outside factors and a good deal of stupidity from the heroes to actually make her snap. Until then, she was far more resilient than you'd expect for someone that's essentially broken inside. [[spoiler:Still mostly sane after being raped constantly by Shinji at least, plus violated by worms, plus worms living inside her, plus excruciating pain and who knows what the hell else. But the crack that breaks her is how she tries to settle things to keep Shirou safe.]]
* RapeAsBackstory
* RealWomenNeverWearDresses - Of course! She's sweet, gentle, tender and [[spoiler: throughly broken]] How ''daaaaaaare'' she not be a badass {{Tsundere}} like Rin.
* SheCleansUpNicely - The trope's description happens almost exactly in the castle dinner scene in hollow ataraxia.
* ShrinkingViolet
* SpellMyNameWithAnS - Matou, Matô or Matō depending on the source/transliteration paradigm used.
* StepfordSmiler
* SuperpoweredEvilSide - Dark Sakura.
** ChaoticEvil
** CombatTentacles
** TheCorruption
** DemonicPossession
** {{Leitmotif}} - [[spoiler: "All the Evils in this World," a remix of Kirei's "The Church on the Hill."]]
** LoadBearingBoss - Averted (compare to Caster, who uses the same base in the anime). The cave does start having structural problems, but that's because Rin has been slashing holes in it with Jewel Sword Zelretch.
** MarkedChange
** RedEyesTakeWarning
** RoaringRampageOfRevenge
** WhiteHairedPrettyGirl
** WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds
* TearJerker - [[spoiler:The "Normal End" of ''Heaven's Feel''. Although free of her SuperpoweredEvilSide, Sakura lives the rest of her life waiting for Shirou to come back to her after his HeroicSacrifice. He [[IGotBetter doesn't get better]].]]
* {{Tykebomb}} - For eleven years, Sakura has been forced to act as a host for magical worms that allow Zouken to control her at will.
* UnderwaterKiss - in HA.
* UnluckyChildhoodFriend
** VictoriousChildhoodFriend - In ''Heaven's Feel''.
* [[WellDoneSonGuy Well Done Sis Girl]]
* [[TheWoobie Woobie Queen]]- In a story that is ''packed'' with Woobies (it would be easier to list the characters that ''aren't''), Sakura stands out as by ''far'' the worst case among the regular humans.
** Avenger [[FateWorseThanDeath might have it even worse.]]
* YamatoNadeshiko
* {{Yandere}}

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http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/shinji_matou.jpg
::'''Shinji Matou (Voiced by HiroshiKamiya, DougErholtz)'''

-->''"If you want me to drop the barrier, you'll have to get on your knees and beg."''

Sakura's brother and Shirou's childhood friend. Due to the land of Fuyuki "rejecting" the Matou family, they had lost their magical potential by the time that Shinji was born. Thus, Shinji lacks a Magic Circuit (and thus, has no magical potential whatsoever). This caused him to develop a massive inferiority complex and a vast amount of resentment towards his adopted sister Sakura, who was brought in to continue the magical lineage that he could not. So when family head Zouken Mato orders him to periodically rape Sakura (to relieve her abnormal levels of sexual tension, caused by the parasitic worms flowing through her bloodstream), he takes far too much pleasure in it and even abuses her whenever it takes his fancy.

At school, he's a popular ladies' man, but also does terrible things like blackmailing other students and exploiting the character flaws of his "friends" to get what he wants. When confronted, his facade of superiority quickly crumbles to reveal a snivelling, pathetic coward.

When Sakura is reluctant to participate in the Holy Grail Wars (because she does not wish to fight Shirou), Shinji seizes his chance to surpass his sister and pressures her into yielding Rider to him. Because he is not a magus, he uses an artifact created from Rider's Command Spells called the ''Book of the False Attendant'', which acts as a provisionary Command Spell and lets him control Rider. Because the Book is not a true command spell, it is destroyed either when it is pushed beyond its limits or Rider is killed.

Because he's such a lowlife, he ''never'' ends up well in any scenario. Ilya had Berserker kill him for being too lowly to live in ''Fate''. In ''Unlimited Blade Works'', he is turned into a [[BodyHorror Holy Grail Core]] by Gilgamesh and nearly dies, which is enough to scare him straight after Rin saves his life. In ''Heaven's Feel'', he tried to blackmail Sakura by threatening to reveal to Shirou how he had raped her, which pushes Sakura over the edge and leads to him getting decapitated by Dark Sakura.

Tropes associated with Shinji:
* BigBadWannabe - Shinji, no means ''NO''.
* BodyHorror - In ''Unlimited Blade Works'', Gilgamesh turns Shinji into a new vessel for the Holy Grail, which results in him being forced to endure a ''lake-sized'' mass of flesh growing from his body. The resulting TransformationTrauma eventually [[BreakTheHaughty scared him straight]].
* BreakingTheFourthWall - In hollow ataraxia, Shinji has an odd scene where he laments to Shirou that even though Sakura gets [[ExtyYearsFromNow X0]] scenes, he only appears three times in the entire game.
* {{Casanova}} - Character Material reveals that he is ''much'' less of a jerk if you aren't Sakura, though the only male he could actually get along with was Shirou, before their enstrangement.
** LeisureSuitLarry - Continually tries to score with Rin; he never gets anywhere, but his ego doesn't seem to allow him to compute the fact that she isn't interested. This causes more conflict than you would think.
* TheChewToy - Shinji is introduced as an extremely ineffectual little slimeball. He is smacked around in confrontations with Shirou and other Servants, cannot get Rin's attention at all, is bloodily offed in two of the routes, and the sole remaining route spends a good deal of time [[BreakTheHaughty convincing him]] that yes, Shinji it, ''really'' is not all fun and games being a magus/Master/the Holy Grail. Considering that he is a [[SmugSnake conceited little git]] at best and [[CompleteMonster a sociopathic rapist]] at worst, he doesn't get too much sympathy about this.
* CompleteMonster - Only ''one'' continuity gives him a slightly more human side, and that's after a ''massive'' BreakTheHaughty scenario.
** He's a bit lighter, like most other things, in the manga; he's still an enormous ass, but after [[spoiler: Sakura saves his life]], he starts to at least... act like a human being.
** He's also...well, still an ass in hollow ataraxia, but just a jerk and not "evil" per se.
* DirtyCoward
* EvilerThanThou - Shinji faces off against other villains in every path; Ilya in Fate, Gilgamesh in UBW, and Dark Sakura in HF. Too bad (for him) that he's the 'Thou' part of the trope all three times.
* HumiliationConga - In ''Heaven's Feel'', right before...
* KarmicDeath
* {{Jerkass}}
* MeanCharacterNiceActor - I don't know about his actual personality, but HiroshiKamiya is one of the most beloved and popular seiyuus of recent years. What the hell's he doing in this role?
** Well, Shinji does seem to be in [[SayonaraZetsubouSensei despair]] since he [[spoiler: found out that Sakura is the true heir to the Matou line, is that a good enough reason?]] Granted, this anime came before that one...
* NeutralEvil
* TheScrappy - Even worse than Shirou and Sakura, and with good reason.
** Strangely, he still ranked higher than Kiritsugu Emiya on a Japanese character poll. True, Kiritsugu, due to dying five years before the story begins, barely got any screentime, but still...
* StartOfDarkness - Other media hint at it, but the manga comes right out and openly states that Shinji's came when he discovered the Matous were a clan of magi and began putting all of his heart and effort into becoming one himself... only to later find they were a ''fallen'' clan who no longer had magical power, and that if anyone in his family was going to end up fulfilling ''his'' lifelong dream, it was going to be [[spoiler:Sakura]] (not that [[spoiler:she]] had a choice in the matter...). Basically, he JumpedAtTheCall only to discover that there was no call, and upon learning this reacted... [[{{Understatement}} poorly]].
* SmugSnake
* StaticCharacter
* UnwittingPawn - Pretty much ''everything'' he does in HF is orchestrated by Zouken in order to further his plans for Sakura, culminating in [[spoiler:his death, which results in Sakura's FreakOut.]]
* VillainousBreakdown - In the anime and every storyline of the visual novel, with multiple breakdowns in Heaven's Feel.
* WellDoneSonGuy - He just wants approval from Zouken. But looks like he can never understands that no really means ''NO''.

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http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/illyasviel.jpg
::'''Ilyasviel "Ilya" von Einzbern (Voiced by MaiKadowaki, StephanieSheh)'''

-->''"I don't intend to kill you, Shirou. You're mine. I'll kill the other Masters, but you're special. That's why I locked you up here, so there won't be any interruptions..."''

The little noble girl, usually called Ilya for short. She is in fact a living vessel of the Holy Grail, and her body has [[Main/InstantRunes Magic Circuits]] splattered all over, which provides her great supply of magic. She is Berserker's Mistress, and lives in a mansion in the middle of a forest, with her Servant and two maids. She may be a little girl, but she is just as ambitious as the other Magus to win the war, and approves even brutalities if it means winning the whole war in general. Although she is sometimes rough to Berserker, the bond between them are extremely strong.

She is rather attached to Shiro, but in the same time detests him too. This is due to the fact that she is in fact the daughter from Shiro's father Kiritsugu, and Irisviel von Einzbern, and not born naturally.

Tropes associated with Ilya:
* AlasPoorVillain - Anyone who's seen any of the [[HighOctaneNightmareFuel bad endings she's responsible for]] knows that Ilya is a merciless sociopath, but she's so cute and has had such a screwed up life that it's hard not to feel bad when something horrible happens to ''her''.
* AllThereInTheManual - Several notable things, for instance [[spoiler: we only find out that she dies a year after the Holy Grail war in Archer's backstory via supplementary materials, and apparently the Dress of Heaven she wears at the end of Heaven's Feel will turn any person who touches it into gold!]]
* BadassAdorable - And how!
* BittersweetEnding - In the one route she actually survives in (Fate), she probably won't live more than a few years (at best) due to her being a homonculus.
** Technically, she does survive HF normal. Which is even worse for her than ''that''.
* ClingyJealousGirl - She ''really'' seems to be dead set on having Shirou be her servant; [[AndIMustScream or worse, her doll. Heck, she'll settle for his still living head.]]
* CheerfulChild
* CreepyChild - Yes, she's both. It's not contradictory.
* CloneDegeneration - [[spoiler:Even if she survives the war, she still has less than a decade to live.]]
* CreepyCoolCrosses - The cuffs of her shirt prominently display a row of them.
* CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming - Several in Heaven's Feel, typically when she helps Shirou cope with the problems he's having throughout the route.
** Hollow Atarxia adds a huge one in which Shirou visits Ilya's castle and is tormented by Sella and forced to sleep in the Attic. Ilya finds out and convinces him to sleep in her room, after much panic on Shirou's part she snuggles up to him in her bed and proceeds to fall asleep just happy to have her brother there with her for the first time.
* TheCutie - [[spoiler:HF makes it pretty clear that her little girl act ''is'' just an act. She's actually quite emotionally conflicted about what she should be doing and almost entirely lacks any hope for the future.]]
* DaddyHadAGoodReasonForAbandoningYou - She disagrees. Vehemently.
** Actually, she just doesn't ''know''. More to the point, she doesn't know that he spent the [[spoiler: next five years (prior to his death) trying to ''come back'' (the Einsberns wouldn't let him see her)]]. The fact that he [[spoiler:told her he would be back]] and then never returned, for no obvious reason, is understandably upsetting for her (the Einsberns almost certainly made it sound as bad as they possibly could, too, because it gives her more of a reason to fight).
* EnfanteTerrible
* EnsembleDarkhorse - Well, she's a fairly major character to begin with, but she still outranked Sakura in the character poll.
* EvilAlbino - In much of Fate.
* {{Expy}} - Quite possibly of [[{{Tsukihime}} Arcueid Brunestud]]. They both have childish, selfish, [[CatsAreMean catlike]] personalities, are associated with the color white, are referred to as "[[EverythingsBetterWithPrincesses princesses]]", and to top it all off, Ilya's hairstyle is very similar to Arc's prior to the latter's ImportantHaircut.
** [[spoiler: she is more of an Akiha since she is the biological daughter of Shiro's foster father as well a having twin maids]]
** [[spoiler: Her motivations towards Shirou are actually very similar to those of Satsuki Yumizuka towards Shiki Tohno , she believes that no matter what she does Shirou will reject her, and despite her outward happiness shes completely full of despair]]
* FailureIsTheOnlyOption - Ilya is actually in a rather similar situation to Assassin, in that both are literally incapable of actually winning the Holy Grail war. As the vessel for the Grail itself, her mind is destroyed when it finishes forming, leaving her unable to claim the prize even if her Servant is the last one standing.
* FilleFatale - Exactly ''what'' she plans to do with Shirou once she gets him varies from route to route, but in ''Fate'' at least she made it pretty clear [[IfYouKnowWhatIMean just what she was planning to do with her new 'toy']] (You can't get much more explicit than straddling a tied-up boy and asking him if he'd like to be your slave!). [[spoiler: Partially subverted by the fact she's actually older than he is, although her mental age seems to match her appearance pretty accurately.]]
* FirstNameBasis - She generally prefers being called by her nickname of "Ilya".
* FreudianExcuse - Let's see... ParentalAbandonment? Check. Isolated from the outside world and basically ''raised'' to be a sociopath by her mother's family? Check. Put through agonizing TrainingFromHell by said family so she could control Berserker and be their representative in the Grail War, despite the fact that she was mentally pretty much still a child? Check and ''check''.
* GoOutWithASmile - in ''HF'' True End.
* HappilyAdopted - The ending to 'Fate' features her more or less adopted by Taiga. The two get along more like sisters than parent and child, but it's hard to dispute that Ilya's having a much better time with the Fujimuras than the Einzberns.
* HeroicAlbino - In Heaven's Feel.
* HeroicSacrifice - In Heaven's Feel. [[spoiler:She sacrifices herself to shut down the ArtifactOfDoom behind the Holy Grail War once and for all.]]
* HostileShowTakeover - She cheerfully announces her intent to do this in ''Heaven's Feel'' during a [[HaveANiceDeath Taiga Dojo]] segment in ''Unlimited Blade Works''. When it doesn't work out that way, she tries to take over the Dojo instead... With a '''[[TankGoodness tank]]'''.
* HugeGuyTinyGirl - She just barely reaches her servant's knee.
* [[IAmYourFather I Am Your Sister]] - She's technically Shirou's adoptive sister by virtue of her being Kiritsugu's biological daughter.
* ImageSong - [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oPpG_P6A9z8 "Tsuki no Namida"]]; also shares a more 'fun' version with Taiga below.
* KickTheSonOfABitch - her ruthless murder of Shinji (who she doesn't even ''know'') in Fate.
* TheGlomp - Done several times in HA, much to Rider's chagrin since it [[spoiler: reminds her of how her older sister would jump on her neck to suck her blood as punishment.]]
* LegalJailbait
* {{Leitmotif}} - "Die Lorelei" by Phillipp Friedrich Silcher. Notable in being an actual German folk song.
* MagicalGirl - Her AlternateUniverse self, [[FateKaleidLinerPrismaIlya Prisma Ilya]]. Again, seriously.
* MetaGuy - She becomes this during the [[HaveANiceDeath Tiger Dojo]] segments accompanying each of the game's 40 Bad Ends.
* OlderThanTheyLook - She's actually in her 20's - homunculi have strange growth patterns, but hers is nonexistent as she wasn't made to be able to live as a human. See BittersweetEnding above.
** To be exact, she is actually [[spoiler: Shirou's older stepsister]]
* [[MrExposition Ms Exposition]] - She fills this role pretty often, especially in Heaven's Feel.
* OracularUrchin
* RedEyesTakeWarning - Some of the time, anyway. Generally, if the narration starts focusing on her eyes, bad things are about to happen.
* RestrainingBolt - For Berserker. See his entry for more details.
* SoundtrackDissonance - The arrangement of ''Die Lorelei'' (her {{leitmotif}}) in this game sounds like a lullaby played by a musicbox. The first time you hear it [[spoiler: in the very first Bad End, Berserker is chopping your limbs off, leaving [[AndIMustScream your head kept alive as a toy for Ilya]].]] The leitmotif changes to [[CrowningMusicOfAwesome Crowning Music of]] [[{{Tearjerker}} Tearjerking]] on subsequent appearances, but still keeps the dissonance.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS - Even the [[InconsistentDub official manga translation]] can't seem to decide if it's 'Ilyasviel' or 'Illyasviel'.
** To make matters worse... Type Moon's official website uses 'Ilya', while nearly all Type Moon merchandise uses 'Illya'. So it seems ''both'' spellings are canon.
* TearJerker - Unlimited Blade Works. You know the scene.
** [[spoiler: The true end of Heavens Feel is even more soul crushing as Ilya sacrifices herself to save Shirou's life.]]
*** Whilst that is indeed a big TearJerker, it's not as bad as the UBW scene, because at least in HF she's [[spoiler:sacrificing her life willingly and for a good cause, and the ''result'' of it is that her big brother gets to live happily ever after with the girl he loves (and the alternative, of Ilya surviving and Shirou dying, results in Ilya likely spending the last year of her life alone in the Einsbern Castle whilst Sakura breaks down due to losing Shirou, and thus is even ''worse'')]].
* TokenLoli
* WhatCouldHaveBeen - It's stated in the Tiger Dojos that Nasu had been toying with the idea of giving Ilya her own route if Heaven's Feel was short enough. (It wasn't.) It's also mentioned once that there was originally a scene in the Fate route where she raped Shirou in a bad end, but that scene was obviously cut.
* WhiteHairedPrettyGirl
* WinterRoyalLady - Not literally, but certainly she is characterized both by her princess-like looks and character and her affinity with winter.
* {{Yandere}} - Non romantic despite her clinginess. She just wants to be properly acknowledged and secretly believes that Shirou won't.
* {{Yangire}} - But even without that she's a bit bipolar.

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http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/kirei_kotomine.jpg
::'''Kirei Kotomine (Voiced by JojiNakata, JamiesonPrice)'''

->''"Rejoice, young man. Your wish will finally come true."''

The BigBad of the ''Fate'' route and also the BigBad of ''FateZero''. Kirei is the supervisor of the Fifth Holy Grail War as well as Rin's legal guardian. As supervisor, it is his duty to uphold the rules of the Holy Grail War, cover up any incidents that might expose the War to the public, and give sanctuary to any Masters who drop out.

He is in fact a survivor of the Fourth Holy Grail Wars, in which he was a participant with his Archer-class Servant Gilgamesh. At its conclusion, he was shot and killed by Emiya Kiritsugu, who went on to destroy the tainted Holy Grail. Kirei was drenched in the pollution that splattered from the destroyed Grail, which granted his wish (for destruction) and ressurrected him with an artifical black heart.

His goal is to observe the effects of a wish made upon the tainted Holy Grail, for he is driven by a mental abnormality that can only find meaning in the suffering of others. To this end he hides the existence of Gilgamesh (who also survived the end of the Fourth Holy Grail War), kills one of the seven Masters to seize their Command Spells and Servant (Lancer), and quietly carries out his duties as the Grail War's overseer whilst hiding the Holy Grail's true nature as an evil artifact of destruction from everyone.

In other routes, he's not quite the BigBad anymore. Gilgamesh takes that spot in ''Unlimited Blade Works'', and he [[EnemyMine momentarily fights side by side]] with Shirou and Rin against Zouken Matou in ''Heaven's Feel''.

Tropes associated with Kirei:
* AntiClimaxBoss - In ''Unlimited Blade Works'', Kirei is set up to once again be the BigBad... Only to be handily dispatched by Lancer during his CrowningMomentOfAwesome.
* BackFromTheDead - After [[spoiler:Kiritsugu]] killed him in FateZero.
* BadassLongcoat - His priest garments are like a combo between this and BadassLongrobe.
** TheCoatsAreOff - At the end of HF.
* BeingEvilSucks - He, has a conscience which makes him aware that evil is wrong, but...
** BeingGoodSucks - Unfortunately, he takes no satisfaction from good. Poor guy just can't win.
* BigBad - In ''Fate''.
* CharlesAtlasSuperpower - Due to immense training as a church exorcist, Kotomine is able to stand up to [[spoiler:True Assassin and a body-transmuted-into-swords Shirou]] in ''Heaven's Feel''.
* ChewingTheScenery - He can sometimes drift into this territory, although this is partly just how JojiNakata acts. He's generally fairly calm, however.
* ChurchMilitant - And he [[IKnowKungFu Knows Kung Fu]].
* CreepyCoolCrosses
* CrowningMomentOfAwesome - In ''Heaven's Feel'', Kirei fights off True Assassin blow-for-blow, deflects his HeartTrauma-inducing FinishingMove, and pins him to a tree; then grabs Zouken and grinds him into the ground while reciting a prayer that causes the old magus' body to go boom when completed.
* CrowningMomentOfFunny - "... Want some?" "NO WAY!!!"
* DesperatelyLookingForAPurposeInLife - Mage? Nope, not fulfilling. Church? Ditto. Devoted husband? Empty. Evil? [[EvilFeelsGood Bingo!]]
** [[spoiler:And he's still not happy with that ''because'' it makes him happy.]]
* EnemyMine - In ''Heaven's Feel'', Kirei teams up with Shirou once Zouken and [[spoiler:Sakura]] kill off Lancer and Gilgamesh, putting Kirei on the losing end of EvilerThanThou.
** He still wins on EvilerThanThou, he's just a MagnificentBastard taking advantage of the hero with a bit of MyDeathIsJustTheBeginning thrown in. Zouken's an inevitable victim of EvilIsNotAToy, whereas Kirei knows exactly what he's doing.
* EvenEvilHasStandards - Whatever else might be said about Kirei, he holds Zouken Matou in ''utter'' contempt.
* EvilDuo - With Gilgamesh.
* EvilFeelsGood - Kirei's entire raison d'etre. He's lived his entire life being unable to find joy in anything other than that which everyone else considered to be "evil". Believing something to be wrong with himself, he tried out several vocations, including studying under the magic association, turning around and switching to the church (the association's exact opposite), and even loving an IllGirl [[spoiler:who eventually bore him a child]]. When said IllGirl died, the fact that he felt sorrow only for being ''unable to kill her himself'' caused his true StartOfDarkness, which in turn causes him to attempt to release the ArtifactOfDoom behind the grail war upon the world... ForTheEvulz.
** Kirei likes to watch.
* FanNickname - "Mr. Pretty", after the translation of his first name.
* TheGadfly - A humorous little side-story in the manga adaptation paints him as being a subtle version of this when he's not being more blatantly evil. Apparently he gives Rin clothing as a present on her birthday each year, a tradition that began when he was her father's apprentice. Shirou initially takes this as a sign he's not all bad, until Rin reveals that the clothes he gives are similar to the ones she loaned to Saber, they do not match her personality ''at all'', and Kirei gives them to her especially ''because'' she feels she looks ridiculous in them.
* HannibalLecture - Is a master of it.
** FalseReassurance - And this. The [[{{Pantheon/Mentalism}} God of it, in fact]].
** FromACertainPointOfView - And this.
** MrExposition - And this too.
*** And [[InfoDump Interminable InfoDumper]], which Shirou [[LampshadeHanging lampshades]] in impatient InternalMonologue in 'Heavens Feel'.
* HolyHandGrenade - He '''''baptizes''''' ''Zouken to death.''
* {{Leitmotif}} - "The Church on the Hill."
* {{Light Is Not Good}} - He's a priest. A evil priest.
* MagnificentBastard
* MeanCharacterNiceActor: On a recent edition of the internet radio show [[{{Podcast}} "Fate/stay tune]]:[[GratuitousEnglish Unlimited Radio Works"]], JojiNakata made a guest appearance and showed himself to have a great personality and sense of humor, among other things doing [[CrowningMomentOfFunny an impression of Ilya's famous "Get them, BERSERKER!" line,]] as well as some of Kirei's lines in [[KeroroGunsou Sgt. Frog's voice]].
* MeaningfulEcho - In ''Fate'', he tells Shirou that, to have a chance of winning against him, he has to put his life on the line. He applies what he said on himself in ''HF'' upon finding his knuckles pulverized by punching Shirou's body which had been turning to swords.
* NeutralEvil
* NoCureForEvil - Seemingly averted by his healing magic. Except that those abilities were inherited through a Magic Crest, and according to all descriptions of their functioning, his is an exception in that it's consumed through use. He has no reservations against squandering it and doesn't seemed troubled by its disappearance.
* NoHoldsBarredBeatdown - His final showdown with Shirou in ''Heaven's Feel'' boils down to this, largely because both of them have no {{Mana}} to use, and because their bodies are completely broken (Kirei from injuries sustained during his CrowningMomentOfAwesome, Shirou from the backlash of having used his DeadlyUpgrade one time too many). Kirei loses only because his body gave out on him in the end.
* SayMyName - Shirou and Kirei seem especially fond of calling each other by full names, especially when yelling. Combined with Shirou's realizaton that he ''likes'' Kotomine during the climax of ''HF'', let's see how long it takes a YaoiFangirl to find FoeYay in that...
* ShadowArchetype - As Shirou comes to realize in Heaven's Feel, Kotomine and he are NotSoDifferent -- both have essentially no sense of self and can only find purpose through their fellow humans: The only difference is that for Shirou it is helping people, and for Kotomine it is to cause them pain.
* SinisterMinister
* ThrowingYourSwordAlwaysWorks - Due to his time spent with the ChurchMilitant "Burial Agency", Kirei has a supply of "Black Key" throwing swords similar to the ones used by [[{{Tsukihime}} Ciel]].
* TrademarkFavoriteFood - Mapo tofu. And he likes it ''hellishly hot''.
* TreacherousAdvisor - He technically fulfils this role for Shirou and Rin, but neither of them trust him very much.
* {{Troll}}
* VillainsOutShopping - Shirou enters a restaurant and... finds Kirei eating infamously hot mapo tofu at a Chinese restaurant. See CrowningMomentOfFunny above.
** The first plate was probably an intimidation tactic. To signal the end of his conversation, he has ''second and third'' helpings sent to the table, starts gobbling scoops of it, and again asks Shirou if he wants some.
* WhatMeasureIsANonHuman - The main topic of his attempted [[HannibalLecture Hannibal Lectures]] to Shirou in ''Heaven's Feel'', where he argues that Shirou has no right to stop the CosmicHorror about to use [[spoiler:Sakura]] to let itself loose on the world because, despite the fact that it has killed scores of people in its embryonic state, all creatures deserve to be born into the world.
* WillNotTellALie - For shits and giggles. It's much more fun to trick people without lying.
* WoobieDestroyerOfWorlds - Depending on the AlternateCharacterInterpretation. What could be worse than being [[BeingGoodSucks born naturally evil, only able to take pleasure in the suffering of others]], but still [[BeingEvilSucks born with a]] ''[[BeingEvilSucks conscience?]]'' This only shows up in Heaven's Feel, however; the other two routes don't go into his backstory enough to show him as anything but a CompleteMonster.
* YourApprovalFillsMeWithShame - Kirei will honestly applaud you for picking the choice that leads to Bad End #30.

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http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/taiga_fujimura.jpg
::'''Taiga Fujimura (Voiced by MikiIto, JulieAnnTaylor)'''

-->''"... wow, that was so stupid that I don't have anything to say."''

Shirou's English teacher and older sister figure. Her grandfather is a {{Yakuza}} boss who Kiritsugu was accquainted with, and thus, she and Shirou have known each other since he was a child. Although she's ostensibly his caretaker, she has no domestic skills, relying on Shirou to cook for her. Taiga was the star of the kendo club when she was in school, and might have become famous across Japan were she not disqualified from official tournaments.

Although having a small role in the actual storyline, Taiga is the star of "Tiger Dojo", a HaveANiceDeath hint corner which appears whenever the player receives a "Bad End". In this segment, Taiga, along with Ilya, often admonish Shirou for making the poor choices which lead to his demise while dropping hints to help the player complete the game properly.

Tropes associated with Taiga:
* AdultChild - Even ''more-so'' in the anime adaptation, if at all possible.
* AlmightyJanitor - Taiga, since she's a five dan who should've progressed much higher if she wasn't banned from so many tournaments because of her tiger strap. Not that this has any impact on the story.
* AnimalMotifs - Although she hates being called one, Taiga's mannerisms, style of dress, and penchant for (comedic) violence are all highly evocative of Tigers.
* BadassNormal - WordOfGod states that her mastery of Kenjutsu (Japanese Swordsmanship) is equal to that of Ryougi Shiki, the most fearsome warrior the KaraNoKyoukai sub - {{Nasuverse}}.
** So he's saying that she can do [[http://www.youtube.com/watch#!v=sBrWcKIteAo&feature=related this?]] Yeah, right.
** No, he's saying she could do that if she also had Shiki's mystic eyes and enhanced physical attributes. They're 'equal in skill', not 'equal'.
* BerserkButton - Do ''not'' call her "Tiger".
* BigEater
* CoolBigSis
* ChristmasCake - Famed as the "woman least likely to be married in the whole west of Japan" according to hollow ataraxia.
* DefeatMeansFriendship - She usually hits it off with Saber after they go beat on each other.
* {{Dojikko}} - She frequently trips and bangs her head on somethingorother when entering the classroom.
* DoggedNiceGuy - How she can be so upbeat and good natured with a crime boss father is anybody's guess.
* FridgeLogic - Not a major case, but isn't it odd that she's an English teacher and doesn't notice how odd Saber is sooner? She never even attempts to communicate in English, although with the way Servants work, Saber might also know modern English.
* FunPersonified
* GirlNextDoor - Was something of a {{Tomboy}} in her younger years, but now is slightly more ladylike. ''Slightly''.
* GenkiGirl - Adult version.
* HaremNanny
* ImageSong - Shared with Ilya [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSV8WMc_Yq0 "We Are Tora Buru"]]. FunPersonified indeed!
* LethalChef
* ReplacementGoldfish - Of sorts, to Kiritsugu; she reminded him of [[spoiler:[[FateZero his deceased childhood friend, Shirley.]]]]
* {{Sensei-chan}}
* ShipperOnDeck - Taiga seems to be actively trying to hook Shirou up with Sakura, which may explain her immediate disapproval of allowing other females into the Kiritsugu household even when she has no problem with Sakura staying the night.
** ''Seems to?!!'' Mofo tosses her daggome cup size in his face!
*** Which Sakura found immensely embarrassing....
* ShooOutTheClowns - You can tell that a route is about to become extremely serious whenever it's mentioned that Taiga won't be able to come over to Shirou's house for a while.
* TeamMom - Subverted. The eldest member of Shirou's household and his teacher, Taiga is TheDitz, admittedly domestically unfit, and [[{{Muggles}} completely in the dark about magic and the Grail War]].
* WeaponOfChoice - A ''shinai'' with a cutesy tiger trinket strapped to it. She calls it "Tora-Shinai".
* YakuzaPrincess - ''Completely'' subverted, in that despite being the granddaughter of a yakuza boss, she has '''none''' of the arrogant, cruel and/or hateful traits that come along with being this trope.

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http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/issei_ryudo.jpg
::'''Issei Ryuudou (Voiced by MitsuakiMadono, LexLang)'''

-->''"What’s so good…? What’s with you doing all this for nothing!?"''

The Student Council President, and one of Shirou's classmates. Issei is often asking Shirou to help out the student council by fixing broken equipment, and they have lunch together in the student council room. Due to the fact that they went to middle school together and frequently clashed, Issei hates Rin and is convinced that she's pure evil. In fact, he isn't very fond of most women due to his celibate nature, which stems from his upbringing as a Buddhist monk-in-training. However, he does admit to Shirou during ''Unlimited Blade Works'' that he has something of a crush on the fiancee of one of the teachers at their school...

He gets the dubious honor of being the most minor character to kill Shirou. And the honor of being the only male character with blushing sprites. Oh, does he [[LuminescentBlush blush]].

Tropes associated with Issei:
* {{Crossdresser}} - In ''Hollow Ataraxia'', while indulging Caster's hobbies. Granted, we only see Shirou's imagination of what he might be wearing...
* GayOption - Toyed with. He is one of the only men Shirou talks to, and the only one that isn't an enemy at some point. And he blushes a lot, especially while he's worrying over Shirou. And he grabs Shirou's arm and drags him away from Rin several times.
* GutFeeling - Justified. To paraphrase, "Even an amateur monk can tell when a Buddha is standing next to him".
* HeManWomanHater - Caster and Saber being exceptions.
* ManchurianAgent - Along with everyone else in the temple, according to Dead End 18.
* [[{{Meganekko}} Megane]]
* MindControlEyes - When Caster's possessing him
* ScaryShinyGlasses
* [[ShyBlueHairedGirl Shy Blue Haired Guy]] - He's supposed to be really shy. Of course, all his scenes are with his best friend.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS - Issei is fairly standard, but Ryudou can and has also be transliterated as Ryuudou, Ryudou, Ryūdō, or Ryûdô depending on source.
* StudentCouncilPresident
* [[ThoseTwoGuys That One Guy]]
* UnknownRival - To Rin.
* YouGottaHaveBlueHair

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http://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/soichirou_fsn.jpg
::'''Souichirou Kuzuki (Voiced by Kazuhiro Nakata, PatrickSeitz)'''

Rin's homeroom teacher at school. He lives in the Ryuudou temple and is Issei's older-brother figure. A tall, stern man who [[TheStoic rarely expresses any emotion at all]], he appears physically intimidating, but is really a gentle soul who does his best to give each student a fair and proper education.

In ''Unlimited Blade Works'', Kuzuki is revealed to be Caster's master and a former assassin with a fighting style revolving around catching the enemy off guard and striking their vulerable points. He found Caster after she had killed her original master. Low on {{Mana}} and about to disappear, she begged Kuzuki to become her master, which he readily accepted, if only because he wanted to help her. After [[IfYouKnowWhatIMean forming a pact]], Caster began draining {{Mana}} from the townspeople because Kuzuki, who is not a magus, cannot provide her with much. Kuzuki himself has no need for the Holy Grail, and is simply fighting to help Caster, although he does value his own life above hers, and makes it a point to tell both her and Shirou that he will keep himself alive no matter what.

In ''UBW'', Kuzuki is killed by Archer after the latter double-crosses Caster. In ''Heaven's Feel'', he and Caster are the first victims of True Assassin and Angra Manyu's embroynic form.
-----
Tropes associated with Kuzuki:

* BadassNormal - He actually manages to defeat ''Saber'' during their first encounter with only magical enhancements from Caster toughening up his hands and his own unconventional martial arts style. (It's stated that had they figured out his assassin-like fighting style, any Servant could easily beat him, but be that as it may...)
* BattleCouple - With Caster.
* CrouchingScholarHiddenBadass
* CrowningMomentofAwesome /CrowningMomentofHeartwarming- [[spoiler: He stood in front of certain death in the anime, and ''simply refused to die'' until he was sure his beloved Caster died happy.]]
** [[spoiler: In UBW, he stayed to fight Archer after Caster's death in order to avenge her; this in spite of the fact that he ''knew'' he couldn't win, his opponent was perfectly willing to let him go, and he himself had previously claimed he wouldn't risk his own life for her. He could have just walked out of there, but he decided to honor her memory, even if he died in the attempt... ::sniff::]]
* DullEyesOfUnhappiness - His eyes never have light on them.
* ExtremeDoormat - Fairly obviously in love with his Servant, Caster, but doesn't actually ''do'' anything of his own volition. In fact, he rather bluntly says that she can do anything she likes and he'll let her, and his only priority is his own life over hers. [[spoiler:Which really isn't true, ''either'' but whatever.]]
* GoodPeopleHaveGoodSex - Inverted, as he and Caster have a pretty decent sex life despite being among the enemies.
* HitmanWithAHeart - He really is a nice guy, but he'll ditch you without a moment's notice if he feels his own life is in danger.
* NotSoStoic - It may be hard at times to see whether he really cares about Caster, but [[spoiler:in HA he has a heartfelt conversation with Fujimura about whether or not he's good enough to please Caster.]]
* PerpetualFrowner
* RescueRomance - With Caster.
* SchroedingerFu - Kuzuki uses a very unusual martial arts style to pierce the defenses of skilled opponents. Once they're used to his movements, he loses a fair bit of effectiveness.
* SpellMyNameWithAnS - As there are two long vowels in his name, there's quite a lot of possible permutations to it. It's usually spelled Souichirou, Soichirou or Sōichirō in FSN media.
* SternTeacher
* TheStoic
* TheUndefeated - In UBW, Kuzuki tries [[spoiler:to fight Archer even after Caster is killed and his enhancements are gone, despite the heroes being willing to let him go. He gets to land one punch, which Archer doesn't even try to dodge or block, before being sliced in half.]]
* UnholyMatrimony - With Caster.

::'''Zouken Matou'''

The head of the Matou family and the cause of a great deal of misery for many characters. His presence is indirectly felt in ''Fate'' and ''Unlimited Blade Works'', but in ''Heaven's Feel'' the true extent of his evil comes to light.

Though he is known as Shinji's grandfather, he is in fact over two centuries old, having used a breed of parasitic worms to prolong his lifespan. He has an instinctive desire to take control of the Holy Grail and attain immortality, and to this end he adopts Sakura and infects her with parasitic worms that have been tainted by the pollution of the Grail. This greatly boosts Sakura's magical power (and sexual frustration) but in ''Heaven's Feel'' it also allows Zouken to twist Sakura into a proto-form of Angra Mainyu that is completely under his control. He also summons True Assassin from the corpse of Assassin, officially becoming the seventh Master in the Fifth Holy Grail War.

However, he eventually loses control of Sakura, and eventually he is killed by a combination of Kotomine Kirei and Dark Sakura. Living through even this by shear force of will, he is finally convinced it is his time by Ilyasviel during the final moments of the final ending.

Tropes associated with Zoken:
* AlasPoorVillain - Fails. He's chucked Sakura into the MoralEventHorizon far too often to pull it off.
* BigBad - In ''Heaven's Feel''.
* CompleteMonster - Just look what this scumbag does to poor Sakura. Also, he's partially to blame for Shinji being the asshole he is. Plus [[AMillionIsAStatistic he has also killed many thousands of innocent people in order to remain alive]], and is willing to risk destroying the whole town, or maybe even ''world'' to obtain his goal.
* {{Determinator}} - Still alive after being exorcised by Kotomine and having the worm carrying his soul crushed by Dark Sakura by jumping into a bunch of hastily created worms (all the while enduring agonizing pain for the sake of ''not dying'') - until he was convinced to finally let go by Ilya.
* EvilIsNotAToy - His plan for obtaining the Grail involves corrupting Sakura, who he has been torturing for over a decade, with [[DemonicPossession an entity representing all the evils of the world]], which also happens to give her almost godlike power and super-regeneration abilities, and then expecting her to follow his orders until she breaks down entirely, at which point he will possess her body. All this whilst the main worm containing his soul is buried within her heart. [[WhatAnIdiot Three guesses at what happens....]]
* {{Expy}} - of Michael Roa Valdamjong from ''{{Tsukihime}}''. Both are BigBads who perform GrandTheftMe and have an obsession with immortality -- the reason for which (falling in love -- with Arcueid in Roa's case, with Justizia in Zouken's) they both have forgotten over the centuries.
* GrandTheftMe - In order to keep himself alive, he has to obtain a new body every few months (or when the old one is damaged beyond repair).
* ImmortalityImmorality
* [[spoiler:KarmicDeath]], combined with [[spoiler:KickTheSonOfABitch]]
* [[spoiler:KarmaHoudini]] - outside of Heaven's Feel
* {{Leitmotif}} - "Wandering Shadow" plays almost every time Zouken appears onscreen.
* LoveMakesYouEvil - His ''original'' (and long-forgotten) motivation for getting the Grail was [[spoiler:to honour the sacrifice of the woman he loved, Justica von Einsbern]].
* ManipulativeBastard - He certainly attempts this with all his manipulation of Sakura and others.
* NeutralEvil
* ObviouslyEvil- Let's see... wrinkled and decrepit, his only 'smile' sprite is a PsychoticSmirk, his [[BlackEyesOfEvil eyes are solid black with white pupils]]... yeah, it was pretty obvious from his first appearance that he wasn't gonna be a good guy.
* OlderThanTheyLook - And considering how old he ''does'' look, that's an accomplishment.
* ShadowArchetype - His original motivation as a magus, revealed upon his death, was the betterment of the human condition, even if his life and efforts aren't rewarded at all. In the last portion he was exactly what Shirou is.
* SoYouWantToLiveForever
* SpellMyNameWithAnS - Depending on the source, usually either Zouken Matou or Zōken Matō.
* TheDarkSideWillMakeYouForget: His original motive for attaining the Grail was to honour the life of a colleague who had sacrificed herself to create the original Holy Grail (in order to create the Gate of All Things, which would lead to the root of the universe itself). Over time, frustration, age and his detoriating body caused him to forget his original goal, leaving only an unnatural obssession with immortality.
* TheWormThatWalks

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::'''Bazett Fraga [=McRemitz=] (voiced by HitomiNabatame)'''

Only a minor character in the original Fate/stay night, Bazett is one of the main characters of Fate/hollow ataraxia; she was the magus who originally summoned Lancer, but was apparently killed very early into the fifth Grail War when Kotomine cut her arm off to take her Command Seals.

In HA, however, it is revealed that [[spoiler:from within the Grail, Avenger reached out to her and tried to grant her a wish, enabling her to stay alive but in a coma. When Caren Ortensia found her and began to nurse her back to health, Avenger created the four-day time loop as an internal world to keep Bazett's mind occupied. During the time loop, Bazett acts directly as Avenger's master, although she's very confused about why she doesn't have her original Servant anymore]].

Bazett hails from Ireland and is heir to a very special kind of magic that makes her the only living human with a Noble Phantasm. She crushes hard on Lancer.
----
Tropes associated with Bazett:
* [[AscendedFanboy Ascended Fangirl]]: The whole reason she wanted to participate in the Grail War in the first place was to summon Lancer. And most of her life was spent gearing her for the Grail War, even though she probably wouldn't have a chance to participate.
* AsLongAsItSoundsForeign: Ever met any Irish women named Bazett? Or ''anyone'' with the surname [=McRemitz=], for that matter?
* BadassNormal: So very, very badass... [[TheWorfEffect when she's actually given the chance to be]].
** Normal? Even though she's a great magus of the McRemitz family and having fragrach as well? I don't she's that normal...
*** Normal in that she doesn't know magic in a "traditional" way. Abnormal in that she instead has a special technique exclusive to her family to to make up for it.
* {{Bifauxnen}}: The suit is supposedly to make her appear more like a man to aid in her duties, but men aren't often so cute.
* BodyguardCrush: Inverted with Lancer.
* BoobsOfSteel: Speaking of things that hurt the {{Bifauxnen}} image, she's quite well endowed (and true to the trope, she's also a master fighter). Avenger jokes that she "must be very strong to be able to carry that chest."
* [[spoiler:ConvenientComa]]: Hey, it [[spoiler:kept her alive]]--don't knock it.
* DemotedToExtra / OutOfFocus: She starts out figuring quite importantly in HA, but her presence gradually dwindles and Caren becomes more prominent towards the end. Also as mentioned below, unlike Caren, she's the only heroine in HA who doesn't get an H-scene.
* DownerEnding: In ''Fate/unlimited codes''. [[spoiler: She gets to defeat all her opponents, only to be killed by Kotomine in the end. Oh, turns out that it was AllJustADream? Well lady, Angra Mainyu's artificially keeping you alive and leeching off you, while you could hear Dark Sakura giggling evilly in the background.]]
* DubNameChange: She's apparently named Guian in a dub that isn't English but the information on * which* language that is has apparently vanished from the internet. It at least sounds a bit more legitimate than "Bazett."
* [[spoiler:HandicappedBadass]]: Now has only [[spoiler:her right arm, after Kotomine cut off the left one. She gets a new magic arm from somewhere or another soon after she wakes up though, if a strange bonus scene at the end of hollow ataraxia counts as canon.]]
* {{Expy}}: Like Sion from MeltyBlood, she is a socially awkward, purple haired young woman from a fallen noble family in the magic association who has [[spoiler: half-requited]] feelings for the protagonist and uses relics to make up for her relative lack of magical ability.
* FridgeLogic: She realizes that [[spoiler:she's trapped in a LotusEaterMachine]] in unlimited codes when she defeats Kirei, who she judges an opponent too tough for her to handle in reality. Really? Having definitely defeated Lancer and who knows how many other random servants over the course of her story mode, someone who is at least a human seems like the least likely person to set off that alarm.
** Considering that [[ManipulativeBastard Kirei]] can use ''freaking Angra Mainyu: All The World's Evil'' as his Holy Grail EX technique and one of his Super Moves is to make the slime of the Grail explode upwards, this is ''not'' an illogical assumption. Her instincts are ''right''.
* GroundhogDay: This is more of a setting trope, but it's worth mentioning here since [[spoiler: the 4 day loop in HA is being maintained by Avenger to keep her alive, after all.]]
* {{Kuudere}}: She acts more like this as time goes on. Unlike Caren she doesn't get a [[IfYouKnowWhatIMean special scene]] though.
* HorribleJudgeOfCharacter: She made the mistake of being [[IfYouKnowWhatIMean friendly]] with Kotomine. The rest is history.
** On the other hand, she does correctly gauge that Avenger isn't nearly as bad a person as [[spoiler: being the Persian devil]] would imply, so maybe it's just that Kirei is very good at fooling people. This is a decent assumption to make, considering his track record.
* InfiniteSupplies: Averted, she only has a finite amount of [[CounterAttack Fraga]][[OneHitKill rachs]] in her possession, so she has to plan how to efficiently use them in battle. Of course, because of the loop, she gets a new supply with each new life.
* MementoMcguffin: Her earrings are [[spoiler: A trademark of the Red Branch Knights. I wonder if those earrings Lancer wears are related at all...]]
* MostCommonSuperpower: And how, although her suit works against this trope by making them less noticeable, much like Sakura's school uniform. Taken to the point of GagBoobs in some fan work comparing her to Sakura.
* PosthumousCharacter: In Fate/stay night. [[spoiler:Eventually subverted in HA.]]
* TheStoic: She gives off this aura, [[spoiler: but as Avenger discovers over the course of HA, she's really quite timid and emotional.]]
* SpellMyNameWithAnS: So is it "Bazett" or "Bazette"?
* TheWorfEffect: In Fate/stay night.
** Does this really apply? She's never made out to have been particularly strong in stay night, but rather just another victim of Kirei.

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::'''Luviagelita Edelfelt (Voiced by YukariTamura in Realta Nua, ShizukaIto in Unlimited Codes)'''

Luvia is the head of the Finnish Edelfelt family and in good standing in the [[WizardingSchool Clock Tower]] Academy. She's currently in the running for StudentCouncilPresident. Although we almost always see her acting like a RichBitch since she's usually around Rin, she's actually a very proper, generous person. Rin just sets off her BerserkButton as a rival partly since her family was defeated in the Third War in Tohsaka territory, and she's looking to avenge the loss. Besides knowing almost exactly the same kind of magic Rin does, she's also a celebrated ''Pro Wrestler.''