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  • Released by Type-Moon in the year 2004 on the PC, Fate/Stay night would be an adult

  • visual novel that would spark a large and popular franchise.

  • Written and Directed by Kinoko Nasu, the game would be one of the longest scripts ever written

  • in the history of games, in terms of word count, putting it on par with the Bible.

  • It's popularity have also spun off serveral other games of various styles, animes, manga,

  • and merchandising.

  • For characters, the game is mainly told through the perspective of Shirou Emiya, and centralizes

  • around his involvement in a magical battle royale to the death.

  • The story is actually split up into 3 very distinct paths depending on which of the 3

  • female protagonists the player chooses to involve themselves with.

  • For gameplay, as a visual novel the engagement is mostly at the reading level, and occaisionally

  • a decision point will be reached where one option is the correct route and the rest are

  • routes that typically lead to death.

  • Keep in mind, while there are multiple endings and nuances to each path, I will be covering

  • the True ending to each route.

  • This video will cover the Fate route, but please watch the other two paths linked at

  • the end of this video.

  • The story only gets larger from here, so let's cut it down to size with a RECAPitation.

  • As the game begins in the city of Fuyuki, we see a young Rin Tohsaka say goodbye to

  • her father as he goes off to war.

  • However, this is no conventional war, but rather, a secret battle between 7 mages for

  • the coveted wish-granting Holy Grail relic, aptly called the Holy Grail War.

  • So serious is the battle between them that battles are usually to the death until there

  • is one mage left, and unfortunately, Rin's father dies in this 4th Holy Grail war, which

  • is normally every 60 years, but somehow, the 5th war is beginning early after only 10 years.

  • Older, Rin is now living on her own, the last of her long magical bloodline, though like

  • other magic-users, she must keep her abilities secret in this modern world that doesn't recognizes

  • magi.

  • Her family specializes in Jewel Magecreaft, which is transferring and storing magical

  • energy into jewels, for utilization later.

  • For instance, her heirloom necklace that she wears is one such jewel that has an immense

  • amount of magical energy stored in it.

  • Outside her private life of magic study, she lives a normal high school life though her

  • proud and competitive nature leaves her with a shallow social life, despite her charming

  • looks and excellent performances academically and athletically.

  • This is partly because its an accepted practice to kill anyone who discovers the identity

  • of a mage, so she chooses not to let anyone get too close to her.

  • As she goes to class, she bumps into several of her classmates, like the mild-mannered

  • Sakura, the cocky vice-president of the archery club Shinji, her stern homeroom teacher, and

  • the handyman around the school Shirou.

  • When she gets home, her guardian and part magic teacher Kirei leaves a message for her

  • to hurry up and prepare for her role as a Master in the coming Holy Grail war, or waive

  • her participation and seek the protection of the church before it begins.

  • The Holy Grail war is a fight to the death between the participating Magi, but they are

  • not alone.

  • Each one is a master to a familiar called a Servant, whom they must summon and form

  • a contract with.

  • However, only one servant can be summoned, and if the summoner has a focus connected

  • to a particular heroic spirit, they can summon an even stronger servant.

  • There are 7 classes of Servants, Saber, Lancer, Archer, Rider, Caster, Assassin, and Berserker.

  • Rin herself is determined to summon a servant from the Saber class, which she considers

  • the strongest.

  • That night, Rin makes every preparation possible to complete her summoning, though botches

  • her timing, but still suceeds in producing a summon.

  • The spirit in question crashes into her living room, and is a red knight rather unimpressed

  • with Rin as a Master.

  • Like all Masters, Rin does indeed have a set of Command Spells on her hand, that allow

  • her to control her Servant, and are miracles granted from the Holy Grail itself unto its

  • participants.

  • He continues his condescending attitude and begruding servitude towards Rin, until she's

  • mad to the point of spending one of her command spells to demand obediance.

  • While more compliant, the servant reminds Rin not to be wasteful of her two remaining

  • spells, which can also be used to allow him to accomplish great or otherwise impossible

  • feats of strength.

  • Still, he has now observed her resolve as well as magical ability, and genuinely regards

  • her with more respect now.

  • When he reveals he's of the Archer class, Rin is openly disappointed, but Archer protests

  • how he'll show her he's no mistake.

  • When asked which heroic spirit he is, Archer pauses, explaining he doesn't know himself,

  • which puzzles both of them.

  • Regardless, with Rin now a part of the death battle, the war waits for its final Master

  • to appear before it begins.

  • In reflection, anyone who is Master but loses all three of their command spells, loses control

  • of their Servant and their status as Master, and certainly faces death.

  • With Archer's memory fuzzy, he also can't rightly recall his ultimate move, called a

  • Noble Phantasm, that every Servant has as a trump card.

  • She shows him around town, as servants can turn invisible to normal people, including

  • the site of the final battle of the last Holy Grail War, 10 years ago, now a park in the

  • middle of the city.

  • Archer can feel the overwhelming amount of regret there, and likens it to a Reality Marble.

  • Unlike a magic barrier, which is a field that protects its maker from outside danger but

  • still based on what's around them, a Reality Marble is a limited field in which reality

  • is removed and instead whatever the maker desires takes form.

  • Rin is interrupted as her Command Spell throbs, a sign that another Master is nearby.

  • Even though the war has not officially begun, Masters can technically begin fighting at

  • any time.

  • The next day, Rin decides to still go to school, as the battles between mages are supposed

  • to take place in secret, so she doubts a surprise attack will come hiding in plain sight.

  • Archer isn't so confident, and to her surprise, Rin notes the next day at school, a magical

  • field is being set up on the school itself.

  • After school, they investigate, and she learns this large boundary field, when complete,

  • will drain the life force out from everyone within, and claim their souls.

  • Archer confirms that as a spirit they can feed on souls and mental energy though they

  • don't need to, as usually the magical energy of their Master is enough.

  • But if they do, they can become tougher as their magical energy capacity will increase,

  • so stealing energy is an understandable tactic for this war.

  • Rin announces she has no intention of eating the souls of others to win, and Archer seems

  • glad to hear it.

  • As she begins to erase part of the boundary field, she is interrupted by a man in blue

  • armor, who recognizes her as a Master, and she recognizes him as a Servant.

  • Summoning a blood-red spear, he lunges for Rin, who dodges and begins to flee, as she

  • runs and heads for a more open area where she and Archer can counterattack.

  • Archer steps forward, and despite his name, wields a shortsword in hand.

  • The fight ensues with both spirits, as Archer is pushed back by Lancer's skill.

  • However, Archer then produces two swords, and though Lancer disarms the supposed bowman

  • dozens of times, in an instant, Archer produces new blades.

  • This confuses both Lancer and Rin, as Rin also thought each Servant only carries one

  • weapon that is filled with magical energy, which is the basis for their Noble Phantasm,

  • and cannot be replaced like Archer is doing.

  • Archer figures out what heroic spirit Lancer is based on his fighting technique, and as

  • a retort, Lancer prepares to unleash his Noble Phantasm and kill Archer.

  • However, everything is interrupted, as a student spots them, and Lancer suddenly turns and

  • moves to kill the witness.

  • Rin feels compelled to follow, as even though she knows there cannot be any witnesses, she's

  • always been careful till today, since she dislikes involving others.

  • As she finds the student, it's too late as he's been dealt with by Lancer and is dying.

  • She sends Archer to tail Lancer, though notes how odd this student has been pierced in the

  • heart yet hasn't died yet.

  • She recognizes the student as her classmate Shirou, and refusing to let him die, she uses

  • her last resort family heirloom to empty all of its powerful magical energy into reviving

  • him.

  • Returning home, Rin reflects how Lancer revealing his Noble Phantasm would also reveal his heroic

  • name, which would have helped them, as knowing the true name of any hero lets you know their

  • weapon, abilities and weaknesses, and thus why each Servant hides their identity with

  • their class name until they reveal and use their Noble Phantasm.

  • To note, a Saber has made it to the final fight in the last 4 Holy Grail Wars, hence

  • why Rin wanted one, though Sabers, Archers, and Lancers are generally regarded for their

  • high magic resistance.

  • Another one to note is the Berserker who possess exceptional strength but no sanity, and quickly

  • drain their Master's magic, leading to their ruin.

  • Rin suddenly realizes she forgot to wipe the memory of Shirou, which is her way of removing

  • witnesses, and rushes over to his house.

  • She senses Lancer already there, but suddenly there's a flash of white, as now a new, more

  • powerful presence arrives; a new Servant that forces Lancer to flee now.

  • However, the new Servant now attacks Rin and Archer, nearly felling Archer in one blow

  • had Rin not spent another Command Spell to send him away instantly.

  • As Rin is easily defeated, she sees its by the hand of the card she wanted, the Saber,

  • as she now waits for her early death.

  • As perspective now shifts to that of Shirou from earlier, we learn he doesn't remember

  • too much of his past, only that his family and neighborhood were lost to a fierce fire

  • 10 years ago.

  • Though he alone was saved, inside, his heart has never recovered from the massive loss.

  • He would be adopted by a man who confessed to being a magi upfront, Kiritsug Emiya and

  • later Shirou would ask to learn magic from him.

  • He looked up to the Kiritsugu who rescued him and has since made it his goal to be a

  • man of justice like him.

  • We go back in time a month, as Shirou is now living alone, though his friend from school

  • Sakura and teacher often help him in his home.

  • Shirou himself enjoys fixing things, helping others, and is better at archery than even

  • the school captain, though his skill with magic is worse than amateur.

  • He has a secret attraction to Sakura, who is also sister to his classmate Shinji.

  • In truth, Shirou is a good handyman as he assists his repairs with the light bit of

  • magic he can use.

  • He's able to slightly strengthen things, and has a knack for being able to visualize the

  • structure of things and reproduce them in his mind.

  • That night, he runs into a strange silver-haired girl, who warns him to summon something soon,

  • else he'll die.

  • As he practices his magic every evening as usual, he reflects how he has few natural

  • magic circuits but no family crest, as he is an adopted son of the Emiya family, and

  • thus their magic crest could not be passed to him though blood.

  • Thus, as a normal human, he must