Fate/stay night

Fate/stay night is a Japanese visual novel developed by Type-Moon and originally released as an adult game for Windows on January 30, 2004. A version of Fate/stay night rated for ages 15 and up titled Fate/stay night Réalta Nua (Irish for "new stars"), which features the Japanese voice actors from the anime series, was released in 2007 for the PlayStation 2 and later for download on Windows as a trilogy covering the three main storylines: Fate, Unlimited Blade Works and Heaven's Feel. Réalta Nua was also ported to the PlayStation Vita, iOS and Android. The plot focuses on a young mage named Shirō Emiya who becomes a warrior in a battle between "Servants" known as the Holy Grail War. Through each route, Shirō bonds with a heroine and confronts different mages who participate in the war.

A manga series adaptation by Datto Nishiwaki has serialized in Kadokawa Shoten's Shōnen Ace magazine between the February 2006 and December 2012 issues. A 24-episode anime series created by Studio Deen aired in Japan between January and June 2006. Both mainly follow the Fate route, but add events from other storylines. A film adaptation, Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works, also by Studio Deen was released in Japanese theaters on January 23, 2010. A second anime television series, Fate/stay night: Unlimited Blade Works, was produced by ufotable and aired between October 2014 and June 2015, following the game's second route as opposed to the first. A second manga adaptation by Taskohna began in 2015 in Kadokawa Shoten's Young Ace, focusing solely on the third route. A film trilogy adapted Heaven's Feel route of the visual novel, with the first film, titled presage flower, released in 2017, the second film, titled lost butterfly, released in 2019, and the final film, titled spring song, released in 2020. A third manga adaptation by Daisuke Moriyama began in 2021 in ASCII Media Works's Dengeki Daioh, focusing solely on the second route.

Fate/stay night spawned the Fate media franchise, consisting of a number of adaptations and spin-offs in various different media. On October 28, 2005, Type-Moon released a sequel to Fate/stay night, titled Fate/hollow ataraxia. Its plot is set half a year after the events of Fate/stay night. A light novel series titled Fate/Zero, set as a prequel to Fate/stay night, was published from 2006 to 2007, with an anime adaptation by ufotable airing between October 2011 and June 2012. A spin-off magical girl manga series, Fate/kaleid liner Prisma Illya, began serialization in 2007 and has received multiple anime television series. Three fighting games have been released: Fate/unlimited codes for arcades and PlayStation 2, Fate/tiger colosseum and its sequel Fate/tiger colosseum Upper for PSP. A PSP RPG titled Fate/Extra was released on July 22, 2010, and a sequel and companion game, Fate/Extra CCC, was released on March 28, 2013. An online RPG titled Fate/Grand Order was released on Android on July 29, 2015, followed by an August 12 release on iOS; an anime film adaptation by Lay-duce was released on December 31, 2016, with sequel adaptations by Production I.G., CloverWorks and Signal.MD.

Plot
The story revolves around Shirō Emiya, a hardworking and honest teenager who unwillingly enters a to-the-death tournament called the Fifth Holy Grail War, where combatants fight with magic and Heroes from throughout history for a chance to have their wishes granted by the eponymous Holy Grail. Orphaned and the sole survivor of a massive fire in Fuyuki City as a child, Shirō was taken in by a retired mage named Kiritsugu Emiya, who would die years later. His perceived responsibility to those who died and his salvation through his father formed a strong desire for justice and peace in him. Thus, he earnestly trains his body and minuscule ability with magic to someday greatly help others, even if people often abuse his generosity at his stage.

One evening, after seeing two devastatingly powerful beings trading blows at his school with swords and spears, he is attacked, as witnesses to the Holy Grail War are generally supposed to be eliminated. Chased to his home by the spear-wielding warrior Lancer and barely able to avoid his attacks, Shirō is about to be killed when he is saved by Saber. Saber, the personification of a renowned figure in history (Artoria Pendragon in her case), was created to aid participants in the War. In her supposedly accidental summoning and the appearance of the marks on Shirō's hand, his entry as a Master into the Holy Grail War is formalized.

Fate
The first of the three heroines, Saber is a mighty warrior who keeps her identity secret, hence her substitute name after her role as a member of the Saber class. She also serves as the route's servant protagonist. She was the victor of the Fourth Holy Grail War with another Master and claimed to be the strongest out of all Servants in the Saber Class. However, Shirō is against Saber's constant aim for conflicts with other servants and instead seeks to ally with Rin Tōsaka, a model student and idol of Shirō's school who is secretly a mage and Master of Archer in the Holy Grail War. Shirō decides to drop his pacifism when he discovers that his former friend, Shinji Matō, is a Master with the Servant Rider, aiming to sacrifice all students from their school to increase Rider's powers.

Following Shinji and Rider's defeat, Shirō learns that Saber cannot fight at her full strength without exchanging Mana energy with her Master. During a confrontation with Master Illya and her Servant Berserker, Shirō passes Saber his Mana and later assists her in defeating the enemy by projecting one of Arturia's swords in combat. As Shirō seeks to aid to keep Saber in their world, he learns from the priest Kirei Kotomine that the Holy Grail is cursed. It is revealed that Shirō's late guardian, Kiritsugu, once used Saber to destroy the Grail. However, it instead caused the fire where Shirō lost his family.

Shirō rejects the idea of accepting his wish of the Holy Grail as he decides to accept his past and not forget Saber. Moved by Shirō, Saber also rejects the Holy Grail, believing she should not change Britain's history. As Kotomine aims to use Illya's body to recreate the Holy Grail, Shirō and Saber confront him, and his servant, Gilgameš. Following Shirō's and Saber's victories, Shirō orders Saber to destroy the Grail. This causes Saber to go back to her last moments before her death. In the Réalta Nua version of the game, a new ending can be unlocked where Shirō becomes a heroic spirit in order to meet Saber in the afterlife of heroes, Avalon.

Unlimited Blade Works
The second of the three heroines is Rin. Her servant Archer serves as the servant protagonist of the route. She descends from a long, distinguished line of mages. Though she lacks a formal magic education, she is strong and gifted in her own right. Rin is dubbed "The Ice Queen" by classmates for her cold, unreachable persona at school; however, this is simply a front to hide her actual status as a mage. Her presence in the story is established after Lancer mortally wounds Shirō at school. Upon seeing him, she revives him due to his connection with Sakura Matō, with whom Rin is closely acquainted. The two decide to become allies in the war, unaware of Archer's true identity as an adult Shirō from one of the series' numerous alternate universes.

Shirō loses control of Saber during the story but aims to fight with his magical strength to stop the war. Archer betrays Rin and reveals his despondency and bitterness over his past choices to Shirō. He subsequently challenges Shirō to a fight, hoping to destroy his story of being a hero. However, Shirō accepts his future regardless of the regrets and misery, deciding to stick to Kiritsugu's ideals. Gilgameš tries to kill Archer and Shirō, with the former seemingly sacrificing himself to protect the latter. Later, Rin passes Shirō her Mana to fight Gilgameš to replicate Archer's powers. As Gilgameš almost dragged Shirō into their deaths, Archer uses his last strength to save the latter. In the True Ending, Shirō and Rin move to London to study magic, as well as start a romantic relationship.

Heaven's Feel
The third and final heroine is Sakura, a first-year high school student and longtime friend of Shirō's, who often visits his home to help him with his daily chores. A quiet, soft-spoken girl, Sakura can be surprisingly stubborn and holds a deep, unparalleled affection for Shirō. She is revealed to be Rin's long-lost sister, raised by the Matō family, and has since suffered their abuse while in training as a mage. Sakura is also discovered as the true Master of Rider, whom she reasserts control of from Shinji, making Rider the servant protagonist of the route. In the route, Saber and Berserker are consumed by the shadows of Angra Mainyu. In the ensuing battle with True Assassin and the corrupted servants, a mortally wounded Archer transplants his left arm to save a dying Shirō.

Zōken, Sakura's grandfather, places a shard of the lesser grail from the 4th Holy Grail War in her body, infecting Sakura with Angra Mainyu. She becomes Dark Sakura, killing Shinji in his attempt to rape her. Despite the threat Sakura poses to humanity, Shirō, having fallen in love with her, abandons his ideal in favor of saving Sakura, despite Rin's initial objections. Upon learning that Illya is another sacrifice to create the Grail, Shirō teams up with Kotomine and uses Archer's powers to save Illya from Berserker. Rin is injured after finding herself unable to kill Sakura, while Rider and Shirō successfully eliminate Saber Alter. Shirō talks to Sakura and helps her regain her humanity, freeing her from her contract with Angra Mainyu. He then faces Kotomine in a final battle to later destroy the Grail. In True Ending, after Kotomine dies in combat, Illya sacrifices herself to destroy the Grail and extracts Shirō's soul using forbidden magic (her weaker version of the Third Magic). Rider later returns to the cave to grab and bring Shirō's soul home, and Rin places it within a puppet body. Shirō, Sakura, and Rider live a peaceful life while Rin moves to London to study magic.