Shirou Emiya
JAPANESE NAME:
衛宮士郎
ALSO KNOWN AS:
Faker
Sherou
Fake school janitor
Vacuum cleaner of the Archery Club
Homurahara's brownie
PORTRAYALS
JAPANESE VA:
Noriaki Sugiyama
Junko Noda(Young)
ENGLISH VA:
Bryce Papenbrook
Sam Riegel(Studio Deen)
Mona Marshall(Young)
APPEARANCES
PRIMARY FRANCHISE:
Fate
APPEARS IN:
All Around Type-Moon
Capsule Servant
Carnival Phantasm
Chibichuki!
Fate/hollow ataraxia
Fate/school life
Fate/stay night
Fate/tiger colosseum / Upper
Fate/unlimited codes
Fate/Zero
Today's Menu for Emiya Family
Fate/unpublished material
CHARACTERISTICS
SPECIES:
Human, Magus, Master, Puppet ( in Heaven's Feel route)
GENDER:
Male[1]
HEIGHT:
167 cm[1]
about 170 cm (at 19 years old)
WEIGHT:
58 kg[1]
PLACE OF ORIGIN:
Japan[1]
AGE:
7 (Fate/Zero)
17 (Fate/stay night)
19 (Unlimited Blade Works and Heaven's Feel True Ending epilogues)
PERSONAL INFORMATION
LIKES:
Housework[1]
DISLIKES:
Umekobucha [1]
TALENTS:
Tinkering with junk, Housework[1]
NATURAL ENEMY:
Kirei Kotomine [1]
IMAGE COLOR:
Red copper[1]
MAGECRAFT
MAGECRAFT:
Gradation Air, Reinforcement
Unlimited Blade Works
NUMBER OF CIRCUITS:
27[5]
SWITCH (MENTAL IMAGE):
A gun's hammer being fired[5]
ACTIVATION SPELL:
Trace On
ELEMENT:
Sword
ATTRIBUTE:
Reinforcement[2]
ORIGIN:
Sword
DEPARTMENT:
General Fundamentals (Fate/stay night [Unlimited Blade Works])
MASTER
COMMAND SPELL:
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WAR:
Fifth Holy Grail War
SERVANT(S):
Artoria Pendragon (Saber)
FAMILY MEMBERS
BLOODLINE:
Emiya (Adoptive)
ANCESTOR(S):
Senji Muramasa (Possibly)[3][4]
FATHER:
Unnamed father
Kiritsugu Emiya (Adoptive)
MOTHER:
Unnamed mother
SISTER(S):
Illyasviel von Einzbern (Adoptive)
SPOUSE(S):
Artoria Pendragon (lover in the Fate route)
Rin Tohsaka (lover in the UBW route)
Sakura Matou (lover in the HF route)
RELATIVES:
Taiga Fujimura (Legal guardian)
ALTERNATE VERSION(S):
EMIYA (Alternative Future self)
Nameless (Alternative Future self from the Fate/EXTRA world)
EMIYA Alter (Alternative Future Self from the Fate/Grand Order world)
MORE
Alternate versions EarthMoonClass CardAlter
Shirou Emiya (衛宮 士郎, Emiya Shirō?) is the main protagonist of Fate/stay night who acts as the Master of Saber during the Fifth Holy Grail War. He is the adopted son of Kiritsugu Emiya, the adopted brother of Illyasviel Von Einzbern and the younger self of EMIYA.
Profile
Background
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Kiritsugu's last moments with Shirou
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Shirou hugged by Kiritsugu
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Shirou wounded after the fire
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Shirou being rescued by Kiritsugu
10 years before the start of Fate/stay night, Shirou was an ordinary boy living with his parents in Shinto. The great fire caused by the contents of the Holy Grail spilling out at the end of the Fourth Holy Grail War killed both his parents and left him mortally wounded within the blaze. He was rescued by Kiritsugu Emiya, who was dejected after indirectly causing the fire and, wishing to actually "save" someone for the first time in his life, rescued Shirou by embedding Avalon in his body. He then later asked the recovering Shirou if he would like to become his adopted son, fully disclosing his identity as a magus. Shirou agreed and spent the next two years persistently asking Kiritsugu to teach him Magecraft. Kiritsugu eventually complied, and though he disapproved of Shirou's desire to learn his craft, he advised applying it in secret, where it could only benefit people and not attract confusion or suspicion. The knowledge he imparted to Shirou was very basic and incomplete, leading him down a dangerous path with little results. Furthermore, and perhaps inadvertently, Kiritsugu passed on his philosophy of wishing to be a Hero of Justice capable of saving anyone to Shirou.
Five years prior to the fifth Holy Grail War, weakening every day due the effect of black mud from the Holy Grail, Kiritsugu dies, leaving Shirou frustrated, depressed, and alone. He was subsequently watched over by Taiga Fujimura, Shirou's longtime neighbor and his English teacher, and his living expenses were managed by her grandfather, Raiga Fujimura. He later went to a middle school where he encountered Matou Shinji around October of his second year when he had to remake the signboard of the culture festival according to the design of third year students in a single evening. Shinji, who oversaw that throughout the evening, said "Hmm… you're an idiot but you actually do a pretty good job." and started to laugh.
After starting in Homurahara High School, he met Issei Ryuudou and became known as someone who would readily do anything to help others, such as fixing the school equipment. He later joined the Archery Club, which led to an estranged relationship with Shinji. He missed the target only once during the period that he was enrolled, but even then he said that he saw that "it will miss" before even shooting it. He withdrew during the summer of his first year due to a bone fracture in his right shoulder he received during his part-time job, which left a burn mark over the skin. The wound itself was nothing major, but Shinji pointed out that it was unsightly for someone with a burn mark to do a formal shooting, so he left the club as it was also a period when he was busy with his part-time job. Their relationship eventually stabilized, but some tension still remained, especially in regard to Shinji's abuse of Sakura Matou. Shirou also got closer to Sakura as she started to visit his household frequently during the period while he was injured in order to help him cook and clean up the house. Even after he was healed, she continued to come as a member of his surrogate family.
Appearance
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Shirou in his school uniform
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Shirou with his scarf.
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2 Years after Heaven's Feel route
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Shirou wearing his coat.
In the events of Fifth Holy Grail War, Shirou is a teenager with short auburn hair and golden-brown coloured eyes. He is often seen wearing his casual clothing, consisting of a blue and white long sleeve baseball jersey T-shirt and a blue slim straight jeans. During school, he wears his Homurahara Academy uniform but underneath his jacket uniform, he wears the same long sleeve baseball jersey T-shirt.
In Heaven's Feel scenario, Shirou gains a new body designed by Touko Aozaki. His puppet body is noted to match his original body closely. He wears a long sleeve shirt with black trousers.
In Ufotable adaptation of Fate/stay night [Unlimited Blade Works], Shirou has a lot more variety of clothing. For instance, Shirou wears a black and white jersey zip jacket along with his casual clothing. He wears a charcoal coloured thomson tartan lambswool scarf along with his school uniform. Other than his casual clothing, he is seen wearing a long sleeve white shirt and a black hooded coat. He also wears a black long sleeve shirt.
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Studio Deen's character sheet of Shirou in Fate/stay night.
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Shirou's character select image in Fate/Unlimited Codes, illustrated by Takashi Takeuchi.
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Shirou in Fate/tiger colosseum, illustrated by Yukio Hirai.
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Shirou in Chibichuki!, illustrated by Hanabana Tsubomi.
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Limited/Zero Over in Fate/Grand Order, illustrated by Takashi Takeuchi.
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Ufotable's character sheet of Young Shirou in Today's Menu for Emiya Family, illustrated by Toko Uchimura.
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Shirou in Dominate Grail War, illustrated by okojo.
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Lerche's character sheet of Shirou in Carnival Phantasm.
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Shirou's versus cut in image in Fate/Unlimited Codes, illustrated by Ryuji Higurashi.
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Shirou in Capsule Servant, illustrated by Medori.
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Shirou in Fate/Zero Cafe, illustrated by Ufotable.
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Projection magecraft in Fate/Grand Order, illustrated by Takashi Takeuchi.
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Ufotable's character sheet of Shirou in Today's Menu for Emiya Family, illustrated by Toko Uchimura.
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Shirou in the Epilogue.
Personality
Due to the trauma he suffered during the great fire, Shirou has a constant emptiness in his personality and suffers from tremendous survivor's guilt. He feels that, as the only survivor, it is unfair to the deceased to prioritize his own needs before those of others. He has a distorted sense of values where he only finds self-worth from helping people without any compensation, feeling that the very act "helping people" is its own reward. He believes it is highly unfair that some people survive and others do not. When it comes down to receiving an injury or even giving up his life to help someone, he will do it without a second thought. The people who see this side of him are often very worried and attempt to correct his behavior, though they are unable to change his opinions. Kiritsugu often talked about how he used strive to protect the innocent from the world's many perils, even at the cost of his own humanity, and how he was saddened by the reality that whenever he was able to spare one life, another person was fated to die. Although Kiritsugu was tormented by his inability to save everyone, Shirou always admired his efforts. Right before Kiritsugu's death, Shirou pledged to be a Hero of Justice in Kiritsugu's place and strive to protect everyone at the cost of his own life. Everything that he is thus far is the result of that very pledge. He has made it his dream to become a "Hero of justice" who will save everyone regardless of what happens to his own life.
Shirou pushes his ideals to their limit during the Fate scenario, where he constantly attempts to protect Saber from harm and keep her from fighting other Servants, despite the fact that she is many times more powerful than he and that even his odds of mere survival, not winning, are hopelessly low against those he personally fights. This is because he cannot stand the idea of someone else being harmed for his sake. He never gives up his ideals during the route and injures himself numerous times to uphold it. During the Unlimited Blade Works route, Shirou, through constant arguing with Archer, begins to see the hypocrisy in his ideals. Though he refuses to give them up entirely, he works his way towards a middle ground where he will strive towards fulfilling ideals, despite knowing they are impossible to achieve. He faces his largest dilemma during Heaven's Feel, where he is forced to choose between maintaining his ideals and protecting the life of Sakura. He eventually forsakes them, with the exception of the "Superhero" ending, where he becomes as resolute as Kiritsugu in his prime, allowing Sakura to be executed for the greater good. He strives only to protect Sakura, though he is presented with conflict a number of times.
Shirou is extremely stubborn once he sets out to accomplish something, such as spending hours attempting to perform a high jump that is nearly impossible for him. This action, as watched by Rin and Sakura, is one of the initial factors that causes them both to develop feelings for Shirou. He will stubbornly defend his own viewpoints, no matter how wrong they may seem to others, even to the point of causing them great mental anguish. Though he does his best to help others, if he feels that a person brought about their own ruin, he will simply watch instead of helping. He can range from being sarcastic to blunt very easily and his poor convey of body language can make it difficult for others to recognize when he is which, even leading some to think he is being dense or ignorant. Nasu has stated that Shirou and Shiki Tohno would not get along.
Relationships
Shirou's love interests varies from Saber, Rin and Sakura depending on the routes. However, he has shown to be initially attracted to Saber, from the moment he saw her after she's summoned, and an admiration for Rin's school idol persona regardless of the route. In Fate, Shirou eventually fully accepts his feelings for Saber, and even desires to be with her, despite her being unable to exist in the mortal world, but they eventually reunite in Avalon. In Unlimited Blade Works, Shirou admits his feelings towards Rin during their alliance, and accepts her support to help him pursue his ideal. As he realizes that he's fallen for her both before and after knowing her true nature, he reveals his desire to be with Rin not just as an ally and later eventually becomes her boyfriend in True End, sometime teasing her in retaliation to her own. However if he also keeps paying his attention to Saber, then all three eventually have a mutual relationship and continue living together in Good End. In Heaven's Feel, his feelings for Sakura become major plot point, when he realizes her growing beauty and develops feelings for her even before the beginning of the Grail Wars, which drastically alters all of the following events and eventually leads him to forsake his long held ideals of becoming a Hero of Justice in order to save her.
Shirou quickly develops a rivalry with Archer after their first meeting, and is shown to be jealous of Archer's relationship with Rin as the two look close to each other in the Unlimited Blade Works route. Shirou also grudgingly believes Archer is cooler than him. Shirou can be critical of Taiga Fujimura, often berating and teasing her over her antics, although she seems to be aware its mostly playful and will try to get under his skin. In truth, Shirou greatly loves and values her for being there after the death of his father. Shirou is initially fearful of Illya but can become fiercely protective of her when they're not acting as enemies. This is even before he discovers they are step-siblings. In addition to Saber, Rin and Sakura, Shirou is also attracted to Rider.
Hobbies
Shirou possesses an extraordinary talent for housework. Despite having Taiga as his caretaker, he generally cooks all of her meals and does almost all of the housework while she generally does nothing. Home cooking is his forte, and he especially prides himself in Japanese cuisine. He is not a cheapskate when it comes to ingredients to make a delicious meal, and he will spend a great deal of time in order to make something extravagant. He teaches Sakura how to cook and as she improves, they eventually start to compete over the quality of their meals. Shirou equally enjoys Japanese tea, black tea, and coffee, but he prefers Japanese tea and dislikes plum kelp tea. There are times when he receives liquor from Copenhagen, but he merely tastes it as he is not good with alcohol. Among the characters of Fate, he is one of the heaviest eaters, losing only to Saber, Berserker, and Lancer. According to him: "one who does not have the stomach to digest breakfast is a failure as a martial artist." Despite having his household finances taken care of by Taiga, Shirou does not wish to feel like a freeloader, so he has been taking up part-time jobs since middle school in order to pay for his own expenses. He earns 950 yen per hour at Copenhagen, and he receives spending money from accompanying Raiga Fujimura when he participates in his hobbies, which include sumo wrestling and hunting.[6][7]
Shirou does not feel comfortable in the atmosphere of a Game Center. He is weak against blind dates, even though he likes them. He has never gone to the dentist. His English language skills are poor and his intended major is initially in the field of law and politics.[8] He likes repairing electronics to help practice his Magecraft, and he can become immersed for hours at a time while fixing appliances. Due to the fact that he almost never denies requests to repair appliances or work, such as cleaning the school's swimming pool before its opening, he has many nicknames such as "fake school janitor", "in charge of mending", "vacuum cleaner of the Archery Club" and "Homurahara's brownie". He likes to meditate within the dojo in his household, often to relax before or after practicing Magecraft.
While at school, he aims to be the greatest at the "who will give up first" type of contest. He once participated in sepak takraw along with Ryuudou Issei and Matou Shinji during a school festival. They advanced to the finals, but when they competed with the team formed by Kane Himuro, Ayaka Sajyou and Ayako Mitsuzuri, Issei caused a quarrel after being harassed with concentrated attacks and caused both teams to be disqualified.
Role
Fate/Zero
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Shirou moving into the Emiya residence.
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Kiritsugu final moments with Shirou
Shirou appears near the end of the story. He lost his family to the great fire caused by the Grail, as he laid on the floor trying to reach out to someone. Kiritsugu found him and thanked him. Shirou was envious of Kiritsugu when he saw him happily cried in tears as if he was saved.
After being rescued by Kiritsugu from the inferno, he is adopted as Kiritsugu's son. Shirou felt more comfortable calling Kiritsugu "old-man" (爺さん, jii-san?) than "father" or "dad". In the anime adaptation, he is seen settling into the Emiya residence.
In the Drama CD, Shirou kept experiencing nightmares. Shirou would take the medicine that Kiritsugu made with magecraft. Shirou asks Kiritsugu about teaching him magecraft but Kiritsugu was completely against it.
Five years later, while gazing at the stars in the Emiya estate, Kiritsugu tells Shirou of his dream to be a Hero of Justice and how he failed. Shirou, in admiration, states that he will achieve Kiritsugu's ideal and this allows Kiritsugu to die peacefully.
Fate/stay night
See Main Route Articles for Shirou's role during the scenarios: Fate, Unlimited Blade Works and Heaven's Feel
Shirou is a student of Year 2 Class C of Homurahara School during Fate/stay night. He has no interest in the Holy Grail and instead despises its use. However, he is determined to win the Holy Grail War with Saber for he hopes his efforts will ensure that another disaster like the Fuyuki conflagration will never occur again.
At the End of the Fate scenario, he continues to pursue his dreams of being a "Hero of Justice" and hope to unite with Saber all while leading a regular life. After the True End of Unlimited Blade Works route, he is working part-time at the mansion of Rin's rival Luviagelita Edelfelt.[9]
Shirou does not end up as his alternative future self at the end of the three scenarios.[10]
Manga
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Shirou as he appears in the Manga
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Shirou and Saber using Caliburn in the Manga
The manga adaptation of the visual novel follows the Fate route with a mixture of events from Unlimited Blade Works. It follows the events of Fate normally until the defeat of Rider. Instead of Shirou being immediately kidnapped by Illya while Saber is weakened, Saber manages to recover somewhat from her use of Excalibur before the Emiya household is assaulted by Caster. Using Taiga as a hostage, Caster successfully uses Rule Breaker on Saber and takes her as her Servant after Shirou was unable to make a quick decision. When Rin tells Shirou that he is no longer a master and should not be involved any further, Shirou becomes depressed and becomes confused with what to do (noted: Shirou's feelings for Saber continue to develop).
Feeling depressed over his loss and worried over Saber, Shirou goes to the Church for shelter. At the Church, Kotomine tells Shirou that his decision to sacrifice Saber was the right choice. Enraged, hearing such a thing Shirou counters Kotomine, saying that that (sacrifice Saber) was wrong and that he never truly gave her up. Kotomine then counters Shirou saying that not accepting what he did was the real betrayal. Kotomine then reveals to Shirou that his father Emiya Kiritsugu was also a Master in the Holy Grail Wars and that he was the victor. Shirou was both shocked and horrified even further after being told the truth. Kotomine tells Shirou that Kiritsugu was the man who kill all the other masters and caused Kotomine's first death in order to attain the Grail, and making Shirou believe that Kiritsugu was the one responsible for the huge fire that killed so many people ten years ago (although this is only half true, as Kotomine was the one who made the wish to make everyone in the area disappear). Following this, Shirou begins to have visions of Saber thanks to his mental link with her. Shirou then decides to come out of hiding and rescue Saber. Kotomine then acknowledges Shirou as Kiritsugu's son and secretly swears to end Shirou's life personally.
Shirou tracks down Caster and Kuzuki only to be beaten by Rin and Archer. During the battle while Rin attempts to reach Kuzuki, and Caster overwhelms Archer until she temporarily retreats upon Archer starting to unleash Unlimited Blade Works. Kuzuki bringing a defeated Rin stops the battle, and Archer is forced to also become Caster's Servant in exchange for Rin's safety. Caster reneges on the promise by ordering Saber to slay Rin, but Shirou saves Rin and takes her to safety just in time.
After the loss of Archer, Shirou and Rin are approached by Lancer, who has come to offer some help. They attack Caster and Kuzuki who have taken over the Church. While initially overwhelmed, Archer, having been waiting for his chance to kill Caster, assassinates both her and Kuzuki before turning his attention to Shirou. Shirou who has become disgusted with Archer, engages Archer demanding why Archer hates him so much, The two are stopped by Rin who manages to convince Archer from killing Shirou by talking it out. Rather than Rin forming a contract with Saber, Shirou manages to become her Master again, while Rin becomes Archer's Master again. It continues to follow the Fate route afterward, Shirou's feelings for Saber continue to develop and her for him as well.
Fate/hollow ataraxia
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Shirou in Fate/hollow ataraxia opening.
Shirou, as Saber's master, is the winner of the Fifth Holy Grail War, having opted to destroy the Grail. Half a year later, he continues to live a peaceful life with the other Servants and Masters in Fuyuki. However, the peace is broken when Heaven's Feel is unexpectedly restarted, despite the destruction of the Grail. Shirou then decides to patrol the town with Saber to investigate the dangers of the restarted war. Shirou soon discovers though that everyone is trapped within a loop of four days, thus resolving to put an end to the loop. In the meantime, He finds himself repeatedly encountering a mysterious silver-haired girl when going out alone at night. However, he is unable to properly interact with her as he is quickly killed by a horde of beast-like shadows, resetting the loop back to the first day. Additionally, Shirou and Saber encounter a new Master and Servant: Bazett Fraga McRemitz and the mysterious Avenger, who are participating in a war unrecognized by the others. Unfortunately, Shirou and Saber are both killed in this encounter, resetting the loop once again.
Shirou learns from Rin, after returning from London, that both the loop and the restarted war may possibly be the result of the Holy Grail granting someone's wish. Later, Shirou encounters the silver-haired girl once again who reveals her name as Caren Hortensia, and that she already knows who Shirou is. However, like the times before, a horde of beast-like shadows attacks, only this time though they are beaten by Shirou and Caren. After defeating the horde, Caren tells Shirou to meet her at the Church to further discuss the situation occurring in Fuyuki. Meeting Caren at the Church, she begins to relay information regarding the loop and the restarted war. Caren reveals that the events occurring within the loop are artificial, though she says the people themselves are real except for one. She also reveals that she was sent to investigate the Holy Grail and the nature of the restarted Heaven's Feel. Furthermore, she tells Shirou that as the winner of the Fifth Holy Grail War only he can end this new war, as it is a reenactment of the fifth so it must end with his victory. Shirou then leaves the church after being told by Caren to ask Rin about London.
Shirou questions Rin about London, to which she eventually reveals the existence of twin manors built during the third war to be used as separate hideouts for the Edelfelt sisters. She further recounts that one of the manors was where she discovered the murder scene of Lancer's original Master. Prompted by this information, Shirou goes to one of the manors to ascertain it as Bazett's hideout. However, he finds the place to be empty, though he does discover one of Lancer's earrings. Taking the earring with him, Shirou goes to the harbor to get Lancer's assistance against Bazett, using the earring to convince him. Agreeing to kill Bazett, Shirou and Lancer meet up at the church courtyard before midnight, where they encounter Bazett and Avenger. Lancer and Bazett confront each other brieflly, which ends with them giving each other fatal wounds with their Noble Phantasms. With Bazett's death Shirou believes that both the loop and the restarted war will now end, though he is surprised that Avenger still exists despite his master being dead. The horde of shades then appears, yet their focus is only on Avenger. Avenger then begins to turn into one of the shades, but he manages to tell Shirou to speak with the Heaven's Cup, imploring Shirou to destroy real him, before his transformation is complete.
Realizing what Avenger may mean, Shirou visits Illya to get answers. She reveals that the Holy Grail that reproduced the war is a true wish granter compared to the Holy Grail of the Einzberns. She further reveals that the Grail is actually Avenger, which is located at the moon. It is also discovered that Shirou is actually Avenger taking his form. Now knowing his true identity, Shirou returns to being Avenger, and with Caren, goes up to the Grail to end the loop. Outside the loop, the real Shirou is tricked into letting Bazett stay at his house.
Fate/unlimited codes
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Opening
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Saber's Opening
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Ending
He is given the title Apprentice Mage (見習い魔術師, Mitarai Majutsushi?) in Fate/unlimited codes.