The story follows
Shirou Emiya, a hardworking and honest teenager who unknowingly enters a to-the-death tournament between mages known as the Fifth Holy Grail War. Combatants fight with magecraft 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, Shirou was taken in by a retired mage named
Kiritsugu Emiya who had died a few years ago. 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 magecraft 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 of supernatural are generally supposed to be eliminated. Chased to his home by the spear-wielding warrior Lancer and barely able to avoid his attacks, Shirou is about to be killed when he is saved by
Saber. Saber, the personification of a renowned figure in history, was created to aid participants in the War. In her supposedly accidental summoning and the appearance of the marks on Shirou'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, Shirou is against Saber's constant aim for conflicts with other servants and instead seeks to ally with Rin. Shirou drops his pacifism when he discovers that his former friend, Shinji Matou, is a Master with the Servant Rider, aiming to sacrifice all students from their school to increase the Rider's powers. Following Shinji and Rider's defeat, Shirou learns that Saber cannot fight at full strength without exchanging Mana (magical energy) with her Master. During a confrontation with Master Illya and her Servant Berserker, Shirou has part of his magical circuits ripped out from his system and sacrificed to Saber to create a connection to her, and later assists her in defeating the enemy by projecting one of Artoria's lost swords, the Sword-in-the-Stone Caliburn in combat. As Shirou seeks to keep Saber in their world, he learns from the priest Kirei Kotomine that the Holy Grail is cursed. It is revealed that Shirou's late guardian, Kiritsugu, once used Saber to destroy the Grail. However, it instead caused the fire where Shirou lost his family. After realizing it, Emiya rejects the idea of accepting his wish for the Holy Grail as he decides to accept his past and never forget Saber. Moved by Shirou's will, Saber also rejects the Holy Grail, believing she should not change Britain's history and that she should accept herself. As Kotomine aims to use Illya's body to recreate the Holy Grail, Shirou and Saber confront him and his Servant, Gilgamesh. Following his victory victorious, Shirou instructs Saber to destroy the Grail, causing Saber to return to her last moments before she dies, finally accepting her life. In the
Réalta Nua version of the game, an overarching ending can be unlocked after all the routes, where Shirou fulfills his roles as a heroic spirit in order to meet Saber in Avalon.
Unlimited Blade Works The second of the three heroines is
Rin Tohsaka, a model student and idol of Shirou's school who is secretly a mage and Master of
Archer in the Holy Grail War. Her Servant Archer serves as the Servant protagonist of the route. She descends from a long, distinguished line of mages, with potential to become one of the 100 strongest human magi. Classmates dub Rin "The Ice Queen" 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 Shirou at school. Upon seeing him, she revives him due to his connection with
Sakura Matou, with whom Rin is closely acquainted. The two become allies in the war, unaware of Archer's true identity as an adult Shirou from one of the series' numerous alternate universes. Shirou 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 Shirou. He subsequently challenges Shirou to a fight, hoping to destroy his story of being a hero. However, Shirou accepts his future regardless of his regrets and misery, sticking to Kiritsugu's ideals. Gilgamesh tries to kill Archer and Shirou, with the former seemingly sacrificing himself to protect the latter. Later, Rin passes Shirou her Mana to fight Gilgamesh to replicate Archer's powers. As Gilgamesh almost drags Shirou into their deaths, Archer uses his last strength to save the latter. In the True Ending, Shirou and Rin move to London to study magecraft, 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 Shirou'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 Shirou. She is revealed to be Rin's long-lost sister, raised by the Matou family, and has since suffered their abuse while 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 Shirou. Sakura's adoptive grandfather, Zouken is revealed as the one who placed 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, Shirou, 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, Shirou 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 Shirou successfully eliminate Saber Alter. Shirou 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 Shirou's soul using a weaker version of the Third Magic. Rider later returns to the cave to grab and bring Shirou's soul home, and Rin places it within a puppet body. Shirou, Sakura, and Rider live peacefully in Japan, while Rin moves to London to study magecraft. ==Development==