storylines
I've decided to furtherly split the different storylines into more omogeneous categories, so you can find a scetion related to
fate/stay night game, an other for
fate hollow ataraxia and the last one for
fate/stay night anime.
In this page you can find short description/intro, to have a complete view of the story follow the links in each category.
fate/stay night game
Fate/Stay night tells about the happenings of a secret war, set in Fuyuki
City and involving 7 magicians, called Masters and the heroic spirits
they're able to summon and make a pact with, or well the Servants. This
conflict implies the victory of only one Master who's able to realize one
true wish through the Holy Grail.
The war is going to start pretty soon, involving many changes in the life of
Emiya Shirou, the main protagonist of the story.
Fate/Stay night is divided into 3 indipendent scenarios yet linked to each
other: Fate (the one which is also featured in the anime), Unlimited Blade
Works and Heavens Feel (which is probably the most significant).
Since I don't want to give too many spoilers all togheter I've made short descriptions (basically the main events in general) for each part of the game.
Procede to the
story.
fate hollow ataraxia
Fate/hollow Ataraxia could be considered as a sort of side-story/sequel of Fate/stay night since it doesn’t really follow the endings featured in the previous game and although it’s set more or less a year later than FSN, its events are somehow indipendent.
In short it’s the adventure of Bazette who’s entrapped in a fake Grail War, carried by her will and the agreement she made with Avenger, the only way she had to survive after Kotomine Kirei betrayal.
Procede to the
story
fate/stay night anime
The story of the anime is most likely the same of the
fate scenario (see above for more info), except for a few differences, mainly related to the need of mixing content from the
two other storylines to uncover many aspects of some characters we manage to know better through all the 3 stories of the game. I'll try to underline the most interesting differences between the two medias:
- In episode 14 we get many more hints about Archer's true identity than in the first scenario in the game
- From episode 17 the storyline changes a bit since Caster and Souichirou (who doesn't appear in Fate but in the other two scenarios) are trying to make a new Grail through the sacrifice of a Magi. They choose Sakura (who isn't involved at all in Fate in the game) and we
discover she has some connection with Rin (although it isn't really told they're sisters).
- Caster uses her Rule Breaker (Noble Phantasm) on Saber to avoide her using her Excalibur.
- Shirou can trace Archer's swords and he's slowly understanding his ideals are somehow vain, that it's impossible to save everyone and that probably not everybody is worth to be saved (in the game he does too, but more strongly in Heaven's Feel than in Fate or in Unlimited Blade Works).
- Shirou seems to be in love with Saber (in the game he doesn't so clearly, he's affectionated to her but he doesn't want her to stay with him since he realizes she needs to make her own destiny) and he wants to get the Holy Grail to free Saber from her duties as King Arthur.
- In episode 19 Kotomine Kirei tells Shirou that Saber could turn to human again by drinking from the Holy Grail (the Grail in the game isn't a cup, for more references check the dictionary, though it seems that he can refer to the wish Saber could have granted by winnign the war).
These are the most important differences. Since the anime is still on air, I'll add more as more contents/episodes are released.
timeline
Here you are an explicative timeline related to Fate/stay night main events and to the lifes of the characters involved.
1800: Makiri, Tohsaka and Zelretch decide to take part in the creation of the Holy Grail as featured in Fate/stay night (the Greater one).
As the lesser one is needed Lizleihi Justica von Einzbern decides to become the core of the Grail itself since her nature was permitting it. The magicians have arguments and they decide to
set a sort of competition for the realization of their attempt. The Grail War is established.
1802: Makiri Zouken becomes a sort ot vampire to follow the events of the Grail War.
1880: Second Heaven's Feel which ends again with the missing completition of the Grail. Rules are set in order to keep some regulations
in the conflict and to hide it to outsiders.
1940: Third Heaven's Feel. Avenger is summoned and the Grail currupted by him. The Church and the Magi Guild want to extent their control over the Holy Grail war and establish the Manager figure (the first one was Kotomine Risei, Kotomine Kirei's father).
The Grail is tainted and the conflict ends once again with a failure.
1982: Ilyasviel Von Einzbern birth
1983: Tohsaka Rin, Emiya Shirou, Matou Shinji births.
1984: Matou Sakura birth.
1990: Fourth Heaven's Feel. The Holy Grail is destroyed by Saber using Excalibur. Kotomine Risei and Tohsaka Tokiomi are assassinated.
2000: Fifth Heaven's Feel. The Grail is completely destroyed and the Holy Grail Wars haven't any meaning to exist anymore.
