Fate Kirei Kotomine

Kirei Kotomine - Fate

Profile

Kirei Kotomine is the main antagonist of Fate/Zero and Fate/Stay Night. Kirei has a perverted and evil mind and is said to have been this way since birth. He cannot find joy in the positive aspects of life and prefers negative emotions, including the pain and suffering of others. Kirei is said to be the exact opposite of Shirou. They are both empty shells with no true sense of self, but while Shirou derives joy from helping others, Kirei derives joy from causing others pain. He is the master of Assassin in the Fourth Holy Grail War and the supervisor and master of Lancer and Gilgamesh in the Fifth Holy Grail War.

Appearance

In Fate/Zero Kirei is 28 years old and has short, spiky hair and wears a simple black outfit with a gold cross necklace. In Fate/Stay Night , he is 38 years old, has shoulder-length hair parted in the middle, and wears a cassock over his black outfit. In Fate/Kaleid's understudy Prisma☆Illya, he switches from his religious habit to wearing a blue bandana and apron once he becomes the owner of a ramen shop.

SKILLS

Kirei is both an executor of the Church's will and a mage specializing in healing magic. He underwent brutal training to become a human weapon in order to earn the right to the title of executor and is a fierce opponent and expert in combat.

He is extremely proficient with the Black Keys weapon, long daggers that he uses as projectiles. The blades are created using magical energy, and he carries an unknown number of them inside his cassock. He can wield four in one hand. He also masters a martial art technique known as Super Bajiquan, which fuses Bajiquan and magic into agile and powerful strikes. After being resurrected by Angra Mainyu at the end of the Fourth Holy Grail War, he can also control and manipulate the cursed mud of the Holy Grail.

Kirei doesn't come from a family of mages. Although he was born with magic circuits, he isn't gifted in the profession. He studied intensively with Tokiomi in various fields, but the only one he had a natural inclination for was healing magic. However, he would become quite skilled in this field of magic, surpassing even Tokiomi.

Role

Fourth Holy Grail War
Kirei participates in the Fourth Holy Grail War as a master assassin. At the end of the war, he is able to make a wish upon the Holy Grail, which causes a massive explosion that nearly kills Shirou and will define his participation in the Fifth Holy Grail War. During the fire, the Grail is destroyed by Saber, and the Grail's curse falls upon Kirei's body, resurrecting him.

After the war, he became Rin's guardian, whose father Tokiomi was killed during the war. He also began taking in orphaned children under the guise of running an orphanage, but in reality, he stole their life energy to give to Gilgamesh. He continued to work with the Church until the Fifth Holy Grail War 10 years later.

Fifth Holy Grail War
Kirei is tasked by the Church with overseeing the Fifth Holy Grail War, someone to ensure fairness in the war and provide sanctuary for masters who have lost their servants. Several times during the war, Shirou turns to him for advice, once regarding Saber and another time to try to gain information about Gilgamesh. However, Shirou discovers he is behind his own nefarious plan when he finds an underground room in the church with orphans whose life force Kirei had drained.

It is revealed that Kirei killed Lancer's original Master and made a new contract with him, planning to use Illya as a vessel to summon the Holy Grail. He is also the Master of Gilgamesh, with whom he made a contract shortly after his participation in the Fourth Holy Grail War, allowing him to remain in the world and participate in the Fifth Holy Grail War.

In the "Destiny" route, he attempts to use Illya to summon the Holy Grail. He knows of the Grail's corrupted nature due to Angra Mainyu and wants to use it to spread suffering. He is ultimately defeated at Ryudou's Temple before the portal to the Grail can be fully opened by Shirou using Rin's Azoth Dagger.

In the "Unlimited Blade Works" route, he is killed by his own servant Lancer when he orders Lancer to kill Rin and replace his heart with a Holy Grail vessel and he refuses.

In the "Heaven's Feel" route, Kirei attempts to use Sakura as the Dark Grail to complete the Holy Grail and bring about the birth of Angra Mainyu through the Third Magic. However, he is ultimately defeated in battle by Shirou.

Other appearances

Aside from Fate/Stay Night and Fate/Zero , Kirei also appears in Fate/Kaleidoscope's Prisma☆Illya in which he is a member of the Church in Miyu's world and later becomes the owner of a ramen shop, in Fate/Grand Order in which he appears as Alter-Ego Grigori Rasputin, a pseudo-servant in Kirei's body, in Fate/Extra as an NPC in the Moon Holy Grail War, and in Fate/Tiger Colosseum .