Rin Tohsaka

Tohsaka Rin (遠坂 凛) is one of the three main heroines of Fate/stay night.

A model student and idol of Shirou's school, Rin is secretly a sorceress and Master in the Holy Grail War. She is descended from a long line of sorcerers, and though lacking a formal magic education, is extremely powerful in her own right. Her father, Tohsaka Tokiomi, was killed in the 4th Holy Grail War, and she has trained since his death to succeed him. Her mother is Tohsaka Aoi. She is perceptive, resourceful and avidly competitive. Although she tried to summon a Saber-class Servant, she accidentally called Archer instead. In the Heaven's Feel scenario, it is revealed that she has a growing interest in Shirou.

Appearance
Rin is young girl with long black hair tied in two pigtails with black ribbons, with most of her hair worn loose, and aqua eyes. At school she wears school uniform of Homurahara High with red coat and black tights. Her casual clothing consists of red turtleneck shirt, black mini skirt, long black socks, and brown shoes.

As a child she wears white collar long sleeves shirt with red ribbon tie, red skirt, long black socks, and black shoes. When she is a child, her father Tokiomi notes that Rin actually resembles his mother as a young girl rather than her mother Aoi.

Background
Two centuries ago, the Tohsaka House, in collaboration with the estates of Makiri and von Einzbern, helped found the Fuyuki Holy Grail Wars. The land of Fuyuki City, which possessed the second greatest spiritual power in all Japan, was owned by Rin's ancestor, Tohsaka Nagato; at the behest of the von Einzberns, he provided his property as battleground for present and future wars. Nagato was a, as well as a pupil of Zelretch; these titles gave him considerable influence on both the Mage's Association and the Church, allowing the Tohsaka to participate in the Holy Grail Wars, free from harassment by either organization.

Rin was brought up as the successor to her family's magecraft, and was instructed by her father to prioritize sorcery over her own interests. Ten years ago, Tokiomi was selected as a Master in the 4th Holy Grail War, and Rin was entrusted to take care of the Tohsaka estate until his return. After her father was killed, Rin continued to improve her sorcery, with some guidance from her guardian, Kotomine Kirei. To divert attention from her private life, Rin has diligently strived to earn the admiration of her peers, even though she is secretly stingy, tomboyish, and a slacker.

Although Rin resents the sacrifices she has endured for the sake of tradition, she is fiercely competitive and eager to prove herself as a skilled and capable sorcerer. She was immensely disappointed at summoning Archer and ended up in a quarrel with him; however, the duo soon reconciled and set aside their differences and quickly got along.

Personality
Rin is perceptive, serious, resourceful and avidly competitive person. Though she widely admired at school as an honours student, it is a front she puts up in order to prevent others from prying into her life. In private, she is notably stingy and bossy, but usually means well for those she cares about.

For the sake of her deceased father and her family's name, Rin seeks to obtain the Holy Grail, though she has little personal desire for it. Unbeknowst to her sister Sakura, Rin feels guilty and believes that she has abandoned Sakura after she is adopted into the Matou household. While Rin eventually admits that she has always watched Sakura from afar and hoping her sister was free of the burdens of the Tohsaka family, she feels even guiltier for never realizing how much Sakura suffered under the Matou and that she had fooled herself into thinking Sakura was happy to alleviate her own guilt.

Fate/stay night prologue
Rin narrates the prologue of Fate/stay night, detailing her first three days involved in the 5th Holy Grail War. In her dialogues, she reveals to her Servant Archer that she is only participating in the war out of her own competitive desire to become the winner. She also expresses dissatisfaction with Archer, for she was attempting to summon a Saber-class Servant, though she quickly grows accustomed to him.

After scouting out Fuyuki City, Rin is caught off-guard at Homurahara Gakuen by Lancer, who then engages in battle with Archer. This fight is interrupted, however, when Emiya Shirou is discovered and fatally wounded by Lancer; Rin, who has sympathy for Shirou, uses her family's treasured pendant, which possessed a strong concentration of Mana, to repair his heart. After she returns home, she realizes Lancer will continue to hunt Shirou when he realizes Shirou is not dead, prompting her to sprint toward Shirou's neighborhood. It is here that she first encounters Saber, and the three Fate/stay night scenarios branch off.

Fate/stay night
By the conclusion of the prologue, Rin would have used two Command Seals on Archer; the first is to force him into submission after he acts insubordinate to her briefly after he is summoned. The second is to force him into ethereal form before he is killed by Saber, except for Unlimited Blade Works path where Shirou uses command spell to stop Saber's attack instead. In all scenarios, her position as narrator is replaced by Shirou.

In Fate, Rin acts as an advisor to Shirou, dutifully attempting to school him in traditional sorcery in light of his powerful Servant, Saber. Although Shirou's recklessness results in the death of Archer, she bears Shirou no ill-will, though she hides bitterness at her loss of both her Servant and her chance at winning the war. Rin is later stabbed by Kotomine Kirei in Shirou's home, though she survives and ultimately leaves for London at the war's end to become a true magus.

Rin is the heroine in "Unlimited Blade Works" scenario, and has a romantic relationship with Shirou. In "Heaven's Feel" scenario, she reveals to Shirou that Matou Sakura is actually her biological sister who was adopted into the Matou family. Despite her cold words that Sakura must be killed to prevent the Shadow inside her from killing more people, Rin is actually reluctant to kill her sister. In the climax of the route, Rin uses the Jeweled Sword Zelretch to fight Sakura; during the fight, the sisters are finally able to admit how they truly feel towards one another. Though Rin is stabbed, Sakura realizes her sister's love for her and manages to regain control of herself long enough for Shirou to trace Rule Breaker and free her from the Shadow's control. The sisters reconcile their relationship in both the Normal and True endings for the route.

Rin and Shirou become partners in every scenario. Rin cares for Shiro however, aside from her heroine scenario, UBW, in which she ends the 5th Grail War while continuing some romantic interest with Shiro; their relationship is still placed secondary to her desire to join the Association, but she does ask if Shiro would be willing to travel with her to London as her apprentice so they can stay together and she can watch over him. In Fate scenario, she becomes only an observer of Shiro's life and continues her friendship with Shiro after Saber's departure. In Heaven's Feel, she does not pursue her feelings further because of Matou Sakura, her biological sister, who is in love with Shiro. She thus puts her feelings aside in consideration for her sister whom she felt she abandoned

Fate/hollow ataraxia
Rin also appears in Fate/stay night's sequel, Fate/hollow ataraxia, when she wields the Kaleidostick, another of Zeltretch's inventions, which when activated transfers knowledge from an alternate version of its user into its current wielder, in addition to providing an ample source of Mana. However, the Kaleidostick dislikes its creator, and frequently manipulates its user into humiliating situations. In Fate/hollow ataraxia, the Kaleidostick is responsible for transforming Rin into the magical girl Kaleido-Ruby. Also Rin's rival from Clock Tower, Luviagelita Edelfelt is introduced.

At the night of the final loop, Rin guards the Fuyuki bridge with her servant, Archer, from a horde of "monsters" to prevent them from chasing after Shiro/Avenger.

Abilities
As the successor to the Tohsaka household, Rin excels in transformation of energy, which includes storage of Prana in objects. Because the amount of energy a magus can release at one time is restricted by bodily limitations, Rin has been able to accumulate all of the Prana generated by her body during her lifetime through jewel crystallization. As with practicing of sorcery, charging these jewels has become a daily process for her. When Rin's stored power is needed, she can utilize the jewels for an instantaneous release of A-rank great magic capable of countering a spell from Caster's magecraft from the Age of Gods or taking one of Berserker's lives by using four jewels. Their speed of release is great enough that it can match Caster's High-Speed Divine Words. As of the beginning of Fate/stay night, her savings consist of ten jewels containing the energy she has saved since she was much younger, each costing ten million yen, approximately one hundred thousand dollars, to create.

Her most common offensive spell is a Finnish technique known as Gandr, which concentrates Prana into Rin's forefinger, resulting in a hazy black orb subsequently fired like a bullet. Originally intended to be a curse, Rin's variation on Gandr takes on an unusual, corporeal form. Additionally, Rin has bypassed any need for a verbal component to initiate this spell, and she can fire many Gandr shots in an instant.

Rin is also proficient with reinforcement sorcery; although not her specialty, she begins Fate/stay night with far more skill than Emiya Shirou has in the discipline. This spell is employed only once, when Rin uses reinforcement on her legs in the Fate/stay night prologue in an attempt to give herself enough speed to distance herself from Lancer. This displays her talent in the field, as the application of reinforcement to enhance parts of a living being is considered the pinnacle of difficulty.