Kirei Kotomine

Kotomine Kirei (言峰 綺礼) is a character from Fate/stay night. He is the main antagonist of the series.

Through an agreement between the Mage's Association and the Church, the Holy Grail Wars are moderated by a priest. Kirei's father was the mediator for the 4th Holy Grail War, and when he died, Kirei felt obligated to replace him. His selection as mediator is unusual, for Kirei is a member of both the Church and Mages' Association, organizations on hostile terms with one another. Since the death of Rin's father, he has also acted as an indirect caretaker for Rin. Although ranked lower in the Church hierarchy than Ciel (from Tsukihime), Kirei employs many of the same techniques and weapons she does.

Appearance
In Fate/stay night, Kotomine is in his mid 30's with slight long brown hair and blank brown eyes. He wears black bishop class priest uniform with dark purple coat with golden cross.

In Fate/Zero in his younger days he was in his mid 20's with short brown hair and wears low class male priest uniform.

Background
Kirei was not only a Master in the 4th Holy Grail War, but was also responsible for the monstrous conflagration in the ensuing turmoil following the war's end. He has lived a troubled and gloomy life, hounded by guilt and sorrow. Although Kirei understood the distinction between good and evil, he could only revel in committing sins. Like his father, Kotomine Risei, Kirei became a vicar, but he was trained as an exorcist and had an ironic talent for healing other people. With no alternative, Kirei prayed that, through marriage to a woman he loved, he could finally achieve respite from his tortured existence. When Kirei discovered marriage could not change him, he was on the brink of suicide; his ill wife, filled with concern, committed suicide to show to Kirei that he could still feel compassion for others. However, after her death, Kirei was disgusted to realize he would have preferred killing her instead; from that day on, he ceased pursuing salvation altogether. Their daughter, Caren Ortensia, was placed in the custody of her mother's relatives.

As a representative of the Church, it is initially implied that Kirei summoned an Archer and gained entry into the 4th Holy Grail War, being one of the survivors.

In the aftermath of the fourth war, Kirei became curious as to the capabilities of the Holy Grail; he decided contingencies in case another war began during his lifetime. After the Fuyuki fire died down, Kirei rounded up the surviving children and imprisoned them within the basement of his Church; he then allowed his Servant to consume their souls and stockpile Mana. While Archer took up residence in Fuyuki City, Kirei joined and participated on several missions for the Mage's Association, additionally acting as a distant supervisor for Tohsaka Rin. Nearly a decade after his death, Kirei was designated as Manager of the 5th Holy Grail War; at his request, Bazett Fraga McRemitz, a sorcerer-hunter Kirei met on one of his assignments, joined him in the conflict. Kirei then murdered Bazett, stealing her Command Mantra by slicing off her left arm. Using these mantra, he formed an additional contract with Bazett's now orphaned Servant, Lancer.

Personality
Thought to love destruction, but just like Emiya Shirou, he's the "creator" type of magus. Skill at fixing the spiritual/mental body is at Bishop level.

Not a villain but an evil person. Not inhuman but deviant. Not insane but also not sane. The biggest enemy in Fate saga, the final boss in fate/stay night (Saber route and Sakura route) and Zero. If Archer is a light embossing of Shirou's defects, then Kotomine could be said to be the wall exposing those defects by darkness. Like Shirou, a void human being.

Initial concept was "the guy that you just knew the first time you met him, to be the one pulling all the strings".

During Fate/Zero however, Kirei was calm, serious, and sometimes emotionless person who thought that joy is actually a sin and he even condemned the same evil acts that he would later do during Fate/stay night, saying that the acts of finding joy in/from the pain of others is monstrous and inhuman. It was after he was acquainting himself with Archer that he became the corrupted individual and villain that he is in Fate/stay night. He was also loyal to Tokiomi during the war until at the end.

Fate/Zero
Kirei actually summoned Assassin while Tokiomi Tohsaka, Kirei's mentor, summoned the Archer-class Servant. Gilgamesh 'kills' one of them in full view of the other Masters. This is in fact a ploy to fool the other masters into thinking that Assassin has been eliminated from the Holy Grail War. The Assassins initially acted as reconnaissance agents for Tokiomi and Kirei.

Kiritsugu recognized Kotomine as the most dangerous of the other Masters from the start and Kotomine knew about Kiritsugu well enough to be interested in him. During the first days of the war, Kirei followed Tokiomi's instructions and stayed in the church as a "defeated Master", but his growing interest in Emiya Kiritsugu lead him to search for him, engaging in some encounters against Kiritsugu's assistant Maiya and his wife Irisviel. Kirei won against them while Kiritsugu was fighting Kayneth Archibald El-Melloi, but seeing that Emiya Kiritsugu was a being that could be comprehended by others and not an empty man with the answers he sought, disappointment grew in Kirei, and he retreated.

Intrigued by Kotomine Kirei's participation in the war, Gilgamesh suggests that to overcome his emptiness, Kirei should determine backgrounds and the motivations of the other Masters and Servants as to why they wish to obtain the Holy Grail. Then, he decides that he should observe Matou Kariya’s fate too.

After Caster's fight at the Mion river, Kirei brought Kariya to Matou's underground worm chamber and leaves, only to find the dead body of his father back at the Church. Kirei finds a dying message from him; a secret password that gives Kirei all the remaining extra Command Spells. Kirei sheds tears after seeing that his father cared about him until the end, but he was feeling the exact opposite affection that a normal human being should. He wanted to see him die, just like when his wife died.

Kirei goes back to his room and has a conversation with Gilgamesh, but this time, Kirei is the devil tempting Gilgamesh. Kirei explains him how Tokiomi will use his last Command Spell to kill his own Gilgamesh and open the gate. Seeing this, Gilgamesh accepts Kirei's plan to kill Tokiomi and takes his position as Archer's Master. Tokiomi invited Kirei to his house one last time before Kirei headed back to the Church headquarters. Tokiomi wholeheartedly thanked that he was a loyal apprentice to him and gave him an Azoth knife to him as a parting fit. However, Kirei back-stabbed him with that knife.

Kirei made a deal with Kariya that if he helped him, Kirei will arrange a meeting with him and Tokiomi and also in return for kidnapping Irisviel von Einzbern using Berserker in the guise of Rider, he is promised victory and the Holy Grail. Zouken appeared in front of Kirei and says he must be plotting something interesting. Sensing Zouken as a dangerous threat, he attempts to kill him on the spot but Zouken can't be killed by just being pierced by Black Keys. Zouken chuckles at him saying he feels the same kind of broken personality just like himself as he left. Kirei determines he's one of the enemies that he needs to kill one day. As Zouken said, the "meeting" of Kariya and Tokiomi was an event arranged only for Kirei's amusement, and as Kariya finds Tokiomi already dead and Aoi walks in on him, she misinterprets the situation and blames Kariya for her husband's death. Kariya strangles her, as Kirei and Gilgamesh enjoy the scene.

Kirei transferred his hideout to the underground sewers where Caster used to be, set Irisviel as the vessel to the Grail, and ordered Gilgamesh to go out and intercept the enemies that are coming this way and Kariya's Berserker to fight Saber.

Kiritsugu and Kirei finally have their fateful fight at the center hall. They have nothing to say to each other. Kirei performs Ba Ji Quan mortal blows on Kiritsugu, but Avalon quickly heals his body and the Magus Killer makes a comeback with his Innate Time Control. Kirei tosses all his remaining Black Keys in a spin, so that they will be right over Kiritsugu just as Kirei gets to him - Kiritsugu can either try to dodge sideways or backwards and get punched anyway, or jump away and get slashed by the Keys. Instead, he just stands there, reloads, and shoots Kirei just as Kirei's fist connects and crushes his skull. With the battle in stalemate, the black mud gushing out from the Holy Grail in the room above engulfs them.

After a Grail induced dream, Kiritsugu points his gun at Kirei's heart from behind and Kirei wakes up too. Kirei is surprised that Kiritsugu didn't accept the offer of the Holy Grail. Kiritsugu's answer was that it sacrifices too many things for what it gives. Kirei says that he wanted it even so and Kiritsugu shot him in the heart saying that he doesn't understand Kirei.

In his last moments, the Holy Grail appeared to Kirei; filled with hatred and envy for Kiritsugu, he reached out and touched the cursed artifact. Kirei prayed for an end to humanity; his wish was granted in the form of fire. Amidst the roaring flames, Kiritsugu's Saber obliterated the Holy Grail, allowing its tainted water to soak Kirei's lifeless body, resurrecting him with an artificial, black heart. Kirei wakes up and finds Gilgamesh near him. He seemed to have gained a flesh body from something that flowed to his body through the Master and Servant connection. After looking at the burning town, Kirei laughs out in pleasure. He finally realizes what brings happiness to him in this world.

Half a year later, coming up with a plan to entertain himself, he gives Rin the Azoth knife that killed her father as a gift, saying he received from her father upon completion of his training.

Fate/stay night
Kotomine Kirei is an antagonist in all three scenarios of Fate/stay night, though he is the only absolute villain in Fate. Kirei is almost always the first to have access to the Holy Grail, though he cares little for it himself; he is more interested in the results of wishes made upon a tainted artifact, especially with individuals who possess pure souls or good intentions.

In Fate, he apparently remains out of the plot until nearly the end. Shirou goes to Kotomine's place again hoping to get advice but he finds out he was the Master of not only Lancer, but Gilgamesh as well. He reveals that he has been keeping Gilgamesh from the previous war. Since then, he was using orphans from the fire incident to supply Gilgamesh with Mana. He uses the Grail as bait to tempt Saber and Shirou into using it, but they refuse. In the final day of the war, Kirei and Shirou fight in a cataclysmic final battle, the same as Kirei and Kiritsugu ten years ago. Shirou and Saber (fighting Gilgamesh) use Avalon at the same time and defeat their enemies. Ironically, the knife that killed Kotomine Kirei was the same Azoth knife that he gave to Rin.

In Unlimited Blade Works Kirei's goals are unchanged, but he also lends his Archer to Matou Shinji. His plans are truncated when he's killed by Lancer shortly after forcing Lancer to stab himself.

In Heaven's Feel route, he finds in Matou Sakura a way to find the answer to what he was looking all his life. The "training" that Matou Zouken did to her in the years between wars turned her into a Lesser Grail, the Black Grail of Makiri. With her innate connection to the dark being that sleeps within the Grail since the Third War, he plans to see the Grail completion and the birth of Angra Mainyu, thanks to the Third Magic. He uses Emiya Shirou's love for Sakura to ensure her safety, and when Sakura is tainted by the shadow inside her, Kirei aids Shirou in a raid against her and Zouken to save Ilya, the White Grail of Einzberns. They manage to rescue Ilya, but are confronted with both True Assassin and Dark Berserker. Kirei has an old score to settle with Zouken, and so stalls True Assassin behind and pins him to a tree using the information he got by observing Lancer's last battle, and then proceeds to exorcise Matou Zouken. Afterwards, however, Sakura arrives and stops his black heart, giving him only a few hours to live.

Near the end, Kirei suddenly appears, intending to stop Shirou destroying something he has desired to witness. He wonders about the behavior and stability of an entity born of evil. After he gave up on salvation and happiness, he questioned the meaning of his own existence. Namely, he questioned how a being like himself was allowed to be born. Kirei sought to find the answer by completing the tainted Grail as he figured that the tainted Grail was a larger version of himself and by watching its birth, he would be able to find the answer to his question. Contrary to Kiritsugu, Shirou is, like Kirei, an empty human being pursuing happiness. The only difference is that Kirei was unable to find happiness outside evil, so this fight is also a way to release his frustration and envy. Finally, Shirou notices that he likes Kotomine Kirei, and the two proceed to engage in a fateful fight like the one ten years ago. With their bodies half-dead, the only fight they are able to perform is a hand-in-hand brawl. As Kirei's heart was stopped in the forest, he loses to Shirou as his body gives out first. With his last words, Kirei declares Shirou as the winner of the Fifth Holy Grail War and the last Master, and then his body crumbles lifeless.

Fate/hollow ataraxia
Kotomine is not present in Fate/hollow ataraxia, his role as the overseer of the Holy Grail War was given to Caren Ortensia (who is later hinted to be his daughter).

Abilities
Has the qualifications of a Church Executor and specializes in healing by spiritual mediation. 1st class as an Executor, but still can't match the seventh of the Burial Agency. His attack power against spiritual bodies is superb (while twisted) and represents how unshaking his faith is.

He is also skiled in using the Black Keys, which is shown during his fight with Maiya and Irisviel, and even his amazing strength to break free Irisviel's alchemist threads when he was tied to a tree.