Rin Tohsaka

Rin Tohsaka (遠坂 凛) is one of the three main heroines of Fate/stay night who acts as the Master of Archer in the Fifth Holy Grail War. Rin is the heroine of the Unlimited Blade Works route in Fate/stay night.

Background
Two centuries ago, the Tohsaka House, in collaboration with the estates of Makiri and 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, Nagato Tohsaka; at the behest of the 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 in both the Mage's Association and the Church, allowing the Tohsaka family 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 magecraft over her own interests. Ten years ago, Tokiomi Tohsaka 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. Her mother, Aoi Tohsaka, was left in a debilitated state from the war, so her care was left to her guardian, Kirei Kotomine. After her father was killed, Rin continued to improve her sorcery with some guidance from Kirei Kotomine. 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 perfectionist. The rights to the Tohsaka lands were inherited by Aoi after Tokiomi's death, and subsequently inherited by Rin after Aoi's death. Kirei managed them as Rin's guardian, and because of his foolhardy and coarse management, the majority of profitable properties ended up in the hands of others. It is possible that he believed the wealth was bad for her upbringing due to following the principles of humility and poverty.

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 magus. She was immensely disappointed at summoning Archer and ended up in a quarrel with him; however, the duo soon reconciled, set aside their differences and quickly got along.

Appearance
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Personality
Rin is a perceptive, serious, resourceful and very competitive person. Though she is widely admired at school as a prim and proper honor student, it is a front she puts up in order to prevent others from prying into her life. In private, she is notably loud, shrewd, stingy and bossy, but usually means well for those she cares about. She is known as a model student and idol of her school. Her manner of speech is often hostile and dismissive of other people, but deep down she has a caring, big-sisterly disposition. Her tendency of making trivial mistakes at the worst possible moment is a hereditary curse. Though she really is a lot nicer than she seems, she claims to always make her decisions based on cold, rational logic in the end. In her own words, it's "not a very cute personality". In fact, her choice in personal clothes is probably an overreaction to that. Despite claiming that she would do anything in order to win the Holy Grail War, no matter how underhanded, she has a deeply rooted sense of honor, seen refusing to dispose of Shirou despite numerous easy chances of doing so, simply because she owes him and deem disposing of him without clearing her debts to be cheap.

During her childhood, she understood the Fourth Holy Grail War about as much as Shirou understands the Fifth, seemingly understanding while not actually comprehending it. She saw her father as a great magus who must be respected and loved, but failed to understand the negative aspect of his personality, the coldheartedness that accompanied such an ideal. If he had lived until Rin could actually understand his personality, it is likely that it would have greatly affected the development of her own personality. It is unknown if she would have opposed such inhumanity and left the path of a magus, or if she would have become a “perfect and coldhearted” magus like her father. Either fate for Rin would have been one far away from happiness. Due to Tokiomi's early and untimely death, she was not aware of the original goal of the Holy Grail War to open a “hole” beyond the World.

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. Unbeknownst to her sister Sakura, Rin feels guilty and believes that she has abandoned Sakura after she is adopted into the Matou household, so much the guilt was what driven her to revive Shirou, Sakura's target of affection, at the brink of death. While Rin eventually admits that she has always watched Sakura from afar, she never realized how much Sakura suffered under the Matou and fooled herself into thinking Sakura was happy to alleviate her own guilt.

She spent just as much time quarrelling with Shirou as she did cooperating with him. She's a mischievous girl at heart, so she loves teasing serious people such as Shirou. However, Rin did want to kill him when she saw his Gradation Air in his shed, thinking that he lied to her. Although she claimed to be not interested in anyone, the Heaven's Feel scenario revealed that Rin has been attracted to Shirou after witnessing his stubborn attempts to finish a high jump that he had no chance of finishing when they were younger. Rin was very supportive of Shirou's relationship with Saber in the Fate route. In the Unlimited Blade Works, they became aware of their mutual crush and attraction which developed to love. In Heaven's Feel, Rin reveals her attraction to Shirou while giving advice for Sakura and their closeness makes Sakura jealous and resentful of Rin.

Her hobbies include admiring jewels. Although wealthy from her family's magical patents, she feels somewhat ashamed of having to rely on the work of previous generations.

Fate/Zero
Rin appears as a minor character in Fate/zero. She first appeared when Kariya Matou visited her and her mother Aoi. During Kariya and Aoi's conversation, it is revealed that Sakura was sent to the Matou family, an incident which deeply upset Rin and she avoids speaking of it. Shortly before the war begins, Rin's father Tokiomi acquires Kirei Kotomine as a student. Despite her father's confidence in his abilities, Rin is wary of Kotomine, going so far as questioning him to determine if she can trust him to protect her father, and decides she just can't like people like him when he doesn't give her the response she wants to hear. Ironically, Kirei would be the one to murder her father later on.

Throughout the Fourth Grail War, Rin and Aoi reside with Rin's maternal grandparents outside of Fuyuki City for their own personal safety. When children begin disappearing from Fuyuki City as a result of Ryuunosuke Uryuu and Caster kidnapping them, Rin sets out on her own to find one of the missing children, a girl named Kotone whom Rin was friends with. Using her elementary magic skills and a magical compass from her father, Rin's attempt goes awry and she winds up lost and in danger of being attacked by Caster's monsters. Her mother finds her shortly after Rin is saved by Kariya, though Rin fainted soon after seeing the terrible changes to Kariya's face. The anime expands Rin's short adventure, resulting in her meeting Ryuunosuke Uryuu in person and freeing the children he kidnapped. While escaping, she is attacked by Caster's Horror, though she is saved by Kariya. The incident concludes as it did in the novel, where Rin faints and Kariya brings her to a park where Aoi finds them.

When Tokiomi visits his wife and daughter one last time before the conclusion of the war, he presents Rin with a book, as well as advice and encouragement for her to become a powerful magus. The meeting would be the last time Rin ever saw her father before his death. Prior to his demise, Tokiomi arranges for Kotomine Kirei to become her guardian and teacher until she comes of age.

Rin's final appearance occurs in the epilogue of the series, during the funeral of her father. Thanks to Tokiomi's careful preparations, she has already obtained most of her family's crest and has become the next head of the Tohsaka family despite her young age. Rin shows no visible distress at her father's death, even as she is forced to care for her mother, who suffers from brain damage and still believes that Sakura and Tokiomi are with her, leaving Rin to feel lonely within her own home. Kirei, in hopes of eliciting an unhappy reaction from Rin, gives her the Azoth Sword, telling her that her father had given it to him but omitting that he had used it to kill Tokiomi; to Kotomine's secret delight, Rin is overcome with emotion and weeps.

Fate/stay night
Rin is the protagonist of the prologue of Fate/stay night Unlimited Blade Works, 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 Academy by Lancer, who then engages in battle with Archer. This fight is interrupted, however, when Shirou Emiya is discovered and fatally wounded by Lancer; Rin, who felt sympathy for Shirou - and Sakura (in UBW) -, used 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 discovers that Shirou is not dead, prompting her to sprint toward Shirou's neighborhood. It is here that she first encountered Saber, and the three Fate/stay night scenarios branch off. In all three scenarios, Rin helps and allies with Shirou.

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 insubordinately to her after he is summoned. The second is to force him into ethereal form before he is killed by Saber, except for the Unlimited Blade Works path where Shirou uses a Command Spell to stop Saber's attack instead. In all scenarios, her position as protagonist is given to Shirou.

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 in Shirou's home, though she survives and ultimately leaves for London after the war to become a true magus.

Unlimited Blade Works
After learning that Shirou is a complete novice, Rin takes him to Kotomine Church and introduces him to Kirei so that he can have the Holy Grail War explained to him, believing she owed him that much. Upon leaving, they are attacked by Ilya and her Servant, Berserker, forcing both teams to work together. The fight leaves Shirou wounded, and Rin helps Saber get him home, staying to make sure his injuries are healed before making to leave. When Shirou tries to thank her, she reminds him that the Holy Grail War is a fight to the death and the next time they meet, it will be as enemies.

The next day, Shirou shows up for school as he normally would and angers Rin, who feels he's ignored her warning. While looking for the source of the school's barrier, she comes across Shirou again. She immediately switches her attention, deciding to make good on her threat on sight. Rin launches her assault, relentlessly pursuing Shirou with the intent to kill him unless he surrenders Saber's Command Spells. She is interrupted at the last moment by the sudden appearance of Rider, who attacks a student. Shirou and Rin promptly team up to drive Rider away and call a truce. Forming an alliance, they begin searching for possible candidates for Rider's Master.

Shirou finds himself whisked away to Ryuudou Temple by Caster, who also wishes to take away his Command Spells. Archer interrupts and saves Shirou while Saber confronts Assassin. It is at this moment that Shirou starts to get even more irritated by Archer, who has looked down on his ideals. Archer then attacks Shirou, but is stopped by Saber and Assassin. While they are fighting at Ryuudou Temple, Rin begins to have dreams about Archer and his past as a hero who was betrayed by his ideals. After she finds out about Archer going to the temple to kill Shirou, Rin apologizes to Shirou for Archer's actions and tells him that she used a Command Spell to order Archer to never attack Shirou.

The following day, Shinji Matou reveals himself as Rider's Master when he has her use Blood Fort Andromeda to attack the school and everyone in it. A second Servant attacks at the same time, and Saber is summoned. While she fights the Servant, who turns out to be Caster, Rin and Shirou fight their way through golems to get to Rider and stop her. They arrive only to find she's already been killed, though Shinji runs away without telling them who killed her.

With Rider defeated, Rin and Shirou's focus shifts to uncovering the identity of Caster's Master, suspecting that it has to be someone else from the school. When it seems that it might be a teacher, Souichirou Kuzuki, Rin takes the lead and plans an ambush to reveal his identity as a Master or not. Since Archer had suggested they ally with Caster instead of Shirou, Rin decides to leave him behind and only bring Shirou and Saber, not wanting Archer to be around Caster and thinking Saber would be more than enough to handle the situation. The plan works initially, confirming Kuzuki's role as Caster's Master, but things quickly sour when he and Caster fight back. Nearly overwhelmed by their combined strength, they are saved only by the surprise of Shirou's projection attacks and Kuzuki's call to retreat rather than fight further. In order to make it easier to plan and strategize, Rin comes to stay at Shirou's house.

In response to a conversation they had the night before that made Rin realize Shirou doesn't do anything for himself and his own enjoyment, Rin takes Shirou on a date packed with fun-filled activities the next day, bringing Saber along. Upon returning home, they find Caster holding Taiga as hostage. When Shirou tries to follow her demands, Caster releases Taiga and strikes Saber with Rule Breaker, transferring Shirou's Command Spells to her. Against her will, Saber is forced to attack Rin and Shirou is stabbed through the shoulder when he tries to protect her. At Saber's urging, Shirou and Rin leave; in the anime, Archer arrives to help them, and with his aid they are able to get away without further incident. With his Command Spells gone, Rin declares that she will fight Kuzuki and Caster with only Archer, despite Shirou's protests.

Shirou follows Rin and witnesses her confronting Kuzuki and Caster in Kotomine Church, their new base of operations. To her shock, Archer suddenly betrays Rin and attacks her. Shirou saves her and, although she is reluctant, she eventually thanks him and accepts his help again. With Archer gone, both decide to ask Ilya and Berserker for their help. Unfortunately, they arrive too late and find that Shinji and Gilgamesh have already killed them. Lancer shows up shortly afterwards, however, with orders to help them take down Caster if they are willing to cooperate together. Out of options, they accept.

They return to the Kotomine Church, where Lancer fights Archer again. Archer admits defeat and retreats into the church. Meanwhile, Shirou and Rin team up to fight Kuzuki and Caster, ending in a stalemate until Rin turns the tables, attacking Caster not with magecraft but martial arts, and nearly killing her. Kuzuki prevents her from delivering the final blow, and Caster tries to use a spell to completely dominate Saber and send her against Shirou and Rin. But before she can, Archer arrives and attacks Kuzuki, killing Caster when she takes the strike for him.

Even with both of them defeated, Archer is still not on their side, however, and he reveals his true motives and intent to kill Shirou. Rin makes a new contract with Saber, thereby making her Saber's Master, to stop him. Archer then kidnaps Rin and takes her as a hostage to Einzbern Castle. There, Shinji tries to rape her, despite her warnings that he is just being manipulated. Further, Kirei arrives and reveals his plot to kill Rin and turn her body into the vessel for the Lesser Grail, finally revealing to Rin's fury that he murdered her father as well. She is ultimately rescued by Lancer, who kills Kirei and drives off Shinji before dying himself.

Rin makes her way out of the basement and to the upper hall of the castle just in time to see the conclusion of Archer and Shirou's fight. Moments later, Gilgamesh appears and attempts to kill Shirou and Archer both. Archer saves Shirou by pushing him out of the way, falling under the full assault of Gilgamesh's attack and disappearing before Rin's eyes, much to her grief. Gilgamesh reveals the true nature of the Grail to her, Shirou, and Saber, along with his plans to use it to eradicate mankind.

Shirou, Rin and Saber go back to the Emiya household to make a plan to stop Gilgamesh and deal with the Grail. After giving Shirou enough mana to access his Reality Marble, they set out and reach Gilgamesh's new hideout, Ryuudou Temple. Rin saves Shinji, who had been used as the Grail's core, fighting off its manifested curses and attempts to pull him back in, even as it tried to swallow them in a mass of flesh. Upon escaping, Rin uses her final Command Spell to order Saber to destroy the Grail.

Meanwhile, Shirou successfully defeats Gilgamesh. However, Gilgamesh tries one last time to make him the new incarnation of the Holy Grail. Fortunately, Archer, who also appeared to help Rin at the same time, comes to Shirou's aid. Rin bids her Servant goodbye as Archer tells her to take care of his younger self, hoping that her care for Shirou will change the future and grant his wish to save Shirou from his ideals. In the end, Rin finally sees Archer with a genuine smile, the same one as Shirou's.

In Rin's True Ending, she heads off to the Mages' Association after she graduates, and asks Shirou if he would be willing to travel with her to London as her apprentice so they can stay together and she can watch over him, though they both know he would say yes. Its also established in this ending that they have officially entered into a romantic relationship following the end of the 5th Grail War.

In Rin's Good Ending, she keeps Saber as her Servant, and Rin and Shirou live a normal happy life as a couple. Rin is the Winner of the 5th Grail War in this route.

Heaven's Feel
In the "Heaven's Feel" scenario, Rin reveals to Shirou that 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 in both the Normal and True Ending.

Epilogue
Ten years after the end of 5th Holy Grail War (on the Fate and Unlimited Blade Works routes), Lord El-Melloi II arrived in Fuyuki and together with the head of the Tohsaka family, Tohsaka Rin, set out to completely take apart the Great Grail. The Association was planning on bringing back the Great Grail, so the two sides were completely opposed. After the end of the great turmoil of the same magnitude as the Grail War, the Great Grail was completely dismantled and the Grail Wars of Fuyuki came to a complete conclusion.

Fate/hollow ataraxia
In the beginning of the game, Rin is away to London to appear before the Mage's Association in a court hearing, for her experiments with Second Magic in the Einzbern Castle. She asked Archer to 'guard' the city in her place.

After Sakura sends a letter to Rin (in which Shirou also asked for Rin's help inside), she suddenly returns to Fuyuki. She is the first person that helps Shirou with his suspicion of the 4-day loop.

In the final loop, she and Archer fight together in the Fuyuki bridge to stop the horde of shadows from reaching Shirou/Avenger.

In her Eclipse scenario, Beginners, Rin invites Shirou into her home to escape the rain. As they are both alone in an empty house, they decide to have sex. Rin establishes "rules" to control the safety of their intercourse, but clearly uncomfortable, the mood quickly gets off to a sour start. But Shirou, learning from their previous failures where he got too rough or carried away, becomes determined to make this a pleasant experience for her. Rin's response to the foreplay is immediately positive, with Shirou taking his time to get her into it.

His tenderness eventually breaks past her barriers, and uncovers the misplaced fears Rin had that made her too nervous and tense to enjoy their sex in the past. This results in a heart-to-heart that only brings them closer, the mood dramatically improved as they move onto making love. Enjoying it like never before, Rin becomes mushy, confessing her love to Shirou again and again whilst breaking all of her own rules. Upon breaking the last one - the most important one - Shirou fears unwanted conception and Rin's anger turned at him, but is surprised by a fully positive and loving reaction from her. No longer caring about anything else from then on, the happy couple embrace each other, sleeping side by side until the morning. Shirou wakes Rin with affectionate kisses, which she returns, before dashing off to make breakfast and hoping to share more tranquil mornings like these together in their future. This side story is implied to take place after Rin's True Ending.

Fate/unlimited codes
She is given the title Elegant Apprentice Mage from a Noble Family (優雅なる名門魔術師) in Fate/unlimited codes.

Fate/tiger colosseum series
In Fate/tiger colosseum Upper, Rin can transform into Kaleido Ruby (カレイドルビー) and she is part of a group called Magical Four Heavenly Kings (マジカル四天王).

Fate/Extra series
In the Fate/Extra world, Rin shares the name as the Rin Tohsaka that appears in the Moon Cell Holy Grail War. They are different people but they are relatives part of the same lineage.

Due to Moon Cell fluctuations in Fate/Extra CCC, Rin and Archer appear as an optional boss. Her codecast skills are:
 * One step - Gandr Shoot (一工程・ガンド撃ち) - Causes magic damage and stun status.
 * Jewel Magecraft - Entire person fortune throw (宝石魔術・全財投人) -
 * Seven Colors Crackers (セブンカラーズ・クラッカー) - Causes magic damage.

Carnival Phantasm
Rin has an active role in Carnival Phantasm due to being one of the heroines of Fate. Her tsundere personality is comically exaggerated and she seems to be obsessed with winning and having more money than she already has. She is also hopeless with electronics to ridiculous lengths. Her alter-ego is the magical girl Kaleido Ruby.

Capsule Servant
In Capsule Servant, she is a playable character and appears as her younger self.

There is a possible future incarnation of Rin becoming a Heroic Spirit called TOHSAKA (トーサカ). Instead of Heroic Spirit EMIYA, Rin made a contract with the world and became a Counter Guardian. She destroyed the Holy Grail and became Magical Witch (マジカル・うぃっち) TOHSAKA.

All Around Type-Moon
Rin appears in the mange series All Around Type-Moon. In one chapter, her inability to handle electronics leads her to accidentally summon Nero directly from the Moon Cell. Later on in the chapter, she also accidentally summons several more characters.

Other appearances
She appears in Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA☆ILLYA, as a major character. Her counterpart recruits Illya for help.

A parallel world version of TYPE-MOON might tell Rin's story in London. In the "Apocrypha" universe, the Tohsaka gave up on the Greater Grail. Rin end up becoming the founder of a "completely new martial arts that combines magecraft and Chinese Kenpou" by the time she becomes a high school student.

In Type-Moon's April Fools' Day 2008, she is a super heavyweight wrestler star known as the Dynamite Rin (ダイナマイト凛) in the T Moon Fighting Spirit (Tムーン 闘魂). She is the boss of the Fate Wrestling Federation and the leader of the IWGP tag team. Rin is a talented woman who leads a western-style puroresu group. After learning fighting techniques and management at GGG. Rin furthered her knowledge in the field. Rin tends to favor strikes instead of throws. While she is skilled, Rin prefers to turn the fights into a simple match of power vs power, turning the spectacle into a royal road of proresu. As someone who knows how to work the crowd with microphone performances. Dynamite Rin represents the best qualities of proresu. Her fight with Great Luvia came to a draw as the Referee Shinji Matou was knocked out by the two fighters powerful drop kicks.

Rin makes an appearance in Fate/Grand Order as a Craft Essence card. She appears as the illustration cover for Gandr (ガンド) and Formal Craft (フォーマルクラフト).

Abilities
Rin was born capable of manipulating all five great Elements, an extremely rare trait for a magi. Her potential is such that she will eventually be considered as one of the top one hundred ranking magi throughout the entire history of the Mage's Association. Compared using simple numbers, someone with an abnormally high potential like Ciel is at one hundred, someone who is eternally at apprentice-level like Shirou is at ten, and Rin falls from seventy to one hundred.

As the successor to the Tohsaka family, Rin excels in Conversion of power, which includes storage of magical energy in objects, typically jewels for Jewel Magecraft. She uses them as disposable, limited-function Mystic Codes. 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 magical energy 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 turning them into powerful bullets. However, in the end they are merely disposable items. Because their sorcery reduces expensive jewels to ash after a single use, the Tohsaka magi are fated to be chronically afflicted with a lack of funds. When Rin's stored power is needed, she can utilize the jewels for an instantaneous release of A-rank magic capable of countering a spell from Caster's magecraft from the Age of Gods or taking one of Berserker's lives by using five jewels. Their speed of release is great enough that it can match Caster's High-Speed Divine Words. She can also use small statues of amethyst in form of Owls (梟) as familiars for reconnaissance purposes.

Her most common offensive spell is a Finnish technique known as Gandr, which concentrates magical energy into Rin's forefinger, resulting in a hazy black orb to be 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 due to having inherited and infused Magic Crest of her family, and she can fire as many Gandr shots in an instant, even set up a barrier and rain them on an opponent if she so chooses. Since Rin's Gandr Shot was particularly violent, capable of punching through and disintegrating a large portion of a concrete wall with just a single shot, it could be considered on the level of Finn Shot. Or, Finn Gatling Gun.

While statistically superior to Kirei Kotomine, he would win eighty percent of the time by psychologically exploiting her past traumas to keep her from fighting at her full potential. Even without such knowledge, Kirei would still have a substantial combat advantage over Rin due to possessing over ten years of experience as a professional killer of magi. If Bazett Fraga McRemitz had been able to participate in the war, she would ended up being a threat to Rin.

Rin is also proficient with reinforcement sorcery, allowing her to strengthen her legs so much that she can run over one hundred meters in less than seven seconds, fast enough to be perceived as a blur to a regular human. She is also able to use it on herself for a few seconds to deal critical damage to even a Servant like Caster with physical blows in a situation where Rin has her off-guard. She can also make use of one of her jewels for a large amount of protection, and by placing it on her stomach to form a protective cover, she can even last a long duration of time being crushed in Berserker's grip. She can also use a degree of healing magic and ruins.

Rin practices pseudo-karate as a form of self-defense. Her instructor in martial arts is Kirei, his teaching was responsible for the sequence of moves she used to corner Caster.

Equipment
Rin has inherited everything that belonged to her father, including heirloom jewels, jewels inherited from Zelretch, and the wares and knowledge to manage her workshop, the basement of the Tohsaka household. She originally would have had possession of all the commercialized spiritual lands that brought in more money than most Second Owner families elsewhere, but Kirei's mismanagement as her legal guardian has caused the most valuable properties to have been lost to others. She still obtains royalties from magical patents held by the Tohsaka family, "*0,000,000 yen" annually without including additional revenue, so she can be considered relatively wealthy. She obtains jewels for her craft through exclusive channels used by her family, leaving her each day wondering "whether she could've gotten a better price from the buyer if she had just become friends with that lady."

In preparation for the Fifth Holy Grail War, Tokiomi left her a special inheritance in his will that requires her to solve a special puzzle to find and open a box of his effects. The most prominent items are a pendant and the catalyst, having been smashed at some point in time, he had used to summon Gilgamesh. Opening it also causes all the clocks in the household to immediately become set one hour fast as a bit of playfulness as if to say, “if she can’t even notice a slip-up as trivial and close to home as this, it’s too soon for her to fight in the Holy Grail War.”

Jewels
Rin buys a variety of jewels, and those she utilizes in combat can reach prices of 500,000 yen each. Those that are made of crystals that are naturally able to easily store mana are made of precious metals and come with a very high price. As of the beginning of Fate/stay night, her savings consists of twenty jewels containing the energy she has saved for over ten years, each costing ten million yen to create in total. She uses ten during Archer's summoning ritual, and uses the remaining ten during the battles of the three routes.

Rin's Pendant
Rin's Pendant (凛のペンダント) is a powerful, one-of-a-kind jewel pendant left to Rin as part of her inheritance from her father, which she considers to be her father's memento. It is a one hundred year old Tohsaka family heirloom that is the greatest jewel within the household, far stronger than anything else with the equivalent of ten years worth of Rin's magical energy. As one of the best artifacts of its class that she believes Tokiomi left to allow her to win the Holy Grail War, Rin decides to utilize it as a last resort, believing anything to be possible with the amount of energy it possesses. It contains enough magical energy to revive a human being on the verge of death, which she uses early in the war to revive Shirou Emiya by restoring his damaged heart. She lacks the skill or ability to perform such a feat on her own, so it requires using the great energy of the pendant to make up for that. She creates a new heart to use as a substitute, believing the feat exemplary enough to be accepted to the Clock Tower instantly.

After it is drained, it loses much of its weight and only retains a small amount of energy, less than her ten remaining jewels for battle. She leaves it by Shirou by accident, deciding not to retrieve it because it has no true worth without any remaining energy. It is simply an ordinary, expensive jewel like that, even though it has some value to her as a memento. Shirou picks it up after regaining consciousness, keeping it as a memento of his unknown savior. Archer, a future version of Shirou from another timeline, kept the jewel all his life, making it a catalyst that connects him to his summoner. The jewel she holds during the ritual has no worth as a catalyst, but the jewel held by Archer allows for him to be summoned. It is one of the objects materialized with him, allowing him to give her his own pendant after they arrive home with Rin not knowing the difference. The pendant held by Shirou has a small amount of energy left, not even enough to use a single Reinforcement spell according to him, while the one held by Archer has none.

The connection is never discovered during Fate. Both pendants are revealed during Unlimited Blade Works after Shirou finds Archer's pendant at Rin's house and tells her of the one he kept, allowing for the connection between Shirou and Archer to be deduced due to that there should only be one such pendant in existence. Shirou eventually connects it to Rin during Heaven's Feel when thinking that she is the only person who could have saved him at that time. He brings it with him to the final battle with Sakura, later saving him by allowing Rider to use it as a landmark to locate him.

Development
She had the most screen time out of every character in Fate/stay night.

Creation and Conception
Kinoko Nasu's original story of Fate, Rin's original archetype was Misaya Reiroukan, she was designed to be a villainess and original master of Lancer in the novel. When Takashi Takeuchi convinced Nasu to change the setting of the story, Rin's role as a villain was eventually changed to one of the selectable heroines of Fate/stay night.

Both Takashi Takeuchi and Kinoko Nasu thought 's voice is too cute and they thought "Should we look for another possibility for Rin's voice? How about making Rin act overly proud with a cute voice? However it could be risky." In the end they dared to make Rin's voice cute.

Kana Ueda figured out how to play Rin in the anime adaptation when she played the original Fate/stay night game, she understood Rin had to put away her feelings a long time ago. When Kana was recording the radio show for Fate /stay night, Takeuchi made illustrations of Rin on colored paper for her. Even though Kana had been selected for the part, when it came to voicing the character for the real thing, she could not imagine Rin coming out of her voice. For a long time she had this sense of incompatibility. She normally don't feel that sense of incompatibility when she play characters from other works. Kana was half in doubt so she ended up asking Nasu if it was really okay for her to play Rin. He said it was fine, but she wondered if it was all right. Kana also thought maybe she should not say that in front of the scenario writer. While playing Rin in Fate/stay night, several other spinoff and related products. She tries to make her match the pace of the story she is in. There are a lot of very delicate, minor changes. In the Studio Deen adaptation TV series, Rin decided to watch over Shirou and Saber. When they recorded the voices for the PS2 game Realta Nua, Rin was a lot more emotional than she was in the show. Kana has to adjust her acting carefully within that kind of field.

Reception
Gen Urobuchi thinks the true heroine of Fate/stay night is Rin because in the Unlimited Blade Works route, it was an equal relationship with a woman who's become stronger than most men is depicted. Rin and Shirou mend each other's weaknesses with their own unique strengths, and he think it makes it a very nice relationship.

In response to what Gen said Nasu stated that "It's true that Rin is different from Saber. Rin is written as a completely different gender. She also has a sort of pride in the fact that she's a beautiful girl. With a girl like that by his side, even an unsociable person like Shirou loses his presence of mind."

Takeuchi commented how impressed he was with how Rin turned out. Stating that the idea of making a villainous character that everybody had a low opinion of into a major heroine was initially largely frowned upon by the staff and it was a huge risk. However, after successfully finishing the game, the character became a success, and was greatly well liked.

(Voice Actress of Rin) thought of her as a commanding and imperious young girl, like her name implies. Although hidden within that image of a girl who always tries hard is someone who is also childish and playful. Rin has both of these aspects, and she's charming because of it. Kana Ueda has played the role of Rin for such a long time that she really like the Master and Servant pairing of Rin and Archer now. Kana compared herself to Rin, she think she's a little more excitable than Rin, and she make more mistakes. Kana tries not to let it show, but she doesn't mind if you see them because she's a clumsy girl. Personally speaking, she wanted to continue with another story set in the Fate main timeline. She thinks it'd be great if she gets to play Rin again.


 * In the Fourth character popularity poll in 2003, Rin was ranked 93rd.
 * In the first Popularity polls of Fate/stay night in 2004, Rin was ranked 2nd. Tsuku Rin (Tiger Dojo) was ranked 33rd. Loli Rin was ranked 55th.
 * In the second Popularity polls of Fate/stay night in 2006, Rin was ranked 2nd. Kaleidoscope & Magical Ruby was ranked 14th. Zhuge Rin was ranked 40th. Rin Tohsaka of a parallel world is ranked 46th. Hetare Rin was ranked 68th.
 * In the Type-Moon's 10th Anniversary Character Poll, Rin from Fate/stay night was ranked 4th and the third most voted female character. Rin from Fate/Zero was ranked 130th.