Fate/Zero

Fate/Zero (フェイト／ゼロ) is a prequel to TYPE-MOON's visual novel Fate/stay night. It is a novel with illustrations by Takashi Takeuchi. The first volume was released on December 12, 2006, and is a collaboration between TYPE-MOON and fellow developer Nitro+. The second volume was released on March 31,2007. The third volume was released on July 27,2007.

In 2011 the creation of the anime started.

Characters
The storyline of Fate/Zero takes place 10 years prior to the events of Fate/stay night it is happen in 1980s, detailing the events of the Fourth Holy Grail War war in Fuyuki City. It includes the following characters.

Humans
 * Emiya Kiritsugu (衛宮切嗣), Master of Saber, unconfident and unhappy, adopts a strategy of exploiting a magus' weak point using technology. A coldblooded assassin skilled in hunting magicians. Entered the Einzbern family to realize his lifelong wish: to obtain the Holy Grail.
 * Kotomine Kirei (言峰綺礼), Master of Assassin, works for Tokiomi and does everything he is asked to do to the best of his ability, but lacks fulfillment, which he sees mirrored in Kiritsugu, for whom he feels a compulsive hatred.
 * Tohsaka Tokiomi (遠坂時臣), father of Tohsaka Rin and Matou Sakura, Master of Archer, arrogant and manipulative, arranges for Kotomine Kirei to be his "pupil". Thinks highly of Kotomine and has him serve him.
 * Tohsaka Aoi (遠坂葵), mother of Tohsaka Rin and Matou Sakura. Childhood friend of Matou Kariya. Though she is devastated by Tokiomi's decision to adopt away Sakura, she quietly accepts the decision as the wife of a mage.
 * Irisviel von Einzbern, mother of Illyasviel von Einzbern and Kiritsugu's wife, heroine of the story. A homunculus prototype created by the Einzbern family with the idea to give birth to an ultimate homunculus. Like many of the Einzberns, she is skilled in alchemy. Irisviel serves as Saber's proxy Master, since Kiritsugu believes that he and Saber are incompatible.
 * Uryuu Ryuunosuke (雨生龍之介), Master of Caster, psychotic killer who summons Caster after murdering a family and using their blood as a component in the summoning ritual. He does not seek the Holy Grail, but follows Caster in order to find new thrilling ways to kill people and relieve his boredom.
 * Hisau Maiya (久宇舞弥), assistant to Emiya Kiritsugu. She is cold and professional, which makes it easier for Kiritsugu to act as he needs to. Armed with a Steyr AUG.
 * Waver Velvet, Master of Rider, future Lord El-Melloi II. Steals his teacher's artifact and uses it to summon Rider. Plans to use the Grail to force the Magus Association to recognize his genius. Despite his difficulties with Rider's overbearing nature, Waver and his Servant form a strong relationship.
 * Matou Kariya (間桐雁夜), uncle of Matou Shinji, Master of Berserker, makes a deal with Matou Zouken that he will win the Grail War in exchange for Matou Sakura's freedom. He is the only member of Matou family who truly loves Sakura, and is upset that Tokiomi allowed his younger daughter to be adopted by Zouken.
 * Kayneth Archibald El-Melloi, Master of Lancer, a nobleman from the Magus Association. His artifact is stolen by Waver Velvet, but he manages to summon Lancer anyway. While he holds the command spells for Lancer, the energy to materialize the Servant is maintained by Sola-Ui. He is confident in his abilities and takes pride in his heritage, but finds the extent of Kiritsugu's untraditional and underhanded tactics both offensive and unexpectedly challenging to overcome.
 * Kotomine Risei (言峰璃正), Kirei Kotomine's 80 year old father, a priest in the Church, the regulator of the 4th Holy Grail War. He is a friend of Tohsaka Tokiomi and actively supports him. While he is proud of his son, who has demonstrated himself to be a perfect heir, Risei fails to understand Kirei in any sense.
 * Sola-Ui Nuada-Re Sophia-Ri, the daughter of the head of the spiritual evocation division. She is engaged to Kayneth as a result of a strategic marriage arrangement and the decision of her family to entrust their crest to her brother instead. However, she is coldhearted and does not reciprocate Kayneth's love for her; instead, she becomes infatuated with Lancer, who in turn does not reciprocate her feelings and regards her only as his Master's wife.

Servants Servants participating in the Fourth Holy Grail War and their true identities:
 * Saber: King Arthur, the same character from Fate/stay night. Known as the King of Knights, she maintains a high code of honour. Though she and Kiritsugu are Servant and Master seeking the same ultimate goal of peace, their differing ideological perspectives result in a strained relationship where Kiritsugu does not directly acknowledge Saber.
 * Archer: Gilgamesh, a rogue servant in Fate/stay night, the King of Heroes. He dislikes the presence of Saber and Iskander in particular since they were kings like he was. Much to Tokiomi's displeasure, Gilgamesh has difficulty acting covertly, especially when his considerable pride is wounded.
 * Lancer: Diarmuid Ua Duibhne, a Servant with two Noble Phantasms: Gae Buidhe - Golden Rose of Mortality and Gae Dearg - Crimson Rose of Exorcism, which can counter Saber and Berserker's abilities. As a knight, he holds a strong sense of honour in battle and loyalty to his master.
 * Rider: Iskander (Alexander the Great), the King of Conquerors, who desires to defeat Saber and Lancer in particular. Has several Noble Phantasms, the first of which is Gordius Wheel - Wheel of Heaven's Authority, which summons an ox-drawn chariot when Iskander slices the air with his sword. His eccentric and overbearing personality along with his incredible abilities creates difficulties for his Master and their opponents.
 * Caster: Bluebeard (Gilles de Rais), a Servant who derives pleasure from first providing his victims a moment of relief before terrorizing them and then killing them. Expresses an interest in Saber because he has mistaken her for Jeanne d'Arc, with whom Bluebeard has an infatuation.
 * Berserker: Lancelot du Lac (previously known as the Black Knight), a Servant who possesses the ability to use practically any object as a Noble Phantasm, allowing him to match Gilgamesh in combat. His madness has reduced him to mindless, though dangerously skilled, fighter. Despite his insanity, he is still able to instinctively recognize Saber.
 * Assassin: The Assassins related to True Assassin from Fate/stay night; Assassin is actually composed of several entities rather than just one. They act as reconnaissance agents for Tokiomi and Kirei after Gilgamesh "kills" one of them.

Minor Characters
 * Tohsaka Rin (遠坂凛), the daughter of Tokiomi and Aoi Tōsaka. Despite her young age, she is capable of using elementary magic.
 * Matou Sakura (間桐桜), Rin's younger sister, who was adopted by the Matō family one year prior to the start of Fourth Holy Grail War. Her physical appearance has already changed considerably since her adoption.
 * Illyasviel von Einzbern, the daughter of Irisviel von Einzbern and Kiritsugu Emiya, born eight years before the Fourth Holy Grail War begins.
 * Jubstacheit von Einzbern, the eighth head of the von Einzbern family, known as "Acht". Nearly two centuries old, he has led the von Einzbern family since they changed their course of action from seeking the Holy Grail to attempting to obtain it through the Holy Grail Wars. He presents Kiritsugu Emiya with Avalon as the catalyst to summon Saber.
 * Matou Zouken (間桐 臓硯), the ancient head of the Matou family, Kariya's "father" and Sakura's adoptive "grandfather". He intends to use Sakura to obtain the Holy Grail in the next war, but agrees to return her to the Tohsaka family should Kariya manage to acquire the Grail in the fourth war.
 * Glen and Martha Mackenzie, an elderly Canadian couple who live in Japan; their son, daughter-in-law, and grandson were unable to adapt to Japan and have returned to Canada. They provide lodgings for Waver Velvet and Rider.
 * Noritaka Emiya, Kiritsugu's father, a fourth-generation magus and researcher on a Pacific island. His work involved developing a medicine to become a Dead Apostle and when a war breaks out between the Church and the Mage's Association, Noritaka attempts to flee with his son. Unable to forgive his father for his actions, a young Kiritsugu shoots him.
 * Shirley, Noritaka's assistant, who admired Noritaka's work and looked forward to succeeding him. When she drank a potion under development out of curiosity, she unfortunately transformed into a vampire and dies. Kiritsugu later reflects that Fujimura Taiga reminds him of Shirley.
 * Natalia Kaminski, a freelance mercenary who sold information concerning Noritaka and his research on vampires. She rescues a young Kiritsugu and takes him as her apprentice. During her last mission, she is able to successfully kill a magus that could create Ghouls through the use of ghoul bees, but dies when Kiritsugu shoots down the plane she is on to prevent the infected passengers from killing others when the plane landed. Kiritsugu's last words to her reveal that he viewed her as his mother.