Type-Moon MC Guide 2015 (Part 3)
Last time we had the special titles, now we have the most awaited MCs of Type-Moon’s most popular franchise: Fate!
Meet the main contenders of the Holy Grail War in all the different Nasuverse universes:
Fate/Stay Night (All 3 Routes):
Protagonist: Shirou Emiya
Deuteragonist: Rin Tohsaka (relegated to a tritagonist more in the other routes, but overall, she’s this)
Heroines: Saber (Fate), Rin Tohsaka (Unlimited Blade Works) and Sakura Matou (Heaven’s Feel)
While we all know that Shirou is the overall narrator and main character of the popular VN Fate/Stay Night, since it centers on his growth in different ways in all three routes (UBW being my favorite overall), Rin is the second most important character in the whole VN and I’m saying this not because I’m biased towards her, but because compared to Sakura and Saber, whose roles may be minimal outside their routes, Rin’s role is important in all three routes, regardless of her not being the main heroine of Fate and HF, and her cruciality never diminishes in any of them. There’s also the fact that she develops alongside Shirou outside her route plus her being the narrator and MC in both the prologue and the epilogue of the game. She gets to narrate several times in UBW too. Then there’s the fact that her development mirrors and runs parallel to Shirou’s as well. Regardless of whether or not she’s the love interest, she’s definitely the main heroine here, even though Saber’s the poster girl for the series.
Oh, they’re also the selectable main characters in the FHA mini-game Capsule Servant, so there.
Them aside, Saber gets the bulk of the focus in the Fate route, relegating Shirou’s MC status to that of a supporting protagonist (he’s still the main POV, but doesn’t quite have the hand on the plot compared to the next two routes), while Sakura is the main love interest in Heaven’s Feel, as the “princess” Shirou has to rescue amid the gray morality he faces there and the dark machinations behind the HGW.
In Fate/ Unlimited Codes, literally everyone in FSN (except Kuzuki) is the protagonist, unlike Melty Blood since FUC is an alternate retelling of FSN in each of the characters’ POV.
Fate/Prototype and Pale Silver Fragments (prequel):
Protagonist: Ayaka Sajyou (Fate/Prototype) and Manaka Sajyou (Pale Silver Fragments prequel series)
Before Shirou, Rin and gender-flipped King Arthur existed, there was the shy but strong-willed Ayaka Sajyou and her Servant, the actual male King Arthur, Saber. Being both their prototypes plus Sakura’s too (plot position-wise and penchant for attracting people of the opposite gender without really trying, she’s Shirou, backstory and personality-wise, she’s a fusion between Rin and Sakura), it would’ve been interesting to see if Nasu actually went through with this project before FSN. Would’ve been fun, I guess.
Then there was her crazy older sister, Manaka Sajyou, who is the main villain of the main series and the villain protagonist of Prototype’s prequel novel, Pale Silver Fragments, who serves as Ayaka’s Saber’s original Master there. If you gotta ask who she was prototype for in FSN, I’d say she’s a mix between FSN!Illya (inability to grow, plus her sweet childishness and psychotic personality but without her heroic and sympathetic traits), Dark Sakura (again, personality-wise and their connection to the Greater Grail but unlike D!Sakura, Manaka is purposely and intentionally evil from the start whereas prior to darkening and after a series of breaking, Sakura was corrupted whereas Manaka didn’t need to be). If the novel’s anything, Manaka, powerlevel-wise, is, according to Nasu, omnipotence in human form. Poor Ayaka has a lot of problems in store for her.
Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya:
Protagonist: Illyasviel von Einzbern
Deuteragonist: Miyu Edelfelt
It’s a world where Illya gets to finally live a happy, normal (well, not for long) life in contrast to her FSN counterpart whose life was anything but unicorns and rainbows, what more could you ask for?
Because their backgrounds are staunchly different from one another, the Illya in this verse is much more relaxed (well, if you don’t count her exasperation sometimes to her friends’ hijinks), is happier (yay!), is actually a regular (by a certain definition) kid instead of the experimented homunculus we all love and is much, much more genuinely heroic than FSN Illya, who is more than happy to give you one horrific Bad End to the next (she is heroic though, but is much more sociopathic than Prisma!Illya). She’s also a Magical Girl here, so yay!.
As for Miyu, she makes an awesome foil to this verse’s Illya and their relationship as friends is really sweet. Without spoiling much of the plot, let’s just say that Miyu here is the Fate! equivalent to PMMM’s Homura Akemi.
Protagonist: Kiritsugu Emiya
Deuteragonist: Kirei Kotomine
Tritagonist: Waver Velvet
(All three are at the center)
In this story, we get to see how big of a contrast Kiritsugu was to Shirou back before the events of FSN happened as an ally of justice. And wow, what a difference (if you don’t count the Mind of Steel Bad End in HF and his other, possible future self that is*wink wink*) it is. We get to see how this man lost nearly everything in his pursuit to save the world.
Kirei gets to be the main antagonist and deut as well for being in direct opposition to Kiritsugu and the role his growth there plays (oh, you get to see how Team Yuetsu’s formed too). From passive foe, to sociopathic villain who takes glee in seeing you suffer.
And finally, Waver’s character development here serves to give us the more traditional and heroic coming of age story in contrast to his fellow MCs above who followed a more nominally heroic route. The story puts in a lot of focus on his relationship with his Rider too, and I’m glad they did ‘cause they delivered their development well. Oh, and he pops up in the epilogue of the 2015 UBW anime too as a special cameo.
Fate/Extra and Fate/Extra CCC
Protagonist: Hakuno(M)/ Hakunon(F) Kishinami
Deuteragonist: The Servant of the player’s choice: Saber (Nero), Archer (EMIYA), Caster (Tamamo no Mae) and in CCC, Gilgamesh
Compared to most silent MCs in their position, the Kishinamis of your choice have an actual personality and you don’t have to fill in the blanks yourself to imagine what they’re like, even though you don’t get to hear or see them speak in the entirety of your playthrough (you do get to see what goes on in their heads though).
As for the Servants, well, let’s just say that their backgrounds and relationships with Hakunon/ Hakuno are of equal importance to the game’s plot.
Protagonist: Bazett Fraga Mcremitz and Servant Avenger
Putting aside the SOL scenarios in FHA which focus more on the FSN crew having fun, we have the main plot of Bazett, an Enforcer who wakes up with no recollection whatsoever that Kirei killed her in the 5th War before the main events of FSN happened. Discovering a mysterious entity known as the Avenger-class Servant, or simply Avenger, who happens to look exactly like a darker version of a certain MC, Bazett finds out that every time she and Avenger die, time rewinds itself to the first day of the events of FHA, creating a time loop. In the midst of it all is Caren Ortensia, a mysterious nun who appears in Fuyuki to serve as Kirei’s replacement as both local priest and overseer. Just what is her connection to that fake priest? To find out, play the game, or, watch Carnival Phantasm.
Protagonists: Kane Himuro, Yukika Saegusa and Kaede Makidera
This comedic 4-koma series follows the lives of the track trio, and tells us what they did while the 5th HGW was taking place in FSN. Hilarity ensues.
Protagonist: Literally all the contenders present, but special focus is placed on Enkidu
The novel and manga both have chapters dedicated to all the contenders of this War, but Enkidu’s backstory, relationship with his Master Chimaera, and his connection with Gilgamesh, take precedence above all.
Protagonists: Ruler (Jeanne d’ Arc) and Homunculus (eventually Sieg)
The events of Apocrypha revolve around the battle between the Red and Black factions, and while the moral alignments between each side would vary, it’d be a bad idea to place any of the members of either teams as a central protagonist without any biases on either side in the story whatsoever. So the best choice for central protagonist/s would be that they have to have to be a part of a neutral faction, and thus, this is why the Ruler faction, consisting of Ruler herself and the homunculus Sieg, are the main POVs and the main contenders of the HGW, despite being technically neutral. Seeing the events of a War they’re not supposed to have direct participation in (Ruler is overseer though) in their POV is a breath of fresh air.
Protagonist/s: Shirouko and Rin-kun, I mean, Gudako and Gudaguda-kun (No official names yet)
Okay, those aren’t their official names, but that’s what the official comics called them so it’s the closest we’ve got to their canon names :P
So the mobile game follows their exploits as the new members of the organization Chaldea, and they’re tasked to save the future from its foreseen inevitable end by competing in many different HGWs throughout different timelines. They also have the ability to summon more than one Servant too (that is if Kirei doesn’t spook you, otherwise…).
Welp. That’s everyone folks! Tell me if I’m missing some people or otherwise. Toodles!
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