✝️ because i know it’s exactly what you want, you glutton
✝ : Is your muse religious?
[cw for less than pleasant afterlife talk]
Due to his upbringing and his own jaded tendencies, Kiritsugu is not religious. The only “religion” with which mages are raised is that of their own magecraft, and their search for the Truth. He has no interest in these things, nor in restoring the Age of Gods, as many mages seek to do. He holds no reverence toward the sacredness of magecraft, nor the pride of being a mage – certainly not the pride of his family. Magecraft is nothing more than a means to an end, no different than a weapon or a vehicle.
Although he is at least passingly acquainted with many more conventional mainstream religions, having lived in and interacted with many different cultures in his life, none of them resonate deeply with him. He doesn’t especially view them as false, though many of them he views as idealistic or foolish. Shinto, for instance – although it has doubtless affected his thinking and view of the world around him, he views it as an absurd simplification of morality that solves no problems in the real world. It’s similar to how he views the whole concept of heroism: heroes only reinforce false and idealistic notions about the world, and hide the true, bloody reality underneath romanticized ideas of honor and chivalry. He wants no part of these falsehoods and views them with nothing but disdain.
The question of whether or not he believes in a god, or gods, is another matter…but ultimately the answer is that it doesn’t matter to him. The existence of, at least, something beyond “the world” is undeniable, but if there is a god or pantheon that would create a system as cruel as the Holy Grail War, he wants no part of it. In the end, he has little expectation for his afterlife and fully anticipates either suffering or nothingness, when he has occasion to think about it.
