Remaking F/SN: The Golden Route (Part 3)
I recently showed my father Fate/Zero. He loved it, naturally, but the ending left him confused and unsatisfied. I explained that Fate/Zero was merely the prequel and setup for Fate/Stay Night, which focused on the descendants of these characters fighting in the Fifth Holy Grail War. However, I cautioned him that Stay Night was split into three stories that all began the same way but took different directions. Of course, I was referring to the three routes of the Visual Novel: Fate, Unlimited Blade Works and Heaven’s Feel.
His smile wavered. “Oh,” he said. “I guess I was hoping all of Zero’s plot threads would be resolved in a single story.”
Visual novel fans will be familiar with this idea. In many visual novels, a “true route” is an unlockable final route that attempts to resolve all of the narrative threads set up by the previous routes. Fate/stay night famously doesn’t have such a route, only resolving certain plotlines in certain routes. Saber only gets closure in Fate and (to a lesser extent) UBW, Sakura is only saved in the Heaven’s Feel route, Archer only gets closure in the UBW route, and so on.
My dad’s comments rang in my head for a while, and a thought occurred to me. What if I could make a story where every heroine gets closure? Then, a second thought came to me: what if I could make a story where every antagonist gets a chance to shine, not just the heroines? It could theoretically work if I take the plotlines from all the existing routes and blend them together. As the project grew larger and larger, I even started incorporating the ideas from my own fanmade Illya route, which in of itself is based on Oath Under Snow and Nasu’s original plans. This will be part of my larger project where I remake Fate/Stay Night, and I refer to this route as Synthesizing Dreams.
(Several of the plot points I’ve put forth here come from that Illya route, so it would be best to read my essay on that first. For the purposes of this essay, I will be using the phrase Heaven’s Feel to refer to that Illya route, and Spring Song is my title for Sakura’s route.)
Terminology and Arcs:
In this project, I wanted to answer the question: is it theoretically possible to synthesize all the routes of Fate/Stay Night into a cohesive story, given that many combat encounters are similar yet the overall routes usually focus on different villains?
When looking at the three routes of Fate/Stay Night and its anime adaptations, I find it helpful to break events into story arcs based on who the current villain is, as if this were a manga or conventional anime. When I was designing my Illya route, I also did the same for that project. Throughout this essay, I will use terminology pertaining to these events as a guideline to explain my thought process.
For the Fate route, the arcs are:
Beginning Arc: This encompasses the first three Days of the war (from both Rin and Shirou’s perspective). Shirou is killed by Lancer, revived by Rin, then attacked by Illya outside the church.
Rider Arc: This encompasses Days 4-10 of the war. Shirou has a brief encounter with Rider at school, a fight with Caster and Assassin at Ryuudou Temple, a longer encounter with Rider at school (this time aided by Saber), and then a final encounter with Shinji and Rider on the skyscraper, where they are defeated.
Berserker Arc: This encompasses Day 11 of the war. Shirou is kidnapped by Illya and taken to her mansion. He escapes with his friends (at the cost of Archer’s life), and Saber beats Berserker in the forest.
Gilgamesh Arc: This encompasses the final three days of the war (Days 12-15). Caster tries to make a move, but is killed by Gilgamesh. Shirou goes to talk to Kotomine, only to learn he is both Lancer and Gilgamesh’s master, and he is supplying Gilgamesh with mana from other orphans from the fire. Lancer sacrifices his life to buy time for Saber and Shirou, who each use Avalon (Saber uses the original and Shirou Projects a copy) to defeat Kotomine and Gilgamesh.
For the UBW route, the arcs are:
Beginning Arc: Same as above.
Caster Arc: This encompasses days 4-14, the vast majority of the route. Rider once again encounters Shirou at the school, and then Shirou and Saber confront Caster and Assassin at the temple. However, there are no subsequent encounters with Rider, as she’s killed offscreen. Caster emerges as the main villain, using Rule Breaker to sever Shirou’s connection to Saber on Day 11, and Archer betrays the group for Caster on Day 12. Gilgamesh kills Illya and Berserker, which only leaves Lancer as a potential ally. Shirou, Rin and Lancer fight Caster’s alliance at the church.
Archer Arc: This encompasses the end of Day 14 and all of Day 15. Archer kidnaps Rin and takes her to the ruined Einzbern Castle with Kotomine, Gilgamesh, Shinji and Lancer. Shirou and Saber go to confront them with the intent of saving Rin, but Shirou gets sidetracked dueling Archer, where he ultimately earns his counterpart’s respect. In the end, Lancer kills Kotomine and saves Rin.
Gilgamesh Arc: This plays out much differently than in Fate, and it encompasses Day 16 of the route. Gilgamesh attempts to create the Holy Grail using Shinji as its center. Saber, Rin and Shirou arrive at Ryuudou Temple to fight him, but Saber is sidetracked fighting Assassin. Shirou takes on Gilgamesh alone and eventually wins, and the Grail is destroyed.
For Spring Song (aka Sakura’s old route), the arcs are:
Beginning Arc: Same as above. Like in the previous route, Kotomine tells Shirou more about the events of Fate/Zero.
True Assassin Arc: This encompasses Days 4-8. Once again, Rin and Shirou plan to investigate Caster and Assassin at Ryuudou Temple…but that never happens. True Assassin is summoned, killing Assassin and Lancer. On Day 7, Rin and Archer try to kill Zouken, but he defends himself with Caster’s corpse. On Day 8, after a fight with Zouken and True Assassin, Saber is taken by the Shadow and corrupted into Saber Alter.
Saber Alter Arc: This encompasses Days 9-14. Saber Alter kills Berserker, the Shadow and True Assassin both attack Illya. Archer and Shirou defend her, but when the Shadow explodes, Shirou loses an arm, and Archer gives his own to save Shirou’s life. He slowly pieces together that Sakura is the Shadow. On Day 14, Sakura goes to confront Zouken, finding Shinji instead. When Shinji threatens to expose her sexual abuse, she kills him, becomes Dark Sakura and takes Illya.
Dark Sakura Arc: This encompasses Days 15 and 16 of the route. Shirou and Kotomine team up to rescue Illya from the Einzbern mansion, with Shirou defeating a reanimated Berserker in the process. At the same time, Kotomine kills True Assassin and destroys Zouken’s physical form. After projecting the Jeweled Sword of Zelretch, Shirou, Rider and Rin team up to take down Saber Alter and Dark Sakura. Dark Sakura kills Zouken’s physical form, then duels her sister, while Shirou and Rider tag-team Saber Alter, ultimately emerging victorious. Shirou has one final fight with Kotomine, then destroys the Grail, with Illya using the Third Magic to save his soul.
For the Heaven’s Feel route (aka my new Illya route), the story is structured a bit differently because I’m more-or-less adapting Oath Under Snow into the events of the main continuity. Consequently, the middle portion of the story features Saber, Shirou and Illya hunting down enemy Servants, but no one Servant stands out as a particular antagonist in this section of the story.
Beginning Arc: Same as in SS, but with a main difference. The morning of Day 2, Shirou has to retrieve something from the attic and he stumbles upon some of Kiritsugu’s mementos, such as his Origin Bullets, gun and a picture of Illya and Irisviel. Shirou encounters Illya before he summons Saber, and he briefly strikes a conversation with her.
Caster Arc: Shirou and Saber fail to forge any sort of alliance with Rin and Archer, and a fight ensues between the two duos at school. When Shirou and Saber go to Ryuudou Temple, they witness a fight between Lancer and Assassin. After that, Lancer is corrupted, Saber is wounded and Caster takes Saber. Sakura awakens her power at school, but Shirou allows Rin to kill her because he fears Sakura will hurt Illya. Berserker and Illya offer to help Shirou, but Berserker is killed by Gilgamesh and Lancer Alter. Shirou and Illya use the Third Magic to give Shirou a power boost so they can rescue Saber.
Lancer Alter Arc: Shirou, Illya and Saber begin hunting down the other Servants. They fight Zouken and True Assassin; a rogue Rider, who kills Shinji and tries to kill Rin; and Lancer Alter. Archer takes on and kills an injured Gilgamesh off-screen, and Kotomine successfully kills Zouken.
Tohsaka Arc: Rin, Archer and Kotomine emerge as the final villains. Rin goes mad with grief and becomes obsessed with killing Illya to resurrect Sakura. They duel our heroes at Ryuudou Temple, with Shirou taking on Kotomine, Illya fighting Rin, and Saber fighting Archer.
Rules and Restrictions:
If you were counting, that’s a total of 12 arcs focused on several villains: Rider, Berserker, Caster, Archer, Gilgamesh, True Assassin, Saber Alter, Dark Sakura, Lancer Alter and Rin. For Synthesized Dreams to be an appropriate golden route, we have to fulfill a few conditions.
Rule 1: The main conflicts of all 10 of those arcs should be represented, to some degree or another. There should be an arc where Rider is the antagonist, an arc where Berserker is the antagonist, an arc where Zouken and True Assassin are the antagonists, etc.
Rule 2: Similar events should be combined, grouped together and/or placed close on the timeline as a single arc. For instance, every route (including my Illya route) has two encounters with Rider at the school. It would be stupid to have Rider fight the main characters eight times at the school when only two are necessary. Similarly, Gilgamesh’s duel with Saber and his duel with Shirou should occur back-to-back, effectively resulting in one massive Gilgamesh Arc that takes elements of both UBW and Fate.
Once we’ve laid out those ground rules, we can start figuring out the relative order of events based on which servants need to be where. This creates a list of restrictions for us to follow, and we know that certain events can only occur in a certain order.
Because its story involves so few Servants in the middle and later arcs, most of Spring Song should probably occur at the end of this synthesized story. However, this does result in a big change: Illya dies in UBW when Gilgamesh attacks the Einzbern Mansion, so she would have to survive Gilgamesh’s assault on her home in this new story.
I’ve accepted that a lot of my ideas for Heaven’s Feel (which is my Illya route) won’t make the cut, since that’s a route where Shirou and Illya work together to defeat almost every other Servant, including Rin and Archer. Nonetheless, I want to preserve some of the action and character writing from that arc.
In each of the routes, the heroine gets closure in some way. Saber returns to her time period at the end of Fate but allows herself to let go of her guilt and die peacefully; Rin and Shirou travel abroad in UBW; Shirou frees Sakura in SS; and Shirou uses Avalon to save Illya in my HF. All of these heroines must get closure in my new story and, preferably, live. This means that Illya cannot sacrifice herself to activate the Third Magic and save Shirou’s soul, and Saber must stick around so Illya can use Avalon and live a normal life. Since Archer’s arm more-or-less ensures Shirou’s physical body is destroyed, which would necessitate Illya’s death to undo this, I won’t have Archer give Shirou the arm in my golden route.
Archer’s placement is critical here, because he’s a member of Rin and Shirou’s alliance in the first and third route, but an antagonist in the second and fourth. Across the routes, Archer serves a few key roles in Shirou’s character development. He helps Shirou escape the Einzbern Mansion in Fate, he gives Shirou his arm in SS, he and Rin work against Shirou in HF, and his betrayal and fight with Shirou causes Shirou to learn Unlimited Blade Works in UBW, allowing the young magus to fight Gilgamesh. In HF (which, again, is my Illya route) Archer only becomes an antagonist on Rin’s orders. This means that his climactic duel with Saber and Shirou over Illya must somehow occur before he betrays Rin. Archer has to betray Rin before his duel with Shirou, and he only betrays them for Caster after Caster takes Saber. Plus, Shirou has to help them fight Berserker before he betrays them so Shirou can escape the Einzbern Mansion. This is…really tricky. How is Archer simultaneously an ally, but also an enemy operating on Rin’s orders, and also an enemy operating outside Rin’s orders? I think the best way to handle this is: Fight with Berserker → Archer and Rin fight Saber and Shirou → Caster takes Saber → Archer betrays Rin and Shirou → Berserker dies → Caster is defeated → Archer fights Shirou → Shirou fights Gilgamesh.
The Berserker and Caster Arcs must occur before their deaths, obviously. The Caster Arc is also when Assassin gets the most screentime, so that must happen before True Assassin is summoned.
The Rider Arc must happen before the events of SS, when she joins the main characters. Plus, in general, a lot of Rider's best moments are in SS and so the events of Fate really need to occur earlier so her power can be established.
Saber plays a big role in the Rider and Berserker Arcs, as well as the now-combined Gilgamesh Arc, so all of those must occur before she gets corrupted. Also, for Shirou’s 1v1 with Gilgamesh to occur, she must be distracted or out of the picture in some way.
There are three different deaths for Lancer: at the end of Fate buying time for the heroes, at the end of UBW saving Rin, and at the beginning of SS at True Assassin’s hand. Plus, in my Illya route, he gets corrupted and turned into an Alter. Whichever one I pick, he must help fight Caster’s alliance beforehand. Furthermore, in accordance with my changes to the narrative and my dissatisfaction with the Kotomine-Lancer relationship, all of this must occur with Bazett as his master.
So, with all of those restrictions in mind, we can create a rough order of events for this narrative to make sense. Fittingly, this order of events also follows the three routes in their intended order. Shirou, Saber and Rin’s fights with Rider and Berserker need to occur in the beginning, and their fights with Archer and Caster occur at the midpoint. True Assassin and Lancer Alter come into the picture after that. Gilgamesh and Kotomine step into the picture around the third act, and after they are defeated, Zouken and the Shadow (as well as Saber Alter) step up as antagonists, with Dark Sakura as the final adversary.
New Timeline:
With all of these restrictions, the perfect synthesized timeline quickly presented itself. I will lay it out below.
Beginning Arc (Days 1 - 3): This encompasses the first three Days of the war (from both Rin and Shirou’s perspective). Shirou finds a photo of Irisviel, Kiritsugu and Illya in his family’s attic, and when he sees Illya on Day 2, he strikes up a conversation with her. Shirou is killed by Lancer, revived by Rin, then he goes to the church. At the church, Kotomine tells Shirou of the events of Fate/Zero, just like in SS. The gang is attacked by Illya outside the church, and Shirou takes a blow meant for Saber, but Avalon heals him—again, like in SS. Walking home that night, Shirou and Saber stumble upon Rider drinking someone’s blood, and it leads to a fight, with Saber swiftly defeating Rider in front of both Shinji and Zouken.
First Encounters and Rider Arc (Days 4 - 5): Archer eggs Rin on and challenges her alliance with Shirou, prompting Rin to fight Shirou after school hours. However, Archer joins her, and Shirou has to use a Command Seal to summon Saber to his aid (just like in my HF route). When Rider intervenes, this turns into a three-way battle. Shirou and Rin patch things up, and they decide to make an alliance. That night, Shirou is taken by Caster to Ryuudo Temple, and Archer reluctantly saves him from Caster while Saber duels Assassin outside. Lancer shows up and offers to duel Assassin instead, letting Saber go in and rescue Shirou from both Caster and Archer. Rider drinks Ayako Mitsuzuri’s blood for her mana. The next day, Shinji activates the Bounded Field around the school and fights Shirou again while their classmates are unconscious; this time, Shirou summons Saber to help him using a Command Seal, and Saber battles Rider. But like in SS, Shinji brings along Sakura and threatens her to gain leverage over Shirou. The situation escalates: Rin and Archer burst in to save Shirou, Sakura gets jealous as she realizes how deeply Rin cares about Shirou, and Sakura is revealed as Rider’s true Master. Rider ultimately allows herself to be defeated, and Sakura loses control of her magic, falling unconscious. Rin takes Sakura to Kotomine at the church while Shirou and Saber pursue Rider and Shinji, and they play out the skyscraper duel from Fate, with Saber ultimately emerging victorious.
Berserker Arc (End of Day 5 - Day 6): Sakura awakens in the church, and just like in HF, Kotomine reveals she’s infested with worms. Rin contemplates killing Sakura, but backs off when Shirou vows to protect her. Once again, Kotomine reveals more about Kiritsugu. The next day, Shirou goes to finish the job with Shinji, but ends up encountering Illya in town. The two talk and have a small date, albeit with Lancer watching from afar. Illya begins to prod at Shirou, wondering how he knew her. When he explains the photos, she kidnaps him and takes him to her mansion, like in Fate. Rin, Archer and Saber arrive to help him. Archer distracts Berserker with Unlimited Blade Works to buy time for them to escape—though he manages to catch up later. Saber reveals her Noble Phantasm as Excalibur and attacks Berserker in the forest, taking several of his lives. Illya nearly gets killed in the crossfire, but Shirou saves her, finally realizing that Illya is his sister.
Tohsaka Arc (Day 7): Shirou and Saber slowly begin to put together that Kuzuki is Caster’s Master. Illya and Shirou grow closer, which angers Rin. After antagonizing Sakura, Rin discusses Shirou’s high jump while Sakura listens (like in SS), but this ultimately devolves into an argument about Illya and their respective sisters. Rin states that she regrets her and Archer saving him. That night, Saber and Shirou reluctantly agree to meet Illya and learn more about Kiritsugu, but Illya uses her familiars and realizes Archer and Rin are spying on them. A fight ultimately ensues, with Rin and Archer attacking both because they think Illya is dangerous and because Rin wants to kill Sakura. This breaks down into two simultaneous duels, with Rin fighting Illya while Saber fights Archer. Shirou jumps in the middle and tries to break it up, and ends up getting slashed by Archer.
Caster Arc (Days 8 - 11): After going out with Saber, Shirou comes home to find that Caster is holding Taiga hostage, and she uses Rule Breaker to sever Saber’s connection to Shirou, like in UBW. The next day, Archer betrays Rin for Caster. Now without a Servant, Rin goes to the Einzbern Mansion to meet with Illya and Shirou, hoping to create an alliance between them—only to find Gilgamesh has killed Berserker, Sella and Leysritt. Rin creates a distraction, and she and Shirou escape with Illya, who stays at the Emiya household. Lancer approaches them about forming an alliance, and they accept. The next day, Lancer, Shirou, Illya and Rin successfully storm the church, rescuing Saber and defeating Caster and Kuzuki in the process. Gilgamesh storms in, killing Kuzuki and Caster (similar to how he unexpectedly killed Caster in Fate), and Illya makes a contract with Saber to give them a chance at surviving. Gilgamesh promises to make Saber his bride and summon the Grail, then he leaves. Archer—badly wounded after blocking Gae Bolg—walks into the church, reveals his Unlimited Blade Works to the group, states his intentions to kill Shirou, and leaves to recuperate for a day, taking Rin as an insurance policy. Shirou promises to fight Archer at Illya’s mansion the next day. At the same time as all of this, Shinji (prompted by his grandfather) orders Rider to fight Assassin. After realizing it is a “fake” Assassin, Zouken gets the idea to summon his own Assassin using Kojiro as a vessel.
Archer Arc (Day 12): Illya bonds with Sakura, saying the two of them are “exactly the same.” The next day, Shirou heads alone to the Einzbern mansion to challenge Archer, but Saber insists on coming along. Illya goes to the Tohsaka mansion with Sakura and they begin investigating how to cure Sakura’s ailment. At the mansion, Archer sends Saber, Rin, Shirou and himself to his Reality Marble. Inside, Archer challenges Saber and Shirou’s idealism, and mocks Rin’s helplessness. Saber comes to Rin’s defense, and it is implied she has feelings for Rin. Shirou refuses to accept Archer’s pessimism, and the two duel. Shirou relents somewhat on his dream, but not to the extent of his SS self. He asks Archer if he knew about Kiritsugu’s past, Sakura’s worms or Illya being his sister, all of which shock Archer. Shirou admits to his older self that even though he’ll become a hero of justice, he will prioritize Sakura, Illya, Rin and Saber’s safety above all else. Overwhelmed with emotion at what he didn’t know, Archer allows Shirou to defeat him and Rin is freed. Rin and Shirou make up. At the same time as all of this, Assassin is killed as a sacrifice for True Assassin; Lancer wants to participate in Rin’s rescue, but Kotomine uses one of Bazett’s Command Seals to order Lancer to pursue True Assassin. A chase ensues, and Lancer is corrupted and turned into an Alter, like in SS.
Lancer Alter Arc (Days 13 - 14): Illya, Shirou, Saber and Rin begin strategizing how to win the war and cure Sakura of her worms. However, piecing together what Gilgamesh said, Illya realizes that the Grail can only destroy due to its corruption. She tells the group about Angra Mainyu, and secretly shares her belief that it has corrupted Sakura, but Shirou refuses to believe it. The group makes plans to hunt the other Servants, and fights ensue with True Assassin and Rider, despite Sakura’s protests not to hurt Rider. Lancer Alter attempts to kill Rin on one of these missions, but Archer—still managing to survive due to his Independent Action Skill—comes to her rescue, and Saber comes to both of their rescues. Saber is ultimately able to put down Lancer Alter, and Archer fades away.
Gilgamesh Arc (Days 14 - 15): Rin gives Shirou her Azoth Dagger, then goes snooping with Illya to learn more about Lancer’s master. Shirou goes to talk to Kotomine about Sakura’s condition and the mysterious Gilgamesh, only to find he is supplying Gilgamesh with mana from other orphans from the fire. At the same time, Rin learns his first Master was Bazett, but Bazett was attacked and her Command Seals taken by Kotomine shortly after Lancer helped them fight Caster; like in Fate, she deduces Kotomine is his current Master. Realizing Shirou is in danger, Illya uses a Command Spell to teleport Saber to Shirou’s aid. Shirou and Saber duel Gilgamesh and Kotomine. Shirou manages to project a second Avalon, and he and Saber each use an Avalon to gain the upperhand. Shirou detonates the jewel in the Azoth Dagger, severely wounding but not killing Kirei. The Shadow shows up, and Gilgamesh retreats with an injured Kirei. The next day, as Kirei recovers in the church, Gilgamesh goes to the Emiya mansion with the intention of killing Illya and taking Saber, but after deducing Sakura holds a piece of the Grail, he kidnaps her so she can be a Master for Avenger. Illya, Shirou, Rin and Saber ambush him and attempt to halt the ritual. Saber intends to fight him again, but is stopped by True Assassin, who was ordered by Zouken to intervene. Using Unlimited Blade Works (via Rin’s Magic Crest), Shirou defeats Gilgamesh, like in UBW, but passes out from exhaustion afterwards. The Shadow arrives and consumes Saber shortly thereafter. Shinji attempts to order Rider to aid True Assassin, but Rin ambushes him and burns the book, and Rider returns to Sakura’s side, helping save her.
True Assassin and Saber Alter Arc (Days 16 - 18): The group catches wind of Lancer’s death. Given the current uncertainty, Rider volunteers to stay at the Emiya household and protect Shirou, Rin, Sakura and Illya in Saber’s absence. Rin and Shirou are surprised to find that Fuyuki’s inhabitants are still being drained of mana, even with Caster gone. True Assassin pursues Shirou, Rin and Illya, fighting against them on a few occasions. Desperately needing a power boost and now aware that Archer was a future version of Shirou, Illya uses the Third Magic to connect Shirou’s soul to Archer’s soul in the Counter Force, giving him a significant boost in power. They go to the remnants of the Einzbern Mansion to find information on an Einzbern Mystic Code that Illya wants duplicated to give them an edge, but as they are leaving, True Assassin and Saber Alter (acting on behalf of Zouken and the Shadow respectively) each attack Illya in a field in an attempt to claim her for the Grail. Luckily, Rider arrives to help them. The Shadow tries to grab at them and explodes, but Shirou creates a Rho Aias to save them. Recovering at his house, Shirou pieces together that Sakura is the source of the Shadow. He grabs a knife and prepares to kill her, but he remembers the promise he made to his older self, and he cannot bring himself to kill her. Sakura goes to confront Zouken, only to encounter Shinji. Furious for taking Rider away from him, Shinji threatens to reveal her history of abuse, at which point Sakura kills him and becomes Dark Sakura.
Dark Sakura Arc (Days 19 - 20): Sakura kidnaps Illya to learn the truth of the Third Magic. She attacks the Emiya mansion with Saber Alter, despite Rider’s best attempts to fight her off. By this point, Kirei has mostly recovered from his injuries, so Shirou reluctantly asks for his help in saving Sakura. Kirei agrees, knowing the suffering that will be caused from eventually pitting Rin against her sister. The two storm the Einzbern mansion and rescue Illya, with Shirou using Archer’s skills to project Nine Lives Blade Works and defeat the shadowed Berserker. Kirei manages to kill Zouken, but his heart is crushed by True Assassin’s Noble Phantasm. True Assassin is later killed and absorbed by Sakura. Shirou begins to suffer physical and mental problems as a result of his projections. Illya, Rider, Rin and Shirou team up to take down Sakura. Using Shirou’s Reality Marble and arm, they project the Jeweled Sword of Zelretch, causing him immense pain. They dive into the catacombs where the Grail is being summoned, with Rin fighting Sakura with the Jeweled Sword while Rider and Shirou fight Saber Alter. With a projected Avalon inside of him and Saber next to him, Shirou’s injuries are healing, and he’s gaining control of his mind. Unfortunately, with the original Avalon in her, Saber is nearly unbeatable. Rider and Shirou realize they cannot kill her. They combine Shirou’s incomplete Rho Aias with Rider’s Bellerophon to push through Excalibur, and then Shirou projects a Rule Breaker to purge the darkness from her. Afterwards, he creates a second Rule Breaker to purge the darkness from Sakura. Rider carries Sakura and Rin out of the catacombs, while Shirou stays behind to destroy the Grail. Kirei arrives on the scene, barely clinging to life, and challenges Shirou to a fistfight. Illya arrives to help fight Kirei, eventually killing him. Shirou is unable to project any more weapons, but the restored Saber comes onto the scene, using her own Excalibur to destroy the weapon. Saber makes a new contract with Rin, and Rin uses two Command Seals to empower Saber’s strike, like in ufotable’s UBW anime.
Epilogue (One Year Later): Rin and Sakura rekindle their relationship while the incarnated Saber and Rider stay at the Emiya mansion. The group rebuilds the Einzbern mansion, and the Three Families have officially buried the hatchet. Shirou pursues a polyamorous relationship with Saber and Rin, while Sakura and Rider ultimately start their own relationship. With Saber as her familiar and Avalon inside of her, Illya is able to live a normal life with her brother and surrogate family. All is well.
Explanation and Thoughts:
So, I know that was a lot to take in. But I wanted to dedicate this final section to explaining some of my thoughts on the matter and defend some of my choices, as well as open the floor for new ideas and explain things I’m not too iffy about.
Honestly, this outline was going great…until I decided to throw elements from my Illya route into the mix. That really screwed everything up, because that’s a route where Rin and Archer are specifically trying to kill Shirou, Saber and Illya. The best possible way I could go about it was to have Rin and Archer be antagonists early in the story (which, to be fair, isn’t exactly out of the ordinary) but have Rin come crawling back to Shirou when Archer defects to Caster’s side.
This is a little awkward from a narrative perspective, because by that point in the story we’re starting to move into UBW-heavy material but Rin is still firmly an antagonist. Even so, I kind of like it. The second, third and fourth arcs are all dedicated to Shirou either fighting the other heroines and/or their Servants. I feel like that really shows this is a “golden route” where Shirou is trying to save everybody, even as the people he’s saving want to kill each other. It puts Shirou in an interesting spot, thematically and narratively, where he’s actively trying to stop the people he cares most about from killing each other. This will also make it all the more satisfying as these characters slowly come to his side, and it will create a sense of catharsis at the end when Illya and Rin team up to cure Sakura in the Dark Sakura Arc.
I tried to stay as lore consistent as possible. For instance, the climax of UBW shows us that Assassin can survive for a time after Caster is killed, so it was alright for him to still be around (and used as a sacrifice for True Assassin) even though Caster was dead. Also, the climax of UBW shows us that Archer could survive for a couple days without mana, so it made sense he’d still be around as the events of HF started occurring. His final moment of shooting Gilgamesh in the head is replaced with an equally badass final moment of him protecting Rin from Lancer Alter, which was a scene taken from my Illya route.
Staying lore consistent also worked out in some really key ways. I realized I hit a roadblock with Saber and Avalon: if she needed Avalon to fight Gilgamesh in the Gilgamesh Arc, how could Shirou and Rider ever defeat Saber Alter in the Dark Sakura Arc? The solution came to me when I realized that Shirou would have to use a second Rule Breaker to free her, and then afterwards, Saber would use Excalibur to destroy the Holy Grail. So even though the end of this route is most heavily based on the climax of Spring Song, Saber will be the one to destroy the Grail like in Fate and Unlimited Blade Works. Plus, having Saber stick around anyways is a good idea because then Illya can use Avalon to heal her dying body after the war’s end.
I should address Gilgamesh’s actions. In UBW, Gilgamesh kills Illya, takes her heart, and uses it (with Shinji as a base) to create the Holy Grail. I criticized the idea of a vessel in my earlier essays, as I feel like it raises a lot of questions and contributes very little to the plot. As such, I cut the idea of a vessel entirely. Now, Gilgamesh kidnaps Sakura, and he only does so because he’s intrigued by her connection to Angra Mainyu. Gilgamesh also has nothing to do with Shinji, because Shinji doesn’t lose Rider until very late in the plot.
One of the biggest problems with this synthesized narrative emerged as a result of Berserker. In every route, there’s a “Worf Effect” moment where Berserker is killed to show off another character’s strength: Saber in Fate, Gil in UBW, Saber Alter in SS and Lancer Alter in my HF route. I was torn on which interpretation to use, but I ultimately decided the ending of UBW couldn’t transpire if Berserker was around, so I had to kill him off, but that meant that Saber Alter didn’t get a real chance to show off her strength until the very end. It was a sacrifice I was willing to make, since Saber Alter’s very presence is an “Oh shit” moment on its own, even without her killing anyone.
Another dilemma came with the Archer Arc of UBW. In that arc, Lancer, Gilgamesh, Shinji, Kotomine, Archer and the kidnapped Rin are all waiting at the Einzbern Mansion for Shirou and Saber to show up. Kotomine reveals he killed Tokiomi, Archer “gives” Rin to Shinji, and Kotomine orders Lancer to kill himself, only for Lancer to kill him and free Rin with his dying breath. None of this could reasonably occur in my synthesized timeline, because Shinji isn’t Gilgamesh’s master and the plot twist about Kotomine hasn’t happened yet. I did need Lancer to be out of the picture in some way (because in UBW he tags along to rescue Rin), so I decided that this should be when Bazett orders him to fight True Assassin and he gets corrupted. Honestly, taking all those characters out wasn’t too much of a problem. Archer kidnapping Rin as an insurance policy and Shirou going to rescue her was completely in-character for both of them, even without setting up the Holy Grail or Kotomine’s betrayal.
Shirou and Archer’s fight is somewhat different, in of itself. In UBW, the fight ends because Archer remembers the beauty of his dream. In this new timeline, the fight ends not because of Archer’s realization, but because of Shirou’s words. Shirou asks if Archer knew about Illya’s parentage or Sakura’s ailment. Archer canonically comes from a route similar to the Fate route, so he admits he didn’t know. Shirou vows to prioritize his friends and family, ultimately earning Archer’s respect.
Kotomine initially seemed like a tough character to write, but ultimately, he worked out in a lot of ways. Remember, this is an indestructible superhuman who only cares about causing pain and misery. I was worried about having him and Shirou fight, work together and then fight again. I still think it could work if Kotomine looks at the complicated main cast dynamics and decides to help because he knows it’ll lead to Rin and Sakura fighting down the road, but it might make more sense to move the entire Gilgamesh Arc towards the end of the story for the sake of cohesion.
I also had to ultimately cut the entire climax of HF (which, again, is my Illya route). That route ends with Rin as the final antagonist and Archer still serving her, and there was just no way that could be incorporated into the original story. Nonetheless, the Lancer Alter Arc was incorporated as taking place after the Archer Arc but before the final battle against Gilgamesh. This was a great arc to put in because it put the final spotlight on Lancer before his death, gave Saber time to shine, and gave us an emotional goodbye for Archer.
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I’ve been dancing around the topic for sometime now, so fine, I’ll get into it: the romance.
Shirou has three potential love interests in this route: Rin, Saber and Sakura. (I’m aware that Illya’s route is getting thrown in the mix, too, but my route is not a romance between the two on account of them being adoptive siblings.) There’s room in the script for all of them to start a relationship with him at some point. But who should he actually end up with? I saw two options here:
Sunny Days Ending. This is my favorite ending in the visual novel, and it became more and more appealing as I constructed this timeline. I knew Saber Alter couldn’t be killed conventionally with Avalon in her, and she needed to be around for Illya to live, so she would have to be cured by Rule Breaker. That opened the door for all sorts of juicy drama, where Rin and Shirou are desperately trying to concoct a plan to get their beloved Saber back. In Spring Song, Saber turning to the dark side doesn’t hit quite as hard because Shirou and Rin only knew her for a few days, but in this route, all three (and Illya!) have been through thick and thin together.
Return to the Spring Ending. What more needs to be said. Spring Song is the darkest, densest, most complex and fucked up route of the visual novel by virtue of revolving around Sakura and her home life. And just like in the source material, my new timeline has Shirou going through hell and back for her, earning a happy ending for both of them. It makes sense.
I was torn, but I ultimately decided that I had to go with Sunny Days. Considering how much all three of those characters care for each other in every route, it just made too much sense, and Saber Alter just presented too many juicy dramatic moments for me to ignore. Where does that leave Sakura in the ending? Controversial as it may seem (it's a rather niche ship), but I paired her up with Illya. This creates an interesting dynamic between the two, as they are both victims of Angra Mainyu and their families who come to learn how to love themselves. Also, during events like the Gilgamesh Arc and Archer Arc that are more focused on Shirou, Rin and Saber; this gives room for Illya and Sakura to grow closer in the background.
Outline:
Fate:
Beginning
Rider Arc
Berserker Arc
Gilgamesh Arc
Unlimited Blade Works:
Beginning
Caster Arc
Archer Arc
Gilgamesh Arc
Spring Song:
Beginning
True Assassin Arc
Saber Alter Arc
Dark Sakura Arc
Heaven’s Feel (Option A + B):
Beginning
Caster Arc
Lancer Alter Arc
Tohsaka Arc
Merged:
Beginning
Rider Arc
Berserker Arc
Tohsaka Arc
Caster Arc
Archer Arc
Lancer Alter Arc
Gilgamesh Arc
True Assassin Arc
Saber Alter Arc
Dark Sakura Arc
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