[Question] Can anyone comprehensively explain the Fate stay series plot to me?

[Calpal]

Im super confused by it all and dont understand half it.
Can anyone give me a quick run down of the plots and how they come together?

 

[Ricardo]

It's a battle royal, the winner gets the holy grail which grants you your wish or something like that. You have the masters and the servants. The masters summon their servants. each servant haves their own class, be it Lancer, Archer, Caster, Assassin etc. They all fight until one remains alive and wins.

 

[iNotorious]

It's a battle royal, the winner gets the holy grain which grants you your wish or something like that. You have the masters and the servants. The masters summon their servants. each servant haves their own class, be it Lancer, Archer, Caster, Assassin etc. They all fight until one remains alive and wins.

This.

You also get interlewds with certain characters

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[Ricardo]

This.

You also get interlewds with certain characters

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Ohh yeah!!

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[iNotorious]

Ohh yeah!!

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Forgot this scan as well.

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Please, pay attention to the servants!

 

[Tantalus Thief]

-The basic story is that some magi summons ancient spirits of historical figure as their "servants" to battle for the Holy Grail. If you defeat all the other servants the remaining master/servant gets the grail. The servants are split into classes called Saber, Archer, Berserker, Caster, Rider, Assassin, and Lancer. Keep in mind that in Fate media the servants are usually referred to by their classes, their real names are obviously not the same thing.

-The first installment of the series was a Visual Novel called Fate Stay Night. It follows this guy called Shirou and his servant Saber and Rin and her servant Archer. You proabably already know the silver haired archer with the red outfit and the blond saber with the blue armor. There are 3 routes, that have 3 widely diffirent endings/stories. The basics are the same but events aren't. 1 route was animated as a 2006 anime. Another route was adpated in 2014. 1 route is currently being adapted into a movie.

-Fate/zero is the prequel to fate stay night. It follows Shirou's adoptive father, who was also Saber's previous master in the previous Holy Grail War.

-There's a whole bunch of other fate spin offs that don't relate much to Fate/Stay Night.

 

[Calpal]

-The basic story is that some magi summons ancient spirits of historical figure as their "servants" to battle for the Holy Grail. If you defeat all the other servants the remaining master/servant gets the grail. The servants are split into classes called Saber, Archer, Berserker, Caster, Rider, Assassin, and Lancer. Keep in mind that in Fate media the servants are usually referred to by their classes, their real names are obviously not the same thing.

-The first installment of the series was a Visual Novel called Fate Stay Night. It follows this guy called Shirou and his servant Saber and Rin and her servant Archer. You proabably already know the silver haired archer with the red outfit and the blond saber with the blue armor. There are 3 routes, that have 3 widely diffirent endings/stories. The basics are the same but events aren't. 1 route was animated as a 2006 anime. Another route was adpated in 2014. 1 route is currently being adapted into a movie.

-Fate/zero is the prequel to fate stay night. It follows Shirou's adoptive father, who was also Saber's previous master in the previous Holy Grail War.

-There's a whole bunch of other fate spin offs that don't relate much to Fate/Stay Night.

Okay, I just watched fate stay zero and then just finished fate stay night, but i didnt understand the whole Archer is Shirous will or ideal or whatever and how he could use the same trace power as archer n sheit.
also how did gilgamesh remain after the fate/zero?
and i also dont understand what was the difference between the grail in zero and the grail in night?

 

[chopstickchakra]

Okay, I just watched fate stay zero and then just finished fate stay night, but i didnt understand the whole Archer is Shirous will or ideal or whatever and how he could use the same trace power as archer n sheit.
also how did gilgamesh remain after the fate/zero?
and i also dont understand what was the difference between the grail in zero and the grail in night?

Archer in Stay was who Shiro would eventually become. Because you are allowed to use a hero from any time in history this includes history yet to happen(the future) In the future Shiro grows up to become Archer and is then summoned back to the time he was a kid to compete in the Grail Wars.

They all survive since they weren't really there. It just happened that Gilgamesh was the only character they decided to re-use besides Saber. Gilgamesh or any other servant can be summoned every war since they're only summoning an essence.

There was no difference.

 

[~Ethereal~]

I would like to see it, but I need some motivation to watch anime again.

 

[Hexuze]

It's funny seeing fate fans explain to one another the plot of the series. Just a convoluted mess it seems with all these spin-offs/verses/adaptation.

 

[Tantalus Thief]

Okay, I just watched fate stay zero and then just finished fate stay night, but i didnt understand the whole Archer is Shirous will or ideal or whatever and how he could use the same trace power as archer n sheit.
also how did gilgamesh remain after the fate/zero?
and i also dont understand what was the difference between the grail in zero and the grail in night?

F/SN Archer is Shirou from the future. Shirou always wanted to be a hero and the "world' gave him his wish and turned him into a Counter Guardian. But he had to constantly kill people which made him regret that decision. Evantually future Shirou was executed and turned into a servant. The Grail can summons spirits from the past and future. Tracing magic was pretty much Shirou's only skill so of course future Shirou would be a master at that.

Gilgamesh was envolved by the grail's corrupted mud which allowed him to remain. I think he also allied himself with Kotomine to help him remain by feeding him mana. Archer classes can stay around longer than most master-less servants.

The grail in zero was pure then it got corrupted by this thing called Angra Mainyu near the end. The grail in Night was still corrupted. Which is why it had to be destroyed.

 

[ToshiZO]

Keep it simple. Watch the anime, don't get into that whole mess, worry about that later.

Fate has 3 different routes after Zero which is a prequel.

It goes like this.

Fate Zero (2012) :

1.Fate stay/night (2006)
2.Fate stay/night UBW (2014)
3.Fate stay/night Heaven's feel (not yet released)

All 3 are alternate routes, with same characters but different conclusions and what not. It's like the ending of your favourite fighter (Tekken), beat the game with a different character and you have different outcomes.

 

[Tera Path]

I've only watched the 2014 adaptation of Stay night, can someone tell me what happens in the 2006 route?

 

[Tantalus Thief]

I've only watched the 2014 adaptation of Stay night, can someone tell me what happens in the 2006 route?

I'll tell you what happens but it'll spoil it. Generally the 2006 version follows the Saber route. Shirou and Saber's relationship is dived into and it becomes romantic. In this version all that stuff with Sakura doesn't happen and Archer doesn't want to kill Shirou.
MAJOR SPOILERS:

Spoiler

-it focuses on Shirou and Saber.
-Sakura isn't there much. Caster uses her for something in the anime.
-Archer dies against Berserker in an attempt to distract him so Saber can get recharged.
-Assassin dies the same way in UBW at least in the anime.
-Caster gets killed by Gilgamesh.
Saber kills Gilgamesh instead of him getting head shotted by Archer.
Shirou kills Kotomine.

 

[Calpal]

F/SN Archer is Shirou from the future. Shirou always wanted to be a hero and the "world' gave him his wish and turned him into a Counter Guardian. But he had to constantly kill people which made him regret that decision. Evantually future Shirou was executed and turned into a servant. The Grail can summons spirits from the past and future. Tracing magic was pretty much Shirou's only skill so of course future Shirou would be a master at that.

Gilgamesh was envolved by the grail's corrupted mud which allowed him to remain. I think he also allied himself with Kotomine to help him remain by feeding him mana. Archer classes can stay around longer than most master-less servants.

The grail in zero was pure then it got corrupted by this thing called Angra Mainyu near the end. The grail in Night was still corrupted. Which is why it had to be destroyed.

How does one "become" a servant?
alright, i think im just gonna have to watch em all, er the last one, and figure this shit out lol

 

[Tantalus Thief]

How does one "become" a servant?
alright, i think im just gonna have to watch em all, er the last one, and figure this shit out lol

First, you die at any time, and you have to be considered a legend. The "World" then offers a contract with the hero to be made into a heroic spirit that can then be summoned to become a servant.

 

[Calpal]

First, you die at any time, and you have to be considered a legend. The "World" then offers a contract with the hero to be made into a servant.

Are the "world" and the grail directly linked or is it just as vague and inexplicable as it sounds?
lol
sorry i dont mean to keep asking questions, its just i liked everything i saw in the shows, but i binge watched em on netflix so i i didnt really retain it all and i needed clarification
:O

 

[Tantalus Thief]

Are the "world" and the grail directly linked or is it just as vague and inexplicable as it sounds?
lol
sorry i dont mean to keep asking questions, its just i liked everything i saw in the shows, but i binge watched em on netflix so i i didnt really retain it all and i needed clarification
:O

I don't know. The Grail just possess the ability to summon the heroic spirit. The "World" has the ability too and uses it to summon heroes to protect humans according to the Type Moon wiki.
It's not your fault really. I was wondering this stuff too.