"Love thyself. Love thy neighbour. Forgive sin, and accept punishment. All the nourishment a life needs. The things people of your ilk call 'happiness'...
They never brought me any joy."
Kirei Kotomine
Canon
Personality and Biography
"I want to know if it is a crime to live as you are, when you are different from others."
Kirei Kotomine is, in a word, defective. He was born defective, and has lived out all of his life defective. Despite being raised a devout Catholic and being consistently exposed to the teachings of the Holy Church, Kirei Kotomine is, for lack of a better term, evil, although it is not by choice - Kirei's emotions are inverted in a sense. What brings other people joy, causes Kirei to feel absolutely nothing. The despair of others is one of very few things Kirei is able to derive joy from, a fact that he has faced his entire life and despises in line with his teachings. For his entire life, despite his commendable accomplishments, Kirei has felt absolutely no joy from them, describing himself as a hollow human being.
However, Kirei still devotes himself fully to his teachings, going as far as to become a Priest of the Holy Church as well as an Executor, further bringing into the light many of his doubts; Kirei believes himself to be defective, and desperately desires an answer to his prayers, clarity to wash away the cloud that hangs over his emotions - over time, as he matured, he threw himself into all manner of pursuits in an attempt to "correct" his defect, none of which worked. He threw himself entirely into his work under his father, despite feeling absolutely no sense of purpose from it - he could consider no ideal noble, and was physically unable to believe in the inherent goodness of God, although he still believed in a supreme being, and prayed often that he would be given salvation by God. His inner conflict stems from this, in part; his true nature goes against what he has been taught all his life, and Kirei came to believe that the act of feeling joy in and of itself is a sin, branding himself monstrous and inhuman for deriving joy from others' suffering and devoting himself instead to his correction, going as far as to start a family.
Kirei met his soon-to-be wife, Claudia Hortensia, as she was terminally ill, with only a few years left to live. He strove to overcome his evil nature through the mundane pleasure of starting a family, and while she eventually fell pregnant and gave birth to a daughter, Kirei could still feel no joy, save for the joy of watching his wife suffer in pain due to the nature of her illness and the sorrow of inevitably leaving Kirei and her daughter behind. Claudia understood his nature and desired to save him from it, but even she could only amplify his desire to see her suffer. Eventually, Kirei planned to end his own life, feeling immense shame over starting a family "as an experiment", visiting her in the hospital to say goodbye, stating that he could not love her no matter how hard he tried. Claudia denied the claim, stating that he did love her before taking her own life. As Kirei wept, Claudia declared it proof that he was capable of love as she died. In truth, Kirei only wept for one thing.
He had wanted to kill her himself.
However, this grief was not born from being denied the pleasure - it was the climax of his own inner conflict, feeling such immense guilt that for the first time he was brought to tears as a result of his condition, knowing that even toward the woman he loved (or should have), he felt pleasure from nothing but her suffering. After this event, Kirei threw himself fully into the teachings of the Church, burying his inclinations deep and refusing to indulge himself, digging his heels in on the belief that the experience of joy was itself a sin for one such as himself.
That was, until the Fourth Grail War.
During the Fourth Grail War, Kirei was chosen as the Master of the Assassin-class Servant by the Holy Grail. He expressed genuine confusion at this choice, claiming that he had no wish, no ideal and no aspiration for the Holy Grail to grant, but agreed to serve as an agent for another combatant in the war, the master of Gilgamesh, Tokiomi Tohsaka. During the course of the war, Gilgamesh and Kirei became more and more well-acquainted, with Gilgamesh bemoaning Tokiomi's cowardly and traditional nature to Kirei and encouraging him to explore what brought him joy, potentially in a manipulative manner to remove Tokiomi from the fray. No matter the cause, eventually, Gilgamesh encouraged Kirei to kill Tokiomi after the death of his Servant, Assassin, stabbing him in the back with a dagger gifted to Kirei by Tohsaka as a result of his training under the Tohsaka mage as an apprentice being completed. After this, Gilgamesh and Kirei forged their own pact, and Kirei eventually came to accept his own nature, deriving joy from the suffering of those such as Kariya Matou who had entered the war entirely for the sake of someone else and endured tremendous agony to save them.
Kirei then went on to become the overseer of the Fifth Holy Grail War, acting as both an ally and enemy to Shirou Emiya in the aftermath of Sakura Matou's transformation, offering his assistance and recognising the threat that Sakura poses and demonstrating his sensibility and pragmatism. During this time, he spoke to Shirou of his father, Kiritsugu Emiya, who he had become obsessed with over the course of the Fourth Grail War due to their perceived similarities. Kirei spoke of his envy toward Kiritsugu - Kiritsugu and Kirei, to Kirei's knowledge, were very similar in that they were both hollow people in search of higher meaning. Kirei envied Kiritsugu for throwing away his humanity for his ideals, while Kirei desired to do exactly the opposite deep down.
Over the course of the Fifth Grail War, Kirei's goal changed - he desired, more than anything else, to bring forth the birth of Angra Mainyu via the Holy Grail, to answer the question he has desired to know all his life; whether it is possible for a being to be born evil. If Angra Mainyu did not feel regret for destroying humanity, then Kirei's condition would have been justified, and his doubts finally removed. Through the answer to this question, Kirei would have finally attained his enlightenment - that is, if he lived to see it through.
Kirei Kotomine, otherwise, is a generally calm and collected individual, rarely betraying any emotion even if a situation calls for it. He rarely expresses joy save for when he sees others suffer, and rage on occasion, as is the case with individuals such as Kiritsugu Emiya. He is also a potent killer, acting as an Executor for the Holy Church, but does not appear to enjoy senseless violence as opposed to observing those who suffer for a fruitless end goal, such as Kariya Matou. He is pragmatic and logical in almost all pursuits, acting both as Overseer and as a Master in the Fifth Grail War, showing that he is capable of engineering events to his benefit and is a potent mastermind, as well as being able to ally himself with those whom he would otherwise oppose ideologically, the primary example of this being allying with Shirou Emiya in an attempt to dispose of Sakura Matou. In most pursuits, however, either as a front or simply because it is what he has been taught, he follows the teachings of the Holy Church and acts as a devout Catholic, able to dispense advice to those who need it when it is necessary but never outright acting for the benefit of others save for when it suits him.
Powers and Abilities
"Conflict is humanity's primal instinct. Eliminating it would mean eliminating humanity itself."
Kirei is a supernaturally gifted combatant, acting as an Executor for the Holy Church for an entire decade of his life and possessing the strength and experiences to match it, as well as possessing moderate talent in multiple fields of magecraft and mastery over the use of Command Seals. Feats that Kirei has performed concerning physical strength include, but are not limited to, breaking a tree his hands have been bound to in half with nothing but his own upper body strength, leaping ten meters into the air and snatching a foe out of a tree, and running roughly fifty kilometers an hour through a dense forest while carrying a child in his arms, with no obvious signs of reinforcing his physical acumen through magecraft and demonstrating no visible fatigue after the fact. These feats and more indicate that he possesses superhuman speed, strength and stamina, only bolstered further through the use of such magecraft techniques as Black Keys, bolstering his offense and defense via Command Seals, and reinforcement magic.
Kirei also practices an altered form of Bajiquan, a technique born from the blending of martial arts with magecraft, that allow him to combine his immense physical strength and speed with techniques that render him capable of destroying a human being's heart with a single punch to the chest. He was originally taught this art by his father, Risei Kotomine, but over his tenure as an Executor the style has warped into a far more bloodthirsty shadow of itself specializing in isolating and destroying vital parts of the human body with well-placed strikes, bolstered by magecraft.
Kirei does not actually possess a great degree of magical talent, forced to rely primarily on his own physical acumen to defeat opponents who specialise in magecraft more effectively. His time as an Executor has enabled him to learn a plethora of techniques for killing mages, and while he possesses Magic Circuits of his own, bestowed by a divine miracle, they are extremely weak. However, in his battle with Kiritsugu Emiya, Kirei realised that Kiritsugu was moving at double, triple or even quadruple his normal speed and adjusted his own movement to compensate, deflecting blows from landing multiple strikes on an opponent moving four times as fast as him.
Kirei's primary specialty magic-wise is spiritual healing, being one of the few fields of magic he explicitly excelled at under Tokiomi Tohsaka. This kind of healing is not oriented toward combat, and could instead be likened more toward something akin to magical 'surgery', a far lengthier and more precise process for dire injuries through the healing of the soul rather than the body. This technique is also capable of removing Command Spells from the nervous system, as well as healing various spiritual infections. Kirei also possesses the ability, using Command Seals or not, to reinforce objects to the point that they are able to deflect bullets and similar projectiles, another skill he put to great use in his battle with Kiritsugu Emiya by reinforcing his bulletproof frock - in addition, using a Command Seal, he was able to deflect one of Kiritsugu's Origin Rounds by thickening the blades of his Black Keys, the mana source itself dissipating before the Origin Round could destroy Kirei's magic circuits.
Kirei's primary weapon of choice are Black Keys, thin blades resembling rapiers roughly a meter in length that are only partially solid, their blades conjured by magecraft; as a result, he is able to store the hilts of the blades on his person and draw them whenever necessary, able to store at least twenty beneath his coat at any given time. Due to their partially magical nature, Kirei is also capable of bolstering their durability through the use of reinforcement magic and Command Seals. They can be used as melee weapons or projectiles, with Kirei able to hold four in one hand at one time and able to throw one in roughly 0.3 seconds, maintaining remarkable accuracy even if the target is unconfirmed.
Acting as the Overseer of the Fifth Grail War after the death of his father, Kirei inherited the Command Seals that Risei bore; eleven in total, retained from past Grail Wars, in addition to the three he received from the Holy Grail itself. He is able to use these Command Seals in place of his own magic circuits to bolster his own physical and magical abilities to even greater heights, circumventing the effect of Kiritsugu Emiya's Origin Rounds in the process. Amongst other things, the Command Seals allow him to increase the size and durability of his Black Keys, bolster his speed and striking power, and, perhaps most recognisably, bolster his own durability to allow an Origin Round to strike his hand before redirecting the bullet so that it exited his body through his elbow, nullifying its toxic properties. He is also able to use his Command Seals to heal grievous wounds and relieve even the most dire diseases, as shown by when he was able to use all of his remaining Command Seals to remove the Crest Worms from Sakura Matou's body as well as awakening her link to Angra Mainyu, the true contents of the Holy Grail.
One of Kirei's most potent spells is the Baptismal Rite, the sole magical incantation taught to members of the Holy Church. It is effective immediately once spoken and is immensely effective against spiritual bodies, its physical interference being far weaker, although it still does not possess enough power to banish a Heroic Spirit in most cases.
"I will kill. I will let live. I will harm and heal. None will escape me. None will escape my sight.
Be crushed.
I welcome those who have grown old and those who have lost.
Devote yourself to me, learn from me, and obey me.
Rest. Do not forget song, do not forget prayer, and do not forget me.
I am light and relieve you of all your burdens.
Do not pretend. Retribution for forgiveness, betrayal for trust, despair for hope, darkness for light, dark death for the living.
Relief is in my hands. I will add oil to your sins and leave a mark.
Eternal life is given through death.
— Ask for forgiveness here. I, the incarnation, will swear.
— Kyrie eleison".
Kirei is, in the literal sense, undead - after being shot in the heart by Kiritsugu Emiya, he was submerged in the black mud pouring out from the Holy Grail and subsequently gifted an artificial black heart courtesy of Angra Mainyu, allowing him to survive the Holy Grail War albeit relying on Angra Mainyu's magical energy to do so, functioning akin to a walking corpse - even when this heart is removed, such as when Sakura Matou punctures it in Heaven's Feel, Kirei is capable of surviving for two days at least and even holding his own against Shirou Emiya in a fistfight, despite the both of them being extremely wounded and on the verge of death.
Equipment
"There are worthless things, but there are no meaningless things."
Fourteen Command Seals, inherited from Kirei's pact with Gilgamesh as well as from his father, the previous Overseer of the Holy Grail War. Twenty Black Keys, stored within his coat for use at his leisure. A necklace of the Cross, a symbol of Kirei's faith.
Entry Fee
"I envy you people. What I sought, but could not obtain. What I obtained, but could not obtain. Many things slipped out between my fingers, no matter what commandment I used."
Kirei Kotomine is a unique case as far as the Reaper's Game's entry fee is concerned - he has very little that is sentimental to him, and what little he felt any connection to has long-since been lost. Faced with few alternatives, Kirei surrendered the memories of his wife, Claudia Hortensia. Why this choice was offered to him, and not any other, eluded him even as the bargain was struck.
They never brought me any joy."
Kirei Kotomine
Canon
Personality and Biography
"I want to know if it is a crime to live as you are, when you are different from others."
Kirei Kotomine is, in a word, defective. He was born defective, and has lived out all of his life defective. Despite being raised a devout Catholic and being consistently exposed to the teachings of the Holy Church, Kirei Kotomine is, for lack of a better term, evil, although it is not by choice - Kirei's emotions are inverted in a sense. What brings other people joy, causes Kirei to feel absolutely nothing. The despair of others is one of very few things Kirei is able to derive joy from, a fact that he has faced his entire life and despises in line with his teachings. For his entire life, despite his commendable accomplishments, Kirei has felt absolutely no joy from them, describing himself as a hollow human being.
However, Kirei still devotes himself fully to his teachings, going as far as to become a Priest of the Holy Church as well as an Executor, further bringing into the light many of his doubts; Kirei believes himself to be defective, and desperately desires an answer to his prayers, clarity to wash away the cloud that hangs over his emotions - over time, as he matured, he threw himself into all manner of pursuits in an attempt to "correct" his defect, none of which worked. He threw himself entirely into his work under his father, despite feeling absolutely no sense of purpose from it - he could consider no ideal noble, and was physically unable to believe in the inherent goodness of God, although he still believed in a supreme being, and prayed often that he would be given salvation by God. His inner conflict stems from this, in part; his true nature goes against what he has been taught all his life, and Kirei came to believe that the act of feeling joy in and of itself is a sin, branding himself monstrous and inhuman for deriving joy from others' suffering and devoting himself instead to his correction, going as far as to start a family.
Kirei met his soon-to-be wife, Claudia Hortensia, as she was terminally ill, with only a few years left to live. He strove to overcome his evil nature through the mundane pleasure of starting a family, and while she eventually fell pregnant and gave birth to a daughter, Kirei could still feel no joy, save for the joy of watching his wife suffer in pain due to the nature of her illness and the sorrow of inevitably leaving Kirei and her daughter behind. Claudia understood his nature and desired to save him from it, but even she could only amplify his desire to see her suffer. Eventually, Kirei planned to end his own life, feeling immense shame over starting a family "as an experiment", visiting her in the hospital to say goodbye, stating that he could not love her no matter how hard he tried. Claudia denied the claim, stating that he did love her before taking her own life. As Kirei wept, Claudia declared it proof that he was capable of love as she died. In truth, Kirei only wept for one thing.
He had wanted to kill her himself.
However, this grief was not born from being denied the pleasure - it was the climax of his own inner conflict, feeling such immense guilt that for the first time he was brought to tears as a result of his condition, knowing that even toward the woman he loved (or should have), he felt pleasure from nothing but her suffering. After this event, Kirei threw himself fully into the teachings of the Church, burying his inclinations deep and refusing to indulge himself, digging his heels in on the belief that the experience of joy was itself a sin for one such as himself.
That was, until the Fourth Grail War.
During the Fourth Grail War, Kirei was chosen as the Master of the Assassin-class Servant by the Holy Grail. He expressed genuine confusion at this choice, claiming that he had no wish, no ideal and no aspiration for the Holy Grail to grant, but agreed to serve as an agent for another combatant in the war, the master of Gilgamesh, Tokiomi Tohsaka. During the course of the war, Gilgamesh and Kirei became more and more well-acquainted, with Gilgamesh bemoaning Tokiomi's cowardly and traditional nature to Kirei and encouraging him to explore what brought him joy, potentially in a manipulative manner to remove Tokiomi from the fray. No matter the cause, eventually, Gilgamesh encouraged Kirei to kill Tokiomi after the death of his Servant, Assassin, stabbing him in the back with a dagger gifted to Kirei by Tohsaka as a result of his training under the Tohsaka mage as an apprentice being completed. After this, Gilgamesh and Kirei forged their own pact, and Kirei eventually came to accept his own nature, deriving joy from the suffering of those such as Kariya Matou who had entered the war entirely for the sake of someone else and endured tremendous agony to save them.
Kirei then went on to become the overseer of the Fifth Holy Grail War, acting as both an ally and enemy to Shirou Emiya in the aftermath of Sakura Matou's transformation, offering his assistance and recognising the threat that Sakura poses and demonstrating his sensibility and pragmatism. During this time, he spoke to Shirou of his father, Kiritsugu Emiya, who he had become obsessed with over the course of the Fourth Grail War due to their perceived similarities. Kirei spoke of his envy toward Kiritsugu - Kiritsugu and Kirei, to Kirei's knowledge, were very similar in that they were both hollow people in search of higher meaning. Kirei envied Kiritsugu for throwing away his humanity for his ideals, while Kirei desired to do exactly the opposite deep down.
Over the course of the Fifth Grail War, Kirei's goal changed - he desired, more than anything else, to bring forth the birth of Angra Mainyu via the Holy Grail, to answer the question he has desired to know all his life; whether it is possible for a being to be born evil. If Angra Mainyu did not feel regret for destroying humanity, then Kirei's condition would have been justified, and his doubts finally removed. Through the answer to this question, Kirei would have finally attained his enlightenment - that is, if he lived to see it through.
Kirei Kotomine, otherwise, is a generally calm and collected individual, rarely betraying any emotion even if a situation calls for it. He rarely expresses joy save for when he sees others suffer, and rage on occasion, as is the case with individuals such as Kiritsugu Emiya. He is also a potent killer, acting as an Executor for the Holy Church, but does not appear to enjoy senseless violence as opposed to observing those who suffer for a fruitless end goal, such as Kariya Matou. He is pragmatic and logical in almost all pursuits, acting both as Overseer and as a Master in the Fifth Grail War, showing that he is capable of engineering events to his benefit and is a potent mastermind, as well as being able to ally himself with those whom he would otherwise oppose ideologically, the primary example of this being allying with Shirou Emiya in an attempt to dispose of Sakura Matou. In most pursuits, however, either as a front or simply because it is what he has been taught, he follows the teachings of the Holy Church and acts as a devout Catholic, able to dispense advice to those who need it when it is necessary but never outright acting for the benefit of others save for when it suits him.
Powers and Abilities
"Conflict is humanity's primal instinct. Eliminating it would mean eliminating humanity itself."
Kirei is a supernaturally gifted combatant, acting as an Executor for the Holy Church for an entire decade of his life and possessing the strength and experiences to match it, as well as possessing moderate talent in multiple fields of magecraft and mastery over the use of Command Seals. Feats that Kirei has performed concerning physical strength include, but are not limited to, breaking a tree his hands have been bound to in half with nothing but his own upper body strength, leaping ten meters into the air and snatching a foe out of a tree, and running roughly fifty kilometers an hour through a dense forest while carrying a child in his arms, with no obvious signs of reinforcing his physical acumen through magecraft and demonstrating no visible fatigue after the fact. These feats and more indicate that he possesses superhuman speed, strength and stamina, only bolstered further through the use of such magecraft techniques as Black Keys, bolstering his offense and defense via Command Seals, and reinforcement magic.
Kirei also practices an altered form of Bajiquan, a technique born from the blending of martial arts with magecraft, that allow him to combine his immense physical strength and speed with techniques that render him capable of destroying a human being's heart with a single punch to the chest. He was originally taught this art by his father, Risei Kotomine, but over his tenure as an Executor the style has warped into a far more bloodthirsty shadow of itself specializing in isolating and destroying vital parts of the human body with well-placed strikes, bolstered by magecraft.
Kirei does not actually possess a great degree of magical talent, forced to rely primarily on his own physical acumen to defeat opponents who specialise in magecraft more effectively. His time as an Executor has enabled him to learn a plethora of techniques for killing mages, and while he possesses Magic Circuits of his own, bestowed by a divine miracle, they are extremely weak. However, in his battle with Kiritsugu Emiya, Kirei realised that Kiritsugu was moving at double, triple or even quadruple his normal speed and adjusted his own movement to compensate, deflecting blows from landing multiple strikes on an opponent moving four times as fast as him.
Kirei's primary specialty magic-wise is spiritual healing, being one of the few fields of magic he explicitly excelled at under Tokiomi Tohsaka. This kind of healing is not oriented toward combat, and could instead be likened more toward something akin to magical 'surgery', a far lengthier and more precise process for dire injuries through the healing of the soul rather than the body. This technique is also capable of removing Command Spells from the nervous system, as well as healing various spiritual infections. Kirei also possesses the ability, using Command Seals or not, to reinforce objects to the point that they are able to deflect bullets and similar projectiles, another skill he put to great use in his battle with Kiritsugu Emiya by reinforcing his bulletproof frock - in addition, using a Command Seal, he was able to deflect one of Kiritsugu's Origin Rounds by thickening the blades of his Black Keys, the mana source itself dissipating before the Origin Round could destroy Kirei's magic circuits.
Kirei's primary weapon of choice are Black Keys, thin blades resembling rapiers roughly a meter in length that are only partially solid, their blades conjured by magecraft; as a result, he is able to store the hilts of the blades on his person and draw them whenever necessary, able to store at least twenty beneath his coat at any given time. Due to their partially magical nature, Kirei is also capable of bolstering their durability through the use of reinforcement magic and Command Seals. They can be used as melee weapons or projectiles, with Kirei able to hold four in one hand at one time and able to throw one in roughly 0.3 seconds, maintaining remarkable accuracy even if the target is unconfirmed.
Acting as the Overseer of the Fifth Grail War after the death of his father, Kirei inherited the Command Seals that Risei bore; eleven in total, retained from past Grail Wars, in addition to the three he received from the Holy Grail itself. He is able to use these Command Seals in place of his own magic circuits to bolster his own physical and magical abilities to even greater heights, circumventing the effect of Kiritsugu Emiya's Origin Rounds in the process. Amongst other things, the Command Seals allow him to increase the size and durability of his Black Keys, bolster his speed and striking power, and, perhaps most recognisably, bolster his own durability to allow an Origin Round to strike his hand before redirecting the bullet so that it exited his body through his elbow, nullifying its toxic properties. He is also able to use his Command Seals to heal grievous wounds and relieve even the most dire diseases, as shown by when he was able to use all of his remaining Command Seals to remove the Crest Worms from Sakura Matou's body as well as awakening her link to Angra Mainyu, the true contents of the Holy Grail.
One of Kirei's most potent spells is the Baptismal Rite, the sole magical incantation taught to members of the Holy Church. It is effective immediately once spoken and is immensely effective against spiritual bodies, its physical interference being far weaker, although it still does not possess enough power to banish a Heroic Spirit in most cases.
"I will kill. I will let live. I will harm and heal. None will escape me. None will escape my sight.
Be crushed.
I welcome those who have grown old and those who have lost.
Devote yourself to me, learn from me, and obey me.
Rest. Do not forget song, do not forget prayer, and do not forget me.
I am light and relieve you of all your burdens.
Do not pretend. Retribution for forgiveness, betrayal for trust, despair for hope, darkness for light, dark death for the living.
Relief is in my hands. I will add oil to your sins and leave a mark.
Eternal life is given through death.
— Ask for forgiveness here. I, the incarnation, will swear.
— Kyrie eleison".
Kirei is, in the literal sense, undead - after being shot in the heart by Kiritsugu Emiya, he was submerged in the black mud pouring out from the Holy Grail and subsequently gifted an artificial black heart courtesy of Angra Mainyu, allowing him to survive the Holy Grail War albeit relying on Angra Mainyu's magical energy to do so, functioning akin to a walking corpse - even when this heart is removed, such as when Sakura Matou punctures it in Heaven's Feel, Kirei is capable of surviving for two days at least and even holding his own against Shirou Emiya in a fistfight, despite the both of them being extremely wounded and on the verge of death.
Equipment
"There are worthless things, but there are no meaningless things."
Fourteen Command Seals, inherited from Kirei's pact with Gilgamesh as well as from his father, the previous Overseer of the Holy Grail War. Twenty Black Keys, stored within his coat for use at his leisure. A necklace of the Cross, a symbol of Kirei's faith.
Entry Fee
"I envy you people. What I sought, but could not obtain. What I obtained, but could not obtain. Many things slipped out between my fingers, no matter what commandment I used."
Kirei Kotomine is a unique case as far as the Reaper's Game's entry fee is concerned - he has very little that is sentimental to him, and what little he felt any connection to has long-since been lost. Faced with few alternatives, Kirei surrendered the memories of his wife, Claudia Hortensia. Why this choice was offered to him, and not any other, eluded him even as the bargain was struck.