The Hero Dies At The End

I just read all of Fate/Stay Night in about 8 or 9 sittings. It took a bit over a week. I lost a lot of sleep because I got so wrapped up in it but it was worth it. It was a game/story I was told to avoid for years by idiots who misjudged my taste and people giving me misinformation about it. It's only thanks to a few good friends that told me the truth that I read it.

No. It's not quite that. It's that I was told by them that it was a story I needed to read. There's these two characters in it, the protagonist Shirou and some dude in red named Archer. Shirou is a young romanticized idealist. He wants to literally be a superhero when he grows up. Archer, however, sees this as folly; heroes don't exist as they do in stories and this kid is an idiot and he is going to set him straight or kill him trying. I was told I had parts of both in me, that their narrative and arc was my own.

So instead of a formal review of the game, I'm going to instead write an introspective piece. If you don't want spoilers or don't want tl;dr about heroism in the modern age then stop here. This is not an easy post to write and it will not be an easy one to read. There will be tears and frustration forged into this. It's a story about me not many know but all should hear at last. If you back out now I won't blame you. Otherwise, you can read on.

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