Kiritsugu Emiya

Kiritsugu Emiya
Fate character
Kiritsugu Emiya in Fate/Zero by Takashi Takeuchi
First appearance	Fate/stay night (2004)
Created by	Kinoko Nasu
Voiced by	Japanese Rikiya Koyama Miyu Irino (young) English Matthew Mercer Marin Miller (young)
In-universe information
Relatives	Noritaka Emiya (father) Natalia Kaminski (adoptive mother) Irisviel von Einzbern (wife) Illyasviel von Einzbern (daughter) Shirou Emiya (adoptive son)

Kiritsugu Emiya (Japanese: 衛宮 切嗣, Hepburn: Emiya Kiritsugu) is a fictional character first introduced in the Fate/stay night visual novel by Type-Moon and further explored later in the light novel prequel Fate/Zero by Gen Urobuchi. Kiritsugu is introduced as the recently deceased adoptive father of a teenager named Shirou Emiya whom he met after he saved him from a fire. Before he died, Kiritsugu taught the child basic magecraft and divulged his dreams of becoming a hero. While Shirou and the player know more about Kiritsugu in the story, the light novel reveals him to be a fighter from the Fourth Holy Grail War, a conflict between mages from Fate/Zero. Kiritsugu participates in the Fourth Holy Grail War a decade before Fate/stay night, supporting his spouse Irisviel von Einzbern and his Servant Saber. Kiritsugu has also appeared in multiple spin-offs based on the Fate franchise.

As a minor character in the original visual novel, Kiritsugu's characterization in the light novel was mostly handled by writer Gen Urobuchi when he wrote Fate/Zero as a tragic prequel. His design was created by Takashi Takeuchi although he did not draw multiple illustrations of him. The character is voiced in Japanese by Rikiya Koyama who first voiced him in the 2006 anime adaptation of Fate/stay night. In the English dub, he was voiced by Matthew Mercer. Miyu Irino provides his Japanese voice during flashbacks, while Marin Miller voices him in English when he was a child.

Critical reception to Kiritsugu's character has been generally positive because of his mix of a dark and a light personality as evidenced by his actions such as his relationship with his family and his violent methods. His rivalry and fight with Kirei Kotomine has also received praise. The character has been popular within the Type-Moon and Fate fanbases, often appearing on both popularity and general anime polls.