So, we come now to the final stage. We have our 4 players lined up; Saber, Rin, Shirou, and their enemy, Gilgamesh. We know their plans, whats at stake, and what it could mean. This is the last three episodes for this series, and now we’ll see what will happen.
Rin and Shirou go on ahead to the temple and it looks…very different from when Caster was around. Like…alot alot. The small mountain of tumors that form to make the grail’s vessel is.sufficiently grotesque. No wonder the Einzberns custom-make their grail vessels.
Truly an extreme makeover, right? But yeah, that does lead to an interesting point I realized. Namely, its the reason why Gilgamesh took out Ilya’s heart and put it in someone else rather than simply use Ilya as the grail vessel. Ilya was made to be an ideal grail vessel..but that’s not what Gil wants. After all, he doesn’t want to make a wish on the grail, he just wants it to blow up and kill anyone. While a mage can be a suitable vessel for the grail for a while, it won’t last long, leading the grail and its contents to burst out like an evil cursed zit on the earth. Gil, in typical Bond villain fashion, explains then the reason why h wants to wipe out billions of people.
Namely, because he believes the worth of something comes from its brevity. The value of human life diminishes the more human lives there are. As Gil says, even a slave in his time had worth, and a purpose, but now there’s too many mundane, redundant people he seeks to remove. In the apocalypse he will wreak, only a few will survive, which he will then rule. However, this is based on the idea ANY humans will survive, which they might not. Or that the post-grail war would be a place worth living. But trying to tell Gil he’s got a few holes in his plans is like trying to spit at the sun; its pointless. While Rin decides to go into that..mess in order to get Shinji out, Shirou has to fight Gil. And where is Saber?
Assassin remains, even though Caster is dead, but he’s not around for long. Of course, Saber’s running on fumes as well, so both are fighting with their basic swordsman skills. Saber questions Assassin’s reasons, and he explains. He’s fictional…as in, his story doesn’t really exist. That’s right, out of everyone magical and mythical that canonically exist in the Fate universe, there’s one servant summoned who’s actually fictional in context of the world. He’s a mishmash of different stories, a phantom with no real name or goal. So, the only thing he desires to do is to fight, since his swordsmanship skills are literally all he has. So, his only desire is to face Saber in an honorable sword battle, and Saber, being an upstanding sporting sort of person, agrees.
When we cut back to the grail, we see things really begin kicking off. We also get to know a bit more about what makes the grail work. Namely, it takes in all of the wishes of humans, most of which are tainted with human malevolence, These self-destructive tendencies make the grail, made up of human wishes, a force to kill humans, which is a really messed up idea. The grail is full of the world’s evils because man’s wishes are evil, and as Gil sees it, this is simply humanity destroying itself by its own hand.
Shirou continues to fight Gil, and gets wrecked as his limitations are clear. Gil seems to think of him as a trifle, and Shirou’s only real hope in countering him is to copy his weapons and launch them back…which he does. In an awesome bit, Shirou sends back every blade Gil creates, though Gil is far from concerned. Despite his success, keeping up with Gil is taking a huge toll on Shirou and his body.
What makes things worse, when Rin finally removes shinji from the grail, the monstrosity the grail has become seeks a new vessel, and goes for Gil. However, Gil summons freaking Ea to force it back. This is very surprising and interesting for multiple reasons. In Fate/zero, Gil refused to use Ea against anyone except a person he saw as worthy, even when the situation was dire. However, he freely, almost casually uses it to fend off the grail. Is it because he believed it was worth Ea’s usage, or because he had to, with no other weapons sufficing to repel the creature. I’m not sure what the answer is, but its fun to consider.
This blast is so powerful is beats the shit out of Shirou just as an ambient attack, and we know its full power is not being utilized. Ea can literally destroy worlds, and Gil only uses it as necessary. He likely doesnt use Ea for his plan because it would literally destroy the whole planet…which even the most hardy of humans wouldn’ be able to fight. Besides, he’d not stain his sword with people he found lesser.
The episode ends with Shirou knocked down, and with the final battle between Saber and Assassin. Both are warriors which seek true battle,and work with honor…and because Urobuchi isn’t writing for this show, they actually get to have it. In typical sword fight style, everything is decided by one strike.
Saber defeats Assassin, and he dies peacefully, knowing he fought as best he could, as Saber goes to face Gil. I’m curious as to how she’ll play in with theGil vs Shirou fight, or how Rin will work in this too. While the stage has been set, now things are reaching a high point. I think we’re in for even more insanity and badass fights as things go on. The big question will be answered; who will Kill Gil. (I apologize..that pun…was bad XD).