Fate Sakura Matou

Sakura Matou - Destiny

Profile

Sakura Matou is one of the three heroines of Fate/Stay Night and the main heroine of the "Heaven's Feel" route. She is Rider's Master during the Fifth Holy Grail War as well as Avenger, Saber Alter, and Berserker in the "Heaven's Feel" route. She is good friends with Shirou Emiya and has a crush on him. She regularly helps him around his house by cleaning and cooking for him and their friends. She is the adoptive sister of Shinji Matou and the biological sister of Rin Tohsaka.

Although born into the Tohsaka family, her father Tokiomi decided to give her up for adoption because there was already a daughter in the family who would carry on the family name as a mage, and he didn't want there to be any competition between the two. She was adopted into the Matou family, an ally of the Tohsakas, by Zouken Matou, who planned to train her to become a future vessel for Angra Mainyu. Sakura endured brutal training for years at the hands of Zouken. After the Fourth Holy Grail War, Zouken collected fragments of the Shattered Grail, combined them into Crest Worms, and forcibly implanted them into Sakura with the goal that she would one day become the Black Grail, a version of the Lesser Grail. After years of torture, she became an emotionless shell of herself who felt powerless to change her destiny. After her new brother, Shinji Matou, returned from studying abroad, he began to brutalize her. He became jealous after learning that Sakura would be the heir to the family and not him, and he began to rape her. She overcame her difficulties by drawing strength from Shirou, whose determination she admired.

Sakura is shy and gentle, which betrays her inner strength. She is eager to please, devoted, and, despite the years of abuse she has endured, very compassionate and caring. She falls in love with Shirou during Fate/Stay the Night and regularly helps him by cleaning his house and cooking for him.

Appearance

Sakura is a young woman with shoulder-length purple hair and violet eyes. She wears a distinctive ribbon in her hair given to her years earlier by Rin. In addition to her Homurahara Academy uniform, she wears a casual outfit consisting of a pink cardigan over a white shirt and a long cream-colored skirt. During the "Heaven's Feel" route, her appearance changes to white hair and red eyes, and she wears a long black dress with red markings covering her face, arms, and legs. However, even in this form, she still wears Rin's ribbon.

SKILLS

Sakura has incredible potential as a mage, but due to her lack of formal training, she is on par with Shirou in terms of magical skill. She is capable of using absorption magic, which stabs an opponent and drains their energy, but she says it has little practical use compared to Shirou's strengthening ability.

Role

Sakura appears in Fate/Zero and is adopted by the Matou family the year before the Fourth Holy Grail War. When Kariya Matou sees how Sakura is treated, he makes a deal with Zouken to let Sakura go if he wins the Holy Grail. Of all the Matou family members, Kariya was the only one to treat Sakura kindly. However, he is killed during the war, which Sakura interprets as a warning from Zouken about what would happen to her if she tried to disobey him. This pushed her further into despair and hopelessness.

Sakura appears in each of the three Fate/Stay Night routes as a Rider Master, though she is only a supporting character in "Fate" and "Unlimited Blade Works." However, her role is partially expanded in the anime adaptation, in which she is captured by Caster, who plans to use her to summon the Holy Grail by force, and ultimately rescued by Shirou, Rin, and Saber.

Sakura primarily appears in the "Heaven's Feel" route, where she is the main heroine. In this route, she is influenced by Zouken, who uses her as a vessel for Angra Mainyu to eliminate the other participants in the Fifth Holy Grail War. Sakura's shadow is able to summon Saber Alter and Dark Berserker after absorbing several Servants. After an attempted rape by Shinji, Sakura kills him, which causes her to give in to her hatred and she becomes Dark Sakura, a psychotic version of herself that has been contaminated by Angra Mainyu and goes on a rampage against her. She then captures Illya, whom she plans to use as the core of a new Holy Grail, but is ultimately stopped by Rin and Shirou, who are able to dispel Angra Mainyu from her body using Rule Breaker, destroying her dark self and reverting her to her normal form. In the true ending, she continues to live happily with Shirou and Rider.

Other appearances

Sakura has appeared numerous times in the Fate universe including Fate/Hollow Ataraxia None Fate/Unlimited Codes None Fate/Tiger Colosseum None Carnival Phantom None Emiya Family Daily Menu None Fate/Extra None Fate/Kaleid Liner Prisma Illya , and Fate/Grand Order None