Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg

is one of the founders of the Clock Tower and the . He holds the title of Wizard Marshal in the Mage's Association. He is known for defeating the Crimson Moon in battle.
Within Tsukihime Worlds, he was turned into a Dead Apostle after his battle with the Crimson Moon and became recognized as the third of The Twenty-seven Dead Apostle Ancestors. Within Fate Worlds, he did not become a Dead Apostle, but found immortality through other means.
==Profile==
===Background===
Zelretch was a Magus of the Age of Gods who studied under King Solomon some time before Solomon's death in 900 BC. After Solomon died Zelretch witnessed the end of the Age of Gods with his own eyes and disappeared from the center stage.
He became the discoverer of the Second Magic and earned numerous nicknames, including , , , , Fate/stay night - Heaven's Feel route - Day 15: limited. - Gem sword creation (Game code) and 
After the final decline of the Age of Gods at the start of the AD era, the remaining Age of Gods Magi formed the Mage's Association in 0 AD. Joining with fellow disciple of Solomon Brishisan, they formed the basis of what would later become the Clock Tower branch.
In 300 AD, he challenged and defeated Brunestud of the Crimson Moon, the King of Vampires, out of simple dislike. He rallied the Magi of the world and led them into battle. The magi, normally too preoccupied with their own individualistic struggles to function as an army, were forcibly united under Zelretch, resulting in his reputation as the feared Wizard Marshal. When the Crimson Moon attempted to drop a mirror image of the moon on the Earth, Zelretch used the Second Magic and Jeweled Sword Zelretch to create a virtually limitless ether cannon to push it back. While he emerged victorious, or it could possibly be said it ended in a draw, he paid a heavy price. He became extremely weakened because of the battle, aging him severely and causing his powers to diminish.
In 500 AD, he was one of the founding members of the Clock TowerFate/strange Fake Volume 4 - Chapter 12: Day 2, Daytime "Genius Was Not Built in a Day; All Magecraft Leads to Disaster" along with Brishisan. The Department of Mineralogy "Kischur" is named after him. Zelretch made a promise to Yumina which is why he occasionally helps the Association.
Over the generations, it became tradition for historied magus families to teach their children of Zelretch. For less historied families, his name was known through the telling that "in the Clock Tower the great Magician who led the World of Magecraft into battle long ago is still alive." He began to occasionally visit the Clock Tower on a whim, each time taking on apprentices in either Magic or magecraft. The Lords came to fear these visits; while Zelretch's magecraft students return without incident, even the most promising of his Magic students tend to become "wrecks" who can no longer continue their mage studies.
====Tsukihime Worlds====
In Tsukihime worlds after repelling the Crimson Moon, Zelretch was attacked by the 3rd of the Twenty-Seven Dead Apostle Ancestors, although he managed to defeat them, he had his blood sucked by the Ancestor which made him inherit their Idea Blood and become a Dead Apostle Ancestor himself. Because he had become a Dead Apostle and therefore mankind's enemy, he was unable to oppose Crimson Moon… but he just thought "I wasn’t mankind’s ally to begin with—kinda just wanna go retire", taking the opportunity to disappear from the center stage of magecraft.
Despite his status as a vampire, Zelretch still remains an ally of humanity and the nearly extinct race of True Ancestors. He was one of the Magicians who would be summoned to witness the births of princes and princesses like in ages past, and one such event was the coming of age ceremony of Arcueid Brunestud eight hundred years before Tsukihime. Along with his friend Caubac Alcatraz, they appeared before her and Zelretch, having "sent away" the King of the Moon, was very intrigued by her. He smiled and said "This is why life is interesting" upon seeing her. She also took an interest in him due to it being her first time seeing a smiling face.
He told her that she will sleep until she becomes an adult, and she asked him why he was smiling, because no one at the castle ever smiles. He said that people smile when they enjoy their own lives, which she did not understand due to her unique upbringing. When asked what is enjoyable and when she will understand, he replied that it was a fifty-fifty shot that she would come to that realization, and that due to her long life, she would have many opportunities. Understanding is something gained by chance, like walking alongside the road and tripping over a rock, and once something is understood, it is no longer anything special. She did not and could not understand, but he said to her that "One day you will notice that life is fun just being awake."Shingetsutan Tsukihime Prologue - 3/ Long before then
====Fate Worlds====
In Fate worlds, Zelretch did not become a Vampire during his battle with Brunestud the Crimson Moon. He found Immortality through other means.
Nagato Tohsaka is considered to be one of the rare talented pupils that returned without a scratch, but the nature of their relationship was strange. Zelretch met him while both of them were on a journey, and he decided to teach Nagato something as payment for picking up the hotel bill. He couldn't even be called "pupil of a Magus" because, from Zelretch's perspective, Nagato was only a follower whom he looked out for every now and then. Their level of relationship was distant, something like that of a supervising teacher who is observing the students doing experiments from afar.
Despite their strange relationship, Zelretch entrusted the design of the Jewel Sword to Nagato and the Tohsaka family. Though there were other candidates to whom he could have given them, such as the brilliant Einzberns and Makiris, they were fundamentally evil. Nagato, while mediocre, was good at heart, so he concluded that "this House will probably never accomplish anything great, but at least they will never stray from the righteous path." He then gave the design to Nagato and told him "alright, it will be a struggle, but work towards this goal". He never expected that only six generations would be needed to produce a result.
He helped oversee the formation of the Fuyuki Holy Grail War system two hundred years ago with Zouken Makiri, Justeaze Lizrich von Einzbern, and Nagato. Nagato allowed his property, Fuyuki City, to be used as the battleground, Zouken proposed the system of "Masters" and "Servants", and Justeaze developed the Heaven's Feel system, offered the Homunculi vessels for the Grail, and became the core of the Greater Grail.
===Appearance===
When he was younger his hair was blond.
Kaleidoscope FGO.png| in Fate/Grand Order, illustrated by pako.
Wizard Marshal CE.png| in Fate/Grand Order, illustrated by Kazuki Yone.
Silver Link Zelretch character sheet.jpg| character sheet of Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg in Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA☆ILLYA.
===Personality===
He is known as a complicated and weird individual with a personality where he becomes angered with those who are evil and laughs at do-gooders. He has a demeanor that can be called "old, but not out."
He is surprisingly meddlesome in worldly affairs, and he is known to be a troublesome figure who frequently sparks conflicts. He acts as a surrogate grandfather to Arcueid Brunestud, and is both admired and disliked by the Mage's Association due to his tendency to cripple his proteges.
Lawful Good. Extroverted, self-assured, proactive. A thoughtful sage, one who assesses the whole and imagines a bright future. Though he has a scary look that makes others distance themselves from him, he is a man of social justice and has good and honest morals. However, though he has them, that doesn’t mean he applies them to himself, and is rather a man of freedom who does whatever he likes.
“I’ll force rules upon the Mage's Association for the sake of a brighter future, but I never said I’d follow those rules myself” is something he actually follows through with.
He has the same attitude as a grandpa who often laughs as he watches over the life of his mischievous grandchild.
Though he is an observer, he will still butt into arguments (in fact, if someone is about to make a blunder, he will warn them, a smile on his face), and if he realizes things are about to spill over onto him, he will childishly hinder it with full force. That’s the kind of adult he is.
Zelretch generally sees himself as an alumnus who has already graduated from ‘Earth Academy’. Meaning, as long as the academy itself doesn’t go under, he will just warmly watch on from afar at the various problems afflicting it—broad-mindedly thinking something like “I did about the same when I was young”.
The highlight of Zelretch’s life was his showdown with Crimson Moon, so everything beyond that he sees as nothing more than ‘the rest of his days’. Although, that is precisely why he’s very proactive when it comes to assessing the situation surrounding Crimson Moon. One could see it as taking care of the aftermath of his adolescent period. The reason Zelretch headed for the castle of the True Ancestors and blessed the birth of Arcueid was because she was the factor who would take his place in bringing an end to the Crimson Moon problem.
Due to his promise with Yumina, and the fact that he is old acquaintances with the headmaster, he shows up now and then to act as an advisor for the Mage's Association. He has accepted the weakening of Magus ideals as something that happens. However, if some weakling comes before him and starts going off about their own theories he will beat them and their weak character into shape. When there are issues concerning Magic, he appears before the Association and delivers fair and just judgment.
As one of the most prominent magi in the human world, Zelretch is highly regarded among the True Ancestors, and is friendly with them since he has been alive since before the Common Era. He often provides them counsel on what humans are doing, such as when they ask what that new "Christianity" thing is.
After becoming one of the 27 Ancestors, he came to understand Crimson Moon’s views, and began hating him even further. On the other hand, after comprehending the system behind the 27 Ancestors, he became aware of the other Ancestors’ way of being, and so stopped hating vampires themselves. After all, some of the Ancestors were far more pure in their scholarship compared to the Mage's Association’s advocates of pre-established privileges. He will not interfere with Dead Apostles as long as they do not cause particularly large-scale problems. He has seen through the mechanisms behind the 27 Ancestors, but has deliberately chosen to quietly observe them. He is tea-drinking companions with the "three idiots", Caubac Alcatraz, Agape, and Lovematroos. Rumor has it that when he deals with Agape, he becomes like a simple grandpa doting on his grandchild.
He does not concern himself with the Holy Church at all.
==Role==
===Fate/stay night===
====Heaven's Feel====
Zelretch appears before Rin Tohsaka at the Clock Tower after she manages to recreate his Jeweled Sword with the assistance of Shirou Emiya during the Heaven's Feel route, complimenting her accomplishment by taking her as a protege and having the charges against her nullified. He had expected the least out of Nagato's unremarkable bloodline, ruminating on the progression of the Tohsaka family in just six generations. In the True End, he uses his influence in the Clock Tower to get Rin acquitted of opening and closing the gate of the Greater Grail.Fate/stay night - Heaven's Feel route - True End: Return to the Spring
As Rin's teacher, Zelretch is impressed by the descendants of Nagato Tohsaka. He decides to hammer "unreasonably difficult" magecraft into her, and teach her things he had never taught anyone before. However as there are no further Magician spots available, he does not teach her the Second Magic.
Anyone who is a Magician’s pupil is first started off with a living hell where they might accidentally destroy the universe. Although Rin never minded it that much, instead simply tilting her head, wondering if maybe she had just had some kind of tremendously hellish thing shown to her, after which she kept puking for a whole month.
===Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA☆ILLYA===
FateKaleid10J-1-.jpg|Zelretch, only seen up to his torso and arms, in Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA☆ILLYA.
Fatekaleid liner PRISMA El-Melloi II.jpg|Back of Zelretch's head.
Zelretch is the creator of Magical Ruby and Magical Sapphire. He gives them to Rin and Luvia so they can retrieve the Class Cards.
===Fate/strange Fake===
Zelretch (FSF anime).jpg|Zelretch in his Observation Room in Fate/strange Fake -Whispers of Dawn-.
Zelretch (FSF).jpg|Zelretch in his Observation Room in the manga.
Possibly many years prior to the story of Fate/strange Fake, Zelretch killed one of the bodies of Francesca Prelati. Although she continued living in another body, this death was still one of her most memorable.Fate/strange Fake Volume 3 - Prologue VIII: "The Star Performers' Feast (Part 1)"
Zelretch is concerned about the False Holy Grail War of Snowfield, fearing that it will lead to the premature awakening of the "Spider", due to a wish of one of the Masters. Zelretch is shown discussing with Caubac Alcatraz about what timeline Zelretch should observe, as his observation will make that timeline the real one, based on the person who will intervene in the War and hopefully prevent its danger. They eventually decide on Ayaka Sajyou to be their observer.Fate/strange Fake Volume 1 - Extra Chapter: Observer. Or, Character Creation translation, p.187-193
It is also stated, that after learning of the birth and exceptional nature of Flat Escardos, Zelretch noted that he has achieved the 1,800-year long dream of the Escardos family, that even their descendants had forgotten. This was also noted by Van-Fem, in the exact same words no less.Fate/strange Fake Volume 4 - Extra Chapter: "-"
===Tsukihime Remake Series===
Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg is shown to be listed as one of the Ancestors on the list possessed by Arcueid Brunestud.
===Melty Blood: Type Lumina===
In Mario Gallo Bestino's Arcade Mode, he contacts Aoko Aozaki to inform her that Mario striking a deal with Roa to obtain his research into immortality poses some potential threat to humanity, prompting Aoko to intervene in Souya to prevent this from happening.Melty Blood: Type Lumina - Mario's Arcade Route
===Other appearances===
Zelretch makes a brief cameo appearance in Carnival Phantasm.
Zelretch makes cameos in Fate/Grand Order as Craft Essence cards. He appears as the illustration cover for and . Zelretch is also the narrator for the Mahoutsukai no Yoru collaboration event trailer.
==Abilities==
Zelretch has complete mastery of the Second Magic, which allowed him to defeat Crimson Moon in one on one combat due to Crimson Moon having no knowledge of Magic, and allowed him to stop the "Moon Fall", during which Crimson Moon dropped a mirror image of the Moon towards earth, with pure force. The encounter caused a heavy toll to be taken on his body, known for his strong and tough physique, which aged him considerably and diminished his powers to the point where he can no longer use that level of Magic extensively. He mainly uses what is left of his abilities to travel between parallel worlds. Along with being a Magic user, he is also at the pinnacle of Magi, earning his title as a Wizard Marshal.
===Jewel magecraft===
Zelretch is the father of jewel magecraft, the technique of storing magical energy in minerals, stabilizing them and using it for various applications in life and for supporting civilization. He taught this magecraft to the Tohsaka family.
===Dead Apostle Ancestor===
Within Tsukihime Worlds, Zelretch is a Rank IX Ancestor Dead Apostle due to having been bitten by the 3rd of Twenty-seven Dead Apostle Ancestors after repelling the Crimson Moon, possessing one of the Idea Bloods and a undisclosed Principle. As such, Zelretch is among the very pinnacle of Dead Apostles above the Successors who not even True Ancestors can lay a finger on.Tsukihime -A piece of blue glass moon- - Midnight Rainbow route - Day 10: "Arc en Ciel II" He has gained Immortality through becoming a Dead Apostle. He cannot turn back from a Dead Apostle to a Human, such as by using the Kaleidoscope to move to a different physical body in a different timeline, as due to being someone who has inherited the Idea Blood of one of the Dead Apostle Ancestors, he is infected on the soul-level, making it impossible for him not to be. Vampirification is not the transformation of the body, but of existence - equivalent to having your entry in the Akashic Records that read ‘Human’ changed to ‘Dead Apostle’ — it means that one has become a vampire in one’s very being. 
===Second Magic===
Neco-Arc is suggested by Aoko Aozaki to have been brought from another world by Zelretch in Melty Blood Act Cadenza.
====Observation====
Apart from his Mystic Codes, Zelretch is capable of using his Second Magic in other ways. The full abilities of his Magic are yet to be revealed, but it does give him the ability to observe and travel through different worlds and even timelines. He is capable of observing the different worlds he sees, being able to see their eventual outcomes. Due to his Magic, the mere fact of Zelretch observing a single possibility among many will instantly make that possibility the only real one. This causes him to choose the worlds he observes with great consideration, only intervening when absolutely necessary.
====Traveling to Parallel Worlds====
To travel between parallel worlds, Zelretch transfers himself to jewels in a different temporal axis. If he wanted to travel from "World A" to "World B", he would gather up enough gems in World B until there were enough to take his shape, and then transfer his soul into them, turning the jewel golem into Zelretch. At the same time, Zelretch's body back in World A will turn back into a pile of jewels. As long as he has enough materials he can travel to any world he wishes, but since he only has one soul, he can only be active in one world at a time.
He used to travel with his physical body, but after various circumstance he has found that this method is easier. Despite the fact he no longer travels using his physical body, he cannot use this method of travel to turn back from Dead Apostle to human, as he is infected on the soul-level, making it impossible for him not to be. 
In addition, as a small amount of time lag occurs when he travels, he is also capable of a tiny bit of time travel as well.
===Mystic Codes===
Zelretch has a number of Mystic Codes that utilize the Second Magic.
====Jeweled Sword Zelretch====
Jewelzelretch.png|Jeweled Sword
Gem sword rainbow.jpg|Jeweled Sword activated.
Jeweled Sword Zelretch CE.png| from Fate/Grand Order.
Zelretch with the Jewel Sword.jpg|Zelretch pulling out the Jewel Sword.
RinSword.jpg|Rin using the Jewel Sword.
Rin using the Jeweled Sword of Zelretch (Ufotable).gif|Rin using the Jewel Sword in the movie adaptation.
Rin uses Zelretch to blind Dark Sakura.gif|Rin blinding Sakura by making Zelretch explode. 
 
Zelretch's main weapon is a Mystic Code, the , more commonly referred to as , the , and Zelretch. It is a ritual dagger with a jeweled blade, an alien technology embodying general knowledge from a far future, beyond the reach of modern man. Shirou cannot understand the magical theory that constructed it even with all of Archer's knowledge. Zelretch carries the original, and he has left blueprints of the sword with the Tohsaka family as a sort of long-term homework that he expects will take many generations. Like normal Mystic Codes, it is only able to be used by him and those of his lineage. It is the tool with which he pushed back the mirror image of the moon by utilizing it to create a virtually limitless ether cannon unleashed through a Magic Square, a special magic circle.
The sword is capable of the Multi-Dimensional Refraction Phenomenon, allowing the user to draw in potentially infinite magical energy. The kaleidoscope-like jewel blade creates a small opening to the same area in another parallel world, though any further interference is impossible, and it draws in all of the magical energy from that space. magical energy channeled into the blade can be fired off in a blinding stream of light. Also, as a jewel, the sword can also be detonated as a one-shot explosive. The sword is created during Heaven's Feel by using the blueprints, Shirou Emiya's Projection, and Illyasviel von Einzbern's inherited memories from Justeaze of Zelretch's original sword. The sword is inferior to the original, and using it causes Rin's muscles to be damaged. Due to this, Rin is better able to grasp the blueprint and theory, generations ahead of when Zelretch expected, though it will take decades and numerous resources to reproduce it.
====Kaleidostick====
The Kaleidostick is a sentient wand that hates its creator. The Kaleidostick, Ruby, is capable of forming a contract with its wielder, allowing it to use an ability known as Prism Trance to "download" and transfer knowledge from an alternate version of its user into its current wielder.Fate/hollow ataraxia - 10/09 - Streets - Mimic Rin/Tohsaka Lvl 3
====Treasure Chest====
Zelretch's Treasure Chest, granted to the Tohsaka House, is a "magical chest" that has a spacial distortion inside of it made by applying the Second Magic. The dimensions fluctuate and bend according to the contents, allowing most items to fit into it, and one hour inside is equivalent to one day outside. She keeps the Kaleidostick and the Jewel Sword's blueprints in it.Fate/hollow ataraxia - 10/09 - Streets - Mimic Rin/Tohsaka Lvl 1 Also, while trapped in the chest, Shirou and Rin managed to call three years into a parallel world's future using a cellphone, having a confused discussion with that future's Luviagelita and Rin.Fate/hollow ataraxia - 10/09 - Streets - Mimic Rin/Tohsaka Lvl 2
====Cellphone====
===Other creations===
====Observation room====
Zelretch's Observation Room sphere.png|Zelretch's Observation Room from the "outside" in Fate/strange Fake -Whispers of Dawn-.
Zelretch's Observation Room insides.gif|The Observation Room inside.
Zel's Observation & Character Creation.gif|Usage of Zelretch's book.
Zelretch performs the observation of parallel worlds inside a spherical room, said to be a "completed world." It is jet black in appearance, dotted with points of light resembling stars. As he dictates the characteristics of an observed world, these points of light rapidly rotate with the turning of the pages of the book he utilizes. This room is hard to enter, Zelretch possessing a count of those with the ability, such as Caubac Alcatraz.
Within the center of the room floats a wooden chair upon which he sits, said to "imbue the space around it with a conspicuous gravity" simply through existing. The chair's appearance is described as "extravagant" with its wood possessing a "refined hue," but not repulsively ornamental like that owned by the elite. The very significance of the chair in the space is such that an unrefined person would be "consumed by the weight of the chair’s existence and hidden from surrounding view."
From the chair, he utilizes a hovering book that, while the size and thickness of a standard encyclopedia, flips through tens of thousands of pages in an instant at his beckoning. It inscribes and erases pages in real time, filled with information on different worlds and the specifications, down to the very individual characteristics of a person.
==Development==
===Creation and Conception===
Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg was designed by Takashi Takeuchi.
==References==
it:Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg
vi:Kischur Zelretch Schweinorg
Category:Characters in Tsukihime
Category:Characters in Fate/stay night
Category:Dead Apostles
Category:Dead Apostle Ancestors
Category:Vampires
Category:Clock Tower magi
Category:Magicians
Category:Authorities
Category:Humans
Category:Introduced in 2000
Category:Characters in Tsukihime Remake
Category:Germans
Category:Lawful Good alignment
Category:Students of Solomon
Category:Second Magic