Illyasviel von Einzbern

, often referred to as , is the Master of Berserker in the Fifth Holy Grail War of Fate/stay night. She is the daughter of Kiritsugu Emiya and Irisviel von Einzbern, both whom participated in the Fourth Holy Grail War, and the adoptive older sister of Shirou Emiya.
==Profile==
===Background===
Einzbern, one of three families of Magi involved in the Holy Grail War, were responsible for creation of the vessel into which the souls of the defeated Servants would go. As such, Illya was prepared by her family to act as a living vessel for the Grail.
Unlike other homunculi who are born without eggs and wombs, Illyasviel originally was developed in her mother's womb from a fertilized egg to an embryo through the same process as ordinary people do.Fate/hollow ataraxia - Other - Einzbern Castle - Ghost Gossip Glamorous In the Fate/Zero Drama CD, she was born out of love between Kiritsugu and Irisviel, to be Kiritsugu's reason for living when he comes back from the war. The head of the family Jubstacheit von Einzbern, however, anticipated the possibility that Kiritsugu and Irisviel would fail to win the Fourth Holy Grail War, so he allowed Illyasviel to be born with modifications to allow her to become the Holy Grail should a Fifth Holy Grail War occur.Fate/Zero Volume 4: Flames of Purgatory - Act 13 Part 4 - 37:02:47 The modifying made her growth slow down abnormally and resulted in her childlike appearance while she is actually slightly older than Shirou. Irisviel was gifted a working womb so she gave natural birth to Illya.
====Before the Fifth Grail War====
Illya trying to control Herc.gif|Illya trying to make Berserker respond.
Herc draining Illya.gif|Illya having her Magical Energy drained by Berserker.
Illya commands Herc to attack the wolves.gif|thumb|Illya commanding Berserker to kill the Wolves after he protects her.
Illya Berserker.jpg|Illya and Berserker right after killing a pack of wolves
Since the Fourth Holy Grail War ended, the Einzberns had locked her up in a cold room saying that going outside was bad for her body.
5 years later, when her father died, in the Einzbern homunculi's shared inner world, a discarded homunculus told her of his death and the existence of his newly-adopted son, Shirou and provoked hatred and resentment for them (in the anime, Angra Mainyu, taking the form of her deceased mother, did so in Illya's room.)Fate/stay night [Unlimited Bladeworks] Animation Elements - Episode 15 - Scenario draft, p.24
Two months before the Fifth Holy Grail war, Illya summoned Heracles with a slab of rock from a temple as a catalyst. The Einzberns cheated by gathering materials from the Greater Grail which allowed Illya to successfully summon a Servant a full 2 months in advance. Even old man Acht was surprised by this result. To keep him within this world, her Magic Circuits generates Magical Energy draining her life away and caused her such great pain that she could nothing but let out screams and insults to her Servant. Before long, the Einzberns gave Illya and her Servant trainings in a forest where they were attacked by wolves, possessed corpses and failure homunculi and Illya could not help but let her Servant eliminate them all, moaning in pain. Once having become used to having control of him, Illya took her Servant's sanity away using his Skill, Mad Enhancement to take her revenge for her suffering so far. All the same, Berserker was the only person she spoke to and the two bonded together.
===Appearance===
Much like the other Einzbern homunculi, Illyasviel has pale skin, crimson eyes, and long white hair. Similar to her mother, Irisviel, Illya also bears a genetic resemblance to her ancestor, Justeaze Lizrich von Einzbern, who was responsible for the formation of the core of the Holy Grail. She wears a collared, purple long-sleeved shirt with a light purple scarf to match, a long white skirt and purple boots.
Though Illya was born through natural means, her body has been heavily modified before and after her birth to maximize the Magic Circuits in her body, making her the ultimate homunculus and a refined vessel for the Holy Grail. As a result of the modifications to her body, her physical body develops slowly and her father, Kiritsugu Emiya, correctly assesses that her physical body will not develop secondary sexual characteristics. By the time she is eight years old, Kiritsugu notes that his Walther rifle is heavier than Illya is.Fate/Zero Volume 1: The Untold Story of the Fourth Holy Grail War - Act 3 Part 1 - 162:26:39 A decade later, when Illya meets Shirou Emiya, she still looks as though she's a young girl rather than a young woman.
===Personality===
Illya is cheerful and outgoing, upbeat and generally exhibits a positive attitude. Possessing a friendly demeanor, she is easy to talk to and tends to be playful and mischievous. Deep inside, however, Illya is lonely as she has no friends her own age to play with and is often stuck inside the Einzbern castle. She asks those she feels comfortable around to call her "Illya".
Illya's personal interest in Shirou is conflicted due to the fact that Kiritsugu, whom she loved for he was her father, remained in Japan as Shirou's adoptive father after betraying her family by destroying the long-sought Grail. She feels that Kiritsugu abandoned her for Shirou, and is jealous of Shirou for that. When she first meets Shirou, she considers him as something of an older brother. Though he is distrustful of her at first, he comes to like Illya, seeing her as a little sister. However at the same time, she also feels very close to Shirou for his relationship with Kiritsugu. As such, she becomes very affectionate and clingy towards him (like a younger sibling would) when Berserker is defeated, much to Saber and Rin's annoyance.
While her personality got more unstable and cold-blooded due to the Einzberns' inhuman treatment of her, she keeps the kindness inherited from her parents deep down in her heart.
==Role==
===Fate/Zero===
thumb|300px|Illya in Fate/Zero.
She has a minor role in Fate/Zero, she first appeared in the beginning when she was born. As she grows up, she was very fond of her father which surprises Saber as Saber thought Kiritsugu was a cold person. Kiritsugu while carrying her feels sad about her abnormally slow growth. Before he leaves for the war, Kiritsugu promises to return to Illya, who promises to wait until he returns.
Illya does not remain far from Kiritsugu and Irisviel's thoughts during the war. During a brief moment of respite, Kiritsugu expresses his despair to his wife and his desire to take their daughter and flee. However, Irisviel assures him that he must continue. During the final days of the war, Irisviel's consciousness is consumed by the Grail, Irisviel requests Kiritsugu bring Illya to Japan and to make their daughter happy. However, as Irisviel becomes the Grail, she witnesses a vision of Illya fearing her own fate of becoming the Grail one day. Kiritsugu's own vision in the Grail eventually shows him destroying everyone he wants to protect, including all his loved ones, until he is finally forced to murder Illya.
Though Kiritsugu survives the Fourth Grail War, his choice to destroy the Grail rather than realize the Third Magic is perceived as a betrayal by the Einzbern. He makes multiple attempts to retrieve Illya, but he is prevented from succeeding by Jubstacheit refusing to open the bounded barrier around the Einzbern castle. With his deteriorating body, he could not find the entrance of the bounded field and he died regretting the thought of not being able to save her. Illya never knew that her father had repeatedly tried to save her and she was groomed to despise Kiritsugu for his betrayal.
===Fate/stay night===
Fsn Illya (anime).jpg|Illya in Fate/stay night Unlimited Blade Works.
Illya introduces herself.png|Illya introducing herself.
Illya travels to Japan to participate in the Fifth Holy Grail War as the master of Berserker. During the initial stages of the war, she lives in the Einzbern Castle on the outskirts of Fuyuki City, accompanied only by her Servant and two maids Leysritt and Sella.
The reason Saber never mentioned Illya in the Fifth Holy Grail War was that she had never asked Irisviel about her daughter’s name, and Illya’s appearance seemed physically too young for her to be Irisviel’s daughter. So, she viewed Illya as an Einzbern homunculus completely unrelated to Irisviel.
====Fate====
In the Fate route, Illya initially appears as an enemy to Shirou Emiya. Unbeknownst to Shirou, his adopted father had been the Master for the previous War, representing the Einzbern family. Kiritsugu's decision to destroy the Holy Grail had been regarded as a betrayal and is the apparent reason for why Illya has decided to specifically target Shirou. When Saber is weakened after her fight against Rider, Shirou is captured by Illya, who gives him the proposition to become her servant, which he refuses. Frustrated with his response, she orders Berserker to attack Rin, Saber and Archer, who had come to save Shirou.
Archer sacrifices himself in order to allow Rin, Saber, and Shirou to escape, by staying behind to fight Berserker despite knowing he is outmatched. He manages to take six of Berserker's twelve lives (five in the anime) before he is ultimately defeated. Even after putting his Soul in her Vessel, Illya can not identify his true name. In order to replenish Saber's mana, Shirou gives a part of his magical circuit to her in Réalta Nua and they go fight against Illya and Berserker. Berserker is defeated by Saber and Shirou after the latter traces Caliburn, Saber's original sword. Without the protection of her Servant, Illya joins Shirou's household.
After Gilgamesh kills Caster, Illya shoots a magical bullet at him out of her confusion of the existence of a eighth Servant and her attack is reflected by him easily and is nullified by Rin. Illya soon collapses after taking in Caster's soul. She is later kidnapped by Kirei Kotomine when he invades the Emiya Residence to use her to summon the Holy Grail. After Kirei's death, She is freed from the Grail before it is destroyed by Shirou and Saber. Two months later, Illya becomes good friends with Sakura, and lives at Fujimura residence.
She lives peacefully with Shirou and winds up being placed under the guardianship of Taiga. Notably, she is somewhat attached to Shirou, and believing Taiga to be an annoyance, she is often at odds with her.
====Unlimited Blade Works====
In the Unlimited Blade Works route, she has a lesser role. She introduces herself as a Master to Shirou and Rin, but since the most dangerous servant in the route is Caster, she doesn't attack them. In order to defeat Caster, Shirou and Rin decide to form an alliance with Illya. However, they arrive too late at her castle and Illya is defeated and killed by Gilgamesh after the latter rips her heart out of her body. Shirou and Rin later bury Illya outside the mansion. Later Kirei intends to have Rin become the vessel of the Holy Grail by implanting Illya's heart into her but is killed by Lancer to prevent this, prompting Gilgamesh to use Shinji as the Grail's vessel instead.
====Heaven's Feel====
FSN Heavens Feel Film-Illya.jpg|Illya in Fate/stay night - Heaven's Feel - I. Presage Flower.
Shirou Emiya and Illyasviel Von Einzbern go shopping.jpg|Illya and Shirou shopping together.
Illya dress-of-heaven.png|Illya wearing the Dress of Heaven
Ilya HF ufo.jpg|Illya's final smile in the PS Vita opening of Fate/stay night [Réalta Nua].
Einzbern reunion.jpg|Illya reuniting with her mom Fate/stay night - Heaven's Feel - III. Spring Song.
Until the third day of the Heaven's Feel route, Illya takes the same actions as she does in the Fate route. On the fifth day, two days earlier than in the Fate route, Illya finds Shirou in the shopping district and gets surprised almost in tears by him calling her by her nickname. After that, they go to the park where Illya is asked by him whether she knows Kiritsugu and answers stiffly that she does not. On the next day, she transferred Shirou's senses to the Einzberns' forest temporarily so that he can see the castle she lives in. During this, Shirou hears Sella and Leysritt talking about the Dress of Heaven.Fate/stay night - Heaven's Feel route - Day 06: beautiful (I) - Winter castle - Ilya (II)
Illya is later attacked by Zouken Matou and Berserker is defeated by Saber Alter and corrupted into becoming one of Sakura Matou's Servants. When Archer disappears right in front of her and his Soul goes into her Vessel, she finds out the relationship between him and Shirou.
Once Berserker is destroyed, Illya reveals the truth regarding Heaven's Feel, the Holy Grail, and Angra Mainyu, and the corruption in the Grail.Fate/stay night- Heaven's Feel route - Day 15: limited. - Truth - Antihero Angra ManyuFate/hollow ataraxia Together with Rin, they work together to replicate the Jeweled Sword of Zelretch, which Rin intends to wield against Sakura, who has become a second vessel for the corrupted contents of the Grail. Illya remains behind while Shirou and Rin confront Sakura, making them promise that they will return alive.
If the affection score for her is high enough, it results in Sakura's True Ending (if the affection score is low, it results in the Normal End in which she does not appear at all). During Shirou's battle with Saber Alter, Illya locates the Dress of Heaven. Realizing that if Shirou manages to defeat and retrieve Sakura by himself, it would lead him to his death, Illya decides to utilize the Dress of Heaven and sacrifice herself to protect Shirou. Illya wearing the Dress of Heaven appears in front of Zouken Matou and asks him why he must keep himself alive. Meanwhile, Shirou cancelled the connection between Sakura and Angra Mainyu, so she starts retrieving the defeated Servants' souls. She then stops Shirou who is about to sacrifice himself to destroy the Greater Grail. Illya reveals to Shirou that she is his older sister and tells him that her duty is to protect him because of it. Using the Dress of Heaven, she materializes his soul incompletely and gives him a portion of her body as his soul's temporary container. Then she closes Gates of Heaven as a Grail. In the movie adaptation, after entering the Grail Illya sees someone in the distance and runs into the waiting arms of her mother, Irisviel, the two finally reunited.
====Fate/stay night manga====
In the Fate/stay night 2006 manga (which follows the Fate and Unlimited Blade Works scenarios), the events involving her character follow the Fate route. After kidnapping Shirou, losing Berserker and ultimately being defeated by Shirou and Saber, she ends up living happily at Shirou's house.
===Fate/hollow ataraxia===
thumb|300px|Illya in Fate/hollow ataraxia
Illya plays a small role throughout the four day loop. She tends to show up wherever she pleases, but usually seeks out Shirou to do things.Fate/hollow ataraxia - Other - A moment in the morningFate/hollow ataraxia - 10/08 - Emiya's - Iris' storehouseFate/hollow ataraxia - 10/08 - School - Illya strikes back!Fate/hollow ataraxia - 10/09 - Emiya's - Sugar candy teatimeFate/hollow ataraxia - 10/10 - Streets - Killing and a fancy bearFate/hollow ataraxia - 10/10 - Emiya's - Gorgon's CellarFate/hollow ataraxia - 10/10 - Emiya's - What kind of wedding?Fate/hollow ataraxia - 10/11 - School - On the way homeFate/hollow ataraxia - Night - Choice sake - proof of the wildFate/hollow ataraxia - Night - Quartet Overture On the third day of one of the loops, Shirou attempts to visit the Einzbern Castle in the woods, but is stopped by Illya and Berserker. In a future loop after that encounter, she sets up a "castle siege" utilizing her Servant and Homunculi maids to make reaching her castle a "grand experience". After conquering the "siege", Shirou is able to visit the manor without issue in subsequent loops. Illya talks to Shirou about her history with Kiritsugu and Irisviel before the Fourth Grail War.Fate/hollow ataraxia - Other - Einzbern Castle - Memory During the assault of the dog-shadows, Illya and Berserker are also involved in the fight to exterminate them, much like the other Servants.Fate/hollow ataraxia - Last Interlude - Broad Bridge
===Fate/unlimited codes===
BerserkerUCopening.jpg|Berserker's Opening
BerserkerUCending.jpg|Berserker's Ending
LeysrittUCopening.jpg|Leysritt's Opening
LeysrittUCending.jpg|Leysritt's Ending
She isn't a playable fighter, only being playable in a minigame where she can hit Dragon Tooth Warriors.
===Fate/tiger colosseum series===
IllyaTCending1.jpg|Illya's Ending
IllyaTCending.jpg|Illya's Upper Ending
IriTCending.jpg|Irisviel's Ending
KiritsuguTCending.jpg|Kiritsugu's Ending
CarenTCending.jpg|Caren's Ending
===Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA☆ILLYA===
Illya is the main character of the Magical Girl spin-off, Fate/kaleid liner PRISMA☆ILLYA.
===Carnival Phantasm===
Illya has a number of small roles in Carnival Phantasm, often as a commentator in the parody versions of the Holy Grail War with Kirei Kotomine. She is usually seen alongside Berserker.
===Today's Menu for Emiya Family===
In the universe of Today's Menu for Emiya Family, certain characters from the Fifth Holy Grail War of Fate/stay night, including Illya, are living a calm and peaceful daily life in Fuyuki City. Following the first episode of the anime adaptation, Shirou and Saber went shopping. After heading home, they ended up finding Illya and Taiga appreciating the Kotatsu in the Emiya Residence. Shirou then decides to cook Toshikoshi Soba for everyone.Today's Menu for Emiya Family Anime Episode 1: "Toshikoshi Soba"
Later on, Illya makes an appearance in Episode 3, which is centered around Hinamatsuri, or Girl's Day. A confused Illya is dressed in a kimono and taken to Shirou's house where Shirou and his friends are prepared to celebrate the day with her. The whole party was devised by Taiga.Today's Menu for Emiya Family Anime Episode 3: "Spring Chirashizushi"
Illya appears again near the end of Episode 6, visiting Shirou and surprised to find he is cooking hamburgers. The Episode had centered around the first time Shirou had cooked hamburgers for their father, Kiritsugu.Today's Menu for Emiya Family Anime Episode 6: "First Hamburger"
Illya appears in a Christmas episode in which she invites Shirou, Saber, Rider, Rin and Sakura to her mansion to eat the meal cooked by her servants.Today's Menu for Emiya Family Anime Episode 12: "One-Pan Roast Beef"
Illya appears lastly watching Berserker make a snowman.
===Other appearances===
In the World of Fate/Apocrypha, Kiritsugu never ends up becoming involved with the Einzberns, so Illyasviel is never born. 
She appears as the Pseudo-Servant Sitonai in the Norse Lostbelt of Fate/Grand Order.
====Non in-universe appearances====
DG Illya 1.png| as she appears in Collaboration.
DG Illya 2.png| as she appears in Collaboration.
==Abilities==
Illyacommand.png|Illya's Command Spell.
Illya trying to control Herc.gif|Illya trying to control Berserker.
Illya has unsurpassed potential as a Master amongst all Masters past and present. 70% of her body is composed of Magic CircuitsFate/stay night [Unlimited Bladeworks] - Episode 15: "A Battle of Legend" which are also her Command Spell that show themselves as a red pattern all over her body when she generates magical energy. The power of her Command Spell is strong enough to control Berserker who can disobey normal Command Spells. Illya has an unlimited supply of mana, thus allowing her to control Berserker without too much difficulty. Still, she suppresses the rank of Mad Enhancement to make it easy to control him when out of combat. 
As a Magus, she is a top mage in Fuyuki, if it's at the land that houses the Greater Grail. Still, first-class mages would follow the "since she's a child of nature, just cut her off from the land first" plan, so it's not like she's invincible. Kayneth El-Melloi Archibald and Tokiomi Tohsaka may be able to best her in a magic duel. It is said that she is skilled in combat.
Winter Crystal.png| in Fate/Grand Order, illustrated by Shidzuki Morii.
Storch Ritter.png|Storch Ritter
ZelleCreation.gif|Illya creating her familiars.
ZelleDefense.gif|Zähre defending Illya from Rin's Gandr shots.
ZelleAttack.gif|Zähre attacking Rin.
Degen.gif|Illya's Degen
Illya's famillar's tying Rin up.png|Illya's familiars restraining Rin.
Storch Rider guide.gif|One of the Storch Ritter guiding Shirou.
Deactivated Storch Ritter.png|Inactive Storch Ritter
Illya wire pull.gif|Illya pulling doors close with her wire magecraft.
Illya vs True Assassin (Ufotable).gif|Illya attacking True Assassin with her wires as well as Zähre and Degen.
In later adaptations, notably the ufotable anime adaptations, the Unlimited Blade Works manga and the Heaven's Feel Manga, similar to the wire constructs wielded by her mother, she is able to make familiars from her hair. The name of the technique is . The bird's name is . The Ibis that shoots bullets is , and she can also transform them into a . They are autonomous beings that defend her and pursue targets automatically, strong enough to defend against Rin's Gandr shots, fast enough to dodge them, and shown to be able to fire small blasts of magical energy capable of easily shooting through them. They each generate a considerable amount of magical energy, and Rin compares each to a "miniature magus." She can easily create up to four without any issue, and she can change their shape into swords.Fate/stay night [Unlimited Blade Works] - Episode 3: "The First Battle" She can also more simply use the wires to grab onto things and easily move even heavy objects without the wires breaking.Fate/stay night - Heaven's Feel - I. Presage Flower
Transference of Consciousness (Manga).jpg|Transference of Consciousness
Transference of Consciousness explanation schema 2.jpg|Illya explaining how she can bring Shirou back.
Illya crystal ball.jpg|Illya's crystal ball.
Other spells Illya uses include one that can gives her pseudo-invisibility, making people unconsciously divert their eyes from her. Thanks to the Einzberns specializing in "flow and transfer of power", she can also use , which sends one's consciousness into objects,Fate/stay night - Fate route - Day 10: skyscraper - Bad End: Nutcracker dollFate/stay night - Fate route - Day 11: DragonSlay - Bad End: Dress of heaven regardless of distance. The success rate of transferring someone's consciousness is usually low and connecting to things is harder. Illya is also able to acquire Mystic Eyes of Binding through the use of magecraft. It binds her target by sending her Magical Energy into their body, invading their nerves. Because they are artificial, they are not powerful enough to keep Shirou with his activated Magic Circuits from struggling himself free.Fate/stay night - Fate route - Day 11: DragonSlay - Refusal and escape The anime also adds her having a crystal ball to scry people from afar.Fate/stay night [Unlimited Bladeworks] - Episode 14: "Princess of Colchis"
In contrast to her strength as a Magus, she lacks the ability to sprintFate/stay night - Heaven's Feel route - Day 15: limited. - Nine Bullet Revolver and must spend half a day sleeping (actually abeyance) everyday. Due to Einzberns' harsh body modifying, her lifespan shortened to less than a year.Fate/stay night - Heaven's Feel route - Day 10: darkwood,sleepingbeauty - Shadow swallowing the castle
Illya also possesses miscellaneous non-magical skills. For example, despite her small size, she knows how to drive. According to her, because she is a , she learned swimming from water itself and is unnaturally good at it.Fate/hollow ataraxia - Other - Quartet
===Vessel of the Grail===
Having a Vessel of the Grail as her heart, she has a function to collect Servants's souls. Once having more than four souls in her body, she has to divert energy from moving her limbs, breathing and keeping her personality to managing the souls.Fate/stay night - Heaven's Feel route - Day 13: LAST TALK - Gift Unlike her mother who is designed to self-destruct in the end, she makes not only her heart but her whole body work as the Vessel by covered with additional Magic Circuits, that is, the Dress of Heaven at the final stage.
The garment allows for the materialization of the soul and is the pinnacle of the Third Magic the Einzbern family seeks to recover through the Holy Grail Wars. She dons the Dress of Heaven during the Heaven's Feel scenario, albeit in an incomplete form of the Third Magic, to assist Shirou in completing their father's mission to stop Angra Mainyu and obliterate the Holy Grail.
==Development==
===Creation and Conception===
Originally Illya was planned to be one of the heroines, however if that were made then the release date of Fate/stay night would be delayed by another half a year. Her route would have been part of Sakura story. Rather than only choosing to become Sakura's hero or fulfill his ideals as an Ally of Justice on the ninth day of Heaven's Feel, Shirou would have also had an option to become Illya's hero instead. However, due to the length, they thought to release Saber and Rin as Fate/stay night and Sakura and Illya in a separate release titled "Fate/other night", but they thought it would have been too expensive. Illya's route was instead combined with Heaven's Feel because they decided to include Sakura's route in Fate/stay night.
Nasu Kinoko jokingly commented that the Illya route is the "Prisma☆Illya" because Hiroshi Hiroyama was able to finish what he couldn't do.
===Reception===
*In the first Popularity polls of Fate/stay night in 2004, Illya was ranked 5th.
*In the second Popularity polls of Fate/stay night in 2006, Illya was ranked 8th.
*In the Type-Moon's 10th Anniversary Character Poll, Illya was ranked 17th.
==Notes==
==References==
Category:Characters in Fate/stay night
Category:Characters in Fate/hollow ataraxia
Category:Characters in Fate/tiger colosseum
Category:Characters in Fate/unlimited codes
Category:Characters in Fate/Zero
Category:Magi
Category:Masters
Category:Homunculi
Category:Holy Grails
Category:Heads of household
Category:Einzberns
Category:Emiyas
Category:Introduced in 2004
Category:Pseudo-Servant hosts
Category:Germans
Category:Third Magic