Many fictional works have introduced morally complex characters who have become fan favorites, but few possess the immense contrast attributed to Kirei Kotomine. A seemingly pious and well-mannered priest who held dark desires within his heart, this man was first introduced in Type-Moon’s Fate/Stay Night. At a glance, Kirei’s sadistic and immoral acts have led many casual observers to assume he is a malevolent villain. However, enthusiasts of this franchise perceive this priest as a tragic character who attempted to keep his forbidden impulses in check yet ultimately gave in to the darkness in his heart. I believe that Kirei Kotomine leans towards being a tragic man who cannot suppress his deepest desires and takes on the role of the villain out of desperation.
On one hand, the most defining trait of Kirei Kotomine is his sadism, which is usually attributed to villains who are purely evil. He takes immense pleasure in brutally murdering his victims and does not show any remorse after committing such atrocities. Furthermore, Kirei had no qualms about betraying his own mentor, Tokiomi Tohsaka, during the Fourth Holy Grail War. In addition, he chose to abandon his own daughter, Caren C. Hortensia, out of an apparent lack of paternal instinct to care for her. All of these traits are factors that have led to Kirei Kotomine being labelled as an irredeemable villain by audiences at a surface level.
On the other hand, Kirei Kotomine is considered to be a tragic villain due to the fact that he was born with a warped mindset that allowed him to only experience joy by inflicting suffering on others. At first, he attempted to keep this warped mindset in check by viewing his desires as a sin and becoming a priest for the Holy Church, but even this was not enough. Then, in a desperate act to feel love, Kirei Kotomine married Claudia Hortensia, a terminally ill woman who committed suicide in front of the man himself to test whether he understood empathy, yet Kirei merely wept for the fact that he was unable to take his wife’s life with his own hands instead. Realizing his desires were starting to grow dangerously, Kirei Kotomine deliberately abandoned his daughter because he knew that a man like himself would be unable to play the role of a loving father. This all culminated in the Fourth Holy Grail War, where the priest finally gave in to his desires thanks to the machinations of Gilgamesh and exposure to the Holy Grail Mud that fueled his desire for malice. In the end, Kirei Kotomine is a man who attempted to follow the path of righteousness to no avail before finally giving in to his malicious tendencies when all hope was lost.