In Fate/Stay Night there's the famous scene in which Shirou speaks to Saber. The scene gained immense popularity across the web, and is usually accompanied by responses like O RLY? and You Don't Say!

The question is, does he actually say that? Is that line also written in the Visual Novel? Is this a translation error? Or is he just that stupid?

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    I've seen many people complain of bad or super literal translations giving people the wrong ideas about Fate/Stay Night, making Shirou seem more stupid than he actually is. Incidentally, I don't think there is a light novel of Fate/Stay Night; it started as a visual novel (sort of video game.) There are light novels in the franchise, but I think that's for Fate/Zero only. – Kai Dec 1 '14 at 16:37
  • @Kai Yeah, I always confuse the two. Corrected. – Madara's Ghost Dec 1 '14 at 17:06
  • @Kai there's also Fate/Apocrypha and Fate/Strange Fake – Memor-X Dec 1 '14 at 21:07

My understanding of the phrase is that he means:

People who are killed should remain dead

This is in reference to servants - he doesn't like that servants are resurrected souls. They should remain dead.

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    Yeah, that doesn't work. From experience :) – Madara's Ghost Dec 1 '14 at 12:10
  • Your servants haunt you? – Oded Dec 1 '14 at 12:13
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    Personally, I died a total of 3 times (so far). – Madara's Ghost Dec 1 '14 at 12:14
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    @Oded is correct answer. To expand he's not stupid, without spoilers its to point out another difference between his state of mind and archer's. – Quikstryke Dec 1 '14 at 15:17
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    As a side note, the official dub goes with something along the lines of: "When people are hurt badly enough, they die." – кяαzєя Dec 1 '14 at 17:10

Context is needed for this. From the visual novel, the line is from Shiro, about surviving wounds that would otherwise be fatal if Avalon had not been inside of him. So when Avalon is removed Shiro remarks that things are the way the should be now (people dying, when you kill them.).

In this context, the phrase makes sense. When made out of context, it does seem silly.

Furthermore, following said phrase, Shiro says "それが当たり前なんだ", which more or less means, "that's only natural."

Official dub goes with something like: "when people are hurt badly enough, they die."

Furthermore in Japanese, there are two ways to describe death, one for body and one for soul. So you may kill one's body, but their spirit wouldn't may still persist. This is where the phrases like "he won't die, even if he is killed" probably originated from.

  • It may be worth noting that the first part of the phrase is "人は殺されれば死ぬ". Transliterated, this would read "people die if they are killed." But as you said, in context, it doesn't read quite like that. – Killua Jan 13 '15 at 0:43

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