EMIYA's History
EMIYA (�?��??�?�?), Shirou Emiya. He is not a proper Heroic Spirit in the sense of other heroes.He is an alternate version of Shirou from an alternate timeline of Fate/stay night where he made a contract with the World (Alaya) and became the Heroic Spirit EMIYA. He acts as a Counter Guardian for the world as payment for the contract. He is summoned because he still has the jewel pendant that Rin used to save his life after Lancer stabbed his heart. The jewel he owns is the actual catalyst used for his summoning rather than the one that Rin still has at the time of his summoning. After the end of each of the three routes in Fate/stay night, the possibility for Shirou to become Archer still exists, but the chance of it happening is close to zero.
The beginning conditions for Archer's Holy Grail War were mostly the same as that of the Fate/stay night universe, but it could be said that "something was missing." The following events of the war happened in a similar manner to the Fate scenario, having summoned Saber and continued fighting together with her until the end, but while he understood her, he didn't "save Saber's heart." After they destroyed the Grail and parted, he went on to cooperate with Rin and headed to London.[7] He eventually went on to work as a freelance magus to pursue his dream of becoming a hero of Justice. He stubbornly trained himself while pursuing his dream of saving mankind, but later fell into despair upon realizing that his abilities were insufficient in fulfilling his goal. Sometime in his twenties, he obtained his signature red overcoat, possibly as a gift from Ciel of the Church.[8] He at some point encountered and fought beings similar to Angra Mainyu, but he was forced to retreat when he was unable to act against them. He later gained some understanding of such beings as targets of the Counter Force upon entering the Throne of Heroes
He had to make a life changing decision. Confronted by a calamity which had the potential of killing one hundred people before him, he decided to "make a contract" with the World to become a hero capable of producing miracles and become a Heroic Spirit after his death. He believed he could save both the lives of the dying people before him and save even more as a hero after his death. Although he desperately fought to end a war, he was in turn branded as the mastermind behind that war and subsequently executed because of the betrayal of his allies. Although he died of betrayal, he did not hate mankind. However, the "World" ironically gave him the duty as a Heroic Spirit "to slaughter all humans at a particular location when mankind is at the threshold of complete self destruction", a "Counter Guardian".
His belief that he would continue to save many people as a Heroic Spirit did happen, but it was through being made to clean up after human actions and forced to take many lives to save humanity as a whole, instead of "saving everyone" - protecting humans without having to cause deaths of humans as he would have liked to. After seeing human self-destruction and forced to oppose his own ideals countless times, he began to deny himself and his ideal. Even knowing that the Throne of Heroes was isolated from time and space, Archer desperately came to believe that his only hope of release was to have himself summoned into an era where Shirou Emiya exists and kill his past self, hoping that the double paradox created by Shirou Emiya being killed before having a chance to make the contract with Alaya and that the killing was done by a Shirou Emiya who successfully made the contract with the world would create a time paradox great enough in magnitude that could potentially erase his existence as a Counter Guardian.
As for Extraverse Archer:
Archer's True Name has been lost, so he is an Anti-Hero with no name (�?��??, mumei?). An unknown Heroic Spirit. A "Faker". In his previous life, he was a mere magus just like the Masters who participated in the Holy Grail War. Not as versatile as Rin Tohsaka, but apparently possessing a Magic Circuit specialized in a single magecraft. He put into practice the Hero of Justice that many people dream about, but when faced with a disaster that could not be solved with just his own powers, he sold over his "self after death" to the Moon Cell as compensation for a miracle. As a result, he is thus employed as the concept of �??Hero of justice�?� after death, as a Servant instead of a hero.
As for the human who became his source, there is a person who spent his previous life as a personifier of justice in the past like that, but he is no longer said individual. This Heroic Spirit is the shape of a convenient �??Hero of justice�?� that people desired, which started with the shape of that person. The person who became the source for this Heroic Spirit certainly exists, but by the time he was worshiped as a hero, his name as a human had been completely forgotten from people's memories and history. Archer is described as being of the same "existence" as the Archer of Fate/stay night, but not the same "person." Furthermore, the "True Name" under which he attained effective functionality as a Heroic Spirit differs from that of Fate/stay night's Archer as well.
He was Shirou Emiya, the source of this Heroic Spirit. This person experienced survivor's guilt in his youth as he was the sole survivor of a major disaster, his body lived yet his soul died that day. He wanted to atone as the survivor so he doesn't consider his life as his own. He swore he'd never let another tragedy happen again. He gave up his name and his humanity and swore that he'd live for those who had died and not for himself. His warped ideals of becoming a hero of justice is how he grew up.
He made the promise come true by stopping those who tried to use strength for their own self interests. He believed that anyone who acts selfless and stays true to one's ideal can become a personification of justice. He was addicted to the feelings that his devotion to others gave to him. By volunteering and resisting, his self-righteousness allows him to save others. While it was for selfish reasons, his desire to help others led to him becoming a legend among them. Under his altruism he was just in truth a mercenary and he was alone only for a short time. He had friends who approved of his ideals and took charge of all things. Thanks to them, he was able to immerse himself deeper to his sense of duty.
In his "last time of saving everyone", one of the cores of a nuclear power plant has a melt down. He went into the core to stop it and bypassing the security on the way.
Even though Archer was blessed with close friends, a caring lover, his life was not as ideal as it seemed. He was a criminal; even if he was on the side of justice, he was no hero. He acted above the law and stuck fear to criminals and government alike. His friends soon came to realize that he would strike down evil no matter what form it manifested in. His closest friend began to fear him, "I thought this man helped me because he cared for me, but... if I had become a detriment to the public, he wouldn't hesitate to strike me down." So his friend decided to lure him into a trap where he was caught by the police. It wasn't his friend that betrayed him but it was his ideals that did. His friend realized that he was bonded not to a man but to a demon enforcing indiscriminate justice. He never hated his friend in the past or in the present but he felt it was unfortunate.
In the end, it was the human court system, not some evil force or nefarious villain, that spelled the end of the man that would become Archer. Tried for the various crimes he had committed in the name of justice, Archer accepted all of the consequences for his actions. If he pled not-guilty, it would amount to disgracing the deaths of those he was forced to sacrifice. He accepted the people's justice without defiance. In the final moments before his execution, he thought he would be killed by righteous hatred but it was karma. Thus he became a hero with no name. His death showed the public the very sort of embodiment of justice that they yearned for.