Fate/Zero & Fate/stay night timeline

[BlazeQuadZ]

Greetings,
I'm trying to create an in-depth Fate/Zero and FSN timeline.

I used the FSN VN, Fate/Zero LNs and the wiki as a reference.

FSN's days seem to differ from ours by about 2 years. That means that the days associated with the dates in FSN fit 2002. For example, Day 4, February 3, 2004 is a Sunday in the FSN universe, when it should be a Tuesday in our universe.

- November 11, 1965: Kiritsugu is born.
- December 28, 1967: Kirei is born.
- late November to December 1986: Illya is born.
- late November 1986 to late January 1987: Shirou is born.
- February 3, 1987: Rin is born.
- March 2, 1988: Sakura is born.
- June to September 1993: Sakura is adopted by the Matou family.
- at the earliest November 11, 1994: The 4th Holy Grail War in Fuyuki takes place over 12 days.
- April to May 1995: Tokiomi's funeral is held.
- late November to December 1999: Kiritsugu dies at age 34.
- April 1999 to March 2002: Shirou befriends Shinji.
- Summer 2002: Shirou injures himself and leaves the Archery Club. Sakura starts visiting him.
- late November to December 2003: Berserker is Summoned.
- January 12, 2004: Caster is Summoned.
- January 23, 2004: Lancer is Summoned.
- around January 25, 2004: Caster kills her original Master, Lancer attacks Caster and Bazett is mortally injured by Kirei, who steals her Command Seals and
- January 26, 2004: Assassin is Summoned.
- January 29, 2004: Rider is Summoned.
- February 2, 2004: Archer is Summoned at 1o'clock.
- February 3, 2004: Saber is Summoned, shortly after midnight.
- February 3 to 15, 2004: The 5th Holy Grail War takes place over 12 to 13 days.

4th HGW
Fate/Zero doesn't take place 10 years before FSN. It's more like 9 years and 2.5 months.

About -140:41:54, or a little less than 6 days before the Fuyuki Fire, Waver describes Rider like this.

To wear only a Tshirt amidst the cold wind in November was already abnormal enough. To top it off, his valiant body was only covered in a Tshirt, nothing else.

Illya's age
She is listed at 8 on the wiki and the first chapter is called 8 years ago, but when Kiritsugu holds her, he says:

Having no experience in raising children before Ilyasviel, Kiritsugu doesn't know how they grow up. But he understands that it isn't normal for his daughter, who turns 8 this year, to weigh 15 kilos.

Assuming the translation is correct, that means, she has not yet turned 8 by the time of the 4th HGW.

Outside the window, a snow storm has frozen everything. A mid-winter night is congealing the ground of a forest.
The room is in an old castle built on the frozen soil, but it is protected by a gentle flame burning in the fireplace.
In the warmth of that shelter, the man was holding one new existence in his arms. It was a really small one — a body so tiny, it could be ephemeral, and no weight that could tell it was ready.

This fits with the description of the Prologue that is stated to take place in mid-winter. Which is sometimes associated to the Winter Solstice and sometimes with Christmas. It might just be a shady translation, but either way, Fate/Zero takes place in November of 1994 and she is said to turn 8 by the end of the year. So she was definitely born in either November or December.

At no point is it stated she turns 8 during the duration of Fate/Zero.


Shirou's, Rin's and Sakura's birthdays
Shirou was 7 in November 1994 and 17 at the beginning of FSN. His birthday is not addressed in the Visual Novel and I doubt Taiga or Sakura would forget about it. So it is unlikely he turns 17 during the VN.

Rin and Sakura are born before April 1st, which in Japanese schooling system means they enroll early. If Shirou was born in 1986, his birthday would have to be past the events of the 4th HGW, otherwise, he would've been 8 during Fate/Zero's epilogue. If he was born in 1987 it would have to be before April 1st. But since he is 17 already by the start of the VN, his birthday has to be before.


Sakura's adoption
Kariya meets with Aoi for the first time in autumn a year before the events of Fate/Zero.

In the early holiday afternoon, you can see children playing on the lawn bathed in the peaceful sunlight of the early autumn with their parents watching over them, smiling.

The holiday is likely referring to the Autumn Equinox which would take place on September 23, 1993 in the Fate universe.

"It's been 3 months. This trip has been pretty long this time."

It's safe to assume that Sakura was adopted at some point during those 3 months.



Closing thoughts
Please feel free to make any suggestions, corrections or add any relevant dates.
Thanks for reading.

[Paulie25]

Shirou turns 18 sometime between stay night and hollow, so take that as you will.

- - - Updated - - -

.

“Is that so. You look like a normal noisy juvenile delinquent to me. One that is 5 years younger than me.”

“Oh? Master, how old are you?”

“Twenty-three years old. What about it?”

“Get out of here!? You're that young!?

I thought you were almost 30!?”

Whoops. "Kill me" meter is heading into critical zone.

[BlazeQuadZ]

Doesn't Hollow take place in October of 2004? If so, this contradicts the timeline established in Zero and would make him older than Illya.

Do you have a source I could cite?

[Paulie25]

I gave ya the source, in Hollow Ataraxia’s scene “Heaven’s Feel Backnight 3” it’s remarked by Bazett that Angra (who’s in Shirou’s body) is 5 years younger than herself, who’s 23.

[Dark Squirrel]

Just a reminder that Zero takes place in a slightly different worldline than Stay Night and Hollow, so there will be discrepancies.

[BlazeQuadZ]

I thought there was a more direct statement. My mistake.
To be fair, does Bazett even know how old Shirou is? She just says he looks 5 years younger, not that he is 5 years younger. Not to mention that at 17 3/4 I'd also say 5 years instead of 6.

Technically Fate/Zero also takes place closer to 9 years than 10, but they always say 10.

And yes, I know there are timeline difference and inconsistencies, but as long as it is not directly contradicted by the VN, there should be no harm in assuming those factors are the same.

[Foxbat]

Just a reminder that Zero takes place in a slightly different worldline than Stay Night and Hollow, so there will be discrepancies.

Nasu only uses that when he need to explain inconsistencies. They clearly stated both are in the same timeline when they realeased TM ACE 14

[Dark Squirrel]

Nasu only uses that when he need to explain inconsistencies. They clearly stated both are in the same timeline when they realeased TM ACE 14

Inconsistencies like the dates not matching for instance?

[Takashi]

4th holy grail war started at my and kiritsugu's birthday? That seems weird..

[Comun]

The 5th starts at Rin's birthday, so that's a consistent pattern.

[spacelamp]

He must have been especially bitter because all he got for his birthday was a dumb King of Knights.

[TomPen94]

No, he got Avalon. That was Jubstacheit's present for him. What a cool father-in-law.

[spacelamp]

It has stinky King of Knight cooties on it.

[Clementee]

I thought Illya was like 20 at F/SN but she is only 17?...Which is also Shirou's age in F/SN despite saying Illya is older? I guess this is where the "Inconsistency" come from. Oh wait she is 18 so yeah I guess thats not inconsistency

[Takashi]

Illya is older than shirou. So they can't be in the same year.
Late January 1987 also makes the difference not so much.
It has to be at least a year difference imo..cause of the whole "older sister" debacle in the end of HF.

[Kotonoha]

A sister that's 1 minute older than you is still an older sister.

[Takashi]

A sister that's 1 minute older than you is still an older sister.

Yeah but no one would use that as a factor to be older one.
Late December or November 1987 should be shirou's birthday.

[Ideofago]

A sister that's 1 minute older than you is still an older sister.

An older sister that will be relentlessly bullied if she ever tries to leverage that fact.

[Comun]

This is not a conversation about a language that haves age-neutral words for siblings. Twins still need to call each other older brother and younger brother because those are the words that exist.

Also the case of case of Illya is that she calls herself the older sister or the younger sister depending on the moment's convenience because they don't which of the two is factually older.

[Ideofago]

what about 兄弟 tho