Value: Why was Kiritsugu so obsessed with the Holy Grail?

In this post, I describe Kiritsgu's motivation to pursue the Holy Grail from the perspective of Eccles and Wigfield's (2020) expectancy-value theory. 

In this theory, value consists of four constructs: intrinsic value, attainment value, utility value, and cost. The intrinsic value is similar to interest and refers to the anticipated degree of enjoyment one expects from a given task. The attainment value refers to the extent to which one perceives that a given task is related to one's identity. The utility value is similar to instrumentality and refers to "how well a particular task fits into an individual's present or future plans" (Eccles & Wigfield, 2020, p. 5). Lastly, cost refers to the anticipated amount of effort one needs to expend to succeed in a given task. 

In Kiritsugu's case, two of the four constructs drove him to participate in the Holy War and seek the Holy Grail; these were the attainment value and the utility value. I first discuss the role of attainment value in Kiritsugu's decision-making.

For Kiritsugu, eliminating war and achieving a peaceful world was his ultimate goal. To achieve this goal, he sacrificed his whole life to go to war zones and assassinate mages. Although he knew that these behaviors would not solve any problems, he could not come up with any better ideas, and as he engaged in these behaviors for more than a decade, Killing mages and stopping war became the two core concepts of his personal identity. In this sense, the Holy Grail War was ideal for Kiritsugu. First, the Holy Grail War was a battle between seven mages, and this is the kind of situation Kiritsugu was very familiar with. Second, the prize for surviving the war was the Holy Grail, a device that grants any wish of those who obtain the Holy Grail and thus has the power to eliminate war. As these two points show, participating in the Holy Grail War fit into Kiritsugu's personal identity.

I now discuss from the perspective of utility value. For Kiritsgu, the Holy Grail was the only means to make his future plan (i.e., eliminating war) come true. In this sense, participating and surviving in the Holy Grail War had enormous utility value for him. Such a high utility value, and also the high attainment value, enabled him to override two negative aspects of participating in the Holy Grail War. First, Kiritsugu did not enjoy fighting and killing at all (i.e., lack of intrinsic value). He only engaged in these behaviors for the sake of world peace, and his decisions to go to war zones and assassinate mages had nothing to do with his enjoyment. Yet, he decided to participate in the Holy Grail War since the usefulness of the Holy Grail was more important to him than his lack of enjoyment. Second, Kiritsugu knew that to win the Holy Grail War, he had to put considerable effort into it (i.e., high cost). The other six mages (and their Heroic Spirits) were all strong, and it took Kiritsugu a lot of time and resources for preparation. He even had to marry a woman he had never met before only to participate in the war (I am so happy, though, that this marriage helped Kiritsugu mentally in so many ways). Yet, despite these high demands, Kiritsugu still decided to participate in the war only for the purpose of achieving world peace.

Kiritsugu was honestly mentally ill, and he was so obsessed with the Holy Grail. He was also ruthless during the Holy Grail War and did anything to kill the other six mages. However, I still like him very much because I know that at the bottom of his heart, he cares for others. He wants to eliminate war because he wants others to be happy, and he especially loves his wife and daughter and would do anything to save them. He became a mercenary, killed countless mages, and became obsessed with the Holy Grail only because he was a warm and nice person. It seems somewhat contradictory here (killing others while loving others), but it was this ambivalence that made me like Kiritsugu so much.