

In both Stay/Night and UBW, Illya is a Grail vessel.

... and she's also a master.

Why did the Einzbern make her a master? If she wins the war, she will
**become** the Lesser Grail because she is the vessel itself, won't she? And
if she becomes the Lesser Grail, then there will be literally nobody present
to take possession of the Holy Grail (since all other competitors would be
dead / defeated).


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question
fate-stay-night fate-zero
Why did the Einzberns make Illya a master?


I believe the plan of the Einzbern's for the 5th Holy Grail War was to obtain
the [Third Magic](http://typemoon.wikia.com/wiki/Third_Magic) on the spot, and
not try and relay on a third party to secure it or the Greater Grail (as they
did last time, which failed).

My evidence for this is shown in the Heaven's Feel Route, at the very end of
the True Ending, Ilya is shown wearing the [Dress of
Heaven](http://typemoon.wikia.com/wiki/Third_Magic#Dress_of_Heaven):

> The Mystic Code of the Einzbern family, the Dress of Heaven, is the heart
> that controls the Great Grail that is capable of materializing the soul for
> several seconds. This allows for the transferal of a soul into another
> container, such as when Illya places Shirou's soul into a doll in a bad
> ending.

This is what Ilya uses to materialize Shirou's soul at the end of the Heaven's
Feel Route using an incomplete form of the Third Magic, which is later found
by Rider and placed in a puppet made by Touko Aozaki. It stems to reason that
since the Dress of Heaven is transmuted from the ether that forms Leysritt,
Ilya had the Dress of Heaven since the beginning of the war (thus having it in
all 3 routes).

Also, Ilya is the strongest Master the Einzbern's could send out. The number
of Magic Circuits she has overwhelms that of a typical magus. She has an
unlimited supply of mana to supply to Beserker and she also possesses the
Mystic Eyes of Binding. After she starts to break down from absorbing
Servants, Kinoko Nasu has said in an FAQ that Leysritt and Sella would then
aid her:

> **Q: What is Illya’s capacity as a Grail? Hypothetically, if the Einzbern
> won the War, Illya absorbed the other 6 Servants besides Berserker, and had
> some shred of human will left, could she still don the Dress of Heaven and
> initiate the Grail ritual?**
>
> A: That’s what Liz and Sella are for. Ilya can only take up to 4 - I would
> think that absorbing a fifth Servant wouldn’t allow her to function as a
> human any longer.

Source: [Illyasviel von Einzbern - Citation
6](http://typemoon.wikia.com/wiki/Ilya#cite_note-CM2-5)

Now I don't know in what context they mean by "obtained" when referring to
Magic in the Nasuverse so I can't think as to what would happen after, but I
would assume Sella would play some role in it given that she was to help Ilya
wear the Dress of Heaven after Leysritt is sacrificed.

The only other plan the Einzbern's may have had was to either materialize the
soul of or extract the current modern time user of the Third Magic, [Justeaze
Lizrich von
Einzbern](http://typemoon.wikia.com/wiki/Justeaze_Lizrich_von_Einzbern) from
the Greater Grail.

> There is no information on the original practitioners of the Third Magic. If
> it can be considered to have any user in modern times, it would be Justeaze
> Lizrich von Einzbern, who is the core of the Great Grail. Illyasviel von
> Einzbern also makes use of it in one of the routes of Fate/stay night,
> although it is an incomplete usage.

Source: [Third Magic -
History](http://typemoon.wikia.com/wiki/Third_Magic#History)


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