Quote Originally Posted by Buffalobiian View Post
On the other hand, had Kiritsugu chosen his wife and child instead, he would have to kill more people by releasing the grail. He would still be a murderer, but he'd have accomplished something in the end nonetheless (even if it turns out to be an ultimately selfish result of liberating/reviving his wife and child).
He did achieve something in the end: He stopped the grail. Sure, it's the complete opposite of what he thought he was going for, but he turned out to have known far too little when the game began. This whole grail war was nothing but a single battle in Kiritsugu's own long war. If he had done anything else than what he did, it would have meant he forgot his whole earlier life with its myriad fights and sacrifices. He was an idealist (mass murderer) because he didn't forget. He would have been only an opportunistic mass murderer if he had forgotten and used the grail to save the family. Besides, I believe he's like Shirou in believing that the past shouldn't be changed.