Shinji Matou is the 'heir' of the Matou mage lineage in Fuyuki City. His grandfather, Zouken Matou, is an elderly mage who took in the young Sakura Tohsaka, making her a Matou, and exposed her to daily torture via the Crest Worms. Shinji is constantly treated as inferior and nothing by everyone, even his own family, except Sakura. After finding out about the torture and being confronted by Zouken, Shinji began to bully her out of inferiority and to break her into submission.