Just because making the wish would be his own fault doesn't mean not making it doesn't save the world.

Besides that, if Kiritsugu didn't destroy the Grail, then Saber would've certainly made a wish without knowing what it was. And even if he did tell her and even if she did believe him (she was very fanatical about it at the end with her "the Grail is mine" attitude that she earlier accused Gilgamesh of being crazy for having), then there's always the possibility that Gilgamesh could've done something with it, though he didn't seem interested in anything beyond having it. Or the possibility that he'd end up killing Kiritsugu or Saber.

Basically, destroying the Grail was the only way to "beat" Gilgamesh at the time.

And then there's always the fact that Kiritsugu winning stopped everyone else from using the Grail. Waver and Tokiomi aside, every other possible winner would've been much, MUCH worse.

It all comes down to the fact that Kiritsugu at least learned from his mistakes, and put aside his own personal wishes to prevent a tragedy, vs Homura getting worse and worse and imposing what she wants/thinks Madoka wants upon everything.

Aaron: Well, to consider, Homura is OP hax and is anything but down to earth, and has zero zest for life, and loathes her existence. So what's the difference?
[10:27:52 PM] Amydorka Lynname the Bad Idea Cont(r)act Being: The character development which leads to it, the fact that she has to face horrible consequences for it, the fact that she's only a dumb teenager and not a grown man, and also she's kind of trapped by her wish. Again, I'll give a friendless teenager who's in over her head more slack than a grown man who could quit his bounty killing life at any time and, I dunno, join humanitarian efforts? Dig wells in African villages, enter politics to bring relief aid to third world nations, etc.
[10:28:17 PM] Amydorka Lynname the Bad Idea Cont(r)act Being: Also, Homura has a very small-scale wish. She wants to save one person; the rest of the world can go hang for all she cares. Kiritsugu wants to be Jesus when he grows up.
[10:28:47 PM] Amydorka Lynname the Bad Idea Cont(r)act Being: Well, I can see a bit better where he's coming from and what led to his circumstances by the end.
[10:28:51 PM] Aaron: Well, Madoka has a very large-scale wish. So is scale a problem there?
[10:29:23 PM] Amydorka Lynname the Bad Idea Cont(r)act Being: Also, I liked watching Kiritsugu's worldview get crushed before his eyes.
[10:29:56 PM] Amydorka Lynname the Bad Idea Cont(r)act Being: Hm, interesting question.
[10:30:00 PM] Amydorka Lynname the Bad Idea Cont(r)act Being: I'll give Madoka this, though.
[10:30:15 PM] Amydorka Lynname the Bad Idea Cont(r)act Being: Unlike Kiritsugu, she actually had a plan for her wishing going in, rather than a Miss America "world peace"
[10:30:18 PM] Aaron: *nods* Yeah, like I said, he does get his comeuppance and the narrative comes down hard on that.
[10:30:30 PM] Aaron: And you know? What Kiritsugu eventually settles on is exactly that.
[10:30:49 PM] Aaron: Quits the bounty killing life, saves one person, and tries to be a good father in his single patch of ground.
[10:31:11 PM] Amydorka Lynname the Bad Idea Cont(r)act Being: That's acceptable.
[10:31:12 PM] Aaron: But I think he had to see it through to the end first, or rather he learned that lesson too late.
[10:32:22 PM] Aaron: Well, Madoka doesn't actually know HOW she's going to "take away suffering" or "erase witches." The magic kind of irons out all the details. She didn't wish to become a concept or a god, those were the "methods"/form that the wish assumed.
[10:32:49 PM] Aaron: So it was more defined than Kiritsugu's, but there's still an element of "this is something that skips the method and achieves the effect directly"
[10:33:04 PM] Aaron: Sayaka didn't have to know how muscles and tendons work in order to wish for Kyousuke's hand to be healed
[10:33:10 PM] Amydorka Lynname the Bad Idea Cont(r)act Being: I give her props for being willing to put in the work once she learned what her wish would entail.
[10:33:18 PM] Amydorka Lynname the Bad Idea Cont(r)act Being: Maybe Kiritsugu would have been willing to do that too, though.
[10:33:25 PM] Aaron: Kyouko didn't have to understand rhetorical persuasion or arcane philosophy for her father to be persuasive
[10:33:40 PM] Amydorka Lynname the Bad Idea Cont(r)act Being: Become the concept of "vigilante justice" and go through all time and space killing bad guys in ways he couldn't as a single person.
[10:33:46 PM] Aaron: Well, I think Kiritsugu was already doing the "hard part" of his wish. Because remember, he loathes being that kind of person.
[10:33:52 PM] Aaron: rofl
[10:33:53 PM] Aaron: pls
[10:33:57 PM] Amydorka Lynname the Bad Idea Cont(r)act Being: Yeah, it's not like he could quit or anything.
[10:34:05 PM] Amydorka Lynname the Bad Idea Cont(r)act Being: Not like he was a grown man with resources and options.
[10:34:20 PM] Amydorka Lynname the Bad Idea Cont(r)act Being: I am necessarily going to be harder on an adult than a child, just saying.
[10:34:45 PM] Aaron: Resources and options to do what, I might ask?
[10:35:01 PM] Amydorka Lynname the Bad Idea Cont(r)act Being: Become a force for good without murdering people, if murdering people gave him so much angst.
[10:35:01 PM] Aaron: What do you think Kiritsugu could have done differently, if his objective was still the same?
[10:35:26 PM] Aaron: How so? And was he ever exposed to any other way (not until Iri, at least).
[10:36:02 PM] Amydorka Lynname the Bad Idea Cont(r)act Being: What was his dad's job again?
[10:36:27 PM] Amydorka Lynname the Bad Idea Cont(r)act Being: I thought his pops was working on "helping people" science, as far as Kiritsugu knew until things got out of control.
[10:37:30 PM] Aaron: yeah, I believe he was a doctor
[10:38:03 PM] Amydorka Lynname the Bad Idea Cont(r)act Being: I mean, I get it, having a bounty hunter raise you after you murdered your dad, that's pretty tough.
[10:38:42 PM] Amydorka Lynname the Bad Idea Cont(r)act Being: Just... if murdering people to save the world gave him that many qualms, you'd think maybe at some point he'd look into other options.
[10:39:10 PM] Aaron: nvm, I don't think he was a doctor
[10:39:12 PM] Amydorka Lynname the Bad Idea Cont(r)act Being: "I could shoot these child soldiers... Or I could help smuggle these children to safety and see that they are given food and shelter by humanitarian groups."
[10:39:40 PM] Amydorka Lynname the Bad Idea Cont(r)act Being: Am I missing a ton of backstory about how he struggled with this?
[10:40:16 PM] Aaron: I think it comes down to "sacrificing the few to save the many." If it's child soldiers with AKs vs. a bunch of unarmed civilians, you don't really have a choice to smuggle the children to safety. Though that's exactly what he did with Maiya.
[10:40:20 PM] Amydorka Lynname the Bad Idea Cont(r)act Being: Because if I'm missing backstory that justifies him, I'll withdraw my objections in lieu of having to suffer through more Kirit-qq
[10:40:54 PM] Amydorka Lynname the Bad Idea Cont(r)act Being: I mean, I think he's a dumb character, but I don't want to be *that* invested in ripping him to shreds. It's rather a waste of energy.
[10:40:58 PM | Removed 10:41:16 PM] Amydorka Lynname the Bad Idea Cont(r)act Being: This message has been removed.
[10:41:10 PM] Amydorka Lynname the Bad Idea Cont(r)act Being: I'd rather write essays about how Homura did nothing wrong.
[10:42:00 PM] Amydorka Lynname the Bad Idea Cont(r)act Being: (Even though she did, and I like her in spite of and because of that, because she's a dumb kid who done screwed up way bad, but she didn't even realize what she was doing to herself until it was too late.)
[10:42:47 PM] Amydorka Lynname the Bad Idea Cont(r)act Being: But I won't go into that here because I was hoping to c/p this into the topic to show Bowz that I can discuss this dumb show in depth if I want to, neener neener bleah. XP
[10:43:28 PM] Amydorka Lynname the Bad Idea Cont(r)act Being: Basically, selfish teenage basket case > martyr complex adult man serial killer. 8D
[10:43:36 PM] Amydorka Lynname the Bad Idea Cont(r)act Being: In my personal preference.
[10:43:47 PM] Amydorka Lynname the Bad Idea Cont(r)act Being: I can't make deep moral judgments on this matter.
[10:43:50 PM] Amydorka Lynname the Bad Idea Cont(r)act Being: That would be silly.
[10:44:56 PM] Amydorka Lynname the Bad Idea Cont(r)act Being: (Actually, that's another interesting difference, from what I've seen, between Homura and Kiritsugu. Homura is undeniably selfish in her wish. Kiritsugu's world peace is a selfless desire by definition, basically.)
[10:45:16 PM] Amydorka Lynname the Bad Idea Cont(r)act Being: (You can argue that someone might want world peace for selfish reasons, or that Homura's wish was selfless because it was for another person, but...)
[10:46:01 PM] Aaron: To ask a hard question, I do wonder if there isn't age or gender bias on your part in regards to this. Like, that such and such behaviour is acceptable in a teenage girl, but not in an adult man. Because adult men are supposed to act in certain ways? Let alone that some of Kiritsugu's behaviour IS very masculine.

Yeah, I think that is one of the key differences between the two. Homura does good things for bad reasons (in series), Kiritsugu does bad things for good reasons.
[10:46:34 PM] Aaron: I think if it were Homura given the choice to kill the entire world so she could be with Madoka, she'd do it in a heartbeat.
[10:46:53 PM] Amydorka Lynname the Bad Idea Cont(r)act Being: To ask a hard question, I do wonder if there isn't age or gender bias on your part in regards to this. Like, that such and such behaviour is acceptable in a teenage girl, but not in an adult man. Because adult men are supposed to act in certain ways? Let alone that some of Kiritsugu's behaviour IS very masculine.Interesting point. I've freely acknowledged the age bias. The gender one might be there, though.
[10:47:28 PM] Amydorka Lynname the Bad Idea Cont(r)act Being: I think if it were Homura given the choice to kill the entire world so she could be with Madoka, she'd do it in a heartbeat.Honestly... Madoka's basically her moral compass. "This world is precious to Madoka, so I'll keep it safe."
[10:47:37 PM] Amydorka Lynname the Bad Idea Cont(r)act Being: Actually, she basically says exactly that in episode 12.
[10:48:03 PM] Amydorka Lynname the Bad Idea Cont(r)act Being: " This irredeemable world may be nothing but a cycle of sadness and hatred—— but even so, this was a place she once tried to protect. ) I remember that. And I will never forget it. That is why—— I'll keep fighting."
[10:48:22 PM] Amydorka Lynname the Bad Idea Cont(r)act Being: So... Yeah. Poor, poor Homura is pretty warped.
[10:48:59 PM] Amydorka Lynname the Bad Idea Cont(r)act Being: She was once a sweet child at heart, and she desperately wishes for that again - look at how she makes herself appear in her own labyrinth. Not a cool type, but as a total dork who doesn't even have direct combat abilities.
[10:49:52 PM] Amydorka Lynname the Bad Idea Cont(r)act Being: So yeah, I think you're right, if she had to destroy the world (and could get away with it without Madoka hating her) to be with Madoka, she'd do it.
[10:50:23 PM] Amydorka Lynname the Bad Idea Cont(r)act Being: (She says she and Madoka are enemies in the movie, or will be one day, but I think a part of her knows that's her own projection of how she thinks Madoka *should* feel. She knows Madoka would never hate her, but she wants to be hated.)
[10:50:27 PM] Amydorka Lynname the Bad Idea Cont(r)act Being: (Like that Berserker guy.)
[10:50:39 PM] Aaron: I think there's something similar to be said about Kiritsugu, as well. His dying words, almost, are "I want to be a hero." And that phrase goes back to kid!him and Shirley sitting by the lake. It is definitely a childish and naive wish, but he buries it in the way he has to respond to the world.
[10:50:55 PM] Aaron: Lancelot stronk
[10:51:11 PM] Amydorka Lynname the Bad Idea Cont(r)act Being: Yeah, Kiritsugu does have a lot of proto-Homura in him.
[10:51:25 PM] Amydorka Lynname the Bad Idea Cont(r)act Being: ... Has anyone drawn costume swap fanart?
[10:53:06 PM] Aaron: yup