Clow Reed

Clow Reed is a male anime and manga character who features in Cardcaptor Sakura.

Biography

Clow Reed (Japanese: クロウ・リード, Hepburn: Kurō Rīdo) was a male human whose origins were not entirely known except that he was the child of a Chinese mother and English father both of whom were extremely powerful mages from distinguished magical families. The blend of the two magical bloodlines led to Clow becoming the greatest magician in the world.

At some point, he was noted to had met Yûko Ichihara where the two worked together to achieve the same goal with this also leading to them making the Mokonas.

He came to be the creator of the Clow Cards that were a series of cards resembling tarot cards with various magical powers within them. At some point, he had also created Yue and Cerberus where he assigned them to protect The Clow and ensure that it gets passed on properly to new masters. Syaoran Li (Li Showron) is a distant relative of Clow, as Clow's mother's family is the Li Clan. When Clow was nearing death, he chose Sakura Kinomoto (Sakura Avalon in Cardcaptors) to be the new mistress of The Clow. Sakura was not yet born at the time, but Clow's magical ability allowed him to foresee most of the future and plan many of the situations that would enable Sakura to succeed in taking full possession of the Clow Cards. This is the reason that Sakura's sealing wand is pink and cute; he wanted to make a suitable wand for the young girl who would be mistress.

It was revealed that he was an extremely powerful magician, Clow had a great deal of enemies that included a madoushi (sorceress) who held a bitter grudge against Clow even after she died. The Madoushi, who worked as a fortune-teller, found that Clow's ability to accurately predict the future affected her own business and developed a deep hatred for him. She challenged her rival to frequent duels and eventually cast a spell that allowed her spirit to reside in a book after she died and draw Clow Reed to her. Once released from the book by Clow (or one possessing the Clow Cards), that person would become sealed in the book in her place. In the English dub, Su Yung was actually a student of Clow's and they had loved one another. However, her desire to become powerful resulted in spreading destruction rather than using it responsibly. The two were unable to see eye to eye concerning their belief as to how magic should be used and an intense fight ensued. When she lost and died, Clow sealed her in an alternate dimension of his own creation, where she sought to free herself and pass onto the next world after taking revenge on Clow. Sakura unintentionally releases the Madoushi during a trip to Hong Kong and the sorceress, refusing to believe Clow is dead, attacks the young cardcaptor and endangers her friends. She eventually relents when she realizes she truly loved Clow; she accepts his death and vanishes.

Sakura uses The Return to visit Clow prior to his death. Clow recognizes Sakura but does not concisely answer all of her questions. Sakura is mainly concerned that she would never be as great or as powerful as Clow, but Clow reminds her that she cannot keep comparing herself to him. Sakura is her own self, and she has already been fulfilling Clow's final wish, which is to allow his creations (the Cards, Cerberus, and Yue) to live in happiness under a new master. During this visit, Clow gives little to no insight about the recent mysterious happenings, though Sakura finds that out from Eriol when she returns to the present.

Overview

Personality and attributes

Very little of Clow's personal life is known, although Kero often references his liking for playing jokes, and his constant smile and the likes and interests described in his manga quarter-page indicate that he was a content and mischievous person. There are also some hints, especially in the anime, that Clow and his creation Yue had some sort of connection that went deeper than Master and creation. However, whether this was a mutual romantic interest or simply one-sided on Yue's part in unknown.

It was said that his favourite theory was that, "There is no coincidence in the world"

Powers and abilities

Clow Reed, having both an English and a Chinese parent, was able to combine occidental and oriental magic to create an entirely new type of magic--the Clow Cards. Like his later successor, Sakura, Clow's magic is a balance between the sun and the moon. His power is of darkness, an affiliation which his reincarnation, Eriol Hiiragizawa, shares, and which manifests itself in the chant used to release the sealing staff (which uses Clow's power until Sakura transforms it under her own power of the stars).

It was said that very few people could learn the kind of magic that Clow Reed had created in his life.

Eriol retains all of Clow's past memories and all of his magic. Clow was not able to split his magic apart into the two new bodies and Eriol's final wish is for Sakura to take half of his magic and give it to her father. Eriol's purpose is to create situations, much like Clow did in season one, that would allow Sakura to convert the Clow Cards into Sakura Cards, putting them wholly under her magical influence and completely finishing the transition of The Clow from Clow Reed to Sakura. Because Eriol is Clow's reincarnation, Sakura and company continuously detect Clow's presence during Eriol's trials. This leads to suspicion in Sakura when she visits Eriol's manor in episode 65 and feels Clow's presence all over, especially in Eriol's armchair. The manor was indeed inhabited by Clow when he was alive, but Sakura does not fully realize this until the end of the series. After learning that Clow was reincarnated, Yue protests the entire situation involving Sakura having to become the new master of The Clow. Eriol, holding Clow's memories, explains that he is not the actual Clow Reed, who would never return to this world. This is why Clow entrusted everything to Sakura. However Eriol offers to talk about his memories whenever Yue wishes.

As a Dream Seer, he was able to see the future where unlike others he saw everything allowing him to free control events. This was unlike others with this ability who only saw fragments of the future.

He was shown as being the former wielder of the Sealing Wand that allowed the user to seal or summon Clow Cards at will.

Notes

• Clow Reed was created by Clamp where he featured in the setting of Cardcaptor Sakura.

Appearances

• Cardcaptor Sakura:

External Links

• Cardcaptor Sakura Wiki Entry
• Tsubasa: RESERVoir CHRoNiCLE Wiki Entry
• xxxHOLiC Wiki Entry
• Comicvine Entry

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