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Player} Fox (foxysquid)
Age} Over 18
Other Characters} n/a

Character Name} Kariya Matou

Series} series wiki page

Canon Point} End of act eight: after his rescue of Rin Tohsaka from Caster's monster, and after Assassin is killed by Rider.

Age} Late 20s (about 26)

Suitability} n/a

History} character wiki page

Personality} Kariya Matou is naturally gentle, kind, and soft-spoken, and those traits have been mistaken for cowardice or weakness. However, the idea that he is weak couldn't be further from the truth. He is strong, and has been since before the Fourth Grail War. It is simply that his strength is utilized in non-traditional and less obvious ways. It takes strength for him to reject his powerful magus family, as a family member with Magic Circuits they could use. Choosing not to use his magic and turning his back on the problematic and abusive world he was born into, although it makes him weak in the sense that his magecraft is weak, takes both emotional fortitude and moral courage. Kariya lives as an outcast, by his own choice. As the story begins, he is, not wholly, but at least partly, satisfied with the choice he's made, with his freedom from the Matous and his life away from them.

The opinion of others aside, he is courageous. Unlike every other Master in the War (with the odd and dissimilar exception of Kirei Kotomine, at first), he does not enter the War because he wants to use the Grail to make a wish. Instead, he wants to obtain the Grail so he can give it to the head of his family, Zouken, in exchange for a single favor: to save someone else from the Matou family's cruelty. To do this, he sacrifices his life and freedom and endures a year of torture.

Kariya is generous, thoughtful, and quietly devoted. His desires tend to revolve around others. What Kariya wants most is for the young Sakura Tohsaka to be freed from the Matou Family. The girl is the daughter of Aoi, his childhood sweetheart and best friend. Kariya loves the child and is like an uncle to her. The Matou family adopted Sakura from the Tohsaka family because of the lack of any remaining young, viable magi in the family after the departure of Kariya. The Tohsaka family agreed to give Sakura to the Matous for political reasons, and it is this circumstance around which the tragedy of Kariya Matou centers.

Kariya agrees to return to his family to train as a magus, and to allow his family's Crest Worms to be placed in his body. This, all to save a single child, and, by association, to help her mother, the woman he loves. He knows that no matter what happens, he will die. In the end, he will also fail, and he will suffer greatly for it. It is possible that a part of him knows that this failure is all but inevitable, but he enters into the agreement because he would rather undergo this suffering than be the kind of person who would allow it to continue without doing anything. That is the strength of Kariya Matou. He is a protector of the weak and innocent, with a soft spot for children. He is sustained by the idea of once again spending time with Sakura, Rin, and their mother, to be able to see the children playing together happily again.

That said, Kariya is not a person without flaw, not by any means. One could make a case for him being the most selfless Master in his Grail War, but there is selfishness in him, even as he is sacrificing himself. When he left his family, his brother Byakuya had to bear the weight of the family's expectations. This left Byakuya a broken man, and he'd be the first to call Kariya selfish. Byakuya believes he's doing what is right for the family and that Kariya deserted them. Also, Kariya's love for Aoi is a lifelong one. Though he wants her friend to be happy, as her friend, there is desire there, too, and buried resentment. He greatly dislikes Aoi's husband Tokiomi, and after what happens to Sakura, that dislike grows into a destructive, blinding hatred that causes him to act irrationally. Eventually, he develops the overpowering desire to kill Tokiomi, even though--and in part because--Tokiomi is the man Aoi loves.

He has a tendency to blame himself for events, even when to do so is illogical. He believes that what he is doing for Sakura is his penance, as he considers that his own actions led to the current situation. He thinks Sakura's predicament is due to his leaving the Matou family without a viable heir. Not only that, but he blames himself for not telling Aoi his true feelings and not raising any objections to her marriage to Tokiomi. It's other people who are truly to blame for what happens to Sakura, but Kariya allows these unrealistic thoughts to take root, and for guilt to rule his actions.

In a similar vein, his desire to help and his idealistic desires can blind him to the reality of his situation(s). There is only a small chance that he can win the Holy Grail War. Even Zouken thinks that it is impossible that Kariya will win, and it is difficult to believe that Zouken would have kept his promise, even if Kariya had emerged the victor. Kariya's entire quest, then, may be pointless, and he has sacrificed himself in an act of futility. A more strategic or subtle person may have tried to find a way to free Sakura without involving himself in the dangerous game of the War. Kariya is too earnest and straightforward to concoct deceptive or manipulative plots. In another instance of his blindness, he fails to realize that his entry into the War is the last thing Aoi wants. She has no desire to see him sacrifice himself, and she certainly doesn't want him to kill her husband.

Currently, Kariya's physical and mental state are very poor. He is in near-constant pain. The Crest Worms implanted in him affect his mind and his body, and both are slowly but steadily being devoured from within. Once steady and quiet, if inwardly passionate and principled, he is beginning to lose his mind. He now has greater difficulty thinking clearly, as he is losing himself, along with his life. His thoughts are more erratic. His focus on his task has become obsessive. His decline increases his negative traits the further it progresses: his self-sacrifice to the point of foolishness, his focus on his anger at Tokiomi, and his lack of guile and difficulty seeing through the deceit of others. This makes it easier for others to manipulate him, which leads him into the folly of an alliance with Kirei Kotomine.

He is dying, but he is still fighting. He is not ineffective. He stood up to one of the Servant Caster's monsters in order to save the life of Aoi's other daughter, Rin. His ability to withstand suffering is immense. Zouken himself admits that he is impressed with and surprised by Kariya's continued survival more than once. It is Kariya's great sense of purpose, his single-minded focus on his compassionate goal, that allow him to keep living. He has managed to hold up under pressures that would already have destroyed almost anyone else. No one else believes he can succeed in his quest, and ultimately, he will fail, but even his last moment will be one of hope. He will outlive the Crest Worms that are killing him, and his will is so strong that only death will stop him from striving to save the child he loves.

Abilities} Though born with magic circuits, as stated previously, Kariya avoided formal training when he was young as a result of his dislike of his family. As such, he has no real power under ordinary circumstances. However, when entering the Holy Grail War for Sakura's sake, he agreed to allow his body to be infested with Crest Worms, parasites that increase his magical power, even while devouring his body from within. As a result, his magic is increased, although his body is wracked with pain and his lifespan has been greatly shortened. He can use the worms themselves to fight, expelling them from his body and turning them into Blade Wing Worms, horrifying carnivorous insects. In his world, he can also summon and direct (to an extent) the Heroic Spirit Berserker, but as his connection to his Servant will be cut off (and as Berserker is an appable character in any case), he won't be able to summon Berserker.

Baggage} Basically just the clothes on his back. And his Crest Worms.

Notes} n/a

Sample} "Berserker. Berserker." Kariya's voice is quiet, almost sing-song as he calls out in the darkness. He doesn't need to call with his voice to summon Berserker, he knows, but he does anyway. It seems more polite to speak to his Servant, even considering the circumstances. Even though there's no need to be polite. All he has to do is summon his Servant to fight for him. It's a strange feeling, having something so powerful at his command, a relentless, destructive force. After avoiding magecraft for so long, he's been thrust into a surge of it. Almost everything in his life, now, is everything he'd once struggled to escape from. That was his choice.

He sees the Servant before there's any audible response. The light that glows from Berserker's helmet and the seams in his armor is a brilliant red, highly visible in the dark. Kariya approaches slowly. The Hero is huge. He could easily crush Kariya if he wished, if not for the contract binding them. "Berserker." Kariya's own voice sounds strange to him. His throat is ruined, along with the rest of him. It's the same voice at heart, but impossibly ravaged. Like himself.

The Servant makes a noise, then, a low exhalation of breath with something of his voice in it, not unlike a groan. Kariya feels drawn to the sound. Something about it is compelling. There's a pained edge to it that resonates within him.

"I'm Kariya," he says, trying his best to make the words understandable. Berserker has already accepted him as a Master, and they were "introduced" in Zouken's presence, but Zouken isn't here now. It's only the two of them, in the dark. This feels more genuine, less forced. "We're going to win the war. I know we will." His right eye lights, though his left remains dull and colorless.

He can feel Berserker watching him as Berserker lets out another breath. It's strange, to feel watched when he can't see any eyes, only that red glow. Berserker doesn't offer his name or opinion. He doesn't say anything. Kariya knows why. He's mad. Kariya goes on, speaking into the silence. "I promised to get the Grail for my uncle. When I do, he's going to let Sakura go." He doesn't bother to explain who Sakura is. "She'll go home. She'll be happy again. That's all I want."

Berserker doesn't speak, but Kariya imagines he might be listening, though there's no way to tell whether he understands. Just the idea that someone might be listening encourages him. His voice grows stronger, full of desperation, hope, and a measure of his own madness. "We're going to save Sakura and kill Tokiomi. It's his fault this happened. I want him to die. That's what we're going to do first. He's our enemy. He brought Sakura here. So he has to die."

Because Sakura came here, Kariya did, too. He used to travel. He used to go places, to meet people. He used to have a life of his own. Now, in the darkness, this mad Servant is the only person he has to talk to. "You'll follow my orders, and when we're done, everything will be fine! Everything will be all right again!"

Berserker lets out a hiss. Kariya remembers the words, "chains of madness." With his heart racing, his body aching, he can understand what that's like. He feels bound, too. This is his Servant. They're alike.

Alike... A stab of compassion cuts through his determination, suddenly, and he sags. "I'm sorry," he says. The words are a whisper, and with the wreck of his throat, it's possible that they can't be understood, that they're just another meaningless sound.

Bonus sample threads:
here | and here