Clow Reed

Clow Reed is the overaching protagonist of Cardcaptor Sakura, Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicle and XxxHolic.
He was an ancient wizard of the China, and son of a Chinese mother and English father (with combination of Eastern and Western magic powers). He was the most powerful wizard of his era, and his magic was used to create the Clow Cards. These cards can invoke a power when their owner actives them; he also used his powers to create two guardians of the Clow Cards (Kerberos and Yue).
When he died in a house in Japan, with his last spell, he made two different reincarnations of himself (Eriol in England and Fujitaka in Japan), making him a demi-human of sorts, although only Eriol has his memories.
He was voiced by Kazuo Hayashi in the Japanese version and by Dale Wilson in the Cardcaptors English dub.
==Personality==
He was a sage man, and already knew when he would die, but he never feared death. He was also a quiet man. He never allowed Yue to work and gave all the work to Kerberos.
==Powers==
Clow had the power of all his cards, so for example, he could stop time. But his power, as demonstrated by Eriol, goes beyond the power of his cards, because it was his his magic created them, so his magic can make various things, with the cards and their guardians just being some of the things he's created. 
He also lived during various centuries.
Descended from two powerful clans of magic users, Clow Reed was able to combine the bodies of magical learning of both his families to create a new body of magic (as noted by Cerberus, the names of each Clow Card are written in both English (Romanji) & in Kanji). According to Cerberus; "In ancient times, sorcerers handed down magical learning from master to student. Their plan was to share their learning only with people who promised to use it to protect and meet with all of the qualifications; but very few people could learn the kind of magic that Clow Reed created," mainly as they didn't have the same kind of mixed heritage.
As revealed after the climax of the "Sakura Card Arc", Clow Reed's magic was imbalanced in it's nature; as shown in Clow Reed's magic circle, the design of the circle is dominated by the sun and the moon symbols; the Sun representing 'Yang' (陽), and the Moon representing 'Yin' (陰). The arrangement of the Sun and the Moon in the circle highlights the nature of the imbalance; the Sun takes center-stage, while the Moon is pushed to the side; the balance of Clow Reed's magic is tipped in favor of Yang over Yin.
As his incarnation, Eriol, reveals after Sakura succeeded to recreating all of the Clow Cards as Sakura Cards; "When I was Clow Reed, using small magic was a problem; because I knew everything beforehand, nothing was pleasant. So, when as Clow Reed, I split myself into two; myself and Fujitaka Kinomoto, I couldn't divide the magic, Clow Reed's powers remained whole. And the only one who could do what Clow's magic could not, was someone who could surpass Clow's power." This imbalance that caused Clow Reed's problems was also the reason behind Clow Reed's unusually-long life span. In contrast to Clow Reed's magic circle, Sakura's star takes center-stage, holding the Sun and the Moon in place, the Yin and Yang in her magic kept in balance that Clow Reed's had lacked. Eriol also stated (to reassure Tomoyo Daidouji's concerns), that, unlike Clow Reed, Sakura would not have to worry about being burdened by knowing too much about the future, as thanks to the more-balanced nature of her magic in comparison to Clow Reed's, Sakura would achieve a level of control that he hadn't; and-so would not be burdened with any knowledge of the future unless which-when such times she should choose to invoke her psionic/extrasensory ability of clairvoyance.
===Magical Power Level===
The extent of Clow's magical powers have been mostly by reference from others and rarely witnessed in the events of the manga or anime. However, it seems that his powers were incredibly vast, mentioned by characters such as Kero, Yue, and even Yuko. His powers earned him the title of the greatest magician in existence, though Clow eventually cursed that title. This is due to how when Yuko was in her moment of death, Clow had made a single thought, and because of his incredible powers, he had inadvertently ceased Yuko's time, preventing her from moving onto death. It was also from this desire that he had also created Fei Wang Reed by mistake, who possesses incredible magical powers as well, but sought only to surpass Clow with the intent of bringing Yuko back to life to prove it.
This causes Clow to eventually attempt to divide his powers between his two reincarnations: Eriol and Fujitaka, though only Eriol acquires the powers, making Sakura to manage to divide the powers for him into Fujitaka. After the division of powers, Sakura's powers were greater than the two halves of Clow's magic, thus fulfilling Clow's wish to no longer be the most powerful magician (This occurred only in the manga). Despite how his powers were mostly gone, he seemed to still possess power to move to another dimension of the Country of Clow to fill in the void left by Princess Tsubasa's wish to turn back time, and eventually sacrificed what magic he had left pay Syaoran's price for rebirth.
===Prophetic Dreams===
Clow possesses the powers of a Dream Seer, allowing him to see into the future. However, unlike most other characters, who could only see fragments of the future, Fei Wang stated that Clow can see everything, which gave him free reign to control events, hence how he had managed to foresee Sakura collecting the Clow Cards, making him create a Sealing Wand of the color pink for Sakura being a girl. He even knew that he would, as Eriol, cause problems for her to help her create Sakura Cards. His ability also enabled him to also predict and make countermeasures against Fei Wang Reed, though despite this, the majority of these revolved around the others having their own right to choose.
===Sealing Magic===
It is also implied that he possessed the great power to seal and imprison other magical beings in other worlds and dimensions; such as when he had trapped the sorceress, in the first movie.
===Mystical Object Creation===
With the use of his mixture of oriental and occidental magic, Clow was able to create the Clow Cards as well as the Cards' guardians, Cerberus and Yue. He also who creates the Sealing Wand and the Staff of the Sun.
==Trivia==
*Clow Reed is a blood relative to both Sakura Kinomoto and Syaoran Li at the same time as being a blood relative to the reincarnated clones of Princess Sakura and Syaoran. The clones were reborn into a different world to Sakura Kinomoto, and no explanation has ever been given as to how Clow Reed was related to both sets.
*According to Cerberus in The Sealed Card movie, Clow's favorite theory is "There is no coincidence in the world". It's also the same phrase that Yūko Ichihara in xxxHolic uses: There is no coincidence in the world, only inevitability.
*Clow and Yuuko had a past relationship.
*It is theorized that he and Yuuko were lovers.
*He and Yuuko made the two Mokonas together.
*It was once believed that he was Watanuki's father.
==External Links==
*
==Navigation==
Category:Clamp Heroes
Category:Manga Heroes
Category:Anime Heroes
Category:TV Show Heroes
Category:Fantasy Heroes
Category:Comedy Heroes
Category:Alternate Reality Heroes
Category:Male
Category:Neutral Good
Category:Elementals
Category:Heroes from the Past
Category:Deceased
Category:Magic
Category:Creators
Category:Immortals
Category:Reality-Warpers
Category:Protectors
Category:Dimension Travelers
Category:In Love
Category:Mentors
Category:Posthumous
Category:Protectors of Innocence
Category:Legacy
Category:Big Good
Category:Wise
Category:Tricksters
Category:Predecessor
Category:Nurturers
Category:Successful