Kate

* Manga
* Anime

**Kate** (ケイト, *Keito*?) is a young girl in the Shadow family, a noble family. She is the main protagonist along with her "Living Doll", Emilico.

## Appearance

Like the rest of the Shadows, Kate is a Shadow, her whole body - including her hair - is black. She has the same hairstyle as her "Living Doll" Emilico, namely a fringe with two locks that frame her face but lift up in a small quilt attached with flower barrettes. She has long hair that almost reaches down to her back, which is slightly curled at the ends.

Kate wears a white shirt with frills, a red apron dress over a frilly white underskirt, and a red jacket with a big bow-design, turning into two ribbons running along the sides, and princess-sleeves. On her feet are frilly white socks and red mary-jane shoes with bows on them.

In Emilico’s backstory, Kate wore a silky, long sleeved, light pink dress that reach her ankles. The dress’s collar has two silky ruffles, the lower ruffle being larger and the upper smaller with a medium-sized pink bow in the center. There are ruffles on the hems of the sleeves and the dress and a large light pink sash bow is tied around her waist. She also wore plain light pink ballet flats and a light pink silk bonnet with laces the same color, presumably tied under her chin. As Kate had turned into a shadow, her body is entirely black with only the tight white gloves, the white tights, and the bonnet she was wearing hid the blackness of her physique.

Before turning into a Shadow, she had pale skin and long hair similar to Emilico’s but black. She wore a simple white dress and brown shoes.

## Personality

Kate is a calm and intelligent young girl. She was even called “cunning” once by a member of the Shadows House. At the beginning of the story, she is very distant with Emilico, although she cares about her. From the beginning of the story, we see that Kate suffers a lot because of being a Shadow, and that we cannot easily understand her emotions. But as and with the help of Emilico, she becomes a little more open even if still a little distant with the other Shadow Masters. Kate is also against the illustrious Lord Grandfather and organized a revolution against him.

## Early Life

Kate is a "deviant", meaning that, unlike the other Shadows, she is not actually a member of Shadows House but infiltrated the family from the outside.

Her real name is Kate Mirror and she is the heir of the Mirrors House, the original owners of the Shadows mansion. 50 years before she was born, her family received a mysterious present - a Morph. After taking the creature in, however, a mysterious illness befell the house and the Morphs eventually rebelled after having multiplied in secret. Kate's mother, Catherine Mirror, who was pregnant with her at the time, was attacked by a Morph during her escape. Fortunately, she was saved by her maid Emily and they successfully fled into exile at the latter's home village. However, the attack had after-effects as Catherine started slowly turning into a Shadow, falling into a vegetative state. Her mother's transformation also severely hampered Kate's development, with it taking fifty years for her to be born. Catherine died in childbirth, leaving Kate (named in honor of her mother) in the care of Emily.

Emily took on the role of a grandmother for Kate and raised her as a normal human girl, not telling her about her origins and hoping to just forget what befell Mirrors House. Kate lived an ordinary life, spending her days playing with the other children and attending school. When she turned 12, however, she started to slowly blacken like her mother did. Emily tried to treat it using herbal medicine, to no effect. While she was initially able to cover the parts of her body that had blackened, her transformation eventually reached a point where it could no longer be hidden, forcing her to isolate herself in her home. Within a month, Kate had fully become a Shadow and began emitting soot. Unable to go outside, Kate grew increasingly frustrated with her new life and eventually lashed out against her grandmother, leading to her revealing the truth about her origins.

On the day of her 13th birthday, Kate left the cabin, leaving only a letter behind, to find answers to why she turned into a Shadow. For that, she traveled to Soot Island, and later, Mirrorside Village, where she met a nameless girl. During her trip, Kate started to piece together the story of what happened to her family in those 63 years. Following the voices of suspicious people, Kate found a trap for Morphs and after interacting with them, thought of a plan how to get into the Shadows House. She used a black cloth she got from the nameless girl and disguised herself as a Morph, before jumping into the trap. She, along with Morphs, was transported into the House and led to the mimicry room where she observed Sophie and Joseph and learned useful information about the House. She then sees a Morph with a stick change its shape and being led out of the room along with the human it mimicked and realizes she can move forward if she pretends to mimic the nameless girl, who she previously noted to be very similar to her in stature.

## Plot

* Manga
* Anime

### Introduction Arc

Kate is one of the Shadow nobles, served by her Living Doll Emilico. She tells Emilico not to stare as she gets uncomfortable. One day, Emilico accidentally breaks one of Kate's porcelain dolls and it told to throw it out, then scolds Emilico for not eating and growing weak. She gives Emilico her bread, which sparks a love for the food in Emilico due to its high quality. During their time together, Kate shows her habit of making sootmen and teaches Emilico to read. She tries putting makeup on Emilico and has her wear her clothes.

When looking for one of Kate's books, Emilico accidentally spills water on one of Kate's dolls, then asks if she should throw it out. Kate grows angered exclaiming it is special to her and leaves after giving off an enormous amount of soot. After taking a bath, Kate realises the weight of her words and apologises to Emilico, noticing she has made a doll named Rolly out of a torn capelet from Kate.

When Emilico is cleaning on the window sill, she falls off into a hedge below, Kate leaving her room to follow. While returning to Kate's room, they meet Mia and Sarah who humiliates Kate and Emilico's inability to act as a proper "Face". Leaving, Kate reassures Emilico that she is growing.

### Phantom Incident Arc

During Emilico's morning cleaning, Kate tells Emilico that her Doll stuffed doll is moving. Emilico exclaims that Rolly does the same, angering Kate and causing Rolly to shoot out of Emilico's pocket. They make the connection that Kate can control soot as Emilico had put Kate's sootmen in the dolls. Kate practises her power until she can consciously shoot soot from her hands into a glass with little trouble. She tells Emilico to keep this a secret as her books did not mention soot powers.

In the morning, Emilico and Kate agree to teach each other the differences of their lifestyles. When Emilico returns, she apologises as she cannot study with Kate due to her night patrol punishment, though she doesn't tell her master about her punishment, leaving Kate with a steady stream of soot alone in her room.

### Introduction Arc

Kate is one of the Shadow nobles, served by her Living Doll Emilico. She tells Emilico not to stare as she gets uncomfortable. One day, Emilico accidentally breaks one of Kate's porcelain dolls and it told to throw it out, then scolds Emilico for not eating and growing weak. She gives Emilico her bread, which sparks a love for the food in Emilico due to its high quality. During their time together, Kate shows her habit of making sootmen and teaches Emilico to read. She tries putting makeup on Emilico and has her wear her clothes.

Emilico tells Kate about her experience outside the room. As Emilico sings a song she learned, she accidentally spills water on Kate’s doll. Emilico asks Kate if she should throw it out, but Kate explodes with soot, angered as the doll is special to her. While Kate takes a bath, Emilico cleans and fixes the doll and Kate later apologises. She notices that Emilico made herself a bird doll, which she names Rolly.

When cleaning the window, Emilico falls off to the garden below, forcing Kate to leave her room to follow. When the two were on the way of their room, they meet Mia and Sarah who make fun of Emilico for her inability to act as Kate's "Face". Leaving to Kate's room, Kate assures Emilico that she is growing.

### Phantom Incident Arc

Emilico tells Kate about her day with her team. While cleaning, Kate tells Emilico to put things back after cleaning and shows Emilico the doll she repaired, telling her that it moved. Emilico exclaims that Rolly moves as well, irritating Kate. She causes Rolly to jump out of Emilico's pocket and learns she can move soot, as Emilico explains she put Kate's sootmen into the dolls. Kate gains a finer control over her power, shooting it from her hands to a glass and asks Emilico to keep it a secret.

In the morning, Emilico and Kate agree to teach each other the differences of their lifestyles. When Emilico returns, she apologises as she cannot study with Kate due to her night patrol punishment, though she doesn't tell her master about her punishment, leaving Kate with a steady stream of soot alone in her room.

### Kidnapping Arc

Kate runs out to John's room, following a note he left on the handkerchief earlier. She explains to him that Emilico has been kidnapped and that all the Living Dolls are brainwashed with the special coffee. After hiding, she tells John to notice the difference between the old Shaun and the current one.
## Relationships

### Emilico

She cares deeply for Emilico. She treats her like a friend rather than a servant and hopes to know more about her and her past. She wants Emilico to care about herself first before thinking about others and also tries her best protecting her from being brainwashed and controlled by the 'Lord Grandfather'. It has also been mentioned that the reason for Emilico's name was because she wanted Emilico to be her own person, instead of following the route of the usual Doll who would adopt their masters feelings.

### John

Kate never accepted any of John's proposals nor did she answer to his confessions. But despite these cases, she has a nice friendship and partnership with John as he's one of the few Shadows (or the only Shadow) who's in on her plans.

### Edward

Edward and Kate despise each other. Especially after Edward was out to get Kate banished from shadows house and kidnapped her beloved doll.

### Louise

Louise and Kate are on natural terms. Kate seems to trust Louise with her secret information on shadows house but not all of it as she isn't all that sure she's too trustworthy.

### Patrick

Patrick and Kate met at their debutant class and because of that Kate got closer to Patrick. Despite the strong wall he puts up, its easy to see that he is trustworthy of her finds after he has had some time to take it in. They have different outlooks on the situation they are in, but he's willing to cooperate.

### Shirley

Although in her Shadow form Shirley did not talk, later on Kate finds Shirley in her Morph form and becomes close with Shirley and communicating to her through her doll. Kate and Shirley's relationship then gets closer as time progresses.

### Barbara

Kate respects Barbara and looks up to her as the leader. She's not afraid to criticize her though, earning Barbara's respect and trust in return, becoming a person who's able to give advice directly to her.

### Sarah

They started out on bad terms, which didn't really get much better with time, as Sarah is too focused on her ambitions. Kate extends a helping hand towards Sarah, but keeps her guard up around her, knowing she's too far gone into the influence of the house.

### Isabelle & Mirabelle

These twins at first seemed to dislike Kate for how much Susanna talked about them. But overtime after one Belle died Kate was the one who helped them overcome there trouble they were having and then the twins became a little nicer to Kate.

### Maryrose

As leader of her team, Maryrose was a role model for Kate. She freely gave her advice and guidance. Kate respects Maryrose a lot and wants to do right by her, following in her footsteps.

## Powers and Abilities

### Soot Quantity

She has one of the highest soot quantities in the Children's Building, falling just below her seniors and John. It is at the point where it can form stalactites on the ceiling when she is angry or frustrated.

### Soot Power

She is capable of controlling her soot. However, this requires her utmost concentration. Though it is implied that she can control her soot in the form of a doll in Chapter 15, she is first shown to actually control her soot in the last frame of Chapter 42, however more about her powers are shown and talked about in Chapter 43 and Chapter 49 respectively. As of now, she can shoot soot like a beam from her hands and solidify her soot to create objects like wings, a rope or a whip as if it was an extension of her body.

## Etymology

* **Kate** is a diminutive of "Katherine".
* Katherine originates in Greek language and means "chaste, pure". It has been one of the most popular feminine given names over centuries and with various spellings all around the world.

## Trivia

* When Kate gets bad emotions like angry or anxious, her soot comes out rising straight up.
* Kate likes machinery (shown by her interest in Oliver's inventions).
* Her favorite food are cake and cookies, and she enjoys black tea.
* Her favorite books are educational ones.

## Gallery

**Image Gallery of Kate**

* Covers
* Manga
* Anime
Volume 1 coverVolume 2 coverVolume 3 coverVolume 5 coverVolume 6 coverChapter 1Chapter 3 coverChapter 6 coverChapter 13 coverChapter 16 coverChapter 17 coverChapter 18 coverChapter 50 coverKate mangaKate manga's appearance.Emilico and KateKate soot wings.Kate shooting concentrated beams of soot.Kate's anime appearance.Kate and EmilicoKate controls her power.Kate stepped on the soot.Kate's soot is coming out.Kate is teaching Emilico.Kate's mirror.Kate smiled.Kate is sleeping.Kate is mad.Kate and Emilico is holding their doll.Kate is going outside the room.Kate is thinking.Kate is trappedEmilico saves KateKate is readingShadows House Preview for Episode 11
## References

1. ↑ Shadows House Height Comparation Sheet by Cloverworks