Harry Potter and the Deck Master

Notes on Culture and Characterization

This section is not a must-read, and indeed it may even bore some fans that do not care for such things, but for those fans who are interested, this is just a section where I explain the cultures and histories created for this story. The aim of this section is to explain many questions the general public has asked as well as to just share a world that took much thought and planning to build, that I fear may never be able to fit neatly into the storyline. This section should grow as more ideas come and details are let out into the writing, and sadly at the moment is mainly Card Captor Sakura-centric, so please, if you wish to read it, and then check back on it from time to time. Also, though all these highly thought out ideas are free to the public's use, some level of mention if you take something directly would be appreciate...

(December 2011) As it's been a few years since I started this, my writing and ideas have evolved somewhat as well, so I'm taking the time to expand on this and edit the sections to hopefully improve on what has been written here already. Also, seeing as CLAMP-verse has made it cannon that all stories that they write co-exist within the same multiverse, I shall be pulling facts from other CLAMP continuities to further explain my theories. Any and all contradictory statements, however, shall default to CCS as the primary source of cannon.

(November 2013) A new section has been added in Theory of Magic on the subject of the origin of magic and secondary abilities it has caused for both Wizards and Sorcerers.

The Theory of Magic:

Sorcery: Alignments, and the Elements

The magic of sorcerers introduced to us in Card Captor Sakura works off the theory that magic has sources outside of one's own body which act as the drawing source of their power. Within the story, the sun and the moon were indicated as the primary sources for all magic in existence, though the title character, Sakura, drew her power from her own special star, indicating that there can be magic sources beyond the two primary ones. However, the manga also made rather clear that it was not common to have such a source of power. It is said that Clow Reed drew magic from both sun and moon, hence his immense power. It is also noted in the manga that since Yue uses moon magic he is unable to replenish his magic on his own, as it is merely a reflecting energy from the sun and so needs to eat a lot.

Seeing as CLAMP has an obsession for duality and balance, it can be assumed that sun magic has an equally crippling trait that has not yet been verified by cannon. However, given the nature of the source one might make an educated guess as to what that weakness may be. The sun is a source of nearly infinite energy, powering 99.9% of the life on our planet for the last 4 billion years. However, the level of energy the sun has is what makes it so dangerous. Taking this same idea into play, if a life form had such an infinite amount of energy coursing through their bodies, it would become physically impossible for their bodies to stay together. Molecules, charged with so much energy, would fly apart from each other and the person would cease to live.

That's not to say that humans go bursting apart like that, but it would be acceptable to assume that there would be problems in keeping their magic in check. Kero even said that Clow Reed could not cast small magic because of his immense power. So taking that into account, the definition can then be written that moon magic is more taxing but easier to control, and sun magic is less taxing to cast but harder to control.

Xiao Lang was yet another character from the series under the influence of the moon. He did not have the hunger problems that Yukito suffered from, indicating that it was likely exaggerated by some extent due to Yukito's Guardian status requiring more power. Xiao Lang, Sakura, and many others were drawn to Yukito because of the great force of moon magic coming from him, causing people to believe themselves in love with Yukito. Sakura's brother Touya, as well as the teacher Mizuki Kaho, were also the centre of many infatuations due to their strong magic—Kaho being a lunar attribute and Touya never being specified—though in both cases Xiao Lang has a strong dislike.

This leads to the evidence that magic can draw people does not mean that this drawing can not be fought and even reversed. Xiao Lang realized that Kaho was not a normal person, possibly even realized the class was being effected by her magic pull, and resisted her with a great deal of distrust. Yet once Xiao Lang came to understand Kaho was no threat to himself or those he cared for, his aggression towards her ended and while never entering the sate of "hannyan" that Sakura does when around her, does appear to be polite and respectful towards her. Touya was merely a rival the whole way through, first for Yukito and later for Sakura, as well as a source of great pride bruising due to their initial meeting. This aggression directed towards him from Touya is shown to be reciprocated easily enough by Xiao Lang despite the strong magic. Whether this aggression is to do with magical aspects or if it is some sort of self defence in which you will react aggressively towards those who act aggressively towards you is yet to be decided on.

It is said that each of the Clow Cards were under either Yue or Cerberus. Light and Dark were the first under the Guardians, but the four top elements also were split between them as fire and earth under sun and water and wind under moon. As well, the fifth element of wood was placed under moon, and the commonly used sixth element from video games—which CLAMP is known to draw inspiration from—thunder was under the sun. From this, a pattern begins to emerge, but lets get back to that later. First, lets look at each of the four main elements and ponder on them for a bit.

Under sun is fire, noted by Kero as being an aggressive warrior card, it is generally associated in society as the element for passionate, emotional individuals. When left unchecked, it consumes the user in it's own flames and hurts loved ones as easily as enemies. And yet it is also the symbol of rebirth, of cleansing the impurities, and has long been used as a tool in healing as everything from sterilizing equipment to burning wounds shut to prevent the patient from bleeding to death.

The other under sun, the element earth, is generally viewed as strong and sturdy. The immovable mountains, the sheltering caves, and the nurturing source of food and medicines. People can be described as being rock heads, meaning them to be stubborn to the point of often being stupid, or to be like a boulder, capable of ploughing down all in their way. However, they are also the shield that guards and protects with an immovable strength.

So the sun seems to favour those who are passionate and determined, set in their ways and hard to change. Not bad traits when for the right purpose, but potentially dangerous when on the wrong subjects. Then again, that tends to be the case for most traits. Similarly, the moon has two prominent elements under it.

Water is generally viewed by the mass public as a healing, gentle, soothing element. A source of life and of vitality, as you are born from water and require water your whole life in order to live. And yet throughout history water has been seen as a force of destruction as well. From the ever prominent creation myths and flood myths from around the world, Noah's Arc being one of the most famous, to tidal waves, dangerous currents that pull you under in rivers, and many more. Water really is Moon's double-edged blade complementary to fire. It can look calm and serene like glass on the surface yet be a raging current just below. It is deep and mysterious, reflecting back what looks into it rather than showing it's true contents. It takes the easy path, yet can bring about great changes through time and patient wearing away at something.

Wind as well can be described as everything from still and calm, to playful breezes, to raging hurricanes and tornadoes. As a fluid it has no shape to call it's own, instead conforming to whatever container holds it, and seeping through every crack it can find. As shown by science, once set in motion wind can take a while to loose momentum, and will easily curve it's path to manoeuvre past all obstacles it may come across.

So judging from these observations, the moon seems to be that of fluidity, a hidden current under an invisibly calm exterior, that which is nigh impossible to perceive. Illusionists hiding behind masks, taking the smoothest course but persistent enough that they could wear away any mountain given enough time. They are the sort to fit the mold prescribed to them and leak out of your grasp through the cracks as you try to hold ever tighter on to them. Possible negative side effects of such personalities are an inability to get to know the person behind the mask, as well as potentially indecisive sorts of people if they are too fluid and lack any direction in life.

Now, for wood and thunder there are special cases. Now, it may just be my western views on things, but Wood, to me, always seemed like it ought to be a Sun element, rather than a Moon one. Wood, or plant life, needs soil, sunlight, and warmth to grow. True it requires water and air the same as any other living thing, but those are not the first qualities thought of when thinking of plants. Similarly, thunder really ought to be a Moon element, as thunder comes from storms—wind and water—and has little to do with sunlight, earth, or fire. Indeed "it was a dark and stormy night..." is so famous an opening line that most North Americans will recognize it as being a cliche opening to a tale, even if they can't place where it originated from.

So why do wood and thunder belong where they do? If you look not at how they relate to sun and moon themselves but rather how they relate to the personality types listed for each, it becomes a bit easier to understand. Wood, the nurturing mother nature, is patient and adapting. It will bend and change form depending on the obstacles and restrictions placed on it. So in that way, it fits well with Moon's wind and water. However, it is also sturdy, strong, a source of shelter and support from the harsh world around us, and in that way it is much like Sun's earth.

Thunder, on the other hand, is bold, flashy, strait to the point and loud about getting there. It's a flash and a bang that illuminates the darkness, fast and hard and full of energy. In those ways, it is very similar to fire, only more streamlined and determined like the hard-headed earth. Yet like the moon elements, it can be redirected, it's momentum changed if given the right conductor to catch it's focus instead. So examining them in this light, it can be seen how Wood is the Moon element that bridges the gap and approaches the Sun, and Thunder is the Sun element that does the same approaching the values held by the Moon.

But beyond Sun, Moon, and Star, Clow Reed and Eriol both have been noted to possess "dark" magic. Everything from the calling of the original sealing staff to Eriol's references at the end of the manga to the nature of dark magic as opposed to Sakura's light magic indicates that there is something more to the alignment of a sorcerer than merely sun or moon. Eriol explains that dark magic can not block other magic, hence his inability to halt the visions that he claimed Sakura would not suffer from due to her light nature. Though he stopped Syaoran's attempts to locate him, whether the art shown was the spell that Syaoran was casting, or Eriol's counter-spell is the reader's discretion.

The understanding that I have come to is that dark magic cannot block magic, only cast their own spells to attack the spell attacking them. And as always in CLAMP magic, if there is one, then there must be an equal and opposite opposing force. Taking that into consideration, the most logical return weakness for the opposing light magic would be a week offence and strong, natural, defence. So what does this actually say about a character?

To answer this question, let us first examine two individuals who are not affected by the normal Moon and Sun. Eriol, as Clow was before him, is a perfect balance of moon and sun magic and so therefore is not prone to be effected by any one elemental personality trait over any other. So we can examine in him what it is to be dark magic without taking into account secondary effects. What it shows is a quiet, reserved individual that keeps out of the spotlight and acts something like a wallflower. Not that he does not act, merely that his actions are done in such a way that no attention is brought to himself. With no attention to himself, he brings on no hostility and therefore can get into position to attack without the need to defend. So, in that light, it can be said that dark magic favours the introverted individuals.

Light magic, to counter balance that statement, would then be the extraverts, and this is easily shown in Sakura's daily behaviour. Energetic, open, friendly, she deters the desire to attack through simply accepting and including everyone as friends. The centre of every group she's in, the natural star that will take over and run everything in your lives if you let her, whether it be in play or in fear she brings about the sense of endearment in others. This defensive means—avoiding confrontation through simply becoming an object of affection for the enemy—saves the need to attack. Naturally high defences can protect during the endearment stage, and act to avoid confrontational situations by dispelling negative feelings.

Cerberus and Ruby Moon are also both affiliated with light magic. They share this open, energetic nature that Sakura possesses, though still the differences of Sun and Moon can be seen. Kero is open and frank, he doesn't hold his opinion for anyone and if there is something he desires, he will pursue it without much thought of consequences. He is stubborn and determined, and will do what he pleases as loudly and jovially or aggressively as he so feels the situation calls for. Nakuru, on the other hand, while open and friendly, has shown on a number of occasions that the mask can be dropped in an instant to show a very different sort of person beneath. She is cunning and manipulative, using an open, friendly smile to get her into good graces with people and take her where she wishes to go, all without showing what her true feelings or motivations are.

Meanwhile, Yue and Spinel Sun are both quiet and reserved dark magic users and show as many variations in such as their counterparts. Yue keeps his true thoughts and feelings to himself, often saying one thing and yet doing another as proven with his declarations of never accepting Sakura to be his Mistress, and yet being completely devoted to her protection and happiness only a few chapters later. Even as Yukito, while he gives his polite smile to everyone, he avoids situations of being in the spot light and keeps his true thoughts and feelings bottled up inside, only showing the world the front of a polite wallflower. Spinel Sun, no matter how quiet, shows a stubborn streak that Yukito doesn't share. He refuses to acknowledge the nickname "Suppi" as being in any relation to himself, and quite openly states his thoughts and opinions on things in as few words as he can manage, and doesn't bend to Nakuru's whims anywhere near as readily as Yukito does.

So what does all of this actually have to say about Sorcery? Merely that every person born has a talent to be either offensive or defensive and that whichever they are will affect their outward behaviour. Furthermore, the source of their power, sun or moon, will also affect what sort of person they are and how they deal with the situations that they face. And as they become more in tuned to certain elements, their behaviour will mirror that element's aspects. This is because it takes a certain level of understanding of the forces that go into the elements in order to control them. Whether this understanding is innate or studied depends on the person, as some will naturally lean towards one element or another. Not that a person can not learn to harness the other elements—and for humans it is common to have some level of competence with each element—but rather that it takes a great deal of training to be able to bend your own natural perception of the world to fit a philosophy so different from your own in order to do so.

The Sorcerer's Tools

Sorcery uses a number of different mediums of different shapes, sizes, and styles. Here I will explain some of the most basic styles of mediums for easy reference and clarity. First off though, is the reason for using these tools. A Sorcerer's magic is pulled not from any item, but from the sorcerer themselves, and therefore is very taxing on the caster, in some instances even leading to death. The tools are used to focus and channel the magic into a more concise spell, enabling the caster to use their power more efficiently.

Magic circles are used by sorcerers in order to harness the usage of certain alignments or elements. Each sect of sorcery has its circle that they use in order to call on the energies of nature to aid in their casting. Though it is common to use a prominent circle, most sorcerers know at least fifty separate circle designs. Circles are best drawn on an active element, such as rock, sand, a tree, though they can also be drawn or carved into paper, fabric, personal possessions, etc. Circles are made up of symbols and runes which explain the magic's fundamental basics. Alignments, affiliations, aspects, attributes, and more are all revealed in the markings and placements of those markings.

The circle does not even have to be circular, merely a closed shape of any kind will do. This includes triangles, squares, pentagrams, and so forth. What is important is the unbroken chain of energy cycling through the circle like a current in an electrical wire. For an experienced sorcerer, they are capable of even creating their own unique circles in order to draw on the energies that they desire for their casting. By changing the placement and choice of runes or symbols, the caster can greatly effect magical output and effect of what the circle is used for.

Clow Reed was one such sorcerer, who went so far as to completely devise a new form of circle by combining Eastern and Western magic circles to create something more powerful, dangerous, and harder to control than anything either circle type could manage on it's own. It is due to this extreme difficulty to control hybridized magic circles that prevents them being made very often. The circle variations in existence at the moment all came from attempts to make previous hybridizations easier and safer to use; however, this fact is little known to the public and Clow Reed's hybrid circle has not yet been around long enough for many attempts at modification to have occurred.

Sakura's circle is a special case, it was a circle designed by Clow Reed, only activated when the spell kept inside the Moon Bell transformed the Sealing Staff into the new Star Staff, thus unlocking the new circle pattern activating the magic. Therefore, Sakura did not actually need to understand anything about the circles or the runes and kanji involved in drawing it. Clow Reed's main circle showed while using the Sealing Staff as that's the circle that the magic tools were engraved with, then when the engraving within the tool changed, so did the circle brought forth. She is merely activating a preexisting circle, though eventually in the future she will have the skill and ability to use her own magic to create the circle from nothingness.

Beyond just the circles, there are many other physical tools used in the channelling of magic. Though spells can be cast without them, these items are used to boost the spells power. In some instances, multiple items can be used to magnify the magic greatly. For Sakura, these items are namely her two staffs that she uses in the series, as well as the cards. Where Xiao Lang is concerned, he had his sword, his ofuda, and a third tool in his rashinban. He proved that the rashinban was used for more than just finding the cards, he also used it in his attempt to track Eriol through his coat, and when the Final Judgment was drawing near in the fifth volume, he pointed out that the rashinban was useless because there was too much magic interference around that it couldn't get a solid reading on any one thing.

Even the Guardians seem to have their own magic amplifiers, though not in the form of a staff or weapon like the children. They instead appear to use crystals, as each of them has gems on them in their character designs. And in the anime, Spinel Sun channelled Eriol's power through the staff resonating with the gem in his forehead. It's not impractical to assume that each of the guardians channel their magic through their masters, especially with the reference made in the final battle between the four Guardians about the "difference in the master's strength".

Means of Teaching

Wizardry appears to be taught by and large in established schools organized into classes. Each class appears to be taught by a master of a style of wizardry, such as charms or transfiguration. There are also apparently classes which combine magic types, such as Defence Against the Dark Arts. Then there are classes that require special in-born talent, like Divination, in order to succeed at. And further, there are classes which appear as if magic is merely a benefit rather than a requirement, such as Potions, Care of Magical Creatures, Astronomy, Ancient Runes, Arithmancy, and more.

However, while the majority of the classes seem to be geared towards this "magic is merely beneficial" approach, the curriculum is such that you would not be able to graduate from a wizard's school without taking the mandatory courses that do require magic. In this way, they prevent the likes of squibs or muggle siblings of muggle borns from attending their schools.

Wizarding students begin their training once they have reached puberty and continue for a seven year stretch. If a child by the age of eleven has not shown magical potential as of yet by casting wandless magic, or stealing their parent's wand to play with, then they are dubbed a squib and that is that. It is uncertain what becomes of children who's magic appears after the start of the school year in there eleventh year, they may be able to go into some sort of special studies program, or they may be forced to learn from their parents at home if they're to learn anything at all.

It is proven that some children with potentially high magic levels take a long time to cast their first magic as Neville Longbottom, who eventually becomes one of the better duellists in the school, stated in the first book that he nearly didn't meet the deadline of casting magic. If his family had not began trying to force magic out of him and thus prompting that first spell, what would have been the fate of Neville who played such a substantial roll in the fall of Lord Voldemort?

The wizarding population also does not have any universities or post-school education mentioned within the books. Indeed, if memory serves it is even openly stated somewhere that there are no universities. And yet is it verified on several accounts that somewhere nearing half the spells possible are never learned by your average witch or wizard. To this, there are a few possible explanations. First is that to learn those spells one has to take certain NEWT level classes. Now this is acceptable and reasonable for assuming this, yet at the same time it is highly doubtful that this would account for half the spells out there.

Another explanation is that the fresh-from-school workforce undertakes a period of apprenticeship from a master in the trade they wish to make a career out of. In this apprenticeship, the witch or wizard would learn job-related spells that have been specialized over centuries for the purpose of the job. However this brings up a problem of the apprentice only learning the spells that the master feels is important to pass on and so spells would become forgotten in time.

This actually leads to the third possibility in which only a certain number of spells are in circulation at any one time. In this case, older families who have been accumulating texts for decades or even centuries would have a much greater array of knowledge at their disposal than the newer families who have only been part of the wizarding world for a decade or two. Some of their personal libraries may contain spells which were otherwise lost, forbidden, or merely out of the circle of print.

The most likely answer to the question of "what are those other half of the spells?" is most likely to be some combination of all the above. As the children get older and begin specializing more and more, they would learn spells of a certain field only. Out on the work force they then learn further choice spells taught during their apprenticeship, and then finally given enough time, spells become forgotten to all but the books they happen to be written in.

For Sorcerers, however, things appear to be quite different. By the age of ten, Xiao Lang had a wide array of many different types of spells at his disposal. Now admittedly he is quite powerful and is supposed to be someone great when he grows up, yet so was Drako Malfoy and he did not get special training prior to entering school. So from this I will take some liberties as the details are not well known.

Sorcery training likely begins as early as the caster is capable of conducting the spell work. As it is a more specialized field based on a person's natural alignment, it is likely not taught in large numbers. As working with the elements seems to require certain mentalities, it is likely that a large part of the early studies is focused more on how to think like the elements than how to cast the spells themselves. And in terms of shaping the thought proses, the earlier in life you begin the more successful you will be.

Once the how of thinking has been established, then the study of the required symbols can begin. This is likely very mathematically based and so would take an older mind to truly understand, yet younger children can be taught to copy a picture or feed magic into an item without necessarily understanding everything involved.

But having a master and apprentice system their whole lives would mean that the students would need to change masters when they desire to learn a new subject. This would lead to each individual likely changing masters several times over their lifetime, likely even well into adulthood. Each master would teach them a preferred set of runes, incantations, and circles, and each student would then take that which they were best at for their own magic casting. This phenomenon would lead to sects preferring certain circles, but as long as the original meaning was not lost, the forgotten circles and lesser-used circles could still be derived from the base and re-invented at any time they are required, unlike the wizarding magic which once the incantation and wand movement is lost, the spell is lost.

Danger and its Effect on Magic Potential and Output

In the world of Wizardry, magic without a wand is quite possible. Every magical child in the world casts wandless magic at some point in time or another in their life. The children who cast it more regularly and freely are often looked upon as being more powerful than those who can not. Harry Potter and Tom Riddle were two examples of children who used wandless magic in their youth. For the case of Harry Potter, there are five mentioned instances where the wandless magic was used.

The first instance of Harry using wandless magic was when his aunt cut his hair poorly. His dread of ridicule which tormented him all night, the shame and embarrassment, resulted in his hair growing back by the next morning. The next instance mentioned is when he shrunk an ugly old sweater down to hand-puppet size during a fight over whether or not he was going to wear it. The third mentioned instance was his apparating in order to avoid being beaten up by his cousin. The fourth was Harry vanishing the glass at the zoo when his cousin was being cruel once again. The last instance was during summer break in Harry's third year when he blew up Vernon's sister like a balloon because she was insulting Harry and his parents.

Now, Harry never made the connection between all of these events, but in each and every one of them Harry was either in a perceived state of danger or extremely angry. Sometimes even both. And in every one of these instances, something happened that resulted in him either getting out of the situation he didn't want to be in, or something happening to punish the person who he was angry at. Due to this, a pattern begins to arise that can be traced through the other two people within the books who mentioned pre-wand spellwork.

Harry never made the connection between all the things that were happening, but there is plenty of evidence that indicates that Tom Riddle did. It was said that in his youth, that whenever Tom grew cross with someone, nasty things would happen to them or their possessions. Such as one boy who's rabbit got hung from the rafters the day after fighting with Tom. It's not hard to believe with the nature of people that once he discovered he had this power and what caused it, that he began triggering it purposefully to feel a sense of power over those around him. He did something odd to some students that he coaxed into a seaside cave that they were too scared to ever speak of again.

The third person who spoke at any length on what pre-Hogwarts spells they cast was Neville Longbottom. Unlike the other two, he was not a natural spell caster from an early age, and his stories recount how his family members attempted to force magic out of him. All through his childhood, his relatives did dangerous things to him, from pushing him off a pier and nearly drowning him to hanging him out of upper story windows by his ankles. His first successful spellwork was actually to save himself when he was accidentally dropped during one of these attempts.

Now that the facts have been stated, lets examine what wandless magic really does. All the cases above are indications of magic happening as self-preservation. Either the ability to flee, hide, protect, or retaliate. The fact that Neville's family was attempting to force magic out of him by doing such things to him on a regular basis supports my theory. The problem is that the magic is not only unpredictable, but requires a state of fight or flight to induce.

Because the fight or flight mechanism is a natural proses found in all higher-level animals based on spikes in adrenaline, it can be assumed that any activity that causes an adrenaline rush above a certain level would also cause wandless magic to happen. Further evidence was brought up by Dumbledore who stated in the sixth book that states of depression can sap a wizard's magic from them. Depression is brought on by a chemical imbalance in the brain, in which case adrenaline production would likely be harder to maintain at the heights spellwork requires.

The problem then arises on what if someone capable of casting magic just never happens to reach that level of adrenaline rush prior to the September of their eleventh year? Also, would it be possible to induce the state falsely by adrenaline injections? These are things that can never be proven, however much my scientific mind ponders the fact.

With the understanding of the adrenaline affect, there are further complications to face, however. In a school of emotional teenagers, how is it possible that there aren't magical accidents running wild? In none of Harry's heated arguments against Draco Malfoy has he ever accidentally cast wandless magic, nor during any of his multiple fights for his life upon Hogwarts school grounds. It can't be a state of him beginning to study magic making wandless magic no longer useable, because it was in between Harry's second and third year that he blew up his aunt.

The only logical answer I can think of is that Hogwarts, among all of it's other wards and enchantments designed to protect the student body, has some sort of spell on it that stops the students from casting such an unpredictable, emotionally based thing as wandless magic. Yet even still, even with the wand, whenever Harry has faced his toughest trials, his magic became far more powerful than otherwise. How else would he have managed a Patronus that could take out all those Dementors, or for three first-years to win against a Mountain Troll?

However, sorcery—which also seems to require some form of necessity—seems to mandate a certain level of concentration and can become weaker if you let your fears and emotions run away with you. Eriol instructed Xiao Lang at one instance in the manga and several times within the anime that if he wanted to become more powerful, he'd have to calm down and concentrate. Likewise, Xiao Lang's first instructions to Sakura in many instances was to calm down and stop crying, that if she concentrated she'd find the solution and succeed.

Though concentration alone does not seem to be all that is needed, as often Sakura must face a moment in time in which the only way she can get through a situation is by pure determination. One explanation for this is that you require the determination in order to continue casting the magic, even when it is draining the body of it's energy. In order to gain that determination, often times the life of herself or of someone close to her was used as a catalyst for Sakura.

Whenever Sakura got into too much trouble, everyone-whether they had magic or not-seemed to always say "it's Sakura, so it'll be alright". And indeed, when she would say the line herself, her special "unbeatable spell" as it came to be known, it would give her the confidence in her self to keep going despite the dangers, and the spells would become more powerful than before. Now, that could just be because it cleared away her doubt and fears, allowing her to concentrate on her magic more completely, or it could have some other significance to the spell work that has yet to be determined.

So that is concentration to cast the complicated spellwork with a level head despite the situation going on around them, determination to continue casting regardless of the taxation upon themselves, and confidence to stand up to their fears and doubts and not become overwhelmed with the problem and thus unable to maintain concentration. That sated, it is obvious the conditions and mental state of the sorcerer while casting magic would be vastly different from those of wizards; however, in both cases the perceived danger is mandatory for pushing their power that little bit farther in order to cast the more powerful spells.

Emotions and their Effect on Wizardry

As mentioned above, Wizardry is based off of the fight-or-flight instinct. Without a wand, the caster must reach an emotional high, most often of fear or rage. It has been evidenced that some magic is more inclined to be cast on an emotional high then others. But as much as purpose of the magic goes, in several instances it's been proven that magic also requires specific emotions to cast effectively.

The Patronus, for example, is one of the most obvious spells requiring positive emotions. The very fact that one must find their happiest memory to harness is proof enough on this theory. Without the positive energy, the spell would fail to cause the effect required to protect the caster. The charm to banish Boggarts appears to be the same way; you must harness the feelings of joy and humour to chase away your fears.

While the Unforgivable Curses, it seems, require emotions of loathing and cruelty. Though the exact means in which they are used is uncertain, one can assume it is—like with the opposing positive emotions—used by focusing on an image or event in your past which causes the necessary seething you require.

It appears, for all sanity sake, that as much as Sorcery seems to be becoming in control of your emotions in order to become calm, Wizardry is becoming in control of your emotions to choose which extreme you wish to achieve. Very much apposing means of casting magic, though neither are completely beneficial or detrimental.

Secondary Talents

In both the world of sorcery and wizardry, there are some born with natural secondary magical abilities. While these abilities in wizards are all too rare, among sorcerers it appears as though secondary magical abilities are all too common. As it has been the repeated pattern above, we will begin once more with the wizards inheritable talents and then move on to the sorcerer's afterwards.

I say that wizardry has inheritable traits because the evidence predominantly points to that conclusion. Brought up as a main plot point as early as the second book, yet foreshadowed even within the first, was the skill of parseltongue. Reputedly Salazar Slytherin's most famous ability, it is one shared regularly by all the Gaunt line who descended from him. Indeed, it went to the point that in all likelihood Voldemort's uncle could not speak even a word of English as he was shown in the books to not even attempt communication to the authorities in anything but.

The stigma shown within the British Isles towards parslemouths gives rise to the belief that it is likely that it is among the rarest of talents, and that those who can use it would likely keep it under wraps. However, just because this is the case within Great Briton, does not mean that elsewhere in the world parslemouths are treated so poorly or are so rare. It could have very easily have been a skill that started elsewhere in the world where it is common, and merely not inherited by many people within Europe.

The stigma states that parslemouths are evil persons dating back to the original inventor of the Basilisk who was a powerful dark wizard. It also most likely stems from the biblical stories of the snake in Genisis, as most of Europe have been christian for the last several hundred years. However, actually examining the facts would likely prove that this is merely population bias and that the likelihood of a parselmouth becoming a villain is no greater than that of any other person out there.

The other named skill is metamorphmagi, or the ability to change one's own appearance without the use of a wand or potion. This does not include transformation into other species or inanimate objects. The main practitioner of this skill is one Nymphadora Tonks, and while the skill seems to be hereditary as her son, Teddy Lupin, also had the skill, her mother, Andromida, nor any of her other relatives among the Blacks have any indication of having this skill.

That being said, it was either a recessive ability that Ted Tonks, Adromida Black, and Remus Lupin all were carriers for, or it was a dominant ability that evolved multiple times. Seeing as the first case is more likely, we shall say that the skill is probably pretty well distributed throughout the magical population in Great Briton due to three unrelated characters all being carriers of the gene.

Now, there are many ways that these magical traits could have made their way into the population, including being random mutation that lead to an enhancement in magic for certain individuals. While this is not wholly improbable, there are other possibilities as well, including one that the books themselves allude to on several occurrences. What I am referring to is the fact that many magical species such as giant, veela, and so forth, have demonstrated the ability to interbreed with humans and produce offspring that posses the magical traits of their non-human ancestors.

Now here I pose a theory on the origin of not only the extra traits that some magic users have proven themselves to possess, but an origin to all magic in humans to begin with. Picture, if you will, the state of the world pre-humanity, when the first homo sapiens were defining themselves as a species of their own. Genetics proves that there was likely extensive interbreeding between these early humans and other members of the homo genus, so why stop there?

Suppose occasionally that individuals of this early humanity bred with local magical beasts, thus resulting in offspring that had traits of their magical parent. With generation upon generation, these offspring breed among the non-magical humans, and come in contact with others of different ancestry. These different communities of humans-with-power would then blend into something that is neither one nor the other, eventually becoming the mishmash of magical abilities that humans are today.

But this process wouldn't just stop with the prehistoric humans, indeed in Harry's own circle of experience there are three such half breeds with inherited traits recent enough in their bloodline to recognize the source for what it is. However, if one assumes that given time the origin would be forgotten in face of the ability it produces, especially if it is highly recessive, then they could come to the point where the ability gains a name of it's own rather than just being a "half breed trait".

So here we have a plausible solution for not only the wizard's traits but also magic in general. However, sorcerers are a little different. As stated by Eriol in the story, where sorcerers come from is uncertain, merely that they have been around long enough to traverse the globe and have by some means made themselves a part of magic. As a result, their magic tends to be less genetic and more spiritually based.

Looking at it, there seems to be two main branches of secondary talents that sorcerers can have: divination and spiritual sight. For exceptionally powerful individuals, it seems possible to use both talents at the same time, though many individuals seem to have neither. Unlike with the wizarding traits, the abilities of the sorcerers seem to be such that they would not be born with them, a certain level of power would be required before they become viable, yet they have a predisposition to one power or the other all the same.

This observation would bring to mind the lunar and solar aspects that sorcery is based off of, the combination of which in different percentiles basically dictate personality and ease in casting different types of magic. With this theory in mind, one merely needs to examine individual persons exhibiting these abilities to determine the likelihood of each trait being related to each celestial body.

Now, due to the small number of individuals shown to possess these abilities within the cannon Card Captor Sakura universe, I will be taking this theory largely from the greater CLAMP-verse which includes such titles as Tsubasa Resivoir Chronicles, xxxHolic, Legal Drug, and X1999. They will, of course, defer to CCS in any subject that contradicts as this is a story built out of that world, but as fellow series made by the same artistic group who are known for convolutedly crossing over their own time lines, I feel it safe enough to take from others to fill in the blanks that Sakura's universe simply does not answer satisfactorily.

That being said, let us begin with the power of divination, or foresight. Seers of various types and powers have existed in a variety of CLAMP titles, and for ease of explanation I feel it best to begin with persons of other titles and then apply them to Card Captor Sakura cannon for comparable continuity. The list of cross-series seers I wish to draw attention to here are Ichihara Yuuko (Tsubasa and xxxHolic), Fei Wong Reed, and Tomoyo from Japan Country (Tsubasa), Hinoto, Kanoe, and Kuzuki Kakyou (X1999), and Kakei (Legal Drug).

Starting with the closest relation to our main title, Ichihara Yuuko is an old colleague of Clow Reed's and nearly as powerful. Her entire business functions around her ability to foresee what her customers need to gain their heart's desires and what they must give in return to make the payment sufficient. As the Witch of Dimensions, her official ceremonial robes are adorned with multiple references to the moon, indicating a highly strong probability that she has a lunar alignment. However, this fact alone is not enough to guarantee proof as she also has a well developed ability to see and interact with the spiritual realm.

Following Yuuko, one may examine the cameo appearance of the seer Tomoyo-hime of Japan Country. Much like Yuuko, Tomoyo-hime is adorned by a crescent moon theme, however unlike Yuuko, Tomoyo-hime shows no inclination for possessing an ability to see spirits. Hinoto and Kanoe, famed seer sisters in the X1999 series, are similarly associated with the moon, though in a more indirect fashion. Both sisters are highly associated with the night, a time when the moon is out and the sun is gone, and both have official artwork showing them with the moon hanging in the background.

Furthermore, Hinoto is strongly associated with water, which is known to be an element under the power of Yue. Likewise, Kuzuki Kakyou is strongly associated with the ocean and seagulls in flight, his dreamscape taking place in such a location. In Card Captor Sakura, The Fly is a card under Windy, which in turn is also a card under Yue. Furthermore, all of these characters, as well as Kakei the seer from the Legal Drug series, have personalities that when examined would put them under the moon aspect as detailed in the Alignments and Elements section above.

The only character that really contradicts this over-encompassing theme would be Fei Wong Reed. His personality is stubborn and unyielding, determined to a level that better identifies with the solar element earth than any of the more fluid elements of the moon. Not that those with a lunar aspect can not be stubborn or determined, as each human is made up of percentages of sun and moon elements to form unique wholes. However, that being said, the stronger percentage would make Fei Wong's aspect appear to be sun. Yet like Yuuko, he appears powerful enough in both aspects that he has the ability to use foresight and spiritual sense both.

So given the general CLAMP-verse theme, let us now examine how it relates to the cannon characters of Card Captor Sakura. The series itself presents three prominent seers, Eriol, Kaho, and Sakura herself. When Sakura began budding her new ability shortly into her adventures, Kero made note that the ability to view visions was a rare gift that only powerful sorcerers had. This gives a possible hint to why Syaoran wouldn't have the gift, despite the fact that he seems to be a lunar aspect as well. He is never expressed as being able to see ghosts or other spirits, only a general sixth sense to feel out presences that he and Kero both seem to think is a general skill that all magic users should be capable of doing.

So out of the three powerful enough to have the gift, the question that must then be asked is how well do each follow the lunar aspect theme. Eriol Hiiragizawa, the half reincarnation of Clow Reed, inherited his magic and therefore his aspects, which were cannonly known to be a perfect balance of sun and moon, thus making him so exceptionally powerful. As such, Eriol can not be defined as one category or the other and has proven to have abilities that land him in both fields of secondary magical talents.

Sakura, likewise, has an odd aspect, being that she draws her power from her own personal star and thus is neither sun nor moon. Yet if we step back on her and look not at the predominant aspect but rather the elements that she is most comfortable using, one can observe that her favoured magic is all the likes of Windy, Fly, and Jump, all of whom are under Yue, thus lunar magic. As such, it can be assumed that her celestial stacking is star-moon-sun, and as moon is still higher than sun, the first magic she began being able to do was divination.

And that leaves Kaho, a woman surrounded by the imagery of the moon to the point that Kero even mistook her for Yue's sealed form. Other connections include her apparent affinity to water, and that her magical tool was none other than the Moon Bell which Clow Reed embedded with lunar energy to enable Sakura to beat Yue with a lunar-based card. Even Kaho's last name, though the kanji are wrong, sounds like it would mean "water energy". Yet in Kaho's introduction to Touya, she found him watching a spirit under a tree and spoke to him about it.

Now, if this was a show of Kaho's strength or if she simply assumed is unclear. Kaho is a seer, she taught Sakura water skrying and had many on-the-spot premonitions. She could have easily foreseen in some form the existence of Touya, given his power and importance intertwining with all that Kaho's destiny depended on. If that was the case, she could have simply foreseen that Touya had the gift he did and when coming upon him staring off into what seemed like space, sensed out that there was a presence there and figured he was looking at it.

Or perhaps as a miko, she had been called upon to do some sort of ceremony for the dead, or for a local spirit, or whatever the presence was, and had been made to skry on it previously. In either case she would have gained knowledge of the entity without the ability to see anything present and would have merely noted that Touya was capable of seeing it. On the other hand, it could have been indication of her vast abilities placing her as one of only three others who had both skills. If that were the case, it would express her level of power far higher than most fans seem to assume, as the others who are known to have such a skill include Clow Reed, Eriol, Yuuko, and Fei Wong.

Now that I have thoroughly argued the point of divination being a lunar-based ability, allow me to now call upon CLAMP's infamous rule of duality and say that if divination is indeed an advanced lunar magic, then solar magic would need an equally advanced skill to compliment it. That being said, the other skill shown time and again throughout the series is the ability to see ghosts and other typically invisible things. Characters that I will be addressing here expressed to have this skill and aren't any of the mixtures already addressed above are Watanuki, and Kohane (xxxHolic), as well as the cannon Card Captor Sakura characters.

While X/Tokyo Babylon do involve senses that enable characters to interact with the spiritual realm, allowing them not only to see but also create spiritual beings, it seems to be a universal trait of people with powers in that universe. Every one of the characters with power, be them Dragon of Heaven or Earth, have shown themselves capable of bearing witness to entities such as Nekoi Yuzuriha's inugami, Inuki. As such, in that world it could be assumed that the ability is universal to those with spiritual powers regardless of what celestial aspects they attribute themselves to and therefore can be disregarded from the speculations.

The only two others who are prominently noted for the gift that aren't members of our cannon are Watanuki and Kohane. Kohane's gaining of the ability came from her being infused with one of Sakura-hime's scattered feathers. The presence of this feather greatly boosted the little girl's magical ability to the point that a power manifested. While initially speaking, Kohane doesn't seem like the typical image that one would associate with the bright power of the sun, however on a closer inspection she appears to merely be a Dark type of character, similar to Spinel Sun, rather than a Light type.

This observation stemmed from the fact that while Kohane did go along with her mother's desires to an extent, she was only a child and once she became old enough to stand on her own, she did so. Kohane has a very stubborn streak in her, she chooses her path and is unrelenting in the pursuit, despite everything that other people may do or say to her. Like with Fei Wong Reed, this is not the behaviour that a strong lunar elementalist would exhibit. While determination is mandatory for most magics, going to the extent that Kohane went to without yielding or changing tactics or even loosing who they are at their core shows a heavy level of the bull-headed attitude that solar types are defined by.

That being said, Watanuki is something of a strange case. According to story cannon, he is not a proper human, being a mere shadow of Li Tsubasa. Tsubasa's clone was strongly affiliated with fire, and by extent so too was Tsubasa. Fire is, of course, a sun element, and one that also suits Watanuki. Watanuki is impulsive and intense, he wears his heart on his sleeve and doesn't think through the consequences of an action before he takes it. He is stubborn about details far past the point in time where they become obsolete and is unwavering in his conviction long past the point in time where it becomes clear that his continued arguments have become invalidated. Just look at his insistent crush on Himawari even after he found out that her very presence put his life in danger, or his determination to declare Domeki his enemy well past the point where other people would consider them friends. He follows his emotions rather than his head, but is too stubborn to acknowledge when his emotions change against his will. These are very sun-like traits, indeed.

Now as far as Card Captor Sakura goes, the only two characters who solely have spiritual sight are Touya and his mother. While not much is known about Nadeshiko, what is known is that she was rather impulsive, often acting before putting any real thought into her actions, and admittedly a bit of a klutz, but that's more or less irrelevant. The only thing to note about it is that she didn't seem to be the sort of person to learn from her mistakes, because despite her accident-prone nature, she never slowed down or really learned to think things through enough to correct the mistakes.

She also seemed to have a strong sense of determination, or at the very least was highly loyal, and prefered to make up her own mind. After all, she quit a family who obviously loved her dearly for the man she loved, and still sent them her Valentines chocolates despite her choosing to be disinherited. And like mother like son, Touya is also the fiercely independent yet loyal type. However, unlike his mother, Touya seems to be the sort to act as the steadfast protector, trying to take care of spirits despite his own welfare and chasing after his sister despite having given up his magic. Also unlike his mother, Touya seems to be more of a Dark Sun rather than her Light type.

On one final note before I leave off this section, I'd like to address the issue of Fujitaka, who gained a spiritual awareness with the gaining of half of Clow Reed's magic. I do believe that while this was the ability we were shown he possessed, that much like Clow Reed's other reincarnation, this will not be the only ability he will end up with. Indeed, he has always, even before gaining magic, had a seemingly uncanny insight on events, being at the right place at the right time or just knowing when things go wrong in regards to his children.

While his children and himself have always just taken these things as being result of him "just being dad", indicating how well he knows his children and how good a father he is, it could also be taken as residuals of Clow Reed's absolute foresight. While nowhere near as powerful as Clow Reed's, or even Eriol's, due to his not having had magic to boost it's power, if my theory of Clow Reed breaking taboo is correct, it makes sense that Fujitaka would not be exempt of the punishment either. As a result, he is just uncannily good at guessing the right answer or preempting people, and his children who grew up knowing no other type of father would not ever think to question the how or why of the matter.

This wouldn't be the only strange thing about him that in hindsight would likely link him to Clow, either. His exquisite cooking ability seems to be a common trait between those in close relation to Clow, as well as his looks and general mannerisms. But if that is the case, then why was the first magic he was shown to possess his ability to see Nadeshiko? Because she was what he desired most.

The Power of Desire

In the CLAMP-verse, it is apparent and often even stated that the power of wishes and desires shape the world. The strongest wish has the greatest effect. This theme has shown up in everything from Magic Knight Rayearth, X1999, Clover, and Wish, until the more recent titles like xxxHolic, Tsubasa, Kobato and from what can be seen so far, Gate 7. Within the Card Captor Sakura world, up until recently the most powerful force was that of Clow Reed. As shown in Magic Knights Rayearth, the one with the greatest magic potential also is the one who's wish is heard the loudest.

Taking this into account, for the last several hundred years Clow Reed was the force that lead the world with his strong desires. While other people's desires still shaped the universe as well, Clow's immense power and his ability to foresee the future in so much more depth and so much further ahead than anyone else would basically enable him to manipulate the course of history to fit his benefits and desires. This being said, it's clear how many would believe that the future is set in stone and can not be avoided.

But thirty years prior to the start of the story, Clow Reed died, splitting his soul into two other beings, thus passing the torch of "strongest" off to Eriol. Now, while Eriol generally followed Clow's plan, it is clear by the ending of Card Captor Sakura that not everything Clow desired came to pass, meaning that somewhere in there things had been changed. What was that thing? And what will it lead to? These are some of the questions this story strives to examine.

Guardians Existence

Purpose in the Sorcerer's World

It is without question at this point that Sorcery and Wizardry are two very different magic styles. Sorcery requires, as discussed higher up, absolute concentration. In this state, Sorcerers are vulnerable, too focused on their spell work to be able to defend from an attack. It has also been brushed upon the idea that stronger magic needs stronger concentration, and a longer time to gather energy to cast said spells. This leaves the caster at quite a disadvantage when it comes to casting Sorcery in any form of combat. In such a state, they could easily be taken out by a physical blow, or by a slightly faster spell. And this is why Guardians were created.

Sometimes in history and varying religions they have been referred to as 'familiars', Guardians exist to defend their masters in their times of vulnerability, and to tend to them while they recuperate from a particularly complicated bit of spell work. It is impractical to assume that magic users could support a Guardian who is at full power all the time, especially when they are drained for power themselves, and so Guardians exist in two forms: their true form and their sealed form. Their sealed form is often small, having very little magical output, and therefore requiring very little magic from their masters.

Since the power it requires to sustain a Guardian is great, few sorcerers have the power to do so on their own. But without a power source, Guardians would not be able to continue living, and so the immense magic put into them would be a waste. For that reason, Guardians have been given a special magic to allow them to bond with items that contain great power, such as the Sword of the Elements that Syaoran wields, or Kaho's Moon Bells, or several other special tools and items handed down within the magical families. Connecting oneself to the items like this does admittedly drain the magic power of the tool much faster than what would otherwise take place, but a bit of fancy spell work once a decade by a group of Sorcerers is a far better means to sustaining a Guardian than a continual drain of a single sorcerer's power, that would leave them exhausted and unable to do anything else with their magic.

Cultural Reactions and Relations to Guardians

By modern day, as rare as Guardians are, they are a rather well known concept, often owned by the older families and clans. To have a Guardian is a thing of prestige, an honour bestowed in ancient times that can still play a major and active role in the lives of the young sorcerers of today. Most of the Guardians appear in charts telling the name of the Guardian, the item it's connected to, and the family that owns the item. The Guardians are kept by the heads of each family line, often only one Guardian per family, though it is up to the whole family to ensure the Guardian does not disappear from starvation, just as it is up to the Guardian to protect everyone in the family they are bound to.

Since most Guardians have lived through several masters, they often build interrelationships among themselves with other Guardians from near-by sorcerer families. Often at large magical get-togethers they can be found interacting on the sidelines with their own types, sharing family histories from the last time they met the particular Guardian that they are speaking with. A similar aspect of their duties, in the homes of their masters they are expected to work to some extent as a history teacher, re-telling the children the family's greatest achievements and sharing wisdom from previous generations.

Between the actual master and Guardian, however, there is something beyond just the basic living together. To ensure the loyalty of Guardians to their masters, the master was enabled the ability to control their Guardian with spells that only the ones the Guardian is bound to can cast. But for the Guardian to always know the state of distress for their masters, and therefore protect them from danger, Guardians will create a special spiritual bond to their masters. Guardians can tell the ups and downs and all the variations of their master's moods, they can hear their master say their name, wherever they are in correspondence, and often due to the bond, a Guardian will love their master, just because it is their master.

Guardians are traditionally formed in the shape of animals. They tend to be large enough to support a master's weight in their true forms, and small enough to fit in their master's hand in their sealed forms. As such, they tend to gain some minor attention in either guise. In true forms, they are impressive, massive, strangely mythological beasts of varying colour and design. In their sealed form, they tend to be miniature, and often simpler versions of themselves. Their unusual looks and ability to speak tends to draw attention to them, so in most cases of travel, they tend to stay hidden.

As they are shaped like animals, must do whatever their master commands, and are handed down mush like heirlooms, as much as the sorcerers may love the Guardians, they are looked at as possessions rather then comrades. Like a favourite toy or a beloved pet, they lack no amount of affection, but are not given equality or looked at to have any real opinion of their own. They are a fancy trinket that will give their life for their owner; they are slaves and possessions, no matter how well they are loved.

Changing Hands: Gifts and Inheritance

As started already, Guardians have in history, outlived their masters time and again. This would tend to cause a problem, if it were not for the fact that Guardians are handed down the family line. Due to the situation, seeing as the previous master must die before the next one can be claimed, it often happens that it is not the child, or even the grandchild of the previous master that receives the Guardians next, but rather a great-grandchild. Though as always there are exceptions to this, it is merely the way that history has tended to go.

But there have also been cases in history where a great sorcerer will not have children of their own. In such instances, though not as common as the previous scenario, the master will choose a favourite student to entrust the Guardians with until someone new is chosen for their master. And on rare occasions, though it is looked at by the mass of the sorcery's society as highly rude, a master who has born children may still choose to hand down their guardians to a pupil instead. This course of action tends to bare the feeling of "none of my family are important enough to me" mixed with "my family is not worthy of this honour". Such things are so generally frowned upon that the student often feels obligated to marry into the family and return the Guardians that way.

The reason in which Guardians are viewed this way comes from ancient times, during the birth of the Guardian species. In ancient times, due to the strain of magic that was required to create Guardians, it became a customary sign of debt to a fellow sorcerer's family to bestow a Guardian when a sorcerer died in the saving of another sorcerer's life. It took several centuries, but eventually every one of the old families had a Guardian of their own.

In the few thousand years that followed, the magic to make Guardians was lost, though the meaning behind them remained due to the Guardian's outstanding memories. The families grew larger, split, and grew larger once again in an endless cycle that lead to the Guardians being handed into specific families only. Also over the centuries, some of the Guardians have died from starvation or attack. By present day, not only are Guardians unable to be replenished, the families that have them are select and few. Out of all the sorcerers out there, there are only one to two hundred Guardians to go around.

Though Clow Reed created his own Guardians, they were special to his own personal needs, and are not commonly placed in the selection of the list of normal Guardians. Instead, they have been given special recognition, along with his cards and several other things, as another of his wondrous inventions and creations. Yoko and Chandra, however, were given to the Li Clan, and more specifically to Syaoran, by Clow Reed in this formal ceremony from ancient times. They are the classical variety Guardian that the rest of the world has, and therefore are as controllable and as non-taxing as your run-of-the-mill Guardian who has been around for the last several millennia.

The Special Creations

As can be expected, wherever Clow Reed's name is concerned, nothing is of the ordinary. It was during his time after he had abandoned both the Li Clan and the Reed Clan that he wondered the world, disgusted with humans that fate allowed him to stumble upon the ancient stone ruins describing the spells required to create Guardians. So, lonely and bitter to the world around him, Clow set about making his own friends. But, never one to follow directions, and far too cocky with his own ability, Clow decided he was going to change the spell. The first few attempts were powerful, yes, but very not Guardians. Some of these spells were later adapted into what would eventually be the creation of the Clow Cards. But finally, after several years of work and study, he succeeded in the birth of his own type of Guardians.

Some of the most notable changes that he made include the fact that there were two, twins who opposed and complimented each other. Another was that instead of making them from pure magic and then bonding them to an item, he created them from an item: an old magical journal of his that no matter how much one wrote in it, it would always have more pages that were blank. Also, the fact that he created the very first humanoid Guardian, though still as sexless as any other, gave more of a look at his views towards the human population around him. But what had to be the most notable thing about his new creations was that neither of them took on sealed forms. Indeed, the fact that he supported two unique Guardians in continual true form was what started the world's view of him becoming a god among men.

At the moment, the only thing I still have to add is that Spinel Sun and Ruby Moon were created in a sort of fused fashion between his first works and the original Guardians. They are basically his first type of Guardian with the exception of him not making them from an item, but rather in later years binding them to his Sun Staff.

Clow Reed's Legacy

Clow's Bloodline

Clow Reed, son of an English sorcerer and a woman from China's Li Clan. Though the greatest part of history says that Clow Reed was probably born some time during the 1600s, that is not necessarily the case. Due to the fact that China is connected to Europe by a large land bridge, and that there was quite probably travel along the Silk Road from the time that humans spread across the globe. But, for simplicity sake, I will not put any dates to his age, just that he was hundreds of years old. During his life, he quite conceivably had many wives and still many more children. Though the Li Clan boasts their blood relation to him, they most probably are not the only ones.

Ieran, last of her family line to bear the surname of 'Reed', was the product of one of these marriages that Clow had. In the case of her ancestor, he married a Chinese woman from the western coast of China. From that union, some generations later, Ieran was born. A sweet girl, timid and mild by nature, yet naturally bearing a terrifying power, she was trained hard by all of the best masters. In magic, fighting, and the arts, she became one of China's few remaining Warlords, viewed by the world as a whole to be an unstoppable force, much like Clow Reed. By the time she was fifteen, she was married off to her distant relative, the head of the Li Clan.

Though they knew nothing of each other at the time, their personalities proved compatible and they became one of those few lucky arranged marriages where the couple truly do fall in love. They had their first daughter ten months after their marriage, a second thirteen months after the first, and then a full year and a half later she gave birth to twins. Four years passed before she gave birth once more to an heir, a son that the father named Syaoran after a legend in the area. Syaoran was still very small at the time of his father's death, which left Ieran heartbroken but determined. She was a Warlord, and she would do what she must to ensure the survival of the Clan, as well as the survival of her children.

From that day, when her husband died, onward, Ieran was determined to shape her children into strong warriors. She locked up her heart, and took on an outlook of tough love, forcing all of them, Syaoran especially, to grow up much faster than they would have otherwise. Fuutie, who had been reared to be Clan heiress until her brother was born was rather more used to the treatment, but Sheifa, who had been lucky enough to avoid much of that harsher treatment, as well as just had a very motherly disposition to begin with, took it upon herself to play mother for her four siblings instead, now.

Syaoran showed potential for very powerful magic; therefore his training was intensified further in order for him to harness this ability. He was told repeatedly from several people that he was destined for greatness, that he would be the replacement for Clow Reed, to the point that he came to believe it. It was only when he came to meet Sakura that the idea that someone could be powerful outside of breeding even occurred to him, and then of course when that came to his mind, he began to doubt other things he had been taught. And worse, doubt himself.

Final Spell

Ever since the revelation of Horcruxes, all cross over writers of these two stories must ask themselves: is the spell that Clow Reed cast a Horcrux spell? Or perhaps a variation? My response for this is quite simply and completely no. The spell that Clow used was Sorcery, simple as that. He used his magic to artificially create two eleven year old boys, and then used his magic to put his soul into both. It was fundamentally a simple enough process, though it required mass amounts of magic to complete.

The true wonder, and what this section is to discuss, is what Clow chose to give each of the reincarnations and why. Let's start out with the inheritance left to Fujitaka. Made from Clow's recessive, more British genes, he bore far less appearance to Clow then the other. But in face and abilities, he was every bit like Clow. He was not given magic, but was that because Clow could not split the magic, or because he would not? Kero said that he was awoken when someone with magic touched the Clow Book. Clow intended for Fujitaka to grow up and have Sakura who would become the new mistress of the Clow Cards. If Clow had given him magic, he would have stopped aging like Eriol had and even if he didn't, he would have had magic and that would have awoken Yue and Cerberus at once. They would have seen the Clow Reed in Fujitaka and pronounced him the new Master, and nothing would have changed.

Clow also did not give Fujitaka any memory of being Clow. Why? I think it was because he didn't want to make Fujitaka suffer. He wanted Fujitaka to be the man he never could. To live the life of a normal person like he had always wanted to. He never fit in as a youth because of his family, he became even more ostracised by his outstanding powers. He became bitter, selfish, and at times childish. And then something happened to make him see that his way of living was wrong. And so he made Fujitaka everything that he wasn't: a person with no history who had no magic, and more compassion then most could ever feel.

What did Fujitaka choose for himself? He became fascinated with history, wanting to know the past and origins of things. Was this due to some sort of latent or erased memory of Clow's life living in those times? Was this because he had never known who he was or where he came from? Who can say? It was most likely a mixture of things that compiled to lead to his life decisions.

As for Eriol, he was given Clow's looks, his power, and his mind. But was that his gift? Or maybe was he made as a side effect, somewhere to put everything because they couldn't be given to Fujitaka? Eriol proved to be the one doomed to make sure that all of Clow's plans turned out. Stuck for years as a child, alone in the world, just waiting for his other half to have the wonderful family and gain the beloved Guardians and Cards. It's not surprising that Clow made it so that Fujitaka was immune to Eriol's magic in order to stop his murder in a childish fit of jealousy!

Knowing what sort of freak he was, not born from a woman's womb, but rather from the spell of a man who thought he had the right to twist the forces of nature and fate to his own liking. Not even able to get close to other people now that he lives, because his lack of change would be too much a give away to be able to know them for more then a year or so. He created his own Guardians, like Clow Reed before him, his own replacements to be his own family. His biggest wish, above all other things, was to not be the strongest or the best anymore. He didn't want to be one of a kind; he wanted to be as normal as he could manage.

Sakura's Original Magic

In the later chapters of the manga, while Sakura was changing the Clow Cards into Sakura Cards, the things everyone was saying about it brought up a lot of questioning in my mind. First, I will sate what I understood from the first. That while the Clow Cards were such, they drew their magic from Clow and so he could halt or even redirect them as he pleased. So to make the magic work, Sakura had to take the cards from Clow and make them into something beyond his control. That now that they had a new Mistress, like Yue the cards were draining the reserve magic and were starting to die.

Well, then why would people call it Sakura's own special magic? The cards appearance hardly changes, and their abilities are copied perfectly, it's not even like they gained any new personality traits or anything. They are, for all tense and purposes, Clow's cards still, only drawing magic from Sakura instead. But during one of my bouts of deep thinking, it dawned on me that I was making a fundamental and, I'll admit, detrimental error in my pondering. I was forgetting that natural talent and mass power do not equal knowledge. To assume that anyone, especially a small child, could proficiently create anything without prior learning or instructions would be quite foolish, indeed.

Sakura, impressive heroine that she is, had no prior knowledge to anything involving magic before her tenth birthday. She didn't even know about the five Eastern Elements, as stated by her when she captured Earthy. Her only experience with how to work magic was through the Clow Cards, and with only Cerberus and Syaoran to be her teachers, neither showed much actual promptness to teach beyond what the situation at hand required. So in a lot of ways, she was wandering blind, figuring pretty well everything out for herself as she went along.

Is everyone following so far? So here's how it worked out: Sakura, filled with vast amounts of magic, but fearing its existence within herself, comes across the Clow Book, and becomes the Card Captor. She learns all about her cards as she catches them, their strengths, their weaknesses, their personalities, everything. Each card, to her, is read with greater ease then a story book, and each card, to her, is a dear and important friend. Then, once she has all the cards, danger comes about and she must strengthen her bond to the cards and make them her own. The urgency of the danger makes it less dangerous for her, as it gives an actual need and requirement to boost the power of the card. Not knowing anything other than the cards, she leaves them as is and just feeds them her own magic instead. This also makes the transition easier, because it's not creating something new; it's only updating something old.

This, as it stands, leads to the next step, shown in the last episode of the anime and the idea of which is being used as a fundamental point in my story. Now that she knows how to create the cards, she knows everything about them, the only logical next step is to move away from the original blueprints designed by Clow Reed and go on to draw up a few of her own. Namely, The Love, and in a way, The Hope.

Time line

Just to clear things up, some important events and their corresponding dates.

April, 1994: Sakura turns ten, also at some point within the first week Sakura goes into her father's study and finds the Clow Book. Windy is found within the next day or two and returns to the book of its own accord. Thus begins Sakura's adventures as a Card Captor.

July, 1994: Li Syaoran comes to Japan to find the Clow Cards (admittedly this did not happen until December in the manga, but I need to scrunch the time line a bit). At this point Sakura is in possession of Windy, Wood, Jump, Fly, Watery, Illusion, and Flower.

September 1, 1994: Harry, Ron, Hermione, and company enter their fourth year at Hogwarts.

Late Fall, 1994: Sakura captures the last card and goes through Yue's judgement (note that in the manga this would have most likely happened in winter of '95, but as said before I am trimming this down a bit)

Start of Third Trimester, 1995: Eriol joins Sakura's class (for those of you who don't know, school starts in Japan in spring, summer break signals the end of the first trimester, winter break signals the end of the second, and then spring break signals the end of the year. So this is somewhere around January, but I don't know the schooling system clearly enough to state for sure what the date would be. Also, the fact that they are in short-sleeved uniforms when Eriol arrives in the manga, means that it's probably the start of the second trimester of 96, but... that would have Sakura already 12 at this point and Hogwarts brings students in when they're 11.)

April 1, 1995: Sakura turns 11. Also right in this area, they move from the fourth grade into the fifth.

June, 1995: Sakura transforms the Light and Dark, she splits Eriol's magic between himself and her father, allowing Eriol to age once more, and Eriol goes back to England with Kaho. Syaoran, who is in love with Sakura, decides to keep his feelings to himself because of his Mother's calling him to return to Hong Kong. Sakura is highly upset by this news and in a fit of emotion, creates an original card: The Love. Realizing her feelings, she makes Syaoran a bear, but is late getting to the bus stop and barely hands the bear over to Syaoran. (Being that in the manga, they went from short sleeves to long sleeves to winter coats, to short sleeves, and then finally are wearing long sleeves again at this point, she probably was having her final battle against Eriol in the mid to late fall, maybe even early winter, of 97 at this point, so that means she'd be 13... I don't think Clamp MEANT for her to be 13 at this point, I think they wanted her to be 11-12ish, so I'm sticking with her being 11.)

Late June, 1995: Harry and company end their fourth year at Hogwarts with the death of Cedric Diggory and the revival of Lord Voldemort.

Late July, 1995: Eriol contacts Sakura about one last card that Clow had made as a seal for the others to keep them calm after his death. He tells her he's been haunted by visions lately, and fears it might become active now that it's not sealing anything and she must go and locate this 20th card. She asks him for advice on how to beat it, and he tells her that it's looking for her strongest feeling, and that it will take that feeling as payment for capturing it. Sakura is upset by this, but when the Void takes even Yue and Cerberus from her, she is willing to do what she must to protect everyone else. What it takes from her is her new card, and fuses with it to form The Hope. (This event has a very important part to my story, but I won't give it away quite yet...)

August 14th, 1995: Sakura and Syaoran receive letters via owl requesting their attendance at Hogwarts.

So, Sakura's story with the cards takes place over 14 months, rather than the 3 ½ years from the manga, but it is essentially the same story, with all the same events, in pretty much the same order. The only main difference for the most of it is what uniform and clothes the kids are running around in. Some things like the white day chapter would just be bumped over to the proper date for White Day. Same with Valentine Day, and other such special holidays. But seeing as for the most part things like that aren't really set in stone in the manga, indeed few of them are even a part of the story line beyond just passing comment, I feel safe in compressing the events to make them able to fit.

One last side note before I send this off to whomever may read it; all subject matter is open for discussions and debate. Indeed, I enjoy hearing what people's own personal opinions are, and anything that can improve the quality of my writing is always most welcome.