Clind

A longtime partner of the original Roswaal, Clind is a mysterious man who has long served the noble House Mathers. Following the Sanctuary Incident, he was brought into the Emilia Camp by Roswaal to oversee Subaru's training after he officially became Emilia's knight.

Appearance

Clind appears to be a handsome young man around the age of twenty with a slender face and a tall, lean body. Along with that, he has eyebrow-length dark blue hair and gold eyes. Clind wears a well-starched black butler uniform with a frilly blue tie and sports a monocle on his left eye.

Despite being a dragonkin, Clind has shed his past and conceals his draconic characteristics in order to blend in with humanity. When manifesting his true power, he has removed his monocle, which has no special qualities whatsoever, as a gesture to signify his shift in mentality, prompting his natural deep black horns to protrude from his head. He may also possess other characteristics associated with dragonkin, such as wings or a tail, though they have not been observed with him.

Personality

Clind is well-mannered, highly considerate of others, is extremely skilled as a servant, and tends to add idioms to the end of his sentences. Despite his good traits, he sometimes jokes around a little while behaving in a polite manner. According to Frederica Baumann, he apparently has low self-esteem, which leads him to believe that his work as a butler is unworthy of praise, and likewise, despite having been responsible for teaching the other servants of House Mathers or House Miload, he is convinced that he has merely had the chance to convey what he knew many times due to his position rather than because he wanted to be a teacher, claiming it to be a noble role. However, by Petra Leyte's observation, he is fully aware of what he is capable of yet believes it is not something to be proud of, something which makes him come off as though he was modest, reserved, and had low self-esteem.

As the dragonkin of Volcanica, Clind has inherited many of its memories, experiences, and emotions. One of the traits that Clind inherited is Volcanica's envy and high opinion of those with unrealized potential. In particular, this makes Clind to be drawn towards the souls of those within children, which is filled to the point of bursting with potential due to their youths.^[1] By his own claim, he is drawn to people who have pure and genuine souls, and that those who have such souls are also typically young in age.^[2] However, he is also able to determine that Emilia was mentally young for her age and that Ryuzu's soul was much more mature than her appearance suggested. This inherited nature often leads to others, such as Frederica, misunderstanding him.^[3] However, as there are secrets related to dragonkin that he prefers to be concealed from Frederica, he deliberately does not correct the misunderstandings of her and the people around her,^[4] leading to his discontentment to be kept at a distance from certain individuals and thus not fully witnessing their potential.

History

Clind was born as the dragonkin to the Divine Dragon, Volcanica.^[5] Having lived before the Great Calamity, Clind was acquainted with the Witches and Warlocks of that era, as well as the Valiant and the Saintess. At some point in time, he let go of everything, feeling empty as a result. However, he gained and accumulated things in the path he began to walk afterwards.^[6] He went on to make a contract with Roswaal A. Mathers, which entailed Clind to protect Roswaal's property by any and all means, though he was prevented from interacting with Beatrice by Roswaal for yet unknown reasons. According to Roswaal, he had compensated the contract with Clind by forming a united front and defeating Roswaal's nemesis.^[7] Clind has faithfully abided to his contract ever since, due to his ability to perceive souls and sensing Roswaal A. Mathers's soul in the bodies of his descendants.

At some point in time, Clind became the custodian of the Witch Factor of Melancholy, having succeeded its previous user, Hector, following his and Roswaal's joint battle with the Warlock of Melancholy. However, he notes that while he does bear said Witch Factor, this does not make him a Warlock. According to Clind himself, he has also made a covenant with a person he cannot name that restricts him from revealing his origins to others, and he claims that revealing said origins would greatly trouble the Emilia Camp.

Sword Demon Battle Ballad

Following the end of the Demi-Human War, Clind accompanied Roswaal J. Mathers (Julia Mathers) to a pub where she met with the Sword Demon, Wilhelm van Astrea, where they discussed the threat of Stride Vollachia. During their talk, however, the trio were assaulted by a group of shinobi, who were swiftly dispatched by Roswaal, Wilhelm, and Clind. Wilhelm noted that Clind's technique was neither sword skill nor magic, but something completely different.

To ward off any risks to King Gionis Lugunica during the Subjugation of the Blight Dragon, Roswaal made the suggestion to let Clind protect him. After receiving Miklotov McMahon's approval and having Orphe make the preparations for it, Clind attacked and subdued Raizo, who was attempting to assassinate Gionis. Using his crushing power, he defeated Raizo, who thought he had accounted for every powerful individual in the Kingdom. As a send-off, Clind revealed to Raizo that he was a part of history and had been around since the era of Witches, before dealing a final blow to him. Following Roswaal's death at the hands of Stride Vollachia and Shasuke, he started to take care of her son, Roswaal K. Mathers, who at the time went by the name Karl, who inherited the soul of the original Roswaal A. Mathers. During the funeral of Karl’s mother, during the short exchange with Wilhelm, Wilhelm swore he would do everything in his power to help Karl if in need in order to honor Julia who greatly helped him during and after the Demi-Human War. A few minutes later, Karl and Clind left the cemetery.

Sometime in the following decades, Clind was entrusted with protecting and training Frederica Baumann, teaching her how to work as a servant and to control her beast form.^[8] However, over time, the two became distant due to Clind’s unique interests. After the incident where Dudley Miload and Grace Miload were murdered by Witch Cultists, he and Frederica were transferred to Miload Manor to watch over the newborn Annerose Miload, where he actively continues to work as her steward to this day.

After the incident at the Sanctuary, Clind and Annerose were responsible for retrieving the other members of the Emilia Camp and residents and leading them elsewhere. Later, following Subaru’s knighting ceremony, Clind began teaching the boy various methods of survival as well as how to properly use a whip.

Golden Siblings

After learning of the predicament that Garfiel Tinzel and Frederica were in in Costuul, Clind arrived in the city as a reinforcement. After assisting Garfiel with fighting off some of the haywire Lightbugs in the city and leaving the resolution of the situation to Subaru, Emilia, and Beatrice, he and Garfiel followed a trail of blood Frederica left to discover Hayden Garo's hideout. While Garfiel had a bout with Hayden, Clind was responsible for rescuing Frederica and repelled his subordinate, Leonardo Baroness, by employing the Authority he wielded.

Petra’s Emilia Camp Struggle

Occurring simultaneously with the Battle for Priestella, Clind took part in a meeting alongside Roswaal, Annerose, Frederica, and Petra Leyte with the council of western nobles and leaders. With Roswaal and Petra successfully swaying the western leaders into backing Emilia of their own accord, Clind was impressed, and they soon returned home.

Missing Child Search and Stand by me Pleiades

With Subaru and Rem having been abducted following the end of the successful Pleiades Watchtower Expedition, Clind was responsible for moving people around with the Authority in his possession, which Roswaal offered four magics for, much to Clind’s shock. As such, he delivered the camp members to their various destinations before returning to Meili Portroute and Annerose’s side in the Royal Capital.

Meili’s Witchbeast Observation Records

Having brought Meili and Annerose to the Royal Capital, he took part in the meeting with the Council of Wise Men by their side. However, he and Annerose did not take part in the second expedition, leaving that to Meili and the Felt Camp.

Abilities

Authority of Melancholy (憂鬱の権能, Yū'utsu no Ken'nō): Clind is a user of the Witch Factor of Melancholy and its corresponding Authority.^[9] As the Witch Factor's custodian, he is in possession of a black box containing the Factor from which he has employed the Authority. Although he is incompatible with Melancholy, Clind has seemingly maintained his sanity unlike Petelgeuse, and is limited in making use of its full power unless it is in exchange for a price.

• Compression (圧縮, Asshuku): Using this Authority, Clind possesses the power to compress space and time. He primarily wields Compression as a form of teleportation by compressing the distance that would be required to travel from one point to another, or as an offensive force that dissipates and crushes targets of his choosing. As any individual besides Hector is incompatible with Melancholy due to its nature,^[10] Clind is required to bypass Od Lagna to wield Compression. In order to do this, he must take from people something with the possibility to influence the world as compensation to use the Authority, whether that is the existence of a spell that could open up many futures or something else with a similar influence.^[9] Though the totality of the compensation Clind has exchanged to wield Melancholy is unknown, he has been provided compensation by Roswaal L. Mathers, who gave up "four magics" to allow him to use his power,^[11] as well as Petra, who has forfeit something as of yet unknown. Once the compensation has been provided, an incompatible user of the Witch Factor can unrestrainedly exercise Compression until it is used up.
  • Instant Teleportation: With this utilization of Compression, Clind can seemingly instantaneously transport himself and other people alongside him if necessary in the blink of an eye from a place he started at to another place of his choosing by compressing the time and distance that would be required to travel from one point to another. In Clind's case, it can be employed so long as it is within the Kingdom of Lugunica,^[12] whereas another user, Petra, was not forced to abide by the same limitation. It is also difficult for Clind to reach a place such as the Pleiades Watchtower.^[13] However, using this form of Compression becomes significantly more difficult on wary and resistant opponents, and it is considered a herculean task to perform it on foes such as a Sin Archbishop or the Divine Dragon. To use this manner of Compression effectively, either the target must give their consent, or the opponent must be caught off guard.^[14]
  • Dissipation and Crushing: This offensive utilization of the Authority of Melancholy allows Clind to dissipate or crush things. By dissipating the space an object or person occupies, he can effectively make them vanish. Though the full extent to how he can use it is not known, in one instance, he was shown to use this technique of assault against Leonardo Baroness through the action of spreading his hand and clenching it. As a result, Leonardo's body was filled with holes and the space his body occupied was “devoured”, leaving no drop of blood or a trace of his existence behind.^[15] However, according to Clind, he is not required to use his hand to utilize his abilities.^[16] Furthermore, he can also squeeze an object or a person from a short distance, completely crushing a target. Unlike his power of teleportation, it is not known if these utilizations of the Authority of Melancholy require compensation.

Innate Abilities: As a dragonkin, Clind has access to several abilities connected to the Dragon he came from, Volcanica, including his long lifespan.

• Enhanced Strength: As a dragonkin, Clind's base physical strength is superior to a typical human's. He has enough might that, despite not being able to pierce through its scales, he was able to knock down a being as tough as Volcanica with a single kick to its face.
• Possession: As the dragonkin of the Divine Dragon, Clind is able to inhabit Volcanica's husk, allowing him to control its body freely. He has done this in order to act on the covenant made during the time of the Great Calamity. The last known time he has performed this is during the Subjugation of the Blight Dragon. However, if something has taken over Volcanica's husk, he cannot possess it.
• Lightning Manipulation: Clind is able to generate lightning from his body, primarily the soles of his feet and from his horns. By doing so, he can dramatically enhance the effectiveness of his strikes, including being able to sever one of the various uncharged breaths of the Divine Dragon, as well as increasing his speed by a dramatic amount. By utilizing the shockwaves created by lightning, he can achieve pseudo-flight by kicking against the air. He can also create a defense on par with Volcanica's by wrapping lightning around his body like a barrier.

Soul Perception: Clind has the power to perceive qualities from the souls of other people. For example, he used this ability to perceive the soul of the original Roswaal within his descendants. Presumably, he is also able to use this ability in order to perceive the "purity" of a person's soul. It is unknown whether this ability falls under his Authority or his traits as a dragonkin.

Sealing Shackles: Through an unknown method, Clind is able to seal his own power away. By doing so, he can disguise his dragonkin traits and appear fully human, which he has used to deceive people into thinking he was human for decades, as well as restrain his own power. These seals seem to have multiple layers to them. It is unknown if this is an ability related to his race or due to an outside influence.

• Sealing Shackle: Unleash Second Stage: By further unlocking his self-imposed shackles, Clind can access more of his own power. Upon releasing this shackle, his lightning can intensify to the point that it can produce Dragon-like defenses.

Acquired Skills: Clind has accumulated enough expertise in various skills to be able to teach them to others.

• Skilled Swordsman: Clind is talented enough with the sword that he could fight with it in emergencies, though he is never seen holding a sword or engaging in a sword fight.
• Whip: Clind is skilled at using a whip and taught Subaru the basics on how to use one.^[17]
• Parkour Talent: Clind is skilled enough at parkour to teach it to Subaru. Subaru mentions that he is able to finish the Athletic Zone that Garfiel made without rumpling his clothes and without breaking a sweat, calling him inhuman.^[18]
• Survival Skills: He is mentioned by Subaru as being skilled at survival, enough to be able to teach him the basics (finding water, how to start a fire, etc.).^[19]

Trivia

• Like the Witch of Envy and Stride, Clind is one of the only confirmed holders of a Witch Factor who isn't named after a celestial body.
• Clind used his Authority differently in the original Monthly Comic Alive release of Golden Siblings Part 2. In addition to clenching and spreading his hand, which Clind still performs in Tanpenshuu Volume 9, he uttered the word “melancholy” before using his Authority.^[20] Its ability allowed Clind to crush Leonardo Baroness's limbs from a distance.^[21][22] These actions more closely resembled the Authority of Melancholy manifested by Hector.
• According to the author, Clind's admiration of the possessors of "pure" souls extends to both boys and girls.^[23]
• In a Q&A, it was stated by the author that Clind would be an important character in the latter half of the series.^[24]
• Clind hinted that he may have accompanied Roswaal J. Mathers on her campaigns during the Demi-Human War using some sort of cloaking ability which made it so that no one could detect him,^[25] though he subsequently wrote his statement off as a joke upon being questioned by Wilhelm.

References

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