About Fai D. Flourite

Fai Flourite is a character in the Anime, and Manga, Tsubasa Reservoir Chronicles. There is a romanization about his name "Fai D. Flourite." It has been expressed many ways such as, "Fai D. Flourite", or "Fay D. Flourite". But in the published character guide by Clamp, Fais name is officially represented as "Fye D. Flourite."

Fai's Character:

Out of Syaoran's group of allies, Fai is the most energetic. He always apperas to be happy-go-lucky and good-natured. He acts very care-free and often teases Kurogane by calling him ridiculous nicknames. However, Fai is a perceptive and skilled fighter just as Kurogane is. And he also appears to be carrying a deep emotional burden that values his own life very little. Though, in battle Fai doesn't try very hard to fight for his life, but he will if some one he cares for is in danger. His past is a profound motivating factor for his actions and is something Fai cannot seem to overcome. Instead he masks it all with a smile.

Fai is emotionally distant, and refuses any one to allow to become too close to him. Though dispite this, Kurogane has noted that the mage has become attached to Syaoran and Princess Sakura. But Fais behavior changes when he is turned into a vampire and is forced to drink Kuroganes blood to survive. Later on, Fai becomes cold and solemn to everyone around him wtih the exception of Sakura. But, after the events in Celes, Fai seems to have gone back to the way he was at the beginning of  the series as he begins to continue with Kuroganes strange nicknames.

Fai worries about his companions and would go as far as breaking his own personal vows to ensure their safety. Kurogane confronts Fai about this, and states that Fai should figure out what he's doing with his present and future, because his past has nothing to do with either Kurogane or their younger companions.

Fai's Background:

In the beginning of the series, Fai is shown sealing away King Ashura of Celes country at the bottom of a pool. He transforms his creation Chii (who was originally from Chobbits)  into a net-like shield, instructing her to alert him if King Ashura should awaken. Then, he begins on his way to the Dimensional Witch.

Out of his traveling companions, Fais motives for joining are the least clear. He is the only one to arrive at the Dimensional Witch purposely, on his own terms. His one wish is to never to return to Celes, but the price for this would have been too great. So he travels world with the group instead. Fais fear is that if King Ashura should awaken that he, King Ashura, would chase Fai through different worlds.

Celes and Leval Castle: In the beginning of the series, Fai is known to have come from the country of Celes. Little is known about his world except that it seems to be a magical country. Two of Sakura's feathers had fallen into the Celes, and with that feather's power he was able to create Chii. He also imprisoned Ashura in a deep slumber, which Chii guarded until Ashura's awakening. It is cited that Ashura resides in Leval Castle (a floating castle with wings). And Celes country is covered in what appears to be an eternal blizzard.

Fai's History:

When Fais past is finally revealed, is shows that Fai was born with a twin named Yuui. In Valeria Country, the birth of the second prince's son was highly anticipated. Twins, however, were considered a bad omen. Shortly after their birth, the second prince died, and their mother committed suicide out of guilt, blaming herself for giving birth to them. With other misfortunes, the country's crops did not grow, and the water became tainted. In addition, the twins, when combined, bore powerful magic that rivaled that of the current king; when they grew up, they would have possessed power surpassing that of the kings.

Loathing the twins, but fearing that even greater misfortune would arise from killing them, the king decided that the only way to stop the "curse" of the twins was for them to be unhappy. He gave them an ultimatum: have one kill the other or have them both locked up separately in a place where magic is ineffective and time does not flow. Since both refused to kill the other, they were thrown into a tower residing in a deep valley where the bodies of sinners were thrown. Fai was imprisoned atop the tower, and Yuui was confined at the base of the tower. Both were condemned to stay there "until the world's destruction."

Despite the twins' unhappiness, the number of dead "sinners" dumped into the base of the tower began to grow. While Fai looked on from above, Yuui tried endlessly to climb up the prison so both Fai and himself could escape, even using dead bodies as a ladder, but the wall was too high for him to scale. As time passed by, the king of Valeria himself became insane; he executed every person in the country until only he, Yuui, and Fai were left before jumping into the valley himself and committing suicide in front of a horrified Yuui. He then reminded Yuui that their birth was the reason for the country's misfortune, and that Fai and Yuui would now "pay for that sin" by being the only people alive in Valeria.

Eventually, Fei Wong Reed appeared from another world, and offered them a chance to escape. But there was a catch. And that was, that only one of them would be able to escape and they had to choose which one. Fai chose to save Yuui, which resulted in Fai being thrown from the tower to his death. Fei Wong then tampered with Yuui's memory to make him think that Yuui had chosen to save himself at the cost of his brother's life, allowing Fei Wong to use Yuui's guilt in order to turn him into his servant. In order to bring his twin back to life, Yuui allowed Fei Wong to bestow two curses upon him; one curse was erased from his memory because Fei Wong felt that Yuui "had no need" to remember it. Fei Wong then told Yuui that someone would come to take him from the valley, and that to fulfill his wish of bringing Fai back to life, he would have to go one a journey with "a princess" (Sakura) and "a clone" (Syaoran) from another dimension, protecting the princess until she returns to her home country, and to kill any obstacles along the way, including "the witch's pawn" (Kurogane). Fei Wong also told Yuui that he would find a magical feather (Sakura's feather) in the country that he would soon be taken to, and that he should put that feather into Fai's body to prevent it from rotting. He also told him that he should begin his journey when he finds a second feather, which he should give to Sakura upon meeting to prevent her from dying early. Fei then leaves, reminding Yuui that he is his "pawn" until his wish and both of his curses are fulfilled.

Later, true to Fei's prediction, King Ashura came to Valeria from another world in order to retrieve Yuui and took him to his own country, Celes. When Ashura asked what Yuui's name was, Yuui said it was "Fai" in an attempt to erase himself, and therefore his "sins". Ashura later gave Fai the last name "Flourite", the name of a precious talisman mineral, and he eventually earned the title 'D', given to the highest magician in Celes. And thus, Yuui became the protagonist "Fai D. Flourite". He found his two feathers while helping villagers during an avalanche, and decided to use one to create a person in his mother's image who would watch over his brother's body even if he was not there, leading to the creation of Chii. Soon after meeting Ashura, he vowed that he would do whatever it took to bring his brother back to life, no matter whose life he had to steal in the process.

As time went by, Ashura became a father figure to Fai, tutoring him in magic and comforting him whenever he felt unable to overcome his dark past. When Fai discovered that he was unable to learn healing magic, and could only learn "magic that kills people", Ashura told him that his smile was magic in itself, because it too held the ability to heal others. Fai would later relay the same words to Sakura when she felt unable to be of use to Syaoran. In exchange for everything that he had done for him, Ashura asked Fai to promise that he would eliminate anyone who threatened Celes.

Knowing about Fai's first curse, and not being able to break it, Ashura traced a magical seal on his body in the form of a phoenix tattoo, which suppressed his powers from growing any further. When Fai protested, knowing that the curse would be more difficult to fulfill if his powers continued growing, Ashura told him that Fai's first curse would break after it was fulfilled once, and he wanted to be the one that Fai would kill. Ashura then erased what he'd told him from Fai's memory.

Several years after Fai made his promise to Ashura, a mysterious and deadly monster began to attack and kill Celes's innocent civilians. Fai swore to defeat the beast, but found out that Ashura was the monster after he killed every single person in his castle and all the civilians had fled to other countries. Remembering how the King of Valeria had gone mad and executed everyone in the country, Fai at first blamed himself for what happened to Ashura, thinking that "the curse of the twins" was what had caused Ashura to kill. Then, Ashura told him that the more people he kills, the stronger his magic becomes, and he always knew that he'd someday become a murderer, even though he wasn't sure why. Fai realized that Ashura had brought him under his care for the sole purpose of killing him when he reached this state. Unable to bring himself to kill the first person who'd ever shown him kindness, Fai cast a spell on Ashura which put him into a deep sleep, but since no magic spell was permanent, the king would eventually awaken. In a desperate attempt to avoid having to face Ashura when he woke, Fay then used his magic to teleport himself to the Dimensional Witch, where he began his journey through different worlds with Syaoran, Sakura, Kurogane, and Mokona.

Abilities and Magic:

Fai's greatest strength was his magical abilities. Unlike previous magic-using characters created by Clamp, Fai's magic is "written" out as he casts it, either by using a magical staff or his hand, rather than summoning a magic circle like Yuko Ichihara, Clow Reed, and Sakura Kinomoto. The extent of Fai's power is only alluded to throughout most of the series as he refused to use it. However, he was the strongest magician in Celes prior to its destruction, and as children, was as strong as his country's king when his magic was combined with that of his twin brother's. He is also able to fight toe-to-toe against Kurogane and Ashura. There also seems to be an emotional element to his magic; the stronger his emotions are, the more powerful his spells. In an emotional breakdown after he discovers that he stabbed (and presumably killed) Sakura, his magical energy alone destroys the surrounding area.

The source of Fai's magical powers are his blue eyes. Since his powers are directly connected to his eyeballs, a loss of vision does not lead to a loss of magic. His powers are effectively halved when the clone Syaoran gouges out his left eye and consumes it in Tokyo. Now, the clone Syaoran possesses half of Fai's magical powers. Fai's powers will disappear when he dies, regardless of who is in possession of his eyes.

Types of Magic:

Though sworn off magic, Fai is able to sense magic passively, such as detecting barriers. For example, he detects the source of power in the castle in Hanshin, and in the Central Library of Rekord. He is also able to detect magic within people, so he knew the Syaoran he met at Yūko’s shop was a clone and that Seishiro also possessed magical powers. Fai writes off these instances of detection as ‘intuition’ and common knowledge for anyone with a basic understanding of magic.

In addition to various forms of offensive magic, Fai has aptitude with seals, having sealed Ashura under-water at the beginning of the series. Additionally, Fai is able to create a protective barriers by whistling. He later claims that magic using sound is not the type of magic that he typically uses.

Fai confesses that he is unable to use healing magic after Sakura is injured in Tokyo. He has tried to learn many times, But he always forgets the spells afterwards. He is also able to teleport to dimensions on his own, though for most of the series, he pretends that he could only do so once. Fai has also used magic to magically seal Kurogane's sword Souhi into his left hand, saying that if Mokona is not around or if they are separated, he could take it out of his hand in the same fashion as the real Syaoran.

Fai's magic is powerful enough to slow his aging process; if he were to lose all of his magic, he would die, because he is far older than his young adult appearance makes him seem.

Other Abilities:

In addition to magical powers, Fai is also a strong and agile fighter able to knock back multiple opponents in battle just as easily as a Syaoran and Kurogane. Since becoming a vampire, he has also gained a healing factor as well as enhanced strength and speed.

Magical Objects:

Phoenix tattoo - At the beginning of the series, Fay sports a tattoo in the shape of a phoenix across his back, which he pays to the Dimensional Witch as his most precious item or "thing" in order for her to grant his wish. It is later revealed that Ashura bestowed this tattoo onto Fai, in order to suppress his magical powers; as Fai's powers grew, the tattoo's effects would weaken (his use of magic also weakened it). The tattoo itself would completely disappear when Ashura dies.

Magic Staff -  Fai first traveled with an ornate, magical staff, which facilitated his spell casting. After he vows to not use magic without his tattoo, he makes a trade with Yuko (The Dimensional Witch): his staff in return for a method to enter the castle in Koryo Country.

Curses:

- The first curse causes him to kill anyone possessing greater magical power than himself; this curse activates automatically, leaving Fai in a trance-like state and powerless to control his own actions. The curse is activated when Sakura gains two more feathers in the Infinity arc, but she saves herself by using a robot she had won to transport herself to another dimension. Since this curse can only be fulfilled once, it has now been broken.

- The memory of the second curse was erased from Fai's memory because Fei felt that he had "no need to remember it". This curse is activated when somebody other than Fai kills Ashura. Later, it is revealed that the second curse is that he would use his magic to suck up the world of Celes and trap everyone inside.