Personality: The first impression one would get upon meeting Kariya Matou, at least before the events of Fate/zero’s canon, would be that he really isn’t anything special. His appearance is typically nondescript, and his mannerisms tend towards being pleasant, but in an understated, distant sort of way. Though he can be straightforward and frank, he tends towards being non-confrontational with most people; Kariya is someone who has made a conscious effort to live by a mantra of “don’t raise your eyes, don’t be a bother to anyone,” and for the most part it seems to have worked. As a freelance report writer who dislikes anything too fancy or extravagant and whose only real indulgences are his photography hobby and his tendency to take short travel breaks, one could say that Kariya is almost painfully ordinary.
In short, he is nothing like what you would expect a man from a long line of mages to be.
Kariya’s decision to live the way he does wasn’t just a case of his own personality naturally dictating things; it’s also a conscious rejection of everything about the world of magecraft. Bluntly put, at best Kariya does not even see the point in it; at worst, he’s actively repulsed and disgusted by everything to do with it. From his perspective, being normal and living peacefully is a welcome escape. As with most opinions this strong, there is a good reason behind Kariya’s revulsion for magic, and that would be his family. Although the Matou have been magi for centuries, Kariya is actually the first in many generations to be born naturally capable of magic; unfortunately for him, his family’s particular brand of magecraft is nothing short of horrific torture for those subjected to training under it, and the family head a sadistic, twisted old magus whose only concern is in achieving true immortality. All that considered, and inferring the sort of atmosphere Kariya would have been surrounded by growing up, it is no surprise that sometime in his teens, he chose to reject becoming the inheritor of the Matou family magic and instead cut all ties with the family he hated, hoping that any chance of reviving the line of magic would die with him. Not only did Kariya run out of fear, wanting to be free of the world that disgusted him so much, he also had no desire to put any potential wife or children through the hell of living in the Matou family.
His desire for his loved ones to remain safe and happy is a large part of what drives him, and hearing about that happiness being threatened is also one of the few things that can ignite his temper. Kariya is naturally a little hot-blooded and ruled more by his heart than his head, but he usually tries to keep a lid on things due to his desire to avoid rocking the proverbial boat. Generally speaking, his temper has two main triggers; the first being anything that even remotely threatens those he truly cares for, and the second being anything whatsoever to do with his family. This contrasts in an almost jarring way with his seemingly easy-going attitude to issues others may find horrifying – it’s not that he doesn’t care, exactly, so much that almost nothing else seems quite as horrifying to him as it should after growing up in a house with a basement full of parasitic Crest Worms. Kariya may offer his sympathy and even his help, but for him to truly care about a cause, it has to be personal for him in some way; only then will he throw himself into it without any hesitation. In canon, this comes in the form of Sakura, the young daughter of his childhood friend Aoi Tohsaka, being handed over to the Matou family; the idea of the innocent girl he cares for so much being abandoned to a terrible fate, at the hands of his family no less, is horrifying enough for him to immediately begin to try winning Sakura’s freedom.
As you may have guessed, Kariya can be self-centered. He often has trouble seeing other people’s perspectives on things, especially when they directly clash with his; for example, he can’t understand how anyone would see the lifestyle of a mage as a good thing, and Tokiomi Tohsaka’s logic for giving his daughter away to the Matou – that a child with magical potential as strong as hers needs the protection and tutoring a strong, well-established magus family can provide – goes completely over Kariya’s head. From Kariya’s perspective, Tokiomi is either knowingly and cruelly causing suffering to his wife and daughters, or else he is holding the world’s biggest Idiot Ball; it doesn’t occur to him that Tokiomi just might not possess all the information Kariya does about the situation. Despite his tendency to only care about things in his immediate circle, however, one could hardly say that Kariya is selfish. He’s someone with a great deal of love to offer the people he comes to care for, and has a soft spot for children that’s evident in the way he dotes on Rin and Sakura. He can also be very protective of these people, and he’s a man who would be willing to sacrifice literally everything he has for the sake of a chance for their happiness; his health, his sanity, even his life.
Needless to say, this makes Kariya someone who possesses more courage than one would expect from someone with such a carefully maintained appearance of normality. A person would have to have some degree of bravery within them not only to leave a family like the Matou, but to then willingly return to them ten years later and knowingly put themselves through a year of torment that would inevitably end in death, all for the sake of a little girl. The problem is that when Kariya acts on his bravery, it often crosses the line straight into recklessness or foolhardiness, something that happens with increasing frequency as he loses his grip on his mind during the events of canon.
Someone that requires special mention for how much she influences Kariya as a person is his childhood friend, Aoi Tohsaka. Three years his senior, Aoi is someone who has looked out for Kariya since they were both small, and they were once very close; as his oldest and possibly one of his only friends, Kariya cares for her deeply. However, this is complicated by the fact that Kariya’s feelings for her run deeper than friendship, even after her marriage. Kariya genuinely loves Aoi and wishes for her happiness; it’s for that reason that he peacefully gave up pursuing her when she accepted Tokiomi’s proposal. Of course, that doesn’t help with his lingering feelings for her, and he’s aware of that; he consciously tries to keep a respectful distance between them because by his own reckoning, he knows it isn’t his place. Indeed, in the anime Aoi, despite being his childhood friend, is the only person we see the otherwise very informal Kariya address with the “-san” honourific, indicating this distance. Even so, Aoi – or at least, the idea of Aoi – has been a sort of emotional crutch for Kariya over the years, and he has subconsciously placed her on a bit of a pedestal. And despite his very best and genuine attempts to let her live her own life, Kariya is still only human; deep down he harbours tiny feelings of resentment and jealousy towards Tokiomi, though he’s not even aware himself that he holds these feelings inside him. Indeed, it might not have ever been an issue had Tokiomi not misguidedly given Sakura to the Matou family and indirectly set the events in motion that lead to Kariya’s physical and mental decline.
[ CANON ] Kariya Matou || Fate/zero || reserved || 2 of 4 sorry i lied
In short, he is nothing like what you would expect a man from a long line of mages to be.
Kariya’s decision to live the way he does wasn’t just a case of his own personality naturally dictating things; it’s also a conscious rejection of everything about the world of magecraft. Bluntly put, at best Kariya does not even see the point in it; at worst, he’s actively repulsed and disgusted by everything to do with it. From his perspective, being normal and living peacefully is a welcome escape. As with most opinions this strong, there is a good reason behind Kariya’s revulsion for magic, and that would be his family. Although the Matou have been magi for centuries, Kariya is actually the first in many generations to be born naturally capable of magic; unfortunately for him, his family’s particular brand of magecraft is nothing short of horrific torture for those subjected to training under it, and the family head a sadistic, twisted old magus whose only concern is in achieving true immortality. All that considered, and inferring the sort of atmosphere Kariya would have been surrounded by growing up, it is no surprise that sometime in his teens, he chose to reject becoming the inheritor of the Matou family magic and instead cut all ties with the family he hated, hoping that any chance of reviving the line of magic would die with him. Not only did Kariya run out of fear, wanting to be free of the world that disgusted him so much, he also had no desire to put any potential wife or children through the hell of living in the Matou family.
His desire for his loved ones to remain safe and happy is a large part of what drives him, and hearing about that happiness being threatened is also one of the few things that can ignite his temper. Kariya is naturally a little hot-blooded and ruled more by his heart than his head, but he usually tries to keep a lid on things due to his desire to avoid rocking the proverbial boat. Generally speaking, his temper has two main triggers; the first being anything that even remotely threatens those he truly cares for, and the second being anything whatsoever to do with his family. This contrasts in an almost jarring way with his seemingly easy-going attitude to issues others may find horrifying – it’s not that he doesn’t care, exactly, so much that almost nothing else seems quite as horrifying to him as it should after growing up in a house with a basement full of parasitic Crest Worms. Kariya may offer his sympathy and even his help, but for him to truly care about a cause, it has to be personal for him in some way; only then will he throw himself into it without any hesitation. In canon, this comes in the form of Sakura, the young daughter of his childhood friend Aoi Tohsaka, being handed over to the Matou family; the idea of the innocent girl he cares for so much being abandoned to a terrible fate, at the hands of his family no less, is horrifying enough for him to immediately begin to try winning Sakura’s freedom.
As you may have guessed, Kariya can be self-centered. He often has trouble seeing other people’s perspectives on things, especially when they directly clash with his; for example, he can’t understand how anyone would see the lifestyle of a mage as a good thing, and Tokiomi Tohsaka’s logic for giving his daughter away to the Matou – that a child with magical potential as strong as hers needs the protection and tutoring a strong, well-established magus family can provide – goes completely over Kariya’s head. From Kariya’s perspective, Tokiomi is either knowingly and cruelly causing suffering to his wife and daughters, or else he is holding the world’s biggest Idiot Ball; it doesn’t occur to him that Tokiomi just might not possess all the information Kariya does about the situation. Despite his tendency to only care about things in his immediate circle, however, one could hardly say that Kariya is selfish. He’s someone with a great deal of love to offer the people he comes to care for, and has a soft spot for children that’s evident in the way he dotes on Rin and Sakura. He can also be very protective of these people, and he’s a man who would be willing to sacrifice literally everything he has for the sake of a chance for their happiness; his health, his sanity, even his life.
Needless to say, this makes Kariya someone who possesses more courage than one would expect from someone with such a carefully maintained appearance of normality. A person would have to have some degree of bravery within them not only to leave a family like the Matou, but to then willingly return to them ten years later and knowingly put themselves through a year of torment that would inevitably end in death, all for the sake of a little girl. The problem is that when Kariya acts on his bravery, it often crosses the line straight into recklessness or foolhardiness, something that happens with increasing frequency as he loses his grip on his mind during the events of canon.
Someone that requires special mention for how much she influences Kariya as a person is his childhood friend, Aoi Tohsaka. Three years his senior, Aoi is someone who has looked out for Kariya since they were both small, and they were once very close; as his oldest and possibly one of his only friends, Kariya cares for her deeply. However, this is complicated by the fact that Kariya’s feelings for her run deeper than friendship, even after her marriage. Kariya genuinely loves Aoi and wishes for her happiness; it’s for that reason that he peacefully gave up pursuing her when she accepted Tokiomi’s proposal. Of course, that doesn’t help with his lingering feelings for her, and he’s aware of that; he consciously tries to keep a respectful distance between them because by his own reckoning, he knows it isn’t his place. Indeed, in the anime Aoi, despite being his childhood friend, is the only person we see the otherwise very informal Kariya address with the “-san” honourific, indicating this distance. Even so, Aoi – or at least, the idea of Aoi – has been a sort of emotional crutch for Kariya over the years, and he has subconsciously placed her on a bit of a pedestal. And despite his very best and genuine attempts to let her live her own life, Kariya is still only human; deep down he harbours tiny feelings of resentment and jealousy towards Tokiomi, though he’s not even aware himself that he holds these feelings inside him. Indeed, it might not have ever been an issue had Tokiomi not misguidedly given Sakura to the Matou family and indirectly set the events in motion that lead to Kariya’s physical and mental decline.