Character Wars – Karou or Clary

 

Hey everyone!

in order to improve my decisiveness which currently is infinitely low, i am back with another character wars, this time featuring *drumroll please*-  KAROU AND CLARY!

I found both of these characters on similar grounds for comparison. They both are the protagonists in their respective stories, unaware of their real identity initially, have beautiful angels as their love interests, have striking hair, have tattoos and most importantly – they  both love to draw! The last one is perhaps the real reason i chose these two. And also, their striking hair of course. I’ve gotten quite good at putting hard choices to myself, haven’t i? But not so much at actually deciding on them. But anyways, let’s begin this war/friendly discussion, shall we?

 

Art by blackbirdink

Karou, is the blue haired art student living in Prague that has only had a bunch of incredulous creatures as her family all her life. She runs errands for Brimstone, who brought her up, in return for wishes. Here we see a character struggling to find her identity and her ancestry amidst another world full of unbelievable creatures only she knows about. She had always known something was different and the creatures that she calls her family would seem monstrous and delusional to others. But she never questioned it for a second and tried to come to terms with it. After losing her entire family in a very abrupt and unexpected fashion, she showed immense courage and strength along with a hint of indignation.Her vengefulness is palbable when she distances herself from Akiwa who contributed to Brimstone’s death and resolves to bring an end to the endless war going on between Angels and Chimaeras. She copes up with the entire situation in an impressive and surprisingly prudent manner.

Her personality is quite bold and graceful. As the story progresses, we see Karou learn more about her identity as a resurrected human version of a chimaera. It was astounding how she accepted her fate without any complaints and was able to control her emotions.Even in her previous life as Madrigal she had been sensible, forgiving and kind. In my opinion she was an extremely interesting character with very realistic traits and a complex personality. I think the main reason why i like her so much is because of her audacity and courage. She was so brave even in the darkest of times and never let her fears get to her. She was strong and independent and a pure badass heroine! That’s what i like about her.

 

Clary Fray

Clary, is a more relatable character for me however. Cassie has an outstanding way of blending fiction into reality in an impeccable manner. The character of Clary was nicely written and her adventures in the shadowhunter world somehow seem less outlandish and more relatable to me. Like Karou, she is also unaware of her true identity as a shadowhunter. She had her fears and insecurities, especially after realising there was an entire hidden world of shadowhunters not aware to her. And that she was a part of it! And all of that came burdened with the fact that her mother had been kidnapped! Throughout the series we see her grow and accept herself more and more. Having her own father as an enemy isn’t very delighful and being the blood of a dreaded antagonist comes with its own share of apprehension. Not to mention the time she thought she had fallen in love with her brother. She is another strong character that slowly grows even stronger and wiser through her experiences and adventures. She also has a great sense of humour.

Her distrust in shadowhunters slowly reduces and she starts accepting her fate as the story continues. After defeating her own father and stopping a war, things don’t get easier when her real brother then becomes the villain and starts another war. But we do see her get smarter with every sequel and i really liked how the entire series ended. Clary isn’t powerful. Nor is she weak. She is the closest to a realistic protagonists that i have seen. She shows mortal strength and the power of emotions and love.  And in hindsight, she doesn’t even do that much! But her story did make us believe that there is something special in all of us and we aren’t as useless as we seem to think.

 

Both of these characters are also similar in the fact that they both fell in love with a person, that, in their perspective seemed wrong. Akiwa the man who murdered Karou’s family and killed thousands of her kin. And Jace, who Clary realised was his brother by the end of the first book, only to thankfully being proven wrong.

But, while Clary had no idea about her identity and the shadowhunter world, Karou always suspected there was another world. And what was easy for Karou to believe turned out to be a lot harder for Clary. Their own identities however, had been a shock for both of them and i have to say, they did a pretty good job of coping with it.

Time to choose. But before that i think its important for you to know that this is another close competition and a very hard choice. They’re both amazing characters with amazing stories written by amazing authors. But if i were to choose, my choice would go with – KAROU. That being said, Clary is not any less but i just look more upto Karou than her.

Both of their stories taught some great lessons and were very enjoyable, but i just found Karou to be more inspirational and heroic.

And now it’s your turn! Which one do you like more? Karou? Clary? Both? None? Let me know in the comments.

Sorry for the awfully long post. Thanks for reading!

Image source:  http://www.deviantart.com/art/Karou-in-the-sunlight-572477422 ; http://s-grey.deviantart.com/art/Clary-Fray-393147752 ;