Paul

Karen's Little Friend

Paul, who is named Po in the offical English translation, is Karen's stuffed bear and companion since childhood. He is a regular sized teddy bear with a furry face that keeps Karen company and one of the few connections she keeps to her childhood.

He first appears in volume thirteen when Seiichirou comes to visit Karen in her home. He picks Paul up to sit down in the chair he was in and places him on his lap. Karen observes him holding Paul and gets a rather sad look on her face, but she says nothing. When the news comes that another kekkai is under attack, she insists that Seiichirou finishes his tea before leaving, but when she goes to leave, she insists that only she will go and face the Angel. She explains, “I must be the one to go. I've lived my life—and there is no one who would cry at my death.” When Seiichirou demands to know how she could say such a thing, Karen looks over at Paul and says, “It's the truth.” She recalls holding Paul as her mother savagely beat her. When Seiichirou protests, she explains that she poisoned his tea with something that will put him to sleep, meaning that he will be unable to follow her into battle. After he faints, Karen sets Paul next to his head and instructs her furry friend to watch over him.

It is not until her back story that the significance of Paul becomes clear. Paul watched silently while young Karen discovered her fire powers, snuggled close to her as her mother beat her, and comforted her as she wept for her dead mother. Of course Paul's presence through all of these events are enough to make him important to a young girl, but there is something even more important about him. In the last panel, a little tag in his ear is shown close up. It reads, “to Karen, from Mama.”

Paul represents the good side of her mother—the side that loved her enough to give her a teddy bear. Through all of the torment she suffered, Karen held on to that part of her mother and perhaps that is why she was willing to forgive her and why she believed that her mother really would cry when she died. Whatever her mother did or said about her, she always had Paul to remind her of her mother's love.

Of course, Paul is a save place from which to receive comfort. Unlike her mother, who abused her both emotionally and physically, Paul would never harm or criticize her. Because she was projecting onto him, he would never feel anything other than what Karen wanted or needed him to feel. Unlike any person in the world, Paul would never betray, reject, or fail her. But still, because his feelings are entirely based on Karen's feelings, he would never be able to care if she died. That was something only another person could do for her.

Perhaps the reason Karen looks so sad when she sees Seiichirou holding Paul is that she longs for Seiichirou to be a person who could care about her, in the way that her mother once cared about her, but she does not dare hope for such a thing. The only “person” whose love she can be sure of is the love of her little stuffed bear.

CLEAR