Power

A Exploration of Karen's Powers and Abilities

As a Dragon of Heaven, Karen is gifted with certain powers that enable her to fight. Her primary skill is pyrokinesis, the ability to psychically create and manipulate fire. Her fire power takes many forms—the ability to make small balls of fire in her hand to giant waves she can through against the enemy. While fire power may seem like it would be useful primarily in attack situations, Karen can also use it for defensive purposes to stop other psychic attacks.

Karen experiences a sense of ambivalence towards her fire powers. The abuse she suffered as a child was a direct result of her mother's fear of her fire abilities. Her mother saw her as a demon because she could manipulate fire, and so she resented the fact that she had to protect her. Furthermore, cults desired her for her abilities and she and her mother had to live in poverty in order to hide from them. This deepened her resentment towards her daughter. Furthermore, even after her mother's death, Karen chose a lifestyle that suited running from cults. It is not hard to imagine that she would resent her powers and the terrible impact they had on her life, but it appears that she eventually came to terms with her abilities. Before her mother saw her using her powers and began hating her because of them, Karen thought that the fire she was able to create was beautiful—a stark contrast with her mother's reaction. She does wonder why she would be given such powers and is amused when she learns that she will be involved in the battle for the end of the world.

Her other major power is the ability to create a kekkai—a barrier field that is the particular power of the Dragons of Heaven. The idea is that the barriers create a space that is separate from the real world, even though the space looks the same. Only those who are a part of the end of the world can enter this space, so the Dragons can battle without doing damage to the surrounding area. If the kekkai holds, when the creator releases it, all the damage that was done to the area in this separate space disappears. If the creator is killed, highly maimed, or psychologically unable to sustain the barrier, it disappears and the damage appears in the real world too. Those in the barrier can only leave once the creator takes it down or is hurt enough to break it. It is unclear just how much effort is required to sustain the barrier, but it appears to require at least some effort on the part of the creator since seriously injuring them is enough to break it. Each Seal, with the exception of Kamui, who has not yet discovered his power to create kekkai, has a different shaped kekkai. Karen's is shaped like a giant cross.

One of Karen's less obvious powers is her ninja like agility. She can perch on a tree branch or street lamp like it was a chair, she can jump ridiculously high, and she has remarkable agility. It is unclear if this is a trained skill or simply part of being a Dragon. It is likely that these powers are simply a way of upping the series' cool factor. It is much more fun seeing characters with ninja like levels of skill even if the source of their abilities are never explored.

CLEAR