Syaoran

Syaoran and "Syaoran" are the main protagonists in CLAMP's fictional, crossover manga series Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle and its subsequent anime, Tsubasa Chronicle. His characterization here is mostly independent of his characterization in Card Captor Sakura and is discussed further below. He is voiced by Miyu Irino in the Japanese version, and by Jason Liebrecht in the English version.

"Syaoran" has also appeared in Clamp's xxxHolic.

Story

In Tsubasa: Reservoir Chronicle, Syaoran is an archaeologist who is excavating ruins in the country of Clow. When his childhood friend, Princess Sakura, visits the ruins with him one day her body triggers a chain of mysterious events that lead to a desperate situation. To save Sakura he must pay the price of "their relationship" in order to cross through worlds and collect her memories.

But for what's just the beginning for Syaoran and Sakura is already the middle for "Syaoran" Li who has been waiting seven years for his story to continue. Although imprisoned "Syaoran" has been watching Syaoran's journey through their shared eye and so when the time comes to break free of Fei Wong Reed, "Syaoran" begins fighting for the sake of more than one person who is Sakura.

Background

As a young child he was found in the street by the kindhearted archeologist, Fujitaka. At that time he had no name, no memories of his past, and no sight in his right eye. Fujitaka readily adopts him as a son and names him Syaoran. The two travel across the country for excavation work which leads Syaoran to meet Princess Sakura of Clow Country. Even though Syaoran is blunt and emotionless from his mysterious past, Sakura takes an immediate interest in him. Instead of pitying him or rejecting him for not having memories or a birthday, Sakura readily gives Syaoran her birthday (April 1st) so they can share it and tells him that it doesn‘t matter if he has no memories--they can create many happy ones together. Because of her warm friendship, Syaoran is able to smile for the first time and her friendship becomes the thing he cherishes most in life.

Although he does become increasingly cheerful and friendly, Syaoran feels he is a burden to others because of his inferiorities and is constantly concerned about worrying his father or upsetting Sakura when he hurts himself. And though Sakura urges him not to hide his pain and tells Syaoran to let her worry about him, even later in the journey Syaoran hides his true feelings because he doesn’t want to trouble others or make them sad. Ashura-ō at one point warns him that if he continues keeping things to himself “nothing will change.”^[2]

Fighting/Skills

To compensate for his lack of reliable depth perception (due to being blind in his right eye) he asks for fighting lessons from Seishirō in exchange for translating books. Syaoran is shown to be an excellent fighter despite his blind eye, and his style is centered around his devastating kicks. Later on in the journey he also asks Kurogane to teach him swordsmanship so that he can become stronger. The sword Syaoran uses is called Hien, "scarlet flame."

Heavily due to his bond with his adoptive father, Syaoran is also an aspiring archaeologist with the attendant skills and experience of a hardened adventurer somewhat reminiscent of Indiana Jones. One of his quirks is taking an animate interest in history and is often very excited when they stumble on new books or artifacts in the countries they visit. His knowledge is useful on their journey so that he can read on leads to Princess Sakura’s feathers.

The Relationship

It's obvious in the first chapter that Syaoran and Sakura are both in love with each other romantically and though Sakura is on the verge of confessing, Syaoran seems embarrassed at her wish to be called "Sakura" instead of "Princess" and he tells himself it's wrong to be in love with a Princess. He even turns down Sakura's offer to live in the castle with her after Fujitaka died, because he said only people with royal blood should live there. After she loses her feathers, Syaoran takes an uncomfortable backseat as her protector instead of "precious friend," and when Sakura shares with him the memories she gains (which exclude him) he's noticably hurt.

Although body memories aren't explained until Sakura unconsciously kisses Syaoran's sore eye, they can be seen much earlier in the series. She isn't supposed to know him, but Sakura is often shown intimately taking his hand, leaning towards him, or touching his face. And though most of these body memories result in excessive blushing, some are caused by Syaoran hiding his pain from her or pushing himself too hard.

But despite the misery he feels from the fact that Sakura will never remember him, Syaoran continues to fight passionately for his “most precious person.”

The Revelation

These desires come to a complete stop when the magical seal in his right eye breaks. It’s revealed that Syaoran is actually a clone of “Syaoran” Li II, and was created by Fei Wang Reed in order to collect Princess Sakura’s feathers. The seal on his eye also contained a piece of “Syaoran”’s heart but the exact impact this heart had on Syaoran isn’t entirely clear yet.

Although “Syaoran” tells him “the reason you consider that Sakura most precious to you doesn’t come from my heart, it comes from you!”^[3] Syaoran loses that part of himself completely in exchange for his desire to collect feathers. Kakyō and Seishirō both comment that he ignores “pain of the body and the heart”^[4] in order to achieve his goal. This, along with the magical eye he steals from Fay D. Flourite, makes Syaoran impossibly strong but horribly ruthless. After he ignores Sakura’s heartbreaking pleas of not leaving, Syaoran is depicted as an emotionless figure covered in blood while he stands in the devasting aftermath of the worlds he effortlessly destroys for feathers.

While searching for feathers in the Dream World Syaoran impales Sakura with his sword but his body refuses to kill her completely because of his body memories. He aims to kill “Syaoran” for the feathers instead but Sakura throws herself directly in the line of both their swords, resulting in Syaoran inadvertently stabbing her through the heart.

Syaoran is last seen screaming in agony and clutching a Sakura petal. His current location is unknown.