Matthew

Matthew (マシュー, Mashū) was Mina's husband.

Appearance
Matthew was a young human man of average height, with light brown skin, black hair and dark blue eyes. His eyes had a look of surprise in them.

Matthew's clothing varied. At the end of his life, he wore a white shirt and a dark coloured pair of trousers.

After death, his spirit was black, and had an insect like look to it, that was shown to be able to grow. His spirit looked like this as according to Tim, he turned into a demon, after killing cats for their blood.

When sent to another realm to proceed to have his and Mina's souls cleansed by Hatori Chise, his spirit reappears and looks the same as his human form and he wears the same outfit he wore before he died. He and his wife then transform into beautiful blue flowers, that are carried away by the wind, after having their souls cleansed.

Personality
Matthew was a man, loving and loyal to his wife and looked after her with no complaint, but was stricken with worry over her health and desperate to do anything to make her strong enough to live a normal life. After seeking a cure from Joseph, he obdiently follows the advice of Joseph which leads him to turn into a demon. Matthew really was a good-hearted, naive and meek man, who fell into evilness, by his desperateness to make his wife strong and healthy.

History
Matthew was a resident of the small town of Ulthar, who worked to provide for himself and his weak-bodied wife, Mina, who he always tended to the needs of. One day, he approached the sorcerer, Joseph (Cartaphilus) and asked him if had a medicine for his wife, to make her body stronger. After visiting Mina and checking her health, Joseph tells Matthew that his wife likely wouldn't get better. But Matthew feels desperate and begs Joseph for a cure, he then tells Matthew to kill cats to create a potion to strengthen Mina's body. Instead, she melts. He becomes mad and believes he can still cure her and walks about of their home with the intent of killing more cats. The First Cat King stops him and he and the remaining cats devour Matthew. He becomes part of the stagnation by the lake, that threatens the lives of both cats and humans that live in Ulthar.

Mina
He loved her to the extent of committing animal murder. When she melts, he loses his sanity.

Tim
The two were hostile to each other (with Matthew shooing him and Tim hissing at him). However, they have one thing in common: their love for Mina. When Matthew, who went insane after he inadvertently killed Mina, tried to kill Tim in order to take his lives and continue the potion, Tim bit his throat, and then he, along with the remaining cats, devours him. He called Matthew "a demon" who was tempted by "Satan"- being Joseph and said he couldn't allow him to live or die peacefully.

Joseph
He encountered him for help. In desperation, he even went through killing cats to make a potion for Mina. When it fails, Joseph leaves an insane Matthew to venture other experiments.

Trivia

 * He is from England.
 * In Official Guidebook: Merkmal, his height is 172cm (5'8") and weight is 68kg (150lb).
 * Matthew and his actions are a direct reference to The Cats of Ulthar, the short story by the American author H.P. Lovecraft. In the tale, a cotter and his wife are known for brutally murdering cats in the town, though the townspeople of Ulthar are too afraid to stop them. When the couple kills the kitten of an orphan child belonging to a nomadic tribe visiting Ulthar, the little boy's prayers spur the cats of the town into avenging the boy and their fellow feline brethren by devouring the cotter and his wife.
 * Matthew's murder of cats references an obscure version of the Scottish legend of the cat sidhe, a kind of spectral black cat bearing a white patch on its chest. According to one myth, killing a certain number of cats would summon a demoniacal cat sidhe who would grant a wish to the one who killed the cats. However, most tellings about the cat sidhe would discourage this kind of action, as the cat sidhe was magical, and could bring curses down on the heads of those who offended them.