Chise Hatori

Chise Hatori (羽鳥 智世, Hatori Chise) is a Sleigh Beggy and one of the main protagonists of The Ancient Magus' Bride series. She is the apprentice and bride of Elias Ainsworth.

Appearance
Chise is a Japanese fair-skinned girl in her mid-teens with chin-length red hair that has grown up to shoulder-length later on and wide green eyes.

Her clothes vary, but she is often seen with an oversized green hooded coat, a red sweater vest with a white buttoned shirt underneath, a knee-length dirty dark-green skirt, and below-the-knees laced brown boots.

She was gifted a necklace by Elias Ainsworth made from a cursed stone, whose hole was created naturally at the bottom of a river. Looking through the center, she can see the true form of Elias' acquaintances.

Another permanent addition, another gift from Elias, is a ring she wears on her right index finger that was made by Angelica Barley. The ring keeps her from absorbing too much magic.

One of Chise's arms was later changed due to falling under the Dragon's Curse as her arm has been transformed into a more wood-like appearance, increasing in size from the elbow and forward as it's covered in bandages and other restrictions. As well as this, her left eye has been replaced with one of the eyes of Cartaphilus. The transplanted eye has taken on her color, and the arm has shrunken to its normal size since resolving the curses within her.

Personality
Chise seems to be a typical teenage girl, though with a somewhat meek, subservient personality and issues with socialization, having been considered an oddball by other children her age. She also tends to become attached to others quickly, particularly those who show her kindness. This exterior, however, belies a kind and courageous interior willing to go above and beyond in helping others, even at her own expense.

The story begins with Chise falling into severe depression and selling herself into slavery, not considering what may happen to her and displaying no concern for her well-being. When bought by Elias, she seemed fine being viewed as his experiment because he took her in when no one else would. With time, however, it's apparent that she was worried that Elias would throw her aside.

From the beginning, she had little self-preservation and would place the well-being of others above her own health. She can be rash with magic, exhausting herself. Nevin mentions that by putting herself down, she degrades the worth of her actions and the people they affect. After speaking with Nevin and Lindel, she seems to have taken steps to open herself up.

Despite her lack of self-confidence, Chise is extremely dedicated to her role as an apprentice and her studies. She is knowledgeable, though she is somewhat naive - best evidenced by the fact that she is often tricked by fairies and similar creatures, who derive joy from her confusion.

However, in recent developments, Chise has decided to be an optimist and displays newfound joy.

She fears thunder, perhaps because she had to suffer it alone.

History
There was a point in time when Chise was happy. Both her parents had the gift of The Sight. As a Sleigh Beggie, she attracted good and bad spirits. Her father kept them away until he ran away with her brother. After that, her mother became stressed by the constantly appearing amalgamations. She tried to kill Chise, but let go of her daughter's throat. Instead, her mother left her the only way she could and killed herself.

Her relatives then passed around Chise as no one wanted her in their home. Eventually, Chise fell into a deep depression. She even tried to kill herself by jumping off from the top of the school building before the beginning of the story. However, a man confronted her and convinced her to sell herself to someone caring for her instead of killing herself. At the time, she knew that she was a Sleigh Beggy, but not what that was, nor why someone would find value in her. The man taught her how to read and speak English. It is mentioned in an extra that they made her look dirty to earn sympathy.

At the auction house, she was bought for five million pounds and began living with Elias Ainsworth in his household, which is set in a village that is close to London.

Plot
Chise is being auctioned for sale while wishing only to find a place to call home when Elias Ainsworth decides she will be his apprentice as he walks onto the stage. He then purchases her for five million pounds and mentions that she seemingly had good luck possessing the Sight while also being a Sleigh Beggy. This causes an outburst as she recalls how she had always been isolated and without a home because of her Sight. However, Elias reassures her that one day he'll make her grateful for possessing it and uses a teleportation spell to warp them to his home, which is set on the outskirts of a small village.

Chise then takes a bath, encounters a species of fae known as Ariels during this time, and receives an Adder Stone necklace from Elias before she goes to bed. However, she can't sleep, and the Ariel that she met in the bath leads her to the entrance of the Fairy Kingdom, attempting to entice her into following them to the other side. Still, Chise refuses since Elias offers her a home when no one else ever did leave an impact. Elias then appears, revealing that the Adder Stone allowed him to track her down, and warns Ariel away before taking Chise back to their home and revealing that he intends to make her his bride in the future.

The next day, Elias brings her to London to meet with Angelica Purley and her family. Angelica explains the difference between magic and alchemy and the cost of doing magic that goes beyond her limit. However, when she attempts to help Chise get a feel for her magic, she creates a field of flowers in the workshop due to possessing more magic than expected as a Sleigh Beggy. After Angelica prepares some things for her, they return home, and Elias questions Chise about her parents. It's here that she reveals that her father and younger brother went missing while her mother died in front of her before they ran into Simon Cullum.

Due to Elias being so active compared to the past and taking on an apprentice, Simon has three requests for Elias to fulfill. The first takes Chise to the land of the dragons in Iceland, where she's taken by one of them to meet with the caretaker, Lindel. He has her play with the dragon chicks before one of the older dragons, Nevin, who will soon die. He accidentally reads her memories and learns that she once considered committing suicide. As an apology, he allows her to see his memories of being able to fly thanks to her magic, which allows him to die peacefully and turn into a tree, from which she could make a wand someday.

Chise then falls into a slumber until she wakes to find herself on a train meant to cater to the supernatural and encounters a cat that can speak named Barney, thus learning about the truth behind cats having nine lives. They arrive at their next destination, a town called Ulthar, where they meet the current King of Cats and pass by a mysterious stranger. They're tasked with purifying a blight located within a lake, but the stranger from before tosses her into the water, where she has a glimpse of the memory of Matthew within the lake before being pulled out.

Later on, Elias assigns the task of getting rid of the blight to Chise after giving her guidance and equipment, along with help from the Ariel that followed Chise. However, before they can do so, they are stopped and captured by Renfred and Alice.

Sleigh Beggy
Sleigh Beggy naturally absorbs magic from their surroundings, so much so that it wears on their bodies and shortens their lives. It could be said that it was akin to having a lot of blood, but a weak heart to pump it.

Because of these traits, magicians are willing to pay a high price to have them as a tool. Because of the amount of magic stored within their body and the ability to expend it considerably, they were hunted in the past to be used for that purpose and often died. The College has tried to find a live one to study in the hopes of preserving them.

They also draw in fae and other supernatural entities, with Elias noting that those who weren't lucky enough to possess the Sight would be cursed with good luck and bad, as they would not be aware they were attracting them

Magic
Magic is brought forth through the connection with the fae and one's own view of the world. Chise can purify, fly, and create potions. As a Sleigh Beggie, Chise is favored by the fae, amounting to a large amount of magic potential, without the skills to control the massive pressure it has on her body.

Link To Mind and Memory
The unconscious mind is a passage. Chise is gifted in traveling into the minds of others. Without the intention to do so, she peered into the memories of Ruth and the stagnation, saw the memories of the dragon she met in the nest of dragons, as well as spoke to Cartaphilus in a dream-like state.

Skinwalking
Using a magical pelt granted to her by Ashen Eyes, Chise can transform into an animal, depending on the situation. For instance, becoming a bear to track down Elias and Ethan or a wolf when a jealous Elias leaves.

Singing
Like Lindel, Chise can imbue her magic through singing. This allows her to do various things, including being able to put Elias Ainsworth and the dragon Paulina to sleep using her songs.

Dragon's Curse
Chise's curse from the dragon has given her several inherent abilities:
 * Super Strength: The Dragon's Curse allows her to lift at least two people, but she struggles to control her strength.
 * Enhanced Senses: The Dragon's Curse also granted her a stronger sense of smell and a sense of danger. In her own words, she can somewhat feel the intentions of others when they approach her and how they would speak to her.
 * Limited Shapeshifting: The Dragon's Curse nestled within her arm allows her to shapeshift the limb, such as turning her hand into claws. Likewise, when the curse is active, the arm can warp into a more combat-suitable form and defend Chise. In this state, it was strong enough to kill a Nuckelavee with relatively little issue.

Immortal Curse
Joseph's eye granted her immortality. It was uncertain when her eye turned back to green, but Joseph later revealed she was controlling it. He explained that she couldn't undo the curse, which made her immortal.

Spells & Incantations
This spell is used in conjunction with a fae and ingredients to make an insomnia potion:

''Sound, sound, through the night forest. ''Sing, sing, young hawthorns. ''Let your thorns pierce the creeping hooves.

This spell is used in conjunction with a fae of choosing to bind them as a familiar:

''Tie now the silver thread. ''Tie now the roots of our veins. ''The holly, so that we may not be separated. ''The ivy, so that we may not come apart. ''Tie to the yew tree seven times. ''Until the day the snake spits out its tail.

This was an instance of Chise using a spell with an Ariel to convert a corruption into flower petals, but it is unclear if the spell is Chise's or if it's the Ariels' doing:

Like a dandelion lifting its seed to the wind. ''Then firmly rooted, sprouting. As the parting wind, blowing to the unknown destination.

This spell is used to open a locked door:

You are a good lock, but an old lock. I am the oil to grease your hinges, the golden key to open you wide.

This spell is used to light a candle:

Flicker and dance, tongues of flame. Colors of autumn, like roots of barley. Flicker and dance, and light my way.

Quotes

 * (It hurts, doesn't it? It hurts when no one understands.)

Etymology

 * The name Chise means "wisdom, intellect" (智) (chi) and "generations" (世) (se), which means "the wise generation" altogether.
 * Chise's nickname Robin can refer to her red hair and bird-like name.
 * The robin is a bird species with a small size and redbreast color.
 * Chise's surname Hatori means "feather" (羽) (ha) and "bird, poultry, fowl" (鳥) (tori), which means "wing of a bird" altogether.

Trivia

 * Later, it is revealed that Chise is the daughter of Yuuki Hatori and Chika Hatori and the older sister of Fumiki Hatori.
 * Chise was bought by Elias Ainsworth for 5 million pounds. Because she sold herself into slavery, she ironically obtained half the money, giving her a life savings of 2.5 million pounds, which she planned on using during the auction of the dragon whelp.
 * Chise's "wedding dress" is colored/styled differently in the anime and manga:
 * In the anime, the dress is a white full-shoulder dress with a white neck choker and a veil that wasn't in the manga.
 * In the manga, she wears a black strap dress with a black neck choker.
 * In Official Guidebook: Merkmal, Chise's height is 155cm (5'1"), and weight is 54kg (119lb).
 * Her birthdate is April 11th.
 * As far as it is known, Chise is of Japanese descent, and Ashen Eye thinks she also has some European ancestry due to her appearance.
 * Chise has difficulty making sleep potions, but can quickly put someone to sleep with a lullaby.
 * Chise's skinwalking ability is unrelated to American Navajo myths as it is related to the Nordic-Scandinavian Ulfhendar instead.
 * The fae often call Chise, "Robin" According to one legend, the robin's breast is red because one plucked a thorn from Jesus' head, and a drop of his blood dropped on the robin's chest, turning it red.

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Chise Hatori