Lunar Month

NAME: Eriol Hiiragizawa.
ENGLISH DUBBED NAME: Eli Moon.
RESIDENCE: England; Tomoeda, Japan.
GENDER: Male.
POWERS: Various magical powers, Sensing (Magic and ghosts), Uncontrollable Premonitions, Creation of Lifeforms, Draws magic from darkness.

Eriol is the reincarnation of Clow Reed and thus retains both Clow's memories and magical power. While he initially appears antagonistic, his ultimate goal is to assist Sakura. Despite his appearance, Eriol is not actually twelve as he halted his aging process to get close to Sakura. His actual age is unknown. Eriol's life experience, coupled with his access to Clow Reed's memories, means that he is significantly more knowledgeable and mature than his classmates.

Eriol transfers to Tomoeda Elementary from England soon after Sakura Kinomoto (Sakura Avalon in Cardcaptors) defeats Yue in the "Last Judgment" and becomes Master of the Clow Cards. He quickly befriends Sakura, a feat which persuades Syaoran Li (Li Showron) to postpone his return to Hong Kong, who became both jealous and suspicious of Eriol. Eriol also befriends Takashi Yamazaki and becomes his partner-in-crime when it comes to telling lies; he and Yamazaki respond to each other's cues perfectly and can together enforce the false validity of their story by both appearing to have detailed knowledge of the subject, thwarting Chiharu's (Chelsea's) usual dispelling of the whole lie.

At the same time, a series of magical disasters force Sakura to gradually convert the Clow Cards into "Sakura Cards," which draw from her own magical energy rather than the dwindling amount of magic left in them by Clow. Although this had a drawback. At first when Sakura transformed just one Clow Card into a Sakura Card was it too much for her and afterwards she would fall asleep from exhaustion.

What Sakura does not know (until the series' end) is that Eriol himself creates these situations. During each situation, he is seen from afar observing the action, often accompanied by his guardians, Spinel Sun and Ruby Moon. All three of them live in a house that was formerly occupied by Clow Reed himself.

Eventually Eriol confronts Sakura and reveals himself to be the reincarnation of Clow Reed, creator of the Cards. He challenges Sakura to defeat him by converting the final Cards, The Light and The Dark, which would prevent Tomoeda from being permanently plunged into darkness. With his guardians occupying the attention of Sakura's own guardians, Yue and Cerberus (Keroberos), Eriol uses his magic to hamper Sakura. Eventually she manages to convert Light and Dark with the help of Cerberus and Yue, who together fused with Sakura's wand to make it more powerful, and Syaoran, who provided moral support and the confidence to carry on - even though his attempt to aid her with his magic resulted in him passing out.

In the manga, after Sakura overcomes this final challenge, Eriol puts Sakura through one more task; he asks her to divide his power in half between himself and her father, Fujitaka Kinomoto, who is the other reincarnation of Clow Reed. This at last gives Eriol the one thing he has wanted his entire life: to no longer be the most powerful sorcerer in the world. No longer able to keep people away from the battle site using magic, Eriol invites everyone to his home where he explains his actions; stating that the challenges were to give Sakura a reason to have to change the cards into Sakura Cards, which made it easier and safer for her to transform them then it would have been without a good reason.

At Eriol's house, it is revealed that he was working in conjunction with Kaho Mizuki, who he met during her travels in Europe. When Sakura, Syaoran, Tomoyo, and Cerberus go off to help Ruby Moon and Spinel Sun in the kitchen, Eriol steps outside to join Yue, who was still upset that Clow had forced him through the all the pain of having to choose another master when Clow himself had been alive all along. Eriol clarifies that he is not Clow Reed, but just has his memories, and that Clow will never return. Eriol then continues to explain Clow's reasoning and helps Yue come to terms with Clow's death and his decision to reincarnate himself. With his task complete, Eriol makes the decision to return to England with Kaho, Spinel Sun and Ruby Moon. As they are leaving, Eriol and Kaho let each other know that they are in love with each other and that they wish to pursue a relationship - even though he cannot predict the outcome.

In the anime this entire scene takes place the day after the battle, when Sakura and company go to Eriol's house upon hearing that he would be returning to England. This scene is significantly changed from the discussion in the manga - as Eriol neither has his powers divided nor reveals Fujitaka to be a second reincarnation of Clow Reed. This, presumably, means that in the anime Eriol is the sole reincarnation of Clow.

Eriol and company appear again in the second movie, calling Sakura from England and warning her about the new Clow Card, The Nothing. However his phone call is cut short by The Nothing.

As Eriol retains the memories and powers of Clow Reed he is a fairly competent user of magic, even without the aid of the Cards. Eriol also demonstrates an ability to see spirits, in a similar manner to Toya Kinomoto, as he was able to see the spirit of Nadeshiko Kinomoto at Tomoeda Elementary. In the manga, Eriol's powers are ineffective against Fujitaka Kinomoto, as Fujitiaka is the other reincarnation of Clow Reed. Like Clow, Eriol's powers are drawn from the dark. At the end of the manga Sakura transfers half of Eriol's power into Fujitaka, thus relieving Eriol of both the gift and burden of uncontrollable premonitions.