TV-Series
Description
Joseph is a complex figure who serves as a recurring antagonist in the story. He is a sorcerer who appears as a boy in his early teens, characterized by long silver hair and blue eyes, though his form is often unstable due to his nature. His small stature is noted, standing at 148 centimeters.
The origin of Joseph is a tragic fusion of two beings. One is the original Joseph, a kind young gravekeeper and a descendant of necromancers from a small village in Eastern Europe who was ostracized and beaten by his fellow villagers. The other is an ancient, cursed man named Cartaphilus, who was condemned to an eternal, painful immortality for a transgression against a divine figure. The original Joseph, desperate to help end the suffering of Cartaphilus and longing to be needed, used his necromantic abilities to merge their souls and bodies into one. However, this act did not break the curse; instead, it transferred the eternal decay and pain to the new combined entity.
As a result of this merger, Joseph is burdened with a body that is constantly degenerating and rotting, a state that causes him relentless agony. He deeply fears this pain and the day his body will finally decay completely. His primary motivation stems from a desperate desire to escape this suffering. To stave off his deterioration, he relentlessly seeks new body parts to transplant onto himself, feeling no qualms about inflicting misery on others to achieve this goal. He views the sacrifice of other living beings as a natural and necessary act for survival. This desperate pursuit has stripped him of empathy over the centuries, transforming him into a being that Elias Ainsworth describes as neither human nor beast, but a monster wearing a human form.
Throughout the story, Joseph commits numerous cruel acts. He manipulated a man named Matthew into slaughtering the cats of Ulthar, only to use Matthew's sick wife as a test subject for an elixir that killed her. He has stolen limbs and knowledge from other sorcerers, such as Renfred's arm. He also kidnapped and brutally experimented on two young dragons, selling one at an auction. His most direct conflict with the protagonist, Chise Hatori, begins when he possesses her friend Stella to blackmail Chise into a dangerous experiment. He seeks to exchange Chise’s dragon curse for his own, believing they might cancel each other out, and in the process, he swaps his left eye for hers.
Despite his villainy, Joseph is a deeply tragic character whose personality is fragmented. He hates being called Cartaphilus, insisting on his original name, Joseph, seeing the other name as cursed. On rare occasions, his original, caring personality surfaces, often leaving him confused and suffering from memory loss. In a dream, this part of him once mistook Chise for a spirit and tried to offer her comfort, contrasting sharply with his waking self. This tragic past and his pitiable state of constant suffering evoke a degree of sympathy, preventing him from being a purely evil figure.
Joseph possesses a range of notable abilities stemming from his origins as a necromancer and his centuries of sorcerous practice. He is a master sorcerer, with a specialty in creating powerful and grotesque chimeras. He can take control of another person's body by infesting them with a part of himself. His own body is monstrous and malleable due to the countless parts he has assimilated, allowing him to transform limbs into weapons and granting him superhuman strength. He can also summon swarms of giant centipedes to attack his enemies and call forth the wraiths of those he has killed. Ultimately, after a fierce battle, Chise manages to put him into a deep, peaceful sleep using a magical lullaby, offering him a reprieve from his eternal agony. He is then kept in a dormant state within the well on Elias and Chise's property, where Chise continues to care for him, watching over his sleeping form.
The origin of Joseph is a tragic fusion of two beings. One is the original Joseph, a kind young gravekeeper and a descendant of necromancers from a small village in Eastern Europe who was ostracized and beaten by his fellow villagers. The other is an ancient, cursed man named Cartaphilus, who was condemned to an eternal, painful immortality for a transgression against a divine figure. The original Joseph, desperate to help end the suffering of Cartaphilus and longing to be needed, used his necromantic abilities to merge their souls and bodies into one. However, this act did not break the curse; instead, it transferred the eternal decay and pain to the new combined entity.
As a result of this merger, Joseph is burdened with a body that is constantly degenerating and rotting, a state that causes him relentless agony. He deeply fears this pain and the day his body will finally decay completely. His primary motivation stems from a desperate desire to escape this suffering. To stave off his deterioration, he relentlessly seeks new body parts to transplant onto himself, feeling no qualms about inflicting misery on others to achieve this goal. He views the sacrifice of other living beings as a natural and necessary act for survival. This desperate pursuit has stripped him of empathy over the centuries, transforming him into a being that Elias Ainsworth describes as neither human nor beast, but a monster wearing a human form.
Throughout the story, Joseph commits numerous cruel acts. He manipulated a man named Matthew into slaughtering the cats of Ulthar, only to use Matthew's sick wife as a test subject for an elixir that killed her. He has stolen limbs and knowledge from other sorcerers, such as Renfred's arm. He also kidnapped and brutally experimented on two young dragons, selling one at an auction. His most direct conflict with the protagonist, Chise Hatori, begins when he possesses her friend Stella to blackmail Chise into a dangerous experiment. He seeks to exchange Chise’s dragon curse for his own, believing they might cancel each other out, and in the process, he swaps his left eye for hers.
Despite his villainy, Joseph is a deeply tragic character whose personality is fragmented. He hates being called Cartaphilus, insisting on his original name, Joseph, seeing the other name as cursed. On rare occasions, his original, caring personality surfaces, often leaving him confused and suffering from memory loss. In a dream, this part of him once mistook Chise for a spirit and tried to offer her comfort, contrasting sharply with his waking self. This tragic past and his pitiable state of constant suffering evoke a degree of sympathy, preventing him from being a purely evil figure.
Joseph possesses a range of notable abilities stemming from his origins as a necromancer and his centuries of sorcerous practice. He is a master sorcerer, with a specialty in creating powerful and grotesque chimeras. He can take control of another person's body by infesting them with a part of himself. His own body is monstrous and malleable due to the countless parts he has assimilated, allowing him to transform limbs into weapons and granting him superhuman strength. He can also summon swarms of giant centipedes to attack his enemies and call forth the wraiths of those he has killed. Ultimately, after a fierce battle, Chise manages to put him into a deep, peaceful sleep using a magical lullaby, offering him a reprieve from his eternal agony. He is then kept in a dormant state within the well on Elias and Chise's property, where Chise continues to care for him, watching over his sleeping form.