Jin Kariya

Kariya is a tall, pale man with a lean but muscular build, crimson eyes under thick brows that arch and taper into points beyond his face, and short white hair that flares outward with a horn-like tip on each side of his head. A thin scar marks the left of his chin. He favors an asymmetric shirt split between red and black beneath a long dark-blue coat trimmed in light brown, and his Doll's crest sits on his own torso rather than an object. As the boy Eugene, before bonding with his Doll, he had large dark-blue eyes and shaggy brown hair, both of which shifted to red and white once Messer fused with him.

Composed and self-assured, Kariya rarely loses his footing, whether outmatched, blindsided, or facing his own death, and his unwavering conviction in his worldview guides every decision he makes. Beneath a charming, affable surface runs a deep current of anger; as Gō Koga observes, he is as gentle as he is cruel. That wrath surfaces when anyone challenges his vision for the Bount, when he confronts Ran'Tao, whom he blames for his tribe's suffering, or when a foe presumes to understand him. He was not always so bitter, having been a cheerful child and, even after Soul Society turned on his people, a compassionate leader, until centuries of loss wore him down into a jaded cynic.

Recognized as a rarity for awakening his powers while still a child, Eugene was hailed by Ran'Tao as the hope of the Bount, only to watch Shinigami slaughter his tribe in the caves outside what would become Karakura Town. Ran'Tao handed him an amulet that, when a Hollow later wounded him, summoned and merged him with Messer, whitening his hair and reddening his eyes. After the survivors tried to return to Soul Society and were massacred a second time, a disillusioned Eugene swore vengeance on the Shinigami and disowned the dead as too weak to live. He married Yoshino Sōma, whom he had stopped from killing herself, but she abandoned him upon seeing him feed on a living human's soul.

Taking the name Jin Kariya, he worked with Ugaki to devise a ritual that let Bount summon Dolls artificially, then set his revenge in motion. During the Bount invasion he seizes Uryū Ishida for his Quincy power, kills Yoshino to spawn the Bitto, and has his followers drink its soul-rich serum to grow stronger. Leading the Bount into Soul Society, he discards his own allies one by one, drives a hand through Koga, and claims the Jōkaishō, a hidden power he means to use to obliterate the entire Seireitei. His body, fused with Messer, lends him tremendous strength, speed, and durability, along with blades of wind and lightning and the power to heal by absorbing Reishi, but after Ran'Tao robs him of that healing and Uryū wounds him, Kariya deliberately lets Ichigo land the fatal blow, crumbling to ash and regretting that he will never see the path Ichigo walks.