Pronunciation Notes: 'Clow' (Cloh) is supposed to rhyme with 'oh', not 'ow'.

Clow Reed is a minor character, but he is still one of the most important ones. Originally from England, Clow moved to Japan into a large masion on the outskirts of Tomoeda. At the time, he was the most powerful magician in the world. His father was from England, while his mother was Chinese. Combining Western 'Magick' with his mother's Eastern enchantments, he created the Clow Cards: Magical cards with the power to destroy. There were 52 cards in all, each with unique abilities, but when combined together were unstoppable. Each card held an aura of goodness, but each also had the potential for a darker magic. To balance out the 52 cards, Clow created another card, The Nothing, which was sealed underneath his house, until one day it was released. He created a book, The Clow Book, to hold the cards, and two guardians to protect the cards: Cerberus the Seal Guardian and Yue the Judge. Cerberus and Yue lived with Clow, each forging a strong bond with their master, until one day, as Clow was reclining on his large red armchair, he calmly told them he was dying. He then replaced their memories with ones of his death, and split himself into two new people: Hiiragizawa Eriol and Kinomoto Fujitaka. Into Eriol, Clow embued all his magic and magical knowledge. Fujitaka had neither. He sent Eriol back to England and placed Fujitaka in Tomoeda.

Clow appeared to Sakura a few times, each time to give her advice and to guide her on her magical path. He helped her tap into her own hidden power, and aided her when she was going to give up. Sakura sometimes noticed that Eriol and her father, Fujitaka, looked alike, and wondered why. This information was released to her after she transformed all the cards and defeated Eriol's magic. Clow Reed knew that Cerberus and Yue would find a new master, and he knew it would be Sakura. Clow Reed's voice actor is Hayashi Kazuo.