Crusch Karsten - Re:Zero
Name: Crusch Karsten
Age: 21
Race: Human
Gender: Female
Birthday: 4th of April
Height: 168cm
Voice Actors: Iguchi Yuka (Japanese), Erika Harlacher (English)
Crusch Karsten is the current head of the Karsten House as well as a candidate for the 42nd King of Lugnica. She has been described as beautiful with amber eyes and long dark green hair that reaches to the middle of her back. In his time under her care over a few days Subaru only saw Crusch in a dress once. She is in fact much more likely to be seen in clothes traditionally considered more masculine. Her attire when working is that of a long coat over a dress shrit and pants reminiscent of a commanding officer in an army. She also dons some armour when preparing to engage in combat such as when she went after the White Whale. At a distance Crusch can be seen as cold and pragmatic, but the truth is that she has a somewhat straight forward personality and she is constantly pushing herself to do her best for those around her.
History
When Crusch was younger Fourier Lugnica, the Fourth Prince of Lugnica stumbled upon her in the royal palace's courtyard gardens. While she didn't notice him at the time, her appearance had captivated the young prince and he found himself immediately smitten. Fourier would make multiple incognito visits in an attempt to catch a glimpse of her as he was too embarassed to approach her. On one such visit, he accidentally fell and alerted her to his presence which caused Crusch to pull a dagger on him with the intent of attacking him and defending herself from a would-be assassin. He frantically cleared up the misunderstanding and prevented Crusch from taking her own life out of shame for attacking a member of the royal family. This event finally broke the ice between the two and they would become good friends from that moment on.
The duo along with Felix Argyle became fast friends and would rely on each other to navigate through the complexities of growing up in high society. In this time Crusch began growing into her eventual role as head of one of the most prominent houses in the country. Fourier encouraged Felix for knighthood in order for him to better serve Crusch in her rise to power. It was around this time that Fourier succumbed to the mysterious disease that struck all of the royal family at once. Eventually Fourier passed away along with every other royal family member and his death in particular served to stoke her desire to become the next king.
As the Royal Selection began, Emilia would approach her to ask for a favour: To allow Subaru to stay in her estate and for Felix to tend to his damaged gate. She agrees to this, allows Subaru into her household, and even grants Subaru his request to train with Wilhelm. During this period she was busy gathering resources in the form of equipment, mounts, and soldiers with the goal of hunting down the White Whale. Seemingly out of the blue Subaru came to her and claimed that he could predict a location where the White Whale would be which in turn would be perfect for her to launch an ambush. In exchange for this he proposed a temporary alliance between her camp, Anastasia Hoshin and Emilia. She accepted and together the motley alliance was able to finally take down the White Whale after a very hard fought battle.
Crusch parted ways with Subaru there as he went on to the Mathers mansion. She returned to the capital along with the dead and injured from the fight. Along the way the party encountered Ley Batenkaitos who (among others things) was able to eat Crusch's memories. Despite that, her strong will and personality shine through with her vowing that she would become even more of a person than she previously was.
Over a year later Crusch and the other Royal Candidates are invited to Kararagi by Anastasia. There, they face a terrible threat as four Archbishops of Sin attack the city of Priestella and all the Royal Candidates and their retainers unite to save the city. Through a series of encounters that ultimately succeeds in pushing the Archbishops out of the city and outright killing two of their number, Crusch is poisoned by Capella Emerada Lugnica's dragon blood. Subaru was able to siphon off the worst of it and prevent her death but she is still poisoned.
Relationships
Fourier Lugnica - The Fourth Prince of Lugnica grew up alongside Crusch and Felix. They supported each other through their formative years. After he fell ill he managed to hold out for over a year but one day asked Crusch to take him to the garden where they first met. There, he confessed his feelings for her and then passed away in her lap.
Felix Argyle - Felix is a knight in service of Crusch who has known her for their entire formative years. He is protective of her and completely loyal. He is possibly her most ardent supporter and they both care for each other a great deal. She has the utmost confidence in his skills as a healer.
Wilhelm van Astrea - Wilhelm is the former Sword Saint and loyal follower of Crusch. She values him for his sword skills and keeps him around as a sort of bodyguard and valet combined.
Emilia - Crusch sees Emilia as a rival for the throne but bears no ill will towards her. She said on one occassion where Subaru left early (though not in the timeline that continues) that she wanted Emilia and her to compete in a manner befitting Royal Candidates.
Natsuki Subaru - While initially she had a very poor opinion of Subaru (her first impression of him was a hot headed brash attendant of Emilia who overstepped his bounds), the incident with the White Whale caused her to reevaluate him and she even confessed to begin developing feelings for him, but all of that changed when she had her memories eaten. She fought side by side with him once more in Priestella but was mortally wounded by Capella and was subsequently saved from the brink of death by Subaru.
Karsten Family - She inherited a lot of her personality traits from both her mother Helena Karsten and her father Meckart Karsten.
Abilities
Divine Protection of Wind Indication - This allows Crusch to read the wind to see invisible things such as the wind. She has used an extension of this ability to read the situation of one's emotions and has made great use of this in her lifetime to know if someone has lied.
Skilled Swordsman - Crusch is considerably skilled at sword combat.
Magic User - Crusch is skilled at Wind Magic and combines it with her sword skills to increase her prowess. Her skill One Blow, A Hundred Felled in particular combines the two to unleash a ranged sword strike that can cut anything within her range of vision with an invisible blade.
Crusch also wields a sword named the Lion Rampant which bears the lion shaped crest of the Karsten family on it's cross-guard.