Garfiel Tinsel

Garfiel Tinsel (ガーフィール・ティンゼル) is Frederica Baumann's half-brother and the former guardian of Sanctuary. Introduced as a secondary antagonist during the first half of Arc 4, he later became one of the main supporting characters of Re:Zero, with a major role in the second half of Arc 4 as well as Arc 5.

He harbored an immense fear of the outside world following a family tragedy. However, with Subaru's help, he overcame his past trauma and joined the Emilia Camp. Since being exposed to the outside world, he has faced many situations where he was powerless, yet he still remains determined to protect those close to him.

Appearance
Garfiel is a young and relatively short boy with short, combed back gold hair and deep and sharp jade coloured eyes. Due to his demi-human blood, he has sharp feline like fangs, similar to Frederica's. In fact, both Frederica and Garfiel share a similar face with perhaps the main difference being the large white scar stretching across the entirety of Garfiel's forehead which he inflicted upon himself when after experiencing the First Trial and seeing his mother's death, he fell into a state of panic and repeatedly bashed his head against the walls of the Tomb, leaving him with a permanent white scar.

Due to his vigorous training and his demi-human blood, Garfiel is extremely strong and possesses a rather well built and muscular physique. He can usually be seen wearing long black pants and a torn up loincloth that is heliotrope-purple on the outside and red-violet on the inside and a short black vest with red-violet accents. To match his colour palette, Garfiel can also be seen wearing black long sleeved gloves with red-violet accents Around his neck, a blue pyroxene crystal can also be seen dangling around.

Personality
Unlike his older sister Frederica, Garfiel uses his mother's surname Tinsel to remember her. He was initially hostile to Subaru, as he wanted to protect the people in the Sanctuary since he believed the outside world to be a terrible place. However, with Subaru and Ram's help, he was able to face his past and overcome it. After making up with Subaru, he begins to call him boss. He has feelings for Ram and uses various proverbs to try and impress her to no avail. As a 14 year old, he also exhibits some chuunibyou tendencies, frequently being impressed by Subaru's naming sense.

History
Garfiel was born around 14 years ago to a father who was a half Beast Human and a Human mother, Reala Thompson, therefore, he was born a quarter Beast Human. Eventually, after wandering around, Frederica, along with Reala and Garfiel, were picked up by Roswaal and given a home at the Sanctuary. Reala left her children at the Sanctuary to bring back her missing husband.

Garfiel and Frederica lived together until she left when he was 4 years old and he hadn't seen her since until their reunion 10 years later during the Sanctuary incident. After seeing his mother's "death" during the trial at a young age, he began to fear the outside world, causing him to try and protect the Sanctuary. He was eventually convinced otherwise once Subaru and Ram successfully talked him into facing his past in the trial.

Abilities
Divine Protection (加護 Kago): Garfiel has the Divine Protection of Earth Spirits (地霊の加護 Chirei no Kago). As long as he has his feet on the ground, his body is covered in a tough guard of earth. He can cause the earth to cave in with a single step, reduce the effects of Earth Magic, and accelerate the recovery of wounds and stamina.

Beastification: Calling back on his ancestral Demi-Human blood, Garfiel can fully or partially transform himself into a towering, 12 feet long golden tiger with massive and thick limbs which can easily rip a fully grown earth dragon in two. When in this form, he can easily deal devastating attacks and decimate entire areas, but with a cost of losing his reason, making him avoid it if possible. He uses this ability when he's pushed to the limit or facing an overwhelming foe as seen in arc 5 when he fought the War God.

Magic User: Garfiel has some decent skill in Water Magic.
 * Healing Magic: Garfiel summons water mana to heal the wounds of himself and others, however it only affects physical ones. Power varies by the skill and talent of the individual or partially that of the spirit if the caster is using Spirit Arts.

Flowing Battle: Garfiel's wild combat-style which relies on instinct and his superior physique rather than finesse to perform maneuvers only he can do.

Equipment: Garfiel uses two shields in combat.
 * Pyroxene Crystal (輝石結晶): When Garfiel was younger, he and his sister Frederica both received a Pyroxene Crystal from their mother Reshia Tinsel.

Trivia

 * According to the author, Garfiel's birthday is October 12.
 * According to the author, Garfiel is scheduled to be featured in Arc 7 where he'll receive a substantial power buff.
 * He originally learned Healing Magic as one of the ways to support the residents of the Sanctuary.
 * It was revealed that the secret behind Garfiel's strength is an old book about Reid Astrea. In that book, an unknown person described Reid's training in detail. Garfiel took the training regime to heart and spent his entire childhood training like Reid. Interestingly enough, the training primarily consists of hand-to-hand combat, without any weapons whatsoever.