Carter Kane

"Dude, my avatar is a falcon-headed warrior."

- Carter to Percy in The Crown of Ptolemy

Carter Kane, is one of the main characters in the The Kane Chronicles series, along with his younger sister, Sadie Kane. He is the eldest child of Julius and Ruby Kane and a descendant of two families with the blood of the pharaohs. He follows the path of Horus and was once the eye of the god himself. He also becomes the Pharaoh of the House of Life and ties with his sister as the second strongest magicians in the world, his Uncle Amos being the first. In The Son of Sobek, he helps Percy Jackson defeat a crocodile. He and Sadie later team up with Percy and Annabeth Chase in The Crown of Ptolemy to defeat Setne.

Personality
Carter Kane, is very protective of his family and friends, and would do anything to ensure their safety. He tends to be a gentleman because of the way his dad had raised him, and is usually thinking of how to solve their next problem. He is funny and usually stammers around girls. He mostly thinks outside the box and puts others lives before his own.

Background
Carter was born in Los Angeles with his father Julius Kane, mother Ruby Kane, and his younger sister Sadie Kane. When he was eight, after his mother died, he traveled all around the world with his dad, and after six lawyers, two fist fights, and The Spatula Accident, Mr. and Mrs. Faust took custody of their granddaughter. Julius tried to get custody of Sadie, but was unsuccessful.

Following that failure, Carter traveled the world with his father, going to various tombs and places and being forced to dress "impeccably" in dress shirts and khaki pants. Carter could only see his sister twice a year and secretly envied her normal life while she envied his.

The Son of Sobek
A giant crocodile has been terrorizing Long Island, along with other magical disturbances in the area. Carter Kane takes his pet griffin, Freak, to go survey the area. After settling down on the ground, Carter is left behind as Freak flies away with his floating boat. Forced to find the monster, Carter goes into a lake to start his search. Suddenly, the crocodile comes from underwater and swallows Carter whole. Carter plans on using a "word of power" to escape when the crocodile spits him out after it is jabbed in the rear end by Percy. The crocodile soon runs away.

Carter picks himself up and sees the other teenager in the mud. The boy is wearing an orange T-shirt that says Camp, but the rest is unreadable. As Carter examines the "camper boy," he soon realizes that he can clearly see his wand and khopesh, something most mortals are unable to see. He also notices the strange sword that the teen carries, which is a double edged leaf-shaped blade. Despite meeting almost all magicians in the North American nomes, Carter has no idea who this person is, only that everything about him seemed un-Egyptian.



The teen tries to get Carter to thank him for rescuing him from the crocodile, but Carter is somewhat embarrassed and ends up getting angry at Percy's comments instead. The two then get into a small argument over the ownership of the monster, with Percy thinking that the monster is Carter's pet after he said it was his monster, but only meant he was chasing it. Percy then asks Carter if he is a son of Ares as he must be a half-blood of some kind. He also asks why his sword is all bent, but Carter tells him it is supposed to be like that. Carter also gets angry at Percy's use of the word half-blood (as his dad is African-American and his mom is white), as well as Percy offering to help because last time Carter was eaten by the crocodile.

Carter accidentally uses the "Fist of Horus" to cause a fist to knock Percy right out of his shoes and into the swamp. Carter instantly rushes over, thinking he might have killed Percy, but is hit in retaliation by a huge wave of water. Furious, Percy lunges at Carter with his sword and Carter is forced to defend himself, not able to attack because of Percy's skills with a sword. During the fight, Percy accuses him of being a monster, which Carter says he is not. Percy also asks if he is an escaped spirit from the Doors of Death or if the monster was his pet and Carter was just trying to find it.

The fight ends when Carter uses a magic rope to tie Percy's sword to his head just as Percy hit his arm, causing Carter to bleed. During the small break, Percy comments that Carter must be a half-blood because if he was not, the sword would have passed right through him. Percy also asks if he was a rogue demigod who used to be part of Kronos' Army. After listening to Percy talk for a bit, Carter starts to realize that Percy is not a magician and is something completely different, as Percy keeps using words related to Greek mythology. The two form a truce so that they can go after the crocodile, as it has been terrorizing Long Island for weeks now. The two also introduce each other, eventually revealing their names.They eventually find the crocodile terrorizing a small cul-de-sac with a few kids spraying the monster with water guns and hitting it with water balloons. Carter sees a gold necklace around the crocodile's neck and tells Percy that they need to remove it to stop the monster, as it cannot be killed. Percy tells Carter to distract the crocodile so that he could get it. Carter makes a large avatar of Horus around himself (which Percy calls a giant glowing chicken-man) and attacks the monster. Percy then jumps on the crocodile and tries to unlock the necklace, but cannot as he is not a magician. As Carter's avatar fades and the crocodile crashes into a house, Carter and Percy switch places. Percy creates a massive whirlpool in the center of the cul-de-sac using the water generated by the crocodile. The crocodile is swept up in it and Carter manages to make it to the necklace. As Percy begins to tire, Carter finally manages to remove it and the crocodile returns to its original form; that of a baby crocodile.

Percy and Carter run off with the baby crocodile after hearing some cop cars approaching. Resting at a nearby diner, Percy and Carter watch the news, as they report that a freak sewer incident had destroyed the homes in the cul-de-sac. Carter and Percy wonder if someone is trying to bring them together to cause trouble and agree to keep their respective worlds a secret from each other until the time is right. Carter takes the necklace and the baby crocodile with him, but places an enchantment on Percy's hand so that if he ever needs to contact him, all he has to do is say his name. The two part on good terms, but Carter knows that some day in the middle of the night, he'll wake up to the sound of Percy calling him.

The Staff of Serapis
Though he does not make an appearance, he is mentioned a few times by Annabeth and Sadie.

Current Powers and Abilities
Although not formally trained, Carter is a very powerful magician. He has more experience than the initiates of the other Nomes, and his progress is quickened due to the Path of the Gods. Several gods and magicians have commended him for his immense magical powers and combat prowess: these include Sadie, Julius/Osiris, Amos, Ra, Desjardins, Setne, Vlad Menshikov, Jacobi, Kwai, and even Apophis. Carter's specialty is combat magic although he uses other types of magic from the Path of Horus to fight as well. Throughout his adventures, Carter has faced many monsters, magicians, and fought several gods as well. After The Serpent's Shadow, Carter becomes the Pharaoh of the House of Life and Amos admits that Carter had become a very powerful magician, rivalling him and making his father proud.

Physical Prowess: Throughout the series, Carter has displayed himself as having above-average strength, speed, stamina, reflexes, and agility. In The Red Pyramid, when Carter hosted Horus, he had supernatural reflexes and could deflect daggers and projectiles at high speeds. Later, Carter held his own against the Set animal for some time before being prompted to using combat magic Against Sobek, Carter was able to leap thirty feet into the air at a moment's notice from Horus, his quick reaction saving him. Even after releasing Horus, Carter still retains his physical abilities such as when he wrestles with the tjesu heru and wrings one of its heads, albeit getting poisoned by another. At Zia's tomb, when they were drowning, Carter lashed out and accidentally broke the dwarf god Bes' nose. Later, on the River of Night, Carter defeats many demons with his bare hands amidst his rage at Khonsu for taking Bes. By The Serpent's Shadow, Carter has undergone strength training, basketball practice with Khufu, and combat magic training with Bast. Later, he wrestles with the demon Bloodstained Blade and holds his own despite being exhausted from previous battles.

Combat Skills: In The Red Pyramid, Carter hosted Horus and learned some techniques with his khopesh from him. Along with his physical prowess, he held his own against the Set animal and Sobek's crocodiles. Later, as the Eye of Horus, Carter became skilled enough to duel Set on equal footing although lost this gained experience after releasing the god. In The Throne of Fire, Carter has continued to hone his skills and can fight demons even without using magic. He later fights demons on the River of Night and defeats them in hand-to-hand combat. In The Serpent's Shadow, Carter grabs the Apis Bull by the horns and manipulates his weight so his enhanced strength directly subdues the beast. In The Son of Sobek, Carter was able to hold his own against Percy Jackson, despite the latter having fought many immortal beings with his skill. Percy himself told Carter that he was one of the few people that could fight him well.

Magic

 * Duat Usage: After some instructions from Bast on how to create a space in the Duat, Carter is able to store any of his things in his locker. His combination is revealed to be 13/32/33 (taken from retired Lakers). By concentrating harder, Carter can also use the Duat to retrieve something he has lost, like his khopesh, although he can not always summon it back. In The Serpent's Shadow, Carter has become good enough to instinctively summon his sword at Set's presence, something the god of evil commended him for. With the power of Horus, such as when using combat magic, Carter can dispatch powerful demons like the Set animal to the Duat, something that impressed Bast given the amount of energy such a feat took.
 * Hieroglyphic Spells: Although he is not very proficient in this, Carter can do certain hieroglyphic spells. He can bring a bird to life, summon a knife, cause cameras to blink and diffusing technology.
 * Divine Words: If he focuses hard enough, Carter can speak Divine Words. Throughout the books, he has shown the ability to summon thirteen hieroglyphs: khefa, Sa-mir, Ha-tep, Ha-wi, Hi-nehm, N'dah, Hapi u-ha ey pwah, l'mun, Maw, Tas, an unnamed command to bring figurines and shabti to life and the Eye of Horus symbol. Carter can also cast a Divine Word to put his opponents to sleep such as when he used it against policemen in London. They later awoke with no memories of the encounter. Carter can also use the Eye of Horus to locate people if he has drawn the symbol on their palm and they have spoken his name. Divine Words can be spoken to use divine magic, such as khefa and Ha-wi to summon the Fist of Horus.
 * Animal Charming: Since he had hosted Horus and became the war god's Eye, Carter has a certain amount of control over the sacred creatures of Horus. The Eye of Horus symbol assists in this process as it illustrates the connection between Carter and Horus. The Divine Word Ha-tep is also effective as it calms down the animals for Carter to animal-charm them. So far, he has only animal-charmed Freak and can seem to interpret what the griffin is saying, to an extent.
 * Falcon Transformation: In The Red Pyramid, Carter could transform into a falcon, since it was Horus' sacred animal. Due to being the host of Horus, Carter could stay transformed longer although had greater difficulty morphing back. In The Serpent's Shadow, he seems to be at ease transforming in and out of this form, albeit he cannot stay as long as before, since he is not hosting Horus anymore. In The Son of Sobek, Carter does this with little magic reserves, showing that he has mastered the transformation. As a falcon, Carter has sharper senses and receives a massive boost in speed, becoming tremendously fast.
 * Forceful Transformation: Carter can transform other people into animals; he displays this in The Red Pyramid where he morphs his uncle Amos into a hamster to escape from the police. He does while on his last reserves so the magic does not take a lot of energy. As the Eye of Horus, Carter can forcefully transform even gods of immense power, like Set, into fruit bats for several seconds. Carter himself has experienced a forceful transformation twice; once, in The Red Pyramid, when he faced Thoth's magicians and was morphed into a lizard and again, in The Throne of Fire, when he faced Menshikov and the latter tried to transform him into a serpent although Carter's combat avatar provided a resistance to it.
 * Telekinesis: Carter also has the power to move things without touching them. He first displays this, in The Red Pyramid, when he opens the front door of Brooklyn House by extending his hand and the door lifts up, following his movements. He later uses it to open the door of his dormitory in the First Nome. After releasing Horus, Carter can still use telekinesis to move statues ceiling beams etc. although it requires more effort. Later, in The Throne of Fire, Carter uses telekinesis to evaporate the water surrounding Zia Rashid's tomb. By channeling the power of Horus, Carter's telekinesis becomes much stronger and he is even able to part the Nile, destroying water demons attacking him and Bes. As the Eye of Horus, Carter can use telekinesis to summon his sword to his hand. Carter's telekinesis is also amplified with the crook and flail of Ra, enabling him to force gods such as Babi and Nekhbet to bow, pledge their allegiance to him and deflect Kwai's powerful storm magic despite being in a weakened state.
 * Surveillance Magic: In The Serpent's Shadow, Carter displayed the ability to use surveillance magic and lower his vision into the Duat. He used this when heading towards Thoth's base in Memphis and found the demons attacking him to be connected to Apophis through red coils of Chaos energy. He also realized that Thoth was trapped there and his magic was being blocked from leaving his pyramid. Whilst using surveillance magic, he saw Thoth in his ancient animal-headed form. Carter can also tap into the power of Horus to increase his surveillance magic and expand his senses greatly.
 * Portal Summoning: Unlike his sister, Carter is not adept at summoning portals and has only used them once in the whole series. In The Throne of Fire, after finding out that Sadie was in trouble, Carter and Walt used a portal at the Brooklyn Museum to transport themselves to London. Carter mentions that it took a lot of effort and openly showcased his dislike for portals. This was never used again by Carter in the whole series.
 * Fire Magic (Limited): Carter displayed fire magic in The Red Pyramid, wanting to burn the sphinx's that were attacking him. In The Serpents Shadow, Carter displayed fire magic using the crook and flail.
 * Invisibility (Limited): In The Throne of Fire, Carter displayed a limited ability to turn invisible using magic, but unlike Zia's cloak, his wasn't perfect and Set saw through it immediately. It also shot off sparks at times. During The Staff of Serapis Sadie references this when talking with Annabeth Chase about invisibility. Carter is later able to become invisible in The Crown of Ptolemy, but this is due to Annabeth's magical Yankees cap rather than any magical ability of his own.
 * Communication with Others: By giving someone the Eye of Horus symbol, that person can contact him simply by calling his name wherever he is and he can find them. It is unknown if he can communicate back with others this way, but can at least be contacted like this.

Path of Horus

 * Enhanced Abilities: With the power of Horus, Carter can summon the physical abilities of the war god into himself. Carter describes his skin turning as thick as steel and his muscles becoming as powerful as hydraulic pistons. In this augmented state, Carter's strength is able to rival the Apis Bull's and he has mentioned that he can easily smash the massive dining table at Brooklyn House to pieces. Carter also becomes fast enough to match the Apis Bull's charge. In this enhanced state, Carter also has the eyesight of a falcon and his reflexes are increased. As the Eye of Horus, Carter was able to carve a path for him and Sadie with his immense strength although the entire tunnel collapsed as a result.
 * Fist of Horus: This spell summons the fist of his combat avatar. Carter used this with sympathetic magic both times he used it in the Red Pyramid and the Throne of Fire. He can also use the Fist of Horus by speaking khefa, the Divine Word for 'fist'. It was able to hurl Set away, although it did not do any damage, and break the magic-augmented doors of Menshikov's palace. In The Serpent's Shadow, Carter speaks Ha-wi, the Divine Word for 'Strike', and summons the Fist of Horus to repel Bloodstained Blade. Later, he used this to send Percy Jackson flying out of his shoes dozens of feet.
 * Combat Avatar: By channeling the power of Horus, Carter can summon the war god's combat avatar; a glowing blue twenty-feet-tall hawk-headed warrior with a blade of energy, which mirrors Carter's khopesh. Whilst using the hawk warrior, Carter has tremendous strength, endurance, durability, and Horus' aptitude with weapons. Similar to his other enhancements, Carter gains the eyesight of a falcon and sees in red. With combat magic, Carter rivals experienced magicians, magicians hosting gods, and even gods themselves. In The Red Pyramid, Carter was able to send the Set animal to the Duat in this form and was later complimented by Bast for his feat. However, the only weakness is that Carter's speed is drastically reduced and he cannot use combat magic for a very long time as it depletes his magical reserves. Whilst in the Duat, instead of being encased in it, Carter himself transforms into the hawk warrior since magic flows more strongly there.
 * Communication: Even after releasing him, Carter is able to converse with Horus, which started late in the Throne of Fire, when the war god spoke to him in the Duat. The better he becomes at channeling Horus, the stronger their mental communication become. In the Serpent's Shadow, their communication is now so good that when Setne tried to use his magical persuasion on Carter, Horus was able to warn the latter. Carter can also get help from Horus on using divine magic although the war god usually only assists in emergency situations.
 * Duat Travel: With tapped energy from Horus, Carter can enter a palace like Menshikov's and bypass the security. To do this, it requires a lot of effort as Carter describes; there is also a need for papyrus and ink to do the proper travels.

Eye of Horus Abilities
Carter was the former host of Horus, and became the Eye of Horus later on. He chose to give up the war god at the end of the Red Pyramid and lost some powerful magic. In the last battle against Apophis, Carter became the Eye of Horus again and regained usage of these abilities. These include:
 * Controlled Ba Travel: As the Eye of Horus, Carter can send his ba to the throneroom of the gods and summon them to combat. He can also change his appearance although the gods see him as Horus the Avenger.
 * Chop of Horus: After fusing with Horus a second time in The Serpent's Shadow, Carter displayed use of a karate chop with the power of Horus and it was able to destroy slabs of stone entrapping Bes. However, due to his inexperience with it, Carter broke a few bones in his hand.
 * Seals: Carter had the ability to put seals on doors and gates to enforce them with power. These doors or gates are imprinted with the Eye of Horus. This seal isn't tremendously strong and is only valuable for a short while.

Magical Items

 * Khopesh: After taking a khopesh from Brooklyn House, it became Carter's main offensive weapon. During The Red Pyramid, Carter loses it in Luxor although retrieves it during his fight with the Set animal. He continues to use this khopesh until getting bitten by the tjesu heru in The Throne of Fire. In The Serpent's Shadow, Carter uses a new khopesh although loses it again in the fight with a massive hippo demon. In The Son of Sobek, Carter has gotten a new khopesh and is currently using it. Carter can also use his khopesh to set up a blue shielding spell by stabbing his sword into the ground and channeling his magic through it.
 * Wand: After getting himself a new kit in the First Nome, Carter used his wand through The Red Pyramid and The Throne of Fire, until his encounter with the water demons. He later used his wand from his father's tool kit and is still using it. He can summon a shield of force around himself, by focusing his will. By thrusting his wand, Carter can send walls of energy into his opponents. Carter can also send a burst of magic into anything his wand is in contact with to shock them although this does not apply to demigods. This is Carter's main defensive weapon.
 * Crook and Flail: Once he lost his khopesh and wand, Carter used the crook and flail of Ra in a brief fight against Menshikov. Before that, Carter used them to shatter the dazed Zia's staff by making an X formation. By lashing the crook and flail through the air and using his mind, he can direct a telekinetic force towards his enemies, which becomes more effective whilst using combat magic. Additionally, because the flail channels Ra's power, Carter has limited fire magic; such as summoning columns of fire and setting the flail on fire. Carter was even able to injure Apophis after he attacked him in a rage with flail, causing three burn marks to appear on the Serpent's neck that did not heal. Carter was allowed to keep these by Ra after the battle. Afterwards, he left them on the throne after becoming Pharaoh of the House of Life.
 * Julius Kane's Kit: Once his father, Julius, became Osiris' host, Carter kept his magician kit so as to protect his memory. He later stows the kit in his Duat locker, but takes his father's wand to replace his own lost one in The Throne of Fire.
 * Staff: Carter was given a staff by Zia in The Red Pyramid. He never used it in the books. Carter gave Sadie his staff to use to replace her broken one and stuck to his khopesh. Sadie uses his staff until The Throne of Fire when his griffin Freak eats his staff.

Relationships

 * Percy Jackson: Percy and Carter originally have clashing personalities and try to fight each other at first with water and magic. Despite this, they become allies and work together to defeat the Son of Sobek. Carter puts the eye of Horus on Percy's palm so that if he says "Carter" he will be summoned. The two later work together to defeat Setne.


 * Sadie Kane: Sadie is Carter's younger sister. When they were younger, they fought a lot, causing their magic to activate early and destroy a cake on at least one instance. As a result, after being separated for eight years and only being allowed to see each other twice a year, Sadie was a near-stranger to him. However, after the start of their adventures, Carter and Sadie became closer, with the two able to have silent conversations with each other just through looks and growing to have great trust for each other. In The Throne of Fire, Carter even told Sadie his secret name, albeit to save his life, something someone only tells another person when they are the closest to them. As a result, Sadie grew to understand Carter a lot more, but Carter was freaked out and embarrassed. Sadie supports Carter as the leader of their team and Carter usually supports Sadie and her plans, even if he doesn't totally agree with them.


 * Julius Kane: After the death of his mother, Carter traveled all over the world with his father and was very close to him. However, Carter secretly resented not having a normal life though he did enjoy his traveling one and was forced to dress impeccably by his father so no one would have a bad opinion of him. Carter realized that his father needed someone to be strong for him and Carter was that person, but Carter did resent it a bit. After his father became the permanent host of Osiris, Carter was glad to be able to visit him in the Duat and started becoming his own person, dressing as he wanted as a normal teenager rather than as his father wanted. However, Sadie believes that Julius would be proud of him doing that and Julius has been shown to support Carter's decisions.


 * Horus: Carter hosted the god and became friends with him, but would become frequently annoyed by him. Horus at first always demanded control of Carter's body and tended to be arrogant and obnoxious, though Carter grew fond of him. Carter picked up some of Horus' traits from their brief merge and Horus developed respect and trust for him in return. However, when Carter brings back Ra, Horus is furious with him and it strains their relationship with Horus threatening him with terrible punishment if they fail to defeat Apophis and worse if he's defeated without Ra's help, though he promises to keep sharing his power with Carter and publicly supports Carter and calls him his brother. This strain apparently didn't last long as Horus visits Carter in person through a pigeon to give him advice and talks with him about magic that is completely forbidden by the gods, showing a level of trust that even Thoth didn't show. After Carter and Sadie destroy Apophis, Horus leaves Carter without even a goodbye and Carter believes Horus just used him and was never his friend, just discarding him when he didn't need him anymore. However, according to Bast, this is not so, Horus just had to go and a god would never treat someone like that. Horus apparently also rips off Carter's own acceptance speech for the pharaoh of the House of Life for his own speech as the restored pharaoh of the gods which Bast explains is because Horus will now mirror Carter.


 * Walt Stone: Walt is Carter's best friend and unofficial lieutenant at Brooklyn House. Carter comes to rely on Walt a lot and supports his relationship with Sadie, encouraging him to get with her. Carter is saddened to learn about his impending death from his curse and tries to think of a way to save him with a similar fervor to Sadie to no success. Walt does inform him that he has a possible way to extend his life, but refuses to disclose more than that before he tells Sadie. When Walt becomes the host of Anubis, it doesn't change Carter's opinion of him and he encourages Sadie to have a relationship with both Walt and Anubis, both guys she loves, which she now has a chance to do. When Carter and Sadie return to Brooklyn House and find Walt/Anubis there waiting, Carter leaves them alone to give them and Sadie time with each other, respecting their need for privacy.


 * Zia Rashid: Carter first met Zia at the British Museum where she was stopped from killing him while he was defenseless by Desjardins. This made him afraid of her at first, but after encountering her again as an ally at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, he becomes enamored by her, eventually falling in love with her. Encountering her in her shrine in the First Nome, Carter learns of her past and her lack of a real life and is saddened, promising to take her on a date at a mall after everything is over, so she can experience the life of a real teenager. He is able to convince her to let them go at Luxor and she later joins them in New Mexico in their quest to stop Set and the two grow closer. Carter is devastated when Zia dies after the battle and is shocked but happy to realize that she is actually a shabti and dedicates himself to finding her, sure she will have her shabti's memories and remember their connection and be with him. In 'The Throne of Fire' Carter admits he'd fallen in love with her and devastated when she'd turned out be a Shabti. Soon Carter becomes obsessed with her and is saddened when after rescuing the real Zia, she rejects him completely, but gets hope again when she thanks him for what he did, but asks for time apart to figure things out. Later, Zia even touches him on the arm and promises to discuss their relationship when everything settles down. The two communicate by scrying bowl for months, growing closer and when they meet face to face again for the first time in months, Zia takes his hand to calm him down when he gets angry at Sadie, which works. Throughout the journey that follows, Carter tries to bring himself to express his feelings for Zia to her, but gets interrupted or loses the nerve. After Zia kills Bloodstained Blade, the two have a picnic on the beach of the Land of Demons and Zia admits her attraction to him and finally kisses him, admitting that part of the reason she is reluctant to be with him is she is afraid of losing him like everyone else she has loved. When its all over, Carter finally takes Zia on the promised date to a mall, making a lot of guys jealous and is shocked to find out that she is moving to Brooklyn House to be a normal teenager and to be with him. Carter stutters out his acceptance and Zia shuts him up by kissing him, no magic necessary.