Kharon's a Gold-rank Limbo demon with great power to control water up to the point of even influencing the tides and waves of the oceans, as well as to ferry the souls of the dead from the mortal world to Purgatory or Hell via the River Styx. Kharon is responsible for delivering any souls that died at sea or died via drowning, and even Heaven's Death Angel Dumah officially recognizes Kharon's role and lets him be (although the two have fought in the past, particularly over the fact that Kharon has not only used his boat to deliver mortals to the celestial realm, but also delivered demons to the mortal realm through liminal spaces located in the ocean). Although Hell has no full reapers like Heaven does, Kharon is the closest thing Hell has to one. For this reason, he is the second-highest ranking Limbo demon, behind only the Circle's leader, Ghost (and is in fact older than Ghost). However, Kharon's great power comes with a price: Kharon can never set foot on land. He can swim or stand on his boat, or dock at a shore, but he can never walk on solid ground. 

     Kharon's peculiar circumstance comes primarily from his unusual birth. Most demons are born in Hell and THEN 'baptized' in the Styx to reveal their ranking metals and symbolize their entry to Hell as a demon. Instead, Kharon's mother gave birth to him directly IN the Styx, disrespecting the River. For soiling the River in this way, Kharon was cursed to be bound to water for life; to become intertwined with the River forever; to become its ferryman and feed it more souls to sanctify it and undo the harm done by his unusual birth.  

     Instead of his ranking metal emerging normally as a collar upon being 'baptized', his unusual baptism-birth caused his metal to emerge under him as he was born: forming a magical, infant-sized boat to carry him safely, in which a piece of his very soul is locked after it was split off thanks to the River's interjection in his development: another part of his curse. As he grew, he gradually built onto his life-raft using materials tossed to him by demons ashore of the Styx who were fascinated by him. Nowadays, only the figurehead of the boat is made of his original ranking-metal, which is also where the boat's power lies. Because the boat is part of his own soul, it possesses powers of its own, and is able to change its shape and size to look like any kind of sea vessel (although the distinct figurehead always remains unchanged and identifiable).  Kharon may also change his fashion AND his boat to blend in with mortal sailors of the region/time he's visiting. When his ship is large enough to require crewmates, any mortal souls that have joined him as part of a pact become part of his ghostly crew. In fact, many "ghost pirate ship" sightings from mortals have in fact been Kharon and his crew.  In some mortal cultures, he is believed to be a god/spirit of the sea, or a protector of sailors and their ghosts. 

     Another odd bit of trivia about Kharon is his love for oranges (perhaps he wants to set a good example for mortal sailors to avoid scurvy?). This is supposedly the origin for a mortal funerary practice that involves casting an orange into the sea for someone who died at sea or drowned, especially if the body was never recovered, to ensure the ferryman finds them safely and delivers them to the aftrelife. Even if they die on land, oranges are also often present at the funerals of sailors.