Rigardo

Rigardo was Claymore No. 2 of Isley's generation. Even though he was assigned the rank number two, he simply would not accept that Isley hold the position as number one, telling him he would not acknowledge being referred to as No. 2, as long as he and Isley had not crossed swords once.

Etymology
"Rigardo" (Rigald or Rigaldo in some translations) is a transliteration of the Japanese "Rigarudo" (リガルド).

"Rigardo" may have been derived from "Ricardo," a Hispanic variant of "Richard," a masculine proper name, from the Middle English Rycharde, from the Old French Richard, from the Old High German Ricohard, from the Proto-Germanic words rik meaning "ruler" and harthu meaning "hard." One of the most popular names introduced by the Normans. This may also be a reference to King Richard I of England who's nickname was Richard the Lionheart referencing both his Awakened Form & nickname.

His nickname is "Silver-Eyed Lion King" in most translations. in Scene 56, Isley questioned Rigardo's maturity, calling him "銀眼の獅子王," or "Gin gan no shishiō," meaning "Silver-Eyed Lion King." Rigardo disliked it for obvious reasons.

Human
Rigardo appeared as a man in his early 20's. He had black hair and silver eyes. He could have possibly been blind as a human judging by the lifeless appearance of his eyes. As a Claymore his fate was not implicated.

Awakened Form
His Awakened form resembled a silver-eyed, humanoid lion-ish creature with a wolfs' elongated snout, and is 3 m in height.

Personality
Rigardo appears calm and composed, which combined with his raw power, allowed him to be Isley's strongest and most efficient henchman. However, Isley reveals that he has witnessed a hidden, berserker-like side to Rigardo's personality that only shows up in battle, "Once your fuse has been lit, there's no stopping you" (Anime) which also made Rigardo the most bloodthirsty of all those in his army.

Abilities
Being far smaller in stature than the average Awakened Being, Rigardo relied more on his correspondingly superior speed and agility in battle. His speed easily matched that of Miria, one of the fastest Claymores of her generation, and his greater Yoki allowed him to maintain it without tiring.

For long-range and surprise attacks, Rigardo extended his claws at high speed, much the same way Yoma and other Awakened Beings hyper extended their fingers. His control over this skill was so great he could bend and change the trajectory of his elongated claws, allowing him to strike opponents above or behind him and can fire his claws at high speed. In contrast to his offensive capability, Rigardo was lacking in regenerative powers, and could not regenerate lost limbs quickly.

Past and Early Life
Rigardo was Claymore No. 2 of the first generation also known as Isley's generation—a time when male warriors were still being created. After Awakening and getting defeated by Isley, he joined the latter's army to take control of the northern lands. Even after more than seventy-eight generations of being an Awakened Being, Rigardo still remembers everything about his life as a Claymore and his battle with Isley.

History
In Extra Scene 3 set sometime between Priscilla's Awakening and the Northern Campaign, Rigardo was sent by Isley to stop Priscilla. Isley, who underestimated Priscilla's Yoki, didn't realize how powerful she was. Rigardo fought Priscilla and was soundly defeated. Isley, then, came to battle Priscilla himself. Rigardo comments that Priscilla's Yoki seemed limitless.

Northern Campaign
During the Northern Campaign, Rigardo was dispatched to kill off the twenty-four Claymores sent against Isley's army. He deduced Miria's tactic of dividing the warriors into teams, and began by eliminating the five team captains, who were also the strongest Claymores present.

Of the five (Miria, Flora, Jean, Veronica, and Undine), at the very end, Miria was the only captain to survive his assault. Jean was mortally wounded, while the other three were killed instantly. He intentionally ignored the weaker members in favor of focusing solely on the captains, which let Clare exclusively awaken her legs in order to keep up with Rigardo's immense speed which was shown when Miria had to abuse her Phantom Mirage in order to keep up with him. At first, Clare bursted in speed to save Miria and miraculously managed to attain such stupendous speed that even Rigardo had lost track for a moment and thus lost his right arm. After that, Rigardo began to pay more attention to Clare, She then realized that she was going to need more speed and eventually awakened completely in order to kill the scourgious Rigardo with all of her passion. Upon his death Rigardo adds a remark in which alludes that Clare's resolve as warrior is laudable.

Isley
Although he did not get along with Isley, he worked for him and Priscilla during the Northern Campaign, having been defeated by both.

Clare
During the Northern Campaign, when he mortally wounded Jean and split Flora down the middle, Clare kept attacking him trying to avenge her friends and protect Miria, but he easily blocked all of her attacks and continued to taunt her, calling her a "weakling" or "small fry". When she forced her legs to awaken to prevent him from beheading Miria, he commented on her decision "If anything I have to give you credit for originality." Upon realizing she couldn't fully control her awakened legs he taunted her again by calling her weak. But he was shocked to discover that she learned to control her abnormal speed in mere minutes, and he claimed that he hadn't fought that hard in ages (since his battle with Isley). He began sensing the adrenaline the the "boiling blood" he had longed for, and made it his personal mission to kill Clare. When she gained the upper hand and dealt a series of killing blows, he reflected on their fight and how she was much better than he had thought, and his last thoughts before being dismembered was "she's amazing!" or "how magnificent!" (from the manga and various subtitle choices)