Teresa

"This little girl, who's not even half my size... taught me that tears can flow even from these silver eyes." –Teresa of the Faint Smile

Teresa is Claymore No. 1 of her generation and is considered one of the most powerful Claymores (Scene 110).

She is known as "Teresa of the Faint Smile" (微笑のテレサ, Bishō no Teresa, literally Smiling Teresa) for effortlessly kiiling Yoma with a faint smile on her face. She is so powerful that she rarely, if ever, has to use even 10% of her yoki in battle.

Her rise to No. 1 leads to the demotion of the previous No. 1, Rosemary, who, angered by Teresa's promotion, challenges her to a duel as an Awakened Being. Not long into the fight, Teresa kills her, releasing only 10% of her yoki.

Etymology
"Teresa" is a transliteration of the Japanese "Teresa" (テレサ, pronounced "teriiza").

In the West, "Teresa" is originally a 4th Century Spanish name. Confined to Spain and Portugal until the 17th Century. Possibly derived from the Greek "theros" ("heat" or "summer"), or "therizo" ("to harvest"). Or the Greek island of "Therasia," which may be the name of an ancient diety.

In the series, Teresa is depicted as one of the Twin Goddesses of Love (the other being Clare).

Appearance
Human: In a dream, Teresa remembers her long black hair and dark eyes. And still haunted by being betrayed by those she trusted and sold out to the Organization.

Claymore: Teresa has long wavy pale blond hair parted down the middle which she wears loose. She has silver eyes like all of the Claymores.

180cm (5ft 10.86in—same height as Irene).

Personality
When she was a child, Teresa always attempted to escape. She was known as a problem child at the Claymore training school.

Before Teresa met Clare, she was a coldhearted, solitary Claymore who would accept any job given to her without complaint. When she met Clare, she became less secluded and adopted maternal instincts. In Irene's opinion, this is what led to her death.

Abilities
Acute Yoki Sensing: According to Irene, Teresa's superiority was in her unparalleled ability to sensing yoki. Not only did it allow her to sense the yoki emitted from yoma, but also see the movement and flow of yoki itself. This gave Teresa the ability to predict movements and attack or defend accordingly.

Unrivaled Yoki Power and Skills: Teresa is shown to be unmatched in strength and skills as a warrior. She twisted off the awakened Rosemary's limb with ease and slayed her with a single sword movement while only at 10% of yoki release. Her ability to sense moves beforehand is just one factor that makes her formidable, but Teresa's true strength lies in her unparalleled yoki. This is confirmed when Irene realized that Teresa's little release of yoki overpowered Priscilla's yoki by a lot despite her releasing so much.

Organization Rating: (From Claymore Databook 1)


 * Yoki: S (Special Level of Ability)


 * Agility: A


 * Muscular Strength: A


 * Spirit: A


 * Perception: S


 * Leadership: B

Early Life
Teresa's early life is vague. She guesses that her parents named her Teresa after one of the twin goddesses of love. During her youth, she was said to have black hair that was believed to be her best feature. At some point in her life, she was sold to the Organization by the people she trusted (whether that is her family or the village she is from, it is never said).

During her training to becoming a Claymore she was referred to as a "problem child" by her handlers. In one of her escapades, she ran into Rafaela.

As a Claymore, Teresa was a cold-blooded killer who cared for no one, only helping villages because she was ordered to. She also took great pleasure in scaring the humans she met during her various missions. Teresa was very solitary and rarely had contact with any of the other Claymores in the organization (she was surprised when Rosemary sent her a Black Card). She kept various secrets from her handlers, and severely distrusted the Organization.

Time with Clare
While in the village of Teo, Teresa kills six Yoma. But she senses a seventh. She spots the Yoma hiding behind a young girl. After killing the Yoma, Teresa discovers the girl was kept as a prisoner and toy of the Yoma.

Despite rebuffs to the mysterious girl's attempts at affection, the girl persists. The mystery girl follows Teresa through the wilderness. Despite Teresa's initial irritatation, she eventually grows fond of her. Teresa names the girl Clare, after the twin goddesses, Teresa and Clare. Clare awakens Teresa's lost compassion, leading Teresa to say:

"This young girl, whose small body is only half the size of mine, taught me that tears can, too, flow from these silver eyes."

From this point onward, Teresa openly shows her affection to Clare without holding back her emotions (i.e. buying her clothes and allowing her to sleep on her lap), but eventually, she leaves Clare in a village, believing that a normal life with humans would still be better for her. However, the village is soon raided by bandits and Teresa rushes back to save her. Seeing Clare's bloodied form, Teresa flies into a rage and kills the bandits, breaking the rule that a Claymore should never kill humans, no matter what the circumstances.

Battle with Priscilla
Because she killed humans, the Claymore organization marks her for death. It dispatches a team of five Claymores of unknown ranks to execute her. Teresa cuts them down but does not kill the Claymores, stating that Clare has become her reason to live.

Claymore No. 2 through 5 (Priscilla, Irene, Noel, and Sophia) are then assembled to kill her. During the beginning of the battle, Teresa was secretly alarmed of Priscilla's power. However, Teresa defeats them all without even releasing her Yōma power.

She intentionally spares the lives of Claymores No. 3 to No. 5, but considered killing Priscilla because she sensed that she would, in the future, come to surpass her. However, her relationship with Clare had mellowed her, and she ultimately decides to let Priscilla live. Teresa leaves the town with Clare, leaving her former comrades wounded.

Even so, Priscilla pursues and attacks her in blind rage. In her anger, she releases her Yōma powers and nearly Awakens, but Teresa defeats her again while releasing only 10% of her power. It can be presumed that her Yōma powers exceeded Priscilla even though she was at over 70%. Priscilla then cries and begs Teresa to give her a merciful death before she fully Awakens, but as soon as Teresa drops her guard, Priscilla picks up a sword, attacks and decapitates her.

Though if Teresa had not let her guard down she would have beheaded Priscilla. Teresa's severed head is then taken by Clare who carries it until she finds a member of the Organization. She begs him to place Teresa's remains inside her own body, becoming a Claymore in order to exact revenge against Teresa's killer.

Clare
When Teresa first met Clare, she was irritated by her persistence in following her. Eventually, she began to get attached to her and they shared a mother-daughter relationship. According to Irene, it was this that led to her losing her cold-hearted nature and led to her death.

Irene
Though it is never explained, when Teresa met Irene at the start of the battle, she hinted at being friends with her beforehand.

Behind the Scenes

 * Teresa's voice actor is Romi Paku and her English voice actor is Christine Auten.
 * She has a song on the Claymore Intimate Persona CD called "Tensei" meaning "Reincarnation."