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 was Claymore No. 1 of the 77th generation of Claymores and is considered to be one of the eight most powerful Claymores of all time, possibly even being the strongest of those eight.

She was known as "Teresa of the Faint Smile" (微笑のテレサ, Bishō no Teresa, literally "Smiling Teresa") for effortlessly killing yoma and awakened beings with a faint smile on her face. Her power was such that she rarely had to use even 10% of her yoki in battle.

Etymology
"Teresa" is a transliteration of the Japanese "Teresa" (テレサ, pronounced "te-re-sah" or "te-re-zah").

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 deity.

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 once long, black hair and dark eyes, and was permanently haunted by the betrayal of those she trusted for her to be sold out to the Organization.

Claymore: Teresa has long, wavy, pale blonde hair parted down the middle, which she wears loose. She has silver eyes like all other 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" when she was a trainee. .

Before Teresa met Clare, Teresa was a cold-blooded, solitary killer who would accept any assignment without complaint. But Clare changes Teresa - she opens emotionally and acts maternal. In Irene's opinion, this leads to Teresa's death.

Abilities
Teresa rates high in every aspect taken into account; she has enough physical strength to twist off an awakened Rosemary's arm, she is fast enough to be able to block Irene's Quicksword, her yoki perception and yoki levels are superior to most warriors and she has good mental strength and proficient leadership capabilities.

Acute Yoki Sensing
Teresa possesses a rare level of yoki sensing. Teresa can sense the movements and flow of yoki in Yoma and Claymores alike, accurately predicting their every move. As a little child Teresa was able to track down Rafaela, who totally erased her aura after the incident with her big sister, in the woods. If Rafaela's aura was already gone this would mean that Teresa even as a little child had better sensing abilities than the blind Galatea, who couldn't detect the Seven Ghosts in Rabona during the fight with the awakened number two Agatha. It is possible that Clare inherits this ability after Teresa's flesh and blood implanted into her.

Yoki
Augmenting her already-superior physical qualities is her near-unrivaled yoki; a mere ten-percent release was enough to frighten and kill a fully-awakened Rosemary(whose power was likely to have been enough to rival that of any of the Abyssal Ones) and defeat a near-awakened Priscilla.

Organization Rating
From Claymore Databook 1.

These ratings are most likely invalid because Teresa had always kept her true power hidden from both the Organization and her fellow warriors. After she slaughtered Rosemary, Teresa lied to her handler when she was asked about her damaged clothes and gear, telling him that she ran into a horde of yoma instead of fighting and killing an awakened former number one. Despite the handler's knowing that yoma normally weren't able to even scratch Teresa of the Faint Smile, he chose to believe her story because the idea of Teresa defeating an awakened number one in such a short amount of time without suffering fatal injuries was unthinkable.
 * Yoki: S (Special Level of Ability)
 * Agility: A
 * Muscular Strength: A
 * Spirit: A
 * Perception: S
 * Leadership: B

Her acquaintances were also unable to gauge the extent of her strength, as evidenced when Irene realized during her, Sophia, Noel and Priscilla's fight with Teresa that she had underestimated Teresa's fighting ability again.

Early Life
Teresa's early life is vague. She guesses that her parents named her Teresa after one of the Twin Goddesses of Love. In her dreams, she remembers having black hair that she believes to be her best feature. At some point in her life, she is sold to the Organization by the people she trusted (whether her family or the town she is from, it is never said).

During her Claymore training, she is called a "problem child" by a handler. In one of her escapes out of the school, she meets Rafaela in a Yoma-infested forest.

As a Claymore, Teresa is a cold-blooded killer who cares for no one, performing her assignments in a blase manner. She likes to frighten clients with horror stories. But she keeps some secrets from the Organization, while suspecting them of the worst.

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 annoyance, she becomes fond of her. Teresa names the girl Clare, after the Twin Goddesses of Love, Clare and Teresa. 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 here, Teresa openly shows her affection to Clare without holding back her emotions. But she leaves Clare with foster parents in Rokut, believing a normal life would still be best for Clare. However, the village is 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
By breaking the Organization cardinal rule, Teresa is targeted for death. At an execution party of five Claymores, Teresa disables all with one sword stroke. She says she must live for Clare.

Priscilla (Claymore No. 2), Irene (No. 3), Noel (No. 4) and Sophia (No. 5) are now assigned to execute Teresa. But the hit squad is little more than an organized mob—the leader, Priscilla—cannot lead. Teresa defeats them easily.Teresa considers killing Priscilla because she senses Priscilla may one day surpass her. However, Clare has softened her warrior heart. She spares Priscilla. Teresa leaves town with Clare.

Priscilla pursues Teresa and attacks in blind rage. Priscilla releases 70% yoki, still losing to Teresa, who releases 10%. Priscilla begs Teresa to euthanize her before she fully awakens. But Teresa hesitates too long and Priscilla picks up a sword and decapitates her. This is unusual since awakened beings usually rely on their limbs or transform parts of their bodies to resemble weapons with which they attack. This cast some doubt over whether Priscilla deliberately lured in Teresa to strike her down when she least expected it and subsequently fully awakened.

Clare decides on using the Organization as a venue for revenge. She carries Teresa's head, searching for a man-in-black. She finds Rubel. She demands Teresa's flesh and blood be put in inside her own body.

Clare
At first Teresa is irritated by Clare's persistence in following her. Eventually, she becomes attached to her and develop a mother-daughter relationship.

Irene
While Irene shows familiarity with Teresa at the start of the battle, it is unclear what sort of friendship, if any, existed 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."