Galatea

Galatea is Claymore No. 3 of Clare's generation. Galatea is a defensive type Claymore. Through her brilliant yoki perception, she earned the title "God-Eye Galatea" (神眼のガラテア, Shingan no Garatea). Along with her prowess as a spy, she claims that the strength she gains from her yoki release is the highest of her generation.

Etymology
"Galatea" is a transliteration of the Japanese "Garatea" (ガラテア, pronounced "ga-ra-te-a").

"Galatea" is a feminine proper name, from the Greek Γαλάτεια, meaning "she who is milk-white." This may refer to pureness of spirit or the fact that Galatea's eyes became white as a result of blindness due to her willingly refusing to heal them.

Galatea was a statue brought to life by Aphrodite because her sculptor, Pygmalion, loved her so. The statue represents the nymph Galatea, a character of the Greek mythology. This may allude to the special treatment she received from the Organization due to her usefulness.

"Galatea" is also a name for one of Neptune's moons.

Appearance
Apart from the silver eyes, standard Claymore uniform, and sword, Galatea distinguishes herself from the other warriors by having extremely long, straight, flowing blonde hair. She is also the tallest known female warrior. She is frequently seen with a smug expression on her face.

Although most of the characters' biological ages are unknown, Galatea appears slightly more mature compared to other warriors, who often appear to be in their late teens or early twenties.

Height: 185 cm (6 ft 0.83 in)

As Sister Latea, Galatea is pretty much the same, except for her eyes, which now have cataracts. Apart from these, a jagged scar runs across her face to mark the wound that destroyed her sight.

Personality
Tall, graceful, and dignified, Galatea also exhibits arrogance and vanity, a personality to match her high rank. She takes great pride in both her physical appearance and abilities. Her narcissism sometimes puts her at a disadvantage as she refuses to unleash her full might until late in a battle. She is also reluctant to release her yoki because it contorts her face and body and, by doing so, it "goes against her idea of beauty." When Galatea released 10% of her yoki while fighting Dauf she said he would have to bear with her "ugly face" for a while, because of the golden eyes. In another instance, she gets annoyed when Clare accidentally cuts her hair with the Windcutter while fighting Agatha. In battle and casual conversations alike, Galatea likes to use her wit and sarcasm to throw jibes at enemies and even, occasionally, her allies.

After the seven-year timeskip, when she hides in Rabona as a blind nun looking after children, we see a softer side to Galatea's character. The children see her as a mother figure and she, in turn, felt obliged to protect Rabona whenever the city was in danger. She also seems to have let some of her haughtiness go over time. This possibly occurs as a result of the great personal sacrifice it must have been to blind herself and accept the permanent scar afterwards. When Miria comments about Galatea's lack of regret over her blindness, Galatea replied "Rabona is more important to me than the light."

Galatea acts as a sort of guide and mother figure to the other Claymores as well, since she appears to be the most mature physically and the most experienced among them. Her yoki perception also leads her ability to understand others emotionally and psychologically, as seen when she accurately read the gestures and emotions of Miria, Deneve, Helen and Clare in the Paburo Mountains and when she analyzed and shared her views over Miria's true motives against the Organization.

Wide-Range Yoki Sensing
Galatea can sense yoki over long distances, well out of the sensing range of other Claymores. She can sense faraway emotions and movements as if up close. Blindness only increased her power to the point where she "sees" more than the sighted. She can even sense the yoki of warriors who have masked their energy or taken yoki-suppressant pills.

Yoki Manipulation
thumb|right|300pxGalatea can manipulate her opponents' physical movements and change the trajectories of their attacks by aligning her yoki with theirs. This yoki alignment technique only works when the opponent is caught off guard. According to Riful, however ,Galatea is unable to fully control yoki to the point where she can completely halt someone's attacks, and her manipulation technique has little effect against concentrated full-powered attacks.

Organization Rating
From Claymore Databook 2.


 * Yoki: A


 * Agility: B


 * Muscular Strength: B+


 * Spirit: A


 * Perception: A+


 * Leadership: B

Employment as a Claymore
Nothing is known about Galatea's early life.

She is first seen acting as the Organization's "Eye," observing the Paburo Hunting Party with her handler, Ermita. She reads their emotions, the tide of battle, and Deneve's recovery from awakening. Ermita orders her to memorize the four warriors' auras in case she has to fight them in the future.

When Clare goes missing after an Awakened Being hunt in Gonal with Ophelia, Galatea is sent to find her. She finds Clare in an abandoned castle (the Witch's Maw) on Mount Zakol. Clare had been caught by Dauf. She manipulates Dauf into dropping Clare, catches her, and then tries to leave. Dauf caves in the entrance, preventing Galatea from escaping with Clare.

Forced to fight, Galatea manipulates Dauf's yoki to avoid his attacks and land her own hits, easily gaining the upper hand. However, when Riful enlightens Dauf about the secret behind Galatea's trick, the tide of the battle changes. She orders Clare to retrieve Jean downstairs while she holds off Dauf.

After winning the battle against Dauf and Riful's subsequent departure, Galatea tries to bring Clare back with her, but Jean interferes. Galatea chooses discretion over conflict, and retreats. Galatea tries to report mission failure, but the Organization knows the truth. They send Rubel and Rafaela to give Clare the message—report back to the Organization, or else.

During the end of the Northern Campaign, Galatea openly expresses her disapproval at the Organization for using her fellow warriors, albeit the "troublesome ones," as pawns to give them time to complete Alicia and Beth.

Galatea becomes further disenchanted with the Organization after Rubel tells her how "the Black Ones," Alicia and Beth, were brainwashed since infancy. The revelation of how the two warriors came to be shocks her deeply, and she deserts the Organization during the seven-year timeskip.

Seven Years Later
Galatea finds refuge in Rabona, where Claymores were forbidden. To stay in the city, she destroys her eyes to conceal their silver color. She becomes a nun and uses the false name "Sister Latea." She becomes popular with the orphans, who see her as a mother figure.

While in Rabona, Galatea detects the presence of an Awakened Being (Agatha). She releases yoki to lure Claymores to the city, hoping they will recognize the threat Agatha presents and help defeat her. When "Tracker" Dietrich detects the yoki, a hit squad comprised of Clarice and Miata is sent to Rabona to take Galatea's head.

The assassination attempt is interrupted by Agatha's invasion. Soon, a three-way fight escalates until Miata and Galatea are both down, the latter missing an arm and pinned to a wall by several spikes. At the last moment, the Seven Ghosts appear—Clare, Miria, Helen, Deneve, Cynthia, Tabitha, and Yuma- and rescue Galatea and the others. Agatha, at the end of her rope, attempts to use Galatea as a hostage to bargain with, but is effortlessly killed by Clare. After the battle, Miria persuades Father Vincent to allow Galatea, Clarice and Miata stay in the city.

Later, Galatea witnesses Miria's attack on Tabitha, but does not make any attempt to stop her from doing so or from leaving Rabona. However, as Miria leaves, Galatea questions her as to if she wants to throw herself into Hell, though says nothing more. Galatea realizes that since Alicia and Beth are otherwise preoccupied, Miria may think this is the perfect time to attack the Organization at Staff.

Tabitha says she would have followed Miria in order to help. However, Galatea counters, saying that Miria is capable of the one thing most Claymores will not do—take human life, if need be, to destroy the Organization.

Afterwards, Rabona becomes besieged by numerous yoma and Awakened Beings. Galatea defends the city along with Tabitha, Miata and Clarice. The human forces also help, led by Galk and Sid. The humans, Clarice, and Miata deal mostly with the yoma while Galatea and Tabitha lure the Awakened Beings. After some time, Helen, Deneve, Yuma, Cynthia, and Dietrich arrive to provide support and the city is saved.

In the aftermath, Galatea explains that the attack on Rabona only meant one thing—Miria had failed to destroy the Organization, and this was their retaliation. She also stated that it was unlikely that Miria was still alive.

Afterwards, Helen leads Galatea to try to decipher the dark, grotesque mass that remained after The Destroyer engulfed Priscilla and the surrounding area. Galatea lies, saying all she could tell was that the thing had yoki and was alive. However, it is later revealed that she knew that both Clare and Priscilla were inside, with Clare and "something else" sealing Priscilla's movements.

Galatea later watches on as Deneve and Tabitha come to blows over Tabitha's attempt to leave and attack the Organization on her own. After the fight is stopped and the remaining Ghosts, plus Dietrich, prepare to leave the city, she chooses to stay behind with Clarice and Miata to protect Rabona. She muses that, while she never believed in God, she seriously feels like praying for the first time.

Ermita
Galatea's handler, Ermita, charges her mostly with spy work and reconnaissance missions due to her abilities. She treats him with little respect and even goes so far as to challenge his motives, using her wit on him. Galatea refers to him as a "wily fox" in the manga. In the anime, Galatea refers to him as "old man."

Clare
At first, Galatea mocks Clare for being so light, but her estimate of Clare rises as the fight escalates. Galatea regards Clare with interest, being someone who can willingly push past her limits and come back again. Galatea appears surprised when she manages to manipulate Clare's yoki to bring her back from the brink of a near-awakening. When they meet again after seven years, they greet each other like old friends, exchanging pleasantries in the middle of a battle.

Dietrich
It is implied that Dietrich persistently followed Galatea when she deserted the Organization. Though Galatea admits she was a problem, her positive remarks was she was pleasant and charming enough to her.

Behind the Scenes

 * Galatea's Japanese voice actress is Ai Orikasa and her English voice actress is Colleen Clinkenbeard.
 * thumb|right|300pxGalatea has a song on the Claymore Intimate Persona CD sung by her Japanese voice actress called "Hangyaku," meaning "Rebellion."
 * In the anime, Galatea is shown pointing the way to Clare for Miria, Helen and Deneve, then observing the battle from a chapel to Teresa and Clare, accompanied by Rubel. When he asks her what has happened, she rebukes him and deserts the Organization. She is last seen walking through the snow, looking contently up to the sky.
 * Excluding experimental Claymores who have awakened, i.e. Alicia and Beth, Galatea is the strongest warrior of Clare's generation because of her sheer strength, yoki and the willpower to control it.
 * Galatea's Japanese voice actress Ai Orikasa originally voiced "Koto and "Shizuru Kuwabara" in "Yu Yu Hakusho", "Ryoko" in the "Tenchi" series, and "Quatre Raberba Winner" in "Mobile Suit Gundam Wing".
 * Galatea's English voice actress Colleen Clinkenbeard originally voiced "Rose Thomas" and "Riza Hawkeye" in "Fullmetal Alchemist" and "Fullmetal Alchemist Brotherhood", "Esther Blanchett" in "Trinity Blood" and "Yuuko Ichihara" in "XXXholic"