Miria

Miria was Claymore No. 6 of Clare's generation.

Her exceptional agility to evade attacks while using her special ability leaving her after-images to confuse opponents, earns herself the nickname known to other fellow warriors as, "Phantom Miria".

Etymology
"Miria" is a transliteration of the Japanese "Miria" (ミリア, pronounced the same in English).

In the West, "Miria" is a form of "Miriam," Hebrew for either "bitter" or "rebellion," suggestive of Miria's attitude toward the Organization.

Miria's nickname is usually translated as "Phantom Miria," which leaves out the irony—幻影のミリア or "Gen'ei no Miria" literally means "Miria of the Illusion." This meaning can go either way, as Scene 107 shows.

Appearance
Miria has silver eyes and long, light brown hair styled in a razor-shag cut. After the Northern Campaign, she sometimes ties it back in a ponytail. She now has a x-shaped cross on her face after the Claymore warriors of the Organization "cut" her.

Height: 175 cm (5 ft 8.89in).

Personality
With her talents in planning strategies, tolerance for others and a cool head under pressure, Miria is the picture of a near-perfect leader. Contrary to the Organization's aims, Miria takes personally the deaths of those under her command. She will go to great lengths to keep them alive, including disobeying the Organization's rules and orders.

Miria is a leader who doesn't take sides in arguments within her own unit. Despite Helen's constant complaints against Clare, Miria insists that "every team member is crucial" if the entire group is to succeed and survive. She is also yet to be seen making belittling or condescending remarks towards other Claymores, even those with very low ranks. In turn, most lower ranking Claymores regard Miria with the utmost admiration and respect.

For a Claymore of extraordinary agility, Miria actually has a rather cautious demeanour. Instead of acting on a whim or making hasty conclusions, she often makes careful deductions or analysis before coming to a final decision. This is seen when she states to Clare and Helen that her views on the Organization are only theories until she can prove them to be true. Miria had shown strong dedication into investigating the Organization's secrets and revealing them to others. Information was collected during the Seven-Year Time Skip. She revealed her secrets after the battle of Agatha in Rabona. She knows the information she gathered is reliable, and Miria is dead set as well with the other "six" of the Seven Ghosts on her goal to send the Organization to demise.

Though her early life and family are not known, Miria's closest connection is with her best friend Hilda. After Miria unwittingly killed "Awakened" Hilda, she began to regard the Organization with dislike and suspicion.

Phantom Mirage
Miria's trademark technique, the Phantom Mirage, consists of split-second bursts of yoki that enhance her speed to the point where she leaves after-images of herself, creating a ghost-like illusion to confuse opponents. It can be used to quickly avoid or launch attacks. Due to the fact that it requires yoki, this technique is hindered by limited safe usage, and the exhausting mental and physical toll it takes on the user.

During the Seven Year Time-Skip, Miria develops a "New Mirage," that relies on base speed, not yoki release. Her New Mirage, though slower than the original, is capable of more subtle movements, and an unlimited number of uses.

Revealed in issue 116, Miria's Mirage technique is outclassed by Hysteria's Elegant technique. According to the manga, both Miria's and Hysteria's techniques are based on the same principle, however, while Miria uses her technique for defence, Hysteria uses her technique for offence. Miria states that while her Phantom matches Hysteria technique in terms of speed, she is fails to rival Hysteria on the grounds of movement control.

Yoki Suppression
During the time-skip in Alphonse, Miria learns to suppress her yoki aura, concealing her presence to the Organization.

Leadership
Miria is rated A+ by the Organization for Leadership. According to the Claymore Databooks, Miria rates higher in Leadership than any No. 1. Evidenced by her leadership during the Northern Campaign, Seven Year Time-Skip and Rebellion.

Organization Rating
From Claymore Databook 2.


 * Yoki: B+


 * Agility: A+


 * Muscular Strength: C


 * Spirit: B


 * Perception: C


 * Leadership: A+

Employment as a Claymore
Miria starts as Claymore No.17. She meets Hilda (No. 6) at an Awakened Being Hunting Party. Hilda's encouragement leads Miria to the Phantom Mirage.

The two promise to work together again. Unknown to Miria, Hilda is awakening. On a second hunt, Ermita and Ophelia watch Miria in action. He says Miria's effectiveness in a team exceed that of No. 1. Miria is promoted No. 8 and earns the nickname "Phantom Miria."

Ophelia
Miria joins a third hunting party. But Ophelia leads instead of Hilda. Ophelia says she met a Claymore who gave her a Black Card to give to another Claymore. But Ophelia tore it up. Miria is shocked. Then their target appears.

Ophelia almost alone takes down the Awakened Being, but lets Miria cut off its head. But as the head comes off, Miria recognizes Hilda. She grieves that Hilda did not identify herself. Miria awakens, but somehow comes back (Extra Scene 2).

Ophelia reports Miria to Rubel. He does not inform the Organization, but instead sends Miria on the Paburo Hunting Party.

Eventually, Miria is promoted to No. 6.

Toriro
Miria leads Queenie and an unnamed Claymore to the village of Toriro. They are to join Clare and together search for a "Voracious Eater." But they discover that Clare went ahead and engaged Yoma, really a nest of normal yoma instead of a Voracious Eater, despite the danger. She chastises Clare for disobeying orders (Scene 25).

This bad first impression stays with Miria, even after she and Clare are friends. Seven years after the Northern Campaign, Miria still assigns others to "babysit" Clare.

Paburo Hunting Party
At an unnamed town, Miria again meets Clare, who is assigned to Paburo Hunting Party, lead by Miria. Clare also meets Helen and Deneve. Miria is surprised at Clare's rank of No. 47. Despite Helen's protests, Miria takes Clare with them.

Later that night in the Paburo Mountains, Miria engages Clare in a sparring match and apparently wins.

The next morning, a stranger meets the party, claiming to come from Lido. But Miria recognizes the Awakened Being. Miria immediately suspects the Organization of misinforming them of the creature's strength.

The man morphs and the fight begins. During the fight, Deneve, Helen and Clare go down. Despite Miria's Phantom technique, she goes over her limit. Miria goes down.

Somehow, Clare recovers and cuts off five of the Being's legs. Then Miria gets up and joins Clare in finishing off the creature.

Afterward, the party compare notes. Miria hypothesizes that the Organization is trying to kill them, because everyone is half-Awakened. Before separating, she advises everyone to conform and not raise suspicions, till Miria gathers more evidence. She draws the symbols of the top five Claymores—warning everyone to stay away from them.

The four bond together, taking a sword oath of honor.

The Northern Campaign
Miria next appears as the commander of the Northern Campaign, due to having the highest rank. The Claymores meet the northern town of Pieta (Scene 50).

She organizes the task force of 24 Claymores into small teams, similar to Awakened Being hunting parties. She mixes the stronger and weaker alike on each team, so all will gain experience. On Miria's team: Queenie (No. 20), Tabitha (No. 31) and Yuma (No. 40).

Later, in a secret reunion, Miria meets with Deneve, Helen and later Clare and Jean. When Clare asks for the chances of success for Miria's strategy, Miria says "the chances of success are zero" (Scene 51).

First Battle
The task force defeats three Awakened Being scouts without loss of life, though Yuma is injured. Undine tries underminding Miria's authority. Flora has to back Miria to keep dissent under control.

In a flashback, the task force later meets Miria, who announces a plan for survival. Before the second battle, everyone is to take half a yoki suppressant pill. Should any Claymore go down unconscious, the enemy will think her dead, since her yoki aura is suppressed. Miria apologizes for this improvised plan, but everyone approves (Scene 66).

Second Battle
In the second battle, 27 Awakened Beings, led by Rigardo, invade Pieta. But Miria's strategy of teams is working—three Awakened Beings versus five Claymores are killed. This is unacceptable to Rigardo, who personally enters the fight. He morphs into the "Silver Lion King" and proceeds to neutralize Miria's strategy. He decapitates the task force leadership, not bothering with the low-yoki Claymores, knowing the task force will collapse without the team captains.

He kills Veronica, Undine, fatally wounds Jean, kills Flora, then wounds and captures Miria. But Clare, on the death of Flora, goes berserk. Clare awakens and attacks. She severs Rigardo's arm holding Miria.

Clare kills Rigardo, but by the time Miria recovers enough to regroup, it is too late. The Battle of Pieta is lost. The Organization officially believes all are killed.

Seven Year Time-Skip
While in seclusion, Miria increases her speed without yoki bursts. Deneve describes the technique as "a new kind of mirage." Slower than Miria's original technique, there are no limits on usage. And greater precision.

Miria leads the survivors, the Seven Ghosts: herself, Cynthia, Deneve, Helen, Tabitha, Yuma and Clare. She mentors them for seven years, training furiously. She is only swayed to return south by Clare, who discovers signs of Raki's survival.

Audrey's Hunting Party
All seven survivors return south. Traveling through Toulouse, they see an Awakened Being Hunting Party, led by Audrey, being harvested by Riful. Miria, Deneve, Helen and Clare rescue the party. Miria questions Audrey and discover neither Rafaela or Galatea are with the Organization.

Agatha
When they arrived in Rabona, they found Agatha threatening the city. Miria rescues Galatea and destroys one of Agatha's legs.

After Agatha's death, Miria advises Clarice and Miata to desert the Organization. Miria now states openly her intention to destroy the Organization. She reveals the secret history behind Yoma and Awakened Beings. She arranges with Father Vincent to keep Clarice, Miata and Galatea in Rabona. After a talk with the other six about clearing up any regrets, she arranges for Clare to search for Raki with Cynthia and Yuma. Helen and Deneve leaves south to Helen's home town in Mucha. Miria remains at Rabona with Tabitha.

Dietrich's Visit
Miria later intercepts a shadowy figure who appears outside Rabona—Dietrich, who informs her of Isley's defeat and Helen and Deneve heading West to find Clare's group. Miria realizes that Alicia, Beth and the Abyss Feeders will be heading West to attack Riful. With Alicia and Beth gone, Miria sees her chance to destroy the Organization. But she decides she must go alone.

Miria attacks Tabitha, immobalizing her. Miria puts on her Claymore uniform and leaves for Staff. When Tabitha recovers consciousness, Galatea explains that only Miria is willing to kill human members of the Organization (Scene 106).

Staff
Miria reaches the Organization and quickly dispatches the remaining warriors including the current No. 3, Audrey and No. 5, Rachel. Men-in-Black confront Miria with new Soul Link twins. But these twins can alternate between the awakened or control state—an advance over Alicia and Beth.

As Miria fights, she realizes she can never kill a fellow warrior, just as Galatea expected. Claymore No. 10, Raftela, is brought out to confuse Miria's mind, bringing out Miria's deepest desires. Miria hallucinates one of the twins as Hilda.

Miria cries happily to see "Hilda". As Miria falls deeper into illusion, the Claymores attack in mass. However, impressed by her power and her unwillingness to kill even a single fellow Claymore, the warriors unanimously defy the Organization's orders and refuse to strike Miria for real. Instead, they inflict many non-lethal wounds upon her body (including a severed left hand), allowing her to survive. Their handlers decide that it is best not to push them and back away.

By chapter 113, Miria, now sporting an X-shaped scar across her face, returns to the Organization HQ and calls the young Claymores to revolt against the Organization, just as they are being sent to attack Deneve's group.

After rallying her fellow warriors into a revolt, Miria lead them to an assault on the Organization's main compound itself. However, their progress was immediately barred by a group of Abyss Feeders that were sent to hold them back for as long as possible. Miria orders the weak warriors to stand back and let the stronger ones fight. The situation then turns into her teams favor. Later on, the rebellious Claymores were all taken down by the revived number ones. Miria engages in a fight with the Elegant Hysteria. In the midst of the battle, she finds out that the technique Hysteria used was roughly similar to her Phantom Mirage, except Hysteria's precision was superior. The difference in their abilities made Miria envious, but she apologizes and tells her that she will have to put her back in her grave one more time.

Hilda
Hilda is first seen with Miria on an Awakened Being hunt. The two are best of friends. Hilda mentors Miria to hone her Phantom Move. Miria credits her promotion to a single-digit to Hilda.

On another hunting party, Miria unwittingly kills Hilda. After Miria discovers Hilda's identity, Miria goes berserk and almost awakens.

Hilda's death affects Miria's outlook on the Organization. She made the Organization's demise her life's goal. From that time on, she covertly investigates the Organization and its hidden history (Extra Scene 2).

Ophelia
Miria holds great hatred for Ophelia ever since she tore up Hilda's Black Card. She attributes that fact that she came back from the brink of awakening because she did not want to give Ophelia the satisfaction. However, she also fears Ophelia's power and bloodlust. She gives Helen, Deneve and Clare special warning against her.

Clare
In Scene 26, Miria says her impression of Clare's power is the reverse of her rank: "...the strongest was standing before me." She has a sparring match to test Clare. Miria's attitude toward Clare can be seen in Miria's general approach to people. Miria neither ridicules or favors anyone for their rank, as her composition of teams in Pieta shows. She treat all of her allies with equally, including Clare. However, she does watch Clare closely, due to Clare's unpredictable behavior and orders the others to do the same.

After the time-skip, the Seven Ghosts are all strong enough to handle most single-digit Claymores. Miria feels comfortable going south with Clare. Despite being polar opposites in personality, methods and behavior, they are close friends.

Deneve and Helen
Miria chastises Helen for ridiculing Clare in the first Awakened Being hunt. She is more concern about Helen's behavior than Deneve's, who is less confrontational.

Cynthia, Tabitha and Yuma
Miria regards Cynthia, Tabitha and Yuma as comrades and respects them, regardless of ability. She mentors everyone as Hilda mentored Miria.

Behind the Scenes

 * Miria's song on Claymore Intimate Persona is "Gen'eithumb|250px|right," meaning "Phantom."
 * In the Anime, Miria accompanies Helen and Deneve when they follow Clare to the volcano. When Miria is injured, she tries fighting Priscilla but is nearly killed. She vows to investigate the Organization after the Northern Campaign.