Rafaela

Rafaela is Claymore No. 2 of Luciela's generation and No. 5 of Clare's. She is first seen as Irene's pursuer. Her power is considered equal to that of her elder sister, former No. 1, Luciela of the South. She is one of the longest lived Claymores, disregarding Awakened Beings.

Etymology
"Rafaela" is a transliteration of the Japanese "Rafaera" (ラファエラ, pronounced "ra-fi-er-ra").

"Rafaela" is the feminine form of "Raphael," meaning "healing God." Possibly alluding to her not healing her eye as penance, or killing Luciela. Raphael is an archangel, so perhaps Rafaela's name's origin is a reference to her high rank.

Appearance
Rafaela wears her hair in a spiky bob. She has one remaining silver eye. Her left eye is a stylized manga image of blindness (often mistaken for a scar). She wears the standard Claymore uniform.

As a combined Awakened Being Rafaela resembles the Clare and Teresa statue. A large halo-like structure forms from the mouths of the two faces.

Height: 175cm (5ft 8.89in).

Image Gallery

Personality
Like most Claymores, Rafaela is seemingly emotionless and quiet. She does not like to be near the other Claymores and is often seen by herself. She spent her years of hiding in discreet solitude and low profile. She does not tell anyone of her past when asked, seemingly too ashamed of it. Rafaela is guilt-ridden about her sister and is able to focus on tasks like suppressing her Yoki completely. She has enough mental strength to kill her sister when she has Awakened, though she is upset by it.

Yoki Suppression
Since Rafaela has been out of action for so many years, her Yoki has been sealed away for such a long time that she radiates no aura. This is best for covert operations like finding Clare since no Claymores can detect her coming. The trainee Teresa describes her Yoki as an "almost disappearing Yoki."

Fighting Style
Rafaela's fighting style involves creating a very faint field of Yoki to surround the body, allowing unsurpassed precision in movement even when reacting to blows beyond the field of vision. Clare later learns and utilizes this technique after having absorbed Rafaela's memories.

Organization Rating
From Claymore Databook 3.
 * Yoki: A
 * Agility: A
 * Muscular Strength: A
 * Spirit: A
 * Perception: A
 * Leadership: C

Luciela's Time
Rafaela and Luciela's past is unknown but they were brought to the Organization as the Organization's first experiment using a Soul Link to control an Awakened Being. The experiment fails causing her elder sister, Luciela, to lose control and fully Awaken. Rafaela lost an eye and the Organization lost over half their warriors when Luciela went on the rampage. She was blamed for the experiment backfiring, because of her 'weak heart'. Rafaela intentionally did not heal her eye. In fact, she suppresses her Yoki completely in the vain hope that she can somehow bring Luciela back.

Rubel informed her that, in order to neutralize the risk of her Awakening herself, she had been stripped of her number and symbol. As she said, it was as though she had died and she was ordered to keep a low profile like a dead person.

She was allowed to wander around the towns surrounding the Organization in disguise, where she heard about that the Organization took some twins from a family called the Zemas. The twins being Alicia and Beth is never stated. She also ran into Teresa as a trainee. Rafaela was amazed to learn that Teresa could survive through a wilderness of Yoma and wild creatures to come to that area.

Clare's Time
On a stormy night, Rubel finds her taking shelter in a small cave. There, he informs her that Teresa is dead, along with Irene, Sophia and Noel, and Priscilla has Awakened. He mentions that Priscilla's Awakening will break the deadlock between the three Abyssal Ones and the one most likely to be wiped out is Luciela. Thus, since they are so short-handed, the Organization invited Rafaela back in exchange for information regarding her elder sister.

Rafaela accepted the offer and Rubel correctly guesses the reason: she feels there is a last thing she has to do. She wishes to find her sister, who she believes she failed, and, instead of a futile attempt to bring her back to her human form, kill her.

She is seen briefly as Clare's tracker when Galatea defaulted on this task. She brings Rubel with her, who warns Clare not to fight her.

After Luciela's battle with Isley, Rafaela found her sister, weakened from the battle and unable to maintain her Awakened form. She runs to her sister, hugging her and apologising for her weakness. Luciela mistakes this for an apology for her defeat and suggests that Rafaela Awaken so she can beat back Isley. In answer to this, Rafaela releases her Yoki to give her the strength to kill her sister by breaking her back.

After Seven Year Time-Skip


Rafaela is not mentioned again until Audrey (#3) told Clare that she heard Rafaela died. If she were in fact alive her aura would be untraceable by now, same as Galatea.

She appears again however when Riful reveals to the recently captured Renee that she had found Rafaela and Luciela soon after Luciela died. It turned out that, when she killed Luciela to fulfill her duty as a Soul Link and a sister, Rafaela unconsciously injected all her life force into Luciela's dead body. This deed killed Rafaela but fulfilled her loyalty to Luciela. After Rafaela merged with Luciela's body, both of them entered a vegetative state. Riful plans to use Renee's Yoki Manipulation to make them Awaken.

After Renee manages to escape, Clare somehow makes it into Rafaela's mind. Rafaela's form is structured on Clare's memories and is slowly forming as her mind Awakens. Rafaela and Clare do battle and, in the end, Clare uses the Quicksword to defeat her. Rafaela truly dies but leaves Clare with all her memories.

As a Combined Awakened Being
Soon after, the combined being of Rafaela and Luciela Awakens. A large halo-like structure appears and fires many large rods off into the surrounding areas, piercing through Riful and Dauf and one impaling Beth in the stomach. The rods start to change and take the form of cat-like ceatures, resembling Luciela's Awakened form. The combined Awakened Being's Yoma powers easily surpass that of the Abyssal Ones such as Isley.

They are seen attacking Clare, Helen and Deneve shortly after. The creatures are seen losing limbs and one even gets decapitated but they continue to fight on. They are seen firing rods much like Dauf, which allow them to regenerate when they impale a living creature, making them parasites. According to Clare, the creatures will only cease to function when they expend all their energy fulfilling their destructive nature. The best way to stop them is slice them into as many pieces as possible to prevent them from moving, although they can still fire projectiles. After all the creatures have been defeated she prepares to release more, much to the annoyance of the survivors.

Battle Against Priscilla
Deneve and Helen carry Clare toward the Destroyer. Priscilla, briefly distracted by Dauf, closes in on them. When the Destroyer strikes again, Priscilla destroys what turns out to be a facade. The real body of the Destroyer, a shapeless dark mass of intertwined bodies, emerges.

In the confusion, Clare's lower torso is gone, the upper torso dropping from Helen's grip. The Destroyer lifts Clare's body. Then Priscilla appears. Deneve and Helen fight her, but while no one is looking, Clare gets "swallowed."

Clare apparently takes control of the Yoki mass and seizes Priscilla, allowing Deneve and Helen to escape. The Destroyer swallows the surrounding forest, before contracting into a shapeless cocoon.

Later, Deneve tells her comrades that Clare entered the mass in order to save them from Priscilla and trap her as well.

Luciela
Rafaela was very close to her older sister and was distraught when she Awakened. She blamed herself for this disaster and endeavored to suppress her Yoki to find her. Ultimately, upon reuniting after so many years, Rafaela would end up killing Luciela in an embrace. Her love was so great, however, that she subconsciously fed her own Yoki into her when she died, resulting in the merging of the two sisters.

Clare
She met with Clare only briefly after Clare's battle with Riful. They met again when Clare managed to enter her awakening consciousness after she merged with Luciela. She acted affronted, saying that Clare intruded. However, when Clare struck her dead, she had a smile on her face and she gave away all her memories to help her find "what she needed to know". After the treacherous battle started to come to an end, Clare uses her "Forbidden" Technique, the "Quick-Sword," to cut Rafaela into cell-splitting pieces.

Behind the scenes
Rafaela was voiced by Satsuki Yukino in the anime. Kate Oxley voiced her in the Funimation dubbing, while Claudia Galdy voiced her in the german dubbing.

Anime and Manga differences
None of Rafaela's back story is included in the anime, where she is a very minor character, only appearing to execute Irene after she had trained Clare and later she appears with Rubel after having tracked her while Rubel tells Clare about Pieta.

Appearances

 * Those Who Rend Asunder III (Mentioned only)
 * The Endless Gravestones, Part 1 (First mention)
 * Fit for Battle, Part 2 (First appearance)
 * To Be Qualified to Fight
 * The Carnage in the North I
 * The Battle of the North, Part 1
 * Kindred of Paradise, Part 1 (Mentioned only)
 * Kindred of Paradise, Part 2
 * Kindred of Paradise, Part 3
 * The Never Ending Nightmare
 * Awakening Movements
 * Soul Seal
 * Apostle of Demise (Mentioned only)
 * The Skirmish in The Holy City (Mentioned only)
 * Memorabilia