Miria

Miria was Claymore #6 during Clare's time. She can greatly, but briefly, increase her speed to the point where she leaves many afterimages of herself in battle, confusing the opponent, thus earning herself the title Phantom Miria (幻影のミリア, Gen'ei no Miria, literally Illusion Shadow Miria). She is also very skilled at teamwork and tactics.

Appearance
Miria has long pale blondish-brown hair and silver eyes. After the Northern Campaign, she has tied it in a ponytail.

Employment as a Claymore
Miria joined the Organization around the same time as Hilda and befriended her. She started as the Organization as Number 17 and met Hilda again, who was Number 6, as part of an Awakened Being hunt led by her. It was due to Hilda's encouragement that she enhanced her Phantom technique. Not knowing that Hilda was reaching her limit, she happily made a promise that they would fight again some day. She was noticed by Ermita while hunting a large group of Yoma with a team. He commented to Ophelia, who was watching with him nearby, that her work in team battles exceed that of Number 1. After that, she was promoted to Number 8 and given the nickname 'Phantom Miria'.

Some time later, she was added to another Awakened Being hunt. She hoped to meet Hilda again but Ophelia came instead. On the way to the battlefield, Ophelia told her how she met Hilda (though she was not named at the time) and tore up her Black Card. Miria was shocked but did not have time to say anything about it since the Awakened Hilda appeared at that moment. Miria marvelled at Ophelia's brutal strength when fighting Hilda alone. Miria took charge of taking Hilda's head and, just as she did, she recognised Hilda's Yoki. Just as she realized, Hilda's head came off. Extremely distressed, she cried out, despairing that Hilda did not let her know it was her until she died. In response to Ophelia's heartless comment that she was 'a monster', her own Yoki went out of control and she passed her limit. The reason she came back, according to her, was because she did not want to give Ophelia the satisfaction that she was the cause Miria Awakened.

After that hunt, she was extremely distressed and opened to Rubel about what happened. Then, Rubel told her about the real reason that Claymores were created. She hid her knowledge and performed her duties without complaint. At some time, she was promoted to Number 6.

Meeting Clare
Miria first met Clare as a team leader of an Awakened Being Hunting Squad where there were only a large group of Yoma. She only killed one while Clare ran wild and killed the other four. She chastised Clare for disobeying orders and reported her to Rubel. According to her, her first impression of Clare was that she was before the strongest of warriors.

She met Clare again when she was assigned again as leader of an Awakened Being hunting squad - formed of Clare, Helen, and Deneve. She was astonished to hear that Clare was Number 47 but stubbornly told Helen and Deneve that she could not leave. She engaged Clare in sparring and won easily after a while. Miria was the first to realize that the man who approached on the Paburo mountains was the Awakened Being they were hunting and she was injured first. She was astonished that the Organization's information was wrong and frightened by how strong it was.

In the course of the battle, everyone but Miria was injured. It was only then did she use her Phantom move to bring them to safety. She then engaged the Awakened Being in combat by herself, using far too many Phantom moves and going over her limit, as observed by Clare. Eventually, she was caught and would have been tortured to death had Clare not aided her. She and Clare finished the Awakened Being together. Afterwards, she told the group about half-Awakening and that the Organization might want to get rid of them. Before separating, she told them to obey orders from now on, showed them the symbols of the top five and made an oath to survive and meet them again.

The Northern Campaign
Miria was next encountered as the chief Claymore in the Northern Campaign, due to her having the highest rank. She demonstrated her tactical skills by the way she organized the Claymores into small teams that would allow them to gain experience in fighting with Awakened Ones with minimal loss of life. Miria directly led the following Claymores: Queenie (#20), Tabitha (#31) and Yuma (#40). She met with Clare, Helen, Deneve and later Jean after the meeting. She said that she had heard (probably from Rubel) that Clare had deserted the Organization for a brief period and also confided in them her low expectations of the Campaign. When the first battle came, she organized the troups and managed to defeat an Awakened Being without gaining any injuries, though this success was not reflected in her teammates (Yuma lost an arm). She was then asked probing questions by Undine about her risky battle plans. Miria could not answer them and Flora had to, which Deneve saw as a bad thing.

After the first battle, she came up with a plan for everyone to swallow half a Yoki Suppression pill so, when the warriors fell unconscious, they would be able to play dead since their Yoki would be suppressed. Afterwards, they would be able to desert the Organization. Though she apologized and told everyone it was the best she could come up with, this plan was met with approval and was carried forth. In the second wave, she fought bravely against the Awakened Beings and encountered some success until Rigardo appeared. While the other captains fell, she managed to put up a brave fight against him with the help of Clare, Helen and Deneve. She was almost killed by Rigardo until Clare Awakened her legs. During the battle that ensured, she was protected by Helen.

After Rigardo was defeated, she aided in the final stand and ultimately fell. Whether she was the last is unknown. However, her plan worked and she survived the battle, along with Helen, Clare, Deneve, Tabitha, Yuma and Cynthia. Despite this, she was extremely upset that everyone else died.

Seven Year Time-Skip
While in seclusion, she developed a new way to greatly increase her normal speed without needing the Yoki bursts. Deneve describes the technique as "a new kind of mirage" and although it's slightly slower than her former technique, this is actually considered superior because there are no limits to how many times she can use this ability, as opposed to the short Yoki bursts needed for her mirages. With this new technique she's also able to achieve more precise movements. She serves as the leader of the surviving Claymores, who are Clare, Helen, Deneve, Tabitha, Cynthia and Yuma. She stayed with them for seven years, training furiously with the others with the aid of more Yoki Suppressing Pills. She was only swayed to return south by Clare, who discovered signs of Raki's survival. This was met with approval by the other members and all seven of them went south. When they left the North, Miria accompanied Helen, Deneve and Clare in saving Audrey and Rachel's team from Riful. She rescued Rachel and left quickly. After questioning Audrey, she led the others away. When they arrived in Rabona, they found Agatha threatening the city. Miria saved Galatea and destroyed one of Agatha's legs and also helped the other six to finish her quickly.

After the battle, she advised Clarice and Miata to desert the Organization and stated their intention to destroy the Organization. She then told everyone all she knew about the real reason for the Claymore and Yoma creation; everything except who told her about it. Then, she arranged with Father Vincent to keep Clarice, Miata and Galatea in Rabona. After a talk with the other six about clearing up any regrets, she arranged that Clare would search for Raki with Cynthia and Yuma, Helen and Deneve would visit the South to Helen's home town and she would remain at Rabona with Tabitha.

She later attacks a shadowy figure who appeared outside Rabona. The figure turns out to be Dietrich, who informs her of Isley's defeat and Helen and Deneve heading West to find Clare's group. She realises that Alicia, Beth and the Abyss Feeders will be heading West to attack Riful and that the others may be in danger.

After Dietrich gives her report, Miria attacks Tabitha, immobalizing her. Miria then dons her original claymore outfit and leaves the Holy City of Rabona going after the Organization. When Tabitha came to, Galatea explained to her why Miria attacked her and left, saying that she had something more than any of the other survivors had. Miria reaches the Organization and quickly dispatches the remaining warriors including the current Number 3 Audrey and Number 5 Rachel. The observers then sent out a set of twin warriors who can alternate between Awakened and Controllers, the prodagies of Alicia and Beth.

As she fought with the twins, she found herself struggling more and more. After slicing off one of the twin's arm, she came to the realization that she could not kill any warrior or any person afterall, contradicting Galatea's expectations. Right when she was about to immobilize the other twin, she dodged Miria's attack and cut deep into her right arm. The Organization then brought out their number 10, Raftela, to control not only the twins' yoki control, but to also confuse Miria by bringing out her deepest desires of her revenge during the battle. As the battle intensified and the other twin reparied her arm, she confused one of the twins to be Helda (due to Raftela), the reason for her wanting to destroy the Orginazation in the first place. She started crying happily about how she was alive, forgetting that she saw her death. The twin cut deep into Miria, while she was falling farther and farther into the illusion. Miria was then severely weakened, with the twin's sword sticking through her chest. As she fell down, the other warriors that she immobilized earlier got up and started towards her. Still believing that the twin was Hilda, she held out her hand, still happily crying and asking for them both to fight again. The other warriors approached her, slicing off her hand while, apparently, slaughtering her.

Personality
Miria has great leadership qualities and cares deeply about her comrades. She is also very humble since she only improved her technique on recommendation by Hilda. She takes the deaths of her friends very personally, always becoming extremely distraught when they die. She would do anything to keep them safe: breaking the Organization's rules and keeping dangerous information from them.

She is also extremely intelligent. She is able to formulate successful plans and distrusts the Organization greatly since the death of Hilda.

Abilities
Phantom Move: Miria's trademark technique is a split-second spurt of Yoki to make her so fast that she becomes invisible, leaving only an after-image which lasts a second to give the impression of a Phantom. Before her time in the North, she could only do it a limited amount of times, but, after her time in the North, she could perform a slower but more efficient Phantom Move since it required no Yoki and she could do it an unlimited amount of times.

Leadership: Miria is famous for her leadership. It is also said that Miria is better than the Number 1 in groups. She is also very skilled at teamwork and tactics, shown with her excellent leadership skills during the Northern Campaign and after the seven year timeskip.

Eye: Miria seems to also be an Eye. Miria did sense the still mysterious massive yoki within Clare during their very first meeting many years ago (before her Awakened Being hunt against the multi-armed Paburo Mountains Mantis Being with Deneve, Helen, and Clare). Miria to herself: ~"It felt as though I was standing next to the most powerful Claymore I have ever known". Also, Miria, along with Tabatha, were both able to sense Alicia's and Beth's yoki's coming from the eastern land to the western land while in Rabona.

Immobilizing: Miria is able to immobilize her enemies without killing them, displaying this ability against Tabitha, and the current No. 3 and 5 Claymores. Rubel comments that the move is only possible due to an enormous gap in power.

Hilda
Miria first met Hilda when she was put on an Awakened Being hunt led by Hilda. The two warriors became very close and it was Hilda who persuaded Miria to hone her Phantom Move. Miria attributes her promotion to a single-digit to her friend. She took the death of Hilda very personally and came close to Awakening because she was so distraught. She distrusted the Organization from that time on.

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 especial warning against her.

Clare
Miria's first impression of Clare was that she is the strongest of the Claymores and is very surprised when she finds that Clare is actually the weakest. She is the only person of the first Awakened Being hunt not to ridicule her for her low number. She is in awe of Clare's strange powers though and fights beside her, disregarding her number. She keeps an eye on Clare due to Clare's perchant of doing things alone without telling anyone and sometimes orders other members of their team to do the same.

After the time-skip, both she and Clare are nearly equal in battle strength, so much so that Miria feels comfortable with heading back South together with just Clare. They are almost complete opposites in terms of personality, methods, and behavior but despite that, they respect each other for their abilities and have a good working relationship.

Helen and Deneve
Miria continually chastises Helen and Deneve for ridiculing Clare in the first Awakened Being hunt. She regards Helen as a precocious younger sister and always dissuades her from taking reckless courses of action. She regards Deneve as more of an equal since her reasoning is similar to hers.

Cynthia, Tabitha and Yuma
Miria regards the Cynthia, Tabitha and Yuma as her close comrades and respects them for their talents, using them successfully whenever she can. She governs them proficiently and counts each one of them as useful.

Etymology
Miria is a form of 'Miriam'. Miriam was a Biblical character who saved her brother, Moses, by laying him in a basket among the reeds to be found by the Pharaoh's daughter in the book of Exodus. This is perhaps a reference to Miria's desire to save as many lives as possible. Miriam is a Hebrew variant of 'Mary', a common Western name. This is Latin meaning 'star of the sea'.

Behind the Scenes

 * Miria's song on Claymore Intimate Persona is Gen'ei, meaning 'Phantom'.
 * In the anime, Miria accompanies Helen and Deneve when they follow Clare to Priscilla. When Miria was injured, she tried her best to fight Priscilla but was nearly killed. She deserted the Organization after the battle on her own.

Appearances

 * Claymore Manga Chapter 25
 * Claymore Manga Chapter 26
 * Claymore Manga Chapter 27
 * Claymore Manga Chapter 28
 * Claymore Manga Chapter 29
 * Claymore Manga Chapter 30
 * Claymore Manga Chapter 32
 * Claymore Manga Chapter 50
 * Claymore Manga Chapter 51
 * Claymore Manga Chapter 52
 * Claymore Manga Chapter 53
 * Claymore Manga Chapter 54
 * Claymore Manga Chapter 57
 * Claymore Manga Chapter 58
 * Claymore Manga Chapter 59
 * Claymore Manga Chapter 60
 * Claymore Manga Chapter 61
 * Claymore Manga Chapter 66
 * Claymore Manga Chapter 67
 * Claymore Manga Chapter 68
 * Claymore Manga Chapter 69
 * Claymore Manga Chapter 70
 * Claymore Manga Chapter 71
 * Claymore Manga Chapter 72
 * Claymore Manga Chapter 78
 * Claymore Manga Chapter 79
 * Claymore Manga Chapter 80
 * Claymore Manga Chapter 82
 * Claymore Manga Chapter 90
 * Claymore Manga Chapter 106
 * Claymore Manga Chapter 107
 * Claymore Anime Episode 9
 * Claymore Anime Episode 10
 * Claymore Anime Episode 11
 * Claymore Anime Episode 19
 * Claymore Anime Episode 20
 * Claymore Anime Episode 21
 * Claymore Anime Episode 22
 * Claymore Anime Episode 23
 * Claymore Anime Episode 24
 * Claymore Anime Episode 25