Rafaela



Rafaela was Claymore #2 in Luciela's time and Claymore #5 in Clare's time. She is first seen as Irene's pursuer. Her power is considered equal to that of her elder sister, former Number 1 ; Luciela. She is one of the longest lived Claymores, disregarding Awakened Beings.

Appearance
Rafaela has short hair with an silver eyes. Her left eye is nothing but a trademark jagged scar.

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 surpresses 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 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 Alicia and Beth being taken into the Organization and ran into Teresa as a trainee. She 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 informed 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 Awakens 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.

Personality
Rafaela is a seemingly emotionless and quiet Claymore. She does not tell anyone of her past when asked, seemingly too ashamed of it. She 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.

Abilities
Total Yoki Suppression: Since Rafaela has been out of action for so many years, her Yoki has been sealed away so much that she radiates no aura. This is best for covert operations like finding Clare since no Claymores can detect her coming.

Great Fighting Prowess: She was a former Number 2 so it stands to reason that she is very powerful. She demonstrates this when Clare enters her mind. She is able to meet Clare's Windcutter and beat it.

Luciela
Rafaela was very close to her older sister and was distraught when she Awakened. She blamed herself for this disaster and endevoured to suppress her Yoki to try and bring her back. Her love was so great that she subconsciously fed her own life-force into her when she died, resulting the merging.

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'.

Etymology
Rafaela is the feminine form of Raphael, meaning 'healing God'. This is perhaps a reference to her purposefully not healing her eye or her eliminating one of the Abyssal Ones. It is also the name of an archangel, a reference to her high number.

Behind the Scenes

 * In the anime, her Japanese voice actor is Satsuki Yukino and her English voice actor is Kate Oxley.
 * None of Rafaela's back story is included in the anime, where she is a very minor character.

Appearances

 * Claymore Manga Chapter 38
 * Claymore Manga Chapter 50
 * Claymore Manga Chapter 64
 * Claymore Manga Chapter 82
 * Claymore Manga Chapter 91
 * Claymore Manga Chapter 92
 * Claymore Anime Episode 14
 * Claymore Manga Chapter 18