Teresa

"This little girl, who's not even half my size... taught me that tears can flow even from these silver eyes." - Teresa of the Faint Smile

Teresa was the strongest Claymore of all time. She was famously known as Teresa of the Faint Smile for effortlessly slaying enemies with a faint smile on her face. She is so powerful that she rarely, if ever, has to use even 10% of her Yoki in battle. Her rise to Claymore No. 1 leads to the demotion of the previous No. 1, Rosemary, who, angered by Teresa's promotion, challenges her to a duel as an Awakened Being. Not long into the fight, Teresa dispatches her easily by releasing only a little of her Yoma energy.

Appearance
Human: It is hinted that Teresa had long black hair and was proud of it. She was very dismayed when she became a Claymore and lost it.

Claymore: Teresa has long wavy pale blond hair parted down the middle which she wears loose. She has silver eyes like all of the Claymores and stands at 180cm (same height as Irene).

Early Life
Teresa's early life is left to be rather vague. She theorizes that the reason her parents named her Teresa was because it was the name of one of the twin goddess of love. During her youth, she was said to have black hair that believed to be her best feature. However at some point in her life, she is sold to the Organization by the people she trusted (whether that is her family or the village she is from, it is never said).

During her training to becoming a claymore, she was referred to as a "problem child" by her handlers during her training. In one of her escapades, she ran into Rafaela.

As a Claymore, Teresa is a cold-blooded killer who cares for no one, only helping villages because she is ordered to, and taking pleasure in scaring humans. She is also solitary and rarely has contact with any of the other Claymores in the organization (she was surprised when Rosemary sent her a Black Card). She also keeps secrets from her handlers, and severely distrusts the Organization.

Time with Clare
While in a village with seven Yoma hiding, Teresa saves a young girl who had been kept as a prisoner and toy of a Yoma. The girl then follows her on her journeys. She is initially extremely irritated by this girl tagging along wherever she goes, but eventually grows fond of her. Teresa gives the girl the name Clare, after the twin goddesses, Teresa and Clare. Clare awakens Teresa's lost compassion, leading Teresa to say:

"This young girl, whose small body is only half the size of mine, taught me that, tears can, too, flow from these silver eyes"

From this point onwards, Teresa openly shows her affection on Clare without holding back her emotions (buying her clothes and allowing her to sleep on her lap), but eventually, she leaves Clare in a village, believing that a normal life with humans would still be better for her. However, the village is soon raided by bandits and Teresa rushes back to save her. Seeing Clare's bloodied form, Teresa flies into a rage and kills the bandits, breaking the rule that a Claymore should never kill humans, no matter what the circumstances.

Battle with Priscilla
Because she killed humans, the Claymore organization marks her for death. It dispatches a team of five Claymores of unknown ranks to execute her. Teresa cuts them down but does not kill the Claymores, stating that Clare had become her reason to live.

Claymores No.2 to No.5, Priscilla, Irene, Noel, and Sophia, are then assembled to kill her. During the beginning of the battle, Teresa was secretly alarmed of Priscilla's power. However, Teresa defeats them all without even releasing her Yoma power. She intentionally spares the lives of Claymores No.3 to No.5, but considered killing Priscilla because she senses that she would surpass her in combat. But her relationship with Clare had mellowed her, and she ultimately decides to let Priscilla live. Teresa leaves the town with Clare, leaving her former comrades wounded. However, Priscilla pursues and attacks her in blind rage. In her anger, she releases her yoma powers and nearly Awakens, but Teresa defeats Priscilla again while releasing only 10% of her power. It can be presumed that her yoma powers exceeded Priscilla even though she was going over 70% of her power. Priscilla then cries and begs Teresa to give her a merciful death before she fully Awakens, but as soon as Teresa drops her guard, Priscilla picks up the sword, attacks and decapitates her. Teresa's severed head is taken by Clare who carries it until she finds a member of the Organization. She begs him to place Teresa's remains inside her own body, becoming a Claymore in order to exact revenge against her savior's killer.

Personality
When she was a child, Teresa was always attempting to escape and was known as a problem child.

Before Teresa met Clare, she was a cold-hearted, solitary Claymore who would accept any job given to her without complaint. When she met Clare, she became less secluded and adopted maternal instincts. In Irene's opinion, this is what led to her death.

Abilities
Unparalleled strength: Teresa is strong enough to repel Priscilla attacks with just enough Yoki for her eyes to change color (10% release), as well as defeating the former No. 1, Rosemary, who had awakened, (which probably put her in the same power level as an Abyssal One), with no problem at all using the same amount of power. Thus making her incredibly stronger than most of the claymores. Throughout the series Teresa has been referred to as the most powerful No.1 in history.

Unparalleled Yoki-sensing: According to Irene, Teresa's superiority lies in her unparalleled ability to sense Yoki. Using this sense, she is able to predict the moves of her opponent and successfully counter them.

Unparalleled swordsmenship: Teresa is shown to have great swordsmenship as shown when she was able counter Irene's flash sword and block Noel's swift sword thrusts successfully.

Speed: Teresa is considered more agile than those below her and was able to evade Priscilla's attack at such a close range while clashing swords with Irene.

Clare
When Teresa first met Clare, she was irritated by her persistence in following her. Eventually, she began to get attached to her and they shared a mother-daughter relationship. According to Irene, it was this that led to her losing her cold-hearted nature and led to her death.

Irene
Though it is never explained, when Teresa met Irene at the start of the battle, she hinted at being friends with her beforehand.

Etymology
'Teresa' is Greek for 'harvester'. This is perhaps significant since she always performs her duties without fail and, due to her kind nature toward Clare, she may have been named after Mother Teresa. In the series, it is said that one of the twin goddess prominent in the world is named Teresa (the other being Clare).

Behind the Scenes

 * Teresa's voice actor is Romi Paku and her English voice actor is Christine Auten.
 * She has a song on the Claymore Intimate Persona CD called 'Tensei', meaning 'Reincarnation'.

Appearances

 * Claymore Manga Chapter 12
 * Claymore Manga Chapter 13
 * Claymore Manga Chapter 14
 * Claymore Manga Chapter 15
 * Claymore Manga Chapter 16
 * Claymore Manga Chapter 17
 * Claymore Manga Chapter 18
 * Claymore Manga Chapter 19
 * Claymore Manga Chapter 20
 * Claymore Manga Chapter 21
 * Claymore Manga Chapter 22
 * Claymore Manga Chapter 23
 * Claymore Manga Chapter 24
 * Claymore Manga Chapter 26 (as flashback)
 * Claymore Manga Extra Scene 1
 * Claymore Anime Episode 5
 * Claymore Anime Episode 6
 * Claymore Anime Episode 7
 * Claymore Anime Episode 8
 * Claymore Anime Episode 9 (as flashback)
 * Claymore Anime Episode 23 (as flashback)
 * Claymore Anime Episode 24 (as flashback)
 * Claymore Anime Episode 25 (as flashback)
 * Claymore Anime Episode 26 (as flashback)