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 is Claymore No. 1 of her generation and is considered to be one of the eight most powerful Claymores of all time, possibly even being the strongest of those eight.

She is known as "Teresa of the Faint Smile" (微笑のテレサ, Bishō no Teresa, literally "Smiling Teresa") for effortlessly killing yomas and awakened beings 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 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 kills her, releasing only 10% of her Yoki.

Etymology
"Teresa" is a transliteration of the Japanese "Teresa" (テレサ, pronounced "te-re-sah" or "te-re-zah").

In the West, "Teresa" is originally a 4th Century Spanish name. Confined to Spain and Portugal until the 17th Century. Possibly derived from the Greek "theros" ("heat" or "summer"), or "therizo" ("to harvest"). Or the Greek island of "Therasia," which may be the name of an ancient deity.

In the series, Teresa is depicted as one of the Twin Goddesses of Love (the other being Clare).

Appearance
Human: In a dream, Teresa remembers her long black hair and dark eyes, and she is still haunted by being betrayed by those she trusted and sold out to the Organization.

Claymore: Teresa has long, wavy, pale blonde hair parted down the middle, which she wears loose. She has silver eyes like all other Claymores.

180cm (5ft 10.86in—same height as Irene).

Personality
When she was a child, Teresa always attempted to escape. She was known as a problem child at the Claymore training school.

Before Teresa meets Clare, Teresa is a cold-blooded, solitary killer who would accept any assignment without complaint. But Clare changes Teresa—she opens emotionally and acts maternal. In Irene's opinion, this leads to Teresa's death.

Abilities
Teresa rates high in every aspect taken into account; she has enough physical strength to twist off an awakened Rosemary's arm, she is fast enough to be able to block Irene's Quicksword, her yoki perception and yoki levels are superior to most warriors and she has good mental strength and proficient leadership capabilities.

Acute Yoki Sensing
Teresa possesses a rare level of yoki sensing. Teresa can sense the movements and flow of yoki in Yoma and Claymores alike, accurately predicting their every move. As a little child Theresa was able to track down Rafaela, who totally erased her aura after the incident with her big sister, in the woods. If Rafaela's aura was already gone this would mean that Teresa even as a little child had better sensing abilities than the blind Galatea, who couldn't detect the Seven Ghosts in Rabona during the fight with the awakened number two Agatha. It is possible that Clare inherits this ability after Teresa's flesh and blood implanted into her.

Yoki
Augmenting her already-superior physical qualities is her near-unrivaled yoki; a mere ten-percent release was enough to frighten and kill a fully-awakened Rosemary(whose power may have been enough to rival that of any of the Abyssal Ones) and defeat a near-awakened Priscilla.

Organization Rating
From Claymore Databook 1.

Those ratings made by the Organization are probably invalid because Teresa hid succesfully most of her true power. After she slaughtered Rosemary Teresa lied to her handler when she was asked about her damaged clothes and gear. She told him that she ran into a horde of yoma instead of fighting and killing an awakened former number one. Despite the handler knew that yoma normally aren't able to scratch Teresa of the Faint Smile, he choose to believe her story because Teresa defeating an awakened number one was the unthinkable.
 * Yoki: S (Special Level of Ability)
 * Agility: A
 * Muscular Strength: A
 * Spirit: A
 * Perception: S
 * Leadership: B

Early Life
Teresa's early life is vague. She guesses that her parents named her Teresa after one of the Twin Goddesses of Love. In her dreams, she remembers having black hair that she believes to be her best feature. At some point in her life, she is sold to the Organization by the people she trusted (whether her family or the town she is from, it is never said).

During her Claymore training, she is called a "problem child" by a handler. In one of her escapades, she meets Rafaela in a Yoma-infested forest.

As a Claymore, Teresa is a cold-blooded killer who cares for no one, performing her assignments in a blase manner. She likes to frighten clients with horror stories. But she keeps some secrets from the Organization, while suspecting them of the worst.

Time with Clare
While in the village of Teo, Teresa kills six Yoma. But she senses a seventh. She spots the Yoma hiding behind a young girl. After killing the Yoma, Teresa discovers the girl was kept as a prisoner and toy of the Yoma.

Despite rebuffs to the mysterious girl's attempts at affection, the girl persists. The mystery girl follows Teresa through the wilderness. Despite Teresa's initial annoyance, she becomes fond of her. Teresa names the girl Clare, after the Twin Goddesses of Love, Clare and Teresa. 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 here, Teresa openly shows her affection to Clare without holding back her emotions. But she leaves Clare with foster parents in Rokut, believing a normal life would still be best for Clare. However, the village is 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
By breaking the Organization cardinal rule, Teresa is targeted for death. At an execution party of five Claymores, Teresa disables all with one sword stroke. She says she must live for Clare.

Priscilla (Claymore No. 2), Irene (No. 3), Noel (No. 4) and Sophia (No. 5) are now assigned to execute Teresa. But the hit squad is little more than an organized mob—the leader, Priscilla—cannot lead. Teresa defeats them easily.Teresa considers killing Priscilla because she senses Priscilla may one day surpass her. However, Clare has softened her warrior heart. She spares Priscilla. Teresa leaves town with Clare.

Priscilla pursues Teresa and attacks in blind rage. Priscilla releases 70% yoki, still losing to Teresa, who releases 10%. Priscilla begs Teresa to euthanize her before she fully awakens. But Teresa hesitates too long and Priscilla picks up a sword and decapitates her.

Clare decides on using the Organization as a venue for revenge. She carries Teresa's head, searching for a man-in-black. She finds Rubel. She demands Teresa's flesh and blood be put in inside her own body.

Clare
At first Teresa is irritated by Clare's persistence in following her. Eventually, she becomes attached to her and develop a mother-daughter relationship.

Irene
While Irene shows familiarity with Teresa at the start of the battle, it is unclear what sort of friendship, if any, existed beforehand.

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."