Informations
In Character Information
character name: Teresa of the Faint Smile
Fandom: Claymore (manga)
Timeline: post death! so... chapter 24 or so
character's age: WHO KNOWS. But she appears to be early-mid 20s.
powers, skills, pets and equipment:
All Claymores have an overall increase in basic skills as well as complete martial training (primarily melee, although they can throw swords at monsters I guess) with massive swords they can use one handed. Because of their yoma power they're essentially superhumans with heightened strength, speed, reflexes and senses. They are not subject to extreme temperatures or toxins and only need to eat and sleep every so often to keep going. They have the ability to regenerate to some degree; as an Offensive type warrior, Teresa can reattach severed limbs (...except her head :D ) and, with enough time and concentration, regenerate missing limbs (although these will only be as powerful as a human limb, not a Claymore one, so she's better off sticking things back on.) According to Irene, being a notably powerful #1 ranked Claymore means Teresa has all of these abilities in spades - most other Claymores have a specific area of massive physical strength or skill, but in Teresa's case her abilities are powerfully well-rounded.
Where she really shines is in her yoki sensing and conservation. Yoki is the nebulous energy that gives Claymores their strength, and every warrior is able to both manipulate their own and detect that of others (unless it's suppressed well enough.) In Teresa's case her yoki sensing is highly specialized to the point where any enemy not fully suppressing their aura can be "read" by her, allowing her to literally predict their movements and act accordingly. Combined with her inherent strength it gives her enough of an advantage that she rarely needs to release yoki to fight, which can lead to her getting lazy against most enemies.
In later chapters she's counted among the most powerful top ranked Claymores in history, and is fairly successful in her career right up until she's decapitated. So there's that.
No pets until we get a Clare. Equipment is her clothes, armor, and sword.
canon history:
I WOULD LINK TO THE WIKI BUT IT IS ABSOLUTE CRAP, so here we go. Like pretty much every other Claymore, we're given very little information about Teresa's past as a human. She was sold by someone she trusted to the Organization, a mysterious... well, organization known known for making Claymore warriors to protect humanity from the yoma menace. This is done by implanting a human girl with yoma flesh, which gives them their strength but drains them of color - something lamented by Teresa when her black hair turned pale. She really liked that hair, but it's okay because she still looks good as a blond.
In any case, her years of training go largely untouched as well, aside from a brief scene introducing her to an expelled Claymore of minimal relevance to Teresa's storyline. As a trainee she apparently managed to escape her handlers many times and wandered into the forest and neighboring towns, always somehow making it through unscathed (which amazed the ex-warrior, Rafaela, when she realized it). She's described at that point as a "problem child" who refuses to listen no matter how many times she's scolded, setting the stage for much later on. Even though this was a flashback and came after the other stuff.
We next see her (chronologically) at some relatively early point in her career as a Number One, trolling a town for extra payment and generally enjoying being a pain. After the work is over she is informed by her handler, Orsay, that she's been summoned to execute a fellow warrior who's come too close to her power limits and is at risk of awakening. The warrior in question turns out to be Rosemary, formerly of the top ranking but displaced by Teresa and demoted to #2. She's pretty unhappy about it, and reveals that the summons was only to get a shot at fighting Teresa for the rank. Which backfires pretty badly when Teresa deduces that she'd awakened before sending the summons, criticizes her for not having the power or mentality of a true #1 (citing her lack of understanding over the demotion as evidence) and generally kicking her ass before cutting her to ribbons. In her report back to Orsay following the fight, Teresa cheerfully obscures Rosemary's true intent and claims she met a "proper ending for a former Number 1". For his part, Orsay seems unconvinced that she hadn't deliberately let Rosemary awaken (judging by the tattered state of her uniform) and Teresa... apparently doesn't care if he's convinced or not. Oh well.
Some vague number of years later Teresa's on another assignment in the town of Teo which leads her to inadvertently saving a young mute girl from a tormenting yoma. The girl is grateful. Really grateful. So grateful that despite being denied, shoved, and even kicked clear across the town square, she follows Teresa out of the town and into the forest for days on end without rest or complaint. Teresa is irritated and wants her usual solitude, but after stopping to protect the girl from plot bandits and generally preventing her from dying of exhaustion and starvation, she begins to warm up to her. She thinks of the girl first as a pet, then as something better than a pet, and despite knowing that the girl can't accompany her forever - a human child has no place in the dangerously demanding Claymore lifestyle - she decides to give her a name: Clare, after one half of the very symbolic twin goddesses.
(PROTAGONIST ALERT!)
At the edge of the town of Rokut, where Teresa plans to leave Clare for safety, they encounter one of the bandits that Teresa had maimed earlier. He's raving mad and wants revenge (which Teresa is prepared to let him have, persistently apathetic as she is) but he's chased off by Clare and then Teresa herself in a fierce double showing of loyalty to one another. It's here that Clare finally manages to speak again, to reveal the real reason why she'd been so determined to follow: Teresa was lonely, very lonely, and Clare had recognized that same loneliness in herself. The entire time they had traveled together, Teresa had been the one being comforted and not the other way around.
It was a bit of a revelation for her, to say the least. Touched, and with a new spin on her outlook, she offers Clare the most she can in return - a safe place to stay in an isolated mountain town she recently cleared of yoma. Clare naturally resists, but Teresa insists she stay and "live as a human, with humans." It isn't until she's leaving, alone, and passed by the SAME GROUP OF BANDITS, AGAIN, that she realizes the situation - the yoma had acted as a ward against raiders, and now that they were gone the village was in danger. Whoops. She returns immediately seeking Clare in the chaos and is provoked by the bandits a third time. This time around, she isn't feeling as generous. With Clare safely back at her side she slaughters every last one of them, breaking the most severe rule of the Organization: never kill a human.
From this point on, Teresa's on the Organization's wanted list, and twice she's approached by a group of fellow Claymores for her execution. The first group is cut down (but not killed) without much effort, with Teresa stating that in Clare, she's finally found a reason to live. The second encounter... doesn't go quite as smoothly. This group consists of the current numbers 2-5, notable for including Quicksword Irene - someone with whom Teresa has some vague history - and the Lawful Good rookie Priscilla who, with her ridiculous amount of potential and ability to completely suppress her yoki, is immediately placed in the #2 rank and meant to be the secret weapon for defeating Teresa.
Which might have worked, if Priscilla hadn't decided that a sneak attack or uneven fight would be dishonorable. Yeah. So that didn't work.
The ensuing fight between them goes through a few stages as Irene expositions nearby; Priscilla's unique suppression means Teresa cannot read her actions, but Teresa's overwhelming experience ultimately leaves Priscilla at a disadvantage. The others join the fray, and at Irene's prompting Priscilla releases some yoki to get a better advantage, which is totally a good idea and not at all the opposite of what she's even there for to begin with. So that fight happens. Without releasing her yoki, Teresa critically injures the others to take them out of the fight and approaches Priscilla with the intent to cut her down permanently, knowing that as close as the battle is now, given just a short amount of time she may not be able to win another victory against the Number 2. Priscilla, for her part, is conveniently paralyzed by a deep fear of dying.
But she doesn't die. Teresa hesitates and then leaves her there with the rest of them, alive, and prepares to leave with Clare instead. She tells them that no matter how often they come after her she will continue to fight, she is just that determined to live now. All of this heartwarming mercy coming from a wanted criminal and traitor is enough to snap Priscilla's rigid worldview in two, and she sort of goes completely ballistic. She chases down Teresa and Clare, determined to exact justice, and despite Teresa telling her to give up she releases enough yoki to distort her features and flood Teresa's senses enough that her movements are once again difficult to read. By now, Priscilla is fighting erratically and quickly losing her senses, mistaking Teresa for the yoma that killed her parents, and even when the others catch up they can only stand by the side and watch in terror and awe. Teresa only releases enough yoki to turn her eyes gold, but it's enough to keep back crazy Priscilla. Fight scene fight scene fight scene. Still with me? Okay.
Priscilla finally reaches her output limit, the point where she can no longer turn back to normal. She begs to be killed before she can awaken, and Teresa obliges - or is about to, anyway, when Priscilla takes the last second opportunity to sever her hands and then decapitate her, completing her mission just in time to awaken anyway and kill most of her former comrades.
AND THEN TERESA DIES.
:D
personality:
It's stated that Teresa's only asset is her smile, and while that's not strictly true it's certainly her most prominent feature and is ubiquitous enough to earn her the nickname Teresa of the Faint Smile. On the surface she appears serene, confident, even haughty. Her enemies are cut down with ease and grace, her reputation well-known, and she plays the part of the noble top ranked Claymore of her generation to near perfection. It's extremely rare that she's fazed by anything or anyone, she is straightforward and honest (claiming she doesn't lie because she has no reason to... except when she feels like being contrary, I guess) and she has a dry wit that is often turned against authority figures, especially Orsay. She's never seen without her trademark smile.
In what is probably a surprise to no one, it turns out she's actually pretty miserable, at least initially. While generally covered up, it shows in her attitude. She acts more as a mercenary than a warrior, never giving much thought to the protection of humans past just doing her job and even wondering at one point why anyone bothers to protect them, because they are gross. When faced with the threat of rape she essentially responds by flopping and telling the bandit to get it over with. As with any other warrior she spends most of her time isolated from her peers and shunned by humans, and seems to simply accept whatever comes with a heavy dose of apathy. Her confidence is stable and her skills are more than enough to keep her afloat, but she begins her story as an undeniably lonely person, and arguably she doesn't even notice this effect herself. Early on she embraces the isolation and acts harshly towards others. Clare eventually manages to correct this by identifying with her and offering comfort that's otherwise completely inaccessible for a Claymore.
So Clare becomes a focal point to her life, a catalyst and a purpose all in one. Given something precious to protect, Teresa finally shakes off her apathy and takes to the maternal role surprisingly well (if a little awkwardly, because humans are weird and why do they need to eat and sleep so much anyway!) Irene even notes that it's very unlike Teresa to spare an enemy, and had Clare not been a factor she never would have shown Priscilla mercy. Even though this change ultimately leads to her death, in the meantime she has optimism, joy, and a strong desire to keep on living in spite of being branded a traitor. Her smile, then, is real.
Which doesn't necessarily transform her entirely into sunshine and unicorns. She can be vicious when provoked enough, and is most decidedly terrifying when she wants to be. The Organization's rules forbid a Claymore from killing or harming a human, but when this rule is invoked by the rapey bandit she informs him in no uncertain terms that she is the one who decides if she follows the rules or not. Generally, she ends up pretty much skirting them altogether; she price gouges towns she helps and implies that the Organization will send yoma to attack if they can't pay, for which she is scolded because the Organization would never ever do that, ever, how ridiculous. Just as she was as a trainee, however, she isn't especially responsive to scolding and just sort of brushes it off if she doesn't mock it entirely. She's always been a bit of a wildcard by nature, taunting and toeing the line just enough to get wary looks until she decides to abandon the Organization's rules altogether to, in her words, live for Clare.
But she does have a noble side, seen during the times when she's had to execute a fellow warrior gone over her limits and the times that she tried to give Clare the life she deserved. And while all of these things backfired, it never seems to shake her. When she actually finds something worth doing, there is virtually nothing that can stop her from doing it. She can come off as arrogant and blunt to the point of rudeness, because... she is. But she's intelligent enough to know limits when she approaches them, even though she may not always decide to stop before she gets there.