[OOC: Detailed Character Information]
Series: Claymore
Series' Medium: Manga
Character: Ophelia
Role in Canon: Technically fights on the side of the Claymores (the "good guys" of the manga, at least up until a point), but in truth, she couldn't care less who she fights for so long as she is able to keep killing things. In the main storyline, Ophelia is featured as a major antagonistic obstacle for Clare (the main character) to overcome starting mid-way through volume 6. She is defeated and slain early in volume 8.
Age: None specified in canon. Likely in the 19-23 range.
Gender: Female
"Real Name": Emily Waterhouse
Personal History:
[NOTE: Much of Ophelia's early history in canon is either sparsely described or not described at all. In particular, descriptions of Ophelia's brother and the incident with the one-horned monster were both given mostly through brief flashes and some crazed ranting on Ophelia's part. As such, in order to fill in the blanks, the first half of this history has required me to do some general educated guesswork based on Ophelia's personality, offhand remarks she has made, and the general lifepath that most Claymores follow. From the Miria/Hilda incident and onward, all descriptions are solidly based in canon.]
From a young age, it was apparent that Ophelia was a bit of a problem child. She didn't make friends with other children her age, she was prone to getting into scuffles, and she was frequently disobedient of her parents. The only person she ever developed a real emotional bond with was her older brother, who was always very affectionate towards her despite her odd behaviours. He would always rush to her defence when she was in trouble with other children, and as such, she looked up to him as an indestructible protector.
Apart from her behaviour troubles, Ophelia and her brother lived otherwise normal human lives in their quiet peasant village. However, like all towns and villages of their world, even their village was vulnerable to attacks by vicious yoma - demon-like humanoid monsters who lived off the flesh and guts of human beings. Yoma were stronger, faster, had better senses than all but the most exceptional human warriors, and could shape-shift into human form in order to avoid detection. Even in numbers, humans generally had no chance against hungry yoma.
When Ophelia was around nine or ten years old, her village was attacked by one yoma. However, this was not just any yoma. This beast was very tall, more muscled than normal, and had nightmarish wings of flesh and veins on its back. Most distinctive of all, it possessed a single, wicked horn in the middle of its forehead. This creature was one of the voracious eaters, which were supposedly long-lived yoma that had grown more powerful than their brethren. And this one was not going to hold back any of its power, either. It slaughtered everyone it came across with chilling efficiency, both with its far-extending claws and with the (presumably looted) Claymore blade it clutched tightly in one hand.
Their parents already either dead or fleeing for their cowardly lives, Ophelia and her brother ran away as fast as they could. The one-horned monster was far behind at first, but soon gained on them as it advanced in their direction. When it became apparent that they could not hope to escape at their speed, the older boy turned back to his sister and told her that he was going to draw the monster's attention. He told her that she needed to take that opportunity to escape. She wept and begged him not to, but the foolish boy insisted. Too terrified to stay for him, Ophelia listened to his words and ran to find a hiding place.
As she looked out from that place, she caught her brother's eyes in the distance for one last, brief moment. She could have sworn she saw something in his expression then, but the thought of it quickly vanished from her mind.
He then ran off to face the one-horned monster. Though she couldn't see it happening, she could hear the terrible, far-away sounds of her brother being rent limb from limb.
In the aftermath of the attack, Ophelia crawled out of her hiding place, eyes wide with rage. She was outraged that he had done such a thing knowing that he would die, without even thinking of her. She could not comprehend at all why any of this had happened.
She told herself that it had to be all the one-horned monster's fault. Her brother had never done anything that stupid or reckless before as far as she knew. It must had caused him to leave her, and for that, she couldn't forgive it. Ophelia swore on her soul then that she would slay the creature.
As if some vengeful god had heard her vow, she was soon discovered by a member of the organization. Without parents or other family to tie her mind down to human life, and with a freshly murderous gleam in her eyes, she was a perfect candidate for being remade as a Claymore. She had known of Claymores, or silver-eyed witches, previously, but the prospect of actually becoming one in order to exact her revenge had not crossed her mind yet. When Ophelia considered the idea, she was more than eager to accept the black-cloaked agent's offer.
She was taken back to the organization's headquarters at once. Her body was fused with the flesh of a yoma, which granted her all the enhancements that yoma possessed (described in the Powers section) together with one important advantage over normal yoma: a human intellect. The process bleached her hair pale blonde and turned her eyes silver, as it did with all but the weakest who underwent it.
When her rebirth was complete, Ophelia was immediately sent for training. Her skill shot straight up at an alarming rate, and even more so when she moved on to living yoma targets. She quickly found an immense passion for murdering these monsters. She loved the splatter of their blood and organs. She loved deciding the perfect wounds to inflict. And best of all, she loved toying with those yoma who had enough mental capacity to be toyed with. It was as though she had discovered the greatest game ever created.
Soon, she was admitted into the formal ranks. There were always forty-seven warriors in active duty, one assigned to each of the land's forty-seven regions. They were all given number ranks according to their skill and abilities, with 1 being the highest and 47 being the lowest. From her initial placement, Ophelia rose very quickly through the ranks thanks to her skill and sheer ruthlessness.
It was during this time in the field that she learned something very important: the "voracious eaters" were not long-lived yoma at all. The far more sinister truth was that these creatures had once been warriors like herself. If a warrior went beyond her limits in releasing yoki or used too much of her yoki too often, she would begin to "awaken." Simply put, this meant that she would transform into an immensely powerful yoma called an awakened being. Reverting back to human form would be impossible at that point.
Ophelia's resolve crystallized with that information: she would join as many awakened being hunts as possible from now on. She would kill any and all awakened that existed in the world, and revel in the excitement of standing over all their hulking corpses, laughing with child-like glee.
With every awakened being hunt, she grew even more bloodthirsty. It got to a point where she needed to kill in order to sate herself, especially when her tasks grew too boring or repetitive. Soon, she was playing with human targets in her spare time, which was a mad thing to do; Claymores were supposed to forfeit their lives should they ever kill a human. In Ophelia's eyes, however, that restriction was what made playing with humans so much fun. Besides, if anyone did see, she could have the added fun of slaying the witness too.
As Ophelia neared the top ranks, she began hearing an increasing number of stories about warriors with strong, unique powers. Dark Alicia. God Eye Galatea. Windcutter Flora. Hearing these tales, Ophelia became put out. She didn't think it was very fair, given that she was such a spectacular warrior without a name of her own yet. On the spot, she decided that she needed to develop her own personal technique in order to garner one of these unique nicknames.
It didn't take long for her to devise such a technique. It was simple, but wickedly powerful. All she had to do was undulate her sword arm with extreme rapidity, and it would give her sword the appearance of a rippling snake. Using this technique, her sword movements became impossible to track for all but the most talented of yoki readers. "Rippling Ophelia." That was a great name, wasn't it?
Unfortunately for her, the name never became very widely known. Most of the people who witnessed her using her technique tended to die very soon after seeing it.
Eventually, Ophelia peaked at the rank of number 4. It was around this time that she found herself watching another warrior, Miria, who was on the verge of moving up into the single-digit ranks. Ophelia was very impressed by the sight of Miria's speed and skill in a group. It was no wonder people were starting to call her Phantom Miria. After watching for a while, however, Ophelia felt the yoki of someone approaching further back in the forest. She slipped away from her black-cloaked handler for a short time and found number 6, Hilda, limping toward her. Hilda held out a black card (a symbol indicating that she would be awakening very soon) and told Ophelia that a black-cloaked agent should give it to Miria. She wanted Miria, who was a dear comrade of hers, to slay her before her body succumbed to weakness and awakened.
To put it simply, Ophelia thought that this was just hilarious. Hilda's "dear comrade" was so close, and yet Hilda couldn't even sense her yoki anymore. Ophelia simply laughed in number 6's face and tore the card up in front of her. She walked away laughing to herself, leaving Hilda to her fate.
A few months later, she got word that an awakened being resembling Hilda had been spotted in a mountain range. On a whim, Ophelia used her leverage as a single-digit to set up a hunt with her, Miria, and two other warriors on a team together. This was sure to be a fun mission, whatever the result.
Upon finding the awakened being, Ophelia came at it with full force. As expected, the fight was great fun, if a little bit easy. But not only that: after managing to slice off the thing's head, Miria realized who the being had been and let out cries that sounded incredibly funny to Ophelia. And not only that: Miria even started to awaken in her grief. The prospect of a fight against such a talented upcoming warrior gave her chills of excitement.
Her fun was cut short, however, when Miria managed to pull herself back from the edge at the last second. Ophelia harumphed quietly and headed back after that, satisfied that at least one awakened had been slain.
Several months later, Ophelia was assigned to a seemingly routine awakened being hunt. It wasn't supposed to be a very strong one, either, so only herself and a low-ranked warrior named Clare were assigned to it. To her surprise and delight, however, when Clare arrived for the hunt, Ophelia could smell the scent of an awakened being on her. She quickly restrained Clare, puncturing the girl's chest with two fingers and savouring the taste of her blood. Indeed, it had a bit of a funny flavour to it. She wondered whether the organization had known that something was up with this girl. Either way, it meant that she could play a fun game with her new find.
Clare had brought a human boy with her for whatever reason, and he seemed bent on protecting her. This gave Ophelia an idea for the parameters of their game. In one stroke, she sliced off both of Clare's legs. The object of the game would be for Clare to reattach her legs while Ophelia fought with the boy. She would fight at the boy's level to start with, but with every passing minute, she would increase her speed and strength; the boy wouldn't last more than ten, most likely. Would Clare spend too much time concentrating on the reattachment and let the boy die? Or would she be too hasty and screw it up, unable to help even if she wanted to?
Not long after they started, however, their game was interrupted by the arrival of the awakened being that they had been sent out to hunt in the first place. Deciding to kill the warriors and devour the human, it calmly swung its multitude of tentacles at the surroundings with the intent to destroy everything but the boy. Ophelia easily dodged, and Clare, having just finished reattaching her legs at that point, was just barely able to do the same. The awakened was impressed.
It didn't take more than a few seconds for Clare to crumple again, however. Her left leg apparently still needed more time. Ophelia, seemingly having forgotten their earlier fight, said that she would protect the boy and allow Clare time to focus on fixing her leg. This was no time to be fighting with each other. Clare agreed, and started on her leg again.
Unfortunately for Claire, Ophelia loved preying on gullibility. In less than a second, Ophelia had tossed the boy to the awakened, who prepared to devour him. She then slammed Clare's head down to the ground with extreme force before she could react; Clare would not be able to go to the boy's aid without spending enough energy to awaken. Yet another wonderful little game to play.
To her delight, Clare did go over her limit in order to get out of Ophelia's grip. She was ecstatic at the prospect of being able to fight two awakened in one day, and waited to see what she would be facing. When the dust cleared, however, she was surprised to see Clare no worse for wear. Both of her legs were completely healed, and the boy was safely under her arm. Something was wrong. The girl had most definitely used too much yoki. She should have awakened for sure . . .
The answer to the problem came to her quickly enough: obviously, Clare had awakened. This was something that she hadn't come across before. She could only imagine fun she could have with this information after she was finished tearing Clare to shreds.
Clare ran away with the boy, but as Ophelia moved to give chase, the first awakened blocked her way, saying that she was going to devour Ophelia's "arrogant little heart." They began a heated battle, which Ophelia enjoyed all too much, releasing more and more yoki the more excited she became. Her mind became so clouded by bloodlust and adrenaline, however, that she made one wrong move, allowing the awakened to take her in its tentacles and snap her neck.
Thinking the Claymore dead, the awakened turned to leave, only to find its head swiftly removed from its body. Her neck still twisted 180 degrees around, Ophelia stood triumphant over the awakened. "The monster . . . is you. Not me," the beast said in its final moments. Ophelia simply grinned, slowly turning her head back around and cracking her neck back into place before slicing the severed head to pieces.
Eventually, Ophelia found Clare a little ways away in the forest and began to battle her again. However, she was surprised to find that the awakened girl was able to block her every strike. After a few moments, she realized that Clare was reading the flow of her yoki in order to predict her moves before she could make them. She had to admit, that was slick.
It was an easy enough technique to counter with her lovely Rippling Sword, however. Clare was unable to block any more strikes after Ophelia brought out this special technique. After a bit more dancing around one another, all it took was another casual use of the Rippling Sword to sever the awakened girl's sword arm. She finished things off by slicing across the girl's chest, sending her careening down a cliff. Their fight seemed over. And yet it felt . . . disappointing. Like there was something missing.
It was then she realized that Clare had grabbed her severed arm tightly before falling.
Ophelia found the awakened girl at the river shore down below, and congratulated her on almost getting away with her plan. After a bit more talk, she got the severed arm away from Clare and sliced it into ribbons. There would be absolutely no chance of it ever being reattached now, and since Clare was clearly an offensive-type warrior, she couldn't generate a new one either.
The two continued to fight, and Ophelia delighted in watching Clare struggle like a cornered animal. Eventually, she managed to separate the girl from her remaining hand as well.
Just as she was about to deliver the killing blow, however, they were interrupted by a mysterious hooded figure. There was no trace of yoki, which meant that this was likely a human. Ophelia had no idea what human would have the sheer balls to interrupt her when she was having such fun. She took a swing, intending to slice the human in two with one stroke.
She was blocked. She hadn't even seen a blade appear. Growing more frustrated, she kept striking to no avail. Not even the Rippling Sword could get through. She was baffled by this, feeling overcome with more and more rage.
And then there was pain all over her body, and her own blood sprayed everywhere. Again, she had not even seen a blade move, and yet it had happened. Ophelia crumpled to the ground, unable to move. Clare and the stranger - a woman with long hair - were gone mere seconds afterward. In the rain that followed, she tried to drag herself along through the soaking wet underbrush, but with her multitude of serious wounds, she kept falling flat on her face.
Ophelia felt completely shattered, and not just because of her wounds. With her level of strength and her determination to defeat the evil in the world, she had believed herself to be practically invincible. She could hear her brother's voice in her mind, and she called out to him desperately even though she knew he wasn't there.
Soon, her thoughts turned from her brother's absence to the ultimate cause of that absence: the one-horned bitch monster. She yelled and cursed to the rain profusely, unaware of the gigantic flow of yoki pouring out of her in her rage. She growled and yelled and screeched until finally there was an explosion of white hot light before her eyes. Then, she blacked out.
Personality:
Ophelia, if you haven't gathered already, is more than a little bit insane. She is a textbook example of psychopathy at its worst. She has little regard for rules or authority unless it suits her purposes, is often irrational and impulsive, has an extremely inflated sense of self worth, can project a front of superficial charm when necessary, lacks remorse for any sort of harm she causes others (physical or otherwise), will do anything to get what she wants, and is, of course, extremely violent and sadistic. It is unclear how much of this personality disorder was part of her mind from birth and how much of it was aggravated by the death of her brother and her experiences as a Claymore. Regardless, it is a firmly entrenched part of who she is now.
Independent of her disorder, however, is one surprising thing: her genuine desire to rid the world of awakened beings. It began as a desire for revenge against the monster that killed her brother and destroyed her village, but the more she has fought against the awakened, the more that desire has morphed into an obsessive moral crusade against the existence of all awakened beings (and, by extension, yoma). Not seeing the inherent irony, it is their arrogance that she can't stand. She hates that they presume to own her world and tear it to pieces when they have no right to. Granted, her crusade is intermingled with her general desire to slaughter anything she goddamn well feels like, and she treats fights against awakened beings as delightful games, the same way she treats any other kinds of fights. Still, it is a curious belief for a mind like Ophelia's to hold.
Speaking of games, we find another interesting aspect of Ophelia's world-view: her tendency to treat nearly everything as a game. She is constantly seeking new and better "games" for the sake of challenging her skills, finding beauty in new forms of carnage, and revelling in the excitement of her inevitable victories. These games can come in many forms - physical fights, torture, teasing, manipulation, psychological torment, and others. She really does enjoy the physical shattering of her "toys" at the end of these games the best, though. The order of a fully constructed, unmarred living body is boring to Ophelia, even if the body is twisted and grotesque to begin with. Chaos is far more interesting to her.
It would seem as though Ophelia has no emotional vulnerabilities, but it is possible to rile her up and even break her. In general, Ophelia seems to like being challenged by people and monsters with abilities nearing her own strength, but the truth is that she gets incredibly irked when she suspects that anyone might be legitimately better than her. Yes, she is a jealous bitch. Even little things such as her lack of a unique title among other warriors will drive her to do everything she can in order to rise back to the top. If she can get back to her definition of the top, as in the case of her title, then great. If not, however, her entire world-view essentially collapses (as it did upon being defeated in the woods). Ophelia has long assumed that she will eventually be recognized as the greatest warrior the world has ever known, and that no one could ever truly surpass her. She has been the central pillar of the world in her own mind ever since her brother's death. Thus, if Ophelia is knocked down, then the entire world comes crashing down with her as far as she's concerned. She can eventually recover from this state of vulnerability, but it won't be easy for her, especially in a place like Landel's (see the "where your character is going" and "psychological effects" sections for more detail).
Physical Description: Ophelia is of average height, with a very slender, yet tough and sinewy frame. Her pale blonde hair falls to the small of her back, and is always kept back in a tight braid (bangs included). Like all Claymores, her eyes are silver. Her facial features at first seem elegant (even cute sometimes), but easily appear distorted when she is in a crazed mood.
In the original canon, her ears have pointed tips, similar to elf ears. At Landel's, the tips will still be somewhat tapered, but the points will be far less obvious.
Lastly, right around where her navel should be, there is a small, yet horrifying disfigurement - so horrifying that it defies description. This is presumably what is left over on the outside of a Claymore's body after the process of fusing human and yoma flesh. Though it has not yet been revealed in canon what the Claymore disfigurement looks like, it has been shown to be either hideous or bizarre enough to strongly dissuade whole gangs of potential rapists from continuing their assaults. Many people become violently ill upon seeing this disfigurement, and most are at least shocked. The only things that have been revealed in the manga thus far about its appearance are: 1) it must be small, as there have been many panels depicting partially obscured Claymore stomachs and the disfigurement has not been visible; and 2) it must either be flat or concave, as no outlines are ever visible through the fabric of the jumpsuits the Claymores wear.
When?: Ophelia will be whisked away to Landel's in the moment before her complete physical awakening. Page 25 of manga chapter 37, to be precise. ;)
Original Powers: Ophelia possesses all of the standard Claymore enhancements/powers, including inhuman speed, strength, reflexes, and senses, as well as accelerated healing, an extremely minimal need to eat or sleep, and a type of extrasensory perception that allows for the sensing of yoki (demonic energy emitted by yoma and Claymores). She is an offensive-type warrior, meaning that her attack power is boosted even higher than normal at the cost of not being able to properly regenerate lost limbs the way defensive-types can. Even being offensive-type, however, she can still achieve some types of dramatic healing. For example, all Claymores, offensive or defensive, are able to reattach severed limbs within a few minutes with heavy concentration. As well, the most memorable healing Ophelia as an individual has achieved in canon is a near-immediate recovery from having her neck twisted 180 degrees and snapped (this is implied to be something that most Claymores are not able to do).
As described in the History section, Ophelia has learned to push the speed and strength of her sword arm to its limits in order to perform the Rippling Sword. With this technique, she undulates her arm back and forth at such speeds that her entire sword takes on the appearance of a rippling snake, becoming extremely difficult to track due to the chaotic movements involved. See the third attached image for an example of what the Rippling Sword looks like.
Lastly, as with all Claymores, she is able to dramatically increase the power of all of her abilities and senses by releasing varying amounts of dormant yoki within her body. As more yoki is released, some shape modification of the body occurs - at 10%, her eyes will become golden and slit like a cat's. At 30%, her face will begin to distort, and she will grow sharp teeth. At 50%, her body will begin to grow and bulge with muscles and pulsing veins; also, her hands and feet will deform and sprout claws. At 80% or above, a full awakening will occur, and (supposedly) there can be no return to human form beyond that point.
Modified Powers at Landel's: All enhancements to Ophelia's speed/agility, strength and senses will be greatly dampened. She will still have a a bit of an edge over average joes, but said edge is kept to within the limits of real human capability; her physical abilities would be a few notches below those of a human athlete. Even with that physical edge, however, the important factor to remember is that in comparison to her prior abilities, Ophelia will perceive herself as having become far weaker than she actually is.
As for her supernatural abilities: her yoki sensing will be completely nullified, as it is specific to the yoma in Claymore and not applicable to demonic energy in general. Her ability to release yoki for further ability enhancement will also be nullified. Her healing, however, will remain in a dampened state. Teeny tiny injuries (paper cuts and pricks) will heal within minutes, incidental injuries (large cuts and scrapes) within a few hours, light to medium wounds (deep cuts, bullet/stab wounds, broken bones) will take a day, traumatic wounds (severed limbs, impalement through the gut) will take at least a two or three days, and mortal wounds (decapitation, destruction of the heart, complete disembowelment with guts severed from the body) cannot be recovered from at all. The only exception to these guidelines is a snapped neck. This should be a traumatic or mortal wound, but in canon, Ophelia has been shown the rare ability to recover from a snapped neck within a few minutes. Thus, I would include it in with medium wounds for her. During the recovery time for a snapped neck, she would be lying completely prone and open to further attack for at least the first two hours while the nerves regenerate. After that time, she could get up again, but her neck would still be twisted/bent; it will take a few more hours to reorient itself and snap bones back into place (which would provide a lovely surprise for a lot of unsuspecting patients, I'm sure). For the rest of the recovery period after that, she will feel light-headed and her neck will feel incredibly sore.
As an offensive-type warrior, she would never have had a talent for properly re-growing lost limbs, so the possibility of re-growth will be completely out the window at Landel's. She will still be able to reattach severed limbs, but it will require her to sit mostly still for at least a couple of hours while the basic nerves, tissues and bones reconnect, after which the reattached limb would be dramatically weakened for the remainder of the traumatic wound recovery period (see Reattachment Note for further detail on reasoning). Also, the longer she leaves a severed limb, the harder it will be to reattach it successfully. If it is left alone for over an hour or the basics of the reattachment process still has not succeeded after over six, then there is no more hope for that limb.
With the return to a level of power somewhat closer to human, Ophelia will also find a partial return of her appetite and need to sleep. Before, she could go on one or two bites every few days, and sleep simply by sitting and leaning against her sword for a short while. At Landel's, she will need one meal and four hours of (proper, lying down) sleep per day at minimum - more if she has seriously worn herself out.
Non-magical Skills/Abilities: Being the organization's Number 4, Ophelia has necessarily gained a lot of practical skill in the field, particularly in areas of combat. Even without her Claymore enhancements, Ophelia possesses a knack for deflecting blows, inflicting effective, brutal blows of her own, dodging, and (when in a more level-headed mood) on-the-spot strategy. As well, she can work in or lead a team if necessary (though she prefers not to), and has some experience with reconnaissance work.
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REATTACHMENT NOTE: The way limb reattachment works in Claymore, a warrior has to release yoki in order to keep the healing process going. Full limb reattachment, when uninterrupted, only takes a few minutes. It was tempting for me to include severed limbs in with medium wounds rather than traumatic ones, since a few minutes of healing time in Ophelia's world would correspond to about a day at Landel's the way I've set things up. However, a common characteristic of the wounds listed under light to medium is the fact that they heal automatically - without the input of yoki. Given that Ophelia has no yoki to draw upon at Landel's, it made sense to me that the reattachment process would be much harder than normal, and thus the recovery time would be drastically increased. It would be impractical, though, to require Ophelia to sit in one place for such a long time waiting for the reattachment to finish, which is why I segmented it into two parts: the bare necessities of regeneration (requires her to sit still for a few hours and keep the limb in place), and the more advanced bits (she is free to move around, but the limb is extremely weak over the next few days while healing continues).
Series' Medium: Manga
Character: Ophelia
Role in Canon: Technically fights on the side of the Claymores (the "good guys" of the manga, at least up until a point), but in truth, she couldn't care less who she fights for so long as she is able to keep killing things. In the main storyline, Ophelia is featured as a major antagonistic obstacle for Clare (the main character) to overcome starting mid-way through volume 6. She is defeated and slain early in volume 8.
Age: None specified in canon. Likely in the 19-23 range.
Gender: Female
"Real Name": Emily Waterhouse
Personal History:
[NOTE: Much of Ophelia's early history in canon is either sparsely described or not described at all. In particular, descriptions of Ophelia's brother and the incident with the one-horned monster were both given mostly through brief flashes and some crazed ranting on Ophelia's part. As such, in order to fill in the blanks, the first half of this history has required me to do some general educated guesswork based on Ophelia's personality, offhand remarks she has made, and the general lifepath that most Claymores follow. From the Miria/Hilda incident and onward, all descriptions are solidly based in canon.]
From a young age, it was apparent that Ophelia was a bit of a problem child. She didn't make friends with other children her age, she was prone to getting into scuffles, and she was frequently disobedient of her parents. The only person she ever developed a real emotional bond with was her older brother, who was always very affectionate towards her despite her odd behaviours. He would always rush to her defence when she was in trouble with other children, and as such, she looked up to him as an indestructible protector.
Apart from her behaviour troubles, Ophelia and her brother lived otherwise normal human lives in their quiet peasant village. However, like all towns and villages of their world, even their village was vulnerable to attacks by vicious yoma - demon-like humanoid monsters who lived off the flesh and guts of human beings. Yoma were stronger, faster, had better senses than all but the most exceptional human warriors, and could shape-shift into human form in order to avoid detection. Even in numbers, humans generally had no chance against hungry yoma.
When Ophelia was around nine or ten years old, her village was attacked by one yoma. However, this was not just any yoma. This beast was very tall, more muscled than normal, and had nightmarish wings of flesh and veins on its back. Most distinctive of all, it possessed a single, wicked horn in the middle of its forehead. This creature was one of the voracious eaters, which were supposedly long-lived yoma that had grown more powerful than their brethren. And this one was not going to hold back any of its power, either. It slaughtered everyone it came across with chilling efficiency, both with its far-extending claws and with the (presumably looted) Claymore blade it clutched tightly in one hand.
Their parents already either dead or fleeing for their cowardly lives, Ophelia and her brother ran away as fast as they could. The one-horned monster was far behind at first, but soon gained on them as it advanced in their direction. When it became apparent that they could not hope to escape at their speed, the older boy turned back to his sister and told her that he was going to draw the monster's attention. He told her that she needed to take that opportunity to escape. She wept and begged him not to, but the foolish boy insisted. Too terrified to stay for him, Ophelia listened to his words and ran to find a hiding place.
As she looked out from that place, she caught her brother's eyes in the distance for one last, brief moment. She could have sworn she saw something in his expression then, but the thought of it quickly vanished from her mind.
He then ran off to face the one-horned monster. Though she couldn't see it happening, she could hear the terrible, far-away sounds of her brother being rent limb from limb.
In the aftermath of the attack, Ophelia crawled out of her hiding place, eyes wide with rage. She was outraged that he had done such a thing knowing that he would die, without even thinking of her. She could not comprehend at all why any of this had happened.
She told herself that it had to be all the one-horned monster's fault. Her brother had never done anything that stupid or reckless before as far as she knew. It must had caused him to leave her, and for that, she couldn't forgive it. Ophelia swore on her soul then that she would slay the creature.
As if some vengeful god had heard her vow, she was soon discovered by a member of the organization. Without parents or other family to tie her mind down to human life, and with a freshly murderous gleam in her eyes, she was a perfect candidate for being remade as a Claymore. She had known of Claymores, or silver-eyed witches, previously, but the prospect of actually becoming one in order to exact her revenge had not crossed her mind yet. When Ophelia considered the idea, she was more than eager to accept the black-cloaked agent's offer.
She was taken back to the organization's headquarters at once. Her body was fused with the flesh of a yoma, which granted her all the enhancements that yoma possessed (described in the Powers section) together with one important advantage over normal yoma: a human intellect. The process bleached her hair pale blonde and turned her eyes silver, as it did with all but the weakest who underwent it.
When her rebirth was complete, Ophelia was immediately sent for training. Her skill shot straight up at an alarming rate, and even more so when she moved on to living yoma targets. She quickly found an immense passion for murdering these monsters. She loved the splatter of their blood and organs. She loved deciding the perfect wounds to inflict. And best of all, she loved toying with those yoma who had enough mental capacity to be toyed with. It was as though she had discovered the greatest game ever created.
Soon, she was admitted into the formal ranks. There were always forty-seven warriors in active duty, one assigned to each of the land's forty-seven regions. They were all given number ranks according to their skill and abilities, with 1 being the highest and 47 being the lowest. From her initial placement, Ophelia rose very quickly through the ranks thanks to her skill and sheer ruthlessness.
It was during this time in the field that she learned something very important: the "voracious eaters" were not long-lived yoma at all. The far more sinister truth was that these creatures had once been warriors like herself. If a warrior went beyond her limits in releasing yoki or used too much of her yoki too often, she would begin to "awaken." Simply put, this meant that she would transform into an immensely powerful yoma called an awakened being. Reverting back to human form would be impossible at that point.
Ophelia's resolve crystallized with that information: she would join as many awakened being hunts as possible from now on. She would kill any and all awakened that existed in the world, and revel in the excitement of standing over all their hulking corpses, laughing with child-like glee.
With every awakened being hunt, she grew even more bloodthirsty. It got to a point where she needed to kill in order to sate herself, especially when her tasks grew too boring or repetitive. Soon, she was playing with human targets in her spare time, which was a mad thing to do; Claymores were supposed to forfeit their lives should they ever kill a human. In Ophelia's eyes, however, that restriction was what made playing with humans so much fun. Besides, if anyone did see, she could have the added fun of slaying the witness too.
As Ophelia neared the top ranks, she began hearing an increasing number of stories about warriors with strong, unique powers. Dark Alicia. God Eye Galatea. Windcutter Flora. Hearing these tales, Ophelia became put out. She didn't think it was very fair, given that she was such a spectacular warrior without a name of her own yet. On the spot, she decided that she needed to develop her own personal technique in order to garner one of these unique nicknames.
It didn't take long for her to devise such a technique. It was simple, but wickedly powerful. All she had to do was undulate her sword arm with extreme rapidity, and it would give her sword the appearance of a rippling snake. Using this technique, her sword movements became impossible to track for all but the most talented of yoki readers. "Rippling Ophelia." That was a great name, wasn't it?
Unfortunately for her, the name never became very widely known. Most of the people who witnessed her using her technique tended to die very soon after seeing it.
Eventually, Ophelia peaked at the rank of number 4. It was around this time that she found herself watching another warrior, Miria, who was on the verge of moving up into the single-digit ranks. Ophelia was very impressed by the sight of Miria's speed and skill in a group. It was no wonder people were starting to call her Phantom Miria. After watching for a while, however, Ophelia felt the yoki of someone approaching further back in the forest. She slipped away from her black-cloaked handler for a short time and found number 6, Hilda, limping toward her. Hilda held out a black card (a symbol indicating that she would be awakening very soon) and told Ophelia that a black-cloaked agent should give it to Miria. She wanted Miria, who was a dear comrade of hers, to slay her before her body succumbed to weakness and awakened.
To put it simply, Ophelia thought that this was just hilarious. Hilda's "dear comrade" was so close, and yet Hilda couldn't even sense her yoki anymore. Ophelia simply laughed in number 6's face and tore the card up in front of her. She walked away laughing to herself, leaving Hilda to her fate.
A few months later, she got word that an awakened being resembling Hilda had been spotted in a mountain range. On a whim, Ophelia used her leverage as a single-digit to set up a hunt with her, Miria, and two other warriors on a team together. This was sure to be a fun mission, whatever the result.
Upon finding the awakened being, Ophelia came at it with full force. As expected, the fight was great fun, if a little bit easy. But not only that: after managing to slice off the thing's head, Miria realized who the being had been and let out cries that sounded incredibly funny to Ophelia. And not only that: Miria even started to awaken in her grief. The prospect of a fight against such a talented upcoming warrior gave her chills of excitement.
Her fun was cut short, however, when Miria managed to pull herself back from the edge at the last second. Ophelia harumphed quietly and headed back after that, satisfied that at least one awakened had been slain.
Several months later, Ophelia was assigned to a seemingly routine awakened being hunt. It wasn't supposed to be a very strong one, either, so only herself and a low-ranked warrior named Clare were assigned to it. To her surprise and delight, however, when Clare arrived for the hunt, Ophelia could smell the scent of an awakened being on her. She quickly restrained Clare, puncturing the girl's chest with two fingers and savouring the taste of her blood. Indeed, it had a bit of a funny flavour to it. She wondered whether the organization had known that something was up with this girl. Either way, it meant that she could play a fun game with her new find.
Clare had brought a human boy with her for whatever reason, and he seemed bent on protecting her. This gave Ophelia an idea for the parameters of their game. In one stroke, she sliced off both of Clare's legs. The object of the game would be for Clare to reattach her legs while Ophelia fought with the boy. She would fight at the boy's level to start with, but with every passing minute, she would increase her speed and strength; the boy wouldn't last more than ten, most likely. Would Clare spend too much time concentrating on the reattachment and let the boy die? Or would she be too hasty and screw it up, unable to help even if she wanted to?
Not long after they started, however, their game was interrupted by the arrival of the awakened being that they had been sent out to hunt in the first place. Deciding to kill the warriors and devour the human, it calmly swung its multitude of tentacles at the surroundings with the intent to destroy everything but the boy. Ophelia easily dodged, and Clare, having just finished reattaching her legs at that point, was just barely able to do the same. The awakened was impressed.
It didn't take more than a few seconds for Clare to crumple again, however. Her left leg apparently still needed more time. Ophelia, seemingly having forgotten their earlier fight, said that she would protect the boy and allow Clare time to focus on fixing her leg. This was no time to be fighting with each other. Clare agreed, and started on her leg again.
Unfortunately for Claire, Ophelia loved preying on gullibility. In less than a second, Ophelia had tossed the boy to the awakened, who prepared to devour him. She then slammed Clare's head down to the ground with extreme force before she could react; Clare would not be able to go to the boy's aid without spending enough energy to awaken. Yet another wonderful little game to play.
To her delight, Clare did go over her limit in order to get out of Ophelia's grip. She was ecstatic at the prospect of being able to fight two awakened in one day, and waited to see what she would be facing. When the dust cleared, however, she was surprised to see Clare no worse for wear. Both of her legs were completely healed, and the boy was safely under her arm. Something was wrong. The girl had most definitely used too much yoki. She should have awakened for sure . . .
The answer to the problem came to her quickly enough: obviously, Clare had awakened. This was something that she hadn't come across before. She could only imagine fun she could have with this information after she was finished tearing Clare to shreds.
Clare ran away with the boy, but as Ophelia moved to give chase, the first awakened blocked her way, saying that she was going to devour Ophelia's "arrogant little heart." They began a heated battle, which Ophelia enjoyed all too much, releasing more and more yoki the more excited she became. Her mind became so clouded by bloodlust and adrenaline, however, that she made one wrong move, allowing the awakened to take her in its tentacles and snap her neck.
Thinking the Claymore dead, the awakened turned to leave, only to find its head swiftly removed from its body. Her neck still twisted 180 degrees around, Ophelia stood triumphant over the awakened. "The monster . . . is you. Not me," the beast said in its final moments. Ophelia simply grinned, slowly turning her head back around and cracking her neck back into place before slicing the severed head to pieces.
Eventually, Ophelia found Clare a little ways away in the forest and began to battle her again. However, she was surprised to find that the awakened girl was able to block her every strike. After a few moments, she realized that Clare was reading the flow of her yoki in order to predict her moves before she could make them. She had to admit, that was slick.
It was an easy enough technique to counter with her lovely Rippling Sword, however. Clare was unable to block any more strikes after Ophelia brought out this special technique. After a bit more dancing around one another, all it took was another casual use of the Rippling Sword to sever the awakened girl's sword arm. She finished things off by slicing across the girl's chest, sending her careening down a cliff. Their fight seemed over. And yet it felt . . . disappointing. Like there was something missing.
It was then she realized that Clare had grabbed her severed arm tightly before falling.
Ophelia found the awakened girl at the river shore down below, and congratulated her on almost getting away with her plan. After a bit more talk, she got the severed arm away from Clare and sliced it into ribbons. There would be absolutely no chance of it ever being reattached now, and since Clare was clearly an offensive-type warrior, she couldn't generate a new one either.
The two continued to fight, and Ophelia delighted in watching Clare struggle like a cornered animal. Eventually, she managed to separate the girl from her remaining hand as well.
Just as she was about to deliver the killing blow, however, they were interrupted by a mysterious hooded figure. There was no trace of yoki, which meant that this was likely a human. Ophelia had no idea what human would have the sheer balls to interrupt her when she was having such fun. She took a swing, intending to slice the human in two with one stroke.
She was blocked. She hadn't even seen a blade appear. Growing more frustrated, she kept striking to no avail. Not even the Rippling Sword could get through. She was baffled by this, feeling overcome with more and more rage.
And then there was pain all over her body, and her own blood sprayed everywhere. Again, she had not even seen a blade move, and yet it had happened. Ophelia crumpled to the ground, unable to move. Clare and the stranger - a woman with long hair - were gone mere seconds afterward. In the rain that followed, she tried to drag herself along through the soaking wet underbrush, but with her multitude of serious wounds, she kept falling flat on her face.
Ophelia felt completely shattered, and not just because of her wounds. With her level of strength and her determination to defeat the evil in the world, she had believed herself to be practically invincible. She could hear her brother's voice in her mind, and she called out to him desperately even though she knew he wasn't there.
Soon, her thoughts turned from her brother's absence to the ultimate cause of that absence: the one-horned bitch monster. She yelled and cursed to the rain profusely, unaware of the gigantic flow of yoki pouring out of her in her rage. She growled and yelled and screeched until finally there was an explosion of white hot light before her eyes. Then, she blacked out.
Personality:
Ophelia, if you haven't gathered already, is more than a little bit insane. She is a textbook example of psychopathy at its worst. She has little regard for rules or authority unless it suits her purposes, is often irrational and impulsive, has an extremely inflated sense of self worth, can project a front of superficial charm when necessary, lacks remorse for any sort of harm she causes others (physical or otherwise), will do anything to get what she wants, and is, of course, extremely violent and sadistic. It is unclear how much of this personality disorder was part of her mind from birth and how much of it was aggravated by the death of her brother and her experiences as a Claymore. Regardless, it is a firmly entrenched part of who she is now.
Independent of her disorder, however, is one surprising thing: her genuine desire to rid the world of awakened beings. It began as a desire for revenge against the monster that killed her brother and destroyed her village, but the more she has fought against the awakened, the more that desire has morphed into an obsessive moral crusade against the existence of all awakened beings (and, by extension, yoma). Not seeing the inherent irony, it is their arrogance that she can't stand. She hates that they presume to own her world and tear it to pieces when they have no right to. Granted, her crusade is intermingled with her general desire to slaughter anything she goddamn well feels like, and she treats fights against awakened beings as delightful games, the same way she treats any other kinds of fights. Still, it is a curious belief for a mind like Ophelia's to hold.
Speaking of games, we find another interesting aspect of Ophelia's world-view: her tendency to treat nearly everything as a game. She is constantly seeking new and better "games" for the sake of challenging her skills, finding beauty in new forms of carnage, and revelling in the excitement of her inevitable victories. These games can come in many forms - physical fights, torture, teasing, manipulation, psychological torment, and others. She really does enjoy the physical shattering of her "toys" at the end of these games the best, though. The order of a fully constructed, unmarred living body is boring to Ophelia, even if the body is twisted and grotesque to begin with. Chaos is far more interesting to her.
It would seem as though Ophelia has no emotional vulnerabilities, but it is possible to rile her up and even break her. In general, Ophelia seems to like being challenged by people and monsters with abilities nearing her own strength, but the truth is that she gets incredibly irked when she suspects that anyone might be legitimately better than her. Yes, she is a jealous bitch. Even little things such as her lack of a unique title among other warriors will drive her to do everything she can in order to rise back to the top. If she can get back to her definition of the top, as in the case of her title, then great. If not, however, her entire world-view essentially collapses (as it did upon being defeated in the woods). Ophelia has long assumed that she will eventually be recognized as the greatest warrior the world has ever known, and that no one could ever truly surpass her. She has been the central pillar of the world in her own mind ever since her brother's death. Thus, if Ophelia is knocked down, then the entire world comes crashing down with her as far as she's concerned. She can eventually recover from this state of vulnerability, but it won't be easy for her, especially in a place like Landel's (see the "where your character is going" and "psychological effects" sections for more detail).
Physical Description: Ophelia is of average height, with a very slender, yet tough and sinewy frame. Her pale blonde hair falls to the small of her back, and is always kept back in a tight braid (bangs included). Like all Claymores, her eyes are silver. Her facial features at first seem elegant (even cute sometimes), but easily appear distorted when she is in a crazed mood.
In the original canon, her ears have pointed tips, similar to elf ears. At Landel's, the tips will still be somewhat tapered, but the points will be far less obvious.
Lastly, right around where her navel should be, there is a small, yet horrifying disfigurement - so horrifying that it defies description. This is presumably what is left over on the outside of a Claymore's body after the process of fusing human and yoma flesh. Though it has not yet been revealed in canon what the Claymore disfigurement looks like, it has been shown to be either hideous or bizarre enough to strongly dissuade whole gangs of potential rapists from continuing their assaults. Many people become violently ill upon seeing this disfigurement, and most are at least shocked. The only things that have been revealed in the manga thus far about its appearance are: 1) it must be small, as there have been many panels depicting partially obscured Claymore stomachs and the disfigurement has not been visible; and 2) it must either be flat or concave, as no outlines are ever visible through the fabric of the jumpsuits the Claymores wear.
When?: Ophelia will be whisked away to Landel's in the moment before her complete physical awakening. Page 25 of manga chapter 37, to be precise. ;)
Original Powers: Ophelia possesses all of the standard Claymore enhancements/powers, including inhuman speed, strength, reflexes, and senses, as well as accelerated healing, an extremely minimal need to eat or sleep, and a type of extrasensory perception that allows for the sensing of yoki (demonic energy emitted by yoma and Claymores). She is an offensive-type warrior, meaning that her attack power is boosted even higher than normal at the cost of not being able to properly regenerate lost limbs the way defensive-types can. Even being offensive-type, however, she can still achieve some types of dramatic healing. For example, all Claymores, offensive or defensive, are able to reattach severed limbs within a few minutes with heavy concentration. As well, the most memorable healing Ophelia as an individual has achieved in canon is a near-immediate recovery from having her neck twisted 180 degrees and snapped (this is implied to be something that most Claymores are not able to do).
As described in the History section, Ophelia has learned to push the speed and strength of her sword arm to its limits in order to perform the Rippling Sword. With this technique, she undulates her arm back and forth at such speeds that her entire sword takes on the appearance of a rippling snake, becoming extremely difficult to track due to the chaotic movements involved. See the third attached image for an example of what the Rippling Sword looks like.
Lastly, as with all Claymores, she is able to dramatically increase the power of all of her abilities and senses by releasing varying amounts of dormant yoki within her body. As more yoki is released, some shape modification of the body occurs - at 10%, her eyes will become golden and slit like a cat's. At 30%, her face will begin to distort, and she will grow sharp teeth. At 50%, her body will begin to grow and bulge with muscles and pulsing veins; also, her hands and feet will deform and sprout claws. At 80% or above, a full awakening will occur, and (supposedly) there can be no return to human form beyond that point.
Modified Powers at Landel's: All enhancements to Ophelia's speed/agility, strength and senses will be greatly dampened. She will still have a a bit of an edge over average joes, but said edge is kept to within the limits of real human capability; her physical abilities would be a few notches below those of a human athlete. Even with that physical edge, however, the important factor to remember is that in comparison to her prior abilities, Ophelia will perceive herself as having become far weaker than she actually is.
As for her supernatural abilities: her yoki sensing will be completely nullified, as it is specific to the yoma in Claymore and not applicable to demonic energy in general. Her ability to release yoki for further ability enhancement will also be nullified. Her healing, however, will remain in a dampened state. Teeny tiny injuries (paper cuts and pricks) will heal within minutes, incidental injuries (large cuts and scrapes) within a few hours, light to medium wounds (deep cuts, bullet/stab wounds, broken bones) will take a day, traumatic wounds (severed limbs, impalement through the gut) will take at least a two or three days, and mortal wounds (decapitation, destruction of the heart, complete disembowelment with guts severed from the body) cannot be recovered from at all. The only exception to these guidelines is a snapped neck. This should be a traumatic or mortal wound, but in canon, Ophelia has been shown the rare ability to recover from a snapped neck within a few minutes. Thus, I would include it in with medium wounds for her. During the recovery time for a snapped neck, she would be lying completely prone and open to further attack for at least the first two hours while the nerves regenerate. After that time, she could get up again, but her neck would still be twisted/bent; it will take a few more hours to reorient itself and snap bones back into place (which would provide a lovely surprise for a lot of unsuspecting patients, I'm sure). For the rest of the recovery period after that, she will feel light-headed and her neck will feel incredibly sore.
As an offensive-type warrior, she would never have had a talent for properly re-growing lost limbs, so the possibility of re-growth will be completely out the window at Landel's. She will still be able to reattach severed limbs, but it will require her to sit mostly still for at least a couple of hours while the basic nerves, tissues and bones reconnect, after which the reattached limb would be dramatically weakened for the remainder of the traumatic wound recovery period (see Reattachment Note for further detail on reasoning). Also, the longer she leaves a severed limb, the harder it will be to reattach it successfully. If it is left alone for over an hour or the basics of the reattachment process still has not succeeded after over six, then there is no more hope for that limb.
With the return to a level of power somewhat closer to human, Ophelia will also find a partial return of her appetite and need to sleep. Before, she could go on one or two bites every few days, and sleep simply by sitting and leaning against her sword for a short while. At Landel's, she will need one meal and four hours of (proper, lying down) sleep per day at minimum - more if she has seriously worn herself out.
Non-magical Skills/Abilities: Being the organization's Number 4, Ophelia has necessarily gained a lot of practical skill in the field, particularly in areas of combat. Even without her Claymore enhancements, Ophelia possesses a knack for deflecting blows, inflicting effective, brutal blows of her own, dodging, and (when in a more level-headed mood) on-the-spot strategy. As well, she can work in or lead a team if necessary (though she prefers not to), and has some experience with reconnaissance work.
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REATTACHMENT NOTE: The way limb reattachment works in Claymore, a warrior has to release yoki in order to keep the healing process going. Full limb reattachment, when uninterrupted, only takes a few minutes. It was tempting for me to include severed limbs in with medium wounds rather than traumatic ones, since a few minutes of healing time in Ophelia's world would correspond to about a day at Landel's the way I've set things up. However, a common characteristic of the wounds listed under light to medium is the fact that they heal automatically - without the input of yoki. Given that Ophelia has no yoki to draw upon at Landel's, it made sense to me that the reattachment process would be much harder than normal, and thus the recovery time would be drastically increased. It would be impractical, though, to require Ophelia to sit in one place for such a long time waiting for the reattachment to finish, which is why I segmented it into two parts: the bare necessities of regeneration (requires her to sit still for a few hours and keep the limb in place), and the more advanced bits (she is free to move around, but the limb is extremely weak over the next few days while healing continues).