001 | The Silver-Eyed Slayer

[priscilla]

Summary First appearance: Clare, Raki. Any Yoma. After finding a human body with its guts eaten out for the 6th time, the chief of a small village announces at a town meeting that he has put in a request for a Claymore, as they are the only ones capable of killing the guts-eating monsters called yoma. App arently this is a controversial decision. Present at the meeting is Zaki, a young man whose younger brother, Raki, turns out to have been eavesdropping outside the door. Zaki explains that Claymores are half-human, half-yoma warriors employed by an organization called Claymore to kill yoma on behalf of whoever can pay. Only female Claymores exist - males who have attempted to hybridize have all died. Claymores have silver eyes which can see yoma, and when they are about to kill a yoma, their eyes turn gold to match the gold eyes of yoma themselves. People refer to them as Silver-Eyed Witches, or Silver-Eyed Slayers. The first good look we get at our heroine. Note the unique pattern of shading in her eyes. At this point the Claymore arrives - a slim young woman with a large sword. At her appearance, the citizens of the town are terrified and start spouting rumors. The woman ignores them and proceeds to the chief, where she explains that she will not accept payment herself - if she succeeds in her task, a man will come to collect it. If she fails, they won't have to pay. She also notes that if a yoma suppresses its aura sufficiently, she may have trouble finding it. After she leaves, the chief falls out of his chair - he expected her to seem more human but, in her presence, he felt as though he was facing a monster. Does the chief have some kind of sixth sense? Maybe. See Notes below. Meanwhile, outside, the Claymore's eyes spark gold and she spins in attack, nearly cutting the head off of Raki - but stopping just shy of his skull. She will not explain why when asked, but when Raki asks if she's a Claymore, she says that she is not: her organization has no name. Claymore is merely the name civilians have given to them. Raki is surprised she seems so human- he isn't afraid of her, but in fact is pretty impressed with her good looks. The warrior nearlyleaves the town at this point, by accident - Raki notes that she's about to leave the town. She stops there, embeds her sword in the ground and sits on the ground with her back to the blade - she has been walking for 72 hours straight and is in need of rest. Raki joins her on the ground, and explains the reason for his interest in her: his parents were the first of the yoma's six victims, and while he realizes she isn't there to fulfill his vengeance but rather simply to do a job, he is nonetheless grateful to her for coming to kill his parents' murderer. At this point a bell alerts Raki to the time and he runs off to make dinner for himself, Zaki and the uncle they have been staying with since his parents' death. He introduces himself, and asks the soldier's name, but she refuses to give it, stating that it is a name that will soon be forgotten. When Raki returns to his home, he finds the 7th victim: his uncle... and also discovers that his brother, Zaki, was the yoma the entire time. The yoma explains that when it consumed their parents, it also took over Zaki's body and mind, and used his memories and behavior patterns to hide. He intended to stay longer, but when they called for the Claymore, he decided to cut his losses and go. Zaki then begins to cry - the yoma describes this as the remnants of Zaki shedding tears. The yoma explains that yoma have existed among humans since ancient times, and are the ultimate predators, but his speech is interrupted by the Claymore, who crashes through the ceiling. Apparently she smelled Zaki's yoma scent on Raki (presumably this is why she attacked him when he came close in the town streets), and followed him home. Her eyes turn golden and slit-pupiled (much like the yoma's), and she amputate's the yoma's arm once, and then again when it uses the other to treat Raki as a shield. She explains that, by putting yoma blood in the bodies, claymores gain speed a yoma cannot match, and by adding flesh, they gain the strength to wield their great swords with one hand. She then cuts the yoma in half despite its pleading and leaves Raki shaking and hugging himself in his bloody home without a word. Raki experiences first hand what it's like living in a crapsack world. The next day, Raki is catatonic in the chief's home. The chief tells him he should forget about his experience, prompting Raki to remember the Claymore stating that he would forget her name if she told it. This snaps him out of his shock enough to overhear the chief state that the woman has left for her next job, and that he is glad for it, as Claymores are too similar to yoma. Hearing this, Raki pursues the soldier to the end of the village and shouts out his thanks to her, admitting that he was afraid, and had pretended he wasn't, and had been pretending ever since his parents' deaths. He thanks her for killing the monster who killed his family, and promises never to forget her. Once again, he tells his name, and asks for hers. She introduces herself as Clare before disappearing from the village. Notes and Comments 01. Raki's village is in the region of of Lautrec in the West. Later, it is described as close to the Doga Plains. Later in the series, a fan mistranslation of Isley's dialogue puts it in the South, creating confusion over his home village's location. However, a more accurate translation places it not in The South, but rather further south than Alfons, in the West. This is further confirmed by Clare's presence (her region is plainly in the West, thus her encounter with Riful), as well as the close proximity of Riful's hideout to Raki's village during the Destroyer arc. 02. This chapter really demonstrates the public's lack of understanding of the organization and its soldiers - there are pages full of what amounts urban legends, see below. 03. This chapter is also the first hint of the truth behind what turns out to be the great lie of the yoma. Take a close look at what Yoma!Zaki is actually saying. 04. There appears to be something inhuman/unnerving about the presence of a Claymore. What it is isn't explained exactly, but one could theorize it's their yoki: later, it's explained that humans cannot sense yoki but especially sensitive ones will experience a feeling of dread like the pinging of a sixth sense when in the presence of it. This might explain why only some humans seem to be affected, as well (e.g. the Chief is terrified into falling out of his chair, while the woman with him seems confused by the intensity of his reaction). 05. Claymores appear to have enhanced senses - even Clare, who isn't known for her keen senses the way Ophelia or Miata are, can smell Zaki's yoma scent on Raki. 06. Why do people shun survivors of a yoma attack? Well, since the yoma race turns out to be a parasite, there may be some logic to this. Consider that there may have been incidents where more than one family member was infected... or incidents where the yoma parasite jumped bodies before the claymore could kill the old host. The public, believing that yoma are humanoid shapechanging monsters, would be unaware of why a surviving family member turned out to be a yoma as well... but they would no doubt notice the pattern. In fact, a close look at the treatment of survivors does indicate that they're treated almost like survivors of a disease outbreak - suspect as potential carriers. Fact-Checking 01. The soldiers are called Claymores after their organization, or their sword. As Clare later states, the Organization itself has no name at all. For the rest of the series, it is referred to as simply the Organization. Notably, this isn't its name either. Warriors also have no official name. They refer to themselves as senshi - which simply means "soldier" or "warrior." It is likely true that civilians gave them their name after their swords, which are called claymores. 02. Claymores spot yoma with their silver-eyes. Not quite. They actually sense yoma by picking up their yoki-signature. 03. Claymores' eyes turn gold when they are about to kill a yoma. Somewhere in between - a soldier's eyes turn gold when she draws on at least 10% of her yoki power. If a soldier is doing this before every battle with a typical yoma, she's probably very low-ranked. For example... Clare. This is, of course, why we don't realize the inaccuracy of the statement immediately. 04. All male warriors died. Nope. In fact, the male warriors all underwent the transformation we first year about in Scene 4 - they "became yoma," or rather Awakened Beings. ☩ ☩ ☩ Back