004 | The Black Card

[priscilla]

Summary First appearance: Elena The now extinct desert lizard. Walking through the desert, Raki finds himself hungry. Clare tosses her sword into a Lizard, killing it so he can cook it (...which sort of freaks out Raki). Later, the lizard is roasting, and Raki returns to their makeshift camp with water. The lizard is done, so he portions it out and says he'll dry the rest so they can carry rations with them. And then he eats. And eats. While Clare nibbles a bit on her Lizard Leg and then stops. Raki assumes the food is bad, but no, it's simply that a warrior's body needs very little food - they eat only once every few days, and it's not abnormal or difficult for them to go a week without food or water. She's a little envious of his appetite, and muses that such things are part of being human. This reminder of the physical differences between soldiers and humans jars Raki a bit, and he wonders what Clare thinks of humans and monsters, being half of each herself. Suddenly, Clare stands and leaves, telling Raki not to follow. He just goes straight to assuming that she's going to the bathroom, but in reality she's meeting up with Rubel, the shady dude from Chapter 2. Rubel asks why Clare brought Raki with her, and notes that carrying a cook around is something a human would do. Then again, he figures maybe Raki reminds her of someone from her past, which is pretty sentimental, not to mention a foreshadowing alert. The world's scariest Hallmark card. In any case, he's brought a new uniform to replace her damaged one, prompting her to show a profoundly Claymoreian lack of modesty by stripping down in front of him. Rubel examines her wound, and warns her to be careful with her organs, since she can die just like a yoma if she's injured in the wrong ways. Finally, before departing, he hands her a black envelope. Clare's reaction to that card is, to say the least, shock. She denies that it can possibly be intended for her, but no... Rubel assures her that she was specifically requested. When she looks inside, she draws a black card with a symbol on it. It is a much grimmer looking Clare who arrives back at the campsite, where Raki is speculating on the nature of her bathroom break. Clare says that they will cross Mount Shire come morning, and leaves it at that. And indeed, in the morning, they are doing just that. Raki asks if they're yoma-hunting, but no... Clare says that her job today is to kill another soldier - another of those called Claymores. This sends Raki into shock! Why would they have to do that? Clare explains that a Claymore is not simply a human, but a hybrid - which we knew. However, the nature of their hybridization is that they contain the power of a yoma and control it with the strength of their human will. However, the more they use the yoma's power, the stronger the monster inside them becomes. Eventually, their human mind breaks down, and they become yoma, themselves. The terrible secret of Claymores, revealed. The Organization's prevention plan is this: each warrior keeps a black card with their unique symbol inside the hilt of their claymore. When they feel their humanity slipping, they send the card to the one person within the ranks that they entrust with their death. That person must then go and execute them before the yoma inside overtakes them completely. But then who sent Clare that card? Raki wants to know. Apparently, it was a woman called Elena - someone from Clare's class of trainees. They were friends and comforted each other through the pain during their hybridization. A race pf people who live to fight and then die. Elena then arrives, looking like a normal Claymore. Clare thought she'd be more distorted by now, but Elena says that she's forcing it back to meet with Clare. Elena isn't sure how long it's been since they saw one another - it feels like ages, but also like it was only yesterday. Since she graduated from training after Clare, she never expected to break down before Clare did. And while she thought that taking on a yoma's power would make her stronger, she now understands that you need a strong human heart to contain the monster in them. Even as she speaks, she begins to distort, veins raising throughout her face and body, and she asks Clare to cut her down quickly while she still remains human. Raki, however, grabs Clare and tries to talk her out of it... to no avail. Clare cuts down Elena, who thanks her as she dies. Later, Clare drives Elena's sword into the mountain as a grave marker. Elena, she says, was her only friend. Raki doesn't understand, if this is the outcome of their fighting, why they don't stop fighting and live normal lives. But for Clare, it's simple: to fight yoma is their reason for living. Notes and Comments 01. Pretty sure this is the first and only onscreen appearance of a wild animal - the lizard. However, despite the weird barrenness of the art in this series, Rafaela does reference forests as 'full of wild beasts' at one point, so we can assume they exist. Unseen. In the shadows. 02. In any case, this chapter does raise the point that it is the use of yoki that encourages the monster side of a claymore to emerge. Clare indicates that it would not be an issue if a Claymore were to live a peaceful life without using their yoma power. This raises an interesting question: would it be possible for a warrior such as Teresa, Rafaela or Priscilla, all of whom were capable of fighting without accessing their yoki, to go on forever without awakening? Rafaela's longevity seems to suggest this might be the case. Fact-Checking Could this have been prevented? It's kind of hard to contemplate. 01. Half-breeds inevitably become yoma. Yes and no and maybe so. First of all, half-breeds don't become "yoma" at all, but Awakened Beings - something that won't be revealed in series until the Marked for Death arc. And while awakening seems inevitable, future events throw that into question, as well. So... could Elena have been saved, and simply become a half-awakened warrior as Clare herself eventually does? It's hard to say. Clare's description of the awakening (or, as she calls it, becoming a yoma) seems to rest on the idea that a warrior is in a constant tug of war with the yoma side and eventually, over a long period of time, her human mind breaks down and succumbs to the yoma inside her. By contrast, Clare and the other warriors' brushes with awakening seemed to rest on momentary surges - they passed their short term limit and couldn't seem to pull back. It's entirely possible that Elena had reached some kind of long-term breaking point instead, where her human side was simply being overrun by the yoma within (some kind of variant parasite perhaps?). On the other hand, maybe a pep talk ala Raki or yoki synchronization ala Jean could have brought her back. Let's call it an open question. ☩ ☩ ☩ Back