Character Info!
In Character Information
character name: Irene (Quicksword Irene)
Fandom: Claymore
Timeline: Chapter 38 : Fit For battle Scene 2 (page 141 before the last frame) - just as she was about to give Clare her arm.
character's age: Unknown.
powers, skills, pets and equipment: Irene already has the enhanced speed, strength and fortitude of a Claymore, but her rank as the #2 (later #3) of her/Teresa's generation make her a formidable opponent. She is an offensive type, so while she can regenerate she has nowhere near the regenerative abilities of, say, Deneve. Her greatest power and specialized technique is the Quicksword, which requires her to channel all of her yoki energy into one arm (thus fully awakening it), whilst maintaining precision and control. This takes an immense amount of focus in addition to being dangerous. Basically, her right arm operates as fully awakened while the rest of her willpower is used to control it. Because of the Quicksword's incredible speed, it is not detectable to the naked eye, and she could appear to be standing still while in actuality, she is slicing off, say ... your right arm.
She is also adept at suppressing her yoki energy, and manages to live undetected for quite some time while doing so.
Her yoki sensing is very good as well - making a distinction for Teresa's aura, and finding Clare, who carried Teresa within her.
At the moment, she is missing her left arm, although she may be able to regrow a normal arm in Anatole - or find a mechanical replacement. She arrives with her clothes, cloak, her right arm and her sword.
canon history: Irene was the #2 Claymore of her generation, also Teresa of the Faint Smile's generation. Like most of her fellow warriors, little is known of her life before becoming a Claymore, but it is obvious that she was acquainted with Teresa, as well as Noel and Sophia.
She is initially seen as part of an assembled group(along with Noel and Sophia) to behead Teresa for the crime of murdering humans. She informs them that she has stepped down to Number Three after encountering Priscilla in combat. She admits her fear of the girl, but tells the others about Priscilla's potential, believing the girl key to defeating Teresa, even though she has had little field experience.
Unable to defeat Teresa herself, despite "improving over the years" (Teresa's words), she watched with the others while Priscilla fought Teresa alone. She reveals why she believes that Priscilla will have the advantage - because she fights with her Yoki completely suppressed, and therefore unreadable and unpredictable to Teresa. Only when Teresa begins to get the upper hand, does Irene step in with the others. She is the first to fall, wounded.
She was witness to Teresa sparing Priscilla's life and fleeing, which again surprised her - because this did not hold true to the Teresa that she knew prior. As the four Claymores regrouped, Priscilla's yoki spiraled out of control, and Irene was not able to suppress it., which resulted in Priscilla taking off after Teresa. When Irene and the other two Claymores caught up to her, Priscilla was on the edge of Awakening. Stunned (and wrong!) again, she realized that she had underestimated Teresa's sheer will and strength, and Priscilla's stability.
She was the first that Priscilla attacked after Teresa's death - losing her left arm within seconds. She watched Noel and Sophia fall, and appeared to be fatally wounded in Priscilla's wake.
After regaining consciousness, she deserted the Organization, fearing that she would be hunted herself, and useless to them as a warrior. For many years she lived alone and hidden until she encountered Clare and Ophelia, battling nearby. Recognizing Teresa's aura radiating from Clare, she interrupted the fight just as Clare would have been killed. Ophelia (being the current Number Four) was no match for her, and Irene was able to overpower her and save Clare - bringing her back to her hiding place.
Irene tended to the wounded Clare, who had lost her own right arm thanks to Ophelia's Rippling Sword, and made several attempts to dissuade Clare from going after Priscilla. When Clare would have none of it, she decided to teach the Number Forty-Seven the Quicksword. Ultimately, it proved a failure because Clare lacked the ability to control her emotions to make use of the Quicksword's full potential.
She continued to teach Clare, and later that night, gave her her old Claymore uniform, still missing the left arm. They talked about Teresa, sitting and looking up at the sky around a small campfire, with Irene insisting that the only way to honor and remember Teresa would be for Clare to live. The next day she hacks off the healed stump of Clare's right arm, **and then slashes her own remaining arm off, telling Clare that she has to hurry to attach it - since she's not a defensive type and will not have long. This is her gift to Clare so that she can use the Quicksword.
After Clare's departure, Irene is confronted by Rafaela (Number Five at this time), who has come to take her head for deserting the Organization. Irene says that she does not regret leaving the Organization or teaching Clare - which ultimately gave her location away because she was no longer suppressing her yoki.**
** - not actually happened, since I took her through the door before this part.
personality: Irene is immeasurably calm in her outward demeanor, and able to make use of this calm to perfect her Quicksword technique. Without the ability to suppress her emotions, she would, like Clare - be unable to master the technique/control her awakened arm with great precision.
However, just because Irene is able to control and suppress her emotions does not mean that she is emotionless. She admits before Teresa's death that she was/is envious of her relationship with Clare, and she admits several times that she is truly terrified of Priscilla. It's this fear that causes her to fake her own death and desert the Organization, living in hiding whilst suppressing her yoki energy.
Despite her linefaciness, she has allowed her emotions to get the better of her in crucial moments - misjudgings that have cost her dearly. Despite this, she is a good leader, and a loyal companion, but not blind to the faults of herself or anything she is a part of. She speaks truly (albeit calmly), and can often appear a bit brusque because of it - but this is the way she shows care.
She likely would have remained undetected had she not gone searching for the source of the familiar aura, Teresa's aura - but she was curious enough to seek it out. She risked her hiding place and her life by aiding Clare, by teaching her, and by ultimately sacrificing her arm, and quite possibly herself. Irene is extremely self-sacrificing, and passionate about the emotions that she keeps hidden beneath the surface.