Waifu Wednesday: Galatea (Claymore)

Another day, another 24 hours to reminisce about Claymore. After enjoying Soulstice, this year’s video game tribute to such an underrated and beloved series, today’s Waifu Wednesday is in honour of my second favourite character from the series: Galatea.

For a manga with so many generations and supporting characters brought to life over the course of its 14-year serialisation, it was Galatea who arguably had the most interesting development for such a relatively minor character. While her star power is not as blinding as that of Teresa, here is what exactly makes her such a knockout of a character in every single way.

Who is Galatea?

During Clare’s generation, the “present day” of the events depicted within Claymore, Galatea ranks as No. 3 within the Organisation. Said Organisation are those who create and oversee all Claymores, the only warriors who are able to defeat Yomas, human consuming monsters. To give you an idea of how formidable Galatea is, Miria, the No. 6 is the Organisation, had warned Clare to flee from any Claymore ranked between No. 5 and No. 1. She should never even consider drawing her sword against any of them.

Galatea is exceptionally skilled as a defensive Claymore. Her strength comes from her monstrous skill in Yoki perception, and this makes her the very best spy in the Organisation. But it’s her sheer prowess and control over her powers that makes her terrifying. She’s able to sense Yoki at a greater distance than any other Claymore, and this gave her the title of “God-Eye” Galatea — something that takes on a double meaning as part of her character development.

Why we love her

For spoilers’ sake, we will not go into describing the details of that previous statement, but instead be as vague and intriguing as possible here instead.

Visually speaking, Galatea’s natural beauty and graceful demeanour expresses her own desire to perceive herself in the highest possible regard — her appearance, she believes, should reflect the high standards she holds herself to. It is a constant concern of hers. We particularly see it in how she is so disdainful any time she has to release any bit of Yoki during battle, since she hates how this contorts her face.

Galatea learns to move on from fixating on how she presents herself – in more ways than one. Her character goes through a poignant and emotional change, a drastic change that is all due to how a certain revelation shakes her to her very core.

Why you will love her

We see this sudden growth and unofficial “Awakening” of sorts take place after the series’ seven-year time skip. Galatea is one of the very few characters to have such a significant and defining change in her personality, motivations and status within its world. She discovers a new reason to live, one that is far more fulfilling and human than anything she had previously experienced as a Claymore and as a character within the series.

She begins to shed all that she once prized herself on in favour of her one and only goal being to simply fight for and protect others. While this change may be sudden for how little screen and page time she gets in the series, the building blocks for who she would eventually become were always in place.

Galatea had always come across as one of the only maternal Claymores of the series – not only in design, but in her attitude throughout. Her patience in providing support and guidance to her fellow comrades was always a defining trait of hers. She covers for them, and is able to be snarky and even sassy with others – even her opponents – in the middle of battle, but she is also so moved from a certain revelation regarding her comrades that she ends up completely going against who she once was.

Her core ability of Yoki perception gives her a great opportunity to better understand those she is sensing and feeling out. She quite simply takes the time to understand everyone around her no matter her own standing or opinion – even when the tides are completely and absolutely against her.

As one of the Organisation’s most useful and irreplaceable units, Galatea’s journey may have always been in the background, but it speaks volume to how substantial of character growth and change she goes through. Her journey is an emotional and heartfelt one and it remains as one of the greatest moments of character development within the series. It’s difficult to not appreciate every fibre of her being! See for yourself, starting with the anime available on Crunchyroll.

Header art created by ENE via Pixiv.

^{Disclosure: Some links in this article may be affiliate links, which means we may earn a small commission if you make a purchase after clicking on them. This is at no additional cost to you and helps support Rice Digital!}