Clarissa "Claire" Melpomene Mao is the daughter of Jules-Pierre Mao and the older sister of Julie Mao.
Clarissa is intelligent, passionate and deeply conflicted. Having grown up as a member of a powerful but dysfunctional family, Clarissa has been largely shaped by her feelings of inadequacy and jealousy over her father undervaluing her and heavily favoring her sister Julie. This caused Clarissa to spend much of her life desperately trying to be a model daughter and prove her worth to others.
When she is first introduced, Clarissa is on a ruthless and violent rampage, wanting revenge against Holden for exposing her father's crimes and hoping to finally gain her father's approval. She is blinded by her desire for vengeance and commits numerous atrocities while chasing her goal. This, however, creates an increasing amount of guilt for Clarissa, eventually causing her to set aside her anger and help Holden save the Solar System, before allowing herself to be arrested.
Haunted by her mistakes and her isolation, Clarissa becomes deeply remorseful of the death and suffering she caused and develops a humility that she lacked before. Eventually, with Amos's support, she seeks to right her wrongs and comes to lean on his guidance the same way Amos once did with Naomi, in order to become a better person. Though she has been forced to use violence in certain situations, it is evident that she is doing the best that she can to act with empathy, to be supportive and non-judgemental, and to help as many people as she can.
