Clarice Willow

Sister Clarice Willow was a secret Monotheist and the leader of the Soldiers of the One terror cells on Caprica, hiding behind her post as a polytheist priestess and headmistress of the Athena Academy. She belonged to a large group marriage, which included her husbands Nestor and Olaf and her wife Mar-Beth. She pursued a scheme she called Apotheosis: the use of Zoe Graystone's avatar program to grant a form of digital afterlife, to be inaugurated through the mass murder of civilians. (Caprica, "Pilot"; Caprica, "Rebirth"; Caprica, "Know Thy Enemy")

Monotheist origins#

As a young girl, Willow joined the Soldiers of the One during its early recruiting on Gemenon, where she became the brightest star of its training camp. Her faith ran deeper than loyalty to the Church: one member of the conclave later called her a dyed-in-the-wool zealot. Some years later she moved to Caprica City, entered a group marriage and took a post at the Athena Academy, where she used her cover as a polytheist cleric to recruit students into the STO. (Caprica, "Pilot"; Caprica, "Unvanquished"; Caprica, "Retribution")

The avatar program and Barnabas Greeley#

Willow had mentored Zoe Graystone at the academy, and after Zoe died in a train bombing she set out to find the avatar program the girl had built. She wormed her way into the Graystone home, plied Amanda Graystone with drink and used a swipe drive to copy data from Daniel Graystone's private lab, without getting what she wanted. At the same time, a rival cell led by Barnabas Greeley was bombing holocafes in Caprica City, drawing attention when Willow believed the cells should be lying low. (Caprica, "Pilot"; Caprica, "Gravedancing"; Caprica, "Know Thy Enemy"; Caprica, "The Imperfections of Memory")

When Willow found a message Greeley had sent reaching out to other STO cells, she decided he was building his own power base. She intercepted an arms delivery meant for him, then confronted him at the Caprica City harbour, pistol-whipping him and warning him to fall into line. Greeley struck back by persuading Lacy Rand to plant a bomb in Willow's car, and Willow survived only because she and Nestor had left the car on the Pantheon Bridge to help Amanda Graystone, who had jumped into the bay. She later had her revenge, killing Greeley with a bomb at a construction site. (Caprica, "Gravedancing"; Caprica, "End of Line"; Caprica, "Retribution")

Apotheosis and the Church#

On Gemenon, Willow presented Apotheosis to the Monotheist conclave with a holoband simulation: STO bombers would attack a Pyramid game at Caprica City's Atlas Arena and then wake in a virtual heaven. Obal Ferras called the idea blasphemous and, while granting her an audience with the Holy Mother, painted her as a zealot and won approval to have her killed. The chosen assassin was Diego, an old STO camp leader, but he turned his weapon on Ferras instead, and Ferras was stabbed to death by his fellow conclave members. With her opponent gone, Willow won the Holy Mother's backing for the project and control of every STO cell on Caprica. (Caprica, "Unvanquished")

Betrayal and the murder of Mar-Beth#

Back on Caprica, Willow took in Amanda Graystone, first at a cabin and then in the Willow family home, hoping Amanda could help her find Zoe's pendant, which might hold a backup of the avatar. Amanda was in fact working as a confidential informant for GDD agent Jordan Duram. When GDD director Gara Singh pressed Duram for the informant's identity, Duram gave him a false name, Mar-Beth Willow. Singh was secretly Willow's own mole inside the GDD, and he passed the name to her along with Zoe's pendant. Soon after Mar-Beth gave birth, Willow slashed her wife's throat and disposed of the body, then reported her missing. (Caprica, "Things We Lock Away"; Caprica, "False Labor"; Caprica, "Blowback"; Caprica, "The Dirteaters")

The Atlas Arena plot#

The pendant held a backup of the program, and Willow, Olaf and Nestor began building their virtual heaven. When they realised that Amanda had been spying on them and that Mar-Beth had been innocent, Willow led a raid on the Graystone estate, which ended when the reactivated U-87 carrying Zoe's avatar killed Nestor. Singh met the surviving Willows and promised to turn the GDD against the Graystones. Willow then told Olaf she would not die with the bombers in the arena: she would stay behind to welcome their avatars into heaven and spread the word of Apotheosis. (Caprica, "The Heavens Will Rise"; Caprica, "Here Be Dragons"; Caprica, "Apotheosis")

Once the game began, Willow put on a holoband and entered the heaven program, where she came face to face with Zoe-A. She brushed aside Zoe's horror at the deaths in the real world and welcomed the bombers' avatars as they appeared, unaware that Cylons attached to the Caprican Marines were taking the bombers out before they could detonate. Zoe-A denounced the plan as blasphemy and tore the program apart. Willow pulled off her band to find the computers around her shorting out and burning, but she survived, and in the years that followed she escaped serious punishment and went on preaching to Cylon converts in V-World. (Caprica, "Apotheosis")