| Claudia Donovan | |
|---|---|
| First appearance | "Claudia" |
| Created by | Jane Espenson |
| Portrayed by | Allison Scagliotti |
| Information | |
| Nickname(s) | Claude |
| Occupation | Hacker Inventor Warehouse 13 agent |
| Family | Joshua Donovan (brother) |
| Significant other(s) | Todd |
Claudia Donovan is a fictional character on the US television series, Warehouse 13 (2009–present), portrayed by Allison Scagliotti. She is the younger sister of Joshua Donovan; she is a computer hacker, inventor, and employee of Warehouse 13.
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Donovan’s parents die when she is very young and, for a few years after their deaths, her older brother, Joshua, raises her. When Josh disappears and is presumed dead, Claudia is placed in a foster home.[1] She is very intelligent, resourceful, and technologically savvy, but has no college education. At the conclusion of season one, she is 19 years old.[2]
As revealed in season 1 episode 4, "Claudia", about twelve years earlier, Joshua, while attending college, meets Artie Nielsen, who persuades him to pursue a dangerous experiment in teleportation. When the experiment goes badly wrong, Josh disappears in a brilliant flash of light. Believing he's dead, Claudia loses the only family she has left. About ten years later, Claudia starts to have visions of Joshua. Believing she is going insane from her grief, she checks herself into a psychiatric care clinic six months prior to the events of episode 4. Eventually she realizes Joshua is, in fact, alive and trying to contact her from the immaterial prison of some kind of inter-dimensional limbo that was a result of his experiment. After about four months in the psych ward, Claudia checks herself out and begins efforts to rescue her brother.
Blaming Artie for what happened to Joshua, Claudia proceeds to hack the American power grid in order to find pockets of large unexplained energy usage. Doing so, she manages to locate Warehouse 13 in the badlands of South Dakota, and hacks into its computer mainframe. Shortly after, she arrives at the Warehouse and abducts Artie, taking him to the site of her brother’s failed experiment. Once there, she forces Artie to help her recreate the conditions that led to Josh’s disappearance. When Artie realizes Claudia is, in fact, not insane, he willingly helps in her rescue attempt. They manage to enter the inter-dimensional space where Josh is trapped, completing the instruction engraved on Rheticus’ compass in order to bring them all back to the corporeal realm.
Upon Artie’s return to the Warehouse, Mrs. Frederic gives him two options with regard to Claudia: hire her, or "deal with" her. Given Claudia’s technological aptitude and ingenuity, and some convincing from Leena, Artie opts to offer her a job at the Warehouse, which she readily accepts.[3] Most of her initial work involves record-keeping, filing, and taking inventory, which she finds to be a mind-numbingly tedious waste of her skills. Bored with her assigned tasks, she takes up personal side projects, including repurposing a spectroscope into a 3D hologram imager.[4]
As Claudia gains experience, Artie begins to expand her Warehouse duties and responsibilities. Her first mission as an apprentice comes in season 2 episode 7, when she accompanies Myka Bering to find the artifact responsible for mysterious deaths on a college wrestling team. Her first mission as senior agent comes in season 3 episode 2, when she and new agent Steve Jinks are sent to snag Typhoid Mary’s knife.
During the events of Warehouse 2's reactivation in season 2 episode 11, Mrs. Frederic explains to Claudia that everyone at the Warehouse has a purpose, and that she has to be prepared. It is later revealed to Claudia that her purpose is to be a backup "caretaker" for Warehouse 13 in the event that Mrs. Frederic is killed. Claudia begins to undertake the procedure to become the warehouse caretaker before Agents Bering and Peter Lattimer manage to deactivate Warehouse 2. Claudia makes Artie promise her never to put her in that position, to have something done to her against her will, again.
It is revealed in season 3 episode 6 that Claudia’s experience in the psychiatric hospital has left her with the fear that her life is not real, but a creation of her imagination and she is still locked in the institution being given electroshock therapy.
Claudia is the Warehouse's resident "tech girl," lending her computer hacking skills and technological expertise to Warehouse 13. Some of the gadgets Pete and Myka have used in the field have been "Claudia Donovan Originals"; she has created handcuffs capable of delivering a 20,000 volt charge ("Claudia"), gloves which discharged energy absorbed by an artifact suit ("Mild-Mannered"), and a communicator to interact with people in a virtual reality console ("Don't Hate the Player"). She is also quick to understand and adapt Warehouse-grade technology to her devices, refiguring the Tesla guns so that they no longer had to recharge, as well as creating a Tesla Grenade ("Love Sick"; "The New Guy").
Claudia began accompanying Warehouse Agents on missions in Season 2's "Mild-Mannered", although her first official mission as a Warehouse Apprentice was in "For The Team". At first she attempts to be more mature and business-like in her approach to being an agent, but soon realizes that she is more effective just being herself. During the time that Myka leaves the Warehouse, Claudia apparently steps up to full-time agent alongside Pete and Artie. With the addition of Steve Jinks to the Warehouse, Claudia is partnered with him, becoming the senior agent (which she tries not to let Jinks forget).
Claudia has a close relationship with her brother, Joshua, who is at least as intelligent as Claudia. After the death of their parents, Josh put much of his personal life on hold to care for his young sister.[5] After being rescued from the inter-dimensional limbo, Joshua takes a job at CERN in Switzerland. Because he did not age during the time he was stuck between dimensions, Claudia and Joshua now appear to be about the same age. They remain in touch though rarely see each other.
In the four years prior to Joshua's reappearance, Claudia lives on her own, keeping to herself with no apparent boyfriends or girlfriends.[1]
After joining Warehouse 13, Claudia appeared to develop a quick friendship with Pete Lattimer, as the two are often seen playfully joking around with each other.
Claudia has strong affections for her Warehouse co-workers and considers them her surrogate family. At the end of season one, when she is framed for conspiring with James MacPherson, she is distraught at almost losing the only real family she has ever known.
Although they have their share of disagreements, Claudia and Artie develop a close father-daughter-like relationship. As seen in "Age Before Beauty", Artie’s uneasiness with the role of father figure often leads to awkward conversations when he feels the need to give advice. Claudia's outward displays of affection, such as hugs and gift giving, often make Artie uncomfortable.
In season two, Claudia develops a romantic relationship with Todd, a recent arrival in Univille and an employee at the hardware store. In episode 9, she discovers he is in the witness protection program, and after a brief romance, Todd is forced by his handler to relocate, with Claudia claiming she'll find him. In season 3 episode 9, she still describes him as a "boyfriend."
In the Eureka/Warehouse 13 crossovers, Claudia develops an otherwise undeveloped romantic relationship with Douglas Fargo.
In season three, Claudia becomes close friends with her new partner Steve Jinks. She is very disturbed when Mrs. Frederic fires Steve over a matter of apparent insubordination. When Jinks is killed in the season 3 finale, Claudia states her intention to use an artifact to bring him back to life.
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