Emilia

Emilia (エミリア) is the main heroine of the Re:Zero kara Hajimeru Isekai Seikatsu series. She is a half-elf and a candidate to become the 42nd King of the Dragon Kingdom of Lugunica in the Royal Selection.

Appearance
Emilia is a beautiful half-elf with long silver hair and purple-blue eyes. She wears a white and purple outfit along with a white flower in her hair. Although she appears to be in her late teens, Emilia's chronological age remains unknown, though mentally she has been stated to be in her early to mid teens. She has styled her hair in a variety of ways, as per her contract with Puck, the Beast of the End was the one who arranged her hairstyle.

When Emilia still lived in Elior Forest as a child, she had a different set of clothes with the same colour pattern. She had a light green ribbon instead of her necklace, a different flower in her hair, and could be seen wearing a light-purple headband.

Personality
Emilia is a very good-natured and energetic girl who likes to take care of others, though she herself sometimes refuses to admit this, instead thinking of it as her own selfishness or something everyone would do in her position despite that often not being true. Because of this, Emilia closed herself from others and not trusting people with her emotions or how she felt about different things and situations she was subjected to, as she was always of the mindset to eat it up and appear strong. This resulted in her being extremely fragile on the inside which in turned caused her to be overly childish about certain things and subjects. This led her to always relying on other people such as Puck or Subaru. Though this somewhat worked out in the first three Arcs, Emilia quickly hit a dead end in Arc 4 when she was forced to stand up for herself and stop relying on others if she wanted to overcome the predicament at the Sanctuary. A mixture of the unbearable first trial and the sudden tearing of hers and Puck's contract resulted in Emilia hitting her lowest point. Luckily, with a great deal of Subaru's and Puck's help, she was able to stand up and challenge her painful past in order to overcome the three trials presented by the Witch of Greed.

Upon overcoming the trials and liberating the Sanctuary, Emilia developed a great deal of self-confidence and greatly improved her self-image even after her contract with Puck was severed, forcing her to break out of her shell and live on her own. This change can be super evident in the starting chapters of Arc 5, where some characters even point it out, and, according to Heinkel Astrea, the rumours surrounding her don't seem to be true anymore–namely, her timidness and indecisiveness she was known for around the Kingdom, was nowhere to be seen.

Emilia has a tendency to use a lot of archaic words, such as "dunderhead" or the likes. This quirk of hers is mostly pointed out by Subaru, who now and then teases her about it, though Emilia doesn't pay much attention to it anymore. Furthermore, Emilia also has a strong tendency to drag our words when she really means it (best example of this would be the numerous times she dragged out the word "really" into "reaaaaaally" usually when talking about her feelings for or towards something or someone), which can be best observed when she's talking about something dear or important to her. This quirk was likely picked up from Fortuna. Her view on the world and human relations is also rather childish and easy-going, though following her major character shift following the end of Arc 4, she learned how to balance that shortcoming out with a level of professionalism and a unique air of authority.

Just like the other four Royal Selection Candidates, Emilia is also driven by a strong motive which shapes most of her actions, be it rational or irrational. Following her awakening by Puck in Elior Forest, she desperately tried to do something about the frozen elves in the forest. She cleaned them daily, talked to them, and spent a great deal of time and effort with them, trying to somehow get rid of their icy fate to absolutely no avail. However, a couple of months before the start of the main story, she was visited by an eccentric mage who introduced himself as Roswaal L Mathers. Though they initially started off on the wrong foot which caused Roswaal and Puck to fight for half a day, the two decided to form a truce, and Roswaal presented Emilia with a plan that would allow her to unfreeze her people in the frozen Forest. By becoming the 42nd King of the Dragon Kingdom of Lugunica, Emilia would gain access to the Dragon's Blood locked up in the vaults of the Royal Castle. The Blood is said to have magical properties, and it could be able unfreeze the frozen inhabitants of the Great Elior Forest. Emilia hastily accepted the offer and decided to participate in the Royal Selection and forging a goal of having the Kingdom be equal and free from prejudice.

History
About a century ago, Emilia lived with her aunt on her father's side, Fortuna, in Elior Forest. For reasons not known to her, she was considered a rather special child and was subsequently forced to spend most of her days isolated from the other elven villagers in a place called the "Princess Room" with only Fortuna and her dolls as company. Eventually, her frustrations reached a boiling point, a,nd in an act of defiance, she broke her promise to not leave her room only to venture into the forest to search for everyone. Free to do what she wanted and not holding obligations that were never explained to her, Emilia snuck out on several occasions while hiding the fact, doing everything from exploring to behaving mischievously. It was in this room she discovered she had an affinity for spirits, and summoned countless lesser spirits to play with her. She did not realize how rare the ability was and referred to them as fairies.

One day, she snuck into the centre of the village and witnessed strange men giving supplies such as food and clothes to the elves. Emilia then witnessed a tall, green-haired man idly chatting with Fortuna, with her calling him Geuse. Emilia started to view him as a rival for Fortuna's affection, as Fortuna made a "special face" at him and smiled, expressions which she only showed to Emilia, as well as having everyone in the village meet them, leaving her in the Princess Room. She overheard Geuse asking about her safety, and then asking her about a mysterious seal which was supposedly kept safe somewhere in the forest. After sneaking back into the Princess Room and being visited by Fortuna, she set out to find this seal, and trekked through the forest, led by the lesser spirits who showed her the way. She finally came to a clearing deep within the forest. Before her, stood a pair of huge metal doors that stood by themselves. Deducing that this was the "seal" everyone was talking about, Emilia–now satisfied–decided to head back to her room. By chance, she ran into Geuse, who was strolling around in the forest. When Geuse saw her, he wept tears of joy, leading to Emilia forgiving him. It's unknown how many times following their first interaction, Emilia and Geuse spent time together, however, some time later, the duo–together with Fortuna, who supposedly quickly caught wind of Geuse's and Emilia's meeting–, went on a walk around the forest. There, Emilia revealed her fairy-friends, leaving both Fortuna and Geuse in utter shock. When the two argued about how she could develop her potential abilities as a spirit arts user, Emilia commented how they were like her parents, which left Fortuna greatly embarrassed. When Fortuna asked her to return to the Princess Room, Emilia made her promise to let her see Geuse again.

Just as she was about to leave, however, disaster struck and Emilia's life was changed forever. A white haired figure stopped in front of them, an introduced themselves as the Sin Archbishop of Greed, Regulus Corneas. Geuse demanded to know why he came, stating that Regulus had broken their agreement, and that they could have discussed this back at their Church, but every complaint was swiftly countered by Regulus to no avail. As Fortuna held Emilia, another figure revealed themselves–Pandora, the Witch of Vainglory–stating she has come to open the mysterious seal of Elior Forest. When Fortuna saw Pandora, she flew into a fit of rage, stating that she would avenge her brother and sent a huge hurdle of Ice Spikes flying her way. Upon seeing her initial attack has no effect on her, Fortuna proceeded to summon a huge mass of ice and dropped it onto the pair's heads, crushing them to death. However, as the ice shattered into pieces, Regulus stepped forth, not a scratch on him or on Pandora. Geuse then ordered Fortuna to escape with Emilia, saying that their lives were more important than vengeance. As Fortuna ran with Emilia, she witnessed Geuse remove a strange box from his robes, containing an unknown essence. Emilia then screamed, as Geuse slammed the box up to his chest and absorbed the contents, gaining the Authority of Sloth.

As Fortuna ran deep into the forest, she stated that she would go back to save Geuse. Emilia begged Fortuna not to leave her, but Fortuna said she would be safe. Arch suddenly arrived, and informed her that Geuse's men and the elves were repelling the attack from the assailants. Fortuna then apologized to him for bringing Emilia and herself to the village and burdening them, a notion Arch immediately denied, saying they had helped them. Fortuna then declared she would defend the forest and protect the seal, entrusting Emilia to Arch, promising to her that they would always be together, and then heading back toward Geuse. As Arch ran through the forest, they encountered a black robed man, and prepared to attack him, before he stated that he was one of Petelgeuse's fingers. The member then revealed that the Radical Faction, their Leader, the Witch of Vainglory and the Demon Beast, the Kurohebi, had arrived to the village. When Arch expressed disbelief, stating it was neigh uncontrollable, the Cultist confirmed Arch's statement, and adding that Pandora possessed the power to vaguely guide it to a general location. The forest then erupted around them, with Arch cursing himself, realizing they had stumbled onto its hunting grounds. The Cultist was suddenly licked by something ominous–he immediately recognised it as the Kurohebi. As Arch attempted to save him, the Cultist told Arch to run, saying that it was too late for him, as the Kurohebi's poison consumed him, withering his body away, until he died before Arch's eyes. Arch turned around and darted deeper into the woods, however, not long after, something entangled his legs and the two fell–Kurohebi had made physical contact with Arch. Realising what has happened, Arch hugged Emilia close to his chest and immediately severed his leg above the knee with Wind Magic and cauterised it with Fire Magic, however, he was too late. The poison had already started to consume his body. Arch, knowing his fate was sealed, ordered Emilia to run towards a nearby patch of flowers, which she did without a second guess. As Emilia ran far beyond the flowers she was sent to, the lesser spirits revealed themselves again, and flew away, almost as if wanting Emilia to follow them–which she naively did.

The spirits led her back to the Seal in the depths of Elior Forest. There, Pandora stood, arms wide spread. She then revealed she had been controlling the spirits the entire time, helping her locate the Seal. Pandora then asked her to open the seal, to which Emilia responded she couldn't. The Witch naturally didn't react nicely to that, stating she would rip the forest from the ground-up if she didn't, and also stated Fortuna and Geuse are okay, and that she would leave the forest if Emilia listened to her and gave her what she was asking for. Emilia then discovered she indeed possessed the key to the door, but then remembered Fortuna had made her promise never to open the Seal. Before Pandora could react, Fortuna arrived and assaulted Pandora, saying she would not let her harm Emilia. Pandora merely smiled and kept reverting her own death, every time Fortuna had killer her. Shortly after Fortuna, Geuse had made contact with the group as well. The two confirmed Emilia's safety and Pandora's presence, and vowed to end it together. As Fortuna rushed forward and engaged in further one-sided slaughter with Pandora, the Witch used her Authority of Vainglory one last time, to trick Geuse's eyes, resulting in him tearing a hole in Fortuna's chest, inflicting mortal and irreparable wounds to Emilia's aunt. Geuse, realizing what he had done, snapped. With his reason for fighting lying in a pool of blood, he succumbed to the effects of the Witch Factor of Sloth, as his mind shattered beyond repair. Mere moments before Fortuna passed away, she told Emilia one last time that she loved her very much. Emilia, enraged, unleashed her full magic and attacked Pandora continuously, killing her over and over again as she used her Authority of Vainglory to rewrite her death. Emilia then lost control, and froze Elior Forest entirely, ending the bloodbath at Elior Forest. The last thing she could see before falling asleep, were Pandora and Geuse–now Petelgeuse Romanee-Conti, the newly-born Sin Archbishop of Sloth, leaving the forest together.

Roughly seven years before the start of the Royal Selection, the ice around Emilia melted and Emilia met Puck. The two began to live in the now snow-covered Elior Forest. Exposed to the outside world for some time now, Emilia came to face the hostile reality of what it meant to be a half-elf in the world, especially one with her appearance which was nearly identical to that of the infamous Witch of Envy. Following those days, she suffered many hardships, not just from neighbourhood human towns that feared her, hated her, betrayed her, and attempted to sell her into slavery, but even from higher beings such as one of the Four Great Spirits, Melakuera, who governed fire mana who sought to exterminate her for the crime of her existence and dangerous power that slept within her. Because of these issues, Emilia minimized any contact with outsiders, sticking to a frugal life by only leaving the forest to trade the magic stones she could find with people willing to deal with her in nearby towns for food and clothing. Humans, who called her the Witch of Frost, mostly tried to avoid her when she came around, but other than these excursions, Emilia would otherwise stay with the frozen elves as a guardian, as they were connected to her past. After the harrowing incident with Melakuera, Emilia formed a contract with Puck to preserve his life after his Od had been damaged. Puck then began to act as her surrogate father and mentor. He used the contract itself to seal parts of her memories that had been tampered with by Pandora.

A year before Subaru arrived, she and Puck were visited by an eccentric man who named himself Roswaal L Mathers, the first human who didn't react negatively to her appearance. He then invited her to the Royal Selection after being chosen by the Dragon Jewel by giving her a way to save the citizens of Elior Forest, through the usage of the Dragon's Blood.

Abilities
Spirit Affinity: Emilia has a rare innate gift to form contracts with spirits.

Spirit User (精霊使い Seirei Tsukai): Emilia is currently contracted with several lesser spirits and was formerly contracted with the Beast of the End, Puck. During the incident at the Sanctuary, Puck severed his contract with her, causing her existing pendant to shatter, and she temporarily carried him around in a crystal stone that wasn't pure enough for her to use him properly. She later replaces her pendant with a new high purity crystal stone following the events at Priestella. However, she states that she still doesn't have enough mana to form a new contract. Puck himself wasn't a spirit before he was made into an artificial spirit by Echidna and has some sort of contract with her that seals his former memories unless a certain yet-unknown condition is met. It should be mentioned, however, that in Chapter 72 of the web novel version of Arc 4, during Subaru's second trial, Puck and Emilia faced off against Petelgeuse who had just slaughtered the entire subjugation force. For an unexplained reason, Puck regained his memories and forcefully severed his contract with Emilia, in order to prevent the Ordeal from carrying out. This even–alongside the featured failed loop–has been completely removed from the Light Novel. Some of Emilia's contract conditions are:
 * He will be active only from 9 am to 5 pm
 * Do not ask about his relationship with Beatrice
 * Do not look into a mirror or go near a large body of water
 * Do not hide the fact that you are a half-elf
 * He will choose your hairstyle every morning
 * Groom his fur regularly
 * Do some exercises when you wake up and before going to bed.
 * Do not be picky about food
 * Talk with lesser spirits every morning and evening

Spirit Arts (精霊術): Emilia is capable of using her spirit arts with Puck and other spirits. Emilia and Puck can smoothly alternate between roles of offense and defense leading to devastating results. These include examples like changing the atmosphere in the sky to rain down multitudes of ice spears, forming ice clones that are capable of attacking, instantly conjuring giant freezing blade discs, mist barriers that hide her presence, and ice shields. On top of that, Emilia is contracted to several lesser spirits; she can use them for various applications such as healing.

Magic User (魔法使い Maho Tsukai): Following the trials, Emilia remembered that she could use magic without Puck, and becomes able to use it again. It also made her aware of the abnormal amount of mana flowing through her. She is able to use ice magic through her natural fire attribute like her aunt Fortuna, by rapidly converting heat into ice. According to Emilia, if she gathers a lot of energy, she can cause an explosion. In terms of magical power, Emilia is stated to be roughly as strong as the original Roswaal A Mathers.
 * Huma (ヒューマ): Emilia creates a shining water barrier that blocks other projectiles and sorts of magic. However, if the incoming magic is stronger than the shield, it will get through it and cause damage to the user.
 * El Huma (エル・ヒューマ):Emilia Magic.gif Emilia forms and shoots multitudes of ice spears from her hands which easily pierces through and crushes flesh that vanish a moment afterwards.
 * UI Huma (ウル・ヒューマ): Emilia summons massive ice pillars from the ground that crash into her target.
 * Ice Brand Arts (アイスブランドアーツ): This technique allows Emilia to instantly conjure ice made weapons which she can use and freely manipulate in close-quarters combat. The weapons are very sturdy and are even capable of withstanding heat. Its requires a lot of mana to use so even when it was copied by the Gluttony, they could not use to its full extent.
 * Ice Brand Arts: Icicle Line (アイスブランドアーツ、アイシクルライン): Emilia creates a limited area barrier made of ice particles around her opponent, which she uses to attack in all directions by transforming them into weapons. Subaru helped to create the idea for this move.
 * Ice Brand Arts: Ice Soldiers (アイスブランド・アーツ: 氷の兵隊): Emilia can create soldiers who are completely made out of ice. These soldiers are exactly the same as actual humans and are clad in armor made of ice while wielding weapons made of ice. They follow every order given to them by Emilia. The soldiers' strength depends from the mana density; the more mana Emilia uses the stronger the soldiers will be. The technique was developed by her and Subaru some time after the events of the 4th arc hence, the soldiers take Subaru's appearance. Currently, Emilia is able to create up to seven proper Ice Soldiers and no less than ten soldiers with only their torsos, heads and arms. When destroyed, these soldiers can regenerate back to their full health as long as Emilia has the strength to do so.
 * Ice Flower (氷の花 Kōri no Hana): Emilia creates flowers made of ice on wounds of living beings within a certain area that suck the host's life force and bloom by sucking the host's blood. Seven years ago, Emilia couldn't control the affected area and stop it properly. Puck had to use his powers to terminate it.
 * Cocytus (コキュートス Kokyūtosu): Cocytus is a large scale spell made out of two combined elements, which was used by Subaru and Emilia during their fight against the Oousagi. While Subaru used Yin Magic to form some sort of a barricade around the Demon Beasts to prevent them from escaping, Emilia used Fire Magic to carefully apply magical energy to the already-casted Minya spell, creating an icy cage and lifting the cage, the Demon Beasts and the ground itself high in the air.
 * Absolute Zero (絶対零度): Absolute Zero is Emilia's absolute trump card, and the strongest attack in her arsenal. According to one web novel passage, if her normal magic was rated a 1, Absolute Zero would hover around a 10, if not even around 100. It's devastating enough to be able to end pretty much any real battle in a single blow. Absolute Zero allows Emilia to freeze the atmosphere around her to such such a degree, that a vacuum is created, inside which, even time can be stopped. Any and all beings that find themselves in this vacuum have zero chances of survival. With this ability, she was able to utterly nullify the Divine Dragon's purifying breath, which has been described to be hot enough and strong enough to melt through anything and disintegrate everything it comes into contact with–Emilia's Ice Soldiers were sturdier than even metal, yet, they were instantly scorched from existence by Volcanica's purifying breath. This ability was named by Natsuki Subaru, some time following the events of Arc 4.
 * Ice Age (アイスエイジ): This technique was first used by Emilia when she teamed up with Priscilla Barielle against Madelyn Eschart. It is a controlled version of the climate changing magic she used to freeze Elior Forest, and it causes temperature within a space a to drop rapidly.

Melee Fighter: While she leans more on the magical side, Emilia is also apt at close-quarters combat. Like Garfiel, rather than having a known practiced form, she is a more instinctual fighter, relying on her body's natural talents such as its high nimbleness, sharp senses, and above-average physical strength combined with her magical arts. This creates her own unique style. With her melee combat abilities, Emilia was capable of defeating a group of bandits all on her own. Additionally, Emilia is highly proficient in the use of the weapons she makes through her Ice Brand Arts.

Equipment:


 * Glintstone (輝石): Emilia wielded a magical crystal of this type until it broke after Puck forcefully severed the contract in order to remove the lid off of Emilia's memories, allowing her to challenge the Trials from the Tomb of the Witch of Greed. After the end of Arc 4, she received another glintstone from Subaru, which he got from Frederica Baumann. The glintstone harboured Puck for roughly a year, until the end of Arc 5, when Emilia was given a new and much more powerful glintstone. With it, she would be able to reunite with the Beast of the End, though she still needs to accumulate enough mana so he could manifest.
 * Recognition Obstruction Robe (認識阻害のローブ): A robe that allows the wearer to obstruct anyone from perceiving them unless the wearer allows it or the person is strong enough to overcome its effects. The robe was given to her by Roswaal, in order to avoid any unwanted situations due to her race. Following the events of Arc 4, however, Emilia decided to stop using the cloak, as according to her, one cannot be a proper leader if they're constantly hiding from others.
 * A Fragment of the Divine Dragon's Talon: Following the climax of Arc 6 and the liberation of the Pleiades Watchtower, Emilia became the Watchtower's administrator, as she was the one who solved all three trials. This resulted in her having control over the tower and its inhabitants–namely, the Divine Dragon Volcanica. In order to prevent the Witch Cult or anyone else to access the Tower, Emilia tasked the Dragon with guarding the Watchtower and warding off anyone who approaches–though in typical Emilia fashion, she also ordered the Dragon not to harm a living being, no matter what. Volcanica then gave the half-elf a fragment of its jet-black talon, which was observed by Beatrice to be brimming with mana. It was soon concluded that the Dragon would be able to recognise its talon from far away, and not attack Emilia or anyone else who will be holding the talon at the time. It should be also said that the talon does not have any other purpose besides what has already been mentioned.

Trivia

 * Emilia is Tappei Nagatsuki's favorite Re:Zero character. At one point, he even stated that she's one of the main reasons why he started writing the story in the first place. He also said he doesn't like ranking his characters but Emilia comes first and all other Re:Zero characters are ranked second.
 * According to the author, Emilia's birthday is September 23.
 * Emilia is the hardest character for the author to write.
 * She's terrible at singing due to being tone-deaf.
 * Fortuna's sanpakugan is Emilia's favorite physical feature of her. Subaru also shares these types of eyes.
 * In this short story, Emilia learned the phrase "it's better to hear thank you than sorry" from Geuse, which she still kept to heart even after she had forgotten about him.
 * Due to the hardships she went through because of it, after awakening, Emilia began to hate her own appearance and to an extent, she would subconsciously avoid mirrors. Puck, noticing her deep mental trauma, would remove anything reflective from her vicinity and stipulated it as part of their contract.
 * Emilia created a map of Elior Forest which she spent over seven years making.
 * Aside from the glintstones she traded, Emilia also pawned off trinkets and other things she found which she didn't need to human villages. An incident like this is actually what started the conflict present in Bonds of Ice.
 * Emilia is stated to be the most beautiful female character in the series, according to the author.
 * Emilia is stated to be roughly as strong as the original Roswaal A Mathers.
 * Ever since Fortuna's death 100 years ago, Emilia has been wearing her hairpin in order to always stay together with her late foster mother.
 * She is one of the only two people in the world that can see the key that can unlock the Seal in the Elior Forest. The second person was not yet revealed.
 * The author stated in 2014 that Emilia is among ten known characters who have the highest mana capacity in the world. However, he chose to not rank Emilia or any of the other listed characters in order.
 * The author also said that the name "Emilia" was his friend's idea.
 * The reason Emilia has long hair is because Puck likes it. She also thought of cutting her hair short in the interlude of arc 4 after Puck's disappearance but was stopped by others.
 * Emilia's favorite color is purple.
 * Because of complications in her past, Subaru estimates her exact age to be 114 (115 at arc 5+), but physically 18 (19 at arc 5+) and emotionally around 14 (15 at arc 5+).
 * However, Puck was created over 400 years ago by Echidna to watch over Emilia and later left to look for her for presumably three centuries, thus leaving Emilia's exact actual age currently unknown.
 * According to Melakuera, Emilia was "born from the same cursed blood as the Witch" as well as calling her "the descendant of the Witch".
 * The author has compared Emilia to a hero in "Dragon Quest".
 * She has read stories about fairies and she views them in a very positive light, despite the fact that the term "fairy" is used to refer to evil spirits, in the new world.
 * The series' illustrator Shinichirou Otsuka, considered Emilia to be the most difficult character to design. The reason he struggled with the design of Emilia the most was because of the pressure placed on him, considering that she was the main heroine of the series. It took him several days to produce a design for Emilia.
 * When asked about whether Subaru and Emilia would end up being married to each other, the author told the asker to rest assured, that Re: Zero would have a happy ending.
 * When asked if there is a branching point where Emilia and Subaru would be married together and have children, just like Natsuki Rem in the IF Route, the author replied that there is. That there definitely is.
 * The author has expressed that he does not think he is the type who wants to see a live action adaptation for Re: Zero. Namely, because he doesn't think it's possible to capture Emilia's cuteness in live action.
 * In 2014, the author stated that Emilia was among nine known characters introduced in the story up to that point who had the highest capacity for holding mana. However, he chose to not rank Emilia or any of the other listed characters in order. It is unknown if the list has changed since then.
 * In the Re:Zero IF story commonly referred to as Mimagau IF, Emilia makes an appearance as a male silver haired half-elf named Emilio (エミリオ).

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