Princess Emeraude

Princess Emeraude
Name Etymology
Kanji	エメロード姫
Rōmaji	Emerōdo Hime
Also known as	Pillar of Cephiro (former)
Basic Information
Gender	Female
Class	Human
Age	less than 745 years old
Status	Deceased Alive (OVA)
Relations	Zagato (Lover, Deceased) Ferio (Younger Brother)
Physical Description
Hair Color	Blonde
Eye Color	Blue
Professional Status
Country	Cephiro
Occupation	Pillar of Cephiro (former)
Voice Actors
Japanese Voice	Megumi Ogata
English Voice	Wendee Lee

Princess Emeraude (エメロード姫ひめ,   Emerōdo Hime^?) was the sovereign ruler of Cephiro and a Goddess-like figure to whom all the inhabitants pray for peace, prosperity, and protection. She was the first person to summon Hikaru Shidou, Umi Ryuuzaki, and Fuu Hououji to Cephiro to become the legendary Magic Knights.

Appearance

Princess Emeraude was a beautiful and elegant young woman with blue eyes, and long blond hair flowing to the ground. She wore a white dress and a golden tiara with a green orb.

Personality

Emeraude was a gentle soul who was self-sacrificial to the extreme, as she felt guilty for falling in love and not focusing entirely on her duties as the Pillar. She also had a stubborn streak since not even her attendant, Guru Clef, could dissuade her from her decision of ending her own life to free Cephiro.

When Zagato was killed, a more vengeful side was seen of Emeraude, as she attacked the Magic Knights with all her power. She may have also be shortsighted since Hikaru was able to end the Pillar system with her will, but Emeraude never thought about this solution.

OVA

Emeraude is delusional with grief after Zagato was executed, and she does nothing other than sing to the illusion of him, neglecting her duties. After Eagle's defeat, however, Emeraude vows to help Cephiro start anew.

History

Not much is known about Emeraude's family or personal history, except that she was the older sister of Ferio, and that Clef had watched over her all her life.

As the Pillar, it was Emeraude's duty to spend every waking moment praying for the wellbeing of Cephiro and its people. However, Emeraude fell in love with the high priest Zagato, who was ironically supposed to aid her in her prayers. Her love for him eventually caused her to constantly think of him and him alone, conflicting with her responsibilities as the Pillar. Knowing that her own death was the only way she could stop being the Pillar and allow another to be chosen, Princess Emeraude decided to summon the Magic Knights, despite Zagato's attempts to prevent this. During her imprisonment within Zagato's castle, Emeraude would plead with him to stop his attempts at destroying the Magic Knights, only to be dismayed when Zagato would tell her that she was the only thing he cared about, not Cephiro.

After the Magic Knights killed Zagato, Princess Emeraude went into a state of shock that eventually evolved into anger and pure hatred, causing a darker side of her to emerge. When the Magic Knights came to greet Emeraude after defeating Zagato, she attacked them almost immediately, summoning her own Rune God and relentlessly pursuing them. Upon spotting Zagato's fallen sword, she picked it up, caressed it lovingly, and claimed that she would use it to avenge his death. With neither sympathy nor mercy, she directly stabbed Hikaru/Rayearth in the shoulder, and even laughed cruelly upon seeing Hikaru in pain.

The Magic Knights then received a vision of the true Emeraude, who informed them that the actual reason she had summoned them was so that they would kill her.

Princess Emeraude's Rune God

Initially, the stunned, utterly horrified Magic Knights could not bring themselves to do so. However, they saw that the vengeful, merciless version of Princess Emeraude was ready to kill them, and that Cephiro itself was crumbling under her rage. The true Princess Emeraude appeared before them again and begged them to grant her "one and only selfish wish" and send her to "where [she could] think only of Zagato" and be with him forever. Tearfully, the Magic Knights finally gave in, joining their powers together and killing the Princess by running her through with their sword. Princess Emeraude died with a genuine, heartfelt smile, and used the last of her power to send the Magic Knights back to the exact moment they disappeared from Toyko Tower. The final image of her they see is of her purified adult self in Zagato's embrace, smiling genuinely and thanking the Knights for granting her final wish.

In the anime, it was revealed that even in death, Princess Emeraude continued to watch over Cephiro. In one instance, she used the last of the power within her tiara to vaporize all of Debonair's monsters and banish Debonair when she attempted to steal the tiara for herself. In another instance, Emeraude appeared to choose the new Pillar of Cephiro; both Hikaru and Eagle Vision had simultaneously entered the room in which her tiara was encased. She only said, "The new Pillar... is you," not specifying to whom she was referring. Given that both Hikaru and Eagle came out of the room alive (albeit unconscious), it can be theorized that what Emeraude meant was that either one of them could become the Pillar, as only one worthy of becoming the Pillar could enter and come out from the room alive.

OVA

Emeraude in the OVA

Her role in the OVA is not much different. In this version of the series, she still falls in love with Zagato, which leads to the near destruction of Cephiro. She is trapped within a dream world with an illusion of the now-dead Zagato. She spends all her time in this world usually with her head at his lap, smiling. When the Knights finally destroy the illusion in which she is trapped, she is able to come to the real world and return all the beings from Cephiro to their rightful place. She claims that she will help Cephiro start anew and disappears.

Powers and Abilities

Aside from her powers of meditation and prayer as the Pillar, Princess Emeraude is also shown to be able to project herself in a non-corporeal form, as seen when she appears to the Magic Knights at the Spring of Eterna. She also has the power to heal, as seen in the anime when she healed Zagato's wound using a small ball of light. In the fight against the Magic Knights, it was revealed that she could also create her own Rune God, and was more than their equal, having tremendous powers of destruction, being able to completely destroy Zagato's castle with only one blast, unleashing potent energy blasts against which even Fuu Hououji's usually-reliable protection spell was no match, and causing thunder to roar, lightning to flash, and the very land of Cephiro to literally fall apart, using only the power of her anger and hatred. Rayearth himself even stated she was "incomparably stronger than anyone else".

Dark Emeraude

In the anime, it is shown that even in death, Princess Emeraude's powers appeared to have lost none of their potency, given that her spirit was able to repel the seemingly all-powerful Debonair from the castle and vaporize hordes of regenerative monsters, by unleashing light through her tiara; its power completely stunned everyone, and seemed to set the entire land of Cephiro alit with its glory. Debonair herself cursed Princess Emeraude for that attack of light, confessing that it had not only banished her (hence foiling her plans), but had also "weakened her powers".

She also caused Hikaru and Eagle to experience vivid visions of her life story, from the beginning where she was crowned Pillar of Cephiro, to the end where she was tragically killed by the Magic Knights, simply because she had fallen in love. Presumably, she wanted the next person who was worthy of becoming Pillar to fully understand what was required, and the price they would have to pay, so that hers and Zagato's tragic story would not be repeated.

Relationships

Zagato

Zagato was trained by Master Mage Clef to be the High Priest to Princess Emeraude, protecting her as she prayed for peace for the people of Cephiro. But as time went on, Emeraude and Zagato fell in love with each other, causing her to think solely of him and therefore neglect her duties as the Pillar. Upon realizing this, Emeraude struggled to forget about her feelings for Zagato, but was unable to do so, leading to her decision to summon the Magic Knights. As Zagato continued his mission to eliminate the Magic Knights, Emeraude tried to convince him to stop, but to no avail.

After the Magic Knights clashed with and killed Zagato, his death horrified Emeraude and broke her down into despair, and then hate and rage. She then tried to kill the Magic Knights so that she could avenge Zagato's death, but a part of her still pled with the Magic Knights to kill her so that she could be with Zagato, and not pray for the destruction of Cephiro. When the Knights slew her, Emeraude declared that she would now belong to Zagato and only him.

Emeraude and Zagato reunited

Ferio

Prince Ferio was Emeraude's younger brother. As Emeraude herself was not allowed to love anything or anyone other than Cephiro, she encouraged Ferio's own opportunities to do so. When Ferio was a child, Emeraude gave him a pair of earrings and told him to give one to whoever he'd fallen in love with.

After Princess Emeraude died, Ferio returned to the newly built castle and resumed his role as the Prince of Cephiro. Although he was deeply upset by his beloved sister's death, Ferio neither hated nor blamed the Magic Knights for it, knowing that she was at peace now and could be with the one she loved forever.

Anime

Ferio had begged her to erase his memories of him being the Prince and her younger brother, so that he would not grieve for her for becoming the Pillar. Though it pained her greatly, Emeraude granted his wish, but also gave him a jeweled orb that was actually a communicator, so that she could hear his voice wherever he went, and would therefore never forget him, showing that both of them shared a close relationship before she became the Pillar and was thus forced to cut all ties to him.

After his memories were lost, Ferio left the castle and, amidst his wanderings throughout Cephiro, was always intrigued by the mysterious jeweled orb that he always carried with him and developed a habit of confiding his secrets and ambitions to it. In an ironic twist of fate, Ferio returned to the castle, which was now forbidden to him, and snuck into Emeraude's room, thinking that he would find the answers to the secret of his orb there. He was stunned to discover that it actually had a twin, but before he could explore further, the guards caught him. Fortunately for him, Emeraude defended him when he was brought forward for punishment, claiming that she had given the pair of jeweled orbs to him as a gift, and he left the castle with the other jeweled orb. Ferio later gave one of the orbs to Fuu, with whom he later falls in love, and maintains contact with her through her orb.

Later on, when the Magic Knights were facing Inouva's true form, Ferio regained his lost memories (due to Emeraude's power as Pillar diminishing) and heard his sister's voice coming from his own orb, telling him how to kill Inouva. Ferio quickly relayed the information to the Magic Knights, and they managed to kill their enemy.

Clef

Emeraude at some point studied under Clef. Its not known what kind of relationship they had, only that at some point Clef tried to persuade Emeraude from ending her own life, but later he also guided the Magic Knights summoned by the princess to find her in the end, against Zagato wishes.

Inouva

In the anime only, its the pet given by Zagato to Emeraude, and used protect and to look after her.

Battles

She has a battle against the Magic Knights in the end of the first season.

Etymology

Princess Emeraude is named for the Mitsubishi Emeraude.

Trivia

• In the Portuguese dub of the anime, her name is translated as Esmeralda.
• Her Japanese voice actress also voices Eagle Vision.
• Emeraude may have been inspired by The Childlike Empress from Michael Ende's novel The Neverending Story.
• Aspects of Princess Emeraude liken her to the Nothing Card of Cardcaptor Sakura, another CLAMP work:
  • Both are depicted as longhaired young women trapped/dwelling within a sphere.
  • Both are regarded as supremely powerful beings; Princess Emeraude being the Pillar of Cephiro, the Nothing as the most powerful Clow Card. Both are also capable of great destruction.