TV-Series
Description
Princess Esmeralda, known in the original Japanese version as Emeraude and in some Spanish and Portuguese language versions as Esmeralda, is the princess of the magical world of Cephiro and its Pillar, the sacred figure whose constant prayers sustain the peace and order of the entire land. The condition of Cephiro directly mirrors the condition of the Pillar's heart, which means Emeraude's inner life shapes the world around her. She appears as a gentle and youthful princess with very long blonde hair and green eyes, often dressed in a childlike manner. Though she looks young, her actual age is considerably older than her appearance suggests. She is deeply loved by her subjects, who regard her as the most important person in their world.
Her background is tied closely to her duty. In the anime, she was once a noblewoman of Cephiro before becoming the Pillar, and she used her position to protect her younger brother Ferio from being punished for stealing from her. At Ferio's own request, she used her magic to make him forget her so that he would not miss her or suffer sorrow, and she agreed to forget him as well so that she could devote all of her thoughts to Cephiro. In the manga version, Ferio still remembers that she is his sister, having left the palace on his own will. In both versions, her role as Pillar demands total self-sacrifice: she must spend every waking moment praying for Cephiro's benefit and is effectively forbidden from loving anyone.
Emeraude is kind, benevolent, compassionate, and sincerely devoted to her responsibility. Her tragedy is that she is human despite the weight placed upon her. When she fell in love with Zagato, the high priest of Cephiro, her heart turned away from the land, and Cephiro began to fill with monsters and chaos as a reflection of her inner conflict. Unable to abandon her duty but unable to stop loving Zagato, she imprisoned herself in an underwater dungeon shaped like a peony beneath her own palace, hoping to focus only on her prayers. When even that failed, she made the desperate decision to summon the Magic Knights from another world.
Throughout most of the first part of the story, Emeraude is presented as a kidnapped princess who needs to be rescued, and the three Magic Knights, guided by the sorcerer Clef and the creature Mokona, believe their mission is to save her from Zagato. The truth is that Emeraude summoned them herself, not to defeat Zagato but to kill her. Because no one born in Cephiro is allowed to harm the Pillar and the Pillar cannot will herself to die, only girls from another world could grant her death. Death was the only way for her to lay down her duty and, in her mind, the only way she could be free to think only of Zagato. Zagato, who loved her in return and wanted to protect her, sent his servants against the Knights and finally confronted them himself, but the Knights defeated and killed him.
Emeraude's development takes a dark turn after Zagato's death. Devastated by the loss of her beloved, she collapsed under the weight of guilt and grief, and a darker side of her emerged. She transformed into an older and more sinister version of herself, filled with anger and pure hatred toward the Magic Knights for killing Zagato, and she forgot that she was the one who had summoned them. In this state she manifested her own Rune God, a giant guardian created almost spontaneously by her grief and rage, and seized Zagato's fallen sword to fight the Knights. During the battle, the Knights caught fleeting visions of the true Emeraude, who explained her plight and begged them to send her to a place where she could think only of Zagato. They reluctantly granted her wish, and in her final moments she appeared purified and adult, smiling in Zagato's arms as she thanked them. With the last of her power, she returned the three girls to their own world at the exact moment they had left it.
Her key relationships define her story. Zagato is the central figure of her life, a mutual and forbidden love that undermined her ability to serve as Pillar and ultimately led her to seek her own end. Ferio is her younger brother, from whom she distanced herself for the sake of her duty, burdening herself with loneliness in the process. Clef is the chief sorcerer and her former attendant, who carries out her final instructions to help the Knights, and Mokona is her companion, given to Clef to guide the Knights on their journey. The Magic Knights, Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu, are the people she chose to carry out her liberation, and their grief and guilt over her death shape everything that follows in the story.
As the Pillar of Cephiro, Emeraude's primary ability is that her prayers sustain the entire world, and the land itself reflects her emotions. She also possesses considerable magic, including healing spells in the anime version, and enough power to create and pilot her own Rune God in battle. Her tiara serves as the Proof of the Pillar, the symbol of her office and authority. Her final act demonstrates the scale of her power when she uses her remaining strength to send the Magic Knights back to Tokyo precisely at the moment they disappeared. Her death also reveals the cruelty of the Pillar system, which demands that one person sacrifice all personal happiness for the sake of the world, and that revelation becomes the central conflict of the story that follows.
Her background is tied closely to her duty. In the anime, she was once a noblewoman of Cephiro before becoming the Pillar, and she used her position to protect her younger brother Ferio from being punished for stealing from her. At Ferio's own request, she used her magic to make him forget her so that he would not miss her or suffer sorrow, and she agreed to forget him as well so that she could devote all of her thoughts to Cephiro. In the manga version, Ferio still remembers that she is his sister, having left the palace on his own will. In both versions, her role as Pillar demands total self-sacrifice: she must spend every waking moment praying for Cephiro's benefit and is effectively forbidden from loving anyone.
Emeraude is kind, benevolent, compassionate, and sincerely devoted to her responsibility. Her tragedy is that she is human despite the weight placed upon her. When she fell in love with Zagato, the high priest of Cephiro, her heart turned away from the land, and Cephiro began to fill with monsters and chaos as a reflection of her inner conflict. Unable to abandon her duty but unable to stop loving Zagato, she imprisoned herself in an underwater dungeon shaped like a peony beneath her own palace, hoping to focus only on her prayers. When even that failed, she made the desperate decision to summon the Magic Knights from another world.
Throughout most of the first part of the story, Emeraude is presented as a kidnapped princess who needs to be rescued, and the three Magic Knights, guided by the sorcerer Clef and the creature Mokona, believe their mission is to save her from Zagato. The truth is that Emeraude summoned them herself, not to defeat Zagato but to kill her. Because no one born in Cephiro is allowed to harm the Pillar and the Pillar cannot will herself to die, only girls from another world could grant her death. Death was the only way for her to lay down her duty and, in her mind, the only way she could be free to think only of Zagato. Zagato, who loved her in return and wanted to protect her, sent his servants against the Knights and finally confronted them himself, but the Knights defeated and killed him.
Emeraude's development takes a dark turn after Zagato's death. Devastated by the loss of her beloved, she collapsed under the weight of guilt and grief, and a darker side of her emerged. She transformed into an older and more sinister version of herself, filled with anger and pure hatred toward the Magic Knights for killing Zagato, and she forgot that she was the one who had summoned them. In this state she manifested her own Rune God, a giant guardian created almost spontaneously by her grief and rage, and seized Zagato's fallen sword to fight the Knights. During the battle, the Knights caught fleeting visions of the true Emeraude, who explained her plight and begged them to send her to a place where she could think only of Zagato. They reluctantly granted her wish, and in her final moments she appeared purified and adult, smiling in Zagato's arms as she thanked them. With the last of her power, she returned the three girls to their own world at the exact moment they had left it.
Her key relationships define her story. Zagato is the central figure of her life, a mutual and forbidden love that undermined her ability to serve as Pillar and ultimately led her to seek her own end. Ferio is her younger brother, from whom she distanced herself for the sake of her duty, burdening herself with loneliness in the process. Clef is the chief sorcerer and her former attendant, who carries out her final instructions to help the Knights, and Mokona is her companion, given to Clef to guide the Knights on their journey. The Magic Knights, Hikaru, Umi, and Fuu, are the people she chose to carry out her liberation, and their grief and guilt over her death shape everything that follows in the story.
As the Pillar of Cephiro, Emeraude's primary ability is that her prayers sustain the entire world, and the land itself reflects her emotions. She also possesses considerable magic, including healing spells in the anime version, and enough power to create and pilot her own Rune God in battle. Her tiara serves as the Proof of the Pillar, the symbol of her office and authority. Her final act demonstrates the scale of her power when she uses her remaining strength to send the Magic Knights back to Tokyo precisely at the moment they disappeared. Her death also reveals the cruelty of the Pillar system, which demands that one person sacrifice all personal happiness for the sake of the world, and that revelation becomes the central conflict of the story that follows.