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The Cold Steel series of JRPGs — released by the developer Falcom during the 2010s — was an ambitious undertaking, considering the quantity of personas and plot points included. It required the creator several games to fully develop these cast members. Emma's personal character development is unfolded in parallel with Cold Steel’s central narrative, but it's via the gradual evolution in her skill set that we comprehend the extent of her inner growth.

Heads-up: This article includes some story reveals for the main storyline of the Cold Steel series.

In Legend of Heroes: Trails of Cold Steel, the character Emma is a typical teenager, like the rest of the students of Thors Academy's her class. As the class president, she's friendly to all and aims to avoid any disputes between her fellow students. Even though she approaches her studies really seriously, she leads two separate lives. In truth, she is a sorceress, a part of the Clan of Witches. Joining the academy is one step in her real mission of assisting Rean, the leader figure of her class, who is meant to unleash a powerful mech.

In each Trails of Cold Steel game, nearly all party members have at least one special technique, a special attack that requires you to have a minimum amount of Craft Points to use. These supreme skills are intended to be your ace in all fights. S-Crafts are furthermore a mechanism for the game to narrate the changes characters are experiencing. They can represent the advancement of a individual's technique, like Rean's ultimate move Breaking Dawn in the fourth game, which he gains after attaining the rank of master swordsman. In different instances, such as the witch Emma's, Nihon Falcom utilizes ultimate abilities to express the internal transformations a persona goes through.

When the war in the nation of Erebonia erupts in Cold Steel, Emma’s reaction to the situation is the idealistic but logical idea that battle means engaging offensively. The conflict extends to the sequel in the series, where the dual ultimate skills she possesses are Lord Albireon and Rain. Both are damage-dealing skills that affect every opponents on the battlefield.

When we have the chance to meet the character Emma once more in Trails of Cold Steel III, we witness a different character. She has moved on from Thors, and after honing her skills with her witch community, the protagonist clearly to have grasped an vital truth about who she is. Even though she becomes a impressive sorceress, the character realizes that, primarily, she is a guardian. Emma is prepared to put others first to ensure all her friends — but especially Rean Schwarzer — out of harm's way. Her wish to take on this position is hinted at by her S-Craft, which in Trails of Cold Steel III changes to her new defensive S-Craft.

When you execute the ultimate ability Eregion, she calls forth a quartet of glowing arcane structures, and barriers appear joining them and enclosing the combat area. The allies affected by this skill obtain one or two charges of Absolute Reflect, a status that blocks injury of any kind. Emma had never been a combative individual, so she moves to a protective style, mirroring the nurturing look she had always extended to her allies.

It’s intriguing to observe how the developers employs a persona's abilities to enrich the game’s plot. Role-playing games typically employ storytelling or visuals to tell us what a protagonist is experiencing. But this character proves that including a spell can contribute additional depth of insight.