Esmeralda

Esmeralda (エスメラルダ, Esumeraruda) is a character in Suikoden. She is a naive and idle woman of aristocratic distinction.

Profile
"Oh well, such is my fate. My beauty is to blame, isn't it?"

- Esmeralda

Appearance
Esmeralda's outfit consists of a pure white one-piece dress with an inverted V-shaped opening in the front and a pink skirt underneath, emblazoned with a rose motif. The large polka-dot ribbon at the waist was said to give the outfit a maidenly look.

She wore her blonde hair in long vertical rolls with a huge hair ornament, creating a romantic and dainty image. In her Genso Suikoden Card Stories TCG artwork, she is also depicted wearing a bonnet. Her eyes are depicted as green in Suikoden and blue in her Card Stories artwork.

She was said to look young for her age. Overall, her appearance was very elegant and befitting her aura of a naïve maiden.

Personality
Esmeralda is described as both naïve and elegant in her mannerisms, as well as somewhat dreamy in terms of her grasp on events. She not only interpreted the Toran Liberation Army approaching her as an attempted kidnapping, she also would demand to be brought a gift, the Opal before acquiescing to the supposed abduction.

She is also proud of herself and her beauty. Part of the reason for demanding an Opal from the group was because she steadfastly refused to undervalue herself or her worth.

Although she spent most of her time in the company of fellow narcissists Milich Oppenheimer and Vincent de Boule, overall Esmeralda found Toran Castle to be a wearisome and boorish place for her.

History
"Still haven't brought me my opal ring? My patience is limited, you know."

- Esmeralda

Esmeralda was a slightly ambiguous and enigmatic but mostly elegant and naïve woman fond of dressing fashionably and luxuriously. Like Vincent de Boule, she appeared to be an aristocrat of the Scarlet Moon Empire, but any details on her noble name or her identity besides her gender seems to be shrouded in mystery.

This included why she was staying at an inn in Antei during the Gate Rune War. It is not clear whether she was fleeing the war, hiding from someone, or simply residing at the inn for an extended stay.

During said conflict, she was invited to join the Toran Liberation Army at the inn. Esmeralda misunderstood and believed she was being kidnapped, believing her beauty to be a curse which drew the interests of the Liberation Army.

She demanded the Opal both as a token of good faith and because she refused to undervalue her worth or beauty. The Liberation Army at the time was only comprised of a few and so recruited the unreasonable companion.

As a member of the Liberation Army, she was not a particularly active recruit, contributing little besides her presence. She had only a handful of friends such as Vincent and Milich Oppenheimer (and later Simone Verdricci) and they commonly took tea together.

After the Gate Rune War, it appears Esmeralda lived an elegant life in a house with a garden full of roses in Antei as a guest of Milich. Given that she was possibly a former Scarlet Moon Empire noble but lost her nobility following the war, she must have inherited her fortune.

Three years following the Gate Rune War, Nash Latkje would be inadvertently teleported by Viki to Esmeralda's location while she was attending a tea party for herself, Milich, Vincent and Simone in a flamboyant room.

Music
Esmeralda's theme is "The Narcissists". She shares this song with both Vincent de Boule and Milich Oppenheimer. Unusually, it does not play when you first encounter Esmeralda in Antei or at any point before her recruitment.

Following recruitment, the song will play whenever the player speaks to Esmeralda at Toran Castle and will continue playing until the player either returns to the center of the castle or speaks with Kasios. It is song 28 on disc 1 of the official Genso Suikoden Original Game Soundtrack.

Trivia

 * Esmeralda was intentionally designed to be an idle or "useless" character who brought nothing to the Toran Liberation Army, though she does contribute soldiers and ATK value to her war unit, The Narcissists.