Emerie
A spoiler-free guide to A Court of Thorns and Roses (ACOTAR).
Only showing what’s been revealed up to your current progress. Future events, identities, and relationships are hidden.
Overview
Emerie is Proteus’s daughter and the owner of the Windhaven clothier, which she inherited after her father failed to return from the war. She runs the shop herself and lives in the rooms above it.
Though she first turns Nesta down, Emerie ultimately leaves Windhaven for the House of Wind and throws herself into the women's training that reshapes her life.
Through training with Nesta and Gwyn, Emerie becomes one of the women restoring the Valkyrie disciplines and chooses recognition as a Valkyrie rather than as an Illyrian warrior.
Emerie is a Blood Rite victor who reaches the summit of Ramiel.
Appearance
Emerie’s wings bear severe scars from being clipped.
The clipping left her wings permanently impaired: one cannot extend fully, while the other opens only halfway. The resulting imbalance affects her movement and requires specialized training.
Personality and Behavior
Emerie is notably self-possessed and independent. She meets challenges without lowering her gaze, rejects charity, and insists that business at her shop be handled as a proper transaction.
Reading and gardening help sustain Emerie through her isolated life in Windhaven. She is particularly enthusiastic about romance novels and eagerly shares them with her friends.
Among trusted friends, Emerie settles into easy companionship with Nesta and Gwyn and bluntly teases Nesta about missing Cassian.
Relationships
Emerie’s male relatives pressure her to surrender control of the clothier. Her cousin Bellius carries demands from his father, but she firmly maintains that the store belongs to her and will remain hers.
Emerie quickly befriends Nesta and Gwyn through their shared training, reading, and experience of lives constrained by fear and hardship.
When Nesta arrives at her shop in distress, Emerie takes her in without hesitation, listens to her, and provides food, company, clothing, and a safe bed for the night.
After reuniting during the Blood Rite, Emerie takes Gwyn’s and Nesta’s hands and openly names the three of them as sisters.
Emerie’s father subjected his family to sustained violence and control. He beat Emerie badly enough to break her back, murdered her mother, restricted food and money, and forced Emerie to dig her mother’s grave while concealing the truth of her death.
Abilities and Skills
Emerie trains in sword work and the Valkyrie discipline of Mind-Stilling, practicing the mental exercises independently between lessons.
She successfully cuts the Valkyrie ribbon and completes the obstacle course used as the Blood Rite Qualifier, continuing through the course even after receiving a black eye.
Emerie has practical knowledge of the Blood Rite’s rules, terrain, healing restrictions, and routes around Ramiel. During the Rite, she fights as part of a coordinated team, kills an attacking warrior, and helps hold the rope that saves Gwyn from a collapsing bridge.
Possessions
Emerie wears one of the matching braided bracelets shared by Nesta, Gwyn, and herself. During the Blood Rite, its charm helps the women locate one another by direction.
Important Events
After initially refusing Nesta’s invitation, Emerie travels to the House of Wind and joins the women’s training.
Emerie is overpowered and abducted from her home alongside Nesta and Gwyn, then forced into the Blood Rite.
Pursued by hostile Illyrian males during the Rite, Emerie throws herself into a river as her only chance of escape. Nesta finds her unconscious near a waterfall, nurses her through the night, and travels with her to rescue Gwyn.
Emerie chooses the dangerous route through the Breaking in honor of her mother. Despite a twisted ankle and severe exhaustion, she carries the injured Gwyn up Ramiel’s final ascent and reaches the summit stone with her, winning the Blood Rite.