Lady Emerald
34 years ago - Princess Emerald is born to House Emerald of Gemworld.
32 years ago - 2-year-old Princess Emerald's house allies itself with Dark Opal after the fall of House Amethyst.
26 years ago - 8-year-old Princess Emerald father is killed for defying the will of Dark Opal.
17 years ago - 17-year-old Princess Emerald meets Amy Winston when she comes to House Emerald to unite the houses of Gemworld. Her mother refuses to defy Dark Opal, forcing her to secretly assist Amy's allies.
16 years ago - 18-year-old Princess Emerald defies her mother to join the attack on Dark Opal's castle. In doing so, she is able to claim control over the magic of House Emerald, claiming the role of Lady Emerald from her mother.
10 years ago - 24-year-old Lady Emerald is married.
6 years ago - 28-year-old Lady Emerald gives birth to her daughter Emmy.
Not every character in the extended cast of Gemworld was there to contribute to Amy's story. The series had a really healthy amound of worldbuilding and exploration of the setting, and some characters wound up having stories of their own. Princess Emerald is a great example of this, but we really think she can actually be a great inclusion in the central story as well with only a little reimagining.
Lady Emerald's Comic HistoryHouse Emerald is one of the more narratively complex houses in the story of Gemworld, with no less that three different Princesses sharing the title Princess Emerald. In issue #4 of Amethyst, we see one of the three Princesses being forced to travel to House Opal where she will be forced to serve Dark Opal. When her mother, Lady Emerald, learns that she has been killed she basically goes mad with grief, unable to take care of her household or her two surving daughters. The youngest, Emmy, would go on to have her own role to play, actually trading places with Amy and living on Earth for most of the following series.
The elder Princess Emerald, however, become one of Amethsyt's allies, joining the great battle to attack Dark Opal's castle even though she did not have the full control of the magic of her house, as that was held by her mother, who was still mad with grief. In one of the darker moments in the series, we see some melancholy attendees of House Emerald bring the still grieving Lady Emerald something to drink, and then see the Princess suddenly able to access the magic of Emerald, secretly understanding that their mother was now gone. The ceremony as she becomes the new Lady Emerald was the catalyst that begins much of the drama of the ongoing series. |
Our Lady Emerald StoryAs we create our own spin on Amethyst's story, certain members of her supporting cast really seem to jump off the page for a lot of reasons. As we've been saying, a big part of the appeal here is the overall design of the world and the characters, and Emerald is absolutely one of the best. She fits beautifully into this group of characters, both because of her color scheme and her particular style. We imagine her as being just a little bit older and more proper than the others, since her particular story is defined more by her being restrained by her loyalty to her mother and to her house, which she eventially has to overcome to step up as a hero in her own right.
In the comic there is a lot of intrigue to House that is really compelling, but I don't know if you can really say that it specifically benefits the story we're trying to tell. It was interesting that they chose to include some of the darker ideas about the death of Princess Emerald's sister & mother, but I think we can do what we need to do without that. Also, our version of Amy's story isn't going to feature her always traveling back and forth between Gemworld & Earth, so we can actually rethink the role of Emmy. Instead of being Princess Emerald's sister, we actually love the idea of Emerald having Emmy as her young daughter. It all just feels like a great interpretation of these characters for our Gemworld. |